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happy 5th birthday to recipes and reviews!


Happy New Year! I hope you had a fantastic New Year's Eve which was full of friends, family, fun and fizz. I enjoyed a quiet night in this year, dining on fillet steak, shaking up homemade cocktails and playing games. 

As January 2016 rolls around, with it comes another anniversary for Emily's Recipes and Reviews. I can't quite believe that my little food blog is now five! And what better excuse to make this lemon, poppy seed and raspberry cake?!


It's a bit like my hypothetical baby growing up, and before I know it they're suddenly starting school, learning the alphabet and bringing a reading book. Where did the time go? Somehow I'm now 27 and I pressed publish on that baby faced picture of me holding chocolate truffles five years ago.

With an undying obsession for macarons, sushi and Bakewell tarts, nothing much has changed around here. I may have started using capital letters on my blog (old time readers will know I love lower case) I'm still enjoying a foodie doodle or two.


I took a look back at my foodie resolutions from my 4th birthday, to see if any had been ticked off...

Dine in a Michelin star restaurant. Sadly not yet! Perhaps 2016 will be the year? (Recommendations on a post card).

Travel to Tokyo. Didn't manage this one either. This WILL happen one day.

Go to a supper club. Supper club success at a Thai Supper Club!

Review a restaurant ditching the camera or phone. I didn't review any but I decided to enjoy more meals without a camera by my side. I was itching to take pictures on my phone!

Learn new basic cooking and baking skills. I learnt lots on The Woodspeen Cookery Course as well as the Billingsgate Sushi & Sashimi School. Both highly recommended!

Try something new. After a great response from my homemade macarons, I tested the water with a craft fair.

Cook from cookery books I haven't touched yet. I bought this in 2015 but Gizzi's is the one!

Not too bad! I'm quite pleased as I didn't actually refer back to them until now. For good measure, here are my foodie aspirations for this year...

Travel to new UK cities and try out their grub
Develop a better tolerance to spicy food 
Make some savoury macarons
Order sushi grade seafood - I've never made it at home with raw fish before!
Improve my cocktail skills and knowledge

Invite family over for big meals more often

Bring on 2016! What do you have planned?

6 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Recipes and Reviews!!

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  2. Happy blog birthday!
    I always have a pile of cookery books waiting for me to cook from them, so that's a shared one for me too.
    I do hope you get to Tokyo (and the rest of Japan). We went for the first time in 2012, back in 2013 and have the next trip planned for this spring. Can't wait!

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  3. Happy Birthday to you! Love your blog. I can't wait to see what this year brings you :)

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  4. Happy Birthday!

    Looks like you achieved loads in 2015, so I hope you achieve even more in 2016 and beyond. For me, 2016 will be the year that The Crafty Larder comes into its own. I'm determined to climb the ranks and work really hard on promoting my little online space. I'm also going to go on an amazing holiday; not sure where yet though!

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  5. Look forward to the family meals ;-)

    Kate xx

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