parmesan and sesame bites.

A little Christmas gift idea or perhaps as a festive snack for the family, these Parmesan and sesame bites are super easy to make and with only a few simple ingredients too. As part of a Christmas series with Parmigiano Reggiano, I'm embracing one of my favourite cheeses with three festive recipes. 

Parmigiano Reggiano is a hard, Italian cheese which has a PDO credentials. King of Cheeses, it's one of the world’s oldest and richest cheeses - still produced today as it was nine centuries ago. For hundreds of years, this very special product has only be allowed to be made in particular areas of Italy, with selected dairies and producers. The rules of cheese-making this way mean that it's always a high quality product which has a true ancient origin. The result is fantastic, I'm sure cheese lovers will agree.

raspberry and rosewater jam: #iamajam.

A homemade raspberry and rosewater jam, created using Tate & Lyle's Fairtrade jam sugar. The 1:1 jam is specially created to make a traditional jam that uses 1kg fruit to 1kg sugar. With blackberry, summer berry and strawberry and Prosecco making up their lovely recipe ideas, I opted for raspberry and rosewater. A fruity and fragrant mix, the recipe proved to make a really thick and chunky jam which kept the raspberry seeds intact. And what's more, it was so much more simple than I expected.

brownie heaven chocolate scotch eggs + giveaway.

Brownie Heaven do exactly what it says on the tin. Imagine your wildest dreams of brownie creations and you're probably close. From mountain stacks of brownies to the likes of Dr Pepper, Irish whiskey, Cognac and Jaffa Cake brownies, there is something to please all chocolatey tastes. Birthday Kilimanjaro Cake made up of 55 brownies? Now that's a mountain I want to climb! What's more, this Birmingham based indie company do UK delivery too.

With Easter around the corner, this post celebrates their fantastic chocolate scotch eggs, with an exciting giveaway for you guys too. The lovely Brownie Heaven lot sent me a mixed box of their salted pretzel caramel egg, chocolate scotch egg covered in biscuit, plus their hazelnut scotch brownie with a Ferrero Rocher centre. I was certainly popular in the office that day. But quit your drooling, you can try some too in my latest giveaway...

the food market: gourmet eats and foodie treats to your door.

TheFoodMarket.com is a bustling online marketplace for foodies. Brimming with independent small companies and family businesses, here you'll find an array of foodie treats perfect for gifts - or for yourself! A place after my own heart, they describe themselves as fussy, in a good way. Browsing the site I can be assured that all the products have high quality natural ingredients and have been responsibly sourced - no nasties to be found here. They also have some really unusual products (seaweed gin anyone?) that will impress even the most seasoned of foodies. 

The lovely lot over at TheFoodMarket.com asked if I'd like to give the products a whirl, as well as host a rather cheesy giveaway for you guys too. 

#fdbloggers secret santa.

Christmas has to be one of the favourites seasons of a food blogger. Food everywhere, cheese boards a plenty and edible gifts for all! Over with the fellow #fdbloggers on Twitter, we've been doing our own secret Santa gift swap. Exchanging gifts with foodies from all around the UK and Ireland, you can head over to the hashtag #fdbloggerssanta to see an array of super thoughtful foodie packed parcels from a mystery Santa. Here what I got from Sal... I mean, Santa...

what to buy a foodie for christmas...

What to buy a food blogger for Christmas... when they already own 50, 000 aprons, a cupboard full of baking beans and a stack of tea towels to the ceiling. Don't get me wrong - I love all the foodie gifts I get each birthday and Christmas, this year receiving a rather wonderful selection of teaspoons, a teapot, macaron print scales, a chocolate cookery book, a knife sharpener and even some Bakewell tart green tea. All very well thought out gifts which I was overwhelmed and super grateful for. However, if you're struggling to think outside the box and you're about to click "add to bag" on that spice rack - here are a few foodie gift ideas to tickle your tastebuds.

create your own customised beer at home with brewbarrel.

Brew your own personalised beer with Brewbarrel. From the style of beer, hops and added flavours, design your very own beer and then make it from a bespoke brewing kit in your own home. The lovely lot at Brewbarrel offered to send me my choice of their homebrew beer. Ready for the festive season, I thought it apt to try out their Christmas beer made with orange, cinnamon, cloves and juniper berries. Perfect for a Christmas gift idea or maybe a merry treat for yourself!

peanut butter vegan macarons.

It's no secret, macarons have become a baking favourite of mine. So why shouldn't vegans get to enjoy them too? After finding out you can make eggless meringue using chickpea liquid, also known as aquafaba, I just had to give it a go. I've seen a lot of recipes using cups as measurement, however I've created a UK friendly version using metric grams and ml. Here of course I've filled my vegan macarons with peanut butter - a firm egg and dairy free favourite - but the possibilities are endless!

sushi & sashimi workshop at billingsgate seafood school, london.

A few weekends ago, I went down to London for a rather special cookery class - a sashimi and sushi workshop at the famous Billingsgate Seafood School. Although I suppose no cooking was to be involved for this one; instead we were led by talented sushi chef Silla Bjerrum through lessons in handling and sourcing seafood, flavour combinations, how to roll and all important knife skills. I couldn't wait to get started...

laura ashley easter collection 2015.

Introducing the charming Easter gift collection from none other than Laura Ashley. Growing up, my mum used to make all sorts of dresses and homeware from Laura Ashley fabric, synonymous with British charm and designs influenced by all things countryside. These days, I love pottering about in the accessories section of their shops trying to resist buying floral duvet number 8374940. So you can imagine my joy at the most recent Easter collections, with and exciting giveaway for my readers too.

The delightful range features Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs, luxurious truffles and Easter chick marshmallows, all in an endearing pastel palette reminiscent of Spring. You could easily find a fun Easter gift for a child as well as something mum would love. 

sweet success in christmas cake decorating.

i should probably say that the blog post title is a nod towards nottingham based bakery and sugarcraft shop sweet success who were kind enough to set me this christmas decorating challenge. not me bragging about the beautifully presented cake above. for that, i have their fantastic christmas cake decorating kit to thank, packed with everything i needed to create the perfect festive pud. including this little fella, who i'm going to call cupid.

chocolat chocolat personalised chocolate bars.

Why would you ever want your name in lights when you have have it in chocolate? chocolat chocolat create handmade chocolates in their quaint cambridge shop, which is based in a 19th century building. Luckily for the rest of us they do delivery too. The lovely lot let me have a go at their new create your own custom chocolate bar tool. Of course, isn't everyone a sucker for anything personalised?

plum and ginger jam.

when life gives you plums, make plum jam. or rather, when i went over to my dad's for his birthday and he handed over a bucket of approximately 2.5kg of wild plums from his garden, it was probably a good time to learn how. i found this rather fantastic flexible jam recipe and as suggested, adapted it to suit me with a sprinkle of ginger for good measure.