Let's Go To Cannes

Where did I go next? Of course I went back to Cannes!

Playtime in Paris

So, a couple of weeks ago I popped over the English Channel to do some work in Paris for a week, and although I was a busy bee working, I still got to see some of the sights!

Looking on to the Ile de la Cité

Egg Fried 'Rice' (Don't tell anybody it's cauliflower!)

So, I decided that the time had come to try out cauliflower rice. I am so glad I decided that it was the time, because I'm going to make this more often. All the flavours of a Chinese takeaway, but none of the shame in wanting to have it all the time! Also, it really doesn't taste like cauliflower, so don't let that put you off.

Prawn egg fried cauliflower rice

Cottage Pie

It was the weekend, I was stuck inside doing work, apart from an early morning bike ride and trampolining session on Saturday, but I needed something else to do other than work. So I decided it was time to use up some of my many potatoes and make a shepherd's pie (and then remembered that I use mince so actually it's a cottage pie!).

Fresh from the oven

It's a great comfort meal, and I manage to make plenty to add a few more portions to store in the freezer so I have lots of choice for meals when it comes to eating during the week and don't have much time to make a decent dinner. Plus, for my love of vegetables, it is jam-packed with them which helps bulk it out without needing too much mince. So here's how I make it.

Butternut Squash Cannelloni

So, back before Christmas, I was given the 'task' of cooking dinner for the family, and decided to recreate a meal my friend and I cooked during the last week of term. (Well, it was mostly his creation, I just chopped and stirred as I was told to!).

Yum yum yum

It's a bit time consuming, but worth it! It was also quite nice to have butternut squash in a form that wasn't soup for once, so read on and find out how to create it for yourself.

Christmas is Around the Corner

I feel like I have been cheating on my poor blog recently, unfortunately the lucky other was coursework, and lots of it. It is finally done with though, and I am now home for Christmas. (Well, technically I'm home for a bit until I go skiing over Christmas, but same same). Which means that it is time to celebrate Christmas, and I am already 3 Christmas dinners down. One with trampolining, one with my housemates and one with family.
So here is some of my festivity in pictures! Most of them are on my Instagram, and I think most of them are actually of food... Priorities, clearly!

I was given the job of making Christmas pudding this year, how it will turn out in the end is still a mystery until Christmas day!

YO! Sushi and Cocktails - Classy Girls!

Something that the three of us in our house absolutely love is sushi. So to get our sushi fix we head out to YO! Sushi in Notts. Unfortunately Sophie couldn't join us, she was learning how to salsa, but Hannah and I were so game for Blue Mondays. It's a great discount day where many of the plates on the menu are put to the cheapest price, which are the dishes which come on blue plates priced at £2.50 each. They also offer a 25% student discount for other days of the week, but we haven't tried that. I mean, what better way to cheer up a Monday with a conveyor belt of sushi?

YO! Sushi

Tasty Tapas - Our Spanish Saturday Night In

Partying clearly doesn't really happen in our house! We had a sociable Saturday night in with girls from our course, and as three out of the five of us (not me) study Spanish, what better way than a tapas night? We decided we would put together a dish per person, so we each had something to make/bring.

We checked out Hannah's 'Little Tapas Book' for some ideas, and decided on patatas bravas (potatoes) and a tortilla (Spanish omelette) with aioli/allioli/garlic mayonnaise/whatever you fancy calling it. We also had garlic prawns, chorizo, queso manchego and some lovely bread. We didn't need anything else!

New York - Shake Shack, Madison Square Park

Shake Shack at night

So somewhere that Katie kept going on about that we had to try was Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. I think she was excited by the hype that surrounds the one that recently opened in Covent Garden which apparently always has a massive queue -  haven't seen that though... I have been in completely the wrong country. So, we had to try out the original while were in New York, obviously.

The Kings Arms Berkhamsted - Welcome Home!

So yesterday I made it back safe and sound from Cannes and am trying to find my feet again! I got on the plane, avoiding any tears; I was so close at one point then realised people around me would think that I was a bit weird, crying in the queue to board, so pulled myself together!

I landed in London to glorious sunshine and hopped in the car with my dad and did the M25 with the roof down and wasn't cold. However it is now chilly and wet, I'm not impressed and a bit scared to venture outside today. I was greeted home by a big banner across our dining room window, some balloons and my mummy. It is good to be back!