Urgh, I’m writing this feeling a little bit tender and hungover! I had a girls night in with my two bestest, oldest friends that included a lot of Dairy Milk chocolate and red wine. I’m paying for it this morning, but it was worth it! Before meeting up with them yesterday, James and I went to town to do some Christmas shopping. I bought a few foodie treats:
Amaretti biscuits, chilli jam, pistachios, chestnuts and my favourite brand of tahini. I love the amaretti biscuits and put them on the tree as decorations – much better than chocolate santas! We had a nice look around the shops as well as a couple of coffee stops:
The Pink Lane flat white to go was delicious. We drank those while we went for a walk around to find the venue for an event we are off to in a couple of weeks time. They kept us nice and warm!
Yesterday I also met my gorgeous cousin Catherine for a coffee:
She’s in training to be a PT so we talked about fitness goals for next year! Other than that I’ve just been trying to eat as well as I can around the indulgences:
Chocolate porridge with vanilla whey protein topped with hazelnut butter
Salmon salad with olives
This mornings much needed green smoothie with cacao nibs and bee pollen on top!
How has your weekend been so far? I did have some grand plans to cook, bake and photograph a couple of recipes but it’s so dull and cloudy today the light is rubbish. I’m thinking I might stick a Christmas movie on and wrap some presents! How’s your Christmas shopping coming along? Are there any special Christmas foods you buy each year?
Ooh I love the look of those amaretti biscuits, yum! Looks like you had a really good weekend so far. I am currently debating whether or not to head outside for a run, it looks sunny but cold outside and I’m so cosy in the house!
I would have stayed in the house, especially yesterday haha! Hope you enjoyed your day whether you went for a run or not :-)
Those amaretti biscuits look divine, great idea to pop them on the tree too! Hope you feel better as the day goes on Laura :)
Thanks Claire, I can’t hack it like I used to!
I spent the majority of my weekend refusing to go outside :lol: It was -30C for a while here, so I pretty much holed up at home and did a lot of baking, studying, tidying, and blog maintenance. Nothing too exciting, but things that gotta get done. Thankfully it’s warming up, so I’m hoping to actually head out and get some fresh air today.
That is crazy cold! Hope you got some nice fresh air!
What a lovely idea to decorate the tree with those!
I bought some chocolate marzipan hearts from Aldi- they are so delicious and we have already eaten a few.
I have written a few Christmas cards now, but not all of them yet. I have put quite a few gifts into bags too, but not wrapped any of them yet- I had better get a move on!
I got those hearts last year I think – are they in little gold wrappers? So delicious! I need to get my cards written urgently!
Yes- little red foil wrappers- so good.
I still have not written my cards- I wrote a few for the friends I saw on Saturday, but that is it!
I need to get some chestnuts, love them! I got a fair bit of Christmas shopping done in Brighton over the weekend so I am making good progress!
I saw those chestnuts in the shop and was tempted by them…let us know how they are!
Christmas shopping is going well – mainly because everything is being bought online except for the odd few things. Whew! I do love shopping but Christmas shopping can be so stressful and painful when it’s so crowded and busy.
I haven’t tried Pink Lane but will have to, might pop in before/after work sometime! I tend to stick to the same places around Newcastle and Durham, a creature of habit, but I’ve been trying to do a bit of exploring over the past year or two. In Newcastle I was recently introduced to Tea Sutra and althought I’m more a coffee person, their homemade chai latte is delicious. To be honest, most of the time where I go depends on if they have soya milk (so usually chains win though soya milk/alternatives are becoming more common).
We were really impressed with Pink Lane, also Flat Cap Coffee is good too. Tea Sutra is still on my list, I must give it a try soon. This year we’ve been trying to go to new places, we are so lucky to have so much in the area really :-)
Yeah, I often forget just how much there is and how many great little shops and cafes there are. Sometimes I feel like the NE is far from everywhere but then I remember how easy it is to get to major places like Edinburgh and London by train.