2 Nights In London - Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street & Wicked!

I actually feel really sad writing this post! I knew our trip to London would go quick but it went so much faster than I imagined and now we're back home and back to the usual routine. I always feel sad when we come home just because I love it so much there and at the moment we don't have any plans to go back yet, I would go back tomorrow if we could but I'm thinking if we do go back next year it will probably be around Christmas again. This christmas has come round so fast though so hopefully it won't seem ages til we're back!

I said in my London Plans and Wishlist post that I really wanted to appreciate this trip and I really did. I loved every second of it, even when my legs and feet were hurting and when we were freezing cold on the Southbank! I loved it all. I do think I was very aware of how fast time was going when we were there and quite a few times I felt sad at how quickly it had gone since we first got there but it was a great trip and I really don't think I'll ever forget it. 

When we got there the first thing we did was check out the Southbank Christmas Market. I felt so christmassy straight away and it was lovely to see it at this time of year as in the past we've only been in March. We then headed down to Borough Market and tried some amazing food. We picked up a few snacks from an Indian stall and honestly it was some of the best Indian food I've ever eaten! It was quite cheap too for massive onion bhajis and samosas, they were incredible. We also picked up a vanilla doughnut from Bread Ahead which was huge, they had a few others too that also looked amazing so I think we'd definitely try more in future. After the market we went to Oxford Street and picked up a few bits from Lush. I did get quite anxious in there, it was so busy and some of the staff just wouldn't stop coming up to us but we still managed to get a few bits. I got my favourite bath bomb which is Shoot For The Stars, I can't wait to use that one. We also got a Father Christmas Bath Bomb, Never Mind The Ballistics, Twilight, Dragons Egg and Butterbear. I've already used Never Mind The Ballistics and it's so good that I'm going to do a full blog post on it. After spending some time on Oxford Street, which looked so pretty with all the Christmas lights on, we then went to our favourite Whole Foods in Piccadilly. Of course we had to get one of the amazing cinnamon scroll doughnuts and we also tried a caramel tiffin slice. They do so many baked things, it's so hard to choose! On the way back to the hotel we picked up our first ever Lola's Cupcake! We went for the gingerbread one as it doesn't get much more Christmassy than that. We ate so much tasty food both days.

The next day the first thing we did was go and see Buckingham Palace. After 2 previous trips to London we had never got round to going so we made sure we did this time. It was nice to see it but it wasn't as special as I thought it would be. I don't really know what I expected but at least now we can say we've seen it. We then went to Covent Garden for a bit of christmas shopping. We picked some lovely bits up from Sass and Belle which is just the best shop for little home bits and gifts! We also tried Ben's Cookies for the first time too! They had loads to choose from! After some time trying to decide George went for the White Chocolate & Macadamia and I went for the Orange and Milk Chocolate. I think they were the best cookies I've ever had. The flavour was so strong and the chocolate was proper chunks rather than chips. I picked up a few bits from Paperchase while we were in Covent Garden, mainly more postcards for our photo wall, and I also got Gingerbread stickers because who doesn't love anything with gingerbread men on. We had an hour or so back at the hotel before heading out again that night to see Wicked. It was just mindblowing. I don't want to say too much as I'm going to do a full post on it soon, but it was just a wonderful show. I already want to book to see it again! It was the perfect end to our trip. 

We just had the best time and I really won't ever forget seeing Wicked. It was the first time we had seen anything like that together and I don't think we could have picked a better show. The whole of our trip was lovely and I can't put into words how sad I am to be back. If the opportunity came up for us to move there I wouldn't even need to think about it, my bags would be packed straight away! I've completely fallen in love with the place and I can't wait to go back, I will never get bored of it. 

Have you ever been to London? What's your favourite thing about it?

If you liked this post you might want to read some of my previous posts about London - A Weekend Away To London // Why I Love London 

Follow Me - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Bloglovin!

Date Night Box Review*

Who doesn't love Date Night? It's so nice every so often to get a bit dressed up and to head out for the night with someone special, but sometimes it's even better to stay in, get cosy and just watch a film with some good food! Sometimes I actually prefer staying in rather than going for a meal out, just eating loads of chocolate and spending quality time together. This is where the Date Night Box comes in. Emma and Kayleigh came up with this idea of a Date Night box so that couples could spend quality time together, properly reconnect and focus just on each other, all from the comfort of your own home too. Each month the box arrives and contains lots of different, indulgent experiences that you might not necessarily get to try otherwise, and each box is supposed to feel like a real treat. A few weeks ago I was very lucky to receive a Date Night Box to review, I had never seen anything like this before and it was so exciting to not know what was inside! 

Our Date Night box arrived at the perfect time actually. It came two days before we were due to go away to London so we decided to keep it until we got back. I knew I'd be feeling a bit down once we were back and would need cheering up and this was the perfect thing for it! We decided to save it til Thursday night and after a nice tea we sat down to have a look at our Date Night box and got started! This box was chocolate themed and to be honest it couldn't have been a better one for us! We both love any sort of chocolate and a lot of our date nights or evenings in involve chocolate and snacks so this was already perfect. We received an A5 print (this was great as it can go on our photo wall in the bedroom) a little bottle of prosecco, a box of chocolates, white chocolate buttons, hot chocolate stirrers, chocolate discs and chopsticks. It's not as simple as just eating the chocolate and drinking the prosecco, there are fun games involved and it was completely different to anything we had done before. 

You get instructions in the box so you know what to do with everything. The first step was to play the After Eight game. I had never played this before but it was so much fun! There were 6 chocolate disks, 2 dark, 2 milk and 2 white. You put one on your forehead and have to try and get it in your mouth without using your hands. It took us both a while but we managed it just about with all of them. There was a lot of funny movements and techniques and we both ended up with chocolate all over our faces! The chocolate tasted really good and you could tell it was good quality. The next step was to pour the chocolate buttons into a bowl and use chopsticks to pick them up, the first to pick 20 up won. This was much more difficult than I imagined! It took me ages and George ended up winning but it was a really fun little game. Next, we had to melt the white chocolate and dip our glasses into it to coat the top. This was the Lick and Sip game. I love prosecco and I wasn't sure how this was going to taste but it was actually really, really nice. Included in this bit were some questions to ask each other, I think this was my favourite bit. There were 12 questions, some were chocolate themed e.g. if you could only eat one more chocolate bar what would it be? and others were were more about each other e.g. what are your favourite things about me? and what day of our relationship would you like to experience again? I really, really loved this part, it's not something you would really think to do any other time and it was nice to tell each lots of nice things and have a laugh about each other answers. A few of our answers actually made me a bit emotional and it was just really lovely. 

The next step involved tasting mats, scorecards and foiled chocolates. There was a box of mixed chocolates and we had to place them on each mat in the correct place before tasting them. We tried them one at a time starting with the black foiled chocolate and ending on the blue one. With each one we had to guess the flavour and this was actually harder than it sounds! There was a little envelope with the answers in which obviously you don't look at til the end, but when we did we found we had got most of them wrong! The black one we thought was cherry but it was actually honey, and the purple one we thought was chilli but it was lemon! We went so wrong with some of them but it was really fun and the chocolate tasted amazing. We could tell with all of the chocolate that it was really good quality. All the chocolate in the box was handmade in the New Forest, Hampshire. They only use the highest quality ingredients and the cocoa is sustainably and ethically sourced in West Africa. It honestly tasted beautiful and the white buttons especially were so smooth and creamy. The last thing that was included in the box was two hot chocolate stirrers. We didn't have these on Thursday as we were so full from the rest of the chocolate but we saved them for last night to have as one last treat and they tasted amazing with cream on top and marshmallows!

I just loved this whole box. I think it's such a great idea, not everyone has the time or can be bothered to dress up and go out so this is great for those nights where you want to do something special but don't want to have to spend loads of time and effort on something! This is all done for you and as you don't know what's included it's a great little surprise each month. It's a great way to reconnect with your partner and spend some proper quality time together. We had such a fun night and we loved everything that was included. If you want to try the Date Night Box you can subscribe for £39.95 a month. You get a different box each month, no prep is needed, it's all done for you and you can cancel anytime.

This is definitely something we'll subscribe to in the future! I loved the element of surprise with it and it was good to have a cosy date night in, and as the box was chocolate themed this month it was even better. I loved that there was a free print included, I think that's a really nice added touch to it and also you get a card with both your names on which explains a little bit about the box. I thought those things show real effort and time has gone into these boxes to make them as special as possible. It was all so enjoyable and would definitely be worth the money!

If you want to find out a bit more information about Date Night, check out their website here!

*Thank you to Emma and Kayleigh for sending me a Date Night box to review! I only work with brands I feel are relevant to me and my blog and I genuinely think this is a great product!

Follow Me - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Bloglovin!

Manchester Plans & Wishlist...

Last Monday I wrote about our plans for London and I included a little wishlist, as we're off to Manchester next week I thought I would do a similar post. 

It's become a tradition of ours to go in November as the first time was so special and I always look forward to it. As always we're going for the Christmas Market, I can't imagine a year where we don't go as there is so much going on there. They have so many pretty stalls and I could look around them all day, there isn't just the main market either which is at Albert Square (instantly makes me think of Eastenders!) but there are so many other stalls all over the streets so there's plenty to see. We're going to get the train Monday morning and after we've checked in we'll probably head straight to the christmas market as it's only a short walk there from where we're staying. It's nice to see it in the day and then go again at night when all the lights are on and it feels really christmassy then. I can't wait to try some of the food again, last year we had a donut pretzel on the first night and we also tried mini dutch pancakes, I've seen online there are a few new stalls this year and new food to try so that's exciting!

Just around the corner from the market is the Arndale centre so I think the after we've had a look round, we'll go there and spend most of our first afternoon christmas shopping! They have a great Homesense so that is the first place at the top of my list to visit! They also have a big Selfridges which we only had a quick look around last time so it would be good to go there. Up from the Arndale Centre is Manchester's huge Primark! I think it might have been the first time we went that we bought quite a lot of christmassy bits back and it was a struggle on the train but I definitely want to have a good look round there.

The next day I think we're going to go to the Trafford Centre, we didn't go last year and spend most of our time in the centre but we've been thinking about going to go back this year. It's so big and there are so many shops so I don't know how far we'll actually get around it but it's so worth going to and the food area is massive and always looks so pretty at christmas. Like the Arndale Centre they also have a Selfridges and from what I remember, this was one was great, we got personalised Nutella jars from there the first year and the food hall was just amazing.What I love about the Trafford Centre is that there is a separate section of home stores. We only had a quick look round last time but I didn't know until a few months ago that there is actually a Homesense in that section so we must have missed it completely last time. They also have a big Next home and I'm sure there a few others too. I think we'll see how much of the Arndale Centre and city centre we get to go around the first day as we don't want to rush it all, we might just go back the next day instead but at the moment it's 50/50 what we'll do!

Trafford Centre Food Area - Source.

Similar to what I said in my London post, there are only a few things on my wishlist and both trips are more about spending time together. We've set an amount for each day so if there's something we want to buy we can and hopefully we can get a few xmas presents while we're there too. As I've already mentioned Homesense is at the top of my list and there's two we can go too so I'm sure we'll pick up a few bits from there, last year I got some lovely little Christmas Decorations.

I just can't wait. I've been looking forward to this for so long, it's come round so quick since last November and I can't quite believe it's time to go back already! I know I'll feel so sad once we're back home and both trips are over with but I'm just going to focus on enjoying them while we're there and really relax and have a good time.

They'll be a few posts up over the next few weeks I'm sure with loads of pictures from both trips and probably a few hauls too so look out for those!

Last Years Manchester Posts - Christmas Trip to Manchester // What We Bought!

Follow Me - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Bloglovin!

The Best Cheesy Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake Recipe!

I have posted so many recipes on my blog but to say that this pasta bake is an absolute favourite for us, I have never actually posted the recipe so I thought I might aswell now. It's the perfect, comforting meal that really fills you up, loads of pasta and cheese, doesn't get much better than that. Ideal for a Saturday night!

Ingredients: for 2 people

160g pasta

2 Chicken breasts 

4 rashers of bacon 

25g butter

30g of plain flour

300ml milk

Grated cheddar and mozzarella

Method:

1. Cut your chicken breasts into chunks and fry in frylight until cooked through

2. While chicken is cooking, grill the bacon (I usually cut all the fat off too first) and start your pasta in a pan of boiling water

3. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan. When it's melted add in your flour and stir until it becomes almost dough like

4. Add small amounts of milk at a time, literally a glug at a time stirring after each one until you have the thickness you desire for the sauce

5. Add in grated cheddar and mozzarella to the sauce and stir until it all melts, I can't give exact measurements for this, it really all depends on how cheesy you want it, I usually use at least a few handfuls of grated cheese as we like it quite cheesy

6. When the pasta is cooked, drain then add to the cooked chicken, cut up the grilled bacon and also add that, stir, then add in the cheese sauce. Make sure all the pasta is coated in the sauce then put into a dish

7. Top the pasta with grated cheese, again however much you want, you can also add some breadcrumbs to the top for an extra crunch

8. I then put in a 200 degree oven for around 20 minutes, the top has usually started to go crispy by this point and the cheese has all melted

Serve with salad and crusty bread or garlic bread!

This is really tasty and a lovely homemade meal, let me know if you try it!

Other Recipes - Chilli // Homemade Bread // Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Follow Me - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Bloglovin!