The Honest Truth Vol 1

Helloooo, everyone :)

Let me start off by saying I am a master at procrastination. I mean I can say I just do not have time to write or do anything with my life, but that would be a lie. Between Oscars day time nap and the few minutes in the evening after he goes to sleep, where I actually cope being a normal, functional human being, I must get at least two hours, where I could write and become the woman I wanted to be. But I don't do that. Instead I think about doing stuff for a minute then quickly pour myself a glass of wine and stuff my face with chocolate and pretend I know nothing of anything.

And then again, here I am, actually typing up some words I've been pondering over lately. This will be the most honest I've ever been over here at my bloggedy blog. This is really how I would always like to write. Honestly and openly about everything that goes on in my head....well not everything, that would be slightly disturbing at times :D But things that matter to me. 

What has stopped me before is the need to be liked. I would hate if someone would say something bad. I mean I still think it's me when I walk past someone and they laugh. It's a serious confidence issue. You might not notice it when you meet me or even when you think you know me. I don't come across as someone who is not confident. I don't like to show emotions(the real deep emotions that matter). Public displays of affection make me queasy. I really am just not comfortable with it at all...unless it's Oscar, I bloody love that boy just so much and I'm not afraid to show it. But in other aspects of life I just keep it to myself. 

Even with confrontation. I just keep it to myself. Don't get me wrong I nag about the little stuff, all the time. The dishes not being done, the rubbish left on the table, not having enough money, enough clothes, eating too much chocolate and drinking too much wine...you get the deal. But when it comes to things that matter in life I just bottle it up and keep it to myself. The most unhealthy habit of mine.

The second unhealthy habit of mine is swearing too much. I do it all the time. And I quite enjoy it. Weather it's out loud or in my head, but the swearing is really pretty constant. I'm ashamed to admit it, specifically because it's a fairly new habit of mine. Maybe it's my way of coping with all those bottled up emotions :D who knows really. 

The third unhealthy habit is actually health related. And to be honest, unless there is actual proof, you can't really know if it is unhealthy. I'm talking about my relationship with red wine. I just love drinking a glass of red in the evening once Oscar is asleep and watch disgustingly boring tv shows that have no meaning behind them or cooking shows ( I quite like cooking competition shows :D). 

Cooking shows bring me to the next thing I actually like about myself. I love feeding people. Not in a weird way as in spoon feeding them :D but I love cooking nice food and see people enjoy eating it. This is how I think I show I care....I'll give you nice food. Once that stops you'll know I don't give a shit anymore :D Or maybe I'm just momentarily angry at you. Don't read too much into it, Sometimes I might just forget to offer you food. But I am definitely a feeder, for sure, no doubt about it.

Now I am really deep into this honest rant I have lost interest in pouring my soul into this one post. 

If I tell you everything about me all at once you will never come back. So I'm going to leave now (I'm most probably going to go and pour myself a glass of red :D) and hopefully come back soon with some more honest truth :) 

Hope you liked the post about my 3 unhealthy habits and once thing I actually like :)

Come back soon for more, but really it would be really silly to keep coming back every day for a new post, because that ain't going to happen :D Instead why not follow me on Instagram as I will announce all my new posts there :) And also you will not miss any adorable pictures of Oscar if you do. It's just a crime not to be able to see his little happenings, as he is the cutest little toddler in the World :D (I totally biast at this opinion obviously :D hahaha....NOT)

BUT for now, 

Stay tuned, everyone :)

xoxo

Meril

End Of

Hello, Everyone :)
It's another end of another week. I know it's really Tuesday, but when you are a stay at home mother you can set your own week endings and starts, or that is what I'd like to think. The week ending I'm really talking about is the Holiday Week...on blog it didn't really go that well. But I'm actually quite excited to end it so I can start another one, that will hopefully go a bit better.
But as a finishing treat, here are a little video and a few more pictures from our time in Cabo Verde :)

I love this little video of Oscar. He stops and poses for Dan to take a photo of him and then continues with his little walk :) So freakin sweeeeeeet :)

This is one of the pictures I actually absolutely hated, because I just felt I look so massive and it was just one of those why meeee? moments with this one. Then I realised that I am actually not massive, I'm just next to a 1 year old and a skinny guy :D SO I figured I'll just put this picture out in the world to remind me to be less critical about myself.

The amount of pain we went through to find these swimming outfits for Oscar. They are from Debenhams and cost a fare wack with about £20 for each (we got 2)but they were so worth it in the end. Oscar hated when we tried putting sun cream on him, so it was good that most of his body was already protected with this spf40 suit :)

YES I look like a twat, but I wanted a picture with the massive waves :D I mean they were huge. The red flag was up most days because these waves would take  a grown man down and under. And they were also very loud. The bikini is again Roxy :)

Anyway, I do hope you have enjoyed a few little snippets from our first long haul family holiday to the hot Cape Verde. And as always, Stay tuned :)

xoxo

Meril

White Blouse

Hello, Everyone :)
You know when you pack your bags for the holiday and plan your outfits and you think you're going to look amazing at all times? And then you realise that you really don't want to put make up on every day just in case there will be pictures taken because it's bloody hot outside. You don't really want to wear those high wedges that go nicely with that short skirt because you are running after a toddler all the time and bending down in places where people will have a full view of your private parts. So you end up wearing pretty much the same kind of outfit pretty much every day, because it looks nice AND it's practical for the holiday. For me the outfit was shorts and this £5 peasant blouse from Missguided that I ordered from their sale section only a few days before the trip. And this top has become my favourite since I wore it the first time.

I mostly wore it with my two pairs of jeans shorts I took with me and mixed up my shoes and accessories :) So if I was going for dinner I would wear sandals and some jewellery but if we were going to the playground with Oscar it would be paired with tennis shoes and my trusty backpack (I will talk about that some other time :D)

And now I have wore it so many times during my holiday I have kind of gotten obsessed with white blouson style gypsy/peasant tops. SO above are a few other ones from Missguided I love and the first one is the actual one I own. And I love that mixing it up with different items of clothing I can wear it all year around :)

What is your favourite holiday outfit? Let me know in the comments below :)

And as always, Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Holiday

Hello, Everyone :)
SO blogging on a holiday went great :D Let me just put it out there before anyone else does...I failed miserably. We just had way too much fun and we packed every day with lots of activities and naps :) Yes...naps...most days we all had 2 naps and it was wonderful :D I will also apologise to everyone who has emailed me, I have filed the emails and I WILL reply :) As like I already said the Internet and WiFi situation was poor in Cape Verde. But here are a few pictures I took of Oscar on the beach that I love so much. It was our last day (not travelling back day) so we decided to take a long stroll on along the soft sand and crashing waves while the Sun shun brigth and the wind blew stong.

And if you haven't already realised then we are back home now and apart from getting more activities and adventures for Oscar I will try to get back to the old routine we had, because even though holiday mode is great... in the real world it won't work for that long :D I will write a few posts about the lovely holiday we had and then continue with the interests, hobby and family posts with a few little foodie ones thrown into the mix as well.

So Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Holiday Week

Hello, Everyone :)

Let me start by saying how sorry I am for being late with this post. The plan was to still upload a post every morning at 9am like during Beauty Week, but life got in the way yesterday so I had no time to write or prepare anything. Tomorrows post will also be a late one, because we are travelling quite early and obviously I won't be able to do any work on the plane as there will be a little toddler needing all my attention at all times :D But that means I will be able to do an update of our travel day and tell you all about how it went :) And during Holiday Week I will be updating you all about how and what we are doing on (I can now reveal it)Sal Island in Cape Verde. 

Totally stole this picture from the Internet and I have really no idea if it's in Sal or another Cape Verde Island :D But hey I wanted a nice picture rather than a pile of suitcases that is sat in D's office waiting to be taken to the car tomorrow morning at 7am :( :D

So what have I been doing today? It feels like everything. I have been trying to get the whole family ready to go, packed my things and Oscars thing. I cleaned the house :D (Is it just me or coming home from a holiday is less painful when you know you are coming back to a clean home and clean bedsheets?)Prepped everything for the plane trip...so everything that is not going in the checked in luggage. I also went and got a few last minute things and collected the things we ordered .... All in a day :D And the day is not even over. Once I finish this post, because I told Dan I needed to do this, I have to go and help him clear our living room and cover our furniture, because while we are gone some work will be carried out....some wall plastering and stuff I'm quite happy about not having to witness :D OH, and I also did a food order for when we are back. We are getting back quite late on Tuesday and we will be arriving to a pretty much empty fridge, so I did our usual weekly food order for Wednesday morning. So I have been very busy here, but I'm glad I've made the time to write this post and let everyone know I haven't given up on the blog already :D 

But for now I hope to see you all back here every day for a week for Holiday realated posts filled with Sun, Sea and Burnt Shins (or hopefully just some tanned skin :D rather than burnt :)

And As always 

Stay tuned, everyone :)

xoxo

Meril

Christmas 2015

Good Evening, Everyone :)

It is Boxing Day and Christmas is well...OVER :D As much as I was excited about Christmas this year I am kind of glad it's all done. We had a really wonderful time with some nice presents and amazing food...cooked by yours truly...and now it's time to go back to reality and out of the Christmas lights. It's really only just the start of winter though and we've got some awesome plans during Januray and February so a lot to look forward to :)

 If you don't know it already then some countries celebrate Christmas on the 24th, which is what we do in Estonia. So on the 24th we had a little tiny family Christmas. I started cooking at 1pm and then after dinner at 6pm we were meant to open presents, but Oscar went to sleep incredibly early :D SO we did what English people do and opened our presents on the morning of 25th. After which we went to Dans parents house for some more festive eating :D We did open one present each before the meal though :) And Oscar got this Gruffalo trunki suitcase, which will come useful in January...hint, hint :D he loves dragging it around the house :)

Thats the picture Oscar took :D

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and as always 

Stay tuned :)

xoxo

Meril

Packing For A Weekend Away

Hello, Everyone :)
Over the months me and D have become more and more confident in taking little trips away from home so I thought I'd share the tips and tricks I have learnt along the way on getting packed for a weekend away with a toddler.

I use to be so scared to leave the house other than for a few hours and not very far away :D I would think that anything that I hadn't prepared for would happen and I would be stranded in a restaurant with a naked baby, because he has had an explosive poo. Or that we would leave and I'd forget to pack his milk and he would starve and resent me for the rest of my life :D
Honestly the things I use to worry about I look back to now and think WHY?
Sans baby I use to be the most layed back traveller. I would set off with my passport and wallet and not worry weather I took that extra pair of jeans or snack. As long as I was able to get to where I was headed, everything else that I might have forgotten could be gotten there. And I have become more and more aware now as well, that it is pretty much the same when you travel with a toddler/baby. As long as you make sure you have the necessities, you are pretty much good to go. But obviously it's always good to be prepared for everything :) So here are my tips on getting packed for a few days away.

We actually are going somewhere, so I'm not here packing bags for no good reason :D D has got some work to do in and around London, so I figured I'll go as well and have a look around Windsor and surrounding areas :) I'll obviously do an update on those days for all of you and show what I got up to :)

First things first. The diaper bag...or any bag you use to keep diapers and wipes in. I had a period where I only used my handbag and had everything I needed for Oscar thrown in there with all my stuff...it worked until it didn't. SO now I like to keep my diaper bag packed at all times.

Things I have there at all times
 - diapers (pull up ones as Oscar does not stay still for the changes :D pull up diapers are so much easier for when you are on the go)
 - Pack of wipes - I use them for everything. Messy meal times, diaper changes, hand wipes...you name it.
 - Muslin cloth. Just to wipe things again or dry things.
 - Diaper bags. For diapers, rubbish, dirty clothing
 - A roll of clothes (video of me trying to do it before Oscar steals the clothes :D)

 - Pacifier/dummy - for those tantrum moments or nap times
 - Oscars Red Book. They tell you to bring it with you at all times....so I do
Things I pack before leaving
 - A toy of some sort. I like to change these around so this is why the toy is not always packed
 - Cup with juice or water
 - Depending on weather his milk feed will be at the time of when we are out and about I pack the things for that. But these days he rarely has milk outside
 - A bottle of water....for me :D and also in case he drinks his water and the cup needs refilling
 -  A zip lock bag with some snacks. At the moment there would be some string cheese, cucumber sticks and some Organix cheese and herb crisps. These are the things he can have while he is sitting in his pushchair or waiting for food in a restaurant/cafe. Just stuff he enjoys having at the moment. I don't worry too much about the snacks being healthy all the time, as it's not like we do this every day.
Whatever keeps him happy, I tell you guys :D
 - wallet (mine obviously)

And that is it. My diaper bag is the same one I got from Amazon when Oscar was teeny tiny and it does it's job. I love that I can use it as a cross body bag or attach it to the pushchair handle.

Things I pack in the suitcase
A little back story. We are going on Sunday and coming back on Tuesday. So I am packing for 3 days and 2 nights. We are staying in a hotel near Windsor and we are taking the car. Which is why I probably am taking more things than necessary :D If we would be going by train, which we do a lot as well, I would be more strategic. But I'll tell you about the extras as I go along.

 - 3 pyjamas. I know I said 2 nights but it's always a good idea to get an extra. Accidents happen  :)
 - 2 joggers and 1 pair of jeans/trousers
 - 2 sweaters
 - 2 bodysuits (1 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve)
 - 2 pairs of socks
 - 4 shirts (short sleeve ones and long sleeve ones)
 - A pack of diapers(pull up ones). This is what I would not normally do. What I did was I put 10 diapers in the suitcase and the rest of the pack in the car boot. I also have around 5 in the diaper bag at all times, so I do replenish them after use. The thing with diapers is that they sell them EVERYWHERE :D but the things with diapers is that if you run out accidentally then the trip to the shop could seem like a very long one :D and AGAIN ... accidents happen...hotel carpet and baby poo don't mix well :D 5 night time baby dry diapers. 2 nights, but sometimes, we need to change him during the night. 4 swim diapers as there is a pool in the hotel. And I might be going to a near by water park
 - A bib. It's not really something we use at all really for feeding times. But I use it as a scarf.
 - Little pack of medicines. Some calpol, teetha granules, medicine pacifier (we swear by this one. It is just so easy to give medicine to a baby/toddler with this, and there is no risk of overdose as it only fits about 4ml, which about 1 ml less than usual dose allowance :))plasters, diaper cream, body cream, toothbrush and something I always take now is 3 of the non slip bath mats ( just in case there isn't one in the hotel...I hate requesting it :DThat is my issue obviously)

 - 3 milk bottles and a bag of formula. Formula scoop and a container for a 1 feed formula (just in case) A bottle brush and some bottle wash. I hate washing the bottles in the hotel sink, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do eh?
 - extra pack of crisps ( I also have another zip lock bag with snacks in the car for the road, although we usually plan our longer drives while it's Oscars nap time)
I am also taking his fleece blanket and his pillow that he sleeps with and 2 extra pacifiers.
He also sleeps with his panda bear that we got in one of our Ikea trips and he absolutely loves it. The thing is that as I do like to be prepared for anything, the last time we went to Ikea we got another one and we keep that one in the car. So the panda is packed at all times. And in case one goes missing, we have a spare :)

And that is what I'm bringing for Oscar for our few days away :) As you can see everything fits in a little weekend bag and his diaper bag very well. And if there will be a time where I think I need something else I can always acquire it there and then :)

What are your non negotiable things you always pack for you child while travelling? 

Let me know in the comments below if you have any other tricks/tips you've learnt :)

And as always

Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Baking Gingerbread Cookies

Hello, Everyone :)
I remember when I was little, our Christmas tradition was to make gingerbread cookies with my sister and my mother. It was so much fun to roll out the dough and cut the biscuits out, eat the leftover dough :D and then once the house was filled with the sweet smells of cinnamon and ginger and the biscuits had cooled down enough it was time for decorating them with icing in every single Christmassy colour. And I couldn't wait until I can do it with Oscar :) I will admit, that he is still A TINY BIT too young to understand what is actually happening, but we had so much fun anyway :) He had fun sprinkling the flour and then eating it :S :D

I got the dough from my mom. They sell these small packages of ready made gingerbread dough in every single shop so I had her bring some to me when she came down :) It lasts for a really long time in the fridge and of course you can always just bake the cookies and store them in an airtight container for weeks :)

It was a pretty messy affair and obviously made even messier by the ''helping'' 15 month old :D

I went for the tarditional Christmas colours for the icing -  white,green and red.
I made the icing with butter and icing sugar. I mixed 2 cups of icing sugar with 3 tablespoons of orange juice and a few drops of vanilla and then divided the mix in three small bowls. I kept one simple and white and added green and red food colouring to the other ones. The red looks a lot like pink because it turned out pink :D :) The piping bags I used are actually just ziplock bags with a little hole cut in the corner. I don't like reusable piping bags only because I hate washing them :D You can really use any plactic bag you have, as long as it's clean and doesn't have any holes in it :D

And this is the end product.
Its was so much fun preparing them and decorationg them while the candles burned softly and SmoothXmas was playing in the radio :D

A great evening treat with a mug of mulled wine...what more can you ask :) Your child to maybe go to sleep at a reasonable time...maybe just that :D

Hope you enjoyed the post 

Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Oscars 15 Month Update

Good Morning, Everyone :)

I have literally lost the plot. I wanted to come over to the blogger website to finish my ''10 New Traditions to start this Christmas'' post and typed in homebase.com instead :S :D I honestly spend most of my days there....awkward, but that is what happened :) And then now I realised that I am missing a few pictures for the post, so I'm just going to postpone it for a while...like I do with most of the things in my life :D

But today I will be sharing a little personal post about Oscars update :) Because I love him so much and so much has changed since the last one...(I think it was his 9 month update) so it will be really good to do an update...update...I keep saying that word in my head :D Anyway it will be a 15 Month UPDATE...as you might have already figured out from the title of this post :) So here it is...enjoy :)

 

I shall do sections, just because otherwise I will, I WILL, forget something and then I'll get angry at myself :)

EAT

Oscar is now 15 and a half months old and he is having 2-3 milk feeds a day. We still use formula...because he refuses cows milk :D we keep trying, I keep putting it in his cup during his meals and I've even tried half formula half milk, but he gets it....he is just too clever. I don't think there is anything wrong with giving formula either, it's pretty much the same and honestly I think it's cheaper as well :D SOOOO...

He wakes up around 7-8am and then has his first milk feed. Then after that he has his breakfast around 10 ... 2 hours after milk feed. It use to be just weetabix with a mashed banana and COWS MILK, yes the only time he accepts it :D, but now I mix it up. Sometimes he has a bit of bread and cheese or anything I can think of. I would love for him to have porridge in the morning, because it sets him off for the day, but sometimes he is just not interested in it, so I don't really push him.

He only has one nap now and another milk feed just before it. Once he wakes up he has lunch. This is usually a toastie or anything with egg. If we go out for a meal it's usually for lunch, because he seems most interested in food at that time, so we get to eat our food as well. 

At dinnertime, he has whatever we are having. Sometimes I try sneaking something healthier for him when we are having a cheat day, but he just picks up on it and refuses to eat his food, so he still ends up having whatever we are.

He has snacks in between as well. It's either the organix crisps or cheesestrings or a few slices of sausage and now that it's clementine season he is having those as well. On a completely unhealthy note he is absolutely obsessed with Wotsits :D haha, he sees a pack and he will throw out anything he is holding in his hand or mouth and he will not give up until we have opened the pack for him. The wotsits packs are now being held on the top of out kitchen cupboards, but I don't think it's completely unacceptable for him to have a few every now and then. It's all about the balance just like with grown ups. He also doesn't really like sweet things, other than his juice, so having a few unhealthy crisps really doesn't worry me :)

SLEEP

I don't even want to start :D He has one nap a day, which is usually 2 hours, and then goes to sleep around 7-8pm but most night he still wakes up. And for a really long time he was still having some milk during the night. I think...it's because he is getting loads of teeth. I mean he only has about 7 at the moment so there are still a lot to come. BUT it is EXHAUSTING....I am so lucky to have D to swappies with me, because honestly I don't know what I would do if I'd have to do everything myself every day AND then night....So any tips for teething relief would be awsome :) (we are currently using Teetha camomille granules, because he doesn't like the gels anymore)

PLAY

Our little art session with paints :)

He loves playing with anything or everything. I just find him so clever ( I'm sure all mothers think that about their child, but really he is CLEVER :D)He just figures everything out and then does it and it's amazing. He loves the flap books still, where you lift a flap and voilaa something is under it. And he remembers what is underneath before we even lift it up. He has also recently gotten into Lego. I got him a Lego Duplo number train set for his birthday, but until now he played with it for like a second and then moved on to something else, but recently...he has figured out how to put the parts together himself and is loving it. So I also got him a Lego Duplo farm set, which he loves. So sucess in the lego area :D next up puzzles I think. 

He is also going to at least 2 playgroups a week. I go with him to a toddler group on Fridays and then we have a nanny coming on Tuesdays or Thursdays who takes him to a different playgroup. He also likes soft play centres and he is fearless. He will climb up the slides and come head first from ladders :D I mean it's good exercise for me to keep him safe :D

MILESTONES

Because it's been soooo long since the last monthly update I thought I'll just mention that he started walking just before 11 month mark or just after...I can't even remember...what a great mother I am. but I remember thinking ''does this ever get old'' every time I saw him walk  :D honestly. 

He has been a bit slow on the talking side of things. He tries soooo hard :D but no words have come out until very recently. He still said ''emme'' (mommy in Estonian) ''dada'' and ''mommi'' (bear in Estonian) but other words were slow coming. He is now very good with words that start with a ''C'' like CUP and CAT and CAR and also DUCK and just short words. but he is getting better everyday and he tries to repeat whatever we say to him :)

SIZES

He is using pull up diapers and normal ones for night time. The pull up ones have been a size 5 for a while and we will be switching to nr 5 on the normal Pampers Dry night ones as well, as his belly is getting too big for the 4 :D 

He is in either 9-12 month old or 12-18 month old clothes now, depending on the make really. Tesco, which is where I get most of his clothes has smaller clothes for the sizes, so 12-18 month old clothes fit him perfectly. As H&M 12-18 is way too big for him. But he will grow into the clothes, so I'm not worried. And also it depends how many times I've washed something :D 

He is about 10.7 kg heavy, which is normal for his height, which was 78 ?? I think at his 1 year check up :) 

And I think I have pretty much covered everything :) If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask me anything. I am no expert in child care, but I can speak from my experience :)

Hope you enjoyed the post

And as always

Stay Tuned

xoxo

Meril

Home-Made Take-Away

Good Afternoon, Everyone :)
Today I will be sharing a dinner recipe that we love and have weekly. Home-made bunless burgers with sweet potato fries, corn on the cob and guacamole.

As a family we don't get a lot of take-away food. Reasons are, that you can never be too sure about the quality of the food and it's really a hit or miss with taste sometimes. Another reason is that I really enjoy cooking and some might say I'm a feeder :D It's my way of showing I care. I cook a nice dinner and I love trying out new recipes, using amazing produce and making tasty meals for myself, D and Oscar. Don't get me wrong we do like a nice pizza every now and then when it's either been a long day or a week. We also order Indian food every now and then because D likes a curry and I can't really make one....to be honest I hadn't even tasted a curry before I met him :D
But here it is. One of our family favourites...BURGER AND FRIES :) and I have to mention that I forgot to put the corn in the oven....CORN IS MISSING :D

What you need :
BURGER
 - good quality mince meat 250 grams is enough for 2 people (2 and a half in our case)
 - 1 red onion
 - 1 clove of garlic
 - 1 egg
 - 1 gherkin (This is optional :D)
 - Seasoning ( I use garlic pepper, salt, basil, and also generic italian seasoning)
 - cheese ( I like to grate the cheese and then top the burgers at the last minute. I then put a lid on the pan for a minute or so to let the cheese melt) You can also mix the cheese into the burger before cooking.

With the burgers you just mix all the ingredients together and add the egg last. The egg will bind the whole mixture together. Make two (2 big 1 tiny for our family :D I made 3 medium size this time) patties and leave them on the side until you prepare all the rest of the ingredients

SWEET POTATO FRIES
 - 2 sweet potatoes ( but this depends on the size)
 - seasoning ( I use a ready made potato seasoning by Santa Maria, in UK you can find it pretty much every Lithuanian, Polish, international store) But paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder and salt powder will do just as well
 - oil

I have a trick here. I use a big zip lock bag, add dry sweet potato fries...I dry them with a paper towel, then I add the seasoning shake it up and the oil Zip the bag up again and give it a last good shake. I cook the fries in a 180'C over for about 15-20 minutes or until they are crispy. You don't want to put too many on a tray because if the tray is overloaded the potato ends up steaming rather than crisping up. And I use greaseproof paper rather than foil, as I find that foil makes the fries stick more.

GUACAMOLE
 - 1 ripe avocado. (here's a tip. If you can squeeze the stone out of the avocado it's perfect for guacamole)
 - finely chopped onion slice
 - 1 clove of garlic ( I like to use a garlic press, because I think it makes the taste more intense)
 - finely sliced jalapeno pepper (just for that extra kick) you can also use chilli powder or chilli flakes or leave this part out all together.
 - oil
 - salt
 - pepper
- squeese of lime ( I usually don't have lime so I add lemon pepper instead )
 - finely chopped tomato
( Oscar doesn't have this, which is why I can add the jalapeno. He doesn't like the texture of avocado on its own, so he has cucumber slices instead)

CORN ON THE COB
This is pretty straight forward :D we use big frozen packs of vegetables and the same with corn. SO I just put the frozen corn in the oven with the fries and add a knob of butter after cooking. ( like I said earlier I forgot the corn )

And there you go...An amazing dinner, that everyone will enjoy. And you can make it high carb by adding that burger bun if you really feel like treating yourself :D

Hope you enjoyed the post

Do you have a dinnertime favourite?

Do let me know once you've tried out the recipe yourself and

as always, Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Easy DIY Christmas Centerpiece

Good Evening, Everyone :)
Tonight I am sharing an easy and affordable Christmas/Festive centrepiece you can make with things you probably already have or can get very easily. Hope you enjoy and give it a go.

Things you need

1. Some pinecones ( I got mine from Homebargains, they were in a massive bag called poupurri (I beg to differ) :D they don't have any scent to them but they were £2.99 and I got them for the reason of using them as decorations anyway rather than use the pack as poupurri. You can definitely just go and pick them yourself...unfortunately I couldn't find any pine trees....ANYWHERE...

2. Small baubles ( the ones I used are from John Lewis and they were £5.99 if I remember correctly...I probably don't as I bought them over a month ago)

3. flat ornaments. I picked out these silver star tree decorations from Homebase and they were £2.99 for a pack of 20 (maybe they were £3.99)

4. A big dinner plate

5.A candle ( This amazing candle is from TkMaxx and it was only £7.99 :O You don't get much better than that I think) 

You can also use a simple white (or whatever colour you like) because the garland/centrepiece itself is already quite festive.

Honestly I'm not too good at remembering prices as I've just realised. But it's because none of these things were expensive. I'm sure I would remember paying £20 for Christmas tree decorations :D

And then what you do is just place the candle in the middle of the plate and arrange all the decorations around it :) It's so simple and it's just beautiful. I do like long centrepieces, but I also like having food on the table during Christmas dinner, so I think something beautiful just at the centre of the table does the trick. 

Hope you enjoyed this little Christmas post....I know it might be too early for some. But if you have a child or children or dog or donkeys you just find that planning your time and doing things ahead of time saves you a lot of stress later :)

Let me know what you think and if you're going to try some diy Christmas decorations yourself :)

And as always stay tuned. Tomorrow I will share another vegan recipe by Jo :)

xoxo

Meril

Estonian Biscuit Cheesecake

Good Morning, Everyone. I am very excited to share an amazing cookie cake recipe by my lovely friend Kadi :) Making no bake biscuit cakes is kind of a big deal in Estonia :D Everyone knows what you mean the minute you mention it so now you too can be in the know.
I have to mention...again....how excited I get whenever someone mentions the biscuit cheesecake so I am so happy that I get to share this one with all of you :) And here it is :)

As a city dweller I command a fairly small kitchen, meaning the use of an oven usually entails me yanking it out of the cupboard, setting it on my kitchen table and loosing that all-important working space. In addition, baking is a more time-consuming endeavour, which is why after a long day during the week I turn to a simple yet effective recipe: a delicious Estonian biscuit cheesecake (also a great Fathers’ Day present, which we celebrate here today).

The recipe is suitable for bakers of all ages!

All-important ingredients (all depend on the size of the cake you make): 

1.       Sour Cream

2.       Cheese curd (quark)

3.       Cocoa powder

4.       Biscuits

5.       Berries

6.       Juice

1. Decide on the size of the cake you want to make and choose a suitable cake base, preferably with higher edges, as the masterpiece will tower =)

2. Mix the cocoa powder (preferably sweetened) with the sour cream (for the size of the cake I made I used about 750g of sour cream; add the cocoa to taste)

3. Use the mixture to cover the base of your cake base. Be as generous as You want.

4. Mix together the cheese curd + cocoa sour        cream mixture and add berries of your choice – blackcurrants are a personal favourite of mine. (you can use different berries on different layers, like bananas and strawberries ...anything really)

5. Once the mixture is done and the cake base ready you can start building the cake. Before layering the biscuits I like to soak them in some orange juice. This allows the biscuit to more easily absorb all the flavours of the cake and makes the consistency more pleasurable.

6. Cover the biscuits with your mixture of cheese cur, sour cream, cocoa and berries and then add another layer of biscuits – I have chosen to use different flavour of biscuits for varying layers.

Keep going till You’ve reached the desired height.

7. Once You’ve finished, cover the entire cake with the sour cream cocoa mixture You used on the base and cover the cake in its entirety. Design Your own topping and decorate as you please. 

Cover the cake and let is set in the fridge for overnight. However if You’ve used plenty of cream and soaked your biscuits You can dig in after a few hours!

There will be more posts from Kadi during the coming months (hopefully :D) In the meantime you can follow Us and Kadi on Instagram. You can also follow the blog on Bloglovin or you can just keep checking back :)

As always hope you enjoyed the post by the wonderful Kadi 

AND 

Stay tuned

xoxo