A love letter to coffee

Dear Coffee

When we first met I was young and I didn’t like you, you tasted funny, and you seemed far too old for me. Soon I learnt that you were a great vehicle for dipping in rich tea biscuits, especially when spending afternoon’s at Grandma’s, leaving the biscuits in there so long they dropped off and dissolved into you.

As I got older and moved away from home we fooled around; a milky latte here, a cappuccino there, but we never made it official. In my second year of Uni, things got more serious, and I remember ringing Dad to ask him if you could have too many coffees. I was so naive.

At 21 things between us became intense. Espressos and macchiato’s became a daily, sometimes hourly event. The smell of you bubbling away on the stove in my little flat brings back so many memories, and I learnt to really appreciate you.

By the time I moved back to England I knew you’d be in my life forever. You gave me the perfect, inexpensive excuse to catch up with friends, relax, treat myself, and got me through hours of lectures and long library stints. I played around with adding syrups to you, but I kept coming back to you on your own, plain and simple.

Now we’ve settled into a routine like a married couple. Every morning you wake me up and set me up for the day. Whenever I’m down in the day I know you’ll pick me up, weather you’re on your own, or double dating with some soy milk. At weekends I look forward to spending time with you and friends, experimenting with your different flavours and roasts, there’s always something new to try with you. You make my weekends relaxing, I can’t wait to spend a long, lazy Sunday with you and the TV.

So, coffee, I just wanted to say – thank you, and I love you. I hope you’ll stick by me forever, you’ve given me so many happy memories, and I couldn’t be without you.

Always in your debt

Emma xxx

Too much | Sampha

If you do one thing today, please, please, just take three minutes out of your day and ignore all other distractions to listen to this. I heard it on Jo Whiley’s evening show, and I think it’s beautiful.

Cook book challenge

I have a confession to make. I have something of an obsession with cook books. I read them in bed at night instead of regular books, which my Mum calls ‘food porn’. I don’t think it’s quite that bad though! As I alluded to in my 2014 resolutions, this year I want to make more of the cook books I have. I love nothing more than going into WHSmith to see the latest deals on their cook books, not to mention the treasure trove that is charity shops, and then there’s the Aladdin’s cave known as TK Maxx. I also firmly believe the cook books a person owns (if at all), says a lot about who they are as a person. I’m not quite sure how many cook books I own, but it’s about two shelves of a bookcase, so I’d say quite a lot! They vary from baking, vegan, diet, student, time saving, nationality specific, and thanks to Bess, preserves.

Whilst I love reading the cook books for ideas and inspiration, it’s rare I often actually follow a recipe from the book, and although I think this has made me a better and more experimental cook, I’ve decided I need to actually see if these people who make a living doing my dream job actually make recipes that the regular person, not professionally trained, can manage (yes, I’d love to be a TV chef and write cook books and travel learning how to cook different techniques and cuisines)! I’m hoping I can learn some different techniques, use new ingredients, and try new to me foods (I’m looking at you, shellfish).

So, throughout 2014 I hope to try at least one new recipe a fortnight, and report back to you. I’m going to be ‘judging’ the recipes and cookbooks on ease of getting ingredients, cost, time taken, ease to follow, and of course, taste! I don’t plan on doing 26 recipes from 26 different books as that could get expensive, so there may be some repetition of cook books, and chefs, but I hope you enjoy, and I think it’ll be great for me to look back on at the end of the year and see how I’ve done.

Do you own many cook books? Where’s your favourite place to look for new recipes? Do you stick to the same set of things to cook, or do you experiment?

A new obsession

We’re already onto the second series and it hasn’t even been 24hours. I think it’s safe to say we’re hooked as a family.

Other than that today has been filled with seeing my Grandma, quilting, dropping my Nanny off, and buying a sewing machine! I’m so excited for it to arrive, and finally start making some real progress on my quilt, and so many other projects. I’ve already been searching for lots of craft blogs.

How’s your boxing day been?

My Magic Song

Sometimes no matter how bad a mood you’re in, there’s always one song that will lift your spirits. Whether you’re walking to work in the rain with a busy day ahead, or you’re in the car stuck in traffic there’s something magical about that one song that will always put a smile on your face. And in the middle of a busy week, this song is no exception!

My ‘magic’ song right now is ‘Who Loves You’ by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

Who Loves you–Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

I’m not sure what it is about this song, if it’s the lyrics or the the melody. I think it’s just those first few opening bars of music that build into Frankie singing.

“Who loves you pretty baby? Who’s gonna help you through the night?”

This song makes me feel like I’m on top of the world and that nothing can stop me. I feel invincible when I listen to this song. I think it makes me think “Who loves you?” and the answer to that should be ‘ME’.

It also reminds of me of a fantastic night when Rylar and I went to see Jersey Boys and I just love it. In fact, I’ve had this song on repeat on my iTunes for an hour now, and it’s the most played song on my iTunes.

I’m not sure how long this will be my ‘magic’ song for, but for now I don’t see how I will get sick of it!

Do you have a magic song?

Obsessions – Tea

Recently I wrote about my obsession with Chocolate. I am a true Chocoholic. My obsessive nature doesn’t just stop with chocolate, however. Tea holds a special place in my heart.

Until I moved to Italy and subsequently met Ryan I wasn’t much of a tea drinker. The past two years that has changed. There is nothing I love more than a hot cup of tea. Unfortunately due to some funny tummy troubles at the moment I’ve laid off the traditional tea and milk combo. That hasn’t stopped me experimenting with some awesome new teas!

Just check out my current selection!

 

Traditional tea for Ryan

Calming Teas for before bed

Make Us a Brew "Big Chill" for the mornings

Pukka Vanilla Chai 

Fresh and Fruity for a change

Peppermint for when I’ve overindulged or need something for my tummy

Lemon and Ginger for when my tummy’s feeling funny

 

My office drawer has a selection of all these teas and a box of green tea with lemon which I absolutely love and could drink all day long!

Do you love tea? What types of tea am I missing out on?

Confessions of a Chocoholic

 

I have a confession to make. I’m a chocoholic. Not a day goes by where I don’t have something chocolate-y pass my lips. I have a current obsession with KitKat Chunkies, and I believe they’re starting to make me look like one myself.

(Source)

 

I’d even go so far as to say sometimes it feels like an addiction. Often I’m not even hungry, but I need my endorphin hit from those cocoa beans!

My chocoholic like tendencies have got so bad I even have a drawer stashed full of chocolate…

…and a fridge…

 

However, people have started to notice my chocolate cravings. In fact, it has become something of a joke…Apparently, if I have too many of those tasty, wonderful cocoa beans it affects my mood, not in a good way. I get complete chocolate crashes, to the point where I get overly emotional and teary, for no good reason.

I’m inspired by women like Hannah who gave up chocolate for 2011. What an inspirational lady, in my current state it certainly would be a challenge for me. I can’t even manage 1 day!!!

One of my challenges for 2012 (can’t believe it’s 2012 already!!), will be to dramatically reduce the amount of processed sugar I eat. And by that, I mean rationing chocolate and letting it be a treat, not something I eat everyday!

How would you recommend to overcome my chocolate-y sugar dependency? How much chocolate do you eat? Do you have a ‘stash’ of good foods somewhere?