NYE outfit inspiration with FarFetch

NYE is always a bit of a faff. There is always the pressure of where to be, what to eat and what to wear. However on NYE I find you can't go wrong with a bit of sparkle. Both in your champagne flute, and on your person. And with this in mind, here are some pieces I have been eyeing up which would excite anyone with magpie tendencies (tell me I'm not the only one?!)

Isabel Marrant skirt //  YSL gold sparkle clutch //  Lipstick //  Tibi off shoulder blouse

Aurelie Bidermann scarab turquoise earrings //  Blush //  Aquazurra X Farfetch Very Holli sandals

My ideal NYE outfit would include sparkles, and plenty of it. Isabel Marrant is one of my favourite designers and this skirt has NYE written all over it. NYE also calls for a statement bag and this gold sparkle YSL clutch would certainly turn heads. I love an off the shoulder top and I adore the white trim of this blouse. I've never seen anything like it before, and it's so much more interesting than a standard black off the shoulder tee. My look was a little lacking in colour, so I decided to brighten things with these gorgeous turquoise earrings and a bright blush and lipstick combo. I love a red lip at this time of year.

And finally the star of the show... the shoes. Lace up flats and heels have been huge this year, so it's no surprise that the Very Holli shoes caught my eye. Part of a four piece capsule collection - a collaboration that Farfetch has with Aquazurra - the other shoes in the collection are equally beautiful and consist of animal print Very Deena heels and their gold Claire platforms (the latter coming soon).

What will you be wearing for New Year's Eve?

The ultimate Christmas sandwich - what to do with Christmas leftovers

You know the story. At Christmas you eat and eat and eat, but still you have all the leftovers. I'm not a bubble and squeak type of girl, however monster Christmas sandwiches? I'm listening.

With leftover turkey, sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing and cranberry rye*, I felt inspired to create my own pigs in blankets sandwiches. And they were insanely good. You can't get a more festive mouthful. Simply load leftover turkey, stuffing and pigs in blankets into cranberry bread (my favourite recent find thanks to the Polish Bakery) and you are good to go!

Be generous with the stuffing as turkey can be quite a bland meat. The cranberry added a nice sweetness to an otherwise savory sandwich and then pigs in blankets because Christmas isn't Christmas without pigs in blankets!

Let me know if you give this one a try!

*cranberry rye c/o the Polish Bakery. As ever, opinions and love of festive sandwiches my own!  

Feeling festive with The Polish Bakery

Roll back a few weeks if you will, to one lovely evening where The Polish Bakery invited me along for an evening of festive cheer - mostly in the form of bread, cake and prosecco. And that's my favourite kind of festive cheer right there.

The Polish Bakery first founded in 2003 and are the longest established Polish bakery in the UK. With a very family orientated ethos, they are passionate about using high quality ingredients, and take the same level of care with their bread like they would with their own family. Their bread is award winning so I was pretty excited to try for myself at their Christmas shindig located in Kensington.

Myself and Chiara arrived to a glass of prosecco, a very talented guy on a piano playing a beautiful rendition of White Christmas, and tables groaning with food. No one was going home hungry that night, that's for sure!

How amazing is this Christmas tree tear and share bread?!

Other than being very, very tasty breads in their own right, they also held many health benefits. Their range of fruity sourdough based rye breads (one incorporating cranberries, the other, prunes) contain vitamins C, K, B, E, iron, calcium and lots of other vitamins and natural ingredients - with no additives, preservatives or nasties in there.

My favourite bread had to be their award winning chia seed bread. A bread prided for being rich in omega 3, antioxidants and being very nutritious with very few calories. It was far less dense than their other breads and melted in your mouth. The Polish Bakery very kindly gave me four loaves of bread to take home with me (x2 chia seed, x2 cranberry rye) and two of the biggest cheesecakes I have ever seen in my entire life - all of which have already been demolished eaten. I made the best festive sandwiches with the cranberry rye and the chia seed bread was the perfect accompaniment to a homemade tomato and paprika based fish stew.

A huge thank you to the Polish Bakery for the loveliest of evenings. I will be visiting soon to pick up more of your wonderful chia seed bread!

OOTD // Gucci loafer dupes & Topshop shirt

Oh the #firstworldproblems of moving house. Now entering my third month of living within different walls, I still haven't unpacked all of my clothes yet. There are boxes - oh so many boxes - and trying to find another box of clothes is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Quickly becoming bored of the clothes that I am wearing on rotation each week, I face two options:

1. unpack the rest of my clothes
2. buy new ones

But to be honest, option two is a whole lot more exciting. So here I am. Window shopping on the Internet, seeing what takes my fancy. And I have to say, this shirt has grabbed me.

Swallow shirt (available in petite, tall or standard sizing) // Joni bleach jeans // Lucy black / white loafers 

It's the perfect autumn / winter shade - even though I technically don't know what colour this is. Khaki? Mustard? Griege? Who knows. All I know is that it's pretty as. I love the golden sparkle of the embellished swallows, which helps to brighten up an otherwise dark garment.

Aren't these loafers the most perfect Gucci dupes?! Being called "Lucy" they were meant to be. I rather naughtily ordered myself a pair in black. When worn with peter pan collars peeking out of knitwear, I feel all kinds of Alexa Chung. The only downside? I paid full price and these loafers are now in the sale :'( always the way! C'est la vie

9 things you NEED to have in your autumn winter wardrobe

It's that time of year again. The icy mornings where your breath billows out in front of you in fluffy clouds, your favourite Christmas cups are back - even though it's not quite December yet - and the leaves on the trees going through a magical metamorphosis of glorious reds, yellows and oranges. I'm not the most colourful of people, but this time of the year inspires me to incorporate a little autumnal splash of colour into my wardrobe. Be is mustard, rust, tobacco or burnt orange.

Mustard tulle maxi skirt //  Burgundy skinny jeans //  Fluffy slouchy jumper // Fit and flare skirt

Imagine twirling in the leaves with this skirt... oh this skirt was made for twirling. The jeans however a little more on the vampy side - perfect for wintery nights out where you can't fathom wearing a skirt or dress. The jumper looks super cosy for the chilly mornings and evenings dawning in on us now. And another skirt. A little more structured this one, which wouldn't look out of place worn in the office or for client meetings.

Camel trousers //  Lace panel blouse // Sixties coat //  Insect detail red bag //  Burgundy boots

These trousers... because camel <3 Aren't they so much more interesting than standard black or blue jeans?! However this burnt orange blouse would make any pair of blue / black jeans extra special. I don't own anything yellow, but this coat would help lift the darkest of outfits. And for rich reds, I love this bag with quirky detailing and this pair of knee high boots.

What items are your favourites?

Getting into the Halloween spirit

Hands up who wrote the worst blog post title ever? That would be me. Because spirits. As in ghosts. And it's Halloween. But yes, moving on... Lately I have been purchasing few little bits and pieces for the house, getting into the Halloween spirit of things. So I thought I'd share what I have been loving lately.

Dunkel Fester beer // Ghost LED light 

Isn't this little guy the cutest?! He glows all colours on rotation and is the perfect mood lighting for the evenings spent watching films under ALL the blankets on the sofa.

The beer was an impulse buy from my local Aldi. This was seriously a dark beer which tasted unlike any other beer I have ever had before. I'm not usually a fan of beer, but this was one beer that I could get behind. Sold out online last time I checked, it may be worth checking out your local store if this looks to be your cup of tea. Alternatively if your local stores don't have any speciality Halloween craft beers / ales, you could always do a bit of DIY with Halloween printables found online. I found some stickers in my local Poundland which were great for giving regular bottles of cider a Halloween inspired twist.

Halloween stickers (also Poundland)

It's so easy to carve the same Halloween pumpkin design every year, but this year I wanted a change. This cat design reminded me of my family's black cat back home who always looks a bit angry!

Pumpkin tea light holder

The left hand ceramic pumpkin was another impulse buy the other day. Because priced at just £1, who can argue with that? Whereas my black cat pumpkin design (above centre) was surprisingly apt for watching Hocus Pocus and cooing over Binx. Gotta love that cat!

And what better way to top a film night than with Halloween themed pizza?

Because you can't get much more Halloween than with ghost mozzarella. 

Or homemade mummy sausage rolls for that matter.

On the sweeter side of things, Krispy Kreme doughnuts were the perfect post-savoury treat

Halloween zombie doughnuts* 

How amazing are these purple and green zombie doughnuts?! Both filled with chocolate truffle, the two colours represented different icing / glazes (purple being blackcurrant and the green being lime). My favourite ones were the green ones as the citrus really gave an added zing to the chocolate truffle filling. I also loved their seasonal pumpkin spice offering:

Pumpkin spice doughnut*

This one was denser with more of a crumbly texture. Think apple crumble as a doughnut. But obviously replace the apple with pumpkin. This doughnut had some lovely warming spices - perfect for this time of year.

And now? I sit here all ready for the trick or treaters

Pumpkin glow stick sweets + Skittles multi pack - Poundland

Haribo starmix multi pack - Tesco

If there are any sweets left (particularly the Haribo), I won't complain! 

What have you been up to over Halloween?

*a huge thank you to Krispy Kreme for providing me with doughnuts for my Halloween inspired weekend!

YUU KITCHEN // the new restaurant in town that Yuu need to check out!

In a city saturated with burger joint after burger joint, it is always refreshing to discover somewhere new to eat. And Yuu Kitchen with its quirky Manga pop art themed interiors is certainly that.

Headed up by Stephen Lowe (previously of London's Icebar) and Jon de Villa (previously of Nobu, Nobu Berkeley and Zafferano), Yuu Kitchen's flavours are said to be heavily influenced by South East Asia and the Pacific Rim. I was invited to the Yuu Kitchen launch last night and knowing the directors' background in the food industry, I had the highest of expectations. And you know what? I was not disappointed. It all started with a champagne reception, wandering around marvelling at the decor which the directors described themselves as modern Asian style meets Shoreditch. There was an industrial, East London edginess with exposed pipes and chains hanging from the tables - but with Manga inspired pop art on the walls and the overhead lighting contained in bird cages.

But enough about the decor (even though I could quite literally talk about it all day!) 

Because the real star of the show was the food.

Salmon and shrimp spoon with papaya salad
Soft salmon that melted in your mouth and sweetness from the papaya salad, which gave the dish great texture

Bao buns with crispy tofu and peanut
I didn't think tofu would be so full of flavour, but it was and the crushed peanut added a wonderful texture to it.

Spicy tuna tostada
Compared to the other dishes, this wasn't the prettiest of foods, but it was by far the tastiest. The tuna was cooked to perfection and even though it was spicy and I don't usually do spice, it tasted so good and so right, I went for it!

Vegetable spring rolls with sweet chilli dip
These were hands down the nicest spring rolls I have ever had. I usually find vegetable spring rolls very bland, lacking in vegetable and packed out with cheaper ingredients. These were generously filled with big bits of vegetable which you could see right from the very first bite.

Salt and pepper prawns 
These were a good size, not too heavily seasoned, and had that awesome meatiness you get with a larger prawn.

Sweet soy glazed beef 
Tender, melt in the mouth, and really more ish.

Yuu Kitchen is now open

29 Commercial St
Spitalfields,
London 
E1 6NE

Go check them out 

- Yuu would be mad not to!