[Ad- gifted product] Pancake Day is a strange holiday in the United Kingdom, for it everyone seems to eat Pancakes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This day is meant to be Shrove Tuesday, which is preceding Ash Wednesday, but no one I know seems to talk about the religious routes and instead shares great pictures of the pancakes they’ve made. We wanted to do something a little different, so we jumped on the Instagram trend of Pancake Boards or Pancake Charcuterie boards.
[Ad- gifted products] Our household is always on the lookout for toys, especially toy kits and items that will keep the three kids entertained. With the half term coming up, PoundToy reaching out with their very affordable toys seemed like a really good fit. Pound Toy is an online retailer that sells loads and loads of children’s toys at extremely affordable prices. They have some name brands, but mainly loads of cheaper off-brands that work pretty well. A few of their toys are free ad-ons (one per order) and there are toys that come in at £0.01, which can be added to an order, but do have a limit depending on what it is.
Dann has a lot of Mexican cook books dotted around, including Death by Burrito. Death by Burrito is an interesting cookbook as it was written by a co-owner of a restaurant in Shoreditch who had never actually ran a restaurant or cooked professionally. After travelling to Mexico and California, they made up a menu for their restaurant and eventually made this book of all of the stuff that they cook there.
Death by Burrito isn’t the best cookbook – it’s actually one of the more confusing books we actually own. Midway through recipes, it instructs you to go to different pages and make something else, which is pretty challenging when trying to time out food or follow the recipe. Flipping back and forth becomes a constant while cooking, as you try to make little side dishes that go inside the dish you are creating or typing. It’s really great that the book has recipes for salsa verde and different rices, but having the person cooking flip between pages is really a challenge. With that in mind, we are sharing just the recipe for Chicken Enchiladas, not the Chipotle Rice or the Salsa Verde which can be in it.
We both really love to visit the various exhibitions at Kew Gardens. After attending their Chihuly exhibition earlier this year, we couldn’t miss their Orchid Festival! The Orchid Festival aims to be an exploration of Indonesia, where there are over 5,000 different orchids – from small little flowers to vibrant, huge bundles. The exhibition is within the Princess of Wales Conservatory on the grounds. The cafe also has a themed menu around the Orchid Festival, and there are a few different Indonesia food carts that we saw dotted around. This event runs until March 8th.
After a quick walk through the park, we arrived at the Princess of Wales Conservatory. From the outside, it looked like a pretty small building, but that was nothing compared to what was within it! The first section took us through a small, almost desert like area that contained a few out coves to take photos at. This was more of an entry hall, that opened up to a much grander main area.
[Ad- gifted experience] The Cecily Beauty and Relaxation spa has been recently refurbished, so both Claire and I were invited to a day out to try out their relaxing services and see the new look. There is a lot to do at this spa from body treatments to lashes, to pedicures, to piercings and spray tans. There are so many ways to indulge in self care and relaxation. Partnered with the Alchemy & i blow dry and bubbles, it’s the perfect place to book a day all about treating yourself.
The Alchemy & i blow dry and bubbles lounge is an area where you can get your hair styled and blow dried, while also sipping on delicious cocktails and bubbly drinks. This is like the ultimate bar for those who want to look fabulous. I didn’t end up getting a blow dry and spent my time in the Cecily spa, but still found this concept to be lovely and will be back to try out this area in the future.