Dopper Water Bottles for my GIVEAWAY / A mini shopping haul from my Christmas shopping trip on Wednesday / Homemade Tempura Vegetables with noodles and sweet chilli dip / Miggley and Mog in their cuddle pouch / New nail varnish from Asda, which I reviewed and swatched here / Kisses with Mog the Rat / Snibston Discovery Museum in Coalville, where my fiancé and I spent the day on Friday / My new leather look leggings with heeled Dr Martens / Dad’s new Crested Gecko, Ylno Tixe.  He’s lovely!

If you’d like to follow me on Instagram and see more of my photos, my username is bewitchery_.  Please comment on this post with your usernames too as I’m always looking for new accounts to follow, especially fashion and beauty ones!

Naomi x

Our Halloween pumpkin, carved by me / Mog the Rat having snuggles in my dressing gown / My dad’s baby bearded dragon, Russell, who in the last week has turned a lot more yellow! / Fireworks from the Abbey Park firework display on Saturday / My Butler & Wilson skull necklace / Sunday lunch at The Hunting Lodge – Stilton, Mushroom and Broccoli pasta bake with chips and veggies / AMAZING Rich Chocolate and Peanut Stack / Sunday rainbow / Miggley the Rat sitting in my slipper boot

If you’d like to follow me on Instagram and see more of my photos, my username is bewitchery_.  Please comment on this post with your usernames too as I’m looking for more accounts to follow!

Naomi x

This recipe makes 24 generously sized cookies.

Ingredients:

• 200g Unsalted Butter or Stork
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 300g Self Raising Flour (Sieved)
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• Zest of 1 Orange
• 100g Milk Chocolate (Chopped)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4.
2. Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together with an electric whisk, until creamy.
3. Divide the mixture equally into two bowls and stir half the flour into each bowl, adding orange zest to one, and chopped chocolate to the other.  Mix until a dough is formed
4. Divide each ball of dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into smaller balls.  Place each ball onto a greased or parchment lined baking tray (as far apart as possible) and press down gently with a fork.  You may need to bake in batches as they won’t all fit onto one tray.  I tend to bake two batches of six at a time.
5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.  It’s best to check after 10 minutes and then every minute or two until they’re done.
6. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
7. Enjoy!

The texture of these cookies is lovely – soft, but also slightly crumbly, like a Viennese whirl.  They taste absolutely delicious as well and have gone down very well with my partner and family!

Will you be trying this recipe?

Naomi x

I was lucky enough to receive everything on my Birthday Wish List this year, and more!  Everything I was given is very ‘me’, and I have quite a few fashion and beauty items to review for you, including Layla, Miss Sporty and Barry M nail varnishes, Sleek Lipstick and Real Techniques make up brushes.  There was also a strong owl theme in my cards and gifts this year…  My mum even bought me a packet of owl print toilet roll as a joke!  Haha.

Charles surprised me with this absolutely beautiful silver necklace which says ‘Everlong’.  Everlong by the Foo Fighters has been my favourite song for years, and when Charles and I got together it became ‘our’ song, so when I saw this I very nearly cried.  I love it so much and I’m going to treasure it forever!

I’m a massive fan of Batman, and Charles’ mum and sister baked me this amazing Batman cake.  The bat is made from dark chocolate, the icing is vanilla and chocolate buttercream, and the sponge inside is coloured green and purple like the Joker.  How cool is that?

We are currently decorating our hallway and the walls were completely bare yesterday, so I decided to write a little note on the plaster for future generations to find one day when I’m old and grey.

Seeing as I had a casual day, I decided to wear a casual outfit for my birthday.  I settled for a pink dress top with romantic lace sleeves and purple skinny jeans, both from H&M, and my trusty purple Dr Martens.  Oh, and my Everlong necklace of course!

And true to kitty form, my cat Moth loved playing with all the wrapping paper and gift bags!

What did you do for Valentine’s Day this year?  Did you get anything nice from your loved one?

Naomi x

From Left to Right:

Smiley Lick.

Eton Mess Slab.

Salted Caramels.

Chocolate Gemstones.

Billionaire’s Shortbread.

Choosing a favourite out of these five delectable delights is very difficult (I am a chocoholic, after all), as they are all different, and all extremely delicious.  However, a decision has been made!  Read on to see what I thought of each one, and to see which one is my overall winner.

Smiley Lick

The Smiley Lick consists of a disk of thick milk chocolate on a lollipop stick, which is happily adorned with a smiley face.  This one is fun to look at, fun to nibble and it really shows off the high quality of Hotel Chocolat’s chocolate.  The chocolate is extremely smooth and has a rich, sweet flavour.  I gobbled this up rather quickly in one sitting, and was left wanting more.  Delicious, but I don’t think it’s quite right for a hotel pillow as it’s a bit too bulky looking!

Eton Mess Slab

The Eton Mess slab is absolutely beautiful to look at, as the pink chocolate swirled with cream and scattered with strawberry and meringue pieces makes it look like a work of art.  The chocolate itself is strawberry flavoured, with vanilla chocolate running throughout.  It isn’t as smooth as the milk chocolate as the real fruit bits give it a bit more texture, as do the little chocolate cookies hidden inside (which I wasn’t expecting when I first bit into it!), but it is divine!

If you have a sweet tooth then this is definitely for you – it smells and tastes just like a strawberry milkshake.  I can only handle a little bit of this at a time, but at least that means I can make the bar last and savour it.  This would be the winner if my sister had a say – it was her favourite out of all five choices.

Salted Caramels

I have always enjoyed the contrast between sweet chocolate and salty caramel, and these are the best salted caramels I have ever tried – the balance of flavours is perfect!  When you first bite into the chocolate the caramel comes oozing out, and you are hit with a toffee sweetness which has a slight tang of sea salt.  These perhaps wouldn’t be to everybody’s taste, but I think they’re a very sophisticated little treat and I’d definitely have these again.

Chocolate Gemstones

Hotel Chocolat’s Gemstones are made of white and dark chocolate drops, which have been fused together to create silky and shiny little spheres, which melt slowly on the tongue.  They might be small, but each one gives big flavour, with a creaminess from the white chocolate and a bitter edge from the dark chocolate which stops them being overly sweet.  Out of everything in the goody bag, these are the ones I keep going back to…  They’re very moreish!

Billionaire’s Shortbread

Last but not least, Billionaire’s Shortbread.  These unusual truffles are made of milk chocolate, and have a caramel praline inside which has a lovely soft texture.  Each one is also sprinkled with little pieces of shortbread cookie, which add a delicious crunch to every bite.  These really do taste just like the dessert of the same name, but their delicate size makes them that little bit more refined.  My other half absolutely loves the Billionaire’s Shortbread chocolates and I think these would win if it was his choice!

Though I like everything in the goody bag, my overall winner has to be the Gemstones!  They might be the simplest chocolate of them all, but I think that would make them suitable for any guest to enjoy, and their beautiful taste and dainty size make them the ideal snack to nibble on throughout the evening, whilst you lounge in your comfortable hotel room.  Bliss!

If you fancy a stay at a 4 Star Millennium Hotel (I know I’d love to stay at the London Mayfair hotel myself), now is a good time to book…  They are currently offering 30% off room rates until the end of March, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this could be a lovely way to impress your loved one!  Click here to find out more, and don’t forget to treat them to some Hotel Chocolat chocolates too.

Naomi x

*The Hotel Chocolat Goody Bag was sent to me by Millennium Hotels for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*

Diet

• As I said before, I have always been a big fan of sweet, chocolatey snacks and puddings.  I now eat far fewer snacks than I did before, which I admit makes me appreciate my main meals a lot more, but when I do snack I try to have fruit, yoghurt or crackers etc instead.
• I do still have sweet things, just a lot less of them.  For instance, I’ll buy a bag of treatsize chocolate bars instead of full size bars and make them last, or I’ll have smaller pudding portions.
• I have always drank a lot of water, but I’ve found that replacing the juice or fizzy drinks that I’d have with water has helped me cut down on sugar.  I still have them sometimes every now and then though

Exercise

• I got into the habit of using the bus to travel short distances just because I have a student bus pass.  I now leave my bus pass at home on purpose when I know I won’t be travelling far so that I have to walk.  I really enjoy walking, especially when I have someone to walk with, so me and the other half regularly go on long walks.  I usually take my camera too which gives the walk a point!
• My other half’s parents recently invested in a Wii Fit, which I have found very useful.  Even when it’s raining outside, exercise is still possible and the games are fun so before you know it you’ve done half an hour of exercise!

MyFitnessPal App

• About 2 months ago I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app on my Android phone.  Once you input your height, weight and weight loss aims, the app tailors a plan to suit you.  It gives you a calorie target to keep to each day and lets you know whether you’re eating too much fat, sugar etc, which helps you see where you’re going wrong.  I’m not much of a fan of calorie counting as it become quite obsessive, but this app really has helped me keep my focus!  You can add other users of the app as friends and they can comment on your achievements which is a great encouragement.

Mental Attitude

• I’ve learnt that denying yourself the things you love only makes you miserable!  You only live once (that old cliché) so enjoy these things whilst you can, just do it in moderation.  Gorging yourself on bars of chocolate isn’t healthy, but one bar every now and then isn’t going to hurt.
• Being realistic is also important.  At first, I felt that the MyFitnessPal calorie target was far too low for me when I told the app that I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds per week.  I kept going over my target by a few calories each day, and though I was still below the recommended calorie intake for a woman of my age, I started to feel guilty.  I reflected on this, changed my plan to 1 pound loss per week, and had 200 more calories per day to play with, which is perfect for me.

Obviously these techniques won’t work for everyone and I’m not saying everyone should follow this plan, but this has worked for me and I definitely feel healthier and happier.  Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up!

What have you done to improve your health and fitness?

Naomi x