This 'n' That

Happy Valentines Day to you all!  I have to be honest I am not big on Valentine's Day, not in the sense that I don't like all the romantic gestures and showing how you feel about someone, I just find that organised gift giving, declaring love etc on an day when everyone else is doing the same, makes me a bit uncomfortable.  I much prefer the more personal anniversary celebrations that mean so much more.  That being said, I had a beautiful card through the post from Dave this morning and am looking forward to a lovely evening tomorrow when he is over. Megan and I also made cards for each other and we are also baking heart shape cookies with my nephew this afternoon whilst my sister is in work.  See I'm not miserable about it really!!

anyway......

linking up with Katie and Jena today.

This week is half term (already!) which means more time with my princess. We spent Tuesday morning with girly time at the cinema watching Tinkerbell, followed by meeting my friend Tyler at my favourite Coffee Barker (as Megan hadn't seen him since he returned from NC) and a visit to my museum where there is a temporary Iron Age Exhibition (Yes, there is a real Iron Age Hill Fort in Cardiff!).

Tyler and Megan messing around

That last weekend saw the Welsh Rugby Team back to winning ways beating France in Paris! We are current Six Nations Champions / Grand Slam Champions and Triple Crown winners, but we have had a recent bad spell. We lost to Ireland in the opening match but finger crossed we are now on our way back! you cannot understand what this means to a Welsh girl, rubgy is practically our religion!!

Celebrating our win last Championship!

That the items below may have just been added to my wishlist after browsing the Mango website. Mango is one of my favourite stores and it is always dangerous for me to pop in there or look online! No harm done though I guess, I was only looking....for now!!!

Well I haven't bought a new scarf in a while! ;)

Love these!

So cute...a definite MUST!!

One can never have enough comfy tees ;)

I hope that you are having an enjoyable week and whatever you are doing for Valentine's Day (or not doing if that is the case!).

A xxx

Perfect Prawn Paella

Is it just me or is finding different, healthy delicious food hard work?

Don't get me wrong I love cooking and clean food but making sure we don't get stuck in a rut of eating the same thing week in week out is a tiresome task. To top it off every meal has to be gluten free aswell!

I was looking for new recipes for my meal planner this week and saw a few paella recipes. Goodness knows why I haven't made one before but they are so easy and delicious! The recipes I saw seemed a bit bland so I decided to make my own and I will definitely be making it again!

Ingredients 

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 red pepper , sliced

• 1 garlic clove, chopped

• 150g paella rice or long grain rice

• a large pinch saffron

• a large pinch smoked paprika (although I use a lot more!)

• 400ml chicken stock

• 150g large cooked prawns, shell on or off

• 100g frozen peas , defrosted

• a small bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp lemongrass
• 1 tsp cajan spice mix
• olive oil or coconut oil

Method

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan and cook the onion, pepper and garlic until soft.  

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Stir in the rice, paprika, saffron, cajan spice and lemon grass until well mixed.

Pour in the stock and simmer for 15 minutes until tender.  Add some more water if necessary.

Add the prawns and peas for the last few minutes until heated through.  

Season, stir through the parsley and serve.

It was so delicious and luckily there was enough to heat up for lunch the next day! I can't wait to have this again.

I would love to hear about some of your quick dinner recipes.

A xx

Dreaming of summer...

I haven't been here for a week now. I started a few posts last week that haven't been finished but the week was not a good one and as it went on my head started to feel more and more as though I wasn't on this planet. Writing and even reading has become tiring and difficult these past few days so I have been absent from these parts.

Therefore, today I will leave you with some pictures I have pinned recently whilst dreaming of summer and hope that tomorrow I will wake refreshed and back on Earth!

Cannot wait for summer....

but as the winter insists on sticking around......

Have a good Monday :)

A xx 

A grown up day off

This weekend was busy! We kicked it off with an adult only day. Dave and I both had the day off and after taking Megan to school spent the morning relaxing. My parents were picking her up from school that day so later in the afternoon we took the bus into town and went for a wander around the Victorian Cardiff Arcades, one of my favourite parts of Cardiff.  First stop had to be for tea, coffee and cake in my favourite coffee shop Coffee Barker. They do the best gluten free cup cakes and Dave was actually beaten by the carrot cake!

It looks so bad that I had already finished my cupcake!

I then took Dave to another arcade to look in Spillers, as he is so into music it was nice to take him somewhere that would interest him.  Founded in 1894 it is the world's oldest record store and somewhere visitors always ask about when they come into the museum.  I love this place, the staff have so much knowledge, they can always get hold of the most obscure album and it is nice to go somewhere and be able to hold vinyl!  It always reminds me of listening to music with my father and popping in with him when I was young. 

Source: The Arcade Projects

We also found this poster on display there....I wonder where we were going that night ;)

Next we met up with my friend Tyler and his friend to get some food.  As it was Friday night in town it was pretty hectic everywhere and full of screaming women! We settled on Tiger Tiger and had the most delicious chilli-glazed lamb with sweet potato wedges.  So tasty and a bonus as all food was 50% off as they had just had a big refurbishment :)

I feel like I have gone on far too much about Anberlin over the last week or so, therefore as amazing as this gig was (completely random with blown electrics and an impromptu acoustic set with Stephen running straight at me), I will just add this photo (to complete the set) of me with their drummer Nate!!

This post really does not sum up what a great day we had, I'm not sure if I am just over tired or coming down with something but I am completely flat and very cranky this last weekend! This weekend was also the start of the Six Nations Rugby Championship and we also visited an animal rescue centre but I think that may be a post for tomorrow! 

I hope you had a great weekend :)

A xx