An Evening with Omar Allibhoy and Olive It!

I had a wonderful evening at The Brighton Cookery School recently where Omar Allibhoy held a culinary masterclass with Olive It!





Read all about it over on the food blog Nutritious Deliciousness click here!


TKMaxx

Shopping at TKMaxx is always an experience, always something new and original.   The variety of products, constantly changing stock and greatly reduced prices makes it a great place to look for unique gifts as well as home décor pieces, wall art, homewares, cushions, kitchen gadgets, crystal, crockery, pots, pans, condiments, books, toys, cosmetics and of course a huge selection of clothes, shoes and handbags (a favourite place for me to buy mine!).  The list is seemingly endless.



We have 2 stores locally but I usually frequent the Hove branch, which is a little smaller and a little out of town but with very easy and plentiful parking which makes the shopping experience a little more relaxed for me. 

I rarely come out empty handed, I mostly buy food props (TKMaxx is brilliant for original, one-off pieces I know I won't see anywhere else) for my food blog at Nutritious Deliciousness, I am very drawn to brightly coloured bowls and unusual items that will look fantastic when photographed.  TKMaxx is also my go to place when I need a specific prop like my recent purchase of a chopping board, I knew there would be a lot of styles to choose from along with much lower prices.









These items are from my latest visit, surprise, three more bowls (it's a foodie trend at the moment with smoothie, buddha and poke bowls to name a few!), you can usually pick up a great quality artisan product that is always so unusual, which I love.  A dotty tray, always useful for foodie shots, a pestle and mortar which I am gifting to Mr CCL then he can stop using my lovely wooden lemon juicer to pound his garlic, seeds and the like.  And finally a Mason Cash small ceramic pie dish.  All for under £20!

TKMaxx also stock some top brands like Jaime Oliver, Cuisinart, Staub, Le Creuset and many, many, more.  Well worth a visit if you haven't ventured there before and you'll wonder why when you see the amazing savings.

Disclaimer:  I was given a gift card from TKMaxx for the shopping experience and review.  All opinions are my own.  

Hotter Shoes - Brighton Launch


My mum loves Hotter shoes, she's been buying them for years. I've never really taken a look at their range for a couple of reasons, one that I thought they were just for a certain generation and another that I'm not keen on buying shoes online.  I like the shoe-shopping experience, feeling the shoes and trying them on - lots of them!

So when I was invited to the launch of the new Hotter store in Brighton and to view their new collection, I thought what better opportunity to see for myself.  I was really pleasantly surprised at the broadness of the range everything from boots to court shoes to mary janes to sports/walking shoes and much more.   I tried on practically everything and I think you'll agree that the diversity of their range can span the generations.










My shoe size has changed slightly since I had Miss CCL, I used to take a size 4 (37) but since then a 4.5 has been more comfortable.  I have found, though, that a lot of shoe shops don't cater for half sizes so I'm usually in a size 5 (38) for comfort.  Hotter, on the other hand, do most of their range in half sizes starting from 4.5 which turned out to be a perfect fit for me.

To say I was delighted with my final choice of footwear is an understatement.  After trying on several styles, I chose the Ribble boot in black with Goretex ® which lets the air in whilst keeping water out, fur lined, great grip sole, just fabulous, my dream school run, dog walking, coffee in town, stylish, extremely comfortable, top quality boots!



The new season shoes were on show with some gorgeous new designs and colours, a range reminiscent of Downton Abbey, with a wonderful modern twist.  Hotter also has an impressive selection of men's shoes as well as a stunning collection of handbags all with the same attention to style and detail and some great colour options.






Hotter is the UK's biggest shoe manufacturer, making a pair of shoes every 20 seconds!  They actually started in business making slippers, now their shoes and boots are as comfortable as wearing slippers.  Each shoe and boot includes a comfort concept feature which includes cushioning, flexibility, lightness and allows for wiggle room for toes.  Their soles, made in the Hotter factory in Lancashire, are filled with millions of air bubbles, no wonder they are so super comfortable.



I would like to thank Hotter shoes for a delightful evening and the staff from the new Brighton Hotter Shoes store for the warm welcome and help finding and fitting our shoes. Thanks too to Mel and Jenni from Hotter's PR team for the invitation.




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Disclosure: I was gifted a complimentary pair of Hotter shoes for the purposes of this review. All comments and thoughts are my own.

An Amazing Day at River Cottage HQ

Last week I was fortunate to spend a day at River Cottage HQ and Foodies100, it was a pretty amazing experience and lovely to network and put some faces to names.  Pop over to my food blog Nutritious Deliciousness for the full story.




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My Sunday Photo and a Summer break

This is all I've got for My Sunday Photo this week, beach, beach and more beach.  I never tire of living by the coast and our sea views.





And with summer in full fling and the school holidays nearly upon us, it's time to take a break.  Stats and scores will plummet but none of that matters, what does matter is spending quality time with Miss CCL, celebrating her 5th birthday and getting out on our travels in the warmth of the sun and plenty of fresh air.



Happy Summer break everyone!



OneDad3Girls


#CheckOutThatView

My Sunday Photo - Poppies

It has been a lovely surprise to see Poppy fields literally popping up locally in the last couple of weeks when I thought there would be none this year.  


Apparently because we had a milder Winter followed by a warm Spring, it has helped create the perfect conditions for Poppies.  And even more interesting, I saw on a weather report last week that Poppy seeds can live dormant in the soil for around 40 years and suddenly come to life if there is a disturbance in the earth which is why we are seeing so many unexpectedly flower randomly in fields! Who knew!

This is the first time I have seen Poppies from our bedroom window, that seagull seems determined to get into my photo's!


And this is one of the Poppies from the field, a rather exotic version of the ones in my garden.


Any Poppy fields sprouting near you??


My Sunday Photo


Fabulous lunch at Silo Brighton with Miele, loved watching all the professionals at work, from the chefs to the photographer and videographers.  You can learn a lot just by absorbing the atmosphere!

The theme of the lunch was Silo's ethos of zero waste, pop over to my food blog at Nutritious Deliciousness for the full scoop on sustainability and what the chefs prepared for us.



OneDad3Girls

My Sunday Photo - Street Art

There is quite a bit of graffiti or street art around the town, very spectacular designs splashed over walls and sides of buildings, so colourful and brightening up spaces by very talented artists.



I expect everyone has their views on this type of art, but here it is part of the landscape.



OneDad3Girls

My Sunday Photo


The bees are busy buzzing around the garden, the Borage seems to be their main attraction, it has certainly gone wild this year, Buttercups too but I never seem to see a bee on them.  I saw an article the other day that said bumble bees love scruffy gardens!  By that they mean letting wildflowers grow to attract them.  After our dog passed away recently I decided to leave the back garden do whatever it liked in his memory and it certainly has, Buttercups, Borage, Acquilegia, Forget-me-nots and many I have yet to identify have taken root and it is awash with colour and greenery.   We miss you little dog.








OneDad3Girls

My Sunday Photo - Peonies



Finally my Peonies have exploded into bloom!  These photos are completely unedited and just as I snapped them yesterday.  Peonies are so intricate and the colour depth is just gorgeous.



These Peonies flower every year, they push their way up through the soil and beguile us with their crimson beauty, even when we had the garden raised and they had further to go to get to the surface, they still popped up, that's real determination.  We could all learn a lot from the strength of plants.



OneDad3Girls

My Sunday Photo




I caught this cheeky seagull sitting on the No Fishing sign in our local pond, the pond is full of fish, not sure if the seagull can read!




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