Winter Feasts at Harvey Nichols

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I always feel like January can be a bit of a flat month. Everyone is in full-on resolutions mode, so it can feel tricky to treat yourself. Harvey Nichols is making it all-too-easy though, with their new Winter Feasts menu. From now until February 11th, you can enjoy a three course meal, plus cocktail for just £20 in their gorgeous Brasserie.

Harvey Nichols Forth Floor has to have one of the best views in Edinburgh, so getting to enjoy a rather delightful menu accompanied with some impressive vistas sounds like my idea of a rather pleasant evening! Highlights from the menu include Treacle cured salmon, pickled fennel, lemon grass and beetroot salad, orange and anise dressing, Borders chicken breast spiced with paprika and rosemary, wild mushrooms, kale, green beans and pancetta and Rhubarb and custard crumble sundae, but all the options sound absolutely delicious!

Charbonnel et Walker Christmas Baubles*

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If you can’t indulge over Christmas, real when can you? I love an unexpected treat, and when these Charbonnel et Walker beauties were delivered I absolutely fell in love!

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Considering Charbonnel et Walker have to be my favourite chocolatier, and I’ve loved their Pink Marc de Champagne truffles for years, the pink bauble was a seriously welcome addition to the Christmas tree! Containing eight of the delicious little treats, I think it’s the most adorable little stocking stuffer. If you’ve never tried the truffles, you really must! The smooth outer shell of the truffles is a delicate pink shade, holding a creamy ganache centre. The truffles have a surprisingly punchy champagne scent, which give them a wonderfully grownup flavour.

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My new discovery is the bauble containing Milk Sea Salt Caramel Truffles. The blue bauble is just as beautiful as it’s pink cousin, the the chocolates inside are really incredible. The exterior of the truffles is a crisp milk chocolate shell, which melts into the gooey salted caramel centre. In a word, it’s heavenly. The centre’s saltiness is perfectly balanced with the creamy sweetness of the chocolate, and they are far too easy to sit and enjoy!

Charbonnel et Walker’s Chocolate Truffle Baubles are priced at £12.00 each and are available here

Vita Coco Coconut Oil*

Vita Coco Coconut Oil

If there is a singe tub, which you absolutely, definitely, just have to own – it’s got to be coconut oil! For the past few years or so, I’ve kept a couple of tubs of the stuff handy, both in the kitchen and in my beauty stash, as it’s just so versatile, I can’t bear not having some to hand!

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I first tried out using coconut oil in the kitchen, and I absolutely fell in love! Since consuming it in small amounts can really help combat high cholesterol, as well as work to prevent Heart Disease, I use a teaspoon of the oil rather than regular olive oil whenever I need to cook vegetables. A real favourite use of mine is sautéing kale in a teaspoon or two of coconut oil, then sprinkling a little lemon juice and sesame seeds over the top – delicious!

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Because Vita Coco’s Coconut Oil is 100% Raw and Organic, I also love keeping a tub of it in my beauty stash as it’s just so versatile! Starting from the top, my hair absolutely drinks coconut oil up! I tend to apply it to the ends of my hair, then throw it up in a topknot over night, letting all the goodness sink in. I can then just shower it out in the morning, and my hair feels super soft, and has a great amount of shine. Another great in-shower use for coconut oil is mixing it with coffee grounds. You can pick up a bag of them for free at Starbucks or Waitrose, as they are also great for the garden, but I just melt about a cup full of the coconut oil on the hob, and then add about 3/4 of a cup of the coffee grounds. Once the mixture has cooled down and solidified, you can then use it as a scrub. It’s such a simple mix to make and use, but your skin feels absolutely amazing afterwards! Even out of the shower, my Vita Coco Coconut Oil is a bathroom must-have. It works amazingly as a moisturiser, and I use it everywhere from under my eyes to layering it on my elbows and knees.

As you can probably tell, I am such a fan of Vita Coco Coconut Oil, have you got any other uses for it?

Vita Coco Coconut Oil is priced at £9.99 and is available here

Beauty&Go Drinks*

Beauty & Go drinks

Even though I’m something of a morning person, I’ve never really been all that keen on breakfasts. No matter how early (or late) I wake up, I can’t really deal with the idea of something big or heavy, no matter how important breakfast is supposed to be! So instead of chowing down, I usually just grad a fresh juice or smoothie and I’m on my way.

Beauty & Go Detox

Thankfully though, Beauty & Go have made my mornings incredibly easy with their yummy Bioactive Beauty Drinks. As well as tasting delicious, the choice of four drinks have been designed to have added beauty benefits, and who doesn’t need that at 6am?! The first drink from the range that I got to try was Detox, which is designed to cleanse the skin and detox. Packaged in a cute green bottle, Beauty & Go claim that the drink helps to stimulate your metabolism and contributes to toxin elimination thanks to the inclusion of collagen, hyaluronic acid, cucumber, spirulina algae, artichoke, orange fibre, broccoli, dandelion, spinach, mint and nettle, citrulline, natural olive fruit extract, resveratrol, zinc and vitamin C.

Beauty & Go Anti Ageing

I think my favourite of the two is the Anti-Ageing smoothies, which tastes super fruity. Like it’s Detox counterpart, it’s a serially scientific drink, with collagen, hyaluronic acid, pomegranate, raspberry, hibiscus, orange fibre, citrulline, natural olive fruit extract, resveratrol, selenium and vitamins C and E all included in the drink!

You can find Beauty&Go drinks exclusively at Tesco and Selfridges

Edinburgh Foodie Festival*

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Since I spend an absolute tonne of time in Edinburgh, I’d like to think I know the good places to go. There is the little German Bakery, a tiny little Japanese spot, and a whole host of bars and coffee shops I visit on a regular rotation. So, when I got the chance to visit Endinburgh’s Foodie Festival, I absolutely jumped at the chance!

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The Festival was held in the gorgeous Inverleith Park, which is situated in an absolutely stunning residential area which surrounds the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. So we parked the car just outside the park gates, and got to exploring the festival!

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This year marked the Edinburgh Foodie Festival’s 10th birthday, and it was absolutely filled with local restaurants, producers, cafes and bars showing their wares, whilst everyone pottered around enjoying the sunshine.

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As well as getting to sip and sample our way round the park, there were incredible demonstrations sponsored by Aga, featuring some incredible chefs from the city’s best restaurants.

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Home bakers were also well catered for, with a fabulous Tasting, Cake & Bake Theatre.

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After feeling like we had learned some secret tips, we decided to go explore a little further, and found these stunning macarons …

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and made some new friends!

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Then we got to kick back and enjoy some of the stunning venues on offer.

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The cutest of the bars had to be the Pimms teapot. Positioned front and centre in the park, it was definitely a focal point, and in addition to some good old fashioned Pimms, we got to enjoy some people watching with swing music!

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Edinburgh Foodie Festival

Thank you to the Foodie Festival for having me!

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