Some fantastic tableware choices from Nest.co.uk

When Nest.co.uk got in touch and asked me to preview their kitchen and dining ranges I found myself poring over their site contemplating exactly what I needed to make my new dining table - and chairs when they arrive, absolutely perfect. I've a feeling that the longer it takes for the chairs to arrive, which will hopefully be in the next few weeks, the more expensive it could get.

I have visions of the table completely transforming our lives, which may be a tad on the unrealistic side if I'm honest. But even in our reality I'm hoping that we'll eat at the table more often than in front of the TV, I know the dream hey?

The meal that we most consistently eat at the table, is strangely enough breakfast. And clearly having this carafe for our fruit juice would make breakfast even better.

MUUTO CORKY CARAFE & GLASSES £64
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk

Once we've cleared the table from breakfast I think this plate would look great on the table.  I'm intrigued to know just how jelly-like it is. The Nest website says the plate has been created by "experimenting with the texturisation of surface materials, resulting in the core material being enhanced to influence the jelly-like appearance."

It's a beautiful colour too isn't it? - and it'd pick up the blue in the wallpaper behind our table.

KARTELL JELLY TABLE CENTRE PLATE £72
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk

And for the times where we do eat dinner on the sofa in front of the TV - because in all reality we will sometimes - these trays will save MOH wearing his dinner, which happens all too often and should actually be the prompt we need to eat at the table more often.  

NORMANN COPENHAGEN NABO TRAYS £59
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk

The final piece I want to share with you is this cleverly designed tableware set.  It looks like a vase, but each of the tableware pieces stack together to form the vase - and while that's clever, look at how detailed and decorative the individual pieces are. I'm not sure I'd leave it stacked that often.

IBRIDE YUAN COLLECTION TABLEWARE £139
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk

The vase when stacked is 30cm high - the height of a ruler (what a go to visual measurement that is!) and comprises 4 or 8 plates, a salad bowl, another slightly smaller bowl and a dish and is topped with a small pot with a lid. It's so very clever, and beautiful too.  And just goes to show not all tableware has to be stored in our cupboards.

Photo credit: Nest.co.uk

What's on your table?

This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.

An Easter tea party with home-made Hot Cross Buns

Earlier in the week I received a parcel from Merchant Gourmet inviting me to make some Hot Cross Buns, and not just any old Hot Cross Buns. Their recipe also includes Chestnut Puree and Dulce de Leche, which have to be two of my favourite things ever, so this was an opportunity that I didn't want to miss.

Chestnuts are a long time favourite, and especially my mum's Chestnut stuffing which is an absolute must at Christmas. I really must get her to write it down as even though I've tried to replicate it, I've not mastered it yet.

Dulce de Leche is a newer flavour to me - if you've not tried it, it's like a caramel sauce and delicious. I was first introduced to it at our local Argentinian restaurant who do a stunning dulce de leche bread pudding, and it's always worth trying to leave some room to end the meal on. But as they do delicious morcilla and huge steaks that's always tricky!

Making the Hot Cross Buns

Unusually there's dulce de leche mixed into the dough; to help ensure this was evenly mixed I stirred it through the warm milk and warm water mixture, and it gave the dough a warm, caramel colour which isn't surprising.

The upper arm work-out

With all the ingredients mixed, it was time for ten minutes of kneading. Its purpose is to stretch the gluten so the dough rises, but it's also good for an arm work-out! It's amazing that after ten minutes its appearance is so different.

Shaping the buns

The recipe suggests wrapping the dough around the chestnut and dulce de leche mixture but as I think the best way to have Hot Cross Buns is split and toasted I opted to use the mixture once they were toasted.

I had some challenges adding the crosses too, although they are my most successful attempt at crosses to date. I'd chosen a piping nozzle that was just too fine and the mixture struggled to flow out. I gave up at the right time and just before the piping bag burst - I wouldn't have been so happy about that. When I tried with a larger nozzle it was still hard to squeeze out, but much easier than my first go.

But when they came out of the oven, they looked great and I was impressed. 

They smelt good too, and we did well to resist trying one straight from the oven!

The Easter tea party 

Well it's (almost) Easter, so Easter bunnies, chicks and mini-Easter eggs were all included. And doesn't it look pretty?  

And yes, that's a tea cup full of mini-Easter eggs, I didn't want my tea getting cold.

The Hot Cross Buns were tasty too, they kept their caramel flavour and MOH thought they were the healthy brown sort, but the colour has come from the dulce de leche. They tasted better than the shop bought ones do, they had more about them if you know what I mean.

How do you like your Hot Cross Buns?

This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.

What does colour mean to you?

When Calibre Office Furniture got in touch and invited me to write a post about my favourite colour I thought I'd got it sorted.

I mean, anyone who's seen my instagram feed lately - or who knew me as I grew up - won't be surprised to learn my first choice of colour was yellow.

But then I thought about it some more and remembered when MOH and I got engaged several of my friends said they just knew I'd have a pink ring - I have a pink sapphire in my engagement ring - which shocked me, as I didn't even really know that's what I wanted until I saw it. But they were adamant and said pink was obvious as it was a colour I wore a lot. Looking in my wardrobe at the time - and now - they were right, but I knew that I didn't wear as much pink as some, so that was perhaps my benchmark.

And then I thought about green, it's a colour I'm often drawn to and (along with pink) it's a colour I wear a fair bit of.  And red, we do have a lot of it in our house, despite persuading MOH we shouldn't have red dining chairs (which btw I still don't have an ETA for - not so happy about that).

So what is my favourite colour.

I've decided that I am simply a fan of colour. I wear colour everyday. If I wear an all black outfit then well I feel, well I just don't feel myself.  I guess I'm just used to me in colour.

And looking back this week I outdid myself on colour one evening; I needed to drop my bike down to the bike shop to get my brakes checked before our Easter cycling break.  For this I wore red trousers, matched with pink and cerise striped socks, the orange vest I'd worn during the day with a purple and lime green running top over it; to top that - and to keep warm - I chose a white sweatshirt, because it was getting dark and I wanted to be seen!  When I realised quite how many colours I'd combined - mostly through circumstance it must be said - it was the white top that I thought might have been OTT!

But if you pushed me to choose one colour, right now I'll stick with yellow.

Have you considered how colour affects us, and how important it is to us - scroll down, and take a look:

This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.