3 Seville restaurant recommendations

Seville was on my bucket list for a long time. It was a beautiful city but meal times could be quite challenging. If morning sightseeing overran and you needed a later lunch, hardly anything would be open as it fell into Spanish siesta hours where shops and restaurants close their doors and don't open up again until much later. Although restaurants technically opened again at 8pm, some wouldn't start serving food until 9pm onwards. I did struggle to eat this late as having done my 10,000 steps by 11am most days, my exhausted body had given up and wanted sleep more than it did food!

I wasted so much time walking around looking for food - some nights being at a loss of what to do when restaurants are full, it's nearing 10pm, and there are no empty seats anywhere. One night I was so exhausted, I grabbed some fries to go and that did the job! So for this reason I wanted to write this guide to mark my top three favourite places to eat in Seville, which offered something a little different, were less busy, had beautiful interiors, and above all else, had delicious food.

1. Burro Canaglia Bar&Resto - Centro

One day we wandered further afield and stopped at this lovely restaurant for lunch. Being out of the way and away from the main hustle and bustle of town, it was fairly empty, but I liked that as it felt private and intimate. The interiors were magical. I'm talking exposed brick walls and beautiful tiles

Cosy corners and greenery hanging overhead

And dim lighting and huge palms bringing jungle vibes

We ate arroz negro, a rice dish coloured with squid ink. Whilst Valencian and Catalan versions are usually made with cuttlefish, this one contained prawns, garlic and chilli and was topped with aioli and octopus which had been grilled to perfection. 

It was an incredible dining experience - just like sitting in a secret garden!

https://burrocanaglia.es

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2. Nación Sushi

The pleasant surprise of the trip! We'd scoped out a nice looking café for lunch which did brunch, fresh juices, salads and other lighter options, but after a long morning at the Royal Alcázar, said café now had chairs up on tables and a lady mopping the floors said they were closed. We later found out that we'd annoyingly only just missed out!

At that time in the afternoon in Seville, food options are limited and most restaurants were closed. As luck may have it, Nacionsushi was something we'd passed before and it appeared to be open all hours, so we decided to check it out.

We ordered a pot of green tea and some bao buns to share. I did feel guilty for not having something local or traditionally Spanish, but Nacionsushi blew us away.

We had hoisin chicken bao buns which were as fluffy as a cloud - like bao should be - but a special mention has to go to one of their new specials: baos fritos de costilla de cerdo or crispy pork rib bao. The golden, crispy shells were filled with finger-licking good pork and topped with crispy onions and peanuts. The textures in this dish were spot on. I'd never had fried bao before but it's the future!

A special mention also needs to go to the interiors which were really quirky and memorable. I'm talking cherry blossom trees, bird cage lights, beautiful tiles, a living wall and hot pink accents, all merged with a travel theme. It was all very Instagrammable (if you're that way inclined)

Nación Sushi also has a wealth of sushi, noodle and rice dishes - the choice is real! - and they have restaurants in other countries too - not just Spain - and are well worth a visit.

https://nacionsushi.com

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3. Universal People Bar de Tapas

This came highly recommend by my sister and her boyfriend and one of my ex work colleagues so I ventured here on the first night and it didn't disappoint! We had two different types of croquetas or croquettes which were rather filling and we quickly learnt that one plate would have been enough! The mushroom croquettes were earthy and wonderful, but we weren't so enamoured with the oxtail ones. I'd heard that oxtail was a regional speciality so I wanted to try it, but knew then and there that it wasn't for me! 

There were however two other dishes that got my stamp of approval and I highly recommend if you're ever in Seville. The slow cooked beef cheek melted in your mouth and the sauted potatoes were beautiful - especially when dipped in the very moreish accompanying sauce. 

And last but not least, their grilled octopus. There was a bit of wait time for this one but it was worth every second. A good grilled octopus should cut like butter and melt in the mouth (anything rubbery or chewy is indicative of over-cooking) and this delivered. 

We had three different types of potato - these were surprise accompaniments added to our plates and not detailed on the menu - and after consuming all three portions, we were rather full and this prevented us from trying anything else. So bear this in mind when thinking about how many small plates to order!

https://www.universalpeoplebar.com

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Have you ever been to Seville?

5 reasons to visit York in December

York is a magical place to visit at any time of the year, but comes alive in December and is truly special at Christmas. I'd previously visited in the height of summer (my previous York travel guide can be found here here) so it was quite the contrast visiting in the colder season, with scarves and layers aplenty. York really is very beautiful at this time of the year, what with it's Christmas markets and decorated restaurant and shop fronts including The Ivy and Betty's tea rooms. 

Here is my extensive guide of my top 5 things to do in York at Christmas.

Christmas at Mansion House

Mansion House is a beautiful early Georgian style building and was built for the Lord Mayor in 1732 and is still in use to this day for the Lord Mayors of York to reside in during their term in office. The rooms presented to the public are set out as they would have been, and at this time of the year are decorated for Christmas.

The dining room table was laid with the extravagant foods they would have eaten at their many banquets and a helpful and passionate member of staff ran us through a typical inventory with a tally of how much food and alcohol was consumed and how much it would have cost (both were astounding). 

The working kitchen that produced these glorious feasts was simple in comparison - you couldn't imagine some of the extravagant meals hailing from there. This former working kitchen has since been restored to a fully functional eighteenth century kitchen and is now used for cooking demonstrations and workshops.

One of my favourite rooms had to be the state room. This was decorated in a beautiful light green colour not too dissimilar to Card Room Green by Farrow and Ball with elegant gold accents. 

Christmas at York Castle Museum

York Castle Museum has so much to see and do (I wrote about it at length before here), that we in fact lost track of time and spent our entire first day there! Highlights include:

• An indoor back-in-time street with shop fronts and stores you can actually walk into
• Room sets from across the years
• A whole section devoted to old toys and games nostalgia
• Walk through the trenches experience
• The old York Castle prison (complete with Dick Turpin's cell!)

The benefit of visiting at this time of the year was that lots of it was decorated for Christmas. The room sets and their signage were updated for Christmas, and for the immersive street, lit garlands were strung up with a light dusting of fake snow on the ground. 

Christmas at Fairfax House

Fairfax House is a Georgian townhouse within a stone's throw away from Clifford's Tower and York Castle Museum, and was originally the winter bolthole of Viscount Fairfax (hence it's name) and was designed by esteemed eighteen century architect John Carr. It was reportedly used as a dance hall and cinema for some time, but was later restored by the York Civic Trust in the 1980s. It's beautiful at any time, but is especially magical at this time of the year, portraying the Christmas traditions of a typical Georgian townhouse.

Christmas at York Minster

York Minster is somewhere I visit every time I'm in York and I highly recommend if you're as into historical buildings and architecture as I am. York Minster reportedly costs an astounding £22,000 to run each day so I always make a point of visiting there and contributing whenever I'm in York. 

This was my first time visiting the Minster at Christmas and it was such a lovely place to be. This year in particular hosted a Christmas Tree Festival and contest, where local charities, businesses and schools all decorated a tree to a chosen theme. Visitors to the Minster all had the opportunity to vote for their favourites with the winner to receive a cash prize or donation. 

With about 40 trees to see and decide upon, choosing just one was tough! Highlights included:

• A primary school whose tree represented their passion for reading, and each student contributed a homemade book complete with stories and illustrations (for the record, this one got my vote).

• A charity which decorated their tree with all the essentials they typically give to the homeless and unemployed like toothbrushes and razors, as well as packaging from food bank donations. 

• A jewelllers that hung open ring boxes (and rings!) wrapped in cellophane bags on their tree

• A local ennvironment centre that recycled food packaging and made garlands, tinsel and decorations with them.

• The Strictly Come Dancing themed Christmas tree complete with pink feather boa, glitter balls, scoring paddles and a giant cut out of Anton Du Beke.

Access to the Christmas Tree Festival is included with general admission to York Minster and runs through to January - so there's still time to visit (and vote) if you haven't already!

York Christmas market

The St Nicholas Fair is the the bustling hub of York at this time of the year, and runs from mid-November to December. So if you visit pre-Christmas around Black Friday sort of time, you'll be sure to see it even then! 

Alpine chalet huts line Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square with a plethora of food and drink options, as well as stalls selling gifts and artisan goods such as homemade fudge. It's worth checking it out each year as there are occasionally new additions such as The Winter Hütte, a swiss style chalet offering winter favoruites like gluhwein and mulled cider, as well as a dining experience from Michelin star chef Andrew Pern, a big name in Yorkshire.

It's generally worth wandering around York at your own leisure, as you will stumble upon more christmas markets and stalls. One is located right outside York Minster with plenty of seating and although on a smaller scale than the main street market, has a really lovely feel about it (plus it's quieter if you don't fancy the crowds!).

Let's be honest, there are many more than 5 reasons to visit York at this time of the year (or any time of the year for that matter) but these were just some of my top picks from a whistle-stop tour. Happy holidays!

 

Tomahawk Steakhouse York // The largest steak I ever did see

Whilst I'm generally a healthy eater and aim for a few meat-free days a week, I'm more of a flexitarian and won't be going fully vegetarian or vegan any time soon. I love my meat too much (take that as you will) with a good medium rare steak being a firm favourite. Forever on the hunt for a good steak or steakhouse, one day I saw Tomahawk pop up on my feed with mouth watering images of succulent steak, and joy behold, there was one located in York, a place that was next on my travels.

Location

Tucked a little out of the way, but near to Mansion House and The Ivy, I ventured down a side passage which I found to be fairly quiet, not seeing much in the way of people. Because of this I figured Tomahawk York wouldn't be all that busy. WRONG.

First impressions

I arrived at a small bar area with a few raised tables and bar stools. All very industrial in look and feel with exposed brick walls. This holding area was deserted with no one at the bar which I figured may have been due to the tucked away nature of the restaurant. You could hear chatter and laughter elsewhere though, and that's when a host descended from a industrial metal staircase to welcome us and I first discovered that the restaurant was located on different levels. 

Once we ventured upstairs, we discovered that the restaurant was deceptively large - which you didn't get a sense of from the front - and in fact stretched way back. We passed lots of booth seating filled with friends, couples on date night, and big groups of lads with large wooden sharing boards presented with slices of perfectly pink steak. 

Our table

I had booked a table in advance and we were led right to the back of the joint, to a table located right infront of their bustling but beautiful main bar. I'd say that being sat here was probably the low light of my visit. You constantly had members of staff rushing past you, going to and fro from the bar, so it didn't feel very private, especially when you're on a date. Also we seemed to be on top of a wobbly floorboard so whenever anyone walked past, our table (and food) wobbled about which did get a little annoying. There were so many nice, quiet, intimate corners of the restaurant and I would have preferred to sit somewhere a little more private. For this reason, I'm not sure that I'd book in advance again. I would probably just turn up and chance it, with the hope of being allocated a booth.

The menu

The menu was extensive with plenty of vegetarian, fish and vegan options too if you're that way inclined and are simply accompanying your meat loving friends or partner. We all know the reason why I was there. It would have been rude not to try one of their celebrated steaks. The restaurant boasts the finest Himalayan salt dry-aged steaks and Wagyu and I was excited to try these. The choice was real. Along with your usual ribeye, sirloin and fillet steak options, there were also sharing boards, and larger cuts of meat like the porterhouse (16oz), chateaubriand (18oz), cote de boeuf (35oz) and tomahawk (36-38oz). 

Some of these larger cuts don't come cheap, but the sharing steaks come with 4 free sides and there was an extensive choice including the following:

• Fries / Beef dripping chips / Truffle parmesan fries
• Sweet potato wedges with feta and harrissa yoghurt
• Mushrooms with slow roasted tomatoes
• Mash / Truffle mash
• Peas with bacon
• Mac and cheese
• Broccoli
• Salad
• Spinach with stilton
• Garlic mushrooms
• Spicy siracha slaw
• Garlic prawns
• Brisket and cheddar hash browns
• Beer battered onion rings

So much choice! Which of these sides has your name on it? I'd love to know in the comments below!

The main event

We opted for the tomahawk as I'd always wanted to try one and it would have been rude not to order the restaurant namesake, right? This was a beast of a steak in the form of a bone in ribeye and was cooked to perfection. It had marbling which can be hit and miss and can sometimes mean chewy, and it was in places. Would I have it again? I would, but with such an extensive steak menu, I'd be keen to try another type of steak first.

The sides

Garlic prawns are usually a favourite of mine but these were very pale in colour and quite anaemic looking, so I was a little nervous about whether these were fully cooked or not (as it turns out, we had no problems with food poisoning thankfully!). I also love a good beer battered onion ring. These were ok, but I've had better. I wasn't blown away by the sides other than than fries, so next time around I'd be keen to try a few different ones (perhaps the brisket and cheddar hash browns).

Would I go back?

I would, but I would choose a different cut of meat with - hopefully - a higher meat to fat ratio to it. I will happily eat a whole steak - fat included - if the fat is rendered down enough. However if the fat is tough as old boots and unchewable, it means a lot of the dish can't be eaten and it's a crying shame. It makes an already costly dish feel that little bit worse from a value for money perspective when a huge sharing steak doesn't contain all that much in the way of edible meat. 

I would order the fries again but with a few different sides, and I'd been be keen to try the crispy squid to start which comes with chorizo jam and roasted garlic and lemon mayo and sounds all kinds of dreamy don't you think?

Are you a flexitarian or a meat fan like I am? 

Staying at the Hampton by Hilton York Piccadilly // Where to stay in York

Perfectly timed before the announcement of the Omicron variant - which feels like a lifetime ago - it was nice to have a few days away exploring a different city. Understandably at that time of the year, many hotels were fully booked up. Or expensive. For a short stay I don't want to be spending hundreds of British pounds per night. I found an absolute gem of a hotel... but it was fully booked. Another time perhaps. I was also keen to visit a new hotel that was being built the last time I visited York, however the final result was underwhelming with rooms not feeling worth the price point. I came about the Hampton by Hilton York Piccadilly by chance. Newly opened only last year, it looked beautifully done and was competitively priced, coming up lower than other ones in my search. 

THE ROOM

The room itself was really well designed and well thought out. The selling point for choosing this particular hotel was the bedroom with its seating area complete with gallery wall, as it looked like a nice place to curl up with a book. The headboard wrapped around the room and merged with built-in bench seating which had the capacity to fold out into another bed. There are two different colourways for the extended headboard and seating area - a lime green or a blue. At the time of booking I preferred the blue scheme, but you don't appear to get a say in the colour, so arrived to the green. Despite inital disapointment, the lime green felt warmer and nicer in person. 

The bed itself was a delight to take a running leap onto upon arrival. Saying that, a lot of the sponginess and comfort was from the duvet. Once in bed, there appeared to be a mattress topper but it wasn't as comfortable or satisfying as laying on top of the duvet. I found reading more comfortable from bed - laying on top of the duvet, naturally - as the bench seating was a little on the hard side, even with the supplied scatter cushions.

Lighting on this side of the room was dimmer and added to the ambient feel, making it feel really cosy. Such lighting was much easier to wake up to then the rude awakening of blarring spotlights. 

Also on this side of the room; a desk area with a wall mounted TV. The TV dominated that wall and did feel a little excessive given the size of the room.

Open hanging space and wall mounted hooks made the room feel a little more open compared to having bulky built-in furniture. We always travel with back packs, so never really need that much hanging space besides somewhere to hang our coats.   

A large wall mirror also added to the feeling of space, making the room feel much bigger than it was. The lack of bezels and frame made it feel like you had access to an adjoining room and that the room continued on.

Also can we talk about how on point the artwork and cushions were? How lovely is this contribution to the gallery wall from a local primary school pupil?

THE BATHROOM

The bathroom I took a lot of inspiration from, given that the bathroom back home could really do with a glow up and is of a similar size. The sink was a thing of beauty, as was the waterfall sbower. And the mirror with its soft lighting and heating meant this stayed mist-free post-shower.

Funny quirks we found:

1. The artwork behind the toilet (super cute)
2. The tissue box contained one single tissue 😂
3. There was hand soap in the shower and shower gel at the sink

The latter was easy enough to resolve as the toiletteries easily slid in and out of their wall mounts, so we switched these over. Having all of these wall mounted as hand pumps rather than miniature bottles was a nice touch and much easier to deal with in the shower. And for the record, both the body wash and hand wash smelled heavenly. 

ROOM EXTRAS

No robes or slippers are provided at the Hampton by Hilton York Piccadilly, which I was surprised about given the Hilton brand (maybe this is a Hampton thing?). But there were some nice other touches. Including quirky leather handles on the chest of drawsers and a rather snazzy SMEG fridge which we used to keep our large water bottles cold in. 

The tea and coffee station came in useful, especially when visiting York during the colder months. But there wasn't a great deal of choice if like me, you don't drink coffee or standard tea. As a heads up, York's Christmas market closes fairly early (around 6 ish) so my idea of bringing hot drinks back to the room after dinner didn't work out. And none of the big coffee chains are open that late either. Fortunately there were two supermarkets a few minutes walk away from the hotel where we found individual sachets of hot chocolate for about 40p each, so that did the job nicely. I did discover the next morning that the hotel has herbal tea available at breakfast along with a hot drink making station, so maybe next time I'd ask at reception to see if I could use it after hours and bring hot drinks up to the room.

LOCATION

Hampton by Hilton York Piccadilly is located smack bang in the middle of the York city centre, close to main attractions like the JORVIK centre, and within walking distance to Clifford's Tower and York Castle museum. At night we discovered lots of great looking restaurants nearby, so you don't need to venture that far from the hotel to find a good meal. Also with the added benefit of both Sainsburys and Tesco supermarkets nearby which we used to stock up on hot chocolate and large bottles of water. 

THE HOTEL ITSELF

The lobby and corridors smelt really clean which was a promising start - especially during a global pandemic. There were seals on the doors so you knew that you were the first ones entering the room since it had been cleaned, and other notices around the hotel detailed the hotel's cleaning procedures. This was a nice touch and for my first experience of travelling in a COVID-19 world, inspired confidence and gave me reassurance during my stay.

As the hotel was newly opened, everything was in a good state of repair and looked as new. The interiors were on point, including a beautiful lobby with sofas and comfortable seating in a myriad of different purples and blues. This was my favourite place to sit in the morning and I would have happily sat there longer if we hadn't pre-booked our activities (a new requirement during COVID times). 

And can we talk about how cute the bird lighting is?

RATES AND PACKAGES

Our hotel stay included breakfast whereas lots of the other hotels I was looking at did not. We'd originally planned to have breakfast out, but given that the room at the Hampton by Hilton York Piccadilly was cheaper than lots of the other hotels we were looking at AND included breakfast, it would have been rude not to!

There was a generous breakfast spread which included both continental and cooked options, along with fresh juices and a hot drink station which included hot chocolate and a generous selection of herbal teas. Food on offer included fruit, bread, cereals, yoghurts, pastries, cooked breakfast options and freshly cooked waffles with a wealth of toppings.  

The waffle maker looked good fun and with Hampton by Hilton being a client at a previous job of mine and supplying a waffle breakfast to my team, I knew that their waffles were insanely good. However the waffle making contraption I couldn't get my head around first thing in the morning where the brain fog is real. Logistically it would have better if the waffles could have been pre-made and available at the hot food counter or made to order. Especially in COVID times where you may not want to touch things that other people have.

As we had quite a taxing and long day of walking ahead of us, we opted for a cooked breakfast. This is something we don't have very often and we have as an occasional treat. The cooked offerings are available buffet style to help yourself. All very nice, but not the most extensive for choice. I probably would have preferred a fried egg or poached egg as their only egg option - scrambled egg - was on the pale side and a little under for my liking. As well as more egg choice, the buffet could have also done with some mushrooms (one of my favourite things to have on toast in the mornings). The mini hash browns however were a stroke of genius. 

The hot chocolate from the hot drink machine comes highly recommended. I went back for a second - which is high praise indeed! - and took it back to the room while we were getting ready to go out.

SUMMARY

As a newer hotel, this has been done to a high spec and feels modern and well designed. The bench seating in the room was a clever use of space, but not the most comfortable. It definitely needed the provided cushions. I imagine the fold out bed wouldn't be all that comfortable either, so a word of caution if you are a party of three coming for a York city stay. The fold out bed would be more suited to children or young adults, not for the elderly. 

The downside of the trip was a noise complaint in our room on the second floor. The room had a high pitched noise tht we discovered later that evening after coming back from dinner and it continued all night. And by that time, it was too late to ask to be moved. There was also a continuous dripping noise coming from my side of the bed, sounding like it was coming from overhead or by the window. It sounded like there was a leak somewhere in the buiding. My partner hones into noises very easily and won't sleep, whereas I can sleep through pretty much anything. For this to affect me too, this speaks volumes. Both noises kept us both awake all night long defeating one of the main purposes of a hotel - getting a good night's sleep. Despite being in centre of town, you couldn't hear any outside noise even with buses passing constantly. So having the high pitched ringing and a possible leak coming from inside the room were irritating. 

I contacted the hotel afterwards and have had two responses since - one from the reception desk, the other from corporate. The reception desk informed me that it was likely rain dripping off the roof which I would gladly accept as an excuse if it had been raining(!) It was dry for the entirety of our trip. Corporate is taking our complaint a little more seriously and is more in-line with the customer service you would expect from a Hilton.

Would I stay again? I absolutely loved the room and the hotel, but the room noises have put my guard up a little, and I fear coming back and having another sleepless night. Admittedly it could have been a isolated issue for that particular room or floor two, which may have since been resolved. Here's hoping.

Update: Hampton by Hilton apologised and invited me back for a complimentary stay. Whilst the leak had been resolved, the high pitched noise was still present and we managed to trace this back to the TV. We wanted to turn the TV off or unplug it to test this theory, but didn't have access to a plug as this was hidden in the wall, so the TV had to remain on standby with that high pitched noise all night long. Whilst I managed to sleep a little this time, it was still a disturbed night and for this reason, I sadly won't be staying again.

6 Miss Selfridge items in my basket lately

This post was written before the recent acquisition of Miss Selfridge by ASOS.

To locate the featured products - or similar - head on over here

The hit skirt you may have seen on Instagram

Admittedly the product images for this skirt aren't especially captivating (light green wrap around skirt as above) however I saw someone wearing it on Instagram and this was the selling factor for me. And turns out I'm not alone as the influencer picture is now on the product listing (well was, before the Miss Selfridge website went down).

The print on this floaty maxi dress

It's just so versatile. I can imagine this dress being perfect for city breaks, tropical holidays, after work cocktails, date night and brunch with the girls. Like waaaay in the future when we're actually allowed to do these things ;) I ordered my normal size but it didn't seem to have enough space in the boob department. Miss Selfridge had a 20% off discount code so I re-ordered the same dress (top left as above) and also in the size up to compare. The size up came up too big on me. Oddly the size that was too small before was perfect on the second attempt. What I didn't realise is that the dress has ties that can loosened or tightened accordingly (doh!).

The LOOK AT ME bag

I am trying to be more mindful of the environment so when I last worked in an office environment many moons ago pre Covid I made a conscious effort to stop using plastic bags and switch them out for totes. The tote bag I have is from a blogger event but the biege colour isn't practical for every day life. I also carried around a miniature handbag, the strap of which rubbed against the tote bag and stained it. Said stain is burgundy so could very feasibly be a wine stain given my love of red wine. Whilst I was considering a black tote with a suitably witty remark on it, this mustard macrame bag (as above) jumped out at me as it's a little more aesthetically pleasing than a carrying a large black rectangle around with you. Easily my best find of the year (was £28, in the sale for just £7).

The floral print bardot dress of dreams

This dress is just so effortlessly cool. I'm not always a fan of that elasticated corseting detail on dresses (very compressing on the boobs) but if the cut of the dress is right, it can be really flattering. Especially with a bardot neckline like this one. This dress has since sold out but the same print can be found on their tea dress version here.

The fluffy knit that looks blue but is apparently grey 

I'm baffled too. It's blue right? Now sold out but a sneak peek available in top right hand image

Itsy bitsy teenie weenie polka dot bikini

What's better than polka dots? Rainbow polka dots! I love the BlueBellGray essence of the watercolour polka dots on this bikini set which help transform a simple white bikini to something much more special. Currently in the sale with discounts within the 49-58% range, it's definitely tempting! 

Which items are your favourites?

You may also like: 11 things filling my ASOS basket lately

Future plans for our dining room // a dining room mood board

A slightly different approach to my hallway mood board as unlike the hallway, the dining room transformation is already under way! You can follow progress on my extension here on Instagram stories. 

THE PREVIOUS DINING ROOM

The previous kitchen diner was a lovely bright space with a large picture window framing the view of the garden, a galley kitchen one side of the room, a peninsula divider, and IKEA cabinetry fitted into the fireplace alcove on the other side of the room with translucent doors which bounced the light around further, as did glossy marble effect floor tiles. This room was magnolia like all other rooms of the house (the previous owner's work).

PROBLEM POINTS

The marble floor tiles although beautiful, were largely white with grey veining so showed every speck of dirt and had zero practicality. The dining part of the kitchen diner was really compact. The previous owner's wooden dining table (which he took with him) ate up all the space so we opted for a glass dining table to give the illusion of space. But even with a glass table, the space was still tight. We hosted eight for a dinner party once and it was pretty snug. Thinking ahead to the future, we knew there was no space for the pitter patter of little feet to run around in.

IDEAS

We wanted to create a contemporary look room but at the same time, we are heavily influenced by French style. We love visiting Versailles and all manner of historical stately homes, so were after a similar statement floor to give our characterless house some, well, character. We pick up a lot of inspiration from French bistros and restaurants and seeing as we haven't been doing a whole lot of that since the global pandemic(!) we wanted to bring that essence home to enjoy every day. 

FUTURE PLANS FOR THE DINING ROOM

Dining room mood board / Future plans for our dining room

Flooring - Wooden herringbone flooring was high on my wish list...until I found out how much it costs. Laying that aesthetically pleasing pattern takes time and labour can cost as much as the actual flooring (essentially doubling your cost), if not more. Also being in lockdown we couldn't go out and look at flooring, and there was no way I was blindly buying flooring online without seeing it or touching it first. Also after ordering samples, I learnt that the colours online never quite look the same IRL. In the end we opted for a wood effect tile (easier to maintain plus suitable for use with underfloor heating). We chose the above criss cross pattern which interlocks and creates one large pattern. It won't be everyone's cup of tea I'm sure, but for us it reminded us of French bistrots, French chateaux and French parquet flooring. I was pretty nervous as I hadn't seen anyone else with this flooring, but have zero regrets. It makes the room. 

Lighting - The navy blue chandelier that came with the house was a little old school, but I did ask the builder to save it as I had other plans for it. When it came to replacing the light, I wanted to warm up the decor a little with a gold or brass light fitting. A Next light fitting I loved went out of stock and any Tom Dixon lighting was out of the question due to cost (sob). I love sputnik lighting but Mr Curiouser and Curiouser wasn't so sure. Turns out we are polar opposites when it comes to opinions on lighting. The one and only light we agreed on was the above beauty from MADE. It's contemporary, it's brass, it doesn't have millions of annoying bulbs to change and having LEDs makes it a lot more efficient to run. Plus the shape mimicks the flooring and our dining table. 

Table - We already own the above table which was purchased to give the illusion of space in our old kitchen diner. The glass is good and thick so deals with heat well, and any spills can be wiped up easily. This will likely be replaced in the future for an extendable table now we have more space. Maybe a nice wooden number. 

Seating - Our Next dining chairs have seen better days. I feel like the cats sense my frustration with them and are 'helping' by ripping them to shreds. In the short term I'm thinking of investing in some velvet chair covers like these (colour still TBC) or having a go at upholstering them myself. But long term I would like to invest in some restaurant style bench seating to create that cafe / bistrot feel. I have already bookmarked pink and blue velvet chairs from Danetti (as above) to create a more relaxed dining experience with friends and family. Our new extension isn't one of these massive open plan kitchen / dining / living room affairs, so having a dining bench or sofa would make this a versatile space.

Decoration - The fireplace is the main focus of the room and sits alongside the dining table. The previous chimney breast was a crooked affair and has now been made good. It's currently white to contrast against our dark cupboards but in the future I'd like to cover this with a statement wallpaper like this floral design and add a wooden mantel and an industrial style mirror like or a circular mirror. The void in the fireplace used to hold our booze collection but I'm planning to switch this out for a hurricane vase to display lit candles or pampas grass. I also want to incorporate some greenery in big pots and maybe some trailing plants like ivy on the alcove cupboards to provide a link to the garden. The dining room wall is also plain white for now but a future project is injecting some character with panelling and getting some artwork up. 

Storage - My vision was to replace the IKEA cupboards with something special and feeling inspired by Versailles' Hall of Mirrors, I was after mirrored cupboard doors. I had a specific company in mind and contacted them with the alcove measurements and asked for a quote. The sales rep I spoke to never got back to me. Their social media team promised they would chase this up for me. Still nothing. When said company lost access to their Instagram account and wanted support re-building their social media following, I asked if their level of customer service would be any better on this new account. They were horrified that I'd been ignored all this time and were ready to help me THEN but by that stage, the new cupboards were already in so they'd lost my business. Whilst I'd still love to have mirrored doors in the future, I at least now know which company to avoid! The cupboards that have been fitted are disappointing if I'm honest. In terms of look, they feel very flat. My future project is to try and mock up the mirrored look in some capacity or try applying my own panelling to get the look of the above Maisons du Monde wardrobe (dark interiors for the win!)

Which items are your favourites?

Money diary // Christmas without a kitchen and goodbye Matalan

MONDAY

We are a few months into building works and have no kitchen so we've lost our sink, cooker and washing machine. All during a global pandemic. We've had to completely change the way we cook and what we eat. We did once wonder if we'd constantly be getting takeways but we've mostly managed to avoid this and have been really behaved. It is undisputedly a lot cheaper cooking yourself than ordering takeway or eating out. 

It's been especially tough without a washing machine. Luckily we know of a great little laundrette with marvelous rates. Otherwise known as my family ;) We've got into a little routine as I don't want to be hounding them every week. We meet up every 2 weeks for a socially distanced swap (dropping the dirty, collecting the clean) however lockdown has since put a stop to that.

Being the amazing people that they are, they have brought over boxes of food (well, pre-lockdown) so we have some easy meals that we can microwave. To date we have had a veggie curry, beef stew, dhaal, a moroccan fish stew and tonight we have meatballs.

Today I order the next batch of birthday cards for birthdays this month. I'm still doing the surveys in my spare time to go towards our card fund. It's usually peanuts but there are occasionally some gems when you can earn a nice amount for only a few minutes of your time.

One of the biggest joys of 2020 was how I re-connected with one of my good friends. We'd sadly lost touch over the years but there are some friendships that are meant to be and it's like no time has passed at all. With her birthday card and Christmas card already in the mail, I order her a little something for her to open on her birthday. 

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Greetings cards - £4.58

Birthday gift - £22.00

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TOTAL
£26.58
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TUESDAY

Today we tried our first ever slow cooker dhaal. It was such an effortless recipe. Yellow split peas and a variety of other ingredients and spices into the slow cooker before work in the morning and then after work, hey presto! It had a bit of bite to it so I may soak the dried peas overnight next time, but flavour wise, it tasted pretty authentic and was chuffed to bits with it. 

My find of the day: TeaPigs (bear with me).

TeaPigs and me go way back. I once received a box of their rhubarb and ginger tea at a blogger event in a goodie bag. I don't even like rhubarb but this tea is seriously good. I also got my sister into them too and seeing as she doesn't do tea in any capacity, it's the ultimate compliment. 

The problem is that you never see this particular flavour at the supermarket. So starting last year, I started ordering directly from the Teapigs website here as it was the only place I could find it. 

This time last year I bought my sister some but also some different flavours for the office to bulk up the order as it's a minimum £15 spend for free delivery.

This year they are doing a job lot of tea in a bundle offer. Monetary wise it sounds like a lot to be spending on tea, but as I have £10 left in my budget for my sister, I can give half the boxes at Christmas which will keep her going until her birthday when she can have the next lot as part of her birthday gift.

Admittedly it's nicer to receive the tin as a gift, but the tin is less good value for money (and she has already has a tin from me from another time), so boxes it is.

When I ordered this time last year one of my favourite flavours was Apple and Cinnamon so imagine my joy when I found this great hack.

Basically if you order from Tea Pigs and have a basket of £15 or more, if you add a box of x15 Apple and Cinnamon tea bags and enter the promo code APPLE, you get that box free.

Last year I added on a box of these for myself and I could again this year - but this time they were FREE

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A LOT OF TEA - £22.94

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TOTAL
£22.94
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WEDNESDAY

Christmas gift wise I haven't gone too crazy this year. I started a spreadsheet last year to manage my spending and adopted it again this year. With the pandemic, there is a lot of financial uncertainty and I didn't want to stretch myself in case either of us are out of work. Plus we're regularly paying installments for building works which is a pretty signifcant drain on the finances(!).

I did a lot of my shopping earlier in the year and made use of sales and Black Friday to make my money stretch further. I also sourced discount codes and used TopCashBack where I could (really recommend signing up if you haven't already!). Some sites I hadn't ordered from before so could use their new customer discount code. If you already have an account, you can always get around this by setting up a new account with a new email address.

I also recommend shopping around. I ordered some chocolate to form part of Mr Curiouser and Curiouser's Christmas gift and found it cheaper on the Next website than directly through Hotel Chocolat - weird!

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TOTAL
£0.00
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THURSDAY

I've been really disappointed with some of the delivery services lately. I ordered a few gifts from Marks & Spencer and at checkout was asked if I wanted to reduce carbon emissions and receive as one delivery rather than multiple parcels (always yes). Despite ticking this box, I received my order in 4 or 5 parcels. A couple of parcels contained a single (small) item nestled amongst a crazy amount of packaging. I'm sure you can understand how annoying it is to answer the door every day and all times of the day, not to mention incredibly wasteful in terms of cardboard boxes and packaging. There are so many companies that need to work on their eco footprint. 

We continue to cook in bulk, freeze leftovers, and defrost the batches we made pre-building works here (still going strong!)

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TOTAL
£0.00
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FRIDAY

Ok, so Matalan has overtaken Marks & Spencer in the irritation department. My parcel came in the nick of time before Christmas but I discover that they have sent slippers with two left feet and also that an item is missing. I ordered pyjamas a gift where you had to order the top and bottom components separately. I ordered a silky camisole, trousers and also shorts so it was interchangeable for different times of the year. The trousers and shorts turned up, the top did not. When I reported the missing item, I got told it was now out of stock. So I now have an complete set that I can no longer give as a gift. If I was in-store and the top wasn't there, I wouldn't have bought the trousers and shorts. Same for online. If their stock levels were accurate on their website, I wouldn't have ordered half the set without the top. 

Matalan customer services have been an absolute nightmare and are unwilling to help. There is a no returns label in the parcel so I would have to pay to return the items even though the error was on their side. This is ridiculous out of principle. I have been shielding for the sake of my family and given the pandemic, I don't feel comfortable going to a post office right now. 

Customer services 'helpfully' stated that I could return the items to store (again going outside) which is nonsense given there is a national lockdown and stores are currently closed. Also I don't have a store near to me which is why I always shop online. Matalan customer services have since stopped responding to me. I am done with this ridiculous company. With so many companies going under since the pandemic, you would have thought that customer satisfaction and maintaining company reputation would have been of upmost importance right now. Goodbye Matalan. 

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TOTAL
£0.00
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SATURDAY

One of my favourite discoveries of the year has been jerk chicken wraps. I ordered a Levi Roots meal kit in an online shop and fell in love with his Reggae Reggae sauce which is a sweet BBQ sauce with the heat of Scotch bonnet chillies. The meal kit is much like a fajita kit. It contains wraps, sauce and a sachet of seasoning which you stir-fry with your protein source and veg. The jerk seasoning in the kit was disappointing and didn't taste of much so I was determined that I could re-create a tastier version for less (meal kit £3.30). I used chicken and veg I already had and bought wraps (95p), jerk seasoning (90p) and the star of the show, Reggae Reggae sauce (£1.50). Whilst these incredients exceed the price of the kit, you only need a small amount of the jerk seasoning and Reggae Reggae sauce (especially the latter which is spicy) so it equates to a low cost per use each time. Meaning that it's overall much cheaper than the meat kit (AND a lot tastier). Warning, if you're a chilli wuss like me, trial a few drops of the Reggae Reggae sauce first - it is HOT!

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Tortilla wraps - £0.95

Jerk seasoning - £0.90

Reggae Reggae sauce - £1.50

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TOTAL
£3.35
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SUNDAY

Today I'm inconsolable as we learn we can't spend Christmas with the family. It's the first Christmas since my birth that I won't be with them and it's really hitting me hard. With the year we've had, it was something I was really looking forward to. 

I posted on social months ago pleading for people not to take risks and be stupid and cancel Christmas for everyone. And look what happened. I've seen it all. The people who have one 'bubble' one day and a different one the next. Our neighbours who constantly had friends over during lockdown. Whilst they're not British, if you choose to go and live in another country, you need to abide by that country's lockdown rules. Large groups of people in London not social distancing the eve before a new enforcement. People who went on UK mini breaks during UK lockdown when they should have been home (travel is a privilege not a right!). 2020 was the year that highlighted those with intelligence who are sensible and those that are godamn stupid. And sadly we have more of the latter in this country. 

I made so many sacrifices in 2020 hoping things would get better. I listened to the guidelines. We barely saw our friends and family. Some of my best friends gave birth and I haven't been able to meet their babies. I haven't physically been to a supermarket since before the first lockdown in March 2020. I haven't travelled. I stayed at home. I took extra care of myself so I could step in to help my vulnerable and at risk family if anything was to happen to them. 

It felt like a year of sacrifices for a non Christmas. We still don't have a kitchen so can't even cook a roast here. I have preemptively ordered a gammon, turkey and a beef joint for Christmas, all which can be popped into the slow cooker. I may not be able to do roast turkey or roast beef, but this year will be an alternative sort of Christmas with pulled turkey in brioche buns and slow cooked Italian beef ragu with lots of herbs. Not the same, but we will make it work.

Today we had a lovely food hamper delivered which really lifted my spirits. Turns out my Mum ordered it way back in March as she was so sure we'd all be separated at Christmas (turns out she was right!). I am even more excited by the fact that it's an Aldi Christmas hamper. I love Aldi. 

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TOTAL
£0.00
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TOTAL FOR THE WEEK
£52.87
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The festive season can be an expensive time with night outs and drinks and catch ups but lockdown put a stop to all of that. Money was saved from not having to commute and also by spreading the cost of Christmas and buying gifts across the year rather than having a big bill in December or money woes in January. 

Hope you are well and safe and healthy and sending you much love xxx

Writing it all out like this does make the little things hit home. If you decide to give this money diary a go yourself - or have any money saving tips - do let me know in the comments below!

MY PREVIOUS MONEY SAVING DIARIES

COVID-19 edition

What I spent last week (ouch)

Travel savings & PewDiePie's wedding at Kew Gardens
Curry night, sales and savvy substitutions
Chinese New Year and mattress shopping

The money diary of a London blogger

Home grown veg and a largely vegetarian week

Building works and life without a kitchen

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash