Happy Holidays!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !!!

*Pictures from Pinterest

Christmas decor

As Christmas approaches, I'm just finishing out writing the menus, decorating the house and wrapping up the gifts. Last weekend we finally found the time to decorate our christmas tree (1st picture above) what do you think about it?! did you spot the intruder in the picture??!!

 Here for you are a few of my Christmas decoration inspirations:

Are you almost set for Christmas eve?  

Impress your guests by making edible snow globes

Use knits to wrap your presents

Decorate your door knobs

Use a cookie cutter as a napkin ring

Create a cozy atmosphere and don't forget to hang up the Christmas socks!

Create your own advent calendar

If you are expecting a snowy Christmas, decorate your outdoors with ice candles

Place some holiday trinkets amongst your home decor

Add a natural touch to your gifts

Photo Credits: http://www.larecetadelafelicidad.com, http://dreamywhites.blogspot.sg/, pinterest

Spinach, goat cheese & pomegranate Christmas salad

1

Before indulging in some proper traditional Christmas cooking, I wanted to share with you my perfect Christmas salad! Why perfect? Well, the colors and ingredients are in theme with the holiday season, the mixture of different textures make it extra special and finally, it's a light and healthy break from all the cookies and rather filling pre-Christmas meals I've been having so far!!!

BABY SPINACH & HONEY GOAT CHEESE CROSTINI SALAD WITH A POMEGRANATE VINAIGRETTE  

Recipe

1 bag of fresh pre-washed baby spinach salad

1 whole Pomegranate 

Goat cheese

Honey

1/2 wholemeal baguette

For the Vinaigrette (the dosage is to taste):

Extra virgin olive oil

Dijon mustard

Balsamic vinegar 

Pinch of salt & pepper

Pomegranate juice (from the fresh fruit)

- Rinse the pre-washed spinach salad and keep refrigerated

- Cut the pomegranate in half and take all the seeds out*, you will also get some natural juice from the fruit, keep it aside so that you can add it to the vinaigrette (pictures 3/4)

-Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking together the olive oil, mustard, balsamic vinegar,pomegranate juice, salt & pepper until all the ingredients are well mixed together and reach a smooth texture (picture 5/6/7)

-Cut the desired amount of slices of bread and toast them, when slightly golden place a round of goat cheese on each and drizzle with a little honey, place under your oven grill until melted (picture 9)

-In a large bowl mix the salad and pomegranate dressing then make individual portions, lay the goat cheese crostini on top and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds (picture 1/8/10)

*Seeding the pomegranate:

There are many different ways to seed a pomegranate, to me the easiest and quickest way is by cutting the fruit in half and 'beating' the flesh with a wooden spoon (picture 3/4)

Make sure that you do not have too many white pieces from the flesh as they can be a little bitter. You can juice the leftover seeds and make a delicious fresh pomegranate juice:)

Enjoy!

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Christmas wreaths

Gingerbread wreath

Hello everyone!

I'm back from Europe where I have been for the past 2 weeks planning our wedding and looking for my dress, it was amazing to see everyone and to celebrate my 29th birthday with my friends and family and it felt so good to finally feel some crisp winter weather!

Now back at home in the tropics, it's time to put myself into the whole Christmas mood. We will decorate our tree during the weekend and I will start baking some Christmas goodies. 

For this first post on the festivity, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite DIY wreaths from around the net, I love all the different and creative ways in which wreaths are made.

Have you decorated your house yet? Do you make your own Christmas wreath?

Ice wreath

Peppermint wreath

Pavlova wreath

Photo Credits: http://www.donnahay.com.au/, http://dreamywhites.blogspot.sg/, Pinterest