FENNEL SAUSAGE FLATBREAD PIZZAS

Nearly a year ago (!), my brilliant pal - and super wedding photographer - Jo popped round for a morning of making and baking. I made apple crumble sundaes and flatbread pizzas and Jo took some lovely photos for me to use on my blog; I posted the pesto breakfast pizza version of this recipe last year and after having a hankering for these fennel sausage ones, realised I hadn't posted this recipe and its accompanying batch of photos. 

NEW YORK-STYLE VALENTINE'S COOKIES

I spent four years living in New York when I was very small and ever since, white chocolate chip cookies have remained one of my mum's favourite things. This recipe comes from Molly O'Neill's The New York Cookbook, a hefty tome that has recipes from all over the city which, of course, means there are dishes to cook from all over the world. My mum has annotated recipes with things like YES!! and DOUBLE IT! in the margins, which makes it even more fun to flip through.

A note before I share the recipe, these cookies are slim and crisp - they stay deliciously chewy in the centre but they're definitely not chunky, melty cookies; the book says "these are easy to make and absolutely delicious. They develop a butterscotch flavour as they bake and are extremely fragile." So there you go!

AROUND THE WORLD W/ TEATOURIST

Teatourist is a brand that combines two of my favourite gifting philosophies: consumables and 'gifts that keep on giving'. Lately, I want to receive gifts that don't take up too much space in our already-cluttered home. But I also like receiving gifts that take me by surprise, which is where monthly subscriptions come in. I've already written about how I sent my brother a different book every month for six months and, in turn, he gifted me an art subscription where I receive an original print through my letterbox every month!

RECIPES FOR ENTERTAINING

I'm a bit gutted that I haven't managed to blog anything Christmas-y this year - these Christmas posts from blog years past are some of my favourite! I've worked with an interiors brand called Fishpools before on an inspiration post, and this season they're all about entertaining - having a big table and enough chairs to feed even a handful of friends can be a challenge; that's why I thought I would round up a few recipes for having friends over - recipes for finger food, when you can't get everyone squashed around the table and recipes for warming winter meals, when you're crammed elbow-to-elbow and bowl food is your best bet! p.s. here's hoping for this big dining table and a kitchen to fit it in from Father Christmas this year!

SUSHI MAKING IN TOKYO

Posting a little out of order here, but I wanted to squeeze in a little food post as it's been a while! Hands down the best thing we did on our 'second honeymoon' in Tokyo was go to a sushi making class. My friend's boyfriend booked the four of us into a class at the Tokyo Sushi Academy in Tsukiji and the school's close proximity to Tokyo's fish market (seeing this was the second best thing to happen that day) meant we had our pick of some of the world's freshest fish!

BUDGET WEDDING/BRIDESMAID DRESSES

This post is actually what sparked all of my other wedding round-ups. I wasn't going to blog that much about the ins and outs of wedding planning and such, but a conversation on Twitter reminded me how much research I did into wedding dresses and that my encyclopaedic knowledge (and experience!) of online shopping might actually be useful to someone other than me.

CHICKEN SATAY BURGERS

WEDDING DECORATIONS + DIYS

When you scour wedding blogs and Pinterest for ideas, everything starts to look the same. The more I looked, the more I simultaneously wanted to do all of the things and none of the things. In the end, I think we found a good middle ground. The pub was pretty enough that it really didn't need much in the way of decorations, just flowers and a bit of bunting. I was very chilled in the run-up to the wedding and then two weeks before I realised that I did want all of the things, and so began a round of frantic shopping, online ordering and quick DIYing.