Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Stuck for last minute Christmas gift ideas?

In my eyes you can't go wrong with chocolates. And to make sure your loved ones enjoy this gift over and over why not sign them up to the Hotel Chocolat Tasting Club!

The Hotel Chocolat Tasting Club is unlike any other subscription boxes I've seen before - The Cocoa box is the perfect balance of milk, dark and white chocolate with a different box of recipes delivered every 4 weeks.

It's the gift that keeps on giving. Imagine the delight every month at having a gorgeous box of sumptuous chocolates being delivered to your door, mmm!

I have an exclusive 1st Box Offer where you can get your first box for just £9.95! Sign up today and you will receive a FREE bag of salted caramel puddles! Wouldn't that be an ideal Secret Santa present.

Or for that chocolate loving family member there are also 3, 6, and 12 month offers and you can unsubscribe at anytime! Check out my exclusive discount codes below:

Save £15 - Get £5 off your first 3 club boxes – Enter code: TCX15X3B

Save £33 - Get £5.50 off your first 6 club boxes - Enter code: TCX33X6B

Save £72 - Get £6 off your first 12 club boxes - Enter code: TCX72X12B

I know what I'm adding to my Christmas list!!

My Christmas Wishlist

. Deliciously Ella cookbook . Jamie Oliver Tefal Pan set . Dyson V6 Animal . The Pioneer Woman serving dishes . Measuring Cups .

 This Christmas my wishlist being sent to Santa Claus is all home wares and cookbooks! 

Since getting our fur baby last year (a snowy white and tabby patched cat called Drizzle) everything has become covered in fluff and i have pined over the Dyson cordless hoovers. 

In my quest to get the Hubby's approval to purchase such an extravagance investment I have boasted about the benefits of having such a versatile tool in our home! From the powerful suction (begone Drizzle hair!) to being able to quickly whizz it into the corners of the rooms with the handheld function, to me being able to hoover the stairs and 1st floor of our home with ease due to its lightweight nature. Please Santa bring me one of these!!

I have added the Deliciously Ella cookbook to my list - I try to make healthy treats where possible as I try to follow a "clean eating" program coupled with personal training 3x a week. I have also added a couple of comfort-food cookbooks to my list by Barefoot Contessa and The Pioneer Woman; i love their shows on Food Network!

Stainless Steel Measuring Cups! Well, because I will need assistance with all the new recipes I will be making in the New Year!

When me and my partner first moved in together we struggled to find a pot & pan set that we liked so we just settled for a cheapy one with the hope of upgrading when we found a set we liked ... 4 years have past and we still haven't changed them! We have some wedding vouchers to use and i think we shall start the search soon for a lovely pan set that will see us through many years. I really like the Jamie Oliver Tefal ones or the Tefal Ingenio set where you have one handle for the whole set and chop and change as you use them - genius!

And finally The Pioneer Woman serving dishes! As I mentioned earlier I really enjoy watching Ree Drummond's show on Food Network on a Sunday morning before starting my batch cooking. I have a bit of an obsession at the moment for finding some lovely patterned serving dishes for my kitchen and these are ideal - only problem is they are available in America and shipping would be astronomical for the set *sad face* 

Annnd that is it for my 2015 Christmas Wishlist - hopefully a few of these will be crossed off and the others picked up in the January sales!

Cooking with Kirsti #2

Why hello there!!

Another installment of Cooking With Kirsti ... today (well Sunday!) i made my first ever trifle. Decided to give myself a head start and do a practice run for Christmas Day. Very easy to do, so i'm pleased with that :) Here's what i did ...

Ingredients:
 

Jelly (strawberry)

Sponge fingers

Custard

Dream Topping

Flaked Almonds

Dark chocolate
 

Firstly i took my trifle bowl (i say trifle bowl, i don’t actually own one yet! I had to buy this Pyrex bowl when buying the ingredients as that’s all they had, lol) and laid sponge fingers over the bottom of the bowl as a base ... i think when i make this again i may use different sponge instead of the fingers but that’s purely for aesthetic reasons.

 

I then made up the jelly and poured over the sponge base. The sponge fingers then rose and mixed in with the jelly. At this point you could add some fruit pieces to the mix but i forgot to buy fruit when shopping! I left this overnight to set in the fridge.

 

The next day i poured a carton of custard over the jelly and sponge. As mentioned in my first cooking post I’m a lazy cook so i bought pre-made custard, you can make your own if you wish (and have the time!)

 

I then mixed up the Dream Topping. I have never even heard of Dream Topping before, my mum always uses whipping cream with icing sugar for the topping of a trifle but the boyfriend insisted i made it the ‘proper’ way so i hunted it down and gave it a whirl. O.M.G !! Why have i never tried this before, it was absolutely amazing ... i even licked the bowl!

 

To finish I quickly crushed up some flaked almonds and made some dark chocolate shavings and sprinkled over the top. I then left to set for a couple of hours in the fridge and viola! A simple, pimple trifle!

 
 

What trifle tips do you have?

 

xoxo

 

 

All I Want For Christmas ... a xmas wishlist

1. Lispy Belted Fur Gilet 2. Benefit Peek-A-Bright-Eyes 3. Maggie Angus Skull Chain bracelet 4. Chanel bag 5. iPad 6. Lush Twilight shower gel

 

On the first day of Christmas .... Tra la la la la, la la la laaaaaaaaa ...

 

I'm well and truly embracing Christmas this year! Yesterday i spent the day doing Christmas crafts and putting up a little pink tree with the boyfriend's little girl. We made angels and Santa's out of toilet roll tubes!

 

I put together a little Christmas Wishlist ... i don't for one second think I'll ever get a Chanel bag but hey, aim high ;)

 

Up until yesterday i didn't think there was anything i wanted for Christmas except maybe an iPad but a quick late night online window shop proved very fruitful and i found some little gems that I'd like to see in my stocking!

 

Anything Santa doesn't bring I'll add to my birthday list which is only 2 months away now, ha.

 

Also, i just need to add this was my first attempt at a product collage and I'm quite impressed. Teaching myself basic Photoshop skillz at half 7 on a Sunday morning is not what i envisioned but at least i achieved something this weekend :p

 

xoxo

 

 

Kirsti's 250 Follower Xmas Giveaway ...

250!!

Thankyou all so much for taking time out to follow me and read my blog, I'm so grateful and happy.

As a thank you i thought I'd hold a cheeky giveaway to celebrate reaching 250, one lucky person will win an extra special Christmas present :)

As you can see by the picture above there are some pretty sought after gifts there :p

The lucky winner will receive:

Lush Snow Fairy

Lush The Melting Snowman

Batiste Original Dry Shampoo

Natural Collection Pink Orchid lipstick

Natural Collection Cosmic Crush nail polish

Maybelline nail polish

MUA Shade 16 nail polish

ELF Champagne nail polish

George Starry Eyed nail polish

5x nail art dotting tools

Nail art diamante's (24000 wheel)

George Faux Lash Mascara

George Eye Primer

Vanilla Lip Balm

Pink Sparkles Lip Stickers/Tattoos

Handmade jewellery

Christmas chocolates

A sprikling of fairy dust ...

Rules:

Firstly, you must be a public GFC follower on my blog.

UK only.

To enter simply leave a comment on this post with your contact deets (email or twitter is fine)

Extra entries:

Tweet about the giveaway: 'I've just entered @kirsti_r 250 followers Xmas giveaway and you can too here @ http://kirstix.blogspot.com' (+1)

This giveaway will close at midnight on Friday 16th December and the winner will be announced here over the weekend . The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

I will also email/tweet the winner and if i don't get a response within 2 days (Sunday 18th December), i will have to choose another to get the parcel mailed before Xmas posting dates.

 - best of luck xoxo

I only started blogging in February this year and since then have met some great girls and chat to the most amazing people on Twitter - i love you all :)

Thankyou again

xoxo