Gluten Free Blueberry Cake

There's one thing you should know about me - I love cake. Although I eat really healthy about 90% of the time, I'm a sucker for fluffy, gooey, buttery cake and pastries.

Travel on a budget - Amazing Prague pt 1

Two and a half years ago me the boy and our friend Sam went on an interrailing trip. We covered five countries and seven cities in twelve days!

Ladbrokes Blogger Event

To celebrate the Cheltenham races Ladbrokes hosted a fabulous blogger event at Revolution Deansgate Locks in Manchester. The lovely Sarah from whatsasssays invited me as her plus one and it sounded too good not to attend!

The venue was gorgeous and the were oh so many delicious (free!) drinks available to choose from. In honesty I wished the event was hosted on a Friday so I could enjoy the drinks without holding back, but saying as I had work the next day I stopped after sensible four.

The place was decorated with beautiful cupcakes which were also included in our gift bags. Now unfortunately as I have a gluten intolerance I didn't sample any but Oli said that they were really delicious.

As I came straight after work I was absolutely starving and to my delight the event organizers spoiled us with lots of food! There were chicken skewers, pizzas, sweet potato wedges, nachos, salads and more.

 Sarah and Beth were looking beautiful as always, it was so great to see them.

After the drinks and the food we had a chance to put bets on with some tokens. Even though we all knew the races weren't real that didn't stop us from getting super excited and shouting words of encouragement to our chosen horses. There was a film crew and there should be a gogglebox style video showing our reactions coming soon.

What's even better was that there were two prizes at stake, a £100 and £50 shopping vouchers, which Laura and Sarah won!

There was also a #RaceFace selfie competition on twitter for a £25 voucher which I've found out today that I've won! I never win anything so was really pleased. I won't, however share the selfie with you as it's truly horrendous and very unflattering but if you really want to see it you can do so on my twitter.

Photo credit whatsasssays.com

I had a really lovely time catching up with the gorgeous Sarah Emma, Beth, and Laura again as well as meeting some new bloggers. I hope to see them all again soon!

Photo credit whatsasssays.com

Until next time,

Dei xx

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Richmond Tea Rooms

A couple of weeks ago  me and some fellow blogger ladies decided to visit Richmond Tearooms in Manchester for cake and a catch up.

The tearooms have a very distinctive and elaborate decor, inspired by Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland. The entrance, which has uneven black and white checkered walls and tree branches coming out of them definitely has Burton written all over them.

Now lets get onto the cakes! Oh, there were so many delicious looking cakes.

Me and Sarah must have spent about ten minutes just looking at them, virtually drooling.

Unfortunately, I have a gluten intolerance so about a week before our visit I emailed Richmonds to ask if they have gluten free cakes available and I was told that yes they do. So when I got to the counter and asked which of the gorgeous cakes were gluten free I was very disappointed to learn that none of them were. I was told that they hadn't baked any that day.

When the girls ordered their beautiful cakes I had a choice of ice cream or Eton mess which the staff offered to make for me.

I went for chocolate and vanilla ice cream and a cappuccino.

The girls ordered, Carrot cake, Walnut and coffee cake, Alice High Tea, Soup, Cheese and Fig sandwiches and a Strawberry milkshake. All of which they said was absolutely delicious, I tried a little icing from the cakes and it was very yummy.

Laura was getting very excited to eat her sandwich!

 Sarah looked absolutely stunning as usual!

It was so much fun catching up with Sarah, Laura and Beth! Who says your internet friends can't be real friends?! It's definitely not true :). 

Although I was very dissapointed to come all the way to Manchester from Leeds and not actually be able to have any cake, the staff at Richmonds were very helpful and offered to take all of our drinks off the bill, which made it that little bit better! I would definitely go back, but would probably give them a call on the day to ensure they have some gluten free cakes available.

Could you recommend good tea rooms around Yorkshire? 

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Till' next time,

Dei xx

Meet Sunny The Ragdoll Kitten

Over the last couple of months, I've casually included kitten photos in my posts, they've received some really lovely comments and I decided it's time for me to write an official introduction!

Me and the boy have been mulling over getting a little friend for our two and a half year old cat Nala for about a year. Since we both got full time jobs, Nala had been spending a lot of time on her own and we were worried that she was getting bored through the days.

Nala when she was a kitten

Nala now

Nala now

Nala is quite timid and doesn't really like people. She's very loving to me and Oli but usually the most affection she shows for our friends is by sitting near them, if they're lucky. She only likes to be cuddled when it's on her terms and otherwise is very independent. We feel so privileged when she comes to sit on our lap.

For months we talked about getting another cat, but we weren't 100% sure. After some careful research, we decided that we wanted a Ragdoll.
The reason for this was because this breed has a very loving, relaxed nature. They are nicknamed 'puppy cats' because they adore humans and like to go wherever you go.
They are best to be kept as indoor cats as any reputable breeder will tell you. This is because they don't have the same danger instincts as normal cats and will usually go to anyone, meaning that they could get stolen, run over or attacked by another animal. This was another reason why a Ragdoll seemed like such a perfect choice for us.

I've had 4 cats who have been run over by cars so when we bought Nala two and a half years ago we made the decision to keep as an indoor cat, I simply couldn't go through the pain of losing another pet very prematurely.

Once we decided that we wanted a Ragdoll I spent about three months looking through ads on pets4home and finally found an ad that showed promise.  A week later we had our first meeting with our little baby kitten.

Out of a litter of 6 there were only two boys left. As soon as we walked in we knew we just had to have one. It was definitely love at first sight.

Sunny at just 6 weeks old.

All the kittens had different coloured collars on them. The two kittens that were still available had a black and a yellow collar. The breeder told us that the kitten with the yellow collar seemed a lot more chilled out than the one with the black one. They were both equally adorable, but we decided on the kitten with the yellow collar because we thought that there would be a better chance that he'd get on with Nala. Yellow is also Oli's favourite colour so I think he saw it as a sign! We stayed with Natalie (the breeder) for over an hour, asking lots of questions and playing with the kittens.

We also got to meet the Mum and Dad of the kittens. The mum is a stunning blue point called Sky and the dad is a majestic fluffy seal point called Fudge. Sky, was so lovely and just wanted to be petted and fussed over, Fudge was a little shy but gorgeous nonetheless. Natalie said that both cats follow her around wherever she goes, even to the bathroom!

We arranged to pick him up two weeks later.

We called him Sunny because his mum is called Sky and his little collar was yellow like the sun. The fact that his name is so close to my blog name is just a happy coincidence!

He is the most cute, funny, loving little kitten ever. Him and Nala are like the polar opposites, she's independent and quiet and he's needy, but we wouldn't have it any other way!
If you like to keep up with his cuteness you can follow him on Instagram ( yes I'm now one of those people).

Have you got any pets? 

Till next time,

Dei x

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