SUNNYDEI

2016: A Recap Of Travel, Life and Blog

I had to sign something today and it dawned on me that it’s the last time I will ever write the date as 2016. I always get sentimental about writing the date for the last time, ever since I learned how to write when I was little.
In a bid farewell to 2016 I thought I would write a recap and summary of my year in travel, personal life and blog. It's a year that will mark history but for me personally it has been a truly amazing year. Why you say? Well let me fill you in.

Amalthea Greek Cafe and Bistro Review

Although I spend a very significant amount of my outgoings on food and meals out I have to say that I haven’t really tried much Greek Food. I was absolutely delighted when a new independently owned Greek cafe and bistro Amalthea got in touch with me and invited me to try out their menu. They have many gluten free options and alternatives so I knew I would be in for a treat.

Raw Chocolate Bark

Christmas is a time for spending time with your most loved ones and eating chocolate. Lots and lots of chooclate. When January comes around it's easy to feel a little heavier and very sluggish after consuming ones weight in chocolate.
Fortunately I have come up with a simple and delicious raw chocolate bark recipe which is a much healthier alternative to milk chocolate. It has a very smooth dark chocolate top with a moist and slightly crunchy texture underneath thanks to the coconut sugar.

Christmas Gift Guide : Perfect Unisex Gifts for Him & Her

Christmas countdown ( I can't believe how quick it has come around!) is on and I have created a gift guide which is suitable for both him and her or as ideal joint presents for couples. Hopefully this Christmas gift guide will save you some time and stress and give you some great little gift ideas for your family and friends!

Christmas Gift Guide For Her - Accessories, Skincare and Make Up

This year once again I’ve been super organised (*pats herself on the back*) and have created a Christmas gift guide for her. Featuring lots of great little gifts that your mum, girlfriend, sister, or best friend will love.

Wild About Leeds - The Body Shop Christmas Event

The Body Shop is one of my absolute favourite brands. Their body butters are an essential part of my daily beauty routine and I can honestly say that I've never bought anything from Body Shop that I haven't liked. Naturally when I received an invite to their Christmas event I got very excited! The event was hosted at Lamberts Yard because the Leeds store on Briggate was getting an exciting revamp.

If you read my blog or know me personally then you'll know that I really love food. I love cooking, I love eating and I spend most of my disposable income on restaurant meals. Leeds is such a foodie city and I'm still constantly finding new restaurants that I haven't tried yet. Blackhouse Grill On The Square in Leeds happens to be one of them. Blackhouse has recently had a revamp and updated their food menu and I got invited to their Chefs Table Relaunch dinner.

Jord Wood Watch Review

When an email landed in my inbox about a collaboration with Jord wood watches, I was very surprised and intrigued. I'm a nature girl at heart so having a watch made from natural materials is right up my street but I've never actually a seen a watch made from wood prior to coming across Jord watches.

I'm a summer girl at heart but it's hard to deny that Autumn is a gorgeous colourful season and there's something so magical about watching all the leaves turn two different shades of the sun. The only problem with autumn is that it doesn't last long enough. Wouldn't it be fabulous if we could have less of winter and more of chilly, colourful autumn? I also really love autumn fashion so me and and the gorgeous Lucinda decided to team up for a very colourful shoot.

Over the last few months a few people I know have told me that they would love to start a blog and asked me various different questions about blogging. I figured hey, it’d be great to get this all down in a blog post so that anyone who’s thinking about starting a blog can weigh up the pros and cons and decide if it’s for them.

Raw Flourless Chocolate Torte (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free)

I've been trying to experiment with more healthy, natural foods. I started researching something called 'clean eating' which essentially means simple unrefined, unprocessed whole foods and cutting out sugar. However, I have to be honest previous to this I had never made a no bake torte or cake before so the concept is rather new to me. This torte has lived up to my expectations and was actually easier to make than anything I've previously baked. No flour, no refined sugar, no bake, no dairy just whole lot of chocolatey goodness.

Leeds is a great city to live in if you love cocktails ( I definitely do!) we are absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to bars that offer amazing drinks, so much so that it can be hard to decide where to go on a night out. That's exactly why I'm delighted to inform you about a new event that's coming to Leeds this Friday 14th of October - The Cocktail Experience. If you already have plans I suggest you cancel them because for one night only 13 of the best cocktail bars in Leeds will all come together under one roof and serve up delicious cocktails.

I think Lasagne is a really comforting delicious meal, however it's definitely not the healthiest and unfortunately for me also full of my mortal enemy gluten. Instead of forever bidding farewell to this creamy delicious meal I have come up with a tasty but healthier alternative made with potatoes.

The Grainary Farm Getaway & Gluten Free Sunday Roast Dinner

Living in the city is great, we have bars, restaurants and shops on our door step but the one thing I miss the most is nature. Fresh air, trees, and the sounds of birds chirping. Unfortunately the one thing that can make going away for the weekend a little more of a challenge is my gluten intolerance. When the Grainary farm got in touch with me about their gluten free Sunday roast dinner I just knew we had to pay them a visit!

USA Road Trip - Hooverdam an Grand Canyon

Travel posts are some of my absolute favourite to read because I live in a permanent state of wanderlust. They're also my favourite posts to write and I plan to have many many more feature on sunnydei, however they are also the most time consuming and that's the reason why this post about my USA roadtrip has been left in drafts for a few months now.
Last March me, the boy and our three friends went on a two week road trip around California, Arizona and Nevada. It was a trip filled with uncontrollable laughter, breathtaking sights and delicious foods.

Organic Vegan Superfood Breakfast

Can you believe that summer is over? I don't quite want to let go of sunshine filled summer evenings but as far as Autumn goes I think September is pretty nice. Although I like my trees very green, there is something magical about witnessing the leaves turn into the different shades of the sun slowly throughout the month. It also happens to be Organic September, a month in which I hope to eat and experiment with more organic ingredients!
First up I have come up with a breakfast combination that is absolutely mouth watering but also packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and other good stuff.

The Potting Shed Bingley Review

Leeds as a city is an ultimate foodies dream, we have so many incredible restaurants all over the city but sometimes it's good to venture a little further out - Bingley to be precise! I got invited to try out the new menu at the Potting Shed in Bingley. From the outside The Potting Shed looks like any other pub but as soon as I stepped inside I was very pleasantly surprised.

La Redoute Summer Party

Last year I fell in love with a new fashion fashion apparel - La Redoute and I have to say that the love affair is still going strong. They have such an awesome range of clothes, for pretty much every occasion! It's fair to say that when an email landed in my inbox with an invitation to La Redoute exclusive summer party at a secret location I was very excited and intrigued.

Manahatta bar and restaurant in Leeds is situated on the bustling Merrion Street. It's a New York style bar and it's one of my favourite spots on a night out because of it's spacious, funky decor and great tunes.

Although I've danced many nights away on Manahattas dancefloor I have to say that I've never eaten there before...until now that is! I got invited to try the new healthy additions to the menu - power bowls and since I already love the place once the sun goes down I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see it in daylight for once too.

The Summer Menu at Malmaison Chez Mal Brasserie

Eating out is probably one of my very favourite pass times, what can I say I love food! It's fair to say that when the awesome Restaurants of Leeds invited me to come to the Malmaison to celebrate the launch of their new website and try out the summer menu in Chez Mal restaurant, I got very excited!

July is the month of graduations and it's hard to believe that I graduated three years ago! My life along with all of my friends who graduated has changed quite signifincantly so I thought I'd sum up some of the biggest changes you might be experience if you have recently graduated or are about to.

Top Tips For Taking Your Blog To The Next Level - Bloggers Brunch

Hello there! A little while ago I attended a bloggers brunch where we got to learn all sorts of tips and tricks from the super blogger Hannah Gale and Jaywing PR. I thought it would be just plain mean if I didn't share some of this blogging wisdom which got passed down to me.

Indigo Herbs Herbal Teas Review

If you're a frequent visitor to my blog then you'll probably already know that I believe that tea makes life better. I often feel like my they hasn't started properly unless I've had a cup of tea.

I was absolutely delighted when Indigo Herbs got in touch with me and asked me to try out and review some of their teas*. A little while ago I made organic raw chocolate for the first time using an Indigo Herbs kit. The chocolate was absolutely delicious with really high quality ingredients so I had high hopes for the teas.

I selected the Rise and Shine tea, Monthly moontime and Estonian Chaga mushroom.

Propercorn The Institute Of Flavour

I eat very healthy day to day or at least I try! Crisps used to be my biggest downfall at all, I could have a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner but then I would succumb to a bag of crisps and feel really guilty after. This was until I discovered Propercorn, it's my absolute favourite snack at the moment and the best thing about it that it's guilt free! It's gluten free, low in calories, carbs, fats and comes in lots of different flavours. When Propercorn* emailed me and invited to experiment with their popcorn to celebrate the launch of their new campaign The Institute Of Flavour, I almost squealed with excitement! I mean I have been making a trip to the shop every lunch time just to get my hands on a bag so I was so so happy to be sent a generous helping of Propercorn. Below you can read my review of every single flavour!

Eating Out - The Food Academy

I believe I have discovered Leeds best kept foodie secret - The Food Academy, a restaurant ran by Leeds City College studetns. I got invited for a complimentary four course meal to show off the talents of the students. I had never heard of The Food Academy so in all honesty I wasn't really sure what to expect but I'm never one to turn down a foodie opportunity. Well here's the spoiler alert - the food was absolutely amazing!

We got greeted with some Pimms cocktails and then sat down for our meal. Whilst we waited for the starters we were presented with some home baked sun dried tomato bread rolls, which the boy said was absolutely delicious. The staff were lovely though and presented me with some gluten free bread.

For our starters we had Veal and Goats Cheese Nugget which was served up with pickled beetroot, cucumber, spring onion and radish.

The restaurant catered for my gluten intolerance by serving up the dish without the breadcrumbs for me. It was so so good! There was such a gorgeous combination of flavours I would order this dish again and again in fact I would go as far as saying that it was one of my favourite starters I've ever had.

Moogoo Acne Cleansing Moisturiser & 3 Vitamin Serum Review

Hello there! It's time to get a little personal. Since turning 23 I have made two significant changes to my skincare routine. No one in the online world knows this but in the last year I have developed acne. That's right I developed acne at the age of 23.

Eating Out - Gluten Free Menu at The New Conservatory

Having coeliac disease or a gluten intolerance sucks. Not only we have to cut out some of the best things in life like pizza and croissants but eating out can be difficult. Since having to go gluten free I've had so many awkward moments in restaurants. I usually have to double check everything that I order to ensure that it's safe or go to a really nice restaurant and then have to order a salad because they simply don't do 'gluten free' food. Leeds has such a big selection of great restaurants but unfortunately many of them don't have many gluten free options, that's why I was so excited to learn that the New Conservatory have a full gluten free menu! When they invited me over to try it, I simply couldn't say no!

The Lake District - My Favourite Place

I have lived in England for almost six years and in this time I've tried to go exploring and visit the seaside, new cities and little towns. In all honesty though nothing has quite matched up to The Lake District. I absolutely love it there, it is hands down my favourite place in England. The lakes are so beautiful that if it wasn't for the English weather I wouldn't believe that I wasn't abroad. The little towns and villages surrounding it are cute, colourful and full of character.

Taste Of Inn travel at Molton Cookery School

Food is one of my greatest loves in life. I love eating and I love cooking, so when the lovely team at Zeal invited me to an event organised by Inn travel I was over the moon! There's nothing I love more than exploring new recipes and it sounded like the perfect way to spend a sunday. We were going to be cooking european dishes paired with delicious wines and inspired by the destinations where Inn travel offer slow holidays. Incase you're wondering what slow holidays are, they are the type of holidays that allow you to relax and unwind whilst exploring beautiful locations.

USA Road Trip - LA

In March me, the boy and our three friends embarked on a two week (16 days to be precise!) road trip around California, Arizona and Nevada. I have never been to America but California has been on my must visit list since I was 14. That's 10 years of day dreaming about this gorgeous state.

The first stop of our trip was LA. I was actually going to write a detailed post about everything we did and where we ate BUT my phone broke and I lost all of my notes (sobs) so I will try to do my best to remember what we got up to.

Looks | California Stylin' Part 2

If you follow me on twitter or instagram then you will have noticed my holiday spam photos. I have recently came back from a road trip around California, Arizona and Nevada. I will be blogging and vlogging about my whole trip very soon once I can find some spare time.
In the mean time I thought I would share with you some of my favourite outfits I wore on the holiday. The bag was the perfect size, big enough to fit all the necessities and small enough to not be a nuisance and the shirt, well I am just in love with it!

Lobster Homeware Apron Review

One of my favourite weekend pass times is cooking and baking! I absolutely love it and since having to cut gluten out of my diet a couple of years ago I bake a lot now. One thing that's always been missing from my kitchen pantry is a good apron. I usually end up covered in batter and flour and have to put my clothes straight into the dishwasher afterwards. When Lobster Homeware got in touch with me telling me that they would love me to review one of their beautiful aprons I was delighted!
There are three gorgeous designs to choose from with more available to preorder. I chose Meeha* the beautiful peachy floral apron.

Gluten Free Lemon Cream Cake Recipe and Magic Baking Tin Review

Cake makes life better. I think that's pretty much a fact. Unfortunately gluten is my mortal enemy and so I'm on a mission to bake delicious gluten free cakes. This one has made it onto my list of successs! What's even better is that I got to bake this cake in shape of a heart thanks to The Magic Baking Tin* which was very kindly sent to me for a review.

Leeds Indie Food Festival 2016 & Cocktails in the city

Since I’ve come back from my USA roadtrip (about which I will be writing about soon I promise) I’ve had a case of the holiday blues. Since I’ve been back to England the weather has been pretty awful, we even had snow at the end of April! However, there has been a few things that have really helped to keep my holiday blues at bay and that’s been trying out some awesome new bars and restaurants and attending Leeds cocktails in the city and having Leeds indie food festival to look forward to.

Cocktails in the city happened over two days in Leeds town hall. The Town hall is such a majestic location too, very suitable for an evening filled with cocktails. All of the best bars in Leeds had cocktail stalls all under one roof and it was great! There was also cocktail demonstrations and master classes going on which were not only incredibly delicious but also very entertaining.

I absolutely loved Cocktails in the city and can’t wait for next year!

3 New Bars & Restaurants You Need To Visit In Leeds

In Leeds we are spoilt for choice for food and drinks, the food and drink scene is great and lucky for us it's just got even better!

I've recently visited the following 3 bars / restaurants and I was so impressed that I decided you absolutely need to visit them too.

Birthday weekend and Ox Pasture Hall review

I have just turned 24. To be honest, I can't quite believe it yet, I still feel like I'm 21! It's weird to think that I'm pretty much almost in my mid twenties. In order to celebrate and to distract me from the fact that I'm getting closer to my thirties me and the boy decided to get away from Leeds for a couple of days.
I celebrated my birthday by the seaside and we had an amazing time. We went to Robin Hoods Bay, Whitby and Scarborough with an overnight stay at Ox Pasture Hall Hotel.

Organic Raw Vegan Chocolates Recipe

Chocolate is one of my weaknesses when it comes to healthy eating, I can give up burgers, fries and sweet without any problems but chocolate is a different story. I just love it! I'm currently trying to lose the holiday weight I gained whilst on our California road trip, but instead of giving chocolate up I decided to have a go at making my own healthy raw chocolate.

Looks | California Stylin' Part 1

If you follow me on twitter or instagram then you will know that I've just come back from a road trip around California, Arizona and Nevada (even passed through Utah!). The weather was incredible, we had sun every day and it was over 20 degrees Celsius in most places that we visited.

Luckily I came prepared as I spruced up my wardrobe with some new pieces prior to the holiday and thought I would share with my three favourite outfits that I wore whilst I was over there.

3 Tips To Avoid Holiday Disasters When Travelling With Your Loved One

They say that you never truly get to know someone like you do when you live or travel with them. I must say that I definitely believe this to be true. Often when you take your fist holiday with your loved one, it can make or break for the relationship.

Me and the boy have been together for almost 5 years and have been on a few holidays together, actually only yesterday we got back from a two week road trip around California ( some posts about it are coming soon!).

Whether you’re about to go on your very fist holiday with your partner or you’ve already been on lots and would like to have the best time possible I’ve got some tips to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Win Fortnum and Mason Champagne and Truffles

My favourite way to celebrate Easter is to be surrounded with my family with champagne in one hand and chocolates in the other, if yours is too, then you should enter the competition hosted by Le Chardon Mountain Lodges to win Fortnum & Mason chocolate truffles and a bottle of champagne*. All you have to do is answer one question, the competition ends on 21st of March and you can enter here.

6 Restaurants You Need To Try In Leeds

Eating out has to be one of my favourite pass times. I absolutely love food and living in Leeds means that I'm spoiled for choice no matter what I'm in the mood for. Here's just 6 places that you need to try!

Health Benefits of Matcha Green Tea

I heard about Matcha green tea a couple of years ago, it was the latest health trend which came around shortly after bulletproof coffee. Even though matcha green tea has only been widely available in the UK for a couple of years, drinking it is actually a very long standing tradition in Japanese culture.
So what is Matcha green tea I hear you ask. It's the finest quality green tea, which has been steamed and then ground into a very fine powder.

Citrus matcha green tea

Flaviar - Gin Tasting

A little while ago an email landed in my inbox about Flaviar, a subscription service that offers monthly tasting boxes and exclusive private bottles of the finest spirits. When asked if I would like to review this said service, of course I had to say yes!

Murder Mystery Dinner - #MurderOnThePoshFloor

In January I was lucky to be invited to a posh Murder Mystery Dinner hosted by poshflooring.
When we first arrived we were greeted with a champagne reception and got some pictures taken. Some of the best Yorkshire bloggers attended the event including the lovely Lucinda, India, Gabby, Corinne, Ally, Laura and Dash.

Bundobust Vegetarian Indian Street Food Review

The Leeds food scene is pretty awesome. There's so many amazing new places popping up all the time. In the last couple of years street food has become my favourite food trend in Leeds. If you love great food and craft beer then you must pay Bundobust a vist.

Baker Days Letter Box Cake Giveaway

I have to say that cake is one of my favourite things in this world. When BakerDays got in touch with me asking me if I wanted to give one of their letterbox cakes a try, my day was made instanstly. Did you know you can get cake by post?! Yes, that's right. It would make such a gorgeous gift to a loved one or you could order yourself some to brighten up your Monday in the office.

Barcelona City Break

For the boys birthday in August I booked us a little suprise getaway to Barcelona. I booked it all on his laptop and the browser pre-filled all of my details however it used his phone number. The next day I had a text from him saying "Some guy just rang me about a Barcelona trip?" so yeah it wasn't a surprise any longer!

Looks | Fun Shoot In The Freezing Cold

I really enjoy publishing fashion posts and that's something I'd like to get more into in the future. However, I also think that often fashion blog posts can be a little static SO me and the beautiful Gabby from whatshebuys decided to team up and have some fun!

Exercise In The Office

This is officially my first ever fitness post on sunnydei (wooo) hopefully the first of many!
I work in an office and spend about 80% of my working week sat at my desk in front of a computer. This means that I spend most of my time being extremely inactive. This makes me feel pretty sluggish and unhealthy most of the time, I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Luckily, there are some little things you can do in the office to get more active.

Powwownow are holding a Flexible Working Campaign and have invited me to get involved by sharing an exercise that can easily be achieved in the office.

One of the easiest exercises to do in the office are Office Chair Squats

Gröstl Recipe - A Taste Of The Mountains

Winter is made for comfort food so when Branded3 invited me to try a recipe from 'Taste Of The Mountains' competition by Ski Total I simply couldn't say no.
There were three dishes to choose from and I decided to go for Gröstl.
Gröstl is one of Austria's most popular dishes in the winter months. After trying it, I can really see why. It's easy to make, filling and absolutely delicious!