Tuesday 29 April 2014

Hello Sunshine...

My all time favourite ever colour just has to be yellow!

I love yellow it honestly just makes me smile - reminding me of sunshine, buttercups, daffodils and lemon meringue pies, delish. And now that the sun is out and skies are blue I feel my yellow wardrobe should also be on show.

Yellow is a huge Spring trend this year - which makes me very pleased - anything goes from bright sunny hues to pastel, lemon yellows and they all look lovely. Some people seem a bit scared of wearing the colour, but I think chosen carefully it can suit anyone. There are so many ways to wear it, from colour-blocking to pops of colour being added to an outfit - all waving goodbye to grey days.

This is one item in my yellow-loving collection and it's a gorgeous chiffon top that's not too bright and so easy to wear. The cut is also really flattering, with a seam down the middle and a loose, almost collar as well. I loved the shape so much I also have the top in white!


I teamed it with a simple pair of jeans, wooden-heeled boots and this stunning black and white jacket. To top it all off I went for my go-to make-up look, red lips. They added an extra pop of colour to the outfit and I'm hoping the mixture of red and yellow didn't make me look like a rhubarb custard! It's perhaps not a colour combination you'd go for instantly, but I like it together so hey!


Yellow is a colour that's described as being; uplifting, illuminating, fun and hopeful. It's is supposed to provoke inspiring thoughts and ideas as well as providing enthusiasm and confidence. I mean what's not to love!? And I always feel whenever I see or wear the shade, honestly, it does just cheer me up just that little bit.

I convinced you? Yellow is a winner? Yaaaa!


So if you want your own yellow fix I am currently lusting over everything and anything in Zara at the moment. The co-ord short suit is perfection and the chiffon lemon shirts are just so pretty! My favourite pick though is definitely the jacket - I'm in love.  And even if you've got a lil bit of yellow fear break yourself in with this beaut statement necklace.


Yellow loving for the day - done!

Jacket - River Island
Top - H&M
Jeans - H&M
Boots - H&M 
(All other images and clothes from Zara UK)


Thursday 24 April 2014

A Weekend in Switzerland - Sunday

After we'd recovered from all the food on Saturday, tummies began rumbling again on Sunday...

It was a much nicer day and the sun was making an appearance. To get to our foodie destination we had to take a train through the rolling countryside of the Emmental. It's a beautiful part of the country, with luscious green fields and old-fashioned Swiss farmhouses dotted about.

We soon arrived at the Gasthof Rossli, where Michelin-starred chef Stefan Wiesner cooked up an extraordinary lunch.

The restaurant was of a rustic design, where you felt close to nature - with bone napkin rings and vases, as well as shelves filled with collected knick knacks from the natural surroundings. The food also reflected this theme and it was as though it had all been collected from the luscious surroundings of the countryside.


As a small appetiser we were given a delicious hard sweet cheese and the apéritif of the house. The earthy theme was kicked of with a sprig of rosemary floating in the fizz. 



Now I must confess my German is not up to scratch - if non-existent, so I had a little trouble with the menu, but decided that going for the set menu would take away this problem! However, it did mean that sometimes I wasn't entirely sure what was being served up - all I was certain of was that it would all be absolutely delicious!



To start we had 'Hay Soup' - sounds awful right? But it was amazing. Served in a nest of hay was a foaming bowl of soup. It was rich and creamy and there seemed to be some sort of cheese in the soup. The smell was gorgeous and well, hay-like and you could definitely taste the unusual ingredient lingering in the dish.  



Next up was my favourite course of the meal. Trout was served on a bed of lentils with a mustard infused crème fraîche. It was in-keeping with the nature-theme with the presentation. 



A bouquet of edible-flowers arrived next. The poked out of a sausage that was placed on top of a baked apple and a ginger, spiced cake. It was stunning and the posy of edible petals looked as though it could have been collected from the field out back. Simple and delicious, it was something completely different that made me smile.



Of course there was more meat to come and a medallion of pork arrived on a bed of vanilla risotto and leeks. Now, when we first translated the vanilla of risotto my nose did wrinkle up a bit, but nothing ventured nothing gained so I tried the unusual concoction. At first, by itself I really wasn't keen but all eaten together it was like tasting something brand new and oh it was melt in the mouth. 



There's always room for pudding and we were served a very light milk ice-cream, that reminded me more of a sorbet with a blueberry compote and flakes of edible gold - you really can't get any better. 



Not wanting to leave quite yet, we relaxed into our sheep-skin seats and had tea and coffee. Obviously, this meant more food and we were given a tasty chocolate cake that was still warm - however I'm ashamed to say we only managed a small bit each, leaving most behind... 

The tea was served my favourite way - in a pretty bone-china teacup, perfection. 



We couldn't leave without a small digestif and the waitress suggested the house brew, 'hay schnapps' surprisingly enough. Again the aroma was delicious and natural - it was actually very refreshing and a delicious way to finish off an amazing Easter Sunday feast - bliss.











Tuesday 22 April 2014

A Weekend in Switzerland - Saturday

I hope you all had a gorgeous Easter weekend? I certainly did, I jetted off to Switzerland for a lovely, long weekend.

My parents moved there a while ago and it's the perfect place to escape to and relax. A weekend away from the bright lights of Glasgow was exactly what I needed and while I dozed the plane floated towards a destination of relaxation, food and wine. It was the ideal lazy weekend, where all I really needed to think about was drinking and eating - bliss!

It seemed that I'd left the sun in Glasgow when I woke up in Saturday - I mean really how often does this happen! It was a little dull over in Bern, but we wrapped up and headed to the market. It's on Parliament Square, a great setting as the stalls huddle below the impressive buildings.



We wandered round the overflowing stalls, admiring the flowers, smelling the delicious lavender and testing the fresh fruit on offer before we picked up all the ingredients we needed for tonight's feast.


When we'd got everything for the recipes from the market we trotted off to Globus for some lunch. The Food-hall in the basement is the perfect place for a light lunch and a glass of something chilled, as you watch the hustle and bustle of everyone around. We both had a delicious sashimi salad as we watched the skilled sushi chef wrap parcels of tasty looking morsels.



The Food-hall is like an Aladdins cave of all things tasty. I could wonder round it for ages, picking up nibbles, cheese and wine tasting, but we had to leave eventually, laden with all we needed.


We wandered the streets of Bern for a little longer, doing a bit of shopping and a bit of people watching we soon needed a coffee. We ended up at Einstein Kaffee, below the house in which the famous scientist lived. It was a cosy little cafe with a modern but elegant interior. The coffee was actually really tasty, with lots of puns about the theory of relativity - I'm sure ol' Einstein would've approved.

Now, to be honest, I'm not the best in the kitchen, but my Dad should pretty much be given Michelin stars here there and everywhere - so I let him get on with things well I indulged in a little Harry Potter magic and another glass of something chilled.

And geez, did my Dad cook up an impressive feast!

We started with Market Asparagus - that we'd picked out that very morning - and Hollandaise Sauce, of course with the rest of the bottle of white.


Next up was my new favourite dish. It was simply, absolutely, mouth-wateringly delicious. Tournedos Rossini with Madeira and Morel Jus - so in translation, steak on top of a generous helping of mousse de canard (a duck liver mousse) on top of a bed of brioche, surrounded by madeira and morel mushrooms with a jus and a sprinkling of spinach to add a little green. This was all complemented by a lovely glass of red.


Of course there was a little bit room left for pudding and if you thought things couldn't get much better ooooh they did. We savoured a gorgeous Praline Cake with rhubarb, strawberries and a sploodge of ice cream - it really couldn't get any better, and my one of my favourite things about dessert - sweet wine - finished it off wonderfully!



Later on we sloshed back some more sweet wine and pulled our hair out watching Argo. All in all a wonderful Saturday.