This Week's Love List

This week I can’t get enough avocado. For those who know me, you’ll know I’m a bit obsessed anyway, but this week I seem to want to include it for practically every meal (apart from the fasting days!) Everything tastes better with its rich, velvety butteryness. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll see it has made quite a few appearances, but I am finding myself drawn to all recipes with them in, and even day dreaming about them in meetings. Surely this isn’t normal?

  

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Lauren Talbot at Glow reckons it  might be because it’s winter and my body is craving that nutrient dense ‘good’ fat that avocado provides. Or that I’m doing so much exercise I need to replenish my stores (nope, that can’t be it…). Could it be the ol’ hormones, my lady cycle, or perhaps the pill causing this? No idea frankly, but avocados just feel good for me when I eat them, and any advice which tells me to cut them out will be instantly ignored. They’re full of flavour when they’re ripe, they’re soft and easy to eat, colourful, vibrant and not to mention their vitamin content is insane. I may be able to cut them out twice a week for my 5:2, but for the rest of the time they’re fair game.

This picture caught my eye this week. Rich woodland mushrooms, gently sautéed in butter with a touch of brandy all piled on some delicious fresh bread. It reminds me of big forests and log cabins and a large man named Hans (for some reason). Perhaps I have some Germanic roots I didn’t know about… or perhaps I’m just hungry and like mushrooms styled on a scrubbed wooden board and some hessian. I’m a sucker for food porn and food blogger Nagi gets it just right. 

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When my mum came to stay she brought with her a tin of Virginia amaretti biscuits. Soft little crumbly bites with the nostalgic taste of marzipan. They’re sweet, romantic and ever so slightly Christmassy, so they’ve made it onto the list. I’ve eaten the whole tin this week (trust me, it was romantic, I think Tomasz only got one). I may even be tempted to make some of my own using this lovely recipe, although it may be slightly dangerous and I doubt many would make it through the night.

With cocktail and party season nearly upon us (although with our family, that’s generally all year round), I’m looking for some interesting ideas for a tasty beverage. The extremely talented author of Local Milk has snuffed out something interesting and I’m taking notes; sage and ginger prosecco cocktails. I love the spicy warming flavour of ginger, but I’ve not tried it with sage so I’ve got to give it a whirl. Admittedly it’s a bit twatty and something you’d get served in a welly or a plant pot if you were in Brixton, but if we don’t overdo it, it could be rather splendid. I love her dark and atmospheric photos too – have a look at her blog if you get a sec.

Now these are just so cute I couldn't resist. Totally useless, but it’s all in the name of Christmas. This super crafty lady shows you how to make your own. The reindeer mug may be overkill. 

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Last on the love list is Poland. I'm having a bit of a Polish moment right now. I have started having weekly lessons and listening to Audible (also on the list!!) to get an hour of listening in every day on my commute into work. We'll be spending Christmas with Tomasz's family this year, so I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck into the traditions. I've been warned there's a lot of church, and even a fairly grewsome tradition of keeping a fish in the bath before you give him a bash on the head and eat him... but I'm also hoping for snow, fairylights, markets and some good vodka naturally! It should make the fish bashing more palatable...