Pie'n'mash NYE

 Oh my god guys, this dress! This dress is like my goddam dream come true!

 I saw so many good 'holographic' or shiny glittery dresses last year in the Asos Main range, and I was DYING for one in plus size. I had to have this when I saw it!

 If there's is anything I've learnt from being an regular asos curve customer, it's that this style of dress is nearly always super tight on my arms and extremely un-generous in the boob department, so I ordered the size 24 and the size 26. I was not at all surprised to find my breasts being pushed backwards into my ribcage by the size 24 (which was also - as expected - a bit too tight on my arms!) so I kept the 26. Cut-wise it really reminds me of some of my vintage dresses - very structured, high neck, mid sleeves and with stiff shaping for the bust.

 I think the waist is a sensible size so If you're not wide-backed or busty then you shouldn't have to size up. There's a zip at the back, but I just pull everything over my head! The fabric is not at all stretchy, it's quite thick and has a non stretch lining. It's pretty comfy though so I'm well chuffed with it!

I have had to accept that I don't like wearing beaded or sequinned dresses, but I can get down with this delicious glitter thread! It's quite rough, but not particularly itchy (which I thought it might be). The pattern is like amazing rose gold and pink roses with a pale mint green and black leopard print over the top. It's so freaking beautiful that I can't stop looking at it (it's hung outside my wardrobe so I can see it at all times!).

This is a snap without the flash so you can see the more natural sparkle!

 In for a penny, in for a pound right?! I wore my massive vintage faux fur for even more animal print, and the bag my sis got me for Christmas.... just to really ram the holographic theme home!

 It really wasn't cold enough to warrant this massive coat, but I wore it anyway 'cause I'm a fucking maverick!

 Blending into the background as per! Next time I wear this dress I'm so gonna wear my little rose gold shoes with it! Can't wait, excited to rock this again!

 I haven't worn eyemakeup since my works Christmas do so I decided to use actual eyeshadow (which I do maybe 5 times a year, because I'm embracing the more natural look in my old age!), mainly because I have a old Lancom eyeshadow that exactly matches the dress... it's two-toned mint green and pink. I did mint green nails too. My first instinct with this dress was to go for rose gold eyes and full-on glittery lipstick, but my fella won't kiss me if I have loads of lipstick on (gotta have a snog on new years huh?!), so I made my eyes the focus then just used (my saviour) NYC appelicious tinted balm, here in 'appelicious pink'

 We had a lovely meal with friends....

 And sparklers at midnight!

Dress 26 - Asos Curve

Leggings 20 - South / Very

Boots - Simply Be

Coat - Vintage

Bag - LYDC London

Happy New Year my loves, here's to a fabulous 2015!

Wardrobe Weekly Pre-Christmas Edition

The last Monday before holiday

 I LOVE THIS DRESS!

It's so comfy and lovely and I look forward to wearing it every Christmas!

 We had our annual department bonding session and went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in the Natural History Museum. It was amazing, I recommend it very very highly. SO beautiful!

 One of my favorite buildings in London.

 Ahhhhh carousel!

 Ice rink Christmas tree!

Dress 20 - Primark (old old old!)

Leggings 20 - Primark

Boots - Asos

The last Tuesday before holiday

 This is another one of those dresses that I didn't realise how much I love until putting it on this month. Oddly it's also from Lovedrobe!

 The colour is just beautiful, a sort of pale mint green.

 The crochet bodice is what I love. I think they had this style in black and blue too, if you see one on ebay then snap it up because it's ace - size up at least once though!

 Dress 26 - Lovedrobe

Cardi 18 - Dorothy Perkins

Leggings 22 - Very / South

Boots - Simply Be

The last Wednesday before holiday

Daytime!

 Ahhhhh the last day at work until January 5th! So so SOOOO very good! Over 2 weeks with no commute!

 So this was a two outfit day. We went to Meat Liquor for lunch so I wasn't going to wear my party dress during the day (I always spill in Meat Liquor - it's so fecking dark in there that I can barely see my food let alone get it in my mouth!) so here is OOTD-1.

We had cocktails! Henrietta Fizz is the best one. We tried the XXXmas burger and XXXmas dog. The dog was okay but the burger was yummy - like the best Christmas left-over bap ever!

 T-shirt & Cardi 20 - Primark

Trousers 22 - Dorothy Perkins

Boots - New Look

Evening!

 I finally have this dress! It seemed like a good choice for my works Christmas Party!

 It quickly got silly....

 Then I started dancing.....

 Look how jealous my boyfriend is of my moves.

 I always run towards the camera like a maniac. I don't know why!

 I had to include Sam because I loved her outfit. Her dress is from YMC (she LOVES ymc), and I wish I could get this kind of dress in plus size!

She is so damn HOT!

Dress 26 - Lovedrobe via Simply Be

Bracelet, tights, clutch - Primark

Shoes - Ecco

Thursday FIRST DAY OF HOLIDAY

Wrapping Christmas presents and watching Christmas films was my main job today!

I bummed around in one of my new Primark jumpers! 

 Well warm and snuggly!

 I made my first ever spinach and feta pie!

It came out rather well considering I made up the recipe and have never cooked filo pastry before!

 Jumper 20 - Primark
Jeans 22 - Dorothy Perkins
Trainers - Nike

Friday

 

I'm afraid that there are no outfit pics from now on because I've been busy making a stupid amount of Christmas food! This is our faux Christmas Eve meal - Devilled eggs, black forest ham & cream cheese canapés, cheese and pickle sausage rolls and maple pecan salad. All of this is so easy.... 

• Devilled eggs are just boiled eggs - take out the (fully cooked) yolks and mash them up with mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, English mustard, pinch of salt and a touch of agave syrup (or a tiny bit of something sweet for balance, pich of sugar would be fine!) then put the mixture back in the the eggs.
• Sausage rolls are just pre-rolled puff pastry (unfurled and cut down the middle length-ways) filled with a mixture of good quality sausage-meat - I buy Sainsburys taste the difference myself - which has been mixed up with a generous grating of cheddar cheese and a generous tablespoon of Branston pickle! I spread it out thinly in a (surprise surprise!) sausage shape down each half of the pastry then you can wrap the pastry round the meat to make two massive long sausage rolls. Chop them up into sensible sizes then bake them at 180 for about 20-25 minutes. So good. SO much better than bought sausage rolls and totally mouth watering when they're still warm from the oven!
• The Salad is from the Nigella Christmas Kitchen book but I can't find it online so I'll just put it up here... well easy! Bit of Garlic oil in a frying pan, cook up some pancetta, add in some pecan nuts when it's started to crisp, then splash in some maple syrup and let it coat everything. Take the pan off the heat and leave it for a minute or two then put in a dash of vinegar - cider / white wine / sherry vinegar is best but whatever you've got I reckon! *If you put the vinegar in when the pans still very hot it will evaporate and trust me, vinegar fumes will choke you, so let it cool just for a minute or two!* Stir it all into a big bowl of spinach just before you serve it. Best salad ever!

Top shop are refunding me for the necklace that arrived in pieces so I decided to try to make something out of the remnants - It's not long like the original, but wearable I think!

Saturday

Today was the big faux day! I defrosted our little Turkey in it's brine bath overnight and then opened presents with my boyfriend before making Christmas dinner!

 I got some Simply Be leather knee-high boots, the Asos Dress I once sent back and then regretted sending back (you'll see both of these as an outfit post soon!) and these earrings that have pretty much been on my personal wishlist for two years! They're estrogen molecules, so very very cool. I also want one of her chocolate molecule necklaces!

I made stock with the turkey giblets (simple - fry the giblets in butter for a few minutes, add an onion, some celery, some carrots and a bay leaf then add water and leave to simmer for a few hours..... or you could just use a stock cube!). P's anything that goes in the oven gets it's own foil tray so we don't have to wash up too much on our holiday!

So there we have the feast!

• Turkey
• Cranberry sauce
• Bread Sauce
• Pigs in Blankets - good quality chipolatas wrapped in smoked streaky bacon!
• Devils on horseback - Prunes soaked in sherry, stuffed with stilton and wrapped in pancetta or bacon! baked for about 25 minutes with the pigs in blankets, both of which are so good dipped in the bread sauce that I kept eating them while cooking everything else!
• Stuffing - Small Pantone blitzed into breadcrumbs (I use the sort that has fruit in it and you can get a small one for £1 in Lidl!), 1 onion, 1 stick of celery and 1 eating apple finely chopped (I do it in my food processor), mixed with good quality sausage meat and some pancetta & chestnuts that have been fried off in some butter. I've tried many home-made stuffings and this is by far my favourite!
• Red Cabbage - chopped red cabbage, one apple (cubed) and one sliced onion. Splash of water, generous glug of balsamic vinegar and a spoon of sugar - in a pan with the lid on, cook low for 1-2 hours, mixing occasionally!
• King Edward potatoes, parsnips and carrots all par-boiled then roasted in goose fat.
• Brussel Sprouts - halved and boiled for about 4-5 minutes so still crisp.
• Gravy - Turkey juices mixed with flour / tomato puree / dark soy sauce / allspice / redcurrent jelly / mustard, splash of port and the turkey stock I made in the morning.

Blimy, I'll need to eat nothing but fruit and veg in January to recover from this, but it's so worth it!

My next post will be my family Christmas, in which I will be doing no cooking, but I will have to get properly dressed for!
xx