whole foods giffnock

Confession time. Do you remember I posted about having dinner with Nick Nairn earlier this week, and told you how stuffed I was after all that food? Well, after dinner Dawn and I headed straight to a bloggers event held at the Whole Foods store in Giffnock for yet more food. I think my diet definitely went out the window that day!

I had never been to a Whole Foods store before, and was amazed at how big it was and how much they stocked. If I'm honest, I thought it would be mostly whacky health foods, but it sold everything from vegetables, to fresh fish, to beauty products and even had an impressive bakery which I can only describe as a carby heaven, bursting with so many different types of bread. They even make a gigantic sandwich with different topping each day, and cut it up to serve throughout the day, mmm!

After a tour of the store were treated to a banquet of different foods - from smoothies, to pies, carrot cake and we even made our own fresh guacamole to eat with the stores very own freshly made tortilla chips! YUM! I discovered the new love of my life - coconut oil - and since then haven't stopped eating it.

Whole Foods is quite far away for me to do my weekly shop there, but everything looked so fresh and delicious that I'm sure I'll be visiting again in the near future. I don't think any future dinner parties would be complete without some freshly baked bread or some of those delicious patisserie cakes!

Have you ever been to a Whole Foods store, or were you liked me and had a picture of purely health foods? If your're in the Glasgow area you can get information and directions to the Giffnock store here - it's definitely worth a visit!

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happy ending

001. topshop alphabet tank dress | 002. tesco eiffel tower lamp | 003. new look tribal print dress |
004. & other stories couture carnival hand wash | 005. & other stories lemon daydream body scrub |
006. river island cat print skirt

001. I love the simple print on this topshop alphabet tank dress, and I've been really drawn to greys lately for some reason. I'm not too sure on the shape or cut of this dress though - it's going to have to be one of those ones to hunt down in store and try it on first!

002. Oh my goodness. This Tesco eiffel tower lamp was in one of my Grans magazines a few months back, but I couldn't find it online. Literally in the space of a few days I spotted it online, decided to wait until pay day, and saw it become unavailable. I'm now crossing all my fingers and toes that they become available again!

003. I usually walk around New Look from one of the shop, to the other and back out the door but I've been loving their website lately, as they have lots of nice dresses like this tribal print dress for such good prices. This one is only £12.99!

005. Juicy strawberry, raspberry and guava scented hand wash, mmmm. I'm currently using up a Soap and Glory hand wash, but as soon as that's finished I'll be seeing what all the fuss about & Other Stories is about and trying this couture carnival hand wash.

006. I might have ditched my Lush bath bombs after becoming a shower convert, but one thing I've been loving is body scrubs! I can almost smell this lemon and grapefruit scented body scrub in my mind, and think it would be perfect at waking me up in the morning!

007. It wouldn't be a Dainty Dresses wishlist without a cat item, would it? This river island cat print skirt has been on my radar for a while now, although that 'poly fabric' material puts me off a bit! Has anyone got it?

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dinner with nick nairn at the kailyard

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to an intimate blogger dinner with top celebrity chef Nick Nairn. It was hosted at The Kailyard Restaurant at the Dunblane Hydro Hilton Hotel which I was invited to stay at (read my post here) last month - someone must have heard me when I said I wanted to return!

Anyway, back to the food. Oh the food. We were invited to sample some of the dishes on The Kailyard's menu with Nick. The evening got off to a bit of a shaky start for me, because as everyone tucked into their shrimp cocktails, pheasant pate and salmon I realised that nothing on offer was vegetarian - I really should stop assuming I will always be catered for! Not to worry though, as Nick kindly asked the chef to cook up something vegetarian for me, which I really appreciated, and within minutes I had a goats cheese starter (which I ordered on my first visit and loved) infront of me, followed by a selection of pasta and gnocchi, both of which were delicious!

Just as I thought I couldn't eat any more, a trio of desserts (individual trifles, bread and butter pudding and a rich chocolate ice cream with brandy snaps) were brought to the table and it would have been rude not to have one... Err, or maybe two.

Nick was keen to learn more about blogging so as we ate we quizzed him on his career and talked plenty about food, whilst he quizzed us on the ins and outs of blogging. It was interesting to find out what it's like to be a chef and I found myself surprised and impressed at how much presence Nick has in his restaurants. It was a lovely evening with brilliant company, and lovely surroundings. It was a pleasure to meet Nick, who not only is a great chef, but is also excellent company!

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space girl

lush space girl bath bomb

New readers may not know this, but I'm a big fan of Lush. Before I moved out I would have a Lush bath at least twice a week, and went through a period of blogging a weekly Lush product review - you can read them here, under my lush tag.

Since moving into my new flat, I don't really have a bath (well I do, but I have the en-suite with a shower and my flatmate has the main bathroom with the bath!) and haven't had one for months but I was re-organising my room and found a big hat box of Lush bathbombs and though "you know what? I want a bath" and that was that. So expect lots more Lush reviews. And I apologise in advance to Jonny if I steal his bath!

Space Girl is probably one of my all time favourite bath bombs, and for a very good reason. Do you remember those amazing little purple sweets - Parma Violets? Well this bath bomb smells exactly like them, mmm. It's a very sweet bath bomb, with a surprise element of fun - popping candy! The water turns a lovely lilac colour and the addition of almond oil left my skin feeling soft. Unlike some Lush products, the scent of this really lingers and leaves you smelling of sweets.

My only complaint about this would be the glitter, which as fun as it looks in the bath, annoys me when it gets stuck to my skin. I don't want to look like Edward Cullen! A minute under the shower fixes this though, and it's definitely not a big enough complaint to stop me repurchasing it again and again!

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mexican bean burgers

In an attempt to eat better I've been making a lot of mostly-made-from-scratch meals and whipped up these mexican bean burgers last night. They took 10 minutes to prepare (and that's including me having to figure out how to work our strange new tin opener...!) and a further 10 minutes to cook and were perfect served along with some sweet potato wedges and a salad. They're so much better than buying pre-packed burgers from the supermarket, and barely take any effort!

They're vegetarian, but don't let the fact that there's no meat in them put you off as my flat mate Jonny who isn't veggie said he enjoyed them better than a meaty burger! There's just so much flavour in them despite there being few ingredients!

Ingredients for 4-6 burgers (I made 4 - I like BIG burgers!)
2x 400g tins of Kidney Beans
100g of breadcrumbs
1 egg
a generous squirt of ketchup
2tsp of chilli powder (I used 4, and probably would have liked more!)
2 large sweet potatoes

001. Chop up your sweet potatoes into wedges, lay them out on a non-stick tray and cover with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika. Stick them in the oven at 220°C for 30 minutes.

002. Drain the kidney beans and put them into a large bowl. Partially mash them with a potato masher before adding the breadcrumbs, chilli powder, egg and ketchup. Use a fork to mix it together and mash it up a little more if you like. Having some whole beans still in there gives it a good texture though!

003. Divide the mixture up and squish them into burger shapes using your hands. Pop them on a non-stick tray and put them in the oven with the wedges for around 4 minutes on each side before serving with sour cream, guacamole and whatever else you fancy!

I froze the remaining two burgers for another night and also used some of the leftover mix to make some faux meatballs with the intention of cooking them into some sort of spaghetti and mexican bean-balls creation, or grilling and having them with salad and pita for a quick, easy lunch!

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