A haunting I will go...

The Friday before All Hallows Eve has arrived, the one excuse every year to play fancy dress.
I will spend my weekend trick or treating with my nieces and nephews, then a 'housewarming' Halloween themed party with friends and a whole load of scary movies.
So what's on your list of creepy flicks, what sweet treats will you demolish with glee??

My Halloween Movie-fest...(chosen by boyfriend)

The Thing - 80's horror classic with the very youthful Kurt Russell
Shutter Island - well Leo is in it so it can't be too bad :)
A Nightmare On Elm Street*

My Halloween Sweet Treats...Butter Popcorn
Nachos (smothered in grated cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, guacamole & salsa)
Beer ( purely to calm my nerves:) )

*Let me fill you in a bit on my past, I was a child who was too scared to watch The Gremlin's in it's entirety. If Boyfriend puts a mildly scary film on I spend the entire film with my ears  covered, pillow on my face...and then (I am sure annoyingly) jump when he jumps and says 'what..what happened was it bad...no don't tell me'

So this weekend I am going to conker my fear and get my scare on.
The funny thing is that when it comes to my nieces and nephew, if they are scared I turn
into super woman, reassuring them, telling them every things fine.
So on movie-night dressed as some kind of super hero, cape on, doors and windows locked with a bowl full of treats  I will once and for all get seriously spooked.

Have a fang-tastic night all!!!
Ali
x

These are some of my favourite things....

Windows adorned with very stylish Ghouls & Ghosts

Tasty Halloween inspired cupcakes...BOOOO-tiful

Perfect nails for fright night..Alexa's green sparkly or

Jessica Trick O'Treat Nail Polishes

My Style Muse...losing my blonde locks for one night only

the wonderful Wednesday Addams

Perfect for a haunted house...

or my apartment..wink wink nudge nudge :)

Bags full of goodies for my little angels..

The return of MISFITS:
what new powers will they have??

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7i-QPlQRfI

  

This weeks hidden gem..  

For lover's of Japanese food the Yamamori Oriental Cafe should be next on your 'To Eat' List. Myself and Fashionista in need of lunch skipped down to Georges Street to sample it's lunch menu.

I am a big fan of sushi and Japanese curries so was excited to try it. My sister and her boyfriend (who know their stuff when it comes to eating out in Dublin) had recommended it to me some time ago so I was glad I was finally getting to experience it.

The Oriental Cafe is housed in what was the old Bewleys on Georges Street(historical establishment in Dublin, since the 1840's has produced tea & coffee for sale worldwide, and more importantly where the majority of Dubs ended the night of their Debs Ball with an 8 o'clock full Irish breakfast and cup of tea) 

At 2 o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon the cafe was heaving, full of people tucking into food...with a quick glance at my fellow diner's plates I knew I was going to enjoy it. But this is more than just a restaurant.  Izakaya is a Japanese style drinking house, in the basement serving various Japanese beers and whiskeys, cocktails such as cosmopolitan's and  dj's playing funky music, in what can be described as a chill out lounge.
Japanese movie posters cover the walls beside some traditional fan's.

We sat at tables by the window, in need for a good chat, but you also have the option to pull a stool out at the bar and try some dim sum or various sushi rolls.

With a huge menu on offer we decided to go for the Oriental Cafe Lunch Salads, with over six to choose from. I went for the Hoisin roast chicken salad which included salad of mixed leaves, cucumber, tomato, daikon, daikon pickles, carrot, grapefruit and mixed cress dressed with a miso sauce, while Fashionista went for the roast duck. All salads are served with miso soup and we had the option to have our salad with white or brown rice or some sweet potato wedges.

We were both so full leaving that on returning to the office we both agreed we could do with a quick cat nap!

Next time I return and I have to say it will be sooner rather than later, I will go after work so I can enjoy my feed and then retire to the lounge downstairs for a well deserved cocktail....sadly something that is frowned upon when on lunch breaks :)

Mommie Dearest...

I have never disliked being the baby of the family. My two older sisters have always helped me throughout my life whether it be simple things like fashion advice 'change those shoes, lose the bracelet...'to  my time in college calming my nerves before my exams, consoling me after a break up..or distress calls from the toilets in my first job when I realised blagging your way in an interview should never be an option 'Powerpoint? I invented it!' 

Due to these past experiences I always listen to them, as guaranteed at one point of their lives they have gone through the same or a similar situation.

So it was yesterday while I was emailing my sister that she gave her best advice yet. You see I am at the age where I am constantly been asked 'So when are you having a baby?' or 'You're next' as I hold a friends child.

I was filling my sister in on what I did over the weekend, moaning about the fact that my plans were cancelled on Saturday and I was slightly bored (until I came up with my To Do List that is:Bath, Nails, Magazine reading, a spot of lunch) when she told me what her day had involved:

Diary of a Mummy....
'Up at 6.30.am on Saturday and was like a servant until 9am (orders for breakfast from a two and five year old)
Tom and Jerry on the TV .  Got a kick when put on E! for 2 seconds.
Changed crappy nappy.
More orders for lunch.
Had five hissy fits from 2 year old in the middle of M&S.
Only noticed when I got home had snail trail left from child's runny nose on coat and leggings.'

Without realising it she gave me the wake up call I needed. In a few years time (not quite sure yet, but let's say 6) when I have children of my own, I will pray for even an hour of me time...an hour of having absolutely  nothing to do and when I think back to 30 year old me; it will be with a pang of jealousy....'You wally didn't know how good you had it painting your nails in peace!'

So this goes out to my sisters, my mum and all the other wonderful mummies in the world...who deserve some much needed 'ME' time!

Ali
x

These are some of my favourite things...

Sparkly Mani's & Pedi's from Nails Inc..

 Remind me of disco balls..

A morning treat...

A months rain in one day..and then the sun came out in Dublin!



There was only one thing to do...SHOP

Topshop 'Alexandra' Boots & Cos Leather Insert Dress

Style Watch..leather shorts

A very stylish game of chess..my love of monochrome continues

Yogen Fruz.....

with some fresh strawberries....

and perhaps an oreo..or two

Pretty finds for home... 

 Fruity fragrant candles in equally citrus bright packaging

Arriving home to a delicious dinner courtesy of Boyfriend x

thai fishcakes with rocket & sweet chilli salad...

Finishing the night with a giggle courtesy of Mr Ron Burgundy:) 

and the Style Icon of Veronica Corningstone ;)

There's no place like home...

I love to travel, experiencing new cities, cultures, relaxing in an environment  where you can switch off from your everyday life.
Waking up each morning excitedly, knowing a day full of discovery lies ahead.
Having just returned from the hot tropic's of Barcelona, a week surrounded by tapas, glasses of wine, the scent of Hawaiian tropic on my skin..Las Ramblas, getting lost in the streets of the Gothic Quarter....sitting in a beach bar with my friends drinking mojito's and sharing a bowl of nachos while people-watching.I was in my element. 

But where I differ from most of my friends is that if I am away longer than a couple of weeks my heart aches for home. I was the friend left behind while people deserted Dublin for the States, Australia, backpacking around Asia or simply across the sea to London.
I would follow their adventures by email, each time responding with a 'oh you are so lucky, I wish I was there'.  But what held me back?


I had no mortgage, no children, and at the time no boyfriend. An ideal time for me to disappear to pastures new.
The truth is that my family kept me here. I don't say this with any resentment. I simply couldn't imagine missing out on my nieces or nephew growing up, Sunday dinner's in my parents house...birthday parties...Christmas Dinner's...or just knowing that I could jump on my bike and cycle to my Mum's for a coffee and a chat(And from time to time a much needed hug) whenever I liked.


When we landed in Dublin Airport greeted by the cold air, I think I was the only person still smiling..all I could think of was meeting up with my loved one's and filling them in on all of our adventures!


I think Dorothy says it best  ''Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home – home! And this is my room – and you're all here – and I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And... oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!''

Ali

 x

These are some of my favourite things.....

A cheap & cheerful home improvement...





Bring the pub to your home with this very stylish book 

Too many choices, will I make

 The Southern Belle, The Alabama Slammer or The Couture Fizz..

Mojito's on the beach in Barcelona...

A modern day Dorothy shoe...from Miu Miu

Magpie Spy

A very stylish piggy bank....

...makes saving that bit easier!

 

Movie Night...
This week The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

And finally...the rain is pouring here in Dublin so a visit to Topshop

for this frilly protector is a must!

Hey good looking...what ya got cooking?

I grew up in a home where my Mum brought me to school every day, was there when I came home in the evenings...running around all day looking after everyone (but herself).
The kitchen was her territory...wandering in to make myself some toast was almost like taking part in an obstacle course 'let me do that for you' was her regular greeting.
It was therefore a shock to the system when I moved out of my family home at the age of 26 and the best I could do was boil an egg. The years of Home Economics's from school couldn't even save me from what could turn into a 'pot noodle' lifestyle. I will forever blame my issues with cooking on a particular difficult day in this class 'The American Meatloaf Saga'...minced meat, sausage meat...it was all too much when some of my more 'lively' class mates decided to throw it around the class...I walked out of that class a vegetarian (lasting seven years).
When I arrived home from school that day with my completed meatloaf in a lunch box it went straight into the bin, I announced over dinner that I would not be eating meat ever again(now I was a child of the 80's, my father had already experienced a recession, job losses, a difficult time when you are bringing up three daughter's, so the fact that a daughter of his was refusing to eat the food he had slaved away for hours in work to buy was not received well)
Of course Mum or 'Dotty' had her own techniques to deal with this...shredding meat and hiding it under cabbage on my plate, I always discovered it, she always did her best shocked expression. So for those seven years of my life I ate lunches which consisted of bread, lettuce and salad cream...some days if I was feeling crazy a bit of cheese...at Sunday dinner's as my whole family sat down to a big roast...I would eat the vegetables and potato's (As Dotty tried to invent new ways of concealing meat on my plate)
As the years went on I slowly but surely after much pleading from Mum began eating fish, then chicken...but it was at an event in the Four Seasons (a mix up of food orders, sitting with colleagues I didn't want to make a fuss) that I took my first big step into the world of red meat...a Fillet Steak...every slice was as good as the next.
My love with food returned and now I love spending my weekends creating dishes, excitedly waiting to see if people enjoy it. It is also the one time in my day that I am silent (much to the relief of Boyfriend) as I concentrate while chopping, peeling, boiling all of my ingredients.
Like writing, there is something so therapeutic about preparing food. I am now experiencing a recession like my father did all those years ago, so entertaining at home has now become a major part of every one's life here in Dublin.
I hope to one day cook as good as my Mum, who prepares feasts for the family at our Sunday Sessions (8 adults and 3 minis in attendance - no longer with the added pressure of having to hide meat from me under vegetables) with such ease...arriving to the house the table is covered in her home made floral arrangements (hand picked from the garden my Mum and Dad have so lovingly cared for) warm bread on the table, while the sweet smells waft in from the kitchen..we all eagerly sit at the table, chatting over glasses of wine.
As for the dessert, Mum never fails to impress, not one, not two but three choices (we jokingly call it a Dotty special)..Pavlova's with mixed berries, apple crumbles or my personal favourite her Lemon Drizzle cake.
So every week I will invite you in to my home life to see what's been cooking in Ali's Kitchen!!!

Ali
x

Sundays dinner...

Chilli Crusted Monkfish

Monkfish fillets (Mine are from www.tasteofthesea.ie/)

Cherry Tomatoes
1 lime
1 red chilli
1 clove of garlic
Cayenne pepper
Juice of 1 lime
2 stems of spring onions
2 large dessert spoons of oil

Put all crust ingredients into food processor and puree until they are in a soft paste. Cut up Monkfish into chunks and spread over the monkfish, leaving to marinade for 4-6 hours.

Preheat oven to 190, place monkfish marinade in, on a separate tray place lime wedges and tomatoes and leave to bake for 17-20 minutes.

I decided to serve mine with baby roasted potatoes and a side salad but tastes just as nice with wholegrain rice or puy lentils.

 And voilà....

 Bon Appétit!

These are some of my favourite things.....

Sunday breakfasts.. 

 See Mum not just boiled eggs..I can do scrambled too :)

Style icon Twiggy........

..hoping to rock this look very soon

A new addition to my ever growing skull collection??

wouldn't this Sakdidet necklace fit in perfectly with some of my other friends

 Scarves & jewellery from the genius that was Alexander Mc Queen

*special gift from my 2 lovely (and very stylish) sisters

Preparing Halloween treats for my nieces & nephews

It's raining, it's pouring.....

perfect day to hibernate with repeats of the X-factor...