How to create a Light Dining experience

Recently I had Adams family over for a mini Christmas partay before I jet off to Houston to see the fam. I do not host many dinner parties as my lounge only really fits four, comfortably and I was going to have 6 adults, 2 kids and a cat and....I had to make my lounge as party esq as possible along with a beautiful dining experience - challenge accepted!

The only thing that would work for this many people in a small small would be light dining, buffet style I also had the fun challenge of including the new flavours of PoPChips new flavours into my recipes:

Sea Salt, Garlic & Rosemary

Sea salt, caramelised onion & thyme

I dotted the new flavours around the lounge for people to snack on. on a separate note I am loving the new packaging, looks like it has been created with watercolours.

Decor

If nothing else, always buy flowers, they brighten up the roo and always add a fresh scent,I brought some white flowers to match the season and had lots of candles dotted around the house including my favourite Noel candle from Crabtree & Evelyn. I also scattered these beautiful silver glitter stars from The White Company. To keep in with the light dining theme I used fun paper plates from Selfridges which has fun words embossed in metallics like Jolly and Happy which I just thought was adorable I kinda didn't want anyone to use them so I could keep them on display.

So what did we eat...

- PoPchips new flavours Sea Salt, Caramalised Onion & Thyme and Sea Salt, Garlic & Rosemary.

- Peppers stuffed with goats cheese.

- Tiger bread & biscuits with a selection of cheeses including my favourite Caramalised Onion. 

- Salad: mixed salad leaves, pomegranate, roasted walnuts, Camembert & apple.

- Gammon,boiled in 2l of Coke and honey glazed.

- Caramelised onion, goats cheese & Thyme tart with a sprinkle of sea salt (Tip: Caramalised onions always taste better when you make it yourself)

- Sea salt, garlic & thyme roast potatoes cut into cubes.

What did we drink

For this late lunch, Piper-H Champers had to be served from my new DIY bar cart.

With music, catching up and gifts to keep the little ones busy it was a great afternoon with delicious food. I need to put on more parties next time a more sophisticated sit down meal is on the cards with four people max!

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Homeware sale finds

With the sales in full swing I thought I would share my favourite homeward items in the sale. As some of your will know it's nearly been a year since I brought my house and there is still plenty of TLC needed and always new products that can be introduced, especially if they are on sale.

Aren't they beautiful.....

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The Aura - GHD

The Price: £145

Where2Buy: Selfridges

The Gossip: ghd launches the Aura a hairdryer not only for drying but styling as well.

It's by time I tried out a new hair dryer as I am pretty sure mine is currently celebrating it's 10th birthday. Today the ghd Aura arrived and my it looked so pretty.

I have already experienced the Aura once with a professional blow dry from the ghd team but did not actually try it out myself!

The main aim of The Aura is to create volume and shine. ghd have used innovative technology to ensure success of The Aura and make it stand out among other hairdryers.

The laminair technology enables the air to be highly concentrated so it only works on the targeted hair not adding precision to styling and more control.

This new technology is also meant to make hair 47% more shiny with the focused airflow and speed.

The Aura also uses cool-wall technology, creating a ring of cool air around the hot air. This keeps the nozzle cool and without this heat you can get a lot closer to your scalp to enable root lift and volume, setting the style as it dries. 

Top Tip: To fix your hair in place you can utilise the cold shot function.

I think the first difference between The Aura and other hair dryers was the weight - this hairdryer is so light and extremely quiet. The Aura is easy to use and your can alter the temperature to get close to the root of your hair. 

I can quite easily see the added volume to my hair which is great, especially as I didn't use any product.

There was some shine added to the hair, more so when the ghd team blow dried my hair, I am interested to see if the hairdryer would help when using hair product to enhance shine as it might make them work better.

In my eyes this is a fab hairdryer and my old one is in the bin :-) 

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