Let's Start With This One...

Good Morning Lovelies,

Are you ready to get baking? The kitchen is waiting. It is a Sunday. That means I have a brand new Sunday Bake recipe for you to get stuck into. This one has a few more moves to it, but the extra work makes them so much more amazing if I do say so aha!

With only two ingredients, they are super easy to do though, and I am sure you are going to love sharing these with everyone in your home, your neighbours or enjoying on your own. Because these two-ingredient French palmier cookies are fabulous and fancy…

Ingredients

• Eight Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar
• Ready-Made Puff Pastry Sheet

Tools

• Two Baking Sheets
• Baking Paper
• Tablespoon
• Rolling Pin
• Knife
• Cooling Rack

Method

1. Start by preheating the oven to 400(F)/200(C) before lining two baking sheets with baking paper, leaving them to one side when ready.
2. On a flat surface, sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar evenly out and lay the pastry on top of it.
3. Using the rolling pin, smooth the dough out flat over the top of the sugar. When complete, sprinkle a further two tablespoons of sugar onto the pastry.
4. Once complete, take one of the short ends of the pastry and roll tightly into the centre. When you reach the middle stop. Repeat this on the other side. When both in the middle trim the ends to make them neat.
5. Taking your knife, carefully cut ½-inch-thick slices and place them onto your baking sheets, around 1-inch apart. When laid out, sprinkle the tops with another tablespoon of sugar, before carefully flattening the slices with the palm of your hand.
6. Place into the oven and cook for around 20 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool on the sheets for around five minutes, before moving to the cooling rack to cool completely.
7. Serve with your favourite toppings or enjoy on their own lovelies! Both make excellent options!

Don’t forget to share your creations with me! I will be sure to share them on the blog and on social media with everyone else, as I love seeing what you make from the Sunday Bake recipes!

Joey X

Good Morning Lovelies,

Sunday’s are for baking on the blog! Today, I am back with a brand-new recipe for you all to tuck into easily. I am being super basic with this one lovelies. I mean I am going full on lockdown recipe. We are going all the way back to the start of this horrible time, when we learnt how to make a certain bread for the first or millionth time, to help use up those bananas.

Oh yes, you have guessed it, today’s Sunday Bake is a classic banana bread recipe. However, this one is for muffins instead. I made these a few weeks ago for my neighbours and my mum’s work friends, who are keyworkers, to help raise a smile on their faces. Now, I want to share this super simple three-ingredient recipe with you all.

Happy baking and bananas to you with this creation lovelies:

Ingredients

• 4 Large Mashed Ripe Bananas
• 3 Cups Oats
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• Optional Fourth Ingredient – Chocolate Chips, Dried Fruit, Etc.

Tools

• Muffin/Cupcake Tin
• Muffin/Cupcake Cases
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Spoon

Method

1. To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin or cupcake tin with muffin/cupcake cases and place to one side.
2. Add all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined. If you are adding in an additional ingredient, stir the first three ingredients before adding and then mix it in.
3. Using a spoon, fill the muffin/cupcake cases right up close to the top.
4. Place into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Once golden and set, remove, and leave to cool for five minutes in the tin.
5. Enjoy whilst still warm or place into the fridge for a few days. They are perfect with so many toppings or occasions as well lovelies.

Don’t forget to share your bakes and makes with me lovelies! I will share them on the blog and via social media!

Joey X

During the week I find my mornings filled with joy. Often getting a lot of what I need to do done as soon as I wake up, I am someone who likes to have people talking about fun items whilst doing them. Luckily, I have found my kind of people to help me with this.

From 6am until around 2pm, I am an avid daily listener of BBC Three Counties radio. Discovering them when I came home from hospital, I now regularly reach out and get involved with the breakfast show starring Andy Collins, Ben and Danny. I then fall into the Jonathan Vernon Smith show afterward for the fun jukebox hour he hosts.

I adore a podcast, but for me, these shows just feel so comforting now. I actually get upset when the weekends come and I know that they won’t be on the radio supporting me along in the morning. Although, JVS does an amazing few hours on Saturday.

This may seem like a bit of a random blog post, with many of you will wonder why I am writing it, but I wanted to do this post to highlight the amazing work that they are doing. The station was one of the first to mention Captain Tom Moore. They have made sure to not scare or highlight the nasty acts happening in the world. They care about their listeners and chat with them daily.

For all of this, I wanted to say thank you to them! The station is a fun one and I wish I worked or featured on their shows with them because I think it would be a very rewarding and fun show to be on. Especially the morning one.

If you are going to start listening to it, which I suggest you do lovely, just a few things. Be prepared to think a lot about the daily questions. Get a bottle of wine for Friday morning tastings. Pick an upbeat song everyone can dance to during the week and send it to the JVS Show. Get quizzing on Sunday with La Voix. Oh, and finally, have a cup of coffee at 11am on Saturday with the team.

Thank you BBC 3CR for everything! I am off to listen to you now!

Joey X

Back when I was in secondary school, I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to have free school meals. I was provided them due to my father retiring, with advice from the local job centre, due to his age. There so, with a mum who works part-time and a father out of work, I could have them.

At a young age, I didn’t really understand the importance of them. I didn’t know that the meals were making it easier for my family. I didn’t realise how expensive food could be until I saw the amount of money my mum still had to put on my food card, when then free school meals money didn’t cover the cost of the food prices that were at my school.

Having this service was vital in allowing me to be able to eat when I was at school and for many children now, it is a vital service to have a nutritious meal daily. I am so happy that with the help of Marcus Rushford, the government has changed what they were saying and will be giving children food vouchers/food during school holidays.

However, I do have something I would love to see change completely. In every school. I know that money in schools is tight. I know that everyone is struggling right now. But I would love to see schools lower the costs of meals and snacks as a whole. When I first got given free school meals, the costs were covered.

Yet, after a few months of the new service being brought in, my school made the costs of the meals – even sandwiches – higher to get more money. They would charge so much that I was still having to ask my mum monthly to put a bit more cash onto my lunch card to be able to eat even a panini. A meal deal at Tesco being cheaper.

After struggling and feeling bad asking my mum for more money, I stopped going to have lunch. I starved myself all day and never told my mum. I did this to try and save the money I was given on my lunch card, so that I wouldn’t have to ask my mum for extra. When she found this out recently, as I have begun tackling this as one of the reasons my anorexia started, she was horrified I felt this way and that the school had done this. She wishes every day I had told her because she would have spoken out to them about the issues.

I am not ungrateful in any way to the free school meals scheme. It was and is an amazing service. What I want is schools to see the struggles families have. Every single home is different. Every family has their own amounts and abilities. Easing the amount of pressure that they have on the costs of food for their young children would be amazing.

Let’s start an already amazing change with another one lovelies! Let us get school costs lowered and give children and families the ability to ease the pressures of food charges now. We all deserve the right to eat and be able to, especially at school, when our minds our forever being used and energy needed.

Over the next few days, I will hopefully be setting up something that will help us all, so keep a look out for more information and help me make a change for everyone.

Joey X

After a fantastic first series, Lennie James’s series Save Me has returned with Save Me Too, bringing back the characters who left many affected upon the final episode airing. The need to know more has led to James’s second series being released today on DVD and digitally from today, enabling all to watch its brilliance.

Tracking Nelly, a local ladies’ man and barfly, who seeks to find out what has happened to his missing daughter, the new series, is as gripping, if not more so than before. Created by the producers behind Line of Duty, the series, takes audiences into the heart of London’s East End and the dark world of Nelly’s quest. Heading 17 months into the future, Nelly finds himself save a young woman, who may just have the clues into what has happened to his daughter that he is seeking to find.

The series is a little bit of a quiet one that deserves to be shouted about more. With an amazingly impressive cast that houses some big names, it is the silence of it that makes it so compelling to watch, however. You seek to know the answers because they have not been spilled all over social media or revealed into the wide world before watching.

With the disappearance not the main feature anymore, the show has become one wrenched in grief. Making it even more compelling. The writing is some of the best on TV and the acting is powerful, as you see a father comes to the term with the new aspects, he is learning about his daughter’s disappearance.

If you watched the first series, you will be even more enthralled with the action and elements of the second. Whilst if you have not watched either series yet, now is the best time to delve in and binge. You will be wishing for a third season before you know it.

4 Stars

Joey X

Good Morning Lovelies,

You know me lovelies, I love to help you find the nicest and easiest recipes to make on a Sunday. This one might just be one of the easiest I have ever shared. Easily done in around 20 minutes, you can make this whenever the urge to create some blondies comes to you. Plus, all the ingredients seem to be easy to find in supermarkets right now.

Blondies cannot be beaten and with just three ingredients, they can be done at any time of the day. Even in the middle of the night! Or if you have forgotten to make a dessert for that important meet up or Zoom call. Let’s get baking…

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Digestive Biscuits (Turned into Crumbs)
• 1 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk or Evaporated Milk
• 1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Tools

• Baking Paper
• 9x9” Square Baking Tin
• Mixing Bowl
• Spoon
• Toothpick/Fork

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350(F)/180(C), before lining and greasing a square 9x9inch baking tin. Leave this to one side.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients together and stir until all fully incorporated. Once ready, pour into the prepared baking tin.
3. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the toothpick/fork comes out clean when inserted. Allow to cool in the tin or enjoy straight out of the oven with your favourite toppings or on its own.

Super easy and super fun to make, this is one that everyone can make! Do let me know if you do create it lovelies, as I would love to see your pictures and outcomes! I will happily share them too!

Joey X

Recently, I have been falling back in love with podcasts. I find them so calming to listen to when sitting down for a meal or just potting around the house. I have a bit of a weird mixture of what I am enjoying, as I like to listen to lots of different topics and themes. However, this does mean that you lovelies might all find something new to enjoy from the following list.

Most of them are weekly, but a few are aired daily as well. I am a little bit of a newcomer still when it comes to podcasts, but this selection are the ones that I cannot miss no matter what. Especially Scarlett Moffatt’s new one…

Homeschool History: After hearing about this from an ad on BBC Sounds, I have been learning a lot about famous figures I never knew about. Did you know Pocahontas had four names? That Florence Nightingale was bedbound during the later years of her life? I didn’t! Every fact has been made for children in mind, but adults can learn a lot from this podcast, created to make homeschooling easier, as well.

The Archers: Maybe the one that you may not have been expecting to be on this list, this radio show, which I listen to on BBC Sounds is my guilty pleasure. In fact, I am not even guilty about it, I love it. Whilst lots of people like to watch soaps, I enjoy listening to this radio one more. It is very much like Emmerdale but on the air.

Grounded with Louis Theroux: I found this podcast at the start of lockdown and it is nice to discover so much about people who have kept us entertained for years. Discovering stars like KSI was a delight, as was learning more about the amazing life of stars that I have admired for years. Especially Helena Bonham Carter and Lenny Henry.

Chrisley Confessions: Having been a huge fan of Chrisley Knows Best, this is a follow up from the show, which sees the stars discussing phone call based problems. You also get to go a little behind the scenes of the show whilst it isn’t on and find out more about Todd, Julie and their mad family, which I love.

Scarlett Moffatt Wants To Believe: Never have I ever been more grateful for a podcast to have launched than I am about this one. I can’t wait for Mondays to come around each week to find out what Scarlett and her boyfriend Scott will be discussing. From aliens to robot pigeons, you will not believe what topics come up on it. You will love it.

What do you all enjoy listening to lovelies? Let me know, as I am always looking for something new to enjoy and am open to all sorts of topics!

Joey X

Hey Lovelies,

Today, I am feeling quite emotional. I am not sure if it is a mixture of the world still being tainted by this horrible illness or not, but there is one thing this week that has really affected me. On Thursday, it will have been a year since I fully asked for help with my anorexia. A whole year of experiences I never imagined I would have been through.

Taking each day as it comes, the world has shown me that recovery is not an easy journey. Still to this day I am in no way healed. I am not weight restored. I am still fighting a lot of inner and mental health matters. The world is just showing me that I am a fighter and I will get there in the end it seems.

A year ago, today, I was getting ready to go to an Elton John concert in Brighton. As one of my heroes, I made a vow to myself that I would see him before he stopped touring. I did just that. However, never did I imagine that the concert would change my life forever. With an unhealthy exercise addiction, which saw me never leave the hotel room except to go to the concert and a restrictive diet, I was losing weight rapidly.

I can remember dancing at the concert, freezing cold, even with my jacket, scarf, uncle’s coat and a hat on. I can remember sitting down trying to get warm before standing up again. I remember worrying about how I was going to eat. Cutting my thumb by accident after the concert in my hotel room, as I tried to slice up the little bit of melon, I would allow myself to eat, after returning from the gig and exercising again. The cut never healed and two days later was actually glued and stitched up.

One moment in your life can truly change it. Two days after returning from seeing Elton John I begged to go to hospital. I did not at this point, but I worked with the team near to me to a more intense level. Things never did get easy again and I did end up going to hospital, but now I am home, I am working with them again.

In many ways, Elton John saved my life. Seeing him and loving him, but being cold, ill and not able to enjoy a family break fully, all showed me that I needed to change my life. As I mark a year on from realising this, I wanted to write to say it is okay to take that experience that changes everything and speak out about it. Whether you have made big or small changes since does not matter. It is the fact you noticed, made the changes to get better and our thinking about yourself that does. Just remember lovelies that slow and steady wins the race!

Joey X

Hey Lovelies,

Anna Paquin is no longer Sookie Stackhouse. Gone are the days of True Blood, for now she is a PR with a lot of customer problems. After a hugely successful first series on W Channel, Flack is back with a second series, out on DVD today. Welcoming us back into the world of celebrities and media, the new series provides interesting episodes at every turn.

Paquin plays Robyn, a publicist who must help prevent her clients from having the careers ruined by their antics. Deaths, sex, babies, and drugs, you name it they are all involved in some way. And Robyn gets a lot of flak from it.

Some may find the show ridiculous; others will love it and continue to do so. It is a mixture of both madness and seriousness, but ultimate it is a dark please to watch right from the start. Honestly, once you are in, you are in.

Not much about the story or the plot is new and much of it has been seen before. Yet sometimes this is what makes a show work. The female powerhouses bring the house down and give a fresh look to some of the storylines. They show that while we may have seen it all before, we still love the stories and I guarantee you that you will not be able to stop watching.

Easily binge-able, the show is one to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Paquin is at her best again and giving audiences a whole new look to what we know and love her for. All of which make it a perfect PR recipe.

3 Stars

Joey X

Good Morning Lovelies,

Baking is something that calls out to me when it is a cold day. With the weather having changed dramatically over these past few days, the kitchen has become a bit of a safe place for me. If I am not cleaning it, I am making it messy testing recipes to post on the blog.

Sunday for me is the ultimate baking day though. Don’t ask me why, but I just love creating Sunday Bakes. I think it may have come from us always having a hot pudding with custard after a classic roast dinner on a Sunday.

This week, I have stuck with what I hope is an easy one to recreate. I know that there is still a little bit of trouble getting certain ingredients at the supermarkets, but this recipe takes no time at all and it seems like all that is needed can be got. An apple a day keeps the doctor away and this three-ingredient apple Danish recipe definitely will…

Ingredients

• 2 Medium Apples
• 1/3 Cup Raw Caster Sugar (Plus, Extra for Dusting)
• 2 Sheets Puff Pastry

Tools

• Medium Saucepan
• Baking Tray
• Baking Paper
• Vegetable Peeler
• Knife
• Large Spoon

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200(C)/392(F). Then grease and line your baking tray, before setting it to one side.
2. Take the vegetable peeler and peel, quarter and core the apples. Place into your saucepan with a splash of water and cook for four minutes or until the apples have softened on medium heat.
3. Once ready remove from heat and stir through sugar, before moving to one side to cool.
4. Whilst the apples cool, cut each pastry sheet in half, then each half into three even rectangles.
5. Taking small droplets of water, run a damp finger around the edges of each rectangle. Fill the middles of three of the rectangles with the apple mixture.
6. Using another rectangle of pastry, place over the apples, pressing around the edges firmly to stick the pair together. Continue to do this until you have used all your pastry.
7. Now use your knife to cut a few slits across the top layer of pastry but be careful to not cut all the way across. Repeat on all of them.
8. Place the parcels onto the baking tray and sprinkle a dusting of sugar on top of each of them. You can use water here if needed to make them stick better, but it is up to you.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until puffed and golden. Once ready remove from the oven and enjoy warm with custard or a topping of your choice or keep for later to enjoy with a lovely cup of tea!

Don’t forget to share your creations with me lovelies via social media! I love to share your pictures and feedback, as much as I love seeing what you have made!

Joey X

Hey Lovelies,

Schools are opening. How are you all feeling about that? I know that it is a scary time for many parents out there and I want you to know that I am always here for you. If you ever want to talk to someone please just use the email to do so and I will reply. Being open and vocal during these tough times is so important.

With the world trying to open again, I have been looking at myself and how I have been over the past few weeks and it got me thinking back to the 90s. The time in which I was born. The years in which if we were going through what we are now I would have been going back to school.

I adore the 90s. So much so that I feel myself turning back into a child when I think about it. All I want is to go back to that simple time. Leading me to make many interesting decisions recently. I find that when it comes to challenging foods, finding new styles, and even following people on Instagram, I am looking at things that remind me of being young. Who else is with me?

Right now, these are just a few 90s elements in my life that I am just loving:

Honey Monster’s Wheat Puffs: I don’t think I ever had these when I was little, but I was always amazed by the Honey Monster. Now, I have been able to conquer a big sugar fear and have been enjoying them daily. They are fast becoming a favourite and I feel bad that I did not let the 90s child in me have them.

Polly Pockets: On Instagram, I have been following lots and I mean LOTS of Polly Pocket unboxing accounts. All I want is a classic 90s design. I get so angry that me and my mum got rid of the ones I had. I had boxes full and we sold them at a car boot. Just you wait until they open back up again.

Disney Films: The other day I found a bunch of VHS videos and all of them were Disney. With Disney+, I have been rediscovering a whole host of classic Disney films I used to love, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and more at night. I might have to find a VHS player to enjoy these beauties again in their original form.

Tamagotchi: A little while ago I asked my mum if we still had my Tamagotchi from when I was little. On Thursday, I found it! I put in a new battery and it magically still works. I will admit I have let it die now, as it did annoy me, but it was amazing at bringing back childhood memories.

Smelly Pens: Heading out to our local Home Bargains recently to get some essentials, I got overexcited when I spotted smelly pens by Crayola. Safe to say I brought them, and they are now my most favourite things. There is a toasted marshmallow one, which is truly lush.

Have you been finding yourself going back to your childhood during this tough time? I cannot wait to get back to vintage hunting when all of this is over. Who else is with me?

Joey X