4 December – Food, Fashion and Fitness

Behind door number four is the beautiful and glamorous Miss Mistletoe! I was very excited to try out the month’s first sequin set and I wasn’t disappointed.

Miss Mistletoe isn’t available to buy separately from Ciate’s site, but you can still buy sets with sequins included, like the emerald set, which also has caviar, velvet and a full sized lacquer, all in green of course!

The sequins are pink and gold, and perfect for a luxe take on festivities! I love the name too – I definitely like getting nods to Christmas in the advent calendar, as pretty much everything I do in December revolves around Christmas, so it’s nice to co-ordinate! I really think this is a contender for a New Year’s Eve mani, too – that gold is just gorgeous.

It’s easy to apply too, although you will end up with sequins everywhere – just like Ciate’s caviar, you simply paint your nail the desired colour, then pour the sequins over the top, press to firm everything up, then allow the excess to fall off. You may have to tidy the edges and remove any sequins not quite flush. Then, for added protection, paint a top coat over everything to keep it in place!

Another week, another box from Hello Fresh!

I was really looking forward to this week’s recipes, and I have to say, they didn’t disappoint! First up was chicken fajita – a fairly simple recipe flavoured only with chilli and cumin. But there were plenty of accompaniments (no sour cream or cheese though…), and the end result was delicious!

The dish I was most excited to try was duck ragu, because I’d never made something like that before – you slow cook the duck legs in tomatoes, veggies and herbs. I thought the dish could have used a lot more cooking, to be honest, because the meat was difficult to get off the bone (especially when piping hot!), but it was still fairly tender in the dish itself.

Very filling – huge portions this week!

Finally, a good old classic – bangers and mash. The red onion gravy was delicious – I don’t very often make this dish, but this recipe was so easy and gave such great results, I’ll be doing it again. The mash was made with roasted garlic, and tasted gorgeous. Again, another mammoth portion.

All of the calorie counts were much higher this week, but then this was hearty fayre. Hello Fresh isn’t really for those on a diet, but I hope in the future they’ll consider introducing a dieter’s box, because I’d sign up regularly. This will be the last Hello Fresh box from me for a while, because the holidays make dinners very unpredictable – but if you’d like to sign up, use the code FOODFASHFIT, for £10 off your first order at Hello Fresh!