Royal Princess Tour & Lunch with Princess Cruises

Celebrate 50 years of luxury on the seas with Royal Princess Cruises--follow along on my tour & lunch!

It's like an entire city, effortlessly gliding across the face of the water. Behind its facade of hundreds of balconies, in the heart of the ship lies more restaurants than you could count on one hand, pools, spas, bars, shops, theatres and more.

We were invited to take a tour of Princess Cruises's Royal Princess ship and sample a luxurious three-course menu. Over the course of our five hours onboard, the word luxury would escape from my lips time and time again. Before then, a virgin to the open seas and someone who had never set foot in a cruise ship, I was blown away by the sheer vastness of it, the luxury and the glamour.

Plantui: Setting Up Your Smart Garden

Follow along as I set up my Plantui smart garden and get the garden I deserve!

Last week, I shared with you an intro to Plantui and a bit more info about their philosophy: Everyone deserves a garden. Today, I'm happy to walk you through the process of setting up your Plantui Smart Garden!

#tastytuesdays102: We're Back!!

After a brief hiatus for summer break, we're backfor the weekly #tastytuesdays party! Come share your most pinworthy of projects to get pinned to a massive board!

Please link up your PINS so you can benefit from my repinning!

#MyHolidayDish Broad Beans with Serrano Ham from Jo Pratt

Broad beans with Serrano ham is a Spanish tapas full of flavour and the perfect #MyHolidayDish creation!

Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Broad Beans with Serrano Ham

After a holiday, the bit that I find I miss most is the food. Especially when I've visited a culinary wonderland like Spain. So when the team at James Villas sent my hamper full of the ingredients needed to make Jo Pratt's delicious tapas recipe for Habas con Jamon, I couldn't wait to get stuck in!

This lovely and quick gluten-free tapas dish from Jo's newest cook In the Mood for Healthy Food, a real page-turner of beautifully photographed food and a collection of recipes that skimp on calories but not on flavour.

Plantui: Everyone Deserves a Garden

Everyone deserves a garden, no matter where you live and with Plantui, you can have one!

Did you see this Instagram post? Follow me!

One of the most frustrating things about living in the UK is the sheer lack of sunlight we get. Living in Manchester, that number decreases further still.  We have on average between 20 and 25 rainy days each month. And in September, October and November, we average fewer than five hours of sunshine per day.

Meet Your Match with TGI Fridays' Fabulous New Menu

A VIP evening at TGI Friday's, trying their fabulous new menu and meeting my match!

Renown the world over for being the place to go if you want a good time, TGI Fridays is one of my favourite  restaurants. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting one of my local branches to celebrate the launch of their new menu. With a stint behind their legendary bar, whipping up my own cocktail and two over-sized courses of incredibly delicious food, I definitely met my match with this new menu.

Photo courtesy of TGI Fridays

Photo courtesy of TGI Fidays

Pinterest and Instagram Updates for Autumn 2015

Big changes are underway from two of the leading social media platforms this autumn!

Have you been prompted to download the Instagram update on your phone yet? You might want to hurry and do it to take advantage of the biggest change to hit Instagram since Facebook bought the platform in 2012!

Instagram Allows Vertical Photos

You can now post vertical photos to your Instagram account! That's right, the days of being forced to shoot your photos in a boring square are now over. The update was rolled out on 26 August and has been making international business news on popular websites such as Time.

Only time will tell if people start flocking to the new vertical layout, or if it will feel too unlike Instagram for it to catch on, but one thing is certain: with Pinterest's natural inclination to portrait style photos (read why portrait photos work best on Pinterest), and now Instagram's adaptation of this layout, portrait photos will become increasingly important for marketing.

One Year On, New Ventures

Tomorrow, 18 August, marks one year since I stopped being a stay at home mom and full time food blogger. It's been a crazy, fun, exhausting transition, but one that I'm still extremely glad I made. A year ago, I thought only a few things would change; I wasn't prepared for the full-on change that came.

I'll be honest, keeping up with food blogging was tough. Suddenly, I went from sharing new recipes three times a week and posting five times a week, to barely getting three posts out a month. And I miss(ed) it. So I had to do some big thinking. Some hard thinking. And some compromising.

And I've decided that since I couldn't manage one blog and a full time job, I'd try to juggle two! Not entirely correct, although there's a bit of earnestness in that statement. Let me clarify:

Anyonita Nibbles isn't going anywhere. I'll still be here posting and sharing recipes and product and restaurant reviews with you because, a girl's gotta eat. But I won't commit to doing it anywhere near the frequency I once was.

I'll be honest: the amount of time required to develop, test, photograph and write up original recipes whilst still juggling a full time job, being a mommy and a wife, is more than any of us are allotted in a day. Hell, it's more than we get in two days. It's a lot of work. And I can't swing it.

So, I'm easing the pressure. I'll probably post here weekly or every two weeks. That's my goal. In the meantime, you can find me over on my new venture: www.plussizelife.co.uk, where I'm writing a lifestyle, food, fashion and travel blog for curvy women. The blog has an emphasis on self-acceptance and self-love. It's a feel-good project and I think it's going to go well.

Visit me on both and be sure you keep in touch!

Riverford's Spring Chicken: A Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Recipe

A succulent and tender gluten free chicken dish with fresh vegetables in a delicate broth!

Yield: 2 servings
Prep time: 25 minutest
Cook time: 45 minutes

Spring Chicken

Let me introduce you to Riverford. Riverford is a food delivery service, providing organic, farm fresh food straight to your door. Along with the food, you'll get really yummy recipes and a handy glossary of veg, a guide to Riverford and a pamphlet of recipes for upcoming boxes.

I've tried food delivery services before, but none have impressed me as much as Riverford has. It's the quality of the ingredients and how much thought they've put into their boxes. Everything arrives neatly packed, the recipes are appetising, easy to follow and great for storing and keeping. My box featured the ingredients and recipes for three of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's dishes and they were equally delicious!

Amira's Jewelled Persian Rice with Pomegranates, Walnuts & Parsley

Review of fruity and nutty Persian jewelled rice dish with cranberry and walnut from Amira!

Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Jewelled Persian Rice with Pomegranates, Walnuts & Parsley

We're big rice eaters; it's definitely one of our staples. Recently, I've become completely enthralled with Middle Eastern cooking and am enjoying being swept up in the rhapsodic flavours of spice mixes like ras-el-hanout and rediscovering the juicy sweetness of plump Medjool dates and figs. So when a PR rep got in touch to ask if I'd be interested in reviewing Amira Superior Aromatic Rice by recreating a Persian rice recipe, I leapt at the chance!