These amazing tattoo pieces were available from Jenna McAleese of Skullduggery Tattoo, Belfast, at the Northern Ireland Tattoo Convention this weekend past. If you wish to get in touch with Jenna about any of the remaining designs, you can email her at
See more of Jenna's work on her Instagram.
We Smyths are huge Little Wing fans, so when their newest location opened in Holywood a few weeks back, it was as good an excuse as any to 'wing it'.
Little Wing has restaurants in Bangor, Ballyhackamore, Ann Street in the city and on the Lisburn Road. Bangor is our usual, but Holywood previously being a bank building makes for a large, bright dining experience, and I think we will be locals there instead. The food was fabulous too, no teething problems with being a new restaurant to speak of, everything was beyond delicious.
Starters include olives, garlic bread or dough sticks. As in similar family friendly Pizza places, there's a three course children's menu. They choose between dough sticks or soup for first course, with pizzas or pastas as their main meal. The dessert cone and mini-hot chocolate is all included in the set price.
The pizzas at Little Wing are PROPER Italian pizzas. Thin, crispy, with traditional toppings. I always get frustrated when getting Do******s Pizza due to the complete lack of anchovies or olives on the menu in the Bangor branch. In Little Wing you can have both, you can even have calamari (squid).
Shape and size wise the choices are
1) a regular size pizza
2) Ireland's BIGGEST pizza, 24", by the slice with side salad, or tackle the beast yourself
3) Skinny Pizza. I'm not sure it means it's a healthy option rather than the regular (although thin crispy dough is definitely healthier than big, thick bases other chain stores sell). These cost £2 more as they include more toppings, and are served on a rustic, wooden board. My husband went for the spiciest on the menu, and I got the anchovie pizza with black olives as an extra. Perfect.
4) a Calzone pizza, a folded, tasty wonder.
The skinny pizza truly defeated me, but boxes are on stand-by to bring your left overs home.
Now I may have been full, but my dessert stomach had room, and as our son got an ice cream with his anyway, we both perused the desserts and coffee menu.
I got the Nutella Pizza and my husband got, as he said, 'the best chocolate cake I've tasted'.
We were very happy with all concerned. Setting friendliness, value for money, all spot on. They are even in the process of setting up a children's play area in the back, and kids get a spot-the-item colouring page on the back of their menu to keep them busy whilst the pizza is cooking.
You can also order pizza to take away. The Holywood restaurant also has a mini Patisserie Mimi, selling macaroons & treats. So you can pop in for a nosy even if you aren't sitting to eat.
Tweet me @rudedoodle if you get a chance to pop along over the long weekend ahead, your family will love Little Wing.
Heatons are all geared up for a super summer. All the ingredients of a happy afternoon in the garden, including tableware and BBQs.
The new fashion lines are bright, crisp and smart and I'm in love with the glitter kitty shoes, if only they did them up to adult size 4 I'd be having a pair!
The new children's collection is very smart, and reminds me of Baby Gap ranges. The boy's selection is Americana themed.
How sweet is this cabin luggage? Boys' suitcases available too. Priced at €10
Lots of very reasonably priced swimwear in store too, and paddling pools. I'd recommend picking the latter up early, as we've all been caught out by the shops selling out of pools once the heat wave arrives.
There is a great selection of summer bright tableware and accessories too. I love the photorealistic kiwi fruit.
It's not only the kids who get stylish clothing, this classic dress caught my eye at €25
For summery back garden BBQs how about one of these tops, teamed with Capri denims and flip flops?
Now the part you've been waiting for. Heatons have given me a £75 gift card to give away to one lucky reader, but please read these details first-
The £75 gift card is not exchangeable for cash, or anything else. The gift card ONLY WORKS IN STORE, IN NORTHERN IRELAND. It doesn't work for the Heatons' online store, or in the south. Good luck!
It's no secret I've been working with Lidl NI the past 12 months, bringing you posts with bargain and new, exciting products. This however is not a sponsored post.
Over the past year I've gone from visiting Lidl about once a month, to choosing it as my 'big shop' location every fortnight with a couple of visits in between for fresh fruit & veg (& their bargain, beautiful smoked salmon with mustard and dill which I'm addicted to for breakfast).
If you follow me on Twitter (@rudedoodle) or Instagram you'll see me giving shout outs about what's new in store, as one of my top reasons for shopping Lidl is they get a brand new range in weekly, so there's always specials to try.
Next up, this Thursday, is their World Cup collection. I'm a sucker for a big event and will be getting some tshirts for the family. I was in store today and they've already got some World Cup themed food in- yes! Plus party packs with plates, cups, plastic cutlery, football whistles etc. for £3.99
I didn't buy these today, but I'll be buying them once the event starts.
Now the days are getting warmer there are some interesting options for keeping hydrated. Many flavours of iced tea, including some zero calorie options. Beautiful with ice and a slice of lemon.
One of their themes this week is Mexican food, so as well as a selection of spices for 69p each, salsa, taco kits and fajitas, they also have this unusual cactus drink, which someone like me couldn't resist trying at £1 for a litre.
And what about this water jug? So stylish and looks far more expensive than it's £3.99. There are matching tumblers and salad bowls in two sizes too. All come in either green, clear or deep pink. Lovely for BBQs.
Finally here are the rest of the World Cup items which should hit stores on Thursday.
A little taste of Long Island luxury will be available to Belfast socialites this summer, with the launch of The Merchant Hotel’s new Hamptons themed rooftop garden.
In the States, The Hamptons is the summer playground for the rich and famous; with upwardly mobile New Yorkers and famous faces flocking to its stylish ocean view mansions and country clubs for an annual escape from the rat race.
Now, The Merchant’s exciting new rooftop events space is bringing the glamour of The Hamptons closer to home. The stunning new space provides the perfect backdrop for social events in the city, where guests can experience the glamour of the popular North American VIP resort in the heart of Belfast.
The new rooftop events venue at the city’s luxury 5 star Merchant Hotel features a purpose built beach hut bar and a chic nautical décor, creating the illusion of being at a VIP seaside resort in the heart of the city.
The food offering for the venue has been inspired by laid back summer evenings, bringing the aromas and tastes of The Hamptons alive, with native favourites including buttermilk chicken, crispy calamari, shrimp, corn fritters and Padron peppers, as well as a refreshing range of cocktails, which will be served up at private events between now and the end of September.
Located in the hotel’s fourth floor Rooftop Garden, the pop-up Hamptons at The Merchant events space offers stunning panoramic views across the city and features a state-of-the-art retractable roof for protection against the elements, should summer showers try to spoil the party.
Last night Ms. Miley Cyrus played Belfast, Northern Ireland, and we had been lucky enough to win a pair of tickets for the spectacle. First though, keeping in with Miley's country roots, we headed to Victoria Square to have a big feed at the Spur Steak & Grill.
Local readers, a great tip for attending Odyssey concerts is to park closer to the city centre, and grab something to eat first. This way you avoid queuing for the couple of restaurants there are left in the Odyssey Pavillion, and even better once the gig is over you just walk across the Lagan foot bridge & avoid the bumper to bumper traffic trying to escape the carpark.
We got to Spur at 6pm & already it was pleasantly buzzing. They have an extensive menu and it's definitely a kid-friendly eatery, with a soft play area for them to enjoy while you have a coffee or cocktail after your meal. If you visit Spur on a Friday, children eat free.
Our waiter, Havier was very attentive and friendly. Our starter was a a delicious plate of nachos & Jack Daniels buffalo wings.
The menu includes combo meals, like ribs and chicken, surf and turf, ribs and steak, which is handy as it's all so tempting you might not be able to decide on just one meat.
My husband went for the rack of ribs, with two sides included, cone and chips. The ribs were drop-off-the-bone tender.
I had rump steak with blue cheese sauce. I always ask for rare steak and look how perfectly it came out.
I'm still losing weight, so for my two included sides I chose side salad and the corn.
Overall opinion? If you love your meat, you'll love Spur. We are going to call back with our son next time so he can enjoy the atmosphere too.
Time to dander over to The Odyssey for Miley! We had great seats, especially for the acoustic set she does mid-way through. I shall let the (far away, pretty blurry) photos speak for themselves. I tried not to have my phone camera out too much, as there's always the risk you end up watching a show through a tiny screen instead of soaking up what's going on; and a lot was going on.
The Salty Dog hotel and bistro in Bangor is one of those spots on our doorstep we always mean to try but hadn't got round to. The special 'Snout to Trotter' tasting evening was the ideal time to dip our toes in the water.
Head chef Tim Brunton served up six beautiful courses, each full of flavour and so different to the one before, but originating with a pork ingredient. The waiting staff were completely knowledgable about the dishes, and accompanying wines. The dining setting is relaxed and bright, with views over the marina and Belfast Lough.
We will definitely be returning for date nights in the future.
Thank you to Richard & all the staff for a great evening.
Hello readers, I've not been able to blog too much recently, so I've invited my favourite local artist who I've featured regularly before on The World of Kitsch, Neal McCullough, to guest post about his current exhibition. Thank you, Neal!
Hey Hey, World of Kitsch Regulars. I’m Neal McCullough from Bangor’s Hand Drawn Creative Illustration. Claire has graciously allowed me to write about my latest illustrated Exhibition currently on in Belfast’s Atelier Design Interiors showroom.
You’ll know my illustration work already, because I designed the The World of Kitsch logo right above this post. Like a lot of World of Kitsch fans, I’m obsessed with vintage illustration and mid-century furniture, so I’ve put together a collection of ten new illustrations showcasing my mid-century obsession called “Asseyez-Vous”
The Asseyez-Vous illustrations were created following meetings with Victor & James at Atelier Design’s hyper-chic showroom in Belfast’s Refound Building, and a lot of the finished illustrations feature little hidden gems from their range of kitsch, retro furniture and textiles.
“Asseyez-Vous” was due to wrap up on 3 May, but has now been been extended for another month, so if you’re in Belfast in May, call in. The showroom is open Wednesday-Saturday. I really hope you like the pretty pictures. Prints range from £10 to £80. If you aren’t in Northern Ireland you can also order prints through my Etsy store too.
Thanks for having me!
Cheers, Neal
As heard on BBC Radio 6's Lauren Laverne Show.
