I've Added to my Rodnik Band Collection!

The past four years I've blogged often about The Rodnik Band, Philip Colbert's London-based, pop art, fashion label. They provided me with the perfect outfit for the 2012 Cosmopolitan Blog Awards, a floaty charcoal tunic with an old man's pipe print all over. I like to think of them as my favourite designer label, and I've tried to pick up pieces when I can, as I think they'll increase in price as Philip's work goes mainstream. Rita Ora & Cara Delevingne are fans of the quirky street wear already, so get yourself involved.

I managed to pick up their Cod Save the Sea vest this week, to add to my collection. 

My 'bestest' piece however is their classic, iconic, yellow submarine rain mac. This blurry photo will make you relieved I'm not a fashion blogger usually.

This is how it looks when worn.

My other item is a linen jacket with anchor print. I bought it in size 16 when I was that size, but it was still too big. I'm now a size 12 but I still don't want to part with it.

Check out The Rodnik Band site for their latest collection including home ware!

Premier's Zing Collection Brings a Rainbow to Your Kitchen

Available from Premier at BHS and on Amazon. Prices range from £2.99 for the pan handle, to £18.99 for the digital scales.

Brazil World Cup 2014 Nail Art Manicure Ideas

I can just about get one colour of nail polish neatly applied, so the skill involved in these manicures astound me. How is your nail art game? Share your work with me on Twitter @rudedoodle .

Hotel Chocolat Father's Day Gift Ideas, For Daddies with a Sweet Tooth

I'm going to embarrass my Dad here, but he has been known to buy sweets (Maltesers & Fry's Cream mostly) and hide them on top of the kitchen cupboards so my 5ft tall Mum can't find them & eat them! So he'd love any of these treats from Hotel Chocolat this Father's Day.

 The H-box Everything Selection for £13 has a delicious menu of dark, milk and white chocolates. 

The Father's Day gift box for £15 includes a tipple.

Or the solid Old Fossil for £8.50

The Pocket Selection is £9.00

For Dads with an adventurous taste, there is Cocoa Beer at £5.50 a bottle. I'm intrigued by this myself.

Hotel Chocolat even have beer flavoured chocolates!

My Recent Charity Shop Treasures, Dead Butterflies & Glass Birds

People often ask me how The World of Kitsch started. If you aren't a long term reader you might not know that it started as a blog cataloging my charity shop buys of vintage knickknacks, taxidermy, ugly paintings and any other oddities I collected to decorate my home.

Then my home became full, and there was no more room for new 1960s' cocktail cabinets to stuff with ugly ornaments, seaside souvenirs and mid-century crockery. So I began blogging about interesting products brands would send me, or local brands I wanted to encourage people to try.

As of 2013 I started including local hotel and attraction reviews, including blogging for Tesco about Northern Ireland's North Coast as a holiday destination for families. Now in 2014 I continue to feature interesting products, local restaurants & brands but I think it's time I return to my roots a little.

I'll be featuring more charity shop treasures, even if I can't take them home! But here are two recent purchases I couldn't resist. I can never turn down taxidermy at a good price, so I had to give these butterflies a home. 

I have a 1960s' boat shaped bar, so I collect mid-century glassware if it's in good condition. These beautiful bird glasses look brand new and I picked them up for £3 for the set.

Vintage Fisher Price Hospital

Hello! I'm stuck in hospital at the moment. Normal blogging will resume soon!

RuPaul's Drag Race Tattoo Flash by Jenna McAleese

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 

thejennerator@hotmail.com

See more of Jenna's work on her Instagram. 

Proper Pizza All Round at Little Wing's New Holywood Restaurant

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.