Katy Perry's Royal Revolution- the Revolution Will Be Smellivised

This week I've spied fellow Northern Irish bloggers receive super snazzy personalised note books along with the new Royal Revolution scent from Katy Perry. I contacted he lovely Fiona, the friendliest PR in all of Ireland, but sadly I was too late for my own book.

Fiona being wonderful though, poster me the perfume and some fresh, new shades of nail polish from NYC Cosmetics. 

I love the Katy Perry crest. Cats! The perfume itself is very light, young and fresh. It's girly and reminds me of a perfume or smell from my teenage years. I'm going to wear it over the summer, as it's a really nice 'fit' for the season.

It's available from Gordon's Chemist in NI, and all other good perfume stores in the UK. 

Now... which colour for my nails first? 

Our Anniversary Getaway at The Causeway Hotel, Bushmills.

Last weekend we celebrated seven years being married, and spent a wonderful night away staying at The Causeway Hotel, Bushmills.

Owned in part by The National Trust, this pleasant hotel has the prime location on the North Coast, settled right on the cliff tops, literally a stone's throw from the Giant's Causeway. From the free car park you have views of the world famous landmark, and if you look at the far right of the photo below, you'll see the entrance to the visitor attraction. You really can't stay closer, and as a guest of the hotel you and your family have free entry to the Causeway and centre automatically.

The rooms are airy, spacious, clean and tailored to take advantage of the jaw dropping views. Our room welcomed us with fruit and bubbly, as they knew we were celebrating, a lovely touch. 

You may guess for such a prime location you'd pay top dollar. Well I've just checked room prices for this weekend coming and you can stay in a double as a couple for as little as £99 a night. 

The best part about the room is that the doors open out onto your very own little outdoor terrace, where you can sit for the evening and chat.

Last summer we attempted a visit to The Giant's Causeway as part of the blogging trip I wrote up for Tesco Living. As soon as we jumped off the little bus the heavens had opened, so we had to scramble back onto the bus and just take in the new visitors' centre instead.

This year we couldn't have planned any better weather. We got the bus down to the stones from the centre, explored them then climbed the 160-something cliff steps to walk back to the hotel along the cliff tops. 

Again, this is how close The Causeway Hotel is to the visitor centre. It's in the background, I'm standing on the roof of the centre.

After all that trekking we were pretty hungry, so we drove the ten minute journey to Portstewart and had burgers and ice cream in Morellis. There was also a new doughnut shop along the front.

The day was so beautiful we decided to stock up on snacks and just spend the evening at the hotel. Just beyond the visitor centre is a quaint little country pub called The Nook. We dandered over and had pub chips sitting at one of their outside picnic tables overlooking Port Ballintrae & Portrush beyond. It was so relaxing.

Of course I can't finish a hotel blog without sharing with you their Ulster Fry breakfast! My husband had that and I had pancakes and bacon.

It was definitely the most 'get away from it all' hotel stay I've ever had, and I'm pencilling in a stay for our 8th anniversary next year. It could become a lovely little tradition. Thanks for having us, Causeway Hotel.

Summer at The MAC, Belfast

​Al Fresco dining, Chilean wine tasting, afternoon tea with strawberries and cream and a tapas menu that the Spanish themselves would be proud of.

Set the MAC, Belfast’s award-winning  arts venue in the heart of Saint Anne’s Square in the Cathedral Quarter, Canteen at the MAC offers  Belfast’s premiere, must-visit café culture experience. 

The popular outdoor areas, which spill onto Saint Anne’s Square, will once again invite diners and drinkers to enjoy the sights and sounds of summer time in Belfast.

Sharon Wright, director of Canteen at the MAC said: “We are very excited about the months ahead and are gearing up for a real café-culture vibe in our outdoor dining areas. 

“Not only has the MAC got a brilliant summer line-up scheduled, including the rock and dance summer schools for little ones, there’s also live World Cup  streaming which sees key matches shown in the new indoor garden on large plasma screens, but St Anne’s Square is also playing host to some very exciting outdoor events, including the Taste of Summer Food Festival which will include street food, arts and craft stalls, Canteen’s wine tasting and our famous coffee masterclass.  

“In addition, we have developed a bespoke Canteen Tapas menu and a fantastic range of drinks promotions which will complement the sporting schedule perfectly.  

“We have our limited edition Bud beer buckets, as well as our Lanson Champagne offer where customers will receive a free Wimbledon Neoprene with each purchase, and our special Bella View Rocks cocktails – perfect for those wanting soak up the buzz of Belfast.

“Whether it’s a special occasion such as graduation celebrations or simply a leisurely afternoon or evening out, we look forward to welcoming visitors new and old to our new outdoor areas and are ever hopeful that the weather will remain kind to us.”

For further information on Canteen at the MAC, including menus and photo gallery please visit themaclive.com or call 028 9023 5053 to make a booking or enquiry.

United Tastes of America at Lidl Week Inspires Me to Serve Everything on Skewers!

It's been American Week at Lidl, with lots of treats in store.

Of course I had to stock up. I don't know if anyone else felt inspired by this Buzzfeed post about skewer food last week, but as a mother of a picky eating six year old, I was keen to try some of the ideas out.

I picked up all the ingredients in my Bangor Lidl store. For savoury skewers for the adults I bought the outstandingly delicious sirloin steaks, a red pepper and baby potatoes.

I simply boiled the potatoes then tossed them in butter. I fried off the red pepper in olive oil, so they still had a little bit of crunch and wouldn't fall apart when I added them to the skewer. The sirloin I chopped into pieces and fried in the super hot pan, adding a dollop of honey thirty seconds before the end to give it a lovely taste. They were SO GOOD.

For my son's savoury skewer I added Belgian waffle quartered, cherry tomatoes in coloured varieties and hotdog sausage chopped up. What do you know, instead of fighting over eating, the novelty of the presentation had this meal demolished in minutes.

The easiest and yummiest looking dessert idea was this brownie one.

I had run out of clean skewers at this point, but for soft foods you can use drinking straws. Also a safer plan if you want to avoid giving six inch metal or wooden spikes to kids! Again these were a success. I might make dozens of these come birthday party time in October.

If you're into your healthy snacks then you can pick up a popcorn maker which uses hot air, not oil, for just £8.99.

For bakers, there are cake pop makers and doughnut makers, £11.99 each. Plus ready made doughnut batter in store.

I also spotted, but didn't pick up, these 'Nutella' filled cookies. If anyone tries them let me know are they worth trying on Twitter, I'm @rudedoodle.

A couple more products caught my eye, some very Ikea-a-like meatballs, and almond tarts. Also fancied this big pork fillet to make pulled pork, it was £4.99.

Another taste-a-like, a bag of Starbucks' type hard waffles for less than the price of one waffle bought in their chain! These are a spot on taste match.

Lastly, you may wonder how I'm even finding time to blog, what with school holidays and no moment of my own anymore, well, Lidl to the rescue once again. For the past hour Michael has been busy colouring in this cardboard playhouse we picked up with our Lidl shop for £7.99!

Don't forget you can check out the Lidl NI website to see what themed offers are coming up in the next few weeks, influding some fab duvets and jammies boys and girls in July.

The Ugglys are a Pack of Rude Dogs!

The Ugglys, a selection of mangy looking puppet pups, are one of those toys parents just don't understand. When we received our's (lovingly nicknamed 'Stinker') I thought it seemed like one of those presents they beg for but only play with for ten minutes and never touch again.

I was wrong. 

Michael hasn't stopped playing with this thing all weekend. It's basically a hand puppet that makes foul noises. Burps, farts, bizarre sound effects  and even a buzzing blue bottle noise. The novelty comes in the form of a little, twiddly knob on the dog's collar, this controls the pitch of the sound effect. 

If there is one suggestion to make the product better, I'd request a volume knob too. 

There are different breeds of Uggly, and they retail at £29.99 A great puppet if your daughter or son loves gross out humour. 

"Big Yellow Cranes Hold Up the Clouds"

One of the landmarks of Belfast, Northern Ireland are Samson & Goliath. The two huge cranes used for ship building dominate the sky line.

Today on Twitter I spotted a RT of this comical planting box, found for sale on the Newtownards Road, in East Belfast. 

There also exists a Tee & Toast, Belfast Heavy Metal tshirt based on the cranes.

And then there's this funky pop art print from Belfast Times.

Completely Free Hot Wheels Zoom & Boom Roadshow hits the UK, including Belfast.

Keep the kids entertained this summer and visit your free ZOOM N BOOM event!  See them become the ultimate TRACK MASTERS with an adrenaline-fuelled HOT WHEELS experience at five leading shopping centres.

Kids can get in the driver’s seat and RACE cars on awesome Hot Wheels TRACK BUILDER SYSTEMS with daring stunts to challenge friends with and become the masters of track design! 

Other fun-filled activities include a PHOTO GREEN SCREEN where kids can try on fun props and have their photo taken with family and friends against themed backdrops! 

Kids can also HAVE A BLAST with BOOMco and test out their BLASTING skills with the cool new AIR-POWERED BOOMco blasters!  With colourful Smart Stick darts and targets, kids can see exactly where they nailed it as the tip of every plastic dart sticks like crazy to the targets! 

See you at the Belfast event!

Dates & Locations:

• 30July-3 thAugust  – Lakeside, Essex
• 6-10thAugust  – Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes
• 13-17thAugust – Arndale, Manchester
• 20-24thAugust – Castle Court, Belfast
• 27-31thAugust  – Braehead, Glasgow

Gore-fest Colouring In Book

The delightful Miss Cakehead posted me this gruesome sketch book to add to my unusual colouring book collection.