The Top Eight Yankee Scents for Beating the Autumn Blues

Well, autumn fairly caught up with itself last night, didn't it? I don't know about you, but I was out in the back garden at 4am trying to get our gate to stop banging, so I didn't get much sleep. I was cheered up by the arrival of my Apple Pumpkin, large Yankee Candle jar today. This new fragrance is the perfect autumn pick-me-up. It's sweet with hints of apple pie and cinnamon, but without an overpowering Christmas edge. 

The official UK Yankee Candle website has dozens of great autumn scents as well as the core Harvest collection and Halloween range. My top pick from the latter is still Witches' Brew, but here are some others I'd love to try.

As always the official UK Yankee store has dozens of special appearances from candles I've never spotted in store anywhere before.

How delicately beautiful is the crackle glass, fiery autumn range? There are only two pieces left from the whole range, so get a move on if you love it as much as I do!

My New Favourite Restaurant in Belfast- Canteen at The MAC.

The World of Kitsch certainly didn't start out as a restaurant review blog, but I've had lots of wonderful opportunities in the past two of my five blogging years to share with you the best spots to get grub all over Northern Ireland. I love places who use lots of local produce, and The Canteen at The MAC, Belfast, structures it's menu especially to show of Northern Ireland's best of the best. 

The good news is because it's Belfast Restuarant Week, The Canteen have two courses for £10 which is a steal. This isn't 'canteen' food, it's melt in the mouth perfection. I have to admit I've always been snobby and thought from the name, Canteen, made me think of plates of floppy, ham sandwiches with a few crisps on the side. Instead here is yet another of my restaurant reviews bulging with praise! It's getting a little embarrassing. Someone should suggest me somewhere poor to eat and review via Twitter so I mix things up a bit, as my review for The MAC food is a ten out of ten!

As you can see the Canteen is big and airy, but it's worth booking a table especially on busy weekends. The MAC is an art gallery, and even the tables were part of an art installation. There is an old fashioned phone at each booth. You can actually ring through to another table anonymously and have a chat and flirt! 

Perhaps more of a night time game when the cocktails are flowing, we had fun being arty which we waited the short while for our main course.

I'm a seafood lover, and althought the salted chilli quid appealed, I was fairly hungry so went for the battered coley with beer battered chips and peas for £9. Of course that meant for an extra £1 I got the Restaurant Week deal and a dessert! 

The batter was delish, so perfect, and the chips freshly made.  The peas were mild and a perfect compliment.

My husband had the Morrocan spiced chicken which he describes as one of the tastiest things he's ever eaten in his entire life. Now there's a recommendation!

Our son had a great kids' menu to choose from. Not just the standard anything with chips, he also had mildly spiced chicken skewers with noodles, or sausages with mash to choose from. Surprisingly to us he went for the house special, the MAC and cheese with pinenuts crust. We all had a little dig into this as it is available on the adult main course menu too. It is tasty indeed, and the pinenuts give it an usual sweet, vanilla edge.

Dessert time and the boys went for peanut butter brownies. My husband's brownie was intimidatingly huge, like a brick or the monolith in Space Odyssey 2001. Both boys loved them and the delicious accompaniment of Glastry icecream.

My choice was the cherry bake well tart. It was a little tiny compared to the boys' but it was beautiful.

I strongly encourage you and your family to try out The MAC this week when the Restaurant Week deal is on, and get back to me on Twitter to let me know your thoughts on what you chose to eat. And someone, please, suggest to me somewhere to go and review that I might NOT like, so I stop looking like a rumbly, tumbly sycophant!

Don't miss out on the free galleries to visit while you are in The MAC.

Lidl Prove They are the Sassiest Supermarket on the Internet

The other day this image was doing the rounds on Twitter. It's a staff motivational poster for Sainsburys, which should have been displayed in their behind-shop-floor area, but had mistakenly found it's way into a window location.

Well, my favourite budget supermarket chain Lidl replied with a poster of their own. Well played, Lidl PR!

On the Twitter Bookshelf: Moose Allain

Moose Allain is one of the unofficial group of successful, well-followed, whimsy-junkie UK Twitter club. He has published his first book 'fill-me-in' and it encourages us all to be a little more creative. Find out more on his own blog here.

28 Beetlejuice Themed Birthday & Wedding Cakes

Some of these creations simply use action figures as cake toppers and employ the black & white Tim Burton standard, striped, colour scheme. Some, like the waiting room cakes shown first, are just works of art in themselves.

Is this one a lasagne though?

Based on the 'Beetleguese' cartoon

Simple, but clean looking and effective.

I kind of wish I'd thought of having a Beetlejuice wedding cake now.

If I say his name three times, does cake appear?

The Gift for Someone who has Everything- Their Own Personalised Cartoon

Cartoon This is an illustration and design company founded in 2012 by Jordan Hodge.

"I strive to give all customers fun and high quality illustrations at great prices.  I will illustrate any person or group of people in my cartoon style. The sky is the limit on what I can illustrate!"

Want a movie or TV themed portrait? A sports team themed portrait? Funny outfits? Or normal everyday outfits? No problem! Jordan has already done over 300 unique Cartoon Portraits for customers around the world. Star Wars, Walking Dead, Wizard of Oz, themed portraits in whatever style you can dream up. These would make great gifts or nice prints to hang in a home or office.

Jordan even cartooned us- it's scarily accurate!

Revisiting Lady Muck, What's New in Whitstable?

I found Esa Evans' quirky jewellery line 'Lady Muck' thanks to a shout out on BBC Radio 6 by lovely Lauren Laverne back in 2012. Sadly my super duper, orange perspex ants necklace  got broken, from my own carelessness at storing it. Sad face. Here is how it looked in 2012.

Two years on the brand is still going strong. I particularly love the circle necklace in multicolours reminiscent of a primary school paint palette. Drop in on Esa on her Lady Muck Store. 

Can someone get married so I can order this hat to wear to the wedding please?

The gold honeycomb creation.

I'm Begging for Your Help Because I want a Jaunt to London

Hey folks, I'm a finalist in the Amara Interior Design Blog Awards, exciting! World of Kitsch features a little of everything, but it started as a blog showcasing my home wares odd and brilliant as they are. 

To vote, follow this link, fill in your name and an email address and that's it. No need to register for anything. I would REALLY appreciate it. Usually at this time of year I'm over for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards, but I didn't make finals this year, and I'm missing my liberating, lone journey to London.

Thank you in advance x