Love It Local, Try Some Belfast-Blended Suki Tea at Your Nearest Ground Espresso Bar.

 Ground Espresso bars are scattered far and wide through out Northern Ireland, with new branches opening all the time. We visited the new Bangor branch again, it's located on the ring road beside Pure Gym. There will also be a second Bangor Ground concession inside the new Next that's being built at Bloomfield Shopping Centre.

The easiest way to see if there is a Ground branch coming to your town is to  join their Facebook page.

Last month we visited the new Bangor store and tried their special coffee brew bar experience. This time around I chose from their selection of Suki loose leaf teas, picking Apple Loves Mint.

Suki Tea is blended in Belfast and Ground are proud to source local products when available. If you are unsure which loose leaf tea to go for, ask a barista can you smell the different aromas on offer.  

Your tea will be served in a classic Suki Tea Pot, which are also available to buy in store, or on their website. 

£30

£22.50

The food choice at Ground are also sourced locally, and hand finished in store. 

Today my choice was a big, soft, lemon & blueberry muffin. Smix had his favourite, Nutella Cake.

So why not support a local coffee shop and visit a Ground Espresso Bar this weekend? 

Dare You Wear Ouija Jewels? Or Be a Mega-Ru-Fan with Drag Race themed Jewellery.

Sugar and Vice and all things sparkly. Check out their Ru Paul's Drag Race necklace. Please make more! Not today, Satan! Not today!

Would you have the nerve to wear a planchette? 

Next on to their fruit and veg jewellery, and the most important food group- sweets! 

Annoyingly the piece I fall in love with, is one of the most expensive on the whole website!  Look at those colours.

This isn't novelty shaped, but I love how the colours go together. A bit like a 1970s' living room. 

Speaking of 70s' tones, I'm loving The Shining necklace. 

Sugar & Vice designs are often themed by retro sci-fi shapes and objects. 

27 Retro Pussycats Purring For You This Valentine's Day

Starting with this brilliantly laboured pun... 

And finishing with total creep of a cat! 

The Complete Menu of Options for the M&S Valentines' Dine In Special 2016. What Will You Choose?

It's my favourite Marks & Spencer Dine In long weekend of the whole year, the £20 Valentines' selection. The courses are always sprinkled with total show stopping choices, like this year's silver pearls of smoked salmon as a starter.

So without further ado, here are the options for each course.

So, what did I choose? The Mexican lime non-alcoholic option for our drinks. Starter just HAD to be those silver salmon pearls. The main is steak, side is garlic mushrooms. For dessert I chose the twin hearts for us, and the meal also includes a little box of chocolates.

I also picked up this gorgeous white chocolate mini-cake, which wasn't in store when I did the Valentines' gifts post last week's. It hasn't lasted until Valentines' day however, Smix and I ate it this afternoon. 

The M&S Valentines' Dine In 2016 runs until 15th February, and is in store now. 

Novelty Pancakes. Too Good to Eat?

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, so that makes today Pancake Day. The day to use up all the ingredients that people adhering to Lent will be avoiding. The day to ruin a frying pan or two, and set off the hall smoke alarm.  

Whats your choice though? Thin, European style crepes? Or thick, fluffy, American breakfast pancakes? 

I asked Twitter for their favourite pancake accompaniments. 

@RaphaRat "I'm French but I definitely go for the big, fluffy, thick ones!! #yum" 

@TheSarahStoryNI "I *may* do mine with bacon and Nutella today!" 

@SummerRay "Bacon & Maple syrup all the way". 

@RichardJohn "Golden syrup, banana". 

@LeStewpot "Lemon & Sugar or icecream & raspberries". 

@Foppyish "Chocolate, peanut butter and banana. ALL AT THE SAME TIME". 

@JayneKitsch "Weave bacon into a lattice and bake with a layer of brown sugar and cinnamon. It'll go beautiful and is amazing for pancakes or as a burger topping". 

The Valentines' Day 2016 Marks & Spencer Lust List

Marks & Spencer Valentines' Day food & drink gifts 2016 are as inventive yet classic as every year. Lots of sweets, and a selection of comical Valentines' Day cards. You can view many gifts online, but here's what I spied in the Sprucefield store yesterday.

The floral options are bright and colourful. Stray from the usual dozen red roses with yellow, orange and pink buds.

They had these limited edition chocolate sculptures at Christmas, but the red shoe has came along for Valentines. 

Here are some treats I brought home. 

Jellies £3 : Sweet Hearts £1.50 : Love Hearts £3

These are from the spring sweet collection, but many boxes are wrapped in wrapping paper. Saving you the job. 

Rose & Violet £4 : Marzipan Fruits £4

These mini cupcake chocolates are so cute. 

Cupcake chocs £8

If chocs & sweets don't suit your loved one, then I spied some gorgeous Indiand themed interior accessories in the home department. The faux elephant taxidermy is very cool. 

Celebrate Chinese New Year at M&S

Monday 8th February marks the Chinese New Year, this one ahead being the year of the monkey. You can celebrate in style with traditional Chinese dishes from Marks & Spencer's Food Hall. There are western favourites such as spring rolls and egg fried rice, but also some less familiar dishes for the adventurous, such as prawn dim sum and dumplings.

The Chinese Favourites box, priced £10 is the best value. It has rice, chicken dishes and two vegetarian options included in the handy takeaway style box. I love duck wrapped in those delicate little Asian pancakes, and you can choose whole, half or quarter duck sizes.

You'll find many takeaway favourites in the M&S Chinese range, plus some dishes you might not have tried before. If you've never had Singapore Noodles then you should try them. They are one of my favourites. 

I've tried a few different dishes from this range previously and have never had any complaints. Home prepared rice or noodles can be tricky to get right, but I loved the egg noodles from M&S.

The whole range is quick and easy to prepare, no need for marinating or dicing. The selection of appetisers is great too, with ribs, spring rolls and sesame toast.

£3

Dim Sum £3.30 : Toast £3.75

Finally, what's a Chinese meal without prawn crackers!

A Bouquet of Devine Scents for Valentines' Day, from Yankee Candle

A dozen red roses is the Valentines' cliche that no woman really minds. It might not be inventive, but it does always feel special. But what if you'd like to give your partner something a little more, or maybe your girlfriend is allergic to real bouquets of flowers, in that case Yankee Candle's True Rose collection of home fragrance can swoop in to the rescue.

True Rose and Wedding Day are 'Fragrances of the Month' which means you'll get 25% off purchases of those scents. It's a beautiful looking jar, with the bright red to brighten up a room during the tail end of winter. 

The scent is accurate and nostalgic for me. My Gran used to grow roses outside her little house, so there was a welcoming scent when you walked the path to her door. 

If you prefer reed diffusers, then True Rose is available in that format too. Reed diffusers are lovely to place in a bathroom for a long time aroma in a smaller space. 

Pink Carnation makes a special appearance this month, and a trip to your local Yankee store will prove that you can put together a bouquet of floral scents, if you feel like being adventurous with your home fragrance. Perhaps use a tart burner with half of a True Rose tart, and half of a pink carnation tart and see how it smells. 

So if you're stuck for present ideas, why not visit Yankee Candle and pick from their cutely packaged romantically themed sets.