My Birthday and Graze Box

Hope everyone is enjoying the week. I actually cannot believe it's Thursday already, this week has been non-stop! It was my birthday on Monday, I had a really nice day. Luckily I was on the early shift at work so after opening my presents from Mike and his mum and sisters I got my shift out of the way and was home by just gone half two. When I got home I was greeted by Mike and a cheeky monkey truffle which I forgot to photo but it was yummy and cute!

What's in the bag?

Tada! Nigella!

It's a huge book..

The recipe I plan to make first... Mexican lasagne.

The most yummy looking desert.. hazelnut tiramisu! YUM!

I love the little 'make ahead' and 'freeze' notes - very useful IMO

I also had a Pandora bag to open!

Pretty!!

This charm was from Mike, it's actually not an official Pandora one but it's cute isn't it and I'm certainly not one to care about the labels!

My doggie charm which his sister Emma picked out for me

I can't wait to fill it up with pretty charms, I already have a very expensive wish list forming....

We went to an Italian restaraunt my mum likes for my tea, I hadn't been before but the menu looked nice and veggie friendly. I forgot to take any pictures cause I'm a dopey so and so! But it was nice, if a little posh! We shared a garlic bread and some bruschetta for starters, they were both nice but the bruschetta portion was tiny! For mains Mike and I shared a mushroom pizza and a pasta dish. I was so surprised by the pasta dish.. It was 6 (not very big) pieces of ravioli and it was almost a tenner!!! The meat eaters portions were good but the veggie portions were tiny! At least it left room for desert - tiramisu, of course! The food was nice but I couldn't believe the prices... If I was footing the bill it would not be in my budget - my parents can't have minded since they chose it but still, I didn't like the prices - I'm too much of a bargainista!

We did have a lovely night though, we had part of the restaraunt to ourselves and the music was quiet so we could all talk. Isn't it the worst when you go out to eat and you can't hear yourself think? Unfortunately on my birthday I was the party pooper!! We went home at about 9.30.. knowing I had to be up at 5 and had been up at 5 that day was making me fall asleep!

I got the chance to try a graze box for free the other day, I'm so glad I did, I've been loving it so far! It's been great to have in my bag at work and I loved the fact that you got a surprise when you opened it

Close up so you can see what's inside...

Honey bee good - honey caramelised peanuts, cashews and pecans ate all of this yesterday in one of my breaks at work, loved it! I'm a sucker for caramelised nuts! Despite the fact the portion looks fairly small it was actually very filling and satisfying. I guess I have eyes bigger than my belly as my gran would say!

Love mix - a fruit mix including cherries, gojis and apricots. I love that the sweetened fruits are sweetened by concentrated fruit juice instead of sugar, I always pay more for that if I buy them that way so it's a big plus for me. This was really yummy!

Golden honey nut hazels were lovely too, I'm a sucker for caramelised nuts! Again, these were really decadent and satisfying.


Swallows and amazons, a mixture of brazils cherries and organic mango, it was really nice, I liked having a bite of nut with a bite of fruit, yummy :-)

I was supposed to get a graze box yesterday but it never arrived :-( so gutted! I reported it on the website and since today it still didn't come in the post they refunded it so can't complain. I hope it still arrives though, they make perfect treats for breaktime at work and I was totally looking forward to it making an appearance in my pack-up!

By the way - try your own graze box for free with this code KVRTFJ1 you won't regret it!