What I've been cooking #4: John Whaite Bakes at Home

Another cookbook review. And another baking book. Last time I vowed to use a savoury cookbook but once again got sucked in by the gorgeous cakes in John Waites Bakes at Home. John Whaite won GBBO in 2012 and this is his second cookbook. I follow his Twitter and Instagram so when I spotted this book in a charity shop I picked it up for a couple of quid. It's full of both savoury and sweet bakes and I'd say it was a book for the slightly more adventurous. I'd been stuck in a bit of a rut with only baking simple things like carrot cake, banana loaf and lemon drizzle. All delicious but nothing ground-breaking. I fancied pushing myself a bit and this book was just the ticket.

Mojito cake
I baked this for my mum's birthday and slightly changed the recipe to include both lemons and limes because that was what I had to use it. It tasted exactly like a mojito and was absolutely delicious. At first I was a bit annoyed at the presentation as it didn't quite come out how I wanted it to. But the more I look at at, I actually feel quite proud. It was out of comfort zone and I'd pushed my baking skills quite hard for this cake. I made the lime curd from scratch and made the infused mint & rum filling. I vowed to really try new things this year in baking and feel like this was me keeping my promise. I'd definitely make this again.

Rhubarb, white chocolate and thyme traybake
Rhubarb was a fruit I'd never tried before and traybakes are my jam so this was always going to be made. It was very simple and took hardly any time at all. I loved the contrast of the gooey white chocolate with the tart rhubarb flavour. It went down an absolute treat at work with everyone declaring it was the best bake I'd make yet! Definitely a recipe that I'd rustle up again. It was fun to be a bit more adventurous with ingredients.

Giant jam tart
It always makes me nervous when I attempt a recipe and it doesn't have a picture. I've eaten enough jam tarts in my life to know what one looks like but still no pictures fills me with dread. This was extremely simple and used ready-made pastry - a god-send! It was my first time making jam, I was supposed to use both raspberries and blueberries but alas, my raspberries were rotten. A day before the best before date! I stupidly didn't reduce the sugar so the jam was extremely sweet. Note for the future!

Chocolate and pistachio torte
This was my first time attempting a torte. I'm not a huge chocolate fan but my boyfriend is so I always end up backing a type of chocolate dessert at home. This was a bit more of a faff than I originally thought it would be. But it was simple enough. I'm not sure my version really tastes like a torte but my friend commented that it tasted a bit like a brownie. Which I'll take! After all, who doesn't love a giant brownie? My chocolate drizzling leaves a lot to be desired but that helps to add to the rustic, homemade feel right?

Loaded Mac and cheese
Mac and Cheese is one of my last day on earth meals. If I knew I only had one day left then I would scoff this until I felt sick. So far Jamie Oliver's version is my favourite but I'm always keen to try new  versions of the dish. After skimming through the ingredients list I knew I had to make this. It looked like pure indulgence and perfect for a Sunday dinner. I was right! Three types of cheese made this absolutely heavenly and I adored the added veg of asparagus, mushrooms and spring onions. I think John may have push Mr Oliver from the top spot!

If you want to see more of my cookbook reviews, just click the tab on the right hand side of this blog.

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Getting into bed with Leesa

There's an in-joke in my family which is if I can't be found then it's usually because I'm laying in bed. At any hour during the day. It's true. I absolutely love my bed, my bedroom is my favourite place in the house. I think because I live such a busy life that I associate my bed as my safe haven. A place where I'm away from the hustle and bustle of every day life and alone in my thoughts. This only child really enjoys her own company at times! So when Leesa got in touch with me to see if I wanted to try out one of their mattresses I obviously couldn't type yes fast enough! A foam mattress is the dream.

Vacuum packed, the mattress arrived in a cardboard box about three feet tall. It got delivered to our local corner shop, we got a 'sorry we missed you' card through the letterbox and went to collect it. It was really handy to be sent a tracking number so we knew where the mattress was at all times. I couldn't believe a double mattress could fit into something so small! Once its unrolled out of the box, it magically lays on your bed and inflates before your eyes. I loved the cool, Scandi vibe of the grey and white stripes. Usually mattresses look quite ugly but this doesn't even really need bedsheets. It's certainly very easy on the eye! I really do appreciate a company who try to do some good in the world. One mattress is donated for every ten sold. How cool is that? Over 30,000 mattresses have been donated so far. They also plant a tree for each order and donate employees' time to volunteer in the local community.

Designed with three layers of foam, the combination of all three aim to cool, body contour and offer pressure-releving core support. I have terrible posture and it's something I need to work on. So as a result sometimes I suffer from quite a bad back. After trying the mattress out for the past month, I've really noticed a difference in my quality of sleep. I'm waking up each morning feeling really refreshed after having a great nights sleep. It's amazing how much a broken night of sleep can affect your day.

Offering free delivery, each customer gets a 100 day risk-free trial so if it isn't right you can send it back free of charge.

If you fancy treating yourself to a mattress then I have a special £100 off code. Just enter ASTORYOFAGIRL at the checkout  and voila. You won't regret it - trust me!

This post was created in collaboration with Leesa, who provided a Leesa mattress for review, but all views and opinions expressed are my own.

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Dealing with travel anxiety

Outfit:
Nude flat sandals: Matalan (similar)
Blue striped cotton sun dress: Zara (similar)
Red tassel earrings: H&M
Gold boyfriend watch: Michael Kors (similar)

I don't really have a list of places I want to visit in the world because I want to see every single place that I possibly can. I've been lucky enough to visit some amazing places but have yet to venture anywhere that is too out of my comfort zone. Probably the only place that comes close is Budapest. We stayed in Pest which is traditionally the 'working class' district and I came across some sights down the side streets that really threw me a bit. I've visited quite a few cities in the States and whilst it's a place that has a few culture shocks, it's a country that English is the main language so it feels slightly familiar to home. I've managed to muddle around every place I've been too so far because they've spoken a decent amount of English. So although I've been able to jump in feet first into all these incredible cultures, its always been done with a bit of confidence.

I've been dying to spread my wings and visit Asia but there's always been something holding me back. If I'm honest with myself I think it's because I've been too scared. Scared to go somewhere that is completely different to what I'm used too. I just know it will be so far out of my comfort zone that I'm frightened to take the plunge. Last year one of our good friends moved to Malaysia to teach for a couple of years. I've never had such a great opportunity to finally tick south-east Asia off my list so we booked flights to visit next February for a couple of weeks. We're staying with him for a week during his school holidays then Connor and I are heading north for a week to explore on our own. I am so excited yet feel absolutely petrified.

I know as soon as I get there I'll have a whale of a time and won't want to come home. I've been dying to visit south-east Asia since I was 16. But there's just little niggle at the back of my wine that wonders what on earth I'm doing. I'm worried that I'm going to be on edge in a country so vastly different to my own that I'm not going to be able to enjoy it. Which is absolute absurd as I love nothing more than discovering new places. I'll be a bundle of nerves on the 13 hour flight over there but we've got to keep pushing ourself out of our comfort zones otherwise we'll never grow right?

Do you suffer with travel anxiety too? If so, how do you deal with it?

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