At our local artisanal bakery, Henderson's Bakery, we noticed that they were advertising a pop up tapas night run at the bakery run by The Tasty Tapas. You may have noticed that I reviewed another tapas night recently.. that is because I ADORE TAPAS. So naturally, this was immediately of interest to me.

I hopped on google to find out some more information, and came across their website and Facebook page. The premise of the pop up, is a few nights a month, the Tasty Tapas will run a few evenings of Tapas at Henderson's Bakery, and the tapas is made with locally sourced ingredients (well, as much as possible!). I booked my family and I in on a Thursday evening and we couldn't wait for it to come around!

Suddenly the day was upon us and we finally got to see what the buzz was all about! We arrived at 6.45pm and were naturally the first ones there (I'm a keen bean with timings). The family who run it are absolutely lovely and they're definitely a natural asset to the entire experience!

We ordered quite a few rounds of Tapas, as like me, my whole family are Tapas fiends.

We started with bread (from Henderson's of course!) and olives. We also ordered a bottle of red, and the night began! We were also served a cheese stuffed courgette, which was insane. The flavours packed into it were truly delicious!


Up next was Albondigas, Prawns Pil Pil (which was one the specials), Patatas Bravas and Garlic Mushrooms. The albondigas had such an intense meaty flavour paired with a tasty sauce. I'm a massive fan of Prawns Pil Pil (Garlic and Chilli Prawns), and these did not disappoint. The garlicy oil was perfect for dipping bread into. Not going to lie, we must have stunk of garlic. Big garlic lovers in my family.



The patatas bravas were perfectly crispy and again, served with a tomato based sauce to compliment the dish. I'm not the biggest mushroom fan, so although I only tried one mushroom, my family assured me that they were to die for.


After a little break, onto the next round we went. We ordered basque lamb stew (another one of the specials), chorizo in red wine, Pollo al Ajillo and Tumbet.

I really enjoyed the chorizo which was locally sourced from the new forest. It had a fabulous texture, it was really succulent! The tumbet was also to die for- this is a cold moussaka type vegetable dish which quite frankly, I could eat it all day long. This was also highly recommend by the lady who served us! The lamb stew had a great flavour and the meat just fell apart which is 100% what you want! The pollo al ajillo (chicken wings), also had an enjoyable flavour.


And if that wasn't enough, we then ordered another bottle of red and a third round. This time we had the pork belly (which was the highlight of the meal!), croquettes and broad beans with ham.

The pork belly was delightfully crispy, and I don't usually eat pork belly, and even I enjoyed it. The rest of my family also really loved it and thought it was the highlight of the meal. The croquettes were also really crispy, but soft and cheesy inside. Just what you want! Mmm, I could eat those all day long too!

The broad beans with ham were a spur of the moment choice. We were really impressed with them!

There was some fantastic Spanish music playing which enhanced the experience and all three nights in April were fully booked- which in itself is a testament to the success of these nights!

Overall I'd recommend a visit to one of the Tasty Tapas pop up nights at Henderson's. Keep your eyes peeled on their Facebook page for the next available dates!

A bit of a life update from me for this post... I've moved to Bournemouth! I've been living here for just over a month now so I thought I'd show you what I've done with my room and my first impressions!

Impressions of Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a lovely town, and has so much going on! I've moved from Salisbury which is classed as a city but my god there are literally a fifth of the amenities there are in Bournemouth.

I must say, when I first moved, I definitely took full advantage of Deliveroo and was AMAZED at the selection of restaurants on there. I didn't have any restaurants deliver to me in Salisbury, so this of course was a massive plus.

I've joined the local PureGym and there's a sunbed shop literally right round the corner. Found everything I need! As Salisbury is so close, I'm still going there for eyebrows, eyelashes, nails and hair appointments. I'll forever go to Legally Blondes as Paige does my hair incredibly, but any suggestions on nails, eyebrows and eyelashes please hit a gal up!

I also love being in Bournemouth because I can actually attend Bournemouth Blogger events! So far I've been to two, a trip to Revolution where we sampled cocktails and food (post to come) and the relaunch of the Terrace at Christchurch Harbour Hotel. It's been so lovely to meet some other bloggers as the blogging community in Salisbury is certainly lacking. 

My Room

I'm currently renting a room from a lady I found on SpareRoom, the house is clean and the people living there are friendly. My room is mostly bed (I have a super king bed) but that doesn't bother me since I just chill and watch Netflix most evenings and it's super comfy.

I went with a grey/ white aesthetic as I figured, if I move, I can apply that to most rooms. Also existing furniture (desk and curtains) were also of a grey/ white type theme.

With a long Easter weekend in, this month, I've been able to get some serious Netflix/ Amazon prime time in. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know some of my more recent watches (so of course, they will be mentioned..). As usual, I'll share  my recent watches and my thoughts on them without giving any spoilers...

As I've just moved.. I'm also currently watching on a less than ideal screen. I bought it off my sister for £25, so I should've known it wasn't going to be an amazing TV like the 4K HDR TV Panasonic. Some of those TV's look insane!

So, of course. Riverdale. It's made this month's watch list because I've really enjoyed the eps this month! I wasn't a big fan of the whole Gargoyle King story arc/ fizzlerocks debacle so it's been nice to see a slight departure from this. Definitely worth a watch from the start! Luke Perry, who played Archie's Dad, also has his final Riverdale episode shown this month (tomorrow to be exact) which will be super sad. RIP Luke Perry.

Instant Hotel (Netflix)


Just Go With It (Amazon Prime and Netflix)

I repeat, and I cannot stress this enough, life is not a competition. Just a warning, this post will be a little different to my other posts and fairly similar to my Jealousy: A How To Guide that I published a while back. There are a lot of similarities between this post and my previous post, but suddenly this competition attitude/ culture has sprung from no where and it seems as if everyone is competing against one another.

I see it all the time, splashed over social media and in real life, people trying to one up one another to make themselves feel better about whatever they're going through in their life. I get it, people go through shit and there has to be a coping mechanism but surely there's a healthier and less mentally destructive way to do so?

Life is about living, and taking every opportunity that comes to us with passion and vigour. We should support our friends and family and likewise we should hope that they want to support us back. One upmanship and genuinely trying to belittle someone's achievements is not a friendship. It's destructive for both parties.

Why can't we just be genuinely happy for one another? What is so wrong about being supportive? Why is that if someone get's a new top someone has to go one further and get the shoes too? Actively throwing it in the already satisfied top buying person's face. Like they've fallen short? Stupid example, but you know what I mean. This example is about something insignificant- but people are going to the extent of life events/ holidays/ general happiness feelings and it's going too far!

Some even go as far to essentially have a 'busy' off. I'm more busy than you blablabla. We are all busy Susan, just get on with it and stop adding a competition onto our already busy lives.

This tweet sums it up so accurately it genuinely hurts:


Quite frankly I'm tired of the competition attitude, it's draining and I don't have time to dedicate to feeding it. To quote mean girls, 'I wish we could all get along like used to in middle school... I wish I could baked a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy...'.

So let's quit the bullshit and support each other.

A couple of weeks ago, Emma and I found ourselves invited to Tapas Night at the Bell Inn in the New Forest. I'm a big fan of the Bell Inn having gone there previously for a work's Christmas party (their scallops and steak are INSANE), so jumped at the chance!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am tapas obsessed. I love all Spanish food and Spanish culture, as I regularly go to Spain. In fact, I'm going in just less than two months time.. EXCITING!

The tapas evening started at 7, and was in lovely intimate dining room- there were only 26 diners in total. The premise of the evening was to taste Spanish tapas and the menu was already on the table when we got to our table. As it was a themed night, the menu was a pre-set menu of 10 tapas dishes. Whilst we waited for Mojitos, Emma and I caught up!

Our mojitos arrived (HELLO COCKTAILS) and we delved right in, they were quite strong! It tasted fresh and crisp, just like a good mojito should!


Next up, we were served rustic bread, charcuterie and patatas bravas! I really enjoy bread, dipping oils, olives and that sort of thing so this course was right up my street.. the manchego was strong, but paired well with the serrano ham.

I also have a bit of an obsession with patatas bravas, they're genuinely my favourite dish in Spain (except for Gambas Al Ajillo!) and these did not disappoint. I liked the addition of fresh spring onions as it added an element of freshness to a usually carby dish.


After a little breather, the next round of tapas were served. Albondigas and Oxtail Croquettes. I was a bit apprehensive of the Oxtail Croquettes, as I've never had Oxtail before. I'm a forever fan of Albondigas and I have to say, these were up there in the albondigas rankings. Really enjoyed them! The oxtail croquettes were a pleasant surprise! I also really enjoyed these and would have them again.



The third round of tapas were then served, Gambas Al Ajillo (garlic prawns), Chicken, Chorizo and Mushroom Empanadas and Spanish Omelette! I adored the Gambas Al Ajillo. Garlic prawns as I've said before are my FAVOURITE. These were wonderful! I found the empanadas a little dry so used the albondigas sauce to dip them in, full of flavour though and the albondigas sauce accompanied them well! The Spanish omelette was equally delightful, and I enjoyed it!

Last but not least, we had dessert. Creme Catalan and Churros with Chocolate to dip them into! The creme catalan was very sweet but delicious nonetheless but the star of the dessert show were must definitely the churros. The churros were insaaaane. I left very content and happy.

After dinner, we also had a quick tour of the hotel and the rooms are gorgeous and well decorated. Definitely stay here if you're looking for somewhere in the New Forest.

One thing I would say is some themed background music would have complimented the night beautifully. Overall, I absolutely adored our experience and I'd definitely recommend attending one of the Bell Inn themed nights!

Thank you so much for having us! I'll most definitely be back. I'll be booking in to have my Graduation dinner at The Bell Inn!

Some of the more eagle eyed of you will note that the products in these pictures are Mother’s Day products, and we are past Mother’s Day.... however! The quality of these products are exceptional and definitely earned their review! Unfortunately, I’ve been having site issues and haven’t been able to push this post through sooner.... so fingers crossed it makes it..



QUALITY: As previously mentioned, the quality of these products is second to none. I was sent a card, wine label and gift bag. The card was made of a study material and wasn’t one of those flimsy cards you get from some of *THOSE* cheap card shops. The wine label was perfectly sized and covered the wine bottle label and the gift bag held my Mum’s gift and didn’t show any signs of breakage despite the present being quite heavy!

RANGE: The range of their products are incredible. From cards, badges, balloons and banners to drinking games, bottle openers and gift wrap- they’ve got everything you could need for a gift. The ranges are SO relatable and are applicable to almost everyone. One of my favourite products is the “List of People I Want To Punch In The Face” notebook. Ever so relevant and applicable! Take a look at their products here.

PRICE: I think their prices are incredibly reasonable- £3.75 for a card is more than reasonable especially as you can buy fairly plain and boring cards in supermarkets for the same kind of price.

I’ll definitely be shopping with Love Layla Designs for my next family birthday, my sister will love them!

In terms of product, I love the product and it made my eyebrows super defined, super quickly which I loved. However, I don't always define and highlight my brows, meaning I ran out of the actual brow make-up lots quicker than the other two shades. Compared to my holy grail brow-zings it also ran out much much quicker (2 months as opposed to 6-8 months). As they are both a similar price, I think I'll stick with my holy grail Brow-zings. Good effort Benefit- but perhaps a refillable pen would be something to look into!