Maria Runs

Hello everyone. I trust you are all busy getting some bargains in the sales.

A while ago (back in November) I was contacted by Amy from a website called Zalando, and Amy wondered if I wanted to try out the website and then write a review for it. I agreed and decided that in the spirit of the season I would share the voucher with my readers. So I had £15 to spend, and if you keep on reading you can find out how you can win a £15 Zalando voucher too.

I had never heard of the website before (although since then I have seen them on several blogs) so I had a look around. I was really impressed- I thought it was just a sportswear retailer but it also sells clothes and beauty brands. It took me ages to decide what to buy. I was very tempted by some lovely handcream, or a scented candle (how nice does fig and grapefruit sound?).

In the end I decided to get some running gloves (which are now out of stock so I can’t link to them!). These have been on my wishlist for a while.

I was really impressed with the speed of delivery- I ordered them on the 26th in the afternoon, and got a dispatch email early on the 27th. They arrived on the 29th (today).

I was a bit worried about the size- the only size they had in stock was XS, and I think I have quite big hands for a girl. I would say that I would like to see size guides on the website, as I could see no guidance for what size I would need. I even went to the Nike website but still could not find any information (so I appreciate it would be hard for Zalando to have the size guides if the actual companies do not make them easy to find), so just went for it.

Well, they fit! Hooray! They are tight around the wrist, but they are meant to be keeping my hands super toasty so being extra snug means they will keep the cold out.

I look forward (even more so) to when I am back and healthy enough to run again, especially if I have super cool and super toasty running gloves to wear too 🙂

I was really impressed with Zalando- the website was easy to use- either by following the menus or by typing into the search boxes. You could also filter things by most popular, price, sale items and so on. The fact that delivery is free is also a massive plus. I like ordering things online, but I do get annoyed by some places who charge quite a lot for delivery. I was expecting them to be in a jiffy bag and posted through my door (which would have been fine) but they were sent via a parcel company, in a box, and had to be signed for, which is even better value considering it is free. Also they only show items in stock, which I like because it is annoying when you find something online and then find out it is out of stock. They do have size guides for the tops and things, so adding them for the gloves would really help too.

Now, I mentioned at the start that I am also hosting a giveaway! One lucky reader can win a £15 voucher for Zalando (UK entries only). Here is how you can enter (each one counts as a separate entry):

• Comment on this post to say what you would spend your voucher on.
• Link back to this post in a post of your own (leave a seperate comment saying you have done so).
• Like me on facebook (again leave a seperate comment to say this).

Entries will close in one week (next Thursday) when I will be super high-tech and put all the names into a container to randomly choose the winner.

Good luck! 🙂

Hello!

We had a very cosy Christmas Eve. We had a nice walk in the afternoon and then put up some decorations. Last minute much? The moose candle holder is my favourite- a few years ago we went to Copenhagen for the weekend as our Christmas present, and that was the one thing we brought home with us. The Christmas tree is a tealight holder but it was not lit when I took the picture.

After a nice tea of bread, cheese (I had some Wensleydale and cranberry cheese), salad, grapes and clementines we had a slice of Christmas cake too. Well I did want to try it before we gave the other ones away, for quality control purposes, of course.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Boxing day too. I did, and I will ramble on about that later. But first, last week I posted about a giveaway where one lucky person could win a Bondi Band.

Well, I put all the names into a pot, gave them a big shake, and then chose one (yes, I am super old skool!), and the winner is:

Marijke who wanted the “One more Mile” one. So, email me your address and I will post it off to you! How exciting! Plus it made the decision for me as I loved them both, so once I am out running again I will get to review the Run one. 🙂

And now onto Christmas. I was getting excited about giving out the hampers:

The cake boxes were so huge they took up most of the hampers! There was also coffee, apple and mango jam, spiced nuts, Christmas pudding fudge and chocolate coated gingerbread cookies.

Plus I was so excited to give me Dad his tile for the garden.

He loved it so much! He actually said it was far too nice to put in the garden and is going to see if he can fix it to the front of their house.  🙂

We spent most of the day at Andy’s parents’ house (my parents were back from holiday late on Christmas eve and are heading away tomorrow so we did not want to impose), and it was lovely.

We were totally spoilt- the present opening took all afternoon (although it was nice and slow- one at a time in reverse age order, with a little break in the middle for some pudding), and by the time we had finished it was dark. We had a little walk to see some of the lights and interesting decorations. 6 ft inflatable tree, snowman and santa anyone?

Some of my gifts- a cute owl hot water bottle, some lovely recycled socks (from recycled plastic bottles) that came all the way from Yellowstone when Andy’s parents went there in the summer, nice handcream and a lovely baking book.

And some latte making equipment! A little hand-held whizzer thing, and a cocoa powder/ icing sugar shaker, a marmalade making kit and the sweetest present ever. (I did warn you I would ramble on). Andy has 2 brothers and they both have girlfriends/ fiancées. The 6 of us decided this year that instead of exchanging gifts we would choose a show in London to see in the new year and go together. We had to bring a “fun” gift (with a small price limit) that everyone could enjoy, so we went for this game (which was fun as we played it about 4 times I think). Anyway, his youngest brother and girlfriend gave me the Stitch mug and toy (Lilo and Stitch is my favourite Disney movie) with a little card in it saying that they were sorry that we had to cancel our holiday and would not be going to Disney at Christmas, so here was a little bit of Disney for me to have at home. It was so sweet and so kind and so unexpected. And the mug is the perfect size for a latte I think 🙂

For me and Andy our presents were going to be going to see The Book of Mormon ( from the South Park guys) and also The Rockettes, both in NYC. But I found out that as a surprise he had booked for our last night on holiday to stay at the Disney Animal Kingdom lodge, but obviously yet again we had to cancel it all. So instead he got me a Kindle, which I am very excited about! I got him one last year and he loves it, and I do read a lot (and he kept saying when I was in hospital that I could do with one too as he kept having to bring me more books and magazines). It came pre-loaded with Run by Dean Karnazes which I started already. 🙂 I feel very lucky indeed 🙂

I spent today chilling with my parents for most of it, before they are off tomorrow, and it has been lovely 🙂

I did start off with mincemeat topped pancakes 🙂 Yum! They were made of spelt flour, baking powder, almond milk, apple sauce, cinnamon, ginger and a few raisins, topped with the mincemeat from Meridian. Yummy. My best ones yet. I just realised this picture is almost identical to the one with cake and tea- I am loving my tablecloth, placemats and little table decorations right now! 🙂

Any lovely surprises that you had over Christmas? What was your favourite thing that you gave/ received?

Happy Christmas Eve everyone. I hope everyone is having a lovely relaxing day.

It started with a cranberry cinnamon roll and some pumpkin spice rooibos tea.

Like my new tablecloth and mats? 

This was delicious! Years ago we went to Disney World for Christmas and on Christmas morning had a cinnamon roll for breakfast at the main street bakery. I wanted to try and receate that, as it was going to be our plan for this year. I used this recipe, only I left out the pecans (because I had none) and only made 1/4 of the recipe- I thought that 16 between the 2 of us might be excessive? Anyway it was so easy to make- last night I mixed up the dough (I used almond milk so they are also vegan), left it for an hour and a half, and then rolling it out and spreading with a little pure spread, brown sugar and cinnamon took another 5 mins. Into the oven they went this morning for 15 mins while I made the tea (in my Disney cup just to help with the theme).

Before being topped with a little maple icing.

Anyway, I thought they would be much harder to make but they were super easy, plus the cinnamon smells so good.

I have not done much today- I made my lunch for tomorrow (a sort of veg and lentil/ tofu bake topped with sweet potato mashed with some almond butter), and we managed a bit of a longer walk this afternoon. We have put up a few decorations (my paperchase reindeer, some nice candles and a ceramic tree with lights) so my gingerbread house is one of the few festive items! So here is the making of my gingerbread house.

Mix flour and spices etc together.

Melt butter (pure spread), brown sugar, golden syrup and treacle.

Mix together. At first it looks all wrong, but keep mixing.

Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for a bit/ overnight/ however long you would like.

In the meantime, decide on the design of your house. Cut out templates with baking paper. When you roll out the dough, place the templates on top and then cut around them.

Once they are cooked, leave them to cool for a bit before you make the house. They are soft when they come out of the oven so this is when I cut the door and window, but you need them to be hard before you build it.

While you wait for them to harden, use the left over dough to make cookies for gifts.

Then it is onto construction time. Royal icing is the best because the egg whites make it stick. In previous years I have made it from scratch, and also used the powdered egg white. This year I cheated further by buying a tub of royal icing- it was only 99p in Julian Graves so I thought I would try it.

I covered a cake board in silver foil so I could use the cake board again. Use the icing like glue to stick the bottoms down to the base as well as the sides.

I do the front and one side, leave it for a bit and then do the back and the other side.  Then leave for a good 30 minutes.

The roof is the scary bit (especially this year as it turned out to be quite a steep angle). The icing does dry quickly though so do not worry. Of course then the fun begins. I was lucky enough to be sent some vegetarian sweets from Jealous so I decided (after sampling them) to have them as part of my decorating kit.

So get all your sweets together:

I also had jelly tots and some milky bar buttons, and the roof pebbles I made (but I did not use them as I was worried they would be too heavy for the roof).

Let the fun begin! Use the royal icing as glue again and decorate away.

I use the gummy bears as visitors to my house 🙂

A jelly tot for the door handle, plus to decorate the front. Milky bar buttons for the roof.

And some of the jealous sour sweets to frame the window at the back.

I love a gingerbread house as a decoration (read more about my obsession here) – they are different every year, plus they smell so good too. Anyone else with me on the gingerbread house love? I have seen loads of pre-made ones in shops this year, which look so pretty, but for me the fun is in the decorating! Ikea always did a kit too (with the pieces for the sides and roof etc ready baked) but I didn’t go to one near Christmas this year.

The Jealous sweets are really tasty- I got to try gummy bears (yummy), sour sensations (lovely and soft- a bit like the Goody peaches) and the cherry Kola (not my kind of flavour so much, but nice) and the best thing is they are all vegetarian, gluten free, with no artificial colours or flavours. Some of them are vegan and some are organic too so check out their website for more info. Plus they come in the pretty boxes so they are nice for gifts I think.

Right, I am off to have a Christmas Eve tea (salad, bread, wenslydale with cranberries, grapes, clementines, and maybe even a slice of Christmas Cake) and then hopefully to watch The Snowman , AKA the best Christmas film of all time.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone!

Maria  🙂