VALENTINES BLOG LOVE

Valentines Day is the one day of the year when I don't want to cook for myself and the boy! So rather than a load of lovey dovey Valentines pink recipes, I thought I'd share the love by telling you about some of my favorite blogs I read. I read a lot of blogs, from food to lifestyle to travel and beauty, and obviously I really like all the blogs I read (otherwise I wouldn't read them!) but I can't list them all here, as there are tons I really like. However, these are some of my favs that involve food, that I hope you can enjoy too.

My FAVORITE blog of all of them is Manger. Mimi lives in Medoc in France with her beautiful family and their 14(!) dogs, where she cooks my idea of food heaven, with the most incredible looking produce. Oh how I would love to spend a weekend at their house!! I was going through her blog pulling some photos to put in this blog, and I literally saved tens of photos as I just couldn't decide between them.

Just look at that meat:

  
And her dogs....

Another blog I have been following for a while that is great for inspiration both in the kitchen, and out and about in London, and beyond, is Cocktails and Caroline. I say I've been following her for a while, but in fact her blog was just 1 year old last week! So I guess I've been reading it since she started. Caroline's blog is full of yummy recipes, great reviews of eateries and bars in London, and tales of her travels afar. If you want to be hungry or have wanderlust, head over to her blog for more!

Lovely Caroline and her beautiful dipped strawberry tuxedos:

Really delicious venison sausage yorkshire puds, which I made the same day she posted the recipe:

Next on my list is a blog I only discovered last week! Top with Cinammon was included on a list with my blog on the lovely Juliet Oscar Yankee magazine, in a piece about food blogging. Izy, who writes Top with Cinammon, turned 18 this week (very Happy Birthday Izy), and has been blogging about cakes, bakes, biscuits and sweets since she was 15!! Serious hats off to her - I'm astounded by the quality of her recipes and photography and her sheer dedication to blogging. I was up to all sorts at that age, none of which involved sitting in front of a computer and writing!!

Salted caramel filled molten chocolate cakes:

And Izy's 8 tier chocolate birthday cake:

Another blog I really enjoy reading, which is less foody than the others but still includes great, easy to follow recipes with lots of step-by-step photos is Rebecca's blog, This Woman's Style. I just love the way she writes and I literally laugh out loud reading her posts. Rebecca's style is witty and straight up, and she's done some great posts recently about blogging, online reality and the effects of social media. All very good reads.

And how can I not love a woman who posts this lobster mac and cheese recipe:

Last but not least (and the only male writer to appear on my list) is the excellent restaurant guide of a blog, Cheese and Biscuits. Chris Pople of Cheese and Biscuits does all the testing and tasting so you don't have to. Simply pop over to his blog, have a read of his reviews and check out the scores he gives restaurants, and then decide where you want to eat! I think I particularly like Chris's account of the London food scene as he seems to enjoy/be annoyed by the same things as me at restaurants. I haven't included any photos from Cheese and Biscuits as he's more about the words than the pictures!!

Which are your favorite blogs at the moment? I'd love some more reading inspiration so please do share them in the comments below. Happy reading :)