Book Review: Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris

I have just finished reading 'Miracle on Regent Street,' which is about a shy and unassuming stock room assistant named Evie, who works in Hardy's, an old fashioned and behind-the-times department store. I had been wanting to buy this book for a while but put it off whilst I had several other books on my shelf waiting to be read, but when I saw it on the shelf at Poundland of all places I couldn't say no.

Just a few weeks before Christmas stockroom assistant Evie finds out that unless the store makes a miraculous improvement in it's sales, then it is set to close. So supported by her colleagues she sets out on a secret mission to transform Hardy's, but is it enough to save the store?

I enjoyed the story, it had a feel good vibe and an underlying moral that you should follow your heart and your dreams whilst being set in the festive backdrop of London's Regent Street in the run up to Christmas. This is the sort of book you want to read wrapped up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and the whole afternoon ahead of you. 

Chocolate Baskets filled with Ice cream / Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop Book Review

I have just finished reading Abby Clement's latest book "Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop," which is the perfect light holiday read. I won't give too much away but the book follows two sisters as they try to take over their grandmother's ice cream shop in Brighton, and as one heads to Italy to learn how to make gelato, the other is left to start running the shop, and both encounter setbacks along the way! I took it with me on holiday and luckily enough I spent some time in Italy so I could try out real Italian Gelato to see what the fuss was all about in the book, and it really was delicious so I want to try making gelato too!

Whilst looking for a recipe in one of my dessert books I came across one for chocolate ice cream in a chocolate shell, so as I didn't have the ingredients at hand to make the ice cream I decided to try making chocolate baskets and filling them with some from the freezer for my first attempt.

The method is simple, cover a small bowl with clingfilm and pipe melted chocolate around the edge and across it and leave to set. I didn't have any clingfilm only foil, and this proved quite difficult to remove resulting in a couple of broken baskets, so next time i'll be trying it out with clingfilm and hopefully will have better results.