Go Crazy for Paisie's Sunshine Jewellery

Along with getting "your colours done", "statement jewellery" is one of those pieces of fashion advice that brings a chill to my heart. It's usually coupled with suit jackets and discrete make-up, and everything designed to make going to work a lot less fun than it is already. But then I had a revelation. What if the statement your jewellery was making was "let's party!" or "let's have cake!", rather than "let's take ourselves very seriously"? I'm totally on message with that.

The beautiful jewellery collection at Paisie definitely is also all about the fun times. Somehow I only discovered Paisie this weekend, despite the fact it's:

a) British
b) reasonably priced
and
c) it sells something called the 'glitter kitten dress', a siren call to all Domestic Sluts if ever I heard one.

Their jewellery collection is bright and colourful and, with everything priced at £32 or under, you can make that statement without spending a bomb.

Like the Spring Blossom necklace shown above. Priced at £28, it's like wearing a bunch of colourful matches about your neck. And like the best statement pieces, it's the perfect thing to help you strike up a conversation, or should you be in need of a bad pun in your life.

This Golden Sunset necklace calls out for sunshine, rum and one of those wonderful maxi dresses we keep finding for you. Though I'm sure it would be just as glamorous on a supermarket run on a rainy Tuesday evening. It's £32.

This golden collar clip is all kinds of crazy wonderful. It looks like some kind of Schiaparelli-type creation you were lucky enough to inherit from your eccentric great-aunt. Instead it's a mere £22.

And we have a sweet to finish, in the form of this pastel collar necklace. It makes me want to paint my nails every single one of these colours. Or go and eat a vat of gorgeous ice cream. Or, for £32, I should probably just buy the necklace and be satisfied. The best statement to be making here? Yes please.

Sluttery Travels: The Lugger, Cornwall

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside. I really mean that, even though now you've all got an annoyingly catchy music hall song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Soz.

With this massive crush on the seaside, I was obviously seriously excited when The Boy and I were invited to stay a night at The Lugger in Cornwall's very beautiful fishing village of Portloe.

Not only is this one of the prettiest coastal areas in the country, The Lugger in particular takes the 'being beside the seaside' bit to a whole new level: slotted into the rugged cliffs with the waves lapping at the terrace, if you were any more beside the sea, you'd be in it.

Imagine our delirium when we arrived to this view. It really is every bit as eye-wateringly stunning as that, and more. It was brilliantly sunny on Saturday, but even in Sunday's moody clouds the view was beautiful.

The rooms are equally fetching - spacious, stylish and seriously comfy, with the most wonderful view of the sea. I had a bath with the sound of the waves drifting through the window, and it was magic.

They really think of everything: the phone is a gorgeous rota-dial number, plus there are comfy bath robes, a jar of sweeties for you to nibble on, and our room even had a selection of this month's magazines to read. Basically, I could have moved in.

The hotel itself is quite small and intimate, but there's also a second building with further rooms and some gorgeous cottages facing onto the sea you can stay in as part of the hotel. Next to these is their spa room - that's room, singular - so you can feel properly pampered in a one-on-one environment. Their prices are actually remarkably decent, with hour-long massages from £65 and a treatment and facial package for £55.

We drank wine on the terrace and ate tasty crab and creme fraiche sandwiches for lunch whilst staring out at the blue sea and friendly fisherman on their boats. When it got cloudy, we sat in the cosy lounge with its squishy sofas and huge open fires and enjoyed the free wifi there.

We ate dinner whilst watching the sun set over the sea, and the seasonal, fresh food was as lovely as the view: in particular, the turbot was a succulent delight, and I couldn't scoff the blood orange bruleè fast enough. We also took ages deciding what to choose from the wine list, which is always a good sign.

Tellingly, the guestbook is full of more exclamation marks than I've ever seen - people seem to love The Lugger like an honorary family member, and I can see why: the whole premises has a rare, incredible ability to make you feel both pampered and completely at home.

Prices do of course change with the seasons, but you can currently stay on a B&B basis from just £115 per room per night. They also do various packages, such as Bloomin' Marvellous (currently £350 for two nights B&B with dinner on one night) which includes tickets to some of the most famous gardens in the region. They even throw in a packed lunch.

Can I go back next weekend? Pretty please?

I was a guest at The Lugger. Want more hotel inspiration? Check out Domestic Sluttery's boutique hotel map.

Just Desserts Round-Up: Fred & Ginger

It's time for another Just Desserts round-up, when we reveal all the marvellous recipes you've been coming up with for us. The theme was Fred and Ginger, and thankfully you all went easy on the "fred" and heavy on the "ginger". We've all needed a fiery spice to keep us going through the endless winter, although you could happily bake these any time of year.

High Tea Cast gave us a fabulous interpretation of the theme with a Fred and Ginger cake. Their fudge cake comes with a chocolate ganache "suit" and a buttercream ruffle "dress". And the whole thing is sandwiched together with a double whammy of ginger preserve and ginger buttercream *holds out plate for seconds*

Over on Bread and Fruit, we have a delicious looking ginger malt loaf. Who knew you could make Soreen? Packed full of fruit, black tea and malt syrup, it's basically a health food.

Deciding that every Ginger needs her Fred, Cake Snobs have paired the spice with chocolate to make these chocolate ginger sandwiches. "They taste better the next day," they say, mistaking us for people who don't devour all our freshly baked biscuits while they're still hot. Our ginger nuts are the same. Ginger is strange.

How can you not fall in love with a recipe that tells you what to do if you've forgotten to add the chopped nuts to the batter once your ginger, date and walnut cake is in the oven? We'll be whipping up this easy recipe from Little Macaroon ASAP.

Bella and Will gave us perfect ginger biscuits - crumbly and chewy at the same time. Have a look at the recipe, it features a 14-year-old Bella's hand-written recipe notes.

As for us, we love ginger so much that we showed you our top ten ginger recipes recently. We've done even more since then - check out Laura B's whisky mac ginger Cake and Hazel's amazing boozy rhubarb and ginger trifle. Turns out we think alcohol + ginger = pudding perfection. Even Sian's lemon and ginger cheesecake was enhanced by tipsy party guests.

Our next theme is SUNSHINE CITRUS. It's finally summer, so knock us off our feet with some zingy flavours (and if you want to include strawberries, that's fine with us. We love strawberries).

Want to get involved? Check out the Just Desserts guidelines, and make sure you link back to this post to spread the word. Tell us when you've posted your recipe so we can share it, and use the hashtag #JustDesserts on Twitter so we can tweet your post.

Luscious Lingerie: Alexis Smith

When it comes to lingerie, looking for large cup sizes and small back measurements if like searching for the moon on a stick. This is basically the hold grail of lingerie. Instead of wearing bras the wrong size, 28-year-old Alexis Smith set about creating her own lingerie range.

Starting at 30D and going up to 34G, the lingerie is not only beautiful, it's also well priced. This white lace bra set is £45.

The polka dot bra is just £34.99!

OK, let's ignore for a second that this black satin bra needs adjusting on the model. It's just £29.99.

This leopard print set is definitely my favourite (and yep, just £45). To create a range of affordable lingerie is impressive in itself, but Alexis Smith has really addressed a gap in the market. With a swimwear range launching later this year, we're going to be seeing a lot more of Alexis Smith.

Sluttery Fantasy: Storage Animals

"Where do you keep the plates?"
"In the storage cow."

Oh my goodness I want a storage cow so much. This is the best kind of storage. All other cabinets will soon become extinct obsolete.

Except for the storage pig! Oh, he's just the best storage pig there ever was. He's got magazines in his legs! He's wearing a candle-holder as a hat! And yes, if you look closely, there does appear to be a rather phallic object on one of his shelves. Amazing styling choice.

Awww, poor storage goose doesn't have any sex toys on his shelves.

You can buy all of these from Out There Interiors (sex toys sold separately). Prices start at £695, with the amazing storage cow costs a whopping £3750. I'm heartbroken. I totally had my heart set on a storage cow for the kitchen.

Sluttery by Post: Jangneus Dishcloths and Tea Towels

Dishcloths. Not something I ever thought I'd get excited about... but that was before I discovered Jangneus, purveyors of Swedish dish-washing paraphernalia. Of course doing the washing-up is a more stylish affair in Sweden. Duh.

Behold: 

Don't tell me these dishcloths don't thrill you. I refuse to believe it.

Sign up for a Jangneus dishcloth subscription and you'll get a new, colourful cloth in the post every month. You can even specify which colour scheme you'd like, so that it goes with your kitchen (or sod interior design and just go for your favourite, or - gasp - a mixture of colours). 

Obviously I'm favouring yellow. A dishcloth subscription is £35 for a year's worth of rainbow-hued washing-up. As well as making a boring chore more FUN, the arrival of a new cloth each month will make you throw away the old one. Go and have a look at your dishcloth. It's quite manky, isn't it? Boak. All Jangneus dishcloths are biodegradable, so you can throw them on the compost heap when they're too grotty to go on. 

You can get your mitts on a quarterly tea towel subscription, too. You'll get a tea towel and three dishcloths through your letterbox every three months. It's £55 for a year. 

If you're buying a dishcloth or tea towel subscription as a gift (is it strange that I know a great many people who'd love getting dishcloths as a present?), Jangneus will prettily gift-wrap the first cloth and include a message from you. But everyone else can bugger off. I'm getting these for myself.

Now, where are my rubber gloves?

Sluttishly Sweet: Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake

Lemon cheesecake is my absolute favourite. Probably because of the M&S cheesecake slices that I can't stop buying. I've never tried to make it myself so I took this month's Just Desserts theme - Fred & Ginger - as an opportunity to get creative in my new kitchen.

Thanks to the addition of the ginger, this cheesecake has a spicy, buttery base which works well with the creamy filling. It fed around 20 at my flatwarming party this weekend. In fact, most of it was gone an hour after people started to arrive. I only got to have a tiny slice, the greedy buggers.

Lemon and ginger cheesecake (serves a flat full of drunken party guests, apparently)
You'll need:

• 50g butter
• 220g biscuits. I used a mixture of gluten free digestives and chocolate chip cookies - yep, this recipe can go straight into the 'easy to make gluten free' folder.
• 2tsp ginger
• 1 pack of ricotta cheese
• 150ml double cream
• 110g caster sugar
• juice and zest of two lemons

Make it!

1. Melt the butter on the hob and set aside.
2. Pop the biscuits in a plastic bag and bash the crap out of them. This is the most fun part of making cheesecake.
3. Mix the biscuits, ginger and melted butter together. Squish into the bottom of a 9 inch springform tin and leave in the fridge for half an hour.
4. Mix together the cheese, cream, sugar and lemon until smooth.
5. Pour onto the chilled biscuit base and leave in the fridge for a few hours. You can probably get away with chilling for four hours, but covered overnight is definitely best.
6. Feed to a flat full of hungry guests. Accept all compliments and bask in all the cheesecake-y glory.

Lemon cheesecake image from Raelene G's photostream on Flickr. I tried to get a photo of mine, but did I mention the drunk party guests? Let's blame them.