Velvet crush

Recently, I have been loving velvet. I don’t know why, I didn’t like it at all a few months ago but now i can’t get enough. I have a terrible £11 Primark velvet dress which i got as part of a cat costume, but at the moment, that’s all I own. I really want a nice velvet skirt. I’m loving velvet in wine reds and emerald greens too, so if you know of anything that fits my description I’d love to know!

Here are some lovely lovely velvet items I’m loving at the moment…

1. Pretty Velvet Trim Blouse, Urban Outfitters. 2. Adorable Drawstring Bag, ASOS. 3. Velvet Studded Undies, Topshop. 4. Beautiful Lace Trim Velvet Dress, Miss Selfridge. 5. Lovely Black Collar Dress, Miss Selfridge. 6.Velvet Playsuit, Miss Selfridge. 7. Sweet Little Embroidered Velvet Bag, Miss Selfridge. 8. Fairy Tale Emerald Dress, ASOS. 9. Floral Velvet Leggings, ASOS. 10. Tight Velvet Skirt, ASOS. 11. Velvet Shorts, ASOS.

I love them all, unfortunately I don’t have any money to buy them :(. Ahh a girl can dream…

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Vêtements

I adore this dress, I found it in a little Oxfam shop in an arcade in my town. Its no normal Oxfam however, they take usual donations and volunteers DIY them. I love the lace detail on this dress and the low triangle back.

ᴥ Snuggly woolly jumper, Vintage. ᴥ Neck Scarf, Don't remember. ᴥ Dress, Vintage (Oxfam Reformed). ᴥ Leather Belt, Vintage. ᴥ ‘Wartime green’ Tights, Primark. ᴥ Lovely Shoes, River Island.

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A little DIY

It was my eighteenth birthday a week ago, so I got a lot of presents and I needed to send out some thank you’s so, I thought I’d make some…

aren’t they cute!, I just used lots of colourful card, glue and scissors. The dotty ones are wrapping paper from Waitrose. I think the Moomin one is my favourite! Its for my friend Sorcha, she got me a lovely Moomin hot water bottle for my birthday, I seem to have started a trend because now they’re selling them in Topshop! Copycats!

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Etsy Love

I’ve recently rediscovered Etsy, of course being a blog lover I do browse several times a week but I forgot that i had an account! So here are a few lovely things that I’ve spotted this week…

1. Pretty Headband ; 2. Makes me want a baby hoodie 3. Leather Boots ; 4. Adorable Christmas Bauble ; 5. Soap and Shampoo Bar ; 6. Hair Comb ; 7. Strappy Flats 8. Super Sweet Mobile Balloon

The last one I am in love with, it is just the cutest thing I've ever seen! The little figures sit in a basket, they’re lovely and soft so your little ones can take them out and play with them. Can you imagine all the fantastic bedtime stories you could think of with this above your child's bed?

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Basildon Park

So, today my sister, mother and I visited my favourite place, Basildon Park. Its a lovely big National Trust house, and definitely my favourite. This may be because it plays the part of Netherfield house in my favourite film, Pride and Prejudice (2005 version avec Keira Knightley and the gorgeous Matthew Macfadyen, I know it isn’t as true to the book as the BBC version, and I have read the book, but  I just love it, and don’t you prefer the lovely Mr Macfayden as Mr Darcy?) but it also might be because its about 15 mins away from where I live and I've been so often its like a part of home.

It’s such a lovely place, although i must say, I wish that the rooms were as they are in Pride and Prejudice. However, there is a wonderful 50s kitchen which, incidentally, is my favourite kitchen! Just look at the beautiful Kenwood Chef and fabrics just laying on an old clothes horse.

The other lovely thing about National Trust houses now is that you’re allowed to take pictures, this is the best thing to have happened since sliced bread! It does feel quite wrong though, I feel as if any second someone's going to come and tap me on the shoulder, escort me out and wipe the memory on my camera. The main advantage of this is that i can pretend I'm Keira Knightley …

…or Jane Bingley (of course I would have preferred Elizabeth Darcy but they didn’t have a massive poster of him!!!)

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This Weeks Dinner - #1

This is the first of my weekly meals, if you’re a fellow lover of Gizzi Erskine, you will recognise this.

Crispy Chicken Chunks

You will need….

• Chicken Breast Chunks (enough to feed you/whoever you’re feeding)
• Parmesan, freshly grated 15g (p/p)
• Fine Meal Polenta 40g
• A pinch of pepper
• Olive oil
• Parsley
• One free range egg white (cooking for four i used three)

Method

• Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then pour onto a plate ready for coating the chicken.
• Put your chicken pieces on to some baking parchment, fold over the pieces and then flatten them with a rolling pin.
• In another bowl lightly whisk the egg white/s.
• When ready, dip your chicken pieces first in the egg white and then coat in your polenta mixture. Set aside onto a plate.
• When all pieces are coated, heat a little oil in a non stick pan (i used two pans when cooking for four,  you just cant fit this onto one).
• Put all of the pieces in to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side at a medium to high heat. (As you are using chunks they will probably be thinner than a breast fillet as Gizzi uses, so will need less cooking time – she suggests 7-).
• Serve once ready and enjoy :)

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Yummy Winter Drinks

Well, Winters definately approacing. Its freezing and i have a cold. So i have come up with some nice cures for both, in the form of yummy hot drinks.

1. Hot Chocolate
Ok, so this isn't really my idea, but its my..recipe.
Heat up some milk (in 45 sec bursts) for about a 1 1/2 mins.
Then stir in a couple of teaspoons of honey.
Put back in the microwave and watch carefully until it begins to boil.
Put in a heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder, stir and then add 1-3 teaspoons of sugar according to taste. (remember you've already put in some honey which makes it sweeter)
Then I added a dash of ginger and cinnamon powder.

Voila, lovely hot chocolate to soothe your throat.

2. Spicy Honey Milk
Heat up some milk as in Hot Chocolate Recipe.
Again stir in a couple of teaspoons of honey.
Heat up in the microwave (This does not nessecarily need to boil but is nice quite hot)
Add in some sugar (as there is no bitter cocoa powder you will need very little sugar)
Add a dash of ginger (cinnamon if you like), and enjoy :)

Lovely, tasty and a cure for a sore throat (although that may just be my wishful thinking)

I've also decided to start posting recipes for cooking as i thought it'd be a good idea to start cooking something new every week for my family, to get my cooking skills up to scratch and prepare myself for uni!! Exciting stuff. And i have a lovely new chocolate cake recipe, but i'll post these later. I'm thinking about starting a new blog where i have more control over my layout.

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