Triangles are my favourite shape

Alt+J "Tessellate"

Happy Hump Day!

Mid-week treat this week consists of peanut butter, dark chocolate and banana cookies...Yum!

I used this recipe from All Recipes website as a guide, but strayed a little (baker suicide!) by adding more banana and chocolate, but I do have my reasons and the recipe still worked out. 125g of banana is about one and a half, which if you are trying to use up over-ripe bananas, kinda defeats the object of throwing half away, so I used two, which weighed about 165g in total. The recipe asks for 40g of dark chocolate chips, but as I didn't have any, I crushed a 100g bar of dark chocolate with a hammer to get chunks(ish). As a new lover to peanut butter, (no idea how it stayed off my radar for so long!) I used a combination of smooth and chunky so you could tell what was in it.

My only gripe with the recipe is that it suggests it makes 30....30? I managed 14, and even then the first batch that went in the oven were a little on the small side. If they had sights on them being the size of a Maryland cookies then objective achieved, but I was hoping for more of an American sized cookie, which I still didn't manage. If When I make this recipe again I will double the quantities and make the balls of dough twice the size before they go into the oven, and I also recommend patting them down slightly before baking as the dough has been in the fridge for at least an hour (mine was over night) they don't spread too much, but this does mean they stay nice and plump!

Fashion posting will resume, but at present my sweet tooth reigns supreme!

KDx 

P.s Don't forget you can still get 20% off at Motel Rocks... there's now a handy little link on the sidebar!

Don't you drag me down cause I'm living my life

Benga "Icon" Featuring BeBe Black

The Jubilee Weekend Round-Up in Numbers:

Days to enjoy the Jubilee: 6

Street Parties Attended: 1

Bbqs Attended (in the rain!): 1

Scones Baked: 12

Scones Eaten: 2

Blueberry Muffins Baked: 12

Blueberry Muffins Eaten: Yet to be confirmed...

Cups of Tea Drank: Too many to count (ranges from 4-8 cups daily)

G&T's Drank: 'Enough' (I do not recommend a Disarono, G&T mix if you have any sensibilities about you!)

Queens Spotted: Numerous! (I went to GLAS Super Pride as part of Gay Pride in Birmingham over the Bank Holiday, celebrating the reign of the Queen surrounded by queens-how apt!)

Roast Dinners Eaten: 2 (Neither of them fell qualify for the 'Sunday Dinner' tag)

Yorkshire Puddings Eaten: 8

Hangovers Endured: 0 (This one still surprises me)

Trips to the Gym to Account for my Overindulgences: I'm still working on that one...

Well good ol' Queen Liz, she sure knows how to throw a party doesn't she? In somewhat unpatriotic fashion, I didn't watch much/any of the Jubilee concert/floatilla/awkward celebrity meetings; but I am looking forward to catching up on a glut of who wore what, and how much he/she/we/they loved or loathed it. But I thought I'd share a bit of what I've been wearing throughout:

Headband Dorothy Perkins, flowers Accessorize, top Topshop and skirt River Island both via ebay, Miss Selfridge belt,Topshop boots, jewellery H&M, Dorothy Perkins, and Topshop

This was the outfit I chose for GLAS, I thought I looked more like Xena Warrior Princess, opposed to our Royal High-streetness, Princess Middleton. The top was formerly a dress, it was a really simple diy that I will post about later this week. I got it for a steal at 99p on the ebay, which is why I had absolutely no qualms about cutting it up!

New Look vest, River Island skirt and Zara pumps via ebay

For my one and only street party appearance I thought I'd indulge in a little red, white and blue, or in my case....just red. Despite my sunny disposition, the weather didn't match up; it didn't rain (for a change) but I was a little optimistic in opting to go bare legged, I did wear my trusty Oasis leather jacket, but that didn't stave off the leg chill.

Oasis leather jacket, New Look denim shirt, Dorothy Perkins necklace, Zara shoes via ebay, and River Island sequin shorts (just seen) via carboot

A bbq in Britain is never going to be a simple affair, but we Brits do have a love for alfresco dining and all things outdoorsy. (Picnics included) I left my house in the rain, so despite the footwear in the picture I actually made a last minute change for my Zara ankle boots, not that it helped with the bitter cold. When the perfect addition to your bbq would be a pair of gloves and a granny-lap blanket, you know it's time to call it a day. Disappointingly I only managed to snaffle one burger, as good as it was, the decision to either sit on my hands to conserve heat, or eat, wasn't really a decision at all.

Having an extra day off today as work thought they'd throw a concessionary day our way has been spent perfectly by baking with the MB*. We plumped for blueberry muffins. I don't know if it's just me, but what I thought would be a quick google for a recipe turned into a 20-minute trawl; as an American favourite it seems as though everyone wants to add buttermilk, or have you measure everything out in cups. Eventually I came across this recipe on the Daily Mail, the addition of the streusel topping really pepped them up, so my only recommendation would be to make more than stated as there's not much sugar in the actual recipe, the muffins can take the additional sweet topping

Fresh out of the oven

Only two days of work and it's the weekend again!

KDx

*MB is the (lovingly given) shorthand for Momma Bear

The music went and led me astray

Friction "Led Astray"

As I'd wrote about in an earlier post here, I was taken by the idea of a Spring suit,or co-ord and here's my interpretation as worn out on Friday night when we dined at La Tasca for my good friend Laura's birthday. It turned out to be a bit of a double celebration as she only went and bagged herself a new job after unfortunately having to endure an interview on her birthday, but it was all worth it in the end! 

American Apparel black u-back body, Asos floral shorts via ebay, Oasis blazer and Topshop boots

Despite the undesirable weather conditions, I perked up my hands with a summer nail look

I brought this Rimmel Lasting Finish nail varnish in 'Hot and Spicy' for a bargainous £1.24 in Morrison's whilst on my lunch break, admittedly my main reason for painting my nails was that I had brought the colour that day; how can you fail to transport yourself to hotter climes with zingy nails like this? The colour also looks a dead ringer for Models Own 'Hedonist' that has been spotted on numerous bloggers fingers. For my ring finger I used one of my favourite Nails Inc's, 'Lanseborough Place'. I have also discovered an amazing nail art/inspiration blog that actually comes courtesy of the Guardian-so I thank them for bringing it to my attention. The blog is called 'The Nail Saurus' and is written by 21 year-old Sammy from South Wales, you can find her amazing nail creations here. After reading through post after post I have to say my once creative self isn't feeling so advanced right about now, but she has filled me with some ideas and reignited my love for diy nails, so hopefully there will be some to feature shortly!

Right, back to the food. As much as I enjoy La Tasca I felt that being a party they neglected us a little, as they were so keen to serve us our food, which seems like a bonus, we were denied the 'tapas' experience and ended up with a table of soon-to-be cold food as we just couldn't eat it quick enough. In previous visits they had brought a selection of plates out in succession, so you had chance to enjoy them, before they were cleared away and the next lot brought out, hence our decision for choosing La Tasca; you get 13 girls together and they are going to want to talk! So sadly it felt like a lot of food went to waste. The food was as good as I remembered, albeit it in huge quantities, so I can't say I'll be rushing to recommend the party menu to anyone in the near future, just stick to small groups and I'm sure you'll get a more authentic Spanish tapas experience; the La Tasca I know.

Saturday was just spent wandering around town before a girly night in with our very expectant mother-to-be. Truth be known, a little part of me hoped we might be front line for a piece of the action, but the baby's not quite ready to meet us yet, so the wait continues...

Warehouse black and white cardigan, Zara leopard pumps and Topshop taupe leather shorts via ebay, H&M sleeveless shirt and New Look necklace

I'd been after some leather shorts for an age, but the real ones were always too expensive for me to justify for what in reality is so little material, and the fake ones always seemed to air on the side of bondage, anyone for shiny fake leather?! *shudders* The search inevitably continued. As with most things I tend to buy there is no time frame, which I find is the best way to shop; so as I rarely need anything for a specific outing, I can hold out until I get things at the right price, which in this case was 99p, and £3 delivery. Can't argue with that. In my opinion they were more than worth the wait, especially as it's May and I am still able to get away with wearing them with tights and not look like I am planning to lose my body weight in sweat alone.

As with every alcohol free weekend, food comes to the fore. Being hungover doesn't allow yourself to truly enjoy nice food, so a Sunday afternoon spent baking when I would normally contend with the suppressed fat girl isn't an option, so today Momma Bear and I donned our finest aprons and baked. We opted for scones (my tea habit needs some substance so as not to completely drown my insides) We followed James Martin's recipe from the BBC Food website, the only change we made was the addition of chopped glacé cherries because I love them and sultanas are a product of the devil  quite frankly.

Trust me when I say that it was absolute torture taking a picture of my lovingly jammed scone opposed to just scoffing it down asap. A bake I recommend to all. We only managed to get 7 scones out of the '8-10' mixture though, so I would ignore that bit, as if we rolled the mixture out any thinner I think we would have had cherry biscuits.

According to those that deliver the weather, this week we are supposed to see marked improvements. I'm going to do as every British person does at the hint of sunshine and harass all those around me into having a bbq, and at the risk of looking stupid spend a day without tights (I've been gradual tanning in preparation for this day to come so as not to be taken by surprise!)

Willie Nelson has been singing it for years... Bring me sunshine god dammit!

KDx

Where you been hiding lately, where you been hiding from the news?

Ben Howard "The Wolves"

Here's what I got up to the rest of the weekend. So as not to overload you with too much food related content in one go, you've had ample time to digest the first post (yep, pun intended), I'll continue. I have unintentionally given up alcohol for Lent, by this I mean I haven't had a drop since Lent began. My weekend was uncharacteristically quiet and devoid of any hard liquor. If I will stick to this accidental alcohol fast, only time will tell, which ultimately hangs in the balance once the weekend arrives. But the lack of alcohol has by no means meant a lack of indulgence, I have simply replaced drinking with eating, and a lot of it!


Saturday night, the bestest and I cooked a veritable feast!

To start we had herb poached egg, roasted asparagus and smocked salmon inspired by Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Great Britain", followed by Moroccan chicken, lemon and courgette couscous, loosely following this recipe and this recipe, finishing with cinnamon baked pears inspired by this recipe, but we skipped on the sugar  and ameretti in replacement of chocolate Philadelphia, as gross as that sounds it's like the best chocolate cheesecake topping ever!

The real high point of the weekend though was the glimpse of sunshine!! It might not have stayed out long, and it might not have been that warm, but there was actual sunshine! I would like to think that this may be the long awaited signal of British Spring time? Those of you that follow me on Twitter will know that I fully embraced this fact and threw caution to the wind, along with my old faithful 60 denier tights and downgraded to 40s. Yes, I made the transition, and I urge you all to join in too!

H&M black maxi, charity shop St.Michael black and gold belt, Miss Selfridge coral multi-bead necklace

Pink Converse via ebay with H&M Kids pink ankle frill socks

This is actually what I wore Sunday to enjoy the last of the sun, as it was inevitably short lived. I also wore my Oasis leather jacket with this outfit, sunny it might have been but official maxi dress weather it was not. Being an all black outfit and not wanting to look like death walking, I livened my outfit with my baby pink Cons and matching frill ankle socks and a bright necklace, it's a great way to wear a normally Summer associated maxi dress in Spring. How do you ease yourself out of your winter wardrobes?

KDx