10 Things That Make Me Smile :)

1. Old Books
I love old books. The feel of the thumbed pages, the illustrations, the crumbling covers and the way they look all lined up on a shelf. I have quite a few childrens books ranging from the late 1800's to the 1960's and I find it fascinating how the way that literature speaks to a child has evolved and changed over the years from strong didactic tales of morality to books that are solely for entertainment, adventuring and amusement.

2. Trips to the zoo
I took this snap at Edinburgh Zoo of a sea eagle who seemed to be posing ready for my photo. I love a trip to the zoo, you could go to the same zoo and every time you'd see different things.

3. Vintage Inspired Kitchens
The perfect backdrop for an afternoon of baking is a vintage inspired kitchen!

4. Doodling
I love doodling, there's something really theraputic about it, especially when you can totally switch your brain off and let the pencil do the drawing.

5. Vintage Roller Skates
I adore my vintage rollerskates from Rokit Vintage. Luckily I have a skating buddy and we frequent the promenades and seafronts from Hastings to Eastbourne!

6. Brighton Lanes
There's nothing that makes the summer more summery than a lovely trip to Brighton Lanes for a spot of shopping in the weird and wonderful shops. On my recent trip I discovered the brilliant Dollydagger boutique.

7. Period Dramas
I've been making a lot of resources for school and to make the endless cutting, sticking and laminating less tedious, I've been watching a lot of period dramas... I watched Downton Abbey again in preparation for the upcoming second series. I absolutely love Maggie Smith's character and the interaction between the "upstairs" and "downstairs" characters.

8. Creativity and Cakes
I love that there is so much creativity and baking inspiration out there. Being a blogger I find myself constantly in awe of my fellow bloggers and tweeters and their baking skills!

9. Positivity
I think a positive mental attitude can do wonders for any situation. Some of my friends may be going through times of uncertainty in the post-uni job hunt, others may be feeling the pre-september nerves before starting their first teaching post, but keeping positive is the way through it all, that, and drinking a lot of coffee ;)

10. Churros and Chocolate!
When I lived and taught in Spain for a month I became dangerously addicted to these crispy doughnutty delights dunked in gorgeously thick hot chocolate.... YUM! Here's an amazing little churros recipe from the lovely Thomasina Miers.

Double Dose of Polka Dots - Emma Bridgewater

Here is your Monday Double Dose of Polka Dots... This week's dosage features Emma Bridgewater. I don't usually like multicoloured or mismatched sized polka dots as a general rule - I prefer a more regular pattern. However, I can't help but love everything that Emma Bridgewater designs! So, here's a little double dosage of the best of Bridgewater for you this bank holiday Monday....

Emma Bridgewater Aga - source
I'm not exactly sure how this gem escaped my knowledge. It was designed by Emma bridgewater as part of the Aga-rangemaster's Great British Cooker Campaign and it is delightful!

Emma Bridgewater Recipe Book - £12
I absolutely love cook books, but I must admit, and I'm sure I'm not alone with this one, I usually only use a handful of recipes from each book. This would combine all of my favourite recipes in one pretty polka dotty recipe book!

Beautiful Books from Anthropologie

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a bit of an obsession with books. I have too many to fit on all of my shelves, I have boxes under the bed and boxes in my parents house... and my collection keeps growing! I have a rather eclectic taste in books as well, I have everything from Spanish traditional stories to antique songbooks, and Harry Potter to Pride and Prejudice. My latest list of books for my increasingly large wish list are these delightful little books from Anthropologie.

I love love love these classic books with quirky covers - £12.99. For me, a book is not entirely about content (of course that is incredibly important though) but it is about the look and feel of the book too, and these books are just appealing in every way.

I adore the cover of this book, The Domino Book of Decorating. - £20

I am an avid baker and I am keen to add this little traditional baking recipe book to my collection of cook books - £15.99

Love this cute little guide to vintage! - £12.99

I really must make this book, The Doorbells of Florence, mine! It is so very unique... the book blurb says, "Ring into your imaginative side as Andrew Losowsky's alluring photographs of doorbell panels in Florence inspire stories of the lives of the people who may have dwelled at each address" - £11.99

And finally... I definitely need this for my summer! The lovely Italian recipes for the summer cook book - £24.95

Coconut Cupcakes!

I've been really busy in the Kitchen today, not only have I made Chocolate, Cherry and Coconut Cookies, but I have made Coconut Cupcakes too! So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

4 ounces of self-raising flour

4 ounces of butter

4 ounces of caster sugar

2 large eggs

2 ounces of dessicated coconut

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 or the equivalent.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until it is a smooth mixture.

3. Gradually add the egg, whilst mixing the ingredients together.

4. Next, sieve in the flour and add the coconut.

5. Transfer the mixture into cake cases, putting a generous dollop of cake mix in each case.

6. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes until golden in colour.

7. Leave to cool on a wire cooling rack. If you are icing the cakes make sure that they have totally cooled first, especially if using butter icing, or the icing will not set properly.

I was even good enough to make my boyfriend a cup of tea to enjoy my freshly baked goodies with!

The Three C's: Chocolate Cherry and Coconut!

I've got essays for university to write... so naturally I'm procrastinating, and what better way to procrastinate then to spend some time in the kitchen baking cookies! Today I've got a yummy recipe for you... Chocolate, Cherry and Coconut Cookies:

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

85g caster sugar

85g soft brown sugar

1 egg

225g self-raising flour

100g roughly chopped chocolate

85g roughly chopped glacé cherries

85g dessicated coconut

1/2 tsp of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 5, or 190 degrees, or 170 degrees if your oven is fan assisted.

2. Beat the butter, sugars and egg until it forms a smooth mixture.

3. Roughly chop the chocolate and cherries, and add them to the mixture along with the coconut flour and salt. Mix the ingredients until it turns into a thick cookie dough.

4. You can either use non-stick baking sheets or (as I usually prefer to do) just grease 2 baking trays.

5. Spoon the cookie dough onto the baking trays in large balls: this recipe makes roughly 20-24 cookies. ensure that the cookies have lots of space between them as the dough spreads out to over twice the size once it is in the oven.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until they start to go golden. Ensure that the cookies are still pale and soft in the middle and the edges aren't too dark in colour as it is very easy to overcook them.

7. Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 5 minutes and they will firm up. Then carefully transfer them to a wire cooling rack.

In my opinion cookies are always best when they are still warm from the oven and squidgy in the middle. store the cookies in an air-tight container and eat within a week.

Alternatively you could try nutty cookies by exchanging the cherries and coconut for chopped nuts and a generous dollop of peanut butter!

Broccoli and Goats Cheese Soup!

For Christmas I got a food processor... and it is most definitely one of the best Christmas presents I have been given! I have been loving making my own soups that are easy to make, cheap, tasty and healthy. So I thought I would share my favourite recipe with you.

Broccoli and Goats Cheese Soup

3 large heads of Broccoli

2 cloves of garlic (or 1 tsp of garlic purée)

1 red onion

2 vegetable stock cubes

200ml low fat crème fraiche

1 pack of soft Welsh Goats cheese

1. First finely dice the red onion and gently fry in a large saucepan with the garlic. Ensure that the onions do not brown or it will change the flavour of the soup.

2. Chop the broccoli into smaller florets and remove the thicker stems.

3. Dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in 500ml of boiling water and add to the onions and garlic.

4. Add the Broccoli to the saucepan and simmer on a low heat until the broccoli is tender. It doesn't matter if all of the broccoli is not submerged, just pop a lid on the pan and stir occasionally.

5. Depending on how thick you like your soup, (I like mine quite thick) drain about 100ml of the stock off of the broccoli and transfer to the food processor and blend to the desired consistency.

6. Return the blended broccoli to the saucepan, add the goats cheese in small pieces until it has all melted. Then add the crème fraiche.

7. Transfer into bowls (or containers to freeze) add black pepper, serve with a bread roll and enjoy!

This recipe makes 4 servings of soup at 250 calories per bowl... or three generous servings! and is it perfectly fine to freeze; I freeze three of the four servings and they keep really well and are easily thawed and reheated, or simple popped frozen into a pan and gently heated until it has melted and piping hot.

For variations, you could use double cream instead of creme fraiche, or exchange the goats cheese for stilton or another cheese of your choice.

Also… not only do I get to enjoy the yummy broccoli soup, but my pet rabbits get to take advantage of the leftover broccoli and discarded stems.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Brownies!

Cookbook For Girls - Dorling Kindersley

Well, I have got a new cook book, and I tested out a lovely little recipe a few days ago. I love making my own dark chocolate brownies, but I was dying to try out the white chocolate and raspberry brownies in my new little recipe book. Being a lover of those beautiful little things that are Millies cookies (my favourites being the white chocolate and raspberry kind!), I knew that these brownies would be delicious.

the finished product!.... scrummy!

To my delight, after a few warm brownies and ice cream, I still had some raspberries left over. I decided to finish off the day with a nice homemade Raspberry and lime cocktail by the pool. Lime juice, vodka, lemonade, a few crushed raspberries and a raspberry to decorate... Gorgeous!