There is nothing I love more than to curl up on the sofa with a good book. I love books old and books new, and I read most genres too, if something is well written I can enjoy it no matter what the context is. I have a huge collection of books, I rarely like to get rid of them once I've read them, and I always have at least 5 books lined up ready to read at any given time. The trouble with my obsession with books is the storage... I have bookshelf upon bookshelf full to the brim, with boxes in the spare room and under the bed, so I really need some more book shelves to accomodate my collection. I love the bookcase staircase above. I think it would definitely solve my lack of book storage space issues... but I also found these sleeker and prettier bookcase designs as well...
Saturday, 11 September 2010
The Alphabet of Abbie - B is for... Books!
There is nothing I love more than to curl up on the sofa with a good book. I love books old and books new, and I read most genres too, if something is well written I can enjoy it no matter what the context is. I have a huge collection of books, I rarely like to get rid of them once I've read them, and I always have at least 5 books lined up ready to read at any given time. The trouble with my obsession with books is the storage... I have bookshelf upon bookshelf full to the brim, with boxes in the spare room and under the bed, so I really need some more book shelves to accomodate my collection. I love the bookcase staircase above. I think it would definitely solve my lack of book storage space issues... but I also found these sleeker and prettier bookcase designs as well...
Friday, 10 September 2010
Patisserie Valerie in Leeds - Amazing Amazing Amazing!
There's a new patisserie in Leeds... Patisserie Valerie! This wonderful patisserie was founded in Soho in the 20's and have built up a fantastic reputation for some delicious handmade french pastries, cakes, croissants, along with some beautiful savouries too! I visited the newly opened Leeds Valerie Cafe with my lovely Leeds friend Tilly. We ventured into Leeds seeking pretty stationary for the impending first day back at uni (for our final year! Eep!) and we found ourselves in Valerie enjoying some truly scrummy food!
We were greeted by the sights of the beautiful cakes and ice creams in the counters.
I chose the freshly squeezed orange juice and Tilly had an iced caffe frappe, both of which went down a treat!
Me and Tilly are similar in so many ways, and our taste in food is no exception! Out of all of the gorgeous sounding choices on the menu we both had our hearts set on the same thing. In hindsight, I think if either of us had gone for a different option we both would have been eyeing up the other person's plate because the choice we did make was so delicious!
We both had the prosciutto ham, artichoke hearts, marscapone cheese and rocket on toasted ciabatta served with salad and handcooked crisps. I can genuinely say it was probably the nicest "sandwich" I have ever had! Well worth every penny!
There was the perfect filling-to-bread ratio, The ham was incredibly tasty and balanced really well with the creamy marscapone and sharper flavours of the rocket and artichoke hearts. The ciabatta bread was amazing too, it was so light and just crispy on the outside. Perfect! I can wholeheartedly recommend that each and every one of you visit your nearest Patisserie Valerie and enjoy it's many delights!
Naturally, with all the exquisit looking cakes we couldn't possibly pass up the chance to taste some of them! Although this time me and Tilly went for two different choices... that way we could have a little try of each others.
I chose the Double chocolate cake, topped with a cute little profiterole... it was so unbelievably moist, chocolatey and rich. It was amazing, but, I was ultimately beaten by the chocolate cake... that's really saying something for me! It's not often that I can say that!
Going, going... (almost) gone!
Tilly chose the cheesecake. It was really yummy, and the strawberry and white chocolate detail was lovely! For something that looked very dense it was surprisingly light and delicately flavoured with lemon.
Tilly going in for the last mouthful!
I loved the decor in the cafe too. The huge mirrors were gorgeous! As were the Toulouse Lautrec inspired prints and artwork on the wall. The whole atmosphere of the place was lovely!
...And for those of you who don't have time for the sit-down meal there is no excuse to avoid the delicious indulgence, because Patisserie Valerie do take-aways too! Tilly bought a slice of the double chocolate cake to take home to her husband.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
End Of Season Party - Costumes and Cake!
For the end-of-season staff party at work, we decided to throw a little party! As always, we do something a little bit out of the ordinary, and this occasion was no different! We each chose a country to represent, created a costume and brought food from that country. My boss chose France, and I made her costume (a Mr Kipling's French Fancy!)...
I knocked it together in my lunch hours over the course of a week. The costume was made entirely from a cardboard box, pink wrapping paper and some white wool... it's amazing what can be achieved from such humble items!
I also made a headband to accompany the outfit... a Monsieur Kipling headband...
... including French translations (loosely translated!)
My boss representing France as a French Fancy (despite the fact that French Fancies are not actually French, but a British version of Petit Fours) and she brought baguettes and cheese.
I represented Spain, came as a flamenco dancer and brought: "Paella" (aka vegetable rice) "churros" (aka yumyums and chocolate sauce for dunking) and chicken+chorizo skewers.
My sister represented Greece, dressed as Medusa - I made the serpenty headdress! (on the night she changed into a toga with sandals) and she brought a bit of a meze platter including olives, koftas, hummous, tzatziki and more!
Joanne represented Italy, came as a pizza (including a pizza-cutter hat!) and brought yummy pasta and mini pizzas.
Fran represented Iceland and came as their, wholly unpronouncible volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, including ash cloud headpiece!
I knocked it together in my lunch hours over the course of a week. The costume was made entirely from a cardboard box, pink wrapping paper and some white wool... it's amazing what can be achieved from such humble items!
I also made a headband to accompany the outfit... a Monsieur Kipling headband...
... including French translations (loosely translated!)
My boss representing France as a French Fancy (despite the fact that French Fancies are not actually French, but a British version of Petit Fours) and she brought baguettes and cheese.
I represented Spain, came as a flamenco dancer and brought: "Paella" (aka vegetable rice) "churros" (aka yumyums and chocolate sauce for dunking) and chicken+chorizo skewers.
My sister represented Greece, dressed as Medusa - I made the serpenty headdress! (on the night she changed into a toga with sandals) and she brought a bit of a meze platter including olives, koftas, hummous, tzatziki and more!
Joanne represented Italy, came as a pizza (including a pizza-cutter hat!) and brought yummy pasta and mini pizzas.
Fran represented Iceland and came as their, wholly unpronouncible volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, including ash cloud headpiece!The Best Parties Involve Cake and Cranium!
It was one of my good friend's birthdays, so we organised a little party, including party hats, board games, a take away and cake! Also, I've just got a new camera and was eager to give it a try... I haven't quite got the hang of all the settings but I thought I'd give it a little go and share some of the photos from the evening with you all. We spent most of the night playing the brilliant new Cranium board game.
If you're into board games and you haven't played Cranium, then I suggest you go out, buy it and make an excuse to get some friends together and play it. I love how there are opportunities for everyone to get involved no matter what their forte is. I love the "Creative Cat" challenges, where I have to draw or make things out of dough for my team to guess. A snippet from the official product description:
"Sketch, sculpt, solve puzzles, act, and hum. Your hidden talent has hidden long enough. Instant fun. Just add people. You were born to play this game. Maybe you've always wanted to use your best friend as a puppet to act out "milking a cow." Or you want to prove you can draw "bed head" with your eyes closed. Perhaps you're eager to show off your vast knowledge of "The Hoff," YouTube, and which came first, the toaster or sliced bread. If any of these are true--and even if they're not--you need to play Cranium WOW immediately. You shouldn't wait to show off your hidden talents when they're so impressive."
The new Cranium has new little customisable character playing pieces with interchangable hats and hairdos!
Joanne made this amazing tasting, chocolatey, Julie Andrews inspired, birthday cake (for our Sound Of Music obsessed friend!)
As the evening progressed, I'm not entirely sure why, but we were fascinated by the collection of magnifying glasses that my friend had. I tested out my camera and we had a little bit of a giggle along the way...
If you're into board games and you haven't played Cranium, then I suggest you go out, buy it and make an excuse to get some friends together and play it. I love how there are opportunities for everyone to get involved no matter what their forte is. I love the "Creative Cat" challenges, where I have to draw or make things out of dough for my team to guess. A snippet from the official product description:"Sketch, sculpt, solve puzzles, act, and hum. Your hidden talent has hidden long enough. Instant fun. Just add people. You were born to play this game. Maybe you've always wanted to use your best friend as a puppet to act out "milking a cow." Or you want to prove you can draw "bed head" with your eyes closed. Perhaps you're eager to show off your vast knowledge of "The Hoff," YouTube, and which came first, the toaster or sliced bread. If any of these are true--and even if they're not--you need to play Cranium WOW immediately. You shouldn't wait to show off your hidden talents when they're so impressive."
The new Cranium has new little customisable character playing pieces with interchangable hats and hairdos!
Joanne made this amazing tasting, chocolatey, Julie Andrews inspired, birthday cake (for our Sound Of Music obsessed friend!)
As the evening progressed, I'm not entirely sure why, but we were fascinated by the collection of magnifying glasses that my friend had. I tested out my camera and we had a little bit of a giggle along the way...
Monday, 6 September 2010
Double Dose of Polka Dots - Weddings!
I absolutely love weddings! Everyone has such a great time, all the ladies wear gorgeous dresses and there is yummy food, free wine, and a lot of dancing! This week's double dose of polka dots is dedicated to my friend's lovely summer wedding...
Dose number one: I wore this lovely black and white polka dot dress (from the sale in Dorothy Perkins) teamed with a pink cardigan, some pearls and a white flower in my hair.
Dose number two: Another great thing about weddings is the headwear... There are usually some beautiful hats, head bands and fascinators around. I love this polka dot head band from Ferlies Etsy shop - $14.50 (£9.60).Wednesday, 1 September 2010
The Alternative Village Fete - Frozen Yoghurt, Music, Cupcakes and Creativity
Last weekend I attended the Alternative Village Fete on Southbank in London, a "sideways slant" on the traditional family day out. The programme for the weekend included performances by dancing troupes and live music, Morris dancing, make-do-and-mend, the British Gent stall, tea and cake, 20's style workouts, gentlemen's grooming and etiquette, hill billy barn dancing and yummy and scrummy treats! Everything a vintage-loving lady or gent could possibly need!
There were come gorgeous knitted (and polka dotted) things for sale on the many stalls.
Love this cute little mini tea set!
All over the square that the event was held in there were people getting creative with needle and thread, material, buttons and bows! I loved how everyone got really involved with all the creative activities.
The Pictotronic was a huge cardboard box that "magically" drew pictures for you: if you put a suggestion into the Pictotronic, after a short wait the illustrators living inside the cardboard house drew your picture! I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's brilliant!
Naturally I gravitated towards these delicious looking cupcakes! But I resisted... if you peek at the picture below you will realise why...
My new obsession is frozen yoghurt! I love the tartness of the flavour, and how well it goes with raspberries, one of my favourite fruits. At the Alternative Village Fete the very first thing I stumbled across was a little frozen yoghurt van. It was incredibly yummy! I went for my natural choice of rasberry fro yo, and Jenny went for blueberry. The fruit was blitzed in a blender then added to the frozen yoghurt machine and the flavour was amazing.
The raspberry frozen yoghurt
The wonderful Hot Potato Syncopators I thoroughly enjoyed the set by these dapper, utterly charming and amusing chaps! They played tunes straight from the 20's, 30's and 40's and the act comprised of ukeles, a tea-chest bass, musical saw, comedy moments, stage theatricals, acts of ear and eye defying balancing, bang bells, hooters and pop guns. The act was brilliant, thoroughly entertaining, and had the whole audience laughing. I enjoyed them so much I bought their CD that came with a fantastic little book with a "history of the band" and various bits and bobs in the Chap magazine style.... speaking of which...
...One stall was selling Chap Magazine
Overall, it was a totally enjoyable event, and if it is all repeated next year I will definitely be attending for some retro fun, and I suggest you all do the same!
There were come gorgeous knitted (and polka dotted) things for sale on the many stalls.
Love this cute little mini tea set!
All over the square that the event was held in there were people getting creative with needle and thread, material, buttons and bows! I loved how everyone got really involved with all the creative activities.
The Pictotronic was a huge cardboard box that "magically" drew pictures for you: if you put a suggestion into the Pictotronic, after a short wait the illustrators living inside the cardboard house drew your picture! I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's brilliant!
Naturally I gravitated towards these delicious looking cupcakes! But I resisted... if you peek at the picture below you will realise why...
My new obsession is frozen yoghurt! I love the tartness of the flavour, and how well it goes with raspberries, one of my favourite fruits. At the Alternative Village Fete the very first thing I stumbled across was a little frozen yoghurt van. It was incredibly yummy! I went for my natural choice of rasberry fro yo, and Jenny went for blueberry. The fruit was blitzed in a blender then added to the frozen yoghurt machine and the flavour was amazing.
The raspberry frozen yoghurt
The wonderful Hot Potato Syncopators I thoroughly enjoyed the set by these dapper, utterly charming and amusing chaps! They played tunes straight from the 20's, 30's and 40's and the act comprised of ukeles, a tea-chest bass, musical saw, comedy moments, stage theatricals, acts of ear and eye defying balancing, bang bells, hooters and pop guns. The act was brilliant, thoroughly entertaining, and had the whole audience laughing. I enjoyed them so much I bought their CD that came with a fantastic little book with a "history of the band" and various bits and bobs in the Chap magazine style.... speaking of which...
...One stall was selling Chap MagazineOverall, it was a totally enjoyable event, and if it is all repeated next year I will definitely be attending for some retro fun, and I suggest you all do the same!
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