Rocky Road

I haven't put many posts up about baking prior to now, mainly because whenever I bake I eat everything really quickly and never get any time to take photos of it looking pretty. It's either that or I generally bake in the evening time when the flat is enveloped in a wonderful shade of grey!

Anywho, it's high time I share my love of baking with you so let me introduce you to what I believe to be one of the most unhealthy things I have ever baked.....actually I don't think it counts as baking but...whatevs!

I have been wanting to make rocky road with turkish delight in it for ages.
This recipe has been adapted from Jamie Oliver's Rocky Road Kill. Now don't get me wrong, I love Jamie Oliver but this recipe is just a tad excessive...even for me.

Looking pretty disgusting

Looking better

I changed it up a little by adding some turkish delight ( lemon and rose flavoured), glace cherries, chocolate digestive biscuits, weetabix, and chocolate chip cookies. I know, this recipe really did not need more chocolate in it but in for a penny, in for a pound.

I didn't really go down the whole nut road, Im not a big fan of them in chocolate.

If you do ever try to make this recipe, I would suggest adjusting the amount of chocolate you use. One of the main reasons I added in more biscuits is because the mixture was so wet and I had run out of digestives!

There are no measurements with regards to what I added in, I went with the 'throw it in and it'll be fine' approach and it worked out pretty well. I brought them into uni and they went down a hit!


What classic favourites have you personalised?
Chloe x

What i will never be

This may seem like an extremely negative title but read on and you'll find out it's not.

A few weeks ago I went along to a ceramics painting coffee shop. I had done this before and knew that what I made didn't turn out into a work of art, but I went along anyway cause it sounded like a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Needless to say, my suspicion were right and my painting turned out.....awful.

Just look, I cant even paint leaves.......leaves for god sake, children as young as five know how to paint leaves better than I do.

That was when I realised, I will never be an artist. Sob. Not.

Because I know that there are things I am good at.

I'm good at giving things a go.

I'm good at other creative ventures, like sewing, knitting, cross stitching.....well better than I am at painting anyway!

I'm good at thinking creatively. Even though I myself am the worlds worst painter, over the years I know that I have helped people who are good at shit like that come up with ideas.

I'm good at listening.

I'm good at laughing, both with others and at myself, something that I believe is important to be good at.

I'm good at 'going with the flow'. Life has taken some detours in the past but I've become good at embracing them. You can make all the plans you want about your life, but be ready to embrace something when you haven't planned for it to happen.

And lastly, I'm good at looking on the bright side of things.

Sometimes it's important to encounter things you are not so good at to fully appreciate those that you are.

What have you realised you are good at? Is there anything you wish you could be better at?

Chloe X

A round up of what's been happening

Our picnic spot in Greenwich park

And so March draws to a close.

It's been a quick month i think. I've barely had time to think, and unfortunately I haven't been able to do much posting on here. Must try harder.

As March finishes up, uni is starting to as well. I've got two weeks left of lectures than all of April to get the head down and get stuck into revision for end of term (and fingers crossed) last ever exams!!

So what's been happening in March?

Eating: Far too many Friday nights at our local Tandoori. It is literally across the road from us and we love it, but I really think we should make more of an effort to try other places! I've also been trying to work our way through the recipe books we have and have made some winners and some total failures. Winner of this month was The Hairy Dieters Chicken Korma (if you ignore how long it takes to make!)

Drinking: With the warmer weather that has graced a few times in March, the gin has been brought out.....gin and sunshine are a match
made in heaven! I technically shouldn't drink coffee but i just can't resist that delicious smell. This month I've been trying to make homemade mochas. I've made them a few times now and each time they get a little bit better.

Watching: Thanks to the geniuses at Amazon/ Lovefilm there's no more Grey's Anatomy but I have become somewhat addicted to 30 Rock! That creepy drama on ITV at the moment, The Widower is also a good 'un for mid week viewing.

Reading: Yea, March hasn't really been a big month on the reading front. After sitting all day reading lecture notes and journal articles I don't really fancy reading at night. I did finish the book i talked about at the start of the month called 'These is my words' and would recommend it to everyone.

Doing: St' Patrick's day parade, Six nations triumph for Ireland, knitting some bunting for the flat and a baby's hat which was way too small! Adam and I have also gotten the chance to have the first picnic of the year, a BBQ, and the bikes have gotten their spring clean and lots of bike rides!

I'm really looking forward to the end of April. Some much needed time from uni, a trip to see some family, my birthday and a trip home.

How has your March been? Any exciting plans for April?

Knitted cushion cover

The quest continues.

I've been trying to keep going with knitting and learn new techniques and stitches.

If you've looked at my knitting pinterest board you'll have seen there a quite a few knitted cushion covers on there. I couldn't control myself during December.....all i wanted was more cushions everywhere!

I took inspiration from this pin.

Knitting the cover was easy peesy....just knit the whole way. I had a small cushion insert lying around and used it. It's more on the rectangle side of square. For the life of me i can't remember how many stitches i cast on or how many rows a knit...bit of a shame but not a complete disaster....it's finished now so if i ever make another one ill just make it up as i go along as i did on this one.

The only bad bit that happened with this project was the mattress stitching.

I got a lovely knitting book for Christmas and it looks like it has the answer to everything. All the abbreviations and how to stitch them. Unfortunately I'm not so good at reading knitting instructions.

Hello Youtube. What a life saver. I spent ages trying to figure it out by myself but why bother.....there's tonnes of helpful videos out there that take no time to watch and are way easier than trying to mentally work out what written directions are trying to tell you to do.

One side

Then the other

My favourite one i came across was Nancy's video.

In no time at all i had all the side stitched up and the cushion looking semi respectable.

Sadly i did make a mistake (as always) and stitched up one of the sides on the wrong side and then when it came to turning the cover the right way round it looks ridiculous.....but i hide that side from myself now so it's all good.

It's nice to have something easy to knit that then also has a little challenge to it. I'm getting ready to mattress stitch everything now!!

What's your preference, videos or written instructions?

Chloe x

Let's talk about lemons

source

I am in love with lemons.

I have been for quite some time.

They're colour, smell, taste, everything about them makes me smile and be happy.

Years ago in me home economics class we had to make a dish using coagulation....loads of people made mouses, or cremes of some sort, i made a lemon tart. There was no need for a bain marie, the pastry kept everything safe. And so  began my love affair with lemon infused desserts.

Since then I've made several lemony things....some too lemony for my family or friends to eat, I on the other hand loved them.

This week i had a real hankering to make some lemon treats but with it being only myself and Adam knocking about this flat the lemon tart is too much for two people to eat. I've made lemon drizzle cake before, usually in the loaf variety, but it just wasn't ticking my boxes this week.

I had a look around pinterest but all the recipes i liked the look of had American measurements, and while I'm usually up for some conversion, i really wasn't bothered with all that either.

Hello BBC goodfood website. You are a gem. I found this delicious sounding recipe for lemon drizzle cakes, yes that's right...plural!
It was a pretty easy recipe and the results are exactly what i was in the mood for, tangy, refreshing, zesty and sweet all at the same time. Even better is that fact that there's no cutting a slice each time i want one, win win!

P.S. look at this board for some yellow goodness...

I'm off to enjoy some of this spring sunshine, how's you're Thursday coming along?
Chloe X

A round up of what's been happening

Wow February has gone by in a jiffy! Spring is definitely here now, there's daffodils and crocuses sprouting up all over London and I've seen loads of cherry blossoms starting to get their game on too! I love this time of year.

So what's been happening in this corner of the world?

Eating: Generally there's been lots of roasts happening in our flat lately, roast pork, roast lamb, roast chicken.....every Sunday we seem to be doing a roast.
I finally got to take a dander on over to  The Flying Pig in East Dulwich. I had the Mountie which was amazing....but to be honest all their burgers sound delish. I'll be back....

Watching: Sadly Grey's Anatomy has been taken off LoveFilm. I tried my best to smash through the last two series on there (8 and 9) but i only reached the penultimate episode of series 8.....please come back!! I've also been watching the Great British Sewing Bee.....man would i love to be able to sew clothes...some day!

Reading: This month has gone too quickly for me. I started one book, didn't like it and now I'm half way through 'These is my words- The diary of Sarah Agnes Prine'. It's a cool book actually, although i am partial to a bit of diary format so i could be biased

Doing: Definitely the highlight of this month has been the 6 nations match between Ireland and England in Twickenham. I've been a rugby fan since school but I've never been able to get to an international match so being able to go to Twickenham as my first match was pretty amazing, and it was a damn good match too. There's been a heap of ly-ins, brunches and a late trip to the Natural History Museum (we saw a mouse running round looking at the dinosaurs!!). I knitted a wee cushion (more to come on that) and I've just started some bunting....so far they are quite fun to knit.

Anyway.....March is going to go even faster for me I feel, there doesn't seem to be much on the social front but Uni is really making itself known!

How did your February shape up? Are you looking forward to more Springyness in March??
Chloe x

A weekend of relaxation

The monster fish!

Sometimes you just need a break. Not for any real reason. Sometimes it's just nice to self indulge. Adam and I decided we were going to do just that this weekend.

We planned a cinema trip (courtesy of a Christmas voucher), lunch, ly-ins, and just general relaxation.

We pretty much nailed it on the head. We did exactly what we wanted, when we wanted.

We don't do valentines around here, not for any real objection to it but it's just not our thing, I'd rather a bunch of daffodils than a bunch of roses. That said however, i had some observations on Friday so to cheer me up in case they didn't go well (thankfully they did) we planned a steak night! Oh yea.....steak!!!

Saturday was lazy day.....a long ly in, papers and croissants in bed, no rush to get up. My kind of Saturday morning.


Wolf of Wall Street was our film of choice to use up the vouchers. So glad we chose it.

Wolf of wall street was definitely worth the wait. What a film. Despite it's length, i only got a tiny bit restless just at the end (i like to stretch me legs out and that can't happen in the cinema). We left quoting all our favourite lines and thinking just how crazy his life was.

Then the biggest treat of the day was definitely going to a Turkish restaurant in Lewisham. We have walked past Levante Pide a hundred times and repeatedly said we should try it out. We hadn't booked anywhere and couldn't get into where we wanted to go so on our way home we decided to go here as plan B. I'm glad we did. It was delicious. No photos cause we were far too busy munching our our kebabs, but a nice change from the tandoori we usually pick up on a Saturday night.

As good as Saturday was, Sunday was definitely my favourite day of the weekend. A beautiful day with sunshine all day long and that chill in the air that makes your face tingle. We hadn't made any plans but inspired by Annie's post about the barbican I suggested we give it a visit.

A nice and detoured walk from Canon street, with a stop at the Guildhall art Gallery, (there's a Roman Amphitheatre underneath it) we walked along all the high walks till we reached the centre of the Barbican estate. What a cool place. With flats selling at £500,000 for a one bed flat sadly ill never get to live there (a new dream i formed while walking round it) but wow....it's amazing.

The Barbican centre is also cool, and the conservatory is just bizarre. My favourite was definitely the giant fish they have in the pond there.....they are beasts!!

We stopped for some hot chocolate and a giant slice of Victoria Sponge at the Foodhall on the ground floor and watched all the people come and go.

And then it was time to head on home....but wandering around the City in the sunshine was such a relaxing way to spend our Sunday that we were tuckered out by the time we got home!

How was your weekend? Glad to see some sunshine finally making an appearance?

Chloe X