Liebster Award

Okay i just got nominated for the Liebster Award by the amazing Sophia De Merci!

I had absolutly no idea about this award until Sophia mentioned it to me on monday, and it sounds really amazing, here are the rules i must follow 

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself

2. Answer the 11 questions the awarding blogger has posted for you

3. Nominate 11 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) for the award and link them in your post
4. Compose 11 questions the nominated bloggers have to answer
5. Let the bloggers know they are nominated

11 Random Facts About Myself?

1. I have a very great love of books, ranging from my childhood favourite The Prophecy Of The Gems by Falvia Bujor 

  

To my current favourite The Hobbit by J.R Tolkien. My love of books is from my childhood where it was always a great adventure to go to the libary every saturday afternoon with my Nana Pauline to pick out a new book that would let me escape to a strange land, this escapism is very much apart of the reason i stil read today. One of my favourite quotes is that 'Man only lives one life however a man that reads lives a thousand'

2. I cry at pretty much every film i watch, and some like the notebook i can even cry thinking about them. I'm entirely too over emotional but i wouldnt change it for the world, this hypersensitivity to media i feel also enhances my love of books, music and film! I will list my top 5 films to cry at.

             1. The Notebook
             2. The Reader
             3.Remember Me
             4.Letters To Juliette
             5.The Green Mile






4. I am an incredible history nerd, and i cant wait to do it for my degree! History has always been a big part of my life with both my grandads intrested in two of my favourite modern areas of history to read up on. Grandad Doug had a love of all things American West and my Grandad Jim never forgave the Germans for bombing his school and killing several children during WW2 so i was always surrounded by an at times biast but passionate love for finding out infomation on the past and how we can learn from it. My favourite history book at the moment is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown as it very detailed, incredibly interesting and is fairly easy to understand unlike some other history books i've read in the past. I also enjoy historical filmumentaries like Band of Brothers

      made by HBO which despite being a made for tv film is actually very historically accurate. And my favourite purely factual documentary at the moment is Andrew Marrs The Making Of Modern Britain which is also a book that is a very hard read because its so incredibly verbose. 






5. When i was little i always wanted to be an airline stewardess, despite having a crippling fear of flying. Oh and if i couldnt be an air stewardess i wanted to be Wednesday Addams

6. I have a massive soft spot for babies and young children, i always pretend to hate them unless they are family but in the end i am a big softie who loves nothing more than entertaining teacup humans.

7. I LOVE  to cook, i've been baking aslong as i can remember every saturday after coming home from the libary once again with Nana Pauline and using Grandad Doug as a taste tester,

sadly they have both passed away now but the things they taught me will stay with me all my life! I still think baking is my favourite area of cooking, but i now enjoy experimenting with savoury flavours and i absolutly love to cook for people. Especially my friends because they are always there for me and i feel that the best way to repay them for that is to ply them with as much food as possible.





 8. I'm an absolute TV addict, if i watch a series i watch them all in a matter of days!
My favourites so far have been Game of Thrones, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, Friends, New Girl and of course Criminal Minds!
9. I just used HTML for the first time to align those photos big thanks to This Blog for teaching me how!
  
10. I have a slight chocolate addiction, my favourite chocolate at the moment is just plain ol Galaxy, but last month it was Malteesers bar chocolate so this may well change in the future!

11. I am terrible at maths, i barely passed my GCSE'S  and use a calculator for everything but the very basics, my brain is not maths orientated sorry!

 

 Now on to Sophia's Questions!

1. What is your all-time favourite place to go? 

My favourite place in the entire world to go is the Greek Dodecanese set of Islands! As all of them are incredibly beautiful and have some lovely cuisine.

 

2. How would you describe your blog? 

My blog is a strange mix of everything i like, there is no sort of pattern its just a mish-mash of things i like and enjoy.

 

3. If you could spend as much as you want on one online shopping side, which one would it be?

It would have to be Amazon because they have books, dvds, aswell as having outlets for my favourite shops (American Apparel) and designer options such as Kurt Geiger shoe's.

4. What is your favourite era in terms of music?

It's got to be the 90's for me, im a sucker for the super sweet boybands of the decade (NSYNC) as well as the grungier side. I have a love for Nirvana my favourite song being Heart Shaped Box or Lithium. or Possibly the early Noughties as my favourite bands include 30 Seconds To Mars, Hinder, Three Days Grace ect.

5. Reading or watching TV?

Depends on my mood, reading is for when i can concerntrait. Tv is for when i need to switch off and focus on something else.

6. Who is your favourite blogger and why?

David Crystal because he is informative and interesting, not to mention its a great help with my ALEVELS. He also picks out idea's that i never would of thought of.

7.When you go shopping, what do you end up buying every single time?

I always end up buying socks or tights, some form of hoisery because lets be honest you can NEVER  have enough pairs and there are some pretty special options out there!

8. What is your opinion about statement necklaces?

I think statement necklaces are okay aslong as you have a simple outfit, i dislike statement pieces when people are already wearing a bold outfit because your jewellery should ALWAYS  compliment what your wearing not over power it.

9. Since when do you blog, and what was the main reason you started blogging?

I started blogging just last week, and my main reason for starting a blog was that my friends that have them absolutly love them and i had alot of time on my hands and thought it would be fun.

10. Is there any fashion era you would want to revive?

No i wouldnt like to revive a definitive era, because im all for mixing style. As fashion should be a reflection of who you are and no one person is ever just one moment of fashion history.

11. What is your favourite TV show and why?

My favourite TV show has got to be Criminal Minds because i can watch the episodes over and over again without getting bored.

 

My top 11 Bloggers!

1. Dolly Bakes 

2. Fabulicious Food 

3. Lotties Little Kitchen

4. The Little Reader Library 

5. Feed Me Books Now 

6.All Dolled Up

7. The Bode Boutique

8. Florabundance 

9. Josephine Jade 

10. Infinite Beauty Blog 

11. Louminous

My 11 Questions!

1. Whats are you passionate about?

2. Whats your favourite film, tv show and book?

3. Why do you blog?

4. If you could buy anything from any shop what would it be?

5. Whats your favourite beauty item?

6. How would you describe your style?

7. Whats your favourite food?

8. Who or What inspired you to blog?

9. Whats your favourite piece of clothing?

10. Whats your best piece of life advice?

11. If you could do anything what would it be?

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My January essentials.

I am very much a self confessed shop-a-holic, and in the last few week i have spent more than enough money on clothes...

One of my pieces is beautiful and delicate, and will be perfect for going out during the summer, its by Day Birger Et Mikkelsen and is a really soft femmine sheer number
It has really delicate lace detailing around the bottom, shoulders and back... The lightweight fabric also makes its glide over your curves rather than sticking to them like glue making it alot more subtle than some of the other cuts on that are popular at the moment.

I also got a beautiful pair of shoes from Topshop in the sale which was fantastic, and if you didnt have a browse well you missed out on some real savings.

I also induldged my secret nerd side that has a huge love for anythingTolkien with a really cute Bilbo Baggins quote tshirt from Qwertee.com

And also from Qwertee i ordered a cute Disney/Marvel Avengers 'Thor Story' shirt, it mixes my insane love of Norse Mythology, Super Hero's and of course DISNEY!!!

I have also ordered some more tee's off of Redbubble.com, that will be arriving soon and i will post them as they do! And I treated myself once more on the MarsStore as I have loved 30STM since I was twelve or thirteen, and first heard A Modern Myth and the lyrics just clicked with me and they've been one of my favourite bands ever since!


However not all of my January essentials have been new purchases,

My beautiful Doc's have been a staple of almost every outfit, I have the Black Serena's with the white lining which means I had absolutly no pain when breaking them in which im told is a miracle!!! This makes me love them even more.

I also recycled some of my old jewellery to mix my new style with some old cute bits that I had forgotten about til i had a sort out after christmas...
This Amethyst  and Silver filgree necklace was given to me for my 16th birthday by my mum and it was brought from an antique shop in norwich as i've always had a thing for older jewellery

This silver Winnie The Pooh charm bracelet has been in my ownership for as along as i can remember and it has always been a piece thats versatile and adds a cute edge to an outfit because sometimes large mordern bracelets like my pandora can be overpowering and this is very delicate and doesnt draw too much attention but is actually really detailed when you look closer.

Another forgotten favourite is my Diesel Loverdose perfume, the aniseed scent is beautiful and wintery making me feel all warm just smelling it, its also alot heavier than the perfumes or lotions that i usually go for... I'm much more of a fruity person when it comes to scents but theres something about this perfume that just clicks with me in winter which sadly means this amazing perfume is often forgotten for the rest of the year, which so happens to be the reason i've made it a January essential is because i've only just found it again!

And last but certainly not least is something that i've made myself, it took six months to knit but if i say so myself has turned out very well.

The bright colours are a nice change to the dark and dreary colours that I tend to lean towards in the winter months and will contrast quite nicely with my wax jacket, when i finally get round to completing the finishing touches.

So i hope you like my January essentials even if you dont neccassarily agree with them, hope you enoyed reading this piece and look up the next one!

My families favourite cake recipe!

Right this beautiful Rum Cake has been made four times since i discovered the recipie last august

This cake is high in sugar, butter and alcohol content but it is beautifully delicious and stays very moist for ages... possibly due to the first time i made it i made a HUGE mistake by adding six eggs to the batter instead of the correct three... But the next time i made it properly and it seemed to dry out alot quicker and wasnt as moist in general and i've never had problems with a moistness of my cakes before and i've been baking for aslong as i can remember due to two Nan's who couldnt resist teaching me a passion for food that is still very much apart of my life as you can see. By the aforementioned Rum Cake.

The original recipie is here:  http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/cajun-rum-layer-cake-with-pecan-rum-glaze.html

I know its in american measurements but i have treated myself to an adorable cups set from Adanams of Southwold Kitchen and Cellar store

However as mentioned above i have changed the recipe slightly so i will repost it below, however all credits for the original go to the cooking channel and Treva Chadwell

Right first things first, barely anyone in my family actually likes whipped cream so i dont bother with making the sweetend cream, we just serve it with icecream (Kellys Honeycomb is particularly nice) but regular vanilla would also work well.

Also i colour code EVERYTHING it helps me to organize things if i use a colour for each modular step so here's a key so you under stand the methods to my madness!

Key

Cake Ingredients
Caramel Ingredients
Timings
Temperature

For the cake, you will need

 2 sticks of unsalted butter / 226g (I use President as i feel its lighter, but any brand will do)
3 cups of all-purpose flour (but i used self raising, the time in the picture because we had no plain left and it worked just fine) 
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of fine salt
1/2 cup of milk/ 120ml (i've used unsweetend soya one time and it worked just aswell as normal milk)
1/2 a cup / 120ml of white rum (i used a splash more because my nan likes it stronger)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (I've used essence cause the extract is damn expensive and it turned out fine)
6 large eggs (Helps it keep moist but you will need to cook it for alittle bit longer)

For the Caramel Glaze you will need

1 cup of sugar / 200g (i've used white granulated sugar, and i've also used brown both worked well, however white was my personal favourite)
3/4 cup of heavy cream/ 180ml
1/4 cup of rum (i used a half by accident the first time and it still tasted amazing)
3 large egg yolks (A yolker is a brilliant tool, i reccomend buying one if you dont have one)
1 cup of pecans roughly chopped (a small bag from the super market works well)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Right now onto the cake method!   

(You will need an electric mixer, i've used a hand mixer and a stand both are fine)

Preheat your oven to 375 F or 190 C - Grease two 9inch tins (grease paper or butter either is fine)
Beat the sugar and butter until fluffy
In a spout jug mix milk, rum and vanilla
Combine baking powder, flour and salt in a seperate bowl
Add the eggs one at a time (takes ages but is a neccassary step)
Add half the flour mix on a low setting
 then slowly stream in the milk mixture (the batter may appear to break but to recombines so it's all good)
Add remaining flour mix and mix til you have a completely combined batter (it will smell heavenly due to rum)

Split the batter between the two tins (Then lick the bowl and spoon as a treat, its delicious trust me)
 Bake until golden round the edges and you can removed a skewer without any batter/cake coating it
      Its around 25 - 30 minutes but because of the increase of eggs it can take up to 45
At around 15minutes in switch the two pans around so they bake evenly (and if still in after 30 switch again)
Cool in the pans for 5minutes, then remove and let cool (i wait until they are slightly warm when i add the caramel)

Caramel method

Stir all the ingredients together (minus the peacans) on a LOW heat in a small saucepan stirring constantly til it coats the back of the spoon and rolls off like a thin syrup (around 5 minutes)
Stir in peacans and continue to stir it goes a lovely golden colour (white sugar makes this a paler gold) (around another 5minutes)
Remove from heat and leave to the side for about 5minutes
Pour half onto the first layer, all the way to the edges, the drippier the better
then place the next layer ontop of the caramel goodness before pouring on the rest of the caramel

Then eat it, my family ate around half on the day after and then myself, my mother and my nan ate the other half over around four days it wasnt in a tin just on a plate wrapped in tinfoil and it was fine.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!

Tv addictions of 2014 so far...

Now some people may be wondering how much TV one person can watch in the 21 days since the new year started...

The correct answer should be not much due to all the partying and new years excerising, however i've never been very good at doing whats normal. So in the last 21days i have watched

 Seasons 1- 8 of Criminal Minds (Slightly in love with Dr Spencer Reids rambling)

 If your going to watch a tv series you need to watch all the episodes as close together as humanly possibly In other words Go big or Go home, i managed the first seven seasons in a week and a half and the last season two days after that so in under two weeks i consumed over 7000minutes of crazed physcopaths!  


                             Seasons 2 - 6 are the best in my opinion as i disliked both Jason Gideon and Elle Greenaway, and i much prefered Emily Prentiss and David Rossi who seemed to fit in with the rest of the team better and have better story lines in general! 

And Hotch starts dating someone in Season 7 and i dont really feel she has the right character developement to fit the way she does, i mean she stalks him in a park to ask him out what kind of FBI agent dates someone that stalks them!? Another reason i dislike the last two seasons is because the storylines seem to lack the same panache they did earlier on and some of the storylines repeat because how many crazed murders can they really draw inspiration from?

 

 Here are a list of my favourite episodes -
 Season One, Episode Fourteen - Riding The Lightening due to emotional story line and the twisted sense of morality it brings.
Season Two, Episode Ten - Lesson's Learned because the way terrorism is explored is in a unique and actually unoffensive light which is unusual in tv shows.
 Season Two Episode Seventeen - Distress because the ending is a total surpise and a very sad look into the way servicemen are treated after they return home.
Season Three, Episodes 8&9 - Lucky (part II) & Penelope (Part II) because even though its was 3am i could not stop watching until i had finished Part II
Season Four Episode 13 - Bloodlines because its really creepy and explores the physcological effects of kidnapping.
Season Four Episode 20 - Conflicted For Two reasons 1) It has Jackson Rathbone in it and 2) Its one of the best storylines!
Season Four 25 - To Hell Part I) and 26 - And Back (Part II) Possibly my favourite set of episodes in the entire 8 season.
Season Five Episode 9 - 100 (Part II) because its emotional (Lots of tears) has plenty of violence and is an epic conclusion to a several season long story line.
 Season Five Episode 16 - Mosely Lane Its so creepy its good.
Season Five Episode 23 Our Darkest Hour (Part I) & Season Six Episode 1 The Longest Night (Part II) Still giving me nightmares 2 weeks later, but really shows the power of JJ's character.
Season 6 Episode 8 - Reflection Of Desire so horrificly creepy you cant turn away, also the ending is very sad.
Season Six Episode 13- The Thirteenth Step apsolutly amazing another favourite of all the seasons.
Season Seven Episode 2 - Proof is the last episode i really truely enjoyed and is really rather sinister.






Re-watched Season 2 - 4 of The Vampire Diaries 
  (Very much team Damon, although i do prefer Elijah... Much more of an Original Groupie)
   

                                              I have always hated Elena she grates on my nerves way too much, she feels ever so vanilla compared to the other female characters like Caroline and Rebekkah who get the best lines even though they have much smaller parts.


 




 Out of all the Seasons 3 is my favourite due to how the storyline progress's fairly rapidly and doesnt have as much of the Elena/Stefan/Damon drama of Season 4 (least favourite season)


 Also the Tv Show is so different from the books theres no way you can compare them effectivly.

Caroline was my least favourite character until she was turned in season 2 and became AWESOME.

and I'm now starting on the first 2 seasons of Sherlock.


Still too early to decide if i prefer Mr Holmes or Dr Watson, however Benedict Cumberbatchs cheek bones will be difficult to beat!

So to end watch any of these, and you will sufficently cure your boredem while having a very enjoyable time if you dont mind blood and guts mixed in with some yummy guys! Hope you all try something new even if it isnt one of these shows, let the TV Box enlighten your life in a mad obsessive way that would be totally unhealthy if i wasnt 18 and had atleast a small group of amazing friends!