May Favourites

Due to revision and birthday goings on I haven't actually many favourites this month, apart from red velvet brownies, which I have completely gorged myself on in the past two weeks, I only have three, the first being my new blusher, Dallas, by Benefit which was a birthday present from my class.

It's actually the best blusher I own, and has knocked Coralista and Dandelion (coincidentally both Benefit) off of the top spot and works with Hoola (I promise this wasn't going to be a Benefit post!) in an attempt to make me look more human.

Describing colours, tones and especially scents really isn't my forte, but i'll give it a whirl.
It's a plummy toned blush with shimmer, unlike Hoola, and I think the darker colours within the blush help you look more tanned.
And with all Benefit blushes and bronzers, it smells really good.
Always a bonus to have sweet smelling cheeks!

The second is a beautiful bracelet from my one of my oldest pals, L. She had already got me a humongous bottle of champagne but she also gave me this,

It's a bracelet with skulls threaded onto it and I love it, I think it's based on a Links Of London design a few years ago but I adore it!

Last but certainly not least is my beautiful necklace from my godmother, Jill.

There are three charms, a turquoise heart (a colour that always makes me think of her and one of my favourite colours), a little heart with a pearl and a heart tag which she had sweetly got engraved, on one side was my name, and on the other the date of my 18th birthday, I love it so much and have been wearing it non stop!

Perfect Poached Eggs

I have been yearning for poached duck eggs ever since my birthday, the problem was I had no idea how to go about recreating them uuuuuntiiiilll I saw this post by Valentina, which is the easiest thing in the world!
All you need is some cling film, a mug and your egg!

I covered the mug with the cling film, making a little well for the egg,

























 Then I twisted the top to make an "egg parcel" and popped it in a pot of boiling water until it all goes white.

 























Give it a little prod or two if you're not sure.

 

Twist the cling film really well before it goes in the water, in case it has a tendency to unravel slightly, like mine did.

 

Then pop it on a plate and serve with whatever you like, seeing as I was dreaming and yearning for the Crabtrees breakfast that I had last week I served it with smoked salmon and the home made bread I made yesterday.

One of the easiest, tastiest and simplest breakfasts!

Bank Holiday Bread

For my birthday one of my friends got me How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom by Gerard Baker which is filled with all the GBBO baking tips and secrets.

 

Not only did she give me that but she also made me an enormous cornflake tart (one of my favourites) so this morning I cut myself a hunk of tart and started flicking through.

It's divided into cake & biscuits, pastry, desserts and flavours & fillings, but it was the bread section that particularly grabbed me. We have a bread machine but I thought I'd try and make the "Simple White Loaves" all by myself.



To make 2 large loaves:

800g strong white flour
2 tsp. salt
1 sachet or 7g yeast
550 ml tepid water

Oven: 220 C

Put all of the flour in a bowl and if, like me, you are using dried yeast, mix the salt in with the flour thoroughly.

In a separate bowl mix the yeast with a little water until it forms a paste not unlike, for lack of a better description, sorry, the consistency of a face mask.

Then add this to the rest of your tepid water and pour into the bowl of flour.

 

 

After mixing all the ingredients well together, turn out the dough onto a clean surface and get kneading. Resolve any anger management issues by pummelling that dough. You'll have to knead for 10-15 minutes so not only are you making a pair of yummy loaves, you're also getting a workout.
Then pop it into a bowl, cover it in a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Once its doubled, give it another quick knead to make it nice and smooth, then divide into two.

Roll it with your hands to make a fat sausage and bring the long edges in to make a crease down the centre.

 

Pop it into a greased bread tin with the crease side at the bottom.

Then put it back into the warm place for another hour or until it has doubled.

Then sprinkle your loaf with flour,

 

And score a line about 1/2 deep along the centre of the loaf. 

 Bung your loaves into the oven at 220 C/425 F then after 20 minutes, turn them around so they bake evenly and reduce the temperature to 180 C/350 F and leave for another 20-25 minutes.

Test to see if they are done by turning them out and knocking on the bottom, if they sound hollow, you're done!

 The recipe says to allow them to cool, but I think that warm bread is the best bread.

 

Especially with lashings of butter...

The Big 1-8

Yesterday I hit the big 1-8, and after my form's track record of celebrating birthdays, I wasn't sure what to expect.
The night before I had started churning out chocolate chew balls and sausage rolls in their masses ready for my form and my mum even made one of her specialities, brownies, complete with marshmallows and chocolate chips.

WARNING: FOOD PORN!

To start the day off I went out for breakfast to Crabtrees with my mummy and my godmother, Jill.

Crabtrees is the best café near me, their wedges are to die for! Sadly, I didn't get the chance to take a great deal of photos because I was so ravenous and over excited but all three of us went for smoked salmon with poached duck eggs on toast which had definatley been homemade.
It was incredible.
Ever since I can remember I have had an aversion to eggs, I don't mind it when I can't see them like in cakes but not any more!!

Both the meal and the company were the perfect way to start the day but I had bid my farewells and get off to school.

Our class have always organised joint presents, everyone puts in about £10 and gets the birthday girl a joint present, my class gave me such amazing presents, I mean just look at the card!

 

 

 

This is a cookie stamp, so before they jump into the oven I can make sure everyone knows they're homemade!

 

And obviously there were cheese pies...

 

I thought we were ordering pizzas for lunch, and I went to get them with I and M, but instead they drove me to the Suffolk Food Hall where the rest of my class and boyfriend were waiting, I don't think I've ever been so shocked, again I didn't get many photos at all because I was a little bit overwhelmed.

The week before M and I had had a mille-feuille and her lovely mum (who I've never met) made me this beautiful cake, layers of delicious puff pastry, sandwiched with cream and topped with berries and rosemary flowers, then surrounded by beautiful blossoms and sprigs of mint from their garden.

 

Outside the food hall is the most fantastic thing ever. A bouncy pillow.

After gorging ourselves silly we thought it best to work it off!

 

In the evening my boyfriend and mum cooked up a storm with some chicken satay, a delicious Jamie Oliver recipe that I must repost.
I wasn't allowed to do anything but arrange the lettuce, so here's my contribution.

 

Then it was time for cake!
I was literally so full, but you probably know by now that I can always manage some more!

I had the best birthday I've ever had, and today was my last day of school, as a little tribute to my lovely class I thought I'd include a couple of pictures of our day:

Yes, we did spend the day as chillis, there wasn't an actual reason why, and yes, one of our pranks was leaving dead mice we got from a pet food shop around the school, it wasn't my idea!