Fandom Baking Day

My sister and I absolutely looove to bake, and a couple of days ago we came up with the idea of having a fandom-based baking day. A great deal of the day was actually just spent watching The Sarah Jane Adventures since so many of our recipes needed refrigeration time. Buut the day of hard work paid off in the end since we got such delicious goodies out of it!

Pictured above: I am frothing up the butterbeer with a milk frother to make it look appetising. 

Pictured above: The Dharma biscuits were actually easier to cut out and inscribe than I had thought they would be. The hardest part was peeling the mixture off the chopping board and onto the tray without breaking the fish tails!

Pictured above: We watched Sarah Jane Adventures while waiting for our food to cook and played a (non-alcoholic) drinking game with butter beer. (link here)

Pictured above: This was my first ever attempt at making the cake from the Portals games (which is probably my favourite game series of all time), and I am actually pretty impressed at how it turned out. Here is an image from the game for comparison. And yes, I used strawberries because I'm not a huge fan of cherries.

What we made (the ones with links are for recipes we used):

Alice in Wonderland Jam Tarts
Portals Cake (from Portals)

Dharma Initiative Fish Biscuits (from Lost)
Butterbeer (from Harry Potter)

I sincerely hope that this has inspired you to have your own fandom baking day because it really was a lot of fun, and it was so nice to spend a day with my sister before she had to go back to school!

Ps. Outfit post on what I wore this day coming soon!

Brown Banana Bread Recipe

I think if there was just one food I could eat for the rest of my life, banana bread might just win. Ever since I was little, my mum and I have always made banana bread together, so it's a great recipe to get kids into cooking. Plus, it seems to get tastier every time you make it! Anyway, enough of the ramble and on with the recipe...

Brown Banana Bread

Taken from Alison Holst's Meals Without Meat

Time: 20 minutes +cooking time

Makes: two small loaves

Ingredients:

• 150 grams of butter
• 1 1/8 cups of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 mashed bananas (older bananas work better)
• 1 1/2 cups of wholemeal flour
• 1/3 cup of orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

Method:

Step One. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs and beat mixture again.

Step 2. Add the mashed bananas, wholemeal flour, and orange juice to the mixture. Stir until just combined.

Step 3. Sift in the plain flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix again until all ingredients are just combined.

Step 4. Pour the mixture into the bread tins and bake at 180 degrees celsius for about one hour.

The bread is best eaten fresh, but will keep for about a week.

Serving Tip: This banana bread tastes amazing either fresh or warmed up with salted caramel sauce or butter!

Sandringham Farmer's Market

Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it - I think farmer's markets are wonderful. Full of fresh produce and homemade goodies, what more could you want?

It has been quite a while since I last remember going to a farmer's market. The last one I remember was from when my family still lived in London, and every Sunday there was a small farmer's market in a carpark behind the Marks and Spencers. And ohh the most memorable thing about that market was the delicious fruit pies. Oh they were so good!

But anyway, that was seven years ago andI don't even know if that market even still runs ! It may have taken us a while, but we have finally found another farmer's market to go to. Honestly, I'm surprised we never found out about it sooner - it's literally a ten minute drive from where we live!

It's not a huge market, but there are so many great stalls crammed into it. Although it may not look crowded in the above photos, it gets completely packed later in the day. 100% worth sacrificing one sleep in for!

Now here is where I'm going to be completely honest with you. You see those mini cupcakes pictured above? Well they are just about the best darned cupcakes I have ever tasted. I'm not even kidding. And bonus for all you gluten free people, because they don't contain gluten. The company name is Heavensent Cupcakes (yes, very appropriate!) and my two personal favourite flavours are the 'Sweet Spiced Pumpkin with Maple Cinnamon' and the 'Chocolate with Salted Caramel Buttercream' (although the others are also delicious!). And yes, they definitely do have the best flavour names around!

The truffles and the salted caramel sauce pictured above are from Devour. And oh boy, if the cupcakes weren't enough incentive to get yourself down to this market, then these truffles should be! The ones above are special Christmas themed & flavoured ones, but she makes many others as well. The lady who runs the stall has also started making these orange sticks (which we ate too quickly to grab a photo of) which are worth picking up a pack of as well. And ps. the salted caramel sauce tastes amazing with banana bread (which I will be posting a recipe for very soon!).

There are many other items and food stuffs available to buy from the market (including potatoes, berries, perogis, macaroons, coffee, and sauces), but I think this post is now long enough as it is.

But please, if you are ever in the area, go and check out this market, and come say hi if you see me. It runs on the third saturday of every month, all year round.

Ps. My apologies if this post sounded like I am being sponsored by half the market to write this post (I'm not), but I wanted to share these treats because they just taste so darned good.

Garlic & Avocado Pasta

This is a recipe I have been wanting to try for such a long time now, but my sister isn't a fan of avocado, so I have been waiting for several months now for her to be gone away on her music camp so that I could make this for the rest of the family.

I found the flavours in this dish subtle, but still delicious. This was nice since individually they (particularly the garlic) can be quite strong, but together they created a really tasty blend. It made a great side dish, and we had it with some beautifully done beef eye fillets.

The original recipe is from Savoury Simple and, I'll be honest with you, we couldn't find all the ingredients, so I had to adapt it slightly. So here you go, my recipe for garlic & avocado pasta.

Garlic & Avocado Pasta

Adapted from: Savoury Simple

Time Taken: about twenty minutes

Ingredients:

Pesto

• 5-10 fresh mint leaves
• a small bottle of garlic paste
• 2 spring onions
• finely grated romano cheese

Pasta

• 400g of pasta
• the pesto from above
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 Cup of almond milk
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• extra romano cheese to serve
• water to cook the pasta in

Method:

Step 1. Put the water on the stove top to boil, then whiz together all the pesto ingredients in a blender until well combined.

Step 2. Once the water has boiled, put the pasta in and cook for around 12 minutes.

Step 3. While the pasta is cooking scrape the pesto into a small bowl. Add the avocado and lemon juice to the bowl and mash it all together.

Step 4. Drain the pasta after it has finished cooking then add in the almond milk and the pesto mix from the small bowl.

Step 5. Serve with some grated romano cheese sprinkled over the top.

DIY (sort of): Bullet Journal

Recently I have been hearing a lot about these things called 'bullet journals', where you write down a daily to-do list, and, honestly, I was not convinced it was something that would work for me. It seemed like such an annoying thing to set up, and I just couldn't see how it would be helpful. However I decided to look into them more since they seem to be so popular at the moment and thought I might as well try it out. I mean, the worst that could happen is I lose some time creating it, right?

And oh boy was I wrong! Since creating my bullet journal I have been using it every day, and it is really helping to keep me organised.

Below, I am going to talk you through my bullet journal to show you how it works and what I've done with it.

The main premise surrounding the bullet journal is that it is a collection for everything - a diary, to-do list, paper for those random things you need to write down, things you want to remember, sketching, shopping lists, etc.

Originally, you are supposed to draw up a monthly calendar in your bullet journal, however, I got this super cute diary from Kikki.k back in December, which there was no way in hell I wanted to give up usage of. So, I left that section out of my bullet journal.

For the bullet journal itself I'm using a basic notebook which has some tabs down the side. I would have used a nicer, notebook, but I didn't know if this system would work for me, and didn't want to use only two pages of an expensive journal.

I did consider categorising things through the tab system, but decided against it because it would end up far more complicated than it needs to be, and I would probably just end up ignoring the book altogether.

The front pages are for your contact details and the index. You number the pages as you go through the bullet journal and add everything to your index list as you go. I left a couple extra blank pages for my index after this because I thought I would fill it up pretty quickly.

Below are my first entries in my bullet journal. At the top of each page for each new month write which month and year it is. Then below, you simply begin your daily lists.

Just underneath this paragraph is a close-up photo of my key system, in case you need ideas, or want to know what the symbols I've used mean. (And yes, the 'E' symbol in the above photo has now been replaced with the '?')

Anything that I would normally have written on a random scrap of paper or on my phone I now write in my bullet journal.

For instance, the other day I was listing different revision techniques based on types of learner. Ordinarily I would have written this on some random piece of paper, which I probably would have lost the next day, but having it in my bullet journal means that it is easily accessible for me.

In the back of the notebook I stuck in a fold out paper of my key system. It's a bit hard to read because of the side tabs, but it still works okay for me.

The bullet journal is a pretty simple system to use and, so far, it seems to be working well for me. I would encourage you all to try it out yourself, even if it ends up not working, or not motivating you. I was dubious at first, but now I am really glad I gave it a go.

Wow, this post was much longer than I had intended it to be - so kudos if you read the whole thing! You can find more information on bullet journals here.

Little Places on the Internet

I'm not going to say much to introduce this post, because I think the premise is pretty self-explanatory. Basically just a small collection of links I have saved up to share with you all. I hope you enjoy exploring them!

1. Beautiful Colour Palettes

This page is pretty neat because it has 50 different colour palette ideas which can be used for pretty much anything - blog design, media use, etc. All you need to do is click on the title of the one you like and it will take you to a page with the colours' Hex and RGB values. It makes the design stage of whatever it is you're doing about 10 times faster.

2. DIY History

This is just about the most awesome website I have ever found. Basically, it's a place where you log onto and help the university transcribe old documents. The image is of a small selection of WW2 documents, but other topics include WW1, pioneer lives, recipe books, and Civil War diaries. If you are ever bored, or have a passion for history I would definitely go and check it out!

3. Everyday Carry

Sounds simple, and maybe a little odd, but this website posts photos and descriptions of what people are carrying with them in their bags. It's pretty cool, minus seeing the alarming number of people who carry weapons around with them like it's no big deal.

4. Coffitivity

Not much explaining to do on this one. It plays coffee shop sounds to give you the illusion of being in a cafe. It's really good for people who find background noise (but not necessarily music) helpful when studying.

5. Instructables

This website is pretty neat. It has enough craft and DIY tutorials to keep you occupied for days on end!

So dear readers, I hope that with a few websites to explore you don't get too bored this weekend. Have fun!

2015

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new year here at Apple Honey! A little while ago I was watching some videos by Kati Morton and in one of her journal topics she talked about coming up with a theme word for the year. Resolutions are hard to stick to, and I know that when I break them I just end up disappointed in myself. So instead I've decided to go with the theme word idea. The idea is that the theme word is specific enough to motivate you, but it also is able to give you freedom with how you interpret it in your day-to-day life.

In saying all of that my theme word for the year is:

I chose this word (after A LOT of thinking!) for many reasons, but I mainly liked it because, to me, it's about focusing on the good and on God. It's about letting go and finding peace, freedom. I tend to focus far too much on what I feel bad about, what I can't do, rather than what I'm good at and what successes I've had. To me, this is a really important aspect of self love and self care, so hopefully I will be able to 'live in the light' this year, so to say.

It reminds of that quote from Harry Potter:

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light."

Hmm maybe that sounds corny to you, but I'm sure that there is a little bit of corny in us all!

Happy new years to all my readers, and may 2015 be a wonderful year for you.

Quick Tips: Choosing What to Wear

Sometimes, there just isn't time the night before to decide what you are going to wear the next day. I have problems choosing what to wear to university all the time, so I thought I would share with you some things that help me.

Tip 1: Look at the weather forecast.

Tip 2: Take a photo whenever you wear a new outfit. Keep them altogether in a folder on your computer or phone and that way you can easily see outfit ideas, as well as when you wore an outfit last.

Tip 3: Use Polyvore. This is somewhat an alternative to tip 2. On polyvore you can create outfits and organise them into categories, as well as view outfits other people have created.

Tip 4: Organise your wardrobe by function, and by colour. This makes it ten times easier to find the kind of clothes you want to wear.

Tip 5: Have a quick go-to outfit for each weather condition. ie. One for rain, one for hot days, one for average days, one for freezing cold days, etc.