Veggie Garden

Vegetable gardens. You may think they're easy and the only thing to it is putting some plants in the dirt and watering them every so often, but oh no, there is so much more to it than that (as I have discovered the hard way). Here's the thing - all my grandparents having a flair for gardening. And not just vegetables, but everything - flowers, veggies, fruit, and all other plants. These genes however, apparently did not get passed on to my parents, or to my sister and I. Whilst we all love the idea of having a little veggie patch out the back, and eating home grown veggies, it's just never really happened (successfully). We have tried and failed with plants more times than I can count, but this time we are determined to succeed.

So, to start us out, my dad built a planter box, which is really quite big. We filled it with pipes, sand, dirt, waterproof liners - the full deal. He even managed to make it so that we only have to water it every couple of weeks.

There is still a little more room in the planter box, but so far we have planted:

• Carrots (mulitcoloured and regular)
• Spring Onion
• Lettuce (salad mix)
• Capsicum
• Chives
• Lemon Basil
• Rosemary
• Parsley
• Oregano
• Thyme

Storm was most intrigued as to what was going on, and actually poked her nose outside for a look.

I am so hoping that we can pull off this veggie garden this time around, and so far so good. This weekend is the farmer's market and there's a stall there which sells these cute little labels for veggie gardens, so hopefully we'll be able to pick up some of those while we're down there.

If you have tried gardening before, or have any tips on how to grow veggies successfully, feel free to drop a comment below!

Farmhouse Sultana Cake Recipe

Life has been a little busy lately, so this has been the first time I've been able to do any baking in the last couple of weeks. So, with the house to myself for the day I set about flicking through recipe books, and found a few recipes I wanted to try out, this being one of them. Now, my mother has made this sultana cake for the family a few times, but I had never tried it myself. And I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at it!

Although this cake is a savoury based one, it's still delicious, and is one of the few sultana cake recipes I actually enjoy. Hopefully you will all enjoy it too!

Farmhouse Sultana Cake

Time Taken: 20 minutes +cooking time

Makes: 1 large cake, or 2 small ones

Ingredients:

• 500g sultanas
• water
• 250g butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Method:

Step 1. Put sultanas in an saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 5 minutes, then strain off water. Add the butter & sugar to the sultanas and stir well.

Step 2. In a bowl, mix together oat bran, flour, baking powder, & salt.

Step 3. Lightly beat the eggs. Then, add eggs alternately with flour mixture into the fruit.

Step 4. Add both essences to the mixture and stir. Then, pour into a cake tin lined with baking paper.

Step 5. Bake the cake at 175°C for 1 hour, then reduce the temperature to 130°C and bake for a further 30 minutes.

NB. If you're going to make two smaller cakes, cook for 15 minutes less on each of the times.

And that's about it. I particularly like this recipe because there's no icing, or topping to fiddle around with at the end, when all you do is want to try a slice. This cake tastes beautiful served either warm or cold.

Let me know what you think!

Twenty Self Care Ideas

Self care is something that I believe is so important for everyone, no matter what you've been through. And what is exactly is self care, I hear you say? Well, dear readers, self care is the time you take, away from all your daily struggles, to look after yourself. It provides us with the 'time out' periods we all need, even if we don't want to admit it. I believe that self care time is necessary because it keeps us at our best, so we can keep up with our work, families, and everything else we have going on. Today I am going to share with you my top 20 self care ideas.

1. Get an early nights sleep

2. Have a bubble bath

3. Meditation with the lights dimmed

4. Yoga or stretching

5. Trying out new hairstyles or makeup

6. Paint your nails

7. Watch a comedy tv show, or shows you loved as a kid

8. Sit down with a cup of tea and read a book

9. Take a night off cooking and order takeaways

10. Do some exercise - get out and run, or go for a swim or bike ride

11. Create a personal affirmation

12. Write about how you've been feeling. It doesn't have to be any good, as long as you're writing something.

13. Listen to an audiobook

14. Go for a walk with your camera and take some photos

15. Call up a friend and plan an outing

16. Eat some comfort food

17. Play a game you love. It doesn't matter whether it's a card game, video game, or board game.

18. Explore the quiet place (links are at the very bottom of the page)

19. Go on a picnic, even if it's just in your back garden, or living room

20. Do something creative - art journal, bake, paint, make something.

Whilst this list holds many ideas of things you can do as self care it is by no means complete, so feel free to make a list of your own. And share with me in the comments what things you like to do as self care x

Quick Tips: Motivating Yourself to Study

Ever feel like your studies are dragging you down into a bottomless pit of homework that you aren't motivated to get out of? Don't worry, you are not alone. Everyone feels like this at some point in their lives, and since the school year is beginning to start up and the university semester will be starting soon (well, here in Australia anyway), I thought it might be beneficial for my readers who are studying to know how they can motivate themselves to study and try their hardest at whatever it is they are doing.

Tip 1. Make sure you are doing something you enjoy, or something that you know will help get you where you want to go. I know this can be hard if you are still at school and don't get much say in which classes you take, but at least choose your electives based on what you love.

Tip 2. Use cute stationery. Maybe it's just me, but I find that cool pens, diaries, and even websites, help me get in the mood to do some work.

Tip 3. Look through study blogs. Tumblr has plenty of them. Have a look here.

Tip 4. Set yourself rewards. For example: 'If I do this reading I can watch that episode', 'If I write 500 words of my essay I can have a piece of cake'.

Tip 5. Figure out your learning style and cater your study techniques towards that. Not everybody can sit at their desk and concentrate for 45 minutes, not everybody can easily understand things without listening to someone talk about them. Emma Blackery made a really useful video on study techniques, which I would definitely recommend you go check out.


Motivation can be hard to find, but once you have it, don't let it go. It isn't always easy to feel inspired about your studies, you can feel stuck studying the basics when all you want to do is the in-depth stuff, but the more you care about your work, the more motivated you will become.

I hope you are all finding this series a useful one, whether or not you connect with all of the posts. If you have any ideas for more topics for this series let me know in the comments!

Butterfly Cupcakes Recipe

You see these cupcakes right here? Party food of my childhood. If these cakes were at a party I went to, I would be at the food table, just eating them. And it wasn't just me, everyone else loved these cakes too! Even now I can't work out what the appeal was. I mean sure, they are rather delicious, but what makes them so special? Is it simply just the fact that the cakes are super light and fluffy, lathered in cream and jam, with cute 'butterfly wings' sitting on the top? Or is there something more?

Either way, I can't give you a definitive answer, but what I can give you is the best recipe I have ever found for baking these little beauties. And, bonus? It's super simple, so it's a great recipe for kids, or people who haven't done much baking before.

Butterfly Cakes Recipe

Taken From: My Little Afternoon Tea Book

Time Taken: 30 minutes

Makes: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 240g softened butter
• 290g caster sugar
• 370g self raising flour
• 250ml milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup thickened cream, whipped
• raspberry jam
• icing sugar (to sprinkle)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and line 24 muffin tin holes with paper cases. Beat the butter, sugar, flour, milk, and eggs together until the mixture is smooth and pale. Then, evenly divide the mixture into the muffin cases. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

After the cupcakes have finished baking and have cooled, cut a shallow round out of the tops. This can be done using a spoon to scoop it out. Then, cut each of the rounds in half. Spoon some whipped cream into each hole in the cupcakes, then place the cut out rounds of the top to make the butterfly wings. Place a small dollop of jam in between the wings. To finish, dust the cakes with icing sugar. 

These cakes are best eaten on the day they are made, but will keep fine for a couple of days.

My Favourite 8 Tracks Mixes

I think that music is so important in people's lives these days, and as I am sure you all know by now, I cannot get enough of it. Music can be beautiful, and can tell stories even without words. It can help you focus, or it can get you in the mood to dance. Music is literally one of the most versatile things we have, and I think that's pretty darn cool. Anyway, enough of the corny ranting... As I have probably mentioned before, 8tracks is a fabulous way to find new artists and bands. Today I am going to give you a bit of an overview of six of my favourite playlists on 8tracks.

1. the forgotten tavern

This playlist has got to be the one I have listened to the most. It features celtic, medieval, and old folk music, and being someone who is fascinated with history and fantasy, this playlist creates the perfect combination.

Listen here.

2. |dauntless|

Okay, I admit it, I am an absolute sucker for the post-apocalyptic-kind-of genre, and the Divergent series falls right into that. There are plenty of playlists that have been made for all the factions of this series, but this has to be my absolute favourite.

Listen here.

3. revolution: {juliet}

Getting into a new tv show means finding new fanmixes related to my favourite characters. This playlist is based on the character of Juliet from the show Lost, and for some reason I feel as though it suits her really well. It just seems so... her. You get me? It's worth a listen even if you aren't into the show.

Listen here.

4. Making Music With Portals

Portals is my favourite game that I have ever played. I think it's partly because the only characters are both female, and partly because it ties in so beautifully to that post-apocalyptic genre I was talking about before. This playlists consists mainly of remixes, and it's not the kind of music I would normally listen to, but it's been done well, and makes me laugh a bit at the turret voices in some songs.

Listen here.

5. My Wonderland is Shattered

If you read my post on my fandom baking day, you will know that I love Alice in Wonderland. I can't even pinpoint why exactly this is. Maybe it's the fantasy world, maybe it's the madness. Either way, I think this playlist pins down well the elements of insanity in the story.

Listen here.

6. I need to focus

Because studying is such a big part of my life (a big part of a lot of people's lives) I am a little in love with finding study playlists that help me to focus and get on track. This is one of the best ones I have found on 8tracks and when I'm studying, or writing an essay for university, I will listen to it over and over. Just like the title claims, it helps me to focus and get into 'study mode'. All the music on this playlist are instrumentals, and I think that really helps me with concentration. I simply cannot concentrate on studying when a song with lyrics comes on.

Listen here.

So, go and check out these playlists! Make an account of your own to save them, or to create your own mixes to share with the world!

You can find me on 8tracks here.