Everyday Forgotten

Recipe: Scotch Pancakes (The Best Pancakes Ever!)

2012-02-21T12:28:00.000Z

Since it's pancake day today, I thought I would do the obvious thing and post a pancake recipe. I did one last year too for nutella and pear pancakes, but these are the ones that my mum has been making us since we were little, and nothing can beat these with a good drizzle of golden syrup.

Ingredients:

Makes around 12 pancakes

4oz plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder (i used about 2.5)

pinch of salt

1 oz sugar

1 egg

1/4 pint or 150ml milk

1oz melted margarine/butter (optional)

Method:

1. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, then add in the sugar.

2. Add in the egg then pour the milk in slowly while whisking.

3. Once the batter is made, add in the melted margarine (optional - to keep them moist) and give it a good whisk through to get rid of any bits. (if you want flavoured pancakes like cinnamon or lemon - add the ingredients in now)

4. Heat a pan on a low-medium heat (I kept it on almost the lowest heat possible since I tend to burn pancakes haha) and pour in a small amount of the mixture. Leave it to cook on one side till little bubbles/holes start appearing then carefully flip it over. Cook for another minute or so till the pancake is nicely browned.

5. Repeat with the rest of the mixture (I like to cook them one at a time so I don't burn them) then serve with a sauce of your choice.

Photo Diary: Week 14

2012-02-19T19:16:00.000Z

1. Valentines Day Balloon // 2. Valentines Roses // 3. Pretty Candles // 4. Pink Dragon Fruit // 5. Favourite Necklace // 6. New MAC Blushers // 7. Lunch with the best friend // 8. Ham, Cheese & Poached egg on toast // 9. Pancakes // 10. Nutella Hot Chocolate // 11. Mr Toff // 12. Old Records //13. Primark mini haul // 14. Forever 21 purchases // 15. Looking for fabric for a dress // 16. Figuring out how to use a sewing machine

So I didn't really do much this week. Me and Shane had a nice valentines day and he cooked me a lovely dinner which was nice for a change. Went out for lunch and shopping with one of my best friends and ended up buying two new blushers from MAC (I'm a blusher addict haha) and a few other bits and bobs - I'm thinking of making a haul video maybe - what do you guys think? I've been collecting The Art of Quilting magazines since they came out last month and I finally plucked up the courage to get the sewing machine out and figure out how to use it - its actually pretty easy, so I can't wait to use it some more when I attempt my first dress! Wish me luck haha! What have you guys been up to this week?

Things That Make Me Smile: Pretty DIY Inspiration

2012-02-17T23:30:00.000Z

1. Secret Storage Books // 2. Wall Baskets // 3. Chalkboard Window // 4. Cardigan Cushion Covers // 5. Tripod Lamp // 6. Peg Noticeboard // 7. Front Door Organiser

I've been going crazy on pinterest lately. I just love being able to save inspiration and collect images for future reference and one of my favourite things is home decoration and diy's. Shane and I currently still live at home with my parents at the moment, but we're hoping to move into our own house in the next year or so so I've been collecting a few ideas for when we do. I want our home to be really neutral, but also really homely and creative, so I just love all these ideas. I think I'm definately going to use some of these when we get our own place. Are any of you on pinterest? Let me know :)

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T15:53:00.000Z

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone is having a great day so far. Shane bought me some lovely roses and a trip to the spa (though we're not going for another 2 weeks) and tonight he's cooking us a lovely dinner and we're just going to cuddle up with some movies :) I can't wait! What are you guys doing for valentines day? So I thought I'd kinda dress for the occasion today, but to be honest, I don't really own too many red clothes so this is what I came up with! I think you'll be seeing a lot more of this headband - I just bought it yesterday and am in love with it! It's just so cute! :)

Top: Topshop // Cardigan: Mango // Shorts: New Look // Necklace & Headband: // Primark // Shoes: Minnetonka

Recipe: White Chocolate Pannacotta with Raspberry Sauce

2012-02-13T23:22:00.002Z

I must say, I'm not exactly a dessert person, but if there's pannacotta on the menu, I just have to get it - especially if it's served with a fruit coulis like rasberry or rhubarb. In case you're wondering what a pannacotta is, it's basically just creamy jelly. I love jelly, and I love anything creamy, so this is just the most perfect combination! I thought this would be a great idea for a dessert on Valentines Day, though I was supposed to post this earlier today. Let me know if you try it!

Ingredients:

500ml Double Cream

150ml Milk

100g White Chocolate

4 Gelatine Sheets

25g Sugar

Raspberries

Method:

1. Heat the double cream and milk up in a saucepan till almost simmering. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine sheets in cold water.

2. Add in the sugar and chocolate and turn off the heat. Stir till all the chocolate is melted. Leave it to cool for a couple minutes.

3. Add in the gelatine sheets and stir till it's all combined.

4. Pour into ramekins (makes about 6) and leave to cool till cold enough to put in the fridge.

5. Refrigerate for 3-5 hours or until set.

6. When the pannacotta is almost set, heat the raspberries in a saucepan and add enough sugar till the mixture is sweet enough. Crush the raspberries (you can strain them if you want, but I like the texture of them crushed), then leave to cool.

7. To serve, submerge the bottom half of the ramekins in a little warm water to loosen the pannacotta, then turn out onto a plate. Pour over the cooled raspberry sauce and enjoy!

Photo Diary: Week 13

2012-02-12T17:43:00.000Z

Free hot chocolate & marshmallows // Valentines window display // Sleepy Mr Toff // Sleepy Coffee // Couldn't decide what to wear // Pretty vintage rugs // You can buy peanut butter cups in uk now! // Making Nutella hot chocolate // Carbonara at Zizzi's // Aubergine Parmesan at Zizzi's // Table at Zizzi's // Zizzi's with Mum // White Stuff window display // Played badminton // Topshop // Topshop lipsticks // New notepad // Deciding where to go on holiday this year.

This week was a pretty good week :) Me and Mum went for lunch and shopping in our local market town which was really nice and saw some really cute window displays. Bought loads of new stuff this week too, though none of it was actually clothes haha! Hope everyone else had a great week and weekend. :)

Carry Me Home

2012-02-10T16:30:00.000Z

This is probably one of my favourite ever go-to outfits. I just love this skirt, probably because it is so easy to style and this top seems to make quite a few appearances too. We had a fresh dusting of snow last night which I was so happy about, though it was only about 2 inch's so not as bad as the other day but at least we got some more!

Top & Skirt: River Island // Cardigan: Mango // Belt: Primark // Necklace: Topshop // Boots: Dorothy Perkins

First Snowfall

2012-02-07T16:50:00.000Z

So this past weekend the majority of the UK finally got some snow! I've been waiting for it to snow all winter and I'm so glad we finally got some. It's been super cold the past couple weeks with it barely reaching above 2C so the snow isn't melting too quickly. I don't mind though, I love snow :). I don't like these boots though but they're pretty much the only shoes I own that are capable of going out in snow/rain without getting my feet soaked so they will just have to do for now haha!

Dress & Scarf: H&M // Cardigan: Topshop // Belt: Primark // Boots: Dorothy Perkins

Photo Diary: Week 12

2012-02-05T17:27:00.000Z

Smarties // Subway for Lunch // Amazing yogurts // Pork Pie and Branston Pickle // Recipe (febphotoaday - Day 2 (Words) // Making Cookies // Lunch with Mum at Bella Italia // Lush Purchases // Shopping in Lush // Lush Bath Bombs // Toffee's paws (febphotoaday - Day 3 (Hands) // Shane and Toffee snuggling // First Snowfall of winter // More snow!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've done a photo diary post! I never really have much time to go out and take photos with the DSLR, so when I was clearing out all my unused apps on my phone I found this photo app called My Tubo (practically the same as instagram just on Android) and I've kind of fell in love with it! I definately recommend if you have an android phone to download it if you're looking for something like Instagram - it's the best app I've found so far :)

Review: Bon Voyage, A Travel Journal

2012-02-04T09:27:00.000Z

When Shane and I went to Florida, I knew I wanted to keep a journal on the holiday since it was a pretty big holiday. When we went for a month long tour around Australia a few years ago, I just kept a diary in a notebook - which I've lost, so I wanted something a little more special. I saw Bee's post on this travel journal and knew it would be perfect for Florida so my parents bought me it for Christmas. It's honestly even better in real life haha! It's got so many different idea's and instructions throughout the journal such as "Describe the person in closest proximity to you right now" and the pages are just so cute with balloons, airplanes and boats that it's just so fun to write in. You also get 4 postcards too which I think is such a great idea. At the back it has a few pages for photo's on really awkward sized squares and a couple pages for names and addresses of friends you meet, but I think they could have done away with that and just put a few extra writing pages in, because I've ran out of pages to write the last day of the holiday haha! Overall, I think it's such a fun, cute journal and would definately recommend it to anyone going on holiday.

Who's That Girl?

2012-02-01T18:46:00.001Z

Ok so I'll just admit straight up that I pretty much copied Zooey's outfit from an episode of New Girl haha! I just love that show, and the fashion in it and fell in love with this outfit. The other day I got an email for a job interview and I had nothing to wear and whilst trying to find something on pretty much every site, I found this skirt which is similar to the one she wore so I thought, why not? Though I ended up not going to the interview in the end, at least I still have my Zooey outfit haha! :)

Blouse: ASOS // Skirt & Shoes: River Island // Cardigan: ASDA

January Favourites

2012-01-31T21:54:00.000Z

1. Sock Monkey & Gee // 2. A Fine Day For Sailing // 3. Selective Potential // 4. Lifesize Paperdoll // 5. Lulu Letty // 6. The Hummingbird Girls // 7. The Magpie Girl // 8. Jen Loves Kev // 9. Orchid Grey // 10. Violette Tannenbaum // 11. Liebemarlene // 12. Rouge Fox

So apparently, I've been loving black, grey and red this month which is really weird because I dont actually own many items these colours. I've also noticed that I've kind of gone off of florals a little too in these outfits and in my own which is kind of annoying since pretty much everything I own is floral print haha! What have you been loving this month?

Holiday Snaps: Day 6 - Magic Kingdom

2012-01-28T22:49:00.000Z

Magic Kingdom was probably our least favourite park of all the ones we went to. We actually only went because everyone was like "you can't go to Florida and not go to Magic Kingdom". We went on New Years Eve (such a bad idea) and planned on staying till midnight for the fireworks but we ended up leaving at 5 because we were just so exhausted and hot. It was way too busy to the point that the rides we actually wanted to go on had 3+ hour queues that were out of the queue lines - we even queued for 20 minutes for a frozen cola! We got on Space Mountain when we first arrived at the park at 8:30 and that was a 45 minute queue though the ride was amazing (probably one of my favourites of the holiday), then the Stitch's Great Escape, It's a Small World and Big Thunder Mountain though we were pretty dissapointed with them. I guess if it wasn't so busy we might enjoy it a little more but I've definately learnt, Christmas is not the time to visit haha! I definately want to visit again, though at a much quieter time haha!

Recipe: Chicken & Chorizo Gumbo

2012-01-27T23:07:00.000Z

This is one of my favourite dinners during the winter as it's just such a warming 'stew/casserole'. I like it served with some brown rice and loads of sauce to soak up into the rice. I guess you could even make it as more of a soup which would still be really nice if you wanted.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

4 Chicken Thighs

2 Chicken Drumsticks

400g Cooking Chorizo, sliced

4 Rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 teaspoon Cayenne

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Green Pepper, chopped

1 Yellow Pepper, chopped

3 Celery Sticks, chopped

3-4 Tablespoons Plain Flour

5 Garlic Cloves, thinly chopped

500g Sweet Potato, cubed into bitesize pieces

Teaspoon Dried Thyme

3 Bay Leaves

1-1.5ltr Chicken Stock

Method:

1. Coat the chicken with some salt, pepper and the paprika and cayenne. Heat up a large saucepan and add some olive oil and the chicken, chorizo and bacon and cook for around 10 minutes stirring every so often.

2. Take out the meat mixture and leave to sit. Add the onion, peppers and celery to the pan (using the juices of the meat mixture to cook it in) and cook until soft - around 10 minutes.

3. Once cooked, add the plain flour and stir until the mixture becomes a dark golden colour - this should take around 5-10 minutes depending on how dark you want it - though try to not burn it.

4. Add in the garlic, sweet potato and thyme and stir around for another minute or so, then add in the chicken stock and bay leaves. Stir to loosen the flour roux.

5. Add in the meat mixture and stir to mix up. Leave on a low heat for approximately 45 minutes or until the meat is cooked through and falls off the bone. Remove all the chicken from the pan, take it off the bone then add in the loose chicken pieces and mix it all up then serve.

(Recipe found in Jamie's America)

Woodland Sunshine

2012-01-26T17:24:00.000Z

This is one of my favourite outfits for a while. I just love the colours and the shorts - seriously though, I've been addicted to these shorts so much since we got back from Florida, that I've just been living in these and my berry colour ones. I just love it when there's so many remix options for something. I got this top when I went to Arizona back in June and I was so annoyed when I got it home and it shrunk a little in the wash (it did say handwash only and I kinda did put it in the washing machine - though on the handwash setting - and it still shrunk!) so I haven't actually worn it since, but it's not too bad. I'll just pretend its a cropped top ;).

Top: Forever 21 // Cardigan: ASDA // Shorts: New Look // Shoes: River Island

Little Black Dress

2012-01-23T17:28:00.000Z

I don't really have much to say today. I exchanged this dress last week for a skirt I bought just after I got back from Florida which I was unsure on. I've wanted a plain black dress for a while now but never found one I like. This one still isn't perfect but for £7.99 you can't really go wrong. I can't wait till it warms up a bit and I can wear it without a cardigan - it has mid length sleeves on it which is a first for me haha!

Dress, Cardigan & Belt: H&M // Shoes: Minnetonka // Necklace: Primark

Mixing Things Up

2012-01-18T15:19:00.000Z

I've been trying to mix my wardrobe up a bit lately since I tend to wear the same things over and over again till I find something new to wear repeatedly and I haven't worn this skirt or top in months so I decided to style them up. I think my favourite way I've ever worn it was in this post from last February. I also noticed in my new years recap post, that the majority of my favourite outfits are skirt combo's rather than dresses, so I've been trying to come up with more ways to style my skirts (and shorts) since I feel like I don't wear them enough. Do you have any 'style resolutions' for the new year?

Top & Belt: H&M // Skirt & Necklace: Topshop // Cardigan: Mango // Bag: Accessorize // Shoes: River Island

Holiday Snaps: Day 4 - Islands of Adventure

2012-01-15T21:40:00.002Z

I think of all the parks we visited (other than Aquatica) Islands of Adventure was definately our favourite - even though we couldn't even get into the Harry Potter section. They closed the whole section off and you had to get tickets to get in - the wait for just the tickets was 3 hours, then there was a 2 hour queue for the main ride once you got in! It was so crazy and we figured by the time we got through it would have been 10pm so we decided to just leave it and go on some other rides instead. The rides were so much more fun than the rides at the other parks that we'd visited so far and made it kinda feel more worth the wait (it's a lot easier if you're a group of 2 aswell, we always got called forward to fill the rides out haha). We went on Jurassic Park thinking it was rapids - it wasn't! We got such a shock at the end hahah, though we did eventually find some rapids which were really good. I'd definately recommend if you visit Orlando - you have to go to Islands of Adventure! :)

Holiday Snaps: Day 3 - Universal Studios

2012-01-14T18:00:00.000Z

So Universal Studios was probably our least favourite park of all, though I don't know if thats just because it was so busy that we didn't really have the patience to experience it properly or if it just wasn't our cup of tea haha! In the whole day we went on 3 rides - E.T., Twister and Jaws. They were all pretty dissapointing especially after waiting for almost 2 hours in the queue. We really wanted to go on the Simpsons and the Mummy rides, but they had 3 hour queue's and we'd pretty much drove each other insane by the time we got to them haha! It was also the coldest day, so we decided to just leave early and go to the cinema and watch the new Sherlock film (which I fell asleep in!). Overall, it just wasn't a good day haha! If any of you have been to Universal, what did you think of it - I'd love to know!?

P.S. Sorry for the massive smear on the first few photos, we didn't realise there was a fingerprint on the lense till later that day :(

Five Degrees

2012-01-13T21:18:00.002Z

Just as Shane and I were talking about how mild the winter has been so far, it goes and chills right down to 5C haha! It was soo cold, but anyway... I never actually wear this top or cardigan - they're just kind of hidden at the back of my wardrobe but when I found the top today, I really wanted to style it up and I quite like what I came up with. When I first bought it, I literally used to wear it with jeans and a blue cardigan - every. single. time! It's so weird to think how much my style has developed now! Oh and I just bought these shoes the other day - I love them and such a bargain for £10! :)

Top: Topshop // Cardigan, Skirt & Belt: H&M // Necklace: Primark // Shoes: ASDA

Winter Berries

2012-01-11T16:20:00.000Z

I don't know why but everytime I see this outfit, it just reminds me of berries! While we were in florida (and since we've got back), I basically lived in these shorts (and my other pair of tan ones which are the exact same). It's so weird because I'm not usually one to wear shorts but I just love these, and they are so comfy too. It's a shame I couldn't get any outfit photos while we were out there, but we were just too busy enjoying the holiday. Hope everyone's having a great week so far!

Top & Scarf: H&M // Cardigan: ASDA // Shorts: New Look // Bag: Accessorize // Shoes: Minnetonka

Holiday Snaps: Day 2 - Seaworld

2012-01-09T19:38:00.000Z

We weren't actually planning on going to Seaworld at all as it didn't really interest us and we planned to go shopping instead. Since we didn't have a car and to get to and from the mall was going to be too confusing than we could be bothered, we decided to just catch the I-Ride trolley (we stayed on International Drive) and go down to Seaworld instead. Turns out, it was probably our favourite park and day haha! We got to watch all the shows apart from the Sealion and Otter one as we decided to get lunch at the same time as the last show. The shamu show was by far my favourite (I took a few videos of it so I might make a video of all the parks sometime). Also, how cute are penguins?! Ahh man, I just wanted to take some home haha! I love how you can interact with the animals like the rays (they're soo slimey!) and dolphins and you get to feed them too - the sealions were hilarious, especially when the birds kept stealing the fish haha!

Holiday Snaps: Day 1 - Epcot

2012-01-08T23:13:00.000Z

*Sorry for the overload of photos - it was so hard to choose just a few!*

So I was actually debating posting photos from our holiday to Orlando, but I asked on twitter and a few people said they wanted to see them, so why not? I was going to post them in 2 day blocks, but it was sooo hard to choose a few from each day so I'll probably just recap each day instead - sorry if you get a little sick of seeing them haha!

So the first day we went to Epcot. It actually wasn't as good as we expected it to be, though we didn't really stay for that long to check everything out because we were still a little jet lagged. It's amazing how they do everything there - we thought Spaceship Earth would be really boring, but it was actually really good looking back at history (everything was so life like too). It was really good seeing the different interpretations of the cultures too, though I have to say, Great Britain looked nothing like actual Great Britain haha, we were like "Whattt? This is nothing like England haha!". It was funny seeing the crowds of people taking pictures of letter boxes and phone booths though. I'd probably say that my favourite area was Morocco - the food was amazing there too. Oh and we basically lived off those frozen lemonade and cola drinks- they were delicious!

2011 Recap

2012-01-05T17:13:00.000Z

January // February

March // April

May // June

July // August

September // October

November // December

So here are my favourite outfits of 2011! I honestly cannot believe how fast 2011 went. It was so strange looking through my outfits of each month and seeing how my style has developed. For the beginning few months it was so easy to pick a favourite, but for the last few, especially November I just couldn't pick just one outfit to choose. I can't wait to see how my style develops this year now!

December Favourites

2012-01-04T21:00:00.001Z

1. Jen Loves Kev // 2. Keiko Lynn // 3. Flattery // 4. Selective Potential // 5. Kendi Everyday // 6. Sock Monkey and Gee // 7. Miss Pandora // 8. Honeybunny in Wonderland // 9. Natalie off Duty // 10. Kenzie Faith // 11. Calivintage // 12. Delightfully Tacky // 13. Fancy Treehouse // 14. A Fine Day for Sailing // 15. Laughing with Broken Eyes

First off I just want to say that I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year! For those that didn't know, Shane and I went to Orlando, Florida for a week over Christmas and New Year (which was amazing) so I got a little behind on blogging. I was actually supposed to have this and my year's recap post scheduled before we left, but I was so busy with work overtime, spending time with family before we left and packing that I never got the chance, so they're a little late haha! Expect a few more posts this week whilst I catch up! :)