Cake & Cookies

As I don't really do getting dressed on Sundays if it's not strictly necessary, there won't be an outfit post today. Unless there is a huge demand to see me in pj's and a stripy Primark hoody? No, thought not.

So moving swiftly on, today I have done some baking. I love to mess about in the kitchen but since moving house (the old one had an enormous kitchen, the one in this house is absolutely tiny) and especially since being on the diet, I've been baking a lot less. But I can get around the lack of space by washing up as I go along (groan!) and I'm at the stage where I trust myself and my willpower not to eat everything I cook. So I made:

Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake

This is so easy to make but you do need quite a bit of time to deal with the topping. Tastes absolutely delicious, even when made with dairy free ingredients - I make virtually everything with Vitalite and soya milk, we don't have any normal stuff in the house!












Cake
6oz (175g) butter, softened
6oz (175g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
Grated rind of 2 oranges (yes, there are 3 in the photo - I ate the other one)
6oz (175g) self-raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons milk

Topping
Juice of two oranges
4oz (100g) granulated sugar
2oz (50g) milk or plain chocolate. I used plain.



Set the oven to 180 C/350 F/ Gas Mark 4.
If you're using a normal tin (either loaf or round), grease and line the tin. If you've got some wonderful silicone bakeware (mine is Le Crueset, courtesy of some online surveys) use that instead, no greasing needed!
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then add the eggs and beat well.
Add the orange rind, flour and milk and mix together with a wooden spoon.
Turn into the tin, smooth the top down and bake for 30-40 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
Take it out of the oven and leave to cool.









Once it's cool, score the top, like so:




Then for the topping!

Put the sugar and orange juice together in a pan and heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved. Boil for 1-2 mins, then remove from the heat and pour over the cake.

Leave this to soak in and melt your chocolate. The recipe calls at this stage for removing the cake from the tin before you put the chocolate on but as I don't have a suitable container, mine is staying in the tin for now. I go for a drizzle effect with the choc but you can make any pattern you so wish. Et voila, the completed cake:






And as I had half a bar of choc left over and some time on my hands whilst I was waiting for the cake to be ready for the drizzling stage, I whizzed up some dark choc and stem ginger cookies to take into tea break at work tomorrow:

Reasons to be cheerful

1) It's Friday, therefore yay! Ok, so I am in work tomorrow and therefore only get half a weekend, but tonight I have a bottle of Prosecco in the fridge, risotto cooking for dinner and a thoroughly chilled out evening planned.

2) I lost 3lbs this week so that makes a stone lost since 1st Jan. Woop!

3) The Irregular Choice shoes arrived yesterday and oh my, I am smitten. The camera (as per usual) isn't showing them to their best advantage - they're such a wonderful rich shade of red. And pink velvet lining, just too brilliant. I think they're going to be sort of shoes that you put on and instantly find your mood lifted.



4) Post! I love getting things in the post (well, not boring stuff obviously). Today's fun stuff consisted of Horse & Hound magazine, a book that I'd totally forgotten I was being sent and a parcel chockfull of loveliness from the wonderful Char (dinoprincesschar.blogspot.com)

5) The evenings are getting so much lighter recently. It seems as if things have dramatically improved over just the past couple of days. It's sooooo nice not to have to walk from work to the car in the dark anymore.

6) I had a great time at my favourite cinema (www.fact.co.uk) last night as Dad and I went to see the mighty Mark Kermode give a talk. Front row seats too! Dad, being the generous and wonderful soul that he is, treated me to this:








As you can see, tis now a signed copy! I was a bit too bashful to ask for any kind of witty dedication but he shook my hand and we had a lovely conversation about the genius of Mary Poppins and some random French horror film. Such a friendly, warm man - we were right towards the end of a long queue and he was still so charming to us.

7) I felt quite nice today. Outfit consisted of:



Leggings - Evans
Top - Dorothy Perkins
Heeled brogues - New Look
Hairband - a piece of ribbon formerly used to tie up a Lush gift box.

I do seriously adore this top. So comfy, a beautiful print and in my favourite colour. It is perhaps a teensy bit short but what the heck. And as I managed to chop my feet off in the photo, here's a closeup of the wonderousness of the shoes (and not-so wonderous baggy tights!)




What's cheering you up tonight?

The problem with jeans...

is that I'm starting to wonder whether they really suit me. I've lived in them for years but recent photos are making me wonder. You probably can't even tell in this photo (I really am sorry for dodgy camerawork but I'm seriously considering getting a new one as this current beast is driving me demented). I think it all just blurs into one, too much black.



Black velvet blazer
Sepia spooky print tshirt - Dorothy Perkins
Jeans - ditto
Black boots - Evans
Grey cableknit scarf - Next clearance store
Grey Fairisle mittens - Matalan



Wore my hair up today which I haven't done for a while - sort of scruffy and loopy but I quite like it.




Perhaps I'm just wearing them with the wrong things? Today's outfit looks ok in the mirror (I would like the jacket to be a slightly better fit as it's a tad too big now) but I feel all out of proportionally pear-shaped and huge in the photos. All my jeans are bootcut which I always thought was meant to balance things out but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick here. And weirdly I think my legs look alright in leggings or tights so why so awful here? Perhaps I should ban tops and jackets that finish at my waistline.

Any thoughts girls? All constructive comments welcome! Wish I wasn't so hopeless at knowing how to dress.

ps - tomorrow's entry will feature the beautiful new shoes, hurrah!

Roll on March...

I loathe February. I know January is meant to be the gloomiest month of the year but honestly, there's never anything to look forward to in Feb. Shelling out for car insurance and breakdown cover and paying off the credit card has left me skint, I don't feel like the diet is going particularly well and work is AWFUL. My to-do list is currently running at 5 pages long and it all needs doing by 27th February when we open to the public. I have been on the verge of tears all day. I find it so hard to cope with all the stress and working till stupid o clock every night and the constant demands and lack of support from some of my colleagues. So please hurry up March, you can't come too soon!

When I feel this miserable I need comfort and cosiness in my clothes. I need a big cosy cardi or my familiar old jeans - I don't have the energy to try on outfits and try in vain to find something that looks good and then worry all day about whether it's too revealing or unflattering for a fattie to wear. But looking on the positive side, this tshirt hasn't fitted for about 4 years and the jeans are now ridiculously large (they look a wee bit baggy in this pic but I've had to keep hoicking them up all day)



Jeans - Dorothy Perkins
Tshirt - http://www.balconyshirts.co.uk/
Cardi - Tesco
Bangle - whipped from the charity shop pile - can't believe Mum was going to get rid of it!


And a close up of the tshirt logo:

Rummaging and ribbons

Today's rather 80's inspired ensemble can be seen (if you squint hard enough) below:



Spearmint coloured v neck top is from Dorothy Perkins, grey sleeveless jumper (I'm tempted to think of it as an elongated tank top but that's probably a fashion faux pas of the highest order) from Primark, black leggings from Evans and black suede pixie boots also from Evans. And the belt, ah the belt. This was bought on an utter whim so long ago that I really can't remember where it's from but I've never managed to find anything to wear it with. I found it on a rummage through my chest of drawers this morning and it's brightened my day right up. I love it so. Here, have a close up so you can admire the beauty of it:



And today's earrings which I'm also rather fond of:




ps - I bought the shoes. I was battling the urge to get them (I seriously have no money till 25th) but then appeared £56 interest on my ISA. Would have been rude not to spend it on shoes, surely?

Monday Blues

Well I'll start this one off with apologies for the quality of my camerawork. I seriously need to learn how to take some better photos of myself (and ones that don't involve me looking like a double chinned weirdo!). However with that said, get a load of me being brave enough to post an actual photo of myself!



Today's outfit consists of black tights, black leggings (not warm enough at work to just wear tights), a tunic/smock type thing (very old - I used to wear it as a top in my larger days) and a bargaintastic cosy black cardi from the Next clearance store near where I work. The blue of the top doesn't really show up too well in the pic but it's quite vivid so I kept the rest of the outfit simple. All paired up with these rather sweet black suede heels that I rediscovered in the bottom of my wardrobe



I'm now off to catchup on some Project Runway and ponder purchasing these beauties:

Duvet Day

I spent most of my youth (aged 9-18) working in a riding stables on Sundays. 8am-6pm, fair or foul weather, I was always there. And despite it being 8 years since I left there to go to uni, I have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that Sundays should be productive days. I always feel vaguely naughty when I spend the day doing nothing. You know what though, I need some peace at the moment. February is hell on wheels at work and I'll be working 6 or 7 days a week for the rest of the month. Today is my day and I'm going to be as lazy as I please.

For starters I'm not getting dressed. What's the point? I love pj's and as I'm spending the day mostly in bed there seems very little point getting dressed. I've put some socks on - does that count?



As you can tell from the blog title, I don't approve of matching socks. I like pattern and quirk when it comes to my socks and I can get twice as much in by wearing them odd.


So, what could be nicer than this? A big cosy bed, a cinnamon & sugar Yankee candle burning and making the room smell delicious, a vase of cheerful daffodils on my chest of drawers and a rather handsome ginger cat keeping me company.



And to occupy my lazy Sunday afternoon:



This weekend's books are (L-R): the truly fluffy Partners in Crime by Alicia Scott, Home to Roost by Deborah Devonshire, England's Best Loved Poems by George Courtauld and The Foundling by Georgette Heyer.

Before I get relentlessly mocked for reading Mills & Boon, Alicia Scott is otherwise known as Lisa Gardner and she writes brilliant crime fiction. After a spot of Wikipedia-ing I discovered the start to her writing career, tracked this down and you know what, it's not that bad. Obviously not that good either but for a short lighthearted read it's quite fun. Home to Roost is a collection of writing by Deborah Devonshire (aka the Duchess of Devonshire and before her marriage, Debo Mitford). I am a huge fan of all things Mitford related and she's got such a lovely practical, down to earth style of writing. There's a fab article on tiaras in this book! I'm dipping in and out of the poetry book - I've made the decision to try and read more poetry this year as it's a genre that I've totally passed by and this seemed like a nice entry into it. And The Foundling. Ahhhh, Georgette Heyer puts up a strong fight to be considered my favourite author. This isn't my favourite of her books but I'm reading it as I'm a member of a Heyer discussion list and this is January's book. Tut tut, I should have finished it in January rather than getting sidetracked by the bajillions of other books on my shelves. I think I appreciate more about this book each time I read it.

Oh and let's not forget the knitting. I decided to learn to knit last Easter hols and, well, progress has not been swift since then. I made what I thought was a logical decision to create a blanket out of many squares in many shades of green. Gives me a chance to learn a few new stitches and squares must be the easiest thing in the world to knit, no? I don't think I quite realised that a blanket will have to be made up of a lot of squares and at my current rate of progress it will probably be finished sometime around my 40th birthday. But let's not be despondent. This square is stocking stitch and the pattern is jolly pleasing. And once I'd got past the casting on stage (which for some reason I find extraordinarily difficult) I'm making quite good progress.


And if you've read all this rambling then you deserve a medal. Well done you!