Triple Chocolate Cookies

So I was having a bit of a lazy day and I thought I'd make some cookies. I split the batch in half: half to go to my friend who's just started uni and half to James and his family. Later today, I found out that James didn't take the cookies home, he left them in his bag, took them to uni, and ate all of them but one. They must be good! I'm making some more tomorrow to take to my Grandma's and some for James's family so they can actually try them. I got this recipe from Nigella Express, it's my favourite cookie recipe so I thought I'd share my baking!

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C or gas mark 3. Line baking trays with grease proof paper. Makes 24 cookies.

Ingredients

• 125g dark chocolate
• 150g flour 
• 30g cocoa 
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• half teaspoon of salt 
• 125g softened butter 
• 75g light brown sugar 
• 50g white sugar 
• teaspoon of vanilla extract 
• 1 egg, cold from the fridge
• 350g of choc chips 

 Weigh out flour, cocoa, salt and bicarbonate in a separate bowl. 

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water.

In a bowl weigh out butter and two kinds of sugar.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add in the melted chocolate, dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

Using a ice cream scoop and a knife, scoop the mixture out into equal sized mounds on a baking tray.

Spread cookies out well on the baking tray as they'll spread as they bake.

Bake cookies for 18 minutes.

Enjoy your warm cookies with a glass of milk (chocolate milk would be dreamy)

(this recipe is not my own it is from Nigella Express)

My Second Scarf On Etsy

I finished my second scarf for Etsy yesterday. I've put it up on my etsy shop which I'll link at the bottom of this post and you can also see my etsy shop from the link on the right! I've started my next scarf already and I'm about a third of the way through. I'm knitting a grey scarf so it's uni sex.
I love knitting I find it really relaxing and it stops me from feeling guilty for watching so much television because I'm actually doing something while I sit on my bottom for hours.
P.s. How lovely is this jumper that James's sister gave me?! I'm in love with it. I love hand me downs too much!

My Etsy Shop

High Bun & Brogues

Shirt- ASOS

Dress- New Look

Bag- Mulberry 

Tights- Primark

Shoes- Topshop 

So today, I went shopping with James to buy more wool for my next knitting project. I finished my second scarf last night in front of Great British Bake Off. Love that programme, I am obsessed! Anyway, I decided to wear a dress I wore a little while ago to my Grandma's birthday out again. I'm too poor to afford new clothes so reworking them is my only option, which I'm seeing as a new challenge to tackle. I really love this dress, it's feminine and quirky, I bought it when I first started uni so I've got my money's worth out of it! The brogues I've been wearing everyday and I can't see myself stopping anytime soon. I think they dress up my outfit and match my Alexa. Finally I put the denim shirt on to make the dress look a bit more casual and to keep me from feeling cold (even though today is boiling).

Roman Holiday (1953)

While doing my knitting, I decided to watch Roman Holiday. It's a lovely film starring Audrey Hepburn made in 1953. Hepburn plays Princess Anne who is doing a tour of Europe with a very strict schedule, one night she decides she has had enough of being told what to do and she rebels. She sneaks away in the night and finds herself asleep on a public bench in Rome, where she meets a handsome man named Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck). He assumes she must be very drunk to have fallen asleep in the middle of the city. Bradley is a reporter from America working for a small newspaper in Rome. He takes Anne back to his house so she has somewhere safe to sleep and explains to her that he must be up early to cover the conference that the Princess is holding with the media in the morning. Little does he know he is talking to the Princess Anne herself.

I really enjoyed this film. Hepburn is stunningly beautiful throughout, it has a interesting storyline with plenty of funny moments thrown in for good measure. Lovely costumes and amazing scenery.  A good film for a lazy day.

Librarian Chic

Scarf- Nepal 

Dress- All Saints 

Laptop Bag- Etsy

Tights- Primark 

Shoes- Topshop

When I walked into uni, one of my friends called out to me and said, "you look like a librarian!", which I'm choosing to take as a compliment. I wore my new glasses as we had lectures first thing and I am properly in love with them. I wore a dress that James's mum gave me; it's a black woollen number and has cut out detail. I decided to take my new laptop bag I bought from Etsy with me, it has teacups printed on it, when I saw it on Etsy I knew it had to be mine. Also I wore my new brogues which I haven't taken off since I got them. I spent the whole day staring at them lovingly.

This Week Has Been....

This week has been....

• An exam, which I am dreading the result of, I tried my best so fingers crossed that I have passed! 
• A wedding, I attended the wedding of mum's lovely friend, Emma. She looked stunning! Wish I'd got some good pictures on my camera.
• A birthday party- it was one of my closest friend's birthday party, I had such a good time! Annoyingly, I forgot my camera. 
• My first day of my final year of nursing! Scary and exciting, only ten months until I'm qualified.
• A trip to hobbycraft which I am in love with. I wish I wasn't so poor, their collection of wool is astounding! 
• I baked my first batch of red velvets. I am now obsessed with them and want to make them every week. 
• Got new glasses! In the picture I am modelling them (badly).  

Lesson of the week is to always take my glasses and camera with me whether I go!! 

Today, I Will Be Mostly Wearing: New Glasses

Cardigan- All Saints (borrowed from James)

T shirt- All Saints

Skirt- Topshop 

Tights- Pretty Polly 

Shoes- Topshop

Bag- Cath Kidston 

Glasses- Tommy Hilfiger 

It was my first day back at uni as an official third year nursing student! We found out our qualifying date, June 19th 2012, how exciting/scary!! I wore my new brogues from Topshop with cable knit tights and just my usual skirt and t-shirt combo. Also I stole James's cardigan to wear to keep me warm. In other news I'm wearing my new glasses! I only need them for distance but it mean I'll probably be wearing them a lot, I watch a lot of television and drive all the time. (I got them today, yay!) Finally, I'm wearing my huge Cath Kidston bag so I can fit my laptop in their until I get my new case! 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Hello, so today I baked some red velvet cupcakes!  This is recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days Cookbook. I'd really recommend buying this book as it's full to the brim of great recipes. Here's a step by step of my attempt...

Ingredients 

120g of butter 

300g of caster sugar 

2 large eggs

20g cocoa powder

40ml red food colouring 

1 teaspoon vanilla teaspoon 

300g plain flour 

1 teaspoon of salt 

240ml of buttermilk 

1 tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider) 

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 quantity of cream cheese frosting 

Firstly, preheat the oven to 190 oc or gas mark 5.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs in one at a time into the mixture and mix.

Sift the cocoa into a bowl.

Add a whole bottle of red food colouring to the cocoa and mix until a smooth paste. I used silver spoon food colouring which is about 60p in Sainsbury's.

Mix the paste into to the butter, eggs and sugar mixture. 

Add half the flour and mix until throughly combined. 

Alternate flour and buttermilk until mixture is thick and throughly combined. 

Until it looks like this! I forgot to take a picture of the next part where you add a tea spoon of bicarbonate  soda to the vinegar until it fizzes then add into the mixture. 

Put into cases and bake! (Excuse my vintage baking tray, I'm a poor student.)

Ta-daaaa very red, red velvets. 

Topped with cream cheese frosting! 

A peak inside!! 

I will be mostly wearing: a beehive

Top- Primark

Skirt- Topshop 

Tights- Primark 

Shoes- Topshop 

Bag- Mulberry 

I decided to do my hair differently today!  I like having my hair in a beehive, it just makes a change from my high bun! I thought it dressed up my striped top and denim skirt. I wore this window shopping and to lunch with James.

Shopping and Starbucks

Yummy mozzarella panini. 

James tucking in! Panini cuteness. 

People watching in Starbucks. 

Shopping for Christmas! 

So James and I popped to Lakeside for a general wander and fantasy furniture shopping. I'm ridiculously poor at the moment, so it was purely window shopping. While in House of Fraser, looking at their shabby chic collection (which I am in love with), we stumbled across christmas decorations!! I am so excited for Christmas, so I loved looking at all the displays they had out, I can't believe it's nearly Autumn. We went for lunch at Starbucks as usual and just had a nice little shopping trip! 

Twitpics

Just thought I'd share some pictures I found on my twitter, I don't usually post my blackberry photos but I really like these.

1. My half up half down beehive 
2. Covent garden bunting
3. A cat sunning himself 
4. My favourite starbucks cookie 
5. Inside our camping pod 
6. Hugo driving the car
7. Flowers James bought me
8. Somerset House 
9. Yummy sour jelly beans
10. Reading blogs at uni 

(Only a quick post today has I've just had my big exam but will do a better one tomorrow)

A Day Out

1. A caramel hot chocolate with cream 
2. James having the best of both worlds 
3. Reading a books in Waterstone's 
4. Vintage Knitting Pattern book that I would like! 

It's an image heavy post today. James and I had eye tests this morning (we both bought amazing glasses, which I'll post about on Friday). After our appointments, we went for a wander round the town. I bought some make up; a matte dark pink lipstick and some foundation and we also had a pit stop at Starbucks, I can't resist a Starbucks when I see one. Finally we finished our trip at Waterstone's, I am completely obsessed, you can always find me thumbing through books in the baking and crafting section. I found plenty of amazing books I want, but if I bought them all I don't think I'd be able to afford petrol to get me to uni...

My Weekend

1. Revision- I've been studying for an upcoming exam which I am dreading! 
2. Listening to revision notes that I've recorded and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes 
3. Reading The Thrift Book by India Knight to get some crafty inspiration
4. Baking chocolate chip cookies 
5. Knitting like a mad woman. I find it relaxing. It's helping me de-stress about this exam

A-Z of Me

I've seen this going round on other blogs such as ijustmightexplode and srslyliz so I thought I'd join in the fun! 


A. Age: 19 years old.
B. Bed size: Single bed at my house, double at James's 
C. Chore that you hate: Washing up and hoovering. 
D. Dogs: I have two, a labradoodle called Otto and a little dog called Hugo. I love them so! 
E. Essential start to your day: A nice shower and checking my blackberry.
F. Favorite color: Brown, I love it! 
G. Gold or Silver:  Silver or the best of both worlds, white gold! 
H. Height: 5’4”
I. Instruments you play: None, I taught myself a little clarinet when I was younger but I'm not very good! 
J. Job title: In my last year of my nursing training, eeep. 
K. Kids: None, another eight years please! 
L. Live: Essex, England. And no, it's not like The Only Way Is Essex. At all. 
M. Mother’s name: Joanna
N. Nicknames: Ellie Wellie or Elle 
O. Overnight hospital stays:  A few months ago with pyelonephritis. 
P. Pet peeves: Loud chewing and people eating yoghurt in public, urgh! 
Q. Quote from a movie: "Nobody's perfect" - Some Like It Hot 
R. Right or left handed: Right handed
S. Siblings: None! But James's sister is pretty much like my honourary sister
U. Underwear: So old... but Marks and Sparks. 
V. Vegetable you hate: None, I love them all!! No wait, celery. Makes my skin crawl. ICK.
W. What makes you run late:  Eating breakfast and doing my hair 
X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, abdo and chest 
Y. Yummy food that you make: I make many a baked item and I love them! Also I make nice soup. 
Z. Zoo animal: Elephant, all the way

I Will Be Mostly Wearing: Modcloth

Dress- Modcloth 

Tights- Primark 

Shoes- Primark 

Bag- Mulberry 

So it's a dark and rainy Saturday morning and I'm dog sitting, so I thought I'd play dress up. It's one of my best friends' birthday soon and we're going out for a meal, I'd been looking for a dress for ages and I found this one online from Modcloth. I really like the colour and style so I thought I'd try it on this morning to see how it looked. I paired it with my Mulberry bag and some mid height mary janes. I think this is going to be what I wear as it's really comfortable and I love the pretty pattern.