The Week In... Music (14.4.14)

Despite being a self-proclaimed band whore, I have to say that the Kaiser Chiefs always hold a bit of a soft spot in my heart.

I know I had a couple of their singles on my first ever iPod (all the way back in 2006) and I was listening to their first to albums on repeat for a fair while. But as my music collection expanded they got pushed onto the back burner. Thanks to limited memory, the eventually phased of my music digital music collection completely in favour of the likes of My Chemical Romance during what I can now only call 'The Skinny Jean Phase'.

But! They've made their glittering return to my music as of late, and I'm a very happy lady for it. The scariest moment came the other day when I realised that their first album, Employment came out almost 10 years ago and I still remember it so clearly! I feel old!!

So what's the word on the Kaiser Chiefs? They've got character and some great varied music. Even my mum's got a lot of love for Ricky Wilson after his stint on The Voice.
As for the actual music, I say go straight for Employment. Their music is brilliant but that album (in my opinion) is nothing short of bloody blinding.

As for individual songs, here's a couple of my favourites:

Employment : I Predict a Riot, Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less and Less
Yours Truly, Angry Mob : Everything Is Average Nowadays, The Angry Mob *,
Off With Their Heads: Kids on the Street (admittedly I don't have the whole album but the song and the video are great)
Education, Education, Education & War: Coming Home

*Listen out for the 'get a shopping basket wrapped round your head' line. Makes me laugh every time for some reason

Vodka & Earl Grey on Tumblr

Banana Bread

So about this banana bread I keep rambling on about...

I meant to take some nice pictures of it while I was making it and put a proper post together, but that didn't happen sadly.
Well, I was on a bit of an adrenaline kick; I'd just cycled 7 miles, the weather was gorgeous and I really, really wanted a bit of cake. So I got a little over-enthusiastic.

I did get one work in progress photo:

but all that really proves is that I made a mess of the kitchen.

And so without further ado, I give you proof that I actually made banana bread:

The picture's not the prettiest, but that's all we have left of the cake.  I think says quite a lot about the positives of the recipe, especially because:

1. Me and my Dad don't actually like bananas (but we'll happily eat this for some reason)

2. My Mum has the most self discipline when it comes to food out of any of us and she's had a go at it

So now for the important bit.

The very lovely recipe can be found here on Pinterest, as well as a little tutorial on how to oven-ripen bananas.

That's all for now, but there'll be some fabric painting over the weekend that I'd most definitely like to share with everyone.

'Til next time!

Vodka & Earl Grey on Tumblr

7.4.14 The Week In...

Books

So besides studying Graphics, we had to choose optional modules at the start of the year to make up all of our credits. Since there weren't any extra Graphic Communication modules to choose I went for an Archaeology module (cheerily named Bones, Bodies and Burials: The Archaeology of Death).

It meant a lot of extra grief (i.e more work, an essay and an exam) but I found it really interesting, especially the Neanderthals and our involvement as two species. And so whilst procrastinating between revision (archaeology revision, I'll have you know) I came across this book, The Origin of Our Species by Chris Stringer (published as Lone Survivors in the US). It was delivered about 10 minutes ago, so nothing to say so far but I'm very excited to get my hands on it.

(And of course, it's a Penguin so the cover's lovely too)


Music

Depending on how I'm feeling I tend to go through music 'trends' and listening to one artist a lot for a while, then finding another one and eventually coming back to an artist (or as my best mate says, being a music whore).

The music of the moment is Frank Turner, who seems to have become the soundtrack to my revision sessions this week. After going through the usual (Bastille, The 1975) I pulled Poetry of the Deed out of the cupboard and I have to say I forgot how good an album it is. The music's pretty folky and lyrical so right up my street.

If you fancy giving it a go, here are my favourites from each album:

Reasons Not to be an Idiot from Love, Ire and Song
The Road from Poetry of the Deed (also the first Frank Turner song I heard)
Peggy Sang the Blues from England Keep My Bones
The Way I Tend to Be from Tape Deck Heart (haven't heard all of this album, but this is my favourite so far).


TV & Film

Image can be found here

How could it not be? We've ben waiting long enough for it!

 Me and my Dad were lucky for the last series in that we caught up on Series 1 and 2 in the fortnight leading up to the premiere of Series 3, so didn't have too long to wait. This time though...not so lucky. Mind you, I've kept myself busy reading the entire series just in time for Series 4 and let me just say, this series is going to be good. 

Food

In the millefeuille post yesterday, I mentioned my evil plan for the leftover pastry.

That was of course making croissants for breakfast! I got the inspiration a while back after watching how they were made (by a proper pâtissier, not a student with a box of rapidly thawing pastry) and thought I'd have a go myself.

They were pretty easy, I just cut the pastry into long triangles, rolled them up and laid them on a tray with baking paper on (just make sure you lay them with the little pointy bit in the middle underneath the croissant, otherwise it pops up) and you can dust them with a little bit of icing sugar which will caramelise. Follow the instructions on the pastry packet for temperature and time, but mine took a little longer to cook than the packet said cos they're a little thicker than normal pastry.

Take them out of the oven and you're done! I ate mine with honey, almonds and a plum. Very nice but slightly unhealthy breakfast. Job well done!

Places

There's not really anywhere of interest to talk about this week.
However!
On Sunday afternoon we'll be having a big family lunch over by Tower Bridge, which in itself is pretty cool.

However! (I'll stop that now)
Tower Bridge is a key checkpoint in the London Marathon, which happens to be taking place this Sunday, so hopefully we'l be able to see some of the race live (which I've never experienced before) and which I think is pretty damned cool! So hopefully some pictures for next week!

Millefeuille

So with some of my dad’s family round today, I was given the weighty task of choosing a dessert to make for the five of us. Well it's a pretty serious job when you have an unhealthy obsession with cake, anyway.

Even with the near endless resource of Pinterest at my disposal I stuck with one of my good old fashioned recipe books and went for a recipe I'd used before for lunch: Millefeuille. Not only does it have a seriously pretty name (meaning 'a thousand leaves' in French), the 'cheat' version I used was really easy to make and left five pretty happy people afterwards.

I call it a cheat version because I bought the puff pastry I used since I've been warned of the perils of making your own, and I was banking on the cakes' foolproof nature (me being the fool). I got the recipe from one of my favourite recipe books, Cake Magic by Kate Shirazi.

It's got a massive range of recipes in it, most of which I haven't had time to take a swing at yet, but hopefully should be able to get around to making in the next couple of weeks. The Snuggle Loaf's been on the list for a while, as has the Earl Grey loaf, which I feel I should have a go at first since I just invested in a loaf tin and well, I haven't made a single post about Earl Grey since I changed the blog's name.

The millefeuille themselves are basically big stacks of puff pastry, a spot of jam, whipped cream (whisked, not the canned stuff, bleh!) strawberries, then the whole thing again topped with a nice sugar-dusted piece of pastry. They're light, fluffy, incredibly awkward to eat nicely and not healthy in the slightest. Well, apart from the strawberries, but that's about it!

They're all disposed of now (although I do have a diabolical plan for the rest of the pastry), so hopefully there'll be some banana cake in the works some time soon, which I'm ridiculously excited about making, so fingers crossed!

Peace! xx

Bobbing Along

For years I’ve been wanting to cut my hair short, and in January of last year I finally worked up the courage (and got my dad’s permission) to get a pixie cut. I was absolutely over the moon with it, but unfortunately I have a distinct tendency to want to change my hairstyle like the wind and despite my love of pixie, it ran its course at the end of last year. 

Since I was asked to be a bridesmaid for the first time last November at my aunt’s wedding, I didn’t want to look like a scruff in her pictures. I had my hair cut for the last time on the day of the ceremony and didn’t cut it again until about a week ago (the end of March, so about 4 and a half months since the last cut).

I'd just like to say a couple of things about these pictures. I'm not a 'selfie-taker', I only really do it when I want to sent my mum a picture of a fancy dress outfit or a newfangled hairdo I'm trying out (as you can see here). Also, those aren't my actual glasses, and although I do have a big forehead that picture makes it look huuuuuge!!

So. Any advice I can offer?

Patience & Perseverance. Admittedly, my hair turned to be a massive pain but I’m so glad that I persevered without a cut to get a decent headstart on my goal of what I’m calling ‘glorious hippie hair’.

Improvise & Experiment. After a while I found that straightening my hair wasn’t looking too good any more, I looked for another solution. When my hair was long I used to scrunch it to make it wavy so gave it a bash when it was growing out, and surprisingly it suited quite well! (Also headbands, hairpins and french plaits are a godsend!)

Research! When your hair eventually starts driving you crazy, it’s good to have an idea of what you’d like to go for next and maybe even print a picture to take to the hairdresser. They should also be able to point you in the right direction for the next stage of growing out (trust me, I’m fully aware of how long a process this is going to be). Pinterest will be your best friend here, and for a couple of ideas of long bobs you can take a little look at my Pinterest ‘Hair’ Board where I’ve been collecting a few ideas.

There'll most likely be a post with a picture of my new hair cut in the near future, but thus far I haven't taken any! Plus there will undoubtedly be follow ups to this post, charting the ups and downs of hair growth!

Peace out til next time! x

What's been occurring?

 Not all that much to be completely honest.

April's going to be a funny month, since I'll be spending all of it, bar a few days at the end, at home. But since I've been back I've been keeping myself busy with a little bit of stencilling, running (including a mile in a giraffe onesie (that was interesting to say the least)) and of course a tiny little bit of revision here and there.
I keep telling myself to do something productive like make some portfolio work or a little zine or something, buuut the inspiration seems to be evading me. So just keep jogging, painting and sketchbooking I think until it strikes.

(the lyrics on the T-shirt above come from Lippy Kids by Elbow)