Busy busy busy!

I know, i'm terrible, i've abandoned you again for nearly 2 months!
But, loyal (imaginary) readers, I have some very exciting news - I got a job! It's nothing big, its not even full time but it sounds really interesting and I should be starting in January, I can't wait!

This is gonna be quite a materialistic post, because I am finally thinking about all the things I will be able to afford!
First off, me and my lovely boyfriend are off to here in February!
I am ridiculously excited, i've never been and have wanted to go for as long as I can remember. On the way to the south of France with my parents for a glamorous couple of weeks in a tin can/caravan we passed Paris and I would also stare to see the Eiffel Tower.

We're going for 3 nights which should give us plenty of time to explore, take in a museum and gallery or two, and eat loads and loads of yummy french food!


I will be panicking a lot about what to pack, but seeing as it is Christmas and my birthday between now and then I should have a little bit of money around to buy myself some chic treats to wrap up in.


I will also need lots of work clothes, but i'm not sure how dressy the office is yet, kind of want to base my look on Emma Pillsbury from Glee! I love her style, I just hope I can rock the look!

I mean look how adorable!

Not sure how successful I will be on a budget but its worth a try. 


Anyway lovely readers, I have to go and look after my extremely hungover boyfriend now, but I will try to do a little Christmas/Birthday update - plus I will be doing lots of festive baking so I will try to stick some pics and recipes up!

Abandoned

I abandoned you for quite a while and I am very very sorry!
In my defence, I was in Spain for 2 weeks....so I think I shall write about that!


Spain was amazing, we stayed in a friend of my mothers house (thanks again Elaine!) which is beautiful, the view from the balcony is beautiful:

There it is in the day, and at night. Gorgeous! The town is called Montefrio and it is tiny and very rural, and in the photos you can see the Castillo (the church on the rock) and the round church in the town (the only round church in the whole of spain!). 
So there you go, that's where we stayed. We hired a car and did lots of days out, but we sadly got mugged a few days in and although they didn't take much - I fought them off with my killer scream - it kind of killed our adventurous spirit for a few days. 


I'll put up some snaps for you to laugh at/wish you were there at.

 Out on a nice sensible walk

 Priego do Cordoba - Carnicerias Reales  (16th Century Royal Butchers)

Alhama de Granada - about 2 minutes away from getting mugged! 

One of our many lovely dinners on the balcony

One of the bestest days of the holiday was when we went to Granada. We got the bus there so that we didn't have to bother with parking or anything and it was perfect! We had the whole day there and spent it all at the Alhambra, we were there from about 12-5 when we decided to go and get some dinner before the bus home. 

Sadly tickets for the Nasrid Palaces had sold out by the time we got there but we got tickets to the gardens and other palaces and still had a brilliant day. I have been before and it is gorgeous, and this time the weather was lovely! The last time I went I was chuffing freezing which slightly ruined my enjoyment of it.
I'll just spam you with pics again:

 The rather large Alcazaba (fortress) with rather small me (white splodge on the stairs)

 One of the views from the top of the Alcazaba

 A photo of me taking a photo. Like what we did there?

 Some nice stairs (in the King Charles V palace)

Two rather lovely courtyards

Anyway, that's enough prattling on from me, it was a fantastic holiday, and I want another one already! I will try my best to be more attentive to this blog now too!

Wet, cold, windy....must be a staycation!

Hi!!! Sorry for not blogging for a while (bad Kim!), I would say I have been rushed off my feet daahling but really i've just been marginally busier than normal and a bit forgetful!


Anyway, one of the things I have done during my little break from the wonderful world of telling the whole internets about my life is going to Cornwall. Me and the boy took a little trip down to Bude over the Bank Holiday weekend and while the weather wasn't great the holiday was. 
I had never been to Cornwall before so when I got a cheap hotel deal emailed to me I jumped at the chance! It was a perfect little mini break before our Spanish fiesta in a couple of weeks. 


We left on the Friday lunchtime, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed (what?) and eager to get there.
We arrived at gone 6, bleary-eyed, soggy-tailed and nearly sick after a bus journey from hell (the girl next to me actually did throw up which didn't help matters). 
Anyway, we had arrived so after throwing our stuff into our room (which was very nice by the way) and freshening up a bit we headed off for a little explore.


I don't know if any of you have been to Bude but it is tiny. Our exploring was done after about 15 minutes and had led us to a delightful little bistro with one table left - fate! After a yummy fish pie and a couple of G&T's we wandered to the beach, but got waylaid by an Irish gypsy. 
He told us his name was Paddy, or Seamus, and from them on he got pretty hard to understand. I will bulletpoint the information I gleaned:

• He was in prison
• I have a kind heart
• He was a boxer
• He has a kind heart
• He is a good person really
• Boyfriend should look after me because....I have a kind heart

Yeah......so after many "God bless you"'s and a rousing chorus of something from him and a busker we escaped and watched a lovely sunset:

By this point (about half past 8 haha) we were exhausted so staggered back to our hotel, had a bath and got an early night. 
After a lazy morning we spent the saturday walking around the cliffs and the town and generally stuffing our faces with Cornish goodness (lots of pasties and clotted cream and ice cream). The weather was pretty pants - here's a picture of me looking like a fool in my super cool anorak:

As you can see....fairly bedraggled. We also spent the Sunday wandering around the canal and the cliffs in the sunshine (yes! sunshine! really!) before stopping for lunch and this lovely view:

In the afternoon we hopped on the bus, and then the train for a much more relaxed and lovely journey back to Bristol. 
It was a fab weekend, I put on about a stone and attempted to eat my bodyweight in clotted cream which is fairly mandatory for a Cornish holiday I think. 


It was the first proper weekend away for me and the boy and we loved it and will be looking out for cheap hotels again i'm sure! Expect to hear me wanging on about Spain lots over the coming couple of weeks...I am getting VERY excited!

Baking mad!

I love to bake. If it didn't make me bankrupt and obese I would probably bake every single day! I try to control myself but with my boyfriend's family paying a visit at the weekend I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do some baking.

My joints are all a bit poorly sick at the moment so I enlisted the help of the boyfriend to help with the mixing/wielding my ancient 80's electric mixer. We decided to do lemon cupcakes as they go down well with everyone!

What you'll need for 12 large cupcakes - we did double this and it made 28!

125g caster sugar
125g softened butter - MUST be softened
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
125g self raising flour
2tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
1. Using an electric mixer (or a whisk if you are feeling masochistic) beat your butter until it is really soft. Then add your sugar and cream together until very light and fluffy (the fluffier you make it the more they will rise).
2. Add in your beaten eggs a bit at a time and combine well making sure it is still very light and fluffy.
3. Chuck your lemon zest in and whisk some more.
4. Add half the (sifted) flour and fold in with a metal spoon. Add the rest of the flour and the milk and fold in. Be really gentle doing this as you don't want to knock the air out.
5. Pop your mixture into some paper or silicone cases (don't fill all the way up - they will rise a lot!) and bake for 12 minutes or until light golden and springy to the touch.

You can eat them just like that but I like some icing on mine so here is a quick recipe for a lemon buttercream icing:

Beat 75g softened butter until really soft then add 125g sifted icing sugar and whisk together. Add the zest of a lemon and 2-3 tsp of fresh lemon juice, also put in any food colouring you want now. Beat together and then just keep adding lemon juice until you have a nice spreadable mix.
Pipe or spoon it onto your cupcakes and you're done!

Here are mine:

They went down a treat! I plan on making lots more lovely baked goods as my boyfriends very sweet mum bought me the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook so I am well on my way to obesity!

Welcome to my Soul Kitchen!

I'm afraid I couldn't do a post without a music reference....sorry! 


So I love to cook, I cooked a bit at home but it is since leaving home 3 years ago I have really started having fun with it. The boyfriend and I cook a delicious home-cooked meal every day - it's not a huge hassle so I thought I would give you a recipe for a very quick, healthy and gorgeous dinner! The recipe is Pea and Mint Soup and it will be ready in half an hour.


What you'll need for 4 portions:


- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 sticks celery, chopped fairly finely
- 1-2 large potatoes, in small cubes
- frozen peas
- chicken/vegetable stock
- several mint leaves (3-6)


1. Pop your onion, celery and potato in a pan and sweat gently in a little oil for 5 mins. Add the garlic, cook for another 2 mins and then pour over stock to cover.
2. Leave to bubble away (covered with lid) for about 10 minutes and then test a piece of potato to see if its cooked - if you cut it quite small it should be done in 10-15 mins. Once it is pour in your frozen peas (lots - sorry for not measuring them, I just do it by eye, but you want quite a lot - probably about 500g) and bring up to the boil again.
3. Let the peas cook for about 3 minutes and then chuck in about 3 mint leaves and blend (using a hand blender or a liquidizer) until nearly smooth. Taste, add more mint if needed (don't want it too minty - you don't want to drink toothpaste!) and season with salt and pepper, making sure to slightly underseason with the salt.
4. Blend until completely smooth and enjoy!


The way I have it is with a rasher of streaky bacon crisped up and sprinkled on top - this is why you don't add too much salt. 
It should take less than half an hour and is delicious and super healthy plus you'll probably have most of the ingredients lying around anyway!


Here's mine!

Hope you like it!

London's Burning

I know, I know. Another post about the riots. But i'm not gonna do that! They are horrible and scary but they have reminded me of an awesome band and one of my favourite albums. So while everyone talks about serious things and doom and gloom I am going to wang on about music.
I am of course talking about The Clash! "London's Burning" was a track on their debut self-titled album released way back in 1977, but that isn't the album I want to talk about. I want to talk about "London Calling" - probably their most famous album. This was their 3rd album, released in 1979 and was quite a different style - a lot more reggae and ska with a hint of jazz too! 


It is almost impossible for me to choose fave tracks as the whole album is brilliant but i'll give it a go, i'll give you a top 5 and chat about my top 3. I've stuck the youtube links up too so you can have a listen.
5. Hateful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhcq5pEv3xw)
4. I'm Not Down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyUsJWO-7jM)
3. Lost in the Supermarket (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrEAWcAvRg)
2. The Guns of Brixton (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcizZebcaU)
1. Spanish Bombs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertt3o1x65c)


So "Hateful" is about drugs, i'm not a huge fan of drugs but I am a huge fan of the song. So listen to this song and don't do drugs kids! "I'm Not Down" kicks butt. It's about not giving up, not bowing down to pressures, and maybe you haven't faced the worse yet but you can and you'll cope. This is an awesome song to listen to if you are feeling a bit rubbish/like you can't cope!


Lost in the Supermarket: this is a slow song compared to most of the album and features Mick Jones on vocals although it was written by Joe Strummer, it is one of the only tracks on the album to feature Jones on vocals. It is about someone struggling to come to terms with the changing world, the increased commercialisation and the consumerist nature that became more and more prevalent in the late 70's. This theme of youth disillusionment is common throughout the songs of The Clash and many of their contemporaries. It is this theme which makes the music still relevant today as disillusionment is as relevant for teens today as it was in the 80's. 


The Guns of Brixton: ah....memories of being an angsty 15 year old listening to this (if I ever turned Nirvana off for long enough to listen to something else!). This song feels particularly relevant right now, it came before the race riots of the 80's but it sums up the feelings of the residents in the run up to the explosions. There was a recession on and the police were felt to be too heavy handed, a situation which echoes in many ways the one we are in at the moment. This was the first song to be written and featuring the bands bassist Paul Simonon. The distorted female vocals in this remind me of "Ghost Town" by The Specials (another of my favourite bands) - it lends that same creepyness to the song! Protest songs like this were popular and numerous during the 80's, it was a time of great social upheaval.
 On a lighter note, for those of you that know Sandinista (another great Clash album) you will know the clip at the end of "Broadway" which features Maria Gallagher, daughter of Mick Gallagher who was a Hammond Organ player and recorded with The Clash, singing Guns of Brixton accompanied by her dad. I can't find out how old she was at the time but she sounds VERY young and its dead cute so have a listen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOVeW3qDRls


Spanish Bombs: I don't know why this is my favourite track, its sad and angry and beautiful. Maybe that's why! The song is about the Spanish Civil War, stemming from a discussion about the ETA - a far-left terrorist Basque nationalist organisation founded in 1959 in Spain. The song praises the Republicans, those who fought and ultimately lost against Franco's facists. I don't want to give you a massive essay on the meaning of the song, you can find that kinda stuff online but it's my favourite so you should really check this track out!


Anyway, to quote Maria Gallagher, "That's enough now!"

When I grow up I want to be.....

I had so many ideas and aspirations as a kid. All easily achievable: worlds first short slightly chubby ballerina, singer with 3 platinum albums, hollywood movie star, waitress (that dream was cut short when I dropped a croissant I was carrying out into the garden for my dad), firewoman (see picture below), archaeologist, doctor, historian, musician, and most recently a geneticist. 

Playing with fire at an early age. Also, check out the stunning

90's jumper my mum is sporting, I think it may have once been a 

blanket.

Funnily enough none of those worked out too brilliantly for me and now my stream of ideas is running dry. How do you know what you want to be when you really grow up? The boyfriend is trying to convince me to be an author (like it's that easy) but so far my inner J.K. Rowling is staying hidden. I need some sort of job which doesn't involve much travelling to get there and possibly involves some combination of my best skillz: cooking/baking, knowing the lyrics to most songs, dancing like a fool, and reading super fast. So answers on a postcard/a comment if you have any ideas!

I think I would quite like to work with kids (it might help to deal with the massive brood I am experiencing at the moment - my womb twitches when i'm even near a child under the age of about 5!) but I have no idea in what field or how to get into it. I would also quite like to work in events, but again there doesn't seem to be an obvious way in. 


Anyway, enough rambling now, but if anyone has a place for a tea-drinking, lyric-reciting, cake-baking, silly-dancing, quick-reading, old-before-her-time 21 year old in the central Bristol area let me know!