stand by me;

 I have been utterly useless of late but I promise that is going to change. 

I have finally got into the routine of full time working life and have lots of lovely things to share with you. I am really enjoying working at Urban Outfitters and it is definitely the people that make it so good - thesweet discount definitely helps too. We had staff appreciation last week so I FINALLY bought the Crosley record player I have been fawning over for about a million years. 

 Work aside, my social life just got interesting too. I had a rare Saturday off, so Oliver and I

decided to go carbooting with his sister Alex.

 If you have never visited the car boot sale on York race course 

on a Saturday you are severely missing out, it was pretty much the best I've ever been to. 

I had to hold myself back on several impulse buys though next time i'd probably not have the same sort of will power -I bought the Dirty Dancing OST on vinyl for £1. 

Oliver had to buy a friend a birthday gift and picked out three items, 

a Star Wars toy, a cowboy hat made from animal hide and my favourite of the three, a signed Blazin' Squad photo (yes, you heard right). We were done and home by 12 so we made a picnic and headed out on a bike ride near his house. Pot holes are no ones friend, needless to say I have a very bruised bum. We decided to play with an old Super8 video camera of Ollies', the countryside was the perfect setting, though you only get around three minutes worth of film per roll but I am excited to see how it turns out. Oliver showed me the eighties classic "Stand By Me" that weekend too, it's such a brilliant
coming of age film, definitely a must-see if you haven't already.

Alex and Chris's puppy Blossom.

Thursday was my brothers twenty first and so we had a bbq party in his honor. There was a pinata, cocktails,and of course rainbow cake. Blythe and Oliver came over to keep 

me company and we had lots of fun playing on my beautiful bicycle.

I went out for coffee with my friend Claire after work and discovered the most 

amazing, oversized treats in Costa Coffee, and of course I had to sample them - I genuinely

don't think the Costa guy had ever known anyone be as excited about the giant biscuit as I was.

We recently held a surprise birthday dinner for one of my lovely friends Stephie down in Nottingham. 

I introduced her to one of my best friends Will in December and they've been together ever since, one of my 

fave. couples EVER.

Mama and I recently attended a 40's war weekend at a stately home near our house. We decided

to take a break from the tradition and fuss to look around the gardens and discovered this hidden beauty spot, I need a walled garden!

Finally, another car boot sale bargain, I found this vintage thermos flask for just 50p, isn't it a peach. 

I also managed to pick up several vintage childrens books to add to my collection for very little money too.

I love carboot sales.

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Sincerely, Alexa ♥ 

hey good lookin' what you got cooking;

Today I decided that it was high time that I got back into baking, the fact that 

a builder, and electrician and a plumber (is it me or is this story starting to sound like a bad joke...) were 

banging about the house from 8:30 am meaning me having to be up at that time on my day off had nothingggg to do with it. 

For Christmas, my lovely best friend Sheri gave me this beautiful book by Bakerella about how to bake cake pops;

Now i'll be honest, this is not my first attempt at cake pops, and the first time I tried was less than successful, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a go.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs (medium - large)

Weigh the three eggs and use the same weight in each of the following ingredients - 

Self Raising Flour 

Caster Sugar 

Butter (I used Stork)

3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

1/2 A large bar of white chocolate - melted

2 Tablespoons of Red Food Colouring

2/3 Of a Tub a Betty Crocker Frosting

1 Bag (250 grams)  of  Candy Melts (Available on ebay/online)

Sprinkles/Edible Glitter/Cake Decorations

Lollypop Sticks (Available on ebay/online)

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until combined.

2. Then add in the flour and eggs and stir well, 

until it looks like this!

                      3. Add in two teaspoons of vanilla extract, three teaspoons of red food colouring,

and 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and your melted chocolate and mix well.

4. Add the mixture into a greased and floured baking tin, put in the oven at 160 degrees and wait for 20 - 25 minutes.

Allow to cool. Here are some Red Velvet cupcakes with white chocolate frosting I whipped up from the spare mixture. They were super yummy! 

5. Once the cake is cooled, turn the entire thing into crumbs, pick out any bits that will not crumb, 

and mix in 2/3's of a tub of frosting. 

When the two are combined, roll the mixture into balls and put onto a plate.

 Put into the fridge for a couple of hours or the freezer for 15 minutes so that they

 become slightly more solid, but NOT frozen.

6. Once they have hardened, melt the candy melts, dip the end of the lolly stick

 into the melted candy and push firmly into the cake ball.

 Once the candy on the stick has set  in the cake ball, 

then coat the rest of ball in the melted candy mix.

7. The book said to use something like a polystyrene block to stick the cake pops in

 til they have dried, but as I had none of this, I improvised and

 used a small colander instead. And here are the finished products -

I hope this tutorial helps. I was super pleased with the result, let me know how yours work out.

Sincerely, Alexa  ♥