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Friday 6 December 2013

'Tea' lights

          The other day, I bought some very beautiful tea cups from a market. I love them because I love floral patterns and feet of the cups were very eccentric! Initially, I was considering using them as jewellery stands but they were too pretty to hide away in my room. Instead, I decided to use them as tea light stands.
         I decided to fill up the cup with some dry pasta (bow pasta would look really gorgeous inside the delicate cups) and placed the tea light on top. It's very simple and barely took any time to make, but it looked amazing.

    You could definitely experiment with the types of fillers you put in the cups- coloured stones, beads, sand, coffee beans, pretty much anything as long as its not flammable). After realising that I didn't have enough pasta to fill three whole cups, I played around with the placement of the cup and the saucer. The variations all looked great and you could easily change it up each week-the possibilities are endless!


Excuse my finger ;)
        Old tea cups are inexpensive and can be found in abundance at op shops, garage sales and markets! However, they make elegant centrepieces and can vamp up any bare table!

Till next time......

Monday 2 December 2013

The Arts Student Mojito

            I'm an Arts student and one thing i've learnt over the past one and a half years of University is that Arts students LOVE cheap things, even more if its free! Whoever said that the best things in life are free was right- a free veggie burger and cider (something that isn't too hard to find at lunchtime on campus) on a Thursday afternoon is way more satisfying than a 5 course meal at a fancy restaurant..well at least in my opinion! Anyways, back to the point. The other night, I had the urge for a refreshing mojito. Lacking a few key ingredients- lime and soda water, I was forced to improvise and thus the Arts Student Mojito was created!!!

Ingredients per glass:


 Mint leaves ( I had about four leaves in each glass, but you can add as much as you want depending on how minty you want it)

 4 Lemon pieces

 5 cubes of ice ( or add as much as you want, I didn't have enough ice when I made it to fill the glass)

 40 mL of White Rum*

 Enough tonic water to fill your glass

Now for the secret ingredient...

  15 mL of Lime cordial- a traditional mojito includes sugar syrup and fresh limes, however limes can be pretty expensive, so this was a cheaper option (once again add as much or as little cordial as you like depending on how sweet you want it!) 

Method/Directions/ the order in which I added the ingredients (feel free to add them in any order, I'm sure it will still taste great):


Throw in the lemon pieces and mint leaves into a glass and with a muddler, crush the two to release the juices. Add the ice into the glass then pour in the rum, cordial and tonic water and stir. Add whatever fancy drink decoration you have at hand- colourful straws, slices of lemon or the famous cocktail umbrella! Now all that's left to do is ENJOY!!!




*I am a responsible(?!) adult over the age of 18 and I do not promote or encourage underage drinking. If you are under the legal drinking age in your country, I assure you that it tastes delightfully delicious even without the alcohol! 



Wednesday 27 November 2013

Macaroning with The Vamps!

         I love baking, and when i'm in the mood to try something new without the hassle of breaking eggs and sieving flour, I enjoy whipping up cookies and cakes of the 'from a box' variety! Today was one of those days and I decided to venture into the uncharted territory of Macarons! Armed with my trusty spatula and The Vamps playlist*, I decided to make the Adriano Zumbo Salted Caramel Macarons (they ended up being just caramel macarons because I didn't have any sea salt!!).


       Despite being a 'from a box', they was surprisingly difficult to make and I managed to screw them up- they ended up looking like mini dog poos :( ! However, they were EXTREMELY tasty (the fact that they are almost gone in two hours is proof!) and I just discovered that Zumbo has a bunch a videos that guide you during the process(for example, what should the consistency of the batter be like)**.



    At the end of the day,  they were fun to make but I think I prefer the store bought variety over these  any day!!
The finished product!
* My favourite The Vamps song here
** The Adriano Zumbo recipe videos here

Sunday 17 November 2013

Jurrasic Park

                      My dad and I went for a drive today and ended up stopping at Grants Picnic Grounds for coffee. Located near Kallista ( a small tourist village in the Dandenong Ranges), the Grants Picnic Grounds has a small cafe, a bunch of picnic benches, a bird feeding area and a number of nature walks to choose from. Although its only a half an hour drive from where I live, I felt as though I was transported back in time. The first thing I thought as we got out of the car was 'Damn, this place looks like Jurrassic Park!'. This is what I love most about living in Melbourne, you only have to travel half an hour in any direction to see a different type of ecosystem(?!?!).
                     I love random journeys like this one, because you never know where you'll go or what you'll see....



 








Till next time.......