Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Butter Biscuits: The Recipe


I do love baking. I mean, I'm not any good at it.. I try my best and I seem to manage a fluke every now and then, this is about the first thing to work properly for me! 
I found this recipe at the weekend and have already made three batches - I've tweaked the recipe a teeny weeny bit - it might not be to everyone's taste but give it a go and see what you think! 

Ingredients:

- 200g Unsalted Butter
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 300g Plain Flour
- 1 Egg
- 2 tsp Vanilla Flavouring



Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.


2. Beat in the vanilla and the egg. 



3. Add the flour in small parts - careful not to create a flour cloud... slowly does it.


4. Beat until smooth, you may need to get your hands in there to smoosh it all together (technical term for you there). 


5. When the dough is "smooshed" together, remove from the bowl and shape into two discs. 


6. Wrap with clingfilm and chill for around 60 minutes, until firm.


7. Heat the oven to 160/gas mark 4.
8. Dust the work top with flour and roll out each portion of the dough to around 4mm thick.


9. Use your favourite cookie cutters to use up all of the dough. Make as many as you can! 

 



10. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper (or just butter the trays like I've done) and lift the cookies onto it using a palette knife.










11. Bake for 15-17 minutes until just turning golden at the edges. 

12. Cool on a baking rack until you're able to munch them all up!!!!!


Hey, they're a little on the "over-brown" side, but they were lovely!! 



Saturday, 24 December 2011

Nail of The Day: Essie Ladylike and Shine of The Times

So, firstly, I hope you're all ready for tomorrow? A very Merry Christmas Eve to you all!!
This post contains a plethora of crappy pictures. I took them last night as I couldn't wait to show you all what an AMAZING effect these two babies give when paired up!! 

I've used two new additions to my collection, both Essie and both equally incredible. 

I'm afraid I didn't get pictures of them seperately (Duh!!) - I'll do this next time, but first up... it's "Lady Like" 

 
This was also reviewed by the amazing Vivianna from "Vivianna Does Make up". What a beautiful lady eh?! She reviewed "Lady Like" here and made me want to order it that very moment. Doesn't it look fantastic with the glitters!?!?!?!? This will be my next NOTD! 

Shine of the Times is up next. This has to be my new, all time favourite, nail polish. It's incredible! A million flecks of beautiful multi-tonal glitz which all reflect and match what's underneath! You can't quite see from these pictures how amazing it really is!! 






What do you guys think?

Friday, 23 December 2011

The World's Most Powerful Women: Kim Kardashian

Now, some people may not agree with my second choice for the "World's Most Powerful Women" series but I'm a huge fan and I've been dying to write this for months!!! 

My next post is picture heavy... and if you hate Kim Kardashian - look away now!!! 



When I say I'm a huge fan, I mean it. I'm not a total phsycho about it, I just think she's such an intelligent business woman (I totally look up to her because of this) and she's got amazing style. Not to mention the fact that she's bloody stunning!! 

Here's the bio from her blog site, you can find it here if you'd like to read the full version - I thought it explained her better than I could!! 



Kim Kardashian became an unexpected star after the first airing of her hit E! Entertainment reality series “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” The show follows the exploits of the Kardashian/Jenner family, which includes father Bruce Jenner, mom Kris Jenner, Kim, KourtneyKhloe and Rob Kardashian and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, in their Calabasas home. 
Kardashian grew up with an almost fairy-tale childhood. She was the second child, born to Kris and prominent defense attorney Robert Kardashian. Her parents had four children at the time of their divorce. Her mom eventually married famous Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner, who also had four children, and they became a modern day Brady Bunch.

Bruce and Kris had two more children together, bringing the extended family of children to ten.


Kim has taken part in "Dancing with the Stars", "America's Next Top Model" (on the judging panel) and has appeared in many films and TV shows such as "How I met your mother". 
She frequently graces the cover of many highly reputable magazines such as Glamour, Cosmo and even Vogue. Her make up routine and style gives Bloggers all over the world food for thought and the challenge of re-creating her look!

Now most of the above isn't relevant to this post, they aren't the reasons why I've chosen to write about Kim... she has an amazing amount of entrepreneurial skill, proven by the fact that she has her own fashion boutique line with her sisters (DASH), a perfume range, she owns a share in an online shoe boutique (ShoeDazzle.com) and has even written a book - this is to name but a few of her business ventures. 

(I seriously cant wait to get my hands on this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Even more importantly, she does a huge amount of charity work. She visits childrens hospitals regularly, donating large amounts of money wherever she can and handing out toys and gifts to the kids - she's also visited Haiti recently. She is a Dream Foundation ambassador which grants last wishes to terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She also recently completed PSA’s about the political plight in Burma and Breast Cancer awareness and also participated in a photo shoot promoting the “Until There’s A Cure” bracelet dedicated to eradicating HIV/AIDS by raising awareness and funds to combat the pandemic.
Incredible!






Kim and her sisters seem to have an unbreakable bond, well, they are sisters after all! I love seeing pictures of them together as they look like they're having a fab time!! 



Also, she has the most incredible shoe collection. You know me, I LOVE shoes - I mean, I love them beyond belief... this woman makes me extremely jealous! She even wears Louboutin Daffodile pumps whilst riding camels for christ's sake! Check it out, total SATC moment:


And last but not least, I'll leave some of my favourite Kim K make-up images and a few wonderful tutorials, I'm a sucker for perfect make-up, I wish I could get my skin to look so bloody flawless! I guess that's what having a personal make-up artist does for you eh? If anyone wants to be mine, let me know - that'd be great. 








Here's a tutorial directly from Kim's make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZQbvm00vq8

Well, that's it - I'm done with the MEGA long post now, promise! What do you guys think?