Recipe - Raspberry Turkish Delight

I mentioned on Twitter the other day I was having a craving for Turkish delight. The plan was to stop by my local kebab shop (which rates at no. 3 on my list of favourite kebab shops in Dunedin!) to pick some up on the way home. Unfortunately the girl on the counter told me they no longer sell it – what to do?!

I headed home and pulled out my iPhone and found this recipe. It didn’t seem too difficult, so I decided to give it a go. I made mine raspberry flavoured as I didn’t have rose water at home. (Although I keep meaning to buy it) I also halved the recipe so I didn't have so much!

It came out not too bad, but I would recommend using a candy thermometer to make sure you are following the recipe closely. That’s definitely on my “next purchase” list now!

Have you ever made Turkish delight? What’s your favourite candy or sweet to make? Mine is chocolate fudge – although I’m still on the hunt for the perfect recipe!

My 4th of July - Hershey's First Birthday!

 Hershey - 8 weeks

Hershey - 1 Year

Hi friends! Introducing you to my gorgeous puppy, Hershey. Today is her 1st Birthday, so of course a mini celebration was in order involving cake like things...unfortunately Hersh has a food allergy meaning she isn't supposed to eat anything except her dog biscuits, but she got a new toy to mark the day instead.

I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing, topped with a gingerbread dog bone covered in purple fondant to match her name tag she wears on her collar. 

I can't believe its been a year since I got her! There's been ups and downs, the time she ate the tv remote, the bf's playstation controller, ALL of our couch cushions, but of course there are always good times too! Plenty of cuddles, tug of war and exciting car trips where she "talks" the whole way because she is so excited...

I hope all my readers over in the USA have a great 4th of July!!

Do you guys have pets? What are their names? Are they well behaved?

Outfit Post - Blokes and Blue

Blue Cardigan - Unknown (Melbourne), Lace T-shirt - Mosgiel Salvation Army,

Grey Scarf - Postie Plus, Crochet Flower Pin - Shop on Taieri, Grey Silk Skirt - Shop on Taieri,

Black Boots - The Warehouse

I drove to my usual spot for some outfit shots today, but unfortunately the digger was actually going for once (see it stationary here!) so I headed out on to the country roads to find a new site. After about 15 minutes of driving around I came to the “Tairei Blokes Shed” I had driven past it before and thought it would be great as a background for outfit shots and today it even matched my cardigan!!

While it was a beautiful sunny day with hardly any clouds, there was a crisp wind meaning a bit of layering in the clothes department was needed. I felt like a bit of colour today, hence the cobalt blue cardigan and my matching crochet flower broach I picked up from the Shop on Taieri a while ago. I wore my grey cotton tights under my skirt and a white singlet under my new lace t-shirt (check it out here) to keep nice and warm.

I’m having so much fun layering all my clothes at the moment for warmth! It’s kind of nice to not have to wear a jacket inside at work and instead just wear an extra cardigan. Then I don’t get asked if I’m cold every 5 minutes!

Sorry I haven’t posted for a bit, I have no internet at home anymore so I’m going to stop off at my parents and cue up some posts to last for the next little while!

This weekend I might check out the Moxie Market at the Percolator Cafe on Friday night, followed by a look around the op-shops on Saturday and possibly some casual drinks with friends that night. Should be good!

Do you guys have any good layering tips for me for winter? What is your favourite winter
outfit combination?

Recipe - Pink Rhubarb Cupcakes

A wee while ago I made Rhubarb Crumble Muffins, one of my favourite muffin flavours. Since then I’ve had half a bag of rhubarb sitting in my freezer waiting to be turned into some kind of tasty baking! After trawling through my collection of recipe books, I settled on cupcakes. With pretty pink icing of course!

My go-to recipe book for baking is usually The Edmonds Cookbook, one that most New Zealand households have! I added stewed rhubarb to the cupcake mixture, as well as a bit of lemon juice.

Pink Rhubarb Cupcakes

125g Butter, softened

1 t Lemon Juice

½ C Castor Sugar

2 Eggs

1 C Plain Flour

2 t Baking Powder

¼ C Milk (I used a little bit less to allow for the stewed fruit)

¾ C Stewed Rhubarb (bring to the boil with sugar and lemon juice, when soft, drain excess liquid)

Frosting:

58g Unsalted Butter

30ml Milk

1 t Lemon Juice

250g Icing Sugar

Colouring (I used a drop of red colouring)

Heat oven to 190C and set up mini muffin tins with cupcake papers. Cream butter, lemon juice and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Sift flour and baking powder together. Fold into the creamed mixture. Stir in the milk and rhubarb. Spoon mixture evenly into cupcake cases. Bake for 10-15 mins or until the cakes spring back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. (I trimmed off the little mounds to make a flat surface to pipe on to.)

Cream butter, sugar, milk, lemon juice and ½ the icing sugar for the frosting. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until combined. Add the colouring and beat through. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe on top of cupcakes.

I decorated mine with a sprinkling of pink sugar. I added a drop of colouring to some castor sugar, then squished it through with my fingers until the sugar was coloured. Alternatively you can purchase coloured sugar to sprinkle over.

As the bf is away at the moment (he’s the usual food vacuum cleaner) I’ve had to find other people to feed, my parents, grandma and workmates were all fed fresh little pink cupcakes! My 2 manly workmates didn’t even seem to mind the pink icing and had 2 each, they must have been good!

What do you think of my cupcakes? Do you have a favourite flavour of cupcake I could try out? I’m always looking for new recipes!!

Outfit Post - Lace and the Little Brown Satchel

Lace T-Shirt - Mosgiel Salvation Army, Black Skirt - Recycle Boutique,  
Girl Guides Belt - Shop on Taieri, Black Tights -  Kmart, Boots - The Warehouse,  
Brown Satchel - Mosgiel Salvation Army, "Love" Ring - Lovisa,  
Bow Earrings - Diva

A great start to the week here in Dunedin! Two sun-shiny days in a row, a successful visit to the Mosgiel Salvation Army Store and an outfit post with some of my new purchases today.

I hadn't been to check out the op shop in a while, I didn't really feel like going outside last week when I was sick, so it was usually a quick visit to the supermarket to get something for lunch then I would scurry back to the heater and my computer! Luckily that meant when I had a look yesterday there were lots of new goodies waiting for me!! 

I picked up the lace top I'm wearing for $4 I think, there wasn't a label on it but I love the creamy white colour. Ideally I'd like to wear a black bra underneath, but for work I decided to go with the black singlet. I think it'll be great to layer up in winter and wear over a bikini and shorts in summer. 

I found the little brown satchel in a corner along with a little black one. Neither have long shoulder straps (I think they originally did) but it doesn't really bother me, I still love them!

Well better go, heading to see the new X-Men movie shortly! Happy Tuesday! 

Cake Decorating Class - Clematis

I'm so proud of myself - I did my homework for a change! I made a Clematis this week. We're getting into the more complex flowers at class now, including Gerbera's, orchids and Lilies. I need to make sure I get on top of all my homework as I'll be moving down to Invercargill soon and away from my weekly classes. Luckily the teacher is awesome and is promising to send me class notes so I can continue by myself down there! Pretty cool.

I mentioned in my last post I was going down to Invercargill to review the Stravinsky Selection. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well enough to drive all the way down there, watch the ballet, write the review and head home again the next morning, so I had to cancel. I wish I had been able to! A bit of bad timing. Oh well, I'm looking forward to Sleeping Beauty at the end of the year!

I hope everyone has had a fun weekend, I went to check out Dunedin's new stadium, a bird show where my Grandad had a couple of birds entered and went out for dinner with some friends. Bring on the new week! 

What I packed - Queens Birthday Weekend

I got back yesterday from a little road trip over the long weekend. The bf and I had an event to attend in Invercargill then we headed through to Cromwell to check out the new house his parents have just built up there. There was a bit of travelling around and I've spent the last couple of days sniffling away with a cold but I'm gradually getting better thank goodness! 

These are some of the things I took with me this weekend. I needed something dressy for the event I was going to, then comfortable clothes for lounging around in Cromwell and travelling. 

1. Leopard Print Bag - Cotton On. I use this bag as my gym bag usually, but it's the perfect size for a weekend bag. 

2. Studded High Tops - The Warehouse. Perfect for a casual outfit with jeans.

3. Grey Leopard Bag - Strandbags. I used this when going to the event on Saturday night - its great not having to find somewhere to leave my bag as I can just wear it the whole time if need be.

4. Purple Check Shirt - Farmers. Just right for a casual weekend outfit with jeans.

5. Velvet Dress - Shop on Taieri. What I wore to the event on Saturday. You can see it here.

6. Lace Bodysuit - Shop on Taieri. To wear under my velvet dress

7. Grey Leopard Circle Scarf - Trendz. Snugly and warm and could also be worn as a hat.

8. Black Ankle Boots - The Warehouse. My go to boots when I want something dressy but easy to walk in!

9. Grey Merino Jersey - Mosgiel Salvation Army. A perfect layering piece for cold weather. 

10. Purple Leopard Scarf - 1,2,3 Dollar Shop - Adds a pop of colour to mainly grey and black basics

11. "The Girl Who kicked the Hornets Nest" - Borrowed from the bf for the weekend. I loved the movies!

12. Sequin Cardy - Valley Girl - great for layering over a t-shirt and under a jacket. 

I topped up these items with black jeans, my coat seen here and different earrings (dangly ones for night, studs for during the day) It was great for a change to have a whole bunch of items that could create different outfits depending on what the weather was like or what I got up to. I used purple as my accent colour with my shirt and scarf both in this shade. 

It was a pretty fun weekend, meeting new people, watching a couple of pretty entertaining soccer games and relaxing in a brand new house! It was fun checking out where I'll be moving to in a month or so! The bf has a job lined up so I will be following him down to Invercargill soon. I'm glad it's only a couple of hours from Dunedin and not too far to go to catch up with all my family. I'll have to start packing soon!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekends. I cant believe we're in June!!