Earl Grey Tea

Hi there!

Firstly, I'm alive. This semester has been horrible and as my level of blogging is directly related to the amount of work I've had to do then I guess you'd be able to figure out that I've been working very hard.

Anyway I'm back! At least until the next crazy/stressful/caffeine addicted semester begins. Yes, I did learn how to live off six hours of sleep each night. And yes, once I made the decision to change my sleeping patterns I freaked out a little bit so I did some extensive google searching and discovered at least three articles which specified that we need between 6-7.5 hours of sleep per night and that in fact sleeping for more than 9 hours decreases your health. Then after reading that I didn’t feel quite so bad.

Needless to say I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately. To my own surprise I managed to go through the same amount of coffee that I went through over the whole first semester in two weeks during study break. But apart from the obviously excessive coffee consumption I gained an appreciation of tea. More specifically Earl Grey. 

I feel so posh for saying a specialty tea name instead of just saying 'tea' but I feel that it's necessary to differentiate between earl grey and say a common English Breakfast. Earl grey is an aromatic tea whereas English Breakfast has a far subtler taste. My tea for choice? Earl Grey Blue Flower by T leaf tea. You really must try it.

Now I must confess that I love tea for more than just the taste. A key part of my enjoyment stems from the fact that I feel that I can speak in a posh English accent whilst I enjoy my tea. It seems appropriate to hold my tea cup with my pinky sticking out and saying things like 'darling' and 'you simply must come summer with us in Greece.' Even though I've never been to Greece let alone summered there, it just seems appropriate while I'm drinking tea because naturally a tea drinker must also 'summer'. 

Tea is an incredibly social beverage. In programmes like 'Coronation Street' then whenever someone comes to visit then immediately they're asked 'would you like a cuppa?' and the kettle is heard whistling away in the background. You can't share a bottle of orange juice or hot chocolate in quite the same way you can share a cup of tea. Tea symbolises a long afternoon chatting away about nothing in particular. An afternoon where one cup stretches to two or three and then to so many that you can't quite remember the number since your gracious host keeps on topping up the tea pot. It's the ultimate symbol of hospitality there's nothing that makes you feel more welcome than immediately receiving a hot cuppa into your eager hands.

I like Tea. I can also proudly tell you that if anyone comes to visit my house then they won't be able to leave before they tell me how life is treating them and until they've drunk a cup of tea. Except of course they're one of those weird people who don't like hot beverages... odd.

Song Addiction of the Day

I love Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Their whole album is stellar. Especially Om Nashi Me... I couldn't get the mp3 uploader to work sorry!

Piccyatures

Just mucking around home with my camera

Sneaky Photo taking

My models response when I asked them to keep a straight face for a photo

View Across the Equestrian Centre

Fresh Peruvian Coffee

As soon as I got home from my grocery shopping I proudly grabbed my coffee and urged all of my flatmates to smell it. Unfortunately none of them like coffee but I was so excited by the wonderful aroma I wanted everyone to try it. As soon as I could I made myself a steaming hot cup of coffee using the delicious beans. You see today I was very lucky to find a place in Palmerston North that sells fresh Peruvian coffee beans. None of that instant crap for me anymore. Now that I have a plunger it's real coffee all the way.

It's a small almost unknown store in Palmy called 'Steve's Wholefoods.' It's tucked next to Domino's Pizza and and fresh produce store. You really wouldn't think anything of it if you were just walking along the street. But inside there are incredible things like cheap fresh coffee, quinoa and strange baked goods from Germany. It's essentially a food connoisseurs dream store. Personally I also think that it can make it onto the Lonely Planet Guide to the best things to do in Palmy (after all countdown is ranked number twenty).

I just can't quite express my excitement from making my first good cup of coffee at home.

Like Crazy

My Anna-esque outfit

I recently watched a movie called 'like crazy'. It wasn't the best movie in the world although at the same time it wasn't the worst. I mainly watched it because Jennifer Lawrence is in it and she is kind of unforgettable. Unfortunately her part was very small and so the movie was largely forgettable. I found that they tried too hard to make it indie with their indie music montages and weird camera shots of pointless scenes and of course the largely unsatisfying ending. Overall I wouldn't recommend watching it. However there is one thing that I loved about it. That is Anna's (the female lead) style. 

She begins the film rocking the messy hair look with her hair in side ponytails, plaits and pretty much going everywhere. Then as the film progresses she develops a more refined style. I guess the fashion has to mature with the character. I just loved the cool simple slightly oversized t shirt with skirt look at the start of the film. It gives the skirt a different feel with the different coloured T's. Anna quite effectively manages to use a cheap piece of clothing to increase the versatility of a more expensive piece. A wonderful idea. I really should do the same and invest in some basic nice cotton t shirts. I'm not talking about the cheap ones from 'supre' or 'glassons' of course. I'm talking about nice simple classy ones that will last me more than a week.

Unfortunately I still have another eight months to wait until I can buy some. No new clothes for an entire year is rather difficult when you're lacking basics... Unfortunately most/all of the t shirts from the Salvation Army Op Shop seem to either be decorated with weird floral designs or sweat marks. Tasty. But I shouldn't be so negative you never know after all!

Annas Flirty Feminine Style

Anna's Look

My look

Because of my lack of classy T shirts I then decided to try to replicate another one of Anna's outfits. This outfit is the final Anna outfit. It's simple, refined and a far cry from the indie child look that she had at the start. The screen capture above doesn't show the whole outfit (she wears a lovely pair of tapered black pants) but I think you get the idea, stripes, pants and a nice little belt. In my version I used a striped singlet and a wonderfully big woolen jersey. I feel that the brown accessories tie it together rather nicely and the colour makes for a more youthful look (after all I'm not a married junior editor like Anna.)

As a side not I have to admit that I've had these black pants for a few months now and I had no idea what to wear with them! I thought about colour blocking but then I ended up looking like an eighties pop star. I was at a loss. But I rather like the simple nautical look with them. I think they're just meant to be worn with a classic look.

After thought:

So I don't forget all of the wonderful things I want to buy when I can buy things I shall attach a 'buy next year' label... Next year... wow!

Oh and thanks to Rachel for taking my photo :D

Scrambled Egg with Butter

Sometimes food just makes you feel something. It's not that it makes you feel full or fuzzy or anything else. It just reminds you of a time or a moment when you felt something. I made myself scrambled eggs with butter tonight for dinner. A fairly standard light dinner for most people. But to me whenever my brain recognises the taste of scrambled eggs with butter then my brain conjures up the vision of my father cooking.

To be frank my father is not a good cook. The last time I remember him making dinner then he made a stew that managed to taste like dirt. Now when people say that then they usually mean figuratively like it's a way to say that it just tastes bad. But when I say that my fathers stew tastes like dirt I mean literally. After I had one bite of it then I spat it out. I then stared very carefully down at the stew and realised that I hadn't accidentally eaten potting mix instead of stew instead to my horror my dinner just tasted like dirt. To this day I still don't know if my father decided to add a touch of dirt as a joke or if he just somehow managed to accidentally isolate the taste of dirt using ingredients from the spice cabinet.

I must give my father his due. He can make wonderful scrambled eggs. He always puts in a fair bit of butter and cooks them perfectly. I think he may even dabble with adding a little bit of salt and pepper.. He doesn't make them often. In fact I've only ever seen him make them for my mother to give her breakfast in bed. I would usually crawl into bed beside my mother once she had her breakfast as the sun streamed into her bedroom through the windows. Then I'd just lie next to her while she flipped through NEXT magazine. In that moment I felt safe and serene.

Now that's how I feel whenever I buttery scrambled eggs.

A week without Gluten

Pistachio Nut Caramel Slice

Banana Pikelets with butterscotch sauce and cheesecake filling

Well actually five days... I decided to try to spend a week without eating gluten. Apparently it's meant to be great for you. Makes you feel and look fantastic. Or at least that's what Miley Cyrus told me, http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/6723812/Miley-Cyrus-slammed-by-dietitians.

A year ago I never would've followed any of Miley Cyrus's advice (mainly because the most memorable one happened to be not wearing underwear) but now I find that I've gained a wee bit of respect for Miley. That's because of a fellow called Liam Hemsworth.

Liam Hemsworth is one of the stars of 'the Hunger Games', which by the by is nothing at all like 'Twilight' since there's no blood drinking just a bunch of teenagers killing each other. Anyway don't let the premise put you off the book and the movie are both fantastic. Regretably I have now become a 'hungerling' and bought into the franchise, something and indie kid like me would never do. You'll probably see me at the 'Catching Fire' premiere dressed up as Katniss. Embarrassing but true. Anyway since Liam Hemsworth acts alongside the likes of Jennifer Lawrence (female celeb crush #2 after Emma Stone) in the 'Hunger Games' then he must be awesome. How is Miley Cyrus related to Liam Hemsworth? Well they happen to be dating. Therefore since I think Liam Hemsworth a good judge of character Miley Cyrus has improved in my eyes. Although it works the other way round for my friend Phoebe 'yeah, since he's dating Miley Cyrus I have a lot less respect for Liam Hemsworth.'

So Miley Cyrus is the reason I went gluten free for a wee while. I didn't really like it. I was forced to have rice and potatoes as my main source of carbohydrates. I know that there are some lovely websites that give gluten free cupcake and pasta recipes but honestly have you seen the ingredient list? Half of the types of flour I've never heard of because a) they're probably only found in America and b) there's no way that my local Pak 'n' Save would ever be classy enough to stock it and c) there's no way that I'll ever be classy enough to buy it. So a week of potatoes and rice. No muesli because it contained gluten and of course no bread. That made making my usual sanwiches for lunch rather difficult. I tried to using rice wafers with avocado and tomato but they just disintegrated into a gooey green mush. Tasty.

That's the end of my gluten free adventure. I have to say that I shan't be trying it again anytime soon. I may try to eat less gluten but I quite simply think being gluten free as a student is next to impossible unless of course if you really like rice or if you have a ridiculous amount of scholarship money to buy gluten free food.

Plus I really don't think I could survive any longer without any of the tasty treats shown above.

White chocolate whoopie pies with Cream Cheese Filling

Today I was torn between studying and baking. I kid. I was thinking to myself how I really should be studying and how baking seemed like a far more enjoyable use of my time. So it isn't hard to see how I ended up baking a delicious batch of whoopie pies.

I think that whoopie pies are a bit like beginner cupcakes. They don't need a piping bag (unless you're pedantic), it's fairly obvious when they're cooked (they get a wonderful golden colour) and you don't have to be quite so delicate with the mixture. In my humble opinion if you're procrastinating then whoopie pies are the far easier way to go.

I do however think it's ridiculous that whoopie pies are meant to be replacing cupcakes as the hit baked good. I would never buy a whoopie pie. They're far too easy to make yourself and to be honest professional ones barely differ from ones you make at home. I think it's rather stupid to buy anything which you can make at home and doesn't look incredible (lets be honest I can never really say 'no' to a beautifully presented friand).

White Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Ingredients
60g White chocolate melted
60g white chocolate finely chopped
80g butter softened
3/4 c buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c caster sugar
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat butter furiously until it substantially lightens in colour, about 2 minutes.
2. Add sugars to the butter and continue to beat furiously, another 2 minutes.
3. Add egg to mixture and beat for another 2 minutes.
4. Melt white chocolate on a double boiler. Bear in mind that white chocolate tends to go clumpy so keep an eye on it.
5. Add chocolate to butter mixture and beat again.
6. Alternatively add the buttermilk and the flour and baking soda in about three portions. Fold mixture well after each addition. Make sure that the buttermilk is well incorporated before adding the flour otherwise the mixture will be lumpy. Do not over mix.
7. Gently add the finely chopped chocolate.
7. Dollop onto a baking tray in a similar way to cookies. Cook for 10 minutes or until golden.

Frosting
150g Cream Cheese
3/4 c icing sugar
100g butter

1. Soften butter then furiously beat for two minutes.
2. Add the cream cheese and beat mixture until the mixture is well incorporated.
3. Add the icing sugar and beat the whole mixture for 3 minutes.
 4. Sandwich the whoopie pies together with the icing.

They're rather delicious. Although I must confess I ate far too many of them while I was making them so be careful or else you may find yourself on quite a sugar high.

Watches vintage movies

'Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.'
'We'll always have Paris.'
'Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'


Casablanca. 

I saw it for the first time tonight and I felt that the whole experience was very magical. I went along to the local cinemas with a few friends and I watched it on the big screen. Everyone laughed at the timeless jokes, cried at the emotional scenes and let out a great sigh every time there was a quote which everyone knew (which was often). It was incredible. I wasn't bored by the black and white colouring or the old fashioned language instead I found myself listening intently for the entire movie. In fact my only break in concentration was to grab an mystery chocolate from its box. It was lovely. I know someone may make the point that 'hey you could've seen it at home for one dollar instead of thirteen'. But I just have to say that those thirteen extra dollars were most certainly worth it since I probably wouldn't have watched it at home and if I had watched it at home I wouldn't have heard the pleasant mutterings from the other viewers (most of which were over fourty).

Casablanca is completely timeless. The jokes weren't crude or crass. They were just witty. The storyline started the whole love of your life leaving on an aeroplane cliche with one distinct difference. This wasn't a cliched romcom instead it was just a story with the sole purpose of telling that story rather than getting asses in cinema seats.

Overall a really pleasant evening.

My advice; try watching one of those timeless movies at the cinema. Even if you've seen them before it still makes them a thousand times better.