Barcelona - escaping from reality

Hello lovely people, hope you are all well!

I have decided to share with you my little trip to Spain and just talk to you as if this is a little review of my holiday (it's funny because when I was younger, we always were asked in primary school to write a report of our summer holidays and I literally hated it, but look at me now voluntarily writing this down). I went to Barclona last summer but really wanted to talk about it so during the January blues I thought I would reminince. 

Right so first of all we arrived in Barcelona and there was the usual whoosh of heat as we stepped off the plane but sadly the sky was an ashy grey which was quite strange (it had been gorgeous crystal blue skies from where we were departing previously that morning) yet I was excited to be in a new place. To begin with I didn't know how close Barcelona was to the sea until we flew over the beach and landed straight after.

The first thing we did was go to a place called VEGETALIA for dinner and it was fabulous, because it a) had English translations which I will tell you now, is like a god send and b) was full of lovely meal options, I had a Thai green vegetable curry!

I also started to read a really good book which was laying on my bookshelf for years so decided to crack it open ~ 'Coco Chanel...The legend and the life', I really think if you are interested in fashion and how it has changed over the decades it would be a great read, also if you were just interested in Chanel and who she was as a designer. It is an eye opener as by reading it I found out that her life was actually quite dark and lonely - yet she had fame and money. Just shows money can't buy you love or happiness. 

So on our first full day we basically went all around Barcelona by foot, we firstly went to the Parc de la Ciutadella and then saw the Arc de Triomf of Barcelona and also managed to visit the outside of the La Sagrada Família and then La Pedrera and the Casa Batlló. It was a busy day but great for taking pictures and learning lots about Barcelona's culture. Did you know that the Sagrada Família has taken longer to build than the great pyramids?

Our second day was more relaxed but we still went to Parc Guell which was really lovely as we woke up early to get there before the crowds (top tip it gets busy by 9 o'clock in the summer holidays). By the afternoon we were knackered because we had walked all the way back to our apartment in the heat of the day alongside the beach (which is actually artificial and hasn't been around for a long time as it was built just for the Barcelona Olympics, crazy!) so we decided to have a siesta then went out for dinner a bit later.

On our last full day we visited Mountjuïc which had amazing views of the city, we decided to go up the cable car because apparently it was a long walk up the mountain. At the top of the mountain there were so many water features, we walked around jumping over stepping stones until we found a lovely place to get ice lollies and ice cream to cool off. We then trekked back down Mountjuïc to find a graffiti square that wasn't too far away. I was amazed by the whirlwind of colours and designs we stumbled across.

Barcelona was a lovely place to visit filled with good grub and so much sangria. I loved seeing the beautiful buildings as well as the colourful graffiti, the city was vibrant and lovely to spend a few days escaping reality.

All my love xxx

'No Ordinary Cupcakes' The Basics...

Hello beautiful people, how are you? Today I wanted to start a baking series called, 'No Ordinary Cupcakes', in this series I will be showing you how to make cupcakes, that are really easy but look very professional. However, before that I need to tell you about the basic equipment:

First you will need a baking tray, a mixer, a spatula, a cooling tray, an oven (would be quite handy), mixing bowls, wooden spoons, teaspoons, measuring scales and of course cupcake cases!

Then before you can get creative with decorating you need to know how to bake a plain cupcake, which is what I am going to show you now:

You will need...

4oz of caster sugar

4oz of butter

4oz of self-raising flour

2 eggs

1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract (better than vanilla essence)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4, and put the cupcake cases into the baking tray

2. Then beat together the caster sugar and butter until extremely pale (this is the most important part because this makes the cupcakes light and fluffy)

3. Next add the vanilla and 2 eggs, then beat together

4. Add the self-raising flour, keep mixing until fully combined!

5. Use teaspoons to spoon the mixture in to the cases and then place in the oven for 12-15 minutes

6. Check if they are ready with a cocktail stick, then take them out when they are golden brown.

8. Place the cakes on to a cooling tray and leave for 5 minutes to cool down!

There you have it, the basic cupcake, I'd love if you could leave me some suggestions on what I should decorate cupcakes with next time?

<3

Mid-Week Blues

Hi everyone! Do you ever feel that Wednesday, is just another day in the week that just doesn't need to exist because, it's neither close to the weekend or close to the start of the week. Well my advice to make Wednesdays bearable is firstly wear pink ;) but, secondly bake some cookies...

I hope you have a great week

<3