Sunday 21 October 2012

Baked Yeast Doughnuts

Now that I had a very nice and great value for money cake plate, I decided to bake up something sweet to serve upon it. Given that I had recently acquired a mini doughnut tray from a charity shop for a mere 50 pence, it was about time I used it.

I got the recipe from my other cake related subscription Cake Decorating magazine.

To make your own you'll need:

  • 350 g strong white flour
  • 400ml lukewarm milk
  • 1 egg
  • 50 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 packet (7 g) dried yeast
  • 50 g fine granulated sugar
  • Flavouring i.e. pinch of nutmeg or cinammon or a dash of vanilla

  • Mix the sugar and the egg together and whip for 1 minute until light and fluffy while heating the milk to body temperature.


     
    Add the milk, yeast, flavouring and salt to the eggy mixture. Then slowly add the flour until it forms a dough.



    Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth then place in a bowl and in a warm place to prove till it has doubled in size.

     
    Once risen, knock the air out of the dough and shape into doughnuts or place dough in doughnut ring tray. Leave to prove again for 20 mins on top of your warming oven which should be set at 230 degrees C.

     
    Then bake for 5-8 mins until slightly golden. Better to undercook then overcook so they remain soft and un-bagel like. Take out of the overn ans whilst hot dip in melted butter and then caster sugar flavoured with or without cinammon. Serve on a cake plate but more importantly eat whilst still warm.
     
     

    Bjorn Borg underwear

    I recently bought a thong from this range and I was very impressed. Especially considering that it is by the Bjorn Borg, as in the tennis player from the 80s. Take a look

    http://www.bjornborg.com/uk/her/underwear

    The collection is very colourful and fun and caters for women, men and children. If you 're looking for a pair of female boxers then this is the place to come. As you would expect the designs are very sporty. Although like I said it's also good for thongs. By definition a thing should be skimpy and these are however, they are not skimpy in the front which makes them very comfortable. This is the pair I bought. A lacy bright pink flourescent thong that stayed bright even after being washed.

    http://www.bjornborg.com/uk/love-all-lace-10

    This is the next pair I'm thinking of adding to my collection

    http://www.bjornborg.com/uk/metallic

    And these perfect for long cold nights

    http://www.bjornborg.com/uk/animal-1

    Vintage Tea Party

    I have found a solution to my tea tray problem.

    There is a new magazine collection in stores now. As always the first issue is a bargain. £1.99 for a cake plate.

     
     
    The magazine has a few recipes and little tips on how to present your baking.
     
     
    I have started to subscribe for £6.99 for each issue as I'm hoping to get a new tea tray.
     
     
    I don't think I'll get the whole collection but it does look quaint.


    

    Tuesday 16 October 2012

    30B

    My 12 year old niece is blossoming into a young lady and recently got measured for her first bra. Coincidentally it turns out she is the same size as me and so I felt compelled to offer my lingerie wisdom. And if you, like me, are not in the high street 32A to 36DD range you're also going to need to look a little harder for a bra that fits.

    If you're not very well endowed it's easy to start looking for bras at shops with girl's clothes ranges such as New Look. They're good for when you're looking for a t-shirt bra with the additional benefit of being a little cheaper. Unfortunately they also tend to have little monkeys or cutesy cupcakes all over them. That's when M&S is very useful as they have the girl's Angel range but also stock more grown up designs in all sorts of sizes and patterns.

    M&S is an obvious choice and I haven't really come up with anything profound but the great Marks and Sparks deserves every credit. I can't tell you the number of times I've been to specialist lingerie shops and not found my size. These shops even have little labels on the bras which tell you all the sizes they come in, 30B not being one of them. It really gets on my tits. I get particularly annoyed in La Senza and especially avoid the celebrity ranges.

    Whittard of Chelsea

    I finally bought my Sunday best tea set. I made a special trip to the outlet store in Hatfield. Plenty to choose from.


    This is what I wanted

    With this design

     
    Unfortunately they had all sold out. That's the risk you take if you wait till it arrives at the outlet store so I bought this instead
     
    
    

    I now need a tea tray to carry it all.

    Rien lingerie

    There was one lingerie brand that I was looking for on my trip to Paris but didn't manage to find and that was Rien. I had found out about this name whilst researching my trip to Paris for lingerie shopping. Sadly I didn't find it on any of the shop floors so thankfully you are able to order pieces online.

    I love the asymmetry as it's something I've not come across before. Although their sizes do not cater for all.




    Killer Queen

    In this song by Queen there's a line that goes 'Perfume came naturally from Paris'.

    It reminds me of my birthday trip to Paris for lingerie and perfume. It started with an early morning train ride on the Eurostar from King's Cross station into the heart of Paris. First stop was breakfast at Laduree on the Champs-Elysees Avenue and consisted of French toast, hot chocolate and various pastries. We were energised for our little shopping excursion but not before a quick trip up the Eiffel Tower.

    After a lot of research I wanted to visit the following French Lingerie houses:

    Fifi Chachnil

    A lovely little boutique located in a courtyard off rue St Honore. It's style is fun and flirtatious with a hint of the ’50s: Think Brigitte Bardot meets Betty Boop—there’s lots of polka-dot details and contrasting ribbon bows. With my purchase I was given a little vial of the perfume. A spicy, earthy fragrance and due to its exclusivity I decided to invest in it. Luckily there is also a boutique here in the UK so I didn't have to quite go all the way back to Paris to a full bottle.

    Cadolle
    Herminie Cadolle is credited with inventing the bra in 1889, thus liberating women from the corset. Four generations later, this little red-and-gold boutique is still a purveyor of the kind of undergarment that moulds your body into the perfect shape. For the bespoke version, head around the corner to the by-appointment-only Loft Couture

    Chantal Thomas
    Another boutique on the rue St Honore, the slinky-white interior is strategically positioned next to fashionista favorite Colette, provides a boudoir backdrop for striking designs by Chantal Thomass, one of the pioneers of underwear as fashion. With their instantly recognizable black silhouette logo, Thomass’s flirty creations have just the right dose of dark and sexy but not too masochistic.

    If that wasn't enough we also managed to fit a tour of Notre Dame Cathedral before heading over to the lingerie section at Galeries Lafayette in case we had missed something earlier. This was where I managed to pick up my favourite piece of underwear... my Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra designed for La Perla.