Toffee Apple Cocktail

Finally having our glimpse of summer. Who hasn't enjoyed the past few days of pure harmless blue skies and the very few innocent fluffy white clouds. The week has flown past and I have been enjoying a new cocktail that I got introduced to last weekend. Let me tell you these are my new summer favourite! I thought it is about time that I shared this little gem with you.

I first discovered this rum back in April at the Bluewater Good Food Show, and I'll let you in to a little secret that bottle didn't last long. So when I saw these guys at the Essex Food and Drink Festival, I knew I to see them again. This time they had new cocktail to try, and try it, I did!

La Recette 

Cloudy Apple Juice 

Ron Aguere Caramel Rum

Slice of lime 

Ice 

This cocktail is very simple and effective to make and it is super easy to drink. I made a few rounds for my friends at the BBQ during the week and it was a complete hit, Dulcie, who is has the biggest sweet tooth out the lot of us, was excited as she said it tastes just like a toffee apple in a glass. 

We enjoyed a couple of these as the sun was setting and the BBQ was trying to get light up. These summer cocktails are a nice way to catch up with friends and appreciate the summer evenings.

Bonne Degustation, Cheers.  

Olympic Medal Cookies

As a nation we are all standing together once again to host the Olympic games, We were all watching the opening last night wether you were in the comfort of your home with family or out in the local pub with friends or lucky enough to be at the ceremony its self.  We were all proud to be a part of it!

A way to join in the celebration is to make your very own gold medals. These are fun to make and easy to make in to the desired shape that you want. 

Going for the Gold

Les Ingredients 

200g unsalted butter 

280g caster sugar 

dripple of vanilla extract 

1 egg 

400g plain flour 

Pinch of salt

Methode 

Pre heat the oven to 170°C (325°F, Gas Mark 3.) 

In your mixing bowl put the butter, sugar and the vanilla extract together and mix together till the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the egg and mix well until is all is well incorporated. Next add the flour and salt mix well but do not over mix. You should be left with the dough being light soft and easy to handle. 

Now the fun starts. Dust your work surface with some flour, roll your dough out using a rolling pin. Make sure that the dough hasn't been rolled out to thin. Cut your biscuits using the shapes that you want I used a round cutter in order to make the medals. Then arrange them on a lined baking tray ready to go in to the oven for around 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them as you don't want them burning. The edges should be lightly golden and the centre should be paler. 

Once they have cooled nicely you can decorate them as you wish. To make the medals, I used icing and cut it to the size of the biscuit and made 1st place medals and 2nd place along side some GB ones.

Charlotte showing of her 2nd place

We are all winners

My friends had fun playing with the medals and thought it was such a fun idea, these can be used for some home games or just to have your own medal to be part of the 2012 games. The good part about these medals is that go brilliantly with a cup of tea or warm milk. So we are winners all round.

Bon Appétit.

Essex Food & Drink Festival

Saturday 21st 

This weekend had been planned for a while with my mum and her friends, and mum invited me to go along with them. I was like sure why not, half heartedly wanted to go, but when it got to it, I had such a lovely day!

When we got there we had a little sit down and then found some adult drinks very quickly, a lovely selection from Pimms, to some bubbly and wine. 

The French Corner 

So while we were all chatting and getting up to no good, and let me tell you something, that it doesn't mean that you are older that you are boring or any less crude. Whilst we were sitting in the sun and listening to the live music, Aldo Zilli walked passed and I jumped to to opportunity to meet him. 

Aldo Zilli and I 

For lunch there was so much to choose from, my mother opted for the classic hog roast, with of course all the sides, and also managed to haggle for extra scratching. I went for the more wholesome Falafel and Halloumi pitta from the Norfolk Natter Jacks Food Co. The Pitta its self didn't last long, as I enjoyed it with my chilled glass of rose! 

Though the girls were slightly upset that didn't get to see Gino, but we had such a nice day in the start of this lovely weather. 

Sunday 22nd 

As I met Gino in back in April at the Good Food Show in Bluewater read it Here if you missed it. I was very excited to see him again, I didn't get to many photos of his demonstration as he picked me to be the runner with the mic and go the members of the audience when they had questions, it was fun to be part of the show. 

Introductions

After the demonstration I went back stage armed with a print out of the photograph from the last time and went to get it signed. When Gino saw the photograph, he was said that he knew he recognised me. (was hard to keep my cool in front of him, as you can imagine I was on cloud 9)

He signed my photo with a personalised message which is proudly sitting in within the family photos. 

Hope you're all enjoying the sun!! 

End of an Era

The last few weeks I have been non-stop, I have just got back form Lourdes, and have slept so much to recover from that, but before I go on about that trip, there was graduation and all that came with it. Before I went I had Graduation and The Degree Show in London Brick Lane, so here is a sneeky peek in to the past 3 weeks.

Graduation Ceremony

This marks the end of my student days, but this day will be in my memories, from the way our student house was full with all our families and loved ones and all getting ready. This was a such a good day to end the year. Over the last 3 years, I have made it known that pink is my favourite colour. So for graduation, I had to go out on a bang, and wore a bright pink dress... can you spot me?

BA (hons) Photography 

The group photo is from the lovely Becky Welford.

After the ceremony I enjoyed a lovely meal with my family, where we laughed and drank to our heart content and then headed down the beach to show the family where we spend the days in the few moments of sun we had!! 

A good send off from Bournemouth Beach 

Grad Ball 

We all got dressed up in our best frocks and went out all together for a good old send off, the night was filled with laughter, dancing and champagne. There was a photo booth, which we all took full advantage of. 

My Sis and I 

The Graduates

Frans famous instax images.

When the night came to an end we made our way down to the beach for the legendary skinny dip, a hand full of my braver friends went all in, I only went in to mid shins. 

What a way to end the night!

Feral - London Show 

So along side of doing our final major projects, we organised our degree show which was a collaboration between Illustration and Fine Art. Finally the time came to but all the prep in to action, we all got our D.I.Y on and became a team player to get ready for opening night. 

Team work to a new level 

Become Art

My Work 

A few words on my work. The photograph is a rendition of real world generally captured through the viewfinder of a camera. As this body of work does not have complete representation of the physicality of the world but rather has real elements of the real world. This means that the images are abstract due to what they are; they are not abstractions from the real world. This allows the work to take away the element of what the camera does to photography. The images are self-referencing which allows them to be what they are. This is the main theory behind concrete photography, the way that work is not referencing anything in particular.

Feral - Opening Night

 The last two photographs are from Fiona Osborne.

Even though the week was demanding we still found time to be the outrageous characters that we are.

Sadly I was only able to be there for the opening night, as I went to Lourdes the following morning, which is another story itself. But the opening night went smoothly and we all dressed in our final outfits and showed London our best work!! 

All I can say is Well done to everyone!!