Random 7

I was tagged by Katrina from Pugly Pixel and Piper from One Sydney Road to list my Random 7, and here they are:

1. I was tempted by lots of pretty handmade paper last weekend.

2. I love visiting Shell Bay in Dorset. When you're there, it feels like you could be anywhere in the world.

3. I have adored Boyzone since I was young girl. Tragically Stephen passed away very suddenly last year. I saw them perform at Wembley only a few months before, so my photos from this concert are very precious to me.

4. I'm obsessed with beads.

5. When she's not trying to open cupboard doors, attacking my orchids or meowing, Honey likes to throw some dance moves to get my attention :)

6. I have a love/hate relationship with shoes. There are so many pretty ones out there, but I can't wear them because A: I don't wear leather, and B: I'm only safe wearing flats. (Twice I've slipped over and landed on my chin resulting in a damaged nerve in a tooth and a split chin!)

7. I like to keep my home free of clutter. But my real secret is that I have 3 of these cupboards (Ikea Billy bookcases with customised glass doors) so I can stash things away that I want to keep it out of sight. Shhhhh don't tell anyone I'm secretly messy...

I tag: Emma, Stephanie Sabbe, Anne, City Girl Chicago, and Kelley Anne. Have fun :)

The perfect model

Honey doesn't like these closeup shots (especially the ones up her nose) but they're my favourite as they capture her little quirks and all the things that I love about her. I wish I had permanent eyeliner like she does.

Merry Christmas

Snow Love

Yesterday we were snowed out, but luckily we were only a couple of miles from home so we travelled back on foot and walked past 7 buses stuck in traffic! It was a good opportunity to test out my new boots - they're so snuggly and warm. Today we went for a walk in a park and it was so bright and fresh. The snow had frozen so we couldn't make a proper snowman but managed a 'snow stack'. Earlier in the week the snow was too powdery so it's never quite right!

Vegan Cookies

I made a double batch of cookies last week. The sort with a crisp outer shell and a soft, crumbly centre... mmm my favourite. I originally found this recipe on Parsley Soup a couple of years ago. They require very little oven-time, so they're ideal emergency cookies. I doubled these quantities and made a chocolate chip batch, and then added cocoa powder into the second half of the mixture for double chocolate chip.

Ingredients

100g (4oz) soft vegetable margarine (I use Pure soya spread)
100g (4oz) caster sugar
150g (6 oz) self-raising flour (plain flour makes much flatter, denser cookies)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g (4oz) dark chocolate chopped into little pieces
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

Beat the margarine and sugar until fluffy. Then add vanilla extract, chocolate chips and cocoa powder for double-choc cookies, then stir in flour to make dough. If the mixture won't form a dough, add a little soya milk. Shape the mixture into 16 balls and flatten slightly (or 8 balls for larger cookies). Place on baking tray lined with grease-proof paper and bake for about 8 minutes at 200˚C/400˚F (slightly longer for larger cookies). Leave to cool slightly before transferring onto a cooling rack.

Top Tip: For a delicious dessert, crumble cookies over vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream :)

Snow Day!

Everywhere looks so beautiful when it's covered in a blanket of snow. Yesterday I went for a walk in the park in very inappropriate footwear but it was fun! The snow this year seems too powdery for building a decent snowman. Has anyone else had this problem? My favourite photo is the first one: the tree trunk looks like a white line in the sky! It doesn't snow that often in London so maybe this is normal, but my neither my husband nor I have ever seen snow settling like this before. Even the lamp posts and road signs were covered in the same way - so funny!!