Holiday Purchases

A few things I picked up on my travels:

1. A hair cream by J.F. Lazartigue. 

When I went to Paris a few years ago, I had a "hair consultation" at the concession J.F. Lazartigue in Printemps and the woman there recommended I used this product. The cream weighs my hair down and stops it from frizzing and going dry, but it doesn't make it look greasy or pull out the curls. I've never been able to find it in the UK, so when we were there I had to pick some up. 

2. A birthday present for someone very special.

3. Delicious macaroons from Laduree. 

4. Foaming face wash by Caudalie. 

Until recently, the only place Caudalie was available in the UK was Space N.K, who charged quite a lot for it. Recently, Boots have been stocking it, but the price has been a little high for my meagre budget, especially now that I have to buy my own skincare products. However, in France, you can pick Caudalie up at any pharmacy. I've used the Facial Foaming Mousse for several years now - it's very gentle for sensitive skin like mine, but it is pretty effective for use against spots. 

5. Chocolate for the Lindt shop (a whole shop, devoted to chocolate - my idea of heaven).

I bought this gorgeous jacket from Pinko. The sleeves are rather long but it's a beautiful cut and it fits like a dream. I bought it from a designer outlet in Tuscany, far superior to the ones in England (it had a Prada store), reduced from 275€ to 75€.

Flo x

Lazing on a sunny afternoon

I was ready at least 20 minutes before my family, for once. I'm wearing Bear's old Gap Kids denim jacket and a Gap striped tee (via ASOS).

The best way to spend a sunny afternoon is to sit in the garden with friends eating cake and drinking champagne. Lovely.

Above: Victoria sponge and chocolate fingers.

Below: Blueberry clafoutis (left) and lemon drizzle cake (right).

All from the Farmer's Market.

Lil' sis.

It rained on and off all day and created this amazing light.

Flo x

Empty timetable day

Thanks to some EXCELLENT timetabling by my school, I have no lessons every alternate Wednesday. Yesterday was one such day. So Mama Eastoe and I headed up to London for some girly-bonding-time/to see Grace Kelly at the V&A/to go to some magazine party she had been invited to. 

Unfortunately all the photos I took are dreadful because they come from my mobile phone - I left my camera at home. 

 

I loved the V&A. I hadn't been before (although Mama Eastoe said that I had but didn't remember), and I was just amazed by the sheer amount of objects there. I loved the court casts (above) and couldn't believe that they got them into that room. I did realise that they took them apart in Italy and rebuilt them when they got them back to the museum but still, WOW, they're absolutely massive and someone, somewhere in history did all the carving.

Unfortunately, the Grace Kelly exhibit was sold out for the day, so I am going another day. 

My favourite object was this staircase: 

This staircase is from Italy and my inner history geek loves that it survives from Medieval/Renaissance times and it was transported without being damaged or anything. I wanted to climb up it but health and safety blah blah blah. What the picture doesn't show you is how intricate the carving on the central pillar and the banister is.  

We then headed to Harrods for afternoon tea. 

Mmmm Laduree.

I had raspberry, chocolate and vanilla mini macaroons and Mama Eastoe had pistachio and coffee mini macaroons.

I also had proper French hot chocolate, ie. what is essentially melted chocolate, which meant that I was so full I couldn't eat anything else for the rest of the day. I could live off those macaroons for the rest of my life, especially the vanilla ones. 

Flo x

Happy Birthday Mimi!

My friend Miranda turned the big 1-8 today. 

So I made some cupcakes:

Rosie also made a cake:

Our lunch (in the oh-so-stylish common room) consisted off sausage rolls, tortilla chips & salsa, toffee popcorn, cupcakes and Rosie's cake. She put some Philadelphia in the icing in the middle, which tasted great with the chocolate.

Flo x

Cupcakes that have since been devoured by four hungry teenage boys.

In a never-before-seen turn of events, I made some cupcakes today.

They're plain vanilla sponge with blue buttercream icing, decorated with silver balls and edible glitter.

Check out http://www.cakeadoodledo.co.uk/.

Flo x

Cookie Magic

My friend came over and we made some delicious cookies that took 10 minutes to make, thanks to a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Everyday cook book. I can tell you that they were delicious. 

Flo x

Today's Offerings

Here are the cupcakes I made this afternoon instead for my history class. It really drags last thing on a Friday, so we take it in turns to bring treats in. Everyone's been a bit slack lately so I thought I'd start the tradition again, especially now that we're stuck doing coursework.

Flo x

Cupcake Magic

With the shock of having no school work or revision to do this weekend, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. With the freedom to do anything I wanted, I didn't want to do anything, I just wanted to lie around the house and maybe watch some Sex and the City reruns.

Instead, I made some cupcakes, using a recipe from Cupcake Magic, by the genius Katie Shirazi. Normally my cakes are like little biscuits - they don't rise or they burn after 5 minutes. But today I produced some magnificent cakes, if I say so myself. They tasted good as well; I sense a new Sunday tradition forming.

What my brother and I realised, after we polished off the last few cupcakes was that the silver sugar balls I'd decorated the cakes with had a Best Before date of November 1999. That's more than 10 years ago and it means that my mum bought them in about 1995. I love my mother, but checking dates on things is not one of her strengths. Bear (my brother) and I don't think we're in too much danger.

Flo x