Back at School...

Headed back to uni today so I'm back in my box. Realised I forgot to bring my camera with me, dagnabbit, but should be able to swing by Mom's office in London before I go to see Jersey Boys on Wednesday and grab it. Until then will just have to describe what I bought at the Vintage fair!

1. Pale blue suede belt from the 1960s, bought for a stunning £2!
2. Dark blue velvet wide brim hat from 1920-1930 with chiffon ribbon and corsage decoration. This thing is amazing. I never wear hats (last time I wore a hat, a beret, it got blown off my head into a flooded street and run over by three cars before I could save it - I pretty much took it as a sign from God that me+hats aren't to be). But this just works for some reason, it's slightly stiff so you can bend the hat over one eye and look like a femme fatale from an old PI movie. (£12)
3. Green and pink candy striped skirt, 1950s, reaches mid calf and is made of an enormous amount of material. Tried to haggle the price down but wussed out as the stall owners were so damn scary. (£35)

In other news: have an essay due for Thursday that I've done minimal preparation for, so wish me luck!

Have fun,

S.S.

Madly, Deeply, Truly Darkly Cookies

This is the cookie recipe I promised you the other day, apologies that it took a while. This recipe makes a quite small batch, anywhere between 12 and 16 cookies. This recipe is still so worth it though. The cookies are crisp to the point of crunchy on the outside and in the middle they are almost fudgey, best eaten when still warm and they make a wonderful dessert with ice cream. And the best part of all? They are fat and gluten free!! Amazing, isn't it?

Deeply, Truly Darkly, Deeply Cookies

• 1 cup dark (70% or bittersweet) chocolate chips or chunks
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips/chunks
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder (I use Green & Blacks)
• 1 1/2 cups powdered/icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave, ideally in 30 second bursts and stirring in between. Once completely melted, set to the side and allow to cool.
2. Preheat the oven now to 400F (about 180C or Gas Mark 4) and grease two baking trays, ideally with fat free spray! (Otherwise if you have some of those amazing non-stick pans you don't need to bother with this)
3. Whisk the egg whites until they reach the soft peak phase. Add 1/2 cup sugar and continue to whizz until it looks glossy silver-white.
4. In a small bowl put together the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the egg white (about a third at a time) and blend completely. Add the melted chocolate, making to scrape all the chocolatey goodness into the mix! The mix should be very thick at this point, so you may want to stop using your electric whisk. Finally chuck the white chocolate chunks in and give a good stir before popping the whole bowl into the fridge for about half an hour (perfect amount of time to clean up all the mess!).
5. Remove dough from fridge and quickly set about dolloping tablespoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheets, with a good inch or two between cookies. Pop into oven and bake for about ten minutes, but start checking up on them after about seven. They should look puffed up with cracks beginning to appear on the tops and should give when you poke them. Watch out for the bottoms though as they have a tendency to suddenly burn.

And there you have it! The best things about these cookies? They're so wonderfully dark that I don't feel the need to binge as they're so damn satisfying! Another upside I discovered recently is that if you manage to accidentally burn them, they're still great! The darkness of the chocolate really masks anything like that.

Am off now to have a wonder. There's a vintage fair in town so may do a fashion post later...

Have fun!

S.S.

Surf and Iberian Turf

Had a nice jaunt around town until it started tipping down on me - why does that always happen? Lunch was great but afraid I forgot to take a picture (I was hungry, ok!), here's the recipe:

• Scallops (about 7-10 for lunch or dinner and 4-6 for a starter) without roe or shells.
• Organic chorizo (I always use Iberico organic chorizo because it tastes so much better than non-organic, as it's not so sharp) in thick slices.

1. Cut chorizo slices (of a log, rather than an individual sausage) into quarters and throw into a hot frying pan - do not put any oil or fat in the pan.
2. Fry the chorizo until you see reddish oil leaking out. After a minute or so place the scallops into the pan. Season the top of the scallops with salt and pepper.
3. Remove the chorizo if it's getting a bit too crispy but otherwise leave it there, turning occasionally. Turn the scallops over after two minutes or so (3 minutes for frozen scallops) and cook for another two minutes or until slightly crispy on each side but barely cooked in the middle (i.e. use your judgement!).
4. Switch off heat and tip contents into small bowls and serve with freshly ground pepper. Eat quickly as it gets cold fast!

Am headed back to the kitchen now to make fat and gluten free chocolate cookies which may not look all that pretty but taste amazing! Will post recipe and picture later.

Have fun!

S.S.

P.S. Don't get used to this many posts a day!

Welcome to Hometown...

Hi there,

Welcome to my blog. I'm pretty certain that I'm just speaking (typing) into the void that is the world wide web, but I figure it can't hurt.
This is just a quick post to get the ball rolling so here's some general info about me:

• I was born twenty (almost 21 now...) years ago in the seaside city of Brighton, the so-called San Francisco of England (we're big on gay pride here!).
• My Nerd Family: I am the oldest of just two children but we have a big big family. My Mom is Bermudian, of all things, so I go back to the island pretty regularly and we have a tonne of Aunts, Uncles and cousins floating around. My Dad is a typical English, stiff upper lip chappie. He works at a big Newspaper in London so I get to attend some really great events such as the London Film Festival, which I'll tell you about later.
• For more than seven years I attended a posh public (for those non-Brits: private) school for girls (oh the horror). I finally escaped a year and a half ago and decided to take a year off before plunging into student life. I ended up, somehow, working for Major League Baseball in their London office - no doubt their launching pad for world domination.
• Finally in September last year I went to uni, a North-West London university where I'm studying International Politics which is fun at times and stressful at times. How weird it is to be living alone!

I have a lot of strange, eclectic interests that this blog will probably touch on but I'm going to focus on fashion (in particular: vintage; retro; shoes and eBay) and cooking - what a regular housewife I am!
For now, however, I'm starving! So I'm gonna run off and whip up some lunch (scallops and chorizo - recipe later) and I'll be back in a while!

Have fun!

S.S.