T in the Park

T in the Park! It was brilliant. Even the bus up to Balado was fun. 

Sunshine, mustache pints, N Dubz (with thrones), Ke$ha (so awful, but funny), the Saturdays, Three Blind Wolves, Jimmy Eat World (brilliant), Scottish Opera (unexpected!), Beyonce (amazing), Professor Green, the Pretty Reckless (.. oh dear), Blondie (was bored), Weezer (ace!), Pulp, Tinie Tempah (brilliant crowd) and Foo Fighters. Phew. We watched more pop than planned, but had an amazing time.

& the sun even came out! 

Before we got completely sun burnt (we are Scottish)

Rivers in a very fetching T poncho

Mustache pints!

Chilling in the pod garden

Bin bag chic

I'm absolutely knackered today, but it was totally worth it. Well done T! 

& I promise I'm not going to become a gif addict, but here's Rae, Charlotte & me doing our best Beyonce Single Ladies dance. SO MUCH FUN!

How to: bake the easiest cupcakes in the world

Here are the easiest cupcakes in the world. I've not baked in ages, but I wanted to make a wee treat for my team at work as we've done so well lately & have been hitting targets like pros (well done team!). So I made some. This is how you do it.

First, oven on! Turn it up to 150 degrees. Sensible people preheat their ovens. I can't be bothered, and assume it'll be fine by the time the cake mix is ready. Now! Get your ingredients. You'll need the following:

• 150g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 175g self raising flour
• Bit of vanilla essence

Bung the butter and sugar into a bowl/your lovely food processor. It helps if the butter is softish at this point (i.e you can poke it easily, but it isn't runny). You want to mix the butter & sugar to a really lovely smooth consistency. 

Add the eggs and flour. I don't ever bother to sieve flour, life is too short! Just stick it all in and mix together.

You want to mix it so it is smooth without massive lumps, but not so runny that you've knocked all the air out of it. See how it is ever so slowly sliding off the spoon above? That's a nice consistency to aim for. 

Once it's mixed, spoon it into baking cases as soon as you can. You want to aim to fill the cases between 1/2 - 2/3s full, just try and keep them even. This recipe makes about 15 normal cupcakes (or 12 massive muffin style cupcakes if you can't be bothered using two trays!). 

Depending on your oven, the cakes should take about 15 - 18 minutes to make. DO NOT OPEN YOUR OVEN DURING THIS TIME. Opening your oven too early is declaring to your cakes that you do not love them, and they should sink in sadness (they will). Cold air is a rising cupcake's enemy. You have been warned. 

Once 15 minutes have passed, start looking (through the closed oven door!) to judge the colour of your cakes. If they are starting to look golden, then (and only then) can you open the oven and try one of these tests to see if they are ready.

1 - Poking

When you poke it (gently) does it rise back to the touch? Then it's probably ready. Does your finger leave an obvious dent? Back in the oven!

2 - Stabbing

Stick a sharp knife in your cake, and see what it looks like when it comes out. If the knife is clean, the cake is ready. If there's still a bit of gunk then it'll need another five minutes or so.

When you are happy that your cakes are baked through, pop them on a baking rack to cool down and leave them alone for around 30 minutes before thinking of decorating them. If you try to ice a cake too early and it's still hot then the icing will melt and not look pretty. Go have a cup of tea or something. 

Okay! When they are almost cool, make your icing. I used the Best Buttercream Recipe in the World (2 parts icing sugar to 1 part butter) which makes lovely smooth icing. Number one tip for making buttercream - make sure that your butter is extremely soft! It'll make everything easier. When that's done, get a piping bag and start decorating!

Here's a really professional gif (haha, sorry!)

(By the way, if I can pipe with one hand whilst taking photos with the other, then ANYONE can neatly pipe buttercream!).

Cupcakes are lovely to decorate because you can do anything with them, and be as simple or creative as you'd like. I just put glitter on everything.

Tada! So there you have it! Cupcake success. Happy baking.

Summer holidays

I'm in a much happier place this week! I FINALLY shook the dreaded cold (after infecting my poor co-workers, sorry!) and for the first time in about 10 days I can breathe normally. Phew.

Far more exciting news though, we booked a holiday today...  in October I'll be flying to Florida for two weeks! It was a bit of a mission finding a good deal - I've been completely spoiled as four years ago Craig & I went to Orlando and got an incredibly cheap but brilliant deal (five star resort, mini apartment with jacuzzi, just round the corner from Disney!). Nothing that compared was coming up, until I was at my lowest point last weekend (Saturday afternoon, sun blazing, stuck inside with lemsip, duvet & the laptop for company) and then I found the same resort hidden away on a discount site! Yeeeeeeehaw.

On holiday in 2007! I had SHORT BROWN HAIR. Eep.

So in 91 days (ha), we'll be jetting off to sunshine, theme parks (Harry Potter! Disney!), surfing, rodeos, beaches, malls.. oh, just Americaaaa. Cannot wait. 

Panda nails

Still ill. Still stuck inside. Still miserable. (wah).

Well, the only good thing that's come of moping about this weekend is having loads of free time to do useless things. Like paint panda bears on my nails. Er.  Of course. This is what they look like.

Left hand

Right hand

These are SUPER messy, but who cares? I'm ill. They are pandas. That's all you really need to know. 

They were actually really easy to do, if you fancy joining the bear revolution - just do stripey green nails (for bamboo), splodge on some white varnish where you'd like the wee faces to sit, and use a kirby grip to do the ears and eyes. Try not to paint your entire fingers (like I've done) and that's it! 

I feel like such a grown up.

Happy thoughts

It is a beautiful summer day, the sun is actually out in Scotland and I have a horrible EVIL cold keeping me indoors. So, to cheer myself up, here's a list of things that are making me happy at the moment!

1 - T in the Park

Nine Inch Nails in 2009 - so so SO good

One of the perks from working at a magazine are press tickets to T in the Park! I only just got confirmation that I can go and it's next weekend! Fingers crossed the weather stays sunny (and that my cold disappears!!). I've not had a chance to properly go through the line up, but at a glance I am most excited about the following: Jimmy Eat World, Fun Lovin Criminals, BEYONCE, Weezer and Bright Eyes.

Next week is sign-off at work (so mega busy and a bit stressful) so this is going to be a lovely treat at the end of a manic week!

2 - Holiday planning

Waiheke harbour, New Zealand

After last year's epic Hong Kong/New Zealand/Hawaii trip, Craig & I made a pact to not go on any holidays in 2011 to try and save some money. Well, we've made it to July and he has already been on TWO holidays (a cycling trip across Europe and a surf trip up North)! This has made me faaaar too jealous, so I've twisted his arm and we're thinking of going somewhere at the end of the year.

There is actually too much choice - it has to be sunny and (relatively) cheap, but other than that, we could go anywhere! I am struggling to choose, although I am doing my best to find a great deal to Orlando, just so that I have an excuse to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!


3 -  Craig

I have been so moany and pathetic all week, and Craig has been an utter superstar - keeping me fuelled with lemsip and tea, making me dinner (and breakfast in bed), finding films for me to watch, and generally just being lovely. What a hero. ❤

p.s. I also like my new hairband.

Okay, I'm going back to hide under a duvet and feel sorry for myself.