Today my grandparents came to visit me in Dundee and we decided to go a walk through Balgay park. It was such a nice walk and I took so many photos! The colours of the leaves when the sun was shining was amazing, it really feels like autumn has come. 

My gran wanted to have a look at the observatory so we trekked up to the top of hill and went to look at the telescope, which was run by a very nice guy who you can tell really loves space and stuff.. ha. Like a child trapped within a man. 

He showed me the tiger eye heart, which is in one of the pictures below. It is apparently my birthstone, although I always thought mine was the clear quartz! It was pretty though so I took it home with me.

The place was really quiet, we were practically the only ones there. On top of the building there's this shadow clock that allows you to stand on the correct month and it tells you the time according to the position of the sun, like a human sun dial! 

The place didn't have much else to offer, but the walk up was lovely. 

I seem to be getting exceedingly more excited with every holiday we have. Halloween last year I was a little bit enthusiastic and this year that grew and I was even worse!

(This is not taking into account christmas, which I adore at home and look forward to every year.)

I got to celebrate Halloween twice this year. Once in my hometown on Glasgow and the other in my house in Dundee. 

Halloween in Glasgow was amazing. It was really fun to see my friends from back home, we had such a blast catching up and dancing. I usually don't like dancing at clubs, it's not really my type of night out, but it's always fun when you decide to just let loose and not care that you can't dance. Which I can't, however hard I may try. 

In Dundee we decided to have a party at our flat to celebrate instead of going out, simply because it's less hassle and we get to remain warm and stress free! 

It was incredibly fun this year, our party was really busy and lively. The costumes really were fabulous, some had gone above and beyond to impress! 

I decided to dress up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz as a sort of last resort idea. I ordered it in plenty of time, which is quite unusual for me, and bought all of the little bits and pieces I needed. It was nice to avoid the last minute panic trying to find a costume! I might try to do this in future! 

This is a picture of me at the party this year versus the costume I had last year when I decided to go as a mouse. I thought it would be fun to compare the two nights! 

I really liked my costume this year. 

In an attempt to make our flat spooky we put up a few decorations around the place.

We have a downstairs den that is already quite spooky and dark, so we decided the main party should be held down there. Louisa and I put a trail of bats and some cobwebs leading down the stairs. 

There was also the obligatory craved pumpkin! We carved 3 this year but I only have a picture of the one I did, which I then made into a bowl for the sweets.

Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween! 

xcx

Hey guys! Today it's been raining pretty hard in Scotland (when is it never?) so most of my afternoon has been spent cooking and being cosy. 

As halloween is nearing I thought it would be fun to decorate my room a little bit to try and get myself in the Halloween mood. I cut out little bats and stuck them on my wall and I think they turned out really nice! I saw the idea here! 

I also bought some super comfy socks yesterday in preparation for the cold. They are so comfortable that I even wear them over my jeans! 

This is what I made on my rainy day. 

What you need: 

450g/1lb pork OR 350g/.7lb of lamb

3 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp cornflour

250ml/9fl oz of hot chicken stock

2 leeks

2 cloves of garlic

2.5cm/1inch of root ginger

100g/4oz of unsalted cashew nuts

salt and black pepper

I got the recipe from one of my mums old cook books that I technically stole from her and took to university with me. Don't worry, she doesn't use it much anymore! The book is called 'Warming Winter Favourites' and I think it was part of a collection. The recipe adds in 100g of button mushrooms for those who are a fan, however, I am not so I chose to leave them out.

For the stock I used a stock cube in boiling water and although the original recipe suggests pork I decided to use lamb. I like lamb better.

Note to self:

As much as I liked this I think the sauce could have done with an extra something. I personally would have added a little bit of chilli or something to give that little extra bite. In saying that, I still enjoyed it.

Step 1.
Cut the lamb up and set it aside for later. I chose to cut the lamb into cubes for this, but I was given stewing lamb on my online shop instead of pre-diced lamb. The choice is yours!
In a bowl mix together the soy sauce, cornflour and stir in the stock.

Step 2. 

Cut up the leek into thin slices. Peel, crush and chop up the garlic. Peel and grate the ginger.

Heat oil in a large pan until it is medium high (hot but not smoking)

Step 3. 

Add cashew nuts to the pan and stir-fry until golden. Remove them from pan and set aside on some kitchen paper to drain.

Step 4.

Add a little more oil to the pan and start to cook your lamb (or pork). Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes, or until it is no longer pink. Remove from the pan and set aside. 

Step 5.
Add the leeks to the pan and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the garlic and ginger. stir-fry for a further 2-3 minutes.

Step 6. 
Return the lamb(or pork) to the pan and add in the soy sauce and cornflour mixture. Bring it all to the boil and then simmer for about 2-3 minutes, whilst stirring, until the lamb is super hot. Add cashews and season!

xcx

I've tried to make cinnamon pull apart bread before and it worked, but I always felt I had done it wrong and it wasn't as tasty as it should be. This time I tried cinnamon rolls instead and they worked out perfectly. I used this recipe and really recommend sticking to it, it worked out well and I don't think I strayed away from it at any point. 

I left the dough overnight because I started making them quite late and when I woke up in the morning the dough had risen so much that the shelf above the bowl in the fridge was being pushed up! 

I recommend these, they were delicious!  

 xcx

Life Update

So recently I've been a bored out of my mind. 

I really wish I could take something away from this summer because I haven't been working or snowed under with things to do, however all I seem to want to do is watch meaningless TV programs, produce pretty pictures on photoshop and plan little walks into town.
It's a shame because next week I'm going to be back at university and starting a part time job, so my free time will be limited. 
My motivation has left me this summer. 
I guess it has been nice not doing anything and catching up on sleep, but I'm really looking forward to getting back into a routine. I miss that feeling of constantly having a due date in the back of my mind and it slowly pushing me to do something.


My other news includes: 

• My dad decided to buy me a macbook pro! - I was originally going to start saving up for one and asked a few of my relatives to donate money instead of presents for my birthday this year, so that I could get started. One of those people was my my dad, who asks me every year what I would like. After hearing that I was saving up he very kindly offered to buy the entire thing for me! A generous gift indeed! 
• Remember those lovely boots I got? - well I had to take them back.. They keep scuffing and flaking away far too easily and after my second pair I gave up on them. It makes me sad because they were so comfortable and went with nearly everything in my wardrobe. 
• I'm in love with this song - Turn and Turn Again by All Thieves
• I've started to paint again - I don't know how long this will last but for now it's going smoothly. 
• A few of my flatmates move home soon - One moved back today and the others will be joining us next week along with Michael. This makes me happy. 
• I start my job tomorrow! - I'm a bit nervous about this one because I haven't had a job since I worked in the chemist in 2009. Luckily I'll only be working 1-2 times a week so it shouldn't be stressful juggling it with university at all! 

That's all I can think of for now.  Now back to Greys anatomy and my new favourite, Private Practice!


xcx 

Rule No.1: Everyone must drink from a teacup.

Hello! The party on Saturday was a major success so I thought I would just post a few (okay a lot, there were just too many to choose from) pictures from the evening! I put them all into one large photo so you aren't scrolling through picture upon picture.

Those were my favourites I think, and I definitely recommend drinking alcohol from teacups as it's such an amusing idea. The hats really add to the fun too and we kept swapping all night. You may have noticed that there's a girls face on a wooden spoon and that's because it was my flatmate Catie's birthday too, but unfortunately she couldn't be with us that night. She was away on holiday, the lucky thing!
The middle picture is a necklace with the deathly hallows on it that I received from my lovely friends back home, and said I would wear on the night.

In preparation for the party I also made some bunting from wrapping paper and ribbon for the kitchen! It was held together with these cute flower shaped split pins I had, and was a cheap alternative! It also meant I could put whatever I want on it, which turned out to be owls, of course! It was so simple to make and I think it turned out really well.
However, I don't think there's any sign of it in the pictures above so here's a few shots I took before it was put it up in the kitchen.

And to finish I would just love to thank my amazing flatmates for the gifts they got me.
My flatmates got me these, How cool are they?!

I'm in love with the bookends, one can never have too many owls in her room!

xcx

I know I'm 4 days late in saying this, but hoorah for August!

August is one of my favourite months of the year, mainly because my birthday is in August.
My birthday is today actually!
Hence the inspiration and random August love. I would also like to apologize for the amount of times I've said August so far..

A quick internet search has lead me to believe that it's International Beer Day, how cool is that? I don't think I've ever celebrated the holiday because I'm not much of a beer fan, which really makes me wish that I did drink it. How handy is it to have your birthday on an international drinking holiday, it's the perfect excuse!

Birthday plans for today include a quick trip into town to find a nice pair of black heels, because I foolishly forgot to bring mine up with me to the new flat, and some lovely friends from back home are coming up for a visit!
Tomorrow night we're also having a party at the flat with drink being served in teacups! I went into town on Thursday to try and find a cheap tea set that we could use to create a tea party type atmosphere and came back with a teapot and set of 8 cups and saucers for £12! Sure they look like a set your grandmother would have, but hey! I think that adds to the charm!

Here's a rundown on some the lovely gifts I have received..

My mum got me this purse from Wales and I love it, it's so so soft!
The boots I asked for, I saw them in Next and just loved how comfy they looked. I'm all about the comfort ;)
The perfume is called Deisel Plus Plus. My Aunt got it for me a few years ago and I recently ran out so I asked if she would get me some again! 

So I'm going to go enjoy my day now and have some Nutella on toast, YUM.

I would also like to say happy birthday to everyone else who's birthday is in August!

xcx