Fudge Tart - Super Secret Official School Recipe

Now I have to be honest, I don't remember ever eating this at school. I did spend some of my school years in Norway so I don't know if that was the fudge tart window, but I missed it. I was asked by a friend recently to make them one as I love a bit of baking but I really didn't know where to start. There's lots of recipes on the internet so I tried some and all failed. Then I remembered I knew someone who worked in a school so I asked them and they sent me the official recipe. Now I can't say where I got this from as it feels like it's a super secret recipe that shouldn't be shared, but I am of course going to share it anyway but not give away my source. 

I will admit that I bought the pastry, I can make all kinds of pastry easily apart from shortcrust. No idea why, I'm just a bit rubbish at it and if Mary Berry buys hers, then I'm gonna be doing that too, thanks. This is the only element that needs baking, the rest is just on the hob, whisking and setting so it's really easy. The whisking part takes a long time so it's best if you have a stand mixer but if you don't just prepare to stand there for 10-15 minutes.

Let's get into it. 

Now this says it makes 20 school portions, I just used a tart dish and another time I used a medium baking tray with sides about an inch high and that worked fine. But you could always make double the mix and freeze it for a quick dessert. 

This is the tart in a baking tray compared to an official tart dish

Ingredients:

• Pack of shortcrust pastry or make some if you're fancy.
• 40g semi-skimmed milk powder, this was very important apparently and to not use standard milk. I found this in the long life milk aisle and was really cheap and will also be a good back up as we're always running out of milk. 
• 500ml water.
• 200g butter, it did say margarine but I just couldn't do it... I'm a butter all the way girl.
• 100g plain flour.
• 150g caster sugar.
• 10ml vanilla extract.
• 1 square chocolate for grating. 

Method:

1. Line the dish/baking tray with the pastry and crimp edges, I used baking paper for the baking tray but not for the tart dish. Prick all over with a fork and bake blind in the oven at gas mark 4/180°c degrees/350f until golden. Leave to cool.
2. Reconstitute the milk powder with some of the water, I used about half and heat it in a saucepan with the butter until almost boiling. 
3. Add the flour to the rest of the water and milk until thick and smooth. 
4. Add the sugar to the milk and butter and dissolve.
5. Now add the flour mix slowly whilst whisking continuously. You want it to be almost spreadable before setting.
6. Flavour with the vanilla extract. 
7. Pour this mix into your mixing bowl and whisk on a high speed until cool. This took as I said about 10-15minutes as I had a glass bowl it took a while for the bowl to cool completely. 
8. This will get thick and delicious quite quickly so it will be hard to not pour this directly into your mouth. 
   
   
9. Chuck the mix into your cooled pastry and smooth out with a silicon spatula. 
10. Grate the chocolate over the top and chill for 30 minutes. 
11. Devour and go back to childhood. 

look at it... 

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Superdrug Haul

 

I never thought I would be one of those girls who love make up, and who loves trawling the aisle of stores like Superdrug for the perfect shade of matte lip stick, but here I am, trawling and loving. 

I always kind of stick to the same colours, a sort of deep, powdery, vintage pink, I really don't know how to explain it but that about sums it up. I do of course love bolder colours but I have quite big lips and sometimes feel like it's too much for the office and you don't have to keep on top of lipstick bleed or it rubbing off too much if it's a bit closer to a natural shade. Plus, I'm a bit clumsy and would 100% wipe half of it across my face so I'm always hunting for that perfect shade. Usually I love Meir by MAC but I wanted a liquid matte lip colour as another option. 

So I went in and had a look around, I always end up around the Makeup Revolution stand, I tend to steer away from their lip products as you generally get what you pay for with lip products and I've never had much luck with them. I did buy a lip kit from them recently but it was so awful there are no pictures of the event...

I did however see a nice cream contour set (£.3.50). I really need to up my contour game so this was a nice affordable step to start with. I've tried to powder ones before but find them too dark for me and struggle to blend so cream was the way to go this time. While I was there I also found a nice primer, they don't have it online anymore but you can see it in the picture. It's different from most primers I've used that are creamy. This one was almost a serum with a shimmer running through it so putting it on makes me feel instantly fabulous. 

The stand is next to Freedom Makeup and my skin has been looking a little red recently so I bought some green camouflage and correct concealer to sort that out. I'm still on the fence about this product, it doesn't feel like it melts into my skin very well, but it does tackle the redness and it's £3.00 so it's fine enough. 

I was still struggling to find the perfect matte colour until I found myself looking at the Barry M stand, they have a new range of 'Matte Me Up' lip kits. The kits comes with a liner and a lip paint for £6.99.  I chose the shade 'Berry' which perfectly fulfills all my colour preferences. 

 I tried it and loved it! I've not used lip liners very much but this was brilliant. The lip paint goes on really well too and dries to a lovely and velvety touch in seconds. This colour was so great I'm going to go back to look at the other shades. I thought for £6.99 it was a really really good value for the quality. I thought I might need to use the liner to keep the bleed from the lip paint in check but you don't actually have to. It actually does stay on all day as well and during eating a huge burger...because I'm classy like that. 

 

p.s. yes I love all the filters

 

Now I'll finally end this post with a bit about the face products from their own Naturally Radiant range. I've felt I needed to finally start using serum and cream and I can have sensitive skin so I thought I'd give this range a go as it was on offer. I actually really love it, I've been using them every day, night cream and serum and will definitely continue. At the moment you can pick up the cream and serum for £2.95 each.

I also bought Micallat water, because you know, it's life. I've always found great buys at Superdrug, any recommendations?

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Homemade Pink Tartan Circle Skirt

I've finally found a dress pattern for a circle skirt that I can make in an afternoon. I'm all about easy sewing, I do love the bigger dress projects too of course, but if it can be done in an afternoon for the next day? Perfect. 

The fabric is one I saw at a trade show and I fell in love with it. Luckily my sewing teacher was with me and she bought some for her shop (Bobb-In And Sew) so I was in luck. When it arrived weeks later I bought some straight away (along with the pattern). The pink/green pattern is a little unusual but I just love it.

So when I went in for a circle skirt pattern I knew this is the first garment I wanted to make. Usually the first time I make something from a pattern it takes me ages but even this one I still finished in an afternoon. 

See, it's done! The only thing I altered on this pattern was that I lengthened it as it was an couple of inches shorter than I liked. I love how full it is and that I got the pattern central. There are not many things that I put on and instantly think 'yep, love that'. I always want to alter them a touch, but as I made this, it was perfect.

I first wore it for a day in Cambridge with the Mothership and I've never been stopped so many times by strangers to say how nice I looked, it was really lovely. I teamed it with a white Bardot top and a wide black waist belt - both from Primark and had pincurled my hair so I felt extremely 1940s. I have since seen a Viven Of Holloway skirt in the same style and fabric and I'm pleased with myself that mine looks just as good.

I've worn it again since a couple of times and now I'm in full circle skirt mode, I just need some more fabric!

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The Brooches Everyone's Talking About From Atomic Mingo!

So my brooch obsession is no real secret is it, I have loads and I want even more. From birds to cars, hearses and hearts I've got them all. So when something new hits the market, I WANT IT!

I've been following the creepylittlethings Instagram page for a while, loving her hair, style and cute pictures of her family I couldn't have been more excited when she announced she was starting to make brooches. Her new page for brooches is called Atomic Mingo and is my new addiction.
(ps follow mine HERE!)

We all got to see the design and creation process, everyone was waiting eagerly for when they hit the Etsy page so we could snap them up. Keep tuned on the page for when they go up on the store. First we saw cacti with pink hearts, watermelons with heart seeds, pastel milkshakes and vintage cats. Then, for me, came the mothership of all designs...Grease themed brooches! The first one I fell in love with was the Frenchie brooch,  we all know that scene during the 'beauty school drop out' song where she gets her huge bubblegum bubble burst. It's perfect. It also has 'beauty school drop out' written on the banner on the brooch which I love. I had to have it!

So my first order consisted of this amazing Frenchie brooch and the light vintage cat. They sold out so quick I was so pleased I got them! I missed out on the Pink Lady brooch but then it was released a few days later and I snapped it up straight away! 

Considering I ordered them from Australia I don't think they took much more than a week to get to me. Which is great as I have zero patience. You can see how well painted and crafted they are, they look so good on to and I've had loads of compliments on them. They're so different to anything out there at the moment it's lovely to see the demand for them. 

The next brooch on my wishlist is the Rizzo one that's been designed. I LOVE RIZZO! Who doesn't? It's perfect, when making them we were all asked to suggest what should be on the banner. Myself and a few other lovelies suggested 'Eat your heart out' and that's what's now on there...so I simply MUST HAVE IT.

They sell out so quick when they go online, I image it's what regular people feel like when trying to get concert tickets...but I want allllll the brooches. Especially this one...and maybe the pineapple one! OK definitely the pineapple one..

Also if you're a fan of Crybaby...then you really need to check her out.

ANYWAY.

Go check out her page and fall in love. But if you beat me to the Rizzo brooch I may have to hunt you down :)

Some images taken from Atomic Mingo page.

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My New Favourite Outfit!

This may sound crazy to some, but I've never worn or owned a pencil skirt. Ever. With the wiggle cut being a big part of rockabilly fashion my avoidance of it has made some looks difficult to achieve.

The main reason I avoided it was confidence, I just thought I could never pull one off so I stuck to anything and everything A line. But suddenly in the last few weeks I just had the urge to buy one, so I found a gorgeous houndstooth skirt from Very (£24), the next day I was ready to face the fear.

It even fit, no idea why I thought it wouldn't...but I loved it. I teamed it with a lace Bardot top also from Very (£8) and I finally had the look I never thought I'd give a go. The skirt has zero stretch so it took a little bit of adjustment to figure out how big steps I could take in it without ripping the split. Turns out my thighs can push some power through it's strides so it split on it's first outing! I soon solved this with strengthening the seam and not walking like a lumberjack, it's been great ever since.

I just love the pattern and the fit so I'm definitely going to wearing it a lot more. Since buying it I have now 6 pencil skirts in my outfit, one of which is on it's way from Collectif. I will of course be showing you them all. 

I wore this outfit on a recent night out with my friends and I teamed it with a red glitter heart brooch I got in the Christmas box from Lucky Dip Club. I'm becoming a little obsessed with brooches does anyone have any good recommendations? 

The hair turned out pretty good this night too with the victory roll on point. I love my red hair but have been thinking about going to something different, maybe blue or turquoise - thoughts?

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Super Big Double Victory Rolls!

Last weekend I went down to Southampton for my step grandads 70th birthday, it was great to catch up with my family, have a great party and make some cake! I haven't had the chance to bake a lot recently so it was nice to whip something up. I don't have an evening to bake it and a morning to decorate so it's not my most detailed work but he loved it so that's all that mattered. If you can't tell...he might have some Canadian roots.

And any occasion of course is the perfect opportunity for me to go to town on my hair. While I try to do something nice with it every day it's the weekends when I can really have a play and try new stuff.

I've always wanted to try the double victory rolls right at the front, I often do them on the side and my hair line can be a little difficult at the front so I decided to get out the teasing brush and go to town.

They may have gotten a little out of control, but I don't care. I wish I'd taken pictures of my progress so I could show you how it went so maybe I'll do another video next time. 

I also thought I'd debut my sewing machine brooch from Jubly-Umph bought from Vintage Pip.  I wore it with my black lace Bardot top from Very and couldn't resist adding my H&M cherry pearl necklace. I have this necklace in black and red, I hear they do other colours too so I'm going to check that out this weekend.

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Goodies from Vintage Pip! - Review

Instagram accounts a lot of my purchases over the last few months, one of the great accounts it led me to was that of Vintage Pip's, a great online store selling all the best of Aussie rockabilly accessories. Which I love as there's so much I want to buy but if I did it all separately it would be so expensive with postage so this way I can do it all in one go. I have a few more bits on the way but for now have a lot at some of these beauties I bought about a month ago.

I've always lusted after Erstwilder resin brooches, they're so cute and pretty and I've drooled over many a picture online on all of my IG friends' accounts. I just had to have one. There's SO many that I wanted but in the end I chose this Flying With Fifi brooch, I love the bird ones and I definitely want a sparrow one next. It comes in a cute box so you can keep it safe when not wearing it. It looks great on everything and I wear it pretty much whenever I can. 

Dress by Voodoo Vixen

 

 Top and cardigan by Collectif

My next items came from Kenzie Accessories, I love how colourful and bold their prints are. I just couldn't resist these two, the Kissable Lips brooch and Flick the Flamingo brooch in black. I haven't worn the flamingo yet as almost all of my clothes are black...so it needs the right outfit. I've worn the lips quite a bit teamed with red lipstick and it pops on almost everything that I own.

Dress by Lindy Bop

Now I couldn't visit Vintage Pip without buying something from Jubly-Umph, I love their old tattoo like traditional designs across earring, necklaces, brooches and cardigan clips. I LOVE cardigan clips, they're not just for old ladies you know! And I own a lot of cardigans. I chose the Swooping Swallow design and it's just gorgeous, I think I need a jewellery box to keep all of my lovely things. The other designs of their I love is their sewing machine designs...they might be my next purchase!

Anyway, go check them all out you won't be able to leave empty handed!

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My Birthday Weekend In Amsterdam

This weekend marked my 27th birthday. I keep forgetting I'm in my 20s and I'm still waiting to feel like a proper 'grown up', does anyone else feel like that? I'll start acting like a grown up soon I promise...maybe!

Excuse the posey pics, this was my hair for the travels!

I decided to spend the weekend in Amsterdam with my best friend Sarah. My birthday was on the Saturday so we left Friday night and came back on Sunday. We landed at in Schiphol and got a private shuttle to our hotel, The Albus. We did a lot of research for hotels and where the best places were to stay in the city. Our lengthy Tripadvisor searches we went for The Albus, and it was brilliant! A 4 star digs in a European city, who could ask for more? A special shout out to Mariska on reception who greeted us and we clicked with straight away, so friendly and helpful and drew up loads of interesting places on our map for us to go to. After hearing it was my birthday the next day she sent up a bottle of fizz for us to enjoy which was a nice touch and really lovely so we downed that straight away. 

As it was late and we'd been traveling we went around the corner for a little Italian, they were so lovely in there and the food was gorgeous. Feed me cannelloni and I like you. We then headed down to the local square for a few drinks and a nose around to see what was about. 

 

Saturday was my birthday and I was gifted with glorious sunshine! After a lay in we strolled up into the center for some pancakes and took a tip into the Sex Museum, you can't not can you? It was terrifying/hilarious/strange/brilliant all rolled into one. A lot of pictures, art and life sized figures. They had a section with Bettie Paige and Marilin Monroe, I even set the alarm off once when I pointed into the set at a record I owned - it was extremely loud and embarrassing and I pretty much ran away!

We then spent the day strolling up and down the canals, had a peak at Anne Frank's house, the queue was insane so we just had a look. We then did some shopping and more sight-seeing and stopped for some hot chocolate. Suddenly we felt a bit lost and the map wasn't making any sense until Mariska rescued us! She saw us on the street looking puzzled and walked us back! ha. She also showed us some nice places for dinner.

 

When we got back we realised they'd sent up some another bottle for us! So we got into bed and got smashed watching the rugby players on TV. 

 

It suddenly got a bit late so decided it was time to get dolled up for my birthday meal. I bought this Lindy Bop dress before I went away (£34), I love the colour and it's nice and heavy so falls really nicely. I've got a big chest so I put a little strap top underneath so the girls weren't completely on show, I don't have enough structure going on under there to keep everything in place! 

 Excuse the filters...I just can't help it!

 I teamed it with the black cherry necklace I bought from H&M earlier that day and my Lindy Bop underskirt. I absolutely loved it and wore it out to the restaurant, which annoying I felt really self consious at. Every kept staring at me, and normally when you catch someone's gaze they look away? Nope! Kept staring, and not in a nice way so it made me feel really weird but I tried to ignore it. 

After the hefty meal we went out to an area called De Pup which had a lot of cool bars in, we drank loads so I have no idea how I didn't have a hangover in the morning. We decided to spend the rest of the day before going home doing some more shopping and seight-seeing. You can't visit Amsterdam without seeing the Red Light District, I'm quite happy we went during the day, half of the people there were the same as us - just curious. The other half were gross men getting their kicks and it did feel a bit awkward going down some of the extremely narrow streets with them behind. 

Then soon again we were back at Schiphol Airport, which by the way - was amazing. All other airports take note! They did it right, it was so easy and quick and the 40 minute plane ride was a dream. 

I just really loved this shop

I did enjoy my birthday weekend away, I loved Amsterdam in the day and the hotel was lovely. By night? It unfortunately didn't do much for me but I still had a great time with my bestie I would still go again but maybe in the summer :)

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