The rather silly thing I did...

Having run my Etsy business for over a year now, I had begun to think of myself as a bit of a dab hand. Last Christmas, my first one, proved a massive shock in order volume and I found myself frantically rushing to Wilko to buy bubble wrap and leaving dubious notes on the oven saying 'back in an hour, don't take them out'.

All in all, it was a bit of a shambles.

Not this year, I told myself. This year I am going to be prepared. And it was that thought that led me to a decision that has left me a laughing stock.
My warning to all of you: know your proportions before you order online.

Being British and therefore somewhat backwards I tend to work in feet rather than metres. I always order my boxes online and, with more orders going to America and knowing that parcels don't always get handled as carefully as they could be, I figured why not bulk order bubble wrap too. I found an Ebay seller and in a couple of clicks I had spent £14.79 on packaging materials. With hindsight, I probably should have realised  that this was quite a lot of money: clearly my ineptness for conversions extends to finances.

Having completely forgotten I'd ordered it I was slightly disgruntled when the doorbell was rung by the deliveryman at 9am. It was only when I opened the front door and saw him holding a box large enough to carry a crouching man that I realised something had gone horribly wrong.

50 metres of bubble wrap is a lot of bubble wrap. And I mean A LOT. I think I now have sufficient packaging material to wrap everything I own twice and maybe outline the perimeter of my flat for good measure. My flatmates (both engineering students, WHY didn't I ask for their help in the first place?!) decided this was the funniest thing they'd ever seen but at least helped me stuff the monstrosity in my wardrobe.

It's safe to say that I think I now have enough bubble wrap, and have given my friends enough to mock me about, for the rest of my natural life. All in a day's work. 

With love,

Kati

Today is a beautiful day to feel okay

Procrastinating fiercely today I came across this really quite lovely quote. It stems from a Facebook page I follow which is run by an anonymous cartoonist.

First reaction when I read this post, I laughed. So many of his posts are funny (I recommend you check them out, link here) but on closer inspection so many are also underlined with a message of positivity. And the more I looked at this post, the more I realised that there was something really wonderful about it.

I have no trouble admitting, most who know me personally will already be aware, that I struggle with an anxiety disorder. It can be incredibly ugly: I push away those I love the most because I don't feel worthy of their affection and sometimes it feels like I will be stuck in a rut of self doubt for the rest of my life. It is something that over the last year or two I have learned to accept as a peculiar kind of life companion; some days I am strong, some days I am not. And that, I think, is what I loved so much about this particular post.

'Today is a beautiful day to feel okay'. I, like so many others, constantly strive for happiness, to feel like I have beaten my anxiety disorder, but the reality is that can't always be an option. One thing that is an option is to look for the 'okay' even on the darkest of days.

I am feeling okay because I have a cup of tea in my hand and the sky outside is a beautiful colour.

How about you?

With love,

Kati

Make your rented house your home: part 1

Since starting uni three years ago, the move back to Bristol after a holiday is something I always look forward to. Firstly because I love the independence of managing my own life but also because a new year means a new house which means a new room. A new room signals my transformation into a colour-scheme obsessed, DIY addicted maniac. I have spent the last few days roping my housemates in to helping me realise my latest 'visions' and raving about how much I'm going to spend in Fabric World.

All this aside, I have come up with a set of simple DIYs that can be done in student housing, on a low budget, to help you get the look you've always wanted. Living in rented accomodation doesn't have to mean you can't make the place your own and, before I post specific DIYs, I have a couple of tips to get you started. 

1) Choose a colour scheme - I tend to pick a three colour palette minimum because that gives you more flexibility, Look at the colour of your walls, your furniture (all the things you can't change) and try and base it around that. My room is magnolia with high ceilings and dark wood furnishings so I've gone for a red, white and gold colour scheme to try and bring some warmth. Have you got lots of natural light? If yes you can pull off the brighter colours but with smaller windows stick to colder palettes like turquoise, teal and mint green. 

2) Take care of the furniture - Upon moving into my new student room, I was thrilled to find a large wooden wardrobe but somewhat less thrilled to find it covered in sticker residue from the last tenant (obviously trying and failing to undo the mess they made). It turns out all you need is white wine vinegar, a cloth and an open window because my god it stinks. (n.b. always test the vinegar on a part of the furniture before using it as a removal method, it's very rare for it to stain but best to check first!) Put the vinegar on the cloth and hold it against the sticker/residue until the area is saturated. Then using your finger nails or a soft plastic spatula gently rub at the sticker until it comes off. Depending on how long it's been on there - the wood underneath may be a different colour to what's exposed. Wood varnish can help minimise the effects or, like me, you can embrace the shabby-chic look that mismatched wood gives to a room. 

3) Walls - what style have you got? If, like me, you have wood chip then you can get away with push pins without leaving a noticeable mark. This obviously makes decorating much easier and more flexible. However, even if you have matte paint you can use white tack to avoid staining and wall paper rips. When removing it, don't pull from the wall but rub it gently with your finger tips until the whole bunch comes off together. 

Take a look at these factors, arm yourself with paint, sandpaper and washi tape (once you try it you'll never go back) and then join me on a quest to attain your creative vision. Invite Force your flatmates to join; I'm sure they'll love it as much as mine did... Have you got any tips to get a room ready for decorating? Any colour scheme ideas or helpful hints? I'd love to read them in comments!

With love,

Kati

A red velvet venture...

With a birthday just elapsed, I have had my annual influx of cookery books. My brother, bless him, buys one almost year and this was no exception; making me the proud owner of the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Having excitedly flicked through and located the red velvet recipe, I knew it simply had to be done.

Upon close examination of the recipe, I felt pretty dubious. As an amateur baker, my go-to cupcake flavour is always vanilla made in the traditional way (butter, sugar, self raising flour etc). So seeing a recipe with only 60 grams of butter, lashings of white wine vinegar and a large dose of something called buttermilk, I was unsure of the outcome at best. This was not just any recipe, this was a Waitrose recipe which has left me with a cupboard so middle class I feel like I need to give myself a good slap.

All that aside, it did make a darn good red velvet (easy even for a beginner like myself) so here is the recipe:

For the red velvet cupcakes:

• 60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 10g cocoa powder
• 20ml red food colouring (we recommend Dr. Oetker's or a paste colouring as red food colourings vary in strength)
• ½tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml buttermilk
• 150g plain flour
• ½tsp salt
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold

Method: 

nb. Yes, Hummingbird Bakery assumes that everyone owns an electric mixer. More fool them: I resorted to just mixing as fast as I possibly could without losing an arm and it seemed to do the trick. 

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.

1. Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed (stir until you want to cut your arm off if you are too much of a prole to own an electric mixer) slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.
3. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 mins, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

1. Meanwhile for the cream cheese frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

When the cupcakes are cold, spoon over the cream cheese frosting on top.

Instead of spooning, I used a piping bag to get a smoother result but it is purely down to personal preference. For decoration: I grated milk chocolate over the icing and then left them to chill for an hour so the icing was delicious and firm. As dubious as I was to try a completely unfamiliar recipe, the results spoke for themselves even though I had to do everything by hand.

Do you have any recipe suggestions? Any cookbook recommendations (I could never have too many)?

With love,

Kati