Cupcakes, Celebrations and Challenges...

Hey All!

I cannot believe it has been nearly a month since my last blog post - and boy, what a month it has been! I honestly do not know where to begin. I'll start off by sharing some amazing news with you - I AM FINALLY A QUALIFIED TEACHER! This year has been the most challenging, rewarding, inspirational and amazing year of my entire life. All those sleepless nights, 6am starts and 2am finishes paid off!

It was not an easy journey...

I don't want to dwell into too much detail but this past month I was really pushed to the edge. It is amazing what a university tutor on a power trip can do to your self esteem and confidence. Regardless of what career path you are on or intend to take - please do not let anyone make you doubt yourself or strip you of your confidence. Believing in yourself, having faith, and being resilient is key to succeeding. A strong and positive network of support in the form of friends, family and colleagues really helped me get through this month. Make sure you never struggle on your own! 

After spending the past few months drowned under paperwork and lesson planning I finally had some freedom! To celebrate my good news I decided to plan a road trip to Sheffield to see my homies (yes, homies). You may think that that is no big deal, but I had never driven that far or for that long (100 minutes-ish) before so it was quite nerve wrecking. Friday after school I substituted by nap time for a drive instead (cue alarm bells) and I managed to get there in one piece (woo woo). 

It was one of my cousin's birthday so we all got together and went to a cupcake decorating workshop. It was so much FUN! 

Here are a few pictures of what I did.  

We had such a good time catching up and munching on cakes. I do enjoy my trips to Sheffield. What is your favourite place to go to? Why? 

On the way back we were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather. My sister snapped these photos on my new Samsung S3 (aaaaaahhh) whilst I was doing over 50mph in Buxton. How fricking amazing in the quality of the camera? I literally only got it for the camera! 

This year has been filled with highs and lows.

I have met the most amazing people.

I have been privileged to see some inspiring teachers in action.

I have realised just how strong and weak I can be.

All this has helped me develop myself, my personality and my character.

Now...who wants to give me a job?

Foodie Weekend

Happy belated Bank Holiday Weekend!

I spent my weekend literally walking around like a stuffed penguin after the amount of food I consumed. Friday evening I decided to treat my little sister to Frankie & Benny's so we could indulge a little bit and catch up. The original plan was to go just for dessert and drinks but it ended up being a full blown meal! After the garlic dough balls and a main of pasta AND chips [it was chips or salad so...] I managed to fit a slice of chocolate brownie fudge cake into my tummy [it was literally the size of my head!].

On Saturday I went to Manchester with some of my friends. There was no plan on the agenda apart from catch up and eat...and eat we did! We met up at a Chinese restaurant called RICE and were blown away by the amount of options we had. I settled on a Sweet Chilli Thai Chicken with noodles. OMG - it is officially the best thing I have ever ate in my life! I wasn't able to finish it all because it was such a massive portion but trust me I tried! I was surprised because it was only £7.99! Be warned though - a can of Tango costs £1.50 - WHAT?!

Across from RICE was Patisserie Valerie so we HAD to go inside. We were tempted by this gorgeous cupcakes but we decided on truffles because we were saving room for drinks later.

After getting our munch on, we decided we needed to go for drinks. I recommended a bar that I had been too called Zouks, they make the best drinks! We literally filled ourselves with sugary goodness!

It was nearing half 5 by this point and we decided that we needed to do something a bit more productive in our day out...so we went for cake! There's a little dessert parlour called Treat on Wilmslow Road in Manchester that one of my friends had been to before so we decided to check it out. I tried this bubblegum sponge cake - it was so yummy! We were going to go for seconds but by that time we were all close to bursting out of our clothes so we thought it best that we didn't.

 How was your weekend?

What are your favourite places to eat at?

'For people who like cake!'

I want to share with you guys some of my highlights from this past week. I spent it in Sheffield with my cousins and we had SO much fun (like we always do). Prank calls, midnight feasts, silly sleepover games, waking up at 3pm...just because we could! You name it, we did it!

The week, as usual, was filled with so much yummy food that I came back home 5 stones heavier (okay, okay, that's a slight exaggeration but you know what I mean). We consumed everything from Easter Eggs, chocolates, cupcakes to spicy biryani, sizzling hot samosas and kebabs. 

Here are a few pictures that I had time to take before we stuffed our faces;

My favourite cake shop EVER has got to be Fancie!They sell the most amazing.cakes.in.da.world! I am a huge fan of their cupcakes; they are big, very reasonably priced, there is a massive range to choose from, AND they are yummy. This company is based in Sheffield so I would recommend you get your bums there if you ever go. 

I had the praline cupcakes; it was so soft, moist and the middle had a gorgeous filling. My mouth is watering as I type! They also do mini cupcakes, gluten free treats, muffins, hot drinks, and lunch options. Have you ever been Fancie's? What did you think?

My cousin made these little delights for us! The cake is chocolate sponge with a chocolate fudge topping. It was like heaven in a bite! She made the little chocolate cups (I will be doing a blogpost soon to show how) and wrote a personalised message for everyone. It was so thoughtful and creative.

These are some Easter cupcakes that we made instead of giving out Easter Eggs. Some had nutella in the centre; others had mini easter eggs. We were up until 4 in the morning doing this but it was so much fun baking and decorating that we didn't even care. 

How was your Easter?

Did you have any baking adventures?

The Cupcake Tragedy

The Easter holidays have begun and I have made a promise to myself that I WILL enjoy the first few days before I get bogged down with work. Over the weekend I decided to reconnect with my little cousin who I haven't seen in a few weeks because I have been crazy busy with uni work.

Our favourite past time is baking cupcakes, so I picked her up, brought her to my house, got out our aprons, and got baking! It was such a gorgeous day and the fact that I was spending it with one of my favourite people made it even more spectacular. 

We worked together for a couple of hours baking cakes for her and my family and nattering [as much as you can natter with a 5 year old]. We made the frosting while we waited for our cupcakes to bake, coloured it, flavoured it, and then decided what type of design we would go for. The little one wanted roses so we decided to make flower cupcakes!

This is what they looked like...

We were both incredibly proud of our hard days work and decided to stick her cupcakes in a tin so her mummy and daddy could see what lovely treats she had made for them. 

We walked to her house ever so carefully so as not to mess up the cupcake frosting. 

When we got there, she grabbed the tin excitedly to show her grandparents her cupcakes...and...BOOM!

 The tin fell onto the floor, her face dropped, and her little eyes filled with tears.

We were lucky because the cakes did their little dance with death IN the tin so apart from the frosting being totally destroyed they were still edible...

But it wasn't the same...

Have you had any baking adventures recently?