Lilac Wine

March 5th, 2012

Strawberry Margaritas

Found an awesome recipe for Strawberry Margaritas. Simple and it looks amazing. I decided to change it up a bit for how I would make it because I’m not a huge fan of tequila because of the strong taste. You can find the original recipe here: Strawberry Margaritas

You’ll need:

2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 Cup of Water
2 Tbsp Vodka
2 juiced limes
Ice
Fresh punnet of Strawberries

1. Combine the frozen strawberries, sugar and water in a small pot and place it on medium heat. Bring the concoction to a simmer and continue cooking on low heat for approx. 30 minutes until the strawberries break down and the mixture is left thick. Remove the mixture from the stove and pour it into a container to refrigerate until nicely chilled.

2. Once the mix is chilled, add about 1/3 cup of the strawberry syrup into a cocktail shaker (however much you want according to your own tastes). Chuck in the vodka now too along with the lime juice and ice.

3. Shake the mix well and pour into glasses and rim them with sugar and serve with fresh strawberries.

Enjoy guys!

February 21st, 2012

Pancakes Served with Strawberries

I made this a while back, aha the shape of some of them are terrible! But fresh strawberries are a lovely to eat pancakes with. These are just normal pancakes, nothing unusual about them.

If you don’t know how to make them then refer to my blueberry pancake post I made a few posts back. Link is here: Blueberry Pancakes

Try it out and enjoy!

February 19th, 2012

Blueberry Pancakes

Made some for brunch today and although pancakes are extremely simple to make and the recipe is nearly common knowledge, I still thought I’d share this idea/recipe. I know they aren’t the best for shape, I’m horrible at that but maybe you guys can do better?

You’ll need:

1 Cup self raising flour
1 tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 cup of Milk
Some butter
Punnet of blueberries
2 tbsp of Strawberry Essence
Golden Syrup

I think everyone knows how we begin making our pancake mix and if you really don’t well it’s simple and easy. Basically nearly everything goes into one mixing bowl.

1. So go ahead now and add your flour, eggs, sugar, and strawberry essence all into one mixing bowl and start mixing away until the mix is smooth.

2. Now put half of your blueberries into a bowl and save the other half for serving. You’ll want to either cut up the blueberries in the bowl into even smaller pieces or smoosh them up with something like a fork or be manly and crush them with the might of your hands (beware of mess). Once your done, add all the blueberries and what blueberry juice you might have extracted into your pancake mix and just give the whole thing a good stir so the blueberries are all mixed in.

3. Turn your stove onto a medium heat and wait for about a minute for your pan to heat up then get a butter knife and scrap some butter onto it and drop the butter smack bang in the middle of the pan. Don’t spread the butter around and with a large soup or serving spoon, pour a generous scoop into the middle of the pan, on top of the butter.

4. You’ll notice how the mix will automatically spread nicely with the butter into a relatively good shape.

With a turner, nudge at the sides of the pancake to test how much the underside as cooked and if it’s ready to flip. Flip it when it’s possible and when no mix comes out of the centre of the pancake after you jab it with a fork, then it’s done.

Repeat until you’re done with all your mix and now you’re ready to serve your pancakes.

Serve with fresh blueberries on the side and enjoy!

February 11th, 2012

Parents sent me a photo at a restaurant called Sweethearts. I’m extremely jealous.

February 5th, 2012

Another item on the menu, crepes! I will make you one day

January 25th, 2012

So Sean and I met about 5 months ago (6 months on February the 4th) and funnily enough, we’ve been living together ever since we first met. He lived in city before I did and sometimes when we had gotten enough of gaming at Giga we’d just go chill at his place, talk and lounge around until it was time for breakfast. As he constantly replies to people who ask how long we’ve been living together, “She came into my life, then to my apartment and just never left, but I wouldn’t have it any other way” =3

Sean’s original apartment was pretty small but I’m glad we finally moved into a new decent sized one thats actually spacious enough to let us have some space around us.

6 months is a long time to have been living together at this age and I’m pleasantly surprised and happy to know that we enjoy each others company so much and still want each other around all the time. We’ve gotten used to one or the other going out, although it’s mostly Sean that goes out all the time and I bum around at home haha. But it’s nice, though admittedly it feels like we’re a married couple, and again quite surprisingly, I don’t mind at all. I love living with my baby and it’s nice to live with someone who’s more than just a friend but not you’re parents. Just like with living by yourself away from home, you make your own rules but you also make your own boundaries. It’s an incredible way to broaden your life experience and even though I was only 17 when I moved out of home, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’m so much more independent now and I do all the things my mother used to do around the house for me. Like the washing and cooking. Sure I’m used to housework and that’s no problem but if I was ever asked to do the washing at home, I’d chuck a whole load into the washing machine and just leave it be for a few hours to let it roll around in the washing machine. Now I’m like the picky housewife who separates towels from undergarments and indoor wear from outer wear.

I’m also no longer a bucket chef who chucks every single ingredient she can find into a pan and fry it to make something tasty and edible. I now think about what to cook, prepare all the food carefully and cook it with care and I make sure it not only tastes good but is also healthy for Sean =]

Sometimes it’s amazing what a relationship can do to you. I was always scared that if I found someone to commit to here in Auckland, that I would stray from my life and be too revolved around their life and I’d become irresponsible fall hopelessly only to realise too late what has happened. But I guess I realise now that if you find the right person, none of those things will happen because they should care about what do you and want to do equally as much as they worry about themselves. Sean’s always encouraging me to go for what I want to do and he tries to help me in every way possible. Although he’s not every good at it himself and hasn’t been very focused, he always tells me I should focus and work hard. If he goes out and say I should play this game and I say I should be studying, he always encourages me to study instead of play games.

It’s a change from people who are always encouraging me to hang with them, go out clubbing and play first mentioning that “ah push you can do your work later”. Sure I’m not like a study fanatic but it’s nice to have someone who genuinely cares about my life as much as I care about it.
Something else about Sean that’s different to any guy I’ve ever met before - He’s met my parents and gets along with them and vice versa.

I took him to Christchurch this past Christmas and he spent a few days down in quakeville with my family and I and thoroughly enjoyed it which I was amazed about. No guy who could be a potential boyfriend or who was an ex-boyfriend of mine has ever managed to win my parents approval so it was unexpected but nevertheless I’m overjoyed about.

What’s funny is that mum even let us sleep in the same bed down in Christchurch! And my dearest enjoyed our stay down there so much that he even suggested we extend our stay down there if we could.

I’ve also never seen my mother so continuously happy with a smile on her face everyday as when Sean was down with me. It’s nice to know my mother approves and likes the guy who I intend to spend the rest of my life with.

I know last year was a year with zero motivation and I didn’t really get as much work done as I had hoped but if I hadn’t moved up last year, hadn’t gone to the net cafe so late at night with a friend to play some games and go clubbing, I would have never met this wonderful man who’s now apart of my life. No guy has ever treated me the way he treats me, taken care of me like he does, helps me the way he helps me and told me we should get engaged within the next few years. I’m truly thrilled.