The Little Paris Kitchen

My new favourite cooking programme is The Little Pairs Kitchen with Rachel Khoo on BBC 1. Rachel cooks some gorgeous French recipes, most of which are really easy and look amazing. She has established her own little restaurant in her home in Paris which only caters for two people at a time. I absolutely love her home and kitchen. It really has an authentic French vintage style. She uses lots of vintage kitchen equipment and has created a lovely area to cook in. It just goes to show, you don't need a massive space to create a lovely cosy vintage kitchen. 

I also love her fashion style. She usually wears a pretty vintage skirt and top and always looks amazing with her characteristic red lippy! I have just bought her book The Little Paris Kitchen and intend to have a go at one or two recipes. The one I really like, is the Chouquettes, which are delicate, sweet, choux pastry bites sprinkled with sugar and chocolate chips. When I have had a go at making these I will post an image on the blog! 

I am so looking forward to having our new kitchen extension, so that I can do more cooking with my girls when they are a little bit older! I really hope to be able to create a lovely kitchen with a vintage feel and I am already collecting lots of kitchenalia to adorn the shelves! 

Please comment on the post below if you have also tried any of Rachel's recipes or have any ideas about how to style a vintage kitchen. 

Here is my latest purchase from Next. It is a gorgeous make-up bag with gold zip detail and an embroidered gold Meow! logo on the back. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to buy it as it was so cute and I love anything with cats on. I really love the gold detail and it's a perfect size for all your essential make-up products. At £7.00 I didn't think it was too expensive as I know I will find it useful. 

I also bought a small bottle of  Next perfume called Paradise. The scent is lovely and reminded me of holidays it was £4.00, again not too overpriced. Well worth it. 

I also love the Marks and Spencer chocolate range at the moment. They have some gorgeous gift boxes of chocolates and confectionery such as these Handmande Prosecco Marshmallows which are amazing! The packaging is beautiful with lots of gold and ribbons. There are some great original gifts for Easter too. Check them out! 

I love making cakes, particularly cupcakes as there are so many different variations and flavours.  I have also really enjoyed making Lucy's 1st birthday cake and my Mom's 70th birthday cake although these were definitely more challenging!

I love this idea of creating a little mini tea set on top of a cupcake. I was quite pleased with the result although it did take some patience and I wouldn't recommend making too many as it would be very time consuming! Maybe a birthday tea party or a one off as a little gift would be more sensible.

It was surprisingly easy to make with just a few cake decorating tools and some creative flair. Here's how I did it:

1. Make a batch of cupcakes (no more than 12)

2. Roll a ball of white fondant icing and using a rolled up piece of paper or tube gently make an indentation in the top of the ball to give the appearance of the teapot lid.

3. Next, roll another small ball of icing for the top of the lid.

4. Create the spout and handle by rolling out a sausage shape and cut at an angle with a sharp knife for the spout. To stick on the handle and spout use a fine paintbrush and some water.

5. To create a teacup roll a smaller ball of icing and make an indentation using a ball tipped cake decorating tool.

6. Gently mould the icing with your fingers to make a cup shape. Create the handle in the same way as the teapot. To make the saucer cut a small circle out of the icing and place the teacup on the top sticking with a little water.

7. To create the table cloth roll out the icing and place a silicone lace imprinting sheet on the top. With a rolling pin press down on the top to make the pattern on the icing. Carefully peel back the sheet to reveal the pattern. Cutout a circle using a cookie cutter or use an upturned mug.

8. Build up the top of the cupcake with buttercream and lay the icing table cloth the top. To frill out the edges just use your finger to create folds.

9. I decorated my teapot and teacup with a fine paintbrush dipped into food colouring to give the impression of a flower pattern.

10. To create the Battenberg cake I cut the icing into long strips squaring off the edges with a knife. You need two yellow strips and two pink strips. Put the strips together to create the checkerboard and wrap the four strips in thinly rolled yellow fondant icing. Finally, cut a piece of the icing to reveal a slice of cake.

11. The plate for the slice cake is just another disc of white icing. Arrange all the pieces on top of the cupcake and when you are happy with the look stick them down with a few dabs of water.

I hope you enjoy reading this post and have a go at making these cupcake toppers yourself. I hope to post some more cupcake recipes soon. Please leave a comment below to let me know how you get on, or if you have any other ideas for vintage style cupcakes.

This is my first post for several months now. I am still continuing with the blog although it's been hard to find time to post anything while looking after a beautiful and active one year old! Since my last post, we have finally started our kitchen extension and we are also expecting our second baby in May! We are so excited and looking forward to having another little baby in our family.

I have several plans for our house including turning our guest room into a beautiful vintage bedroom for Lucy and finding some vintage furniture for our new kitchen and lounge. I hope to post some photos soon! 

On a recent visit to Bridgnorth, we stumbled across a beautiful vintage inspired tea room. Situated in the upper part of Bridgnorth, it has amazing views to look out on while you are enjoying your afternoon tea. When you enter the tea room it has a cottage feel with sweet vintage furniture and decor as well as some interesting antiques on display. The tea room opens out into a more spacious area with large glass windows where you can enjoy the view of the town. 

The menu is really good with lots to choose from including afternoon tea, and a wide selection of homemade cakes and pastries. They also provide gluten free and vegan choices. The food is all served on vintage china and 1940's music plays in the background, a perfect place for me! 

It is also available for bookings and they cater for birthdays, baby showers and anniversaries. The facilities were good for those of us with babies and children, including high chairs, children's menus, playroom and changing facilities. 

We will definitely be visiting again soon. 

Violets Tea Room

Waterloo House

Waterloo Terrace

The Cartway

Bridgnorth

WV16 4EG

Here are my latest beauty buys.

I don't usually buy expensive beauty products as many of them are not as good as you think and I can't justify spending anymore than £10 on a product. I really like make-up, but I do find that unless I am going out somewhere special I tend to stick to neutral tones and shades. I have a tried and tested make-up regime and I find it works well for me.

I absolutely love false eyelashes, I find they make such a difference and add a sense of glam to your look. I don't wear them everyday just when going out or for weddings and parties.

I would definitely recommend them for wedding day make-up, and there are so many styles of lash that you can buy ranging from subtle to very dramatic! My favourite lashes at the moment are Eylure No 118 Kimberley they are very easy to apply and make a difference to your natural lashes without being to much.

To go with the lashes I also love Loreal Paris Super Liner Perfect Slim in Intense Black. This creates a perfect eyeliner flick on the top of the eyelid and is so easy to apply just like a pen. It has a long tip which allows you to be more accurate rather than using a pencil eye liner. I also bought Loreal Paris Color Riche Eye Shadow in Nude 204. This is a gorgeous gold tone with a shimmer to it and again is easy to apply and last all day.

Another product I cant live without is my blusher. I chose Maybelline Baby Lips Balm and Blush in Innocent Peach which is for both cheeks and lips. It's a lovely soft peachy pick shade which is lovely for everyday use. If I was going out I would probably add a shimmer bronzer and a deeper pink colour but this is good for work or if you are going for a natural look.

I don't really use nail varnish much as I find it easily chips and I just don't seem to have time to redo it. I love having a French manicure every now and again but my nails aren't very strong so I have to make a conscious effort to grow them. The nail varnish that I do like is Bourjois 1 Second Gel  in Beige its really a gorgeous pinky tone rather than a beige and it has a fan shaped brush which helps to keep the application neat.

For my skin I use Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Combination/Oily Skin in Natural Beige 220. I am really happy with how this blends in and gives a even finish. It does stay put for most of the day and I don't need to top it up.  

For cleansing my skin I use Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I was a bit sceptical about using this at first, but it is really refreshing to use and much nicer than using a cream cleanser to remove make-up. It does remove waterproof mascara but you do need a few applications.

Let me know what you think about these products in the comments section below. What beauty products do you use? What products do you recommend?  Has anyone got any tips for creating a vintage look using particular products?  Get in touch.

Vintage Rock Cakes

This week, I have felt the need to do some baking! I love baking cakes and biscuits and I recently had a go at baking using some more old fashioned recipes.

The rock cake recipe originates from wartime 1940's.  Women during the second world war would have limited ingredients to use as they would have been rationed, particularly ingredients such as eggs and sugar.

My husband often mentions his mum's rock cakes that he had as a child, so I thought I would have a go and see if they came up to scratch!

The rock cake recipe uses simple ingredients and is so easy to make. This was the finished result.

Ingredients

8 oz self-raising flour

4 oz butter

3 oz caster sugar

2 oz sultanas

1 splash of milk

1 egg

demerara sugar to sprinkle on top

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C, gas mark 6 and grease a large baking tray

2. Sieve flour into large mixing bowl.

3. Add butter and rub into flour using finger tips until it looks like breadcrumbs

4. Add sugar and mix

5. Add egg and mix

6. Add sultanas

7. Add a splash of milk until it forms a dough

8. Spoon 12 heaps of the dough onto the baking tray

9. Sprinkle with demerara sugar on top

10. Put into oven for 15 mins until golden brown

The recipe is easy to follow and pretty foolproof, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome and my husband liked them to! They would be lovely for a quick afternoon treat if you had guests coming round, served with a lovely cuppa in a vintage teacup of course!  

I hope you enjoy having a go at the recipe.

Let me know what you think by commenting below and send me your photos of your lovely rock cakes.