Saturday 13 April 2019

LOVE Brownies

Hey everyone :)


If you've been following my blog then you'll know I love baking and everything to do with baking and cooking too. When Love Brownies popped up on my Instagram feed and I had a little wander through their Instagram - I followed them straight away - from the amazing brownie flavours and the pastel-esque coloured packaging I was hooked! 

I was really supposed to wait until I get paid at the end of the month but I was bored the other night so I did a bit of online shopping ... well okay ... lots of online shopping. This includes Lush's new Valentine's range - post soon, these amazing brownies and a few things on Amazon - help me and my bank account!


First of all, the packaging was amazing - we all know I love a little bit of packaging! The brownies came inside a lovely little box and inside wrapped in some gift wrap. I like little touches like that - make you feel special and not just like someone has chucked something in a box, stuck an address label on it and gave it to Royal Mail.

Love Brownies started in a little bakery in Ilkley in West Yorkshire. When describing the area they live in it sounds just like home in Scotland - rugged hills and thick woods and purple heather. Almost all of their ingredients are local to the bakery in Ilkley bar the cocoa as it doesn't grow well here - understandable. 


I'm one of those people who love a gooey brownie - straight out the oven with some cold vanilla ice cream - in other words, I'm picky and hard to impress but these brownies - wow! They seem a bit crunchy when you first bite into them but as soon as you've got a mouthful they melt in your mouth and are so soft and moist (I normally hate that word but I have to use it here). I don't like to admit this but I nearly ate the whole bag in one sitting - I had to stop myself. 

I picked up this bag from their website HERE and it was £8. I think P&P was a couple of pounds too. Well worth it - let me know in the comments below if you've tried them. 




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Tuesday 12 March 2019

Mary Berry Quick Cooking: Romano Pepper & Herb Penne

Hey everyone :)


Crispy Parma ham, red peppers and fresh herbs is such a lovely flavour combination. Parma ham usually comes in packets of six to seven slices - use the whole packet. Swap the ham for thin rashers of streaky bacon, if you prefer.

Serves: 4 // Prep Time: 10 minutes // Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:
275g penne pasta
6-7 slices Parma ham, snipped into little pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
4 spring onions, chopped
150g roasted red peppers in oil (from a jar), drained and chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
200ml full-fat creme fraiche
1 x 30g packet of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 x 30g packet of basil, roughly chopped
30g Parmesan, finely grated

Method: 
1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving some of the cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, place a large frying pan over a high heat. Fry the Parma ham for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Add the oil to the pan, along with the spring onion, peppers and garlic and fry, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
4. Add the creme fraiche and bring to the boil, then add the drained pasta with half the crispy ham, most of the herbs and some salt and pepper. Toss over the heat for a few minutes.
5. Add the cheese and a splash of the reserved cooking water if the sauce seems too thick and spring over the remaining crispy ham and herbs to serve.




This dish is amazing and I really enjoyed it - to the point, I feel really sick now that I've eaten so much!

Let me know if you've made it!


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Sunday 3 March 2019

Final Fantasy XIV: Daily & Weekly

Hey everyone :)


In the game there is so much to do - I'll happily admit I have barely scratched the surface but now that I'm level 70 (which is the cap at the moment) I do my dailies and weeklies which I've made into a checklist. I thought it would be good to share on my blog in case anyone else was looking for something similar. 

Note: That this is correct as of patch 4.5

Dailies

Allagan Tombstone of Genesis
Capped at 450 per week - this gets you ilvl 390 Scaevan gear and weapons. You can get a full set from Enna in Rhalgr's Reach. I normally manage to max this out by Friday or Saturday at the latest after the Tuesday reset by running the Main Story Quest duty roulette and the Alliance Raid duty roulette - each gives 50 - totalling 100 per day. You can do other roulettes to get more but I like to spread it throughout the week.

If you are a Eureka nut - and regularly do the FATE train then this also drops Genesis so you can get them this way too.

Grand Company Supply & Provision Missions
There is 1 request each for crafting and gathering which yields decent experience. Depending on your situation craft it/gather it/buy it from the Market Board and hand it in. Certain items with a star will give extra experience. Grand Companies are located in the main cities - Limsa Lominsa, Ul'Dah and Gridania. If you hand in HQ (high quality) items you get bonus XP.

Beast Tribe Quests
Located all over Eorzea - you can do beast tribe quests for experience, ventures and reputation which ranks up and then you can purchase good items from the vendors of each tribe such as mounts, minions, housing items, crafting material - the list goes on.

A Realm Reborn: Amalj'aa, Sylphs, Ixal, Kobolds, Sahagin

Heavensward: Moogle, Vanu Vanu, Gnath

Stormblood: Ananta, Kojin, Namazu

Adventure Squadron
If you have unlocked your squadron it's a good idea to keep sending them out on missions so they gain experience and level up. Squadron Rank 3 is also required for you to get a promotion eventually.

Gardening
This might not apply if you don't have a house but I am currently cross-breading seeds in my garden so I have to tend to them daily otherwise they go purple and die. I check these daily for re-planting or watering.

Retainers
If you use retainers - I do a few checks such as taking any Gil they've made while I've been offline, making sure everything they sell is the best price (as prices change so quickly), making sure they have 20 items to sell (the max) and if they are back from a venture making sure I collect it and send them back out again (this would only apply if you haven't maxed them out yet). You can also check what is selling good on the MB and get them to collect this and then sell it if you have time.

Daily Hunts
There are daily hunts and weekly hunts. These are located at each Grand Company, Ishgard, Rhalgr's Reach and Kugane. I try (not all the time) to pick up the daily hunts and do these as they do contribute towards your seals - which I use to unlock the speed boost for the mounts in each area. There are also armour, weapons etc you can purchase too.

The Manderville Gold Saucer
If you want MGP then this is the place to go ... you can do the daily 3 Cactpot scratchcards for a chance to win MGP. There are also GATEs (similar to FATEs) and plenty of mini-games to get MGP which can be exchanged for weapons/armour/Triple Triad cards etc.

Weeklies

Doman Enclave Reconstruction
I was oblivious to this as I didn't tend to venture to Doma after I completed the story but you can contribute up to 20,000 Gil each week (this changes after certain amounts are reached) to help with the reconstruction of the area. I have been keeping my Allagan pieces I get from my retainer ventures to donate as they are just exchanged for Gil anyway. There is also a gratuity available on the donation which starts at 120% and goes up again when certain amounts are reached so rather than selling items to NPCs - keep them for Doma.

Wondrous Tails 
Khloe is located in Idyllshire and each week you receive a new journal which requires the completion of old/new duties to get seals. Collect 9 seals and hand the book into Khloe for rewards. This is most popular after the Tuesday reset - if you check the party finder you'll see it will have lots of people looking for parties to do "Khloe" in the notes. I logged on just as the reset was happening and there must have been about 60 parties ... logged on the next week at 8pm after work and there was about 10 ... so easier to do if you're on around reset.

Weekly Hunts
I did mention above about daily hunts - but there are weekly hunts which you can pick up. Again exactly in the same place. I normally manage to kill (myself) level 50 and 60. Level 70 you might need help from some friends. These will get you 100 seals which help massively. 

Raids
There are three raids currently:

The Royal City of Rabanastre (introduced in patch 4.1)
The Ridorana Lighthouse (introduced in patch 4.3)
The Orbonne Monastery (introduced in patch 4.5)

For each raid, you will receive a coin which can be used to purchase items to upgrade your armour/weapons. 

The Manderville Gold Saucer
I did mention this above but you can also enter the weekly Cactpot lottery 3 times (different to the scratchcards.

Fashion Report
If you are also looking for a hefty amount of MGP then you can try out the Fashion Report each week which can get you around 60,000-70,000MGP if you get above 80%. You can try and figure it out yourself if you enjoy that or if you check Reddit there is someone who does it all on an infographic each week.

Challenge Log
The challenge log is a great source of experience if you need it, especially for Eureka if you are still at a low level.

I think that's everything at the moment. I probably have missed a couple of things - Custom Deliveries being one but as I haven't gotten to them yet I haven't added it to my checklist for the week.

Let me know though if you can suggest anything :)


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Sunday 24 February 2019

Millie-like Cookies

Hi everyone :)


I've got a sweet tooth and that's not a secret! I'm trying so hard to curb my habit of just wandering into the kitchen and picking at things!

I wanted something really sweet a few weeks ago and our food delivery wasn't due to the next day so there wasn't much in the kitchen - however, my baking cupboard was full as I've not baked much in the last few months! I had a look, did a little search online and came across this Millie-like cookie recipe!

For those of you who don't know - Millie's Cookies are these yummy cookies we have in the UK - they are so good!

Ingredients:
125g soft butter
100g light brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225 self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
200g chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180℃.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds or so until combined.
3. Add the flour, salt and chocolate chips and mix until it starts to come together and stop.
4. Take small amounts (similar to the size of a walnut) and roll in the palm of your hand into a ball and place on a non-stick tray or on a tray lined with greaseproof baking paper. Space out as they will spread a little.
5. Depending on how you like them - for soft/gooey cookies then around 7 minutes will achieve this. If you want a more crunchy cookie then 10 minutes will do.
6. Take out the oven and leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes until they set and then transfer to a baking tray.

The cookies are great warm and taste amazing. You can also store them in an airtight container!




Let me know in the comments if you enjoy making cookies or if you have made this recipe before and do you prefer crunchy cookies or soft-chewy cookies.



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