Christmas EDIT #4 Decorating the Christmas Tree

The evolution of our Christmas tree 

Christmas EDIT #3 Christmas Dinner with Friends

.....Cook the turkey and they will come.....

Before heading back home to spend Christmas with our families my flatmate and I wanted to celebrate Christmas with our friends. The deal was we would cook the turkey and the potatoes and provide a mulling service for cheap red wine, and they would bring all the trimmings. This is a great way to throw a huge dinner party and not be stuck in the kitchen wondering why you spent so much money. 

The result.....

 A table full of food

Christmas EDIT #2 An Edinburgh Christmas

With it's castle, churches and Georgian New Town covered in Christmas lights Edinburgh is feeling pretty festive right now. A series of Christmas frolics in the German Market and round the town made some lovely photos to share.  

View of Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill

Christmas EDIT #1 A Scandinavian Winter

Having just finished term I'm now allowed to start feeling festive. My final hand-in was a report on Scandinavian landscapes so I wanted to share some of the most frosty and seasonal paintings I wasn't able to include. 

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Frosty Birch Trees

Autumn Cookid EDIT #2 Pumpkin and Autumn Veg Soup

Making soup is one of the best things about autumn. Getting the kitchen really warm by cooking hearty meals. Pumpkin soup is a big favourite and especially seasonal with Halloween around the corner. Here is my take on a hearty pumpkin soup.

Yummy autumn lunch!

Autumn Cooking EDIT #3 Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Happy Halloween! As winter starts to draw in my intake of hot beverages goes through the roof. I will never get bored of tea and coffee but it's fun to spice things up a little. I love the spiced pumpkin lattes they do at starbucks but they do tend to eat through my wallet a little. My solution was to buy the syrup (mine was about £10 online) and do it myself! 

Nothing better on a rainy Halloween right?

An Edinburgh Winter

Arthur's seat from the window

"England's Most Romantic Ruin" Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle has been called "England's most romantic ruin", here are some pictures I took of it last winter at sunset. There's something very Arthurian about it ...

A view of the castle walls, battlements and moat

Dinner Party Ideas #1 Easy Salmon and Roast Potatoes

This recipe is a useful, quick, yet impressive piece for a dinner party or just something a little fancy for a treat. Really quick to make and can be done in advance, just give it a little panache when serving and you can enjoy you're own party without being glued to the oven.

Fun with Cocktails #1 Cranberry Tart

Making cocktails is really fun. Inventing cocktails is really dangerous. So here's an easy recipe for a citrusy, sweet and sour drink that's tastes a little like sherbet.

What you will need:

• 1 1/2 measures gin
• 1 measure triple sec
• 1/2 measure lime juice
• Dash angostura bitters
• Dash cranberry bitters

Autumn Cooking EDIT: Butternut Squash Risotto

One of the best things about Autumn is Autumn cooking. Cold weather food for chilly days to get a nice glow going in the kitchen. Butternut squash is that little bit cheaper this time of year so I though I'd experiment with a risotto.

You will need:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 white onion
• 700 ml chicken stock with white wine/cider
• 300 grams risotto rice
• Salt and pepper
• Sage
• Grated cheese (I used mature cheddar)

Step 1:

Cut up the squash into chunks and scoop out the seeds

Addicted to? #1 Lush Products

Can you have too much of a good thing? Surely not! That is my philosophy with beauty products, if you're on to a good thing why not just keep going? One of my favourite brands for this is Lush. That shop is like crack to me I just can't help going inside and grabbing samples of stuff to try and so far I have not been dissapointed. Lush is a quirky place and on occasion I do smell or poke things that make me wonder why they came into being. So, to help you pick through the mine field, here are some of my favourite buys from Lush.

World of Books gave me a cup of tea!

Autumn Beauty: Can't live without....

As winter starts to draw in there are a few things I gravitate towards to banish the winter dryness and cheer up cold weather blues. These should also keep your purse happy as each item is under £10.

My Interrail Adventure in Panoramas

This summer just gone, I went travelling with a friend throughout the south of Europe for a month. Naturally I wanted to take a fairly indestructible camera to survive backpacks and trains. What I soon discovered was the panorama setting which I fell in love with. These are some of my favourite panoramas from the trip, hope you enjoy.

The Parthenon in Athens was the first major site we saw, my friend is right in the middle if you can spot her.

Finland, an undiscovered Landscape

 On my visit to Finland this summer I got a little trigger happy and thought I'd share some of my favourite pictures. The quality of light was really different so I had a go at capturing it. Hope you enjoy.

A sunny day reflected in the lake

"Painting by Numbers" by Tom Gillespie: Review

I bought a book for £1.99 and it was brilliant. "Painting by Numbers" by Tom Gillespie is one of the best things I've read in a while and really got me back into reading

My Birthday Meal

This year I celebrated my 20th birthday at home after a long summer of travelling. Instead of going out to a restaurant we continued a family tradition of cooking at home. I based the menu on a few things I encountered during my travels (the salmon is a traditional Finnish recipe).

• Drinks:

Pretending to be a bar tender is always good fun and we made negroni royales before dinner. They're super easy just add some martini rosso and campari to prosecco (or cava) like you're making orange squash and you're done. Making cocktails also gives us the chance to get out the posh glasses.

• Starter:

It seemed logical to keep the starter pretty simple as we had a lot of cooking to do. I dispatched my Dad to Waitrose with a list of my favourite deli counter goodies. I made some really strong garlic mayonnaise to have with smoked cheese, olives and stuffed peppers.

• Main:

This is the traditional Finnish salmon recipe. We did it on the BBQ to recreate the effect of smoked fish. You cover the salmon in fennel, sea salt and lemon and parcel it up so it cooks in its own fat. I then made some extra creamy mash using mustard and the food processor. The sauce is the easiest and most delicious accompaniment to fish, just mix some green pesto into some Greek yogurt and proceed to dollop. Then I added some fresh rocket in some balsamic dressing.

• Dessert:

Baking is one of my favourite passtimes and learning how to make a macaroon whose structural integrity isn't compromised by just looking at it has certainly taken me some hours to perfect. These ones had a white chocolate and black current filling. To do so check out http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2011/01/how-to-make-perfect-macaroons.html (do everything she says and if in doubt whisk more and leave them to cool completely before you remove them from the tray).
I also made my own ice cream but only because I like to do funky flavours, this one was blueberry and almond.

I also made some tiny ones to go with some after dinner espressos.