It’s Been Awhile

 

So, the last time I blogged here, was my 26th birthday, almost 2 years ago. I’ve missed it.

I have been doing a lot of projects off of Pinterest recently and wanted to share my creations.

So to start, one thing I made were some soap pouches.

The pink one has something in it, and the purple one is empty.

The first time I saw this pin, I knew I had to make it. I was sick of my shower puff falling apart every couple of months or so. Washcloths were always way too much cloth for my small hands. Body wash can be expensive.

All you need is:

• A Washcloth
• Needle
• Thread
• Scissors

So, I first cut the washcloth in half. I folded the bottom up about 3/4 of the way, so there was a flap to tuck into the pouch. I sewed up the sides, with the side of the washcloth I wanted on the outside, on the inside.I flipped the pouch inside out and put a bar of soap inside, tucked the flap around the soap.

I used this in the shower the other night, and it was nice. Except for the cloth getting stuck to the soap  every once in a while, it was pretty nice. Just make sure to take the soap out after use and ring out all the suds and water so it can dry and doesn’t start to smell like mildew until you are ready to wash.

Guest Post

Hey y'all! I'm Hayley from Blue Eyed Blonde. I haven't blogged over there in a while, but I'm trying to get back into it. I was excited when I was asked to write this guest post.

I graduated from college last year with a Bachelors of Fine Arts Photography, and I'm in the process of setting up my own photography business in Northeast Florida. I have shot a few engagement sessions, and a few sessions of my nieces. If you gave me a choice of anything to photograph, I'd pick landscapes. They are so beautiful to me and I could spend the rest of my life photographing nature and landscapes. I also have an obsession with taking pictures of buildings, especially old ones (I get this from my dad).

Here's some of my work, and keep an eye out at www.hayleyzipperer.com. I'm working on getting it up and running! I hope you like them!

Engagement Shoot, Jacksonville, FL, 2011

Engagement Shoot, Orlando, FL, 2011

Burgess Falls, Tennessee, 2010

Big Talbot Island, Jacksonville, FL 2009

Ferrero Rocher

Still plenty of time to enter to win a gift certificate to Bead Eclectic!

According to my calendar, today is Mother’s Day in pretty much South America. I found a recipe for Ferrero Rocher cupcakes, so thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make them.

I first attempted these Sunday night, and they were a disaster. I used this recipe to being with and it wasn’t pretty.

So I tried again last night. This time I used just a chocolate cupcake recipe with a dash of hazelnut syrup. The original recipe called for hazelnut extract, which could only be found online and I didn’t want to wait for it to get here. I was at World Market and saw Hazelnut Syrup and decided to give it a try. I used the sugar free syrup, no Calories! Winning.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Dash of hazelnut syrup

Directions





1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
   
   
2. 
   
   In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Add dash of hazelnut syrup; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
   
   
3. 
   
   Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

Once the cupcakes were cool, I cut a cone out of the top and filled with Nutella.

The Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache Recipe

1/2 c heavy cream
8 oz good semi-sweet chocolate chunks
2 T light corn syrup
2 t hazelnut syrup

Heat the cream on the stove until it boils. Pour over the chocolate and stir to melt, adding the corn syrup and hazelnut syrup.

I drizzled the ganache over the cupcakes and sprinkled hazelnut pieces on top. Delicious!

How To Pick a Wine

Enter to win a gift certificate to Bead Eclectic’s  Etsy Shop!

This weekend I learned a lot about choosing a good wine. I’m sure most people have heard to Swirl, Smell, and Sip the wine to fully experience it. The problem with this, you have to have the wine already purchased and opened to do this.

This weekend, I had a friend over and so picked up some wine. Not really knowing anything about wine, other than I like it sweet, and she likes dry.

So, I wandered around the liquor store looking for some good stuff. I picked up these:

I figured I would like these, but wanted to make sure she had something she would enjoy too. An employee asked me if I needed help. So I said yes, I don’t really know anything about wine and to help me find a good wine. I told him I picked the one because it has a penguin on it. And then asked “That’s a good way to pick a wine right? If it has a penguin on it it must be good right.” He hesitated, “Well, some of the best wines have simple labels.” Then I think it sunk in what I said and he laughed at me, because obviously I was completely insane I knew way more about wine than he could ever hope to.

I gotta say, it worked for me. The cupcake wine was the best ever. I can’t wait to try more from this vineyard, but first I have to forget this previous weekend find the right occasion. I picked the penguin wine, cause a while back the zoo had a Pints for Penguins event we wanted to go to, but couldn’t so this was the closest we could get to drinking with penguins.

Later, we picked up some Monkey Bay and Black Swan. I haven’t tried these yet, but monkeys are pretty amazing and so is Natalie Portman, so I’m sure they will be great.