Winter Warmer

Mulled Wine Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 clementines
• peel of 1 lemon
• peel of 1 lime
• 250g caster sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 1 whole vanilla pod, halved
• 2 star anise
• 2 bottles of Chianti, or other Italian red wine

Method

Peel large sections of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime 
Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat
Add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice
Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg
Throw in your halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar
Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil
Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup
The reason I’m doing this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine
It’s important to do make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol
When your syrup is ready turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and both bottles of wine. 
Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve

Or 
Pop down to Asda

Twist the top 

Pour into pan 
Heat 

Grab a straw

Outcome

Thanks Jamie Oliver

Merry Christmas!

What were we thinking...

We have seen recently fashion following us through the decades and repeating itself, bringing us to searching through racks for a sequined padded shoulder dress or teaming platformed wedges with leggings and debating whether to wear that crop top with high waisted shorts or whether to bare all and just do those extra sit ups. However, there are some trends that we would like to see stay put and reside in their rightful period of time- the kind of items that you wouldn’t even want to see swept under a stand in an M&S outlet store. 

Neon

The number of occasions that I have happily stayed in after having 'a stomach bug' on a neon night or UV rave at uni is countless, needless to say it is one of my least favourite fancy dress themes and definitely do not want to see this type of colour during the day. I love wearing sunglasses but not because your clothes are too bright.

Trouser Skirts

Why would one need to wear a pair of trousers and a skirt at the same time is beyond me. I remember my metallic silver trouser skirt combination, painful memories!

Crocs

They were not banned from hospitals because of that static electricity concept. They were banned because they were criminally unfashionable. How was a patient to recover or even be able to give a correct heart rate reading when they were faced with these monstrosities? 

Trainers and denim skirts combo


We all remember those chav-tastic days. Even the chavs of 2010 realise error of this combination.

Baggy bottoms


Boys (and emo girls) believe it or not, no one wants to see the skids on your boxers.

And lastly, there are no words needed for this fashion accessory that we'd all like to forget!

But who knows, in years to come we might be digging out the then not so dreaded trouser skirt, matching scrunchy and crocs and being proud to pass them down. But for now the statement still stands, what were we thinking?

Travel inspirations.

Wanderlust
Pronunciation:/ˈwɒndəlʌst/
noun [mass noun]
a strong desire to travel: a man consumed by wanderlust


Rio de Janiero, Brazil


Moscow, Russia.


Seattle, WA, USA


New Orleans, LA, USA


Puerto Vallarta, Mexico


Mont St. Michel, France


Acharacle, Scotland


Berlin, Germany


Marrakech, Morroco


San Francsico, CA, USA.

These are just a few of the places on my "to visit" list. If I could spend the rest of my life travelling, I would.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." - St Augustine.

"Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalks again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Kerouac.

“Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” – Freya Stark.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese.

Ombre hair.

OBSESSED.

Bah, buh-bah-buh-bah. That five syllable jingle is probably the only thing you'd be able to recognise from computer chip giant Intel. That and their Pentium 1000 Core Processors, a sticker slapped on your computer to inform you that you're the proud owner of one even though you're not actually sure what they do.

Being pioneers in computer chip technology, Intel have had their fair share of innovations through the years. To celebrate the people at Intel have opened their photographic archives documenting motherboards to lab-coat miniskirts and everything in between.

The collection makes for some great viewing as a social commentary of the times. We especially like the hippy-eque peace adorned lab-coat and the behind-the-scenes look at the development of one of today's most important pieces of equipment - the computer.

Check out the full collection of photos here.