MADVENT DAY 6: Chai Muffins Recipe

Chai is one of my favourite flavourings for autumn and winter and so it is more than fitting for Madvent! I have found the most perfect recipe for some chai muffins (that contain nuts, sorry if you have any allergies!) that I simply just need to share with you.

So, here we go lads...

You will need:

225ml unsweetened almond milk

2 Chai teabags, or 2tsp chai latte powder

1tsp ground cinnamon

400g white spelt flour (we just used self raising)

2 1/5 tsp baking powder

150g almonds, roughly chopped

2 large eggs

150ml sunflower oil

1. Warm the almond milk with the chai powder, or contents of the teabags, and cinnamon in a pan and stir to mix.
2. Allow the milk to cool and preheat the oven to 200C/180C  Fan/Gas 6. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
3. In a large bowl, add in the flour, baking powder, sugar and the almonds, but remember to leave 2 tablespoons for decoration. Mix well.
4. Once the milk has cooled, add the eggs and oil to the pan and whisk until combined.
5. Next, add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients in the large bowl, using a wooden spoon to mix. 
6. Divide the mixture between the 12 cases and sprinkle over the remaining almond pieces until they look nicely covered.
7. Bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes, or at least until they turn a dark golden brown, and a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Remove from the muffin tray and leave to cool for a few minutes before you tuck in!

These muffins are particularly amazing now that the weather has really changed and everywhere is cold, and all you really need is a warming snack. We've also found that as they get slightly old (if you haven't eaten them all immediately...), they are lovely with a tiny bit of butter and a tea... or a chai latte if you're feeling especially adventurous!

Let me know if you try out the recipe, and I'd love to see what they turn out like... Ours came out very wonky, and we ended up with elephant seal noses on ours.

Song of the Day - The American Spirit // Sons & Daughters

M

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MADVENT DAY 5: Twisty Party Up-do

Day 5 and its getting a little bit more festive... We all know that Christmas is PARTY SEASON! 

So, today I thought I'd show a really quick and easy twisty up-do that you can whip out for all of the lovely parties coming up.

It looks a little bit like this, and all it requires is a few pins and either one of those poppable sausage bun nets or a large elasticated headband. For mine, I used a donut ring that undoes to make a sausage shape. Personally, I prefer this method because it makes the twist look way more full and luscious. However, the headband would be much more effective if you were going for the messy, windswept look. That one's completely up to you.

Its very easy to achieve this twist and make it look good in just a few minutes. All I did was brush my hair out so that it was pushed back over my head, and rolled the sausage up from the ends of my hair up to the top of my neck. Then, to make sure everything is stuck in place, all you need to do is whack a few pins and grips in, and fiddle around with it until it looks the way you want it to!

If you want to use the elasticated headband method, simply place the band around your head, but on top of the hair. Next, and this is really simple, all you do is tuck the ends of your hair into the band, until it covers it completely at the base of your head. It might be useful to use a few hair pins here to hold it all in place. Hairspray would also be quite useful here as well. You should still be able to see the band around the top of your head, so I feel like this  would look especially christmassy and pretty with a sparkly headband or maybe some pretty flowers? You could even brush some glitter over the twist to make it extra festive!

Also, if you really wanted to jazz it out a bit, you could perhaps pull out some small sections of hair, or fringey bits from the front and loosely curl them? Mmm that sounds like a right good idea.

So, let me know if you recreate this look, and how you got on with it! I'd really love to see them...

Song of the Day - Walk the Moon // Shiver Shiver

M

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MADVENT DAY 4: The 1975

(DISCLAIMER: Ok, don't expect much in terms of pictures for this one... I didn't bring my camera, and well... my phone was not quite up to scratch. However, I have got one photo, and I need to point out that it's not mine. I think it might have been from one of the band accounts, but it definitely is of the night that we went.)

Woohoo! If you know me at all, you'll probably know that I love bands, and The 1975 are up there with my top 3 favourites of all time, so needless to say, I was immensely excited. We had been counting down since June, and finally, 6 months later, Thursday 19th November rolled around and WE WERE BUZZING. For extra excitement, we all trooped back to the Langworthy's for a lovely meal and to get ready for the rave up. (Thanks guys!)

We caught the train into Cambridge and soon found ourselves at the Corn Exchange, ready for something amazing. 

The opening act was RAT BOY. I've got to admit, I wasn't particularly looking forward to these guys, and I completely had no idea what to expect. I thought it might be some kind of rapper? I was pleasantly surprised when four lovely boys sprung on stage and started playing their music. I'm so ridiculously bad at describing music that I'm not going to even attempt it, but I would definitely recommend that you look them up. I loved their stuff, and it was a truly fab atmosphere that they created. Great work boys.

Anyway, the bit that we were most excited for arrived and the guys popped up on stage. THE 1975 WERE ONLY A FEW METRES IN FRONT OF US HElP. There was a huge build up , which did exactly what it was supposed to do, and everybody was going mad with the suspense. They then whipped right in with their latest single, Love Me, which literally drove the crowd MENTAL. As soon as the plingy intro played, I just lost track of everything and fell into a spiral of despair, love, very nearly a few tears and actual jumping.

I haven't been to many gigs in my lifetime, but I can honestly say, without a shadow of a doubt that it was the best concert that I have ever experienced. 100% loved it, could not recommend it more. I just want to live this day over and over again, forever. Thinking about it now makes me very sad that its over. C'mon lads, come back to Cambridge for us please.

Of course, we couldn't have a Song of the Day be anything other than The 1975, so today I've picked Menswear. This was the song that made me fall in love with the band, Matty and the whole experience.

The 1975 // Menswear

M

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MADVENT DAY 3: Happy Birthday Hat!

Ohhhh Hat! I hear it's your birthday? Whaaaaaa?

Oh man, I hope you have the best day that you possibly can, because you definitely deserve it. So.... I've collected a lovely load of low quality photos for you all to see, so that everybody can appreciate your beauty and ultimate lol face.

Dededeee do you remember this day? All those years ago before exams? Those were the days...

Oh lol, nothing better than a pair of classy birds in their Tudor costumes...

Cuteness (but also quite creepy) lil smiley...

Don't you worry, I've signed us up for GBBO 2016...

Oh would you look at that! A whole year go!

Oh ultimate bants, the alien heads...

J a bit of awkward patting...

They can't all be cute pictures, gotta whip some lols in there...

Stressful lolly eating, gets me every time...

Ah, Hat reigns over us all as our qween....

And finally, look at that cute lil face!

Song of the Day: We the Kings // Friday is Forever

Love you lil Hat, 

Mol

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MADVENT DAY 2: London at Christmas

 DAY 2! It's flying by! Today's post is kind of like a mini 'Let Me Take You To...', but this time its London at Christmas! That's definitely the best time, and I was simply in awe of the beautiful lights. Let me show you the beauty...

 Song of The Day - Oh Wonder // Drive

M

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MADVENT DAY 1: Cinders

Woohoo! I'm finally back! And boy oh boy have I got a treat for you...

So, its the first of December? Where did that come from? Crazy stuff man. But NEVER FEAR, for tis the season of madvent! This was a wonderful idea from my lovely friend (The name was Hattie's idea too, as you may be able to guess... Moha's Advent, so naturally, Madvent was the most fitting), and basically, I will be uploading a short little post EVERY SINGLE DAY throughout the duration of advent! They will be getting progressively more christmassy and wintery as the big day gets closer, and I'm so very excited...
It's a bit like blogmas, but, you know, way better.

Also, a new addition to future blog posts will be a song of the day! This is just an idea that popped into my brain late one night, and I've just remembered it, so look out for that at the end of each post...

Alrighty then, I thought that I would kick off madvent with something Lush. (Sneaky pun, wasn't even intended) I recently went a bit mad in Lush and just bought everything that I saw. Unfortunately, this has left me with no money, but I've now got many lovely smelling things, including Cinders - a fiery bath bomb. The label describes it as a 'hot fruit punch fragrance', and to be honest, I don't really have a clue what hot fruit punch smells like, but i kind of love it. Its definitely a warm smell - its the kind of smell that if you sniff too much of it, it feels kind of fiery and sting-y in your throat? Hmm, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm very excited to use this, and I have very high hopes. I want to get out of the bath feeling like a dragon.

Song of the Day - The Wombats // Pink Lemonade

M

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What's in My Bag - Day in London

Woohoo! I'm back!

Next Saturday is a very exciting day, as we're going into London for the day! A few friends and I made a spur of the moment decision to whip into London and visit the V&A museum, and make a few touristy stops at places like Camden along the way. Sooo, I thought I'd show what I would typically bring with me on a day out like this.

The Body Shop - Early-Harvest Raspberry eau De Toilette 

I always like to bring around some kind of smelly spray when I'm going out for a long day, just to make sure I feel fresh, because no one likes feeling gross when you're out and about. I really like this fruity smell and the teeny tiny bottle makes it perfect to fit in your bag without taking up much space.

 Bellapierre - Envy lipstick

If I'm wearing lipstick that day, I'll bring whatever one I've chosen with me, that way I can top up as it inevitably vanishes as the day goes on. I'd never heard of this brand before until I got it as a lovely present for my birthday. I still don't really know much about the brand, but I really love this colour. (I know you can't really see it in the picture, sorry!) It's not a colour that I'd normally opt for, being more of a red toned nude than a brown toned nude, but there you go. It's got a gorgeous velvety finish and it even smells amazing, so an all round perfect lipstick.

Ok, I can't be the only one that seems to have thousands of lip balms and never seems to be able to finish one. This is one of many, floating around in various bags and coats. It's always handy to have some kind of vaseline or something with you, even if it's not for your lips, you never know when you're going to need it...

The Body Shop - Coconut hand cream

Hand cream is another one of those handy things to always have with you. I find that places like the London underground can leave me with pretty dry and gross hands, so it's easy to just slap some on as and when you need it on the go.

A teeny purse can often be useful to carry around with you and helps to keep stuff organised. If you have a massive tardis bag where things just seem to disappear, it can be totally handy to tuck little things like lip balms away and you always know where they are. I also often find myself taking off jewellery during the day, so a purse like this is great for making sure you don't loose it in the depths of your bag. Another use for a purse like this is for hairbands and hair grips. I'm sure most of you will know just how annoying it is to be caught on a windy day with nothing to sort your hair out with, so I just keep a few bands in here and I'm sorted for the day.

Fossil Purse

It's pretty straightforward, most places you go in London will require some sort of spending, so I always have my purse with me.

 I always have my phone with me, wherever I go. Its a compulsive habit. I just kind of feel like I'm not safe without it, especially in places outside of my comfort zone, such as London. I'll definitely be bringing this with me next week.

London is a truly photogenic place, and a constant source of inspiration, so of course I'll be bringing my camera. I reckon I'll bring both a polaroid and my digital camera, because I am planning to make a post about it, but I also love to capture certain moments with a polaroid, as they make things seem so much more special and alive in the picture. I always associate polaroids with specialness, like moments that you really want to last forever, and sort of treasure. For me, a digital camera is a perfect way of preserving a moment, but in a less magical way. Thats why I'll be taking two cameras, which may seem a little excessive, but hey ho.

M

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