final hours of staycation week

I accomplished nearly everything I set out to do. I took photographs for a future project , baked tonnes, played dj for the night and even went to Montreal.

I am ending my vacation by baking what could possibly be my new favourite cake recipe,  Cinnamon-Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake from smitten kitchen.

dj mix # 1 - laura's birthday
lykke li - i follow rivers
the pixies - la la love you
broken social scene - major label debut (fast)
the clash - death or glory
tears for fears - head over heels
the knife - heartbeats
talking heads - this must be the place
dead mans bones - lose your soul
underworld - born slippy
jonsi - time to pretend (mgmt cover)
billy bragg - a new england
the national - abel 
ritchie valence - tell laura i love her
iggy pop - the passenger
future heads - hounds of love
justin timberlake - pose
the strokes - gratisfaction
black kids - i'm not going to teach your boyfriend to dance like you
lykke li - love out of lust
cut copy - feel the love
new order - temptation
santigold f. karen o - go
marvin gaye and tammi terrell - ain't no mountain high enough
bruce springsteen - dancing in the dark
erasure - a little respect
phantom planet - do the panic
bedouin soundclash featuring coeur de pirate - brutal hearts
beastie boys - make some noise
devendra barnhart - 16th & valencia roxy music
the strokes f. regina spektor - modern girls and old fashioned men
atmosphere - you
the strokes - under cover of darkness
pomplamoose - telephone (lady gaga cover)
the cure - inbetween days
kate nash - foundations
cults - go outside
cold war kids - hang me up to dry
penny & the quarters - you and me
iggy pop - lust for life
pomplamoose - single ladies (beyonce cover)
lcd soundsystem - dance yrself clean *my #1 jam*
tom petty - american girl
beck - modern guilt
weed and foxes in fiction - teenage dream (katy perry cover)
david bowie - it ain't easy
the pixies - here comes your man
the national - think you can wait
the kills - M.E.X.I.C.O
the streets - i love you more (than you like me)
joy division - love will tear us apart
the strokes -love is simple in the moonlight
best coast - happy
foo fighters - everlong (acoustic)
michael jackson - rock with you
kanye west f. bon iver - lost in the world
the drums - skipping town
zombies - this will be our year
no doubt - sunday morning
the xx - heart skipped a beat

staycation week

I've taken the week off work; instead of going somewhere I decided to stay home and work on the things I always say I'm going to do but don't.  It's my artist week.  Yesterday I took my Bronica out for a walk around Hull with a friend to capture anything that caught my eye for a calendar I want to make.  I'm really trying my darndest this year for christmas to give mostly homemade gifts and this would be one of them. I will try to post my crafts for said project, but I may have to do it after the fact of people opening. We'll see how it goes.

Today I'm going to go to Deserres and buy some painting supplies. I hope to paint on my balcony today and/or tomorrow.

I'm going to make one of these this week. I've also been asked to be dj this weekend at a friends birthday, so I've been compiling my playlist. I'm also going to keep with the tradition of baking my friends birthday cakes and I will be making this and this because I cannot just choose one.

A little preview of my playlist for Laura's Birthday

best coast - happy
the kills - M.E.X.I.C.O
billy bragg - a new england
the pixies - la la love you
ritchie valance - tell laura i love her
santigold featuring karen o - go

cookbook love

With new cookbooks coming out daily and the internet, there are two cookbooks that I could not live without.

1.  Jamie's Ministry of Food:

Seriously this cookbook is amazing! Just tonight I made 'Crunch Garlic Chicken' which could be described as an adult version of chicken fingers. I'm doing my best to get through a recipe from each chapter. It's the reason I started making my own salad dressings.

 The other cookbook I cannot live without is Joy of Cooking:

This is my go-to cookbook. It has any and every recipe you would ever need. Everything I have ever made from this cookbook has been amazing!

recipe #7 - shortbread cookies

This is one of my favourite recipes for cookies. I stole it from a friends mom.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter; unsalted, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar; packed
2 cups flour
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips; i actually used 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 skor bits

1. Measure Butter, sugar, vanilla and flour into a bowl
2. Combine until dough forms a ball
3. Add chocolate chips and work into dough
4. Roll into 1 inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheet
5. Press with fork
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes

dough

ready for the oven

*I didn't really take that many photos because I did this spur of the moment and my camera was dying.

weekend playlist:
zombies - this will be our year
phantom planet - do the panic
lykke li - love out of lust
beach boys - i wasn't made for these times