I used to think that yellow, like orange was a colour that I couldn't really pull off. It always brought out the extremely pale undertones in my skin, with a hint of yellow - the overall effect was I looked Jaundiced. I'm still not totally sure on orange, but for every other colour out there, I'm certain there's a shade that suits me. Black near my face is never a good plan (it totally washes me out, even if I'm wearing makeup), whereas dark, charcoal grey is infinitely better. It's the same with yellow - no bright canary yellow is ever going to suit me - my complexion isn't strong enough to pull it off. However, this lemon yellow dress, broken up further by the pattern, is a great look for me. I still don't like to wear it too near my face, so I tend to wear it with t-shirts and scarves of differing colours. Today's outfit is probably my favourite so far - even if I can only wear it in the house! Sadly the British weather in November does not allow me to wear this lovely summerdress outdoors, but it makes me feel very summery to wear it inside!
Dress: Fenwick
T-shirt: Threadless.com
scarf: Dorothy Perkins
bag: M&S
shoes: New look
Today I was at work again (boo) but now I'm home, I plan to have a lovely bubble bath! Tonight I am going to a gig to see one of my favourite folk bands - Spiers and Boden. http://www.myspace.com/spiersandboden check them out!
Sadly, I have already been forced to cheat in my rainbow week theme as I came up against a glaring issue - I own no orange clothing of any sort. Not even Jewellry. So I decided to have pink as my replacement orange - as although it isn't technically one of the 7 rainbow colours, its pretty important too!
So here is today's offering:
Top: Next
Cardigan: H&M
Trousers: Monsoon
Hairband: Accessorize
Today I was at work for most of the day (I have two jobs, one in a bar and one in a shop called Hotel Chocolat) and then in the evening I went to a music quiz at a pub called the Tanner. It was a fun night, but sadly I wasn't very good at a lot of the questions - most of the music played was released before I was born! The prizes went to the teams that came first and second last - and amazingly, we finished second last! We all left with an extra pound - what a great prize :)
As the "bake-y" one in my family, I started on the Christmas cake today so it would have a month or so to "mature" (in other words, taunt me because I can't eat it). This is me in my pretty pinny!
The particular recipie that I use is in a book of my mother's, which is so old and has been used for making christmas cake for such a long time, that the pages are starting to fall out, and it opens straight to the right page, as there are bits of christmas cake stuck all over it! yum.
It is a two-day process, this cake, first the fruit has to soak in a mixture of apricot jam, stewed apple and sherry, then left overnight. The recipie is from English Food by Jane Grigson and is as follows:
1st list:
2 1/2lb mixed dried fruit
2oz chopped and candied peel
2oz glace cherries, halved
3oz preserved ginger, drained and chopped
grated rind and juice of a lemon and an orange
2 tbsps apricot jam
2 tbsps sweet brown sherry
1 cup stewed apple
mix all these ingredients together in a large bowl. Leave overnight.
2nd list:
1/2 lb lightly salted butter
1/2 lb soft dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
few drops almond essence
cream the butter into the sugar, beat the eggs in one by one, then add the essence.
3rd list
12oz plain flour
1 teaspoon each of the following
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
baking powder
nutmeg
ground cloves
mixed spice
put all the ingredients in the 3rd list into a bowl and stir them together. Mix the fruit and flour alternately into the creamed butter and sugar a little at a time, and try not to snap the wooden spoon like my dad once did, it can get very hard to stir! line a tin with three layers of greaseproof paper, then spoon in the mixture and put another 3 layers on the top. Bake for 2 hours at mark 3, then turn down to mark 1 for a faurther 2 hours. Remove the cake from the oven, puncture holes in the bottom and pour in 1-3 tablespoons of brandy. Leave the cake to cool in the tin and get it out the next day, ready for icing and suchlike.
Don't worry about it going off, these things can last for several months if you keep them in a tin.
Dress: Fenwick
