Will You Be My Valentine?

V-Day is coming soon, and I find myself wondering what should I wear? I have put together a few of my favorite things that are perfect for day or night. Valentines day is that holiday its okay to dress up all girly and cute. I used to hold a singles party on Valentines day named after the movie Blue Valentine. Instead of pink and red everyone was o wear blue. I thought I was clever lol.

Perfume:Coco Mademoiselle, Purse:Steven Alan, Shoes: Aminahabduljillil (they also come in new colors!!), Dress: Nastygal, Lipstick: Mac Russian Red. *Water color design I used is by a wonderful artist named Nancy. Check out her work here.

One of my favorite things about Valentines day was when I was little we all made own own Valentines box for everyone to put their cards in. We still break out the boxes to fill with our cards. V-Day as never the same when everyone made it a big deal that we were single. But really who cares, granted it nice to have someone special. It's not everything, so do something sweet for the family or friends you have. Imn the mean time don't forget to make some cards or make plans! Until tomorrow...Natalie.

B R E A D

 I tried and tampered with a recipe found in The Vintage Tea Party: A Complete Guide To Hosting Your Perfect Party from Anthropologie. I was gifted this wonderful book for Christmas and I can't wait to make just about everything in it!
I had a few discoveries while I began my baking quest. First, being I hadn't realized I was missing olive oil until I needed it. After a quick run to the market, I secondly discovered all the unit of measurements were in Metric. That fine for our friends across the pond and all other Metric unit users, however, I had too change up the measurements. I was also cutting the recipe in half, but I will provide both units recipes.

 Herby White Rolls: for six rolls

-4 cups/ 1/2 kg of Strong Flour, Plus extra for dusting

-1 1/2 cups/  300 ml of warm water

-1 Tbsp/ 15 g of Yeast

-1 1/2 Tbsp of Olive Oil, Plus extra for spraying

-3 1/2 tsp/ 10 g of Salt

-A handful of fresh herbs, such as sage, rosemary, and thyme, I also used caraway seeds to top them off, but you can also usepoppy and or pumpkin. But the herbs are too be chopped (kind of cut corners and used ground sage, and for the rosemary I used an herb grinder just to make smaller bits)**Please do not attempt cutting it with a knife to "chop" it. The herbs are dried generally unless they are fresh and will just fly around on you. So to avoid any accidents please do not actually "chop" them. 

 Step 1:

Mix together Flour, Water, Yeast, and Oil in a medium sized bowl. Have a floured surface prepared beforehand, to flatten, and knead well for 10 min and flatten again. Sprinkle the salt and herbs over the dough. To mix it all together knead for another 5 min, then form it into a ball.

 Step 2:

Grease a Large bowl with some oil, put the dough in and spray on a little oil. Cover the bowl with a warm and damp tea towel leaving the dough to prove for 10 min. ('Proving' means letting the bread relax, to give the yeast time to react and rise.) 

 I'm wearing my new apron my Grandmother made for my birthday :) Thank you Grandma!! She even did the picture on the chest herself. 

Step 3:

Move the dough to a floured work surface to divide it into 6 rolls, wet the top of the bread if you desire to add a topping, below I have chosen caraway seeds, then leaving them to prove for another 20 min. In this time pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 C. 

 Step 4:

Bake for 30 min, until golden. Let cool and ta-da! 

You can use this type of bread for many things spaghetti, with creams and butters with tea, my sister had it with her tomato bisque soup this afternoon. It's a fun activity that I thought "why not?" in this snowy weather. Made my day a little brighter. Until tomorrow...Natalie