Fair Play Cherie Blair!

I never thought I'd say those words!!! Funny bug-eyed Cherie with the quivering voice. W all know she's extremely clever (she's a barrister for God's sake!) but that doesn't mean we like her. But blow me, along with the author Joanna Trollope and internet queen Martha Lane Fox, she has stepped in among other private donors to rescue the Orange Prize, awarded for female fiction, after Orange stepped down as sponsors. Beside all the oft repeated blah blah blah about should their be a prize just for women writers, this is a grand gesture that she and her other donor pals should be commended for. You go Cherie!!
http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/

The LBJ?

Well we've all heard of the LBD, the Little Black Dress, that fashion stape of any ladies wardrobe (ha ha!), but who's heard of the LBJ- the Little Black Jacket? Apparentlt this to is a fashion staple in Paris and apparently long after the Americans have grabbed their winter gear and the Londoners their Trench coats, the Parisians are still wearing their black jackets, maybe with a sweater and a scarf. In Paris the best value black jacket if you don't have the wonga to invest in Chanel/Lagerfeld is the Comptoire des Cottonierres at 195euro. We'll be on the search then in Penney's!! 

 Dunnes Zip Biker Coat €60
 Savida at Dunnes €80

Mango €44.99

Oreo cupcakes

How scrummy do these look? The credit goes to a website called Recipe Snobs that wisely recently changed the name from Food Snots! http://www.recipesnobs.com


The recipe is very straightforward.
Ingredients Makes 24
2-3 packs Oreo Biscuits(need about 35-US packs are bigger OF COURSE!)
1 pack chocolate cake mix
225g/8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
110g/ 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
500g/ 3 3/4 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 muffin cake cases

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix packaged cake mix according to directions (do not bake). Line bun tins with cases, place a regular size Oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner. Take 1/2 of remaining cookies and chop coarsely and add to cake mix. Fill the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 minutes (or according to box directions).
 



While cupcakes are baking make the icing. Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, then add powdered sugar slowly until blended well. Chop remaining regular-sized Oreos very fine (could put the cookies in the food processor)Add to icing. After cupcakes have cooled ice using piping bag. If icing is not stiff/thick enough add more icing sugar.

Books, books, books!!

If you love books you'll love the site Bookshelf Porn http://bookshelfporn.com/ . The photos are sooo cool and there are great bookish quotes and facts.

Interesting online course sites

This is a seriously good website http://www.openculture.com. In addition to having interesting daily postings you can access 530 free online courses in loads of different subjects including languages.

The Stanford University has some online courses but they focus on Engineering & Computer science plus Business & Management http://online.stanford.edu/courses/index.html

Stuffed Tomatoes

These are delicious, you could use any combination of these fillings but this worked very well.

Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the middle. Discard. Mix together some breadcrumbs, grated cheese, pinenuts, sunflower seeds, pesto and tomato tapenade. Use to fill the tomatoes, overfilling slightly to make a domed top and pop the lid on. Bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.

Making Movies

Isn't it great that movie making is accessible now to all with the internet and youtube etc. Watch this gorgeous little amateur love story here and say your heart doesn't bleed as the little elephant turns its back and walks away...


Click on the link below;
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=495784023772606