I really like painting my nails. It makes me feel girly and nice. But they only look good for about two days before they chip all over the place.
Baby Blue! Emerald Green! What a colour combination!
Also, I have a confession to make. I'm a bit late jumping on the Regurgitator band wagon. Like, 14 years late.
Of course I liked Polyester Girl when it came out, but I was a lil' bit young to actually appreciate the rest of their music. But they're playing at The Falls Festival this year, so Brent thought I should actually listen to their music.
Today was one of those days. Those days where you can't find any clothes to wear and then you can't even be bothered to blow dry your hair.
In the end, I threw on my old jeans and one of Brent's t-shirts to wear to work. It turned out that the shirt had some (semi) famous artist's design printed on the front, and everyone complimented it.
I'm pretty sure that one good way to make you feel less scummy in the morning is to eat something girlie for breakfast. Like a ruby grapefruit.
I'd never eaten a grapefruit before this morning. The ruby grapefruit's looked so lovely sitting in a big pile at the shop that I though I would buy one and see how it went.
It met all my expectations: bitter, tart and slightly sweet. Delicious.
But grapefruit's have this... stigma about them. As if you can only eat a grapefruit if you're on a diet or something. I know they're good for you, but I don't understand why they're not an everyday thing.
I did think that I would still be hungry after only eating one half of the fruit, but I wasn't! And the oats, butter and sugar really make you feel like you're not trying to be super healthy.
Mmm.... butter and sugar. And in less than 10 minutes!
Crispy grapefruit: serves 2 Adapted from All Recipes.
1 ruby grapefruit
1/4 cup oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
Preheat the grill to a high temperature.
Cut the grapefruit in half, and slice around the pink flesh so that it will be easier to scoop out later.
Mix the oats, cinnamon, butter and sugar in a small bowl until well combined.
Pile half the oat mix on each grapefruit half.
Place the grapefruit on a tray and stick under the grill until mixture is brown and crisp on top, about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on the grapefruit, making sure they don't burn.take out from under the grill and serve straight away.
I've been watching The Renovators, and it's really making me wish I had some spare time and lots of money to do up my house all nice.
Because Brent and I rent our (tiny) apartment, we can't do anything to it. A shame, really. I'd love to put up some nice, textured wallpaper in our bedroom...
Here are some pictures of my dream house. One day. If only.
For the dough:
1 cup milk
3 tbs unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
7g packet dry, instant yeast
1 tsp salt
Place the milk and butter into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter has melted and milk is warm.
Pour into a big mixing bowl and add 1 cup of the flour, sugar, egg, yeast and salt.
Beat on low speed for 3 minutes.
Add the remaining flour and beat until incorporated and the dough is sticky (You might have to do this with a wooden spoon, rather than a hand mixer). The dough should be sticky, but not too sticky.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface to knead.
If you find that the dough is sticking to your hands, sprinkle the dough with flour and keep kneading until the dough is smooth and almost elastic, about 8 minutes.
Form the dough into a nice ball and place into a large, lightly oiled bowl.
Cover with cling wrap and a clean tea towel and place in a warm, draught-free place until the dough has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
For the cinnamon filling:
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 tbs ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sultanas
While the dough is rising, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.
Tip the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Roll the dough out to a 15by11 inch rectangle.
Pour the melted butter over the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and sultanas.
Starting at the long side, roll the dough up towards you into a tight log.
Seam side down, slice the cinnamon log into 18-20 small slices.
Place the slices into 2 greased tins (I found that a 20cm springform tin was easier to get out, but a square tin is fine too), cut side up.
Cover each tin with cling wrap and a clean tea-towel and place in a warm, draught-free spot to rise for 40-45 mins.
Pre-heat oven to 190C, and stick the trays in the oven.
Bake the rolls for 20 mins, until the tops are golden.
Take the trays from the oven and flip the buns out onto a wire rack to cool.
Glaze buns when cool.
For the orange glaze (optional):
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
juice and zest of half an orange
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. If the icing is a bit thick, add more juice until it's runny enough to pour onto the buns.
