Sunday, 28 August 2016

Monthly Favourites

  Hello everybody!
  This week is a monthly favourites! I hope you like reading these kinds of blogs, I really enjoy making them! The items in this favourites blog are:

  ▪️ Primark Home baby pink Sherpa throw with metallic gold feathers
  ▪️ Primark Home 'Crane Floral' duvet set
  ▪️ Primark Home 'She Leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes' photo
  ▪️ Primark Home metallic gold pineapple scented candle
  ▪️ New Look house box calendar
  ▪️ New Look pink 'To Do' list mirror photo
  ▪️ New Look ombré 'Pugs & Kisses' milkshake mug
  ▪️ New Look 915 black floral bomber jacket (non quilted)
  ▪️ Maybelline BabyLips limited edition lip balm 'Piña Colada Pow'


  That's all for this week! Most of it was home stuff so I hope you didn't mind that. I absolutely LOVE the bomber jacket so I had to include it! I hope you enjoyed! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!

  
  

Sunday, 21 August 2016

Strawberry Cheesecake

  Hello everybody!
  After a very long break, I'm doing baking again! This is a baking classic! It's strawberry cheesecake! It's a fun and easy bake so let's get straight into it...


  Serves: 12
  Prep time: 30 minutes
  Difficulty: easy

  Ingredients: 

  250g digestive biscuits
  100g butter, melted
  1 vanilla pod or 1-2 tsps vanilla essence
  600g soft cheese (eg Philadelphia)
  100g icing sugar
  284ml pot double cream

  For the topping:
  400g punnet strawberry, halved
  25g icing sugar
  
  Method:
  
  ▪️ EQUIPMENT: 23cm loose-bottomed tin, baking parchment, plastic food bag, rolling pin, large bowl, dessert spoon, chopping board, kitchen knife, electric mixer, spatula, serving plate, blender or food processor, sieve

  ▪️ Make the base: Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment. Put 250g digestive biscuits, in a plastic food bag and crush to crumbs using a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, then pour over 100g melted butter. Mix thoroughly until the crumbs are completely coated. Tip them into the prepared tin and press firmly down into the base to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour to set firmly.

  ▪️ If using a vanilla pod, remove the vanilla seeds from 1 pod: Slice the vanilla pod in the half lengthways, leaving the tip intact, so that the two halves are still joined. Holding onto the tip of the pod, scrape out of the seeds using the back of a kitchen knife.

  ▪️ Make the filling: Place 600g soft cheese, 100g icing sugar and the vanilla seeds or vanilla essence in a bowl, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Tip in 284ml pot double cream and continue beating until the mixture is completely combined. Now spoon the cream mixture onto the biscuit base, working from the edges inwards and making sure that there are no air bubbles. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a dessert spoon or spatula. Leave to set in the fridge overnight or for at least 6 hours.

▪️ Un-moulding and topping: bring the cheesecake to room temperature, about 30 mins before serving. To un-mould, place the base on top of a can, then gradually pull the sides of the tin down. Slip the cake onto a serving plate, removing the lining paper and base. Purée half the 400g punnet strawberries in a blender or food processor with 25g icing sugar and 1 tsp water, then sieve. Pile the remaining strawberries onto the cake, then pour over purée.


  That's all for this week! The finished product was absolutely amazing! And the method was so simple! I really enjoyed making it and eating it! I had missed doing my baking for a few weeks so this was a great summer recipe to come back with! If you happen to bake this please send me photos on Instagram (@ISayBell_blog) I hope you enjoyed! See you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!




Sunday, 14 August 2016

Italy Tour | Part Two


  Hello everybody!
  This week is the follow on blog post from my 'Italy Tour | Part One'. If you haven't seen that yet before reading this, go back, read that one and come back to this and it will make a lot more sense! Last time I wrote about Venice and Florence. Now I'm writing about Rome! So here is my amazing experience in Rome...

  ... Backtracking a bit. We were just finishing in Florence by watching an orchestra of about 20 people who were playing live music in Piazza Della Signoria.
  
  And the next day begins, travelling and the enjoyment of Rome. We travelled from Florence train station and arrived at Termini Station in Rome and walked to our hotel called 'The Britannia Hotel'. Once we had been taken to our room we went to have lunch at a small café/restaurant near the hotel. After lunch we walked down 'Via Nacionale' and made our way to the Trevi Fountain, it was so beautiful and breathtaking you could hardly believe it was only a fountain! After seeing the beautiful fountain we walked down to the Pantheon which is an old temple. After doing some exploring we went back to the hotel to unpack a bit and get ready for the evening. For dinner we went to Target which had a lovely large variety of meals! That concludes my first day! 


  On our next day we had a fun packed day! We had breakfast in the hotel and then set off for the Colosseum. We had booked a guided tour which made it a lot better to understand the history behind it all. We also got to go around the Roman Forum (which was still guided) and the Palantine Hill, where the rich and famous of the Romans built their villas. We were tired but happy after exploring one of the most famous sights in the world! So we went back to our hotel as it was so hot (37 degrees C!) and rested for a while. Then it came to early evening so we  began to get ready for dinner. After our dinner we went back to our hotel to get a good nights rest.



  I now move onto our third and final day. We went to the Vatican City, the smallest state in the world and saw the breathtaking views all around St Peter's Square. We didn't go into the Sistine Chapel, but we saw St Peter's Basilica where the Pope lives. We got the bus back after visiting Vatican City. We then went to the Spanish Steps which is very famous after appearances in many different movies. We had a lovely walk around the Borghese Park After seeing the last sights of the holiday, there was one more place I wanted to go to.... Come Il Latte which is an amazing gelateria that I descoverd on a snapchat story of 'Top 10 Best Dessert Places'. The icecream flavour I ordered was banana and cookies and cream! It was probably the best icecream I've EVER tasted!!! After that we made our way back to the hotel and rested until it was time to get ready for the evening. For dinner we went to Target again and had an amazing last meal.


  The next day we went to the ... Airport and stayed at the Hilton where we rested for an early morning 
flight. And that is where our journey in Italy ended...

  That was my experience in Italy and it was so amazing. From the minute we left and until the minute we landed it was all incredible. I hope you enjoyed this 2 part blog. It was so nice to do another travel blog. That's all for this week. See you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!



 

Sunday, 7 August 2016

July Musical.lys + Playlist

  Hello everybody!
  This week is my third playlist and my second musical.ly compilation! My last blog post on this ('May Musical.lys + Playlist) went down so well I thought it would be silly not to add the musical.ly part in! So here are some musical.lys and a playlist...

  I'm going to start off with Musical.ly. If you don't know what musical.ly is, it is basically an app used for lip-syncing. You have a large variety of songs that you can lip-sync to and post them for all your friends to see! I did a few and put them in a compilation for you. So here's the link:


  These are the amazing songs in this compilation. The songs will also be on the playlist.
   
  ▪️ Clean Bandit -  Tears ft. Louisa Johnson 
  ▪️ Major Lazer - Cold Water (feat. Justin Bieber & MØ)
  ▪️ Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better


  I now move onto my playlist. I do my playlist on 'Podsnack' which is a free playlist website. It's a great way to express your favourite music online! The playlist is called 'July Musical.lys' So here are the songs:


  The songs on the playlist are the full song, unlike in musical.ly.

  That's all for this week. I know it's not the longest post ever. But in my opinion it's something quite special. You will see these kind of blogs every two months. I hope you enjoyed! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!