Insta-Thursty: Week 21

trifle master - see the blog post here!

spent the afternoon help make cute wedding favours - aren't they cute

celebrating my big 18th! at school.

crazy family birthday celebrations

day out to dimt and london bridge on the last day of term. see more here

yummy food at wahaca - kelly is such a cutie and treated me for this meal!

pizza making and friends.

our renovation work in the house has finally been completed!!! praise the lord!! though there are still some bits and pieces left to be done, the majority is out of the way and i was able to invite some friends over during the easter for...you guessed it...more birthday celebrations! (18 is a big number yano ;))

dyu know bout the cheesy crusts?

dinner is always a hard one if you want to entertain your friends and accommodate everyone's palettes simultaneously. so i came up with the idea of pizza making for dinner! i rounded it off easily with a bowl of pasta and some salad and ta-da, something for everyone!

the pizza dough base recipe was obtained from the martha stewart website and worked out fabi-docious. i made two batches of dough just to be sure we had enough food, and mannnn did we end up with about 8 pizzas, lots of dough balls (perfect with pesto) and a few chicken bites!

for toppings, i had a quick pop to tesco and came back with tomato puree, LOTS of cheese, sausages (the big fatty ones), bacon, sweetcorn, ham, chicken pieces, meatballs, peppers, salad leaves, spinach and mushrooms.

the result? a food coma with my new bday toy sloth and a mega pizza feast which filled us up so much we had no room for ice cream....

the evening consisted of more snacking, banagrams, some polaroids and many crazy games of wii tennis. wow have i missed having friends over.

and here's to many more fab pizzas!

trifle master.

who doesn't love a good trifle eh. the multiple textures of velvety goodness and bites, sandwiched with alternate layers of tangy fruit, custard, cream and crunches.

this was just a quick dessert i threw together one night as i realised i had bought two cartons of double cream by accident and needed to use it up before the best before date. i have an unfortunate tendency of going food shopping and coming back with a load of stuff, and forgetting to use them up before the go off :(

but no worries here, for trifles save the day!! traditionally, trifles compose of some fruit, sponge, cream, jelly and custard, but changing it up to your own taste is easy peasy lemon squeezy, and such a good way to use up ingredients quickly.

for this trifle master here, the layers were simply freshly whipped double cream with a couple tablespoons icing sugar whisked in, custard (from powder), crushed chocolate wheetos cereal, some lightly roasted dessicated coconut, sliced up bananas and a strawberry on the top! 

enjoy!

birthday celebrations cont. #18

school finished for the easter holidays on friday and so my school friends and i decided on a little lunch at a restaurant called dimt by tower bridge, london.

our route had not been carefully planned as none of us had actually been before, but after a few changes on the train, hopping on and off the tube, the overground and a bit of walking later, we made it in one piece!

learning how to use chopsticks

dimt is a whimsical little restaurant which serves oriental food including dimsum, noodles, rice and other popular asian dishes. the staff were ever so friendly, offering to take our group pictures and even forks, as the majority of our little cultured group did not know how to hold chopsticks! 

we had a mixture of noodle dishes, seabass, prawn crackers, egg fried rice and beef dishes. and wow did they all taste so good! we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had a blast just chit-chatting away from the school environment.

highlights of our lunch included busting out a scientific calculator to work out our individual bill, and checking out the toilets like a tourist attraction, after one of us went and told us how awesome it looked.

and check out the view of this perfectly situated restaurant! right in the heart of london, and with a beautiful outlook onto tower bridge and the river. we were literally dining in front of this! shame we weren't sitting right next to the window, but i'm sure i'll be back just to do that!

polaroids of the day

we then hung around and walked off our full bellies: taking some polaroids in front of the bridge and being mistaken as tourists, and then selfie-ing with lenny the sheep.

and look at all these linear compositions from the area, love love love!

this was such an awesome end to the term, and i'm so glad i got to hang around with these girls before exams strike.

birthday celebrations #18

last tuesday was my big 18th birthday! no, i don't feel much different if i'm being honest. but hey, i was treated like a princess and mannnn i don't mind that at all ;)

my cute friend jan bought me the most beautifully decorated (and personalised) cake! how she carried it to school without damaging it, i don't know! it was the most scrummiest light sponge cake sandwiched with cream from her uncle's shop, but to my surprise it was egg-less too! must look in to this for when i'm feeling a cake but run out of eggs :P

ickle bday selfie with lottie, who's birthday is exactly a month after mine!

never a normal picture with ma bibimbap!

jan jan!!

i've got to admit, i am no pro at cutting cakes as much as i bake nearly every week. this picture ^ here? yeah a lump of cream just fell off as i cut into the beautifully piped decoration so i just tried to laugh it off.

and back at home, well my lovely family was waiting to greet me with all their wishes. i was especially touched by my mumma's efforts to get me flowers, a balloon, cake, banners, "18" accessories and food after going to work. i love you mum!

i also came home to cards which had been posted through my letter box, party rings from my sister (how thoughtful), lots of hugs and kisses from dad, and delightful messages from friends and even my family whatsapp group which included my grandparents!

this year for lent, i had given up facebook so wasn't able to look at any of my posts on my wall yet, so they'll be waiting for me! 

despite this, i am already very overwhelmed by all the love i was bombarded with this birthday, and it is a real blessing that i have all these friends and family around me; life just wouldn't be the same! their love is only a fraction of God's love for me (meaning God's love must be h-u-g-e), and i am so happy that i am a child of His, and that He has chosen to be my father. 

psalm 118:24.    This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.