Iz, Iz and Izzy

Don't worry, there's just one of me

[dictionaryofobscuresorrows]

sonder

n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

video: sonder: everyone has a story

[izzy1243]

yeh

[vine-blog]

Hello?

[izzy1243]

this is one of the funniest vines I’ve ever seen

[izzy1243]

Things are looking up... ? *waits for the universe to realise and fix this*

I mean I’m not coming for the universe here, but that’s what seems to happen. I swear, I’m not a cynical person, but I bought a new top and when I brought it home it was ripped bad. *cough cough UNIVERSE cough cough*

I GOT A JOB INTERVIEW!! Yeeeeaaaaahhhh :D Cross your fingers and wave away lone magpies for me please thx.

Ok, I’m about to change shit up, get ready. This week, I made... Turkey burgers! Whaaaaat? Savoury food? Yeah. Deal with it. Deal with THIS: 

That coleslaw, did you make that? you ask. You better believe I made that, and it’s GOOD. Here’s a delicious close-up:

Props to Jamie Oliver for the coleslaw recipe, here if you want it. I left some stuff out just because I didn't have it at home (like the celeriac, which went into a vegetarian shepherd’s pie that used lentils instead of beef, and had a cauliflower mash. It was really nice).

The turkey burgers were REALLY fast and easy to make. I didn't use a recipe, but here’s what I did:

Put turkey mince into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Then mix it until it comes together. 

I sauteed one small white onion, diced. Add that in. I mixed in some caramelised onion chutney, too. Any chutney would be great for adding flavour, as turkey is kinda bland.

I didn’t add an egg or egg white, but it probably would have helped bind the meat better, so you could do that. 

Shape them into whatever size suits with your hands, then just fry them in some oil on medium/high heat until they’re lovely and golden on either side and cooked through! 

P.S. I think fennel seeds would have been tasty in the burgers. x

Music, of course. 

Please improve your life RIGHT NOW and go listen to Oh Wonder. They’re a duo who release a song every month. If you only have time for one song, Technicolour Beat is it. I think it’s the most beautiful collection of noises and words I have ever heard.

OH AND. Fyfe’s album was released! I woke up to the email telling me it was available (I had pre-ordered it), so that was flippin THE BEST thing to wake up to. It’s called Control. There is nothing nothing NOTHING wrong about one nano-second of it. 

Also, I found out James Blake is playing Longitude and I want to die. Thanks universe.

[lame-astrology]

the "I'd rather watch tv than interact with humanity" squad

gemini, taurus, leo, virgo, sagittarius , capricorn, aquarius and pisces

[izzy1243]

truth

[takealookatyourlife]

Stopping girl hate doesn’t mean you have to like or get along with every other woman. It just means you don’t tear women down for being women. It means you let go of your internalised misogyny, envy, and jealousy of other women. It means not using gender based insults to undermine other women. It means you don’t push other women under the bus for men. It means you stop holding other women to the arbitrary and restrictive gender roles you’ve been socialised into. 

[tyleroakley]

NEW VIDEO: “My Video Outtakes” - I did a Q&A for my Tumblr people - you might be in this! Thanks for all the Tumblr love, reblog if you want me to check out & follow your blog! <3

[izzy1243]

<3 <3 "Google it"... Rude -_-

[rimbuad-deactivated20180517]

a day in the life of a cat owner

[izzy1243]

truth

[connorfranta]

New Video: First Dates

This is my favorite skit i’ve ever made & i hope you enjoy it!! I’ll be stalking all the rebloggers ;)

[izzy1243]

The Aftermath

So it turns out when you quit your job and drop out of college... there's not a lot do to. At first you feel all inspired, like "Look at all this free time I have, now I can be the creative genius hippy/slob that I've always known I was!". So you try painting and remember you're not good at painting and now have a canvas you painted black on top of the piano staring at you. You also end up with this: 

It's oil paint and doesn't come off easily.

You watch three full seasons of Game of Thrones in a week. You feel proud, and also ashamed.

Mostly proud.

You Google symptoms you think you have, and become convinced you have the early signs of Parkinson's. 

You read facts on ALL the planets and have a few days long existential crisis, then realise you can see Jupiter and become madly excited.

However, you soon remember that baking is something productive(ish) you can do, AND enjoy! Well, maybe YOU don't, but I did. So, thanks to The Hairy Bikers, I made this delicious chocolate and pear frangipane tart.

We had people over and it went down very well. I also had a slice for breakfast the next day. This is my life now. Judge away. Doesn't bother me, I can have cake for breakfast. Make it and you, too, can have cake for breakfast.

P.S. Dunno what I was listening to when I made this, but I painted the bathroom today and had music on for like 3 hours, so here's what I listened to:

AIAIAI mix 101: HWLS (HWLS are extremely good)

REFRESH: SASHAMARIE (great mix)

JE$ICA PLACE: Damithaprince 

10k: Damithaprince (LOVE)

Rhymes: Hannah Wants and Chris Lorenzo (Thanks, Sunday Brunch)

Secrets + Lies: Casmhere Cat (I <3 Cashy Cat with all my <3)

Snare: Cosmo's Midnight feat. Wild Eyed Boy (Cool, catchy)

With Me: Cashy Cat again <3

P.P.S. It took me about 15 minutes to open the stupid plastic lid of the paint can, I nearly sliced an arm off trying to pry the bloody thing open once I actually figured out how D:< it looked kinda pretty though...

[izzy1243]

That time when I made gingerbread and also dropped out of college

Oh and I quit my job. Turns out I don't do things by halves. Lesson is: if you're unhappy - like, consistently and constantly - and you can change that, CHANGE THAT. Do something about it. It feels really good. I've spent a lot of time just being unhappy about things, but this time I was like "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" i.e. had a breakdown. Change is scary, but in a good way. Also, tell someone. Anyone. It makes problems seem smaller, which took me a LONG time to realise. Don't worry, I still love to bake, cook and EAT :D

So anyway, I made gingerbread to cope with the stress. Nigella knows what helps with that kinda thing. Recipe here. 

Hmm. That picture looks better on my phone. Well, you can still see how awkward I am, but the middle pieces are the best pieces. No lie.

New obsession: Coole Swan, which I bought as a present for the house (my mother and I) this Christmas. Mix together some rich Greek yoghurt, caster sugar to taste and Coole Swan, also to taste (plenty). This instead of cream with some of the gingerbread is gorgeous <3

There's this Danish punk band called Iceage that I've been listening to. I'm not sure if that's obscure enough for people though. Tom Aspaul and just yesterday, Sango, too. I'll leave a link to my Soundcloud again, I tend to just play through my liked tracks when I'm in the kitchen.

BE PROACTIVE ABOUT YOUR HAPPINESS AND LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC! Xx <3

[izzy1243]

I don't believe in 'meant to be' but...

The start of this isn't about food ( :O Surprised?) It's about music (less surprised). The title is only relevant to the start. I COULD NOT think of a title for the whole thing.

I came across this blog by accident the other night, I don't even know how. I had begun my endless scrolling, as one does, and I saw these pictures of this young guy and they said 'King Krule', and I was like 'sounds familiar...''. He's a musician. BRILLIANT. Like genius type brilliant. 

Yeah really. (taken by Jackie Dewe Mathews).

Next day I'm listening to his album, and the second this song, Cementality, starts I'm like, WAIT. I had been listening to this song for MONTHS, and never knew it was his. It was like sampled by Ta-Ku (also amazing), and my favourite track off Ta-Ku's EP. I had listened to it that morning, and was like 'haha Krule Love, King Krule', not making the connection. My brain was like :3. 

Then I'm listening to another song, Rock Bottom, and it sounds familiar like it could have been in an ad or something. Then later, connection is made in my brain, I remember the song it sounds like, look it up, it's a remix. I had been listening to this for about as long as the other track. So basically, I DON'T really believe in things being something other than happy coincidence, but... 'Fate' bullshit 1, cynicism 0.

Aaaanyway, there is food involved here. 

I made MONSTER MUFFINS. I'm not gonna lie, I took them out of the oven and I was like "AAH!". Here's why:

I mean, 

They are pecan, coconut and choc choc muffins. So I made this delicious like caramel-y, butterscotch type sauce to go with them, with Bailey's, I think (can you tell it won't have a recipe?). I also put some pecans in a pan, toasted them a little, added some of the sauce, some maple syrup, and tossed that all around till they were sticky and a bit crispy. Basically, anything you could ever want ever.

The sauce had brown sugar, butter, Bailey's. There could have been other things. I should write a recipe book, no? 

The finished product:

So obviously, I'm going to recommend you listen to King Krule, and maybe watch an interview to convince yourself that that voice does come from that kid. And to make yourself wish you were 1/8 as cool.

I also purchased Bastille's Other People's Heartache III, very exciting, it's probably the best one yet <3

Recipe 

(says makes 12, I got 8. Monster muffin mystery solved).

190g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

110g light brown sugar (the soft kind)

30g desiccated coconut

35g chopped pecans

125g butter, melted

100g milk choc choc, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

60g sour cream (I think I used natural yoghurt)

60ml milk

Method

Oven to 180 Celsius. Flour and baking powder sifted into bowl, stir in sugar, coconut, pecans.

Stir in butter, choc choc, eggs, sour cream/yoghurt, and milk. Mix well, try not to eat all the batter. Spoon into TWELVE muffin cases. Not eight. Unless you want that to happen to you. 15-20 mins, till skewer comes out clean. Cool 5 mins, wire rack.

You can have a bash off of making a sauce, look up a recipe, like this. Then add Bailey's, Tia Maria, something like that. I like alcohol. 

X

[lookingfortronler]

‘so right now, I’m focusing on me’ (x)

[izzy1243]

Pumpkin Pie, minus the pumpkin...

Look, I asked my mam to get a pumpkin during the week cause I was in college, and she forgot. THE PUMPKIN IS THE BEST PART OF HALLOWEEN :'( I was gonna carve it so cool... Here's my last year's one:

So I went to like three different shops after college on Thursday, and ended up coming out of Aldi with a butternut squash... Like last year, thanks to Jamie Oliver, I was able to make this:

It's reeeeallly good. It's all spicy and warm, perfect for the depressing weather that's going on at the moment :) Also, butternut squashes are quite cheap, and easy to get, EASIER THAN A PUMPKIN ON THE NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN :(

I'm over it, whatever. Next year.

Recipe here.

Music! I have been listening tooooo........ MONEY, Palace and PYRMDPLAZA <3 Also, go Drake, dropping those three tracks <3 Good stuff, and there were free downloads :O 

P.S. I made my own sweet pastry, and added a bit of nutmeg and mixed spice :) x

[izzy1243]

Fell into a black hole... soz :*

So I haven't posted anything in a while. My excuse is that EVERYTHING ALWAYS HAPPENS AT ONCE.

Well anyway, I've been baking and eating and going to college. Actually I go to college to do these things, so that's pretty cool. Like, what do YOU do in college, 'cause I cook and bake and eat. I'm being smug.

I made hot cross buns for the first time. Here's a sneaky picture I took at the end of class (We have marble worktops. Yep.):

They may not be perfect, but then, one girl's 'quite satisfactory' is another human's 'adequate' soo.

Then today, I was like "I MUST BAKE!", so I did. I made cinnamon swirls...rolls...? Here they are: 

I think I put too much yeast in them and at one point after proving, I couldn't get the dough off my hands and it was all stringy and I was a bit scared but it turned out fine. I'm fine.

Ok, so I made my biscuits again, and I weighed out the ingredients :D I did five spice again, but more and with cocoa powder and a bit of lemon zest. I also made classic chocolate and hazelnut, cannot beat that combo.

 Oh ya, I had dough left over, managed to resist the temptation to just eat it (thank you, thank you), and made little cubes. Biscuit cubes. Cubes of biscuit. I'm onto something.

Last, and kind of least actually, I just made a really nice steak sandwich the other evening after college. It had fried potato, and cheese, and relish, and caramelised onion chutney (which I made myself) and red onions and mushrooms. It looks as good as it tasted:

Have you read this far, or did you just look at the pictures? You may have missed some mildly funny anecdotes. Or maybe you haven't.

I listened to A LOT of music, seeing as I was pretty much baking (and I cooked dinner) all day, so here's my Soundcloud. Trawl through the likes.

Recipes/Ingredients

Biccies: 75g rice flour, 75g mixed blend gluten free flour, 50g ground almonds, 25g soft brown sugar, 1 tbs granulated sugar, 75g butter, possibly a drop of milk/water. Five spice, good quality choc., lemon zest, cocoa powder, roasted chopped hazelnuts.

Make: Dry ingredients into a bowl, mix it all up. Put down the wooden spoon, we're making biscuits! Then, dice up your butter nice and small, and crumble it into the dry, until it's all combined. By now, the mixture should come together, with a bit of gathering up. If it's falling apart, wet your fingers with milk/water until it stays together. It shouldn't be wet, though. 

Half this, doesn't need to be accurate unless you want the same amount of biscuits in both flavours. Then you can pretty much just put whatever amount of the extras you want, tasting as you go obviously! Do experiment, too :)

 Fan oven, 180 degrees Celcius, 15 mins. Wire rack. Eat.

P.S. These are the flours I used.

[izzy1243]

I'm like Alexander Fleming (kind of)

I made a mistake but it turned out to be beneficial to my tastebuds. And Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin... And that was an accident and... You get it. 

So my boss at work, who is a chef, because I work in a kitchen, showed me how to make these caramelised pecan nuts that are in one of the desserts in the restaurant. I went home and found some salted peanuts and decided to try it out. That wasn't when the delicious accident occurred. That happened today. Just wait, I'll show you that in a sec. Here's the good stuff: 

SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED. I had been sitting in the kitchen, and just as I uploaded that last picture A FRICKING FRACKING BAT flew at me :O I don't scream ever and I screamed and ran out and now I'm in my room and I've opened the back door and I don't know if he/she is still in there. Aaaanyway...

Here's the mistake/caramel gone wrong but so right:

That's toasted walnuts covered in, like... think of that sugary Frosties coating! Really really delicious, even though walnuts to me are like definitely not my favourite nut. That title goes to pecans. Congrats.

I forgot to give you a song/artist last time :( This tiiiime... I'm thinking... GO LISTEN TO FYFE. I got to see him at Indie - it was beautiful - and he took a picture with me even though he was getting a flight <3 I had my eyes closed and didn't know what to do with my arms so I'm just gonna go ahead and keep that one to myself. Your welcome.

[tyleroakley]

NEW VIDEO: “Playing With Our Things" ft. Grace Helbig!

If you liked this one, reblog - I’m stalking people who do! :]

[danielhowell]

NEW VIDEO EVERYONE! ‘Dan and Tyler Being Offensive’

[yep-too-gone-already]

so this made me laugh so hard i started crying. i don’t think you understand the level of wonderful.