My 5 Year Relationship with the Gym

This post is probably the most personal I’ve shared so far. I’m not sharing my life story or anything like that, but whilst signing in at the gym earlier this week, I noticed it said that I had been a member since April 2010... and it dawned on me that I've now been attending a gym for five whole years. I mean five years… that’s a long time. It got me thinking about how much my relationship and attitudes towards the gym have changed over those years and how I’ve changed as a person because of it.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Tarts

For Mother's Day this year, I hosted an afternoon tea for some of the wonderful ladies in my life; my Mum, my sister, my Nan and my God Mother.
I got out all of our pretty crockery and glasses, made up little triangle sandwiches and baked a whole host of sweet and savoury treats to share (obviously this was before our kitchen was taken out!). Some things I'd make before, like the scones and mini quiches, but I'll be sharing some of the other recipes over the next couple of weeks while we are without a kitchen, starting with these little PB & J tarts! And don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram - @jadebakes89

Muse - Psycho Tour

If anyone asks me who my favourite band are, since I was about 13 years old, my answer has always been Muse (closely followed by David Bowie, if you were interested). I love rock music, but Muse have always stood out for me as their music is so different to anything else around - or at least that's how I felt when I first heard them and first fell in love with their sound.

The Split Worlds: Any Other Name

Image taken from Amazon

 This is the second installment of the trilogy I am currently reading (you can read my post about the first part here).

Kitchen Update

I don’t know if you remember, but I shared my new kitchen space with you last year (here)…

Well, over Christmas we had a change of heart and decided to get a new kitchen sooner rather than later.

Mocha Sandwich Cookies

My godmother is the most awkward person to choose gifts for, so when her birthday came round this week I decided to bake her a gift instead of buying something. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time due to an already busy week, so I thought I'd adapt the recipe I shared for ginger pinwheel biscuits to make some cookie dough which I could prepare in advance. And as you bake from frozen, it's super easy to have a batch of freshly baked cookies ready in a flash!

Alien Bust Amigurumi

Shhh... this is supposed to be a secret! I am only 90% sure that he won't see this, but I'm willing to take the risk... Here's what I've been working on for Mikey's birthday present this year!

The Breakfast Club – Blueberry Monkey Bread

As I mentioned in my last post, 2015 has been a year for big breakfasts, with big groups of friends. It’s been fun spending more time together in a more sociable (and less drunken) environment, and I hope that we can keep it up throughout the year. As hosts this weekend, James’ croquet madame muffins went down a treat, and my blueberry monkey bread was well received too. This recipe has been adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction's recipe for Homemade Cinnamon Monkey Bread. I forgot to take a photo of it before everyone tucked in, but you can see in the photo that I did manage to take what the structure is like inside. 

The Breakfast Club – Croque Madame Muffins

The new year marked the start of a new event for a group of our friends; The Breakfast Club. We’re taking it in turns to host fortnightly breakfasts in an effort to get together more often outside of the pub on a Friday night. So far we’ve been treated to a good old fry up, an American style brunch of pancakes and corned beef hash, and another intercontinental fusion of Indian eggs and bacon.

This weekend it was our turn, and we both chose a dish each to make for our friends. James went for croque madame muffins for the savoury option, and I chose to make a blueberry monkey bread ring for those with a sweeter tooth. Here I’m sharing James’ recipe for the croque madame muffins; I think as part of a larger spread, one each would be enough, but as the main event, I’d recommend two per person. Recipe adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen on BBC. This recipe makes 12.