I feel like its my birthday or something this week, I have had 3 exquisite presents given to me that made me super haps. I've mentioned before its the small things that make me happy, don't get me wrong I do love the finer things in life when it comes to shoes, bags and clothes but what playa doesn't? However the reality is I have aged before my time though I don't think its a bad thing, I used to love going out most nights of the week, practicing my hip hop hoe dance moves downstairs in Junk and having rap offs with random people in the street at 3am however these days I spend the remaining time I have between running, hanging out with the fellow playas and hustling hard at work in my little home working on patterns, illustrations, little homemade treats and cards so I like to have nice things surrounding me when I'm working on Full time playa business.
Just things like exquisite books for the table, homemade cushions, decorative floral treats, charity shop plates and pots, it is these little treats that make houses homes and with the move back to London for school fast approaching I have been a busy bee making sure I can make my new home playa status. There will be homemade Liberty cushions galore, I might even just have a cushion room?! Luckily my friends and family know me pretty well and like I said this week I was greeted by 3 gifts...
Treat 1. From the other half of B.unit, Bryony.
Heartshaped mouthfuls..amaze!
Treat 2. From my Aunty.
The perfect start to my cupcake making set, I like things to match and be consistent so this was a real treat as I can just continue to add to it with different shaped cutters, cupcake cases, you know all the things a baking playa needs.
Treat 3. From Sarah and Pete
I mentioned before about my favourite couples and Sarah & Pete are up there in my top 5, I have to give credit to Pete for the naming game on the hip hop baking as well,sometimes they get an erratic call mid bake with me shouting the ingredients down the phone at them depending a pun immediately! So I popped over last night for the standard procedure of some light refreshments and chats in their garden and Sar surprised me with these playa treats, little cake holders which look exquisite sat on my desk reminding me I should really get my bake on this weekend.
Big Thankyou to these Playas (not sure my aunty would like to be referred to as that) but anyway thank you for these delights that snazzed up a playas little palace!!
My feets absolutely deserve a treat this week with 125k August complete, its definitely been a weird running month. The start was slow infact awful, I didn't really seem to accumulate that many kilometres however with the full time playa running schedule written out and the Kenzo x Vans box waiting at home I managed to pull it through the last week.
It's also been a weird one for a playas playlist this week, I felt pretty flat at the start of the week in regards to running and had to stir up a bit of emotion with Adele and Beyonce as it seems if I'm unhaps then I can run for ages, unfortunately I can't really rely on having some playa hating action on the day before the Great South Run so this is something I need to work on during September. Running on energy rather than emotion yo.
I thought to myself at the start of the week ''Ah yeah il buy something pay day to celebrate'' but then remembered I buy treats quite a lot of the time so would be best to have something super special to look forward too, a quick scan on Ebay and a lucky bid once again and these beauties arrived on Monday. It took a lot of self discipline not to just wear them and it wasn't until I had 12k remaining I opened the parcel and fell in love, sure helped get me through the last 12k yesterday.
I know its another pattern shoe but I can't help it, like I said before I'm a playa with a serious addiction. Theres those playas that love cats and say they're gonna end up an old cat lady, well I won't have the felines keeping me company in my old age but at least I will be able to rock an OAPattern style with my addiction purchases. From the A/W 2012 collection I scooped the Marbleised Authentic in Black white with the dreamy diamond overlay for a mere £20 and I think my feet were pretty haps this morning to be putting these on knowing they didn't have to put in any Kilometres today.
Vans x Kenzo Authentic Black White
Also I have been listening to this track loads this week as it's right at the beginning of a mix I like to run too, thought I would share it as you can just imagine me running along Calshot beach, trying to sing, stirring up emotion, it would've been a real treat to watch:
So I totally forgot to post these last week mainly because when the Mart Part-e is in town there is no time for blogs. The Mart Part-e is a hilarious name we gave to Alex (another OG Lush babe) after she provided such laughs at every occasion, we also used to make her announce her presence when entering clubs shouting ''The Mart Part-e has arrived'', looking back Liz and I made Alex do a lot of stuff for our own personal amusement. Well Mart had told us the exciting news that she was expecting a mini lush babe so thought best to take a quick bake over for the girls night of catching up, looking at baby scan pictures and Liz and I trying to persuade Alex that Bristol just isn't ready for the Mart part-e and she should really just move back to us.
I had a really good idea in mind for these but unfortunately after travelling from Morrissons to Asda and even upped my game and went to Waitrose I couldn't find the main ingredient so instead used a Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe but with a slight twist. Inspired by Def Jam Records I present the Def Jam Ripples, Jay Z probably would still be president if these were delivered to him with his morning coffee thats all I gotta say.
Def Jam Ripples
You will need:
4 1/2 oz Plain flour
5oz Caster Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 1/1 oz Butter
4 1/2 oz Whole milk
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
A good quality pot of jam
For the Icing:
1 Tablespoon of jam
4oz Butter
14oz Icing sugar
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons of whole milk
few cheeky strawbs for decoration.
Preheat the oven to 170C, Now like I said I used the Hummingbird Bakery recipe for these cupcakes which was a bit of a shocker for me as I am so used to starting with butter and sugar but hey if you can't beat them which I definitely can't, join em. So put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and butter in an electric mixer and beat until it is all combined. You will then need to pour in half the milk and mix until it is one consistency.
It is a right old palava this Hummingbird malarky cos they you'll need a separate bowl to whisk the vanilla, egg and remaining milk in. Once sufficiently mixed which will take a few seconds add to the mixer and beat until smooth. Now Bake for 20 mins yo. You know what even though I was two bowling it the electric mixer gave my arm a nice little break from its usual bake off work out, more time for throwing shapes whilst rapping to my bake off.
When these cooled I kind of looked at them with what mart part-e would describe as a ''look of great distaste'', I thought '' I can't deliver these looking like that to a pregnant playa, they need the finer things in life through this 9 months'' so I scooped out a teaspoon full of sponge from each cake just like a dip in the middle and filled with jam before commencing on the icing. Still on that lazy Hummingbird electric mix vibe I mixed together the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk in one whack along with a a tablespoon of Jam and hey presto get yo ass a piping bag and nozzle and ice that up!
Totally optional but you can also add some strawberries to the top to make them look that bit more exquisite. Now had great reviews on these and I even decided to sample one as it was a special occasion celebrating the mini lush babe and I gotta say they were pretty divine, a mixture of Hummingbird x Full Time Playa is clearly the way forward.
It would be super hard to choose my favourite Def Jam artist and whack a tune on here so instead I will post a classic that was released under Def Jam Records back in 1994. Just hit the east side of the Strawberry, on a mission tryna find Mr Warren G...
A good pal Craig once told me that if you do something you should do it properly and with all the effort you can put into it, none of this half hearted can't be bothered hype even if you are doing something a bit whack do it spectacularly whack. I always think about this and it wasn't until Wednesday of this week I bucked up my ideas, I had a slow start to the running week and then it hit me like a tonne of bricks. There I was having a sing along in my room to a song (dance tonight) off a playlist that said pal made for me and thought ''What are you doing having a dance on your bed with a coke bottle? You gotta target to hit gurl''. With that in mind I bumped the kilometer reading up 30k in the past 4 days making my monthly distance stand at 81K and have come up with a time management plan for the remaining week. Obviously living that floral life still in my Liberty running plan notepad.
If all goes to plan which it bloody well will if you're a full time playa with a target to hit, I will be on track to complete 125k August. Luckily for me the last day of the running month also falls on Payday...I just need the incentive to get me through the last 44 Kilometers.
Now not one for the treadmill hype but I strongly recommend this on a freshly made bed, in your PJS with a coke bottle as a microphone, my housemates get this kind of treat all the time ...
Back to ''Patterns Anonymous'' I go with my head hung in shame. Though I need to be given some credit here, I scooped these up for £4 on a whirlwind Ebay bid mid run. I really didn't think my max bid of £4 was gonna pull through and I was certainly delirious when bidding so when I won I really thought it is meant to be. After all patterns are for playas and what is more exquisite than a pattern by Eley Kishimoto! I am a huge fan of their prints and earlier in the year I posted on tumblr about this colloboration http://full-time-playa.tumblr.com/eley-kishimoto-x-clarks so was pretty haps to be an owner of these delights in a UK 4 for a mere few pennies.
Now there is a small issue, I am a size 4.5 and these are slightly tight, the boys were cracking up last night as I used a shatterproof (safety first always hustlas) to get my tootsies in. I can't say I will be walking too far in them but most definately gonna be 'boots in the rucksack' job for when I go back to school, I wil be sat at a desk for the majority of the day so won't have to actually move too much once changed into them.
Also I have to say its the small things in life that makes me haps, you know, little cards, funny keepsakes, crazy pattern napkins, notepads with information about the print on the inside cover always put a smile on my face so I love every time I buy a pair of Clarks they have the Clarks Originals booklet in the box. Its the little things and the big prints in life yo!
Ice ice baby...yeah I could really do with some Ice after returning from a session of super sprints, I'm on fire this evening, not the good kind of 'on fire' either. I may add I went straight from work with no facewipes so kept it strictly G with the red lipstick still in tact, can't say the same for my eyebrows they ended up on my knees by the end of the run. Anyhow I whipped these up this morning for a friend , a hip hop spin on the vanilla custard slice I present the ''Vanilla Ice Slice'', all right stop collaborate and listen...
Vanilla Ice Slice
You will need:
For the puff pastry:
8oz Plain Flour
1/2 tsp salt
7oz Butter
5 fl oz water
For the vanilla custard filling:
8oz custard powder
8oz sugar
32 fl oz milk
2 tsp vanilla
For the Icing:
5 tsp water
7oz icing sugar
Dark chocolate melted or if you're a playa with no cash monies like me just use a bit of Nutella
Method:
Right Pastry is for playas and it is probably a lot easier to just buy some sheets of puff pastry however if you want to whip some up it isn't actually that hard, just longs out the baking session so depending on your full time hustling schedule you can bake or buy. If you are to make your own then you'll need a large bowl and begin with mixing the flour and salt together, rub in about half of the butter into breadcrumbs and then the remaining leaving lumps. You then bind the pastry together using the water and its quite easy to see when it has reached playa status, it may not even need all the water stated.
Now you need to roll the pastry out on a (this is key) floured surface else you're gonna end up in stick to the side central. Once rolled out to around 2.5cm thick you then third the pastry and fold the bottom up to the middle and the top to the middle kind of like you're making a paper aeroplanes. Place the pastry to chill in the fridge for ten minutes. Now this gets a little monotonous but you need to roll it out and third the pastry again and then place it back to chill for another ten minutes, in total do this 3 times to achieve the perfect playa pastry.Slice into two piece and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and then leave to chill.
Now for the custard filling place the custard powder and sugar into a saucepan and whisk well, add the milk and heat the mixture on a medium heat until it is stiff and hard to stir. Once you are happy with the consistency of the mixture add the vanilla in, to be honest I just free poured but thats cos I was rushing
around tryna get the bake down before I started work.
Spoon the mixture onto one of the slices of cooled pastry and sandwich together with the other slice, now for the icing you'll need to sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the water and dash of vanilla essence, then smooth this over the top and add the decorative melted dark chocolate or as mentioned if you're a wannabe baller like me just use Nutella, every playa should have this in the cupboard.
Leave to chill in the fridge and voilaa you got that ice ice baby down yo. Now of course you know what tune it is and check out them badboy hip hop hoe hairstyles at 22seconds into the video...DAYM GURL.
From the title you would assume I have ran 100k this week but I'm afraid not, it was just the name of the album I have been rinsing on the runs. To be honest I'm quite disappointed with the kilometer reading at half way through the month currently standing at 51k. I have been super busy hustling hard in the baking game, working and also trying to cram in a few visits to pals which isn't really an excuse but a playas gotta play yo! I've only just relaised I have a lot of making up to do over the next 2 weeks to hit the 125k target however it is most definitely do-able with the right time management. Also with the Great South Run coming up I want to make sure I have 5k down to a really strong time and I am confident on running at a constant pace maybe with a little super sprint at the end. I also switched things up this week by listening to an Audio book when running...foolish mistake as I often imagine myself in a film...not a film of me running, that would be god awful, but a film about the life of a full time playa so I like to have songs to be the background bit for this dream world I run in and I definitely think audio books are for chilling vibes. Worth a try though. So a big running track for this week comes from Kendrick, I have been rinsing him lately and this is the stand out running tune of the week...
Today I rolled into work and was met by a pal Maddie saying that she had looked on my blog for a recipe which I had treated the girls to not so long ago. To be honest there is a huge back log of recipes that I couldn't decide whether to rebake or to just post them in the ol cake archive. Gotta say I had mixed reviews on this one, the girls at the studio loved them and I got serious playa points for my marbling effect however one of the fellow playas at Size? said he thought they were a little dry. Out of the 9 people who had the treat of the Twista cupcakes I had an 8/9 great review. Even though these are inspired by one of the fastest rappers in the world, they are a serious afternoon bake, its not about a rushed 7am bake off..trust me I've had many.
''Twista cupcakes''
You will need:
7oz butter
5oz chunky peanut butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz brown sugar
9oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100ml milk
A bag of Minstrels
1 Teaspoon camp coffee essence
2 Teaspoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
Method:
Preheat that oven to 180c. Beat the butter, Peanut Butter (totally optional whether to use chunky or smooth) and both types of sugar into a mixing bowl, followed by the eggs. Now its time to crack the eggs in and beat the mixture to a thick cream. Now sift in the flour. Once all the flour is sifted it is important to fold the mixture so it gets lots of air which will result in some well risen cakes, whilst folding slowly pour in the milk and add the baking powder.
Now this was my favourite bit maybe because I might have been rapping and made up a slight remix, you need to divide the mixture into two bowls and add the minstrels to one bowl and then mix the coffee granules, camp coffee and cocoa together into the other one. It is most definitely appropriate to now be singing ''She got a light skinned bowl look like Michael Jackson, got a dark skinned bowl look like Michael Jackson.''
Now simply alternate spoonfuls of the mixture into the cupcake cases and again use something with a sharp end to then swirl the mixture to create that marble effect. With these I didn't use an icing as they're pretty rich as it is so the aseptically please aspect comes from yo swirling technique.
Bake for 45 minutes and you got your self some Twista marble peanut butter mocha cupcake treats.
Now I couldn't not post this track for the bake off, I mean everyone knows what it means when they play this at 3am in the clubs...playas are getting down.
Liz and I have been friends for nearly 10 years which is pretty crazy considering our friendship is based on the fact I had a girl crush (thought she was super cool with her girl boxers and cut off jeans) at school. We have never had an argument and my mama refers to her as ''The Oracle'' which means basically whenever I don't know what to do in a situation I ask Liz and to be fair her predictions of the outcomes of my decisions have always been pretty accurate.
Whenever things go a bit crazy and wild Liz and I usually take it back to the old school by going for a walk with my little dawgy Rosie, sit in her flat and drink Earl Grey or of late we have decided to start ''Dickheads anonymous'' where we go to the Pub, order a few ciders and confess all the dickhead things we have done during the week. She was also a founding decision maker about Hip Hop Baking and sent me hilarious texts about ''going loco with tha cake'' for weeks!!
Anyway what I'm trying to say is every playa needs a Liz Holt in their life because without her its like making a cake with no electric whisk, pretty whack and very hard work!! Also she is one of the funniest, prettiest and most caring bestest pals a playa could ask for. So heres a couple of photos of us in action, the top one I have had in a frame for 5 years and wherever I go it always sits in pride of place on my desk, its been on a bit of a tour in the last few years if I'm honest and could probably do with an updating frame job.
2009 when we formed the ''Lush Babes'' with Lor and Mart, yep we referred to ourselves as this for a good 4 years and made other peoples call us the L.B'S. Were still not living this down.
Last weeks DA session, down the cheese drinking Bulmers, admitting our sins for the week, doesn't get any better than that yo.
I was gonna whack 'Niggas in Paris'' at the bottom of this but to be honest Liz isn't really a fan of the Hip Hop classics, so gonna take it back to the old times when the Lushbabes where in full force going out about 3 times a week and still working full time jobs, God knows what happened to us apart from the fact we got old and can barely handle one big night out a month now but this was a BIG CLARK CLUB BANGER back in 2009 and whenever I hear it I smile in an nostalgic fashion like I'm some wise old owl now.
I totally forgot to post these little treats, these were from a fun housemate day out to Portsmouth. We went with the intention of just a browse and might have accidentally each ended up with 2 bags from the Vans outlet and a scooby snack Nandos treat. Anyhow I had been on the hunt for some Chukkas for a while, I do however have a slight issue with my ankles, I'm telling you no matter what I do they remain like giant marshmallows and yes I have most definitely googled ''How to lose weight from your ankles'', can't say I found anything of use.
Well I saw these treats and thought '' Don't even care about the fat ankle, look at tha gum sole ting'' tried them on in a 4.5 and they provide the perfect shoe for day to day hustling. From the 2011 ''Wool pack'' they have a lovely canvas lining and perfect woolly exterior alongside the leather patch on the heel. I gotta say I am biased to the Vans though, I have never worn a pair and found them uncomfortable. I may have perhaps whacked them out on Saturday accompanied by my Penfield bag and really wished I had some sort of pheasant feather in my barnett, taking the heritage look too far? I have also decided today that if I want to carry on my playa lifestyle of buying way too much makeup, clothes, shoes and floral stationary, I had better give up smoking. So today is day one of no smoking and my theory is the £6.56 I spend a day on cigarettes can go in a money box and be the funds for my treats. Its gonna be a tough first day for a playa....
This evening I'm heading over to one of my pals from works flat for a catchup and dinner, my lovely playa Jenna with her sister Emily, I actually thought they were twins for ages and it wasn't until I mentioned something about how old they were I actually found out they were sisters. Shame we had already called them the ''Fun House Twins'' hey. Anyway I missed Emilys birthday as she was living it up on holiday so thought I should take some little treats round as she is most certainly a certified pedigree playa in the game. So another late night bake, accompanied by some tunes and a serious amount of chocolate which resulted in the ''Waka Flocka Flakes''.... O Lets do this playas
Waka Flocka Flakes
You will need:
8oz Butter
8oz Caster sugar
3 eggs
100g milk chocolate
6oz self raising flour
2oz Cocoa powder
For the topping:
3oz butter
7oz icing sugar
1 tsp golden syrup
100g milk chocolate
2 Flakes
Preheat the oven to 160c. Beat yo butter and sugar together to form a light fluffy mixture and crack the eggs in, mixing so you don't get any lumps and bumps. Sift the flour in and then fold the mixture slowly. Now this is when I decided to mix up the game a little, splitting the mixture into two bowls and then adding the melted 100g chocolate and cocoa powder to one and leaving the other one plain. Thought I would try out the marbling technique again as I found it looked exquisite on some peanut butter mocha cupcakes I've made previously.
So now use a teaspoon to alternate spooning the mixture into the cases. once full just use a fork and drag it across the top of the cupcake to create a swirl in the sponge. A kebab stick would be ideal for this job but I don't know many people that just have them lying about the crib.
Bake for 25 minutes and then pop them on the side to cool. Now you can crack on the icing flex mixing the butter and icing sugar together to create buttercream, I always wanna shout ''Cream, get yo money, dollar dollar bill yo'' but thats optional during the bake off. Once you have a thick cream you can then add the melted chocolate into the mixture and the sizzurp for that thick consistency. Once the cakes are cooled smooth this over the top and grate yo flake for the Wacka Floka Flake off.
Wacka this tune on (thats possibly the worst thing I have ever written) and get yo bake on playas.
Tonight is film night in the playa household, to be honest most nights are film night as my pals are trying to educate me in movies. Up until this year I refused to sit down and watch one, I always would say ''No I've got to make this'' or ''I've got more important stuff to do'' but I have realised films are fun yo and I have been missing out. So this month we have had some classics, comedies, actions and my favourite..the rom-com. I'm still no film pro and was referring to Jason Segel as Jason Seagull until Sam took great pleasure in cracking up at my google history ''Rom coms with Jason Seagull in'' and told me that my future husband and dreamboat of an actor has no relation to the bird species. Anyhow Bryony will also be joining us on film night this evening and I thought I had better whip up some sort of hip hop bake to surprise them as they've been hustling hard at work all day. So just a re-bake of a playa favourite, I present the classic flapjack with a twist and inspired by the scratch king Grandmaster Flash.
GrandMaster Flapjack
You will need:
6oz Butter
6oz Sugar
6oz Golden Syrup
A large bag of Porridge oats
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of ground ginger
Optional:
3 mars bars (photo above)
Simply melt the butter and sugar today stirring slowly, add in the golden syrup now I know I said 6oz but I usually add a bit more as I like it when the flapjacks are extra sticky. Once all mixed together add the porridge oats into the mixture and the pinches of Cinnamon and Ginger. Slowly pour the mixed ingrediants into a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Now this is when you can add some playa steeze into the mix, I usually add chunks of mars bars or any other divine chocolate bar just to give them that extra touch. Bake until golden brown with the oven at about 160C. Now you will need to let these little bakes cool down for a while before cutting into slices, chunks, squares whatever shapes you wanna throw! Get your bake on, no scratching, strictly mixing to this...
So a strong week for the running playa, I am on track and currently at 36kilometres for the week which I am pretty haps about. If I had the time I would've liked to achieved more however I am most certainly not a lady of leisure, I'm a full time hustler and there is work to be done. Anyway this past week I have been thinking about signing up for a run however I wasn't too sure where I was going to be in the next few months so hadn't committed however now I'm going to be around South for a few more months I signed up for the Bupa Great South Run. Now I know I can run a 5K but what I want to do is set a really strong and fast time to train towards and then smash it on the day. So I didn't find it hard to think of a charity I wanted to raise money for, 2 years ago one of my best playas Jen was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymphatic System and the teenage cancer trust really supported her through this time. I can't express to you all what an amazing and strong person my friend is, we were in our second year at uni and living it up when the bombshell hit, I think anyone else would've hit rock bottom, quit university, gone home and wallowed but not Jen. Throughout the months of Chemotherapy she remained studying with us, came out dancing and throwing her wigs off at every chance in the clubs, styled her outfits like amber rose truly rocking the cancer chic look and even the saddest times when we would be led in her bed she would still manage to crack a joke about having cancer and put a smile on our faces. Jen most definitely saw all the positives in the horrible situation, her braveness was inspiring to us all and in all honesty even though it was one of the toughest times those months we also had some of the best times. There were evenings out in bournemouth eating ice creams, BBQs with all the pals, trips to the wig shop to choose her newest look, a big night out in Eastbourne singing ''Ain't no mountain high enough'' as we arrived at Petes flat, gym sessions wearing turbans, cancer parties where we all shaved bits of our hair, Jens very own ''How to dress a shaved head'' days including a great mini me inspired outfit and then the best day of them all, the all clear. You should all have a read of Jens blog that she wrote during her time in the Cancer Crew (again a funny joke she made up) as it will probably give you a better insight to her journey and inspiring nature than I have ...http://fromjennifer-withlove.tumblr.com/ and then go donate some money and sponsor me to do this run playas!!
I had to whack a tune on here and theres so many that make me think of Jen, she once beat me on Rapstar playing 'Juicy' and I have never lived it down however I think this track really reminds me of my lovely pal so here it is, enjoy and remember as Jen would say " Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine.''
I was having a right old playa palava about what to bake this week, I hadn't had any divine inspiration for a good couple of days and then mid conversation with CJ (fellow hustlin housemate) it came to me. We were chatting about our favourite female rappers to which he replied his was ''Missy Elliot'', well the conversation ended right there for me as my candy floss head ticked over... Missy Elliot..Mississippi mud pie cakes..Pow! So here they are, inspired by the classic dessert Mississippi Mud Pie and baked to some Pass That dutch (what a banger) I present the Mississippi Elliot Cupcakes. I can't say that I have had any reviews on them yet as they are currently in a tin waiting for jolly to the pub to catch up with some pals, but go playa haters and get your freak on with this recipe.
Mississippi Elliot Cupcakes
You will need:
6oz Butter
6oz Sugar
5oz Self raising flour
80g dark chocolate
1/2 Packet chocolate Oreos
3 eggs
For the topping:
150 ml Double cream
Fudge pieces
A bag of mini marshmallows
20g Dark chocolate
1/2 pack of Oreos
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl, now make sure you use a large one as there are quite a lot of ingredients involved in this not so simple sponge. Crack the three eggs into the bowl, and beat the mixture until light and fluffy. Now Oreos seem to come into my baking a lot, its probably cos I live with Sam who is totally obsessed by them and fully takes advantage of Tesco's offer of 49p per pack...EVERY NIGHT! Anyway use half a pack of chocolate Oreos and crush them up, maybe imagine they're someone who's been hating on yo playa game and then trust me you really go in on the smashing flex, once smashed add to the mixture and stir well. Sift the flour in and fold the mixture carefully. You then need to melt the chocolate and add to the mixture before pouring into cupcake cases.
Cook for 25 minutes and then remove the cakes from the tray and leave to cool ready for the ultimate Mississippi topping.
Whip the double cream, now if you have read any previous posts you'll know my wrist has had some pretty big workouts of late but luckily I have got the electric one now and its strictly gym for arm action from here on. This wont take long and once whisked to a thick state you can add in the fudge pieces, marshmallows and some more crushed Oreos. Spread the cream over the cakes and drizzle melted dark chocolate over the top to achieve that biscuity chocolate dream cream icing.
Again its hard to choose the ultimate Missy track but this one definitely reminds me of being a teenager with my Adidas track top on and thinking I could two step my way to hip-hop hoe status.
If there was a ''Patterns Anonymous'' I would probably be the founding member, I'm a full time playa with a serious addiction. There is one saving grace I go through stages, it's not about a pattern clash. So there has been Camo and I could probably clothe most of the British army with my purchases, the polka dot phase, gingham had its fair share but floral really has taken over and unfortunately not the cheap kind. Every month I treat myself to a new notepad, the past 5 months has been a Liberty number and this might sound excessive but I rinse those bad boys. Well last month I had hit jackpot and scored 3 in a multipack from John Lewis in the sale so what to do this month when payday came. I couldn't possibly go a whole month without a floral treat so when walking into Office and finding these beauties I knew it was meant to be.
The Vans Era in a navy paisley print is just what every playa needs on their feet, the pattern is nothing less than exquisite and as with all Vans they are a comfortable fit with the padded collar giving that extra touch. What I find the best about a patterned trainer is that they jazz any outfit up and if you're feeling a little sad just look down to the ground and the prints can't help but brighten up even the most un-haps playa. There are quite a few styles available from this collaboration and if I was the baller I like to make myself out to be I would most definitely purchase all of them.
There is nothing I love more than a Sunday off, I don't know why but everything about a sunday feels quite relaxed and it doesn't matter if you roll around like a sausage roll in your duvet all morning. Anyhow I only did about 2 hours of sausage rollin then proceeded with full time playa activities. Now this recipes is inspired my one of my ultimate JayZ songs, ''Can't knock the hustle'' from the ''Reasonable doubt'' album. This album always reminds me of my lovely pal Akan who I worked with at Carhartt, our friendship started with a love for JayZ and his inspirational lyrics and I really miss being able to hang out with that playa so much, everyone needs an Akan in their life to provide fun, rap offs, undercover playa outfit ideas and gym training.
Anyway this recipe is super easy however quite messy and I tell you what those truffles take their sweet ass time to chill. Atleast it gives you time to listen to the whole album right?
''Can't knock the Truffle''
You will need:
300g Dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
300ml double cream
60g butter
For the decoration:
100g White chocolate
100g Milk Chocolate
Camp coffee
Packet of almonds
Method:
Simply place the 300g of chopped dark chocolate in a large mixing bowl, now it is essential to use good quality chocolate atleast 70% cocoa. Heat the butter and double cream in a saucepan until simmering and pour over the chocolate. You then mix it all together until it is smooth and the chocolate is completely melted. You can then pour the mixture into seperate bowls and add flavouring for your truffles, its totally up to you however I wanted to try a few different concoctions...playas need variation yo! So I added camp coffee to one batch, vanilla essence to another and then kept one plain.
You will then need to let these chill for 4 hours, yes long I know but its got to be done else you'll just end up with a sticky chocolate mess.
Once set you then use a ''melon baller''...I found this highly amusing and spent a good 5 minutes laughing to myself about the name of this utensil, not realising it was called this as it makes balls of mixture rather than it being a reference to being a hip hop baller. Anyway I didn't have one of those so I just coated my hands lighted in sunflower oil and rolled the truffle mixture in the palms of my hands to create the balls. If you plan on decorating them its best if you do so straight away and as you can see in the photo above you can be experimental as you like adding nuts, caramel, white chocolate what ever you have stashed in those cupboards!
So get Reasonable Doubt on, your melon baller at the ready and keep it gangsta!
So its been quite the weekend for a full time playa, there has been painting, hustling hard at work, running, cocktails with a lovely pal and a Sunday filled with chocolate covered hands, bowls of almonds and orange zest. More on that in the next post however Friday saw a big day for a playa, team painting!
So Tipse and I went to paint together, its the first time I have done something this big and also alongside someone else. Usually I am a bit of a lone wolf when it comes to the art flex and I kinda like getting in the zone, much like many of my hobbies its the only time I am quiet and don't think about anything else but the project in hand.
We didn't really have time to plan too much so got there and just went for it, gonna be honest I found it quite hard to do the finer details with the can, the lettering fade gave me some confidence with the paint but I had a little strop about 2 hours in, which I could see Tipse found highly amusing as I huffed and puffed trying to get the lines right, it did result in me wandering off for a bit and practicing on another wall but on returning I was back to haps and carried on with the job in hand. We ran out of white about 4 hours in which was fine because I had some sneaky acrylics with me however on returning to my car after the palavas of paint brushes, we were met by a can of white paint I had stashed in the footwell, if anyone knows me and knows my car they will understand its like I live in there so hadn't noticed it under all the rubbish. Note to all full time hustling playas... clean your car and you never know what treats you might find!
So heres what you get when you combine 2 hustlas, paints and 8 hours working. True playas for real yo!
We didn't actually have any music when we were there infact we went pretty unprepared however imagine if this bad boy was playing whilst painting. Ultimate playa status.
