flapjacks recipe

Do you guys use grams or cups to measure baking ingredients?

I've always used cups. It's just so much easier to gage -- especially when you don't have an actual measuring cup. Then again, if I just remember that 1 cup = 150 grams, I suppose 150g would be easy to gage too.

I ask because I think I have a lot of readers from the U.K.

So should I use British measurements in my blog posts??

Or does it not really matter???

I mean, let's be honest, who really makes the recipes they read on blogs? Wait I take it back, I just realised that question could ruin my whole blog potential.

Okay so with that said, I have a recipe post today!

My family is moving to their new house this weekend so for the past 2 weeks we've been trying to use all the food in the cupboards. I think anyone who has ever moved house will know the struggle of trying to make a meal out of oats, jam and dried pasta.

We had 3 full boxes of oats (don't know why) and so I made flapjacks -- which is probably the easiest thing to do with oats, apart from make porridge. 

Easy Flapjack Recipe
Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil (instead of butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 cups oats

Method

1. Melt together the coconut oil, maple syrup and sugar over a low heat. I think this is pretty much caramel -- or at least it could be?

2. Stir in the oats and then put the whole mixture in a pan and bake for 15-20 minutes at 190C.

3. That's it, really. 

victoria sponge & birthdays

Is it weird that I'm posing with the cake? Probably, but I don't have many other pictures of it. My blogger game was off today.

Today is my sister's 8th birthday and she asked me to make her party cake. Turns out this cake wasn't even used as the party cake because my mum bought an apple pie (???) from the shop and most of the kids ate that instead. French kids are kinda weird, and I know that's mean but sorry -- what kid likes apple pie??

I'm not upset, though (well, not that much).

Still, today was fun. Luckily the 24th fell on a weekend, so we had a party with everyone from her class on her actual birth day. When do kids stop inviting everyone? I remember having parties with the whole class when I was younger, but at one point it just stopped. Is it when you hit high school, or earlier, like in grade 6 when the girls start getting kinda mean?

By the way my sister acts, you'd think she just turned 18. She can be so... Coco sometimes. For example, at aged 4, she asked me, "Why is your face all spotty?" As the years went on, she still doesn't have much chill and now needs to be the centre of attention.

So, of course, today was bit of a drama. Everything had to be about her all day and if it wasn't, she cried. She cried 3 times just during the games! But thankfully she quickly lightened up when we suggested she start opening her presents.

Talking about games, my sister and I had a great time trying to explain the rules of 'pass the parcel' and 'musical statues' to the French kids. Between us we can definitely order a meal, but we can't really have a full conversation -- do you get what I mean? Our essential French is good, but past that we're sorta clueless. So trying to translate "only take off one layer of paper at a time" was difficult.

But overall it was a good day. It was a party, parties are always fun, right?

And my cake was a success with the family, and the one kid who ate it, she said it was "bueno" which  was kinda weird but I guess she mixed up her English and Spanish?? But either way, it is a compliment.

Victoria Sponge Recipe

Ingredients

200g (around 1 1/2 cup) self rising flour

200g (around 1 cup) caster sugar

200g (also around 1 cup) butter

4 medium eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Cream together sugar and butter. Once they are combined, add in the vanilla. Once that's all mixed together, add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition so that it... mixes in and stuff.

2.  Sift in the flour. I do a bit at a time, but I suppose you could do it all at once. There's not really a difference.

3. At this point you could add stuff like nuts, chocolate chips, or something else but that isn't really Victoria sponge anymore but whatever, man, Queen Victoria is dead and I don't think she'd be annoyed anyway.

4. You can split the mixture into two round tins, or bake it all together and cut it the layers in afterwards. I chose to bake it all at the same time at 160C for 40 minutes.

5. Once the cake is done, let it completely cool and slice it in half horizontally. The easiest way to get it even is to put it on a piece of parchment paper and then you can pull the paper in a circular motion and it slides the cake around and helps with a straight(-er) cut. Does that make sense? Basically it's like a DIY cake turning table.

5. On the insides of the layers, spread on your cream frosting and strawberry jam, on opposite sides. Then put the two back together again.

6. Then you can eat. I mean you could eat before, but I would recommend eating it when it's done.

a weekend in spain

Hi everyone!

This past weekend, my family and I visited Catalonia which is about a 2 hour drive away from where we are in France. I know, who am I? I went to Spain for the weekend -- who does that?? 

Anyway, we stayed in Girona first (for one night) and then visited the city of Figueres on the way back, which is where Salvador Dalí was from and made all his stuff. What a weird guy. We went to his museum and tbh I was kinda scared.

GIRONA

Girona actually looks a lot like Florence or Pisa (if you've ever been to either of them). They all have a main river running through them with bridges going over. And yes, I do realise that description can fit literally every city that has a river in it... but these bridges have a specific look.

FIGUERES
We didn't do much here, we went to the Dalí museum for a couple hours and then went to McDonalds (it was Enzo's 4th birthday, and this is what he picked for his birthday lunch). We also visited the beach for a couple hours where I had an amazing nap! (And therefore, there are no pictures of the beach -- but trust me, it was very nice and sandy).

on feeling depressed (even in the summer)

i've had depression for 3 years.

i hate to say it that way, really, because it's weird - it doesn't feel like depression. i still believe that it's just me. i believe that this is just a personality trait.

"oh iona? she's the good listener with a poor outlook on life"

... but apparently it's not a trait.

because apparently it's not normal to cry so much. or to sleep so much. and i should want to eat 3 meals a day, instead of 3 meals a week.

i'm so use to thinking that i will never make it past this point in life and that i'm just not one of those people who is supposed to succeed or be happy. but apparently that's not normal

because, no, depression is not a personality trait. it is an "illness."

it wasn't always like this.

i thought i just didn't have energy and i didn't eat a lot because i was adjusting to university. and then when i started on the meds, i had hope that i would mellow out and get happier within a couple of months.

but it's now been 3 years and i've adjusted to university and i still have these thoughts. i'm graduating in april and i haven't mellowed out. i haven't gotten happier. i'm a bit pissed to be honest because i thought it was supposed to get better overtime, not worse.

but this whole depression thing it's like... i don't know... a banana that's out of date, and i don't have a compost bin. so i gotta sit with this black banana and flies are tryna get at it. that analody sounded a bit better in my head.

but, hey, at least it's summer, right? summers are fun! it's hot, you go on holiday, you go to the beach.

except the heat makes me feel even more tired and - oh yeah - i hate my body and now dread going to the beach.

my doctor said i should "give myself a chance to feel happy this summer"

as if i consciously choose to be sad.

hell, maybe i do. maybe i keep forcing myself to be depressed and that's why nothing is fixing it.

or maybe i should actually see a psychiatrist instead of a general doctor.

who knows?

22

via

Happy birthday to me!

This is the 4th year I'm making one of these posts. That's kinda cool, right? I think writing a blog is the longest hobby I've had. I mean I've wrote this blog for 5 years, and I had at least 2 other blogs before this one so that's probably like... 7 years.

I started my day by going to the market here in Capestang and had a coffee.

When I came home, my mum had bought like 7 pastries from the bakery for us all to try. We always visit this bakery, but only ever buy baguettes -- so it was nice to actually try all the cakes and sweets.

Unlike every year for the past 3 years, I don't really mind being a year older. It doesn't feel like such a big deal.

I think it's because I done a lot in the past year. I don't feel like I'm in the same spot, you know?

I think that's why I feel stressed at my birthday, because I am a year older but it seems like nothing has changed. But this year a lot changed so I just feel normal, I guess.

Does that even make sense? lol I hope so.

Long story short, I am not stressed to turn 22.

It's chill.

22 isn't even old.