Harney & Sons Soho!

You know that day when it absolutely gorgeous outside and you wonder why the heck you're going to school and work? Yea, that was me the other day. It was so beautiful, so instead of being a responsible student I decided to ditch everything and enjoy some really good scones. 

We went over to Harney and Sons in SoHo, which is this beautiful tea place. The second we stepped in we were instantly smacked in the face with the smells of fresh tea and buttery scones. It was hands down the best greeting ever.  At first we looked around the store to see all the little tea stuff they had but we couldn't contain ourselves, so we continued all the way to the back where the dining area is. We order vanilla scones with clotted cream and jam, ham and gruyere scones with ground mustard, along with caribe tea. It is a black tea with flavors of strawberry, guava, coconut, and hibiscus. 

These scones were unbelievably delicious! They came out warm to the touch and were plated so simplistically. They were not at all what I was thinking they were going to be. They were super soft and fluffy on the inside and had just a bit of a crunch on the outside. Sorta toasted to perfection in a way. I loved the vanilla scones with clotted cream and instead of the jam, we drizzled the honey from the tea. It was a match made in heaven. The clotted cream literally melted in my mouth. 

The ham scones, on the other hand,  were perfect just on their own. When you took a bite you could see the semi crunchy pieces of ham and little bits of pulled guyere cheese. I think the ham scones were my favorite. They just had the right balance to them. 

I literally felt like I was in a British movie just having tea and scones. It was so much fun and if I had to re do it and miss school, I'm not gonna lie I'd do it again.  

P.s.- I dont ever skip anything. Missing one day of school is like a sin for me but I've been on top of my school work and it was a day well deserved.

:)  

They had a wall of tea! It was massive and very impressive.

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Cinnamon Cream Cheese! 

I think most people have already had a pumpkin overload. It feels like once it becomes pumpkin season, everything and anything pumpkin comes flying in your face. I personally love it and was feeling especially in the mood this weekend. I have yet to have something pumpkin and I was feeling like cupcakes. I searched for days to look for the perfect pumpkin cupcake recipe and i can proudly say it hit the spot. I was actually nervous picking this recipe out cause it was so easy to make and super fast. But once they came out and i piped them... oh my god they were so good. 

Ingredients

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
¾ cup canned pumpkin
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

The first thing you want to do is to mix all your dry ingredients into one bowl. So that would be your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Then in a separate bowl you want to mix in your pumpkin, both sugars, oil, and eggs. Finally you want to dump your flour mixture in your wet mixture and mix until combined. 

Once you spoon them in the cupcake liners pop them into the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 18-20 minutes. 

Once they were done, I let them cool while I made my cream cheese frosting. The recipe I used was my normal cream cheese frosting. Which is:

8 ounces softened cream cheese 

6 tablespoons butter 

2-3 cups of confectioners sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Then i just added cinnamon to taste just to make it go better with the pumpkin cupcakes. I just put a touch less than a tablespoon and they came out perfect. 

:) 

What is your favorite pumpkin sweet? 

I got the recipe here:

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Winter Revival | How to make your room cozy! 

I love love love when it starts to get colder. I know some people hate it because it means its going to get darker and dreary but I love it. It means all the candles and blankies come out. It gives me a reason to come home early and stuff my face with yummy comfort food and think about how close the holidays are. It basically what I live for really. 

So this past weekend I just got into the cleaning and redecorating my room phase. I wanted to make it more organized and most importantly cozy.

First thing I did was put away my summer sheets and pulled out my red fleece. This is my favorite part, to me it screams Christmas. I also couldn't forget about Scrump. Shes my buddy. Shes actually starred in a couple films. Her best was Lilo and Stich. ;) 

oh look at that close up. 

Next up... some CANDLES!! I recently made a pit stop at Bath and Body works and picked up some candles. Different smells for different rooms of course. But I wanted the pumpkin one in my room. I love lighting it at night so it illuminates my room with an orange-y glow and leaves a lingering pumpkin pie smell as well. 

    As I was cleaning, I collected my "everyday fall makeup" just like some eyeliner, mascara, eyebrow pencil, a red lipstick, and some small container of foundation and I put it into my eye glass case. It totally fits everything and its super duper handy. If I'm in a rush I just grab it and run. 

I also have a space in my closet that is open, so I can place some clothes outside to put on display. I decided to pull out all my comfy cardigans and favorite sweaters. I think there something special about walking in and seeing your sweater collection... I don't know, maybe its just me. 

Finally just to clear up some space on my wall. I tacked on a drawing I made in the summer. It says "Good Vibes" and when I wake up its the first thing I see. Good aura kinda thing.  Then I also had a lot of polaroids laying around so I got some string and clothing pins and I made a little line of pictures and ticket stubs! I'm thinking of painting the clothing pins gold...

Are you excited for the fall time and whats your favorite candle? 

Snowballs & Gelato in NYC!

After a long day of studying and working from 6am to 4pm all I ever want is cake. No question about it. So I met up with my cousin, (HI NICOLE!!) and went on a hunt to go and kill our cravings, as we all do. The first stop was Empire Cake! 

 

 We got the coconut snowball and the swiss roll aka "ho-ho's." I actually never had a snowball before this because I'm not a big fan of the texture of coconut and every snowball is dipped in coconut shavings. But we decided to give it a go because if we were going to lose our snowball virginity it was going to be in an Empire. That's right, we're classy like that. 

If you didn't know what a snowball really is, don't worry cause I didn't either. In a nutshell its basically a cake filled with coconut creme, rolled in marshmallow and dipped in coconut shavings. My favorite part was the coconut creme center. It was perfect, if I could get a bowl of it, I would.

Next up was the Swiss roll and man oh man did this cake do wonders on my life. It was super chocolatey, super decadent, rolled up with whipped cream, and completely enrobed in bittersweet chocolate. It was literally amazing and it was huge! The fat kid in me didn't know what to do. 

The light whipped cream added the perfect balance to the decadent chocolate cake. 

After we ate our treats and overstayed our welcome we headed to Gelato Giusto!

We went in and ordered a pistachio and earl grey gelato. It was better than the  usual gelato I normally find. It was lighter, softer, and touch creamier. It didn't even taste the way I thought it would. The earl grey was a light tea taste not to over steeped which is perfect and the pistachio was on a whole other level. It didn't have that generic pistachio taste, it was a more real pistachio taste and I loved it. It sucks cause I think it might have raised my standards for other pistachio flavored gelatos.

Look how cute their decorations are! 

Last but not least we headed to Union Square and stopped at my favorite place called Fish's Eddy. It this cute little kitchen store that has those little vintage bits and bobs you need in your kitchen. Its basically the best place ever. 

:) 

Crispy Baked Sriracha Chicken Wings! 

The love I have for deep fried chicken wings is literally endless. They're crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. When there's an easy way to make them and it doesn't include the deep fryer that I don't have, I am all over it. 

Did you know that boiling chicken wings then baking them makes them super crispy?! Yea,me neither. Had absolutely no clue...

 But anyway, let get on to the recipe! 

First things first, you want to get a pot of boiling water ready to go. Then you just drop in all your chicken wings and boil them for 10 mins. You're not looking to cook them all the way, you just want them to lose some of the fat, which is about 10 mins for me. 

Next you want to pull them out of the water and dry them the best you can. The drier, the crispier is the motto we're going for. 

Then mix in a touch of oil, salt, and pepper to taste. I add a little Hungarian paprika just cause I was feeling it, but its not needed.

I like to arrange them with the skin side touching the pan to make sure they really get crispy. Then bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 mins, flipping them once after 20 mins. 

Meanwhile, I made the holy grail of sauces. Its so simple yet so good. All you have to do is mix equal parts butter and sriracha. You can totally add more sriracha than butter but I'm a wimp and can't take the heat. I should just stay out of the kitchen. badum tss... Yeahh, I'll just let myself out. 

Last but not least, the part where harry meets sally. Toss together the sriracha goodness with the hot and crispy chicken wings and prepare to be in food heaven. Its a great place to be, I plan on retiring there. 

Do you see that claw in the top right? Yea she couldn't wait either. 

If you try them out, let me know how you like them!
:) 

Things I'm excited for the Fall...

cozy sweaters

scarves

hot drinks

cozy nights in 

candles

crunchy leaves on the ground 

pumpkin spice everything 

desserts 

Black Friday 

the Holidays

darker lip colors 

&

Winter sunsets

This post made me want to dress up for the fall and so I did. I threw on some leggings, boots, a scarf, and my new sweater and took a crap ton of selfies. Just exactly as one should. Also I would be totally lying if I said I wasn't sweating like crazy because it was 80 degrees that day, but its all good. 

:)

 What are you most excited for for the fall? 

American Eagle Outfitters Haul Video!

 

Hey guys! I just started school again at my new college and it's pretty stressful but also exciting. I haven't really been up to date with posting stuff but I did recently go shopping and picked up a couple of stuff. I though I would make it into a video as I've been wanting to make another video. If you'd like to see what I got just click the link below!

 

Just a warning it is an unedited video so you will hear my mom come in on me and its super funny. haha.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzDHC3fNhgY