Lifestyle - A Moan About Reality

Hellooooooooo! Sorry to have been A.W.O.L. for so long. I have been rather obsessively reading a series of books and then I read my book for the month in an hour or so, so I've sort of started on next month's book! 

I say almost, because technically its not the book on the list but as the one that is happens to be the 2nd of 3, I thought I could start on book 1 now :-) 

I have been feeling a little out of love with blogging as well. Too many other things going on that I'm not too happy with for whatever reason is leaving me uninspired. I did get a bit of a boost on Sunday though as I got to be internationally famous for an evening! 

This is because my interview was up on the Bonjour, Blogger! site. I really enjoy the interview posts and love to read about different bloggers out there. It certainly made me feel a bit more happy than I had been so far that evening. Madam is still being a handful...

And that's another thing that has been winding me up. Now, I'm certainly not averse to social media and use it all the time. And yea, I edit the things I put out there. But why is the internet full of pictures of kids destroying stuff, crying at nothing and generally being horrid when *no-one* seems to mention that side of it!

These things are collected in one place and only if you know where to look will you find them. They're not all over Facebook or Twitter (at least, not that I've seen). It leaves me feeling like my child is in some way abnormal for acting the way she does. And she's just not. My 5yr old certainly is angrier than a lot of others, but the rest of the stuff is perfectly normal 5yr old behaviour, isn't it? 

If I talk to the other parents in the playground they all roll their eyes and mention the time when their little darling did x or y or even both! I sometimes wonder why this side of parenting seems to be so taboo. My struggles with madam's temper would be more manageable if I didn't feel quite so alone dealing with it.

And if you search online for help there are hundreds of other parents asking the same questions. So, I shouldn't feel so isolated, but when you've had a whole day ruined by one, almighty, tantrum and you've been told just how much you're hated by the one person you're devoted to it does niggle. Because those are the moments when I rant on Twitter and I get to see someone else's perfect day with their child!  

So, come on parents, help me out! Surely there are bad moments in your days too? It can't just be me, can it? 

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - A Quick Catch Up

Its been rather longer since my last post than I intended, sorry! I have been rather tired and have been spending time doing other things than writing. Mainly reading and making those loom band things all the kids are wearing nowadays! 

They're really easy and colourful. My two favourite things, frankly! 

Madam has settled somewhat from her manic outbursts and life is less about yelling at each other. Which I wholeheartedly prefer. We had a great trip to the beach last weekend to try out her new 'kini and soak up some sunshine. 

This is England after all, you have to make the most of these things :-) 

Whilst at the beach we were sitting under a colony of sand martins which proved impossible to photograph, sadly. I didn't really get much in the way of photos at all, really. It was so bright and I couldn't see how they were coming out. I have got this splendid shot of madam making a sandcastle... 

This Thursday just gone madam made her promise at Rainbow's and is now the proud owner of a badge and certificate to prove it. She is so proud that she read her promise out without any help and is committed to being an active Rainbow. 

In case you don't know, Rainbow's are the youngest members of the Guiding movement and are aged between 5 & 7. She has been desperate to go since turning 5 in October, but it's taken ages for a place to come free! 

Next week it's the school half term holidays and we're planning a couple of trips to keep madam occupied. One of which will be to the Sea Life Centre in Scarborough because we have a voucher :-) We'll be making a day of it and will also be taking a trip through Peasholm Park on the miniature railway. Perhaps not in the splash boat though... 

So, I think that's us all caught up now. Hope you've all been well... It's nice to be back again... 

Love, Pearl. 

An Experiment

I have come to the conclusion that the laptop has had it! It needed a new screen and also a complete overhaul to get it back up to speed, it had been a bit dodgy for a while.

Basically I decided that it probably wasn't worth the hassle. I have instead replaced it with a Hudl. Which is a tesco own brand tablet malarkey...

So this is an experimental post, written from the Blogger app. I used it on my phone and didn't like it much so I shall leave this as short and sweet and see what I think!

Love, Pearl.

(I have decided I still don't like the blogger app! I have now edited this on the website...)

Reading Challenge - March Update

Hi! I have had a much better reading month than February and am feeling back on track with the old challenge. I've even gone through the barrier on the challenge I had set myself on GoodReads! I pledged 24 books this year and have already finished 25. I wonder if I can increase it...

This months book from The List was Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I've read a few of her books before and always enjoyed them but was slightly disappointed with this one. It started well enough, and I liked the flashback style of storytelling, but I was left thinking it could have been more than it was.

The story centres around Snowman, the lone survivor of a viral epidemic which wiped out humankind. He is living with a group of genetically engineered "Crakers" who he is sort of responsible for. 

The story sees Snowman set out to collect more supplies and along the way he tells you, via flashback, how the world became the way it is now and his role in it. I honestly found the flashbacks to be more interesting than the actual present story! And also the ending was a bit odd. It just felt as though it had more to be said but didn't have the space. 

Snowman spends all of the book collecting his supplies and explaining the back story and then when he gets back to the Crakers the story sort of ends. This is because the book is part of a trilogy (which I didn't at first realise) but I think books should be able to be read independently to their series and still feel complete. 

It didn't even feel like a cliffhanger, which I could accept.

Do I recommend it? Yes, I guess I do. I sort of want to read the next parts to see how the story progresses. But I think you probably need to already like Margaret Atwood or post-apocolyptic style novels in the first place. 

My full list of books read in March was:

1. Sew Step by Step by Alison Smith (8/3/14 - 8/3/14)
2. Stitch Step by Step by Maggi Gordon (8/3/14 - 8/3/14)
3. Bonjour, Blogger! by Hayley Constantine (10/3/14 - 11/3/14)
4. 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup (7/2/14 - 13/3/14) 
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (14/3/14 - 17/3/14)
6. Knit Step by Step by Vikki Haffenden (17/3/14 - 17/3/14)
7. Crochet Step by Step by Sally Harding (17/3/14 -17/3/14)
8. Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood (1/3/14 - 18/3/14)
9. The Fault in our Stars by John Green (17/3/14 - 19/3/14)
10. Only One Way Out by Oliver Clarke (19/3/14 - 19/3/14)
11. Jack Pepper by Sarah Lean (19/3/14 - 23/3/14)

That last one was a book I read to madam at bedtime, but as I'd never read it before I counted it!

I have not managed to get through a Heyer book in this month, it's in progress at the moment. I'm about a third of the way through A Quiet Gentleman and enjoying it so far. I'm also still reading The Time Machine so those will both have to go onto next months list!

This might be a good thing as I have BIRTHDAY to look forward to and will hopefully be having a busy social life! I do have my book lined up and ready to start tomorrow... I'm really looking forward to this one, it has to be said :)

I have made a page dedicated to this challenge, so if you don't know what it's about or just want to catch up, it's at the top waiting for you to check it out! I also added in a new photo of me doing a reading! Hope you like it! 

This challenge was inspired by the Books Are Amazing posts on essbeevee.co.uk :)

Have you got any recommendations for me?

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - 20 Of My Good Points

Mothers Day! It’s here again. I have been given a lovely card and a pretty pot plant. I have given my mother a different pot plant and a teeny weeny box of Thornton’s chocolates. She told me not to, but I figure a box of 4 can’t be *that* bad. 

I have become very aware this year that not everyone has the same Mothers Day experience to me, so for that reason I shall move on. 

The other day on Twitter I saw a tweet go past asking for help with a bloggers post. It asked for ladies to name five things they liked about themselves.

OK ladies, I need help for a blog post. Can you list five (or more!) things you like about yourself? I can quote you anonymously #lbloggers
— Emma Farley (@EmsLF) March 27, 2014

I thought, sure. Easy. I tried to think of five things and found after I got past the first couple I really struggled. This struck me as troubling. I did think of my 5 things in the end but it made me realise how hard it is to really feel free to like things about you.

@EmsLF my eyes, my sense of humour, my determination, my risk-taking and my creativity. That was hard to think of! #lbloggers
— Pearl Sanguine (@p_gen_says) March 27, 2014

I’ve decided that I will attempt to think of another 15 to make it a list of 20. Emma wrote a full list of 40 things and I thought it was amazing. So, here are the things I’m proud of about myself, I'll start with the ones from that tweet above!

1. My eyes. Really, they may not work so great, but having spent years not really knowing what colour to describe them as in French lessons I have realised how pretty they are.

2. My sense of humour. This is really how I choose to look at the world. I like to see the funny side and I use humour as a defence when I'm uncomfortable. 

3. My determination. This does dessert me sometimes. But I usually do the things I want to do. No matter what. I have never been afraid to do something on my own if it means I get to do the thing I want to. I have flown to other countries where I don't speak the language but mostly I just go to the cinema! 

4. My risk-taking. I think this ties in with the determination thing. I will take a risk on things that others would may be be afraid to. No pain, no gain sort of a thing! (except heights, I'm terrified of heights)

5. My creativity. I love the fact I can create things from nothing to something that is either beautiful or useful and hopefully both!

Right, so on to the next 15 things... I had to wrack my brains pretty hard I can tell you!

6. My eye for detail. I am really good at spotting the little things. Sadly, this usually means I see the tiniest errors in things too! (not always my blog posts, even though I read them through several times!) It does mean I'm really good at spot-the-difference though :)

7. My vocabulary. I am one of those people with a love for words. I like to know where they come from and I love knowing the meaning of peoples names. Pearl, my chosen name, actually is the meaning of my real middle name (complex, huh!)

8. I'm well read. I know I'm on a reading quest at the moment, but I have actually read quite a lot already! Nothing in comparison to some of my friends or my mother, but certainly above the average amount.

9. I speak French quite well. I have always loved learning new languages and French was the first one I was taught at school. I also speak German, Greek and Igbo though none of those awfully well!

10. I am a good listener. I appreciate that I have actually been trained in listening skills, but I had an underlying ability to build upon. And I feel like people can talk to me if they ever want or need to.

11. My loyalty. I have always been a loyal friend and employee. Sometimes to my detriment in regards to working!

12. I make a mean Victoria sponge. Yup, I love baking and a good old fashioned Victoria sponge is my go to recipe. I add stuff to it and play around with it all the time. I also made a rather good chocolate beetroot cake once...

13. I'm quite tall. It annoys me a lot of the time, but generally speaking, being tall is better than never being able to reach the top shelf in the cupboards like my mum!

14. I am loved. It might seem a strange thing to put on this list,  which is supposed to be about my good points. But I think being loved shows me that I am a good person, even when I'm having a down day.

15. I am intelligent. I am conscious that when I put my mind to something I can move mountains. I tend to not let this show too often. Probably a leftover from never being pushed as a kid. But if I really want to, I can work it out. (but not long division, it's a bit of my brain that's missing!)

16. I know loads of useless information. Need someone to partner you on Pointless? I'm your girl! :)

17. I've never had a filling. Brilliant teeth, yup, totally have them! I did have a brace as a child, but that's corrective, not repair work!

18. I always look to the future. I don't dwell on the past. Sure, it affects my life, but I can't change it so lets keep pushing forwards.

19. I can make it on my own. This is a new development for me. Learnt through years of experience. I might feel lonely sometimes and I might wish I had a partner to share things with. But I don't *need* someone. In fact, I can be myself much more easily when I'm on my own!

20. I'm a good mother. I know, this should be the first thing on the list! But I genuinely didn't even think of it when I wrote those first 5 things. I think I place little thought into how my parenting is something I should be proud of, I spend so much time worrying I'm wrong. But I have a beautiful, happy, strong, intelligent, confident little girl. And she wouldn't be like that without me. So yeah, I'm a good mum. And I'm proud of that!

What are your good points? Please feel free to share...

Love, Pearl.

     

Lifestyle - Throwback Thursday

I took part in the Blogtacular Twitter chat last night and we were talking about theme-ing your blog around the seasons etc. and general blog design. And I got to thinking that I might like to change my background photo to something a bit more Spring-like (first day of Spring today folks, Google says so!) Naturally, this meant I've been trawling through old photos on my laptop cause I knew there were some lovely Spring ones in there somewhere.

I found the right photos but I also found some rather cute ones of a younger madam sitting on a lovely sunny Hornsea beach. And it kind of set me thinking. Today is Thursday and there is a popular tag featuring old photos called Throwback Thursday and I wanted to share some with you. Also it's Mother's Day a week on Sunday and I wanted to do something to celebrate that too.

I *really* wish I had some photos of my mum to share with you as she (obviously) means the world to me and recently I have been taught to value her even more. I have a lovely one of me when I'm little dressed in a red velvet dress and wearing a drum majorette's hat with a baton sitting on her knee with us both grinning like maniacs. It's in a frame on my mantleshelf in my bedroom.

But here are some photos from my mothering experience so far. She is my favourite madam, but she is *such* a monkey sometimes!

Not my best angle! But very pregnant...

Mere minutes old

Her first photo! My mum took it whilst I was being stitched back together after my C-Section. K had just been asked what type of black he was so they could fill in the forms. This confused him greatly and amused my mother no end!

Fast forward to one of the best holidays I've ever had... Road trip to see some of my bestest friends. The highlight of the trip was a massive swarm of bees right next to my friends cottage, and this photo of a madam who *always* needs to know what you're doing!

She couldn't get much closer to the camera, really!

She and I were in the happiest point of our lives about here. Her dad was about to blow our family apart, but it hadn't happened then. It would have happened anyway, just maybe less dramatically!

So, by the next summer we had moved house and settled in to our new life with just her and I against the world. She was as independent as ever (I have a feeling she is going to achieve great things) and her hair had grown back in properly!

Ah, Sudocrem. I think every parent has a photo like this somewhere!

The summer after was 2011 and we had got very happy in our routine, and she in her little house in the garden! I do wish we'd been able to bring it when we'd had to move the next Spring, but the garden we have now is just not suitable.

Eating breakfast in my own house is just better!

2012 marks itself out as being a rather horrid time for me as K managed to make our lives infinitely harder by coming back in to them, but not in the way we needed. Madam just got on with it though, that's who she is! She started her new nursery in the September and insisted on wearing this when she went for a look around! She's a style queen!

Doesn't look too weird from the front...

Yup, it's a Frohican!

Almost up-to-date now! Last year I accepted the end of my relationship with K (yes, it did take that long). I also went through one of my worst personal periods with my depression getting a really strong hold on me. It was already starting to show in that last photo, look at the state of the floor! That was early Sept 2012. Moving on to a happier photo though...

She had to look serious so I could get a decent photo! Purple and pink cats are the best...

Honestly, we had such a good day, she was way happier with her cat than it looks! Also, she was asked what she wanted to be and said a cat and then when asked what colour (whilst the lady was getting her black and white ready) she insisted on purple, with pink. I love that kid! She was the only purple cat there... 

And now it's Spring 2014 and I am feeling strong and healthy and happy again. So much so that I am allowing you to see who I am a bit more (there is an actual photo of me in the sidebar!). So here is my last photo for today. Madam, with her very short hair, looking beautiful and very grown up!

No, I don't know why she needed the wellies on with her fairy outfit! Or why there is a bowl under the radiator...

I am going to go home and take a photo of my mum so I can show you how much I don't look like her, but madam does! I know not everyone is going to celebrate Mother's Day in the same way that I am, I know it will be a horrible day for many. So, I will think of you and send you my love. And if madam could she would draw you all a picture.

Love, Pearl.

I have updated this post as I got the date of Mother's day (UK) wrong in the original version! Whoops! Sorry if I panicked anyone...

Lifestyle - Gardening, Ballet and a Crumble

I re-read the very first post I wrote the other day as I was talking about it for something. And I was quite shocked by the way it made me feel and what a horrible memory I have of that point in time. It may have only been just over a year ago, but so much seems to have happened since then.

Then, last night, as I hadn't posted anything yesterday I decided to see if there was a post from last year and, lo and behold, there was one for 15th March 2013 so I shared that instead. And of course, I read that back as well. 

Both the posts mentioned my imminent eviction problems and how stressed I was about it all. This got me talking with my friend M about where the the whole eviction thing stood now. And the answer is - I don't know. I've not been evicted as yet, however I've never been told I can stay either.

They still come round on a regular basis and inspect my property, which I can completely understand (it was awful), but does stress me out still. I hate knowing someone else is in my house and looking at my things. I can't be there whilst they do it, it freaks me out too much. To that end, I have spent the afternoon sorting out my house (again) as the agency is coming tomorrow (Monday).

I know that it's tidy and acceptable and having completely re-done the garden the other week I feel like I deserve a medal! But I'm still freaking out about it! Is it just me being unreasonable? 

A Garden Triptych

Moving on to nicer topics, madam and I went to the ballet yesterday. We went to see the Three Little Pigs which was a special children's ballet by the Northern Ballet company. Their Ugly Duckling ballet was on CBeebies last year and madam had absolutely loved it.

I spent a morning trying to calm my very excited child down and not particularly succeeding, but then it was finally time to set off to the romantic location of Goole to watch the performance. We couldn't get to the Hull one as it was on mid-week and during school hours (stupidly). We had to set off before lunch which meant I took her to McDonald's on the way. This is her idea of the best meal ever. Not particularly flattering to my cooking...

So we parked up in Goole and found the venue. Madam was desperate to sit on the balcony and was thrilled when we were told that our seats were up there. We settled down and waited for the show. The venue is tiny, so even being on the balcony we were almost able to reach out and touch the dancers! However, there were a group of people who arrived who *also* had the same seat numbers as us. 

Madam in her outfit, our first view, our eventual view, madam with the band

There followed a slightly hurried re-arrangement in seating and we ended up on the very front row! We were right next to the band and so close to the stage the Big Bad Wolf nearly sat on my knee at one point! It was all over far too quickly and madam is now counting down until the next time she'll be able to go. As the tickets were only a fiver each, hopefully it won't be too long!

When we got home I made us some roast pork and then one of my crumbles using up the leftover stewed fruit from the other night. It was lovely! I do love a nice crumble :)

Apple, Rhubarb and Blueberry Crumble. Yum!

So, what have you been up to this weekend?

Love, Pearl. 

Liebster Award

I got a lovely surprise when logging in to the blog the other day. I found out I had been nominated for a Leibster Award by the beautiful Sarah over at Here You Me! (Great blog Sarah, I love your 101 in 1001 feature.) It totally took me by surprise as I had not heard of it before, but now I have and it has led me on a lovely blog discovery adventure! 

If you are not aware, a Liebster Award is a way of getting other bloggers known, shared and generally getting the word out about them, if they have under 500 followers.

A few simple rules apply - 

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you

3. Nominate 11 other followers with less than 500 followers

4. Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer

5.Tag your nominees & post a comment on their blog to let them know you nominated them

These are my answers to the questions Sarah asked:

1. What one beauty product would you recommend?

I'm not terribly in to beauty products really but have always loved the range from Barry M. I do love a good manicure and have been obsessed with their colours since I was a teenager.

2. How do you plan and schedule your blogging around every day life (work, college etc.)?

Plan? What's that? Ha! Having said that at the moment I am trying to get myself organised and have proper posting days and more of an idea of what each post might be about. I have spent a lot of time recently hunting down new blogs to give me some more ideas of what I could be doing myself. My next plan is to get a custom blog design (possibly from Tea Party Beauty as I'm a little in love with her cute butterfly social media buttons!) as I really want to stamp out this blog as being my personal space.

3. What are your hobbies outside of blogging?

Crafts! All sorts of different ones. My biggest love at the moment is crochet but I also knit, draw, sew, papercraft and anything else you can think of. I'm dying to learn proper dressmaking and have had a couple of goes at making things for madam like this fairy skirt and also the top to match... I also love reading and have given myself a Reading Challenge for this year which you can follow on the blog.

4. What is your favourite TV show?

My TV died just before the Olympics in 2012 and therefore I don't get much TV watching in. But I am addicted to The Great British Sewing Bee and watch it on iplayer as soon as I can after it's been broadcast! 

5. Do you have any pets?

No :( My parents have four cats who I am frequently required to look after whilst they go on a jaunt and then I also get to look after my Dad's two tanks of fish (one tropical, one marine) the fish have been more problematic, to be honest!

6. What is your favourite gadget?
I have to go with my phone. I feel so pathetically lost without it. I don't have a lot of technology having been out of work for 5+ years whilst child-rearing, but I would really like a tablet as I think both madam and I would get a lot of use out of it. I've played with an ipad a couple of times and they are quite fun... 

7. What is your preferred area to blog about - lifestyle, fashion, beauty or something else?
I blog mainly about lifestyle. My crafts, the things I've been cooking/baking (like my new Pearl's Pantry feature), my reading and just generally what I've been getting up to and what I think about stuff. I originally started the blog when I was in the middle of a depression and it was a way for me to voice what was inside that I was finding so hard to say.

8. Which bloggers inspire you?
I really enjoy reading Sarah's blog essbeevee and like her mix of fashion, food and good books. My reading challenge was inspired by the books are amazing feature on her blog. I love Tilly and the Buttons which I started following after last years Great British Sewing Bee... I also really enjoy Thread Carefully, Dolly Clackett and Hyperbole and a Half.

9. Which is your favourite season?
I'm a Spring and Autumn kind of girl. I love all the colours bursting out all over the place after winter and the warmth of the colours as they then fade away again. The bright clarity of Spring and the crisp freshness of Autumn. I love the unexpected warm days and the way everything seems bathed in a beautiful light (have I waxed lyrical enough?). Summer is too hot and Winter is wet, cold and miserable.

10. Girls night out or night in?
Oh, night in, definitely. There's nothing I like more than having the girls round, some snacks and some booze and a really good natter. 

11. Which is your favourite high street clothes store?
At the moment it's Yours. Being a big girl I struggle to find good stuff on the high street and within my budget. This gives me good choices at prices I can afford. 

So, having answered my questions I shall move on to:

The nominees; 
1. Blooming Boo Boo at Blooming Boo
2. CraftyGoggins at CraftyGoggins
3. Mona of Mona's Miscellany
4. Stacey at peppanip 
5. Tabatha and Julia at Thread Carefully 
6. Hayley at Downs Side Up 
7. Greville of Greville and the Tombstones 
8. Michelle at Marshmallow Musings 
9. Louisa at duck in a dress 
10. Nicola at nicolabishopx 
11. Sarah Elizabeth at Scandinavian On The Inside 

And my questions for you all:
1. What's your motivation for blogging?
2. Is there anything you would change about yourself and why?
3. What's your favourite book?
4. Do you have any pets?
5. Do you have a pet hate?
6. Who inspires you?
7. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
8. What would you do if you won the lottery?
9. What's your next ambition?
10. What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?
11. Are you happy right now?

I really hope that all my nominees answer the questions and I will do so myself in another post :) 

This isn't the food post I promised the other day but I have some plans in that respect for another time! 

I'm really chuffed to have been nominated and have really enjoyed getting to know some new blogs whilst finding my nominees. 

Love,  Pearl.

Being Creative

I can't believe it's March already... It seems to have flown by. I guess that's what I get for being actually quite busy... I was rather enjoying the start of spring yesterday, the nicer weather and the flowers suddenly appearing all over was quite a nice change from the dismal grey of the last few weeks.

Yesterday I also came across a new blog that I rather enjoyed reading. It's called being little. and has lots of loveliness on it. I did spend quite a while reading recent posts... But it was actually yesterday's post that really struck me. 

On it was a list of Creative Prompts for March. The idea is to draw something every day that fits the prompt. Now, I do love a doodle, and the typography ones are right up my street, but I think I shall have to use my own creative urges to fulfill some of the briefs! For example, Day 1 was pattern. I would normally have drawn something, but my latest crochet project took up all my time yesterday and is a pattern, so I used that!

I have no idea why the bottom of this photo has disappeared :( And the colours are *much* brighter IRL

I am trying to make sure I put all my projects on to Ravelry, with photos, so if you want to know what I'm doing on there why don't you follow me and check out my other projects :)

Today I had to draw the contents of my bag, so I did a rather poor sketch of everything I carry around with me all the time... I confess I forgot to draw the eyeliner and mascara I have in the little pocket, but I'm hoping no-one will hold that against me! I also took a photo of everything together to prove I had got everything.

I am a walking advert for the loveliness of paperchase things! Also, if you look carefully at the clouds notebook you can see a madam artwork peeking through the clear  parts of the cover :)

So, I am going to keep going and see if I can do everything on the list there is a Twitter/Instagram hashtag to follow if you're interested to see how everyone is getting on... #BLCreativePrompts there are already some pretty amazing things going on out there and I am excited to be part of it.

Are you guys doing anything exciting at the moment? Let me know...

    

Pearl's Pantry ~ Recipe 1: Cheesecake

I have been talking to one of my very best friends about doing a tutorial for my cheesecake recipe for the last few days and have decided to use the opportunity to make a little feature for the blog! So, here we are, this is the first entry in to what will be a periodic feature I am calling "Pearl's Pantry" (see what I did there?)

My cheesecake is something I've mentioned before but I shall now give you my photo tutorial! The recipe came from an advert I saw in Heat magazine ages ago and I did not invent it.

To make 1 cheesecake you will need:

100g melted butter

200g crushed biscuits

397g tin condensed milk

300g soft cream cheese (full fat)

2 lemons.

1. First of all you need to crush up your biscuits into crumbs. I used Ginger Nuts this time (which were jolly hard to crush up, I can tell you!), but use whatever you like best. I have done bourbons in the past for a chocolate version...

2. Melt your butter and mix it in with the biscuit crumbs and then tip it in to your tin - mine is a 7" deep sandwich tin with a loose base - and press it down firmly. Then put this in the fridge to set up whilst you make the filling.

3. Put the cream cheese in the bowl and give it a bit of a mix to loosen it up a bit (a). Now add in the condensed milk and stir it all in, I use a fork to give it a bit of a whisk and make sure there are no lumps. It goes really quite runny at this point (b).

(a)

(b)

4. Juice your two lemons (a) and add in to the cheese and milk mixture (b) (it looks like you've curdled it and made a dreadful mistake, you haven't). Then the magic bit, mix it in and watch as it turns glossy and thick and unctuous (c). Good word that, unctuous...

(a)

(b)

(c)

5. Pour this mix over your chilled base and smooth over the top. Then put back in the fridge for at least 2 hours to give it time to set properly.

You can serve it just as it is, but madam and I like to put something fruity on top. We decided to make blueberry compote this time as we had ended up with loads of blueberries that needed eaten up.

We shoved the blueberries in a pan, added some water and sugar and then boiled it down for a bit (kind of like making jam, really.)

And then: dollop of compote on top of your slice of cheesecake = perfection.

And there you have it, one really simple cheesecake to try :) Do let me know if you give it a go, I'd love to hear what you do with yours!

Love, Pearl.