Easy Step By Step Pumpkin Soup

My dad grew some pumpkins and brought me a couple down when they visited. I love pumpkin and I also love soup, so here's my home made pumpkin soup for beginners. 

First you need your ingredients:

1 small pumpkin, cut up into small chunks 

A handful of new potatoes, also cut into chunks  

1onion chopped finely 

A table spoon of butter 

Melt the butter into a large sauce pan. 

Add the onions and cook until they start to go soft and see through. 

Once the onions are done, add the pumpkin and potatoes to the pan and mix them up. Pop the lid on and leave on low heat for about 15 minutes. 

Come back and add about a kettles worth of hot water. Mix and allow the vegetables to boil through for another 15 to 20 minutes. During this time add your preferred herbs/spices to taste. 

I used spiced cajan, Salt and pepper (I didn't have much else to hand), but you can use whatever you'd like. If you're adding garlic to this recipe then it's best to pop it in at the beginning with the onion. 

Eat with some nice crusty bread, I chose to have a small garlic stick :) 

Bicks xx 

The Autumn Tag

I saw that Hayley from Bows and Buttons had posted this 'tag' and thought I'd give it a go. I'm loving Autumn (as is everyone apparently!) so this seemed like a nice way to round up my favourite things about the season. 

1. Ok we're talking coffees - what's your favourite seasonal drink from Starbucks/Costa/Cafe Nero etc? 

I don't buy from any of these places if i can help it. I prefer independent cafes, but I'm really not a coffee drinker at all! I only drink decaf black coffee and that is on rare occasion! I love warm drinks though, especially in the colder months. I usually like a herbal tea like chamomile, mint or lemon. I've been enjoying a more fruity tea every now and then recently though. Anything like blackberry/cranberry :)

2. Accessories - what do you opt for, scarf, boots, gloves?

Firstly gloves. I need them to survive as my hands get super cold and numb when I'm outside. I live in boots all through the autumn and winter though and I'd much rather spend my money on a good pair of boots to any other kind of shoe. I'm only recently just getting into scarves. I used to hate them and find them itchy and irritating but now i love an oversized scarf!

3. Music - what's your favourite music to listen to during Autumn?

I like calm music that I can listen to while walking in the park or just milling about in the shops. Autumn is beautiful and I like to spend a lot of time outside admiring the colours, so anything calming and chilled. This week I've been listening to Box Of Light and Misty Miller a lot. 

4. Perfume - what's your favourite scent for this time of year?

 I'm not massively into perfumes and I prefer to save them for special occasions than to use every day. I'm yet to find my Autumn scent, but I proper love the Karma perfume at Lush and I had a good sniff of the Modern Muse La Rouge perfume. They're both way out of my current budget however, so let's hope Santa treats me this Christmas..

5. Candles - what scents will you be burning this season?

Oh gosh, anything with apple and cinnamon mmmmm! I bought some yankees the other day and I cant wait to burn them. One of them is in my favourite flavour Black Cherry, which i think is great for Autumn! I also like to use incense sticks too :)

6. What do you love most about Autumn?

Really, what's not to love? Besides the fact that my birthday is in the Autumn, you also get to enjoy halloween, bon fire night, pumpkins, wrapping up warm, crispy leaves, soup! Basically all of it! If I had to pick one thing though it would be the colours that come with the season.

7. Favourite makeup look?

I like to keep is basic with a dark burgundy or berry lip, cat eyes and a subtle rosy blush. I'm hoping to get a bit more adventurous with some eye shadow this year though!

8. What are you looking forward to most in Autumn?

I'm looking forward to carving pumpkins with Noah and decorating our home all halloween-y. Hopefully we'll be hosting a little party and I might be taking part in a zombie walk?! I absolutely love dressing up (as you might have guessed from my b-day party theme) so that will definitely be happening on 31st either way! 

So Long Summer

People love summer for lots of reasons. For some, it might be the warm weather, having time off work/college/school, going travelling abroad etc. Personally for me, Summer is my least favourite time of year. I don't know how to dress summery without feeling awkward, I hate being too hot, I get hay-fever and I have sensitive vampire-like skin, that's prone to getting burnt even on the mildest days of summer sunshine.

I do however love admiring all the beautiful plants and flowers that come with this challenging season. *And picnic-ing, I love a good picnic!* Above is a wee collection of floral snaps that I took whilst I was back in my home town a few weeks ago. I wanted to share them on here and thought it would be a nice way to wave goodbye to Summer and get ready to move in to Autumn (which happens to be my favourite season of all). I know this post seems a bit late, but better late than never, right?

What's your favourite part of summer? Do you find it as awful as I do?

Bicks xx