My new family addition

Sorry I've been seriously slacking at updates, but it's for good reason!
My world now revolves around this little man:

Meet Rocko!

For around the past year I've been telling my parents I wanted to get a puppy and how I was really hoping to get one before I graduated. Since this next semester is my last one ever (!) I was able to bulk my classes onto just Tuesdays & Thursdays meaning I could devote most of my time to a training a little pug. I wasn't planning on getting a puppy until March, but then I started to think how I have almost 3 solid weeks before school started.

SO! I called up Petland randomly last week just looking for some information on pugs and the woman told me that they had just gotten 2 black pugs in the store. My dad and I went the next day and I was heartbroken (and kind of mad) that the petstore wanted $2000 for the pug! Not only is that just absurd, I didn't really want to get a puppy from a store - I had only called in the first place to ask about their grooming and training services.

So the next day I called a breeder that had posted an ad online saying they had one little pug puppy left from one of their litters and my dad and I went to see him. And obviously, I fell in love!

He's 12 weeks old and was the last of his litter to go - so he's a complete momma's boy.
But that's okay, because I LOVE giving him all the attention in the world.

Reindeer Cookies

I saw this picture on weheartit and got inspired to try making them myself since they're simple and adorable.

My sister and I made a package of the BettyCrocker peanut Butter cookie mix and cooked them for about 10mins. The noses are red M&M's and the eyes are mini chocolate chips (the kinds you'd use for baking homemade cookies). For the ears, I bought a box of the "100 calorie" mini chocolate pretzels.

After taking them out of the oven, I used the end of a butter knife to slightly push in the sides of the cookies to make it look like Reindeer cheeks. I took them off the pan to cool for about a minute and then put on the eyes, nose and ears! I found that the "ears" fit better if the pretzels are vertical instead of the way in the picture above.

Nutella Pound Cake!

It feels so amazing to be back home! I miss lots of things about London, but nothing compares to home sweet home.

My mom still has some days of work before the holiday and my sister is off doing things, so I've been able to enjoy some alone time and do things like bake!

I feel like I've been talking about this Nutella cake for forever, and I finally made it!
I ran out of sugar =X so I did some substituting (I had enough for 1cup, so I used powdered sugar for the other 1/4 cup) and I think it turned out alright.

It's really sticky (if that makes sense) so it's definitely more of a treat to eat with a fork vs a finger food.

Makes one 9-by-5 inch loaf

This recipe tells you to use a handheld mixer but I used my stand mixer instead with good results.

1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
One 13-ounce jar Nutella

1.  Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour.  In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla.  In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

2.  In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated.  Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated.  Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.

3.  Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top.  Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella.  Top with the remaining batter.  Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife.  Do not overmix.

4.  Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours.  Cut the cake into slices and serve.

Make ahead: The pound cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Leaving on a jet plane..

The time has come to say goodbye to London. It sounds cliche to say, but it literally feels like I was just getting off the plane yesterday. My internship was wonderful, I met so many people and learned so

much. London is beautiful and full of history. I feel like I saw so much, and yet so little! Like I posted on Thanksgiving, I am so grateful to have been able to study abroad and I think everyone should if they have the chance!

1 day to go!

Tomorrow is officially my last full day in London! My only final exam is scheduled at 7pm (ouch) so my last day in this wonderful city day is going to consist of packing, cleaning, turning in my keys and studying.

It's bittersweet to think that I really only have a little over 24 hours left here.

But I'll be the first to admit that I am beyond excited to be able to use my blackberry and see my cat!

After a week of adventuring around London, my sister left this morning - but I will see her in just 2 days!

Burlesque Premiere

Tonight was the London premiere of Burlesque!

We got a better standing spot compared to last week at Tron and got so close to Cher! 

After Kristen Bell, Christina Aguilera, and Cher showed up and did press, we got ready to leave (thinking that  all the celebrities had gotten there) and then Ellie Goulding showed up! She's so cute.

London Zoo

My sister decided today she wanted to check out the London Zoo! My flat is really close to Regents Park - only a 15minute walk to the zoo!

I was obsessed with the aquarium and of course the owl.

Nothing left on my "to-do" list!

Since my younger sister is in London for the first time, I had to show her all the wonderful tourist things that you just have to see in London. Until yesterday, I only had 2 things left on my "list of things to do in London" and my sister agreed they were must-do's!

Although I had been to Buckingham Palace a few times before, the Queen's guards only stand outside the gates when the Queen is home - which apparently doesn't happen often. My to-do list was screaming "get a picture with a guard" and with less than a week to go, I had to find one!

We had signed up for a free walking tour and had an amazing guide that took us to the palace where Henry VIII lived, but always has Queen's guards at the gates, even if the Queen isn't at Buckingham.

And viola! Mission Accomplished. I was a little bummed that in the winter-time they don't where those stereotypical red coats, but I couldn't leave London without one of these shots.

After we finished the tour we took a quick tube ride over to Abbey Road (the last thing on my to-do list!)

You'd think it would be easy to get a picture here but no sir. The road is pretty busy so you have to time it just right so you don't get hit by a bus or car.

10..9...8...

The number of days I have left in London are getting lower and lower!

9 days from now I'll officially be on an airplane heading towards the states!

and 10 days from now I will officially be back home in Syracuse.

Today was my last day of interning and it was so sad to leave knowing that I will probably never see the people I worked for ever again!

I clocked in almost 200 hours there and learned so much about publicity.

I was lucky enough to set up interviews for one of the clients there at some online magazines and one will go live in the next couple of days, so I'm hoping to post it when it's up!

My sister arrives tomorrow morning for an entire week - so I'm hoping to take a lot of pictures of the city & our adventures. Kind of a nice way to document my last week here. 

Tron (blue) carpet premiere!

Rachel and I were determined to go to the red (in this case blue) carpet part of a film screening and so we set out to Leicester Square this evening for the premiere of Tron: Legacy.

The security was really tight and only let press people stand on either side of the carpet so we ended up at the beginning where the cars dropped everyone off! Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde went from their cars straight to the press but we were lucky there was a big screen projecting all the action as it was happening.

if you look reaal close you can see Olivia Wilde in this one.

Lazy day

I'd say this pretty much sums up my day today

This Thursday is my last day of classes and my younger sister is coming to visit starting on Wednesday (!) so I've been trying to get all my final papers and things done asap!

Hence why I only left my apartment today for 10mins to go to the store & buy mix to make cookies.

Fail.

Tomorrow, Rachel and I are going to Leicester Square for the premiere of Tron (actually, we're really just going to see which celebs will be walking the red carpet). And this time I promise I'll remember my camera.

New name!

I've been thinking for sometime about how I wanted to change the name my blog since the one I had been using was SO old. At first I was just going to change the URL, but to keep consistency, I went and changed everything. Kind of like a fresh start! And what a better way to change things with a near year fast approaching.

So change your bookmarks, I took the dive and changed to....


http://keepcalmandmoveon.blogspot.com/


Before coming to London, I fell in love with the Keep Calm and Carry On motto and prints, I've even bought a few here! So I wanted to do a play on words with it and thought "move on" was fitting since I'm graduating soon and moving onward in my life.

Foodie Friday

Two food posts in a row? Yep.
Like an idiot I forgot to bring my camera (and realized this as we were walking to the restaurant), so I had to borrow a picture from google. Anyways..

A few weeks ago, one of my flatmates read some reviews about the Fine Burger Co. and how it's 'specialty' is a cheeseburger using stilton cheese! The cheese is only made in certain parts of the UK and apparently, people that eat it before going to bed say that it causes weird dreams!

...So of course we both ordered it! We knew from the reviews and wiki that the cheese would be strong but whoa, it was strong. It's hard to describe, but I would almost say it was musty. If that makes sense.
Think of eating blue cheese but 100x stronger.

But still wonderfully delicious.

Things I love....Dessert!

I thought I'd switch it up instead of posting a million pictures from weheartit.

Yes it's true, it's snowing in London! Now being from the snow capital of New York state, the half an inch of snow on the ground outside is nothing to me at least! But the chilly weather, boots, gloves and jacket are really getting me in the holiday spirit.

 I'm a little bummed out that my semester abroad ends so close to Christmas (by the time I'll get over being jet legged, I'll barely have a week to wrap presents!). Since I'll be missing a lot of holiday get-togethers, I've been focusing just on the one my grandma has every year on Christmas Eve. Since she's still not feeling 100% herself since she had surgery in August so I've promised that I'll take over the dessert making for this year's party!

My grandma's long-time friends always always send her the usual Christmas cookies and things like that so I've been searching around for something different & unexpected... and viola!
It's a recipe from an old season of Top Chef. My London flat only has the bare necessities (up until a few weeks ago we didn't even have a baking sheet!) So I haven't been able to test out the recipe yet, but it's on my to-do list when I get home. (I've got to test it out before I make the real thing for the party!)

CARAMELIZED BANANA CRISP WITH HOT BUTTER RUM SAUCE

For the Bananas

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 medium bananas

Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and lower heat to a simmer.  Let simmer for 2 min. Slice bananas in a diagonal into 1/3" inch slices. Arrange in a single layer in sauce pan, turning after 2 minutes, until golden brown on each side.
 

For the Crisp

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour 

1/4 cup oats

1/4 teaspoon salt 
6 tablespoons butter 

Sauce

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons dark rum

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter or spray two individual ramekins.

Combine bananas, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon in a ramekin.

Mix sugar, flour, oats and salt. Cut in butter until it forms crumbs. Scatter mixture over batter and bake 40 minutes or until browned.

If anyone's feeling adventurous and tries it before I'm able to, let me know how it turns out!