Hello weekend…and getting in the holiday mood!

Posted on May 25, 2013 by

DSC_1924 This weekend we’re heading off to the Philippines for a little break. We’ve been so lucky to be able to see so much of Asia since we arrived in Hong Kong, but I’m particularly excited about this trip as it will be our first beach holiday here! The timing is also particularly good as it has been raining like crazy in Hong Kong this week. We experienced our first ‘Black Rain’ storm on Wednesday…it was pretty intense! Some of the thunder shook our building, and at the lightening was so, so bright. It was easy to see why the city shuts down when these storms happen.

Hopefully the weather in the Philippines will be better. I’m really looking forward to soaking up some sun, reading some books I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and sipping some cocktails at sunset! What do you have planned this weekend? In case you fancy getting into the holiday mood too, here are some fun, holiday-themed bits and pieces I’ve come across this week…

Simple summer cocktails from the New York Times

I really want to make these fun, fruity ice cubes from Oh Joy!…

and if I was in the UK, I’d definitely be planning a trip to Grillstock Festival. It looks awesome! (via the Guardian)

Have a wonderful weekend!

(Image taken at the very wonderful Treasure Beach Hotel in Barbados last year)

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Salted Caramel Milkshake

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

DSC_0849 I’m a sucker for anything with salted caramel in it, so I was pretty excited to see a Salted Caramel Milkshake on the menu when I first went to Yonge Piggies, a Canadian-style hot dog restaurant in Sheung Wan. As expected the shake was delicious, and this week I decided to try and re-create it at home. It took a little trial and error, but the result was well worth it…

DSC_0802DSC_0813DSC_0849 Salted Caramel Milkshake
Adapted from this recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup whipping cream
25g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Maldon sea salt
1/2 cup semi-skimmed milk
500g vanilla ice cream, softened

Method
Heat the water in a saucepan over a high heat. Pour the sugar into the centre of the pan and bring to the boil. Continue to cook over a high heat until the sugar turns a dark brown colour. If the colour starts to develop unevenly, swirl the pan rather than stirring to help it colour evenly.

Remove the pan from the heat and add half of the cream. The sugar mixture will bubble up when you add the cream, so allow it to settle and then add the remaining cream, butter, salt and vanilla extract. Swirl the pan until they are all combined.

Pour the caramel sauce into a blender and add the milk. Blitz until the two are combined.

Scoop the ice cream into the 4 glasses, until each glass is 3/4 full. Stir through the caramel sauce (you can add as much or as little as you like depending on how sweet you would like your shake to be.) Serve immediately

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