a little bit of mexico: part two - Mexico City!

In Mexico City, our little group doubled and went from three to six! We had a lovely few days exploring the city, visiting Frida and enjoying perhaps a few too many coffees and cake.





I was so excited to visit Frida Kahlo's house and was definitely not disappointed! It's fascinating to be able to look inside her bedroom, studio, kitchen and dining room - I also loved the little facts such as "this is the bed where Trotsky slept when he stayed in 1937".



After a couple of days, my friends continued on with their journey, while Jack and I stayed to see a little more of Mexico City. We explored the Centro Historico, attempted to visit the Diego Rivera Museum (unfortunately it is closed on Mondays!), hunted for murals and spent an afternoon floating around Xochimilco on a colourful boat.

























Like a lot of Mexico, I was surprised by just how pleasant Mexico City was - so much pretty architecture, history, art, good coffee and yummy vegetarian eateries! Next stop - Oaxaca!

xox

ohmagosh yum: vegan red velvet cupcakes!

While I was away, I constantly found myself dreaming of all the delicious things I would cook upon my return. Red velvet cupcakes were up the top of my list so, over the weekend, I got baking! They turned out beautifully! I haven't had a red velvet cupcake in years so they are such a nice treat! I love the combination of the chocolatey-vanillary cake along with the creamy icing.

Here's what you need for the cupcakes:

2 cups of soy milk
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
4 tablespoons of cornflour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2/3 cup of oil
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
red food dye - make sure you get a vegan one! most of the supermarket varieties have cochineal in them. i got a natural, vegan one from the health food shop.

Here's what you need for the icing:

one tablespoon of vegan margarine
1/2 tub of Toffuti Better Than Cream Cheese
around about 2 cups of icing sugar



Here's what you do for the cupcakes:

Pour your soy milk and apple cider vinegar into a small bowl. Give them a whisk and pop the mixture aside. Sift all of your dry ingredients into one big bowl. Gradually stir in the soy milk mixture. Add the oil, vanilla extract and red food dye. How much dye you need will depend on the brand. Just add it gradually until the mixture is a nice dark red.

Fill your patty pans about 3/4 full and bake in a moderate oven for 20-25 minutes.






Here's what you do for the icing:

Place the cream cheese and margarine in a medium bowl. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until it is a thick, fluffy consistency.



When the cupcakes have cooled, ice them in any way that you please.

YUM!

Weekend in Pictures

i dooo like teal + lace collars + gold buttons + red lips on Friday night



finally finished War and Peace. Phew.. that was a biggie!



gettin exercisey!





this cute boy is staying with us for a while until he finds a new home. he was almost shot by his owners! so sad.







aaaaand back to uni I go. first notes I've takes since 2010. 100 pages of reading before classes even begin! timetable sorted. good to go!
xox

a little bit of mexico: part one

Our Mexican adventures began in the Northern town of Monterrey, after a seemingly endless bus trip from Austin, Texas. We enjoyed a few days wandering about the winding cobbled streets, acclimatising ourselves to our new Mexican surrounds and making friends with the sweetest little pup!





We then headed on down to San Louis Potosi, where we spent a rather lonely Christmas, surrounded by the town’s beautiful cathedrals and colonial architecture.












With New Years in mind, we made our next destination Puerto Vallarta. While the beaches were a little too covered in sunburnt Americans and the night life resembled Jersey Shore a little too closely for our likings, we discovered Planeta Vegetariano – my very favourite Mexican eatery!





Yearning for something a little less touristy, we made our way back up to Sayulita where we spent a few days enjoying the beach, hiking and celebrating the new year!







We made Urupan our next destination so as to climb the spectacular active volcano! It was a rather difficult task, involving hours of scrambling over mountains of lava before we even reached the volcano! The volcano itself, and view from the top, however, was well worth the climb!



















Thus marked the end of our first two weeks of Mexican travel and the end of our time together as a little threesome. Next stop: Mexico City!