Wimbledon 2015

On Thursday 2nd of July, I took a day out of watching netflix and staying in bed, and went to Wimbledon with my mum as we were lucky enough to get tickets in the ballot.

This post is not going to be much about the actual tennis, although if that's something you're interested in hearing about, let me know via the comments or social media, instead I'm going to talk about the atmosphere and the many photography opportunities.

While taking photos of the tennis players, I decided photographing sports is one of my favourite things to photograph. I loved having to time the photos perfectly to get the shot. I didn't put the continuous photo option on my camera as I felt it took away a lot of the excitement (and would have annoyed the people around me who were already giving me evils!).

Crowds are another one of my favourite things to photograph, I enjoy playing with the centre of focus. Wimbledon was brilliant for that, there were people everywhere, however the crowds weren't angry and hard to navigate but instead made an amazing atmosphere because everyone was in awe of everything.

As the sun set the light played amongst the buildings and the courts, bouncing off every window or reflective surface and disappearing amongst the crowds as if it was playing a game of hide and seek.

Wimbledon is often thought of as just a ballot, only open for people who win, but it's not. There are plenty of grounds tickets that allow you to watch the games on the smaller, non ticketed, courts, you can also sit on Henman Hill where there is a massive screen to watch the bigger games. Wimbledon is not as exclusive as it is thought to be, that's what makes the atmosphere so great.

Let me know if you enjoyed this more photography based post and whether you would want more.

My blogpost schedule is a bit all over the place at the moment so you'll have to bare with me.
Until next time...

Gorgeous salted caramel brownies!

Top photo: source-bbc food Facebook page
bottom-left photo: source-elleuk.com

Source-Glamour magazine

I don't know about you but (I'm feeling 22..no Georgia, don't!) I am currently watching 'The Great Comic Relief Bake Off' and last week featured Alexa Chung, who not only is a massive style inspiration for me but is now a baking inspiration too. She made salted caramel brownies that made everyone in my family go 'mhmm' so I just had to try out the recipe. 

I have made a few adjustments for example I didn't have any dark chocolate so I used cocoa powder 

instead but it works well either way.

Ingredients:

- For the salted caramel filling:

• 150g granulated sugar 
• a pinch of salt
• 125ml double cream
• 10g salted butter, softened

- For the brownie mixture:

• 200g caster sugar
• 225g salted butter, melted
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder (if using dark chocolate) / 60g cocoa powder (if not)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 180g plain flour 
• 2 pinches of salt
• 300g dark chocolate, melted (optional)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

-To decorate (optional):

• 100g white chocolate

     1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (for a fan oven) and 190°C (for a non-fan oven)

     2. For the caramel, put the sugar in a pan and melt over a medium heat until it's dark brown in colour, then add half the cream and the salt. Be careful with this step as this becomes very hot!
   
     3. Once the mixture has settled, add the rest of the cream and the butter. If the mixture is lumpy warm it on a low heat and continue mixing. Once it is smooth, pour it into a jug to let it cool.

     4. For the brownies, put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl in the order listed and mix together with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. The mixture should be fluffy.

     5. Line a baking tin with grease proof paper, using butter to allow it to stick to the tray and then fill it with half the brownie mixture.

     6. Pour half the salted caramel on top of the brownie mixture in the tin and use a spatula to spread it out equally.

     7. Pour the rest of the brownie mixture on top of the caramel and then the rest of the caramel on top of that, making sure to use the spatula to make the top even as otherwise it will burn.

     8. Place the tin in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a serrated knife inserted in the middle comes out with just a few moist breadcrumbs.

     9. Once you have taken the brownie out of the oven, use the greaseproof paper to pick up the brownie out of the tin and place it on a cooling rack.

   10. Once the brownie is cool, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water in a pan (ensuring that the bowl doesn't touch the water) until it's smooth. Use a fork to drizzle the mixture over the brownie in a zig-zag motion and leave to solidify.

   11. Cut the brownie into appropriately sized squares such as 4x4 or 5x3.

   12. EAT IT!

I hope you enjoyed this , it's been a while since I've done a baking post. Let me know in the comments how yours works out and whether you would like to read more. 

See you soon.

♥