Janay Brazier

It's finally here! After waiting thirteen years since the release of Finding Nemo, we finally have Finding Dory! 

Last week I posted a Rocky Road recipe and promised my cookie recipe during that post. So, here it is. This recipe is well-loved, especially by my colleagues.

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Makes approx. 30)

When The BFG was released I was in the same predicament as I was with Star Trek Beyond because they were both released last Friday when I was busy, so I've only just had the chance to see it.

The BFG is a real classic from Roald Dahl and I have been so excited to see if this movie is just what I wanted it to be.

This film featured in my 'I'm Excited For: Films of 2016' post back in January, and this is the third film I've seen from the list - we're still waiting on Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and Finding Dory (which is out in a few days!)

I was gutted when I realised I couldn't make it to opening night, but it was our end-of-year work meal and I wouldn't have missed that! Saturday was also out of the question as Clay was working during the day and it was my Dad's 50th birthday meal in the evening. So we turned to Sunday, and that didn't happen either! So I made sure we went Monday night as Clay wasn't playing football.

I was so excited when Tanya Burr's baking book, Tanya Bakes, was finally released as I've been waiting for it for so long. I was even happier when I received my signed copy!

A video posted by Janay Brazier (@janaybrazier) on Jun 30, 2016 at 9:20am PDT

I've made rocky road before with my mum's recipe, which has always been one of my favourite treats. But when I saw this recipe in Tanya's book, I knew straight away that I had to try it.

It's not too different at all when looking at the ingredients. It's butter, chocolate, syrup, biscuits and marshmallows. But there is one main difference when it comes to the biscuits - this uses cookies!

I've always used digestives before, just like my mum, and while I absolutely love that rocky road, I'm not a huge fan of digestive biscuits. I find them dry and bland, plus I associate them with being ill when my mum used to give them to me when I'd been sick and wanted to try eating again as they were plain.

But back to the cookies. What a great idea! So this was the first recipe that I tried out from Tanya's new baking book and here's how to make it:

A lot of people have been raving about this film and while I was excited to go and see it as soon as it came out, I couldn't seem to find the time and then when I did have time to go to the cinema there was always something else I wanted to see.

So my review of this movie is a little late as it came out weeks ago, but I thought I'd still post it anyway.

It's a little later than planned but here are my monthly favourites for June 2016:



Lush is one of my favourite shops to browse and when I went in there last I picked up this Butterball bath bomb. My mum always says how lovely this makes her water but I'd never tried it because I always prefer to go for something colourful or different, where as this is a bit plain. But this makes the water feel lovely and gives it a delicate scent. Buy it here.

I love it, and even that's an understatement! I was so excited to see L'Oreal had released three clay-based face masks earlier this week that I got myself to Boots as soon as I could after seeing the advert - that being the day after.

When I first saw the advert on Facebook (I've inserted it below for those of you who haven't seen it) and I had this image of me getting into the shop and not knowing which one to buy.



Luckily, L'Oreal had supplied these brilliant little cards on the display in Boots (see below) that take you through the steps to work out which mask is right for you. The first step is to pop out one of the skin testers - you can see I've used two and left one so you can see it - and hold it to your cheek, chin or T-zone for a few seconds. I did the first one on my chin and then double-checked by doing a second one on my cheek.

I loved the first Now You See Me film so I had very high hopes for this one. I love this idea of magic and illusion because you don't always know what's going on and - if you're like me - you spend all of these moments trying to work out what's really going on.

So for the second time in three days I headed back to Cineworld with my Unlimited Card to see Now You See Me 2.

I feel like I haven't been to the cinema in ages! By ages I mean over a week because that's a long time for me. But finally we booked ourselves in to see this on Friday night. We're actually off to the cinema again tonight to make up for lost time, so look out for my review of Now You See Me 2.

So we went to see the star-studded cast of The Legend of Tarzan in action a couple of nights ago and I was so excited to see it.

When the 'Tales and Teapots' fundraising event was put in front of me - courtesy of Boots Opticians - I knew it was something that I had to be a part of.

For a start, this event is to raise money for the National Literacy Trust, which is something of interest when I work within education. Literacy has always been a huge part of education, with reading, writing, speaking, spelling, grammar, and so on.

When I first read the information on the Tales and Teapots event, seeing that the focus was on reading, I was immediately excited to share my own love of reading with others. I've been like that since I was little, constantly with a book in my hand. In fact, the first thing I wanted in our new house was a Sherlock-esque armchair to read in and a bookcase.

This fundraiser is encouraging people to share their love of reading and raise money for disadvantaged children in the UK to give them the literacy skills they need to be successful. The National Literacy Trust website stated that this money would 'give children and young people books to keep, help them improve their employability and empower them with literacy skills they need to reach their potential'.

So, I started planning my party and had held it this past Saturday at my house, inviting a few colleagues from work using the invitations provided by the fundraising team. I chose to hold this party with my work friends because they know the importance of literacy skills as we all work with children between the ages of five and seven. I also asked them to bring their favourite book with them.

I've been trying out some new baking recipes this past couple of weeks and this one turned out really well the first time I made it, so I decided to make it again and share the recipe with you.

Blueberry and Sour Cream Loaf (serves approx. 10):

• 190g butter
• 190g plain flour, sieved
• 190g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt (if you used salted butter then you can miss this out)
• 30 ml sour cream
• 120g blueberries, fresh or frozen (but defrosted)

1. Preheat the oven to 170 and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and fluffy.



3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine after adding each one.



4. Put half of the flour, the baking powder and the salt in and mix, before adding the rest of the flour to the mixture.



5. Stir in the sour cream and blueberries gently until delicately combined.



6. Spoon the mixture into the lined loaf tin, place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes.

7. Remove the tin from the oven and allow the cake to cool inside the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.



(Note: Don't worry if the blueberries have sunk to the bottom, this is to be expected and makes for a lovely jammy layer!)

The first time I made this cake I gave it to my Mum, Dad and brother and it honestly didn't even last twenty-four hours! It was gone, which is why I decided to share this recipe with you all.

Enjoy, and let me know if you make it!