An amazing '50s dress at Posh Girl Vintage Dresses

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Belated Rum Ball Recipe

Before I forget, the lovely Bride-to-be Goldie of a Brides Golden Moments had her Birthday yesterday and she asked ages ago for my rum ball recipe so here it is! (Better late then never, especially when it comes to anything involving chocolate and rum as far as I'm concerned...)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (you can use walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds)
1 12oz box of finely crushed nilla wafers
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup coca powder
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup of rum

1/8 cup of confectioners sugar to roll the balls in later

You can use a food processor to chop the nuts and nilla wafers (separately of course) but I find it therapeutic to do it by hand- especially the nilla wafers. The best way I've found to get the right consistency with the wafers by hand is to put them in 2 large freezer bags (like you would double bag heavy items at the grocery store) and then beat the crap out of them with a rolling pin for a bit. Once they're broken down then roll over them with the rolling pin until they are like coarse sand. Very good if you've had a long day at work or had to deal with un-helpful wedding vendors:)

Put your pecans and wafers into a bowl and add the confectioners sugar and coca powder and mix well. Add the corn syrup and rum and mix again making sure you get all the dry ingredients covered well.

Now prepare to get messy! Put your smaller bowl of confectioners sugar near by and as you form your rum balls roll them into the sugar to cover them. If you make the balls about 1in around this recipe should make about 48 balls (4 dozen). Put them in an airtight container and let them rest in the fridge for a day or 2 for best results. Kick back with a rum & coke, mojito or what ever your favorite rum drink might be (I like rum & spicey ginger beer with a slice of lime myself) and bask in the glow of your hard work. Enjoy! xxx

It's Gotta Be The Shoes...

Right, 3 months & change between posts is a bit unacceptable even for a seasoned slacker such as myself! My only excuse is that they have been a busy 3 months but still... At least I can happily report that I am now with my Honey in England and things are coming together (only a little over a month till the wedding now) after much madness in the beginning.

With so much time between posts I'm a bit spoiled for choice on where to start with what to write about but I think I'm just going to dive into the middle and talk about my shoes. I've actually got 2 pairs for the day, heels and flats. I've justified this to myself on two fronts: One, some women wear 2 dresses for their weddings so in the grander scheme of things switching shoes is really a rather small thing and Two, because of a freak polka accident in Scotland in 1997 I've had 2 ankle surgeries and lived in Doc Martins for almost 11 years so my high heel walking abilities are rather non-existent. After the 2nd surgery, heels have been put back in my shoe wearing mix (oh how I've missed them!) and never one to do anything by halves, I've chosen these lovelies to wear on the day:







I knew from the word go that wearing a tea length vintage style dress demanded bright shoes and my wonderful cousin managed to find these in a sea of black stiletto heeled shoes that made me despair. I fell in love immediately but I'm not totally insane so I knew I would need a back up plan as well. Who knew flats would be such a pain in the ass to find?? So many of them are just so friggen boring or uncomfortable or both it's shocking! I just wanted something fun that was comfortable enough that I could dance with My Honey in at the reception secure in the knowledge that they will not make me bleed, fall on my ass or fly off my feet and hit a loved one in the head or break anything at the venue. Surely this isn't too much to ask? Hmmmm.... After months of searching shops and online I finally found the pair that seem to be the answer:




They are comfy, they are odd but I love them and they don't let me slip around the floor but I can still dance in them quite nicely (in the interest of full disclosure I did have a bit of a boogie around the kitchen floor in them just to check this out). I had it narrowed down to these and funky pair of leopard print flats by Rocket Dog but in the end, as cute as those were, these won out in the comfort/secure fit stakes.

So I am able to cross find flat shoes off the list and move on to the numerous other things left- woo woo!