I've always been a Winter girl, the cold, the grey, the rain, Christmas, everything about it. But, this year I'm so into Autumn it's actually kinda weird. I feel like jumping into a Twilight movie, minus the vampires, so basically just the moody views, and walk around the woods in my overly chunky wool sweater, listening to my Autumn playlist and taking pictures of all the trees drowning in the fog, the fallen golden leaves, and write poetry about it all. Anyone wanna buy me a trip to Portland?


I want to live in chunky knit sweaters, eat baked apples, drink warm cider (recipe here), bake raisin bread. I wanna spend my days watching Harry Potter, FRIENDS' Thanksgiving episodes, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Gilmore Girls, which has a way to always make me feel warm and cozy. I wanna re-read the whole Harry Potter series and read every musty smelling book out there. I wanna drink tea all day and knit my own sweaters, I wanna live in a permanently golden brown city and get lost in my own thoughts.

Just as I took a break from writing this post I realized all the Twilight movies were on the TV for some kind of Twilight marathon for the whole month, it's like the Gods of bad movies were listening to my prayers. Twilight was never really my thing, I mean, I was completely obsessed with the books, something I'm ashamed to admit but hey... but I've always hated the movies (apart from the soundtracks, those are amazing) but now, as soon as the cold hits, all I want is to watch those stupid movies and feel nostalgic about how I got lost in  Forks every time I read those awful books. I guess that's what Autumn is, nostalgia in a season, making me long for books I loved, places I've never been to, music that broke me in so many ways, a season to be unbelievably sad and be okay with it.

Speaking of music, my The Woods playlist is really what keeps me company this season and it all started with Funeral by Band of Horses. I remember the first time I heard this song, it broke me, it broke my heart and after doing a HIMYM marathon and reaching that final episode, it broke my heart all over again, in a way that only great songs, or great books (like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine), or great movies (like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) can break your heart, in a way you never want to fix. It's a feeling I can never explain to anyone without sounding like a total freak but I know some of you out there get it.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this post, but I guess I just needed to write something. In order for this not to be a total waste for you, I thought I'd share my raisin bread recipe and inspire you to roll up your sleeves and do something as relaxing and rewarding as a simple homemade bread.

You will need:

Start by adding the flour to a bowl with all the spices, making sure they're thoroughly mixed, creating a wonderful spice speckled flour. Dilute your yeast in the water, add the salt to one side of the flour, make a small well and fill it with the yeasty water. Combine all ingredients and then move it to a floured surface, big enough for you to knead it. Knead until the mixture comes away from your hands and has gained some elasticity, the dough should be soft and smooth to touch. 

Gently oil a bowl, place the dough inside it and cover with a moist kitchen towel. Place it in a warm environment and leave it to rise for at least an hour, until it doubles in size. At this point, cut your dates into smaller pieces, and add them to the dough, alongside the raisins and seeds. Knead the dough once more just until all is combined and well distributed and then place it back in the bowl to rise one last time. You can do all this just once, mixing the dates, raisins & seeds when you're first kneading it, but Paul Hollywood will probably hate you for it, although it tastes as great as doing it the long way, it's your call. 

Once it rises back to double the size, place in a baking tin, I like to use an English cake tin for this one but you can let it bake free form too. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200ºC for 40-50 minutes, making sure to check it once in a while when it reaches the 40-minute mark. You know it's baked when it sounds hollow when you tap its bottom. When it's finished just let it cool on a cooling rack for a little while so it doesn't crumble completely when you slice it.

This bread tastes particularly great toasted and buttered, topped with a little sugar and cinnamon, yum!!!

Sorry about this very out of place post, sometimes we just need to vent about something completely random, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.