Emma Vickers, The Domestic Goddess.

Emma Jane Vickers is 19, from Liverpool, and is possibly the most skilled girl in the kitchen that I know of.
She's just starting out at the moment, but is hoping to get an online business going, and then eventually a quaint bakery of her own called L'Amour Fou. You don't even have to see or taste her food to know that she makes good food, just the name L'Amour Fou gets me excited.

As we're rather good friends, she gave me the chance to talk to her about a few things.

Did you find a passion for baking at a young age? I have a family that loves to cook. Whether it be meals or sweet foods, i started cooking from the age of 5! When my nan used to look after me, we were always making flapjacks, meringues, apple pie. I had a childminder from the age of 5 - 13 and we used to make brandy snaps, fairy cakes, peppermint creams. Just the simple things that caught my eye and made me want more.

Did you always want to have your own cafe?
Not until last year. I never planned on making a career out of my passion for baking, I had an Events Organising course all set and ready to go, and then literally over night I knew that wasn't what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I always wanted to be my own boss even what it came to the Events Planning. Having my own income, my own shop, and employing other people just seems so appealing to me.

What chef's would you consider yourself to be like or would want to work towards being like? I really adore and love Raymond Blanc, James Martin and I also have a new found love for Rachel Khoo. They all have that gleam in the eye that I have whenever I bake. It's not just a passion, but it feels like therapy for me. I can be in the worst mood, start baking a cake and just be happy and at ease.

Do you have any plans for you baking in the next few years?

Well I am currently looking for a job so I can start saving up and then move to France and live there for half a year or so in order to gain experience of the french cuisine and sweets they have there. 

What would make your bakery different to the other French bakery's out there?

As a lover of organic and local produce, the things I make in the cafe will always be things that are in season and even things like the butter i'm going to try and make on my own! I want to show my customers that there are different things out there.
I plan on having vegan, gluten and lactose free options for my cakes as nowhere local to my area has those things to chose from and that can shorten the market down quite a lot!
I'll also provide breast feeding area for new mums as I  know that some mums can get put off by going out to cafe's when they're not allowed to breast feed within the cafe.

What's your favourite thing to bake?

It'll easily have to be carrot cake or half and half bread. The outcome of them both always make me feel proud of what I do and I love the lovely compliments off people who eat what I bake.

Do you have any tips for anyone else wanting to get into baking? Professional or just as a hobby? 

Don't be scared or put off if you get something wrong. Sometimes a mixture just won't work. You have to be prepared to experiment with recipe's and twist them into your own speciality.  I've always been a perfectionist so I get really annoyed or upset if the outcome isn't what i wanted, but i always know exactly what to change, i mean even making scones is a pain for me because they never rise enough!
Build up your experience also, go to farmer's markers and sell small versions of what you like most and see what the public make of it

The beautiful lady herself

Carrot Cake



Cinnamon Bread



Emma's L'Amour Fou tattoo on her foot

The Book of Wonders

Check out Emma's blog here, and follow her on Twitter if you have anything you'd like to ask her; she's the sweetest thing! @EmmaJane_

A lazy day in the life of Bex and Hannah.

A lazy day in the life of myself and my bestfriend pretty much includes staying in your pajamas all day, baking things, eating it all, then deciding to go out for dinner because you can't be bothered to cook anymore. We made a lemon cake and dark chocolate & chilly brownies, devoured it all, then went to Pizza Express. It was a yummy and very giggly day. Enjoy. 

Betty's macaroons!

There's a little (I say little..) cafe in York called Betty's. Now, they do the most gorgeous tasting everything - cakes, pastries, chocolate, hot drinks, just everything! However, I am fully addicted to the macaroons they make there. My favourites at the moment being their raspberry and pistashio ones. For just an extra couple of pounds you get them in a beautiful box of which you can pick a colour from champagne, green, or pink.  Or you could just book a table and sit for hours trying everything! Unfortunately you can't order the macaroons online because of postage time so they wouldn't be fresh enough, however I highly recommend you all go online and look at all their other amazing treats here.

The day I took Hannah into Cheltenham for a picnic and her first chai tea latte.

Three-bean salad, Moroccan chickpea couscous, grapes, mini-sausages, strawberries, chai tea latte, mango  & passion-fruit smoothie, a strawberry short cake mini-bite and a dark chocolate & chilly mini-bite.
This was a good day.

Book recommendations.

I like to read good books, and so should you.

Paul Broks is a Neuro-psychologist. This book is about some of his patients and some of his thoughts, dreams, and contemplation's. I find it hard to describe it any way other than this: it is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read in all my life. I'm not ashamed to say I think it may have changed my life. 

If you're interested in Secret Societies then you need to get this book! And by interested I don't just mean you read Dan Brown once and you like conspiracy theories, I mean if you're really interested in esoteric teachings and are prepared to learn about them all step by wonderful step. It's a page turner book definitely, but it's one of those books where I have to read some pages twice, just to make sure I fully understand and have taken it in.

Paddy Doyle's account of his experiences as a child growing up in Ireland, and attending an Industrial School is truly moving and mind-numbingly gorgeous in a disturbing way. He's one of those individuals you're happy to share the planet with.

This is exactly what it says on the tin and is perfect if you want to know about Cryptography but not at the level that would probably make your brain turn to water.

Such a good book for helping you understand Plato. It goes through each chapter of Plato's book the Republic and takes it apart for you. Not only does it make it easier to understand, but it also made me appreciate the way Plato wrote it originally.

Sanford, FL, The Royal Palm Lounge.

Just like in Manchester, waiting in The Royal Palm Lounge for our return home was made so much less boring and tedious with comfy chairs, endless amounts of soft drinks, and ridiculously incredible grilled chicken sandwich and cinnamon cookies shaped like fish.

Sorry it's not a brilliant photo! It was taken in a rush on an iPhone and early in the morning.

I adore this watch.

The cool wristbands they give you on arrival into the lounge made it all the better.

Bottomless diet coke cup mmmmmm.

My favourite buys from America!

As you can imagine I did a ridiculous amount of shopping whilst in Orlando. For some reason, when I'm in a country that uses a currency that isn't GBP, I don't see it as real money and therefore spend a lot more. So, as I spent way more than usual on an average shopping trip, I thought I'd share with you the ones that got me most excited.

HOW CUTE ARE THESE COCKTAILS!!!!!!!

Alice in Wonderland, flavoured tea bags. So cute and exciting!

This goes on like silk. You can use it in anyway you like. I use it lightly on my eyelids, normally on my cheek bones, and very lightly on the rest of my face. It gives your skin a really beautiful glow that makes you look so healthy.

This ACTUALLY works. I only bought a small bottle because I think it's quite expensive for what it actually is, and I didn't know if it worked. So now I'm going to have to buy I bigger bottle because it smells good and I can tell the difference with my hair after one go!

I've not used this yet, but I bought it at a Salon and an Italian woman there was raving about it so I thought I'd give it ago. I shall be sure to tell you whether it's worth it when I've tried it!

My hair is fairly wavy, and because it can get quite dry it can sometimes go frizzy and this solves my problems! I used it first when my hair was really wet and, obviously, didn't see any effects, but when I tried it with 80% dry hair it worked a dream.

I feel this was my bargain buy of the entire two weeks. All I seem to be buying makeup wise recently is things that make your skin iridescent, glow, or silky, and all the things I've been buying have been quite small, but with a large price tag to it. This, however, was roughly £3 from Wal Mart and is huge. It does exactly what it says and I wish I'd bought 1234567800000.