Ombre birthday cake

So I made my own birthday cake this year.

I do realise that sounds a little bit, well, lame. And I'm pretty certain one of my friends would have been happy to whip something up for me - but baking makes me happy. And I'd been looking for an excuse to attempt an ombre layer cake for quite a while, so I set some time aside to bring this monstrosity into existence.

I used the Old Fashioned White Cake recipe from my trusty Magnolia Bakery cookbook, doubled it to make a four layer cake, and added a different amount of food colouring to each layer to achieve the ombre effect.

Aloha!

Guess where I'm going?

Hawaii, baby!

Or more specifically, Maui.

I have to admit, Hawaii had never particularly appealed to me - I'd envisaged, well, America. But with more than an average amount of tourists, and way more than an acceptable number of honeymooners. It just didn't seem like a great destination for independent travel.

But then I started reading Alex in Wanderland's posts about Hawaii. And by the end of her descriptions of amazing coastlines, hikes, wildlife and general chilling, I was sold.

And luckily, with all the transatlantic to-ing and fro-ing I've been doing over the past few years, I've racked up a few air miles. So my return flights from LA to Maui in April are costing me a grand total of....

Wait for it (it's worth it, I promise)

£3.20.

Imagine my GIANT SMUG SMILE OF PURE JOY when I realised this, if you will.

It's going to be a flying visit - the plan is to be back in time for Coachella, so I only have four days. But I'm pretty sure my friend A and I (and hopefully another friend too) can get some serious exploring/beach-lounging/partying done in that time!

Because, as has been well-documented previously, it's not a proper tropical holiday unless there's a cocktail or two.

Obsessed (again)

What can I say? I'm a little behind the times.

But I'm currently listening to this a minimum of twice a day.

Wino forever

I'm going to preface this by admitting that this is basically a post about pretty much nothing. Just some idle musings as I watch TV instead of doing the six million other chores I should be getting on with...

I love Girls (apart from Jessa. She annoys the hell out of me). Season two's kicked off here in Yankland - Bring on the awkward sex scenes, the naked cupcake eating and the insane Jessa costumes.

But lest we forget, Lena Dunham isn't the first person to hone in on the epic struggles of the middle-class college graduate.

Ethan and Winona got there first.

Or more accurately, Ben Stiller did - he made Reality Bites back in 1994 - a group of slightly pretentious, idealistic graduates working out what they want from their careers and love lives. And Wino's little pixie cut, Ethan's greasy indie locks and Janeane Garofolo's bizarre-length fringe will never fail to rock my world.

I might be biased. Ever since Mermaids I've been a tiny bit obsessed with Winona Ryder and those big doe eyes and air of fragility and general mastery of Jo March-ness in Little Women. Lena Dunham's great and all, but has she acted opposite Cher? I don't think so.

Although, to be fair, Reality Bites did lack a skirtless girl scampering around Brooklyn after accidentally smoking crack. So, you know, there's that.

Malibu sunset

There are worse places to go for fish and chips...