That Cinnamon Scent

There aren't many scents that create such a feeling of warmth and cosyness as the scent of cinnamon. For me the scent of cinnamon reminds me of coming in from a cold autumn day, having strolled in a beautiful park with the leaves glowing in beautiful colours. I can picture it - sitting in a comfy armchair with a favourite book, wrapped in a blanket with a steaming cuppa in hand, the spicy scent of cinnamon wafting in the air. The rich scent of cinnamon invites cosy memories and transforms your home into a welcoming retreat.

This cinnamon and apple cake is not only delicious but smells heavenly of spicy cinnamon, and manages to warm the soul. It is an easy cake, and originally it is my mother's recipe, but I will share it with you, so that you can experience the same warmth and pleasure that this cake grants.

Apple Cake with Cinnamon

INGREDIENTS

• 100 grams butter
• 2 dl sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3,5 dl flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 apples
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 175°C.
Beat the butter and sugar light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl mix the flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Pour into a 24 cm round baking tin.

Peel apples and cut into slices. Mix the 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon in a bag and add the apple slices. Shake bag so that apple slices gets covered in sugar and cinnamon.
Push the apple slices into the cake batter in the baking tin starting along the outer edge and moving inwards. Pour some sugar and cinnamon on the cake before baking it for about 40 minutes in the oven. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 3

In the latest part of the Cancer series we learned which traits that makes a cell a cancer cell. Today I thought we'd discuss the question: Is there a cure for cancer?

The quick answer is unfortunately "No", but lets try to understand why there is no real cure for cancer yet.

Cancer has been around for ages and about 1/3 of the population will develop a cancer at some point in their life, so it's something that affects lots of us and the motivation for a cure is strong. Considering how much progress we make in medical science and how much research that is done on cancer you'd think there'd be a cure. Many treatments and drugs exist against cancer, but not all patients respond in the same way to these treatments. One patient can take a drug and get better while another patient with the same type of cancer will not get any better.

The thing is, there is no one cure for cancer. It is impossible to find THE cure for cancer because all cancers are so very different. Cancer is complicated, not only can it originate in almost any type of tissue in the body (e.g. skin, breast, lung and so on), but each tumour that forms develops in its own way and differently from another tumour. Breaking it down further: Two patients that both have breast cancer can have tumours that have developed in totally different ways. So the tumours may look alike on the outside, but they will most probably act and react very differently to drugs.

So the easy answer is that we haven't found a cure for cancer because it is not one single disease.
It's a question wrongly asked; There is no one cancer to cure, but lots of cancers that we need to cure. And because each individual patient has its unique cancer, you need as many cures for cancers as you have cancer patients. However this is something that we are getting closer to achieving, and I will come back to this later on in the Cancer Series because it is very exciting and interesting, but we need to understand a bit more genetics to really understand it, so this will be the topic of the next part of the Cancer Series.

As always, if there are any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section.
On to the outfit...

Turtleneck: H&M (old)

Pinafore: Mod Dolly (here)

Tights: Primark (old)

This lovely pinafore from Mod Dolly is a fantastic autumn dress. It has endless outfit opportunities, and I believe that you will see much more of it on the blog during this season. In fact, you might even recognise it because I'm not the person to exclude tartan from my spring and summer wardrobe. I've worn this pinafore in the middle of the summer with a short sleeved blouse, see it here. However, there is something especially "right" about tartan in the autumn!

Much love!

Pumpkin Everything

Well not quite Pumpkin Everything...
But Pumpkin Pie!

I made this Pumpkin Pie last autumn and basically shot from the hip. Pumpkin Pie is not popular in Sweden, and I had never been fortunate enough to have a piece of Pumpkin Pie when I've been to America so I really had no idea what I was getting myself into upon embarking on the adventure of Pumpkin Pie baking.

I didn't know what it was supposed to taste like, which texture it was supposed to have or what it should look like, but I went for it and spent the longest time I ever have on baking a pie. First of all, all the recipes call for pumpkin purée which seems to usually be bought in a tin. I scrutinised the entire town for a tin of pumpkin purée and didn't find a single one. So I had to make the purée myself, which isn't hard to do or time consuming, but I hardly knew what I was doing since I'd never done it before.

Most recipes also said to use evaporated milk, and for some reason there seemed to be a shortage just as I was making this pie, because I couldn't find it anywhere and ended up substituting the evaporated milk and sugar for sweetened condensed milk. Finally to make this bake even more challenging I decided for some reason to decorate the pie with individually hand-cut leaves made out of dough, which took me a good two-three hours or so, and halfway through I thought I'd lose my mind. They were so tiny, and I had made so many, but they hardly even showed on the pie!

So when the pie came out of the oven looking alright and we ate it, I couldn't have been more proud of myself. To this day it's probably one of the bakes I'm most proud of. People will probably laugh at me if I confess of what a trial it was to make a simple Pumpkin Pie - but so it may be! I'm just happy I persevered.

Pumpkin Pie

Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS

• 260 grams of flour 
• 110 grams butter
• 1-2 tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS

Mix the flour and butter either with hand or a mixer with a paddle attachment until you get a sand-like consistency. Add 1 tablespoon cold water and mix until you have a firm dough. If you need to add the other tablespoon water to get the dough nice and smooth. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for an hour.

Roll out on a floured surface and line pie tin with the dough. Trim the edges and leave to rest in the fridge. Do not pre-bake the crust.

Pie Filling

INGREDIENTS

• 1 egg
• 425 grams of pumpkin purée (one tin apparently)
• 397 grams (one tin) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon flour

DIRECTIONS

Mix everything together in a bowl and pour into the pie crust. Bake at 170°C for 30 to 40 minutes or until the filling has set.

If you're making dough decorations, add them to the pie after baking it for 30 minutes, brush dough decorations with milk and bake for another 10 minutes.

Leave the pie to cool completely, and serve with whipped cream.

The Liebster Award

You guys!!
I've been nominated for the Liebster Award!! Which the internet tells me is an award given by bloggers to bloggers as a sign of appreciation to them and to help expose their blog for other viewers! So it's basically the best kind of award!

My dear friend Devinne of Mox and Socks nominated me! And I feel incredibly honoured, lucky and happy to be nominated by such an intelligent, kind and stylish lady like Devinne. She shares beautiful outfit posts, and photographs everything herself, which Ah-mazing! She also shares all kinds of things like tutorials (she's got awesome hair!), stories and more. Do check out her blog!

I'm supposed to start off with 11 random facts about myself, so here we go!

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I had straight hair for the first 7 years of my life. It gradually started to get waves and then curls, and now it is the curly-wurly unruly mess that I am known for.
2. I love to sing, but only as long as nobody can hear me.
3. If I had a choice and it was socially acceptable I would eat desserts for almost every meal.
4. Ice cream is something I rarely say no to, even though I am lactose intolerant.
5. I love ballet, and when I was younger I used to dance.
6. If I wouldn't be working in cancer research I would want to be a musical artist (even though I have none of the talents needed).
7. I'm a Ravenclaw.
8. Once I was not allowed to vote because of a mistake made by the people working with the voting. I cried.
9. I speak three languages, Swedish, English and Farsi. I've studied Spanish, and understand it well enough, and I'm trying to learn French. I also at one point tried to learn Sindarin... Yes I'm a nerd.
10. I have a genetic blood disorder that made me the most popular student when we were studying our blood cells under the microscope in class at uni. Everyone wanted to look at my defective red blood cells. I've never been so popular!
11. I have an older sister who is my best friend, and the photographer of Curls & Cakes. Thank you my darling sister for always helping out!

Q&A:

1. What inspired you to start a blog?
I had wanted to start a blog for the longest time, as a means for a creative outlet, however I was unsure if anyone wanted to read what I had to say. But several people started asking me on Instagram if I had a blog, and finally I just thought, why not do it!

2. Who is your favourite style icon?
This is a hard one, but someone that I look up to in terms of style is Zooey Deschanel. I like how she mixes old and new, and that there's always a quirky element to her style.

3. Can you name two of your favourite bloggers and explain why they are your favourites?
It's hard choosing just two, but one is definitely Liana of Finding Femme. She was (and still is) one of my biggest inspirations when I started blogging, and she is also the sweetest and smartest lady you'd find! Her blog is so chic and classy!
Another is Klara from The Robot That Had a Heart, she is such an amazing photographer and I love how she tells little eloquent stories in her posts. She's incredibly talented and so sweet.

4. What's one wardrobe essential you can't live without?
I want to say a little black dress, one that you can dress up or down. However if I think about it logically, with the weather here in northern Sweden, I probably couldn't live without my black leather boots (that have yet to make an appearance on the blog).

5. How would you describe your blogging style?
I don't really think I have a blogging style. If I have to answer this anyway, I would say I blog like I would talk to a friend. And most of my readers (the ones I know of anyway) are friends, so it is very easy to write in a casual way to them.

6. What is your greatest achievement outside of blogging?
It's probably my degrees in medical science... Or that I'm fighting to get better from my mental illness, it's probably what I'm most proud of doing anyway.

7. What was the last book you read?
I've been rereading the Harry Potter series, so the last book I've read is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Or are we talking books we've read for the first time, because then it's Outlander.

8. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
London is my favourite place in the world. I just love London, and especially the Warner Bros studios that is just outside of London, where you have the behind the scenes of Harry Potter. But a place I would love to visit that I've never been to is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida.

9. Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years I've hopefully finished my PhD in pathology. If I'm lucky I'm doing a Post-doc somewhere and continuing with my research. And by then I wish I will have seen the Wizarding World as well!

10. What was the first movie or book that made an impact on your life?
Oh this is without a doubt Harry Potter! Harry Potter means so much to me. The books introduced me into the world of fantasy, that became my favourite type of literature as a child. Harry Potter was an escape for me, when I was younger I was bullied but escaping into the world of Harry Potter brought me joy and made me happy. There is so much I thank JK Rowling and HP for. It continues until this day to make an impact on my life. I've made both friends and enemies because of Harry Potter, and it continues to make my life magical!

11. What advice would you give someone who just started blogging?
Stay true to yourself. If you enjoy what you are doing, go on doing it no matter how many readers or followers you have. Blog for yourself.

Here are my 11 nominees:

You do not have to do this at all, the choice lies with you. I thought it was fun and wanted to acknowledge some people of my own.

1. Liana of Finding Femme
2. Kizzy of The Dainty Dolls House
3. Emma of Emma's Looking Glass
4. Lindsey of Have Clothes, Will Travel
5. Julia of Julia Speaks
6. Madison of The Mad Girl
7. Randi of Milk & Twee
8. Beth of Sewing Soothes the Soul
9. Sara Lily of In a Nutshell...
10. Christine of Tea, Books & Tweed
11. Klara of The Robot That Had a Heart

Much love!

Farmer's Market Fail

I tend to mostly just stay at home during the weekends. It's very rare that I go outside at all, and if I do, it will probably be for a walk. This past Saturday however I made big plans to go downtown where there's this amazing and big Farmer's Market in September. Or so I thought...

I grabbed my bike and had a lovely trip downtown, the sun was shining and I was in good spirits. I was wearing my new vegetable dress from Poppy, excited about photographing this dress amongst heaps of veggies and fruits at this incredible market.

Upon arriving to the Farmer's Market I was nothing short of disappointed. I saw a total of five carrots, ten potatoes and one single pumpkin. It was my first time going to this Farmer's Market, but I had expected loads of colourful vegetables lining the stalls of the market, I imagined it would be fantastic and beautiful - what a let down. The Farmer's Market was packed with meat, fish and bread though... That's northern Sweden for you!

Anyway, I ended up photographing my lovely vegetable dress not amongst piles of vibrant veggies, but in a park that had just donned its autumn frock, so it turned out quite well in the end.

Dress: Poppy (here)

Belt: Asos (old)

Shoes: Ecco (here)

Is my imagined Farmer's Market a fantasy? Have you been to any cool Farmer's Markets? Or are they just in my imagination?

In other news, you can now find me on Facebook. I recently created a page for the blog and it's possibly the best way to keep updated with my posts and other stuff. So if you like, give me follow right here.

Much love!

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 2

In the latest part that also happened to be the first part of the Cancer Series we answered the question "What is cancer?".
We know that it is when a cell's normal division is out of control and it grows uncontrollably in size and number and spreads in the body. You can read part 1 here.

But cells are supposed to divide and grow, so what are the differences between a normal cell and a cancer cell? I'll try and answer that today.

There are quite a few traits or "hallmarks" if you will, that are connected to cancer. These traits are all that is needed for a normal healthy cell to become a malignant cancer cell. These are the underlying principles that are needed to create a cancer:

1. They are self-sufficient and can stimulate their own growth
Usually cells need signals that tell them to grow. A cancer cell does not need this signal, but can grow even without it.

2. They can resist signals that would normally stop their growth
Cells are not supposed to grow unless there is a signal telling it to do so. A cancer cell can ignore the signals that say "Stop growing!" and continue to grow when a normal cell would not.

3. They can resist what is called apoptosis
Apoptosis is a programmed and normal cell death that happens when cells get older. A cancer cell however can refuse apoptosis i.e. death, by ignoring the signals.

4. They can multiply without an end
Normal cells can only multiply a set number of times. Cancer cells do not have this limit and become "immortal".

5. They can stimulate the growth of blood vessels
The process by which new blood vessels are formed is called angiogenesis and is not something that all cells can do. Cancer cells can kickstart the process and by doing so can supply themselves with nutrients through the newly formed blood vessels.

6. They can invade surrounding tissue, spread and become metastases
Normal cells can only grow until they reach another cell, but cancer cells grow beyond that and can break and invade surrounding tissue, spreading either on the site or moving through blood vessels or the lymphatic system to reach new sites where they grow.


In a simplified way: A cancer cell can grow on it's own (1) and forever (4), it can ignore signals that tells it to stop growing (2) or that tells it to die (3). At the same time cancer cells can create new blood vessels (5) and by doing so can spread to the rest of the body (6).

As always if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment down below! I hope you liked this part of the Cancer Series. I would love your feedback on it! Is it too complicated or too easy? Let me know!

On to the outfit...

Beret: Larmoni (here)

Top: KappAhl

Skirt: Larmoni (here) 

I've worn this skirt before, but I predicted then that it would become a staple in my autumn wardrobe and it really has. I already have a handful more outfits in mind with this skirt. It's a weird fawn colour but it goes with everything! It was such a surprise to me, but I definitely enjoy coming up with new ways to wear it.

The top is from the Swedish clothing store KappAhl, so my Scandinavian readers can find it easily. Just a breton top will do though. I was surprised with how well fawn and navy goes together. I'm also soon starting an entire collection of berets. I just love them! I want one in every colour, and Larmoni basically has me covered.

The Little Black Dress of the Cookie World

I love Chocolate Chip Cookies and they were aptly described as the little black dress of the cookie world by @littlemissquirkyfox, a friend on Instagram. It couldn't be described better. It is one of those bakes that is always popular. Everyone loves Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they are quite vocal about their admiration for the cookie. It's not much that is more mouth-watering than a batch of newly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I once took a batch of freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies to a lab meeting, and people were timidly helping themselves to third and fourth servings. If you want to please a crowd, the way to go is with Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies were invented in the 1930's and I don't think it will ever go out of style. The recipe I've used is from Joy of Baking, which is easily the best baking and dessert recipe site on the wide web.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

INGREDIENTS

• 225 grams butter, room temperature
• 150 grams white sugar
• 160 grams firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 295 grams flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 270 grams chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees F).
Beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl mix the flour and baking soda. Add the flour-mixture to the egg-mixture. Blend well. Finally add the chocolate chips and blend.
If the dough is very soft refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Use a table spoon to scoop the dough with and drop it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges. I like the size of the cookies when they are 1 tablespoon, but you can make them bigger (increase time in oven) or smaller (decrease time in oven)
This makes about 3 dozens cookies of the 1 tablespoon size. I usually bake half and freeze the other half for a later time.

Much love!