Vintage Madeira Embroidery blouse

When on holiday back home in Madeira I was lucky to find a vintage Madeira embroidery blouse in a small market in Old Town (Zona Velha). I fell in love with it straight away! The delicate flower embroidery on light silk fabric is the perfect addition to my tropical outfits. I need to take it in slightly at some point, but for now it works with my high waisted jeans just fine!

Embroidery is part of Madeira’s history and culture. I was originally introduced by the English Phelps family who settled in Madeira in 1784. Elizabeth Phelps, the eldest daughter of Joseph Phelps established a small school in her home and with her original designs taught children and women to embroider. Initially the embroideries were sold privately to family friends then later to tourists. They became popular and sought-after in Madeira Island as a result of an exhibition held in Funchal and subsequently won awards at the International World Trade Exhibition in London.

The fabrics used in the embroidery industry are Linen, Silk, Organdy and Cotton from which tablecloths, dresses, blouses, bedding and delicate handkerchiefs are created.

Seal of Autheticity

National Vintage Awards

All images by My Boudoir Photography Studio

Hair and Make Up - Sarah Elliot Hair & MakeUp Artist

Mr Moai Tai

Aloha Coconuts! 

It's been a dream of ours for a while to design and make Tiki mugs. We finally did it and put Mr. Moai into production. Me and Martin sculpted the mug with air drying clay after a lot of thinking and planning. We then sent it of to FireWorks Ceramic Studio in Glasgow as we don't have access to a kiln. Garnet from FireWorks was unbelievably helpful in every way, from mold making to glaze, to answering our millions of constant questions. hehe! We had never sculpted in our lives or worked with clay and were slightly overexcited at the idea of making our own Tiki Mug.

There will be a very limited run available soon.

I present to you, Mr. Moai Tai!

First Mai Tai in Mr. Moai Tai

Photo Shoot with My Boudoir

Hello to all my coconut followers! I haven't written in a long time. It's been a hectic few months with lots happening in terms of Tiki, modelling and rum fun.

I was lucky enough to work with My Boudoir recently and I can honestly this was my favourite photo shoot ever! Nicola is such a pro and the photos surpassed all my expectations... I can only hope I get to work with them again soon!

Here's a few from the shoot! Hope you enjoy! :)

All photos by My Boudoir

Hair & Make Up by Sarah Elliot

If you like Piña Colada... cupcakes!

I love cake but I got it in my head that I'm a disaster at baking since my failed attempts baking at my grandma's as a kid. She used to give me free reign in the kitchen and let me NOT follow recipes. My cakes always ended up like an oversized cookie that no one else would eat so I'd cover them in honey or molasses and eat them on my own. haha.

Lately I've been trying to get back into baking and I made Martin's birthday cake (a pineapple and caramel cake - my mum's recipe) and now I'm really into baking cupcakes. I'm usually not keen on cupcakes because of the amount of icing they're usually drowned in but since I'm baking I can control just how much icing goes on and what goes in it! (mostly rum).

My latest batch was Piña Colada flavour. I used Bacardi Piña Colada mix and Coco Lopez in the mixture. This recipe made about 24 little cupcakes and they disappeared within 24 hours!

For the batter I used:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup  flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 Teaspoons Piña Colada mix
2/3 cup crushed pineapple - use the juices
Pinch of salt
A little squirt of Coco Lopez


Beat the butter and sugar until the mix becomes fluffy. Separate the eggs and added the yolks to the sugar/butter mix, together with vanilla, Bacadi Piña Colada Mix, pineapple chunks (I shredded these down a bit). Mix everything well. This becomes a yummy wet mixture.

In a separate bowl, at the flour, baking powder and salt. Then combine the wet mixture slowly.

Lastly, beat the egg whites and once they have the right consistency add them to the rest of the batter.

Bake at 175 for about 20 minutes (my oven is pretty hardcore so I had to keep checking - it might vary)

While the batter is in the over it's time to make the icing. Mmmmm.


Piña Colada Butter Cream:
 
1 1/4 cups butter
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
6 tablespoons Bacardi Piña Colada

Mix everything together and beat until thick and creamy. I ended up having to add more Piña Colada because I really wanted these to taste like a cocktail.

When the cupcake bases have cooled down it's time to get pipin' the icin'. :)  I bought my piping set from Wilkinsons for 99p! It comes with 4 tips and works a treat.

I then added maraschino cherries on top and a cocktail umbrella and voila'! Piña Coladas in cupcake form! The cake was light and moist, the pineapple chunks were a nice surprise to bite into. The icing was boozy and not overwhelming. I'll be making these again!

London Tiki Tour - Part 2 - Trader Vic's, Rum Club, Floridita

Day two we went to Portobello Market and wandered around for a couple of hours in the morning. Not very impressed by the market itself but there are some cool shops in the area. I managed to find some little tikis in a small vintage shop for £2!

Got wood? ;)

For lunch, we went to a traditional looking pub in some corner in Portobello. It takes a truly disgusting meal to really appreciate good food. We couldn't eat our burgers and even the chips were terrible. How can you get potatoes wrong?! We left them a note on how we felt about the meal...

In the evening we went to Trader Vic's for the half price three course meal for which I got the voucher in January. After a horrible lunch I was really looking forward to this and wasn't disappointed!

Cute ceramic tiki salt & pepper shakers

Menehune Juice Cocktail... Mmmm

The food was lovely but the desert was even better.

Lovely desert with spicy pineapple

Amazing Tiki carving in the kitchen area

The bartender liked our tiki shirts and gave us a free cocktail which came surrounded by packed crushed ice! Like an icy volcano! :D

Another pretty cocktail - This one's a Scorpion

On Monday, before the Barbados Rum Club, we spent the day on board of the HMS Belfast. I love this place.

Giving out the Tot!

I only took one picture at the Rum Club. Four hours of Barbados Rum fun filled with delicious drinks and very knowlegeable brand ambassadors who made the night muito interesting!

Last day in London, we went down to Soho so we could try Floridita. I liked the Rum Shack section and the cocktails were very good. We couldn't stay long as we had a train to catch and had to run off just as the Cuban band was going on! Until next time!

Train back to Manchester

Tiki Tour Part II Tiki Haul

Aloha!