How to make pumpkin spice latte - easy recipe

Yes I know it's not autumn yet but I love autumn and Halloween and I can't wait! I LOVE to sit inside and watch a movie with a nice cup of hot tea, coffee or hot cocoa. I'm sure you've heard of Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte and I must admit I thought it was all expensive hype, but last fall I actually tried a cup and it surprised me! It tasted so good, so I bought another the next morning on my way to Uni, and then another, and another until I realised I'd been spending too much on them as the Starbucks employees had learned my name by heart hehe oops 🙊

So I did some research into the flavours in the drink, as well as making a mental note when tasting the original PSL and I took a walk to my local grocery store and bought some ingredients. Please note that I wanted to make a more affordable version of the drink but also make it taste as good, so it's not totally fresh or anything but hey!

These are the ingredients I used:

🎃 Nescafe vanilla latte, this can obviously be substituted for coffee and vanilla syrup but I'm too lazy to take extra time making a drink and measuring everything out. This shortcut works fine though in my opinion.

🎃 Pumpkin puree, you can buy this in cans but the first time I made this I used a whole pumpkin and kept the rest for a jack-o-latern, which I have to post a pic of cuz I made it into Frank from Donnie Darko and I'm pretty proud haha.

🎃 Whipped cream, this is optional but to me it makes the drink complete. Just erm make sure you remember to workout because this drink is quite addictive and I'm NOT exaggerating.

🎃 Cinnamon, I'm gonna say that this is optional because if I remember correctly I didn't actually use cinnamon but it's totally up to you.

1. So what you do is you make the coffee first, just like a normal coffee. If you buy the Nescafe pouches then just follow the instructions. (If you use pumpkin pulp then don't make the coffee yet).

2. Next you'll want to get your pumpkin juice and cook it for a few minutes, this should change the flavour a bit so that you don't get that raw pumpkin taste. Just cook it long enough for it to be warm but don't boil it. If you use a whole pumpkin then scoop the inside out, and cook it in a pot with water(alternatively you can blend it into a puree but I don't have a blender). When the juices of the pulp have flavoured the water (you can check by tasting) you can pour it into a cup with the coffee sachet.

3. Add in a half teaspoon of cinnamon or however much you prefer, stir and taste to see whether you want to add more.

4. Finish buy spraying whipped cream over the top, here you can add a little sprinkle of cinnamon or what I like to do is save some of the coffee sachet and sprinkle that on top. And enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you try this out and if you made any changes

Bye for now

Hyper Japan 2016

Hi everyone, this post is gonna be about cultural events happening in London during July. The main event is Hyper Japan which is a convention all about Japanese culture, from food to fashion. I'm going to tell you about Japanese peformance in this blog entry, specifically about Edo anime and Studio Ghibli's live musical performances at the 10th Hyper Japan event.

Azumi Inoue and Yuyu at Hyper Japan

Azumi Inoue performed at Hyper Japan this summer with her daughter Yuyu (who's only 11 years old), Azumi is the singer of songs from several of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies such as My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa: Castle In The Sky. Azumi became noticed when she performed the end theme of Laputa: Castle In The Sky and has since performed the songs "Changing Seasons" and "Mahou No Nukumori" for Kiki's delivery service, a favourite of mine. She also performed the opening and ending theme for My Neighbour Totoro, "Stroll" and "My Neighbour Totoro". Furthermore she's performed the official theme song for Peter Rabbit and classic songs from school textbooks.

Azumi's daughter Yuyu made her debut when she performed for an NHK TV show Minna No Uta at only 7 years old! She was quite successful with her performance as viewers had requested that the show be repeated, Since then she has performed two more songs for the show, collaborating with rock band Watanabe Flower for "Tan Tan Tan" in a 2013 and a duet with her mother in 2014 for "Hanbun Otona".

Here's video of Yuyu singing Tan Tan Tan - a comedic song about a father and his daughter arguing about the last piece of serloin steak.

Visit http://www.doremi-net.co for more information about these great musicians and their upcoming concerts and tv features.

Edo anime at Hyper Japan

The second performance I'm going to tell you about is Edo anime which is a type of animation in which moving  images are projected on a  screen accompanied by live music, voice acting and/or narration. Hyper Japan showed several Edo animation masterpieces including "Kobutori" 1929 directed by Yasuji Murata, visionary director and "Akai Rosoku To Ningyo" ("The Mermaid and the Red Candle") by Mimei Ogawa a children's storybook writer, so if you're an anime fan be sure to check these out.

Hyper Japan also showed "Samurai Opera" as a special feature, it's a Samurai musical drama which combines traditional samurai storylines with English-language opera in a 20 minute humurous performance. I think it's very interesting to see traditional Japanese anime and learn more about how it has developed over time, you can refer to my previous post about Edo anime titled "Edo anime at Hyper Japan" for more information about the history behind it.

Minwaza also performed at Hyper Japan again this summer, they're an artistic group that aims to entertain people by using traditional methods. It's creative and different so I would encourage anyone to see a performance if they get the opportunity. Being a great fan of anime, especially studio Ghibli I find it interesting to see how animation has developed and changed in Japan.

 Visit their website for more information http://www.minwaza.com/edoutsushie/index.html

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Cherusa 

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