Superhero Style: Wonder Woman Socks (Complete With Capes!)

Sock weather seems to be here to stay, doesn't it? I tried a bare foot with a pretty shoe the other day, and - not to be overly dramatic or anything - I thought my feet might perish of cold. Nope. Socks it is. 

It's a good day when I manage a matching pair of socks - as I write this, one foot is sporting a pale blue sock adorned with pink heart-shaped cherries, and the other is clothed in grey and yellow stripes. If I owned a pair of Wonder Woman socks, though, I'd make a bit more effort to master the art of sock-wearing. BECAUSE WOULDYA LOOK AT THEM?! They have little CAPES. It's quite possible (though not scientifically proven - yet) that you'd actually be able to FLY while wearing them. You might need to have your invisible plane on hand in case the socks malfunction, because with superpower comes super-responsibility. You wouldn't want to cause an accident.   

If you want these socks as badly as I do (you do, don't you? C'mon now - I'm waving my golden lasso around, so there's no point trying to lie to me), they're £12.99 on Amazon. Secret superhero style can be yours, through autumn, winter... and beyond. And if you're more of Superman, Batman or Robin type, well, there's a caped sock for you, too. Me? I'm holding out for She-Ra ones. 

Etsy Pick: Clive Roddy Rings

I love Etsy newsletters - they're so well put together and I click on at least four things that I have to discover right away. Usually I hate shops emailing on a Sunday (go away please, I'm watching shit telly and eating crisps), but Etsy always gets clicks right away.

Thanks to yesterday's Etsy newsletter, I now know about Clive Roddy. Let me put these hand painted house rings on my mouse-clicking fingers immediately, please.

I don't think the tree rings work as well on their own, I feel they might need a bird or something to break up the green (or Little Red Riding Hood!) But I do absolutely love the shape and depth. Each piece is laser-cut plywood.

The mountain rings are my favourite, and they look absolutely perfect when mixed together. Alas, Roddy doesn't sell a mix of all three so you'd have to buy each set to play mix and match, but that could be the cutest friendship jewellery ever. They're £14.74 each, which is rather reasonable indeed.

Top Ten Autumn Recipes

It's that time of year again. Time to pack away your beachwear, shop for a warm coat, dig out your slow cooker and settle down to the surge of cooking shows that appear when the nights start drawing in. Autumn has lots to be joyful about, especially when it come to food, it's harvest-time! Apples, pears, plums, beetroot, celeriac, pumpkin and wild mushrooms are all in abundance, while mussels and game birds pop up again after their summer break. It's a season full of gorgeous ingredients, what could be better?

Autumn is a good time to get into foraging. Damsons, sloes and blackberries are easy to identify so a good place for beginners to start. Get them home, make booze, feel smug. Wild mushrooms aren't quite so straightforward, so take an expert with you, or just buy the packs you'll find in the supermarkets now!

British apples and pears are back! If you look at the origin of your fruit when shopping, you'll have noticed that the supermarket stock has been from the southern hemisphere for the past few months, but now's the time to buy British. Apples need to be made into crumble, paired with good chums like walnuts, rhubarb and cinnamon, or simply baked to perfection. Meanwhile, put your pears into cakes and strudels, or just smother them in chocolate.

If you can't eat comfort food in autumn, when can you? It's perfect for those weeks when you're hovering uncertainly over the central heating controls, unsure about when to finally relent and switch it on again. A melty gratin is the culinary equivalent of whacking all the radiators on full blast, so are steak pie and stuffed mushrooms, mind you. 

Quite frankly, anything hot and cheesy is going to be a winner, and I just can't decide on a favourite. Cheese fondue is probably the purest form of cheese-loaded comfort, but pancake lasagne has those herby mushroom flavoured pancakes too. Then there's Sicilian chocolate lasagne, macaroni cheese, Wensleydale mushrooms, gluten free crispy pancakes and tartiflette. Basically, cheese makes all food better.

In spite of all its charms, autumn is the time that colds and flu come out to play. If you end up afflicted by such germs, you'll need to arm yourself with the best medicines possible. Penicillin (the boozy version, at least) is sure to send those flu bugs packing, and if the Scottish stuff doesn't do the trick, the Jewish variety will. Now, doctors will tell you that antibiotics aren't the best thing for a cold, so you might prefer to attack the virus with spicy Thai soup or rum instead. Or, just hide under the covers with boxed sets and sympathy, that works too.

Want more recipe inspiration? Check out the rest of our top ten recipe compilations.

Love From Hetty And Dave

You may not recognise Love From Hetty And Dave from their name, but you'll remember their most famous creation: the Blake leather brooch that Amy Winehouse wore. I'm very literal so assumed a couple called Henrietta and David had opted for the diminutives of their names and set up an adorable jewellery and accessories shop together. But it turns out it's all the work of one woman, Zoe Larkins, who hand stitches utterly magical things from leather, including:

• squirrel collars
• cheeseburger sandals
• cuckoo clock necklaces
• French slug draft excluders.

Her mind must be a wonderful place. Let's explore.

I just want to jump up and down and squeal over everything. BADGER BALLET PUMPS! What more do you need to know? Oh wait, the price - they're £28. Go and buy two pairs! Look at their little pink noses and whiskers!

(I will stop using exclamation marks soon, I promise. Not least because I've almost used my annual allowance in a single paragraph.)

Do you know what baby hedgehogs are called? Hoglets. Aww. The only thing cuter than that is this Mr and Mrs Hedgehog bag. This customised vintage handbag now features some loved-up appliqued hedgehogs on the front flap. It's yours for £46.

This pair of poodle brooches features one with a raspberry beret (the kind you'd find in a second hand store) and the other with a hair bow (the kind you'd find in Claire's). Pin them on your shirt collar or cardigan, or give one to a friend and keep the other for yourself. They're £20 for both.

I love you too, happy otter! Look at him, holding up his sign like a taxi driver at the airport, only more romantic and less likely to hold a full driving licence. He's £55, and thanks to all the cushions we've featured on DS over the years, I now class that as "fairly reasonably priced".

Want your own 'my Blake incarcerated' style Amy Winehouse accessory? It's yours, for £25. Choose between a personalised red leather brooch or necklace and get up to eight letters stitched onto it. You can get a broken heart if you prefer - maybe a classier way of announcing you're newly single rather than updating your Facebook relationship status.

If you're in Bournemouth, pop into the Love From Hetty And Dave shop. If not, go and explore the online shop and report back with how many seconds it took you to add a pair of animal pumps to your bag. More than seven = very restrained.

The Boy and His Poison: The Tequila Old Fashioned

This one's coming with an official health warning, I lost two hours of Tuesday evening (I like to dedicate my Tuesdays to the bohemian pursuit of Domestic Sluttery experimentation), a significant portion of my tequila reserves and spent most of Wednesday in a slightly vegetative state thanks to the moreish deliciousness of this beguiling fella... there’s nothing quite so decadent as a Wednesday morning hangover.

I've been desperate to try out the recipe for a while but as a diehard traditional Old Fashioned fan I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It’s one of those cocktails that, whilst superficially easy to construct, has been elevated to a bit of an art-form. I mean this drink gets its own three-minute guest appearance in Mad Men, so why would I suggest the blasphemy of taking it south of the border and pumping it full of tequila and agave? The answer is because the result is a slow-sipping, smile inducing syrupy indulgent treat. So leave all your preconceptions of summery margaritas and gaudy tequila sunrises, this is going to be the adult drink that sees me through the autumn till I can break out the port and brandy for Christmas.

Incidentally, get some huge ice cubes for short drinks like this that you want to keep cool and last. They look amazing and won't dilute your drink.

You'll need

• 75 ml of good tequila (reposado or blanco)
• 25 ml Agave nectar (you could probably stretch it to honey but agave tastes a little more subtle in the drink)
• Angostura Bitters (although experimenting with chocolate bitters gave an even more interesting taste if you have them)
• Orange peel to flavour and garnish
• Brandy soaked cherry to garnish

Shake it

1. Drop the agave, bitters and a slice of orange peel (just speed peel a strip) into the base of a cocktail shaker, then take out the days aggression on it with the end of a rolling pin, crushing the essential oils out of the peel and mixing the bitters with the syrup
2. Add the tequila and dry shake for a few seconds (if you drop the ice in first it will cause your agave to turn into fudge), then add some ice and shake again.
3. Strain into an ice-filled glass with one of the cherries, peel another bit of orange zest, squeeze it over the top of the drink and let it sink to the side of the glass.

Friday Wishlist: Gorgeous things you'll want to buy RIGHT NOW

The perfect black wrap dress. £55 from & Other Stories.

The perfect bedding. From £92 at Occa Home.

The perfect skirt. £39 from Joy.

The perfect pegasus scarf (gasp! PONAYS!) £20 from Warehouse.

The perfect measuring cups. £32 from Anthropologie.

The perfect clutch bag. £228 from YodaHidemi at Boticca.

Let Her Eat Cake: Weetabix Cakes

Honestly, I don't get the big deal about Weetabix. Call me a philistine, but I never understood what as so appealing about something that turned to mush before you could manage even two crunchy mouthfuls.

Someone left a packet of the biscuity cereal at my house the other day and I've been staring at it, taking up cupboard space ever since. What was I to do with it?

We've been on a bit of a breakfasty kick at the moment, what with all the French toast, the fancy French toast and breakfast bars, so of course what we need is breakfast CAKE.

These are great little morning snacks, and as they involve Weetabix, they're OBVIOUSLY healthy. Yeah.

Weetabix Cakes (Makes 6)
You will need:

• 2 weetabix
• 100g raisins (or other dried berries)
• 140ml milk
• 140ml water
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100g self-raising flour
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Honey, to serve

Make it!

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4. Lightly grease six mini loaf cases. (If you don't have any of these, a 1lb loaf tin will work fine). 
2. Place the weetabix, raisins, milk, water and honey in a bowl and leave for a few minutes to soften. Mix together. 
3. Add the beaten egg, flour, caster sugar and cinnamon to the mixture and stir gently to combine until there are no streaks of flour showing. 
4. Spoon into the cases, filling them 2/3 full and smoothing off the top. 
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. 
6. Eat warm, preferably, drizzled with honey and lord it up over that sad bowl of cornflakes.