Thankful Thursday

I am in the most happy of moods today because I have 12 whole sweet days of leave from work ahead of me. Tomorrow morning I'll be boarding the train to that beaut of a place called Aberystwyth to see the boyfriend in a play (where his character rapes people - cheery!), then we'll be off to spend the first part of next week in Liverpool celebrating his belated 21st birthday, then its back to Aber to enjoy relaxing seaside times. May even squeeze a quick trip to Alton Towers in too early the following week before I head back with a bump to Lancaster and the real world. With all this to look forward to naturally this week has draaaaaaaaaaagged oooooooooon and oooooooooon and oooooooooon and...you get the picture. Though I have been oot and aboot on fieldwork in the glorious sunshine and rocking the ol' freckle mustache (oh the woe's of a ginger!) so I guess I'm pretty lucky. This week I'm also thankful for:

My awesome new Five Year Memory Book

Being paid just in time for my little holiday

Owl patterned wrapping paper

Boots points = free Barry M nail polish. Winning!

Rediscovering old clothes you forgot you had

The most amazing weather this last week

The smell of sun cream

Making too much vanilla buttercream icing and being forced to eat the leftovers

A giant pile of library books

The prospect of imminent boy hugs

Bluebell fields

So I'm probably likely to go AWOL for the next week or so as I'll be off skipping along the beach singing "I'm free! I'm free!" or something to that effect. No doubt I'll be stalking you all on Bloglovin though in the meantime; it has literally become ingrained into my morning routine. 

One of our fieldwork sites this week. Love my job!

I hate wearing flip flops but it's just been that hot.

Excited to lounge around in the sun (hopefully) and made my way through this pile

Meat-Free Monday #4 - Quorn Pasta Bake

I am a bad, bad blogger and neglected to do this post last week. Maybe I was busy being a big, fatty carnivore last Monday, I don't remember. Still, never one to leave something half finished, here is the final installment of this Meat-Free Monday feature. And this week I thought I'd give Quorn a go. Quorn is made from something called Mycoprotein and looks pretty much exactly like meat. It's low in fat and high in protein and fibre so is great is you're looking to make your usual meals healthier. I've cooked with it a few times before and it absorbs the flavours you're cooking with really well without leaving that fatty residue that cooking meat can produce. I knew I wanted to do a Quorn recipe for this feature  but when I had a sneaky gander at the website it was just perfect; they're currently encouraging people to take part in the #makeonechange challenge whereby you change from meat to Quorn for one meal each week for a month. Sounds familiar?! Check it out here if you fancy giving it a go.

Anywho, onwards to the food! As a very busy (aka lazy) student I'm a big fan of the ol' quick and easy pasta bake. Literally bung a few ingredients together and whack it in the oven with a whopping load of cheese of top. Half an hour later a culinary masterpiece will emerge. Last night I was craving pasta bake. I got this recipe from a student cookbook I bought for first year at university and that book practically taught me to cook. Or at least how to survive between the holidays, I'd say actual competency in the kitchen came later. I went for this beefy pasta bake and simply swapped the beef mince for Quorn mince. To recreate my meal you will need:

250g Quorn mince

2 large carrots

1/2 onion

4 cups of pasta

1 can of condensed tomato soup

1 cup of grated cheese

Chop and fry the onion. Chop and boil the carrots. Fry the Quorn mince. Meanwhile boil the pasta. Combine the above and pour over the condensed soup. Mix ingredients together. Transfer into a oven-proof dish. Sprinkle over the grated cheese. Bung it into a pre-heated oven for half an hour. Whap together a salad or some vegetables to serve while you wait impatiently for the magic to occur.

Et volia!

Now...gobble gobble gobble!!

Admittedly not the most attractive of meals but who really gives a crap when it tastes this good?! Thumbs up for Quorn! Literally would hardly know the difference. Y'all should give it a try.

Warning: this meal is designed for two portions. You will want to eat it all though. I leave it up to you whether you resist or not...

How To Have Long Hair And Not Look Like A Tramp

Happy June to all your wondrous people!! Today I am experiencing the pain that only those who also had too many shots last night and danced til dawn can sympathise about. So I'm vegging on the sofa when I should probably be outside enjoying the sun. Still, I'm off work for 12 days from Friday and heading down to Aberystwyth so there should hopefully be ample time to play in the sun. Whilst I am largely incapable of movement I thought I'd do an easy post requiring the smallest about of brain power possible, whilst munching on a giant fish finger bagel of course. A hangover cure can come in many forms.

Introducing the tools of the trade. I've been growing my hair for almost two years now and try and drag the time out between having it cut as far as possible. So in the meantime I use these products to try and reduce the time I spend looking like a tramp. Without these products I can almost guarantee my hair would be one giant frizz-ball with the consistency of straw.

So first off, I wash my hair about three times a week and always with Herbal Essences. I think I may be a secret addict to this brand. It leaves my hair super soft, smells amazing, and I can usually find it on offer in some shop or another. What's not to like?! I've just started using the Soft and Smooth shampoo because I realised with such long hair the volumising one I used previously coverted probably wasn't going to be doing much due to the sheer weight of my hair now. I use the Beautiful Ends conditioner to try and reduce my split ends and I also use TRESemme Split Remedy hair mask every other time I wash my hair. You just smother it on after conditioning and leave for about 6 minutes before rinsing it out. I definitely feel that the combination of these three products keeps the ends of my hair in a great condition considering I only have it trimmed about three times a year.

Before I blow-dry my hair I always rub TRESemme Thermal Creations Volume Boosting Mousse through my hair to give it a bit of texture but most importantly to protect it from the heat. My hair is naturally wavy but is relatively malleable with just a hairdryer; I can use a diffuser to make it really curly or comb it through whilst drying to get a straight style. This is great because I don't have to apply unnecessary extra heat from curlers or straighteners. When its dry I quickly smooth some John Frieda Frizz-Ease Secret Agent Perfecting Creme through the lengths to control the flyaway ends. Da-da! Long hair to rival those Loreal TV advert models that doesn't look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Now I suppose I should actually do something productive with my Sunday. Or I might just watch Aladdin...

Ten Things I Love About Being Home

As its the long bank holiday weekend I thought I spent it at home with the parental department. It's been a great weekend with some amazing sunshine; I burnt my ear like a pro ginge. It all makes me actually quite excited to be moving back home from a month in August between when my work placement ends and the new university term starts. So for this Ten Things post I thought I would list the ten things that I enjoy about being back north.

1. The shopping. It is tradition to go shopping with the mothership whenever I'm home for the weekend. Today we went to the Metrocentre and I bought these two dresses from Primark for £5 each  - bargain!

2. The food. How is it that the cupboard is always full of delicious goodies? I'm definitely not complaining!

3. The freebies. I always find things in my wardrobe at home which I'd completely forgotten about. It's like getting free clothes. And sometimes this actually is the case; this weekend my mum gave me these bright red brogues which she bought ages ago and never wore because their too small. Don't mind if I do!

4. The samples. My dissertation research required lots of stream water samples. And my mother is very kind enough to offer to come and help me with the job, especially on the sunniest day I've ever been at Moor House. Saturday will go down in history as the first day I ever wore just a t-shirt at Moor House.

5. The DVDs. Most of my DVD collection and boxsets reside at home. Many joyous wars gradually turning my eyes square.

6. The towels. Does anyone else find that the towels at home are so must softer?....

7. The work. My parents are in the middle of a massive project of re-modelling their garden. This weekend I worked to tunr over and move a giant mountain of soil and make a raised bed. And then I planted this rose. Today I can feel the ache, but it's a good one like the burn after you've exercised.

Excuse the odd attire!

8. The Tesco visit. I miss just being able to pop down into town and pick up a teeth decaying feast for a fiver.

9. The talk. (I'm being sarcastic, no one in their right mind enjoy The Talk) What am I going to do when I finish uni? How I am going to afford it? Where am I going to work over the summer? I don't know. Now let me watch X-Men in peace

10. The roast dinner. I know I've already said food but, come on, a roast dinner is in a whole league of it's own! Especially with gravy, lots and lots of gravy.

I hope that you've all had a super-amazing bank holiday weekend. Can it not just last one more day, pretty please?

Meat-Free Monday #3 - The frittata and the vegetarian feast

Oh my God it's Friday and I'm only just doing this post?! I scandalize even myself. So I'm making up for it by posting this awesome little frittata recipe. Maybe we could change the name of this feature to Fritatta Friday just to make us all feel a little better about this whole situation. And then there was the amazing vegetarian feast that my housemate cooked the other day. Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself here - back to the frittata.

I have an awful secret. Which I now feel ready to tell the world. Here it is...I am a failure at cooking eggs. I can cook all kinds of food (not well you understand but I can just about throw a meal together) but eggs are a no-no. I went to university not even really knowing how to poach an egg. When Elliot realised this dire situation and taught me to make scrambled egg I panicked when it turned lumpy and stirred like a manic until he pointed out that was the egg scrambling. Embarrassing I know. So anyway, I fail at anything with egg in. But earlier in the week I was feeling a bit ill and icky, and when I was ill as a kid my mum would make me eggs. So I decided to conquer eggs once and for all. With a little help from Hugh.

My housemate bought this book with his birthday monies and it has some legendary recipes in. All vegetarian of course. This is where I got the instructions from on how to cook a frittata.

For this recipe I used a medium sized potato, a handful of brocolli trees, 1/3 of a courgette, a handful of mushrooms and 3 eggs. Basically you just cook all the vegetables separately. Then whisk up the eggs and season. Lay the veggies out in a layer in the bottom of a frying pan which is preheated with a drop of oil. Pour over the eggs and wait! Don't stir it, don't move it, don't even breathe near it for fear that the eggs will rebel and your frittata will morph into a scrambled mess. Or maybe this rules only apply the those of us who are frittata virgins. Hugh clearly states it should be left until nearly all the egg has cooked with only a thin layer of liquid egg on top, and Hugh knows his stuff.

Now grate over some cheese and whap it under a preheated grill, frying pan and all, until the cheese is deliciously melted and the egg is all cooked. Then you om-a-nom-nom it down in record time. Alongside a giant dollop of ketchup o'course!

It was super delicious and so so easy. I would cook this a hundred times over. If only to prove to the world that I have conquered eggs.

Right, on to the feast to end all feasts! The beast of feast! The...yeah, the vegetarian feast. James made this on Wednesday night when we had friends round, all recipes from Hugh's book. We had garlicky minty mushy peas, quinoa salad with squash and fennel, and a tomato and goats cheese tart. Everything was super yummy and devoured in record time. And then we had some amazing homemade coffee ice cream with berries. And I don't even like the flavour of coffee but I could have eaten the whole lot myself.

Quinoa salad

Garlicky minty mushy peas

Tomato and goats cheese tart

All photos are taken straight out the book because the food was gobbled before I could get a photograph. Only one more Monday left in May for another meat-free recipe. I'll try and actually remember next week. Though I am going home for the bank holiday weekend to soak up some weedy little northern sunshine so don't go getting too hopefully. Hope everyone has a great long weekend of wonderfulness!

Thankful Thursday

Woweeee, it's been such a hectic week that I literally haven't had a spare moment to jabber away here as usual. So picture this: Friday night and I'm demonstrating how to fail at making pancakes in my pyjamas. There's a knock at the door....and it's the boyfriend!! I was so surprised that my first reaction was to swear at him, but then there was some serious huggage and squealing (the latter mostly on my behalf). Did I ever mention how super-awesome my boy is?! We had a gorgeously relaxed weekend; we watched Eurovision over a giant fatty feast at the girlies' house, and Sunday we walked to Morecombe in the sunshine then went to the Waterwitch pub on the canal for a steak dinner. He left Monday, and I was straight out on fieldwork for two days and I was feeling a bit under the weather so I literally just vegged out into front of a film in the evening. Yesterday we had friends over to scoff a feast that James cooked. A week to rival the busiest of bees! So I must have a whole host of things to be thankful for. Let me see...

Elliot

Surprises

Kind nurses

The Romanian Eurovision entry

Garlic bread (I think I've included this before..I'd just so darn-tooting good!)

My duvet

An ultra productive day at work

Fieldwork in the sun,for once

Having an excellent chef for a housemate

Finding the book you're thinking of spending £20 on in the library

Epic hog roast sandwiches

Boy sized t-shirts (so comfy)

My Sally Hansen jade nail polish

Sunday lie-ins until midday

Aberystwyth adventures in June to look forward to

Back massages

Looking thankful. Best surprise delivery ever!

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday people! I'm starting to really enjoy this day of the week, not just because this post is a reminder of all the good things in the world but also because it reminds it that in a few hours it will be Friday which means...nearly the weekend!

First off I suppose I should appologise for the lack of BEDM posts in the last couple of days. But honestly I've been off having a blast away from my laptop so I'm not too sorry. I'm going to get back on it with today's BEDM challenge though; to share something difficult about your 'lot in life' and how you are working to overcome it. Honesty I'd say my 'lot' is pretty good; I'm happy, I'm enjoying life. But if you require an answer then I'd say the only niggly thing is having a long-distance relationship, or the prospect of having to continue long-distance over at least another year. But honestly, however difficult it can be, those amazing times when we are together and that smile on his face when I step off the train is worth the distance a millions times over. Onwards and upwards to the things I am thankful for this week.

Skype
Zachary Quinto's existance
Lunch dates with my favourite Lancaster girl

My amazing mother who came on fieldwork, didn't complain about the rain and even brought chocolate

Amazon vouchers I forgot I had

That real life is nothing like the Apprentice boardroom

The fact that in a year's time I will be packing for a cruise, baby, yeah!

The boyfriend has only one assignment until he has finished university for the summer (yay!) and forever (boo!)

Friends who have cars

The new super awesome A Beautiful Mess app

Here are some quick examples of photos adapted using the A Beautiful Mess app. I don't usually pay for apps but for only 69p you can make photos so much more quirky and fun that I could justify it to myself. Expect me to use it for loads of blog post photos from now on.

My bed was so comfy that I couldn't find the determination to get up off it and take some photos for this post.
So I didn't bother and took them anyway!