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!

Meat-Free Monday #2 - Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry

So, the is the second week of trying out a new vegetarian recipe on a Monday for all of May, you can see my first attempt here. I was a bit more prepared this week so I took this time to make this sweet potato and spinach curry. I don't know about you but I love Indian food. You simply cannot beat a take-out curry feast. But that is a now and again sort of treat, so I like to be able to make a good curry at home to fill in the gaps. Usually I use chicken but this was just delicious with sweet potato and spinach; the sweet potato gave the curry a wonderful sweetness. Here's what I used to make this dish:

2 sweet potatoes
1 large handful of spinach
1 onion
1 tbsp of oil
1 clove of garlic
2 tsp of ground cumin
2 tsp of chilli powder
A tin of chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper to season

I chopped and boiled the potato first until it was becoming soft. Once I had chopped and fried the onion and garlic in the oil I added the sweet potato and chopped tomotoes to the frying pan. Then I added the seasoning and spices before leaving it to summer down until the flavours had developed. I added the spinach last and waited until it has wilted before serving the curry alongside rice flavoured with pilau seasoning.

This was just one of my usual curry recipes but adding veg instead of meat - simples! But this feature is about experimenting with food after all so if you fancy making a curry yourself take the ingredient list with a (metaphorical) pinch of salt and play around with the flavour types and amount of spices you add. This meal was totally om-nom-nom-able though. Definitely glad I made enough to freeze ready for when I can't be bothered to cook...or when I can't wait any longer to have such deliciousness in my tummy again!

Epic size fatty portion...GONE!

P.S. Today's BEDM challenge is 10 things that make you happy. This is such a great idea, and one I was already planning as one of my future Ten Things post as part of a 'things that make me happy' sort of series. So I'm being naughty and writing off today's challenge (shhhh, don't tell on me!). Watch this space in the next couple of week for the start of this post series though!

Missing Aberystwyth

Today's BEDM challenge is to share what you miss. So originally I thought I'd talk about the most important thing I miss, the boyfriend. But really, who wanted to be depressed about long-distance relationships when you're trying to have a relaxing Sunday night in front of Netflix. By the by, the film 50/50 sounds like it would be utterly grim as a comedy about cancer but it really is a great one. One of only three films to have ever made me cry though (literal real tears! People who know me know I don't do crying at films). You guys should watch it, especially if you are already slightly in love with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Anywho, the other thing I miss an incredible amount is Aberystwyth. Obviously when I moved to Lancaster for this year I expected to miss it because I'd miss the people and the fun times that go hand in hand with being at university there. But honestly, I do just miss the place itself. Here's some of the things I miss, which I totally took for granted before.

The starling cloud over the pier to a backdrop of the autumn sunset

Via

The incredible views

Via

The volatile nature of the sea

Via

Welsh pride

Via

The beautiful buildings

Via

The million and one different colour rocks that the beach sand is composed of (Geography geek alert!)

Via

And yeah, ok, I really do miss the people.

A Saturday At My Disposal

My housemate has gone away for the weekend and even the doggle has gone for a mini-break at the kennels. So I have enjoyed a day devoted to me, the best type of day in my opinion. This morning it was raining heavily so I stayed in bed and read my library book. It is universally acknowledged that the best remedy to grim weather is a good old trashy novel; I'm currently reading Cuckoo by Julia Crouch which I'm finding difficult to put down and get back to the real world. But I did have to put it down because I had to go and meet my friend Laura for lunch in town. I donned my most loved day dress and a few of my favourite accessories (whilst dancing crazily to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack, as one does on the average Saturday morning), and managed to take a few snaps; I definitely need to make this a future outfit post, maybe my first as I haven't done one yet! Maybe when I get a better camera/volunteer photographer.

Dress: New Look.   Belt: New Look.   Cardigan: shop in New Zealand. 

Boots: Republic.  The best part of a rainy day!

Bracelet collection: each bracelet has a special memory attached.

I managed to arrive for lunch without looking like a drowned rat (all hail umbrellas!). The chicken soup and my giant hot chocolate were absolutely delicious and a pretty good accompaniment to a good old girly gossip with Laura. 

Delicious and warming chicken soup. Nom nom!

By the time we emerged it was blinking into the beautiful sunshine. We looked in a few shops and I fell in love with a floral crop top and pair of denim dungarees in New Look but was super well behaved and resisted, I do have a cruise to be saving for after all! Besides, I want all these summery delights even more than the dungarees! Rich shopaholic brain stuck inside a poor student financially sensible body. Having said that I did then buy this rag rug from a stall at the market on the way home, but come on, it's waaaaay too gorgeous to have left behind for the mere tenner that it cost me! Plus I was in desperate need of a rug for my bedroom and already had my heart set on a rag rug and volia! I just happen to walk past the perfect one on my way home. Destiny...

Rag rug from Lancaster market

Such gorgeous colours!

I was well behaved and did a bit of house spring cleaning this afternoon, and then was bad behaved by rewarding myself with almost an entire large bar of Dairy Milk. Left the last two squares just so I didn't feel bad for eating the whole bar. I have zero willpower... Now chilling on the sofa with the duvet about to watch The Shawshank Redemption, such an epic film. Just missing a cuddle partner if anyone wants to join, you can have the last two chocolate pieces?....

Just to finish off here are my 10 words to sell yourself as is today's BEDM challenge set by Jenni at Story of my Life.

When Its Summer Time And The Weather's Fine

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My inner being is yearning for a good summer clothes shopping spree. Alas, it is raining outside and my bank balance isn't exactly in a condition to withstand a beating right now. Still, a girl can dream!

I've already started thinking about clothes for the cruise next summer as there won't be much opportunity for summer shopping because we go so early in the year and immediately after I will have emerged from a mountain of university coursework too. So I'll have to be on the ball and get some extras this year in prep. I'm definitely thinking of getting a white sun dress; they are such an elegant classic and can be wore in so many different styles. I'm dying to get a floral dress too, in a really lovely light material I'm hoping. Modcloth, Boohoo and Polyvore have some great ones. I'm also completely crushing on pastel shades at the moment; this green skater dress is absolutely gorgeous and I might have to give in a just buy it! Also loving the pretty pastel nail paints by Models Own, especially these new scented polishes which I'm dying to try.

I'll finish off with today's BEDM challenge: most embarrassing moments.

Three main events stick out in my mind. The first is what I have always thought of as my most embarrassing memory and I've already referred to it on the blog here. I was only seven years old at the time though so now I can look back on it and find it hilarious, though I think I cried in embarrassment at the time. I was at the airport with my mum and dad because my dad was going to South Africa on a work trip. While we were waiting for his flight to be called I went to the toilets with my mum and I remember running ahead of her on the way back to find my dad in the cafe area. I spotted him on account of his bald spot and cream trench coat and dashed over, giving him a massive hug and shouting 'Daddeeeeee!". Unfortunately more than one man in the world had a bald spot and a cream trench coat in Manchester airport that day and this one was not my dad. I was mortified but he seemed rather amused and even thanked me for the hug before I ran away in shame.

The other two events happened more recently. One was the Christmas before last when my brain didn't kick in fast enough and I swore, very loudly, in front of Elliot's parents (doh!). Model girlfriend, I think not...The other time was a moment I should probably be embarrassed by but instead I just find it funny. I think that airport incident might have numbed my embarrassment sensors or something. My bedroom in my second year at university was in the attic so my windows pointed upwards, meaning not having curtains was never an issue in terms of preserving my modesty from the neighbours. Alas, one can evidently become too used to strutting around nude whenever one fancies it because I carried on doing this when I moved home for the summer. Where my bedroom overlooks the neighbour's back garden. And they employ gardeners. You do the math. 

I probably have a million and one other embarrassing moments which have happened over the years but, let's be honest, most of those were probably drunken times and those don't count! 

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I'm off collecting dissertation samples with the Mothership who has kindly offered to trudge around a moor with me in the pouring rain, and plan to spend the rest of the weekend in my pyjamas getting reacquainted with Netflix (what a babe!)