I have been so wrapped up with blogging about food, I had almost forgotten to show you guys my latest purchases! I have been slowly adding to my Spring/Summer wardrobe, awaiting the day when it will finally creep up and surprise us. This weekend was probably the first of this year where I went out with NO coat/ jacket/ chunky cardigan on – it was confusing and brilliant and the sun warmed me up a treat.
I am most pleased with this jacket from H&M! I originally tried it on in-store, where it was full price (£34.99), but wasn’t 100% sure about whether or not to buy it. I came home to find that on the website it was half price (£17.50) but I still wasn’t completely convinced! A few days later it was reduced once again (£14.99) and I also came across a discount code, giving me a further £5 off. Amazing! Obviously it was meant to be. The jacket ended up costing me £13.49 (including p&p) and should last me all the way until the weather begins turning quite chilly and thicker layers are required.
I love that it is quite a smart jacket, but could be teamed with jeans for a simpler, more casual look. The bow details on the pockets are adorable, as are the gorgeous illustrations on the lining.
Next up is a simple and practical chunky knit cardigan from Peacocks, £18. I love the sleeve length; they sit just above my wrists, so leave room for my watch to be on show, and doesn’t have any buttons. Due to a boob-body size ratio problem, I generally cannot do cardigans up anyway, so this suits me fine!
Finally, a brilliant bargain from Ebay! I have been in love with this shirt for years, and am so excited to finally own it. Laia owns the same one, and I was constantly borrowing it – when she moved back to Barcelona I don’t know whether I missed Laia or her wardrobe more! (JOKE!! ♥) When I saw it in the right size I knew I HAD to own it once again. And at £6, you can’t say fairer than that! It’s a men’s shirt, which is super confusing because the buttons are the WRONG way round, haha.
Infact I seem to have quite a lot of photographs of me wearing this shirt, and generally eating, haha!
Which reminds me, I really need to return to Franco Manca as soon as possible. They make the most delicious pizzas, with sourdough bases, and carafes of wine which match perfectly.
Barbecue ribs, jalapeno poppers, paprika wedges and battered onion rings.
I bought Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman, for Mr T’s birthday earlier in the year, and last weekend we finally found some time to cook from it! We chose the mouth-watering barbeque ribs, and they didn’t disappoint! Made using vital wheat gluten for the ‘meaty’ part, and a marinade made up of brown sauce, bbq sauce, soya sauce and a bundle of other magic ingredients, we pushed through some faux rib ‘bones’ and served with jalapeno poppers. I’ve never had these before, vegan or otherwise, so it was a bit of an adventure. I was really pleased with the results! I followed this recipe, using Paxo breadcrumbs for the coating. Next time I will definitely be wearing gloves when preparing the jalapenos, though – my hands were burning all evening!
Errands, football, chinese food, life
This weekend has been slightly hectic but full of fun and lovely people! Friday night I saw a friend who has been working abroad in Paris and Berlin (jealous, moi?) since January so it was great to catch up. Then me and Mr T went out for a few beers with his old boss from a few years ago – he’s a brewer and we had a really interesting conversation about beers and new pubs in Brighton. His own beer is being sold in a couple of pubs soon, which is so exciting! Saturday seemed so busy, but thankfully didn’t fly by! Saturday morning, bright and early, we headed in to town to run a few errands. We came back, had lunch then it was off to the AMEX stadium for the long-awaited Whitehawk vs Crawley Down game. I had never been to a stadium before, it was amazing and even though we (obviously) didn’t quite fill it, the atmosphere was great. Also helped that the Hawks won 2-1 and are the Sussex County FA Cup Winners! My throat is sore from shouting, COYH!
From the game we raced for the bus to my parents’ house where my sister, her fiancee and my Grandad were also spending the weekend – my sister and my Grandad have birthdays on the 11th and 12th so we had plenty to celebrate! We ordered a huge chinese takeaway which was absolutely amazing! French beans in garlic and chilli, tofu, noodles, broccoli, coconut rice – phew, it was brilliant feast! Followed by a few glasses of liquor 43 and a few games of Bananagrams and Triominoes. Lovely.
I was so excited to finally give my sister one gift in particular. Ever since I saw these gems on the Doolallytat blog, I knew I had to have one made! These super-talented ladies have so many inspiring goodies to choose from, but this necklace had Nat’s name all over it, haha! The ordering was so simple, and I got to choose the length and colour of the chain, plus it came so quickly!
She absolutely LOVED it! I was so pleased. And I loved it, too! I really want to get one made with Rum or Port. Ideally it would say Sailor Jerry, but as these pieces are genuinely vintage, and were decanter labels, you can’t really request anything too contemporary or specific! What a gem. I recommend following their blog for regular crafty updates.
Today I’ve been busy with the weekly food shop, plus I had a wander around town in the beautiful sunshine, stocking up on cups for the soup-run and I bought a great cardigan from Peacocks. Will show some photographs of these shortly. I hope you are all enjoying the gorgeous sunshine! I came home and was so inspired by the weather I made my first smoothie – it was simple, but really delicious. I used a ripe banana, an apple, some strawberries and some soya milk – yum!
Messenger Bird
This week I’ve been enjoying some calming breakfasts. It’s so strange that for the majority of my life I had zero interest in this first meal of the day – and now it is rapidly becoming my favourite!
Inspired by Laura at Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish, I thought I would include a little mini round-up of my week. It goes alongside my resolutions and aim to be mindful and appreciate that I do manage to tick things off my to-do list and that it’s ok to just rest and be calm (that would be nice).
So, this week saw me set up an additional blog: paperbagbites, which is focused on one of my favourite things: FOOD! It covers inspiring recipes, food photography, brilliant blogs, food diaries and plenty more. You can find my food photography here and my food diaries here.
My week started badly, for a few reasons. The long weekend was hard, but I did manage to do a few nice things: mainly in the kitchen! I made a sticky ginger cake, that has been praised as being my best cake yet! Which was lovely. Me and Mr T also made a feast on Monday, which included barbeque seitan ribs, paprika wedges, onion rings and jalapeno poppers! I’ll hopefully upload some photographs over the weekend of these goodies.
I returned to helping out with the soup-run, which I love – I had a couple of weeks off due to other volunteers being trained, and going to see Anti-Flag in Kingston, so it was great to be back with my coffee flasks!
I’ve been job hunting, with no luck so far. I’m not really in a huge rush to find a new position, so I am being very particular – but maybe too particular! I’m looking forward to setting up the new office, and being based in a more central location, but in terms of my current position it is just not cutting the mustard. I crave being creative, for everyday to be different, to be doing a job that I really love and enjoy. I love the things that I do outside of work (writing, seeing bands, baking etc.) but I need to start some kind of career. I know that as a result of not doing what I enjoy, I am causing myself and my poor brain a lot of problems.
I’ve also been keeping up with my little fitness routine of sticking on Nell McAndrew’s DVD 3-4 times per week. It’s only an hour long but I do feel better for it afterwards. I need to buy a sports bra though – does anyone have any tips for a good brand, which isn’t too expensive?
I hope that everyone enjoyed their almost-shorter-week and is looking forward to the weekend! I’ve got the Hawks game at the Amex stadium tomorrow, which should be amazing (COYH!) then spending the weekend with my family as it’s my beautiful little sister’s birthday today, and my Grandad’s birthday tomorrow!
WIAW – Third Time’s a Charm
It’s that time again! Here are some eats from my week so far!
I’m trying to break out of my breakfast routine and have a few new combinations, and so this week I had my beloved vanilla soya yoghurt, with sliced banana.
Lunch was a bowl of lettuce tossed with diced yellow pepper, cubes of smoked tofu, roasted veg couscous, black olives, gherkins, tenderstem broccoli and a dressing of balsamic vinegar. A blob of houmous on top and a couple of crackers added some extra deliciousness!
At the weekend we went to a friends house for dinner, and they created a Mexican masterpiece! This included battered avocado, guacamole, mango salsa and a mixed bean and sweetcorn salad – amazing!
Followed by pretty much the best dessert I’ve ever had! Chocolate-peanut butter-pretzel treats!!
These were two pretzels, sandwiched with peanut butter fondant and half-dipped in chocolate. The stuff of dreams!
I hope that everyone had a relaxing long weekend and the week so far has been good! My weekend was a bit up-and-down but I did a fair bit of writing, baking and blog-reading, so I can’t complain. My car passed it’s MOT which was such a huge relief! Plus I spent time with friends, played Bananagrams and made barbeque ribs!
The Third Estate – Saturday 12th May
If you’re free on Saturday 12th May, make sure you keep it that way – because this coming weekend see’s the launch of The Third Estate’s new store in Camden. An ethical haven, you can indulge in eco-friendly clothing, fairtrade garments and best of all – an entire wall dedicated to vegan shoes!
The grand opening will run from 10am – 6pm and you can take advantage of the following extra treats:
- 10% discount on all purchases
- Free chocolates, courtesy of hypo hyfryd
- An organic, fair trade, hand-printed cotton bag with every purchase
- Free samples from gorgeous skincare company, Premae
With previous success in their store which was located in Leeds, it’s great that Southerners will now have access to some brilliant labels and products. I find this change in vegan fashion really exciting – especially as it combines other aspects such as focusing on sourcing ethical companies and incorporating fairtrade principals. We are slowly saying goodbye to shops filled with hemp and overpriced organic cotton t-shirts, and embracing a much more stylish face of veganism.
The new store has beautiful attention to detail in terms of visual merchandising, with features that reflect the sincerity of the staff. Old tree branches from a family members’ garden provide a central focal point, surrounded by rails of fairtrade and recycled pieces and reclaimed packing pallets.
This brilliant wall of shoes boasts styles for both men and women, and for all occasions, and brands include Vegetarian Shoes, Macbeth and Ethletic.
Confirm your attendance, and to make sure you keep up to date with news and offers, please Like their Facebook page!
The Third Estate
27 Brecknock Rd, N7 0BT Camden Town
Tue – Wed: 10am – 5:30pm
Thur: 11am – 7pm
Fri – Sat :10am – 5:30pm
My weekend, so far, has mostly been filled with hanging out with Mr T and Rasputin, receiving brilliant parcels, watching the new American Pie movie, eating some of my favourite food (South Indian) – aka GIANT dosa! Drinking Fisherman’s Friend shots, buying vegan staples and a treat for Mr T. Tonight we’re going to a friends house to eat tacos, play Bananagrams and drink Rumbongos. I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend, so far ♥
