London Calling

Last few weeks I've been living in between Birmingham and London - most of my friends, sister, and now boyfriend too, lives in the capital, so Agne and I made the decision to get our butts out of Birmingham.

It's a bit like an adventure for us, we left our jobs (that we quite recently started) and started looking for a nice little place to move to. My sister will be joining us, so it'll be three musketeers living together once again.

Here's a quick photo update of what I managed to do and see while in between house viewings and all that jazz.

 

 We went to Meat Mission in Hoxton Market a couple of times for some grub, their wings are so so SO good.

My local-to-be chippy.
 

 Another local-to-be, lovely cafe with lots of knick-knacks to stare at. 
 

After a long search and full diary of house viewings we have picked the house and are now just awaiting for the date of move.

Hello London!

 

 

Tweet

Night Out With Diana Mini

My tiny little Diana Mini camera went out in Birmingham recently - we visited Digbeth Dining Club at Spotlight, and then celebrated Annika's birthday in town. The best thing about film cameras is that you don't find out what pictures look like until you get the film developed and I think it always turns out better than expected!
I decided to get the film cross processed this time, and I fell in love with the high contrast, saturation and grain in these photographs.

 

Tadaaa!

Tweet

Weekend in Paris

My sister and I spent a long weekend in Paris - she ran a half marathon for the first time and I tagged along to support her. I got there on Saturday evening and was really tired, so we just rested and got ready for an early start on Sunday morning. 

Lina finished in 1 hour 50 minutes, which is fantastic for a first half marathon!
The hardest part was over and we were off to do the tourist ting!

The sun was going down as we were in the Eiffel Tower, and Paris looked very beautiful indeed.
We refueled ourselves with pizza, pasta and red wine, and headed back to hotel to get ready for the marathon after party. I can just say it was a long night.
Monday was spent eating massive burgers and pastrami sandwiches, sightseeing, and more sightseeing...

 

My legs are still sore from walking around, it feels like I ran the marathon too!

Tweet

Stilton and Apples

I've been craving stilton with apples/grapes and rustic bread for a few days now. Luckily, I have a gigantic piece of mature stilton in my fridge and today I gave in to my cravings, went a bit 'cheese mad' even - stilton for breakfast, and lunch! I might even have it for dinner, haven't decided on that one yet.

See, that was my breakfast. Even though cheese is 'full of fat' (as my sister described), I think I managed to make it appear healthy, look at all the apples and grapes, oh, and avocado!

And here's my lunch. I've never tried Waldorf salad before, but I knew it has apples, grapes and stilton in it, obviously, I had to make it. 

The salad doesn't need a recipe, it's way too easy. Throw some romaine lettuce leaves together, add grapes, apples, crumble the stilton on top. It usually has celery in it, but I'm not a fan of it, so I left it out. Mayo as a dressing? I don't think so, use fat free greek yoghurt with lemon juice instead (think protein, and live active cultures, which promote good digestion). Sprinkle some walnuts on top and season with salt and pepper. 

I served it with some fresh whole wheat bread and it was delicious. I've got this idea that my lunch always has to contain some meat, otherwise I won't be satisfied and still feel hungry. Now I know it's not the case, as this salad filled me right up! 

I also thought of a New Year's resolution - I have to drink at least 3 cups of green tea daily. I'm talking big mugs, not those 'normal' ones everyone has.

Green tea is amazing and has all kinds of benefits, which increase with the amount of tea you drink. I believe this is a resolution I can actually keep up with, it will boost my metabolism, keep my energy levels stable, and prevent skin damage. Yes to that!

Tweet

Thai Curry Soup

I made this today for lunch and was so impressed by it, I had to have seconds. The recipe is inspired by 'chicken curry noodles' from my Wagamama's cookbook, but I rarely do exactly what recipe says to do, so I turned the dish into a warm, filling, and healthy soup. 

It is very quick and easy to make, doesn't cost much, and will do you good - I packed mine with favourite veggies (I usually end up with more vegetables than noodles). This is a perfect dish for those who are health conscious (e.g. my sister, who is training hard to achieve her fitness goals) and love food full of flavour (me, that is).

 Here's what you need to feed two hungry people:

1 tsp coconut oil,
1 tbsp peanut butter,
2 small chicken breasts, sliced
noodles enough for two (choose your favourite - egg/whole wheat/rice),
a big tbsp of green curry paste,
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 spring onions, chopped
half chilli, finely sliced
big bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
a piece of ginger, finely chopped,
juice and zest of half a lime, other half reserved for serving,
a big splash of soy sauce,
1 tbsp fish sauce,
1.5 cups chicken stock,
0.5 cup coconut milk,
a selection of your favourite vegetables (I used chesnut mushrooms, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, baby broccoli, and yellow pepper),
a small hand full of toasted coconut flakes for serving (if yours isn't toasted, just pop them in hot pan for a couple of minutes, until they brown a little).

Heat the coconut oil in a pan and cook your chicken seasoned with salt and pepper until it's cooked through. Shred it into smaller pieces, add peanut butter and a glug of soy sauce, then leave it on low heat for another few minutes. 

While chicken is cooking, get yourself a big saucepan, heat a little piece of coconut oil and fry garlic and spring onions for a minute. Then pour chicken stock, and coconut milk, add sliced muchrooms, green thai curry paste, lime juice, zest, ginger, fish sauce and some soy sauce, bring to boil. Noodles usually take few minutes, so pop them in the saucepan when your chicken is nearly ready. If you're like me, and prefer your veggies crunchy, put them all in together with noodles and let simmer for few minutes until the noodles are soft. Check if you need more seasoning, I always find it that it needs more soy sauce, add the chilli.

Transfer the chicken on top of the noodle soup and sprinkle generously with spring onions and coriander. Serve with a wedge of lime and toasted coconut flakes on top.

 
Boyfriend and I slurped the soup moaning how tasty, fresh and fragrant the soup is. I will definitely make this again and again.

Tweet

Instagram Catch Up

The end of December was a busy period - Christmas, birthday, New Years Eve... All that eating, drinking, traveling and recovering! 
And I know, I abandoned the blog a little, but here's what I've been up to.

I got my hair chopped off just before my birthday, I felt like I needed a change, as I've had long hair for a while.

  

 

At 9am on my birthday Agne comes in to my bedroom singing 'Happy birthday' and carrying a cheesecake with candles, way too early! But then she brought glasses of champagne jelly, that she made from scratch, and I was wide awake! Very impressive, chef.

Then there was a birthday dinner at Le Truc, great food and company.

 
On New Years Eve I got a train to London for a late birthday dinner with my sister and Simona, we went to Flat Iron restaurant to try the steaks, and we were not disappointed! 

 
There was no cake, but Lina surprised us with Birthday/New Year cupcakes. I wish I had a lifetime supply of these badboys. 

 
Happy New Year from Corsica club, danced until I couldn't walk anymore!

 
Next afternoon looked like spring has come to the capital, cherry blossoms and blue skies...

Boyfriend and I had to catch a train back to Brum, while he was sleeping, I was smiling at birthday pressies from my London gals.


Festive period is all over now, and everyone knows January is the time to suddenly feel sorry for your liver, maybe start a detox cleanse / join a gym and start planning a sunny getaway. I don't have any New Year resolutions yet, but I have already started making changes in my diet as I want to get the good eating habits back, which I had before I let myself go in December. We will see how that goes.
 

Tweet