I guess I took a 2 week blog vacation, huh?! I definitely needed it, and a proper post will be up later explaining what I’ve been up to. But in the mean time, here’s a little clue in the way of this weekend’s Sing Along Sunday video.
It’s just a bit of fun, so sing along. I know by the end of it you’ll know all the words to that super-catchy chorus…
I figured we’d stay on the theme of “look at my hair!” with this week’s Throwback Thursday. Again, I LOVED this hair. It was during my ‘Hayley Williams’ phase, and I went from fluorescent orange to fire engine red, and everything in between.
This photo was taken at Popstarz in London, on New Years Eve. I think it’s 2007, but it might be 2008. I had the bright idea that my little crew would dress up like sailors, but I was the only one that took it to full costume. Everyone else just wore the hats I bought them. Haha. We stayed there until about 5am, making snow angels in the fake snow. In this photo I’m trying to wrestle Joel, who was my GBF (Gay Best Friend). I guess we were having a snow fight.
I’m pretty sure this was the greatest New Years Eve I’ve ever had. What’s your best NYE memory?
Lately I have been…
Enjoying the awesome sunshine. Here’s Jackson Square looking all pretty.
Taking Milo on road trips to the park and the golf course. I took this photo when we made a pit stop at the post office.
Milo hasn’t quite figured out that dogs usually put their heads out of the window.
Having fun at the Royal Street Stroll as part of The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. Right after I got something to eat at this stand I had a camera shoved in my face by some ass who thought it would be fun to take the piss out of me for ordering vegetarian food from a stand that mainly sold pork. He’s lucky the drink I had in my hand tasted good because he nearly got it all over his fancy camera.
Also part of NOWFE was The Big Gateaux Show. Four amazing pastry chefs, a bunch of awesome chocolates and desserts with matching cocktails, AND burlesque dancers dressed to match their chocolate showpieces. My BFF, Bella Blue, just happened to be the dancer on the winning team. Yay!
What have you been up to lately?
One of the sites I use to review products is Tomoson. A while ago I applied to review some pens from UGLee, and then totally forgot until a few weeks later when they contacted me and asked if I’d still like to review them and run a giveaway. Who can say no to pens?! Not me. If you’re anything like me then you always have pens scattered around your house so you always have one to hand. Some are good, some are not so good.
When I was at school I often got told that I was pressing too hard on the paper when I was writing. I think a lot of that was to do with the pens I was using, and how I was having to hold them. I would always finish exams with big marks on my fingers from where I was squeezing the pen too tight, and my fingers would hurt. The problem was probably with my skinny, bony fingers. Pens always felt uncomfortable to me, and I actually prefer writing with hexagonal-shaped pencils as I feel like they fit my hand better than most pens.
The Ultimate Grip Pen by Dr James Lee, or UGLee Pen, is designed to be ergonomically fitted to your hand. When I first opened the packet, I wasn’t sure at all about the weird, rubber grip around the pen. It felt squishy and alien in my hand, and the first time I tried to write with it my handwriting looked terrible! It was wobbly and didn’t look very neat at all.
I figured the best way to demonstrate now would be to show you!
Like I said above, I think my handwriting will definitely improve after I’ve been using the UGLee Pen for a while. I can already feel the difference after I’ve been writing for a while, and having a comfortable pen to use will encourage to write more often. I really like the pen, and I’m glad I gave it a chance after initially thinking that it felt too weird to write with! The pen is perfect for people for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Arthritis, and is especially good for kids learning to write.
And here’s to chance to try the UGLee Pen out for yourself! I have a 3-pack of pens in a random colour to giveaway, thanks to Dr Lee. On this occasion, the giveaway is only open to US residents, and the prize will be shipped direct from Dr Lee and UGLee. The contest is only open for a few days, so get your entry in now!
Click here to go to the Rafflecopter giveaway
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
This is Gary. He’s a Giant African Land Snail and he lives in my bedroom at my parents house. I know people think snails are weird, but I’ve always loved them. I used to play with them in the garden when I was little and my mum always used to tell me off and say I’d catch e-coli if I didn’t wash my hands afterwards.
I don’t recall exactly how we came to have Gary, something to do with someone my mum works with at the hospital. He was pretty small when we got him but he’s grown a lot. He likes lettuce and celery, and buries himself in his soil at night. He’s escaped a few times, I once woke up to him halfway up my bedroom curtains. Seriously.
Also, check out my turquoise hair! I REALLY miss this hair colour. I got rid of it a few weeks after I moved to NOLA, and I kinda regret it. I wish I’d kept it a little while longer, because I’m about to start a new job (which I’ll tell you about soon) and I’m pretty sure they won’t let me have any crazy colours.
Have you got any weird pets? Anyone got anything weirder than a snail?!
After brightening up the kitchen with my fancy new green frying pan last week, I’ve been checking out some other cool kitcheny stuff to add to the collection
A Kitchen Aid Mixer has been on my wishlist FOREVER. Someday I’ll get on and all my cooking dreams will come true. But it has to be in a cool colour, please. I like this pistachio green, it would be very easy to match other things to it.
I really want some fancy plates. The ones in our kitchen right now are mismatched and mostly white. The patterns on these remind me of a Spirograph. I had one of those when I was younger and it was one of my favourite toys.
And maybe while I’m at it, I’ll get myself the matching tea towels too! These would look really good stretched out into frames or over canvas too. I really like the colours, and they would look nice with my Kitchen Aid Mixer ;p
I’ve watched pretty much every episode of every Hairy Bikers TV show, and the “Mum’s Know Best” series was awesome. All good, homely recipes that have been tried and tested by generations of families, like proper Victoria Sponge, Cheesy Cottage Pie and Welsh Cakes. Not that I would ever eat a Welsh Cake that wasn’t made by my Nanny Wendy!
Speaking of Welsh baking. I found Bara Brith Tea Cake for sale on Etsy by Carrington Lane Bakery. Anne bakes recipes from all over the world and sells them in her online store. The German Walnut Cookies look so yummy, and so do the Jammy Bakewell Flap Jacks.
Sucré have released another one of their limited edition macaron boxes, this time it’s Key Lime Pie and Tiramisu flavours. I can’t put into words how much I love each of these desserts, and if I don’t get to at least try the Key Lime Pie flavour I will be a very sad girl!
What was the last cool thing you bought for your kitchen? Or what was the last cake or dessert you made? I’m thinking about making my White Chocolate and Lime cheesecake for a party later this week, I’ll let you know how it goes!
A few years ago I learnt through a friend that the pans we use in our kitchen could actually be harmful to our health. Traditional non-stick pans are coated in a layer of PTFE, or PolyTetraFluoroEthylene, which over time and consistent use at high heat can decompose and seep into our food. My friend was starting to replace all of her non-stick pans with ones that were ceramic coated, and I made sure to make a mental note that when it was time to stock my kitchen I would also be on the look out for ceramic-coated pans.
About a fortnight ago I was contacted by the good folks at Ozeri who asked me if I’d like to review one of their ceramic-coated frying pans. I’ve been really excited about this review, especially as all the other pans in our kitchen (which Brett already had before I moved in) are all covered in that nasty PTFE. Also, it’s BRIGHT GREEN!! Yep, super awesome. The inside of the pan has this cool honeycomb texture that helps heat to disperse evenly under your food. It also has a heat-resistant handle which is always important in cookware.
In order to test this out, I decided to cook one of my staple recipes; cottage cheese and rolled oat pancakes. I wanted to use a recipe where I already had something to compare the results to, i.e. making them in my usual PTFE non-stick frying pan.
From reading the instructions, I knew that I needed to “season” the pan before using it. It recommended putting in a very light coating of oil, and wiping it around with a paper towel. I usually spray on a coat of oil per side of pancake, so I was a little wary about wiping away most of that oil when I usually need it all in my other frying pan. I turned the heat on low to get the frying pan warmed up and then mixed up my ingredients.
To make two large pancakes, which serves two people (trust me, these are filling) you will need:
There are also some other ingredients you might like to add in:
By the time you’ve mixed your ingredients together your pan will be more than ready for your pancakes. Spoon in half the mixture, smoosh it out to a pancake shape and leave it on low for 4-5 minutes. Yes, smoosh is a word. With my other pan, I would then spray another layer oil on the uncooked side of the pancake before I flipped it to be sure it wouldn’t stick. I was nervous about not doing it with this pan, but decided to trust it, and flipped the pancake bare, so to speak. I didn’t need to worry. After another 4 minutes the pancake was done, and flipped out cleanly and easily. There was no mess left in the pan, and the pancake was cooked thoroughly. I spooned in my half of the batter, and left it to cook while I plated up Brett’s pancake.
Ta dah! Here is Brett’s pancake, which was the basic mix with some sliced peaches and pancake syrup put on top after it was plated. I went with the basic mix with some chopped almonds mixed into the batter, and with sliced peaches on top too. No syrup for me though.
I was really impressed with how evenly and cleanly the Ozeri frying pan cooked the pancakes. With my usual frying pan, I would need to use a lot of oil to stop them sticking. Obviously when you’re trying to cook something healthy like cottage cheese and oat pancakes, you feel a bit defeated when you’re having to smother them in oil. I felt a lot healthier eating these pancakes, knowing I’d only had to use one spray of oil instead of my usual four.
The instructions recommend leaving the pan to cool down before washing it, as it can be damaging to the coating to immediately pour cold water onto it while it’s hot. It took just a few seconds with some warm soapy water to get it clean, as no food had stuck to it at all. With my normal frying pan I would need to soak it in hot water remove all the leftover grease and cooked-on food. I’m really happy with the results I got, and would highly recommend the Ozeri frying pan to anyone looking to replace the PTFE-coated pans they have. It was a pleasure to receive the product from them, and I will definitely be looking into the rest of their range to see what other products would work well for my cooking needs.
Thanks Ozeri for the opportunity to review your product! Do you have any of Ozeri’s products? Did you know about PTFE and the alternative to traditional non-stick coatings?
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
I missed last week’s Sing Along Sunday as I was busy getting the house tidy for Brett’s return from Kentucky. But we’re back again this week with possibly one of the happiest songs on the planet. I save this song for special occasions, when I either feel like dancing or I need to be cheered up. I played it to Brett a few months ago and now it’s one of his favourites too.
It was actually his choice today. I couldn’t decide between a few songs, so I asked him and he chose this one even though it wasn’t on my original list. So sit back and listen, and try not to dance in your seat!
Do you have any songs or albums that you save as your “emergency” songs for when you need to get happy, or you love so much that you don’t want to overplay them so they stay awesome?
Saw this on Bethany Joy Lenz’s blog, and needed to share it with you all. I think the topic calls for some discussion and will be talking about it next week, but I’d love to know your initial thoughts about it. Leave me a comment and let’s get talking!
This week I have mostly been…
Sitting on my balcony, enjoying the sunshine and watching the clouds float by. Check out this awesome cloud shaped like Louisiana! Also, I’ve been trying to see if it’s possible to sit out there and drink a whole cup of tea without a tourist taking a photo of my house or a horse and carriage tour rolling by. The answer is no, it’s not.
I’ve been obsessing over avocado with cayenne pepper. I have this thing about spicy food where it becomes addictive. Even if it burns my mouth, I can’t stop eating it! I mash it up and eat it right out of the skin.
Hanging out with this dude while Brett’s been away. This was taken right after I gave him a bath. I always feel so bad for him. He doesn’t try to run away from the water, just sort of gives up in defeat and stares at you with his sad eyes. I have to bribe him with treats afterwards so he doesn’t hate me.
I wore my Darth Gator shirt for “May The Fourth” and was kinda bummed at the lack of Star Wars fans in the Quarter. I only saw two other people wearing Stars Wars-related shirts, and only a few people saw mine and got the joke about wearing it on that particular day. Booooo.
My boyfriend just got home yesterday after being gone for 2 weeks. The day he left, I had that very important interview I mentioned a while ago. That interview was to get me approved to work in the US, and while he was away I got a letter to say I passed! This morning he disappeared for a while, and came home with a case of frozen Aunt Jemima’s French Toast for me to celebrate! Another one of my food obsessions. Honestly one of the best gifts I’ve ever had.
It’s Strawberry Festival time here in Louisiana, and of course Sucré has decorated for the season and has strawberry chocolates AND strawberry macarons. You know how Apple has the saying “There’s an app for that”? Sucré should have one that says “There’s a macaron for that”.
What have you been up to lately?
