'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'

My blog has been looking rather empty over the last few months. Coming back to uni after summer I became drawn into the social life, occasionally the work and my role in Fashion Soc, putting on a huge Charity Fashion Show in November of last year. It all took over a little bit and I barely had a moment to myself, let alone to blog!

Having been home and recuperated, I thought it was about time that I resumed the blogging. Its also a fabulous way to procrastinate from the exam revision that I should be doing right now! #studentlife

I thought I'd give you a little taster of the months that I've been away; firstly, August when I moved into my perfect Brighton house and which I have continued to make pretty since then! its still very 'studenty' but its getting there.  Next, it was a holiday to the Yorkshire Dales with school friends to stay in a gorgeous house, filled with long drawn out suppers, too much wine, eprfect walks in the countryside and overdue catch ups. In September I became an auntie to a beautiful baby girl - Ona Sophia - who I was instantly besotted with and can't spend enough time with! Next, the fashion show. It was huge, 1920s inspired with a little bit of a modern twist and took place in a big church in Hove. We featured collections from American Apparel, cult vintage store Beyond Retro, incredible jewellery from Union, as well as local designers and couture boutiques including wedding dresses and suits! It was a fabulous night and I loved every minute of it but it was absolutely exhausting and could have been a full time job rather than being done alongside a degree! There have been launch parties and photoshoots, beauty shoots for the Fashion Soc's bi-annual magazine, Promenade, which is being launched at the end of the month, plenty of nights out and many a hazy memory! Then, finally, it was time to head home for Christmas holidays, to catch up with friends and sit by the fire with family, Prosecco and cocktails.

I'm just about to begin my second term of second year at Sussex and as I approach internship applications, exams and the production of the publicity magazine for Brighton Fashion Week I'm excited for what is to come. I'm sure that 2013 will be filled with as many adventures and dramas as the last, as well as more incredible memories.

How to lure your friends to the country

I love Tatler and today ysterday they posted the best article. Anyoen that is based in the country will have had problems in getting friends to come to you. 'A backwater' is how my boyfriend describes my house on the Essex/Suffolk border (the Suffolk part is VERY important in that statement!) and he wouldn't be the only one!

 

Growing up in the middle of nowhere - you had to learn to drive or else become a hermit - I love the countryside and rent a big big house in the country with my school friends every summer, making an effort to spend more time in the fields rather than in the city.

Tatler really does sum in up though and hopefully those of you that can relate will find it as entertaining as I did! 

                                   

2^nd January 2013

Tatler

How do you make diehard townies pack their bags and leave the M25 for the countryside? You lure them in with flowery descriptions, name-dropping and house parties, says Violet Hudson...

So you live in the middle of Lower Back-Of-Beyond, Nowhereshire, and it takes 17 hours and costs hundreds of pounds to get there. (It's actually a cottage in Somerset, but that's what it feels like sometimes). You don't even like it that much. So how on earth do you get your friends to come and stay? Why on earth would they when, in town, they can take in an avant-garde show, drink a soya latte at 3am and have gold leaf stroked onto their skin by way of a facial?

 

The key to making your friends want to visit lies in the word 'country'. For many townies, the word sums up images from the Graham and Green catalogue (little do they know), so be sure to pepper your invitation with plenty of flowery descriptions. Don't be afraid of speaking in a way that wouldn't be out of place on the side of an Innocent Smoothie bottle. 'We can go for a really lovely country walk and there's this lovely little country pub we can go to and we can have crumpets by the lovely country fireplace.'

 

You may also be rewarded by playing a long game. Six months before you want friends to come and stay, stop complaining about the cold and the ever-present animal crap and the catty village gossip. Drop names of social trail-blazers who have previously visited, or, better yet, live locally. Post pictures on Facebook of guests happily toasting marshmallows over a bonfire. Send out copies of Cider With Rosie or any book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Pretend you live in a smarter county than you do -Gloucestershire is better than Worcestershire, for example, as Herefordshire is better than Shropshire and Norfolk better than Suffolk, and a lot better than Lincolnshire. Once they're beyond the M25, townies may not notice where they are.

 

You could try dangling other impressive potential guests in from of them. All social life, frankly, is a chance to get off with people, literally or figuratively. Casually mention that the only way to really get to know someone is over a weekend house party in the country. It's basically a microcosm of a relationship as you run the gamut of experiences: lunch in the pub, long, leisurely walk, smart supper, raucous late-night drinking, a chance to roll in the hay-bales...

 

For resistant diehard townies, you may as well cave in and demonstrate just how sophisticated rural life has become. There was a time when you had to shop on Bond Street or Sloane Square to look like you were on a grouse moor. Now (imagine!) there are helpful branches of Brora and Toast in all corners of rural locations. There's no need to confine yourself to the Daylesford in Westbourne Grove and Pimlico because guess where else there's one... Daylesford! You can get the exact same organic butternut squash salad in Gloucestershire as you can in W11. Heck, you can even have the same massage.

 

Article link: http://www.tatler.com/news/articles/january-2013/how-to-lure-your-friends-to-the-country

Team GB

Unless you've been living in a cocoon over the past couple of months you'll know that tonight is the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. I'm not particularly excited about them being hosted in London. I don't have tickets and stand by the view that you see more watching on TV. Obviously you miss some of the atmosphere but the actual sports are captured in such amazing detail and the achievements are always fascinating, made more so by knowing athletes backgrounds by way of commentary.

I cannot wait, however, for the events themselves. They will be addictive, enticing and striking I'm sure. Worldwide brand, American Apparel, have just launched these tees especially for the games and their advertising campaign is a serious of incredible Olympic memories, captured in photographs. They really are stunning.

So, the sports will be amazing. London will be packed (I'm avoiding as much as I can over the next 16 days!) and many people are going to be left with great memories, watching, competing and being involved in the atmosphere. The fashion is sure to also be incredible in the capital and I'm looking forward to seeing the reports, multi-cultural outfits, trends and ideas.

Enriqueta Basilio, Mexico 1968

Nadia Comaneci

Wilma Glodean Rudolph

'...You can get lost, or you can get discovered...' - Dizzy Rascal speaking about the Olympic Games, 27th July 2012

Let the games begin <3

Pimms Ice Lollies

This week is set to just get hotter - yay! We might finally get a smmer; we can at least hope!

These yummy grown up lollies are perfect for sunny days and garden parties and incredibly easy to make.

Ingredients for 8 lollies:

20 strawberries, hulled and halved
150ml Pimms (or more if you're feeling thirsty!)
300ml lemonade left to go flat
Handful of fresh mint leaves

Lolly moulds

Push 5 strawberry halves, cut side facing out into the lolly moulds. Mix together the pimms and FLAT lemonade (to avoid expansion when freezing) and pour over the strawberries. Add a couple of mint leaves to each mould and insert a wooden lolly stick - the strawberries will hold the stick in place. Pop in the freezer over night, run under the tap to release when you're ready for refreshment! You could of course vary the fruit and add raspberries, pieces of orange and lemon to ensure a truly 'Pimms' experience.

Freshly Squeezed

There's nothing better, or better for you than freshly squeezed juice. It uses up old fruit and is fantastic for breakfast, especially on hot summer days. The only downside really is having to wash up the juicer afterwards and that's not even that bad!

For breakfast yesterday we made freshly squeezed apple, raspberry and blueberry juice. It was a really yummy combination but any fruit works well; apple, carrot and ginger; orange, passion fruit and pineapple; banana, orange and apple; apple and beetroot - they're all great!

Ingredients:

(for 2 people)

4 apples

A handful of raspberries

A handful of blueberries

And it really is as simple as popping them all through the juicer. Serve in nice glasses over ice for ultimate refreshment!

Fig & Olive

I've spent the best part of the last week in London, catching up with friends, going to events, hanging out with my sisters and working at a festival - blog post to come!

On Friday, I went for lunch with a girlfriend from Uni to Fig and Olive on Upper Street in Islington. Conveniently located in the heart of Islington, the restaurant is a light and airy space, decorated in a beautifully modern style. A choice of armchairs and tables and a choice of breakfast, lunch or supper, the restaurant is definitely worth a try for locals and visitors alike. Our route to the restaurant wasn't a direct one. Helen has been looking for a headboard for her bed in the new Uni house for a while now and we saw one outside a gorgeous town house by Highbury Fields so we took a detour via her house with the wrought iron headboad that for some reason was no wanted by its owners. One man's gold is another's rubbish as they say!! We earnt our lunch at least!

Fig & Olive pride themselves on fresh ingredients and I chose an Asparagus and Spinach Risotto which was delicious. Helen went for a Mezze platter which included pitta bread, humous, halloumi and ratatouille. Dishes that were light enough for lunch but filled a hole.

                                                

What's really enticing about the restaurant though is the display on cakes and salads in the window, visible from the street to draw in customers! Chocolate tortes, cakes and gateaux of all shapes and sizes; cheesecake; tarts; pastries adorn the display space and its incredibly hard to choose between them! We shared a chocolate and cream cake which was yummy and didn't last long enough to take a photo of!!

It was lovely to catch up with Helen and great to try somewhere new in London, especially in Islington where I spend most of my time when I'm visiting my sister who's based there.

Visit Fig & Olive's website for more details and to look at sample menus:

http://figolive.co.uk/

Pancakes

Pancakes are one of my absolute favourite things. At uni we have pancake and wine nights where everyone eats their body weight and the wine is always dreadful but they hold some of the funnest memories for me.

Perfect for breakfast or dessert, I've been making them a lot recently whenever we've had people to stay - they have the added bonus of being cheap and appealing to both sweet and savoury tastes by means of fillings...

My favourite recipe is in The River Cottage Family Cookbook but pancakes are one of those things that once you've made them a few times you can just feel when the batter is right and add more or less ingredients as required. This recipe is a great starting point though and will make about 15 pancakes, or in my case much thinner crepes.

Plain flour, 250g

A pinch of salt

Free range eggs, 2

Milk, about 500ml, and then a little more (or 1/2 water, 1/2 milk if you'd prefer)

Sunflower oil for frying

Add the flour and salt to a mixing bowl of jug, crack in the eggs and start to mix, using either a hand whisk or electric mixer. Slowly add in the milk and continue to mix until there are no lumps of flour - ensure the mixture is the right consistency: not quite as thick as single cream is ideal.

Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick frying pan and use a piece of kitchen roll to wipe the oil round the pan to ensure that it is all covered. Once hot, add some batter, tilt the pan to cover the base and once the pancake can be lifted at the edges using a spatula, (or moves when the pan is shaken) flip to cook on both sides.

Slide the pancake on to a warm plate and experiment with fillings!

I went for Nutella, dark chocolate buttons and dessicated coconut. It was amazing!

A squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar works really well as does jam and a little clotted cream or honey or maple syrup. Pancakes can of course be savoury but lets be honest, where's the fun in that!