Tutti Frutti

I touched on this sweet establishment previously. Tutti Frutti at Reading central station is run by a very sweet woman, we're yet to learn her name! Me and James stop off here for an ice-cream milkshake every time we pass through. Every time it is delicious! It's £5 for the two of us and she fills them right to the top. James usually gets Oreo but were always convinced to try something new. All her ice-creams are homemade, some classic flavours strawberry, chocolate and coconut. Then the newer WOAH ice-creams, Greek yoghurt, New York cheese cake, Ameretto with cherry. My god, I'm going to be so fat.
There was a problem with the card machine today, but she'd already made our shakes. No cash on us either. Crap.
Tutti Frutti trusted our loyalty from simply knowing they had a fantastic product and we were repeat customers. They gave us a personal tab and were paying on our next trip! We love being recognised and just the familiarity and friendly homey feeling you get from small businesses.
I even got a mini ice-cream cone because my milkshake cup wasn't full! How much nicer can you get! Her staff are genuine and the place always has someone coming to say hi.

A meal to impress.

Alternative starter for a cheaper menu and without the flower.

Yesterday I really wanted to go for a gorgeous 3 course meal, wine and dine under candle light with some soft music and a loved one. But my budget just didn't allow that this week. A short trip to Sainsbury's to use up some nectar points, get some fresh ingredients and voila, dinner served. It may look pretty complicated, but it was relatively easy. This should take about 45mins to an hour.

Starter - Slice baguette into inch think chunks, spread olive on one side. Stick under grill to brown. Take a fresh pack of mozzarella, slice 2 for each starter. Take 3 tomatoes, dice one into small cubes and simmer in a pan on its own. Using the second tomato make slices. The third to make the flower. Slice the bottom of just shy of cutting it off and twirl round up to the top.
Dish a generous generous amount of boiled tomato onto the toasted bread. Layer the cheese and tomato slices. Then add the flower.
Garnish with pepper, olive oil and coriander. Serve with the bread warm.

Main - Boil the pasta ready while making the starter. Then fry with a tin of tomato, a chicken stock cube and a pack of fresh seafood. Cut open a tomato, gut out the seeds and fill with some prawns. Garnish with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and coriander. Squeeze a small amount of lemon or vinegar.

Dessert - Make this first! Beat together one pot of Philadelphia cheese with 4-5 tablespoons of sugar. Mash up in a bag, 1 pack of oreos. Use a rolling pin and a sandwich bag for less mess. Melt a knob of butter and mix in with the biscuit. Push down in a cake tin. To make the cheese section firmer, add a sheet of melted gelatine and mix together. Pour the cheese over the biscuit and refrigerate over night or in the freezer for 2 hours.
For the raspberry sauce, mash 1 punnet of raspberries, 2 teaspoons of apple juice and 1 teaspoon of sugar.


Tell me how yours turned out or anything you changed!

Go Grease Lightning.

As some of you may know, I was in Grease the musical a while back. But flicking through some facebook pictures I reminisced over the many hours I had dancing and singing and for a short while, trying and failing to act. Although I did only have 5/6 lines. For you Grease fans out there I played chacha. At first I was chuffed that my audition got me a speaking part which I never thought I could get. Until I watched the film back and realised I basically was casted as the slag. Being a family production my outfits were never too revealing, thank god! We began rehearsing in September after auditioning the previous school year. As we got closer to the end of November, practise became a nightly routine.

When the costumes came I was stupidly excited to dress up in overly flamboyant glittery dresses and full on make-up. Dress rehearsals came and I loved my dress. A gorgeous, red sequined gown for the ball and some back of my wardrobe clothes for the day scenes. Shamefully I forgot my lines one day, I think it was because my brother was in the audience and I was trying desperately not to mess up... but I did, huge fail. My heart raced and my fingers began to sweat, but a quick rescue as I looked down to the band and they smiled and encouraged me through. That wasn't going to happen again, for the remaining 3 shows of 5.

                

On the Friday evening show, the male lead hosted an after party at his house, to which I was cordially invited. Being just shy of the age limit I stuck to the home made cocktails and alcho-pops. Nevertheless the whole experience was amazing and I urge anyone feeling too embarrassed to try out, to just go for it! Everyone else that is on set with you or behind the scenes aren't laughing so who cares? I was nervous about auditioning as I didn't have any close friends to try with, but I made loads of new friends afterwards. Every night was a full house of 400 and I felt like such a pro with my hands free microphone stuck to my face, even it was only for 20 minutes. 

Until next time... 

Moving out to uni? My top 10 tips.

You've just spent the best summer ever, going crazy, partying and having a laugh. There's nothing left to do now until you move out, so you literally did nothing this summer. But for the next 2 weeks, university life is on your mind. What will it be like? Will I make friends? Can I cook or will I starve? What are my house mates like and are they batshit crazy? Oh crap, this is happening.

So just for you, I've made a top 10 tips list. I hope it helps and you have nothing to worry about apart from passing your degree. Oh and congratulations! Time to say goodbye to luxury and hello to freedom.

From highschool to uni.

1. The fresher 15. The first and the biggest. In my book anyway. Freshers 15 is 15lbs of dreaded weight gain. For most starting uni its free from parents which means drinking and take aways. But if you plan on taking up this diet, look forward to spots and sluggish horrible tubby aches. Make sure you drink lots of water during the day, 8 glasses and get as close to your 5 a day as possible.
2. Call your mum. She's probably missing you like crazy and having empty nest syndrome. Plus if your absolutely shit with finances, it's much nicer to ask when you've actually rang for a chat in the past. Than just 'Mum, I need money.'
3. Don't shy away in your room. If you feel like your not making friends, get out there. Get to freshers. Start off with your house mates, course mates you've met, next onto societies. Societies are awesome for feeling part of a group quickly and just for general interests you may have. They'll take you on nights out, competitions and trips. Its fun, sign up.
4. Stock up on tinned foods and cup of soups. When you've been partying/studying all week and forgotten to go shopping. Shops have shut and whats in your fridge has gone off, tins are always there. Soup, tuna, fruit the lot.
5. Set a budget. Before you go away, work out how much financing you've got. Give yourself a weekly allowance and stick as close to it as you can. Don't forget about phone bills, toiletries, travel and emergencies. Theres loads of apps you can get to help.
6. Experiment. I dont mean go on a massive drug binge. I mean things you've never done before, places you've never been. If you haven't done a festival book one with room mates. Travelling is a lot cheaper for students, so do it while you can. BUNAC is good for travels to the US.
7. Sign up with your local GP as soon as possible. You'll get freshers flew and you will feel horrible and if you need to go to the DR's you'll need to be signed up.
8. Buy a rail card. You'll get 30% off. If your far from home it pays for itself very quickly, 1 year is £28. If you travel last minute it will save lots of money but its even cheaper to book in advance, my favourite website is thetrainline
9. Get student insurance. Most likely you'll be going to halls, that doesn't mean your insured. Painfully my house mates found out the hard way. December last year, when we were all home, ground floor flats got broken into. Luckily they skipped my room, but PS3's were gone, XBOX'S, printers and pc's. Go to: Endsleigh
10. Remember your not poor. No matter how little money you have it doesn't mean you can't go out. If its a night out, buy as much cheap drink before you go and buy very little at the club, or go to the union £1.80/pint; 

My main lecture building, Cardiff opticians.

Avoid public transport if possible, just walk. 
Check for student discounts e.g cinema. 

If your friends are going to Mcdonalds, use your student card to get free fries from their meal. Aquarium? Buy an after 3pm ticket its usually half price, plus your student discount. 

Save money buy volunteering they usually offer a free lunch. 

Get free tea, coffee and toothpaste samples online. 

If your eating out, take extra sauce sachets like pepper and ketchup for home. It may sound very cheap/tacky, but your a student now. 

I hope this has helped you and if you enjoyed my tips and would like some more, leave a comment. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer. Good luck this year and remember to lock your door, even if your going for a wee!

BigMacs at home - recipe.

McDonalds is delicious and satisfying, but what really comes to mind is fast, easy, fattening and not filling. But its always there. Its seems cheap until you want to make it at home for yourself then its even cheaper. I wanted to make my own simply because I was stumbling around online when I read "1 McDonalds BigMac contains meat from over 100 different cows" Feel sick yet? Yea, so I wanted to  know exactly whats going in my burger. But McDonalds has come along way since unrecognisable pink sludge for chicken nuggets to actual chicken meat.

Using a recipe I found online, here are our Big Macs complete with fries!

Ingredients:

1 Hamburger bun with sesame 

1/2 Another hamburger bun

1/4 lb Mince Beef

1 Pinch of salt

1 tbsp Branston pickle

1 tbsp mayonaise

1 tbsp french dressing

1 teaspoon finely diced onion

1/2 cup chopped lettuce

1 slice American cheese

2 Gerkhins 

Method:

1 - Divide mince beef in half. Flatten into two and freeze in grease proof paper. 2 hours - overnight.

2 - Toast in buns in the oven or toaster, toast to a light brown.

3 - Cook the mince on a lightly greased pan,  4-5 minutes on each side.

4 - Salt lightly

Building the burger: (from bottom to top)

Bottom bun

Mayonaise

Half of dressing

Half of onions

Half of lettuce

American cheese

Beef patty

Middle bottom bun

2nd Half of dressing

Remaining onion

Remaining lettuce

3 Slices of pickle 

Beef patty

Top bun

Looks about as messy as Maccy's makes them.

Studs and Spikes. DIY.

If you haven't noticed yet or not been shopping in a while, studs seem to be popping up everywhere. They trickled into shops over summer and it seems were looking at a huge statement for A/W collections! But have you ever stopped and wondered why that t-shirt costs £10 and the same shirt with studs will set you back £25? That's a big price jump and for me its a little much, so you know what I'm thinking right? DI-fucking-Y oh yes. I'm yet to jazz up my clothes so I haven't got those pics for you, didn't want you to miss out on making the trend before everyone else has them! (I'll upload when I've got mine finished, stay tuned)

I'm going to make so much stuffffff.

Okay, so all your going to need to make these wonderful pieces of art are just some studs from an online craft store, an iron and somewhere to stick them! I've found hotfix nailheads are the exact ones I want, they stock the flat pyramid shapes, circle and square. The best size I find is between 3-4mm. They're dainty rather than bulky. For the pointed spikes I haven't found any iron on products for that, so you'll need to buy the prong type. Pushing the stud through and fold over the points.

These are from Rhine Stones Online, I've shopped around and these are the best quality-quantity. Each pack has 144units and range from 70p - £2.60 depending on size. They will also take you through the best way to apply your nailheads.

Send me pictures of your new studded clothes!