My Favourite Summer Recipes

I enjoy cooking but I am not the best cook. I enjoy recipes with stuff you already have in your fridge that are easy to put together and don't take much prep time. This is some of my favourite recipes that meet that requirement.

1. Banana Icecream with home made Ice Magic

This recipe is perfect for when you're craving something sweet but want to be healthy. Take two bananas out of there peels, chop them into small pieces and freeze them overnight. When you feel like icecream chuck them in the food processor with a bit of vanilla essence. You can also add raspberries, peanut butter or dark chocolate. Turn your food processor on and mix until it becomes a smooth soft-serve texture. 

to make the icing get 1 teaspoon of cacao or cocoa powder, a sachet of stevia or some maple syrup (or both, I prefer more maple to stevia as I prefer the flavour) and a one and a half tablespoon of cocoanut oil. Microwave for 30-45 seconds (or until coconut oil has melted). When you take it out of the microwave mix it and taste to see if its sweet enough for your liking. if it's too sweet and more cacao/cocoa power and if its not sweet enough add more maple syrup or stevia.  I find a little bit of stevia goes along way!

Put your banana icecream in a bowl and pour ice magic mixture on top. Add chopped/diced almonds on top for extra crunch/flavour.

The homemade ice-magic mixture also tastes really nice over fruit, I personally love it with strawberries and pineapple.

2. Summer Salad

You can use whatever leafy-green you like as a base. Personally I use spinach or a mix of spinach and rocket (arugula).  Slice half a punnet of strawberries and place over your base, add some crumbled fetta, chopped walnuts and chopped avocado. If you are eating this as a meal add some roasted chicken for protein. Add lemon juice or a vinaigrette as a dressing.

3.  Guacamole

Guac tastes good with everything. 

4. Mexican Breakfast Bowl

Spray a Corn on the cob with oil and grill on high for approximately two minutes each side. In the mean time chop up some red capsicum and bacon. when your corn is cooked fry in a pan with your bacon and capsicum with some chilli and paprika. place in a bowl with with coriander (cilantro) and grated cheese. Served with one or two poached eggs and some avocado on the side.

4. Fennel and Pomegranate Salad

finely slice half of a fennel bulb and de-seed half a pomegranate. Serve over a bed of spinach and add fetta and sliced almonds.

Louis Vuitton Neverfull

Picture Source: Unknown

I have decided to buy the Neverfull bag at the end of the year as a special treat for myself. Yesterday, I went to uni to do some study and I had my laptop, a cardigan, my water bottle, extra filed and my handbag. While I was getting all my stuff out of the car I was thinking how nice it would be to have a bigger bag that would fit my laptop and cardigan.

I currently have a Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Too Hot to Handle' hobo which I love, it's my favourite bag and its the perfect size for most things. Its a lovely classic bag that goes with everything. It does hold a lot of stuff, I can fit a cardigan in it as well as my wallet,phone etc...but it can't hold my laptop.

The Neverfull will be used on days when I have to carry a lot of stuff, such as my laptop, day trips where I have to carry snacks or layers and for carry-on on flights. I am looking at getting the Neverfull GM as I already have an everyday bag that I love. 

I am waiting till the end of the year to purchase the bag as a graduation/ christmas/ just because present for myself, and because I am going to Dubai in November so I need to save more money till then. This also gives me time to decide what pattern I want. I have decided against the Damier Azur as it will get too dirty and be too delicate for me to look after, even though I love that canvas. So I am decided between the Monogram and the Damier Ebene canvas as they are darker so won't show up marks as much. 

Long Time No Post

Heyyyyyyyyyy...long time no post. The reason for this is I haven't really been doing anything worth blogging about. I have had my busiest period at University, where I had four assignments due and I am also trying to save some money for holidays and in the very-long term, an apartment.

However, last thursday I went shopping as I needed some new runners as my old ones were hurting my feet whenever I did boxing or Kayla Itsines. I ended up buying the Brooks Glycerin ones in purple/black which I love.  I also purchased some nail polishes from Sportsgirl, new sunglasses also from Sportsgirl, Swisse Micellar Makeup Remover and some new razors so I can shave my legs :|

To be Honest, I am not loving the Micellar water. I was expecting great things as I had heard so much about it all over youtube recently but I found it wasn't very effective at removing my makeup, and it's not super gentle. I am not using it in place of a cleanser, as it just isn't removing my makeup effectively and I find I have to rub quite hard to get it to take anything off. I am just going to stick with good ol' Cetaphil for now. Another thing I found interesting about the Micellar water was how much corn is in the ingredients? I know Cetaphil isn't all organic or natural, but there is a lot of corn and alcohol in the Micellar water. 

I have always loved Sportsgirl nail polish,  they are my go to brand in Australia as far as I am aware, we do not have Essie here. I got two purpley-pink shades which I love. One is nice and bright that I am wearing on my toes right now and the other one I can't find. 

Over the past few years I have been buying brand name makeup from Mecca, Mac, Bobbi Brown..but I forgot how much I love sports girl makeup. There eyeshadows are highly pigmented and there powders and hi lighters are just as good as brand name makeup. They also have some really nice lipgloss/ tinted lip-balms which are very similar to the Mecca home brand ones, so If you are looking for a cheaper alternative for makeup, I highly recommend Sportsgirl products.

Here is a lovely night-time photograph for you, of the highest quality. 

Tomorrow I have my friends daughter's second birthday party and then have an assignment to do. 

Sorry about the lack of posts, more coming soon!

byeeee

My Weekend

This weekend I didn't take any photos..eeep! bad blogger! On Friday night some friends and myself went out for a fancy dinner at Bistro Guillaume at Crown. We planned this dinner a while ago while Masterchef was on, and decided to treat ourselves to a fancy dinner. 

I had never been to Bistro Guillaume but I have ate at The Atrium and Rockpool also in Crown. We had heard about mixed reviews of the restaurants from review websites, but all the reviews i had received from people I know were positive. Thankfully, our experience dining there was also a positive one.

To start with, We ordered a bottle of red-wine for the table (the second cheapest because we're all poor, yay!) and the Twice Baked Cheese Souffle. It was delicious! the texture was very fluffy and light, but the taste was super cheesy.

For my main I ordered the Sirloin steak with watercress salad and Kipfler potatoes as my side. I only started eating steak recently, I used to hate red-meat unless it was minced or super processed but in the past year I have dared to to try it more and have grown to love it. The steak was super tender and flavourful, very easy to cut. I always order/cook my steak medium-rare as I find it easier to eat. 

For dessert I ordered the creme brûlée with apple and donuts. It was delicious, the apple was a really nice palate cleanser which is perfect after eating a large meal. 

Saturday night I stayed in and played the Sims instead of doing homework. I love The Sims and have recently got back into playing it after not playing for a few years. I play The Sims 2 but I want to purchase The Sims 4 shortly. I bought The Sims 2 on the App Store in Apple and it came with majority of the extensions and cost under $40.00. I have realised that people either love The Sims or they just don't understand the appeal. I am in the former rather than the latter haha.

On Sunday night, I went to a friends house for dinner and drinks, and to say goodbye to my other friend who was back from London for a holiday and is now moving to Luxembourg.

To close with, here is a photo of my new shoes that arrived on Monday. I love them :)

My Netflix Recommendations

I am the queen of procrastination. I am week three into a new university semester and completing a literature review, therefore I am knee deep into some Netflix binge watching.

I first heard about Netflix when I lived in Vancouver, and it was a great solution as we didn't have television and at the time I was just working and not studying. Personally, I prefer netflix for series rather than movies but occasionally I do like to watch a movie on there.

1. John Mulaney- New in Town

Personally, I hated his TV series. I love love love love his stand up though! I was never a fan of stand-up comedy until one night when it was about 2am I couldn't sleep and had work the next day. Netflix gave me a five star recommendation so I thought I would watch it to try and fall asleep to it. I was laughing out loud the entire time, it's such a relatable dry, witty humour. I recommend this to all my family and friends.

2. Black Fish

This documentary is about the treatment of orca whales in captivity, SeaWorld in particular. This film highlights the important issue on whether it is ethical to keep them in captivity.

3. Law and Order SVU

Olivia Benson is my hero. 

4. Orange is the New Black

Amazing.

5.Skeleton Twins

I have a MASSIVE crush on Bill Hader. This movie is more of a serious film about struggling with identity and how to get your life back on track when you're unhappy and stuck in a pattern of self destruction. This movie will make you laugh and it will make you cry. The friendship and banter  between Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig's characters is amazing. especially during the singing scene.

Shopping Haul

After work today I went to the shops and spent too much money. I originally just wanted to go to Mecca, but instead I ended up buying everything at the shops.

I went to Mecca as I needed new highlighter and brow powder. I didn't buy the NARS Copoacabana as they were sold out, but I did buy the Hourglass highlight powder kit that I fell in love with in my previous post.  I originally wanted to buy the Billion Dollar Brows in Taupe but they do not stock that range in the store I went to. The lady who served my recommended NARS eyeshadow in Bali, which is a matte cool-toned brown. It matched my eyebrows perfectly. I also bought the Stila liquid eye-liner in black as I want to try and make my winged-liner more precise, which I am unable to achieve with a pot liner due to my lack of coordination.

I also went to Cotton on Body and got two new tops for working out in. When I go to boxing we are often made to do squats and burpees so I wanted a longer top that wouldn't flash my stomach when moving around a lot. 

I  went to Lorna Jane and decided to treat myself to a sports bra crop. I don't go in there very much as I find the clothing to be very expensive. I struggle to justify the price for exercise clothes. However, I have previously bought a sports bra from there and it has lasted me three years.

I  have heard so many great things about Kate Moss from Rimmel's lipstick range that I decided to try them out. They were 3 for 2 in Priceline so I bought three. I can't wait to try them out!

The shoe so nice, I bought them twice

I hardly ever buy shoes as I don't often find ones that I like that suit my feet shape. I have very wide feet and my feet are ruined from previously working at a shop where I stood all day on concrete floors and wore  shoes that  didn't have enough cushioning. 

I was recently browsing Nordstrom during their anniversary sale and fell in love with a pair of shoes. I was deciding between the black and tan and the stingray black when the black and tan sold out in my size. That made the decision for me so I purchased the stingray black. 

After browsing through the Instagram photos other customers had put up of their purchase I fell in love with the pale pink nude colour. Unfortunately, they were sold out in my size. Two weeks later i decided to check if they were back in stock as I couldn't stop thinking about them. They were, but they were no longer on sale. I decided to purchase them anyway because I really like them and I have no dressy flats, and you can also dress them down. I also justified my purchase as they remind me of the Valentino Rockstud flats, but less than a fifth of the price (so technically, I saved money). 

These shoes are made from leather and they are extremely comfortable. You do not need to wear them in. They have received great 4-5 star reviews on Nordstrom so I knew they were a good buy! At this point I am considering also buying them in the high heel version as I love them so much. I think I might have  a very expensive problem haha.

If you would like your own pair, you can purchase them here

What do you think of my new shoes?