Friday Night Posh Dinner / #TriedAndTested @FollowGousto Recipe Almond, Rosemary & Pepper Lamb Ragu - 30 mins

Fancy a change from good old beef Spag Bol?

Well, with a little help from the clever people at Gousto, we tried and tested their imaginative take on the good old Ragu dish and retired our jar of Dolmio to the back of the store cupboard…

Here’s what we made:

Almond, Rosemary & Pepper Lamb Ragu.

A delicious dish with tons of flavour! The sun dried tomatoes, rosemary and peppers went very well with the lamb and the almonds added their extra-special and rather unusual crunch to the dish. We will definitely be cooking this again! MMMM! It tasted fab with a good old bottle of red - Chianti from the CO-Op in our case.

Photography & Review © Lucie Kerley

Film & Edit © jmgcreative

01.07.12 :: #PhotoDiary A Sunday In A Million, Cats. Friends. Fields. Heather Tait. Photography. Hasselblad. Polaroids & @FrostandSnow Meringues.

Meet Patricia. My good friend and fabulous Photographer Heather Tait’s new kitten.

A whole box of JOY! It was so exciting to go to Heather’s and get her Hasselblad’s out and then finding three unexposed Polaroids left in the Hasselblad! 

We took to the garden and made the most of the beautiful summer sunlight and her gorgeous Medium Format film camera. 

These are the three Polaroids that Heather took of me wearing my new Topshop Khaki coloured Casual Military Shirt, £36.

We then headed off in the car to a nearby farmer’s field to shoot some more portraits using her Hasselblad. Alternating between some 120 B/W and Colour film that will be sent off to Peter Gaffney’s metro colour lab in Birmingham for processing. Heather also took her Nikon D3 DSLR and experimented with the flashes of sunlight that kept trying to peek through the cloud-heavy sky.

I love the texture and depth of Heather’s work. 

She also has the CUTEST little boys!

Meringue Time!!!!

Everybody tuck-in!!

After spending a wonderful day at Heather’s, I then nipped over to see my good friend Joe Mitchelmore @MadeByOthers & @mrchrisdesouze (aka @studiobonito) and was just in time for dessert! (How convenient!)

I also got to meet the fabulous gastronomic genius that is Sarah Frost of @FrostandSnow Birmingham Bakery Fame! WHAT A WOMAN!

Sarah had whipped up some homemade meringues dusted with cocoa, and filled some rather delectable Anthropologie bowls * Bowl Envy * full of pick and mix-esq toppings such as:

• White Chocolate Cream
• Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon and Creme Fraiche Dip
• Fresh Raspberries
• Pistachios
• Toasted Coconut
• Mascarpone with Passion Fruit and Mango pulp

Frost and Snow is a Social Enterprise Bakery in Birmingham that creates job opportunities for previously homeless people. They also cater for Weddings and Parties…

I know who I’ll be calling when the time eventually comes…

Photography © Heather Tait and Lucie Kerley

#todayimwearing 22.06.12 :: Feels like the Winteriest of Summer Days in @TightsPlease @Pamela_Mann Printed Fairisle Tights

After spending a glorious two weeks in a lovely sunny Greek climate, I am still trying to get used to these grey English days… and wearing more clothes.

It’s June! The end of June! Surely it’s supposed to be summer here by now? urgh…

So, with a slight nip in the air, I didn’t have a clue what to put on? It sure feels like Winter… Autumn at least! So I embraced it and pulled on a pair of Pamela Mann Printed Fairisle Tights from Tights Please , (£8.98 with Free UK Delivery) underneath my DIY cut-off Levi’s Denim Shorts, and teamed them with my trusty Topshop tan zip-up Aiden ankle boots for comfort.

I wondered what I could wear on top to at least try and feel like we’re in June…

I opted for a Topshop (2011) white sleeveless jersey button-down tee with pale blue aztec embroidery detail, that I bought in the Topshop sale last year. The aztec pattern kind of goes with the Fairisle print… (well, it doesn’t violently clash anyway…) I am quite fond of Aztec… I think the strong geometric patterns are rather fetching!

Topshop has even more Aztec stuff in this year too!

I guess the only summery thing about this look is my new real golden tan (which will probably be gone in about a week and was achieved with the most careful of applications of factor 30 and 20 spy suncream…) and my freshly coloured (DIY reverse Dip-dye) vibrant red (L’Oreal Sublime Mousse Flaming Copper) hair with gold tips!

Photography © Lucie Kerley

16.05.12 :: All Jazzed Out

Phew! I am exhausted! A full day working at the office and then off to an impromptu Jazz Concert @lincdrillhall Cafe Bar. It was FREE and FABULOUS. My frolleague (friend + colleague) @KayOgilvie and I had a wail of an evening and were truly amazed that cultural performances like this were being offered for FREE in Lincoln and why not!

It was a superb evening sat watching some lovely Jazz at the gorgeous Lincoln Drill Hall, a venue I had never been to before and listening to the melodic sounds of the Edwards & Dearden Jazz Quartet, as part of Lincoln’s BIG’s city wide Jazz Week 2012.

Yorkshire vocalist Julie Edwards’ voice is filled the room in a very beautiful way! #SwingingJazz I especially LOVED it when she covered “The Snake” by Al Wilson. One of my FAVOURITE uni night out songs. 

A thoroughly wonderful evening!

Today I decided to pair my @LamaPeach boots with a handmade floral ditsy print tunic dress made by Typographer @solearysmith’s amazing mum Eileen, a little tan waist belt, grey floaty blouse and acid wash charcoal grey leggings both from Primark, a Charcoal grey body top and my Lama Peach Paige Summer Ankle boots with my long Topshop Gold Spike Pendant necklace, Tatty Devine Retro Red Swallow Earrings and my Swagga and Soul Daisy Leather Biker Jacket.

Good night all! x

Photography: © Lucie Kerley

15.05.12 :: Ding Dong Hello Lincoln! My @COSstores Striped Tee, @Matalan old Glitzy Midi Skirt & @LamaPeach Paige Boots look inspired by @refinery29 (I LOVE YOU GUYS!)

So everyday I get a few cool little bite-sized fashion and beauty titbits from the guys @refinery29. I always make time to check out their latest DIY fashion tips, or to ponder over their glorious ‘how-to-wear-it’ style articles that they write so well! I’m not even sure how I stumbled across their site… but I’m bloody glad that I did! Refinery29 is should be every good and bad girls go-to guide for the very best accessible fashion and beauty features without all that sugary sweetness that people sometimes pile on top to make an average article edible. Excuse the food pun, but that’s often how it is.

So anyway… the ballsy gals at Refinery29 like to do things a little differently. Their articles are slightly ‘edgier’ - for want of a better word. They cut out the crap. They write for the likes of you and me that want to know how it is, and more importantly, how to achieve it.

So yesterday, said email pops up in my inbox and their Hot Fashion Story for the day was all about jazzing up your old striped t-shirts in new and interesting ways… see it here: 6 Brilliant Ways To Dress Up A Striped Shirt.

I saw their slideshow and was greatly inspired by the ‘Add A Glitzy Skirt’ idea. So last night I went bed dreaming of what my OOTD (Outfit of the Day) for today was going to be to fit in with the ‘re-inventing’ the striped tee theme.

I wore my old striped navy blue and nude colour horizontal striped flared bottom tee from the Cos Store in Bullring, which I bought in the sale for about £15 last year after being introduced to the brand by my great friend Joe Mitchelmore aka @MadeByOthers. When I first entered a Cos store I was pretty in awe of the sleek store layout and you could say a little bit intimidated by it - in equal measures - up there on the glamourous, somewhat, elusive third floor of the Bullring Shopping Centre.

I thought it was going to be mega mega pricey. I was wrong. Think of Cos as a cut above the likes of H&M (of which the brand is associated) and a little bit like a posher Zara and you get my idea. It is high street fashion for those looking for that ‘something else’. Beautifully tailored and very well-made, lovely fabrics and sensibly priced. It’s fashion for the Twenty-somethings and up! I love it.

I had bought my Cos Tee a good while back, (last year I think?) on a whim, visiting Birmingham for a film screening and meeting Joe for chinese. It was a hot day and I’d been travelling about a bit so wanted to freshen up. And so splurged on a £15 tshirt and et voila! Felt so much better about myself.

I have worn the Tshirt a handful of times since, with tailored trousers, skinny jeans and denim shorts, but never with a skirt. It was time for a change. I dug it out of my wardrobe, gave it a good iron, and rooted around for the old Matalan Papaya Dark Navy Midi Skirt with a glitzy silver stripe through it (A skirt that must be a good 8 years old or more…) and decided that today I was going to marry them together… cinched in at the waist, of course, with a skinny tan leather belt.

Because the weather was said to be a little temperamental in Lincoln today, I decided a pair of Navy tights would do the trick and also my Lama Peach *Paige Boots to hop over puddles. (*Just to see if, yet again, they’d go with another completely different outfit ensemble and they DID! HAPPY! HAPPY!)

I finished the look off with a short pearl necklace and a slick of Dior Addict Firework Red Lipstick.

I’m working in Lincoln for the next couple of days. It’s such a mega commute from my house, about 2 hours in the car and around 2 1/2 hours by train - so sometimes a 5 hour round commute! However, tonight to cut out the horrid travelling, my bed for the evening is at the divine, newly restored, Old Palace Hotel in Lincoln. We got a great deal as we’d booked months ago before the renovation work was even finished and the first guests had even slept in their beds! The hotel is situated right next to the glorious Lincoln Cathedral and our rooms are ensuite with a lovely bathroom and we get a fry up in the morning - what more could a girl ask for? So, for the next few mornings, it won’t be the pigeons coo-ing above my window at home that I’m woken up by - it’ll be the bells ding-a-linging in the Cathedral!

Nice.

Sweetdreams!

Photography: ©Lucie Kerley

13.05.12 :: Taking Back Sunday From The Sickly Girl

I’ve just got back from the first Sunday morning Body Balance class that I’ve been able to go to since being sick. Turns out that a lady in my class has also been off poorly for the past 3 weeks with horrific sinusitis, there must have been a bug going round…

So consequently, I’ve missed a few sessions and oh my… did I know it! I decided to take it a bit easy and not push myself too hard. So after an hour of Downward Facing Dog’s, Forward Folds, Mermaid Twists, Three Legged Dogs, Sun Warrior and Pilates 100’s, etc I am now feeling newly refreshed and ready to take on the world… erm, kind of.

JMG and I have just 23 sleeps left until our holiday in the sun! Two lovely people from my gym class, who it turned out today, know me only as “Pashley Princess” due to my lovely bicycle - what a GREAT nickname - always laugh at my sleeps rather than days countdown method… But I think it makes it more fun and will continue to do it this way until I am old and wrinkly! 

After my short ride home, I plonked my yoga mat, etc on the table and gratefully accepted  a cup of coffee from the fella and settled down to check out my Google Reader Blog Subscriptions - it’s  new thing I’m using to keep up-to-date on the fashion bloggersphere.  I have Flipboard on my iPhone and have a Google Reader feed that feeds my Social Media updates to my Flipboard iPhone app. I wish someone would do a Flipboard for Mac version??  Anyway… that’s the lovely Brit Nason - Disarming Darling that you can see on my screen - her blog is amazing! We’re trying out that new Kenco Millicano as an alternative to the usual ‘instant’ coffee varieties and actually… it s pretty tasty! It still won’t beat a good cup of ‘proper’ coffee with steamed milk et al, but oh well! Needs must!

The kitchen is a humdrum of activity - but I like it!There’s my little seed propagation trays on the window ledges along with some potted fresh Basil and Coriander pots from Sainsbury’s. I’m attempting to not kill grow Cherry Tomato plants, Strawberry Plants, Lobelia, Pansies, Geraniums, Sweet Pea’s and Petunia’s. This is the first time I’ve attempted to ‘Grow-My-Own’ and it’s not easy I tell you!

*Note to self: You’ve got to remember to WATER them daily! 

There’s also a heap of clean washing drying on the ‘maiden’ (as my family like to call them?) Does anyone else know them as this? or ‘clothes horse’ for the majority of you… It’s probably ready to be put away now - I WISH I had a maid!

AND… 

Because it’s a Sunday a roast dinner is obligatory and therefore we have a chicken-licken in the slow cooker - one of our MOST used household appliances! It is absolutely brilliant! I’d recommend it to anybody! When we moved into the flat in Leicester a couple of years ago, JMG’s Grandma gave us the pennies to buy one and we’ve never looked back! It now lives with us in our little house and I’m sure will move around with us for years to come. Our’s is a Cookworks Signature 6.5litre one from Argos and cost £24.99. It has three settings and has a removable ceramic bowl that can be put in the dishwasher too! We put the meat or veg or whatever in it in the morning - go to work and do our day-to-day things and then come home to a yummy, tender, beautifully cooked hot meal! Yippee! We make lots of yummy food in this: Chilli Con Carne, Spag Bol, Stews, Veggie Casseroles, Roast Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, pie fillings, to name but a few!

Mmm…

Have a lovely Sunday all! x

Photography: © Lucie Kerley

12.05.12 :: It’s been a while…

So I’ve been a little off colour the past week or so (you could call it Casper-the-friendly-Ghost-white) and haven’t had the energy to do anything… not a spot of film archiving, photography or fashion blogging… not even a little #todayimwearing post. :-( 

However, after lots of much needed rest & relaxation and sh*t loads of Lemsip, I am beginning to feel like me again… Phew! It’s a good job too as I’m almost out of Kleenex. Eurgh… having a snotty nose at 26 years old is NOT sexy. So today I decided to pull myself together, wash my hair, slap on bit of makeup and dress-up nicely/make an effort for a trip to the postoffice. (At least it got me out of the house, I was beginning to grow tired of these four walls… people who know me will understand that I need a LOT of human interaction and lately all I seem to do when I get bored is *bake cakes, which surely will result in me turning into a right fatty bum bum just in time for my holiday…

*Note to self: Curb the baking habit.

So this afternoon a freshly showered me rooted through my wardrobe and wondered what I could throw on that would be comfy but still look pretty. I opted for an old black and cream squiggly patterned sleeveless M&S Tunic dress that I found in a charity shop in Warrington some years ago for a couple of quid. For some reason, and definite lack of foresight, this dress - which was originally intended to be a Midi - unfortunately had its bottom lopped off by myself wanting to make it a bit more 60s ‘goey-outy’ or a bit more G.Y.G.O - my 272 girly friends will understand that one.

I teamed the dress with a trusty pair of black wool tights - it may be May but it is still freezing despite the sunshine, my blue denim #DIY Gold Studded Collar Primark shirt which I embellished with my own fair hands using: “100x8mm PYRAMID STUDS SPOTS Punk ROCK Biker NAILHEADS” off eBay which cost less than £3 including postage for 100 push in studs! Bargain! You can buy similar ones here  and my new Schuh Cabe Leopard Print Lace-up Flatforms £40 from Highcross… the comfiest shoes I have ever worn/owned. So comfy infact that I have made JMG’s mum try them on too… she loved ‘em! Argh! I’ve just looked and they now also do them in a Pink Suede Version… OMG! Soooo cool. 

I also finally bought a remote shutter-release cable for my Canon 5D MKII DSLRwhich arrived in the post this morning. It was only £2.37 with FREE Shipping! Again it was another cheap-as-chips bargain shipped in from China. I decided to give it a whirl this evening and see if it gave me a bit more photographic freedom. I found that it did allow me to do a little more experimental self-portraiture but that depended on what lens I was using at the time. I think when I get a bit more money I will go all out and buy the wireless remote… which is here and prices start at around £13. Bargain! My gold horse tunnel earring were from Topshop a few months ago.

Anyway.. ta ta for now!

I shall hopefully post some new stuff soon.

x