So it’s been a while…

After a packed, fun filled month and a half of countless family visits, eating, travelling, carol singing, eating, festive outings, mulled wine consumption and yes, you guessed it, more eating, life is now completely back to normal. Christmas is such a great, yet funny time in regards to almost feeling like you are in a dream world. Everyone is on such good form and you are never short of a keen friend looking to play or have a laugh. Going out all the time is allowed and it becomes pretty acceptable to let loose and basically do what you want as long as it’s in line with adding to the ‘spirit of Christmas’.

I have to say, and I give credit to all the people out there that restrict themselves at Christmas time. I really didn’t go mad on the eating and drinking this year, but if it ever came down to it and I had to for one reason or another I would struggle big time missing out on all the fantastic treats on offer during the festive period. As you might have sussed, I ate what I wanted, and when I wanted it, this Christmas. It was absolutely fantastic. Being a bit of a foodie there are a great number of treats, dinners, fish lunches and delicacies I could tell you about, but for me, one of the most memorable treats of this year’s festive period wasn’t any of these things. Its not something you can get your paws on at a Michelin star restaurant, nor from a cute Mexican street food van on Brick Lane, but an old station café in Derbyshire brought me a lot of happiness a very cold 2^nd January 2015.

Grindleford, a small village in the Peak District National Park, Derbyshire is home to one of the most cracking ‘Chip Butties’ I have ever had in my life! The former Grindleford Station, now Grindleford Station Café, is not a sleek rural watering hole with newspapers hung delicately on the wall and fur throws available on the outdoor seating to keep those little tootsies warm, far from it. In fact, with its piping hot cups of tea and mouth watering plates of fried food, the café, or perhaps more suited, greasy spoon is a much loved hang out for the hoards of walkers, bikers and explorers who travel far and wide for this hidden gem. My advice to you, have a warm up walk along Padley Gorge and through the woods. Its not a long one, takes approximately two hours but at least then you have tried to burn off some of the calories you are about to take straight back on board when you realise you just cannot resist that Yorkshire pudding with extra chips and gravy! (Got’ta be done, you are up’North after all). There is a lot on offer, and I might be biased due to being void of the opportunity to buy a hefty, good quality (fried in as much oil as possible) chip butty in London, but there is no question about what has to be ordered from the no nonsense menu at Grindleford Station Café, and that is OBVIOUSLY the ultimate chip butty!

If the food and surrounding countryside don’t make this enough of a loveable, hidden gem for you and tug on your heart strings, look out for the pithy signs and instructions. They’re sure to tickle you. Once owned by a grumpy older bloke, the history of his reign lives on, one of my personal faves - ‘If you want to be a fire guard, join the fire brigade…’ - hog the fire at your peril! For a real experience and some great comfort food, make it to Grindleford Station Café, it’s a corker.

Cj x

World Press Photo of the Year 2014

I absolutely love a trip to the Southbank Centre and have been going to see various exhibitions for as long as I can remember. The World Press Photo of the Year Exhibition 2014 was another fantastic, thought provoking event to add to the long list of stimulating exhibitions I have been lucky enough to explore. 

An exhibition of 143 award-winning world press photographs brought have been brought together at the annual international event. The photos range from Egyptian body builders posing with their Mum's, which I must admit made me feel slightly weird, to those that acknowledge contemporary issues and others documenting global disasters such as the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte in the Philippines. 

Must admit, not the happiest collection of photographs, but should have really prepared myself for that. Unfortunately not much of this years news really has been that positive. That said, the photos awarded covered a broad range of topics and represented people from all over the world and was an exhibition I thoroughly enjoyed . One of my personal favourites was taken by Quinn Rooney, from his World Swimming Sports collection from the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain. The silhouettes of the two gymnasts seemingly falling from the sky, wrapped around one another with the Segrada Familia visible in the distance is just magic. The cities beauty is reflected in the strong yet peaceful shapes held by the athletes mid fall. A really beautiful photograph that certainly deserved to be awarded Press Photo of the Year!  

Cj x

Get Your Tan On!

 There is only one thing more British than talking about the weather, and thats apologising for it! Some of us rely on our weather chat as a fail safe, a reassuring ice breaker. It has a significant power to affect our mood and even without realising appears in daily conversation in the form of weather related idioms; "under the weather", "head in the clouds", "snowed under"; used to describe anything from our health to the way we feel about our daily responsibilities. In fact weather has a tremendous impact on our daily lives! 

Successfully upholding English stereotypes by actually discussing the weather at the start of today's post... and yes, before you ask, I am drinking a cup of tea, stands to further support common belief that weather discussions and tea drinking is how the English fill their days. The Director of the Social Research Centre Think Tank, social anthropologist Kate Fox, concluded from the results of a recent study, that the majority of people use weather as a medium to articulate our social messages and as a facilitator of social interaction. I guess you could suggest that this is exactly what I have done in this very post. I'm not really that interested in the weather but I do believe it can have a significant impact on our mood and the way we feel about ourselves. I've used this potentially, extremely dull topic as a means to justify why I think you all need to get your hands on a product that will give you that extra boost during this pretty grey month. 

 It's actually slightly hard to comprehend that just 3 or 4 months ago it was actually so warm that I participated in regular tanning sessions with my chums in the local park! Having had the opportunity to spend extended periods of time abroad this year, I built a pretty impressive (what I liked to believe was on par with the Brazilian goddesses that stroll up and down Ipanema Beach) tanned complexion. Now, in November, whiter than white, I look like a completely different person, almost unrecognisable! Please don't get me wrong, I am not the kind of girl that only thinks about her appearance and that having a tan is the key to all happiness but I do love a good tan and having one certainly gives you the extra jujj you need to feel better about yourself in these slightly greyer winter months. We can't make the sun come out but by faking it there is just a little part of me that remembers all the great memories I made this summer. Even if the winter months drag, and things seem hard, there's no reason to let ourselves feel any less positive than we do in the summer. Of course our mood and emotions are affected by a multitude of different factors but I think that a little extra confidence can really help you out at times when things might seem a bit dull.

Fake it! Get your hands on a bottle of Palmer's Natural Bronze Formula (sold in all high street pharmacies - cheapest I found was £5.39 from Superdrug)! Produced by the makers of the fantastic smelling, dry skin combatting, cocoa butter, that without fail takes me back to my school PE lessons. This fantastic gradual tanning moisturiser really does do what it says on the bottle, providing you with a natural looking tan, is fast absorbing and I can honestly say, with careful and equal application, leaves you free of the streaks we all dread when attempting to acquire one from a bottle.

Get your hands on it and November will hopefully not seem so grey! 

Cj x

A delightful Monday lunch! - Chicken, Prawn & Fruit Salad

A lovely productive morning in brew followed by a delightful Monday lunch. If you're looking for something slightly unusual, light and splendidly healthy to help brighten your day, this is one for you.

CHICKEN, PRAWN & FRUIT SALAD

Yam Polamai in Madhur Jaffrey’s Far Eastern Cookery

I have slightly amended the recipe as the original is pretty complicated but these quantities made a perfect amount of lunch for 3 hungry adults!

Salt

1 large apple (Granny Smith suggested)

150g medium to large red or black grapes, preferable seedless

150g medium to large green grapes, preferable seedless

1 medium orange

3 cloves of garlic (more are suggested but we did 1 per person)

90g shallots or onions

Oil for deep frying

100g cooked chicken breast, boned and skinned

8 medium or approx. 16 small cooked, peeled prawns

4 tablespoons roasted peanuts (we used salted and they went with the dish just fine)

1 teaspoon sugar

3 teaspoons fresh lime or lemon juice

2-3 fresh hot green chilies

2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves

So, how do you do it?  

Combine 1 teaspoon of salt with 1 pint (600 ml) water in a small bowl or jug. Peel and core the apple and cut into 0.5-0.75cm, dice. As you cut and dice, put the apple pieces into the salted water. Set aside.

Halve the grapes lengthways and remove seeds where necessary. Put the grapes into a bowl. Peel the orange, separate the segments and skin them as best you can. Cut each segment in half, so the orange segments are a similar size to the grapes and make sure to remove all the piff. Lay the orange pieces over the grapes. Cover and set aside.

Peel the garlic, cut into thin slices and cut the slices into fine slivers. Peel the onion (or shallots if you prefer), slice and thinly chop them so they are nice and small.

Pour the oil (to a depth of about 2 cm) into a medium sized frying pan or wok and place over a medium to low heat. While waiting for the oil to heat up, place a sieve over a bowl near the frying pan and spread some kitchen roll over a large plate. When the oil is hot, put in the garlic slivers and stir and fry until they turn golden. Empty the oil and garlic into the sieve; once the garlic has drained, spread it out on the plate over one half of the kitchen paper.

Put the oil in the bowl back into the frying pan and set over a medium- low heat. Replace the sieve over the bowl. When the oil has reheated, put the onions (or shallots) in and fry, stirring until they are golden brown and crisp. Empty the contents of the pan into the sieve and once the onions have drained spread them over the remaining kitchen paper.

Shred the cooked chicken into thin pieces, remove any bones or skin. Cut the prawns into 0.5 – 0.75 cm dice, combine with the chicken and set aside.

Crush the peanuts lightly – put them into a polythene bag and hit them gently, you could used a rolling pin to crush them. Be sure to not hit them too hard and damage your surfaces! Set them aside.

Combine the sugar and lime juice and mix. Cut the chilies and coriander small.

Drain the apples and pat them dry. Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl and drizzle over the lime juice and tadaaaa you have a spectacular lunch or delightful dinner!

TOP TIP; This tasty Thai salad will certainly impress and though there may seem to be quite a few ingredients it doesn’t actually take too long to prepare. Certainly worth it getting it together, the taste is just delightful! I loved it and I hope you do too. 

Cj x 

"Don't try to grow up too fast" - Keira Knightley

Published in Monday's Evening Standard, Keira Knightley admitted to taking herself too seriously in her early twenties. In a recent interview she described how she used to "play act a version of trying to be a grown up" and was embarrassed about being young. After having just celebrated her 25th birthday with a karaoke party, balloons and a never ending supply of party rings she realised, as the song goes..."I was much older then, I'm younger now". 

At 23, I'm going through a funny stage in life. You're no longer a girl, but you need to have fun, you're not a fully fledged grown-up career queen but you are desperate to get your foot on that ladder and establish yourself in THE world of work. My question is, how do you juggle all these things effectively and stay well and happy? 

Ironically on the first day of posting on my brand spanking new blog all about the importance of waking up feeling fabulous... I have a cold. Typical. Nevertheless, a cold can't stop me in my tracks. Even on a day when your best friend is a packet of Kleenex I find its essential to give yourself a treat. Today, mine arrived in the form of a coffee in the glorious autumn sun with a copy of last night's Evening Standard. Hope you've had a moment of joy in your day too. 

Cj x

Eggs in the morning

Hello big world, hope you're all feeling fresh, happy and alive this morning. After having had a cracking fried egg on a trusty slice of Warburtons Five Seed... I think I'm pretty much ready for anything.

I'm Carolyn, or Cj, whichever you prefer, 23, from London, very much a blog virgin but am extremely excited to get going on my blogger adventure. This is all very new to me so apologies in advance if its a little slow off the ground! Any comments, advice or feedback would be welcomed with open arms!

Ultimately I hope that this blog will provide you with the confidence that there is no reason to wake up in any other state than what is natural - "to wake up well and happy". 

Enjoy. 

Cj x