Adventures in continental shopping!

(part of my food haul, the pepsi and the crackers aren't part of it though).

I've been very interested in Middle Eastern cookery of late (pretty much anything lentil or chickpea based is my ultimate comfort food), so I decided to do part of this week's grocery shopping at my local Continental grocery shop.

They mostly sell Kosher and Halal foods, but they sell some Polish things here and there, as the store mainly caters to Immigrants that came here to live and work from other countries and miss their home comforts, it's open to all however and there are some serious bargains to be had.

Today I bought Coconut Milk, Maggi Chilli Sauce (this stuff is amazing on Falafel, I got really hooked on it for a while at uni), Falafel in a tin (I have never seen these before so I mostly bought them for curiosity's sake), Coconut oil for cooking with (it comes as a giant solid mass, but it's flavourless and has a much higher burning temperature than olive oil, supposedly it is much better for the heart to), stuffed vine leaves (NOM NOM NOM, they actually sell packets of unstuffed vine leaves to, so I'm considering picking some up next time to stuff my own).

Seasoning for chops and steaks for Kev (considering trying some with some tofu too),  Falooda mix (a really awesome milkshake-like drink).

Stuffed Aubergine/ Eggplant and Havla.

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Day 28: The perfect night.

Snuggling on the sofa with Kev, eating pizza, drinking beer and watching South Park :)

Sunday Round Up: Crazy Week is crazy! (also new meme)

One of the greatest meals I've made recently :)

Honestly I think the soundtrack to my life is suddenly becoming "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn" by The Beastie Boys!

I have been so tired lately, but hey it's fun...I'll sleep when I'm dead!

***

Monday was spent working on my dress, my business plan and crazy amount of housework.

Tuesday was more of that,then I met Kev so we could go eat at Barkollo (where we had amazing pizzas and a jug of cocktail made with black Absinthe mmmmm), before we went to see MCR.

Wednesday I was up at the crack of dawn to keep going with the business planning (this stuff is so much harder than it looks), but I did make the amazing looking meal at the top of the page there (it's vegan mince, Nigella Lawson roast tomatoes and way to much mashed potato).

Thursday was the Die So Fluid gig. I missed both of the support acts because I was on the door for this, but Die So Fluid themselves were absloutly amazing, still waiting for Kev to upload his photos.

I got a photo with Grog squee! :D

Friday I slept a lot and then did more work on my business plan.

Saturday I got to spend some time chilling with thine beloved :)

Today, as always rest day, and I'm going to need it because next week is going to be super busy too!

***

I've been blogging almost six months now!

Anyhow I'm only a few days away from completing my current meme,so time for a new one.

(I got this one from LGBT Laughs on Tumblr)

1.    Who is your favourite queer comedian?
2.    Who is your favourite comedian who does pro-queer material, but isn’t necessarily LGBTQ?
3.    What is your favourite queer joke?
4.    If you were to dress in drag, what would be your drag queen/drag king name? What kind of thing would you wear?
5.    Do you have a queer role model or hero?
6.    If you could turn one outspoken bigot into a bleeding-heart, absolutely pro-gay liberal, who would it be?
7.    How many rainbow-motif/rainbow coloured items do you own?
8.    What is the funniest situation being associated with the LGBTQ community has put you in?
9.    Your favourite LGBTQ protest sign?
10.    Who was the first LGBTQ person you met? What was that like?
11.    What is your favourite funny LGBTQ picture?
12.    What is your favourite LGBTQ song (inc. parodies)?
13.    What is your favourite piece of gay slang?
14.    If a celebrity you admired made a phobic remark, how would you react?
15.    Write a limerick/haiku/small poem on something LGBTQ.
16.    What do you think is the most obscured argument apposing gay rights?
17.    A scene that makes you laugh from a LGBTQ show:
18.    What are your favourite examples of pro-queer inclusion in popular media?
19.    Draw a rainbow (in any medium you like, digital or traditional):
20.    If you could introduce a LGBTQ character into any franchise (TV show, comic, book series etc.), how would you do it? What would they be like?
21.    Are there any great ironies you notice in homophobia/anti-queer rights?
22.    A cheesy name for a gay porno film parody:
23.    Are there any characters from your childhood who you’re sure are queer, even if closeted?
24.    If you could match-make any celebrities, regardless of gender or actual orientation, who would you pair up?
25.    What is your favourite queer mascot or symbol? (rainbow, interlocked gender symbols, etc)
26.    One fascinating queer fact:
27.    Who is your favourite ally?
28.    What is the most obvious example of homoromantic/homoerotic sub-text you’ve encountered in film/TV/celebrity?
29.    Is there anything you used to find funny that you look back on and realise it was phobic?
30.    What queer achievements have you managed this year? Any milestones or great successes?

Alice and the Pirates: Scent of Rapunzel

Scent of Rapunzel is Alice and the Pirates's latest fairytale inspired print.

This collection comes as an OP, two JSKs, a skirt, a bonnet, a bow and socks.

I really like this print, it is undeniably Alice and the Pirates and it has all of the elements that make one of their classic prints.

I'm really not fond of this style of OP, I think the sleeves tend to look awkward and I personally tend to think the front almost always ends up looking cluttered.

This is JSK 1. I find the neck ruffle a little awkward but overall I like the design of this one. It's a nice shape, if I had the money I'd probably buy this in either the navy or black colourways.

JSK is PERFECT in my opinion. This is so added to my wishlist of things I will have some day.

It features organza ribbon corset lacing on the sides and beautiful soft looking lace around the bust.

I actually really like it in the white colourway, but I do wish there were some previews of the other colourways in this design, I'm sure that they're all beautiful!

To be honest I find the skirt a little to plain, I think it would benefit from some of the organza ribbon!

The bow and the bonnet are pretty standard bows and bonnets.

The socks however I am absoloutly in love with!

The plait of hair with the rose is just beautiful! 

I'd actually really like a pair with the blue roses as I think they'd go quite well with the JSK I just made as well as this collection.

***

Day 27: The perfect day.

Well it was two days really, but Mera Luna :)

Flora Morte JSK

Remember this image I posted last week of the JSK I was working on?

Well it's finished now :)

Aside from a few issues I had with the bodice and it being slightly shorter than I intended  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

It's the first time I've made a JSK so I expected a few mistakes here and there, and I know how to not make them next time hopefully.

Here's a photo of it laid out before I attached the straps and trimmed the loose thread off:

***

Day 26: The perfect hobby

Shoes collecting :)

Art is the weapon

Last night Kev and I went to see My Chemical Romance. He's not all that into them, but I've liked them ever since I was in my mid teens and "I'm not okay" came out.

I enjoyed the band, but I'm not overly fond of the venue (the Metro radio arena has really shitty sound, no matter what equipment bands seem to bring).

They played a LOT of new stuff. I know they're promoting the new album and all but I think a few more older tracks would have been nice.

That said, I really enjoyed them and it was nice to see them again (I first saw them about three years ago).

***

Day 25: The perfect food.

Tuesday Tutorial- How I pin curl my hair

This week I wanted to show you how I pin curl my hair. Everybody seems to have a different technique for this, so if my way doesn't work out for you, never fear there are a lot of other tutorials around, it's just a case of finding out what works for your hair.

A little warning here, this takes around 5-8 hours to set, so you do need to prepare your hair way before you go out. I usually start mine early in the morning, which is why I have no eyebrows in these photos, apparently this makes me look like a cancer patient so if that offends you I'd recommend not reading any further.

The first thing you need to decide what you're going to set your hair with. I usually use a volumising mouse, however I've got none left at the moment so instead I used a gel this time. I tend to find gels aren't as good as mouses because gel tends to make my hair kind of "crunchy" it also looks slightly greasy in photos :/

Some people are able just to use water, but I find that my hair just refuses to hold the curl.

Take a section of hair, I'm actually using slightly bigger sections of hair than I usually do so it's easier to see.

Next, curl the hair upwards and secure at the root with a bobby pin.

Repeat until you have a whole row :)

The next row you should curl downwards instead.

(hopefully you can see what I mean).

For the third row you should return to curling upwards.

Alternate with rows between upwards and downwards.

(braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains!)

I've only done half of my hair to compare between the pin curls and some bendy rollers I have.

When my hair set I took the rollers and the pin curls out.

Unfortunaltly I just realised my videos are sideways...FAIL

Please forgive me for talking crap at points of this, I was really concious of the first part being silent and went to far the other way...Oops...

Following this you can either brush your curls into a wave like I did this time:

Or you can leave them as small curls as I did here (excuse the derp face I'd been drinking cocktails when this was taken):

I used mouse in this hairstyle, and as you can see it looks better than the gel did on my hair.

***

Day 24: The perfect Weather.

Snow :)

Trying new things

I like to try things I've never tried before, this is one of the reasons I like to visit Asian Supermarkets every now and then (well that and cheap tofu, c'mon who doesn't love cheap tofu?).

Today I picked up one of these, it's a tarro/taro root. From what I can gather it's kind of like a Chinese potato, I'm gonna try cooking it later in the week and I'll report back :)

I picked up a few general foods too for the week both from the Asian Supermarket and my local Lidl (I've become really hooked on supermarkets with the Lidl/Aldi/Netto format since visiting Germany in the summer (I know Netto is Scandinavian but there are Netto's all over the place in Hildeshiem and Hanover), I just find it so much easier to shop without claustrophobic isles, lots of good deals to.

So this week I have my tarro, two packets of Ramen, two packets of Tofu, a tray of mixed cherry tomatos, olives, courgette in olive oil, an avocado and an aubergine (eggplant), I still have a few bits and bobs left over from last week so hopefully I can cook something nice up :)

I also passed this crazy sign on the way home. I've been meaning to take a photo of it for a while now because I always read it as "For sale Old Wrekenton" as though the town is for sale :/

Meh, it amuses me.

***

Day 23: The perfect photograph.

This was the first photo of Kev and I, it always makes me smile :)