ORGANISATION | GETTING BACK INTO A ROUTINE

It's absolutely disgusting outside.

It's definitely rather grim up North.

The rain just won't stop pouring and the wind is whistling it's way through my draughty windows.

University has started back up again and I've concocted a 7am-10pm weekly schedule to keep my studies in check. It allows for some flexibility so I hopefully won't become a robot. Hopefully.

With only four measly contact hours a week it's probably wise though.

Final year is underway and I'm going to kick it's butt.

HI ROUTINE!

7am.

Porridge.

Strong Coffee.

Radio 4.

INSTAGRAM | #2

I am alive. I promise.

It's taken me a little longer to settle down and adjust to living in a new place.

After a Summer of NOTHING and now finding that I actually have things to DO, it is diffucult to get a moment to just sit down and relax.

Patience my pretties - I will update with pictures of my new (despite rather FREEZING) apartment.

I am slowly learning to love it.

...Let's hope the double glazing sheets for my window and foam strips will sort out the current arctic conditions!

Here are my last few weeks in INSTAGRAM (from L-R):

1.  Apple Pie Oatmeal for lunch. Oats are my current form of internal central heating.

2.  Working on the new GOTHS logo.

3.  Room with a view.

4.  The glorious leakage/damp problem in the spare room.

5.  The first roast in my new pad. Bladdy good it was too!

6.  Free G&T's at Jaeger on Regent Street for London's FNO.

7.  My current workspace - check out my desk!

8.  Chew Lips at the Lomography Store in London on FNO.

9.  Champagne times.

You can see more of my instagram snaps and follow me HERE.

MOVING DAY

Tomorrow is MOVING DAY.

The car is packed and I'm all set to move into my new pad.

The downside is we have a 5am start.

I will be M.I.A. until the weekend I imagine but I will be sure to update you once I am settled.

ADIOS.

LIFESTYLE | TIME OUT

Taking a break from packing my life into various bags, vacuum packs and boxes.

I get stressed out all too easily if things don't go to plan or if I can't find something. Patience also happens to not be my greatest quality and appears rather absent when it concerns my life!

So it's Sunday. That means it's time out for a lazy lunch, strong coffee and a flick through the COS Magazine and Fourth & Main Journal which I picked up at London's Fashion's Night Out on Thursday.

Oh, and here's some SUNDAY INSPIRATION for you:

Photos: Various images from my PINTEREST.

RECIPE | RATATOUILLE

A quick and speedy version of the classic French dish.

It's a vegetable stew with tinned tomatoes, c'mon!

RATATOUILLE

Ingredients:

1 can of Tinned Tomatoes

1tbsp Tomato Puree

1tsp Mixed Herbs

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 large Onion

2 cloves of Garlic

1 Courgette

1 Pepper

1 Aubergine (I substituted the aubergine for mushrooms as I am not a massive aubergine fan).

Fresh herbs and Seasoning to taste.

Instructions:

1.  Mince the cloves of garlic and dice the onions and place in a pan with a little bit of oil. Add the mixed herbs (and I also added smoked paprika) and cook on a low heat and cover.

2.  Start chopping the rest of the vegetables nice and chunky. Add them to the pan with the garlic and onions and leave them to sweat for 5 minutes

3. Open up your tin of tomatoes and add them to the pan, along with the tomato puree and the sugar. Season to taste. Cover the pan and continue to cook on a low heat for 15 minutes.

4. By this point a nice thick stew will have formed, if you want to make it even thicker then you can add some cornflour or my preferred sneaky option of gravy granules!
Stir in some fresh herbs (basil is lovely) and take the pan off the heat.

And there you have it - a wonderful and quick bowl of nutritious goodness.

You can eat it on its own, with rice/quinoa/couscous/pasta, on top of a jacket potato, in a pitta...etc.

I served mine with some fresh basil and some of my home made courgette crisps crushed on top.
It was simply DELISH.

INSPIRATION | DESKS

Next DIY PROJECT for my new apartment: I am going to build my own desk!

I love these Vika Lerberg trestles which come in white and grey (and at £5 they are a steal!). I would like to have a white surface and I could easily go for the matching table top from Ikea, the Vika Amon but I would like to be a little more ambitious and reclaim an old door, pre-used work surface or a long, flat, rectangular shaped material. Your suggestions are all welcome!

I am a lover of big desks and work spaces. I like to have a large surface to work on and it's very handy for laying out several folders/books at a time or if you just want to get creative. 

The average desk is about 100cm in length and this just is NOT big enough for me.

DESK  INSPIRATION:

(DESKSPIRATION?!)

Photos: Various images from my PINTEREST.

RECIPE | COURGETTE CRISPS

Okay, I still havn't perfected this recipe but they still have an amazing taste every time (even if they are slightly charred!).

The moreish/guiltless munching material!

COURGETTE CRISPS

Ingredients:

1-2 Courgettes (depending on how big a volume you want to make)

Spray Oil

Seasoning (You can get creative here!)

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper and use a few sprays of oil to cover it.

2.  The courgette slices need to be around 2-3mm thick. If you are confident doing this with a knife then go for it! If not, I find a cheese peeler is a good cheat option.

3.  Place the courgette slices onto the baking paper and make sure they are not touching or overlapping each other. Use a few sprays of oil to cover the courgettes and then season if you wish.

*I like the combination of cracked black pepper and herb salt.

4.  Place the tray on the middle shelf of your oven. Leave for 10 minutes and then check the courgettes, some of them will be turning brown at this point so turn them over and place back in the oven.

5.  Some slices will be browned (charred!) before others so it's best to stay with them and just keep checking. Remove them as they are ready in little batches (when they get crispy) and leave to cool for 5 minutes before eating.

INSPIRATION | OYOY AW12

Danish interior design company OYOY have been catching my eye lately.

You can view their AW12 catalogue HERE.

 Pictures: OYOY

INSTAGRAM | #1

N E W  F E A T U R E .

From L-R:

1.  Coffee and Walnut Loaf fresh out of the oven.

2.  Garden furniture items from the 99p shop...watch this space!

3.  A bowl of stewed apple and raspberry goodness.

4.  September calendar.

5.  Raspberry porridge.

6.  My Konica C35 EFP.

7.  New Japandroids vinyl, Cloud Nothings CD and I Like Trains CD.

8.  Courgette Brownies.

9.  Bed time hot chocolate!

You can see more of my instagram snaps and follow me HERE.

RECIPE | COURGETTE BROWNIES

A healthy(ish) twist on the indulgent classic.

These brownies keep well and stay delightfully moist.

* To make these even HEALTHIER you can replace the oil with half a cup of over ripe mashed banana and leave out the chocolate pieces and nuts.

COURGETTE BROWNIES

Ingredients:

125ml Vegetable Oil

300g Caster Sugar

250g Grated Courgette

2tsp Vanilla Essence

40g Cocoa Powder

250g Plain Flour
1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

80g Chopped Walnuts

100g Dark Chocolate (chopped into small pieces)

50g Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease a 22x33cm baking tin.

2.  Get a large mixing bowl and combine the oil, sugar and vanilla essence, mixing until it is blended.

3.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbanate of soda, baking powder and salt into the mixture and get mixing!

4.  Add the grated courgette, along with most of the walnuts, dark chocolate pieces and chocolate chips (make sure to leave enough for a generous sprinkling of each to go on top of the mixture) and MIX.

5.  Pour the mixture into the baking tin and then sprinkle with the rest of the dark chocolate, chocolate chips and walnuts.

6.  Place the tin in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on the heat of your oven).

MOOD BOARD | SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER.

AUTUMN IS COMING. I CAN FEEL IT.

September is also the start of the new academic year.

This year is my FINAL year.

I welcome September with big wide arms as for me it marks a fresh start and a time for working and falling back into a routine. Routine is KEY for this year as I will have a dissertation to write and various essays and exams to work towards.

It gets cool enough to start eating porridge (that's oatmeal for you American's) again and the evenings are suited to slow-cooked stews and inside-activities (like den-making!).

I can start wearing my favourite wardrobe staples again too.

Boots, layers, chunky knits, leather and fur.

I'm particularly looking forward to decorating my new apartment (which I move into in ten days!) and creating my own personal workspace for the year ahead.