Feeling Festive

This post is a little shout out to one of my absolute favourite places in Edinburgh.  Whether you are looking for a hearty breakfast, a banging burger or the 'Ultimate Gin & Tonic', Montpeliers is the perfect spot! Monty's has such a nice atmosphere all year round,  really lively yet welcoming and cosy - team that with Christmas decor around the festive period and I am in heaven! 

I would love to hear your recommendations for places you love in Edinburgh?? 

Becki xx 

Midweek Meals - Pizza Post

It is widely known that I have a pretty serious pizza addiction. I'm not kidding it's really bad, Dominos can vouch for that. 

Basically, pizza is Bae. 

I'm all for making healthier choices and thinking more about what I put in my body, but I simply refuse to give up my favourite food because what is life without the food you love? For this reason, this weeks mid week meal comes in the form of homemade pizza. 

Now I'm not saying that this meal is super healthy but its certainly better for you than ordering a takeaway and I may be biased but I think tastes just as good!

So what makes this pizza a healthier option? Well for one it's completely homemade (not by me unfortunately, I'm gonna have to give Jamie credit for this one), the base is wholewheat, the cheese is light and the toppings are all fresh vegetables. 

Making a pizza from scratch can be daunting. Inevitably, the base always ends up soggy and the topping falls off. However, it can be done! I promise. We make these all the time and they turn out great! well... 90% of the time. Just remember these 3 golden rules (if nothing else!): First, KEEP YOUR OVEN HOT. Seriously, your average pizza oven is about 500 degrees, so the higher the better. Second, stretch your dough as thin as you can without it splitting. Your favourite pizza might be a Chicago style deep dish, but leave that to the experts. It's tough. Last, but maybe most important, go easy on the toppings. Less is more and it's easy to get carried away. 

Got all that? OK. Let's get cracking...

Ingredients (makes 2-4 pizzas depending on size)

Base:

500g Wholewheat Flour

325 ml of lukewarm water

1 teaspoon sugar (optional) 

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoon olive oil

7g sachet of yeast 

Tomato sauce:

300g pasata or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes 

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

Handful of fresh basil 

1 finely sliced chilli (optional) 

Toppings:

250g mixed cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped

150g mushroom, finely sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

Grated parmesan

1 or 2 balls of light mozzarella (depending on how many pizzas you are making), torn into chunks

Handful of basil leaves 

Swig of olive oil

We decided to go for all veggie toppings but you have complete freedom to chuck on whatever your heart desires. Just remember the third golden rule: less is more.

To make the dough, empty the yeast sachet into the lukewarm water along with the sugar and the oil. Leave this for a couple of minutes to activate the yeast. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour your water mixture into the middle of the well and, using one hand, start to swirl the water while slowly incorporating the flour. Once this has almost all come together, tip the mixture onto a floured surface and begin to knead for 3-4 minutes. Put the dough back into an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for two hours. 

This is the perfect time to make your tomato sauce. On a medium heat, fry the garlic and the chilli for a couple of minutes ensuring that the garlic doesn't burn. Add the pasata/chopped tomatoes and let simmer for five minutes. Add the basil and cook for a further minute before removing from the heat and allowing to cool fully. 

Turn your oven up full blast and place your tray inside to preheat. Take a fist sized ball of dough and roll out on a floured surface until it is about 1mm thick. Once the tray is fully heated, take from the oven, lightly dust with flour and pop on your dough. Spoon on your tomato sauce (sparingly) and chuck on your toppings! We finished with some grated parmesan cheese and a glug of olive oil. 

And in the oven they go! Place on the top shelf and cook for between 10-15 minutes. Exactly how long will depend on the oven so keep checking! We set the timer for 12 minutes. 

When it looks like a pizza (come on, we all know what a pizza looks like), take it out and enjoy!

I'm going to be honestly here, I sat on the couch with a glass of wine while all this was going on in my kitchen. So a big thanks to my boyfriend Jamie for this post and most importantly, the delicious pizza!

PS. Unsurprisingly, we didn't make this recipe up... well, not entirely. For inspiration we turned to the Italian Stallion himself, Gennaro Contaldo!! You can find a YouTube video of the master at work here. 

Get Ready With Me: Family Wedding

This weekend me and the family took a trip down to Essex for my cousin's wedding. I don't know about you but I absolutely love a wedding and when it is someone in the family it just makes it that much more special. It was such a lovely day and the bride looked breathtaking! 

I thought that while I was there, I could take advantage of the fancy hotel room and bring you along while I got ready. I went for quite a strong makeup look as I thought it would go well with my dress. See my post here all about the lipstick I chose for the day. 

Makeup:

Origins GinZing

The Porefessional Pro Balm

Mac Face & Body - C3

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealor - Cool medium 2

YSL Touche Eclat 

Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder 

Mac Warm Neutral Palette - Divine Decadence (swept across the lid and under the eye) 

Mac Warm Neutral Palette - Dance in the Dark (outer corner and crease) 

Mac Warm Neutral Palette - Hey (brow bone and inner corner of the eye)

Rimmel Exaggerate Eyeliner - 001 Black (winged liner on outer part of eye) 

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara 

Maybelline Brow Drama - Dark Brown

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Nars Deep Throat Blush 

Doir Amber Diamond Shimmer Powder 

Mac Odyssey 

Outfit: 

Dress - Topshop

Shoes- Boohoo

Bag - Accessorize 

Necklace - New Look 

Check out my GRWM video on my youtube channel, I would love to know what you think! 

Have any of you got a wedding or special occasion coming up?? 

Thank you for reading :) 

Becki x 

My First Fashion Post

This evening marks an exciting moment for me. 

My writing has been published on something other than my own blog! *Mini fist pump* 

If you are a fashion junkie, technology geek or if, like me, you're snuggled up on the couch on a Friday night instead of out on the town (and very much loving it) and fancy something to read then check out my first post on the Creative Industry Hub: 'Is 3D Printing Set to Revolutionise Fashion?' 

I would love love love to know what you think???

Becki xx 

Welcome to the collection Mac Odyssey

The best kind of day is a new Mac Lipstick day. 

I was out shopping with my mum yesterday, looking for an outfit to wear to an upcoming family wedding. We had a mission to complete with no room for distraction. But shopping can be very thirsty work and what better way to quench that thirst than a glass of fizz in the Harvey Nichols Champagne Bar? 

And because we were in Harvey Nichols anyway, surely it would be rude not to stop by the Mac counter, just for a look of course...

But what do you know?! There just happened to be a shade of lipstick that matched my dress perfectly, so naturally it had to be purchased.  It's just the rules. 

Welcome to the collection Mac Odyssey! How gorgeous is this colour? Absolutely perfect for an Autumn Wedding. 

What is your favourite Mac Lipstick? 

Mid Week Meals

This post is something a bit different from the usual, but I thought that as I was trying out a new dish tonight it might be an idea to share it on the blog for anyone out there looking for some inspiration in the kitchen. 

I have been making an real effort recently to try and focus on my health. My biggest weakness is definitely take-aways and one of the hardest things for me has been working on beating my serious pizza addiction (it's a real thing I'm telling you). 

Sometimes when you get in from work, the last thing you want to do is cook and for me that often results in reaching for my laptop and signing on my Just Eat account (or going on the Dominos app if it it happens to be a Tuesday), however this is not great for your health or your bank balance. One of the biggest focuses on my healthy eating journey has been to ditch the take-aways in favour of all home cooked, wholesome food. With saying that, check out my recipe below for a really easy, healthy, home cooked meal, perfect for through the week. 

Serves 4-6 (depending on how hungry you are)

Ingredients 

400g Turkey Mince

1 table spoon of Rapeseed Oil (or whichever oil you prefer)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of beans (I used haricot beans on this occasion) 

1 Onion

Fresh tomato (I used one as it was all that I had left) 

2 celery stalks
1/2-1 Courgette

1garlic glove

1 green chilli 

1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

2 teaspoons Cumin powder

Pinch of salt and generous amount of pepper 

Half a ball of mozzarella cheese

Handful of Kale

100g Wholewheat pasta

1. Preheat oven (200°C

2. Heat up the oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions for a couple of minutes

3. Add the turkey mince and fry until sealed 

4. Add the tinned tomatoes, beans, all chopped vegetables, salt, pepper, spices and a splash of boiled water until all the ingredients are covered 

5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes

6. While this is simmering away, cook your pasta as per packet instructions 

7. Once pasta is cooked, add it to your turkey mix and stir through

8. Transport your mixture to an oven proof dish, tear up your mozzarella and pop it on evenly throughout the dish (I then grated a little cheddar cheese over the top but this is optional depending on how healthy you feel like being) 

9. Sprinkle the kale over the top 

10. Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes 

Serve and enjoy.

I would love to hear your healthy meal ideas! 

My 2015 go to holiday makeup

I have just got back from a lovely week in Turkey and I thought I would share my no fuss, go to makeup perfect for the hotter weather.  I tend not to take a lot of makeup on holiday as I love to feel the summer sun on my face and get some of that vitamin D into my skin while I can before we blink and the cold dark winter days are upon us again.

Whilst getting ready for the first evening, as I sat right under the air conditioning to cool down, the last thing I wanted to do was to cake a load of makeup on my face just for it to slide off again in an hour or so. But a girls got to look glam while sipping a cocktail (or four) on her hols, am I right?? So I came up with this light, fresh look that I pretty much adopted for the whole week! The look is so easy to achieve (give or take a wonky eyeliner or two) and it only takes around twenty minutes which is perfect for getting in as much pool/beach time during the day as possible!

Face 

Origins GinZing - A lifesaver for making sure your skin stays hydrated after a hard day of bathin' in the sun. The cream feels really soothing and the lovely citrus sent is also great for waking you up in the morning if you had perhaps had a few too many Pina Coladas the night before...

Mac Face and Body (C5) - A really light weight, 'your skin but better' foundation (check out my previous blog post here which gives a more detailed review and explains why it is in my top five favourites.

Soleil Tan De Chanel - I love a cream bronzer on holiday as I don't tend to use a lot of powder on my skin to try and keep it looking dewy and healthy.  

Dior Amber Diamond - This product is perfect for creating holiday radiant skin. I think my obsession with it is now getting a bit silly - if you wanna hear me rave about this amazing highlighter a bit more check out my post solely dedicated to it here.

Touche Eclat - A duty free airport buy from last years holiday which has not disappointed. Great for keeping your eyes looking bright and awake. 

Eyes

Mac Day Gleam - A beautiful gold shimmer swept across the lid

Mac Divine Decadence - A rich darker shimmer buffed into the crease to create more definition

Benefit Magic Black Ink Liquid Eyeliner - Starting at the middle of the eye and flicking outwards to create a subtle cat eye. 

Maybelline Lash Sensational - A coat of my favourite mascara on both the top and bottom last line. This has just run out so I am now on the hunt for a new one. Any suggestions would be most welcome! 

Lips

Mac Cremesheen Speak Louder - The perfect pop of summer pink! 

PS. How cute is my makeup bag from French Connection? 

Birthdays, barbecues and plenty of Pimm's

Its always lovely to celebrate one of your best friend's birthdays. Team that with a yummy barbecue, a little Scottish sun and plenty of Pimm's - honestly, what could be better?

Doesn't the birthday girl look gorgeous? Feeling very inspired by the sixties vibe she has going on - time for a new red lipstick me thinks and perhaps another trip to the hairdresser to ask for bangs (just kidding....kind of)

Off to see if I can raid Laura's wardrobe before I jet off on holiday tomorrow. 

Becki xx 

Letting go of long hair

I think a lot of girls can relate to this when I say that I have a very "the grass is always greener" attitude when it comes to my hair. When its long I fantasise about chopping it off daily while trying to brush through the tangled mess that has occurred throughout the night before and when its short, I impatiently wait for months on end just to grow my hair passed that 'awkward shoulder length' that is so trendy and looks so great on other people but you just can't seem to pull it off yourself no matter how hard you try.

Now, a few years back I did the incredibly cliche girl thing of chopping all my hair off after a breakup, almost instantly regretting it and spending my time since trying to grow it back. What is it that makes us girls think that cutting our hair will magically make the boy come running back? Funnily enough it didn't work which in hindsight was a good thing however at the time I was left broken hearted and with not very much hair. I would just like to add that I may have still been drunk from the night before during my appointment which is never a good idea and not recommended...

I am writing this post whilst trying to decide what to do with my hair before my next appointment. I currently seem to be switching between cutting it all off and letting it grow every two minutes.  At the moment I have no idea what the outcome is going to be, for all I know I could be walking out of the salon with a pixie cut depending on my mood..

Let me know if I am the only one crazy enough to be obsessing over this or whether its pretty normal to have a roller coaster relationship with your hair????

Fast forward a week...

In the end I braved it and went for the chop and I can tell you it feels so liberating! I forgot how much a nice colour refresh and change of hair cut can just totally give you a boost and make you feel great!

Time to test out my hair styling skills now that I can't just shove it on a bun on the top of my head every single day... Best set my alarm twenty minutes early for tomorrow morning!

A glorious getaway to Amsterdam

I recently went on a weekend away to Amsterdam and absolutely fell in love with the city (and the food!!!). Check out some of my favourite snaps of the trip.

Until next time Amsterdam! In the meantime, I can't wait to start planning my next adventure...