A Little Sunshine on A Rainy Day

So this post initialy started on an ever so jovial note on the day it was originally meant to be pubnlished but now.... now I just don't know. My lecturers are certainly trying to drive me to insanity! Why on earth will you increase the weighting of coursework from 10-20% less than 48 hours till the deadline, 20% coursework requires significantly more effort to do than 10% coursework! And to think I had toyed with the idea of just not doing it at all so I could focus on a bigger project whose deadline is also imminent! HA! Well that plan's out the window! Anyways I'm on a  little break from number crunching and hair tearing and remembered that I hadn't put this post out yet so what better way to rest my brain than remember all the positive things happening around me. Like the fact that Spring is finally here! I was skeptical about posting this last week or before that because I was certain the warmer weather and sunny-ish ouside was just a phase but it's been a little while now and the sun still comes out to play almost everyday! There's something about good weather that just puts me in an instantly good mood, I'm so happy I can finally ditch the boots and scarf and turn the heating in my apartment down (bye bye nasty electricity bills!).

 

Sometime in my last MIA periods it was one of my besties birthday and she had a surprise party at Navajo Joe's in Covent Garden, London.It was a really great day and I think she was actually surprised (or maybe just afraid?) when we all jumped at her! It was a really fun day and even though the food wasn't fantastic there's nothing better than being around good company for a few hours on a lovely day! Here's a couple of pictures from the day. We took a couple of random bits and bobs inside the restaurant

 

Birthday Girl in her white dress looking gorge!

 

 

But decided the weather was too awesome not to have a couple of snaps outside!

 

Ayo loving the effect of the wind on her 'cape' !

 

We  even found a lovely porch to play about on even though the boys were getting a bit tired of us by now! Jacqui (in orange) couldn't stop posing even if her life depended on it! Don't you love her bangs though??

 

 

We eventually stopped taking pictures, kind of, amd made it to My Old Dutch for some dessert and some more chit chat!

I had a hankering for a cup of tea which is really weird because I never drink tea! And waffles always go down well with me! I even forgot to take a picture until after my first couple of bites! My favourite part about this post and Spring in general is all the pretty colours floating around, and the trees are finally not going to be naked anymore! Whoop whoop! Writing this has significantly cheered me up, I think I can go back to the number crunching and other boring stuff again. Here's looking forward to the weekend!

 

NL to BSL in 12 hours or Less!

Hey hey,

I know, I know.. I did one of my famous disappearing acts again and didn't post for over 2 weeks but life has been a little less fun these days! I had a massive deadline on Tuesday and tons and tons of work to do before I go for my Grandad's funeral so I've been a busy little bunny. But I like to think that some people miss me at least a little bit! So I'm back to give a quick little update about how I went from neck length hair to bra strap length in 12 hours! Haha, here's what happened, I started my wash process at about 10.30 pm

I pre-pooed my hair with Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) on my scalp for 30 minutes.

Shampooed with Elasta QP's Creme Conditioning Shampoo and rinsed. (I ran out of this and had to get a new one and they seem to have a "new and improved" version, I'm so skeptical about trying "new and improved" things. I hope they haven't changed too much)

Did a green tea rinse!! I was so excited for this part, couldn't wait to see the benefits the tea rinse would have on my hair. It made it kind of hard like most people say it does but I opted to not rinse it out and put my deep conditioner on over it.

So I deep conditioned with ORS Replenishing Conditioner while doing an Insanity workout video so like an hour. I figured since I don't have a steamer I might as well use some body heat to 'steam' my hair! Then when I'm done I wash my hair and shower at the same time! Although I'll have to admit, it does feel quite silly sometimes jumping around with a shower cap on your head!

My hair felt really nice and soft but strong after the deep condition so my thinking is that the tea rinse worked some magic! I was then convinced by my aunt to go with her to the salon the next day, you see she sells weave and was trying out a new seller and needed a guinea pig ( a willing me!) for quality control but seeing as I really really wanted to do a length check on my next wash day I had to speed up the process and do it then instead! Side note: someone really needs to tell me what order moisturiser and heat protectant need to go on your head! It makes sense with blow drying because you just moisturise after! But with the flat iron do you moisturise, then seal, then heat protect?? Anyways that's what I did but my hair felt pretty weighed down even though I tried to be light handed... it was weird! Tips appreciated! So anyway after painstakingly flat ironing my hair, I did a length check! It's grown! I think I'm slowly graduating from neck to shoulder length! Do you think I can get a length check t-shirt now?? The bf always teases me that I'd need a special turtle neck edition :( but now I might be upgrading! Whoop whoop!

Top left: Before my hair cut in Jan '13. Bottom left: After Jan '13 hair cut. Right: March '13. 

Up close: I guess wearing a black t-shirt wasn't the smartest thing but I was just tryna rep DRB!

Now here's where the real magic happened! After waking up the next morning at the crack of dawn so we could get to the salon first, my aunt, cousin and I had a nice little stake out of the salon to make sure no-one could claim to have gotten there before us. Being first to an african salon is very important! There are no appointments, it's a girl eat girl world out there, especially at the weekend! We waited, bored and kind of hungry for over an hour before the hairdresser finally arrived at 10.30 when the shop was meant to open at 9! Bloody Africans.

Her shop is the blue one in the middle. Real professionals we were, sitting in the car and staring at every girl that passed by!

But we forgave her when she was done installing our sew-ins! I'm now full BSL *yipeeee* and my cousin got some really cute bangs! No pictures of my Aunty who was transformed into a modern day Goldilocks! (literally, her hair was blonde) but all in all it was a successful trip to the salon!

I have NO idea what I'm doing with my face. It felt natural at the time! Haha, I love the side swept bangs.

Crazy cousin! I'm not sure she likes this picture but I love it! Really shows off her personality! Hehe.

So that's it! How I went from NL to BSL! And a random little update on one of the things I've been up to these past two weeks.

Love, Reni x

Slightly Burger Crazy? Maybe.

So after I put up the picture of one of my cheat meals some time back in Insanity Month 2, I really started craving burgers but I wasn't allowed to eat any fast food as part of a week long exercise and clean eating challenge my friends and I put together, I shouldn't be eating fast food anyways but all those additives in the McDonalds are giving me severe withdrawal symptoms! So I decided to do something a little cheeky and make a burger, I tried as hard as possible to make it healthy without removing all the fun-ness (clearly not a word) from it! So here's how I did it, it's such a simple straight forward recipe! It looks a little long but really doesn't take that much effort! You will need:

• Lean beef mince meat (600 g makes about 6-8 burgers)
• 1 medium brown onion (chopped finely)
• Seasoning to taste(salt, ground black pepper, maggi etc.)
• 1 egg
• Burger buns (I got Kingsmill 50-50, healthy you see!)
• Veggies for the burger (I had lettuce and cucumbers, even more healthy!!)

And if you're feeling not-so-healthy add some bacon and cheese to that shopping list!

So what you do is, you put the mince, onion, egg and seasoning in a bowl and mix it all together with your hands, mashing it all up like you're playing with play-do (but you're not so be a little careful!) when it's all combined, divide them up into 6-8 patties and make them round and a little flat with your hands

Put them on a tray lined with foil (you can also use greaseproof paper), cover with cling film and put in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This step allows the beef to 'rest' and avoids crumbly patties too making an overall more tender beef.

'Resting' Patties

Pre-heat the oven to about 200-225 degrees C and then pop your patties in. Leave them in there till the juices run clear and the meat is thoroughly cooked.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking the patties, put some bacon in the oven and allow it to grill till it's nice and a little crunchy.

Cut your burger bun open and pop in the oven for a  minute to heat it up, if you're being a bit cheeky layer the patties with cheese while they are in the oven and allow the cheese to melt all over the patty.

Bring out the buns and the cheesy patties. Lay your veggies on the bottom bun, followed by the patty and then the bacon and lastly the top half of the bun. Don't forget the ketchup!

Serve with a side of fries/salad, on it's own or even deconstructed (no buns) and enjoy!

Yummy!

Definitely went in on the food! Plate is very nearly licked clean!

And if you feel bad when you're done be like me and have some fruit! LOL.

Hope you enjoyed the recipe, let me know if you try it or have any other ideas on how to make the burger even more delicious by dropping a comment in the box below.

See ya!

Reni x