November Flavrbox.

I'm not really sure how many more times I can talk about Flavrbox and still sing their praises. They always offer up my kind of food and I'm always happy to eat it, enjoy it, and share it with you. Be sure to check out their website, it's the perfect place to find gifts for any food-loving friend or family member, pretty great with Christmas fast approaching.


[Olive Branch — Cherry Jam]

Jam made with olive oil certainly sounds less than appealing but I'm happy to tell you now that it's absolutely delicious. I will admit to being a little skeptical when I first opened the jar, but it's great on toast, and I'll definitely be using it in cakes and on porridge (Ready Brek because I'm a child) as suggested.

[Pink's — Smoked Tomato Tapenade]

I've never had tapenade before, but I'm definitely a convert, this tasty offering has cashew nuts which provide great texture and parmesan which really brings out the flavour of tomatoes. I've only had it on crusty bread and it was perfect, I'm actually a bit sad that Moon loves it so much too as it means I'll have to share, just like I did with the chilli jam in my first Flavrbox.

[Sundown — Pecans & Almonds]

Personally I wasn't actually a fan of these as I'm a little picky with what nuts I do and don't like and I'm not a big fan of pecans or almonds as it is. I found these a little bitter but when I served them to my guests on bonfire night everyone really liked them so I think it might have just been me.

[Hare's Moor — Rogan Josh Curry Kit]

I must admit I had very little input in the resulting delicious curry that came of this kit, but Moon did say it was a lot of faff compared to the way he usually does it - using paste. It was one of the nicest homemade curries I've had though so I think the extra effort was slightly worth it.

[The Bath Pig — Original Chorizo]

There was chat of sharing this with friends when we had them round for chilli but decided it was far to tasty and kept it to ourselves, we chucked half in a bolognese and it was amazing, we're saving the rest for something special.

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As usual, the packaging for each item was impeccable, I think a part of me enjoys that aspect of this subscription box more than the products themselves. The two go really well together in my opinion though and it's a good job I love eating as much as I love good design. Definitely looking forward to their potential Christmas offerings!

My Week in Meals.

Looking back at this, my diet from last week actually makes me feel a bit silly. There's a lot of junk in here that I wouldn't normally eat, but it was just one of those weeks, plus the Chinese on Friday night was down to circumstance rather than actually going out of my way to get it.

Despite a little bit of shame, I thought I'd share these meals with you anyway because the food that wasn't take-out, was pretty delicious - mainly thanks to my house-husband, Moon. It's pretty good to reflect too as I now know that this week I would like to be slightly healthier.







Monday - Sausages, beans and mash potatoes.
Tuesday - Takeaway - Saveloy and chips from 'The Plaice'.
Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognese ♥
Thursday - Garlic and herb salmon, boiled new potatoes and broad beans.
Friday - Takeaway - 'Eastern Chef' thanks to Moon's dad.
Saturday - Cheese and tomatoes on toast with Worcester sauce.
Sunday - Roast chicken with potatoes, carrots, courgettes and mushrooms.

My favourite - Sausages, beans and mash; top tip, never buy cheap sausages - although my roast is a pretty close second.

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I don't want to keep apologising for being a bit MIA but I really did need to relax and sleep over the weekend. It's pretty good though because it's meant that I've been able to come back with a fresh head and some more ideas, so stay tuned.

From the 10th Hole.

These photos are from last Sunday, I've been so snowed under with the amount of research I've had to do for this project I haven't been able to justify the time. However, I'm now at the stage where I might have actually done enough for the time being to be able to just take photos and not worry about the academic side for a while. So watch this space.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Tumblie.

This cheesecake has been making its way around Tumblr, but I some how came across the recipe, and that's what I spent the latter half of this afternoon making. I made my own version of the recipe, because the one I found was huge (with it being American, obviously).

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

My work and I aren't really getting on since Tumblr is so easy to spend hours on now and I think my brain is like "hey, you wrote over 1000 words the other day", that's stopping tomorrow. I'm back on it, I'm bored of Tumblr now anyway, eventually you just end up with skanks posting Photobooth pictures of them in their underwear - a contributing factor to why I don't have my own Tumblr - it's that and the constant recycling and overload of images.

I think I'm going to watch Misfits in bed and sort out my clean laundry, is there any point in doing any more of anything else?
I actually really liked Misfits, I just forgot to watch after the first episode, but now there's hype for the second season, so I have to prepare myself.
Robert Sheehan ♥ (I know, just like everyone, right?)

Oh yes, I rearranged my room because we've been having some terrible weather lately and the windows were getting all condensationy and I was paranoid it would make my pillow mouldy, which couldn't be good for me, so it had to change.
I think it's slightly cosier this way, plus I can really spy on people. :)

Om nom nom.

I'm not usually one to go for trends in fashion, but I couldn't help but feel slight excitement over the announcement of Christopher Kane's 2011 collection - not because I'm a fan of his but because his designs are brilliant and it's only a matter of time before the high-street catches on and I can enjoy these pretty patterns properly.
Already being the proud owner of a pair of Black Milk leggings.
You can see why I'd be excited about this...

via The Fish Tank

More information about the collection can be found here. In the mean time, my birthday is 2 weeks tomorrow, so you could see fit to pick me up something nice from Black Milk, there's so many other pairs that I want!

via Discotheque Confusion

Guildford Festival.

We nearly didn't get in, we were just about to get on the bus to go back into Guildford town and go home, but were stopped by a guy from Portsmouth who knew me and fancied a quick chat, so the bus left without us. As the bus was pulling out, the man in charge of getting us the free tickets got back to us and within half an hour we were in, with only a slight amount of extra faffing from 65DOS' tour manager. We also didn't have to pay the £10 'donation' charge on top of our free weekend tickets, kind of a winner.
These photos were taken before we got in, as I thought we'd kind of been fixed up and that would be the last that we saw of the 'festival'.

We had Wimpy because we were tired of waiting around...

...but then yay, we were in!

Beaut!

Here are some photographs of me getting a fish pedicure, I wish I'd had the money on me to pay for longer because my feet would have been perfect. I want some for my own, also note in the linked news article that it's £35 for a 45 minute treatment and my birthday is only a month away!

65daysofstatic were much better than when I saw them last time, their equipment actually worked and the crowd actually seemed interested. Despite the 'woop wooping' I really enjoyed their set.

We saw a few other people but the only other band we really paid attention to today was Orbital, who were great to look at but probably much more exciting if you were high.

I had a nice day, but the toilets were as bad if not worse than Glastonbury and there wasn't nearly enough to do, which is the same complaint I made about Wireless - but don't get me wrong, Wireless is much worse. I wish I hadn't been so spoilt with Glastonbury earlier, I was perfectly happy thinking Guilfest was adequate.
This was during The South (formerly The Beautiful South - idk), enjoy our lovefest, lovely. ♥