B278 – NEARLY 100 YEARS OLD AND PERFECT

Sorry this post is a bit late, I had a plan in place to wake up early and go over to greenwich for the sun rise but that soon changed as soon as I heard my alarm, my excuse is that because amy works 5 days week if unfair to drag her out of bed at 6:30am on a sunday. I’m not too sure that excuse has worked. but any way we are now up and ready to go only a few hours later the only problem is that I still need to edit and write about my photos from yesterday. its really weird writing the past and the future but I’m going to do my best and make this as simple as possible. 

After selling the spare bed yesterday we decided that it was time to grab a chest of drawers to tackle the crazy amount of clothes that are now accumulating in the flat, even though Amy still hasn’t completely moved in yet, it kind of makes sense of her to leave some clothes her. if any one has been shopping for a chest of drawers before you will know how extremely stressful the whole process can be, not only do you have to go round shops but you also have to deal with the over priced wooden boxes which places like Habbit, St Elm, made and loaf seem to charge and non of them really had what we were looking for. then I had the genius idea of looking on Gumtree and boom we were on our way to an antiques store in Crystal Palace and firstly there are hundreds of antique stores in crystal palace and all of them have a amazing stuff. The chest of drawers we had seem on gumtree was really right for what we wanted it for but next door was this 1920’s Oak chest of drawers which was perfect, the guy was selling it for £140 but after some of my negotiation skills kick in we managed to get it for £120, he also chucked in two packets for sour sweets for good measure. 

Oh and we also made some home made burgers for dinner yesterday, I tried to make a home made posh fast food, not sure that worked out, maybe ill just leave that to the professionals. We took a normal home made burger and added some of our own stuff to it, like some chillies, onions and garlic, we also used Selma to help hold it all together, the trick is to cool it on a slow heat of long time, so it doesn’t fall apart.

We also cooked some Sweet potato fries as well, and the recipe of that is just below this the burger instructions.

The basic ingredients you’ll need are:

1 small onion peeled and diced
500g good-quality beef mince
1 egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 burger buns
All or any of the following to serve: sliced tomato, beetroot, horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, handful iceberg lettuce, rocket, watercress
  1. Tip the beef into a bowl with the onion and egg, then mix. (and anything else you want to add to the burgers, trust me add what you want)

  2. Divide the mixture into four. Lightly wet your hands. Carefully roll the mixture into balls, each about the size of a tennis ball.

  3. Set in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze down to flatten into patties about 3cm thick. Make sure all the burgers are the same thickness so that they will cook evenly. Put on a plate, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 mins.

  4. Heat the barbecue / frying pan to medium hot (there will be white ash over the red hot coals – about 40 mins after lighting). Lightly brush 1 side of each burger with oil.

  5. Place the burgers, oil-side down, on the barbecue. Cook for 5 mins until the meat is lightly charred. Don’t move them around or they may stick. Oil the other side, then turn over using tongs. Don’t press down on the meat, as that will squeeze out the juices.

  6. Cook for 5 mins more for medium. If you like your burgers pink in the middle, cook 1 min less each side. For well done, cook 1 min more.

     

Sweet potato fries

Ingredients
500 grams sweet potatoes (peeled and cut in to long strips)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. You may need to adjust the temperature slightly dependant on your oven.
  2. In a large bowl add the sweet potato and pour over the olive oil and give them a good coating.
  3. Sprinkle over the salt and paprika and also give them a good coating. Lay evenly over a non-stick baking tray.
  4. Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until crispy.
  5. Serve on their own as a snack or a side to your favourite meal.

This is a pretty long blog and sorry the photos arent the best, yesterday was just about getting through the day without punching one of those  “I love the January sales” people.

Heres my photos, enjoy.

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– it was love at first sign –
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– it was literally what we were looking for, antique shops are the way forward –
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– my attempt at posh fast food –

 

B236 – PANIC ATTACKS AND COLOUR CLASHES

A few months ago amy brought some tickets to see the Kooks play in Brighton, they are a band Ive wanted to see for ages and something which I’ve been excited for since she told me we were going. but before we can go to an amazing gig we had to do something that turns girls like amy into monsters / dictators, I’m talking about is IKEA.  Yesterday we had to venture over to the warehouse of nightmares and shop till my credit card pops.

I saw a side to amy which scared me and it happened in the cushion department, we were trying to work out what colours go with what pattern and what fabric would work with the sofa. I never new that cushion shopping was a thing, I just thought they came with a sofa and that was it. who wrong I was. cushion shopping involves panic attacks and a lot of tongue bitting. Apparently my opinions will be taken into consideration but in the end they will be ignored, she even let me pick a cushion that she chose.

After cushion gate has finished it was time to hit the road and head down to Brighton and meet some good old chums and put the whole ikea experience behind us. the kooks smash it they were literally amazing the lead singer is a guy called Luke Pritchard and he knows a thing or two about performing and somehow have managed to hold down a top spot in British indie music since their album Inside in inside out was released in 2006. what was amazing about the show for me was when the blue curtain came down and he performed an acoustic set, for some reason when you bring the curtain down mid set it really makes the gig feel intimate. if you have the chance to see the Kooks definitely get down to a gig, tonight they are playing in Cardiff and if I could get down there I would.

As I spent the day running round doing a million and one things, all my photos were taken on my phone.

P.s Amy thanks for taking me around Ikea, you’ve given me the interior design bug and also for getting the Kooks tickets!!!!!

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– this part of the set made it worth it –
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– the literally havent aged as a band since 2006 –
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– amy mid panic attack because yellow doesn’t go with the orange of the wall… or does it?! –

B189 – ITS FINALLY HAPPENED A TRUE GAME CHANGER

The Condo has hit a new level, If you’ve ever been to the flat you would know that theres been one big thing missing from it and that is Curtains, for some reason We’ve never got round to putting up curtains or blinds. Its not that we are lazy its that we haven’t really needed them and I’ve just kind of adapted to natural light in the morning. today though that has changed and my DIY skills have gone up a new level. Most people know that my DIY and manual labour skills are pretty much below average, well not any more, my first day of being 24 and Ive just used my first drill, and made multiple even level holes and put up blinds. this is well and truly a big step.

the DIY bug has hit me hard and now things are going to change round here. before it was all about the painting, now thats pretty much out the way, Ive now got to start building things, taking things away and updating things, its a never ending job that I’m now getting excited about. I just need to keep Amy away from Pinterest and I might have a chance of getting this done.

Now im pretty much a site man and a grafter, it was only right that after my success at putting the blinds up, i sat down and had a proper cup of tea, Bilbo ( bilbo Baggins – leave the bag in) with a lot of milk, the only difference being to take the photo I needed a a second pair of hands and a few pints of milk.

At last though, im now sitting on the sofa watching Tattoo fixers and dont have anything todo apart from right this post, tomorrow I pack for a trip to America so be prepared for some cool shots of the states, Ive got a busy 6 weeks of travel and Im looking forward to showing you guys what I get up too!

Im having a really weird moment where Ive confused myself because this post is written the night before its posted. is that confusing, would you rather I wrote in past tense or current tense. I dont mind just want to know what reads better.

Any way let me know and enjoy the snaps.

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– a proper cup of tea –
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– the bed room with the blinds, its finally coming a long, the white wall by the blinds is dirty because I was leaning on it. just ignore that –
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– this is amy sitting on the floor asking if we can stop running about doing things now –

 

B181 – PLEASE LET ME SLEEP

For the past months I’ve been properly excited to have a Sunday, and today that’s what I had. For some reason Amy and me woke up at like 6:30 this morning and decided we should head over to Cambridge road flower market first thing and grab some more plants for the flat, the plan is to basically have like an indoor balcony. We don’t have an outside bit so doing the best we can with the extra big window ledge.

I’m telling you now it’s coming along nicely, I’m not going to post any pictures because I want to reveal the thing look once it’s done m, which will hopefully be soon. I’ve got my eye on a few things that will finish it off. Anyone after getting hold of a pine apple plant and some other planets I’m not sure what they are but we headed back to the flat and make a plan to head over to Epping forest.

Who knew that Epping forest was actually anywhere near Epping tube station, I just imagined it would be like the new forest and you can just get off the train anywhere and be surround by country side. That was definitely not the case and the only answer was the head into a local pub for the good old English pub grub, no alcohol though just a pint of orange juice.

We basically just looked around Epping and headed back to London to grab some supplies for the flat, I have good news. As of tomorrow the flat will now have blinds, I’ve been here for 3 yeas now and finally blinds are going to be installed! It’s been a long wait, but it’s happening and I can’t wait.

I suppose this is a proper Sunday post, nothing to extreme just a chilled day out, on the other hand I can’t sleep through the night and keep waking up at like 2ish for a few hours I’m pretty sure it’s the jet lag and it’s happened to be again now, it’s 2:37 on Monday morning a few hours ago I was passed out now I’m wake awake! Does anyone have any tips to get back to normal, I love sleep and really want a full nights sleep.

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– this guys got a strong shirt –
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– I really want to get a proper tree for the flat –
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– this is amy getting excited about pillows, when did my sundays become about flowers and pillows – ” Green goes so well with orange –