Something has been sweeping the food blogging world, and it's courgette pasta. I wasn't particularly thrilled to try it, I thought it was an interesting concept but I LOVE pasta and couldn't imagine anything coming close to its starchy goodness. I even prefer wholewheat pasta over white pasta as it is just so much tastier and better for you.
I still feel like I'm recovering from the wedding (so this is how people feel when they do something on a weekend?) but all-in-all the past week has been good to me, despite saying goodbye (again) to the SO. However, I did manage to go to the British Street Food event in Leeds on Friday night, and a great time was had by all - blog post coming soon!
Here are the links that have been filling my internet browser over the past few days. Now the SO has made his way back to Liverpool, it's about time I got around to watching the 383,773 things that I've been meaning to watch since I first bought my subscription (best decision ever by the way). Here are just a couple of things that have made themselves across to my Recently Watched or Favourites list.
This afternoon I am heading to the British Street Food festival in Leeds and I am SO excited. I have been looking forward to it since last week and I hope it doesn't let me down. I hate disappointing food. Anyway, this has gotten me thinking about the brilliant places in Leeds to eat that I haven't yet tried. It's criminal. There are countless places, with new ones opening up all the time, that I still want to try and a lot of them do lunchtime deals so I really have no excuse not to get my bum along. If I could afford it (and I could do it healthily), I would eat out six nights a week (I don't want all my mum's hard work teaching me to cook to go to waste). So here is my Leed eatery Bucket List that I WILL munch my way through. Friends of Ham
One of my old work colleagues did nothing but rave on about this place and it sounds right up my street. There's cheese, wine and beer, deli boards full of meat - what more could you want? It's also ridiculously close to where I work so I really have no excuse. The only problem is that the SO isn't a big fan of cheese but he'd be happy as there's plenty of meat. At the weekend I had the honour of being my friend's bridesmaid at her Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding. It meant that I didn't get to spend a lot of time with the SO until the meal and speeches and all that was over. I was worried about how he'd be but he was a real trooper and mingled like a pro (I think my friends like him now more than me). He also scrubs up pretty well. I love me a blue suit.
It was a pretty long drive down from Leeds to Devon (about six hours with a stop off) but it was a fairly smooth journey. We took my friend from work and his partner down as well and we were all acting like such city kids, being appalled by the complete lack of signal and internet access everywhere we went. Sat Nav also tried to make us drive off a cliff and I had to repeat myself 398238 times when asking directions, apparently my accent is stronger than I thought for the southern folk. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you'll know that I spent the weekend at my friend's wedding and it was just the most lovely time. I spent the whole weekend with some of my work colleagues, who have quickly become friends and I was left thinking how lucky I am when it comes down to it and how far I've come from the kid who worried about everything.
My life is full of little pleasures and I really should take the time to realise that every now and then, instead of moaning and whining. Since I've moved to Leeds I've spent a lot more time in and around town, but a lot less time reading. I actually enjoyed the daily commute and it gave me time to devour books, which I find hard to do now. However, with the SO going away tomorrow I'm looking forward to having more time to get into some books that have been on my to-do list for a while now. The Silkwork - Robert GalbraithI am the Harry Potter generation and felt that a chapter of my life had closed when the final book came out (I'm not even joking), so was so excited when she released Casual Vacancy. However, I just couldn't get into it at all. I was a journalism student and the module on local government was the one I dreaded each week, so Casual Vacancy just wasn't for me. It was brilliantly written but the topic just didn't interest me at all. I was sad. I wanted more JK. Then the Cuckoo's Calling was released. A detective novel by one of my favourite people in the world. I LOVED it. Now, she has released another one with Cormoran Strike as the detective and I can't wait to get it - though I may wait for it to come out in paperback.
Mexican - Cielo BlancoI love food. I can't help it, and to be honest it's a constant battle to not eat everything in sight, especially when in and around Mexican/Italian/Indian places. I've already done a post about Cielo Blanco in Leeds Trinity so I won't go into too much detail as you can find out all about it here. I will just say that I eat a LOT of Mexican food, whether that's at home, in restaurants or at food festivals and this is the best I've ever had. If you're a lover of Mexican food and plenty of Tequila (and great service) then you NEED to head over to Leeds Trinity and sample the delights from Cielo Blanco. I especially recommend the stuffed jalepenos if you like a bit of a kick in your food. Italian - Jamie's ItalianIn just a few months I will be turning 24. Twenty-four. Two entire decades and another four years. That's so odd. When I was small, I remember my oldest brother turning 18 and thinking it must be so odd to be a grown up and where I would be if I reached that age, The idea of being a fully-fledged adult the second you turn 18 seems like such a crazy concept now, and the (almost) six years between that age and now I think I've learned more, achieved more and generally just grown up more than during the other 18 years of life.
I'm not an expert, and I definitely don't have this whole 'life' thing down but I have learnt some stuff, some important stuff that I think most 20-somethings can relate to. So here are my life musings from a 23 and a bit year old, and I hope they aren't too cringey when I look back on them in a few year's time. When I'm writing them, I'm thinking about stuff I'd tell my 13-year-old self, so please don't think I'm being preachy. The past week has been a pretty hectic one swamped in a lot of last-minute wedding planning for my friend who ties the knot on Saturday. However, there has still been plenty bringing smiles to my face including this good ol' Yorkshire mug that the SO bought me as a little something. He's a charmer.
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