ANIMAL FREE FOOD

♫ Currently listening to : Descendents - Rotting Out

My current food obsession is anything with soy sauce. I can't get enough of it.

I went in to a Chinese supermarket today and it was a dream come true for me. I managed to buy a giant pack of tofu, soy sauce (obviously), a tub of coconut oil and some tiger balm for under £10.

As I'm avoiding all animal produce at the moment, I'm eating a lot of stir fried vegetables. This recipe is really quick and easy but still a good source of protein.

-Soak the tofu between a few sheets of kitchen roll and then chop in to cubes
-Stir fry an onion and the tofu in a small teaspoon of coconut oil for about six minutes. I prefer the tofu when it's slightly crispy around the edges
-Add broccoli, kale and spinach and stir fry for a few more minutes
-Add soya sauce
-Eat

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP PART 1

♫ Currently listening to : Foo Fighters - Greatest Hits

We did it! 500 miles of California; and it was bloody beautiful. I have holiday blues, for sure.

Our first stop was San Francisco. The weirdest thing is I had absolutely no expectations of San Fran... out of everywhere that we'd booked, it was the place I'd thought about the least. So, my verdict? It blew my mind.

WHERE TO STAY
We stayed in Noe Valley which is a really quaint and safe area. It's also close to the Mission.

WEATHER
Everyone had warned us about the unpredictable weather and how it could be sunny one side of the city, and then cloudy and cold the other side so we had made sure to pack some hoodies and long sleeve tops. We didn't bloody need them, did we! We were so lucky with the weather; hot and sunny every single day that we were there.

PLACES TO VISIT
So it's super hard going to a new city and trying to figure out where to go. We wanted to do some touristy stuff, but also wanted to do 'as the locals do'. We were lucky enough to have a friend that had moved to San Fran who recommended us some places. Here's where I'd recommend...*
HAIGHT STREET
Definitely make your way to Haight Street if you like vintage shopping! There are plenty of cool thrift stores and if you walk to the end of the street you come across Amoeba Records where, if like me you are an Empire Records fan, you can live out all of your Sugar High dreams.
GOLDEN GATE PARK
If you carry on walking to the end of Haight St, you get to the entrance of the Golden Gate Park. Do not be fooled; this park is huge! We spent about two hours walking through and only covered about half of it. But, it's insanely beautiful. We came across the Japanese Tea Gardens (which you have to pay to get in which we didn't do, cause you know... we're tight), baseball fields, bowling greens and, my personal favourite, the lake. We rented a rowing boat for an hour for about $20! Definitely do this; it was one of my highlights. Nb. Don't try and row the boat simultaneously with a friend; it doesn't work and you will row yourself in to a hedge full of turtles.
PORK STORE CAFE
If you're looking for a good, old fashioned American breakfast then Pork Store is for you. There are plenty of options for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. I had the veggie huevos rancheros and Steph ate the eggs Benedict and we were both very happy customers. Really cool, quirky place. Go.
ALCATRAZ ISLAND
Book tickets in advance if you want to go to Alcatraz! I'm so, so glad we did! I'd heard mixed reviews about Alcatraz but I found it incredibly interesting. We were lucky and went when there was an Ai WeiWei exhibition on. They'd opened the hospital wing for this, which I think was the best part. Plus you get to go over on a boat and see the city from a distance!
PIER 39
There are sea lions! What more reason to go? After we saw them, we took the cable car down to Union Square. We queued for about an hour, but we met a really cool woman from Texas who told us never to marry a cowboy and how to make the best BBQ sauce. And the ride was cool too. Stand on the outside.
CHINA TOWN
This was pretty much heaven for me as I have an obsession with Chinese stores. I bought some cool chopsticks, which made it worth it.
LOMBARD STREET
We had the coolest Uber driver who took us on a mini tour of some cool San Fran spots, and along the way we stopped at Lombard Street which has 8 hairpin turns because otherwise it would have been too steep to go down! It was, you know, cool and stuff. We had a photo.
MUIR BEACH AND MUIR WOODS
Oh. My. Freakin'. God. This was one of my favourite parts of the trip. We drove out of the city for the day to Muir Woods, which we heard had beautiful redwood trees. Along the way, we stopped roadside and took in the views from the top of the mountains. We also accidentally found Muir Beach which was just dreamy. It's a pretty small and quiet sand beach. After fighting some people for a car space, we then hiked around the woods for about two hours and it's really breathtaking and we spotted a deer!
SAUSALITO
On the way back from Muir Woods, we took a detour in to the little marina town of Sausalito and had pizza and took a walk. Highly recommend!
ST. FRANCIS FOUNTAIN
We found this little gem of a cafe on one of our last days and I loved it. Take note, you have to write your name down on the sign outside in order to get a table which we only realised ten minutes in to being ignored as we stood outside wondering why we were invisible. The guys who worked there were so, so friendly and topped up my coffee so many times I wanted to marry them all. I highly recommend the vegan blueberry pancakes! One of the guys also recommended a cool comic book store to us in the Mission which we headed to after brunch.
DOLORES PARK
This is a really cool park where everyone hangs out in the Mission. That's all there is to say really.
TWIN PEAKS
Visit Twin Peaks in the night and in the day. I had two totally different experiences from doing so. When we went at night, we could clearly see a cloud of fog lingering above one area of the city, while the rest of the landscape remained clear. When we went in the daytime, it was our last San Francisco activity we did before we left and it was breathtaking. It has nothing to do with Twin Peaks the TV show, by the way. Sorry.

And there we have it! Part 1 of our California adventure! Go to San Fran, be prepared to walk up hills from your nightmares, get confused over whether the guy over there is a babe or a homeless person and use Uber Pool lots!

*All of the places listed are in photos above!

CHLOE RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME

♫ Currently listening to : Pixies - Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim

Whenever I wear this top from Fucking Awesome, I prepare myself for odd stares towards my breast region (or where they should be, at least). 

I've had a fascination with Chloe Sevigny ever since I first watched Larry Clark's 'Kids'. Not only is she a total babe, but she's appeared in some of my favourite films and has an unquestionable fashion sense. Having read a number of interviews with her, I love what she's about.

Since purchase, the number of people that have asked me why I'm wearing a top "with a photo of a lesbian on it" has been truly eye opening. News flash; just because a girl has short hair, doesn't make her a lesbian. 

And even if she was a lesbian; so fucking what? I'd still be wearing the tshirt. 

Nb. I need to buy an iron.

BACON IS GOOD FOR ME : Happy Vegetarian Birthday To Me!

♫ Currently listening to : Descendents - Everything Sucks

I’m coming up to my one year vegetarian birthday. 

I was a vegetarian when I was sixteen for two years and again when I was twenty for another two years. Each time I lapsed, and looking back I guess it’s because I didn’t really know my reasons for abstaining from meat. All I knew was that it didn’t feel quite right.

Last year, I went to America a meat eater and returned once again with my Vegetarian badge. It just didn’t feel right for me to be eating animals and something clicked in to place when I was away. I was travelling alone so I think I had more time to think (which a lot of the time is one of my vices).

With two veggie fails under my belt, I resolved that if I was going to do it again then I’d do it properly. I decided to research further in to it and decide how I really felt about meat consumption. I watched a number of documentaries, including Vegucated, which follows a group of meat eaters as they switch to a vegan diet for six weeks and learn how meat and dairy is farmed, which was eye opening to say the least; don’t get me started on ‘Free Range’ . 

I also listened to a debate between an independent meat and dairy farmer and a vegan activist about whether you should eat animal products. I can’t remember the exact debate I listened to but there are similar talks you can listen to online. Both parties made valid points, but upon conclusion I decided to choose the way of the latter. 

The last year has been fairly easy to be honest. I was never a big meat eater, so cutting it out completely came quite naturally. There have been a few instances where I’ve felt like eating meat, but I’ve dealt with it by saying to myself “Ok, if you want to eat it; then eat it.”

But, having educated myself on the production of meat and the treatment of animals, it’s one hundred percent not something that I agree with, and no meal is worth that; no matter how good it may taste!

Being a vegetarian has given me a bit more direction in terms of what I believe and, in turn, makes me like myself more. 

So, on a different note, but one that sparked off this post, I stitched a new design “Bacon Is Good For Me”* inspired by King Curtis. Cross stitching makes me happy!

*I do not condone eating Babe ;)

SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP

Here's one I made earlier! Because I like cross stitching and I like being witty. This design is from Subversive Cross Stitch.

SUNDAY STRIPES

♫ Currently listening to : Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

Sunday is usually my favourite day of the week. Not so much this week, however, because I'm on the brink of tonsillitis.

I spent the day at Paintworks, Bristol for the Chosen Wedding Fair with my sister, Helly, and her fiancé Sam, who have a wedding stationary business. It was such a nice day; working in the wedding industry seems like it'd be so much fun! I even got to try on a wedding dress, much to the amusement of Sam as I always swear that I will never get married. The dress was amazing so I'll be sure to do a post on it soon.

Today I wore tapered dungarees from This Is Welcome, shoes from Office and a vintage striped top.

Bye!

BIG HAIR, DON'T CARE : Big from Lush Cosmetics Review

My hair is insanely straight. Believe me; I’ve dedicated a lot of time in the past to trying to make it anything other than poker straight. Three hours, a can of hairspray and a good dose of heat damage later and it would look slightly like I’ve fallen in to a bush; but no curls.

Nowadays, I’ve taken to embracing my straight hair. But, if you offer me something that’s going to give it a bit of volume, then I’m going to take it. And that’s what Lush have done in the form of ‘Big’.

Big is a shampoo that’s kind of like a scrub, made of sea salt, seaweed infusion, coconut oil, lime and lemon juice. It’s about £12 for a 330g pot but you really don’t need to use much. My hair is almost waist length and a small scoop is enough for me. It lathers up really quickly and rinses out easily. No repeat wash is necessary.

I finished the wash process off by using some of the Big solid conditioner that I was given as a sample. (This is another thing I love about Lush; they generously give you samples of products they think you might like!)

 If your hair tends to be quite oily like mine, then I can’t recommend this shampoo enough! The coconut oil also acts as a natural heat protection so I was able to blow dry my hair without the use of my usual heat protection spray.

 My hair feels thicker, softer and smells dreamy. I normally have to wash my hair every two days but Big keeps it cleaner for longer.

You can buy Big online, but I highly recommend visiting your nearest Lush store as their staff are so helpful and friendly.

BLACK ON BLACK ON BLACK

♫ Currently listening to : Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

So if it wasn't so freakin' cold outside, this is what I'd be wearing. But for now, I'll add some tights. My Duster is from Topshop and is currently my favourite item of clothing. I can wear it day or night; it just makes every outfit look better.

I'm a sucker for a chunky shoe and these Chelsea Boots from ASOS are the best. The flatform means that they're super comfortable but add some height.

GIRLS OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES

Photo : Elle

I have a tendency to avoid doing certain things that I know people want me to do. This is not me being stubborn; I genuinely don’t know why it is. Potentially some sort of mild OCD related trait.
Anyway, the point is, I had been avoiding watching Girls since a friend introduced it to me a year and a half ago.

I kind of forgot about it, until recently when my sister started watching the series and re-recommend it to me. It still took me about a week to do it, but being bed bound due to illness gave me no more excuses. I clicked play on that first episode, and that was it. Four days and two and a half seasons later and I'm hooked. I love it.

I love Hannah, I love the quirky storylines, I love the humour, I love how relatable the characters are. In short, it’s just great.

It was towards the middle of Season 2, however, when I found myself becoming mildly irritated during one of Hannah’s naked scenes. I couldn’t really pinpoint why until, to my absolute disgrace, it dawned on me that it was because of her ‘unconventional’ body.

I was suddenly outraged at myself that such a feeling had even entered my mind, no matter how involuntarily it was. I’m all for feminism and female empowerment (hence the name of my blog being a bit of a tongue-in-cheek take on Urban Dictionary’s explanation of ‘girl brain’) so I began to question how, considering my own personal values, I had come to this subconscious conclusion.

Is it that drilled in to today’s generation that women are meant to have perfect bodies? Are we so used to seeing skinny, no-fat-anywhere types gracing our television screens that we are insulted by seeing any other shape and size? If so, this is something I find extremely worrying.

I applaud Lena Dunham for her bold, bare-all approach in Girls. Having come under an abundance of criticism (cough New York Post cough) for her body she has persevered and challenged societies perception of what a woman’s body should or shouldn’t look like.

Because some women do have a big bum and small boobs... :)