Stumbling My Way Through Life One Glass of Wine at a Time

Stumbling My Way Through Life One Glass of Wine at a Time

Monday, October 21, 2013

Finley Quaye - Dice

Finely Quaye - Dice





That song tells a special story in my life. I remember listening to it while lying sprawled out across the floor with my best friend, Rachel. Surrounding us was scattered paper and scibbles - all ideas and chapters for a book we had started writing together. One thing that we were absolutely certain about was that our story was good enough to be made into a film... and the dramatic high spot of our film-to-be would be accompanied by this song. 

The dramatic high-spot had been a scene where we would run through the Heathrow Airport and into the arms of the men that were in our lives. 
To this day, even though the book we had started way back when is no longer in existence, every time I hear this song I think of that romantic moment.... running through the airport, trying to find the love of my life. The vision is so strong - maybe it will happen one day. Who knows? 
The face of the man has always been clouded over, fuzzy and unknown... a face I can't quite put a finger on.

How exciting it is to not know the future. 

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Chicken Ala King Recipe

This is such a lovely, simple recipe for chicken ala king... It's quite surprising how good it tastes because you really don't use that many ingredients at all! That's one of the beautiful things about this easy dish. (plus, it's kid friendly! All kids I know that have tried it have loved it! So enjoy this yummy recipe!)

What you'll need (serves 4):
  •  Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Red and Green Pepper
  • A pack of your preferred mushrooms (I like portebillini)
  • A big chunk of butter
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • A chicken or vegetable stock cube
  • Milk
  • 3 handfuls of Cake Flour
  • 2 x egg yolks
  • Cream
  • Salt and Pepper

First, put two pans onto your stove. One pan with extra virgin olive oil and another with a big wad of butter. 

Slice your chicken into thin strips and put into the pan with extra virgin olive oil to cook through. 

Thinly slice your peppers and once the butter is melted in your second pan / pot, add them in, sauteing until soft.



While your chicken and peppers are now cooking, keep yourself busy by putting your chicken or vegetable stock cube into a jug and add 150ml of boiling water. Stir until fully diluted. 
In a second jug add in 150ml of milk.


Now slice up your preferred mushrooms and add them into the pepper pot. You'll see due to the butter that the mushrooms will go a beautiful golden color. Let this cook until soft. 




Once this is soft, take the peppers and mushrooms off of the heat. 
Take three handfuls of flour and mix it in with your mushrooms and peppers. It will fast become very stodgy and dry and it will not look very nice. Now put the pot back onto heat and add in half the jug of chicken / vegetable stock and half the jug of milk (make sure no lumps form in the sauce!):




After this, you should get something that looks like this:


Next, add in your chicken all cooked and ready to go! You'll notice the sauce thickening up really quickly now so add in the remainder of the milk and about 50ml of water - mix this is and put the heat down to as low as possible. Grind in some salt and pepper to taste. 





Now, crack your eggs and separate the yolks. On this particular recipe I cracked my egg open to find a double-yolker inside one egg! How special :) 
When your yolks are separated keep them aside in a bowl to add later.
Put a lid over your chicken and sauce mix on the lowest possible heat and let it simmer while you start on your rice. 
If you notice your sauce getting dry while simmering just add little lugs of milk here and there to prevent it. 



When you're rice is done, drain it and take the heat off of the sauce mix. Add in your yolks and a little bit of cream and stir quickly!




Voila!!!

Sprinkle a little bit of fresh parsley over as a garnish and you're ready to serve up! 



Hope you enjoy this delicious, easy and simple chicken ala king recipe! 

Have a great Wednesday evening bloggers'!
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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Hair Change

On Saturday morning I'm spoiling myself with something that I don't do very often - a hairdressing appointment.

As it turns out, my blonde hair literally NEEDS to go... sniffle. I went to one of the fanciest hairdressers in town (hey... if you're going to do it, might as well do it in style right?). Anyway, Oscar and Frank, the artists themselves, have refused to bleach my horrendous roots to remain blonde. They told me that it is beyond bad for your hair and they suggested that I go back to being dark.

I'm pretty sad - as I'd always envisioned being a blonde bride - which is pretty far-fetched seeing as that I need to snag me a fiance first of all..... BUT - I need to do what is best for my hair now.

Now, I like to be different. No matter if it's in what I'm wearing, my hair, my facebook status... I enjoy being unique.

Sooo... I went onto my beloved Pinterest site and Instagram and found some images of funky and different short hair colors I like but now I can't choose!!

To be honest, I really wanted to go deep dark red like this:





But here is my dilemma... I have a wedding coming up in November and I have just found my dress:



Red hair isn't going to suit it! And I'm dead-set on the dress so for once my hair is taking the back seat in the decision making.

So I've narrowed it down to the following choices:



























And if you click the link below you'll see some of the old styles and colors that I have been in the past.



I'm leaning a lot towards this style and coloring: 




Fringe, messy and ombre! But I need some help and advice. Please let me know what you think I should do!

(or should I just do the red and be done with it!!??! It does look gorgeous.....)

Thank you lovelies xxxx

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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Planning a Baby Shower

I have a baby shower to plan!
Gosh - it feels weird to say that. How did life fly by so quickly!? It seems like just yesterday I was planning my thirteenth birthday party . . . a disco party in my father's restaurant. Not a time in my life that I think too fondly of if I'm being honest. I wasn't what you would call, 'popular'. Think 'Thirteen Going on Thirty' (the shitty film.. yes), - well yeah, at that stage of my existence that film was basically based on my life. No exaggeration. 

Things, for me, have changed so much since then. I'm not a fan of hearing people say things like, 'I was a different person back then,' but in this case, it comes pretty close to be acceptable. 

My little munchkin will be born in roughly three months time and so, to celebrate, my friends, family and I are planning the shower. 

Tomorrow evening a few of us are getting together at a local pub to throw some ideas around and this is what I have in mind so far:

(Bare in mind that these are ideas for a boy's baby shower - and if you have any suggestions or ideas to contribute I'd be absolutely thrilled to receive them!)

The Invitations



The Theme
(everyone wear mustache's to the party!)





The Cake




The Beverages



The Snacks







The Games




The Sentimental Messages
(everyone write on a blackboard, something special for the little guy and sign his onsie!)






Any ideas??
Let the good times roll!


Awwh.. look he's waving at us!!



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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A Little Bit of Ben Howard



Have you ever listened to a CD and found not one fault in it... besides maybe when the tracks are up? Well, that's Ben Howard's album - Every Kingdom, to me. 
It's not very often I find a CD and enjoy every single track it has to offer.. I usually find myself skipping ahead to the one's I really love and relate to, overplay the hell out of them and them move on to something else. 
I cannot choose a favorite song off this CD, each one is as pleasant as the next, but I've put in two really stunning songs below for you to have a listen to:





 I really do love Ben Howard's music; I could listen to it at any time of day... before work, on my way to work, winding down after work with a glass of wine in the bath.. a dinner party, a lazy Sunday barbecue with the family... 
Any time of day... Ben Howard is more than welcome. 

x
(Had a good chuckle at a status I put up on Facebook the other day... Kindly commented on by brother and mother. They know me too well..)



(PS... for the record, it wasn't me who did this graffiti, that sign is far too high up for me to reach. But, whoever did, is pretty cool...)

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