women in the media

I've been pondering lately about women in the media, I personally am sick fed up of hearing how models are shopped to perfection. Removing every blemish on their body to make them spot free, cellulite free, wrinkle free, fat free and the perfect shape, skin colour and glow.

Now, I for one do not require to be anything like these size zero perfect women, who at the end of the day are nothing but false.

From Loreal advertising for making your hair "better", to mascara adverts, to nail polish, eye liner, shoes. Most of the advertising for women is falsified with beauty.

I like the dove adverts, were natural women are promoted, regardless of their shape, age, hair colour, size of their arse.

Big can be beautiful as can slim, be who you want to be not who you are required to be by the media, your mascara isn't going to miraculously make your eyelashes the same as the models. Why? because she has false ones in. You don't - well you might, but if you don't you have no chance.

Embrace yourself, tell closer, heat, more to shove it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paisley-United-Kingdom/ban-photoshopped-models-in-magazines/217476073573?v=wall

simple food, simple pleasures

This time - no photos. I can hear you all crying from here ;)

I made gnocchi with soured cream, garlic & herb sauce. I'm still not 100% keen on the flavours of the sauce yet, I feel like there's something missing which I can't quite put my finger on.

Anyway, since I wasn't keen on it, i decided to make something simple, which I love.

Boiled egg, soft boiled with toast soldiers.

It was epic

I recommend this

It's all political

I'm not very politically minded, but I thought I would give this a bash.

I'm going to post about the dispute going on between communication workers union and Royal Mail

I know this story from both sides, so I will do my best to lay out both sides.

From a union perspective, being an ex trade union rep myself, I wholey understand why they are striking, but I can't understand why CWU aren't advertising the reason to the public, to make them more aware of the plight of the postie (as it where).

Royal mail have, in recent years, taken the 2nd class post away, meaning more work for less post men, rounds have been lengthened, they are now expected to do twice the work for the same amount of pay. A situation which I am sure is prominent in many a workplace, although most of these workplaces don't involve the adverse weather conditions and mood of Joe Public to deal with.

CWU are basically striking to ensure that the postmen are getting fair pay for working more hours, for the same money and to help modernisation along without the loss of jobs. This would result in more hours needing worked by the less postmen, not exactly a fair deal, is it??

Now, for the flip side, the other side of the coin. Who is the strike affecting?

Well, it's affecting...Joe Public, small businesses like 

This Charming Girl

This website is run by Jackie, her business is being affected as the mail isn't being delivered, either by royal mail standard or recorded delivery, leaving her at a loss as to what to do.

The obvious option is courier, this is an expensive option for her and many other small business people, meaning that if this strike doesn't pick up, it could affect how their business ends up.

For this reason I'm inm turmoil, I understand why their striking but seeing how its affecting myself and many other people along with small and possibly large business people.

I'm staying on the fence.

Turns out, this wasn't political at all!

Mince, Potatos and doughballs

Firstly apologise for the rubbish photos, im using the one built into my laptop, will try and resolve that ASAP!!!

Tonight I am making mince potatos and doughballs, something my mum used to make me when I was a kid, and its tasty, filling and not very time consuming.

Hence my love, will be less picture heavy tonight but here goes 

you will need:

Mince (dur!)

any vegetables you wish to add to your mince 

gravy granules (I love bisto, I know, corporate whore here..)

Baking soda

self rasing flour

cup of milk

cup of water

Brown your mince in a huge pot (I use a pressure cooker for extra yumminess)

I drain off any grease, dependant on mince quality and then add gravy to it, let it simmer and today I added some carrots through my mince, because I was far too lazy to make them seperatlely.

Now, to make doughballs, something my mum loves, they end up fluffy and soft, they're very filling and I'd recommend them, especially with Mince!!!!

so, now how to make doughballs

one mug of flour into a bowl (for approx 4/5 small doughballs)

1/2 teaspoon of bicard/baking soda (so your doughballs rise)

some milk and water 

stir milk and water in equal amounts, so for every spoon of water you want one spoon of milk, until there is no dry flour left in the bottom of the bowl, your mix shouldnt be too sticky though.

flour your counter, to roll your balls on

they should be covered in flour totally now, not be sticky anywhere

add them to your pot of mince

when you cut them open they should look quite fluffy inside - it was really difficult to show how fluffy they are.

Hope you enjoy!

Chicken Balmoral

Tonight I made chicken balmoral for myself, my boyfriend and my daughter.

I love this, tis very tasty and doesn't require any real effort (in my opinion but I love cooking)

you will need:

1/2 chicken breasts each

some haggis

whisky (blended is fine...)

100ml double cream

250ml chicken stock

pre heated oven to 200 degrees

firstly get your chicken (i know obvious...:))

then put a nice wee slice in it (you can see the haggis next to it)

add haggis into middle

fold up, wrap in tinfoil and cook for approx 30 mins -dependant on the size of your breast (I'm paranoid that my chicken will be undercooked!)

to make whisky sauce

250ml or so of chicken stock

2 tablespoons of whisky (this is my good stuff, as i had no blended left!)

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 knob of butter
100ml double cream

Blended whisky works fine for this, though that's the only reason I'd have it in my house. And the mustard really does have to be dijon mustard, other types just don't come out as well.

How to do it:
Mix the whisky in a pan with the stock, and bring to the boil. 
Reduce by half.
Add the cream and the mustard, and stir while you do so.
Finally, add the butter to thicken the sauce and serve over whatever you're eating it with.

so, simmer your sauce away, and take your chicken out and serve

chicken on plate, with no veg/sauce

add sauce

this was for my daughter

she's only 5 so, its not as whisky tasting or thick as it should be, i'll make more and thicken it up later :)

expect more pictures!

Intro

I'm Julie, I'm 27, I cook, craft (when I have time...) and I'm a trainee mechanic.

I'm mostly offline, dealing with my daughter who is 5, well, 6 soon. I have 2 cats a dog and a vw golf.

You're going to get posts about clothes, cars, cooking and airsoft.

I'm hoping a blog will encourage me to be more crafty and creative so heres hoping.