Making Breakfast Interesting

Breakfast can be one of my favourite meals of the day, especially when you have the right ingredients to make it so. Often breakfast for students is something quick and easy, more often than not it is something most of us skip completely. However, I'm a bit old-fashioned and I think breakfast is something to be enjoyed, something that's going to start your day off in a good way. Here are some of the things I make on an everyday week basis, most of which are quick and easy to make, but taste a bit better than a slightly burnt bit of toast with a scrape of butter.

Idea 1: Yoghurt with a sprinkle of oats and jam. Trust me when I say this is amazing and it's as easy as just putting one thing on top of another. At home, I have a range of homemade plum and cherry jams from our garden (awh), the one I've used here is a cherry and vanilla jam. Jam really isn't that hard to make y'know. 

Idea 2: Stacked American-style mango pancakes with cinnamon vanilla peanut butter, chopped mango, raspberries and crushed walnuts. This was my indulgent breakfast of the week. I made this on a Saturday morning, when I woke up late with a mini-hangover and felt like I deserved a treat. A good tip for making pancakes is making a mix of the dry ingredients and keeping them in a jar, so you only need to add the wet ingredients when doing the final mix. 

Idea 3: Homemade porridge with peanut butter and chopped banana. This is one of my most versatile breakfasts. You can make the oats in so many different ways and with so many flavours. For example, I made these oats the lazy way in the microwave but you can also cook them over the hob. Mixing up the flavours can also be fun, as you can add different fresh, dried fruits and nuts, different types of butter and the flavour of the porridge itself! (Gingerbread porridge is very warming and wintery).

I would be happy to provide any recipes for jams, pancakes and oats that I've used or adapted, but I'm not claiming to be a complete breakfast expert- there are plenty of great recipes out there and looking for them is half the fun...or is that just my idea of fun...? Anyway, I hope this has proved that breakfast doesn't have to be something we regard as a necessity, but something we can look forward to when we wake up. Happy breakfast-ing! 

TIPS FOR INTERRAILING PT.2

4. Eat Eclairs at Blé Sucré

If you haven't worked it out by now, I'm a foodie, a big one. Additionally my favourite kind of food is the baked good kind. Let me tell you, although I haven't sampled all of the eclairs from all of the patisseries in the world (as much as I'd like to) these ones do come top of my list. Blé Sucré is located on Rue Antoine Vollon, so quite off the beaten track and away from the hordes of tourists, looking for a perect macaroon. Other items to look out for are the; 'best iced madelines in Paris', delicate millefeuille's and flaky pain au chocolat's. Highly recommend to anyone with a sweet tooth and passion for beautiful desserts. 



5. Invest in a cushion/well-padded jumper

This trip will exhaust you. You will be physically and emotionally drained from carrying that huge rucksack around Munich whilst trying to keep your watercolour from Italy uncrumpled. Most of the sleeping you do will probably be on long train trips, you won't be getting much sleep in the 13 bed hostel in Bilbao let me tell you that. I therefore advise you to invest in a cushion, one of those round-the-neck ones will do, or one of those funny-animal-foam ones if you have space for it. If neither of those will do, just do what I did, find a nice soft jumper and rest your head on that.

6. You might lose clothes...

This is something you should be prepared for. It can be very saddening, especially when it's your favourite t-shirt or a VITAL pair of underwear. But don't worry, it happens to everyone! Everyone in my group lost something, I lost around 3 items of clothes. Another friend lost his sunglasses and another lost her best dress. The key here is to not take anything too expensive or personally important to you, no matter how good they make you look in photos. If you just must take your Burberry rain mac (what's wrong with a floral poncho...?) then you probably need a bag padlock. Although saying this, you'll probably still lose something, because you left it on the floor of your room in Ljubljana.  

  

Yep. Lost that whole outfit.                                 You won't be getting much sleep in that will you.

LEEDS RESTAURANTS > CATTLE GRID

Another one of my Leeds favourites has got to be Cattle Grid. Bear in mind, this is not one for veggies. The menu is basically meat and meat, with a side of meat. The restaurant itself is a very cool, laid back steakhouse with big open windows, decorated with pictures of cows everywhere, just to remind you of the restaurants prime product. The best thing about Cattle Grid, is that for a steakhouse and grill, it is very reasonably priced. For example, on my first visit, a very convenient offer on ribs got me a full rack of ribs and chips for £10. The second time I visited, I splashed out a little more; I ordered a harissa and buffalo mozzarella burger with a side of chips to share. Of course, the burger was absolutely huge, and perfectly cooked; still a little pink in the middle. It was complemented perfectly by the tangy harissa and smooth mozzarella, and I can honestly say, it is one of the best burgers I've ever eaten. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Leeds and apparently also in London, as it turns out they have a couple of branches there!

Check out the menu here: http://www.cattlegridrestaurant.com/cattle-grid-menu-main.html

p.s I will start to take photos soon (it's difficult getting over the awkwardness of taking photos of food but I'm getting there)

RECIPE> BUTTERSCOTCH BANANA BREAKFAST MUFFINS

This is my Nigella-adapted Muffin recipe that I chose over making your standard Hot Cross Bun Recipe for Easter this year. It calls for a more indulgent breakfast,which is perfect; warmed up in the microwave, covered in butter with a big mug of tea.

Ingredients

125g of mini butterscotch pieces
124ml of sunflower oil
3 bananas
250g of plain flour
100g of caster sugar
2 eggs
a teaspoon of baking powder
half a teaspoon of bicarb of soda

Method

Muffins are a great starter baking recipe. They don't need to be perfect, in fact, the more lumpy, the more perfect.

Pre heat oven to 200°C   Line a 12 bun muffin tin with muffin cases. Whisk the eggs and sunflower oil together. Mash up the bananas (don't leave them out too long or they will start to go brown). Mix the dry ingredients together. Then mix everything in together. Lots of mixing, no hassle. Scoop into the muffin tin and bake for 20 mins. Once they're done- eat them all.

INTERRAILING TIPS

A tonne of my friends this year have decided to go interrailing or at least want to go travelling around Europe. What I found when I began travelling around Europe is that there were a lot of things I wasn't prepared for. So I've comprised a little list of tips and hints for all you budding travellers as to what to visit, what to take and how to be generally prepared for your interrailing journey.

In terms of background considering my trip; I spent around 2 months or so travelling Europe (I can't really remember, I lost all sense of time and space as mystical as that sounds) and me and my other three companions went from Grenada to the Czech Republic. It was amazing and mad and we did something new everyday, I highly recommend Europe by train.

1) EUROPE IS EXPENSIVE!!! 

This is the first thing you should know about interrailing  On one hand, there are plenty of free and interesting places to visit in Europe, for example, the beaches in Barcelona or just admiring the city landscape and cathedrals of Florence from outside. However, visiting museums, or climbing Domo's will cost you a pretty penny. Many of these places usually have student discounts and I managed to barter my way into a museum in Naples to see the Battle of Alexander and Darius. Food and drink is especially expensive in Italy and France, so be wary when planning your journey, a pizza in Venice nearly bankrupted me.

Note: Booking trains in advance often has a surplus fee, found this out early on in the trip when trying to get from Paris to Barcelona.


Very Pretty/Pricey-to-climb Eiffel Tower

2) Visit Prague

Prague was probably my favourite city of the trip, despite the Czech Republic being one of the last places we visited. It is honestly an amazing city and has a surprisingly bloody history for anyone who is interested in murderous revolutions. My favourite things about Prague were; the beautiful bridges over the Vltava river, the ridiculously cheap beer and the generally laid back bohemian style of the region.


Prague! 

3) Take a pack of cards

Honestly one of the most useful things for treating boredom. If you are travelling alone to start with, I advise; don't. Re-assess your situation and convince someone to go with you, you'll have much more fun with a companion, you'll be safer and you'll save more money. Friends buy you things when you're poor. Anyway; a pack of cards is useful in all boring 4 hour train journeys, I recommend playing Hearts and Cheat and also using them for drinking games pre-Berlin clubbing. I know you may think; what about admiring the scenery on the journey? Trust me; you can do this whilst playing cards, my friends and I had a long conversation about the beauty of the Julian Alps over a game of Snap.

P.S You can switch cards for sleeping; you will need it.

As this post was longer than expected, I'll break these up into little bites. My next installment of interrailing tips will be posted soon!

LEEDS RESTAURANTS > ARTS CAFE BAR

So now I've started studying at Leeds University, I feel I can experiment a bit more with Northern cuisine; you know; Yorkshire reared ham, pork pies and blue cheese from the Dales. Or I could be more adventurous with flavours, in the style of a Northern friend of mine, who on pancake day, smothered her pancakes in gravy. Leeds, is a foodie's heaven, alongside all the usual chain restaurants, there are a great number of deli's and cafe's, as well as a number of amazing restaurants.

A new favourite of mine has to be Arts Cafe Bar, located on Call Lane. This intimate little cafe/bar/restaurant hybrid serves the freshest and most interesting food I've had in Leeds so far. I went there a couple of weeks ago and I felt spoilt for choice when it came to the menu. I ended up picking the wild mushroom gnocci with blue cheese to start and for not being a huge fan of blue cheese, this was delicious, creamy goodness. For a main course, I had the seared chicken breast on pancetta ragu with olive tapenade, this was a lot richer, with stunning aromatic Mediterranean flavours. And to finish my meal, I had a gorgeous chocolate raspberry bakewell slice with a beetroot parfait. Although it came with some questionable looking chocolate soil, the only complaint I had.

The menu changes regularly and seasonally, so these exact dishes may not be on offer at the time of publishing, but what is important is the quality of the food, which is really impeccable. What's also great to know is they have an early bird menu, meaning you get three courses for £15 or two for £12.50, a steal when it comes to this standard of cooking. I would definitely go again! Also, check out their lunch menu for yummy looking sandwiches and plates!

http://www.artscafebar.com/menu

A Confession

Ok, so I tried this whole blogging thing a while ago and I wasn't very good at it... It has been over a year since my last post after all. Anyway after a successful year of gap-yahing, I've started university and not much has changed. My two main passions in life are still food and travelling. But now I've got a little less money to do either and I'm a bit more student-y and saver-y and trying to save up next year to go to Bali or Croatia... 

So, my Easter resolution has been to start writing on this blog again. I think I'll be doing some reflective posts (I can help out on some useful student inter railing tips), some recipe posts (think baking) and some restraunt  reviews (when I have enough money to go). So hear goes...again. I hope this is useful to anyone who reads it!