Bristol & Sheffield

These are a few shots from my camera of late, of which I have not been so good at remembering to take with me lately! Some of these are from our weekend in Bristol visiting family and friends (including the ludicrously cute picture of my boyfriend as a kid), and some others are from our day in Sheffield with friends last weekend. Both cities are so great! Lots of amazing cafes, bars and shops to pop into, and so many nice places to explore...

 

Jennie x

Marilyn

She is just the most mesmerising woman!

Anna Karina

I adore her! This photo is just beautiful, taken of her by David Bailey in 1965. 

Gluten Free Vegan Treats

I have made the personal choice to be a vegetarian, I avoid dairy in large part due to skin allergies as well as being allergic to gluten. I am a wheat free vegan in large part (with the odd 'oh sod it' bit of chocolate). This can be a massive challenge, especially when dining out, but there really are so many fantastic alternatives out there that I never find I get bored with the foods I am allowed to consume. Thank goodness I'm not allergic to spices, herbs or my beloved chillies!

Below is a small selection of some beautiful food I've been inspired to recreate lately, all sourced from Pinterest. 

First and foremost, peanut butter is the best invention EVER (closely followed by sweetcorn, of course). This simple idea to slice apple and chuck in some peanut butter, chocolate chips (I'll add some vegan ones) and granola (which gluten free me will not include) looks so delicious! Peanut butter and banana smoothies are another tasty treat that I have when I feel like being unhealthy and spoiling myself! Delicious with some alpro milk and yoghurt or with some Swedish Glace vegan ice cream. Divine.

This sweet potato houmous looks wonderful - such a sucker for houmous and crunchy vegetables for dipping, or spreading it on top of some vastly overpriced gluten free bread or crackers for lunch. The recipe can be found over at blissful blog [where this image is also sourced from].

This recipe is made using chicken, but the really wonderful thing about Tofu is the fact that it is so easy to use in recipes as a replacement for meat. It absorbs the flavour of all the spices wonderfully and is ever so good for you!

This delicious food is that of a Thai Massaman curry (once again a nutty concoction), and I can't wait to try this one at home. Thai is a staple food for me to eat out with, as rice is obviously gluten free and they have countless vegetarian options with beautifully spiced sauces and seasonings. Can't get enough! The recipe for the meal pictured above comes from here. 

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An ever insipring source for me is Wheat Free Meat Free, a blog containing vegetarian gluten free recipes. I often have to adapt them to be largely vegan too, which is very easily done these days what with Alpro being so good! Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's book 'Veg Every Day' is another wonderful source for all your foody needs, with the recipes easily adapted to be gluten free and vegan.

Have you found any inspiring recipes lately? I find Pinterest a never ending source for drool inducing images of the most beautiful food. Who knew there were so many options for us 'wheat free meat free' types?!

Jennie x

Homely Details

...and so it seems I have a thing for animals? These are some little snapshots of some of the little details in our new home. I have so many owl, pig and elephant bits - it's quite ridiculous really!

Jennie x

Mid-week Music

For this week's music, I thought I'd just chuck a few of my recent favourites into a Spotify playlist. I'm so fortunate that my job is actually audio production for in-store radio - I get to listen to all sorts of music and have stumbled upon so much wonderful stuff. Hooray!

This has the usual culprits *cough* Gaslight Anthem *cough*, but also some things that are a little older, or some things I've just come across in my compiling adventures! This doesn't contain anything too extreme (I am a massive death metal fan, for example) just some pleasantries for a Wednesday (with a cheeky bit of hip hop, to spruce things up a bit).

Thought I'd include the one terrible shot I got of Eddie Vedder at the gig on Saturday at the Apollo in Manchester. It was the most beautifully intimate gig, the best I've been to in a long time (and boy am I a gig nerd). If you're not familiar with his solo stuff, or with Pearl Jam, I cannot recommend them enough. Pearl Jam are undoubtedly in my top five all time favourite bands. I just have so much love for them, and a lot of the Seattle music scene actually!

I hope you enjoy this playlist!

What are your favourite tracks and musicians at the moment? I'd love to know!

Jennie x

Nostalgia For The Light

Yesterday, some friends and I went to watch a documentary at the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. The title was 'Nostalgia For The Light' and it depicts the relationship between astrology, time and intimate human relationships so beautifully that I found myself profoundly moved by the whole thing. Set in Chile, the lives of those affected by the dictatorship of the 1970s are interviewed about their experiences. The film beautifully, through the simple concept of carbon, connects every matter in the universe and brings about a sense of peaceful relativity to the wounded souls of Chile. The film is breathtaking and beautiful, both aesthetically and in content. I heartily recommend it, especially if you seek the meaning of life and so forth...

Some of the imagery in the film was breathtaking and it got me to looking out for photographs of stars. I find space so immensely inspiring and also reassuring; we are all so tiny and vastly insignificant really and I find that surprisingly grounding in moments when emotion can take over.

This is my favourite of the images I came across (added from Pinterest, with a broken link sadly, so I don't know where this beauty has come from!). The human shadow puts it all into startling perspective:

The light is just breathtaking. 

Jennie x

Black & White: Retro Lady Love

There's something about a Black & White image isn't there? I adore classic photography, especially grainy black and white shots. Below are a few images I love of some of my style icons.

How fabulous is Debbie Harry?

Anna Karina. I adore her style, her hair, just everything about her gorgeous French being!

Oh Marilyn!

Jean Shrimpton.

Jean Seberg in Godard's 'Breathless'. This dress is so cute!

Who are your style icons?

Jennie x

Weekend in rainy Manchester

We had a wonderful trip to Manchester this weekend to see Eddie Vedder at the Apollo. Having seen Pearl Jam a few times, we were so excited to see him solo and wow it was breathtakingly amazing. Naturally, they thieved my camera from me on our way in to the venue so I have no photos of him despite us being so close to the stage. It was just Eddie and a guitar throughout, aside from the few beautiful duets he did with Glen Hansard [the oscar winning musician who starred in 'Once']. Just incredible. I'm definitely not ashamed to admit that I repeatedly cried! I love Mr Vedder an extraordinary amount, it's quite ridiculous really.

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These are a few snapshots of our weekend:

Delicious gluten free cake from Starbucks. I used to love going to cutesy little cake shops to have a treat but now that I have been diagnosed a coeliac, I find it hard to go to the small shops as they often just have nothing I can have. Saturday was most definitely a cake day, so Starbucks it was!

We always get the same coffee frappucino, with soya milk and peppermint syrup. I'm still very excited about this blouse too - it was £2 from a charity shop in Headingley, Leeds. I can't stop wearing it!

The side of Affleck's - a pretty impressive building filled with boutiques, but rather intimidatingly full of 15 year old emos so I didn't whip the camera out inside through lack of space!

Manchester has a Lomography shop! It was lovely gazing at all of the limited edition cameras. This beautiful Diana was my favourite!

I'm obsessed with owls! They are so popular at the moment, we even found these little lip balms. Cute, eh? Definitely wish I'd bought one now!

Teacup on Thomas Street was a hit for the both of us - we sat in here for AGES in the rain and sampled loads of different teas. They have an entire menu dedicated to tea. My idea of heaven!

FACE.

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Another, highly windswept FACE. This time from Sunday in Leeds. What on earth are my hands doing? That's the question. Thought I'd get this one in as all of the other photos of today involve me looking highly ungraceful or Joe looking highly confused. At least in this one I have dancing hair!

How was your weekend? Anyone go to any gigs too?

Jennie x

Black, White & Denim All Round

 

I'm so happy with these new shoes of mine by Bass, which I ordered from Free People. What a joy they are to wear. The polka dots instantly make you want to skip and prance around! 

This is Joe. Isn't he lovely? We are (unintentionally might I add) very coordinated in these photos, both with pale denim and black & white prints dotted about the place. 

This is one of my favourite rings at the moment; I picked it up in the sale at Topshop for a few quid. Makes me feel suitably like a warrior, what with it looking like a little shield and all...

& last but not least, a simple shot of the obligatory sunshine beer.

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This was our Friday evening - we went to a pub who were broadcasting the opening ceremony onto a big screen (yet had the world's worst speakers, which was very frustrating) where we met some friends for a cheeky tipple as we took advantage of the rare and glorious British sunshine. 

Did you do anything exciting for the Olympics opening ceremony?

Jennie x