Thai Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

This is my favourite food ever. It's a Nigella Lawson recipe, (that I tweaked a little to my personal tastes), it's absolutely delicious, tastes really light but is soooo good and filling! I made it on Friday evening as it's my personal favourite comfort food, and to be honest I needed a bit of cheering up! Safe to say it's worked! :) unfortunately my picture doesn't do it justice as it was taken in pretty bad lighting with a mediocre camera, but I promise you, it's amazing!

So, the ingredients are as follows:

1l chicken stock

150g rice noodles (I use fresh Singapore noodles from the chilled section in Tesco)

200ml coconut milk

1 tsp ginger powder (the original recipe states fresh, but I prefer to have the flavour without the chunks)

1 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp lime juice (I use lemon juice)

I tsp brown sugar (optional, I tend not to use it)

250g stir fry vegetables (I use Tescos fresh veg pack of broccoli, mange tout, and baby corn)

150g shredded chicken

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and cut into strips

A few coriander leaves as a garnish

The method

Prepare the litre of chicken stock in a large saucepan on the hob, on a medium temperature. When the chicken stock is ready, add the noodles and prepared vegetables. Then add the spices and the fish sauce, the lime juice and the coconut milk. Stir often, and leave it to simmer on the hob on a medium temperature for about five minutes to let the flavours infuse. Serve in a bowl when piping hot, I like to have prawn crackers on the side when I make this soup. A nice chilled glass of white wine is the perfect drink to have with this meal. 

If you like oriental food this dish is the best thing to try! It is honestly so delicious and so easy to make, I really recommend you try it and I promise you, you won't be disappointed! 

Sammii-Jane x

A Day as a Single Parent

The thing is, is that no one really sees the amount of work we do. Everyone is quick to call you a bad parent at the first sign of your baby being grumpy. Or worse, they give you the really condescending phrase, "oh, the poor little boy!" (Yeah, poor kid. Having such a bad parent like me - tough life, huh?) and it is driving me crazy. So, to clarify the amount that I do actually do, I thought I would compose a list of my day to day activities of trying to keep my eight month old son happy.

7am - I am up at the crack of dawn, as this is when my child wakes. I say 'dawn', but it's actually still dark outside. The first thing I do is change a charmingly poop-filled nappy before popping on the kettle for my morning tea.

7.30 - After Rhys has gotten bored of crawling around, and of me picking him out of the cat litter tray numerous times (I can't turn my back for a second with him!), I then plonk him in his high chair and feed him his yoghurt. Which he gets everywhere.

7.45 - Rhys will have finished his yoghurt by now and I'll be cleaning him up. He gets ratty very easily but I try and keep him entertained by putting on Milkshake for him in the mornings. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But when Peppa Pig comes on at 8.15, he's a lot more interested.

8.15 - I finally get to start getting myself ready. I get ready in all of fifteen minutes, by washing and moisturising my face, brushing my teeth, putting on a scrap of mascara, brushing my hair and sticking it up in a pony tail, and chucking back on yesterday's jeggings, converse, and a fresh jumper. I then wash up Rhys's bottles and pack his changing back ready for the day: a pack of wipes, a changing mat, five nappies, 3 bottles, a small pot of milk powder, biscuits for him, water for me, his nappy cream, my purse, keys, phone, and a toy for him. 

8.30 - by this point Peppa Pig has finished, my getting ready time is over, and Rhys is screaming blue murder. I give him a fresh nappy change as well as a fresh change of clothes, put him in his pushchair and chuck my coat on, and we're out the door by 8.45.

8.45 - I'm taking Rhys for a walk in his stroller. This will usually help Rhys get back to sleep as he finds the movement comforting. I can take him for a fifteen minute walk around the block, or if I have things to do he'll stay in the pram for longer, and will nap until 10.00am. 

10am - Grumpy wakes up, usually grumpy. I give him teething gel, a fresh nappy change, more milk, his toys, a cuddle, whatever it is he needs to make him stop fussing.

10.30 - I discover that trying to please him isn't working, and by 10.45 we've walked over to the park. He'll play on the swings and the see-saw until 11.00.

11.00 - we'll head back home, and try again with playing with Rhys's toys. I give him one of those large bouncy plastic footballs to chase around the living room, his walker that has an interactive front side to it, his favourite toy lamb, and building blocks. I try to wait it out until 12 so I can give him lunch to fill up his tummy and get him to sleep again. 

12 - Rhys's nap time. I tend to take my lunch and do the housework at this time, sweeping up, cleaning his morning bottles, doing the washing up, putting the laundry on, and tidying the living room.

1 - Rhys will wake up again. I give him another fresh nappy change, and then decide by his mood what we'll do for the afternoon. If he's okay, we'll try and play indoors for the afternoon. Once again I'll put all of his toys on the living room floor for him to play with, and this sometimes lasts for an hour if I'm lucky. If he's already grumpy, I'll put him in his stroller and take him to the local soft play centre. He likes to watch the older kids play and likes to imitate what they do. I don't like to go here everyday as it can get quite expensive, but I do take him here at least a couple of times a week for a break for us both. I like to stay there with him for at least three hours, by letting him play for a bit, giving him a biscuit and some milk to snack on while I have a coffee, and then playing for a bit again before we go home. 

4pm - we'll leave the soft play area and be home by 4.30.

4.30 - Rhys will take his afternoon nap and sleep through until 6pm. In this time I'll do what housework needs to be done before taking a nap for myself. I hang out the washing and take the bins out in this time.

6.00 - Rhys will wake up from his nap and want to play again. I also feed him his dinner, and give him a long bath time before putting him in his cot to sleep at 8.30pm.

8.30pm - I'll have my microwave meal dinner while watching Eastenders. I'll then do the washing up from my dinner, and Rhys's bottles from the afternoon. 

9.00pm - I'll take a quick evening shower, dry my hair, and if I'm lucky, be in bed by 10.00pm, before waking up again at 7am the next morning. It's so important to get enough sleep when you've got a baby, so when I knacker myself out during the day, I sleep well at night. 

This is what I do on a daily basis. It's repetitive, it's not as straightforward as what I've made it out to be as a lot of the time when I put Rhys to sleep, he fights it and sometimes I have to let him cry himself to sleep from where he's been so grumpy and stressful throughout the day that I am too physically exhausted to tolerate his whinging, when I know he is fine. Sometimes it does get very hard to cope as I'm doing a job that was intended for two people, by myself. Rhys is at a very clingy stage at the moment as well, and I'm trying to wean him away from that, as I physically don't have enough hands to carry him at the same time as doing all the stuff that needs getting done. What I'm trying to say, is that it's damn hard, and I'm sick of being judged as a bad person when all I ever do is try to make my son happy, without ever expecting anything in return. I know this is coming off as a rant, I don't mean it to but I feel very passionately about this subject! 

At the end of the day though, I have to remind myself that I was one of the lucky ones - I have a beautiful, healthy baby boy, who at times is very hard work, but I wouldn't change one thing about him. He is the reason I smile every day and seeing his smile, is worth every second of hard work I put into him. 

Love as always,

Sammi-Jane x

The Social Stigma of a Single Parent

So, the way that pretty much anyone sees it, is that all single parents stupidly didn't use contraception with their boyfriends they had only known a few months, they fell pregnant, and then the boyfriend didn't feel ready to have a child, and left the relationship. Then, the said single parent worms her way into a council flat, living off every benefit she can claim for the next sixteen years, so to avoid working. We're social scroungers, that fund our children on taxpayers money while smoking through a 20 pack of cigarettes each day. AND we watch Jeremy Kyle. On repeat. And guffaw at the telly, loudly.

THIS IS SO NOT TRUE. It's a misconception that we're given a very comfortable amount of money to provide on, and that we really have nothing better to do than watch Jeremy Kyle all day. I have a six month old called Rhys, and yes, I am a single parent. I was engaged to his father, but when he turned violent, I left. I found out I was pregnant three months later. He got in contact again when he found out I had had a child, which scared me shitless. I packed up everything and moved over 400 miles away, to keep myself and my son safe. I'm told that every child needs a father, but personally, I don't agree. Not if you had to risk your child's safety to provide them with one. 

As for the financial side of it, yes. If you're a single parent, of course you're on benefits. How else are you supposed to provide a home, and food on the table? I can only send Rhys to nursery at the age of two, as, on benefits, I can't afford the sky-high private nursery fees, to send him sooner. But as soon as he is able to go to nursery, I will be going back to work. And yes, I do have a council flat. But I didn't have a child to get myself a council flat. I applied for a council flat to provide a home for my child. Where I was living in London, was the top floor of a rough council estate block. I shared the box room of my parents flat with my son, as there was no where else for us to go. London is a dangerous place to live. There was a boy of fifteen, stabbed to death within a minutes walk of where I lived. Some of my neighbours had drugs. Some of them had a violent history. I just couldn't raise my son there. No chance. No way in hell would I keep my child in such a place. I needed to take him out of that situation, so we moved. It's safer here. We live in a residential area, with a park and a community centre just opposite our home. Tesco, and the doctors, are both a five minute walk away. The school, and nursery, are a ten minute walk away. The town centre is a fifteen minute walk away. My sons godparents live on the road next to ours. I can provide my son with a much better quality of life here, and I don't regret my decisions for a minute. So far, the move has positively benefited both of us. It's a small rural town, and options of work are very limited. But, with this move, I'm a firm believer in being brought somewhere for a reason. For the first time this past month, I've felt a lot more like this is where we're supposed to be. I have a beautiful son, a family home, and all of our family situated close by. I have freedom, where I felt very restricted back in London. 

Equally, to provide food on the table, pay my bills, and keep the flat heated, I budget my benefits to the penny. I've become very sensible with money by living independently. You pay your bills, the gas and electricity, you pay for the baby milk, wipes, nappies, and food and medicine your child needs, and then you feed yourself with whatever money is left over. My food shop for me and my son never comes to more than £40 a week. The thing is, with benefits, is that you really don't get enough to doss around with. You have to be responsible with it, because obviously you don't get any extra if you mess it up. (By the way, in no way do I mean to sound like I'm complaining. I'm not, I just think it's really important to clarify the facts). 

So, this social stigma that single parents are all bad people, is damn right disgusting. It wasn't you who was put in that situation, and it's awful to tell a girl to have an abortion instead of a baby. It isn't you that would have to live with the mental side effects of that for the rest of your life, of not knowing what could have been, if you had had an abortion. I have a beautiful little boy who means the world to me. He would still be worth everything even if I have to struggle for the rest of my life to provide for him. And in no way am I bad parent, when all I have ever tried to do, from the minute I found out was pregnant, was do the best thing for my child. My son will now be brought up in a family home in a safe area, with a safe place to play, and all of our family around us. He will know the importance of family, and go to a good school. He will be able to do whatever he wants with his life, with me supporting him all the way. I'm already saving for his future, whatever that may be. And when I can go to work, I want to show him the importance of a good work ethic. I want my son to be raised well, safe, and with a lot of love. This is where he'll be able to have that. 

Love as always,

Sammii-Jane x

My Makeup for Glasses Wearers

Recently, I have been trying to wear my glasses all the time, instead of my usual contact lenses. I've been getting very conscious about the amount of damage that I've been doing to my eyes over the years (I've worn contact lenses for the past eight years, every day), and have been making a conscious effort to switch. I've always hated my glasses and have never felt comfortable in them, but these are my new pair and I have to say - I really love them! I think that sometimes a pair of glasses can really accessorise an outfit and complete the look. I went out to my friends baby shower and wore a black shift dress with red heels, red lips and my glasses and I really loved it all put together like that.

For my skin, I cleansed and moisturised with Simple Face Wash and Simple Moisturiser. I used a Real Texhniques Expert Face Brush to apply Garnier Matte BB Cream. I then used the same brush to dust Collection's Little Mix Blush (In the shade Perrie). 

I used Clinique Quickliner to line my upper lashline, and traced it with Collection's Extreme Felt Tip Liner. I curled my lashes, before applying two coats of Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara. I used a Barry M Angled Eye Brush to apply Stila Eyeshadow (the shade Sandstone from the In the Light palette) to create a strong defined brow look. I think it's really important to define your brows, especially when wearing glasses, as a nice clean brow is the perfect frame to enhance your look. 

I used Rimmel Colour Rush Lip Colour (in the shade Rumour Has It) to give my lips a bit of colour, to add interest but also still keep the look quite modern, and also a little bit Autumn-y! 

So this is my look for glasses wearers, and if I were to give you any tips it would be to make sure you definitely conceal your under eye area to keep it looking fresh and immaculate. 

Hope you enjoyed this post,

Sammii-Jane x

The Fault In Our Stars - book Synopsis and Review

Hi guys! So, absolutely yonks ago (around four months ago, if I'm honest), I was on holiday to Scotland and I bought a couple of books to read during my stay. They were The Fault in our Stars and Looking for Alaska, both by John Green. I'm going to review The Fault in our Stars here, and Looking For Alaska in a seperate blog post, so that this post doesn't get too long winded! 

The Fault in our Stars - Synopsis

The protagonist of the story is a sixteen year old girl, named Hazel, who is a stage six cancer patient. She meets a boy named Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor, at her cancer support group. Augustus has a friend called Isaac, who in the early stages of the story has a rare eye cancer, and soon becomes blind. As Hazel and Augustus learn more about eachother, their friendship grows stronger, and feelings for eachother deepen. Hazel is reluctant to have a relationship with Augustus as she is aware her cancer is likely to kill her, and she doesn't want to put him through that. Hazel and Augustus are characters with a disdain for things conventional. They both enjoy reading, and are intelligent with a dry, verging on narcissistic, sense of humour, and are so compatible and endearing. Hazel shares her favourite book with Augustus, 'An Imperial Affliction', and they plan to fly out to Amsterdam to meet the author, Peter Van Houten, to find out more about the cliffhanger ending of his book. Just before they fly out, Augustus has a PET scan to see how his recovery process is going. Unexpectedly the scan gives him very bad news, as his cancer appears to be everywhere in his system. He flies out to Amsterdam with Hazel anyway, without telling her, so not to ruin the trip. Whilst in Amsterdam, Augustus and Hazel go out for a meal paid by Peter Van Houten one evening, before meeting him the next morning. Unfortunately for the two, Peter Van Houten refuses to answer any of their questions regarding the characters in his story, is insulting and condescending towards Hazel and her cancer, and appears very much a cruel, nasty alcoholic. Augustus and Hazel fly home from their trip, disappointed. When they get back to the USA, Augustus tells Hazel his bad news about his cancer. Over the course of the book, Hazel watches Augustus's condition deteriorates, as he goes from the strong, able man she loves, to a frail, weak man who needs a wheelchair for mobility. Augustus passes away, and Hazel writes him an emotional eulogy for his funeral. Peter Van Houten also attends, which angers Hazel, but he expresses his condolences and vows to Hazel that he will lay off the alcohol. The story ends with a letter written from Augustus to Peter Van Houten, asking him to write a eulogy for Hazel, and tells him all about her, how she never wanted to leave a mark, and that it was triumphant and heroic that she was so selfless. Peter Van Houten forwards the letter to Hazel. The last few lines of the letter read, "I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers." 

My Review on The Fault in our Stars

I absolutely loved this book, and fully recommend reading it to anyone who is thinking of doing so! I know I've basically just told you what happens, but my words are not half as strong, or powerful, as the authors. I know this story is one that will linger in my mind for a long time yet as it is a very special book. It shows you how lucky you are to be alive, and to not take what you have for granted, and how thankful you should be to not have to be suffering the pain and discomforts that cancer patients do suffer. It gives you such insight and it makes me personally so grateful that none of my friends or family, or my son, have to go through that. I found this book actually meaning a significant amount more than I ever intended it to. It's definitely one I would read again and I will be keeping on to it for a long time yet. The story captures all the hurt, emotions, pain, everything Hazel felt. I just found it such an emotional story and it has honestly (no word of a lie), become my favourite book as I just found it so incredibly sentimental. 

Hope you're all having a good week,

Sammii-Jane x

Garnier BB Cream

Hey guys! I hope you've enjoyed all my recent home-related posts. I've really enjoyed all the decorating even though it's been such hard work! However, it's now time to knuckle back down with these beauty posts. I have really been loving Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector Beauty Balm - so much so that it is my staple beauty product on my dressing table, and is used every day. 

My skin is in fairly good condition now, but I still feel like my skin looks very tired and sallow without makeup. I hate full coverage foundations as I do have freckles on my nose that I like to enhance. Garnier BB cream has very subtle coverage and still just looks like my skin on a really good day, which is nice. 

I've been using the original Garnier BB cream for around the past six months, and have only recently switched to the Garnier Matte BB cream (the slightly skinnier tube), as I suppose I had just never noticed it before. I do get a really oily T-zone, and the original BB cream is very dewy. It has a beautiful finish but the Matte version is much more flattering for me personally. 

One of the reasons I initially liked the Garnier BB cream is because the light shade comes very light. I'm paler than pale, and a lot of products can either look too thick, or too heavy, but this BB cream makes my skin look really healthy. I have used the Estée Lauder Invisible Fluid foundation which also has really sheer coverage, which I found to be a really weird product as it's so runny and messy to get out of the tube, but then looks quite thick and was quite orangey on me. But this BB cream is a fraction of the price, yet works so much better! I apply it with the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush as I find that this brush makes it look most natural when blended in really well into the skin.

Hope you guys have all been well,

Sammii-Jane x

A little more of the flat...

Hey guys! Again, thought I'd update you on my current living arrangements! So I showed you this picture of my living room in my latest blog post, and I'm just going to repost the picture just to freshen your memories! 

 

Over this past week, I've also finished my son Rhys's room, and also my room! For Rhys's room I really wanted to provide a happy, clean place for him to play, so I've set up his cot, and also most of his developmental toys on the floor for him to play with. He's rolling now and is very nearly at the crawling stage so soon enough he will be able to crawl to the things he wants, which I think is just so cute!

For my bedroom, I really love the vintage look, and have always wanted a pretty, vintage bedroom! Luckily, as vintage isn't very fashionable, a lot of people just give their old furniture away very cheaply as it's quite hard to sell, and as I already had the dresser, vintage throw, and picture frames, it was very easy to add a few more things to create this vintage style bedroom. I got the bedside table for £5, and the lamp was £2 from my friend's dad's charity shop. I also bought the rug (barely seen) for £3, and the curtains for £2 from him as well. The only thing I bought new for my room was the sage green cushion on my bed, for £4 from Dunelm. 

Next to the dresser in the far corner, I have my clothes and shoes. This was an old pine shelving unit that I had in my previous house, and I bought some Walnut wood stain to repaint it so it would match the dresser. Although this isn't particularly vintage, I was on a tight budget for furniture so had to make the most of what I had! I really like how this turned out though and I'm definitely keeping it! I also thought that placing the tan brogues on a vintage style shoe box also just really added to the whole vintage feel! 

 

In the corner where I was taking the pictures, is also a vintage armchair which I use as a reading chair! It's quite un decorated at the moment, but I'm hoping to eventually buy a small walnut bookshelf to store all my books, with maybe a little candle, or flowers, or just something cute and vintage-y to put on top to make it look more homely! I bought this armchair for £5 in one of the local charity shops, who also delivered it free of charge! 

I've felt very Kirstie Allsopp with all of this decorating, especially with the vintage parts! Scouring for cheap furniture, painting my own shelves and walls, decorating all these rooms! It's so exciting to finally have the home I wanted for my child. The only thing I really need to save up for now is carpet, as council flats are never furnished with carpet. I'm hoping to have the living room carpeted by Christmas so that our living room is all snug and cosy for Rhys's first Christmas! I have a lot of saving to do though as I was quoted £550 for carpeting the whole flat! So I will probably just have to do it room by room at the moment, and eventually it will all be carpeted! Also on another exciting note... *whispers* I'm getting Rhys a kitten soon! I've seen this adorable little black and ginger female kitten on my local area's sale website. She's a little scruff really but I just find that even more endearing! I'm not sure what to call her yet as there are so many names I like for her! A couple I'm liking at the moment are Sansa, and Paisley. I'm leaning more towards Sansa as it will be easier for Rhys to pronounce. 

Write soon, 

Sammii-Jane x