Things you wouldn't usually put in your beauty products

Ok, ok, so I'm just about the last person in the world who ought to be giving beauty tips, but I've recently come across a couple of interesting additions you can make to beauty products and I thought I'd share these with you. 

The first is distinctly unusual.   I had some old saffron kicking around.   And by old, I mean really old.   Over a decade old.   It had gone rather mouldy and was no longer any good for cooking.   But me being me, and it being such expensive stuff I didn't really want to throw it away.  

And then I remembered something I'd seen on QI (God, I love QI!).   Alexander the Great, having very expensive and all, used to use saffron shampoo to keep his hair a lovely reddy blonde colour.  Well, I like having reddy blonde hair, so I added the old saffron to my shampoo.   I tried adding to my conditioner, but it just didn't mix in properly.  

So it turned my shampoo bright yellow, but what did it do to my hair?   Well, it did indeed turn it a lovely reddy blonde colour.   I was a bit worried it might stain my skin, but it didn't at all.   Obviously it's much gentler than an artificial dye and the effect also fades pretty quick when the yellow shampoo runs out.   Sadly it doesn't do a lot for dark roots, but it does sort of blur the edges of them so that they're less obvious.  So yes, interesting trick and a good way of using up really old spices!

The other one is slightly more conventional and one you may well have heard before, but it worked so well for me I thought I'd pass it on!   This tip was one that I found on my friend MsIzzyness 's blog in this entry .   She recommends making homemade aspirin toner.   But already having a toner I like I decided to just dump some aspirin into it.   Well the aspirin dissolved really quickly and I honestly can't believe the difference it's made!   I've never had a great skin, but just adding the aspirin has made made my skin so soft!  I wouldn't go so far as to say it's perfect now, but it really is a vast improvement!

                               Aspirin sinks to the bottom.   Does need to be shaken before use!
 

My latest song obsession

This week, I can't get enough of this:

It's a cover of the 1959 original by Bourvil.   It's just so cheerful and catchy.  Sorry I couldn't find a decent video though!

German Market

Every year at Christmas time a German market comes to town, and everyone goes out to do their Christmas shopping, drilled mulled wine and eat waffles.   It's a beautiful market, so naturally I went along with my camera and macro lens.   Here are a few of my favorite shots from that night:

                                                Blurry, I know.   It's an attempt at artiness.

They also have rides at the Christmas market.   Here are a couple of shots of the rides:

It was cold taking those!   Very very cold!   I highly recommend a pair of silk gloves.   They're thin enough for you to operate your equipment without getting cold burns from touching cold metal tripods.

Soda Bread

Yes, I know there have been a lot of food-related posts lately.   This is the last one for a while, promise.   Anyway, inspired by my recent to Northern Ireland I decided to try my hand at soda bread.   I used:

300g wholemeal flour
250ml buttermilk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

I mixed it altogether and put it in the oven at 200 degrees for 40 minutes.   Simples!   And also yummy!  

 

                               Ok, it doesn't look that tasty.   The photo doesn't do it justice!


One thing I learned though was to NOT bake it on greaseproof paper.   It stuck and wouldn't come off.   Next time I'll put it straight into the loaf tin.   Recommended warm with butter.   Enjoy!  

Baclava!

Yes, another food post.   I love baclava.   Love it, love it, love it!   So I decided to try making the gloriously unhealthy stuff for myself.  

After much deliberation I decided not to make the filo pastry myself.  Usually buying things that I can make myself is kind of against my principles, but in this case I decided to just buy it, as making it from scratch just sounded like a right royal pain.   Here's a shot of my ingredients:

 

I started by unwrapping the filo pastry.   Once it's open this stuff dries out really fast so it's important to work fast, or keep it covered with a damp cloth.   I took half the filo pastry sheets, placing them in a baking tray one at a time, and painting the top of each one with melted butter.   Like so:

Ouch!  My colesterol levels are shooting up just looking at this!   I then added a layer of the chopped nuts mixed with a couple of spoons of sugar, and spices to taste.   Then I added the remaining filo pastry sheets, painted with copius amounts of butter.   That done, I took a sharp knife and cut it up ino bite size pieces.   Next the whole lot went into the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.    I then turned the oven down to 150 degrees and baked for a further 40 minutes.   While it was cooking I made the sugar syrup to pour over the top.   I used 350g sugar, water and a little lemon juice, over a low heat.   When the baclava came out of the oven I poured the syrup over the top and left it overnight to soak in.   Yum yum!

I will definitely be making this again!   But I will be doing things a bit differently.   I really used too many sheets of pastry.   The top couple didn't really to the rest particularly well.   Next time I will only use about 10 sheets per level.   I also want to try making the syrup with honey instead of sugar.   Much more tasty!

A Dynamic Christmas

My work, Our Dynamic Earth, is a wonderful building to photograph.   This is even more true at Christmas time when it's all lit up for Christmas party nights.   The usually white canvas glows pink and green and fairy lights cover the central white dome.   I took advantage of the decorations this year to get a few shots.   Here are some of my favorites:

Teriyaki beef thing

Here's a successful, though highly flavoured food experiment I thought I'd share with you.   It's a sort of teriyaki beef dish thing.   Ok, so i'm not too sure what to call it.   The point it, it's tasty!   Here's a shot of the ingredients (minus the fresh coriander and the dessicated coconut):

Step one is to marinate the beef in the teriyaki sauce.   I leave it for half a day at least.

        This particular brand of teriyaki sauce is pretty thick, so I added some water to it as well.


Next, chop and fry your onions.   Add the garlic and plenty of ground coriander and dessicated coconut.   And some black pepper.   Chop and add your marinated beef.   Now the trick with this dish is not to overcook it.   You want most of the ingredients to be pretty raw so that they retain their flavour, so wait a while before you add the next indredients, which are the red pepper and the spring onions (both sliced).  Grate a good amount of fresh ginger and juice the lemon and lime.   Add them to taste.   Add the sugar snap peas and soy sauce to taste.   Turn off the heat and add sesame oil to taste and lots of fresh coriander leaves.   Yum yum!   Serve with egg noodles.

                                                           Look at all the colours!

Slow it Down

I love Amy Macdonald, and this recent offering doesn't disappoint!   Been playing it on loop recently.  Enjoy!

Films and TV

Hello!  Here are some reviews of some of the films and TV shows I've watched lately. 

First up, Shaun of the Dead.   I have mixed feelings about this film.   I really enjoyed this up to a certain point, and then it went downhill for me.   It's a fairly typical zombie movie, with a hilarious Simon Pegg and Nick Frost take on it.   It's silly, quirky and typically British.   But I stopped enjoying after Simon Pegg's character had to shoot his mum.   I know that it wouldn't have been a zombie movie without that moment, but I really hated it.   Apart from the comedy my favorite aspect with this film was the cast, which included so many of my favorites.   As well as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Dylan Moran and Penelope Wilton were in it as well, all of whom I love.   And it made me stupidly happy to see Lucy Davis in it as well.   I loved her as Mariah Lucas in Pride in Prejudice many years ago, and hadn't seen her in anything else since.   But that's probably just me.   But yes, loved it until everyone started dying.

  




Next, the Mighty Boosh.   I watched all three seasons.  Basically I would describe it as "What the hell is this and why can't I stop watching it??".   Quirky doesn't even begin to describe the oddness of this TV show.   It revolves around the lives of Vince Noir and Howard Moon and all the bizarre adventures they have.   The costumes are wacky, the sets are cheap and very homemade looking, the stories are completely bizarre and I'm not even sure what makes it funny.   But somehow it is!   Perhaps it's the comedic genius of Noel Fielding.   Or maybe the songs.   I don't know.   I like it, but I have idea why!  

And finally, Rough Science.   Being a massive nerd, in my opinion this is just about the best TV series ever made!   They take a handful of scientists, drop them somewhere in the middle of nowhere with minimal equipment and get them to use their scientific knowledge to make things and do things.   The experiements don't always work, but I found it truly amazing what people could accomplish and bodge together and invent in just three days, using bits and bobs they found lying around.  Science rules!   The first series saw the team on a mediterranean island doing things like working out where they were, making a compass and building a radio.   The second series was set on a Carribean island doing things like mapping the island, making suncream and insect repellent.   The third took place in New Zealand, with the emphasis being on gold mining.   Using various methods the team eventually collected enough gold to make a gold pendant.   The fourth was space themed and was filmed in Death Valley, California.  The fifth was ocean themed, filmed in Zanzibar and the sixth was filmed in the San Juan mountains of Colarado.   I really enjoyed all six series.   They did some really impressive stuff.   Science at its best!   A really well done series!