Mon P'tit Paris

I'm just off out to buy chocolate (I'm going to make Rocky Road!) with my new shopping bag. My sister (Click here to see her blog!) brought it back for me from a skiing trip in Chamonix, France.

It's cute and environmentally friendly!

Life Hack: How to cut a pepper

I loooove peppers! Green, red, yellow I love them all (But red is my favorite!!). They are bursting full of vitamin c also contain the antioxidant lycopene which can reduce your risk of cancer. I love adding them to any dish that I cook really, however I find that they are hard to prepare in that they are awkward to chop and taking out the core is always tedious.

I once heard that Jamie Oliver makes incisions at the top and then forcefully pushes the stalk downwards into the pepper to break the ties to the fruit. Then you can pull the entire core out the top. I've tried this: The seeds get EVERYWHERE.

Here's my advice on how to properly cut a pepper so that it looks pretty and there is minimal mess and waste:

1) Take you pepper. The one I used in the picture examples is small but this works for all sizes and colours. 

2) Turn it on it's side and chop off the top and then the bottom. You're left with a tunnel of fruit with the core attached inside.

3) To remove the core turn the pepper upright again and insert your knife in a vertical direction to slice the four (maybe 3) pillars keeping the core inside the fruit.

You're tunnel is now hollow!

4) Cut the tunnel cleanly in half.

5) You can now take one of the halves and place it flat onto the cutting board! This makes it perfect for cutting into nice symmetrical shapes which you wouldn't otherwise get with a pepper :)

I like triangles/darts!

And also matchsticks.

If I was artistic enough I'd cut them into cute shapes like stars! I suppose I could try diamonds.. Even someone as graphically challenged should be able to manage that, right?

The best thing about this chopping method is the minimal amount of waste produced. I swear, what's in the picture below is all I threw out! And actually, I probably could have gotten a bit more fruit off those two pieces if I really tried!

And that's it! You can now serve up triangle stir-fries (They taste so much better than generic stir-fries, I swear!)

Looks crummy but it's really yummy! (Veg and Lentil soup)

Since it's Wednesday I'm going to share my amazing recipe for Katie's (Paleo) Vegetable and Lentil Soup!

Never judge a book by it's cover and never judge a soup by it's colour! Really, this soup is AMAZING. It's really filling too because the lentils are so thick and full of protein.

Here's how to do it:

Wash 2 cups of lentils in water: Put them in a bowl and pour water on. Move them around with a spoon until the water turns cloudy then drain the water. Repeat this until the water no longer turns cloudy.

Chop your veg and put them in a saucepan with a teaspoon of oil and fry them a small bit. The veg I use are: 2 small onions, 2 peppers (Use different colours for best effect!), 3 carrots, whatever you have lying around the kitchen and as many chillies as you want and/or can handle!

Now add the lentils to the saucepan plus a vegetable stock cube (or 2 if you like!) in 2000mls of boiling water. Bring to the boil and add any seasonings you want: I use white and black pepper, ground chilli flakes and curry powder! You can also add salt if you wish (but it's bad for you!!).

Once boiling, put a lid on the pot, lower the heat and allow to simmer for around 1.5 hours, test it and you'll know when it's ready! Be sure to warn your taste buds of the immense flavour party that they're invited to!!

The Six Nations Rugby Starts Today!

I'm so excited, I love international sports! A lot of people say I'm not a real fan if I don't support anyone (Particularly in football) at club level but I disagree- Come on Ireland!

The boys in college set up a fantasy rugby league.Here are the players I chose:

FD

S O'Brien

IRE

FD

T Croft

ENG

FD

J Heaslip

IRE

FD

J Haskell

ENG

FD

M Cas'giovanni

ITA

FD

G Jenkins

WAL

FD

S Parisse

ITA

FD

D O'Callaghan

IRE

SH

M Phillips

WAL

FH

F Michalak

FRA (My Chosen Kicker)

OB

M Evans

SCO

OB

W Fofana

FRA

OB

V Clerc

FRA

OB

B Foden

ENG

OB

L Halfpenny

WAL

I'm looking forward to seeing Zebo do his stuff today- I've heard a lot about him, I never knew he was Irish though!

I downloaded a new app to go along with watching the game. It's a live challenge, I'm not really sure what's involved yet though! I shall soon find out!

Ooh, it's all about to kick of in the Millenium stadium! COME ON IRELAND!!

Cupcake Nails!

How cute are my new cupcake themed nails?! 

Pitch Perfect Cup Trick/Song

I went to see the new musical Pitch Perfect two weeks ago with my sister. It's really good! I'd totally recommend it to EVERYONE. The music is great and it is hilarious non-stop from start to finish (Rebel Wilson is a genius). The movie even received a round of applause once the credits rolled! One scene in particular was pretty cool, when Becca auditioned to join the Bellas (an all-girl a cappella group) she sang a song by Lulu and the Lampshades. I tried it out for myself. this is my cover of the cup trick:

It's nowhere near perfect but I'm pretty pleased as I only learnt the rhythm yesterday!


This type of cup percussion has been used before, its not new. This is one of my favourite songs using this method, it's a cover of Robyn's 'Tell Your Girlfriend' by Erato, a Swedish band:

The Quest For The Perfect Winter Hat!

I recently lost my cool, fluffy hat :( 

I think I left it in a taxi, I'm not sure. Since then I've been trying to find a replacement. Hard to do. It was two years old and by John Rocha, Debenhams so I'm not going to find the same one again! 

I tried this one on in Accessorize on Grafton Street and decided it was a bit too much:

Now however, after thinking about it I'm going to go back in and get it! I thought that today was Thursday and was going to go in after studying for late night shopping. Since it's Friday I'm have to wait until tomorrow!

It's always good, if you're not 100% sure about an item you're thinking of buying, to walk away and come back the next day. I always take a picture too. This is especially true if the item is on sale (this hat is) as most stores won't allow you to make returns on sale items.