NE1 Cocktail Week

From the 15th to the 21st July, it is Cocktail Week in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Bars across the city have put on special deals so that us cocktail lovers can enjoy what they have on offer. Each of the participating bars have 3 price points especially made for Cocktail Week, starting at £3, £5 and £7.

On Tuesday, my friends and I came up to Newcastle to celebrate our friend Sadie's graduation, so a few cocktails after a meal out was the perfect opportunity to try out some new cocktails.

Happy Graduation Sades!

My usual favourite place in Newcastle for cocktails is Jalou, especially on a Thursday night when they have 2 for 1 on all cocktails which makes it way too tempting to try a good few from the menu. However, the point in Cocktail Week is for you to try out places you might not have been to before, so we decided to go to Tokyo, which is a lovely little bar by the train station in the city centre. 

I'm not a fan of really sweet cocktails unlike some of my friends, so I went for the Tokyo Iced Tea (their own twist on Long Island Iced Tea and cost £5) and Moscow Mule, which contained one of my favourite mixers: ginger beer, and it was only £3! 

The cocktails were a really good standard and the setting was even better. The place was packed out, but we managed to get a seat outside on the terrace which made it the perfect summer evening to celebrate my friends finishing university. 

I will definitely be visiting again when I return to Newcastle in September for my final year, and this visit has proved that from now on I need to try to venture to bars I haven't been to. 

For more information on NE1 Cocktail Week, visit the Get Into Newcastle Website. You have until Sunday to make the most of the offers! 

Olivia Dee xx

Overnight Oats

As you UK readers will know, the weather we've been having lately is just amazing. I feel like it's only going to last for a couple of days then I wake up to it being sweltering hot once again (sweltering for England anyway).

I'm used to having my trusty porridge for breakfast to set me up for the day, but there is no way I want standard porridge for breakfast in this heat. So I've been making OVERNIGHT OATS. It's like a cold version of porridge but doesn't require any cooking. The liquid is soaked up by the oats overnight to make a porridge consistency the next morning. 

They're so easy to make, so tasty, and saves you faffing around in the morning for those of you who like to lay in bed as long as possible (me being one of those people).

You can adapt the ingredients to suit you, depending on what you usually make it with or what you fancy. 

All I do is use the same amount of porridge as soy milk. Mix it up and then leave in the fridge overnight. 

On occasion, I have added Greek yoghurt, which makes it creamier and slightly thicker. 

Then play around with toppings to make a yummy summery breakfast! 

I tend to use a small close up jar as sometimes I like to take it on the go and I think it makes the liquid soak up better overnight. 

Here are a couple I have made recently:

Blueberry, banana, and peanut butter

Pina Colada style! Banana, pineapple and shredded coconut with fresh coconut juice 

Please comment and share your favourite toppings and variations of overnight oats! 

Thank you for reading, 

Olivia Dee xx

Summer Turkey Burgers with Home-made Guacamole

Summer BBQ dinners don't have to consist of fatty sausages and burgers, slumped with coleslaw and mayonnaise.

Last night, my friend Hazel and I decided to make our very own healthy BBQ style dinner, which included home made turkey burgers, sweet potato wedges, home made guacamole, salad and peas.

It was really easy to make, and it could have probably been improved by adding an onion, but we just used what we had in. So adapt the ingredients to how you like, as it worked for us by just chucking everything together.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Burger-
- 300g turkey mince
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 slice wholemeal toast
- 1 egg

Guacamole-
- 3/4 avocado
- 1/2 tomato
- couple pinches of salt
- few squeezes of fresh lemon juice

Salad-
- Handful baby spinach leaves
- 1/3 baby gem lettuce
- sprinkle of pumpkin seeds
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cucumber

- 80g garden peas
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 tbsp olive oil

Recipe:

1. To speed the process up, put the sweet potato into the microwave for roughly 7 minutes to soften. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2. While it is in the microwave, beat the egg and mix in to the turkey mince. Add the chilli flakes and garlic and mix in so it is all blended.

3. Toast the slice of bread, and once toasted, allow to cool and crush using your finger tips and mix into the meat.

4. Remove the sweet potato from the microwave, allow to cool so that you can cut it into wedges.

5. Place the wedges into a roasting tin, drizzle half the oil over them and place in the oven for around 15 mins to crisp them up.

6. Heat the rest of the oil in a griddle pan and add the turkey burgers to it. Cook these for around 12-15 minutes on a medium heat, and keep checking to see that there are no pink bits.

7. While these are cooking, you can make your guacamole. Remove the stone from the avocado and in a bowl, mash it up
using a fork, but not until fully smooth so there are still chunky bits in it.

8. Squeeze the lemon and add the salt and mix together.

9. Chop the tomatoes into small chunks and blend in to the mixture.

10. Prepare the salad ensuring it is all washed.

11. Boil hot water in a saucepan and add the peas on a medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes and then drain off the water.

12. The burgers and wedges should be cooked by now, so serve it all up onto a plate, and enjoy!


To finish off with, we had frozen vanilla yoghurt with a spoonful of honey.

Give them a go and let me know what you think!

Olivia Dee xx

The Miller's Daughter and her edible flowers

Yesterday, I posted about the Ouseburn Festival I visited at the weekend, but I had to do an individual post on the beautiful cakes and treats by The Miller's Daughter.

I know I'm not the only one, but I really do love a pretty sweet treat. I have seen many cute creations in my time but nothing quite as unusual as the ones from The Miller's Daughter stall.

There's so much competition out there for businesses like this, but out of all the similar stalls I saw at the food market, the attention to detail on the decoration of the cakes is what drew me to these.

From the edible flowers, to the cute presentation on the labels, everything looked just too good to eat.

After taking a good ten minutes to decide which cake to go for, I went for the pistachio and orange cake slice (I just couldn't resist the flowers).

It tasted just as good as it looks. Moist, fruity with bits of pistachio hidden inside made it a 10/10 for sure.

Next time I visit Durham, I'm definitely hunting Rebecca down (the girl behind the cake creations!).

All her cakes are handmade with local ingredients, and according to her gorgeous little business card, she is available for personal orders, weddings and wholesale enquiries.

Find her on Facebook or tweet her @rebecca_bakes.

She is extremely talented and I hope I see her at a food market soon!

Olivia Dee xx

Sunny times at the Ouseburn Festival

There couldn't have been a better weekend to have a visitor up in Newcastle. My mum came to stay for the weekend and as we all know in England, it's been the best weather we've had in a long time.

Yesterday, for the first time ever after living in Newcastle for nearly three years, I visited the cute little area of Ouseburn. For those who are familiar with the North East area, it is close to the Quayside, and took us a 25 minute walk from Osborne Road in Jesmond.

Luckily for us, they had loads going on in the area as it was the weekend of the annual 'Ouseburn Fest'.

As soon as we arrived, the area was packed full of people of all ages listening to the live performances of music acts and enjoying the scorching sun.

My inner child came out to play when we visited the Ouseburn Farm, I even went as far as sitting in a circle full of children waiting to hold a rabbit. Stroking little Miffy was well worth the wait.

Along with lots of things to do and watch, they had a food area which had stalls from different businesses from across the North East. I could have easily had something from every stall, it was very hard not to. But of course I had a few bites of what was on offer.

We decided to try the deer burger from The Feathers Inn BBQ, and it was so good! I've tried quite a few funky burgers in my time, but never deer. And I can probably say it was one of my favourites. The sample menu they had available to look at looked divine, and will definitely be a place I have to visit in my last year of being up in Newcastle.

(sorry for the shadow, it was just so sunny!)

 After indulging in one too many samples, we then went to one of the pubs, named The Cluny, to drink a Pimms and lemonade and watch Andy Murrary win Wimbledon. All in all, it was pretty much a perfect day!

Where there's sun, there's ice-cream. Raspberry pavlova  and cinder toffee flavoured.

 To find out more about Ouseburn, visit the http://www.ouseburnnewcastle.org/.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!
Olivia Dee xx

My week at St Oswald's

For the past week, I have volunteered in the Communications Department at St Oswald's Hospice. St Oswald's is a registered charity based in the North East of England which provides specialist care for local children, young people and adults.

It has been an amazing week with lots of things going on. They had a 'Biscuit Bake Off' on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the children's hospice. People in the hospice were asked to bake their best biscuits, with awards of 'Most Innovative Design' and 'Tastiest Biscuit' up for grabs. Aimee from the Communications Department won the most innovative design with love heart shaped three layered custard creams. We were very happy to win as a department even though she did all the hard work! After the awards were given, we all had tea with the biscuits, and it's fair to say I got a bit carried away. From the chocolatey cookies, to the home made jaffa cakes; I tried them all.

Other than this event, I was helping prepare for the Midnight Walk they hold every year. It is a 10km walk that starts at 12 midnight from the centre of Newcastle. This year however, it was musical themed so everyone had to come dressed up as someone from a musical. I was in my element, as it's fair to say I love musicals a bit too much (and fancy dress).

So after much thought, I decided to go as a scarecrow. He's definitely my fave from Wizard of Oz.

It was amazing to see all the effort all the walkers had put in. There were plenty of pink ladies, nuns and even Shrek and Princess Fiona made an appearance. It was a very emotional night, as many people were walking in memory of a loved one. But overall, it had a very positive vibe and the atmosphere was buzzing throughout the night with different musical songs being performed by singers, dancers, and even hula hoopers!

Just before all the walkers set off, a Guinness World Record was set for the biggest hand jive. Everyone got so into it and it was so fun to be involved.

Born to hand jive, baby!

There were 900 walkers at the event, who will in total hopefully raise around £100,000.

I have another week of the placement left, so I am really excited to see what it has in store.

For more information on the charity, visit their website to read more about the amazing work they do.

Olivia Dee xx

Baby Sister All Grown Up

This is my first outfit post on my blog so far. Except it's not of my own outfit, it's my beautiful sister's that she wore for her Sixth Form Leaver's Ball which I helped her put together. 

Dress: Zara. Clutch bag: Aldo. 

With a simple dress like this, the attention to detail makes the outfit. It is very rare that my sister ever wears her hair any different to having it down and wavy, so it took quite a lot of persuading to convince her to wear a fish plait. 

It completely changed the look of the outfit, as it made it look much more elegant for an event such as this. Also, it's something a bit different!

I never usually match a bag directly to the dress, but with this pale mint green colour, it worked perfectly. With the nude shoes, any other colour would had been too much for the simple outfit. 

Shoes: Kurt Geiger.

Nude nails to match the nude shoes completely finished off the outfit. 

For her fake tan, she used the St Tropez mousse which I think looked better than any spray tan I've seen. It is also less risky to do your own if you can do it well, as you can apply more/less to suit you rather than risk being tangoed. 

Her make up was kept simple but consisted of a little more than her usual day make up with it being a formal event. She used Kimberley Eyelure eyelashes, Estee Lauder Doublewear foundation, Mac Opulash mascara, Clinique bronzer and Bourjois Pink blush.

With events like this, I definitely think keeping simple is best. Wearing too much fake tan and make up can make the nicest of outfits lose it's elegance. The pastel tones make it more of a spring/summer outfit but could probably be worn to events all year round. With the temperamental weather in England, a white jacket would go well with this outfit to make it more versatile throughout the year.

Olivia Dee xx

Happy Jackson = Happy Olivia

Urban Outfitters home section is my absolute favourite. I have to resist from buying something every time I go in because I know I don't technically need it when I'm on a student budget. But my inner geek came out when I found this little lunch box:

(Apologies for the low quality snaps, got a bit too excited in the shop)

How cute?! Me and my housemates at Uni say YAY after every other word, so they appreciated it just as much as me. I know it's only a lunch box so yeah it's pretty geeky for me to get so excited about it. But my friends know I love frivolous purchase and this is just a good example of one. They had another one in Urban Outfitters, but I resisted from buying both of them... for now. 

I bought mine for £8, which you can find here.

But after looking up the brand online, I found a website where they have a summer sale on and all there stock has 20% off! Everything is just too cute, here are a few of my favourite items:

I Love Lists Notebook
Gems of Insight and Inspiration Notebook

Today is Going to Be A Good Day Mug
Happiness Lies Within Tin

The website is called Temptation Gifts and has lots of other brands available. Get the 20% off while you can! 

Olivia Dee xx