Saturday, September 29, 2012

Current Skincare


I love skin products because I don't wear foundation base but I have always had very sensitive skin making buying skincare difficult because my skin does get red and itchy if I use something too harsh on it (I have had products that have felt like my skin was burning within a minute of putting it on my skin). I rarely wear foundation (even tinted moisturiser)  because it drys my skin out making it flaky even with extra base of moisturiser under it plus the day after I can already see the little white heads appearing (I have even stopped putting concealer on any pimples I do get) I only use a little concealer to get rid of any dark colour under my eyes if I have any. I have also started to see more freckles appearing high on my cheeks just under my eyes probably where my sunglasses don't block on the sides and on my nose.I am normally good at slip,slop,slap but am a little paranoid of skin cancer because of how harsh the sun is in Perth but in Hamburg my skin has become very dull from the pollution, hard water and the lack of sunlight making my vit D intake low and having to try and get it through my diet. I am not a crazy beauty fanatic but at 26 I have people thinking I am 17-18 I know it's working.

1. Sunscreen - Important!!! spf 30 UVA (I can't find a UVA/UVB in the shops), during summer I use sunscreen instead of moisturizer during the day on my face and if i have skin showing it is covered in sunscreen (I did forget to reapply on my last holiday and got the worst sun burn for years).

2. Daily moisturiser - Clean & Clear essentials moisturiser spf 15 UVA/UVB (oil free), I use to use this exact moisturizer when I was in high school and have gone back to it after years of trying to find another one even though it is formulated for teenages. It is grate for summer (when working  inside) when aircon can dry my skin and it doesn't clog my pores. my 100mL bottle I brought with me in March and I still have a 6th left, a little goes a long way.

3. Night moisturiser - Olaz essentials moisturiser day cream for sensitive skin, I do like Olaz products (my mum has used them for years) because there sensitive range doesn't aggravate my skin. I use this if I am going out at night instead of the Clean & Clear because it doesn't have any spf in it plus I used it as my summer night cream.

4. Eye cream - Belea eye cream with spf and Simple revitalising eye roll on gel, I use my roll on at night after taking off my eye makeup and use my eye cream during the day under my eye makeup
5. Serum - Alverde alpine rose serum and Balea hyaluronic acid serum, I have been using the rose serum instead of a thick night cream. I tried to use the hyaluronic acid serum like the tube recommended but being basically a chemical exfoliant it broke my skin out badly so I have started to put it over my moisturiser only where I have started to get freckles.

6. Face wash - Wellness & Beauty orange and pomegranate exfoliating wash, It is a body wash exfoliator not a face wash but it doesn't have many exfoliating crystals in it (being a travel size and very cheap) but I found when I was on holiday and ran out of face wipes that if I lathered it in my hand and then massaged it on my skin (while in the shower) it was not too abrasive but did remove all the grime and left my face feeling so nice and clean plus it did stop my breakouts that I normally get from wearing lots of sunscreen (I got it originally to use after the pools to get rid of the chlorine by lathering it straight on my body instead of my hands).

7. Face wipes - Olaz complete face wipes, gets rid of all my makeup and the wipes do not feel like sandpaper unlike others I have used. They also don't seam to dry out so you get good use out of the whole pack and it isn't soaked in so much liquid you have to ring them out before using them.

8. Lip balm - Natio lip balm spf 30 and Aliqua anti aging lip balm, My lips are constantly dry and cracked so I use huge amounts of lip balm and I love my Natio lip balm so much (I brought 8 sticks with me and have 3 on the go all the time) because it isn't too greasy an, has no taste or smell but lasts ages on. I got the Aliqua for night time and it has a eucalyptus smell that helps my sinuses at night but it does in the morning leave my mouth tasting a bit like I ate wood.

9. Hand/Foot cream - Dr Scheller calendula hand balm, it is very waxy so it stays on your hands for ages making them feel so soft. I don't wear rubber gloves when I am doing the pots so I put it on after to stop them drying out from the washing up liquid but I also found that it is amazing on my feet where my heels are cracked and any blisters. At under 2 I am going to stock up.

10. Baby cream - Babydream baby cream, All it is is a nappy rash cream and when my skin is crazy dry (normally around my nose) it calms it down and I also use it as an intensive skin night treatment or as a cream  face wash if it gets very dirty.

If anyone has any good products they can suggest please leave a comment.

Friday, September 28, 2012

a huge cooking afternoon plus outfit post

outfit - t shirt & long sleeve top - h&m, jeans - dotti, belt - valley girl, shoes - ?

Today was an epic cooking day. It started off yesterday when I decided to make soup and decided that I could half the cooked down pulp to make pumpkin scones. I saw that the pears in the fruit bowl where going soft so I decided to make a pear and ginger cake out of it. I spend most of my days home by myself and have found amazing pleasure in cooking tricky dishes.

Pear and ginger cake adapted from this recipe  
poached pears in a honey sugar syrup, batter with chopped stem ginger in 
 evolved into a pear upside down cake

 Pumpkin scones - another popular Australian recipe
 leftover pumpkin pulp (minus the stock), only cookie cutter in the house
I am not the best at getting them to rise big and fluffy (unless i cheat and use the CWA packet mix you can get from the supermarket in Australia) so they became more of a biscuit/fat cracker and i used a butternut pumpkin (that are quite sweet) so I didn't add any sugar in making them useful for savory and sweet 
  
When my boyfriend got home i decided to make a Pasta-less Zucchini Lasagna (from chow.com, my food porn website) for dinner on a whim. It ended up with capsicum and mushrooms in the tomato sauce layers and the cheese topping was ricotta and goats cheese studded with peaces of marinated feta.

 just used a veggie peeler to get the thin strips of zucchini 
my boyfriend normally is not impressed with my vegetarian dinners but had seconds of this and scraped the bottom of the casserole dish. it will be going on a rotation now that i know how much he likes it.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

recent dinners

Stock boiled veggies, couscous with marinated feta, salad greens, fresh cherry tomatoes and mixed unsalted nuts    

Store bought fresh mozzarella and tomato filled tortellini with a fresh tomato and capsicum sauce with some grated hard goat cheese topping

Vanilla slice from bakery (to cheer myself up) and home made pumpkin and zucchini soup with Store bought fresh mozzarella and tomato filled tortellini


Saturday, September 22, 2012

Australian Favorites


I do not normally have any big cravings for Australian food (apart from Vegemite on toast) but since my boyfriend and I moved to Germany he has had 2 cravings, Australian style fish and chips and beef sausage rolls. I was going to save making it till his birthday in November but on Friday I had a craving for spinach and ricotta rolls so I bought all the ingredients and this afternoon set aside some time to make some from scratch. I used this recipe for the spinach and ricotta rolls and this for the beef sausage rolls but tweaked it to our taste. I managed to make 2 of each and had one for dinner tonight and another for the freezer to have another time.   

For the spinach and ricotta rolls:
 chopped 2 large shallots with two cloves of finely crushed garlic and fried till soft 
 
 finely grate carrots, coarsely chop a hand full of mixed un-salted un-roasted nuts (mine where walnuts, cashews, almonds and hazelnuts) 
 
 pre chopped frozen herbs (8 different kinds), thaw packet of cooked frozen spinach, rinse in cold water and squeeze out the extra liquid
 
 smooth ricotta and hard goats cheese, finely grate goats cheese
 left bowl - herbs, carrot and cooked onion mix waiting for mince
right bowl- spinach, nuts, carrot, herbs, cooked onion mix waiting for cheese  
2 large fat spinach and cheese rolls ready for the fridge to firm up for a few hours before cooking

For the sausage rolls:


 mince (80% beef and 20% pork), sausage mix with herbs, carrot, cooked onion mix, mince and lea and perrins worcestershire sauce worked into a fine paste 
 2 long sausage rolls ready for the fridge to firm up for a few hours before cooking

Sausage rolls with salad and spinach and ricotta roll with salad

after cooking