Cooking with F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I think I have a bit of a problem, most people before they go to sleep would read a magazine or check Twitter, or read a normal novel, but all I keep doing lately is poring over cook books, pictures of cakes and pies and soups and sauces which is not so ideal because I have to try and drop asleep with images of warm plates of food rolling around in my head.

My most recent cook book gem is the hilarious cook book based off the TV show 'Friends' I hate writing it as F.R.I.E.N.D.S but it seems to be the only way to type it without people assuming that it is a cook book about cooking in groups with a generic set of friends, no no no, every dish is based on some 'Friends' reference from the show, and they quote it along the side of the recipe to prove it!

It is such fun if you have seen every episode and really get every single reference, so for me it has made for some very light reading before I drop asleep too. The only real down side is that instead of having pictures of the dishes, it has pictures of scenes from the TV show, so that's a shame, I think.

So far I have made:

Brocolli stir fry with Lemon-Garlic sauce, which was really really good, I made my own egg fried rice to serve it with.

Mrs Gellars Simple spaghetti, it was indeed simple and tomato based, but tasty.

Mr Gellars Pasta with sun dried tomatoes, I added olives to try and differentiate it from Mrs Gellars dish above and it was a lot more smokey and interesting in flavour but generally a drier sauce.

I am really enjoying working my way through it, although I think that the sad part is that the book was produced too soon. It came out long before the series ended so there are a lot of missed opportunities for some great dishes and ingredient references in the later episodes.

Some dishes that could have been really fun to include!:

Joeys Peanut Butter Fingers - TOW Cheap Wedding Dress
Not-Rachel's Salmon au croup - TOW Rachels new dress
Rachel's Surprise Sneezers - TOW the joke
Phoebe's 5am Chinese Food - TOW Chandler gets caught
Chan-berry sauce - TOW the late thanksgiving
Jam Good, Custard Good! trifle - TOW Ross got high
Greatest Meatball Sandwich in the World - TOW the ride along
Monica's Get-a-room cake - TOW Chandler gets caught 
Fried stuff with cheese - TOW the truth about London
Chandlers #3 macaroni with cut up hot dogs - TOW Unagi


Buckets of brownie points to you if you 'got' all of my references!
I had probably more fun than I should have thinking up references and fun names for all of these!

St Lucia daydreams...

Still feeling pretty gunky but I want to keep things positive, so I've had my sister sending me pictures and messages of her exotic holiday in St Lucia all week, and I thought I would share them with you because if you like me aren't going anywhere more exotic than your back garden then we can close our eyes and pretend we are here, far away from feeling gross or ill, or maybe you feel stressed or sad.
We can focus on these pictures and jump into them and just relax in the warm sun and scent of salt water in the air and the sound of the waves soothing us to feel wonderfully peaceful and relaxed...

And here's a little something funny to end on, my sister had her hair braided (I've cropped out her face because she was pulling a funny face and wouldn't forgive me!)

...and it reminded me of that 'Friends' episode where Monica has her hair braided!

Now I really want to watch Friends and fall asleep under my duvet...

"Dude...don't you ever wash your face?"



That line is from Friends - 10 Brownie points to anyone who knows the name of the episode!

Today we're talking face washes:
I became a bit of a face wash nut around the age of fifteen when my spots got real unpleasant. I think I went into a bit of a panic frenzy and I was most worried that people would think I didn't wash my face thorough enough and therefore when I bought face washes I would buy the ones that smelt the most chemically, as in my mind they would be strongest, and I even bought mens facial washes because I was under the impression that they would be better at blitzing my skin- basically I liked it when I felt as though it was too harsh for my skin, I liked the burning because in my head it meant it was working!?!
Also, I'd never buy one at a time I'd buy two or three or four at a time so that I could try them all and see which worked best- I now realise that this method is highly flawed and certainly not one that I recommend!
Anywho, thankfully I'm much kinder to my skin but I still havent got out of the habit of having multiple face washes on the go, here's my current set:

I really am truly not buying anymore until I'm down to one, and then I'm only buying one more as a back up!

I try to use no more than one or two face washes consistantly as I know it can take up to 6 weeks or more for the face wash to have positive affects on your skin and if I keep switching then I won't be able to keep track of how successful a specific face wash is

Currently I'm using the Loreal face wash in the morning- I like the little scrubber as it feels like it's getting deep into the pores.

Then at night I use the clearasil facial wash because it's specifically designed for night time use and is a little more moisturising and has a kind of 'milk' consistency.

The general rule for face washes is if its a gel it's good for cleansing oily skin, if it's a white-ish then it's better for moisturising while cleansing- even oily skin needs a moisturising cleanse once in a while.

These ones have not got a whole lot of mentioning:

...and there's a reason for that!
The MAC facial wash cost a grand total of £7 and it's a little bottle (but I use it when I'm travelling, but pretty much only then)
I would not re-buy for the following reason:
Does it cleanse my face? Yes
Does it cleanse my face two times better than a facewash that cost £3.50? Nuh-uh

If your a MAC junkie and like to try everything then I don't want to put you off buying it, I'm just saying that it's nothing special that Clearasil, Clean & Clear, L'oreal or Burts Bees can't give you already for much better value.

The last little things are my twice weekly facial scrubs- I'll use them before I go to sleep and they just polish everything up ever so nicely.
Lush's Sea Salt however is worth the investment, a big ol' tub this size works out cheaper than buying the little ones and it really does just make your face feel FRESH, fresher than any other facial scrub I used before.

little WARNING: This facial scrub is abbrasive so if you have sensitive/dry/flaky skin have a little test first to check it's not too drying on your skin!

So there you go, despite what I believed the world thought of me at the tender age of fifteen- I am a little cray cray with my face wash cleansing.

What's your favourite facial cleanser?