What's The Tea?

// A Note on Intelligence //

Ever feel dumb? Maybe miss a reference, mishear someone or even get something wrong. The feeling can knock your confidence and pretty much ruin your day.

I experience this feeling at least once a week. Whether it's when I've missed a memo at work or when someone tells me something I like is stupid. Unfortunately, it is something that I continue to experience to this day. However, whenever I begin to feel really dumb I ask myself when was the last time I thought someone was dumb? Sure you call your friends dumb in a sweet way and you maybe think something someone said was dumb but you very rarely label someone as unintelligent.

In reality, we are all just individuals reacting to situations. In the same way, you can't predict what someone is saying, you can't truly predict what you'll say. Yes, we have a filter, but it's not foolproof. You make the best decision based on the information you have at that moment.

// Bulgogi //

Bulgogi is one of my most favourite Korean dishes, an easy to prep meal that packs lots of flavours. At its core, Bulgogi requires marinated meat and typically features beef, however, the sauce works well on almost anything. I also added some greens and peppers to sweeten the deal. Definitely, a dish to try tonight!

Ingredients – Meat Marinade

6 tbsp of Soy sauce

3 tbsp of brown sugar

2 tbsp of lazy garlic

2 tbsp of lazy ginger

salt and pepper

800g of chicken or beef

Ingredients – Main

2 large onions

1 bell pepper

200g of sugar snap peas

1 tbsp of sesame seeds

4 tbsp of Korean Pear Juice

2 tbsp of Bulgogi sauce

1tbsp of chilli flakes

Method

Marinade the meat overnight

Chop the pepper and onion

Fry the chicken, with the juices from the marinade until chicken is white

Add chilli flakes and pear juice

Add the onions fry for 2 mins

Add the peppers and peas, fry for 5 mins

Add the Bulgogi sauce boil for 2 mins then simmer for 10

Add sesame seeds for 2 mins

// Feta and Sweet Potato //

Mondays right? Emails are flying, coffee comes by the bucket full and if Linda from finance mentions the budget report one more time you’ll fully lose it.

After the war of Monday, no one wants to go home and cook a full meal. Fear not I have one of the easiest, cheapest and healthiest meals to brighten your Monday.

Ingredients

1 medium-size sweet potato

Feta cheese

Tomatoes

prosciutto ham

1 tbsp of lazy garlic

Balsamic Vinegar

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180°c

Microwave sweet potato for 4 mins

Put a tablespoon of oil on a baking tray with salt and pepper and place the potato on the tray and cut a vertical slit down the sweet potato

On the same tray coat the tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and lazy garlic

Cook the tomatoes and sweet potato for 10-15 minutes

Sprinkle the potato with feta cheese and serve with the ham

// A note on beauty //

Beyonce once wrote it hurt, Lana del Rey hoped her partner would still love her without it and other countless artists dedicated hours to it. Beauty. It can mean pain, heartbreak and even confusion.

I have never considered myself beautiful, I wasn't the girl in school ridiculously blessed and I'm still not fully confident about it in my adult life. I find myself often picking, whether it's at my thighs, spots or even my smile in pictures. I don't have all the answers on how to stop these intruding thoughts, nor do I claim that I ever have, but my step toward self-confidence has taught me one important lesson.

While you can't stop those doubting, taunting thoughts, you can place one good thought in there. Start by clearing your mind, relax, and find a quiet space. Then pick a spot, one thing you love about yourself. We all have one. Your waist, your hair or even that one eyelash. Quiet the noise and focus on it.

// Fresh Out the Kitchen - Friday Feast //

Recipe - Sticky Chicken and Savoury Rice

This sticky chicken is one of my go-to recipes after a long day at work, paired with savoury rice, this makes for the perfect clean eat. It takes roughly 30 minutes to prepare and is perfect to take the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

For the sauce

4 tbsp of Honey

2 tbsp of Soy sauce

3 cloves of Garlic

1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar 

1 tbsp of olive oil

For the chicken

360g of chicken slices

2 eggs

flour

Rice

150g of sugar snap peas

2 bell peppers

rice

Vegetable stock

Method - For the Chicken

Whisk the eggs

Coat chicken in the egg and dip in flour

Fry the chicken for 10 minutes to get a crispy outside

Add the sauce and fry for 5 minutes to let the sauce reduce

Serve

Method - Rice

Put all ingredients in a large frying pan

Fill the pan with vegetable stock 

Bring to boil

Simmer for 15 mins with the lid on or until sauce is reduced completely

Fry the rice until slightly crisp

22/03/18 - The power of looking back

The one piece of advice I would give all lovers is to look back. 

Picture the scene, I was sitting on a bus one day observing a couple blissfully in lust, I reserve the other L word for couples I actually know, they were chatting, holding hands and giggling in a cafe below. They both stand, embrace and begin to depart opposite ways along the street. She looks back at the subject of her affection searching for that last look, sadly he is engrossed in a mobile tablet. Longing what she hopes she’ll see on her wedding day when the groom peaks down the aisle to get a glimpse of that white dress. 

Why do women long for that last look you ask? It harks back to years of romantic comedies when the woman would begin to walk away. The camera then pans to the Mr. Big type who remains in the place she left him, watching her walk away. So engrossed in the eternity of that moment that he physically can’t move. 

// 20.03.18 //