November Favourites

The hardest part of these monthly favourite blogs for me is actually remembering what I have been doing over the past month. If any of you know me you may be aware that my memory is really rather pants. Therefore I find that Instagram is very useful for reminding what I have actually been up to. So yeah sorry about the number of pictures of food that I post on there…..

1. Taste Of London.

Last week (20th Nov) my mother and I took a quick hop, skip and a jump down to the Tobacco Dock in London for the Taste Of London: The Festive Editon. The event which ran over four consecutive days was portend into time slots and we were the daytime (11-4pm) on Friday. Due to our train times we  didn't arrive at the venue until 12.30pm. Dammit missed out on valuable munching time there. 

Luckily as we went on Friday it wasn't overly crowded (although I did get quite irate about the crowds) and we managed to sample many of the goodies on offer: Liquid nitrogen frozen ice cream anyone? 

Indeed I even ate at Tom Aikens' restaurant….well sort of.  I had the belly pork in case you were wondering. 

As part of the festival there was a ‘Taste of HBO’ section which included not only a gingerbread version of King’s Landing but also the Iron Throne where I could take my rightful place….move over Lannisters!

The highlight of the day for me was watching the demo from Masterchef’s Monica Galetti. The fierce female judge made a simple yet very effective take on the classic dessert: an ice cream float. Using pieces of ginger, pear and ginger cake mingled with a creme anglaise semi freddo and lashings of ginger beer and Guinness this festive pudding ticked all the right boxes for me. 

I even got to sit on the judge’s table and was able to sample the dish and it was thumbs up from me. 

2.Marshmallows

As with fashion trends in food are always changing. I mean from sushi to cupcakes there always seems to the ‘cool thing’ to be eating right now and  marshmallows are in!  By this I don't mean the mass produced Flumps or Haribo equivalents. Its the gourmet marshmallow that is setting the fluffy pace and there has already been a steady stream of companies setting up shop.: something I was made very aware of at Taste Of London. I may have bought my self a box of marshmallows to take home….they didn't last long. 

I first became aware of  this new trend when I went for dinner with my parents, aunt and uncle at The Golden Fleece  in Birkenshaw. Feast your eyes on those beauties. 

Clearly I have been ahead of the game as I tried my hand at making my own marshmallows way back in 2014. Yet I seem to recall that little experiment going wrong…..very wrong. 

3. The Costa Christmas Range.

As mentioned I am a creature of habit and will generally always go into the same coffee shop (mostly Costa) and will sit at my usual table with my usual drink; a medium vanilla latte. Don't get too excited now guys but when the new Christmas range came out it was goodbye VL, hello Christmas!!! 

I haven't quite worked my way through the whole selection yet but thus far my favourites include the Tiramisu Latte  (thanks for the recommendation by the way)

and the truly indulgent Caramel Fudge Hot Chocolate: although I can't have the hot chocolate too early in the day as it will put me to sleep...

4. Quick Fix Facial Mask

I bought this face mask at Boots quite a while ago now and even though it says that the mask is for sensitive skin I can feel my face tingling after a while of wearing the mask so rather than the 5-10 minutes stated as the recommended time I tend to opt for nearer the five than the ten before washing it off. 

Whilst containing a mixture of oatmeal, aloe vera, chamomile and rose; all ingredients that have a calming effect, I felt that it does not do what do what it says on the packet. 

There are quite a lot of mixed reviews for this product but I would tend to say that if you have sensitive skin I would approach this mask with caution...although I thought that my skin was sensitive and I'm fine with it. 

With all this negative press about the mask why would I go and put it in my favourites? The answer is simple. Even though the packaging is misleading I think that the mask works for me.

What to do when you have an anxiety attack

Anxiety attacks (not to be confused with panic attacks) have become a common occurrence for me recently, well more than usual, so here's a few tips on how I deal (or not as the case may be) with them.

What exactly is the difference between an anxiety and a panic attack? The two terms are often used to mean the same thing but although they can seem to be very similar they are actually key differences:

An anxiety attack occurs as a result of a stressor. 
Stressor: An event or stimulus that cause us to experience psychological stress.

For example  I normally experience these when my stress levels are particularly high due to work or otherwise, (yes I did have a meltdown about my knitting earlier today but lets just skip that one) being in a situation that causes you to panic (most social occasions really) and even anything that takes me out of my comfort zone.....hence why I am such a creature of habit. 

A panic attack on the other hand is often not set of by a particular stressor and can in fact be quite random in so far as they are unpredictable and unprovoked. As well as feelings of panic and apprehension these may also be accompanied by physical symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath, nausea and even dizziness. 
Read more about the pschologicallyness here


So now that we've cleared that up, what does it feel like to have a anxiety attack? Well in short its hell. Besides the crippling fear you can feel your heart beating at a rate that is off the charts and are very short of breath. Oh and tears: in my case there's normally a lot of tears involved.
However anxiety attacks are as unpredictable as they are annoying and can take many different forms:

As an anxiety attack is normally brought on by a stressor you can normally stop them be taking removing yourself from the situation. Simply walk away from the problem. I often find that my attacks are accompanied by a hot flush so find that going outside for some fresh air is very helpful. 

Talk to somebody you trust. Whether this is your best friend or a 'responsible' adult the old cliché 'a problem shared is a problem halved' applies perfectly. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone you know as I often found that talking to a stranger helps to. (apologies to the shopkeeper who I ranted to for like an hour)

Breathe deeply. As you may become short of breath during one of these episodes it is crucially important that sufficient oxygen is reaching your lungs. Try calming yourself down by taking 10 deep breaths.

Music is a great healer: OK seriously how many clichés can one blog post hold? Anyhow I find that having a playlist to listen to whenever I am feeling particularly anxious is really helpful and offers a calm atmosphere reminding me that everything is going to be ok. You can listen to my playlist on spotify by clicking here.