Image courtesy of Frances Bee

I met Daisy from Prettygreentea at the Blognix conference a couple of years ago in Birmingham. We knew each other on Twitter and when Daisy arrived at the event she recognised my glasses, which happens to me a lot! Haha. Since then we’ve talked almost every day and she introduced me to Fran from Frances Bee at a later networking event too. The three of us got together to head to the Blognix Retreat blogging and wellness weekend earlier this year and road tripped down there talking about business and blogging. These guys are my support network, my colleagues and damn good friends now too.

Elizabeth of Blognix introduced us to the idea of a Mastermind session where smaller groups get together to discuss problems they’re experiencing and brain storm solutions. It’s a great way of getting a second opinion and sometimes just talking about these things really helps too. The three of us decided we would get together regularly for a Mastermind session and our first date was in Leeds. We headed to Jamie’s Italian who kindly offered us a free meal to try out their Super Lunch Menu. It was the perfect setting for bloggers with super cool decor and it was just busy enough to get a great vibe and still be able to hear each other.

You can get two courses from the slimmed down menu for £10.95 (or three for £12.95!) which makes business lunches that bit more affordable when you work for yourself! Unfortunately I choose poorly for the starters as my tagliatelle was very al dente and I couldn’t seem to get any on my fork… the taste was great though, despite my frustrations, haha. Daisy choose a crispy seafood starter which I wish I’d ordered as soon as it arrived. I managed to sneak a taste too and I definitely recommend that instead.

The Chicken Club arrived on a chunky chopping board with a giant chilli tucked inside. We ordered a side of funky chips to share and although the portion size looked quite small, there was plenty between three of us with all our other food!
We were also celebrating Fran’s new job and so we slipped in a glass of sparkling wine as well. Daisy and I tried the red wine version which was as delicious as it looked! Congrats Fran!!

The whole day out was great and we set ourselves a list of goals that we shared with each other for accountability! The staff at Jamie’s Italian in Leeds were fabulous, giving really detailed explanations of the food choices and specials available. We were even invited to pop our heads round into the kitchen so I can assure you it’s lovely and clean! In the entrance there are lots of Jamie Oliver branded gifts and ingredients too so you can make yourself a super lunch at home.

Loves x xx

A couple of weeks ago Currys invited me out to try their range of Juicers, an alternative to smoothie making where you only get the juice from the ingredients with no pulp. Since I’ve just joined the gym and I’m trying to improve my health I thought it was a pretty good idea to try before I thought about buying!

Super awesome bonus was I got to hang out with Daisy from Prettygreentea for the day. We met at the Blognix event in Birmingham last year and I just love having a blogging buddy that is so into business like I am. Working for yourself can be lonely at times, so I really enjoyed sharing some ideas with Daisy over a Chai Tea at Bundobust (recommended!) before we headed down to play with juicers!

My first impression of the juicers were that they were huge! We have a tiny blender that I use for smoothies and milkshakes so the juicers looked like giants in comparison – I really wouldn’t have the space to keep one on our worktop.

The first juice we tried included ginger, cucumber, apples, carrots and beetroot. Beetroot?! It was surprisingly tasty and not too sweet. I would never have thought of including those ingredients.
We then got to make up our own recipes and I loved how easy it was to use the juicers; you can literally toss fruit in there, whole (except oranges – they need peeling, and any stoned fruit needs the stones removed).

My recipe was lime, pineapple, cucumber and apple and it came out vibrantly green and soooo tasty, oh my! I think lime is my absolute key juice ingredient. Here’s a few tips I learned:

// Even though you can throw in whole fruits I cut my apple in half and would recommend that you peel away the lime skin if you don’t like a bitter taste to your juice.

// You can add supplements to your juice by popping in a spoon of chia seeds for extra protein or a splash of flaxseed oil that can help with skin complaints like eczema and psoriasis.

// It’s much better for you, especially if you’re dieting, to make a juice from vegetables as fruits contain a lot of natural sugars. For more nutritional advice you can head to NutriShan.

On the whole I really liked the juice and the variety of flavours you can whip up. I loved the simplicity and I think I would really enjoy drinking a fresh juice everyday as opposed to a smoothie or milkshake… or even as well as. However I think the size of the juicer (and the price!) puts me off, at least until I can get a bit more organised at home! You can read more about our day over at the Curry’s Blog!

Have you tried juicing? Or do you prefer the more traditional smoothie?
Loves x xx