Good morning beautiful souls, My travel blogs are coming at ya a little belated, for which I am sorry, but I’m finally getting back into mu blogging and I have a lot of belated content… More
DAY TRIPPING – DESTINATION ALNMOUTH
Good evening beautiful souls,
Last week I was lucky enough to have 3 days off, which for me is very rare and thus meant that I actually had time to do something nice for myself once all the housework and various other tasks were completed. The weather was so nice and I was craving a beach trip, but not being able to drive made this wish a bit problematic. Sadly there aren’t many easily accessible by public transport beaches around, well not unless you want to sit on a bus for over an hour which for me is a big no no as I get serious travel anxiety when it comes to bus journeys that are longer then 20mins! After some research however I discovered that Alnmouth station was pretty easy to get to only being a 30min walk away from the beach and so I had my day trip destination.
The walk to the beach is quite a pleasant and easy to follow as it’s just along the main road. From the station you firstly walk through a small housing estate and then it’s out in nature with wild fields on your left and glimpses of the sea on your right. After about 20 minutes you reach central Almnouth and walk through it’s floral hanging basket lined street until you reach the golf course and the beach.
On my way down to the beach I came across these beautiful roses and I had to stop and give them a sniff – does anyone else do this whenever they see roses?! They smelt divine and I’m not going to lie, I was very tempted to snap one off and take it with me!
The beach was relatively busy, the sun was out and there was a light breeze rippling through my hair as picked a little empty spot to put down my picnic blanket. Once settled I sat back with my feet in the sand just enjoying being in the present moment and watching the world around me; the grandparents sitting in their folding chair reading their papers, children hopping from stone to stone and family’s running around playing Frisbee and flying kites. It was a beautiful afternoon.
It wasn’t long until I unpacked my picnic full of healthy vegan goodies and read a bit of my book whilst savouring my lunch. I had grapes, blueberries, pretzels, veg, hummus and crackers as well as a little can of G&T. It was the perfect picnic! Afterwards I lay down with my headphones on listening to my audiobook (The Count of Monte Cristo) and relishing the feeling of the sun warming my skin.
Sadly the clouds came in not long after and they didn’t seem to want to budge meaning I got chilly quite quickly and ended up deciding to pack up and head on home again, but not before I took a stroll along the beach and dipped my toes in the chilly sea of course. Although I was only there for about 2 hours, it really was worth it and I enjoyed every minute of my mini excursion!
I hope you’ve all found the time recently to go out and do something nice for yourselves too! I know I need to make time for myself like this more often. I don’t do it enough and it did me the world of good!
SOAP NUTS – A NATURAL DETERGENT
Good morning beautiful souls,
Today I thought I would tackle the next change on my plant based eco journey, namely switching to a low impact laundry detergent. As with many household items we are just so used to seeing them stacked in single use containers along the supermarket aisles that we don’t stop to consider the impact they have anymore or what less harmful & low impact alternatives might be out there. Most laundry detergents are packaged in plastic, tested on animals and of course contain many chemicals which especially for sensitive skins aren’t often great. However there are some great alternatives out there (for example my cousin washes her clothes with walnuts which contain a natural soap element – who knew!?!) all you need to do is set aside a little time to have a browse to see what works best for you. Now I can’t speak for all alternatives as I’ve personally only tried one so far, but I am so happy with the results of this swap that I had to share it with you.
I have swapped form the usual detergent culprits such as Persil to using Soapnuts – a natural, organic, biodegradable, vegan, ethical & sustainable laundry detergent (now you can’t get more eco-friendly than that can you!?!).
Soapnuts or Soapberries are dried fruit shells which contain real natural soap and are 100% completely natural. They are a vegan friendly, non-polluting, compostable, alternative to conventional laundry detergents and synthetic soaps. No fillers, foaming agents, bleach, phthalates, phosphates or parabens. The Soapberries contain a natural soap called saponin, which is released when they come into contact with water and thus they wash your laundry as good as any other conventional detergent.
There are a couple of ways to use the soap nuts; you can soak them in water to release the detergent and then pour the liquid into your washing machine as you would other laundry detergents, or you can pop a couple of soapnuts into the muslin bag provided and then pop that into the washing machine with your laundry. I use the latter method.
In our day and age we are so used to freshly washed clothes smelling “clean” because of all the chemical scents added to detergents. Soapnuts don’t really release a scent, so you won’t get that “clean” smell; however you can add a scent to your laundry by using an essential oil. One of my favourite oils to use is lavender; I put about 10 drops onto the muslin bag containing the soapnuts and then pop it into the wash – and voila out come your clothes with a fresh scent of lavender – the results are great!
I really cannot recommend this natural vegan biodegradable laundry detergent enough and urge you all to try it! They sell starter packs (a great way to give soapnuts a trial) which contain soapnuts, a stain remover bar, soda crystals and an essential oil. The small starter pack costs £14.70 which admittedly you might first think sounds expensive, but let me assure you, the sopanuts go a long way – one filled muslin bag can be used for about 3 washes until all the soap has been released.
(the starter pack pictured in my photos is a large)
The Living Naturally Soapnut Company also not only sell laundry detergent but have haircare and skincare products on offer too. I have yet to try these but if the laundry detergent is anything to go by, I know I’ll love these products too.
So I hope I have given you something to think about. Again, I can’t recommend these highly enough and would love to know – do you think this is a change/a swap you would be willing to try?! I’d love to hear some of you giving soapnuts a go! If you’d like to inform yourselves more on the products available and further benefits of soapnuts go have a look on their website here.
Until next time lovelies ❤
DURHAM PRIDE
Good evening beautiful souls,
Today is Durham Pride and I have spent a fab day celebrating love in all its beautiful forms with a bunch of amazing people 💟
Last year I went to Newcastle Pride with this lot (it was my first pride event) and this year I was excited go to Durham Pride.
We couldn’t have asked for a better day the weather has been amazing all day. Not a single cloud in sight, just brilliant hot sunshine. Anyway, I don’t have much to say really apart from I’m glad to be part of such an amazing LGBT community and I’ve had an absolutely brilliant day, well I’m still having a fab day and thus I just wanted to share a couple of photos with you:
Makeup and festival gems at the ready!!!
The March from Durham Cathedral down to the Sands (a field by the river Wear).
Celebrating with all these beautiful souls 💟
My delicious vegan burger from the Green Guerrilla which was to die for!
As sun was out all day I luckily thought to bring sun cream with me because some of us started to turn red pretty quickly!
The vibes were all super friendly and happy. We enjoyed entertainment from Stooshe, Lloyd Daniels some fabulous drag queens as well as many other acts…
Now we’re just having a bite to eat before heading out to town for a bit. I hope you have all also had a wonderful sunny happy day!!
Love Carina xo
MY LOOSE LEAF TEA COLLECTION
Good evening beautiful souls,
As most of you probably already know I’m on a mission to become more eco-friendly and my latest venture is ditching the tea bags! If you don’t already know, most tea bags contain plastic which make them non-biodegradable. So in order to avoid this Jessica and I ordered a load of loose leaf teas and bought two tea strainers as well.
I bought all the teas from the same company. Gaiwan who I found on Amazon are a German tea company and the range of loose teas they have on offer it amazing! I had over £100 worth of tea in my shopping basket before I had to narrow my choices down! We managed to narrow it down to 8 different teas: Cherry & Almond (black tea) – Peppermint – Green Magic (green tea) – Fresh Orange (green tea) – Winter Warmth (rooibos) – Orange & Mint (rooibos) – Children’s Herbs (herbal mix) – Evening Enjoyment (herbal mix). I haven’t tried all of them yet but the ones I have are really nice, mostly quite mild and if left steeping too long, not bitter (as can often be the case with a green tea).
Once the teas arrived we put them into the 1L Kilner jars we’d specifically bought for tea storage. Seeing all the identical labelled jars with pretty loose leaf teas in them makes my OCD me very happy! You may also have noticed that there’s actually 9 jars of tea; The 9th jar a Gingerbread Rooibos tea (as you might be able to tell, Jessica and I love Rooibos tea). I bought this one when I was in York from a loose leaf tea company called Hebden Tea (which you should check out if you’re ever in York – so many flavours to choose from!) The last loose leaf tea I have is a fruit tea which I’ve kept in the little Christmas tea tin, because I kinda like the tin, it’s cute and as it’s a good base for a mulled wine or Christmasy punch it fits the tin.
I also decided to have my favourite mugs on display next to the teas! I’m obsessed with pretty mugs and love how each one fit’s certain drinks or moods better. If I didn’t rein myself in when shopping I’d have a hoard of mugs right now (I already have too many) but I mean pretty mugs – the struggle is real! I might have to do a My Mug Collection post sometime haha!
Anyway, if you’re a big tea drinker I would really encourage you to invest in a loose leaf tea and a strainer or biodegradable tea bags!!! Also they look so pretty on display in glass jars ❤
Love Carina xo
VEGAN MERINGUES
Good evening beautiful souls,
If you follow me on Instagram (@simplycarinaxo) you will already know that I made vegan meringues the other day!!
If you’re a meringue fan but are like myself a vegan and can’t eat eggs or are allergic to eggs or even just fancy trying something new, then this recipe is for you.
I’ll warn you in advance, although easy it takes almost 3hs to make these meringues, but they are super tasty and so it’s totally worth it!
Now you might be wondering how on earth you can make vegan meringues when one of the main ingredients is egg white. Well I’d heard ages ago that chickpea brine could apparently be used as an egg white replacement and so when I stumbled across this recipe I was eager to test it.
I was a bit skeptic at first but apart from turning out somewhat hollow and crisp rather than chewy, they were very tasty!!
If you’re not drooling already at the thought of a meringue dessert then here’s the recipe for you to test yourself :
Makes 6-8 meringues
- 400 g can of chickpeas which should yield
- 100g of aquafaba (brine)
- 110g of caster sugar
- Vanilla seeds
Whisk the aquafaba at high speed until stiff white peaks are formed; this will take about 15-20 minutes.
Mix the vanilla seeds into the sugar before adding the mixture to the aquafaba a couple of spoonfuls at a time, making sure the sugar is whisked in properly before adding the next few spoonfuls.
When all the sugar is mixed in and the meringue is thick and glossy, it is ready.
Preheat the oven at 130 degrees centigrade and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.
Spoon the mixture (I’d say a large heaped tbsp) onto the baking tray well apart as the will grow quite a bit.
Now bake for 1 3/4 – 2 hours until the meringues are fairly firm unto and on the base. Take out of oven and leave to cool completely.
Once cool, you can enjoy this delicious treat however you like. I suggest some vegan vanilla ice cream and a fruit compote or fresh berries!
Now enjoy!
If you give these a go do let me know how they turn out!!
Love Carina xo
MY FAVOURITE LOW SUGAR COCKTAIL
Good evening beautiful souls,
Now that the weather finally seems to be improving I’ve been feeling the cocktail vibes more and more and am ditching the red wines. However as summer and bikini season are approaching I thought I’d share with you my favourite low sugar cocktail so that you can still enjoy a drink without worrying about your waistline too much.
I’m not sure what to call it yet, maybe Bitter Breeze or something…
Well here it goes. You will need:
- A lime
- Gin
- Diet bitterlemon
- Fresh mint
- Ice cubes
First pop your ice cubes into your glass – next add to your strength liking gin and bitterlemon (for this glass I used 2 shots of Bombay Dry Gin with ca. 300ml of bitterlemon) – squeeze in half a lime – decorate with another slice of lime and fresh mint.
Et voila – one Bitter Breeze at the ready – now sit back, relax and enjoy!
Love Carina xo
Simply Carina xo 
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