Mobile Montage - March

Bryden

1. The Stranglers merchandise.
2. Domino's hot dog stuffed crust.
3. Danni and I at our friend's Kaite and Joe's engagement party.
4. Japanese Ramune Soda.
5. My bed at my Mams house (Miss it!).
6. St Michael Skirt I picked up from the Charity shop which I need to take up.
7. Summer basket.
8. Steven got an Xbox so I bought myself a game!
9. Steven at Ernest.
10. Sushi Delivery!
11. Jayne and I being bunnies.
12. Hot sauces.
13. Star wars figures from Ernest.
14. My face.
15. Creme Egg Mcflurry! MMM

Claire

1. Steak night 
2. Horse shampoo! 
3. Sunday dinner 
4. Just a few cocktails... 
5. BBQ feast 
6. I had a bit of a clear out 
7. I really need to stop with the nail varnishes 
8. ASOS treats 
9. Dress dilemmas 
10. Summertime satchel 
11. Nights out
12. Ultimate hangover cure 
13. Oreo ice cream 
14. One of my students drew me
15. Chipotle chicken wraps

xx 

Eating Out: Ernest, Newcastle.

You might have seen Ernest mentioned in a couple of my monthly favourites. Ernest is situated on the Ouseburn in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Boasting a brilliant menu Ernest is one of my favourite places to go for food at the moment.

These little lights spell out the words 'Importance of Being' behind some clouded perspex. I've had to put a jazzy little filter on this as it wasn't showing up very well - Hope you don't mind!

I can't stress enough how much I love Ernest! I love the food, the cafe decor, the people who go there, the people who work there and how its just a short bus journey away for me.

So much to choose from.

Steven and I went at Easter time for his birthday. It was lunch time and decided to try out some of their sandwiches and sides. We were going out that night and needed to line the stomach too.

Altogether now!

I opted for their sausage sandwich with caramelised onions and cheddar £6.00 and Steven went for their rare roast beef and horseradish sandwich on sourdough £4.50. We shared a portion of the olives and feta £3.50 and sweet potato fries and tzatziki £4.50. 

My sausage sandwich

Steven's rare beef sandwich

All of the food was bloody lovely! My only complaint would be that the tzatziki wasn't minty enough for me but that isn't a big deal.

Star Wars figures from their display cabinet

People of Newcastle - Get yourselves to Ernest. You won't regret it!

Bryden xx

Links:

Ernest Website

Ernest Spring Menu

Ernest Facebook

March Favourites

Claire's Favourites...

Products


Tail & Mane Shampoo and Conditioner
Yep, your eyes do not deceive you- that is shampoo for horses. I've seen this on a couple of blogs and when I saw it in Liberty, my curiosity got the better of me. As well as being used to clean mucky equines, it's totally safe for humans to use too. The shampoo makes my hair feel squeaky clean, but make sure you always follow with the conditioner as it can be a bit drying. There are claims that it helps promote growth; although my hair has been looking more mane like lately, this might be down to the fact I need a bloody good hair cut.

Neal & Wolf Elevate Volumising Lotion
This was one of my favourite treats I received in my goody bag from the FABB blogger meet up in Leeds. I have a LOT of hair, but it tends to lie pretty flat. This is a really nice product for getting volume into your hair without making it feel like it's full of product.

Calcot Manor Moisture Souffle
This was another goody bag find from the FABB event. It's lovely and thick, with a fresh scent. I love using this after I get out of the bath, before bed.

Buys



Like everyone else in the UK, I've been patiently waiting for this horrible cold weather to get lost. The first glimmers of Spring are finally here and I can't wait to use this pastel satchel from ASOS on sunny days out.

Eats



It was my dad's birthday at the end of the month; so we went to his favourite pub, The Sun Inn in Morpeth, for a meal. I opted for my usual of surf and turf, a massive sirloin steak covered with prawns and mussels in a garlic jus. My mouth is watering just thinking about this meal.


Other stuff



I've been after a toile de jouy duvet cover for years, but I've never found a quality one for a decent price. My mam bought me this beauty from Marks & Spencer, it's absolutely perfect. There was also a 20% discount so it ended up only costing £28! Cheers, ma!




I've been ridiculously busy this month with my new job, hence the reason this post is more than a tad late. My life has revolved around early mornings, commuting and lesson planning. I did however manage to fit in a well deserved weekend, relaxing at my parents house in Northumberland. It was so nice to spend time reading books in bed and walking on the beach. My reading material of choice was The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides.


Next month I'm looking forward to...

Settling into my job and enjoying the fact I don't have to work nights or weekends anymore!


Bryden's Favourites...

Products

1. Bumble and Bumble Prep. 2. Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst Quenching Serum.
3. Simple Oil Balancing Moisturiser. 4. La Sultane de Saba Body Lotion.


Bumble and Bumble Prep
I picked this up last month in boots and I've been really enjoying refreshing my fringe with it. If I leave my hair for too long before I blow dry I seem to end up with bits of fringe sticking out all over the place so I use this to wet it back down and blow dry it into shape. It's also good for refreshing my fringe after work if I'm due to go for a night out and I don't want to wash my whole hair. The lady at the counter in boots told me it will help distribute products evenly and you can use it to refresh your style if you don't wash every day. I wash my hair every day so this isn't something I've looked into and I'm not convinced if its helping products distribute more evenly - Surely that's up to how I actually apply them? Who knows... 

Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst Quenching Serum.
I had a sample of this in a beauty box quite a while ago and it's taken me a while to get round to buying it but I love it! I have oily skin and this is great under my oil controlling moisturisers. I have oily yet dehydrated skin and this has helped loads. My skin has been looking a lot more healthier. 

Simple Oil Balancing Moisturiser.
I used to swear by La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat and have repurchased it many times (I still love it!) but I wanted to try something new and to see if a cheaper product could do the same job. It was a toss up against a new garnier one and the simple one on the grounds that it contained two oil fighting ingredients - zinc and cornstarch. This stuff is great and I dare say its on par with the more expensive brands I've tried in the past. I've been using this during the week for work and using the more expensive La Roche-Posay one for nights out. 

La Sultane de Saba Body Lotion.
I got this in a beauty box last month and I've finished it already. I'm planning to buy a full size once I've finished my Soap and Glory body butter. This is a lightweight lotion with Argan oil. It doesn't leave any sticky or greasy feeling either so I dare say you could use this on your hands too. It's great for mornings when you want to apply a lotion and dress almost immediately afterwards. It made my skin feel like satin and the feeling lasted. 

Buys

I've been looking for a good pair of vintage loafers for a while now. I normally don't like buying vintage on Ebay as I can normally find some good buys in my local charity shop. But, when I saw these I had to buy them! I love Bally - My Auntie Jean gave me a gorgeous pair of brown leather Bally boots a good few years ago and I was smitten with the brand ever since. I won these loafers on Ebay for £15 which is quite reasonable. 

Eats

I went to Ernest (Newcastle Ouseburn) again! I opted for the Cumberland Sausage sarnie which was loaded with caramelised onions and cheese. The other half opted for a roast beef and horseradish sandwich - something I wouldn't usually go for but I had a taste and it was lovely! We also pigged out on some extra sides of olives and feta and sweet potato chips and tzatziki. I love tzatziki and I have to admit as lovely as it was it wasn't quite minty enough for me. I like it strong!

I've been loving going to Kingdom buffet (Newcastle city centre) at the moment and I've been piling my plate high with sushi and not much else. The dessert selection is also pretty exciting. My favourite has to be the green grape jelly and the egg tarts.
 
Other Stuff

Being on Deal or No Deal... Not really! Imagine my surprise when my friend texted me to tell me to turn the TV on to take a look at my doppelgänger. I can't get over how much she looks like me! 

Next month I'm looking forward to...

• Pay day - It's going to be a long month...

Hope you're all well, 

Claire and Bryden xx

We've gone baking mad! - Baking Mad Campaign

We both love a good bit of cooking/baking/any type of food here at Trebles and a Mixer (As if you haven't noticed...). Bryden used to make cupcakes quite often for local punk gigs a few years ago but that seemed to fizzle out after the cupcake hype flame was stubbed out. Although the cupcake obsession still lingers slightly (We also have to admit we're still suckers for a fancy cupcake every once in a while!!) our interests have changed and we've moved on to more exciting things like Whoopie Pies, traditional cakes/pastries/puddings (like these Chelsea buns and this Victoria Sponge cake (this one is low calorie!)) and Cake Pops!

We were contacted by Baking Mad to consider baking something from their site. We haven't baked for ages and we also hadn't spent a lot of time with each other lately so this sounded great! 

The site is jam packed full of recipes running from sweet right through to savoury. We also enjoyed looking through their baking tips, especially the ones for scones. We love a good cheese scone and it's really easy to end up with scones with the consistency of hockey pucks! These tips will help us through our next batch.

At first we were tempted to make some buns so we could eat burgers for tea in our freshly baked buns (it always goes back to burgers with us...)but after receiving a lovely little selection of deco supplies from Baking Mad we decided to opt for a sweet option so we could take full advantage of having these supplies to hand. 

We choose to make these chocolate chip cookies(click for recipe) and this chocolate cake (click for recipe. We used a lot more brown sugar in the cookies than what it called for because we like the trecle-y taste it gives. 

We decided to get creative with some melted chocolate, fondant flowers and chocolate beans. The recipe was really easy to follow and they taste delicious. We think they look brilliant!

Hope you're all well, 

Bryden and Claire xx


Disclaimer: We were contacted by Baking Mad's PR to consider joining their baking campaign. We were asked to choose a recipe to make and post about it. Baking Mad supplied us with some baking supplies to decorate our creation. 

REVIEW: Kiehls Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

14ml £20 Kiehls

I've had the Kiehls Creamy Eye Treatment for about 7 or 8 months or so now and I have used it every day. I bought this after seeing great reviews for it online and as I'm pushing 30 (I'm 27 in October and in my eyes this is definitely pushing 30!) I thought it was best to start using an eye cream. 

I chose this eye cream because I had seen reviews that said this cream had improved the appearance of melia under the eyes and that was a current problem of mine. The online reviews gave me the impression that this was quite a cult product so I was expecting great results.

What Kiehl's say about the product:
"Rich and creamy non-migrating formula that delivers moisture to the delicate under eye-area. Gently protects the skin against external aggressors"

The skin care ingredients:
Avocado Oil - Natural source of amino acid proteins, Vitamins A, D and E and potassium. Helps restore natural moisture.
Beta Carotine - Antioxident. Used in vitamin A production. 
Shea Butter - Shea Butter is the natural fat obtained from the fruit of the African Karate tree and is widely used in lotions and cleansing products for its hydrating properties. Protects skin from dehydration, restores skin's suppleness and improves the appearance of dry skin.

How it worked for me:
The product itself is quite a weird texture. When you take a little bit of the product you immediately expect it to be really thick and greasy, yet once it is applied it almost melts into the skin and creates some slip. For this reason it does not tug against your skin. It feels very nice on application. It does a permanent effect and this wears off.

The cream moisturises nicely and I think this might be good for someone who suffers from dry patches under their eyes. My skin is quite moist around this area so I did not see any dramatic differences. The product did not help with any dark circles but I did not expect it to as it is clearly a product to solely moisturise the eye area. The product does not claim to be anti ageing. 

It did improve the appearance of melia under my eyes but they have not dissapeared completely.

The pot lasts for ages. You can now buy a 28ml version for £33 now which if you like the product would work out cheaper then continuing to buy the smaller pots. The smaller pots are 14ml for £20.

Would I buy it again:
I would consider buying again if I started to suffer from dry skin under my eyes or if my melia came back with a vengeance. But at the moment I am happy to try another product with a cheaper price tag.

Bryden xx

RECIPE: Chorizo Hash Bowl

After having a this at Ernest I was keen to make my own version of it for those day's when I can't get down to Ernest or for when I don't have enough money to spare to eat out.

This is relatively cheap to make depending on where you source your ingredients. I usually get my chorizo from Lidl or Aldi and I'm a big fan of my using my local green grocer for vegetables.

This is an easy recipe and is perfect for brunch. I have used a poached egg for this but I'm sure it would be still tasty if you wanted to serve this alongside scrambled or fried eggs instead. 

What you'll need:

Some Chorizo - Put as much as you want in. I only had a couple of inches left so I used what I had.
Potatoes - Again, as much as you want.
Onion - I'd suggest half an onion but it depends how much you would like. This really is one those recipes where you can use what you have in.
Peppers - I used a green bell pepper in mine.
Paprika - I used around 1/2 tablespoon.
Garlic - Crushed. I used two cloves.
Dash of chilli flakes - I used a teensy amount (about 1/2 tea spoon at the most) in mine as my chilli flakes are really hot!
Salt and Pepper.
Eggs - For poaching. I used one egg for myself.

What to do:

1. I pre-boiled my potatoes until they were softish but not quite cooked and left them to drain in a colander while I prepared my vegetables. I'm not going to give timings for this because it really depends on how small you cut your potatoes - Just keep an eye on them while they are cooking.
2. Chop the chorizo and veg up.
3. Warm a frying pan on a medium heat with a dash of oil and crush your garlic into this - Be careful it doesn't burn!
4. After a few minutes of frying add in your chorizo, potatoes, onion, peppers, chilli flakes, paprika, salt and pepper to taste and whatever else you decided to use. Fry until the potatoes are browned and your vegetables are cooked through.
5. Poach your egg.
6. Serve your hash on a plate or bowl with your poached egg on top.
7. Enjoy!

Let us know if you try this recipe, 

Bryden xx

Occasional Obsession - Orla Kiely

orla wish list 2013 spring by treblesandamixer featuring orla kiely

Orla Kiely print dress / Orla Kiely longsleeve dress / Orla Kiely / Orla Kiely zipper bag / Orla Kiely zipper bag / Orla Kiely / Orla Kiely Sculpted Stem Mimosa / Orla Kiely Multi Stem Print Mug / Orla Kiely Flask Stainless Steel Flask 500ml / Orla Kiely Poppy Meadow Storage Jar - Small / Orla Kiely Linear Stem Lasagne Dish

I've been looking at the Orla Kiely website for the last couple of days now obsessively because I noticed that the coat I wanted for while had been reduced from nearly £300 to £134 but they've sold out in my size! Absolutely gutted. 

These are a few other items I've also had my eye on. The yellow jeanie bag is also in the sale for a good price but I think I'm going to hold out for the olive/beige coloured one instead. Fingers crossed it drops into the sale once the seasons up! I love the lasagne dish - My Pastel Purple (a colour they don't even stock anymore! Grr) Le Creuset died the other day and it's now sporting a huge crack down the middle so I'm eyeing up replacements for it at the moment. I got my last one from Tk Maxx so hopefully they will have some suitable dishes in once pay day hits us.

Bryden xx