Well, hello again!

Well look here all. Half of the dynamic duo is back in the blogging saddle. Jillian mentioned she wanted to start blogging again and because I think it would do her a heap of good (and this is my way of replying to your email woes), I am reinvigorating this here blog. Let's see if she plays along, because I haven't actually told her any of this.
So, I shall give you a Readers Digest update of what I have been doing for the last 12 days (boy I wish it was Christmas).

Stood in the majesty of Matanuska Glacier for some crust skiing and salsa consumption. Crevasse hunting was also plentiful. 

 Morgan is from NYC so mountains truly shock her. Sunroof dog tendencies were pretty frequent, and her hair is all crazy like a mane of a lion so it added to the effect.

We skiied Alyeska for two days, met attractive Chamonix boys, drank beer at the local pub and watched an inebriate be catapulted from the premises.

...among other things. dun dun dun. 

'A MONTH OF SUNDAYS'

It's been a month of sundays since I have posted. It's true, we have both been awol for moons and moons but hopefully you'll forgive us when you see why we haven't been tappatappatappa-ing on the computer.  Here's why...

 Atop the Crags overlooking beautiful Edinburgh!

One of many sunsets out of my window...check that castle in the distance

Schools out forever and all concept of time and responsibility too. Be back soon, maybe, probably, eventually.
hannah

6. LIVE BELOW THE LINE CHALLENGE

A lonely quid sits on my dresser as I write this, and its difficult to imagine that a single coin could provide me with a days worth of nutrition. In 2009 Rich Fleming and Nick Allardice challenged the world with this idea by creating 'Live Below the Line,' an initiative of the Global Poverty Project.  This year, their global awareness week lasts from May 7 - 11, and we've decided to take on their  challenge.

 For the next 5 days we'll be working as a team (3 of us) with a combined budget of £15 to supply us with all of our food and drink. Globally, 1.4 billion people live in abject poverty on a budget of £1 a day, to cover things like food/drink, transportation, heating, electricity, schooling etc, and LBTL aims to communicate the realities of poverty through direct engagement. If you'd like to learn more, join us in the challenge, or donate to the cause, see the detailed rules or LBTL's official website. 

Being students, we are no strangers to penny-pinching and bargain shopping. After reading about what others who have done the challenge went through, we heeded their advice, compared prices across grocery stores, crunched a few numbers, and did a collective shop at Tesco's. We did our best not to compromise calories, nutrition, or taste, as we all lead busy lifestyles that require us to be well-fuelled, and below you can see the majority our bounty for the next five days. (Rice and potatoes not pictured! We've spent £9.27 thus far and are saving the remainder for fresh fruit and veg and potential unforeseen cravings throughout the week.)

We hope you'll join us in this challenge starting this Monday, May 7 and we would love to hear about your experiences. We'll be sharing ours, as well as our recipes, throughout the week.

HANNAH'S HAMMER

Disclaimer: I made these drinks on the tail end of my last university all-nighter! Anything tasted good. I know you would have liked to see some sort of home-brewed IPA family, but this is 

all I could muster.
 

As a kid did you ever make 'concoctions'? I did. Basically, I  got my pea-sized hands on a blender, the contents of whatever shelf of the fridge I could reach and it all ended up in the mix. They were usually masses of ketchup flavoured goop, but kids will be kids eh? Hannah's Hammer (thanks flatmates) merely has a splash of 'grown-up' to go along with that same tried and true fun, and proportions are negotiable. Enjoy! 

This is my 'thems fighting words' talking friend. She once poked fun at my blogging dreams, but I am pretty sure she just secretly wishes she was a blogger too. For now she gets (dis)honorable mention in photographic form.

   Considering one of my favorite kitchen essentials is a blender, I decided to let it play another drinking inning. Combine all the ingredients to taste...a smoothie is pretty self explanatory and easy. Still, I hope I have successfully distracted you from a slight cop-out, with the presentation. Also, carving out the pineapple was pretty relaxing and acted as my mid-year pumpkin carving training session! Major pineapple inception going on here too. Haha. 

 ...then we made pizza bagels. Kampai!

JILLIAN'S SWEET AND SOUR 'SAUCE'

you got me, its not 'sauce' in the traditional sense of the word, but if you had an older brother who liked to party in 2008, maybe you recall hearing an excess of 'lets hit the sauce this weekend!' and well, who wouldn't want to bring back a such a great synonym for alcohol. 

i'll admit it (against the recommendation of british friends), my go-to drink of choice is lambrini. its fizzy, its cheap, and it tastes like stale white wine. that being said, i've tried my share of fancy cocktails and fruity mixers, but i'd never quite found a favorite. well, my friends, today everything changed. after much experimentation, jillian's sweet and sour sauce was born. for me its the perfect amount of tangy cranberry and lemon paired with sweet orange and spiked with white rum. ice cubes were replaced with frozen cranberries, and i may never have to buy a bottle of lambrini again. (but i probably will)

the counterpart to the cocktail is a non-alcoholic sweet and sour smoothie. we're no stranger to smoothies around here, and with 3 fresh fruit markets within 1 block of our flat, fruit is always in high supply. to make this one i blended a banana, orange, 1/3 of a small pineapple, 1/2 of a lemon, 1/2 cup of cranberry juice, and a splash of coconut milk. it's got a similar feel to the cocktail, but we'll say its her healthier older sister. 

cheers!

5. QUENCH YOUR THIRST CHALLENGE

Because we are looking for absolutely any reason to celebrate, we thought a 1 month+ anniversary of blogging would be an excellent excuse (or let's be real, just an excuse) to indulge in some liquid courage. Hannah is turning in her last EVER university essay soon and will need a drink to keep her thesaurus-checking sorrows at bay. Challenge 5 is to create two signature drinks each; one alcoholic for those of us lucky enough to be of age, and a non-alcoholic option as well. We're pretty dainty drinkers, and tend to dislike most things we can get at the pub, so we are making our own versions!

IN-SPIRIT-ATION:

Watermelon and Strawberry Vodka Fresh Berry Mojitos

peach margaritas! 

 It's spring-time somewhere -other than Scotland, because that rainy day week is threatening to become a fort-night of frightful weather- and light libations are in order! What's your favorite go-to drink?

OMBRE WITH AN HOMBRE

Jillian's jeans                            Hannah's 'sweater vest'

dip dip dying!

to round out the end of our our rainy week, we wanted to give our clothes a permanent 'i just jumped in a puddle' look. it's subtle, and uneven at times, but we are rookies in the ombre field!
we used RIT's 'denim blue' shade and mixed the dye as the box directs. we wanted the color to increase in saturation as it gradually traveled down the trousers, and up the sweater vest, so we added about half the dissolved dye and allowed the garments to soak for 5-10 minutes. as we pulled the garments out of the dye inch by inch (each time resting about 7 minutes), we willy-nilly poured in more of the dye until it was distributed throughout. the color on the vest faded in the wash and turned out splotchier than expected, and as the jeans were a fairly dark wash originally, the transition is subtle. we may go back for round dos soon but we are fairly pleased with our toe dip in the ombre pool!
we suggest making sure your garment is evenly damp before dying. also, be conscious that the clothing isn't wrinkled or unevenly placed within the dye -both elements contributed to the resulting splotch botch.

p.s. we didn't have massive expectations for the project, which is a good rule of thumb for taking creative chances. but the possibilities really are endless, and who knows, maybe an ombred three piece suit is in the works?!