TGIF

Friday Favourites - Cookbooks

After a busy workday, cooking can be put on the back burner of our to-do list. We gravitate toward meals that are most easy and convenient, often eating the same foods over again. That’s why we have made it our mission to revitalize the way we perceive cooking by searching for cookbooks that are equally as unique as they are healthy. Say goodbye to monotonous cooking with the help of these four books, handpicked by The Amazing Blog.

Plant-based cooking has gained its popularity, but have you ever thought of incorporating flowers into your recipes? The Fragrant Pantry by Frances Bissell uses flowers as its main ingredient. While flowers are commonly featured as decoration in cookery, Bissell shows how its delicate scent and flavour can take the place of herbs or spices. Although this seems like an unconventional approach, don’t mistake it as a fad or fashion. Instead, Bissell pays homage to English culinary traditions through her use of flowers. Her recipes include jams, spreads and pickled foods with easy-to-follow instructions. You can purchase The Fragrant Pantry here for £11.99. To get a 20% discount use the discount code FRAGRANTP at purchase on the Serif Books website. 

Interested in more of Bissell’s recipes? Check out the other two volumes in her acclaimed trilogy: The Scented Kitchen and The Floral Baker.

Calling all Mediterranean lovers! Get prepared to transport yourself to Greece with Mazi Modern Greek Food’s vivid imagery and authentic dishes. Co-authors, Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré’s goal are to revolutionise Greek cuisine by combining genuine flavours with a modern twist. The recipes are ingrained with a trendy tapas vibe and cover cocktails, hot plates, signature dishes and desserts. You can purchase the book here for £17.99.

The Herball’s Guide to Botanical Drinks by Michael Isted offers non-alcoholic plant-based drinks. Isted offers careful alchemy with each recipe that acts as cleansers, restorers, energisers, brain boosters and more.  The cookbook includes step-by-step directions in processes like hot & cold brewing, fermentation, distillation, juicing and tincturing. The first section provides a brief informational introduction to the plants used throughout the book and the second section includes 58 different recipes serving different functions for the body.   Isted uses ancient practices as the foundation of his creations. This guide brings purpose and intention to the kitchen by uniting intuitive and healthy eating. You can purchase The Herball’s Guide to Botanical Drinks here for £12.90.

Whenever starting a new diet, snacking is an inevitable part of the process. Gracie and Sophie Tyrrell, founders of Squirrel Sisters, have created a range of all-natural bars that will satisfy your cravings. In their book, Naturally Snacks & Treats: Over 100 Healthy Recipes, the sister duo has formed over 70 recipes using ingredients found at your local supermarket. The on-the-go snack is easy, convenient, and accessible. The Tyrrell sisters reassure their readers that eating healthily can be fun! Recipes range from sweet roasted almond and cinnamon butter to sushi rolls.The beautifully illustrated book is separated into four chapters where you will find breakfast recipes, snacks and lunches for on-the-go, sharing plates and, our favourite, sweet treats. Cocktail-lovers will even find low-calorie options. We can’t wait to try more recipes. You can purchase your own book here for £9.99.  

 

Let us know what your favourite recipes are!

 

Handmade Oxford

We love to support artisan brands here at The Amazing Blog and Handmade Oxford is just the event to find unique and beautiful pieces from new craftsmen. The renowned contemporary craft design event organiser, Handmade in Britain, has launched a three-day fair at Oxford Town Hall to bring designers and craftspeople directly to the people. We think shopping directly from the wonderful designers who create our favourite pieces of jewellery or centrepieces for our kitchen makes for an incredibly special experience. Piyush Suri started Handmade in Britain over a decade ago with a mission to support design-makers and create a community where they can promote their work. We love supporting local and small businesses around here and this event has it all in one place.

This three-day showcase boasts over 90 design-makers, so you will be sure to find something to suit your individual style. Located in the heart of Oxford, visitors can enjoy browsing the stands of high-skilled and innovative designers who have perfected their various disciplines. Getting to hear the creator’s story behind their inspiration, process and creation of a certain piece of jewellery or ceramic set is a unique experience and definitely a nice change from shopping on the high street.

At Handmade Oxford you'll find everything from beautifully handcrafted jewellery (perfect for the upcoming wedding season) to ceramics, glass and silverware, furniture, woodwork and mixed media. Most of the designers do not sell their work on the high street, only in exhibitions and galleries like this one, so if you’re on the hunt for something special that will add a touch of style to yourself or your space, don’t miss out on this one.

We love a unique piece of jewellery, so we are thrilled to view the work from designers like Lucy Martin, who specialises in beautiful and colourful contemporary pieces that are sure to become your new favourite accessory. Isabelle Capitain combines traditional methods with new technology to create one-of-a-kind minimal pieces that are to die for. For the home, we look forward to seeing the incredible woodwork from craftsman just like Craig Narramore, a Hollywood prop maker. There is so much more to discover that we are overly-thrilled to see all of the designer’s work.

Handmade Oxford takes place from Friday, May 18th to Sunday, May 20th, so be sure to get your tickets now to ensure you don’t miss a thing. One day entry starts at £5.50 and three-day entry from £13.20 here or here.

Friday Favourites - New Haircare

Gorgeous, healthy hair will never go out of style and here at The Amazing Blog we're always on the hunt for the latest haircare products to suit each of our specific needs. If like us, you have anything from the frizzy and unruly to the sensitive scalps or have hair loss issues, then we’ve got you covered. Please read on, as we’ve got some new and exciting brands to share with you.

There is nothing worse than unruly and frizzy hair. Those of us on this boat understand the struggle of styling this type of hair and the frustration of having it frizz-up within moments of styling.  However, the smoothing system from the new Australian brand evo got our tresses on a sleek lock-down. The creators at evo are a no frills, professional hair and beauty brand that tells it like it is. They are 'saving ordinary humans from themselves' and we like their straightforward attitude and cheeky personality that bursts from their luxurious products.

Does your hair eat combs for breakfast? Then this Lockdown Smoothing Treatment will become your newest ally in this crazy world of the hair battle. This 150ml bottle of 'liquid tamer' is formulated specifically with colour-treated, medium to course texture haired individuals. What makes this one stand out amongst the crowd for us is that it gives you the shine and smoothness you desire, without any of the weight or grease. We’ve said goodbye to those pesky strays and hello to sleek hair simplicity. This leave-in treatment is the hero of the line-up, which also has the mane tamer shampoo and conditioner. We adore the light, refreshing and subtly sweet scent of the lime and the way our hair seems to get softer with each use. You can purchase the Lockdown Smoothing Treatment here for £29.95

Next up is a new discovery for us, so we’d like to formally introduce you to Halier, a new Polish brand that specialises in creating haircare products that promote growth and prevent hair loss. They use the latest scientific technologies to provide effective products. We asked to try out their Fortesse Shampoo and Conditioner and one of us in particularly has been enjoying using them to help build up the quality of her hair.

Fortesse Shampoo works to prevent excessive hair loss and promote healthy hair growth while cleansing and preventing split ends. The shampoo is able to do so because it contains the Advanced Hair Booster ™ Formula. This formula specifically works to condition hair follicles, improve hair elasticity and regenerate the scalp. The product also contains horsetail leaf extract, fatty acids esters from olive oil, saw palmetto extract, biotin, and vitamin B3. These unique ingredients help to create moisture-rich hair that is healthy and full of vitality. We found that our hair has been noticeably shinier and much easier to style. Fortesse Conditioner contains the Hair Vitality Complex ™ Formula which works to prevent excessive hair loss and boost hair growth. It also contains horsetail leaf extract, fatty acids esters from olive oil, saw palmetto extract, biotin, vitamin B3 and ricin oil. The combination of ingredients in this conditioner work to reduce hair loss, promote hair growth, balance oil production, and promote hydration.

After using the combination of these two products we noticed that not only did our hair smell great, but after a few washes we noticed our hair was healthier with less hair loss and giving us a fuller head of hair. The only caution we have to flag-up with this haircare system is that it is not a colour-safe, so if you colour your hair, please do a patch test first. You can purchase a 250ml bottle of Halier Fortesse Shampoo here for £29 and you can purchase a 150ml bottle of Halier Fortesse Conditioner here for £32.

Finally, we're featuring an organic and natural haircare which almost feels like it came from 'mother nature' herself. These products are particularly for those of you with super-sensitive scalps, and/or chemically coloured or treated hair too. Both these products are from the very special myrto naturalcosmetics where we tried the Bio Shampoo Sea Buckthorn Chia and Bio Antistatic Hair Oil which are sourced straight from plants to give the hair the best natural shine, volume and vibrancy.  myrto naturalcosmetics is a German skin and haircare brand by Eva Silvana Kruck, founded in 2012 myrto strives to produce products sourcing only the freshest and most natural ingredients wherever possible; which means small batches with no preservatives or chemicals. Eva was initially motivated to create her own product line due to the needs of her own children's skin disorders. She paired up with Prof. Dr. Peter Kruck to create a range of organic effective, nourishing and natural beauty products for everyone

This shampoo is perfect for dry, dull, damaged and chemically treated hair. The combination of sea buckthorn fruit oil and organic chia seed extract work to strengthen every hair fibre, add luminous shine and help to prevent hair breakage. Derived from plant amino acids, the gentle wash-active cleansers in this shampoo leave your hair clean but never stripped of the essential oils naturally produced on the scalp. We loved this shampoo with its invigorating sea buckthorn fruity fragrance. A little goes a long way with this one and you can even dilute it with a bit of water for extra sensitive scalps that still need a good cleanse. The Bio Shampoo Sea Buckthorn Chia is available to purchase here for €9.50. 

The Bio Antistatic Hair Oil has already found its way into our Executive Editor's bathroom! This magical hair oil is an intensive repair for fine and chemically treated hair, and extremely effective if you also happen to have fly-away/statically charged tresses. Containing organic cold-pressed seed oils from macadamia, jojoba and basbass it is a superb hair repair complex that smoothes the surface of the damaged hair fibres giving deep regeneration for split-ends.  You can purchase Bio Antistatic Hair Oil here for €16.50. What we love about all the myrto naturalcosmetics products is that they have no preservatives, alcohol, silicones, petroleum derivatives, synthetic colouring or artificial fragrances. These products are also without the genetic modification or nanoparticles and... are vegan!

Balance Festival

Here at The Amazing Blog we understand how difficult it can be to maintain the motivation needed to lead a healthy lifestyle. That is why we thought we'd let you know about the Balance Festival: The perfect place to find like-minded individuals who are joining together to embrace a healthier lifestyle.


Balance Festival is the largest fitness and wellness-focused event in the UK. It brings together the best foods, classes, and the most knowledgeable nutritionists, trainers, yogis and chefs; all of whom will share their expertise to help you kick-start your journey to a better self. There is never a dull moment with over 150 food, fitness, wellness, and travel brands to explore. Workshops will include talks and cooking demos, plus there is the option to attend over 200 fitness classes from £6 per session, perfect to sweat out some of those toxins. 


You can try out numerous cutting-edge workouts on the main stage and then relax in The Sanctuary to recharge or practice mindfulness. It is impossible to leave the festival without feeling inspired and ready to take on a new healthy lifestyle. The buzzing atmosphere will keep you coming back year after year to discover new brands, workouts and recipes; ensuring that your health regime is never dull.


The Balance Festival takes place 11th-13th May 2018 at The Old Truman Brewery. Super Early Bird Tickets are available here starting at £24.50 for a standard pass, £45 for VIP, and £75 for a weekend VIP. See you there!

Embassy Gardens Market opens

This Saturday, the Embassy Gardens Market will be opening at Embassy Gardens’ New Union Square in Nine Elms Lane London SW8 5DA. The market is brought to us thanks to Shepherds Markets and EcoWorld Ballymore, two companies looking to bring a colourful, vibrant market to Embassy Gardens. Here at The Amazing Blog, we discovered the first Embassy Garden Market last November which was a huge fun, and we can’t wait to attend again this spring. This springtime market will include a selection of local food and drink products from some of London’s finest (and tastiest) vendors.

The first Embassy Gardens Market of 2018 will take place on Saturday April 28th from 10:00am to 5:00pm. If you cannot make it to opening day, do not stress; the market will be open again on Saturday May 26th and Saturday June 30th from 10:00am to 5:00pm. The closest tube and overland stops to the market are the Vauxhall or the Battersea Park.

The vendors in attendance at the market will include; La Ferme, L’Amuse Bouche, Finest Fayre, Cookies n Cream, Goko, Rao Deli, Pequod Fish Burgers, Pippin Doughnuts and Chelsea Flower Gin and Tonics/Prosecco. These stalls offer a wide selection of cultural cuisines to choose from and we are sure that you will be able to satisfy whatever taste you are craving. In particular, we are especially eager to try out Goko’s Chinese Dumplings and La Ferme’s crepes.

In addition to all of the wonderful food options provided at the market, there will be live musical performances. Guests can look forward to seeing Swedish singer songwriter Axel Janson and beatboxer/singer Dana McKeon perform live at the market. We can’t wait to watch and listen to the live music while snacking on some tasty market finds. We think that this market is the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon with friends or family. After all, nothing brings people together like sharing food.