Anti Ageing Patrol

At 17 I started going grey (happily I just now have a smallish patch and have changed my parting it's mostly hidden underneath my top layer of hair!) but I think this is what got me started on the anti-ageing patrol. Perhaps it also has something to do with my mother, who looks ten years younger than she is- I'd quite like to be the same as I get older!

This week has seen a couple of anti-ageing purchases:

Boots are doing the £5 off No 7 voucher promotion at the moment (although even with the voucher, this tiny pot of cream was still £10- how indulgent) and I am a bit of a sucker for the advice about replacing your suncream annually to maintain its effectiveness, so got a half price facial suncream SPF30 to protect my face this summer.

I came across some anti-ageing facial tips when reading Naturally Gorgeous by Charlotte Vohtz and thought I would share her mini-facial advice for the eye area:

- To gently tone the muscles of the eyes, place two fingers of each side of your head, at the temples and press while opening and closing your eyes rapidly. Repeat five times.
- Sit upright. While keeping your eyes closed and relaxed the whole time, look down and then look uo as far as possible. Repeat this 10 times.
- Eye tapping can reduce crow's feet and puffiness. Tap gently with the pads of your fingers from the inside corner, near the nose, to the outer edge and back again, following the curve under the eye. Repeat 10 times.

Extract from Naturally Gorgeous by Charlotte Vohtz, p.120.

This advice sounds good (and thrifty!) to me, I think I will give it a try at my desk over the coming few weeks.

What are your best anti-ageing tips?

Instagram Challenge- Week One

Just a quick post to share my Instagram 'photo a day' challenge photos with you from the past week:

1. Birthday present in the post from my lovely friend Clara:

2. Cycle ride to Lodge Park:

3. Feeding Herman the German Friendship Cake

4. Getting out my summer hat to enjoy the beautiful weather:

5. Making halloumi skewers for the barbecue (see post here):

6. Sandals from Monsoon bought with Birthday moneys:

7. Pavlova for the Jubilee Cake Competition at work:

So far, so good, bring on week two!

Find me on Instagram @thriftylodge

Barbecue Burgers and Halloumi Skewers

Now that the sun has come out at long last, barbecue season is in full swing (as was evident from needing to go to 4 different shops yesterday to buy bamboo skewers, which had sold out at the first 3). I thought I would share some tasty barbecue recipes that we've been using this weekend...

Chili and Garlic Burgers
Makes 8-12 burgers

Ingredients
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 chili pepper (as hot as you dare)
2 packs of beef mince
1 egg
Salt and pepper to season

1. Finely dice the chili pepper and garlic
2. Put the chili, garlic, both packs of mince and the egg in a large bowl and season
3. Work the egg, chili and garlic into the mince with your hands
4. Form into 8 large patties or 12 smaller patties
5. Chill in the fridge for half an hour (or until ready to BBQ) to hold shape
6. Cook on a hot BBQ for 10-15 minutes, turning once, ensure burger is hot right through

Serve in buns with plenty of chutney, cheese and lettuce (ours are stacked up between greaseproof paper in this cardboard box as an unconventional method of transportation to the BBQ we went to last night!)

Halloumi and Vegetable Skewers with Lemon and Rosemary

Makes 12-14 skewers

Ingredients

1 block halloumi (mine was 250g)

Vegetables of your choice (I used courgette, mushroom, cherry tomato and red onion)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lemon

1 sprig of rosemary

Salt and pepper to season

+ Skewers

1. Chop all veg into bite-size chunks and thread onto bamboo skewers

2. Mix the olive oil, rosemary and salt & pepper in a small bowl, add the juice squeezed from the lemon and stir

3. Brush or drizzle the oil over the skewers

4. Cook on a hot BBQ for 5-10 minutes, turning occasionally

Happy barbecuing!