The English Mademoiselle Diaries

//Moto Jacket - Topshop//Broach - My Mum's//Shirt - ASOS//Shorts - Emily's//Boots - DUO//

So right now I am in the process of packing up all of my things to move into my new house with my friends ready for my 2nd year of university, and seriously I forgot how long this took me last year. But I have come to the realisation that I am no longer going to have access to my sisters huge wardrobe, so naturally I have been taking loads of outfit shots using her stuff. Not sure she feels about this but whatever...

Anyway as always when it gets to this time of year I am constantly inspired by the general back-to-school theme, so have based my outfit on the top school girls Blair Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen. Starting with a crisp white button-down shirt is a must for any school inspired outfit, I don't know any school near me or any school on tv that doesn't have a white shirt as a part of their uniform. Naturally I went for the plaid shorts in my sisters wardrobe as they remind me of all the public school skirts, and they add a touch of colour to the otherwise monochrome outfit. And while I could have gone for my brogues and some knee high white socks, I felt these gorgeous boots made the look more wearable and well more grown up.

XO, Miriam

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Since about mid-august I have been stuck in a reading slump, I found no interest in any of the books I have been wanting to read for the last few months or in some cases the last year. Now my TBR is currently moulded by my required reading for my English Module next semester.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Since reading Divergent last year I have been wanting to read the rest of the trilogy, as not only is it a nice quick read but has a fast paced storyline that will keep me engaged.

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

During the months of July and August I watched the anime series with J and when I saw these books for under £2 each I decided now would be the perfect time to read the manga. And as with all gapthic novels these shouldn't take me all that long to get through leaving me more time for the next three books.

Selected Poems by Oscar Wilde

Unsurprisingly this is one of the books on my reading list, and as I have never read Wilde before I am excited to see what he has to offer. As someone who doesn't normally like poetry all that much I hope Wilde brings something new to the genre that I haven't seen before and that matched my attention.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Again required reading but as this book is broken up into many shorter stories, I am going to gradually make my way through this book while I read the other books in my TBR before the semester starts.

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

This isn't actually on my list for required reading, but was recommended to me by my mother and grandmother, and giving that they normally have very good taste in books I have been slowly making my way through the book. It can be a hard read at times, but it is a book that makes you think about your priorities and WW1 in a very different light.

What do you want to read this month?

XO, Miriam

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Toast has been a go to breakfast for so long now, it is one of those things that you can still eat when you are running late or having a lazy morning.Not only that, toast is not only reserved for breakfast you can have it as a snack, as part of lunch or dinner, you can put things on top of it and inside it. Basically toast is the holy grail of easy meals and student life.

Number1: Fruit on Toast, I cannot recount the number of times this has helped me reach my 5-a-day, all you need to do it grab some toast, spread either vegan margarine or nut butter on, and top with fruit. And in my case I sometimes add maple syrup and coconut...

Number 2: Smashed Avocado and Tomato, this is a well known snack or meal in the healthy eating and vegan community on Instagram. Cut your avocado in half, mash it up with a fork while it is still in the skin with some lemon juice. Spread all over your toast. Top with your tomatoes of choice and season with black pepper.

XO, Miriam

//My Outfit //Moto Jacket - Topshop//White button down - ASOS//Skirt - UO//Brogues - Clarkes//

The other week while on holiday in the Scottish Borders my family and I took a trip to Alnwick Castle where the infamous scene in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone where harry learns to fly was filmed. So naturally my sister and I took a few photos, and naturally we wore our house scarves... Unlike a lot of the families in the books we are not in the same house, and yes we had this confirmed by Pottermore, I am definitely a Slytherin no questions asked and like Draco I am proud of this fact. Emily on the other hand is a Gryffindor, and I can see why we have very different personalities, she is more socially confident and more like Hermione in the classroom. You can probably even tell the difference in by our taste in clothes, I am generally more preppy and put together whereas Emily is far more confident in what she wears and is a bit more daring with her choices.

Visiting the castle definitely has me excited to go back to the Studios with some friends from university and get to see the Hogwarts express obviously.

XO, Miriam

I don't know about you but I definitely need a dairy free alternative to ice cream to indulge with when I watch films with friends and for summer afternoons. Not only that but this Ice Cream is so easy to make, even if it is harder to scoop out of the pot compared to the dairy alternative.

Ingredients: 3 cans or packs of coconut cream, 1 bar dark chocolate (chopped up), 1/4cup desiccated coconut, and 3/4 cups icing sugar.

*I said it was vegan not healthy...

As I said the method is pretty easy, whip the coconut cream and icing sugar until it leaves stiff peaks.

Then gently stir in your chocolate and coconut.

Pour into some tupperware, place in the freezer and stir between every 30minutes and every hour.

I made this in the morning and ate some in the evening, so serve as soon as you think it is ready.

XO, Miriam

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So during my travels in and around the Scottish Borders I picked up a couple of books, I actually bought all of these in one secondhand book shop in Berwick, on Castlegate road I think. Only one of these was for pleasure reading purposes, and the other two are for my reading list next semester.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth - as can guess this was my pleasure read pick, it is the second book in the Divergent Trilogy. I wasn't planning on buying a physical copy of the book but for £2 it was a steal.

Selected Poems by Oscar Wilde - while this is on my reading list, I have never read Oscar Wilde so I'm actually quite interested in reading through these.

Complete poems by John Milton - this is the book I'm the least excited about, I have tried to both listen and read to Paradise Lost which is why I bought the book, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to be able to, this one may result in some Sparknotes research...

XO, Miriam

Until recently when I started looking into the vegan lifestyle and beginning to change my lifestyle accordingly I thought that vegan food was restrictive and boring. How could I have been so wrong, you can literally have ice cream for breakfast and it is good for you.

Ingredients:
2-5 frozen bananas in chunks
Any flavourings e.g. fruits, cacao powder, dates, coconut etc.
Toppings e.g. chia seed, chopped fruit, cacao nibs etc.

Method:

1. Put the frozen bananas into a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Add your flavourings, and blend again until well mixed
3. Pour into a bowl and top with what ever you want.

It really couldn't be easier and who doesn't want ice cream for breakfast.

XO, Miriam

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