In my attempt to waste less food, save money and get healthier I am sharing my little recipe for His and Her cottage pie. This is enough to make two yummy little pies and you can make this using a slow cooker or just in a pan. Each of the ingredients can be changed or substituted to suit your tastes and it’s a meal that can be made bigger the serve the whole family.
To make two his and her cottage pies I used
200g lean steak mince
50g frozen sweet potato mash
50g frozen mash
1/4 red onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp Roma Italian spice mix
40g Emmantal, grated
2 tsps boursin garlic and herbs cheese
salt and pepper to taste
splash of red wine
50ml passatta
6 closed cup mushrooms
1 green chilli
2 tbls oil
Method
Slow Cooker – add mince, passata, red wine, mushrooms, onions and garlic into slow cooker for several hours. Add chilli twenty minutes before serving and salt and pepper to taste.
Pan – warm up the oil and lightly cook off the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Add mince and when brown add red wine, italian herbs and passata. Add chilli just before serving and stir through. Add salt and pepper to taste. I personally love the My Secret Kitchen range of herbs and spices but you can use any.
Prepare mash. I used frozen mash because I was using up leftovers in my freezer. I used two different types of mash because I like Sweet Potato and Adam doesn’t. Once heated and mashed add salt, pepper and 1 tsp boursin per portion of mash. I also added a tsp of English Mustard to Adam’s mash because he likes it.
Add mince into oven dish and spread mash over top. Sprinkle with cheese and bake or grill until cheese is melted and golden brown.
I spent ten months of my life living in a room in a hostel with my daughter who, when we moved in, was just about to turn two. Those ten months weren’t easy but looking back I needed them because I was lost at the time. There’s a lot of stigma around those that live in hostels and in my time there I felt a lot of prejudice and judgement from people I wouldn’t expect, from strangers in the street even, but I also met some really wonderful people during my time there.
Firstly, there are a few different types of temporary accommodation. To be awarded this type of temporary living you have to have been made involuntarily homeless or have left a violent relationship and are escaping back to your hometown. You need to be able to provide connections to the town you are seeking a temporary place to live in however you may not get housed there. If there is no availability for your home town then you can be passed over to another area. They usually make you a priority on the housing list if that’s the case to get you back to your home town or close to family as quickly as possible.
Some hostels receive free fruit and veg donations to help the residents. Getting a giant onion was a winning part of life there.
Temporary housing includes youth hostels, women’s refuges, mother and baby units, family units and bed and breakfasts. These depend on the needs of the individual at the time. You don’t get a choice of where you’re placed and usually if you’ve ended a toxic relationship and need more support and help then you’ll likely be placed in a refuge which has a lot more rules than the others. My experience is that of a refuge. You will be told how likely you are to live in these places and it’s usually a minimum of six months, however the average time a person spends living in temporary accommodation is around eighteen months. Sometimes, this is longer. Be prepared that you might be in this for the long haul and yes, it will be tough.
Every hostel or refuge is different and will have access to different support. The place I lived in benefited from support workers being allocated to each family, an in-house therapist, a playworker and a monthly visit from a health visitor. As part of my condition for living there I was required to meet with my support worker each week to discuss how things were going which I actually found really helpful.
I had access to a range of support courses like The Freedom Programme and I joined a group called Young Mum’s Matter which helped me learn more about my rights as a tenant and the support I could have as a single parent. It was really nice to be around other mums, similar in age to me, that needed a bit of extra support. I also got invited to a parenting attachment course which was designed to teach about attachment parenting and bond with my daughter after a difficult time. I found this incredibly helpful and again really supportive. If you’re a newly single parent living in a hostel these courses can really, really help and for most people under 25 they’re free to attend and ran at local children centres. Some of these had a creche attached so Evie could meet and play with other children.
Our room in our hostel was pretty small and contained my whole life and everything a two year old needs too.
Hostel living is not easy and people don’t take it for a free ride to get a place to live on their own. They are usually in these places because they have no where else to go. I couldn’t return to my mums because there wasn’t any room there for me and Evie, my two younger sisters were both still living at home at this point, so this was our only alternative. I also knew that if I moved back with my mum i’d probably be living with her still now in an overcrowded environment, sleeping on the sofa which is not how I wanted life to be for Evie.
During my ten months there I had to share a small L-Shaped room with Evie. It had two single beds, two bedside cabinets, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. I shared two bathrooms and one kitchen with four other families. There was a communal living room with a TV and freeview, communal garden and a communal playroom. There were a few other meeting rooms too and the office door was usually always open, especially in the evenings when there were less staff on duty. Living there meant we had a weekly meeting with the whole house, a fortnightly kitchen meeting for our area and chores. That meant one day a week I could clean the kitchen, another I would clean both bathrooms. This was rotated.
We had two single beds in our room. Evie’s was naturally covered in soft toys.
In the kitchen each room was allocated one cupboard, a shelf in the fridge and a freezer draw. I got on well with most of the women in my area so we often shared things like tea and coffee, we sometimes had dinner together after the kids were in bed. There were a few times when we’d order in a pizza together and split the cost too which was really nice. It was a very social way of living that’s for sure but then it also made it tough if you just wanted some time alone. Each room did have a TV connection so if you had a freeview box you could get a bit of quiet there but if you had a small child with you most of the time, it’s likely the most common channel you’d watch would be CBeebies.
Sharing a kitchen was tough, particularly at meal times when you all have small children that go to bed, and therefore eat, at roughly the same time. The table usually only sat four too so it always felt like a bit of a battle. Sharing a bathroom was tough too but it was just something that you got used to really. Really, living in a hostel isn’t bad, it’s just hard sometimes and requires a bit of planning and compromise.
The hardest part about living in a hostel for me was having a curfew. This meant that no one could get outside between 10.45pm and 8am or until someone opened the office doors up to let you out. Everyone had to be pack by 10.45pm or call to let the office know where they would be staying. If I was going to be away for the weekend I needed to fill out a form and let them know where I would be and give a contact number. I also needed to say where Evie would be. This was all due to safety and became a necessary form for me when I met Adam as I choose to spend my child free weekends with him.
The hardest thing I went through was judgement from a stranger in a coffee shop. I was sitting there on my laptop using the free WiFi with Evie. I could afford to buy myself a cup of tea and a biscuit for my daughter. It wasn’t long after I’d moved back and I didn’t have many clothes. I was a bit of a mess, overweight, very bad hair colour, no makeup…I looked awful. I was trying to change the address for my bank and other online admin tasks but I was told that I was a disgrace to my daughter because I was wearing a low cut top which happened to show a scar I have on my chest. She must have thought I had my boobs out and I just lost it. After months of stress and worry and finally leaving a toxic relationship I just lost it. I told her how I was a newly single mother that had just moved 100 miles away from her home with hardly anything and that I was trying to do the best by my child. I really laid into her to be honest because I was so angry. She ended up completely shocked and apologised. She said “Well, I guess you just don’t really know someone until you ask, do you?” and I was just like “No. You Don’t. Perhaps next time you’ll ask if someone needs help rather than telling them they’re a bad example for their daughter.”
Finally being in our own flat together and having a lot more space!
Another tough time for me which is an issue when you’re living with others is sickness. If someone catches a winter bug, sickness bug or Norovirus, you’re at high risk of catching it too. There was a time when we all pretty much had it and it was awful as it just kept going around. The advice is to keep clean and keep washing your hands to prevent the virus from spreading but it does spread very quickly in these kind of environments.
My advice would be to just get in, keep to yourself if you want to and just try and get on with it. If you’re close to friends and family then try and be with them as much as possible.
Living in the hostel for ten months gave me the time I needed to become a better person, recover from years of being in an unhappy and toxic relationship, learn more about myself and during that time I met Adam who did so much for me. When I got my flat I was incredibly happy and now I still feel I needed that time in the hostel to really prepare me for living on my own.
If you or someone you know is living in a hostel or refuge then the most important thing you can offer is friendship and support. Offer to have them over for dinner, offer to have a playdate, offer to babysit for a couple of hours if they need to go to support meetings or make phone calls to sort things out like welfare, arrange to meet up for a coffee just to get them out of the place. Some hostels don’t allow visitors and it can be very lonely.
FFXV is a bloody good game and I have loved playing it for the last couple of weeks. I mean, truly loved it. Final Fantasy has always been a big part of my life as a gamer and FFXV has not let me down. This has surpassed all of my expectations and has given me hope and perhaps a little insight on what to expect with the FFVII remake. I recently played World of Final Fantasy to help pass the time a little as I have been waiting for this for such a long time.
The only think I didn’t particularly enjoy was Chapter 13 and that’s because it was full of jump scares which did get me gasping…for normal people I’m sure this would be nothing but for me…no, that wasn’t my favourite part of the game but I did admire the darker side of it. In the chapter you’re at a pretty vulnerable position for a good part of it which is tough and the second time I played it through (yes, that’s right, I’ve gone through the story twice…) I found it easier as I had actually taken time to level up a bit – rookie mistake. You need to level grind in Final Fantasy games, it makes the end game easier and saves doing it all in the post game content.
The graphics are just stunning and the world map is absolutely huge, there is so much to discover which is good because the story mode is considerably shorter than previous games. This game relies on the post game content and sidequests to fill it out which I really enjoyed. FFXV was a welcome upgrade and combined the very best of 12 and 13 for me but it went right back to the original type of gameplay I enjoyed in the earlier games. I don’t want to give too much away really but FFXV is so much better than those two games.
The story is well thought out and has plenty of emotion. The story is pretty interactive too as you can make different decisions for the characters. You play as Prince Noctis and throughout the whole game you only control him and his actions however you do have three buddies teaming up with you to help with hunts and to progress the story. I really enjoyed the story, the characters were interesting and relatable. The villians were easy to hate too and the enemies provided plenty of challenges.
Combat is very different but I actually really enjoyed it all. Each character has a set of special moves for extra damage, a bit like limit breaks which I was happy to see return and for them to be easy to use was good. The game stops you relying on summons and magic to power through too which I really liked. Summons come when they want to really after you’ve met a certain amount of criteria in a battle like being low on HP or the battle taking too long but usually their attacks are pretty devastating to whoever you’re fighting. It was great to see the classic summons return for a different interpretation. I have to say I really liked Ifrit and I hope he stays like that from now on! Bahamut did not disappoint either. Magic can have a damaging effect on your allies and react differently depending on your environment however I liked being able to craft spells. There wasn’t a huge amount of boss fights throughout the main story but the ones you come across do provide a bit of a challenge. I didn’t find any too hard though and actually I believe the dungeon bosses are harder.
The environment really impressed me and it just made me excited. If this is what they’ve done now then I can’t wait to see what future Final Fantasy games hold. I can kind of see how they will make FFVII work now I’ve played this or at least how I would like it to play out. It was the first Final Fantasy game that I’ve played where I actually felt like I was in the world. It’s hard to explain but I guess it’s because things were more to scale than they have been before and you could see so much more.
I have just been really impressed and I have loved playing FFXV and I will continue to do so as there are more trophies to get and a pretty tough enemy to slay. You can grab Final Fantasy 15 on Amazon.
As a book lover, I’ve been using Audible for a couple of years now and never thought to actually write about it but I’ve recently been talking about it a lot to friends and thought I’d share my view. Please note that this post will contain affiliate links which means should you choose to sign up to this service I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
What Is Audible?
Audible is an audio book service provided by Amazon. You can listen on a laptop or through the free app on Android, App Store and on Kindle. You can sign up through Amazon or through the Audible website. Your Audible log on is usually the same as your Amazon log on.
How much does Audible cost?
As a new user you can sign up for a free 30 day trial. You can then continue to subscribe for £7.99 a month. This buys you one credit which will buy you any one book. I personally thing this is excellent value for money considering most of the books available are over £15. This gets you one book a month, but if you choose to you can sometimes buy extra credits for more audio books or just pay the cost of the audio book with cash.
How do you cancel Audible?
You can cancel at anytime and any books you have purchased with credits or received for free you will be able to keep forever. You can even just sign up and get the free book with the 30 day trial, just make a note of the date you signed up and cancel within one month.
How many devices can you have it on?
I have used Audible on my laptop, my kindle and both mine and my partners phone. Once an audio book is downloaded from the account, it remains on the device until deleted. So you can have several audio books on one device from other accounts.
What books are available on Audible?
I have found a great range of books available on the service including old favourites and many best sellers. Audible has introduced me to knew authors thanks to the recommendations. There are some fantastic series like Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. I really love listening to Miranda Hart’s books on there which are read by her and really do make me laugh when listening in. There’s books for children too like the How to Train Your Dragon series which my six year old daughter absolutely loves.
Verdict
I think Audible is a great service and well worth the money. I would really recommend taking advantage of the three 30 day trial and getting the first book for free.
If you decide to sign up to Audible – you can do so by clicking the ad below, which will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you, or you can sign up direct through Amazon and start a free, 30 day trial, get yourself a free book and even cancel before the 30 days is up and KEEP your audio book at no cost.
I love video games and I especially love the Final Fantasy series. During September I loved playing 13 and 13-2 again to get me back into things with the upcoming Final Fantasy 15 being released at the end of the month. However, in the middle of all this I had to get myself the day one edition of World of Final Fantasy.
World of Final Fantasy is a little different from the conventional games but it really reminds me of Kingdom Hearts with it’s style, character animation and original worlds and stories with the mash up of Final Fantasy characters. The key difference being that this follows the active time battle combat system that we’re used to seeing in Final Fantasy games.
The whole thing is really very cute. The characters can turn from Jiants to Lillikins which are chibi style animations. Even the monsters, known as Mirages, are cute. The game starts in Nine Wood Hills were twins Reyn and Lann finding out they are Mirage keepers and that they can head out into the world of Grymoire to collect Mirages to help them battle. The gameplay is pretty straight forward, simple and, in my eyes, classic to the older Final Fantasy games. Throughout the story we come to know characters from the older games and visit places that are familiar to those that are fans of the series.
Photo Credit: Gamespot.com
However, World of Final Fantasy is perfect for those that are a little younger and new to the series. The gameplay is very straightforward, the combat can be sped up or left at a pretty slow pace whilst learning the controls and the story is fairly lighthearted but with a darker plot being layered throughout. Evie and I have both really enjoyed playing the game and collecting lots of different Mirages.
One thing I really liked about this game was the addition of Anime style cut scenes, it was a really nice touch and made them really enjoyable to sit and watch. True to the franchise, there are a lot of cut scenes, some being fairly lengthy so it’s great to see these a little differently. I also really liked the addition of the Post Script – to avoid spoilers, I won’t go into it too much but when you think you’ve finished, you actually haven’t! Start to finish the game can easily rack up around 40 hours however, there are many mini adventures, a Colosseum and extra dungeons to complete where level grinding becomes necessary. This can extend gameplay by a fair few 20+ hours so expect a lot from this game. I found later on in the game a Multiplayer option was added which I’ve not tried yet but I think it’s a nice add on.
Overall World of Final Fantasy is a fun, relatively straight forward adventure for all to enjoy. World of Final Fantasy is available on Playstation 4 and PS Vita
