Currently #9

I know it hasn’t been that long since my last currently list but I thought it would be nice to write another considering how much stuff I have been currently doing! I’m pretty damn excited to write about a lot of them… I would have waited for my day off tomorrow to write this but the ideas and thoughts of it just came to me, so I have to get it typed and published tonight! I’m sure it’ll make some good bedtime reading for some, as well as some equally as good morning reading for others. 😛

Watching – Lately me and Dane have been watching a lot of anime if not just anime. Why? Well because we can and we want to! Before Christmas Dane bought a membership to Funimation which enables anime lovers to watch loads of anime with English dub instead of English sub. We don’t mind either way how we watch anime but sometimes if we’re multi-tasking we much prefer dubbed. We also have a membership to Crunchyroll which we use to watch subbed anime. ANYWAY! So lately we’ve been watching Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Masamune-Kun’s Revenge on Funimation and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid has fast become one of my favourite anime shows! I want to read the manga for it next, the same goes with Masamune-Kun’s Revenge too. They’re both completely different to one another which is what I like. Dane got me into both of them which is really cool.

Masamune-Kun’s Revenge is a slice of life style anime where you get to see Masamune try to get a girl to fall in love with him only to break her heart. Why does he want to do this? To gain revenge for years of being bullied by her! It’s very funny and one you should check out if you like comedy romance style anime.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is completely different and not slice of life or realistic at all and I think you can gather that from the title alone! As it states Kobayashi has a dragon maid. She befriends Tohru after a drunken night out and tells her she can come and stay with her and become her maid. From there we see them live their lives together with Tohru mostly in her human form and occasionally in her dragon form. We also see Tohru’s dragon friends becoming human too and joining her and Kobayashi’s friends. My favourite dragon so far is Kanna, the youngest of the dragons and therefore the cutest! 😀

Reading – I have been reading so much manga lately that I feel like I can’t keep on top of the addiction it has fast become! Since the start of the year I have either finished or started four series of different manga. WOW! I’ve not read this much since 2009 when I discovered the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. I remember binge reading them late into the night. I have read and finished both Your Lie in April and Paradise Kiss, which I loved and will hopefully be reviewing in the future! Your Lie in April was an amazing manga to read and everyday during my break at work I found myself getting through a book a day and soon enough the series had finished and I had no more to read. It ended sadly but not as sad as I imagined to be honest, but I put this down to already knowing what was going to happen. Paradise Kiss was bought for me by Dane for my birthday this year and I bought the third and final volume myself. This is a manga by the same person as Nana and I didn’t know what to expect when reading it. I loved it and it was realistic and romantic at the same time but without too much romance. I did really love reading it and it was different to what I normally read. I especially love how Ai Yazawa breaks the fourth wall with her manga, it’s not something I’ve seen anyone else do… Yet. I started reading Nichijou, which I love but I’m in no hurry to continue with just yet.

Image take from weheartit.com

I’m currently reading A Silent Voice which alongside Elfen Lied, Nana and Your Lie in April has fast become one of my favourites… If not my number one favourite right now. The story is so realistic and amazing. It talks about bullying and how it can affect everyone so well and is definitely the sort of thing I love to write myself. It has inspired me even more to create my own manga series in the future. Me and Dane went to watch the anime movie of A Silent Voice yesterday and it was amazing. I’ll be reviewing it VERY soon.

Listening – In February me and Dane booked for us to go and see cKy in May! AHHH I’M SO EXCITED! I’ve been a fan of the band since I was fifteen and have always wanted to see them live, but just never got the chance… Until now! I’ve been listening to most of their albums since then as I just forgot how much I love listening to their stuff. My favourite album of theirs definitely has to be Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild. I don’t know why, just all of the tracks make me so happy and I can sing them loudly, one after the other. I love all of their other albums of course, but this one just stands out the most. My favourite song from it is Plastic Plan, which I’ve put the music video for above. Let me warn you, it’s really fucking old. 😛

Image taken from weheartit.com

Eating – There’s not really much I’ve been eating lately that’s any different to lately. If anything me and Dane haven’t been following out diet like we were at the start of the year. We have cut out a lot of junk mind and still have, but at the same time we’ve been binging on things. We recently discovered that at one of our local Asian supermarkets you can buy birthday cake Oreo’s, as well as matcha flavoured Oreo’s and they weren’t as expensive as you’d think either. Just over £1 a packet! I wish we had bought more but meh got to be good. 😛

Wearing – To be honest I haven’t really been wearing anything too special lately… If anything I’ve worn a dress I bought in the Christmas sales in 2016 for a day out with Dane and an evening out with my dad and brother. I also recently bought a dress for a family wedding I’m attending this weekend. That will be exciting to go to! I would show pictures but I’m not too keen on showing them on my blog. Not because they’re horrible or anything, but they’re just not the sort of pictures I feel will work on a post. I’m waffling. 😛

Wanting – I really want a holiday to be honest. Even if it isn’t abroad, just for me and Dane to get away for a week max and have a relaxing time would be lovely. We did look to go to a spa weekend for his birthday in April but sadly due to everywhere being pretty much booked for Easter we aren’t really able to do that. We’re going to try and see if we can do something in June instead for our anniversary, but we shall see!

So that was my currently list number nine! Wow before we know it it’ll be my tenth one which is kind of weird to be honest. They’ve all flown by so quickly. To be honest this whole year is already flying by quickly. 😛

What’s on your currently lists right now? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend.

June ’16 Wish List

Wow hello June, you crept up quick! June is one of my favourite months, alone because it’s the month of mine and Dane’s anniversary, and as I said a couple of days ago on my favourites post, we’re three years together this year. Yay!

This is probably one of the hardest wish lists I have ever had to do, because I couldn’t think of anything I really want. I think it’s due to the exciting news that we will have up on my blog tomorrow… 😛 But in the meantime, here is my wish list for this month!

• Pokemon Center Sleeping Ampharos Plush – £11.10 (link)

I love Pokemon, readers who are regular to my blog will know this. I also love these cute little sleeping plushies from the official Pokemon Center in Japan. I currently have two, a Mew and an Eevee which Dane bought me for Christmas and birthday. I hope to collect all my favourite ones in the future, as you can stack on top of each other. They remind me of the TY Beanie Babies… But better. 😛 They’re not exactly cheap, but totally worth the money!

• The Body Shop Pinita Colada Shower Gel – £5.00 (link)

I only just noticed that The Body Shop have called it Pinita, and not Pina. URGH! Either way, I love pina colada, and thus I love the scent of it too. I haven’t given this a sniff yet, but I can see me picking a bottle up when I pop down to London in ten days to visit my friend… We shall see! It sounds like such a summer scent, which I would love to use in the  morning before work.

• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Special Edition on PS4 – £43.99 (link)

I love the Lego games, I know they’re meant to be for kids but I am a big kid deep down, so what?? I especially love the Star Wars Lego games so of course I need to pick this one up! It’s out towards the end of June, so I’ll probably pick it up closer to the release date. As it’s two player as well, it means me and Dane can play it together, which will be fun!

• Pandora Moments Silver Bracelet with Pandora Rose Clasp – £65.00 (link)

I really want a new Pandora bracelet, and for some reason I want a rose gold one… Well a silver one with rose gold accents. As you can see on my wish list image, I will be talking about two rose gold charms. But this is the rope style bracelet, very much different from the two bangles that I currently own. I don’t need one, no, but I would like one. I don’t wear my first and “special” Pandora bracelet at the moment as it’s way too heavy to wear, only do I wear it on special occasions now. So I would like one to wear this isn’t for a special purpose… Unless Dane happens to buy it me for our anniversary, but I doubt that’ll happen! 😛

• Lush Lava Lamp Bath Bomb – £3.95 (link)

I love Lush, and I love their bath bombs. Lava Lamp is one that I wanted back a year ago when me and Dane traveled to London for Hyper Japan. BUT when I got into the Oxford Street store I was left disappointed when they told me Lush has discontinued it from their store due to it “being too similar to a current bath bomb”. At the time it was an Oxford Street exclusive, but now it’s available online AND in all stores! However, as I am down in London soon I am just going to pick a couple up from there. Why not?

• Pandora Open Your Heart Charm – £30.00 (link)

As I mentioned above, I would love the rose Pandora bracelet, and of course with a new bracelet I would want charms. Rose ones to be exact! I’ve seen a couple I like the look of, this being one of them. It’s a sweet little charm with little hearts all over it. You can’t get any sweeter than that, and it doesn’t hold any memories or anything behind it, so I can wear it all the time… Not that I can’t wear my special bracelets that hold memories behind them… 😛

• Prison Architect on PS4 – £19.99 (link)

Okay the first thing I am going to say about this game is how disappointed I am that this is now not coming out until July! This was meant to be out on the 3rd June. WTF?! Anyway… This is a game I have wanted on Steam for agggges but when I found out it would be coming out on the PS4 I decided to leave it and just buy it when it came out on my console of choice. It’s a hilarious game where the title explains it all. You create your own prison and basically look after it. It’s like SIMS pretty much, but better!

• Cure Natural Aqua Gel – £29.98 (link)

I have wanted Cure for years! Since Bubz over at Bubz Beauty was talking about it, probably six or so years ago now! It’s an exfoliating gel from Japan and is said to be the best one over there! It isn’t cheap, no but considering I would probably use this only twice a week, I would hope it would last me ages! When my current exfoliator runs out, I will be picking this one up.

• Lush Prince of Darkness Face Mask (London Oxford Street exclusive)

This is one of the things I know I want to come back from London with, hell maybe two! I have loads of black pots that I need to exchange for some lovely face masks, and after asking someone on the Lush live chat today, I can actually get some of the Prince of Darkness masks for free! We shall see what happens, but this is a charcoal mask, which helps oily skin, which I suffer with on my t-zone, as does Dane. So we can both try this one. I’ll be reviewing it for sure when I get it.

• Pandora Darling Daisy Meadow Openwork Charm – £55.00 (link)

This is another Pandora charm I’ve got my eye on for the rose bracelet, which is like the other charm, also rose looking. I love daisies, they remind me of when I was at school and in the playground we would make daisy chains. You can’t go wrong with a charm like this, and with the previous heart one I mentioned, this one is also very sweet. It’s very expensive though, which I think is due to the paint and colour of the charm itself.

Wow that was a long wish list, and is thus mine for June. I can see me picking up the Lush goodies, and the Lego game at the end of the month.

I cannot wait for you all to read mine and Dane’s amazing news tomorrow, I wish I could have made a wish list for that news, but that will be coming up in a few weeks instead.

What goodies are you lusting after this month, and have on your wish list? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care and have an amazing weekend, I know I will be!

Kawaii Box Review & GIVEAWAY (Giveaway now closed)*

As a regular reader of my blog, people will know how much I love anything Japanese related. I’m a massive fan of Japan, especially kawaii things. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past two or three years, you’ll have heard of subscription boxes and how over the years they’ve just become more popular. You can get subscription boxes for anything these days, from beauty, fashion, game related things, and of course Japanese related items.

I’ll be talking about the latter today with the Kawaii Box*, a monthly subscription box that comes piled high with goodies from Japan and Korea. Each month you’ll receive 10-12 handpicked items, some being stationery, some being food. There’s a bit of everything in every box!

The awesome people over at Kawaii Box were lovely enough to send me a box to open up and review to you guys and I cannot explain how excited I have been for this to arrive so I could share what goodies I received inside of it. Also, as you can probably tell by the title, I was also given the chance to give one of these away to a lucky winner. Make sure to stay with me and read to the end of the post to find out how you can win!

This box arrived two weeks after they confirmed it was on its way to me and I’m really pleased about that. I’ve had it for about a week now, which has given me plenty of time to try out every item that I received, and in turn means I can give you guys a proper review of everything.

This months box came with 11 items, which is really good, and everything is different from the other too, so you don’t get anything the same as one another, which I liked.

This is what you get inside of the box;

• Kracie DIY Chain Candy Set
• Squishy Doughnut Mirror
• Dessert Eraser
• Kawaii Toast Coaster
• Pastel Pearl Bracelet
• Korean Glitter Glue Set
• Rilakkuma Sticky Notes
• Mushroom Mini Plush
• Cute Korean Pencil Set
• Flake Seal Stickers
• Alpaca Keychain

I’ll be talking about each item with a little bit of detail just to give my readers a basic idea of what you get and such. Not every box comes with exactly the same items, so you get a unique box!

There are quite a few stationery bits in this box and they’re really nice too. You get a pack of pencils, a dessert rubber/eraser, a glitter glue set, some sticky notes, and flake seal stickers. These will be perfect for making notes for blog related work, as well as life in general. I’ll be taking these on holiday with me when I send postcards back to the UK, as well as when I do some blog work whilst out there. The stickers are really cute and whilst I was bored I stuck a couple on my boyfriends face for giggles.

The Rilakkuma sticky notes are amazing and one of my favourite things in this box. I’ll be using them to jot little blog post notes on, as well as using for bookmarks as well. There are so many that they’ll last me for months!

I never say no to Japanese candy, and I couldn’t wait to share this candy with my boyfriend. It’s chain candy which you link together and then well… Eat! It takes of ramune, Japanese lemonade and grape soda, two very popular flavours in Japan, and also two of my favourites. These tasted amazing and I was sad when they all ran out. 😦

There are also some random little bits and pieces in here which were really kawaii! A squishy little doughnut mirror, which is covered in sprinkles and is super soft and squishy! The mirror isn’t the best in the world, but it does the job and it’s one I’m going to be taking on holiday with me for quick touch ups on the go. A cute little bead bracelet which is on the small side, so if you have big wrists it might be a little tight, as I’m a medium and it was just about okay for me. This being said, it’s still cute and a nice little piece for down days. I’ve seen various different mushroom plushie keyrings in peoples boxes, but I got the red one and it’s so adorable, reminds me of Mario. I don’t know what I’ll do with this, I may give it to a friend of mine very soon as a little surprise.

Finally we have two more of my favourite pieces out of the box, a toast shaped coaster and an alpaca keyring. I don’t yet have my own place but when I do I’ll be using this coaster in the living room, or office area as it’s just too cute NOT to use! It’s wooden and sounds really nice when placed down too. I know that sounds weird… But yeah. 😛 The alpaca keyring already has it’s pride and place on my backpack and is something I have had many comments on so far due to how adorable it is. I’ve been asked by many where it’s from!

Overall what do I think of the box? I LOVE IT! It’s a perfect monthly treat for anyone who loves all things kawaii and Japanese, and can’t access Japanese stores near them or online. It also makes for a nice surprise every month too and it’s all different.

So I’ll give you the prices of the box!

One Month Plan = $18.50 a month – free shipping worldwide – recurring one month plan – cancel anytime.

Three Month Plan = $18.50 a month – free shipping worldwide – ends after three months – perfect gift idea.

Six Month Plan = $17.90 a month – free shipping worldwide – ends after six months – save $6!

Twelve Month Plan = $17.30 a month – free shipping worldwide – ends after twelve months – get one box free!!!

In my eyes those are some pretty decent deals, especially the twelve month box.

So what are you waiting for guys? Get out there and get subscribing! If you would like to get one of these boxes yourself, click this link to go ahead and make your purchase!

HOWEVER how would you like to win one of these yourself? All you have to do is click the link below and then go and fill out the rafflecopter widget. Sadly due to WordPress being a smelly ogre, it won’t allow the widget to show on my blog, which sucks! The giveaway is open internationally and all you need to do is follow what it says to on the giveaway to be in with the chance of winning your own Kawaii Box.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What do you think of the Kawaii Box? Will you be making your order soon? Or trying for the competition? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time though, take care all and good luck in the giveaway!

Smoothie Sunday – Iced Green Tea Latte

I’m back again this week to bring you another smoothie recipe… Well not a smoothie, but you get what I mean!

Yes, I am still on a health kick and this week it’s been going pretty well… Although I was a little naughty on Thursday and yesterday… But it doesn’t hurt to have a couple of treats.

I went to an Asian supermarket with my boyfriend yesterday in the search of some green tea matcha powder that wouldn’t cause my bank account to explode. Sadly some big brands have got onto the green tea hype and manufactured their own, slapping an over £10 price label onto it. This is frustrating and annoying as I have been drinking green tea for years, before people started drinking it because it’s “fashionable”.

I had heard that Asian supermarkets sell it cheap however, so that’s why we went to see for ourselves. I left with two different brands and it cost me under £10… £7-£8 to be exact. I tried both yesterday, one warm and one cold and they were amazing!

Shop around in some Asian supermarkets like I did before settling on an expensive brand. Teapigs are the number one culprit for ripping people off! Holland & Barret sell some of this too so watch your wallet if you go there. Yes, you want to be healthy, but you don’t want to poor as well. When I was talking to the shop assistant in the supermarket about how much places charge for green tea he couldn’t believe it! “It’s not even worth that much money! It’s just tea!” Damn right!

So, I decided to document the cold version and let you know how you can create your own iced green tea latte at home! Starbucks are known for making this in America, but we haven’t (as of yet) got this in the UK Starbucks stores.

Calories wise this contains 100-200 calories, although when I worked it out on My Fitness Pal it came to 139 calories, which I think is really good! Especially if you fancy a treat.

Ingredients:

1 sachet of green tea powder mixed with some hot water. I did this in a mug and then poured it into the blender. Or you can leave this out to cool down and pop in the fridge for another hour.

Half a cup of milk. I used semi-skimmed but you can use whatever you want.

5-10 ice cubes just to make sure it cools down if you pour it straight into the blender when hot.

If you want it to be a little sweeter drizzle some honey, but I didn’t feel the need to do this.

Then pour into your favourite glass with some more ice and enjoy! I used my Starbucks cup, as you can see.

I really like this as a way to cool down in the summer, as well as something to have alongside my lunch.

And that’s it! It’s such an easy drink to make and it tastes amazing too.

Will you be giving this recipe a go? Please let me know if you do in the comments! If you can think of any yummy smoothies you like, let me know the recipe and I may be able to give them a go.

Until next time, take care all!

Mee-Cha Bubble Tea & Frozen Yogurt, Birmingham – Review

Image taken from mee-cha.com

A few weeks ago Mee-Cha advertised on their Facebook page that they wanted bloggers to write a review about their lovely bubble tea and frozen yogurt store. As I’m a huge fan of their bubble tea already I dropped them a message to ask if they wished for me to write a review and I think it’s pretty obvious what their answer was.

So I am here to tell you why you need to pop to Mee-Cha the next time you go to The Bullring!

I’ve briefly mentioned Mee-Cha in the past but I wanted to dedicate a whole post to them as quite frankly they deserve it.

A paradise for your taste buds in the heart of Bullring, Mee-Cha is an oasis for cool, refreshing drinks and delicious 100% fat-free frozen yoghurt’s, complete with a range of fruity toppings and yummy sauces. Create and tailor your very own mix of revitalising flavours and experience a great new concept of refreshments.
Think Refreshments… Think Mee-Cha…

Mee-Cha was started in 2011-2012 and their original name was actually Moo-Cha, which they changed after the start of this year. It is a bubble tea and frozen yogurt stall that is in The Bullring in Birmingham and it’s an amazing place to go if you want something different to drink whilst on the go or for a yummy frozen treat when its hot outiside. But what makes Mee-Cha different to any other food stall in The Bullring? Well, I’ll tell you!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

First let me tell you about Bubble Tea!

Bubble tea was first created in the 1980’s in Taiwan! But it is only recently that it has gone global and now can be found in pretty much every city! It has quite a few combinations of names around the world including pearl tea, boba tea, boba nai cha and zhen zhu nai cha! It’s becoming an extremely popular craze – so popular that in Germany even McDonalds sells bubble tea.

Mee-Cha’s fruity drinks are fat-free and completely refreshing, which means you are having a guilt-free treat! As well as that their tapioca pearls are freshly and constantly cooked throughout the day and have a chewy caramel texture and if you don’t believe me then you’ll see them boiling for yourself when you get there!

When I first tried bubble tea I was alarmed by the odd sensation I got whilst drinking it, due to what the squishy balls (tapioca pearls or popping bubbles) feel and taste like when they come up the straw in the drink. With tapioca pearls they’re squishy and taste like a coffee/chocolate flavour, whilst the popping bubbles can come in all sorts of flavours, usually fruity. My favourite are strawberry. When these enter your mouth they usually pop and when they burst they release the flavour that you chose.

As well as these, you can also get jellies which in my opinion aren’t to my liking but that’s sort of each to your own style opinion. I can’t really say much on these other than them not being like proper jelly at all but more of a solid version of jelly and very chewy. They aren’t to my liking, but they might be to you.

Bubble Tea is something everyone needs to try at least once and everyone I have introduced it to has loved it!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

At Mee-Cha you can get all sorts of flavours to create all sorts of yummy combinations, just take a look at the menu above.

When you arrive at the stall you will be asked 4 different things to complete you bubble tea order, which flavour you would like, which tea you would like, which style of drink you would like, and finally which toppings you would like. With bubble coffee however you would of course skip the part of the order where you would pick tea, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same procedure and it’s as easy as that!

I won’t lie, the process of ordering from Mee-Cha can be a little overwhelming, I mean look at that menu! My friends as well as my boyfriend still get a little flustered whenever I go there with them and I often take over the order for them so that they don’t get too worried that they order the wrong thing. However the staff as Mee-Cha are all really lovely and if you’re confused about what something is don’t feel too shy to ask, they won’t bite and will answer your question(s) no problem.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Here are the four simple steps you’ll undergo to make your yummy drink!

Step One – Choose your flavour:

You can choose from 3 types of drink bubble tea, bubble coffee or bubble slush.

With bubble tea there are two styles of drink to choose from, milky or fruity and with them both you have 11 choices each! Although these are called bubble tea, you do get to choose if you have these with or without tea, but more on that in step two.

Bubble coffee gives you 11 choices of drink too and of course contains coffee, these are a great alternative to a Starbucks frappuccino!

Bubble slush also has 11 choices of flavour and don’t come with any toppings, although you can add them if you do so wish. These are great on hot days to cool you down, a great alternative to a Slush Puppy and probably better for you as well.

Step Two – Choose your tea:

With bubble tea you will be asked which tea you would like in your drink, green tea, black tea or no tea. I guess this all depends on your own tastes really! I like to mix it up depending on which drink I have. I often go for green tea with lighter coloured drinks and black tea with darker coloured drinks. I can’t say I have yet bought a drink from Mee-Cha and not had any tea in it! If you aren’t a fan of tea but would like it in your drink, let a member of staff know and they won’t put in too much for you and vice versa if you love tea and would like extra!

Step Three – Choose your style:

There are five styles to choose from, hot, warm, cold, with ice or even slush (costs 50p extra). When I’m cold in the winter months I often go for warm as it goes really nice with the milky bubble tea and bubble coffee. Cold is usually the best choice though and even slush when it’s boiling outside and you want a healthy alternative to a Slush Puppy.

Finally Step Four – Choose your toppings:

Image taken from mee-cha.com

You have four choices of toppings for your drink, tapioca pearls, popping bubbles, jellies or even red bean. I can’t say I have ever tried red bean in a bubble drink but I have in sweets from Yo Sushi and they aren’t my cup of tea! However tapioca pearls are really good in milky drinks, especially if they’re warm as they go super gooey and chewy, yum!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Popping bubbles are always what I go for and you can get lychee, mango, strawberry (my favourite), passionfruit, cherry (another favourite), and yoghurt (another favourite).

Image taken from mee-cha.com

You can get jellies too which when they go up the straw taste of the flavour you pick but personally they aren’t for me, although I am inclined to try them out again soon. They have a sort of gooey sweetie like texture which kind of makes me cringe but otherwise they taste really nice. Don’t be put off by my fussiness! The flavours you can get for these are lychee, pineapple, mango, green apple (these are the ones I tried), strawberry, and aloe vera.

Then you pay for your drink, watch the process of it being made and then you can enjoy!

To give you an example of how the process or ordering works out I’m going to give you a couple of examples of some of my favourite drinks to order from the menu. I wish I had of had something like this, or someone who had ordered bubble tea before to guide me through the ordering process, as I was a bit anxious when I ordered my first drink. But as I said before the staff were lovely and helped me order a drink that is now down as one of my favourites!

Bubble tea option 1:

Milky green tea latte (matcha), with black tea, warm, and with yoghurt popping bubbles.

Bubble tea option 2:

Fruity green apple, with green tea, cold, and with strawberry or cherry popping bubbles.

Bubble coffee:

Coconut, cold, and with tapioca pearls.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

If however you aren’t in the mood for a bubble tea Mee-Cha also offers frozen yoghurt and let me tell you if I fancy a treat I opt for going there and I’ll tell you why!

When I first visited Mee-Cha back at the start of 2012 I bought one of their frozen yoghurt’s and it was amazing. For just under £3.00 I picked up the smallest tub of ice cream and got to have as many toppings on it as my greedy gut desired.

Unlike the process of bubble tea, ordering yourself a frozen yoghurt is pretty straight forward and only really requires 2 or 3 steps.

Step One – Which flavour?

You can choose between original and vanilla.

Step Two – Which size and do you want toppings?

You can choose mini, small, medium, large or even a fruit parfait. You also get the choice of whether or not you would like toppings. This only applies to mini, small, medium and large and costs an extra 80p on all of them apart from large, which costs a £1.00 extra.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Step Three – Pick your toppings!

As you can see from the above image you have loads of choice and you know what? You can STILL have as many as you do so wish! I think that’s amazing to be honest considering most places will only let you have 3 and charge you for each additional topping.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Like most places these days Mee-Cha offer a loyalty card and I of course have one… I’ve probably been through 5 of these already to be honest and I recommend them to everyone who visits Mee-Cha! After 10 stamps you will earn yourself a free bubble tea or a small frozen yoghurt, which is great of course. You of course earn a stamp every time you buy a drink or a frozen yoghurt. These are free to pick up and each one you use up you just start a fresh one.

Some other great things that Mee-Cha do (“Wait!” I hear you ask, “There’s more?”) is their promotions and discounts! They offer 10% to students with NUS cards as well as staff who work at The Bullring in Birmingham. Not bad eh?!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

At the moment they have an awesome deal on where you buy 1 get one half price from 22/09/14 – 25/09/14 and from 29/09/14 – 02/10/14!

Over the past 2 years Mee-Cha have grown into a successful little bubble tea stall and I really hope for the future that they open their own shop as I think that would be amazing!

Here are all the links you may wish to check out from Mee-Cha

Official website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

So! Will you be going to pay them a visit next time you’re in The Bullring? I know I’ll be heading there at some point this week!

Make sure to let me know that you’ve been and if you go to the store with a recommendation from my blog, please make sure to mention it! The staff at Mee-Cha are such amazing people and work really hard to give their customers yummy drinks and yoghurt.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you all have a great week.

Japanese Series: Asian Food

Image taken from weheartit.com

Hello and welcome to the second post in my Japanese series!

As you can see from the title, my second post is about Asian food. I would have titled it Japanese food, but I think Asian food covers it pretty well as there are 3 places I’m going to mention that cover both Chinese and Japanese dishes, as well as drinks.

My mouth is watering just thinking about this post, not good! Best get on with it. 😛

There is plenty of choice in the UK when it comes to Asian food and drink and with more and more restaurants opening every year, the possibilities are endless. Whilst two of the places I’ll be naming are chains that are all over the UK (as well as in some other countries), one is only based in Birmingham so I apologise for this in advance, I have tried to add an equivalent of this in areas like London.

YO! Sushi

This is one of the popular chains that runs throughout the UK and also the first restaurant I will be talking about. Personally I haven’t been to YO! Sushi… Yet, but I want to go! As the name of this restaurant suggests, you can get sushi there but there are hundreds of Japanese inspired dishes to choose from, not just sushi and with over 80 dishes to choose from, you’ll have plenty to set your heart on.

Image taken from yosushi.com

How YO! Sushi works is that you go into the restaurant, sit down and pick up whatever dish you like the sound of from off of the conveyor belt. Each dish has a colour coded plate and depending on which colour you pick up, depends how much that dish will cost. As well as that you can order hot or cold dishes from the servers or chefs. At the end of your meal all your empty planets are counted for and added to the bill at the end. Simple!

There are so many dishes to choose from including hot (soups & broths, hot classics, rice & noodles, and katsu & tempura), sushi, salads, desserts, and of course specials.

I’m going to share with you some of the (okay maybe ALL) dishes I really want to try when I go to YO! Sushi, which I’m hoping will be soon (Valentine’s Day, maybe?)!

Hot (FYI most of them are chicken based!):

Chicken Yakitori, Chicken Teriyaki, Chicken Gyoza, Duck Gyoza, Chicken Katsu, and Chicken Katsu Curry.

Sushi:

Salmon Maki, Tuna Maki, and Spicy Chicken ISO.

Desserts:

Chocolate Dorayaki, Custard Dorayaki, and Chocolate Mochi.

Specials:

Duck Katsu & Moromi Miso.

I can’t wait to try out the food in YO Sushi, but I’m making sure not to spend too much at the same time! I’ve been told by my friend Poppy that it can all add up rather quickly! Also you don’t HAVE to sit in to eat at YO! Sushi, you can take food away as well, which I think is great.

Moo-Cha, Birmingham

This is a Bubble Tea and Frozen Yogurt stall that is in The Bullring in Birmingham and it’s an amazing place! Every time I go into town I make sure to pop to the stall to get my Bubble Tea fix! Bubble Tea is an Asian drink and is loved by both Japanese and Chinese people, as well as pretty much everyone else now thanks to all the Bubble Tea shops that are popping up everywhere.

Bubble Tea is a drink that originated from Taiwan and is also known as boba tea, pearl milk tea and tapioca pearl tea. Bubble Tea can be enjoyed cold or warm, as well as fruity or milky.

When I first tried Bubble Tea I was alarmed by the odd sensation I got whilst drinking it, due to what the squishy balls (tapioca pearls or popping bubbles) feel and taste like when they come up the straw in the drink. With tapioca pearls they’re squishy and taste like a coffee/chocolate flavour, whilst the popping bubbles can come in all sorts of flavours, usually fruity. My favourite are strawberry. When these enter your mouth they usually pop and when they burst they release the flavour that you chose.

As well as these, you can also get jellies which in my opinion are vile! I can’t really say much on these other than them not being like proper jelly at all but more of a solid version of jelly and very chewy. They aren’t to my liking, but they might be to you.

Bubble Tea is something everyone needs to try at least once and everyone I have introduced it to has loved it!

Image taken from moo-cha.com

At Moo-Cha you can get all sorts of flavours to create all sorts of yummy combinations, just take a look at the menu above!

When you arrive at the stall you will be asked what flavour you want, which tea you would like with that (green, black or no tea), how you would like your drink to be (hot, cold, with ice or slush), and what toppings you would like (tapioca pearls, popping bubbles or jellies).

If you were to order a Bubble Coffee however, you would of course skip the part of the order where you pick tea. As of yet I haven’t tried coffee, but I think I will be next time I visit.

I’m going to give you a couple of my favourite drinks to order from the menu, just to give you an example of how you would order a drink from Moo-Cha.

Bubble Tea £3.00:

Milky Green Tea Latte with Green Tea, Hot, and with Tapioca Pearls.

Fruity Green Apple with Black Tea, Cold, and with Popping Bubbles in Strawberry.

Bubble Coffee £3.00:

Coconut, Cold, and with Tapioca Pearls.

The possibilities are endless with Moo-Cha Bubble Tea and they also have a Loyalty Card scheme so after you’ve bought (from memory) 10 Bubble Tea drinks or Frozen Yogurt’s you can claim one for free!

I know if you Google search for Bubble Tea shops in your area of the UK you will find loads! I know London have Bubbleology, which I really want to go to in the future.

Wagamama

Last weekend I FINALLY lost my Wagamama virginity when my boyfriend and I ventured to Milton Keynes for a day of shopping. It was amazing and better than we expected and we both want to go back again already.

Wagamama is inspired by traditional Japanese ramen bars and Asian flavours. The name of Wagamama has always intrigued me and I always wondered what it stood for or meant and upon checking out their website I discovered that it means ‘naughty child” in Japanese, which is pretty cool!

Like most Japanese inspired menus they feature a wide variety of noodle and rice dishes and you can choose from classic ramen, which is a big bowl of noodles in soap, teppan which is noodles cooked on a hot, flat griddle, and kare which is noodles in a coconut based soup, but there are many more dishes served with rice.

The great thing about Wagamama is that you don’t have to sit in to enjoy your food, you can take you food away as take-away too, which I think is great!

When my boyfriend and I went to Wagamama we noticed how the seating was rather odd, yet delightful at the same time. We were sat at a bench that sat two people on side and two or four on the other side, so you would essentially have to share your table with someone. As well as that you have someone come over to take your order for you, both drinks, food and dessert and bring your food over for you quickly. You can also watch your food being  prepared and cooked for your fresh in their kitchen, which I really liked.

As we hadn’t been to Wagamama before we went for something we always order if it’s on the menu, pulled pork! We opted for Pulled Pork Gyoza, which came with a spicy sauce. It arrived in no time and bloody hell it was delicious! We both said we could have eaten them all day if we were given the option.

For our main we opted for Chicken Katsu Curry, we’ve had this before at restaurant in Coventry but this was a hundred times better than the one we’d previously had! The chicken was succulent and beautiful, the rice gorgeous and sticky, but the curry was delicious and I ate as much of it as I could get from the plate, onto the spoon.

We didn’t get a desert in the end as we were rather full, but the choice of desserts is rather nice, although I do wish they would do Bubble Tea!

I loved going to Wagamama as the staff were friendly, quick to take our order and get our food out to us but most of the food was amazing and just writing this post is making my mouth water for it again.

I can’t wait to go again as I have loads of dishes I want to try including:

Duck Gyoza, Chicken Kare Lomen, Mahi Mahi Curry, Chicken Ramen, and Grilled Duck Ramen.

Overall we loved Wagamama and we can’t wait to go again, whenever that will be!

I was going to try and mention more places on this post but 1. This post is getting awfully long and 2. It’s making me bloody hungry!

Do you like Asian food? If so do you prefer Japanese or Chinese? Let me know in the comments down below!

As well as that, have you been to any of the places mentioned in this post? If so do you like them, or not? If you haven’t been to any of these places, do you intend to in the future? Let me know all your answers in the comments down below too.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post, I know I enjoyed writing it! Stay tuned for post number 3 in this series, where I’ll be talking about places I want to visit in Japan, which will feature a special guest! So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that next Wednesday.

Until next time, take care all!

Coventry Haul!

Yesterday I went into Coventry shopping for the first time ever! Well I say the first time ever, when I was 17 I visited Coventry University with my college for a talk with John Snow, which lasted all day and to be honest, was extremely boring! It lasted from 7am-5pm so I was exhausted throughout the day. At one point we got a couple of hours to have a break to walk around the town and that’s just what I did. I had a walk around the shops and remember some parts of the town well, which I visited once again today. It was nice to remember the places I’d walked around when I was 17, those 6 years have really flown by!

Either way I was rather excited to be venturing around somewhere new and as I’m from Birmingham, The Bullring and the rest of Birmingham’s town centre are HUGE! So it was a nice change to be somewhere small!

I knew which places I wanted to go to and what items I wanted to look at so when my boyfriend and I arrived there, I was a woman on a mission, a shopping mission!

Some of the first places I went into were Topshop (where I saw a gorgeous green beanie), River Island (where I was on the lookout for a velvet playsuit and failed), Clinton’s (where I wanted to smell the Yankee Candles and nearly bought Salted Caramel, but left it) and finally we popped into Superdrug, where I was on the lookout for one of MUA’s new Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer (I’m after Reckless!) but they hadn’t had them in stock yet, gutted!

We headed to New Look where for a few weeks now I’ve been on the lookout for a certain dress. It’s a dark green floral lace skater dress and since seeing it in a New Look closer to home, I’ve wanted to try it and buy it! Finally my search came to a close and I found this in the New Look in Coventry to go and try on.

Please excuse the dressing room picture and pose, I actually sent this picture to my boyfriend to see what he thought of the dress, commenting how the image was too dark… Hopefully it isn’t too dark on here! It’s a gorgeous wine bottle green colour and it hangs lovely over my hips. Due to it being a skater dress it makes my boobs look great, my waist looks small and it hides my hips and thighs beautifully, as well as making my bum look good too. My only worry with this whilst I was trying it on was as there is no zip on this you have to pull it over you head and due to the material it does feel a little awkward and tight to put on but once it’s on, there’s no problem. However taking it off can be a bit fiddly and can take a while… This being said it’s definitely worth the fiddle as it looks gorgeous. I intend to wear this next weekend for a friend’s birthday with my navy coat, some tights and my Chelsea boots. I can see me wearing this dress quite a lot over the autumn and winter months this year!

As we left New Look we headed towards the escalators to go downstairs for a look around, but when I noticed that there was a Lush on the same floor as New Look I insisted that we must go in there for a look at the Christmas range. Since the Christmas range coming out in October I hadn’t yet gone to physically go and have a look, sniff and test out the products so I was super excited to go in and finally do that! Lush was packed, but this being said the staff were all lovely and helpful, which is always a pleasure when venturing to Lush.

I have never been so happy by a Lush Christmas collection since the first time I visited and smelled their Christmas products in 2009. That was a long time ago and a lot of the products they had out for Christmas then, aren’t available anymore and the ones that are have had a revamp!

I picked up two bath Bath Ballistics, a Bubble Bar, a bar of FUN and a Lip Tint and I already know I’m going to buying more of the three of these products!

I picked up Shoot for The Stars and So White Bath Ballistics. I remember when So White first came out in 2009 and it was a tiny little Bath Ballistic and now it’s huge! It has a secret pink centre so as this fizzles away in your bath it’ll leave a gorgeous rose colour behind. I can see me stocking up on these and as I type this all I can smell is the gorgeous crisp apple smell that So White is popular for. This is by far one of my favourite Lush products and I wish they would make this all year around, or at least a Shower Jelly or Shower Gel! Shoot for The Stars is a new addition to the Christmas range and made its first (and I hope not final!) appearance this year! It’s an amazing Bath Ballistic and I reckon it’ll do very well this year. It smells just like Honey I Washed The Kids Soap and is a beautiful blue colour with some pink and a yellow star. It also has some gorgeous silver lustre inside as well as various colours so that as this swirl around your bath it fizzes all sorts of shades from blue, pink, purple and yellow! I’m rather excited to try this one and can see me doing that tonight!

I also picked up Candy Mountain Bubble Bar which is a revamped version of Candy Cane and in my opinion a better version! It’s still the gorgeous pink and white shades that Candy Cane was but now it contains lustre and glitter, as well as some pink so when you look at the bubbles inside your bath, they’ll have some little pink sprinkles on. This smells of Rock Star Soap which is one of my favourite soaps from Lush, as it’s one of the few that I’m not allergic to! It smells of a gorgeous vanilla and is just so girly! This will be great to use before going out for the day or evening.

This was at the top of my Lush Wish List alongside Shoot for The Stars and it’s Gold FUN. This also smells like Honey I Washed The Kids Soap which I love so much and FUN is one of my favourite things from Lush since they brought them out and I know come the New Year I’ll possibly buy one of these once a month as I really want to try Red, Blue, Yellow and Green, as I currently have Pink which is gorgeous! The woman who served me in Lush informed me that FUN is great to use as a shaving foam, so I think I might try it next week before I come over to my boyfriends for the weekend. It smells gorgeous, just like Honey I Washed The Kids and I can see me writing a review on this during December!

Finally whilst I was paying at the till I ended up talking to the woman who served me about Santa Baby Lip Tint. Due to how busy Lush was, I didn’t get to have a look at this until I was at the till with my items. I had a look at the tester and put some on the back of my hand to see how pigmented it was. It’s extremely pigmented and although it was pretty steep at £5.50, I decided to go for it. It smells lightly of a cheap version of cherry coke but it smells really nice all the same. I tried this on my lips when I got home and damn is it pigmented and long-lasting! This is also kiss proof as I tested it on my boyfriends cheek and forehead and no red from the tint transferred from my lips onto the parts of his face I was kissing. DEFINITE WIN! I’m going to wear this mostly for work alongside my new MAC lipstick, which I’ll be reviewing in December.

After this we went to get some lunch and as most places were busy we weren’t really sure where to go. We had discussed the night before about going to a noodle bar that my boyfriend knew off, so we headed there and as we tucked into the dishes we ordered, we realised we’d made the right choice! We went to Chi Bar on the high street (this is their Facebook page) which is a Asian food place. The prices are very reasonable and there’s plenty of dishes to choose from, this being said we stood outside looking at the menu for a while as we tried to decide what we wanted. Finally we both settled on Chicken Katsu in Curry Sauce and Absolute Cheese with Mozzarella Sticks.

Sadly I didn’t get a picture of the Absolute Cheese but to explain it, it was a bowl of chips/fries covered in cheese with three green peppers covered in cheese and breadcrumbs. These were really nice but the main dish we both ordered was the best by far and I’ve never enjoyed an Asian meal so much in my life! The rice was beautiful and sticky, the curry sauce was to die for and the chicken… I have no words! I would love to make this myself at home… I might have to buy a rice cooker in the New Year! Plus as well as doing such amazing food, Chi Bar always serves bubble tea! I love bubble tea and I had the banana flavour with tapioca pearls whilst my boyfriend had strawberry with various different flavoured popping bubbles. We had them warm as it was pretty nippy in Coventry yesterday.

I keep saying to my boyfriend how as they deliver that we should start having take away food from there instead of anything else (pizza, Chinese, Indian, etc) as this place is amazing! If you live in Coventry, I suggest you to go there, especially if you’re a student as it’s right by the University.

After this we had more of a wander around where we popped into Ann Summers to look for some new lingerie, however as Ann Summers in Coventry didn’t have the bra I wanted, they kindly ordered it for me online in store which meant I gained free delivery! I have to say I prefer the Coventry store to the Birmingham Bullring store purely because everything is spaced out and it doesn’t feel cramped. I’ll definitely be visiting the store again, especially as the girl who served me was so lovely.

We wandered over to Forbidden Planet (I’m a true geek and every time I visit a new part of the country, I like to check out their Forbidden Planets) where I saw an amazing Lumpy Space Princess (she’s from Adventure Time) beanie! I tried it on and low and behold it fit me perfectly, but sad to say I’d spent quite a lot of money at that point and as much as I wanted it, I put it back on the hook and left it. I know it’ll be on my Christmas Wish List (look out for this in December) as it looked amazing on, plus I love LSP, she’s amazing!

Finally our last stop was to be at The Body Shop as we were rather tired. This was actually the first shop we went into but as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to use my free Glamour Gift Card on I decided to leave it until last, by then I knew I’d have decided what I wanted to purchase. This being said, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted as I was torn between a bottle of Strawberry Shower Gel or an Ultimate Cleansing Kit.

Over on Daisy’s blog she mentioned how she’d recently bought The Body Shop’s Ultimate Cleansing Kit in Tea Tree and after reading her post it made me think about getting the kit myself, so whilst I was having a look at it, I had a quick chat to one of the women in there about which kit would be the right one for me. I have combination skin, my T-Zone is oily whilst the rest of my face is dry and whilst I love my Clinique 3-Step I really can’t afford it right now and I’m running low so I thought I’d try this in the meantime until I have more cash on me. I picked up the Seaweed kit, which is for a matte complexion. This is definitely what I need as my nose is quite oily right now and I worry that customers at work may notice, as well as staff. Plus random people I talk to in shops or pass on the street. This kit contains the Pore-Cleansing Facial Scrub, Purifying Facial Cleanser, Clarifying Toner, Day Cream and the Night Treatment.

The woman in the store did me a pretty awesome deal and offered me the Love Your Body card, which is The Body Shop’s membership card. You pay £5 a year to use it BUT with that you get so many awesome things alongside it such as 10% off every time you shop at The Body Shop as well as £5 off products on your birthday! Due to me obtaining a LYB card I saved 10% off of my Cleansing Kit, which was £32.00, meaning I saved £3.20. As well as 10% off I also got to choose a free hand cream and as regular readers will know, I suffer with eczema pretty badly on my hands, so I asked which one was the best for dry hands and the woman suggested I have the Hemp Hand Protector. Since using this my hands have been soft and smooth, I can see me repurchasing this in the future to keep in my handbag! The cream was supposed to be £5.00, so in theory buying the LYB card paid for itself!

Also I can’t seem to find the Cleansing Kits online to link them to you on this post, so I guess they must just be an in store offer. Either way they seem to be worth the money so if you’re looking for a new skin care regime I suggest you popping into The Body Shop!

Plus, as I still haven’t used my The Body Shop Gift Card from Glamour Magazine, I can see me using this when I next pop in store to purchase something special like a face mask or even another Hemp Hand Protector.

After this me and my boyfriend headed back to the car to come home. We were both shattered and since arriving back we did nothing but play on the Xbox 360 and drink cups of tea.

I had an awesome time shopping in Coventry and I can see me shopping here again, as whilst it is a small shopping area, it’s not half as busy as Birmingham gets on a Saturday afternoon, which I was quite grateful of!

FYI today I was supposed to be posting my first YouTube video, The Boyfriend Tag but sadly due to both my boyfriend and I being busy we haven’t had a chance to finish editing the video on time, so we shall be trying to get it completed for December, if not it will definitely be up in the New Year.

I hope you enjoyed this haul post, I’ll be posting a HUGE November haul post at the start of December!

If you have any questions about any products or things I bought today, please feel free to drop me a questions down below in the comments.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and until next time, take care all!