I just stumbled across another brilliant link up from EmmyMom. I've been doing something similar, that my sister started doing at the start of the year, but there's nothing like linking up with other lovely bloggers to find out what they're smiling about too!

1. I lost my Nando's virginity! On the 3rd of this month, my boyfriend and I ventured up to Manchester for one thing and one thing only: Nando's. We did have a little wonder around, went to the cinema to watch the newest Die Hard film, which is definitely worth watching but my God hasn't Bruce Willis got old?! And then we treated ourselves to a drink in Wetherspoons and my first ever Nando's.

2. My boyfriend and I celebrated 2 months...I know, I know it's not long at all, but considering how much of a pain in the ass I've been (oh good lord I've said some stupid drunken things) I'm pretty impressed he's put up with me, hats off to him!

3. I turned 19! Okay it made me a little happy...but when my boyfriend reminded me in my card that is was the last birthday I'll celebrate as a teenager I died a little inside, am I that blooming old now?! Where have the years gone?! But, I'm honestly really looking forward to the future I have ahead of me!

4. My best friend from Cornwall met all my friends from university. I was so happy she came up for my birthday and hung out with all my friends and it was really good to see her!

5. I witnessed Man vs Food...not the real one from the television but instead my boyfriend attempting a triple brunch burger from Wetherspoon's. Man was challenged, and man conquered. This made me happy as it was a pretty impressive feat!

7. I'm ready and prepared for the Humanities Ball in May with this lovely dress:

8. I'm off home tomorrow! Though it's right at the end of March it's something that's been making me happy all month. I'm really excited to see my family, my cat and to lay in my big double bed! It shall be bliss!

9. I got asked to once again go back to Sainsbury's! Earlier on in February I was told I wasn't needed, and whilst excited to have so much time off over Easter, I was a little disappointed to have no work and therefore be earning no money, so when my boss texted me saying shifts were available I was happy to accept! It's nice to know I have a job waiting for me back home and don't have to worry about applying for loads of others.

10. And finally, I've really started to love blogging again particularly this week. My sister said this in her post too, but it does sometimes get hard to keep writing worrying that no one's really reading it, but then again, I write for myself and anyone else that reads it I'm always grateful. So thank you to all my loyal readers and welcome to my newest followers, my blog shall now be much more active with my passion returned!

MissIsGoode

Here's a few little facts about me:

1. Where were you born?

        Westonbirt, Tetbury, Gloucestershire

2. Were you named after someone?

        Not that I know of, do correct me if I'm wrong Mum or Dad! All I know is that I was initially going to be named Franchesca, until my Mum got concerned my nic name would end up being 'Fanny, some how the nic name 'Is he good?' just worked for them! 'A conversation starter' as my Dad said.

3. When was the last time you cried?

        Sunday afternoon whilst watching The Proposal (bloody predictable chick flicks always get to me) and almost yesterday evening when I caught up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead, don't cry Daryl you beautiful man!

4. Do you have any kids?

        Nope! Danger zone most definitely, I do love children, as long as I don't have any for the next 10 or more years!

5. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?

        This is a toughy for me, in all honestly, there's a lot I dislike about myself, so if I were a much more brilliant person, and finally the person I wanted to actually be, I wouldn't be friends with me. That's pretty sad isn't it? Although I am hilarious sometimes, so I would give myself a chance.

6. Do you have any pets?

        I do indeed, fat cat Frank! He's a lovely yet mean cat, when we moved house he decided to begin claiming his territory, he executed this by peeing, everywhere. I was left on my own on the Christmas eve of 2011, Frank my only companion. He toddles his way into the front room, ready to jump up on the sofa to join me for a Christmas film. He instead decided to claim me as his territory. I wasn't all that flattered. So, yes, that's Frank.

7. Do you use sarcasm?

       Oh I never use sarcasm.

8. Would you bungie jump?

        See, I think if I were given the chance I'd have to say yes, because there's so much I want to do in life that I shy away from now. If someone pushed me into the situation, I wouldn't give it a minutes thought.

9. What is your favourite cereal?

        Ooh tough one, I have to say muesli and dried Strawberry's. If not, some good ol' Coco Pops never go amiss.

10. What is your eye colour?

         Blue, which funnily enough I was always told was the rarest eye colour. To this, I outstretch a middle finger in disbelief. Most of my friends have blue eyes, most people I meet have blue eyes. Who told me this lie? May be someone tried to make me feel special? Likely!

11. Scary movies or happy endings?

        Happy endings, a scary movie doesn't go amiss with a group of friends, but I do love happy endings, I'm a real sap to be honest!

12. Do you have any brothers or sisters?

        I have a big sister and a big brother, they bullied me as the younger sibling (not brutally or anything, we're all friends!) I also thought I was adopted until about the age of 5 or 6 thanks to my sister, I think it's because I'm the astonishingly good looking one - just to wind her up :P.

13. Computer or TV?

        I have a disgustingly lazy persons habit, I'll sit with both on. And if I only have a laptop - like at uni - I'll put a film on but cannot sit back and watch it unless I'm with someone, otherwise I just browse the internet and just have the film as background noise, but I refuse to turn it off. So can I have both, pretty please?

14. What is the first thing you notice about another person?

        A persons hair usually - this is a bit odd isn't it, I just really admire how people style their hair.

15. Favourite smell?

        Vanilla is always a great smell, if not that then the smell of a roast cooking, always amazing!

16. Furthest you've gone away from home?

         France when I was eleven with my secondary school. Despite how much I desperately want to travel it's unfortunately the only place I've been in the world out of the UK!

17. Do you have a special talent?

        Being able to play a playstation game at the same time as watching Supernatural - and entirely following the plot line - is sadly as far as it goes. I used to be able to kick six foot too, but that went out the window when I stopped Karate.

18. Do you have any hobbies?

        Apart from blogging, sadly I don't.

19. Are you in love?

       Not at this current moment in time. 

MissIsGoode

...the only problem being I don't remember a lot of it. Darn students!

So, as you may or may not know it was my birthday on the Friday just gone, 19 years of age! How on Earth am I 19? I celebrated with a group of my friends - including my best friend from Cornwall who had travelled 10 hours on the bus to be there. We went to 'spoons, had a few drinks, I got a bit tipsy and bought more alcohol in Morrison's and we then returned to our block to ready ourselves for a night out at the union.

This is the point I can't tell you a lot more. We arrived at the union and I remember happy birthday's, me obsessively reminding people to say happy birthday to me, the shot bar, the bomb bar, and a lot of drinks. I suppose I had a good birthday? I got to the point when I couldn't remember much, but my lovely boyfriend took care of me despite me being a pain in the ass.

I woke up next to him with the usual thing he says after I go on a night out, 'Do you remember what you said last night?', me holding my head and trying to rid a bad taste out of my mouth will groggily respond, 'No...'. So, yes, a birthday to never forget! Fortunately everyone else was almost on equals with my drunkeness, so fingers crossed I wasn't too much of an idiot!

Thank you to all my friends for coming out for my birthday, especially to Charlie for trecking all the way up here. Thank you for the birthday presents too! I now can't wait to get home this weekend when my late birthday celebrations shall continue with a lovely family meal and a good catch up with all my friends back home!

MissIsGoode

This is a deliciously basic curry, it is relatively cheap and never disappoints. I made it for my Mum back home - who despises coconut and my boyfriend who's not a huge fan - and both of them loved it. I tend to be a bit of a rule breaker to traditional recipes and add something extra in simply for better taste, or to give myself more of a variety.

Thai Green Prawn Curry

Recipe for 2

Ingredients:

Prawns - approx. 200g

Peppers - mix it up with red/green/yellow - 1/4 of a pepper each

Green beans - a small handful at most

1/2 onion

Coconut milk

Thai green curry paste (for these last two I would recommend buying from the Blue Dragon range - it's a little more pricey but the paste will last you a few meals)

Preparation:

Heat a frying pan - on a low heat - with oil.

Chop up the halved onion into fine slices, followed by your mixture of peppers. Trim the ends off the green beans and cut into inch long pieces.

Once the oil is heated throw in the onion, peppers and beans in to fry off (until the onions are a golden brown)

Defrost the prawns and add to the pan once the onions are a golden brown.

Continue to stir for 5 minutes then add 2-3 teaspoons of the thai green curry paste (dependent on how spicy you would like it) and mix in as well as possible with the ingredients.

Pour in the coconut milk, stir and leave the curry to simmer until the milk thickens - stirring every so often to ensure it doesn't stick.

Serve with rice and enjoy!

Alternatively, try this with diced chicken breast (1 breast per person) - add the chicken to the mixture once the onions are golden brown, fry off for 10 - 15 minutes on a medium heat, or until the chicken is completely cooked (no pink is visible) and continue to the rest of the stages.

MissIsGoode

I haven't joined in on R2BC in such a long time and I have a lot to be cheerful at this moment in time!

Firstly, it's my birthday in a few days time and I'm going to be nineteen years of age, how it's gone so fast I do not know. I'm sure my parents are thinking the exact same thing though! In all honesty I had enough of a shock when my niece turned 5 earlier this year, where did the time go when she arrived at my house and slept so quietly in the moses basket whilst our dog Dipstick got weirdly jealous of all the attention the new baby was getting. It doesn't even feel right that it's March 2013...I swear I only started Keele a matter of moments ago?

Secondly, it's almost time to go back home! I pined a little more for Cornwall this semester than last, maybe because of the small glimmers of sunshine make me think of the beach and with Easter approaching my friends and I would all usually be preparing ourselves to kill some time in the spring sunshine, and with me (quite happily) not needed back at Sainsbury's for this holiday, that is exactly what I shall be doing! I'm really looking forward to seeing my family, spend some time with my sister, Jay and the kids, and have some late birthday celebrations with the family!

I have a visitor! My best friend Charlie is on her way up here on Thursday at almost midnight and I'm so happy to have her here for my birthday, it wouldn't be the same without the most painful of birthday beats and a crude birthday card.

The short papers are almost done! Short papers are just a pain, they're close readings but the issues you want to discuss are too big, and you sometimes can't find enough to say to fill the 1000 word (tiny) word count, but then other times you can't stop yourself going over! However, with the short papers finishing, it means the long essays are on the horizon.

MissIsGoode

It's only a few days until my birthday now, and I honestly cannot believe I'm about to be 19.

Nineteen.

How has life gone so fast? I moved down to Cornwall from Gloucestershire in 2001, I moved from a huge house with a beautiful garden, leaving behind pet ducks, the boat garden, the star garden, the herb garden, the secret garden - it was a pretty magical place to grow up. I had a shared bedroom with my big sister that was painted with a jungle theme, I remember waking up on what must have been my seventh birthday, to my family all stood around my bottom bunk and a bike sat in the middle of the room. I was ecstatic, but that bike caused many injuries - though it moved down to Cornwall with us and I continued to ride it, fixed up several times by the guys who worked in the garage next store, until I completely out grew it and my Mum threw it out without telling me (genuine devastation was felt that day).

When we moved down to Cornwall, we found the most beautiful house. It was in the middle of no where - exactly where we all loved to live, until I started college and realised how undesirable a 5 o'clock wake up was just to make sure I was ready in time. I was only seven when we moved to Cornwall, and to be honest it was pretty exciting. To be in a whole new place was so strange for me, and I clung to my mum on my first day at Garras Primary School. It's strange that that school was the place I met my best friend, Charlie, who I haven't had a birthday without since 2002 - she's even making an almost ten hour bus ride to be here next weekend!

It's weird how I've watched all my friends grow up from the kids we once were to the big kids we still are. I have so many amazing memories with so many amazing people and more are being made all the time. Looking back to secondary school I wouldn't think that the mousy, weird, tomboy year 7 I once was would become who I am now. I never even thought about university when I was in any year of secondary school, I barely even began to in my first year of college. But I've never been happier.

MissIsGoode

As a student there's no denying that a large majority of us survive on repetitive meals that aren't always all that creative, and the reason for this usually boils down to one single factor: laziness.

I must admit it can be a lot of effort to muster the energy to cook a great meal for just yourself to appreciate, but it sure beats eating the same few meals every week and having no choice but to be ecstatic when the holidays come about so you can finally have a home cooked meal. I know I got pretty fed up of pasta, pesto and cheese within a pretty quick amount time (I know, I'm in the wrong for saying such a thing, it is still delicious but not several times a week).

So, I thought I'd give other students a hand with getting out of the boring side of eating (there's a boring side?!). If you haven't already got out of the stage of repetitive meals and gone rouge, I urge you to do so before you turn into a pizza. Or even a Dominoes representative.

My main suggestion is something that I decided on even before university - pairing up with someone. This means one of two things; if you can cook, you have a servant to wash up after you, or if you cannot cook, you have dinner cooked for you. It's a win win situation. It also means you have two minds to come up with ideas for dinner - doing a meal plan is always best, or at least have in your head (and obviously the correct supplies in your fridge and cupboard) the meals you want to make each week.

Between two of us, Faye and I, would usually spend just under £20 on food for dinner for the week - we don't shop together at this current moment in time, because in all honesty I'm pretty broke so either eat at my lovely boyfriend's place or turn to my soup stash (don't call me a hypocrite now for suggesting you try different meals, sympathise - I'm poor). Usually the main things being pasta, meat, cheese, veg and various sauces that help us to create meals that we actually enjoy - rather than find repetitively boring.

So, keep an eye out for some of my latest creations of evening meals. I'll be posting a few up every few days or so, with details of the ingredients and technique in hope to inspire us students to step back from the pizza delivery!

MissIsGoode

It's been a long time since I've posted and I apologise, but it's been quite blissfully dull these past few weeks of 2013!

After antics at the union yesterday evening, and with the sun finally shining on Keele, my boyfriend and I decided to take a stroll around Keele woods - despite my adoration for the country side and how peaceful it is, I hadn't yet explored the woods and the abundance of land Keele boasts about, and I'm very glad to have done so now.

MissIsGoode