Sophs blog

One of my favorite activities is cooking with my friend Melina; we have a really similar taste for junk food so when we're hungover we make a pretty great team. Recently we decided to make burgers and boy oh boy were they tasty and 100% gluten free.  Burgers are really easy to make and not too spenny either and went perfectly with our homemade chips, blue cheese sauce and guacamole- i'm salivating just thinking about it. For this post I'm going to include recipes for all four elements of this dish so you can make it at home! For the Burgers you'll need: - beef mince meat - an onion (red or white) - 3 cloves of garlic - parsley - one jalapeno chilli - one red chilli - smoked paprika - garlic powder - salt - pepper - cumin - cheddar or American cheese - one egg For the blue cheese sauce: - blue cheese (we used st.Agur) - sour cream  - balsamic vinegar  - pepper For the chips:  - a big bottle of sunflower oil - p...

As one of London's busiest hubs its unsurprising that there's so much to do in Kings Cross. More recently I keep ending up here and think it's a really busy and bubbly part of North West London that's worth spending some time in, and what could be better than doing it for under £20?  Since I'm a student i'm always on the look out for free/thrifty things to do in London and excusing travel it's not that hard to find. So if you happen to find yourself in Kings Cross and want to explore it then keep reading.  1) Get cultured . Luckily, Kings Cross is home to both the British Library and the Welcome Collection. Both have free admission to the majority of exhibitions and are each in their own right historical gems.  The Welcome Collection boasts all things weird and wonderful in the medical arena and provides insight into things you wouldn't necessarily come across that often. Their current exhibition ' Somewhere in Between' explores sexual ...

Since we're in a bit of a heatwave right now I thought I'd write about a few of my favorite summer activities to do in London which I'm trying to do before the good weather goes away! 1) Rooftop bars This is the epitome of a summers day/evening for me. London is blessed with a hella lot of tall buildings, some of which take the form of rooftop bars. I would suggest going to Netil 360, Skylight, Brouhaha or Franks Cafe. The only one without a view of the skyline is Brouhaha but it makes a more intimate setting for a quiet drink or chill.  2) Parks Everyone loves lounging in the park when it's sunny, you can drink, have a picnic, play ping pong or just chill out with a book or some headphones. My favorite London parks are Alexandra Palace, Primrose Hill and the Heath.  3) Swimming When it's hot take advantage of swimming! It's exercise, it's refreshing and London has some wicked places to go. Hit the ponds at Hampstead Heath or your local li...

As I'm now in my final term of uni I thought I'd write a piece about my university experience as a whole. There have been some serious highs but also some serious lows and I can honestly say this final year has probably been the hardest year I've ever had; not just study wise but also emotionally. So with that in mind I'm kind of in shock that I've only got a month left. After a year of running home every weekend just to cope, experiencing anxiety and all levels of mood swings and (for the first time ever) attending pretty much all my seminars, I am stunned that it's coming to an end.  Despite this year not being the one, there have been some good points and looking at the past four years I've definitely learnt some things that I wanted to share. 1) You make friends for life. Like school you're gonna meet a lot of shitty people, but once you sift through them you meet some pretty awesome ones too. I've met some of my closest friends at uni a...

As a previous regular cab user in Norwich I've heard some pretty shocking, non PC things. Me and my friend were discussing this and wondering about why the cab drivers in Norwich seem to think this politically incorrect, offensive, overshared language is acceptable to say to young people. So I've decided to list a few of the worst ones and ask why this might be a thing? Despite only two of these seeming directly threatening to women they all have made me feel uncomfortable, grossed out and powerless. When you're in someone else' car it's hard to challenge what they're saying as you don't know how they might react. However by not reacting does this encourage this behavior? Does it make them think it's ok to use me, the vulnerable customer, as a racist diary?  This is not to say that all cab drivers in Norwich are horrible racists but these are a few stand out experiences and I know friends of mine have experienced similar things.  1) "I ...

"women felt strong enough and powerful enough to speak up and share their personal stories, each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories we tell and this year we became the story" -  Oprah Winfrey  Every time I watch Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globes speech it sends a shiver down my spine, it reaches my very core and reaffirms all of my feminist beliefs and love for the women around me.  I was having dinner with some of my best girlfriends last week and we were all discussing our career paths. I found this such a heartwarming and positive discussion as we all rejoiced in the fact that we all wanted to do something creative and meaningful.  Amber teaches sex education and empowers adults and young people constantly. Jessie works in public relations and we hope to write a book together in the future. Izzy is a photographer who aims to smash the art world and has her own exhibition coming up.  Ella aims to go into events, build up th...