That's what she read: September

We've always been avid readers of pretty much anything and everything and have been sharing and recommending books to each other since we first met. There were many days when we would turn up to school, arms laden with books to exchange, excited to read whatever the other had to offer. We essentially started our own private book club, which has continued for years. We've both really enjoyed our books this month and so we thought we'd share with you what we've been reading!

Lizzie: 

Read: Room, Emma Donoghue

This book is brilliant, I can't emphasise how much i enjoyed reading it enough and it's definitely not my usual read. It's a story told from the perspective of a five year old boy who is living in a room with his mother. I really don't want to give away more than that as it's best read properly spoiler free! The narration can take a bit of time to get used to but it's definitely worth the effort. It's one of the most tense books I've read, I read it cover to cover in one go, I literally didn't put it down! It's a clever novel made even more harrowing reading from the voice of a child.

To Read: Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

Sophie: 

Read: The Secret History, Donna Tartt

This book is narrated by a working-class Classics student who has earned himself a place at an expensive and elitist college. His course consists of only five other students, all of whom are seemingly wealthy and rather obsessed with their subject. The link with Classics in strong throughout the book, with many parallels to Greek tragedy. I love this book as the story opens with a murder, and then looks back to the events beforehand. You're gripped from the start and as you read on, knowing what is coming, the question of  'why' is answered. I have been so impressed with this book, I cannot wait to read Tartt's most recent novel, The Goldfinch.

To Read: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami

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If you've read any of these books, let us know what you thought of them! And please feel free to comment with any recommendations!
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Recipe: Easy Salsa

Just a little extra post today to give your our fabulous/ridiculously easy salsa recipe! 

You will need: 

half a small red onion

small clove of garlic

cherry tomatoes (3 pp depending on how many of you there are!)

lemon

salt and pepper

olive oil

Dice your red onion.

Finely chop your garlic (crushing it works fine too).

Cut the tomatoes into quarters.

Drizzle with olive oil and add a squeeze of lemon then season well. You can also add a little chilli oil or chilli flakes at this point if you like salsa with heat!

This salsa is really yummy and really cheap to make (probably cost around 40p) why buy it in a pot when you can make your own?!

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Recipe: Quesadilla

We both absolutely love making and eating Mexican food so we thought we'd share our delicious and really simple Quesadilla recipe with you. It's easy to make and easy to adapt and change according to your taste! This recipe serves four people and makes four tortillas

You will need: 

Tortilla wraps 

Cream Cheese

2 large chicken breasts or four small ones (this is optional if you don't eat meat!)

half an onion (can be red or white depending on what you like/have in)

a pepper

6 fairly large mushrooms

tomato paste

one medium sized clove of garlic

paprika

salt + pepper

ketchup

worcestershire sauce

lemon

Firstly, chop the chicken into small chunks

Fry off the chicken in a small amount of oil in a preheated pan, make sure the chicken sizzles when it hits the pan! Turn the heat down to medium.

What you season your chicken with is really up to you, but we used plenty of paprika, salt and pepper on ours!

Dice an onion and throw it in the pan once the chicken is seared on both sides. Chop up your pepper and mushrooms and add to your pan once the onions have started to soften.

Crush/slice/dice/chop (however you like your garlic) and add to the mixture along with the tomato paste, ketchup, lemon and worcestershire sauce. Season to taste.

Leave your mixture on a low heat and prepare your tortillas. Spread your cream cheese onto one side of two wraps.

Spoon your filling onto the tortilla and spread around. 

Try not to overfill or spread too close to the edges or it will fall out in the pan!

Place the quesadilla into a dry pan on a medium heat. Leave to crisp up for 2-3 minutes.

This part can be a little tricky but trust us this is the easiest way we've found of doing it! You'll need to flip your quesadilla over so the other side crisps up nicely. Place a plate on top of your pan.

Holding the plate on top of the pan, flip the pan over so the plate is on the bottom

Voila! Flipped quesadilla. 

Then slide it back into the pan and wait another couple of minutes until the wrap is crunchy.

We served ours with a homemade salsa (recipe to come soon!) but it's also great with salad!

Other things you could include in the filling are sweetcorn, bacon, mozzerella cheese, salami, spinach and basically anything that's good in fajitas or on a pizza is good in this!

We've been asked a few times about what we're wearing so we're going to start including little outfit photos at the end.

jeans: Topshop, top: Gap, boots: Next

shirt: Ralph Lauren mens, necklace: Tiffany belt: Primark, jeans: H&M (also know as bargain of the century - £2 in the sale!!) flats: Marks and Spencer

Let us know if you try this recipe!

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