This, my friends, is the Buddha Beauty Bowl from Madeleine Shaw’s recipe book, Ready Steady Glow. Not my usual kind of lunch (mainly because it’s not sandwiched inside two enormous chunks of buttered bread or topped with a fat ball of mozzarella) but boy did I enjoy it! Perhaps it was because I cooked it up in a gorgeous country kitchen at the picturesque Soho Farmhouse, then gobbled it down sat in blazing sunshine in a quaint vegetable garden (as you do), but it really was delicious. Fresh, filling (I could have eaten a quarter of it and still been quite satisfied) and incredibly virtuous with its raw beetroot and carrot and oranges and avocado and miso dressing and flaked almonds.

Phew.

To be perfectly honest, grating beetroot and heating chickpeas with a miso dressing is far more effort than I’d ever go to for a normal lunchtime, but I felt so good after eating my Buddha Bowl (I managed to gobble down two thirds of it) that I’ve been inspired to have a little search for a few more fresh and easy lunches. Ones that don’t involve grating, preferably, because vegetable grating is up there with sieve-washing and oven-shelf-scrubbing and egg-separating on my Most-Hated Kitchen Jobs list.

I need to have a proper peruse of Madeleine’s book because everything looks so colourful and appetising and the recipes I made from it (during the Origins Soho Farmhouse retreat, see vlog here) were very tasty. I’ve been having a bit of an “anti-clean-eating moment” because I’m a bit tired of the whole kale-juice thing and of reading that we can’t eat this and we must avoid that (including cutting out HUGE food groups, which always makes me slightly worried) but Ready Steady Glow looks relatively sensible with a focus on fresh ingredients and interesting preparation ideas. I’ll keep you updated. If you fancy a browse yourself, it’s here on Amazon.

Amusingly, I had a “local pub version” of the Buddha Beauty Bowl a few days ago – grated beetroot was probably the only similarity, because this had pickled egg (ew! not something I’ll ever eat again), coleslaw, half a loaf of granary bread and about a kilo of peeled fresh prawns tipped into the middle of the bowl. I have to say that the Shaw version beat the pub version, hands down…those stir-fried chickpeas were a meal on their own!

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: The Buddha Beauty Bowl appeared first on A Model Recommends.

© 2016 A Model Recommends®: all opinions are my own and any sponsored or paid posts will always be very clearly marked. I accept press samples and receive product and services to review as part of my job. Outward links to retailers will usually be affiliate links. Please see here for full “about” section and disclaimer.  A Model Recommends and Ruth Crilly are registered trademarks.

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Beauty favourites were a bit thin on the ground, last month, but I did do quite a bit of reading so I’ve shared this video between reading recommendations and beautifying tips. The Anne Tyler book (here) is just a beautifully gentle, slow-paced novel, examining the relationships within a family and gradually revealing more and more about their backstory. It’s not a “page-turner” (that’s not really what Anne Tyler does) but I still looked forward to getting back to it every night before bed – it made me very contemplative and appreciative of my own family and friends.

I’ve only just started Emma Cline’s The Girls (here) but already I’m hooked. It’s set to be quite a dark read, I think – I have tried not to look at any reviews (it’s getting a lot of publicity), but from what I gather it’s about a murderous Charles Manson-esque cult. Gritty subject matter, but the writing style, so far at least, is totally engaging – shrewd and observant but with a certain softness. I’ll report back when I’ve finished, but I think that this will be a great summer read, if you’re after one.

On with the video! A list of favourites can be found by scrolling down the page, if you don’t want to sit through my waffling…

A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler: http://amzn.to/29KoKb0

David Sedaris: http://amzn.to/29yK8OH

The Girls, Emma Cline: http://amzn.to/29CpdOe

Alpine Ear Plugs: http://amzn.to/29t2yAM

YSL Saharienne Bronzing Stones: http://bit.ly/29t341I

L’Oreal Paris Sexy Balm Shade 102, Gossip: http://amzn.to/29t2UY0

First Aid Beauty Serum: http://amzn.to/29rPJKt

Alpha H Beauty Sleep Power Peel: http://www.amodelrecommends.com/2016/…

Dirty Works Cucumber Eye Pads: http://goo.gl/TVELXz

The post June Favourites: Books and Beauty appeared first on A Model Recommends.

© 2016 A Model Recommends®: all opinions are my own and any sponsored or paid posts will always be very clearly marked. I accept press samples and receive product and services to review as part of my job. Outward links to retailers will usually be affiliate links. Please see here for full “about” section and disclaimer.  A Model Recommends and Ruth Crilly are registered trademarks.

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