INTRODUCING | CASUAL CLOBBER on ASOS Marketplace

Calling all fans of vintage, reclaimed or reworked fashion, or just clothes in general tbh. There's a new stall at the market and it's called 'Casual Clobber'. Accessible exclusively through ASOS Marketplace, the store was started by Hemel's very own Sam Brown, formerly of Longdean School and his 'mrs'.. Mayzie Harvey.

The site features me (YES literally me..) in a wide range of vintage, new and pre-owned gear, posing against various urban and suburban backdrops, ignore me though - the clothes are amazing, not to mention well-priced. 

I've been into vintage/90s-wear for as long as I can remember, I've never shied away from cutting the bottoms off my trousers and have never been able to hide my love of differing styles. I've dipped in and out of the buying and selling of vintage clothing myself, previously having sold on Depop, eBay, Sphock and most other auction sites that you can think of.. 'it's probably something I will need to restart in the near future' he types, whilst gazing longingly at his overflowing 'clothes for sale' box...

If you've also had similar ideas and don't know where to start, Depop's a good idea! All you need is a phone with a good camera, or a phone and a good camera, a creative mind and the motivation to get to a post office to meet the demands of total strangers. Ebay is and always will be a good, reliable alternative to the newer sites and apps available so if all else fails, kickstart an eBay account.

SO, yes. About Casual Clobber.. Check out the site (click here) and you'll find gems like the one I'm wearing below.

Vintage RALPH LAUREN Button Down Shirt

ONLY £19.99

The site is currently stocking 28 items, with plenty more in the pipeline.. And that's only shirts and jackets. Bottoms are to be posted in the coming weeks. Help a budding local businessman by checking out the store or simply by sharing this post and anything else you see promoting his site.

Here's the man himself.. 'Sam'ta Claus - providing the youth with styyyyle.

Download ASOS Marketplace for free on the App Store and Google Play Store (Android).

Enter 'MatesRates' at the checkout for 10% off your order!

Thanks for reading! Have a blessed day X

DIY - PIZZA!

Today I'm doing something different.. I'm going to be blogging about food! I probably won't do this often but I have genuinely been asked by a few people to blog about this specific dish.

Have a look at my about me, you'll see there somewhere that I speak about a certain obsession of mine.. Oh yes. It's pizza. I mean we all do like a bit of this Italian cake but in my life I have met some people who are also just that little bit more .. 'interested' in pizza.

I, personally, can't get enough of it and could probably eat it 6/7 days a week, for the rest of my life, no exaggeration. Pizza can be complimented by a number of sides, contributing to a balanced meal, at the same time as being quit a balanced meal in itself.

Pizza has been around for around 200 years now. The term was first recorded in AD 997, in a Latin manuscript from the southern Italian town of Gaeta, in Lazio, Central Italy. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish and its variants have since become popular in many areas of the world.

The modern pizza evolved from early flatbread meals created by the Greeks and the Romans. The ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese. And later, The Romans developed placenta cake, a sheet of dough topped with cheese and honey and flavoured with bay leaves.

Early forms of pizza were actually found in Greece, in an ancient underground cellar, where 1,000,000,000 freshly preserved pizzas were found, 20,000 years old.

Okay, that's not true, I get carried away, if you know me then you know that one of my favourite things to do is telling people something crazy with a straight face, momentarily leaving people shocked, until I gift them with relief. That 2 second look of despair is priceless. 

Anyway, less about my silly ways. Pizza. Yes. Ever since an early age, my family have made pizzas together instead of buying them from stores or take-aways, credit has to be given to my auntie Jennifer who first gave my mum the wonderful recipe and a big thanks is due to the pizza company situated in Viersen, Germany (who gave my auntie there own recipe).

Making pizzas at home saves you a BUCKET load, and nothing taste better than the work of your own hands. "The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands." Deuteronomy 28:12.

For the last 5 years, I have been eating pizzas religiously. Working at Pizza Hut was a main factor, I was addicted to all the different pizzas they sold but working there also made my want for homemade pizza greatly increase. I now consider myself a pro pizza maker and a lot of the pies I have made can be viewed on my Instagram!

Here's what you need..

Ingredients

300g Strong Bread Flour

1tsp Salt

1tsp Instant Yeast

1tbsp Olive Oil

200ml Warm Water

Toppings

Toppings do vary dependant on each person. Here are the toppings I go for, for 1 pizza..

4 Slices of Salami

4 Slices of Pepperoni

3 Mushroom

10 Olives (20 halves)

1 Bacon Rasher

Half a small cup of Sweetcorn

Buffalo Mozzarella

Mixed Herbs (as much as you like)

Thyme (as much as you like)

And here's what you've all been waiting for, instructions..

THE DOUGH

1. PREHEAT THE OVEN AT GASMARK 8

2. Measure up everything that you need, use scales for the flour. tsp = teaspoon, tbsp = tablespoon.

3. Get a big bowl, pour the flour into the bowl with the yeast and salt. When you've done that mix them well and consistently.

4. Make a well in the middle and pour in the olive oil and warm water.

5. Mix it all together.

6. Make sure you kneed the dough very well, it seems like a long process but the more attention you pay to the dough, the better your pizza will turn out, take my word for it.

THE SAUCE

1.Chop up half an onion, preferably a white one.
2. Open your tin of chopped tomatoes with your teeth (or a can opener)
3. Heat up about a tbsp of olive oil.
4. Add the onions and any seasoning, but don't go to mad as you don't want to lose the essentially natural tomato taste.
5. After about 4-7 mins with onions on low heat, add the tomatoes.
6. Add some anything else you like, but again.. DON'T GO OVERBOARD.
7. Leave it to cook for another 10 minutes and then leave the pot on the side to stand and get back to rolling out that perfectly kneeded dough.

THE PIZZA

1. Hopefully your dough isn't too tough, if so.. you may need to add some olive, about half a teaspoon and a dash of water.
2. Flour your surface and proceed to roll out the dough.
3. Flour your pizza pan/oven dish.
4. Do most of the stretching outside of the pan, but you may need to stretch it a lil' bit more if it's not touching the sides and you're a perfectionist, comme moi.
5. Apply your sauce and then your cheese.
6. A tip I picked up from Pizza Hut - PMV (Pepperoni, Meat, Veg), this is the order in which you ideally should be topping your pizza.
7. Put it into your pre-heated oven, for about 20-30 minutes, dependant on how brown you want it. I leave it in for just over 20 minutes, my mum pushes the 30s.
8. VOILA, you've just saved yourself about £13! Enjoy the work of your own hands.

Sit back and enjoooooy.

Now, presenting to you some pictures of the process..

The whole process may seem a tad time-consuming but I assure you it doesn't take long at all, about an hour in total, as quickly as 40 minutes for me sometimes. And all for a taste that is unbeatable! Go and make yourself a wholesome homemade Italian pizza pie NOW. 

Stay tuned and stay blessed!

COOL POINTERS; BARGAINS - £24 for EVERYTHING!

Good day friends, it has been a WHILE. Too long. Anyway, today I think I'm going to give you guys 2 posts today! I do have the dentist at 3pm, so it depends on how I feel after that.

But before I go, I'm going to show you guys a few bargains I've recently bumped into and couldn't help but buy! As you know already, I'm not a big spender and that's mainly because I'm not a big earner, so I LOVE bargain hunting. When bargain hunting, in this instance, for clothes, you must take into account a number of different things before you make the purchase. These things are all pretty obvious, I'd say they were; price(before n after), originality(it may be cheap because it's massed produced and you do not want that!), brand name(the more familiar you are with the brand, the more you can trust it's quality) and then all the other factors that come into play when clothes shopping normally like size, etc.

All these items cost me £24 in total, scroll down and see what I bought!

We start with this Peter Storm Jacket, once an £80 jacket, is mine and all for just £6!

£6 - British Heart Foundation

Here we have some Gola socks, 2 pairs from a pack of 8! Wait for it.. that cost me £4!! I was on break from work in my local Tesco and had to buy, especially as I was experiencing the worst sock drought of my life!

£4 - Tesco

NOW WE HAVE SOME SHIRTS..

£2 - East End Thrift Store!

£2 - East End Thrift Store

£3 - Iain Rennie Hospice

£3 - Iain Rennie Hospice

The penultimate item is one my favourite buys, as I've been looking for a head sports bag for some time now! And when I finally bumped into one, the price meant I had to make it mine there and then. £4 people!!!

Jealous? Wait for my next acquisition!

After being told off on numerous occassions for thinking I can get away with wearing all black trainers, instead of smart shoes, I finally chose to conform. But I was still being stubborn I was only settling for a pair of Doc Martens, and when my hairdresser told me his best friend worked at Doc Martens, I thought life couldn't get better. Obviously, it did. Turns out my hairdresser Ben just bough brand new ones and was looking to get rid of his! Given my interest, Ben offered them to me for FREE, conveniently he lives opposite me girl Laura in Hackney so I was able to pick them up soon after the agreement was made and HERE they are..

£0 - A friend!

Jealous now? YOU STILL DON'T HAVE TO BE! As you see, I only really go to charity shops for these finds,  so go to your local charity shops and if they don't do it for you then go to some charity shops that aren't local to you? See how it works.. Also, if you really want something go to someone you think will have that thing and ask if they can advice you on the cheapest to get what you want.

Click here for more information on the East End Thrift Store. Some days EETS host a £1 day where selected items (ALOT) are all a pound.

Save your pounds and shop cheap people!

Stay tuned and stay blessed!!

COOL PLACES; HOT DAY IN NARNIA

The 9th of March had been highly-anticipated by many people all over the captial. High's of 17 degrees had been reported (hotter than a 9th of Match spent in Ibiza) and the day did not disappoint, not a cloud in site and a gawjusss heat. Laura and I decided to head out to London's thrifty East End! We went for a afternoon drink on Boxpark, Shoreditch. We then made our way to the sure-to-be-packed Brick Lane, we cut through the market on Scalter Way and it was definitely a taster for what was in store at the market. There were great deals everywhere and movement was oh so limited. 

Good deals on Scalter Way Market, towards Brick Lane from Shoreditch High Street Station

MEGA bottles of shampoo and conditioner - £2

Heavy Duty bike lock, with 3 keys! - £3 (£30-100+ RRP) - this makes me think that the keys are all generic so be careful if you're buying these locks for a bike in the Shoreditch area as people may have the key to YOUR lock)

Vinyls for cheap - (20p - £3)

Typical yard sales

Anyway, we soon reached a busy Brick Lane and proceeded to look around! You had all your different market stalls and more innovative stalls, selling quirky, cool and also common gadgets and products. Our stomach's soon started talking to us, so we listened, and went to eat in Brick Lane Food Hall recommended by Laura, there was so much choice and ultimately, we ended up going for a Venezulan(...?!?) delicasse.

After that, we made our way to see what Brick Lane had to offer! We ambled through the herds of people, making some buys on the way. Our eyes were drawn to various vendors, some had an amazing artillery of stock, from vintage cameras to henna tattoos, Brick Lane's Sunday Market does have it all! We then sat down on a bit of free space in the midst of thousands of people pausing for a 'breather'/sip of anything. There we met a cooool couple, Moss and Louis. We ended up walking down Regent's Canal and also having a look at the Columbia Flower Market, PERFECT, for you guys that have A LOT of making up to do. You can buy lovely bunches from as cheaps 50p so check it out if you're in the area on a Sunday!

Finished the night at The Ferry Boat Inn, in last year's hometown.. Tottenham Hale, where we enjoyed a delightful meal before retreating, back to Hackney.

Here are some snaps from the day! I THINK.. they're in the right order.

Sunnies (Brick Lane Market) - £8

 

Smoked Salmon Bagels for £1.40 (20p more for cream cheese..)

 

 Sunnies (Brick Lane) - £5

Top (East End Thrift store) - £2

Casio Watch (Argos) - £8

Last year, a party was held in the derelict bulding just behind the red frame, music and people could be heard and seen for miles, ahh London.

Nigerians are out here, land, water, we're everywhere.

This lovely bunch was only £2 from the flower market!

They really brighten up a room, more for the ladies. Men, I am not encouraging you to buy roses for your windowsills, this is a picture of Laura's windowsill in Hackney.

 All in all it was a good day spent getting to know cool people and enjoying all the offers a keen bargain hunter like myself could dream for!

Whilst walking through the crowds of people L was stopped by Gianna, a Cypriot hairdresser, working for Ena Salon, Holborn! Laura was offered a free haircut, this is a common thrifty opportunity that you just can't turn down, my next blog'll be a wuick one about L's free cut!

Stay tuned and stay blessed, GRM updates also coming soon!

Follow the cool couple on insta.. Moss & Louis

and have a look at Laura's new blog @ kitkittyfashion.blogspot.com