My juice detox.

After my super unhealthy last few days in France (did you see the amount of cream on everything I ordered?!), I decided to undertake a juice detox. Mum bought me a juicer especially for my return back home! Obviously she's seen the pictures.. 

So a juice fast for 3 days - how hard could it be?

First off, buying the quantity of fruit and greens BEFORE I EVEN STARTED was eye opening (and expensive!). But this amount of goodness must surely do me some good, yes?

Day One: 

Start with a cup of green tea for a slight caffeine hit. I need my caffeine! 

Breakfast juice: 
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. flax seed
1 punnet raspberries
A handful of spinach
1 Tbsp. almond butter
Squeeze of lemon
1 mashed banana (bananas can't go in the juicer due to their make up)

I really enjoyed this juice! The almond butter gives a depth and a thickness to the otherwise watery juice, but even without the sweetness of the raspberries makes it taste good. I didn't enjoy the texture of the mashed banana in it - it's lumpy and you have to eat it at the end. Reminds me of baby food.. Yuk. You don't notice the spinach at all, so I'm getting in my veggies without realising!




Lunch juice:
4 celery stalks
1 cucumber
2 handfuls kale leaves
1/2 green apple
1/2 lime (put this in the juicer last)
1/2 mugful quinoa milk (or any non-dairy milk you have on hand)
1/3 of a fresh pineapple 

















This juice is a lot more green than the breakfast juice so I feel like it's probably better for me - less sugar, more goodness. That being said, I prefer the morning juice - probably for that exact reason! With this juice, the pineapple is a necessity - it brings the only sweetness to the drink.

I repeated the breakfast juice as I was feeling a touch peckish.. And to be fair, these juices do curb your appetite! I've not felt stupidly hungry all day.. It's more a mental thing, I think. I feel like I should eat, not I need to eat.




Evening juice:
1/3 of a fresh mango
1 punnet blueberries
1 1/2 mugfuls coconut water
2 handfuls kale leaves
1 cucumber
A squeeze of lemon
1/2 avocado
1 Tbsp. flax seeds

























This was nice, and the fact it has avocado in really fills you up for the rest of the evening. I went to bed feeling fine - I hate going to bed hungry! However, I did develop a bit of a headache but I was warned this would happen.

Day Two:

Woke up feeling light and clean.. I know that sounds weird, but I did. No hunger pangs and I slept better than I'd done in a while.

Green tea again.

Morning juice:
1 mug water
1 Tbsp. flax seed
2 punnets raspberries
A handful of spinach
1 Tbsp. almond butter
Squeeze of lemon

I omitted the mashed banana because I didn't like it, so I put in an extra load of raspberries. For some strange reason this juice was half the size of my breakfast juice yesterday, which I don't quite understand but hey, tasted good. I may have licked the spoon of the almond butter.. That's not cheating, right?

Lunch juice:
4 handfuls kale 
2 apples
2 handfuls spinach
1/2 cucumber
2 celery stalks
2 carrots

1″ ginger

Not the most attractive juice - in fact it looks like puréed grass. However this is my favourite so far! The ginger gives it a nice hit, but the juice just tastes so... fresh! It's all the tastes of summer: freshly cut grass, warmth on your neck. I think I've put the message across that I like this one! 

Dinner juice:

1/2 handful kale

1/3 of a fresh mango

1/4 of a fresh pineapple

Small handful of blueberries

1 Tbsp. flax seed

1 apple

This is basically just a green coloured pineapple juice - it's fine. Nothing to write home about though. The flax seeds didn't get crushed as well so I ended up with a sort of paste left at the end, which was rather icky. 

Day Three:

I woke up fairly hungry so I went straight for my morning juice and skipped my green tea - I'll save that for later.

Morning juice:
2 apples
1/2 cucumber
1 punnet blueberries
1" ginger
1 Tbsp. flax seed
Squeeze of lemon
1 handful kale

I may have overestimated 1" of ginger so that's all I can taste in this morning juice! Not overly pleasant I must admit. I do enjoy the colours of it though - reminds me of a cocktail!





























Lunch juice:
1 apple
2 stalks celery
1/2 punnet blueberries
2 carrots
Good glug of coconut water
1 handful kale

This was an unusual colour, but it tasted fabulous! I enjoyed this one massively, and didn't need an afternoon juice before having my evening one, though I did have a probiotic yoghurt. 



























My final juice! Also known as, using up what was left in the fridge:

1/2 cucumber
1 green apple
1/4 of a pineapple
1/3 of a mango
A handful of spinach
A small handful of kale
1 punnet raspberries
1 Tbsp. agave nectar

I whizzed up the ingredients and found it rather bitter, so I added in the agave syrup which improved it no end! Even my mother (who detests these juices and the idea of a juice detox) said she could drink it a couple of times a day if she were to undertake one.. Oh how one can change! 

So in all, it's been challenging - I definitely thought of packing in the towel on at least 3 occasions, but I'm so glad I didn't! I don't know if it's done me any good, but I certainly feel fresher - and as a bonus, I even lost 4lbs! I don't know whether I'd do any longer than 3 days, but I'm definitely going to aim to do at least one day a week - probably Monday, after the weekend binge.. 

COCKTAILS!

As you may well know, cocktails are my vice (along with shopping, food, etc). But basically, they're my downfall.

So here's a roundup of some of the cocktails I've had in my time in France! I just hope I can remember what's in them so as to recreate them.. Somehow I think remembering things and alcohol just don't mix..

Le Parfait, from La Fabrik.

And my good-ness, it is perfect. Tasting kind of like gummy sweets, it's the right amount of alcohol to get you slightly merry but not be able to taste the alcohol - very dangerous, but so worth it. Go on, live vicariously!

Helen - Strawberry daiquiri 

Me - Martini Royale

In this instance, I preferred the slushiness and sweetness of Helen's daiquiri to my rather potent martini, though the champagne in it was a definite bonus!

I don't know if you can count these next two as cocktails.. They are twists on the Kir Royale, but instead of using Kir I went for a lychee liqueur, and Alice went for a lavender one. Just what the doctor ordered after an exam! 

Nice, Monaco and a lot of Champagne.

Tom came to visit me in Monty P again, but as it's not the biggest of places we thought we should venture further afield. To Nice, for instance. 

Despite it drizzling pretty much non-stop, we managed to explore La Vieille Nice, the old town which is stunning, and climb the hill to an old castle with the most beautiful view (above) and waterfall (below) ever.

Of course this called for a photo opportunity. 

Before dinner, we thought an aperitif was in order, so we headed to a champagne bar for a glass of Mumm each and some nibbles. 

For the evening meal, we had meat fondue, which, I'm ashamed to say, is the first time I've ever had it.. But it was worth the wait. This photo was taken in-between our restaurant and our walk to the next bar; just look at that sunset!

After gorging ourselves on meat, chips and some vin, we went for cocktails. This place, I wish I could remember the name! It was underground, bustling with locals, and the choice of cocktails… It was like being in a dream! 

After ordering a few rounds, the bartender realised we weren't going anywhere, so gave us both a free shot with liquid ice - amazing!

The place was so buzzing but relaxed, and we wanted to stay, so Tom splurged.. 

But he was upset that it didn't come with sparklers. 

The next day, we found out it was only half an hour to Monte Carlo, so that was a no-brainer. The weather unfortunately got worse, but we're Brits, and we're used to the rain, and we didn't let it ruin our day (despite having wet feet by the end). 

The Casino

Inside the casino

The rain got too much, so we went for lunch. Hands down, the best view for a lunch time meal I've had...

Espresso Martini.

Alcohol. In the form of a cocktail. It's like being Carrie from Sex and the City: "yes, my life might be spiralling out of my control, but at least I look classy when I get drunk". Or is that just what I think?

Look at the dark, mysterious nature of this bad boy. Mmmm. Plus not only do you get a kick from the vodka, you get the high of the super-strong coffee. 

NB. Not one to have right before bed.

Ingredients.

• 1 oz cold espresso
• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 1 1/2 oz Kahlua coffee liqueur
• 1 oz white creme de cacao

Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, shake it like the TicTac's advert and strain into a chilled glass. Drink, enjoy, and don't blame me for your drunken antics.  

Black cow.

The black cow, or root beer float as it's more commonly known, is something of a mystery to we Brits. Ice cream in a drink? But NOT a milkshake style thing? Totally unheard of. So of course I just had to try it. 

These are the types of things you see in those 50's diners on old films, so we went to one of those places. This one is my step-sister's favourite: Gunther Toody's in Arvada, Colorado.

And I have to tell you, I thought it was absolutely disgusting.

If you'd like to try it anyway (we all have different opinions!), you literally scoop some vanilla ice-cream onto a root beer, but it's VERY unlikely that you'll come across root beer anywhere outside of the US or Canada (because it's so icky…).There must be something about it though, or it wouldn't be as popular today as it was 60 years ago.

Gin Fizz.

I must admit, I'd never heard of this cocktail before my holiday this summer, but now I've had it and realised how simple (but tasty) it is I won't not have it! The ingredients are generally the type of things I'd have around anyway, so why not make a cocktail out of it? Life's too short.

Happy Hour - You can't refuse!

Ingredients: Enough for one

• Crushed ice
• 2 measures gin
• 3-4 measures soda water
• 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• dash of lemon juice

1. Put the ice in the cocktail shaker, and pour over the rest of the ingredients, including the sugar.
2. Shake it like maracas. 
3. Pour into tall glasses and decorate with a slice of lemon or lime.
4. Enjoy!

This is a rather bitter cocktail - add more sugar if it's too bitter for you. 

Sex on the Beach.

Whenever I have this cocktail, I am transported back to one of my summer holidays. It's the perfect combination of enough alcohol to feel it, but not too much so that that's all you can taste. 

Ingredients: (Enough for one)

• Crushed ice
• 1 measure peach schnapps
• 1 measure vodka
• 2 measures fresh orange juice
• 3 measures cranberry juice
• dash of lemon juice

1. Put the ice into a cocktail shaker and pour all the liquid ingredients over.
2. Shake it up, baby.
3. Strain the ice and serve in a tallish glass. 
4. Drink up and make more.

My cousin enjoying his Sex on the Beach.

I sometimes have this in winter just to try and fool myself into thinking the sun will be back soon! Can you blame me?

The perfect Manhattan.

Anyone who knows me knows I like a drink now and then. In my opinion, the Manhattan is one of the best cocktails, combining my love of a lot of alcohol with my love of New York. Who could ask for more? Except maybe to be sipping it in New York. Oh well, I can dream..

If you're after cocktail glasses, they're uber-cheap and long-lasting from Ikea.

Ingredients:

• 3 measures rye whiskey
• 1 measure sweet Vermouth
• dash Angostura bitters
• cracked ice cubes
• slice of lemon to decorate (or a glace cherry)

1. Put the cracked ice cubes into your cocktail shaker. If you don't have one just put it all in a jug and stir vigorously instead of shaking.
2. Pour in all the liquid ingredients.
3. Shake/stir until all mixed and well frosted.
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass - you don't want any ice in the glass.
5. Serve immediately. Maybe go back for seconds.. Or thirds.