A Glasgow Girl

   If you've been gluten free for a while you'll know how difficult it can be to find a Chinese that you can eat. So when I heard about the Diamond Inn, I jumped at the chance to have a Saturday night Chinese with my family.      I had to travel a little bit to collect as it is on the other side of the city in Scotstoun but it was worth it. I had to wait a little till there was a slot available and it was busy when I collected but I think that shows how popular it is with regulars coming along with people who travel from afar. I would plan ahead though as I was very hungry by the time I ate. When I phoned up the lady on the phone was very knowledgeable. She explained that they have gluten free soy sauce and oyster sauce. I opted for beef in black bean sauce and fried rice. Their prawn crackers are also gluten free. The whole meal was great and it was a big portion. So much so, that I am having the leftovers for dinner tonight.      The...

   Yesterday we went to the Willow Tea Rooms for a relative's Birthday celebrations. We were in the Salon De Luxe and I can't say enough about how amazing it was! We opted for the Champagne afternoon tea which included a glass of champagne, as much tea as you can drink, soup, 2 savouries, 3 sandwiches, 2 scones and so many cakes!!! It also included a tour of the Salon de Luxe and a ticket to the Willow Tea Rooms exhibition.     The whole experience was very luxurious. Megan our waitress introduced herself to the small room of 4 tables and served our Champagne then we chose our teas. I am not a big tea fan although they had 27 varieties so I gave the Cloud Catcher a go. They had a table with all the teas out so you could have a smell before you made your decision. The Cloud Catcher was nice and fruity and was the first tea I actually enjoyed. We each got our own little teapot and a strainer to pour into our Willow print tea cups. As Megan explained you can have a...

 After my sister saw it on TikTok, we headed over to the Southside last Thursday to Big Bear Bakery. We had heard that they have notoriously big queues so we went for it opening. There was a queue of about 5 people in front of us at that time but there was a very cute puppy in front of us to keep us entertained.  The staff were super organised and knowledgable. When I asked if they had anything gluten free, they suggested the brownie as it's made with almond flour but did warn that because of the environment it's made in they can't say that there won't be cross-contamination so just watch out if you are celiac.  I got the caramel and almond brownie. It was very tasty. Just the right side of chewy and very more ish. There are lots of lovely walks in the Southside as well so I'd highly recommend it if you are in the area.  @bigbearbakery Love,  Fi  xx

 Last night we had our usual Friday lockdown takeaway. Whilst scrolling through Deliveroo we came across Embargo which is in Byres Rd.  I was really impressed with the gluten free selection avaliable and that it was really clear what was free from on their deliveroo page. I opted for the gluten free Asian burger and fries. It arrived quickly (thanks Brian the deliveroo driver), and mine was still nice and hot.  The burger was nice and tasty with a good mix of flavours and lots of filling. The fries were very salty. I love salt so it was fine for me but it was a bit much for my boyfriend and sister.  I'm looking forward to trying out the restaurant in person when lockdown three is over. I especially cant wait to try the chocolate torte on the menu.  On another note I've just started an instagram for my blog @gfglasgowgirl and I'd love it if you could follow me! Love,  Fi xx

There are so many good places to eat in the East End of Glasgow that cater for allergens that I haven't had a chance to try them all yet. This weekend, I went for my second trip to Akara to pick up some cakes for a little treat and I was not disappointed. Due to the current Covid restrictions, service is via a little hatch that we have all become accustomed to seeing businesses use to help adapt to keep customers safe. Sometimes this makes it more difficult to have a browse but Akara makes this easier by putting their yummy cakes in the window and by keeping their instagram up to date (this especially makes it easier if you are travelling from further away, as you can see what they have to offer before you make your journey as they change what they bake regularly).  I went all out this weekend and got myself two cakes. (I can't be the only gluten-free person who buys multiple treats when they find out they are able to eat them just because they can?). I got a huge slice of thei...

I've said this before but it's been a while. Lots has happened since my last post which I'll maybe do a wee update post about, but today I'm here to talk about where I went for lunch today. Living in Corona times the most exciting thing you can possibly do is go for a walk and get a takeaway lunch, and today was an exciting day. After a short walk around Kelvingrove park and down Byres Road we stopped at unassuming little hole in the wall with a long queue outside which is always a good sign. The queue went down quickly and there was some cute dogs in front of us (bonus!). The staff were absolutely lovely. When asking about gluten free options they offered to make me a sandwich from scratch but I instead went for the soup and some bread and butter (not toasted so looks like they always have some fresh bread ready to go). I also got a hot apple cider (not as sweet as I expected it to be but still delicious) and the last slice of gf millionaires shortbread!  My sister got...

I have recently discovered that I am gluten  intolerant. Aside from realising that I cannot buy any cake in the supermarket anymore, I have been getting my head round eating out. Having spoken to other people with food allergies and intolerance's I am very glad that the amount of free from food and allergy aware restaurants have improved but some restaurants are definitely more gluten-free friendly than others. Whether you are a weegie or are visiting this great city, here is my current selection of favourite GF friendly places to eat out. The first restaurant is Glasgow specific and the others can be found in locations throughout the UK. I am still a little scared to try little independent restaurants without websites in case the don't have an allergen menu but as I discover them I will report back! (All menus and details correct at time of publication.)  Singl-End, 265 Renfrew Street THE BEST GF RESTAURANT I HAVE DISCOVERED IN GLASG...

I have not posted anything in a long time. I got a little bit distracted by work. Aside from touring around the UK as a performer for 16 months I have also been running my own business whilst at home in Glasgow. But what better way to get back into blogging than to write about my current favourite product. Having suffered with adult acne for many years, I have constantly been searching for the perfect foundation. Although my breakouts are now much less frequent thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, I still have a bit of scarring and just a general uneven skin tone. I have been looking for a foundation that will cover this and the odd spot without getting flakey or encouraging more breakouts as some foundations I have used in the past have. I know that many people have treasured this for years but I was late to the party. I was always a little nervous to spend so much on make up that might not work for me, and that I might end up shoving away to the darkest depths of my ...

I had been searching for a matte top coat for a while and could not find one anywhere, I had been to Boots, Superdrug and Tesco and, maybe I was looking in the wrong places but I couldn't find one. So, as I was shopping at my local Asda post gym session, I decided to pop down the aisle with all the shampoos and make-up and there in the George (Asda's own brand) section I saw it! And what made it even better was that it was only £1.75. (I've just been on their website. It's been reduced to £1.00. I might need to go buy some back-ups.) The first time I tried this I wasn't overly impressed but then I realised that it was my Accessorize nail colour underneath that was a bit rubbish. Has anyone else has problems with Accessorize polish? However, after trying it a second time I love it, and think it is amazing value for money. Without matte top coat Colour: ciat é purple sherbet With matte top coat It is easy to apply and goes on smoothly. It dries very quickl...

A month ago I decided to downsize. Not from a huge house to a little one. From a huge bag to a little one. After using my huge but much loved Zara City Office Bag for a year (see previous blog  post ) I decided to retire it and get a smaller version. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1.I graduated from uni last Summer and therefore probably shouldn't be carrying as much as before (e.g. I don't need to carry my laptop every day anymore) and 2. I have a back injury and the bag wasn't really helping that too much because it allowed me to stuff so much into it. I chose this blue colour (or 'Jeans' as it's described on Zara's website) although it also comes in a lovely baby pink colour which I would have got but I always wear a baby pink River Island jacket just now so I was worried I would look like a marshmallow and it would probably get it dirty really easily. It is much smaller than the City Office Bag (I would say about a third of the size) but...

   Apologies yet again for the lack of blog posts. I am the worst blogger ever. I try and stick to a schedule of uploading every Monday but sometimes life gets in the way. I bought the Fräulein 38 24 piece starter brushes set about 2 years ago. I don't even remember what I used before then but it was probably just a mixture of random brushes collected over the years. However, I ended up buying these as I was about to participate in an amateur production of 'Little Shop of Horrors' and knew that, judging on our past show where I ended up doing the majority of the male casts makeup, I would probably need more/new brushes. After searching about for a cheap brush set I came across these. I believe I bought them from Amazon or a similar retailer as I don't remember the brand having their own website at the time. Picture taken from the Fräulein 38 website as I am silly and decided to wash my brushes therefore they look all soggy and not very attractive just now. ...

L.I.L.Y by Stella McCartney I got this perfume for my Christmas and I love it so much. It's one of those perfumes that you never want to run out so you only wear it on special occasions. When my mum asked me what perfume I wanted, I had great difficulty in choosing but then I  remembered my love for Stella McCartney perfumes. My mum used to have the Stella perfume and I borrowed it so much that she got me my own one from the print collection that Christmas and I was really sad when it ran out. This perfume reminds me of the Eau de Merveilles perfume by Hermes that I was obsessed with when I was little. I used to smell it in every shop I went into but understandably my parents didn't get it for me when I was so young. However, I recently smelt it in a shop and it just didn't smell the same to me. This smells like what that used to smell like to my little smell buds (that was really long winded...I hope it makes sense...) It's described as "bringing together...

I think I said this when I first started this blog but I am really determined to get a little healthier this year. Since graduating from university in the summer I have been doing a lot less exercise. For anyone that doesn't know, I studied Musical Theatre and therefore did a number of dance classes and a lot of walking to and from university. I wouldn't say I'm unhealthy or need to particularly lose weight, I just want to be stronger and eat healthy. Here is my personal checklist of how I'm going to achieve what I want to achieve: 1. Pick exercise activities that I enjoy. In the past I haven't particularly enjoyed going to the gym. I'm just unsure of what to do and feel a little self-conscious as all these people who seem to know what they are doing workout, around me. Last week, I tried a body balance class and really enjoyed it. I think it's a mixture of pilates, yoga and tai-chi. I did a bit of yoga a few years ago while I was still at school and foun...

You may have already heard about this but I thought I would tell you anyway. As New Years Eve (or Hogmanay as it's called in Scotland) came around, I had considered doing a picture a day for a year as a little way of documenting 2014 for myself. Then I came across the #100happydays hashtag on instagram and decided to look further into it. Basically you just click on this wee website and sign up. You can choose whichever social media platform you prefer (I chose instagram), and document a happy thing that happens to you every day for 100 days. It says on the website that if you keep it up for 100 days then you can get a book made of all your happy days. Today is my day 14 and so far I have had mixed results. On days when I am busy, I find that I have too many happy moments to document just one, but on days when I am just working from home I find it more challenging and usually just end up posting pictures of food. Which is ok I suppose, because food does make me happy. It has...

The other day one of my best friends (Hi Emma :p) was telling me that she had been in Boots recently and had discovered a section up the back of the store with heavily discounted make-up. We were in Glasgow the other day and decided to investigate. We went to the St. Enoch store and in between all the Christmas gifts that are now on sale was a few tubs filled to the brim with all sorts of makeup and nail polish with price labels ranging from 50p to £3. I was surprised to find that it all looked in good condition. I know when makeup has been that discounted in the past it has also been out of date or really weird shades (like Sally Hansen nail polish in Poundland...) but some of this was really really good. Here is what I picked up: 17 Even Tone Corrector Stick-50p When I tell people I put green concealer on my face sometimes, they think I am crazy. However, when blended over spots or any redness this balances everything out. I normally buy the Natural Collection versio...

Apologies for not having written a blog post in a long time...I am a terrible blogger. I'm going to try and write them more regularly from now on. Fingers crossed.  I thought I would get back into the routine by telling you about an amazing product which I recently found by accident. The waterproof mascara by Seventeen. I recently had to fly down to England in quite a rush and didn't want to pay all the extra on the budget airline I was flying with in order to get hold luggage. This meant that I didn't take a lot of luggage with me. I realise that with the cabin luggage liquid allowance, I probably could have bought lots of minis but 1. I didn't have a lot of time to find all of these cute little products and 2. I had never previously flown by myself and I didn't want to risk it. So, when I arrived I took a trip into Boots to stock up on essentials. However, I was staying in the countryside and this particular Boots was one of those ones that is just a basic pharmac...

I have a dilemma. I can only have my nails painted at certain points in the week. I work in as bar staff and waitressing part time and having painted nails there is generally frowned upon as customers tend to dislike finding chips o nail polish in their food and/or drinks. However, for the other part of the week I am a professional performer. As part of this job title, I currently get paid to sing. I like to make an extra effort to look nice for this as people will be looking at me a lot and part of this is having my nails painted. Anyway, that long introduction was basically to let you know that I have painted my nails for this week. Here they are:  I used Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in 'Pomegranate' on all my nails. I only needed one coat which was good as I was in a rush. I like this nail polish. I find that on me it tends to get less shiny fairly quickly (although maybe if I applied more coats this might improve :p) but I love the colour and think it is perfect for autumn.  ...

I love make-up. There is rarely a day when I can go out without wearing it (there have been times recently when I have been feeling brave and have decided to face the world au natural but this is very rare indeed and by go out I might going to the shops.) This is mostly due to the fact that my skin is not the nicest. I realise that piling more make-up on is not going to help but to make my skin any better I would probably have to stop using make-up for a long time and this is not going to happen. What a conundrum! Anyway, the point of this blogpost is that this has resulted in me having a lot of make-up (well...what I consider to be a lot of make-up, however, having watched make-up collection videos on Youtube I realise that my collection is quite small in comparison. However, I probably use about 30% of my make-up and the rest is just sitting in cases. So, this morning I felt like a clear out to get ready for the upcoming season. Let it be noted that a lot of my make-up was out of dat...

Todays post is a short but cheesy one. Since graduating, I have been rather scared of what the future holds. Leaving full time education for the first time since the age of four, made me feel a little uncomfortable. I like seeing the same people every day and having a wee routine (this may seem strange considering the fact that I am a performer and no two days are ever the same. However, this week things have been looking up. I started two new jobs and I am no so scared anymore. I think at times when you feel a little frightened and unsettled, it is best to try and look at all the positives in your life. Either write them down or just take a minute to have a wee think about 5 good things in your life that you are grateful for. Here are my 5: 1. My family.  They also support me in everything I do. There are many people who are starting a career in the performing arts whose parents don't support them. I know it must be scary for them and they may wish at times that I would ...

Before my recent holiday to America, I had a mental shopping list written out of things I wanted to purchase. Things which aren't readily available on the UK. At the top of this list were EOS lip balms. I had seen you tubers and bloggers talking about them and wanted to try them out for myself.  I ended up buying two (lemon drop and strawberry sorbet) and my sister also got one (summer fruit). This lovely yellow one is Lemon Drop. It smells strangely familiar-I think one of my first ever lip balms had a similar smell! It also has SPF 15 which was very handy when I was in 50 degrees Celsius heat!  This is Summer Fruit. It's my sisters but it smells delicious so I am most certainly going to buy it next time. It smells like mango but not a harsh chemically mango scent like many mango lip balms I have tried tend to have. More of a fresh mango. I am rather jealous of my sister right now! :p This is strawberry sorbet. It smells exactly like strawberry laces. Yummy. EOS stands for Ev...