Tall soya caramel latte please.

My boyfriend brought me back a zine called 'Coffee Shop Crushes' from his recent visit to Chicago and Florida. It's a collection of stories, some anonymous, about coffee shop romances (and mishaps). I love it, it's such an entertaining read which pulls at your heart because you relate to the stories. I like how there's comic strips too. It gets the mind wondering and of course had me thinking about my own coffee shop crush. Disastrous. I do like to get myself into these situations. How come when you 'want' something, three come along at once? Like buses, three 'crushes' came along... (I actually despise myself a little for using the word 'crush', but to hell with it. And I didn't WANT two of them, I didn't 'crush' on them really)

It would all have been fine and harmless, but I was actually really into one of them and it was pretty inevitable what was going to happen. It happened. It was no longer three ego boosting, flirts. He threw the others out of the equation in my mind.

What I'm getting is that one of the guys worked in a coffee shop (you know the one with the green and white logo?) I think every body's had a coffee shop crush. I'd go in nearly every morning for a soya latte as it was freezing cold, he'd give me a free coffee or discount, give me a little wink, you know how it goes. I guess I got off on the attention a bit? Though it turns out he's a bit weird and kept coming to my work on his bike, would stand there as if he was going to ask me out for a drink or whatever, but would just stand in silence almost. AWKWARD.

Anyway, it all went tits up when I ended up kissing coffee shop guy, whilst I was out with the guy I was REALLY into, whilst knowing there was another guy (also at this hardcore club night we were all at) who was interested. It was a stressful night. I felt awful and it was obviously just gross behaviour for me to be with THE guy, then to be dancing with coffee shop guy and kissing him (I'd like to add I was intoxicated and he threw himself at me a tad), then to be hanging out with other guy and friends. Slut.

I told THE guy, (who I went home with that night, of course) the next morning that I had kissed coffee shop guy and felt disgusting, shouldn't have happened, wasn't interested, blind drunk etc.

He was mad and I think he was close to calling it off - he told me later he was going to. Though we were only very casual at this point and it was early on, it was the whole "kissing somebody whilst I'm in the same room" thing which was the issue. We'd joked around with the, "Oh yeah, ha ha, you can fuck other girls/guys! I don't care, I'm too cool, I don't have emotion!" Which was really our insecurities crying out and wanting to say, "Please, just be mine for a little while? Tell me I'm the one you want".
(Why do people do that rather than just admitting how they feel?!)

I managed to redeem myself. Coffee shop guy has disappeared after the creepy waiting with his bike thing. He stopped giving me free coffee, maybe because I literally ran away from and avoided him for the rest of that night?! I consider the other guy a good friend, nothing more and we hang out with other friends every so often. We never 'flirted' anyway.

Oh and I'm with THE guy. He's my boyfriend. He forgave me for my sins. I like him.x.

Apple & Peach Crisp

This is a recipe I adapted from 'Hot Damn and Hell Yeah - Recipes For Hungry Banditos' by Ryan Splint. A vegan 'dirty south' cooking zine, it's not about healthy eating, it's about good, tasty, vegan food! It's very easy to make and there's no egg or milk called for, so I guess it's accidentally vegan :) It tastes amazing!

Vegan Apple & Peach Crisp

60g Brown Sugar
75g Rolled Oats
100g Flour
75g Vegan Margarine
1tsp Salt
1tsp Nutmeg
1tsp Cinnamon
Tin of Peaches
2 Large Bramley Apples
Ginger Syrup

Pre-heat oven to 190c.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Rub in the maragrine until the mixture is pea-sized and all ingredients are combined. Put this to one side.

Core, peel and chop the apples into chunks and put them into a lightly greased baking tin or pie dish.

Pour the peaches - and the juice! - over the apples, spreading out evenly.

Drizzle 3 big table spoons of ginger syrup over the fruit. You can use a different syrup or juice of your choice instead, orange would work well!

Sprinkle the crisp topping over the fruit, spreading it all out evenly.

Place it in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes, the juices will bubble and the whole thing will brown a little. If you gently press the topping it should feel firm, this means it's done.

Serve hot with Vegan cream or ice cream!

Good times.

I went to see The Horror and Mob Rules (I've forgot the name of the other band, oops) last night, really good bands! The night involved purchasing 2 zines (On't Road - DIY punk and travel, like a personal diary, and Buried Alive - hardcore punk, lots of reviews and interviews), jager shots, a whore's ass - which is Kahula, Bailey's and a peanut, with cinnamon around the rim of the glass, first I’d heard of it! I had amaretto instead of Bailey's. Lethal. It all gets a bit blurry after that.

Went to a club night called Juvenile Hall - Juvy - after the gig. Usual antics ensued, lots of power ballads, discussions about noses and extremely bad dancing from yours truly. I've finally come to accept that I will never posses rhythm. We stayed until the end and got a taxi home to Dave & Co’s, ate some hash browns, drank pints of water and listened to Lucero before passing out. The whole thing has resulted in me been inflicted with one of the worst hangovers ever and I had to go to work.

I’m in bed as I type this craving veggie chicken fried rice…