This post is nearly a year overdue, but as we are gearing up for our next holiday, I thought I would look back at last years, which I never posted. Hmm, sorry. Thankfully, I kept a travel journal to help remember what happened.
So last May we had a big holiday to Malta. The weather was glorious although a little too hot for us.
But aside from that, it was fantastic! We definitely want to go back again and check out all the places we didn’t get to visit the first time around.
Our first day was so long, I didn’t sleep for the best part of 48 hours with all the travelling.The travelling was pretty uneventful, although a note to the family three rows ahead – if your child has already been ill on the flight, don’t feed him a double chocolate muffin, it wasn’t fair on the flight attendant to clean up that mess, nor the person who would next have to sit in that chair.
When we arrived at the hotel we were pleasantly surprised, although we take Trip Advisor reviews with a pinch of salt, we were a bit concerned but there was nothing to be worried about.
The best bit about our hotel? We got given our wristbands whilst we waited to check into our rooms. You know we went straight up to the pool bar!
Our room was huge and spotlessly clean, the only thing which let it down was the bathroom as it was a bit tired looking and the shower had very low pressure.
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We had a full lunch in the restaurant and the selection was huge : salads, antipasti, pasta, soup, meat and fishe dishes, and most importantly a gorgeous chocolate gateau and lemon meringue pie. (Apologies for the lack of pictures, but I’m sure you can imagine it)
The next day, and my next post will be Valletta, the capital.
This has come from Caitlin‘s blog, and I encourage you to answer question 11.
1. In baseball each player gets a “walk up song” that plays on his way up to the plate. What song would you pick?
Aaargh! So many songs but this one always brings a smile to my face and gets me wiggling :
2. What’s the best thing that happened to you last weekend?
Well, last weekend I turned 27 and had a lovely afternoon tea with my parents. I promise to post pictures soon.
3. If you could have a starring role in any film already made, which movie would you pick?
I would be Jane Russell’s character in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Dorothy Shaw. The outfits, the songs, the elegance, and well this number may just say it all :
4. What actor/actress would you have play you in a movie of your life?
I’ve got to go with a British actress, and although she’s only come to light in the past couple of years, I think Joanna Vanderham is who I’d want. We’re not much alike looks wise, but I like her attitude in her shows.
I love Malteasers, so much so that I wanted a Malteaser cupcake for my upcoming birthday.
After posting this photo on Facebook earlier to several comments, I give you the Malteaser Teaser Cupcake Trial :
This isn’t a full recipe as I didn’t take any pictures whilst making it, but it’s pretty straightforward.
For the cakes I used the Betty Crocker Chocolate Swirl Cake Mix. I made the mix according to the recipe and then put the vanilla mix into my Mini Sandwich Cake Tin, and topped each filled tin with a blob of the chocolate mix.
Cakes were baked until done and then topped with a malty chocolate buttercream and a Malteaser.
Malty Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
75g Stork margarine
175g Icing sugar
30g ish of melted milk chocolate
1tbsp ish of Horlicks drink powder
Cream the butter, then add the icing sugar gradually into the butter. Add the melted chocolate and mix. Finally, add the Horlicks to taste and mix.
The verdict?
It looks quite pretty, but I’m not too sure on the taste quite yet. I may have to pick another cake to try for my birthday.
I hadn’t forgotten about you, it’s just things have been crazy busy the past few weeks, and I haven’t had anything to really report on!
Firstly, I have been spending a lot of time on my OU (Open University) study, and as of Tuesday night, submitted my first assignment. I think it’s fair to say I was bricking it, as this is the first assignment in French I have done in eight years! But, I’ve already had my marks back and I’m on course with where I want to be at this stage. I haven’t listened to my feedback yet, I’m still trying to get the courage up!
Secondly, Mr H has been so busy with work that every chance I’ve had to be with him I’ve taken. He’s left for the Lake District this afternoon and I won’t see him again now until Thursday. But, we are going away for an early birthday weekend so I get some unspoiled time with him.
I owe you a February Bake of the Month, and although I made the bake, I forgot to photograph it, so I will be catching up on that shortly.
I’ll be back to regular posting now, so coming up will also be a review of the comedy night we went on last Friday as well as photos from my upcoming birthday weekend.
First of all apologies this post has no pictures, but in the rush to get out I forgot my camera, and those that Rainbow took are not fit for public consumption!
Rainbow and Buddy came down this weekend and to while away the evening we went to the Dave Comedy Festival, which in a word was awesome!
The reason for the last minute rush was due to our printer rejecting the ink and we therefore could not print off the second act’s tickets. One quick phonecall to the ticket hotline and they printed off the tickets for us to pick up after dinner. Thank you very much guys, couldn’t have asked for more!
The first act was “The Geeks Strike Back”, billed as :
A long time ago on a comedy stage not so far away … It is a bright time for geeks and stand-up comedy. Danish comedians Niels Forsberg, Morden May, and Mads Brynnum have been hiding in a secret base for the past year. Now they’re ready with a show that’s guarantied to score a critical hit. A show about all the important things in life: zombies, Death Stars, board games, and evil plans of world domination.
These guys were very funny, and I am ashamed to say I got the majority of the jokes. I guess that makes me a geek of some description, although I’m not sure what flavour yet!
The Exchange Bar was an odd little venue, with the act taking place downstairs. The seating was a complete mix of occasional chairs and little sofas. Buddy was delighted by the spinning chair in front of him, although the guy in front didn’t enjoy spilling his drink as he was spun round by said delighted person. I did like the intimacy and quirkiness of the venue, but it wasn’t completely soundproofed from the bar above so there was quite a bit of background noise. And on the way out, we couldn’t find the stairs due to the curtain covering it and followed several bemused men into the gents!
Then, it was a quick walk away to the Belmont Hotel to see Grainne Maguire’s show “If I could just love myself as much as I love Ed Miliband, my life would be perfect”.
That was all we knew about the show beforehand, except for a short Youtube video on the events listing. I have to admit part of the reason for booking this show was the location and the time it was showing, but she was great.
Her views on Kate Middleton opened my eyes to a more cynical viewpoint. What I did like about her act was that at the end she wrapped up the stories and linked them together with a sort of moral lesson to the story. I would definitely go to see her again, so fingers crossed she is around next year.
We finished off the night at the Lansdowne for a cocktail or two, and only as we left did we clock Grainne was sat in there with her manager (I assume). Would have liked to have spoken to her after the set to congratulate her, but the moment had passed and we had the night bus to catch.
So would I go to the Dave Comedy Festival again? Definitely, the entire night cost broke down as follows :
Ticket for the Geeks – £5 + booking fee + credit card fee
Ticket for Grainne Maguire – £3 + booking fee
Dinner at Pizza Express – £13 for 3 courses using a voucher
It was a cheap night out but full and relaxed, I’m not much into clubbing and the like anymore so it was fantastic to have a good night out and get the endorphins flowing!
On a side note, the other morning I was very confused to walk to work hearing the sound of Big Ben. After checking Facebook a few days later, I found the culprit :
I’ve had these for a while now, but it all hit home today as I had my first tutorial.
Not having spoken French properly in nearly eight years, I have to admit I was somewhat nervous
(okay I didn’t sleep well last night because I was bricking it!)
But I couldn’t have been more wrong, today’s session in Nottingham was tiring but I think I handled it pretty well. My French was far from perfect but that’s fine, only the tutor is fluent at this stage!
I’ve spent the past week working through the first Session in the materials and learning all about how the French holiday, as well as trying out the educational version of Skype.
It all seems to be going well at the moment, but I think it’s really going to hit home when I have my first TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment) to submit in a few weeks time.
In other news, I bought too many blueberries earlier this week and have already produced Blueberry and Lime muffins, with a Blueberry Upside Down Cake to follow this afternoon.
If I have some extra berries after all this, can anyone suggest another recipe I could use?
