Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope you have a fabulous 2009.

Remember, remember...

...the 5th November!

Or Bonfire Night, as we so lovingly refer to it in the UK! If you don't know what it is, you can read Wikipedias definition of it! And I know, I know I'm a day late but we had our celebrations today. It's not my favourite time of the year I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of watching fireworks but I had a good time eating all the traditional bonfire night foods (jacket potatoes, hot dogs with onions, toffee apples and parkin!) and I had a good time taking photos too! I even managed to capture writing my name with a sparkler, look!:



And I also enjoyed eating my home made parkin!:



Not quite as good as my Grandmas parkin, but it's getting there!

Ingredients:

8 oz S.R. flour
8 oz oatmeal
2 teaspoonsful ginger
4 oz margarine
4 tablespoonsful sugar
8 oz treacle
1/2 pint milk.

Method:

Rub margarine into flour and oatmeal.
Add sugar and ginger, mix thoroughly.
Warm treacle and mix to paste, adding milk if necessary.
Put into greased tin, it needs to be fairly deep.
Bake for one hour in an oven about 150°C

Good news!

For those of you who live in the UK, I went to B & Q earlier on today and if you take in one regular light bulb, they'll replace it for you free of charge with two energy saving light bulbs. How good of a deal is that?!

Also, I've just recieved an email from the local council and apparently November is the month where they send out renewal forms for the allotments and there's a good chance I could move up on the waiting list, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Happy Halloween!

Negative Vegetarian Press

... although to be honest, what other kind of press would a vegetarian diet get in the mainstream media?

I've just come across this article when I was browsing the recipes on Closer magazines website. I think the first comment underneath sums up my thought pretty much perfectly. I'm so tired of reading articles about vegetarianism which portray it as being difficult, or even unhealthy, when it's blatantly not. Why don't we ever get an article about the benefits of a vegetarian diet, when there is so much research proving just how healthy a meat-free diet is?

I didn't want to start my new blog out on a bad note, but... too late!

Thanks Dad!

I went for a daytrip to the seaside with my parents and two younger sisters earlier on this week. It was actually a really lovely day! I enjoyed it so much, it's really nice being able to catch up with everyone again after so long away from home.

We went to a place called Bridlington which is on the North East coast of England so it was quite chilly! We packed a picnic lunch and I made some bulgur wheat salad, which was actually really nice but I was so busy enjoying it I forgot to take a photo! I still have some left in the pantry though, so I'm sure I'll make some more soon.

While we were wandering around the town (it was too chilly to spend any time on the beach, which is typical of English seaside hehe) we passed a cooking shop, so being the avid baking/cooking fan that I am, dragged all my family inside for a thorough look around. I could have spent a fortune there! My friends are all obsessed with clothes and shoe shops, but me? Give me a cooking supplies shop anyday! I found a massive tube of cookie cutters while I was in there too, which my dad kindly bought for me as a gift!

The next day my sister and I couldn't wait to try them out, but first things first, we laid them all out on the carpet so we could get a good look at them! I'm such a kid, I love any stuff like this and I've never had any proper cookie cutters of my own before. My grandma used to have some when I was little, and I used to love it when she'd let me use them.



So this post is just really to say thanks to my dad for the present! And also to let you know to stay tuned, as an extremely delicious cookie post is coming soon!

(This post is one of a few that have been transferred over from an old blog as part of the process of updating this blog with all my old entries from other blogs/journals for posterity)

The first signs of life

I was overjoyed this morning when I got back from spending the night at my boyfriends to find that my plants are finally starting to show that they're growing! I was starting to get worried; although I did only plant them last week!

I've never really grown anything before, but since I've got home I've planted spinach, radishes, pak choi, chinese cabbage, carrots, baby turnips, herbs and potatoes. I can't wait to start eating all my organic, home grown veggies!

A day in my life: 20th June 2008

Below is a copy and paste of an entry I wrote to a livejournal community, a day in my life, in 2008 when I was living in New Zealand. I've been looking for it for a while and was over the moon to find it! So I'm reposting it here on 16/7/12. Such sweet memories (and embarassing writing!)

Good morning!







I'm rudely awaken by the alarm going off way too early for my liking! Adam gets out of bed and into the shower, and I eventually get out of bed and start to get ready for work too.



+



=







After I've brushed my teeth, we're both ready so it's time to head off. I always walk to work, even though it takes the best part of 45-50 minutes. It's a nice walk though, and for the first half hour I'm walking with Adam which is lovely! ♥ We get to bitch about our housemates with no fear of being heard, lol!



The Auckland skyline





Bye Adam!





Normally I can resist the sirens call that is Starbucks; lulling me into a false sense of security and drawing me in, before sending me crashing on the rocks of weight gain, addiction and an empty purse...



But not today! Probably because I didn't have breakfast. I get a hot chocolate, and then head off to an internet cafe (I don't have internet in my house, so whenever I come online I had to go to an internet cafe!)





I chat to my mum and dad and sister on MSN for a while, and do all the facebook/LJ stuff (you can see a photo of ! Hehe!), and I write my letter of resignation and send it off to the agency I'm working for.

Time check:



Uh-oh! Best get to work!



I work as a debt collector, and today we were having a "Movie Day"! Basically, people dressed up themselves and their workstations in the theme of a film or a TV programme. Here's ours:









Can anyone guess what TV show we were doing?!
Here's what other teams did:











I get an email from my travel agent, so on my lunch break I quickly eat my lunch and then I go and pick up our tickets for our holiday.



Back to work








Time check:



After work, I get changed and Adam meets me outside. We walk across the road from my work to the harbour, and we're going on a Christmas cruise!









Boys are disgusting. He knew I was taking a picture of him, but burped anyway







There were a lot of older people there, and the DJ was playing mostly cheesy party tunes, which I love!





After the party, we jumped straight into a taxi, and straight back home.



It was quite late by the time we got home, and Adam had to be up at 7:30 to go to work!



Night!