Camping - June 23rd - 7th July 2012

This June saw mine and Tim's first camping holiday. 

I may have mentioned before but my husband is a full time University student, studying Ecology and Conservation, and thus the pennies in our pockets are limited. 

So we ditched the idea of having any type of holiday abroad for a very long time and decided to use the next four years as an excuse to see the beautiful countryside of the United Kingdom. 

I have spent the last six months buying bits and bobs including a tent (we only had a crappy little dome one and a two week holiday in a three man dome tent in the the British weather...). The tent we camp in is an Ouwell Carolina M which is now out of production BUT we managed to get one just in time. 

The great thing about it is the huge living space, meaning if we were going to get bombarded by rain and gales for two weeks we would have somewhere to cosy up and not worry about getting wet. 

We booked the time in last year and originally planned to go to Cornwall for two weeks but when we got tickets for the Stone Roses in the middle of our holiday dates we revised our plans. We thought it would be a nice idea to go to Tim's old stomping ground in the South West for a week and mine in the North East for a week, as visiting families means we never get to go to the places we often talk about. 

I will link below when I've updated my blog with the bits and bobs that we did day by day but here for now is the run down of our two weeks away: 

23rd June - Cheddar Camp, Cheddar Gorge

24th June - Brean Down, Weston Super Mare 

25th June - Wells, Bishop's Castle, Wells Cathedral, Collard Hill 

26th June - Bath, The Roman Baths, Stowford Manor Farm, The Castle Inn - Bradford On Avon

27th June - Canoeing on the Kennet and Avon Canal, Wick Golden Valley Nature Reserve

28th June - Weston Super Mare (The Museum, the Pier, the Odeon - Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter)

29th June - Stupidly long drive back to Manchester (it should have taken us three and a half hours - it took six!)

30th June - THE STONE ROSES!! Heaton Park, Manchester 

1st July - Recover and pack up again 

2nd July - Low Greenside Farm, Ravenstonedale

3rd July - Hannah's Meadow, Mickleton Mill

4th July - Beamish

5th July - The Bowes Museum, High Force, Fish & Chip Shop Kirby Stephen

6th July - Vue Carlisle - The Amazing Spiderman, The swan Hotel - Ravenstonedale 

7th July - Scenic drive back to Manchester via A  roads rather than the M6

My Birthday: Harry Potter, Warner Brothers Studio Tour, Watford

It was my birthday a couple of weekends ago and my lovely husband bought me tickets to the Harry Potter studio tour in Watford. To say I was happy would probably be the understatement of the year!

Tim got the tickets last year, so I have been patiently (read: annoying Tim every few days by telling him how excited I am) waiting for the day to arrive, as I was going on my actual birthday. I couldn’t think of anything better than spending the day looking at awesome Potterstuffs.

If you’re not aware of my Potterlust you should read this!

I awoke early and donned my outfit as previously planned, including my new Qwertee Harry Potter t-shirt (of which you can win a new one yourself – please see the end of this post!) 

Win your own brand spanking new HP t-shirt like this, see below!

We arrived around midday and stopped for a coffee (and a quick check to see if my hands were the same size as Radders, which they are!) before joining the queue, although it doesn’t feel much like a queue, they have little bits and bobs for you to look at while you’re waiting including the cupboard under the stairs and a few family portraits waiting on the walls for you to nosey at. They stagger it out quite well so that there aren’t too many people in the queue at any one time.

You are then shown into a small room with screens on the walls displaying posters from across the world for all of the films (which was pretty cool) and they then show you a little film on those screens about the series of films and how they came about to be make. Then the lady asked if it was anyone’s birthday….

So I shot it up straight into the air.

“me, me, it’s my birthday!”

“well happy birthday, and what’s your name?”

“Stacey!”

“and how old are you Stacey?”

“32! I am 32 TODAY”!

“…….oh, and is there anyone else?”

“It’s Amy’s birthday today”

Lady looks in Amy’s direction

“Well, I won’t ask how old you are….”

“I’m only 26!”

Sorry to say, that did brighten my day a little!

We were then shown through to a cinema where Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were shown talking about their experiences of the films, the sets and the studios this ended with the doors of the great hall being shown on screen, and then the screen went up and the doors to the Great Hall were right behind them.

At this point another lady said “I believe it’s two people’s birthdays today”. At which point me and Amy stuck our hands up in the air. The lady then asked us to join her at the front and said as it was our birthdays we got to open to doors of the Great Hall for everyone. So up I strode and took my place, me and Amy exchanged glances, then we gave the doors a push and were confronted with the Great Hall in all of its glory. We both looked at each other and said “WOW”. It’s an awesome memory that I don’t think I’ll ever forget in my life time.

Harry Potter or not, when do you ever get the chance to go and stand in a spot and push the doors that have been made famous on film the world over?! It was tremendously cool.

The Great Hall is beautiful inside and we were treated to a little talk about it, and a wander about. It was really amazing and beautiful and great to see the costumes alongside the setting.

Then it was off into one of the main studio parts where they had hundreds of props, various sets and the chance to get your picture taken on a broom or in the Ford Anglia all via greenscreen, well we queued up for an hour to get our car photo taken (decided against the broom as I was in a rather tight skirt and it wouldn’t have been very ladylike getting on or off and there was no option for side saddle). The queue wasn’t that bad, and only what you’d expect from an attraction such as this, plus we wee entertained by seeing everyone else do their bit on the screens. We made sure we gave it our all when we went up there, face licking, Tim miming being sick in my lap etc etc.

After this we wandered about the bits we hadn’t had a chance to look at and wholly admired the Magic is Might statue that they had in the end section of the room.

We went to the outside section with No. 4 Privet Drive, the Potter house in Godrick’s Hollow, the Knight Bus and chess pieces and we settled down for a glass of butterbeer, which is scrummy. It tastes like cream soda with butterscotch topping, it was extremely sweet and I don’t think I could have managed more than one but it was just what was needed after our wait for the green screen stuff and it was nice to have a little rest before moving onto the second part of the tour. 

We then went to the prosthetics and mechanics part of the tour which shows you all sorts of wonders including a bookcase full of goblin heads, the animatronics behind the big book of monsters,  buckbeak, the dementors, the incredibly lifelike dummies made for the underwater scenes and more.

Then it was round the corner to Diagon Alley which thankfully was quite quiet when we got there meaning we could have a proper look and take a few photos. This was another one of the things I won’t forget in a long time, that first glimpse of the street and seeing it up close, it’s just as detailed as you’d imagine. I even fitted in a little time mooning over Lockheart in the window of Flourish & Blotts.

We then went on to the original art work section which is completely breathtaking, all of the concept design was awe inspiring and had come straight from the pages of the books. We then went through a section with the white card models of which I especially liked the prefects bathroom.

Through the next doors we found the model of Hogwarts. Imagine the best miniature village you’ve ever seen times that by a million and you’d be a little close to how impressive it is. The set up means that it turns from day to night in front of your eyes and the model comes to life with lights in the windows and doors and there are screens where you can zoom in to see the detail in the model. It’s completely outstanding and I spent quite a bit of time in there watching it change through the day.

In the next room were rows upon rows of wand boxes each containing the name of a cast or crew member of the film, which was completely crazy when you added up how many boxes there were.

Then it was to the gift shop where I purchased a time turner necklace and a chocolate frog and some every flavour beans for the following days’ Potter film watching at our gaff.

Full set of pics here on my flickr if you wish to have a nosey

The it was the long drive home, which didn’t actually take us so long. It really was the best birthday I have ever had in my life!

Win your own Qwertee Harry Potter t-shirt 

(Women's size M - please see the Qwertee measurement guides on their website)

I have one brand spanking new Harry Potter t-shirt in a women’s size M matching the one I am wearing above to give away.

To win please:

1. Like my facebook page
2. Follow me on Twitter
3. Follow this blog
4. Then leave a comment below (numbers will be generated from the comments)

The winner will be picked by a random number generator when I get back from my hols on 

10th July, Good luck!

Recipe: Cinnamon & Vanilla Fruit Scones

A yummy scone recipe for you, I love cinnamon in scone, it gives it such a lovely taste, especially when they're warm from the over with butter melted into them.

Makes 8.


Ingredients:


50g butter (cubed)
225g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
50g sultanas
150ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon 


Method:


Heat the oven to 200C
Sieve the flour into a large bowl, add the butter, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Run in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and dried fruit and mix.
Add the vanilla extract the milk.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture, add the milk and vanilla mixture but by bit and stir until a soft dough is formed.
Turn the mixture out onto a board and lightly knead until smooth.
Roll into a sausage shape and cut into 8.
Place on a greased baking tray and place into the oven for 15 minutes until scones are well risen.

Cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand it, or do as I do and five them a generous 30 seconds before smothering in butter and wolfing down!

Hope you enjoy!

Father's Day: A pie from the heart

Have I ever said how amazing my Dad is?

Without going into too much detail he's had some sad times and some good times, he's funny (in that Dad kind of way) and he has always been there for me through thick and thin, through hard times and good, and I completely admire what a strong person he is and how kind and sensitive and honest he is.

He is completely my hero.

For father's day this year I made him a pie, and not just any pie, the pie of pies, the champion pie for all north easterners, the.......corned beef and potato pie!

Corned beef and tatty pie has always been my favourite pie, my Nana made it when I was little and it was always a treat to have it when we'd go visit after moving away. Unfortunately my Nana can't make it any more due to her arthritis so I thought I'd make one for my Dad as it's been years since he had a slice.

There is a recipe you can follow here (if you're going to bake a pie from the NE it needs to be a recipe from the NE).

I have to admit thought I cheated with the pastry, I am not very good at pasty, mainly because I don't make a lot of pies with my husband being a veggiesaurus.

And I made the pic in a long thin baking tray rather than a pie dish as that's how it was made when I was a lass and I thought my Dad would appreciate it. I have had word since that it was yummy (although the bottom wasn't cooked through properly - the joys of having a crap over with a top heating element!)

  

The finished pie! 

The Tale of Percival Switch

The Tale of Percival Switch

One of the things I plan to do, and hopefully this blog will give me swift kick up the arse, is finish the rest of this story.

I am ambitious enough to think I have a book in me somewhere, whether or not it’s a good one is another matter!

So I set about writing a children's book. I have some of the whole thing planned but have been sitting on it for well over a year now because I, as usual, am scared of not being able to complete it or it not being as fantastic as I want it to be. 

Little excerpt below and I have uploaded the first chapter and you can read it here.

Percival Switch was an odd little boy and not for the reasons you’d think. He looked quite ordinary, average height, weight and size. He had chestnut brown hair and pinched cheeks that glowed rosy red in the frosty air. He had a full mouth and grey blue eyes, eyes so clear it was as if you were looking at crystal. He carried himself with an air of dignity, quite telling in one so young, passers-by would often think. 

Percival lived at 12 Elmwood Road in the little village of Crossington in England. The village was very small indeed, it was home to a butcher, a sweet shop, a bakery with tea rooms and a church as well as the small terraced houses and the pretty cottages down by the canal. Every Saturday Percival’s step mother would send him off to the butchers for half a pound of sausages and some fresh bread from the bakers. Percival left the house from the side door dropping the vegetable scraps from the kitchen into the pail for the goat at the end of the garden on his way.

Any comments or feedback would be gratefully received, so please send me an email or reply below and let me know what you think.

And apologies for any spelling/punctuation mistakes you may spot. I have read it over about ten times but I can’t see any, although it might be my dyslexic brain kicking in!

I hope you enjoy :D 

Kawaii Online Shopping in the UK

I was lucky enough to visit Tokyo in 2007 (on my honeymoon) and I fell in love with Japan and Japanese culture.

I love all things kawaii, and if you do to here’s a list of UK online store where you can go to buy your kawaii goodness.

JiJi Kiki

Ji Ji Kiki offers a good selection of kawaii goodies for the lovers of cuteness.They have a whole section dedicated to kawaii jewellery as well as plushies prints and t-shirts.

I love this chubby fox necklace, how adorable?!

Chiki

Chiki offers bags, stationary, jewellery, hair accessories, blythe dolls, plush toys and other cute stuffs and orders over £25 are free delivery to UK addresses.

Domo Plush purse? Yes please!

TofuCute

Tofu Cute have allsorts to tickle your kawaii fancy in their online shop. Best of all they have a snacks shop, including pocky and hello panda (yum!). They offer a lot of stationary goods to, from pretty deco tape to adorable rubbers and greeting cards. In their lifestyle section you can find phone charms, bento good and re-ment miniatures. Orders over £20 in the UK come with free postage.

Pocky please :D

Artbox

Artbox is probably the biggest kawaii shop I found online, with a massive array of goods for all occasions, not only are the usual things covered there are also homewares, cosmetics, a large card collection, a travel section and they offer a gift wrapping service. Some orders are delivered free but only if over a certain amount is spent and with less that a certain weight. See the website for more details.

Love this Rilakkuma Mug

Something Kawaii

Something Kawaii is a lovely little shop offering, jewellery, deco (including brilliant nail deco!), clothing, purses and stationary. They have sections listing gifts under £10, £20 and above £20, which is very helpful of you're shopping for someone else or need to keep an eye on your pennies.

Bargainous fruit nail slice wheel

Slurp: The Knott Bar

Following on from our meal at El Rincon we made our way down Deansgate to The Knott Bar. One of our favourite Manchester watering holes, we’ve been visiting this place on and off for the past 8 years. I love that it’s situated underneath the railway arches.

A while back it was a regular occurrence but since things have got a little tighter cash wise and we’re not our early 20s drinking anything-that-comes-closely-related-to-being-alcoholic-phase and more in the fuck-me-I-feel-like-shite-if-I-even-look-at-a-pint-phase, it’s become a less frequent pleasure.

Knott has a lot of good things going for it, a relaxed atmosphere, a juke box, draught real ales, good food and (as if they needed something to back it up) they’re previous winners of the CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year 2009 and 2010.

The only thing I thought when I went in there was “oh, the ladies loos”. Previous visits have been marred by the grotty run down toilets, so this time as a gingerly made my way to the back of the room I was almightily surprised by the lovely refurbished ladies room, which seemed to have grown by half a metre.

I also notice a board which I hadn’t previously, detailing themed nights they appear to be running, all of which looked great but all of which had sold out. Something to keep an eye out for in the future.

The staff at Knott are always lovely and really helpful if you’re after an ale but like me (previously – still not boozing currently) you’re not really sure where to start.

We had a lovely evening and it was great to round the Tim's birthday night off with drinks in good company and great surroundings.

If you like relaxed pubs with a wide variety of ales and not on offer, get yourself down to Knott for a wonderful evening.  

Contact:

The Knott Bar, 374 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4LY. 0161 839 9229

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theKnottBar

Munch: El Rincon de Rafa

As you may have read it was my husband, Tim’s birthday on Friday.

To celebrate we went for tapas at El Rincon de Rafa in town. It’s been about three years since I was there last and I had such a good time I was looking forward to it very much.

If you haven’t been to this lovely little Spanish tapas restaurant, it’s located behind Deansgate (just after Sainsbury’s if you’re heading out of town) and it’s one of Manchester’s gems.

Trotting down the stairs and trough the doors to the right, we were met with the friendly staff who took us to a table within a couple of minutes. Drinks swiftly served, a pint for Tim and a diet coke for me, we set about the menu to see what was in store.

I was right on the whitebait. I love it!

Tim only east fish (no meat) so we wrote a list of what we’d like and tried to ensure we got a good spread of everything.

We ordered:

Hot bread topped with garlic and parsley                              

£2.95 (number 1 on the menu)

Spicy hot potatoes                                                                

£3.95 (number 5 on the menu)

Whitebait, vinegar, olive oil, garlic and parsley                       

£3.95 (number 4 on the menu)

Silver hake deep fried in garlic and parsley butter                   

£5.15 (number 10 on the menu)

Mediterranean king prawns                                                   

£6.95 (number 13 on the menu)

Small octopus, garlic, onion and white wine                           

£4.95 (number 16 on the menu)

Paprika chorizo sautéed in red wine                                      

£4.95 (number 26 on the menu)

Best mushrooms baked with blue cheese and cream            

£5.25 (number 32 on the menu)

Piqullo peppers filled with tuna and potatoes                       

£5.25 (number 36 on the menu)

We also go an extra order for prawns in filo pastry, but I’m not sure how much this was or what number!

In total it came to just over £50.

The whitebait, chorizo and mushroom were my favourite dishes out of those listed above.

Tim starts

 

Tim finishes!

The staff were attentive and friendly, clearing plates as they were finished with and asking if all was okay, which it was better than. The food was delivered to the table as and when it was cooked, ensuring that everything that was meant to be was piping hot and very delicious.

In short: lovely food, lovely staff, no other tapas place in Manchester compares to it.

They get very busy so it might be worth booking a table if you plan to eat after 7 on a weekend evening (details below).

Go, eat and enjoy :D

Contact:

El Rincon de Rafa off St John’s Street. 224 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4BQ. 0161 839 8819.