The bird is still alive! Doing a full rendition of the riverdance every morning at around 6am. It might be doing it throughout the day but we're not in the room so don't really know. Surely it must give up soon?
On a positive note the plumber is coming tomorrow to sort out the bathroom taps and hot water is now back on fully...fingers crossed it doesn't break again what with the weather turning to autumn.
The piccalilli has turned out awesome - though we can't eat it for a while as it needs to mature but it's going to be yummy. I now need to find a tasty recipe for scallops. I'm thinking risotto - any other suggestions?
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Problems problems
It's one of those days, or couple of days, where everything seems to break. The gas meter got replaced last night which meant yesterday we had no hot water to shower. Even though it was a new meter we still had no hot water which implied the boiler was broken, coincidence? At bed time the boiler seemed to be working again so we thought it just needed resetting and this morning all seemed fine, Daniel had a shower and all looked rosy. That was until i went to have a shower and lo and behold not working again! Then thought I'd go online whilst i waited for it to reset again and the Internet wasn't working either! Turns out, after a gas man spent ages trying to find out the problem, that the pump was broken - so yet another day of no hot water for me.
There also seems to be a bird in the chimney - we don't have a fire place! It will just have to flap in there until it gives up hope as we don't know what else to do!
I'm now going to be more productive and start making a batch of piccalilli ready for Christmas!!
There also seems to be a bird in the chimney - we don't have a fire place! It will just have to flap in there until it gives up hope as we don't know what else to do!
I'm now going to be more productive and start making a batch of piccalilli ready for Christmas!!
Wednesday 17 August 2011
American Adventure 2007 - revisited!
I know it's a long time coming but i have finally got round to sorting out photos and other bits and bobs from holidays gone past. I found all the America bits from when i went with Vicki in 2007 - i know a long time ago! But in amongst leaflets and nick knacks i found two sheets of paper where i had written a mini travel diary for a couple of places we visited - this was long before i decided to blog it. So here are the accounts of my travels to Chicago and San Francisco of times gone by:
"Where do i begin? Obviously i look like a criminal as was on a list to be searched at Heathrow and after a long delay arrived at Chicago only to be questioned at passport control! Answered the questions sweating like a pig even though I'd done nothing wrong! Our journey was good, the view from the airplane of the snow capped mountains of Greenland was amazing. The hotel is great - The Hilton Chicago!! We have bell boys! They upgraded us so we've got a great view of the park and Lake Michigan, a double bed and bathroom each. The TV is way bigger than ours at home, and Clinton stay here when he visits Chicago!
Did a lot of sightseeing on our first day. Went up the Sears Tower which had amazing views of the city and the lake. Saw a number of other nice buildings, Chicago Board of Trade, Wrigley's chewing gum home and Tribune Tower. Also went down the pier, got a boat onto Lake Michigan which had excellent views of the skyline and went through one of their big parks - so manic day. Evening was completely random too as started by being chatted up by a bell boy, chased after a car who had left all their drinks on their roof and i was certain i saw a dead body hanging from the roof of a building!! Found out later it was a piece of art but how weird is that! Also accidentally strolled into a dodgy neighbourhood - when we saw a 'men's only hotel', we quick footed it out of there!!
Went shopping down the magnificent mile and went on a bus tour round the city too which was good. Turns out Oprah and Jerry Springer live opposite each other here! The guide also said i was morbid for trying to take a picture of the 'dead body', but it was too high up. We went up the John Hancock centre at night which is the second highest building here which also had great views and watched fireworks on a bridge over the Chicago river which were going off at the harbour - ahhhh.
So our last day here and we'd pretty much seen the entire city so we went to the beach! I'm determined to come back tanned! We stumbled upon a beach volleyball tournament - mmmm :)
So a little bit long winded from 'the windy city' but we have been up to a lot in a short amount of time and all that jazz! Next stop San Francisco!!!"
"After queuing for no reason at Chicago airport just because everyone else was we made it to San Francisco. Not really with it when we got there as let go of my suitcase and watched it roll down the escalator!!
My god how windy and hilly is it compared to Chicago? Thought we'd take a little walk round, knackered after 5 minutes because it's all up hill and down dale! I also announced to everyone that i didn't know what a ferry was in a ferry terminal!! We got the cable car back to the hotel only for it to break down on the top of a hill!
And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay...not while we were there! Took a long........walk to Golden Gate Bridge only to get there and find we couldn't see the top because of all the fog - apparently typical San Francisco weather! Walked a little way on the bridge then back the the Exploratorium, a hand on type science museum which was cool. While taking the walk through the national recreation area we also saw some kind of sailing competition round Alcatraz! We went on a small pier with all the fisherman which was cool.
The following day with the weather colder and windier we thought we'd see about getting a boat to Alcatraz only to find it was booked up for weeks...booo. So took a walk down Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 which was lovely and quaint with the sea lions in residence there - had a chat with them, arg arg!! We went to take a tour bus and walking to it a homeless person made us jump out of our skins by hiding behind a branch and shouting boo! I screamed and ran! We made it to the bus and went round all the sites - city hall china town, union square - shopping again!
We came back to Pier 39 for dinner at a cool restaurant overlooking the sea lions at one window and Alcatraz out the other. Got to draw on the table cloth which was fun, most interesting meal yet - left a message on the table cloth for the waiters! On the way home we watched some break dancers on the street - who was outdone by someone in the crowd!
So final day here and no improvement in the weather! We started the day going to Lombard Street, the crookedest street going but had to get up there first - mentally up hill - a wall had one brick on one side and 7 on the other, we were knackered - a concrete Everest! Decided to go on a boat trip down to the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz - very cold but could see the entire bridge today. Everyone else is taking pictures of the bridge all excited and there's me saying ooooo nice land taking a picture of the landscape - came out rubbish so it got deleted! Alcatraz looked really cool - hard to imagine it existed as a prison not that long ago. Took a final walk round - not scared by homeless people today. Went over to the Transamerican Pyramid but you are not allowed up it any more so went back down to the wharf.
So did we leave our heart in San Francisco - yes, but won't miss the weather!"
Re reading these i remember some things that i had completely forgotten happened! We had a great time - after San Francisco we went onto Las Vegas, Boston and New York so it was an epic holiday, we did so much even though we were only in each place for 3-4 days! Clearly amazing places so much so i went back to some of them a couple of years later which is all blogged here! Great times!!
"Where do i begin? Obviously i look like a criminal as was on a list to be searched at Heathrow and after a long delay arrived at Chicago only to be questioned at passport control! Answered the questions sweating like a pig even though I'd done nothing wrong! Our journey was good, the view from the airplane of the snow capped mountains of Greenland was amazing. The hotel is great - The Hilton Chicago!! We have bell boys! They upgraded us so we've got a great view of the park and Lake Michigan, a double bed and bathroom each. The TV is way bigger than ours at home, and Clinton stay here when he visits Chicago!
Did a lot of sightseeing on our first day. Went up the Sears Tower which had amazing views of the city and the lake. Saw a number of other nice buildings, Chicago Board of Trade, Wrigley's chewing gum home and Tribune Tower. Also went down the pier, got a boat onto Lake Michigan which had excellent views of the skyline and went through one of their big parks - so manic day. Evening was completely random too as started by being chatted up by a bell boy, chased after a car who had left all their drinks on their roof and i was certain i saw a dead body hanging from the roof of a building!! Found out later it was a piece of art but how weird is that! Also accidentally strolled into a dodgy neighbourhood - when we saw a 'men's only hotel', we quick footed it out of there!!
Went shopping down the magnificent mile and went on a bus tour round the city too which was good. Turns out Oprah and Jerry Springer live opposite each other here! The guide also said i was morbid for trying to take a picture of the 'dead body', but it was too high up. We went up the John Hancock centre at night which is the second highest building here which also had great views and watched fireworks on a bridge over the Chicago river which were going off at the harbour - ahhhh.
So our last day here and we'd pretty much seen the entire city so we went to the beach! I'm determined to come back tanned! We stumbled upon a beach volleyball tournament - mmmm :)
So a little bit long winded from 'the windy city' but we have been up to a lot in a short amount of time and all that jazz! Next stop San Francisco!!!"
"After queuing for no reason at Chicago airport just because everyone else was we made it to San Francisco. Not really with it when we got there as let go of my suitcase and watched it roll down the escalator!!
My god how windy and hilly is it compared to Chicago? Thought we'd take a little walk round, knackered after 5 minutes because it's all up hill and down dale! I also announced to everyone that i didn't know what a ferry was in a ferry terminal!! We got the cable car back to the hotel only for it to break down on the top of a hill!
And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay...not while we were there! Took a long........walk to Golden Gate Bridge only to get there and find we couldn't see the top because of all the fog - apparently typical San Francisco weather! Walked a little way on the bridge then back the the Exploratorium, a hand on type science museum which was cool. While taking the walk through the national recreation area we also saw some kind of sailing competition round Alcatraz! We went on a small pier with all the fisherman which was cool.
The following day with the weather colder and windier we thought we'd see about getting a boat to Alcatraz only to find it was booked up for weeks...booo. So took a walk down Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 which was lovely and quaint with the sea lions in residence there - had a chat with them, arg arg!! We went to take a tour bus and walking to it a homeless person made us jump out of our skins by hiding behind a branch and shouting boo! I screamed and ran! We made it to the bus and went round all the sites - city hall china town, union square - shopping again!
We came back to Pier 39 for dinner at a cool restaurant overlooking the sea lions at one window and Alcatraz out the other. Got to draw on the table cloth which was fun, most interesting meal yet - left a message on the table cloth for the waiters! On the way home we watched some break dancers on the street - who was outdone by someone in the crowd!
So final day here and no improvement in the weather! We started the day going to Lombard Street, the crookedest street going but had to get up there first - mentally up hill - a wall had one brick on one side and 7 on the other, we were knackered - a concrete Everest! Decided to go on a boat trip down to the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz - very cold but could see the entire bridge today. Everyone else is taking pictures of the bridge all excited and there's me saying ooooo nice land taking a picture of the landscape - came out rubbish so it got deleted! Alcatraz looked really cool - hard to imagine it existed as a prison not that long ago. Took a final walk round - not scared by homeless people today. Went over to the Transamerican Pyramid but you are not allowed up it any more so went back down to the wharf.
So did we leave our heart in San Francisco - yes, but won't miss the weather!"
Re reading these i remember some things that i had completely forgotten happened! We had a great time - after San Francisco we went onto Las Vegas, Boston and New York so it was an epic holiday, we did so much even though we were only in each place for 3-4 days! Clearly amazing places so much so i went back to some of them a couple of years later which is all blogged here! Great times!!
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Shopping delivered to your door!
The reasons for online shopping when Tesco is just round the corner were two fold:
1. Daniel binned the Tesco vouchers, which i was not best pleased about, but we found that you can still redeem then online
2. He also hates going to Tesco but can happily sit on the computer for hours on end
It actually worked OK, a little tricky at times to find what you are looking for, but that will get easier and it was delivered on time. The only thing that was a little weird was they substitute items if they don't have the one you want and they substituted garlic with chillies! That didn't make sense to me as you would think they would substitute it with another garlic product but hey ho, you don't have to accept it and they refund the cost so it was fine.
Now we have food again post holiday - woohoo!
1. Daniel binned the Tesco vouchers, which i was not best pleased about, but we found that you can still redeem then online
2. He also hates going to Tesco but can happily sit on the computer for hours on end
It actually worked OK, a little tricky at times to find what you are looking for, but that will get easier and it was delivered on time. The only thing that was a little weird was they substitute items if they don't have the one you want and they substituted garlic with chillies! That didn't make sense to me as you would think they would substitute it with another garlic product but hey ho, you don't have to accept it and they refund the cost so it was fine.
Now we have food again post holiday - woohoo!
Monday 15 August 2011
We're back!!!
We're back from Croatia and had a fab time! The weather was so hot - 36C at times! The people were lovely as was the part of the country we went to.
It was a very early start, having got up at 4am, yes 4am, to get to the airport and due to their check in desks breaking the queues were massive as there were quite a few flights going out that early that we only had time to grab a sandwich then board the plane. Everything went smoothly and we were at the hotel so early we couldn't check in! So sitting still in our England clothes we drank at the pool bar til we could get to our room.
Over the course of the week we had a balance of doing things and laying around pool/sea side - partly you couldn't be on the go all the time as it was far too hot! Our hotel over looked the harbour and international port where many cruise ships docked - and my they were massive. One day there was 4 ships docked in the harbour which meant an additional 10,000 people in the old town. The tiny old streets in the walled city can not cope with that many people so we were lucky to be able to see how many there were at the harbour and then we could judge whether we should go into the old town or not!
Having only saw one ship we ventured into the old town of Dubrovnik on one day to go up the medieval city walls that surround the city - hmmm, i was not brilliant at walking up to these, lets be honest i wasn't great on the Lincoln castle walls! Daniel held onto me until we got to a part of the walls where it was high solid sides and then i was a little better. Great views of the old town with all the hustle and bustle down below but it was incredibly hot! It took a while to do one complete circuit mainly because you need to keep stopping for shade and water.
When we came down we decided to got hunting for the Dubrovnik Festival tickets as we were lucky enough to be staying there whilst this music festival was on - they open up all the historical buildings for concerts and performances so it seemed a good thing to try and go to. We eventually found the ticket office - though it was well hidden - and bought tickets for a guitar trio held in the Rector's Palace which was where the old mayor type person lived in the past. The concert was really good, it was classical guitar pieces, sounded brilliant inside the palace. We did however clap a hell of a lot, when they came on, when they went off, when they came back for another bow, for their encore, our hands hurt, it was insane. They even got flowers at the end like at the opera. They came out for two encores after the crowd clapped so much and ended up being in unison clapping, it was a little strange. They did do a got section where all three of them were playing the same guitar, that was impressive. After coming out of there at 11.30 the old town was still buzzing, but we made our way for the bus as we didn't know when the last one was. Daniel took some great pictures of the old town on his new camera, though you do feel a little bit of a pleb when you are posing and he's taking a load of pictures on different settings!
From the old town we also got a boat to one of the islands Lokrum which is not too far away. It only had on it a botanical garden, fortress, monastery and a cafe. It was a very green island though the botanical garden part was not what you expected it to look like, it was very grayish in colour and had lots of cacti, where as outside the garden was green and colourful. We spent some time on the rocks sunbathing and trying to get into the sea - it was very rocky and slimy on the rocks. There was also fish and shells with legs crawling around in there which you tried to avoid but it was fun. We couldn't access much of the island though as they had threats of forest fires, we tried to get through on some back paths but had no luck. In the end we got the boat back and went for some delicious gelato - apple ice cream was amazing!
Thomson who we booked the holiday through did run excursions to the islands but we decided to visit Lopud ourselves as we didn't want to visit some of the lesser interesting islands and they were built into the trip so we decided to brave the locals mode of travel to Lopud! We got the water taxi (also known as a tiny little boat practically in the water with a crazy driver) to the port, then found the ticket office and got some tickets to Lopud (which was also several hundred kuna cheaper than the Thomson trip) and boarded a ferry. There were no announcements on this ferry, consequently we almost got off at the wrong island as we didn't know if it was Lopud or not! Thankfully i glimpsed a sign on our way off and realised it was the wrong one so we sat back down! Another half an hour later we made it to Lopud, this time the right island! We tried to be a little like Bear Grylls on Lokrum but due to so much of it being shut off we couldn't be at one with nature, so we tried here. We walked across the island to get to the sandy beach and that felt more Bear Grylls like. We were doing well when a massive butterfly flew by, i then screamed when it got to close! Doh. The beach was lovely, quieter than we expected and surrounded by posh yachts anchored out to sea. We stayed for lunch at a beach hut called Charcoal Grill, Daniel had a kebab in honour of the local Charcoal Grill takeaway at home! Lopud's was surely better quality! My fried squid was delicious! After more tasty gelato and pivo - aka beer we got the evening ferry home, which felt like it took forever and the taxi boat back to the hotel.
The only excursion we did book with Thomson was a wine tour. For 315 kuna - £37 - we drank a lot of wine. I thought we'd get given a few small glasses which we'd have to spit into a pot but we had at least 10 glasses and a lot of nibbles. The vineyards were only small but the owners we so generous - they sold you thier wine but not for much money - one bottle we bought was only £3.50. We even tried the world's best dessert wine - that was a little more expensive so our bottle is saved for a special occassion. Needless to say by the time we got back to the hotel we were a little tipsy!
We did the wine tour on our last full day as we were being picked up early Sunday morning for our flight. That is the only thing with package deals, they get you to the airport so early for your flight you end up sitting there for ages.
So now we're back...what to do??? Plan next year's holiday i think :)
It was a very early start, having got up at 4am, yes 4am, to get to the airport and due to their check in desks breaking the queues were massive as there were quite a few flights going out that early that we only had time to grab a sandwich then board the plane. Everything went smoothly and we were at the hotel so early we couldn't check in! So sitting still in our England clothes we drank at the pool bar til we could get to our room.
Over the course of the week we had a balance of doing things and laying around pool/sea side - partly you couldn't be on the go all the time as it was far too hot! Our hotel over looked the harbour and international port where many cruise ships docked - and my they were massive. One day there was 4 ships docked in the harbour which meant an additional 10,000 people in the old town. The tiny old streets in the walled city can not cope with that many people so we were lucky to be able to see how many there were at the harbour and then we could judge whether we should go into the old town or not!
Having only saw one ship we ventured into the old town of Dubrovnik on one day to go up the medieval city walls that surround the city - hmmm, i was not brilliant at walking up to these, lets be honest i wasn't great on the Lincoln castle walls! Daniel held onto me until we got to a part of the walls where it was high solid sides and then i was a little better. Great views of the old town with all the hustle and bustle down below but it was incredibly hot! It took a while to do one complete circuit mainly because you need to keep stopping for shade and water.
When we came down we decided to got hunting for the Dubrovnik Festival tickets as we were lucky enough to be staying there whilst this music festival was on - they open up all the historical buildings for concerts and performances so it seemed a good thing to try and go to. We eventually found the ticket office - though it was well hidden - and bought tickets for a guitar trio held in the Rector's Palace which was where the old mayor type person lived in the past. The concert was really good, it was classical guitar pieces, sounded brilliant inside the palace. We did however clap a hell of a lot, when they came on, when they went off, when they came back for another bow, for their encore, our hands hurt, it was insane. They even got flowers at the end like at the opera. They came out for two encores after the crowd clapped so much and ended up being in unison clapping, it was a little strange. They did do a got section where all three of them were playing the same guitar, that was impressive. After coming out of there at 11.30 the old town was still buzzing, but we made our way for the bus as we didn't know when the last one was. Daniel took some great pictures of the old town on his new camera, though you do feel a little bit of a pleb when you are posing and he's taking a load of pictures on different settings!
From the old town we also got a boat to one of the islands Lokrum which is not too far away. It only had on it a botanical garden, fortress, monastery and a cafe. It was a very green island though the botanical garden part was not what you expected it to look like, it was very grayish in colour and had lots of cacti, where as outside the garden was green and colourful. We spent some time on the rocks sunbathing and trying to get into the sea - it was very rocky and slimy on the rocks. There was also fish and shells with legs crawling around in there which you tried to avoid but it was fun. We couldn't access much of the island though as they had threats of forest fires, we tried to get through on some back paths but had no luck. In the end we got the boat back and went for some delicious gelato - apple ice cream was amazing!
Thomson who we booked the holiday through did run excursions to the islands but we decided to visit Lopud ourselves as we didn't want to visit some of the lesser interesting islands and they were built into the trip so we decided to brave the locals mode of travel to Lopud! We got the water taxi (also known as a tiny little boat practically in the water with a crazy driver) to the port, then found the ticket office and got some tickets to Lopud (which was also several hundred kuna cheaper than the Thomson trip) and boarded a ferry. There were no announcements on this ferry, consequently we almost got off at the wrong island as we didn't know if it was Lopud or not! Thankfully i glimpsed a sign on our way off and realised it was the wrong one so we sat back down! Another half an hour later we made it to Lopud, this time the right island! We tried to be a little like Bear Grylls on Lokrum but due to so much of it being shut off we couldn't be at one with nature, so we tried here. We walked across the island to get to the sandy beach and that felt more Bear Grylls like. We were doing well when a massive butterfly flew by, i then screamed when it got to close! Doh. The beach was lovely, quieter than we expected and surrounded by posh yachts anchored out to sea. We stayed for lunch at a beach hut called Charcoal Grill, Daniel had a kebab in honour of the local Charcoal Grill takeaway at home! Lopud's was surely better quality! My fried squid was delicious! After more tasty gelato and pivo - aka beer we got the evening ferry home, which felt like it took forever and the taxi boat back to the hotel.
The only excursion we did book with Thomson was a wine tour. For 315 kuna - £37 - we drank a lot of wine. I thought we'd get given a few small glasses which we'd have to spit into a pot but we had at least 10 glasses and a lot of nibbles. The vineyards were only small but the owners we so generous - they sold you thier wine but not for much money - one bottle we bought was only £3.50. We even tried the world's best dessert wine - that was a little more expensive so our bottle is saved for a special occassion. Needless to say by the time we got back to the hotel we were a little tipsy!
We did the wine tour on our last full day as we were being picked up early Sunday morning for our flight. That is the only thing with package deals, they get you to the airport so early for your flight you end up sitting there for ages.
So now we're back...what to do??? Plan next year's holiday i think :)
Thursday 4 August 2011
Is it possible to travel light?
So I'm trying to pack for Croatia, which we leave for in two days and I'm trying to travel light, however this is easier said than done! Once you've got in a few changes of outfit, swimwear, undies, shoes (and i only mean a pair of flip flops and a pair of going out shoes) not to mention all the toiletries you need, even though they are all in miniature form you are no longer travelling light!
Any advice would be welcomed here!
Any advice would be welcomed here!
Wednesday 3 August 2011
Awesome slaw!
When we were on holiday a couple of years ago in LA i had this tasty island slaw as a side dish to some burritos and today felt like recreating it. Needless to say finding the recipe was pointless as a restaurant is never going to give away its secrets but i made a version of it that was awesome! This does make loads but great for a barbeque.
Mix together the following ingrediants:
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2tbsp of vegetable oil
2tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
Into the mix add shredded carrot, cabbage and red onion, mix together and add more seasoning if necessary, leave for 20 minutes then enjoy! So easy and delicious!
Mix together the following ingrediants:
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2tbsp of vegetable oil
2tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
Into the mix add shredded carrot, cabbage and red onion, mix together and add more seasoning if necessary, leave for 20 minutes then enjoy! So easy and delicious!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)