Food Glorious Food - Recipes - Gingerbread Popcorn.

Hi!!!

Welcome to Blogmas Day Eighteen. Call me Jamie Oliver, because I'm back with another recipe and a questionable amount of skill (I hardly ever do posts like these but it is Christmas and Christmas is a time for food). Anyway, today I'm going to be sharing a recipe for the ultimate festive movie marathon snack - Gingerbread Popcorn. It does take a while to make, but it tastes great and so I think it's worth it if you have a bit of spare time.

This recipe will make two servings but feel free to scale up or down - you can never have too much popcorn, can you?

You Will Need:

50 grams of butter

40g of popcorn

70g of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of black treacle

2 and a half teaspoons of golden syrup

1 and a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Here's How You Make It:

Preheat the over to 110°C or 90°C for fan ovens.

Grease a shallow roasting tin and a mixing bowl, so you have less of a battle on your hands later on.

Make the popcorn according to the instructions on the packet and allow to cool.

Heat the butter, sugar, treacle, syrup, spices and vanilla extract in a medium sized pan over a low heat until the butter melts.

Bring to the boil and cook for three minutes, stirring frequently.

Take the pan off the heat and pour the mixture over the popcorn.

Stir until the popcorn is coated in the mixture.

Spread the mixture over the prepared tray.

Bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before eating all of it in one go - it's in the instructions so you officially have permission to do so.

Thanks for joining me for Blogmas Day Eighteen.

What are your favourite Christmas treats? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for posts you'd like to see as part of Blogmas? Leave a comment and let me know.

See you tomorrow!

I hope you have a brilliant day!

GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food - Food - Spiced Orange Pancakes.

Hi!!!

Welcome to Blogmas Day Thirteen. For today's post, I'm going to be sharing a recipe with you for the ideal Christmas-time brunch (or mid-afternoon snack) - Spiced Orange Pancakes.

These pancakes are so easy to make and taste lovely. Orange and cinnamon are two of my favourite festive flavours and they work so well in these pancakes.

This recipe makes at least 6 pancakes - although if you make smaller pancakes like I did, then it stretches rather a lot further.

You Will Need:

200g self raising flour, 300ml milk, 1 medium/large egg, 1 orange, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

(OPTIONAL - but totally recommended) orange segments/ice cream/cinnamon/sprinkles to serve.

You'll also need a large mixing bowl, a whisk (ideally an electric one) and a large spoon or small ladle.

You Will Need To:

Whisk together the flour, milk and egg in the large mixing bowl.

Finely grate the orange zest and add that to the bowl, followed by the cinnamon and the juice of the orange - I actually cut the segments into three and added the juice and the inside of the orange segment to the bowl which worked really well.

Whisk the mixture.

Let the mixture rest for at least 3-5 minutes (a boring step, but worth it).

Melt half a tablespoon of butter in a pan (I used a small pan because I wanted to keep the pancakes quite small).

Spoon or ladle some of the mixture into the pan, adding more depending on how big you want your pancakes to be.

Cook for 4 minutes on one side and then flip it and cook for another 4 minutes on the other side.

Keep going until you've made all your pancakes.

Serve warm with optional toppings of vanilla ice cream, orange segments, a sprinkle of cinnamon and/or some hundreds and thousands sprinkles.

Eat the pancakes, obviously.

Thanks for reading today's Blogmas post.

What are your favourite Christmas treats? Do you have any other comments or perhaps suggestions for future posts? Feel free to leave a comment to let me know.

I hope you enjoyed today's post - and that you enjoy the pancakes if you try them out.

I hope your day is delightful.

GingerSnaps xxx

I've Been Thinking... - 25 (More) Facts About Me

Hi!!!

I've been wanting to do another Facts About Me post for a really long time, and I'm finally getting round to it. I think it's such a nice way for you to find out more about me, so hopefully you're interested. Let's begin.

1. I love Italian food - hopefully one day I'll be able to go on a (food centred) trip to Italy.
2. I haven't worn Skinny jeans since 2015. I'm all about a straight leg, a boyfriend jean and so on.
3. My guitar is called Linda.
4. I watch an appalling amount a whole lot of reality television and to be honest, I have no shame. It brings me joy.
5. I have few talents but one is that I have Butlins Red Coat level skills at party dances. Saturday Night, the Macarena, the Cha-Cha Slide? I'm a pro at them all.
6. I used to take Irish Dance classes.
7. One of my favourite movie soundtracks is the soundtrack from The Theory of Everything - it's engaging and beautiful.
8. I don't take sugar in my tea.
9. I'm currently reading the second Peter Kay autobiography - Saturday Night Peter - and I laughed audibly at it at least three times a chapter.
10. I was born in Birmingham (in the UK).
11. In Year 10 and Year 11 I insisted on wearing my school blazer with the sleeves rolled up permanently.
12. I actually used to be really fussy about how I wore my school uniform - although, lol, not sure if anyone else would think that.
13. My favourite sweets are Parma Violets.
14. My favourite film is About Time - its funny, charming, full of love and feelings, it features time travel and the cinematography is beautiful.
15. I collect old (or vintage, if you're cool) children's books - Enid Blyton books in particular although I have one or two others.
16. I'm really determined to reach 25 facts...
17. I definitely have a sweet tooth.
18. My favourite musicals are Hairspray and Les Miserables.
19. I went to see Top Hat three times when it was on in the West End - it was a really great show. 
20. I once sat next to Adrian Scarborough in the Watford Palace Theatre and spent the whole play trying to work out who he was. I went home, turned on the TV and there he was, in Gavin and Stacey (which is one of my favourite shows). I've been kicking myself ever since.
21. I really like socks and own far too many pairs because I have a socks aesthetic. Not even joking.
22. I played the first Scouting for Girls album on repeat for approximately a year when it came out until one day the CD player in the car ate it. Still haven't got it back. Sad times.
23. I'm that person who always has their CDS and DVDs in the wrong cases - it annoys me to no end but I can't stop it, no matter how hard I try.
24. I'm an ENFP, for anyone as interested in the Myers-Briggs personalities as me.
25. I absolutely love ice cream.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a bit more today through this, it's funny how hard it is to come up with 25 facts but I did it.

Tell me something about yourself in the comments. Or maybe some other comments or suggestions for future posts. Let me know by leaving a comment.

Thanks for reading, speak soon.

Have a wonderfully brilliant day!

GingerSnaps xxx

So, To Sum It All Up - December in Photographs

Hi!!!

How are you guys today? I hope you're all doing well. I spent December doing lots of fun things and I took a lot of photos and I thought I would share those things with you today - I figured that sharing some Christmassy snaps with you in January would be fine so long as I'm still in the Twelve Days of Christmas right now. I hope you like it.

Obviously I started my month by opening the first window on my advent calender - this one is the Cadbury one.

 I also opened a tub of Celebrations because Christmas. 

I went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with Elf Girl and one of our friends.

Elf Girl and I spent the afternoon in Costa - I had a Black Forest Hot Chocolate (one of many many more festive Costa drinks) - and taking photobooth photos until our friend could meet us.

We went for a meal at Chimichanga which I would highly recommend, for both food and decor (I had sea bass in case you were wondering). I enjoyed the film - I thought it was funny and charming.

I spent quite a lot of time Christmas shopping last month and went to several shopping centres on my mission.

The Bull in Birmingham was dressed up like a Christmas pudding which brought me far too much joy, and Coventry had some super snazzy decorations, shown below.

The beautiful ceiling lights were in Hemel Hempstead - I went shopping there while staying with my Auntie the weekend before Christmas.

December was filled with delightfully wintery weather, as showcased in these shots. I was running late one morning and cut through an alley way, but then got distracted by the pretty mist and fog and took photos - I made it with about ten minutes to spare so it all worked out fine. I just thought it looked really cool.

Later on in the month, while staying with my Auntie, it was really foggy again - it took us about one hundred years to complete the drive down.

Then of course there have been frosty mornings which I love having a walk around in.

There have also been some occasions to break out the sunglasses - I love those days when it's sunny but freezing cold.

I went for a meal with my friends before we all began our Christmas breaks. We went to a local Pizza Express and swapped gifts, ate pizza, pulled crackers and posed for photos, which was great.

We also had a walk around a local Christmas market and some shops (with plenty of time spent in Waterstones) before a final stop at Costa and heading home. I did all of these things wearing the paper hat from my cracker because those little hats make me so happy, I don't even really know why.

As I've mentioned, we had a pre-Christmas meal with one side of my family the weekend before Christmas.

We had a full turkey dinner with an array of puddings available to us which was lovely.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon exchanging gifts - watching my little cousins open presents makes me so happy! - catching up and eating enough olives to sink a ship (that last one might just have been me, haha).

I made my nails look all festive too - you might remember this from here.

I saw these Shetland ponies while we were there.

They were so sweet, I just had to show you.

My parents and I went into London while staying at my Auntie's. We went to see Hamlet and also to have a walk around. We went for a stroll along Bond Street to admire the window displays. We also went to Selfridges (which was a bit overwhelming on that particular day, I'm not going to lie - really crowded, really loud music...) and to Liberty where we bought Christmas crackers and I swooned over the pretty clothes.

We saw all of the Christmas lights on display. My favourites were these gorgeous angels on Regent Street and Jermyn Street.

Later in the month I went to Stratford upon Avon where I saw these lovely lights.

I ate this snowman cupcake.

I went to see a pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome with my Mom, Elf Girl, my Uncle B and Auntie A and had such an amazing time.

I love pantomime and the Hippodrome outdid themselves this year. It was so fun, so well performed and visually fantastic.

Oh and I had my first Starbucks since 2015.

It was a Fudge Hot Chocolate. It was really nice.

Not shown in photos:

Two of my friends celebrated their birthdays in December and I had so much fun at both.

I received some wonderful and thoughtful Christmas presents from my family and friends which I am super grateful for.

A relaxed, and very enjoyable, New Year's Eve.

And that was what December looked like for me.
What did you get up to last month? Do you have any other comments or maybe some suggestions for posts you like to see? Let me know in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!

I hope your day is marvellous!

GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food! - Food - Places To Eat In Paphos.

Hi!!!

I think today's post will be the last one on Cyprus (for now), because hopefully I'll be able to write some more autumnal posts over the next few weeks, but I really did want to share this. I've gathered together a few food recomendations from my holiday in Paphos, to give you a heads up as to some great places and give a shout out to some awesome restaurants.

 

We went to Paphos Market on one of the days and went to a restaurant that is literally right beside it. I can't remember its name for the life of me and nor can I find it online but they did give us these home-grown figs for free at the end of our meal, and they were gorgeous so I wanted to mention them.

 

For lunch, I'd recommend:

King's Café at Paphos Harbour. You may well get a seat right by the water which is always nice, and you can see the castle from there. Try the Village Feta Salad.

 

Also, if you stay at the Avanti Village like we did, then I'd recommend:

The Avanti Village Taverna on the Avanti Village Complex - try the Halloumi and Lountza Pitta (it's the best halloumi I had all week!)

 

For evening meals, I'd recommend going to:

Bacchus Restaurant at Paphos Harbour. It has a lovely atmosphere and  great food. Try the Fresh Sea Bass, and the Banana Split.

Viva Cyprus. We were given a box to take the things we couldn't finish in, which was really helpful. Try the Mezze, which is huge, in particular the Moussaka and Stuffed Vine Leaves.

Theo's Restaurant at Paphos Harbour. The view of the sea is great, the staff are friendly and the fish is amazing - try the Fresh Swordfish, and the Banofee Pie.

Don Luigi's Trattoria Pizzeria (shown above). The staff are really friendly and have great banter and they serve delightful Italian food. Try the Pizza Pollo, the Pizza Con-Tutto, the Raspberry Cheesecake and the Tiramisu.

Fiesta Bar and Grill. They serve nice food and if you're staying at the Avanti Village then its super easy to go to. Try the Stifado.

 

 

My golden rules for eating in Paphos are to eat as much Greek/Cypriot Cheese as possible, eat as much fresh fish as possible, try a range of traditional Greek/Cypriot dishes, if there are fresh figs available then get them (as with watermelon and oranges), and finally get your hands on some delicious ice cream.

 

The ice cream above was bought at a shop on Paphos Harbour which I can't remember the name of but the flavours are pistachio and rose. ROSE ICE CREAM! So yeah, just keep your eye out for those flavours along the harbour and get some ice cream.

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading and finding out a little bit more about my holiday.

What kind of restaurants do you like to eat in on holiday? Have you been to Cyprus? Are you as amazed by rose ice cream as I am? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Drop me a line in the comments.

Speak to you all soon.

 

I hope your day is filled with loveliness!

 

 GingerSnaps xxx

It's Showtime!!! - Theatre Reviews - The Ambassador Box Experience at The Harold Pinter Theatre.

Hi!!!

As you may well know, I recently went to see Sunny Afternoon at the Harold Pinter theatre. I usually get tickets in the stalls but was treated to the Ambassador Box Experience, which I'll be reviewing for you today (if this was any other blog, this would be sponsored but we all know that isn't the kind of ship I run).

We arrived ten minutes before the start of the show (which was a bit stressful for me, not gonna lie. I don't like to be late to important things) but we had been told that you can access the seats in the experience from half an hour before the show begins, which impressed me because it gives you plenty of time to get settled.
 I'd had seats in the box before but that was for a pantomime when I was very, very young so I can't say that I have anything to compare it to, sorry.
Anyway, we were shown to our seats by a member of staff who was incredibly kind and helpful, as I found all of the staff at the Pinter to be. You get some added extras as part of the experience - savoury snacks, Belgian chocolates and some Cava. I can say for certain that all were enjoyed very much (whoever does the theatre's weekly big shop gets a gold star from me). The seats were super comfortable and there was loads of space. The view from seats in the box takes some getting used to, especially if you normally sit in the stalls, like I do, but I felt like I had a good view of the majority of what was going on onstage, as most of the action is central or on the platform. And you can't really complain because there are seats with a restricted view around the rest of the theatre (I would assume) - at least I had the option of leaning on the little rail, too.

 

So to recap - the staff were very accommodating and helpful, the seats we had were incredibly comfy, I had a relatively good view of everything, the snacks/drinks/extras were of high quality, show was fab and I was really happy with the Ambassador Box Experience. Plus, I had extra room to dance and air guitar at the end.

I would definitely recommend it to you, if you ever get chance. It really is a great experience and you do feel very special. Five stars.

Ta Dah! As always, thanks for reading. After hardly doing any theatre-y content for a year, I'm glad to be back at it.
Have you been to the theatre lately? Have you seen Sunny Afternoon? Have you ever had tickets for seats in the box? If you have any comments or suggestions for future posts then be sure to let me know.
Happy weekend to you and yours.

Have a fantastic day!

 

GingerSnaps xxx



 

I've Been Thinking... - These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things!!! (Volume Two)

Hi!!!

I really loved writing (THIS) post a while back and I thought that it'd be nice to do that again today. I've chosen some of my favourite things to share with you at random and hopefully it'll make an interesting read - I think it'll be a great way for you to get to know more about me.

These Are Few Of My Favourite Things, Volume Two.

Harry Potter (Gryffindor for LIFE)

Blossom trees

VW Camper Vans

Snow

Dungarees

Hot air balloons

Milkshakes

Blanket Dens/Forts

The sea

Daffodils

 

Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoyed reading this - I like doing these kinds of posts because they're a bit more personal and fun and spontaneous.

What are your favourite things? What do you think of mine? Would you like to see more of these posts? How has your week been so far? Let me know in the comments.

See you soon, enjoy your Saturday.

 

I hope your day is full of your favourite things!!!

 

GingerSnaps xxx

 

Food Glorious Food! - Recipes - Three Festive Treat Recipes.

Hi!!!

Welcome to the fifth "A Dash Of Ginger Festive Five" post! It's Christmas Eve, you guys!!! I'm so excited for Christmas tomorrow. I'm my family's resident baker and I'm often in the kitchen at Christmas so I thought that I'd share some festive recipes with you for you to try out over the festive period. Since Christmas is a time for overindulgence when it comes to food, I thought that some cupcake recipes and a festive drink recipe would be the perfect fit. So, without further ado, here is my first ever recipe post!

Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes 12) Ingredients List.

• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 2 medium sized free range eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 125g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons black treacle

12 Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes 12) Method.

• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Fold in the flour, the ginger, the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the treacle.
• Put the mixture into the paper cases and cook for 20 minutes.
• Leave to cool.
• Enjoy!

Orange and Cherry Christmas Morning Muffins (makes 12) Ingredients List.

• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 2 medium sized free range eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 125g self raising flour
• The zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• A tub of glace cherries

Orange and Cherry Christmas Morning Muffins (makes 12) Method.
 
• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
• Cream the butter and the sugar together.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Fold in the flour.
• Fold in the orange zest and the cinnamon.
• Put the mixture in the paper cases.
• Put two or three glace cherries on the top of each muffin and sprinkle an extra bit of sugar over the top.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Leave to cool.
• Enjoy!

White Chocolate and Peppermint Hot Chocolate (serves two) Ingredients List.

• 2 cups of milk
• 12 squares of white chocolate
•  2 peppermint candy canes
• Whipped cream/squirty cream (optional)
• 2 handfuls of mini marshmallows (optional)

White Chocolate and Peppermint Hot Chocolate (serves two) Method.

• Pour the milk into a small saucepan and warm over a low heat.
• Add the broken squares of chocolate in small amounts and stir until melted. Repeat until all the chocolate has been used up.
• Continue to heat the mixture until the milk/chocolate mix is hot.
• Pour the milk/chocolate mix into two mugs.
• If you are using the cream/marshmallows toppings, add those on top before hanging a candy cane over the side of each mug so that it sits in the hot chocolate.
• If you aren't using the toppings, simply hang the candy cane over the side.

I hope that you've enjoyed this post with the very first recipes post on this blog.

Are you going to try out any of these recipes? Which one do you most like the sound of? Would you like to see more posts like this? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

I hope you're all having a magical Christmas Eve! Thanks for reading.

 

Have an exceedingly good day!

GingerSnaps xxx





Oh My Life! - Tales of My Life and Times - A New York Minute, Dancing in the Street, Free Fallin' Buskers and Milkshakes.

Hi!!!

So, the other weekend I headed down to my beloved London with my wonderful mother for a day full of all of the best things and I had an amazing time. I thought that I'd tell you all about it today and I hope you'll enjoy this post.

I was doing some browsing around the interwebs a few weeks ago and I found out about the (free to visit) "Fifth and 57th" installation at the Old Selfridges Hotel in London to celebrate the opening of the new Tiffany and Co store in Selfridges on Oxford Street. I have always loved Tiffany and could sit at my computer or stand at the counters admiring all of their exquisite pieces of jewellery all day long so this just seemed like a must for me. I was telling my lovely Mom about it one day and she suggested that we go together on a weekend. We ended up going on the last day it was running - the 12th of this month - and we had a great time in London.

I hadn't been to London in a while as I'd been fairly busy and so I was really looking forward to taking a trip down - it is one of my most favourite places ever. We drove down on the Sunday morning, caught the train from Watford and walked from Euston Station to Covent Garden because we love spending time there. We looked around the markets and smelled and spritzed numerous perfumes in the high end shops before continuing on to Oxford Street. I love walking around London and on our way up to Selfridges we passed many a school trip in Leicester Square which is where we passed a pretty good busker with a guitar who played "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty and made me smile and sing along until we couldn't hear him any more. We were just about to walk up Regent Street and we noticed that the bottom of the road was closed off and we stopped to figure out if we could still walk that way.

It turned out that we could indeed walk that way, and I am very pleased we did. Every Sunday in July, Regent Street has been completely closed to traffic so that "Summer Streets" can take place. It features performances and workshops from dance acts and musicians, benches and deck chairs in the middle of the road, games (such as Penalty Shoot-Outs) and pretty flowers everywhere and nearly everything is free (except, I think, for things like food or certain games which have small fees). One thing I really liked about it was that I had the ability to see people's faces and to see people enjoy themselves. I love London, but it is true that on the busier streets like Regent Street and Oxford Street, you see less of people's faces and more of the backs of people's heads. I really relished being able to see people smiling and being able to stop and take photos without being in someone's way. That and being able to dance around in the middle of the road to "Uptown Funk" and not get run over because that is pretty hard to beat.

We managed to drag ourselves away and continue on to Oxford Street where we had a quick look around Selfridges before heading next door to the installation which was at the Old Selfridges Hotel. I hadn't ever been into the hotel but it is a great space which I really believe should be used more often. We were given our free guide brochures by the girls at the entrance and walked up the stairs to the installation itself. As we turned into the space, I instantly felt that my expectations had become a reality. Bright lights and the sounds of busy streets filled the room and we walked through the doors of a subway car to be greeted by a lovely Tiffany and Co employee and a slice of New York itself. There was a little corner inspired by Central Park which featured a beautiful backdrop, a crisp white bench and a "blossom tree" - we took photos and admired how pretty it was. We moved further along and found ourselves living the New York life, with "Walk | Don't Walk" signs flashing at us and projections of a subway station on the 1837 plain white Tiffany boxes that surrounded us - 1837 were used as Tiffany and Co was established in the year 1837. We watched a short film about the "New York Minute" and the influence Tiffany and Co and its founder, Charles Tiffeany, have had over it - for example Tiffany and Co had one of the first public timepieces on display in New York City by which everyone set their watches. We moved from there to the recreated Tiffany and Co storefront which looked identical to the one that sits on the corner of 5th and 57th Street in the Big Apple itself and watched a master engraver at work which was incredibly interesting. We then grabbed a complimentary bagel from a street cart and headed over to Charlie's Bar - a speakeasy inspired bar named after Mr Tiffany - to see the gorgeous décor and check out the scene. Finally, we caught the stunning "Manhattanhenge" Sunset which, as if it were not special and beautiful enough alone, transformed as it set, to become a gorgeous Tiffany Diamond, the boxes surrounding us turning blue and sporting white ribbon. It was a fantastic end to a brilliant exhibition. I had such an amazing time and was incredibly pleased that we went.

The rest of the day featured lunch at Selfridges, window-shopping on Oxford Street, more dancing and actual shopping on Regent Street, walking on walls in the rain in Leicester Square, dinner at Bella Italia and milkshakes on the motorway to keep us going until we got home.

 

I had the most brilliant day - a big, huge thank you to my fabulous mother for joining me.

 

Browse the Tiffany and Co at Selfridges website (HERE)

Browse the Selfridges website (HERE)

Find "Summer Streets" (HERE)

Find Bella Italia (HERE)

And listen to "Free Fallin'" (HERE)

I hope that you have enjoyed this post, it was lovely to sit and think about all the cool things we did while I was putting this together. It's my birthday on Friday so the next time I see you I'll be another year older (and ready to write more posts!).
Have you been to London recently? What do you think about the idea for Summer Streets? Did you get to go to the exhibition? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Please do let me know in the comments below.
I'll speak with you guys soon.

 

I hope your day is full of joy!

GingerSnaps xxx

Oh My Life! - Tales Of My Life and Times - Noodles, Peter Kay, ExtraHot Hot Sauce, Fall Out Boy and Birthdays!

Hi!!!

Today I want to tell you all about how I spent my time a few weekends ago. I know, I'm behind on my blogging a bit, but oh well - win some lose some.

On the Friday night, my older cousin came to stay with us. After a group walk around my neighbourhood in my pyjamas (I'd like to say that's the first time I had done that, but it wasn't...), we returned home with a Chinese takeaway; the line up including Singapore Noodles and Sweet and Sour Chicken. We also opened a bar of Dairy Milk, and sat and watched "Peter Kay In Conversation" which was still on our Sky Planner (other TV thingys are available). We were originally going to watch "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" (great film!) but we needed to download it from Sky On Demand first, and it took forever!

On Saturday morning, my cousin went home, I washed my hair and we went around to the new house. We finished stripping all the wallpaper upstairs with the help of a steamer, and a friend of ours came round to help paint the living room and kitchen. I left at 4 because I was going out 6:30, but everyone else stayed at the house until 7 or something! I kind of felt bad for not staying and helping but sometimes your social life needs attention.

Some friends and I went out to Nando's for something to eat to celebrate my friend H's birthday, mentioned (HERE). I say "some friends" because there were about three or four people who were invited that couldn't make it, and that was a massive shame. Still, we all ate chicken, as you do at Nando's, and had a really good  time. I had a Medium spice Chicken Burger with Chips and the Extra Hot Sauce served in a black bottle marked with a red X, and couldn't resist a White Chocolate and Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake and a cup of tea.

For those interested, I wore a cream peasant blouse, skinny jeans, my Converse High Tops and some braces.

If you want to see the Nando's website and find out more, click (HERE).

Then on Sunday, we went out for a cooked breakfast and for a little shop. From there it was around to the new house for a bit, and then home to watch the football on the tellybox. I half watched, half caught up on my blogging/blog reading. My Nan came round for dinner and we dropped her home because we were off to see Fall Out Boy that night.

I adore Fall Out Boy, and have done since, I don't know, about 2009. The tickets were a Christmas present, so I had been excited for a really long time.
I do have to tell you about our struggle getting into the gig, though, because it was so odd.
We joined the queue in the car park with everyone else, and were then told that we needed to go down ten flights of stairs because we were in standing, not in the seats. I wouldn't have minded so much but we had already climbed up and down said stairs twice to pay for parking, and then we had to queue down a hill, up the hill, down the hill again, up the hill again and then in a spiral to get to the doors.
Once inside, though, everything changed.
The first support act, who I believe were called New Politics, were playing some great music and very loudly telling me to follow my dreams, we dived into the scrum at the merchandise stand for a wristband, and we managed to find ourselves a great spot. The second support act was The Pretty Reckless, and they were alright.
Then it was Fall Out Boy. The minute they came on stage, they had everybody captivated. Their set was so, so awesome. I literally couldn't have been more pleased with the gig. It was amazing and everyone there enjoyed themselves. Also, there were old interview/film clips played throughout the gig, and that added to the experience, making it a bit more personal than just them playing music. I'd also like to mention the slideshow that was shown during the gig, as it included so many of the amazing musicians we've enjoyed through time, and really showed everyone there how well the band know good music.

 I knew Fall Out Boy would be good, but they exceeded my expectations by miles.

We did have to leave 5/10 minutes early because we were on one of the highest floors of the car park and didn't want to be stuck in the car until 1am. We were gutted about leaving but I think it was for the best. 

We got home and made tea and toast. I found Lee Evans - Big on TV, so I suggested we watched that while we ate. Then it was bed time. 

That was a great day. 

The days that followed included H's birthday and Saint Patrick's Day (posts HERE), and doing some more work on the new house.

It was a good week.

And that is that. I'm glad to have finished this post, and I am sorry that I have been behind on my blogging this month. I hope that this post was interesting and that you enjoyed having an insight into my little life.

What have you been up to recently? What do you think of what I have been up to? Any suggestions for upcoming posts? Fancy a chat? Let me know in the comments.

I will see you next month (eek - can you believe its April tomorrow?) for a summary, but for now I bid you farewell.

I hope your day is supreme!

GingerSnaps xxx

Oh My Life! - Tales Of My Life And Times - I Do Love A Onsie, A Disney Movie and Making A Two-Tonne Of Meringue Goodness...

Hi!!!


I thought I'd fill you in on one of my recent "lazy days". I feel like, in a strange way, I find "lazy days" work better as "Oh My Life!" posts, but you guys might not feel the same way. By the way, if you don't, then feel free to look through that little archive on the right hand side for something that takes your fancy.


I got up recently with nothing to do and nowhere to go (at least not particularly) and so decided to take up the opportunity to have some time to myself.

I had a shower and washed my hair when I woke up, and threw on my onesie when I got out. I'd actually like to put in a disclaimer in about the whole "onesie" topic...

From the day the onesie first hit the high streets, I decided that they were morally wrong and completely unacceptable. I also decided I'd never buy myself one. However, my mom bought me a super fluffy onesie from Next for Christmas and so I gave it a go. I LOVE IT! DO NOT knock the onesie until you have tried it - I guarantee you will enjoy it, even just a little bit. Also, my advice is to never buy a really cheap onesie; I'd advise a slightly more expensive one as it is much more comfortable and a lot less... meh. Oh yeah, and always opt for super fluffy!

So, yeah, I put on my onesie and made myself very, very comfortable on the sofa armed with a cup of tea. I spent most of my morning watching The Big Bang Theory, and eating the last of the Christmas Quality Street. Then it was scrambled egg on toast for lunch, which just improved my day further.

In the afternoon, I made the decision to check out what movies were on my Sky On Demand - other TV doobrees are available. I found "Mickey's Magical Christmas" and decided to watch that, despite it being January. I found the film really enjoyable, and I do love a good little Disney movie. I am an, if not *the* Ultimate Disney Addict/Fan.

Later on, like after dinner later on, I made a choice which involved creating some lovely meringues. I couldn't find the electric part of the whisk so worked up an hour's worth of a sweat before finally finding it... Oh My Life! But, I did end up with some pretty pink rose flavoured mini meringues to enjoy. I guess all's well that ends well. Especially when meringues are involved.



And, so, that's it. Considering this post was about a whole day, I kind of expected more of a lengthy post, but the joy of a lazy day is that there is very little to say and yet so much happiness can come from them. While it was a "lazy day", I tried to do some things, because I hate feeling like I have wasted a day.

I hoped that this post has been enjoyable for you. Have you had a "lazy day" recently? What do you get up to on a "lazy day"?

Have a really good day everybody!

GingerSnaps xxx