The Sunshine Award!

Two weeks ago I was nominated for the Sunshine Award!!

It’s amazing that I was nominated for an award and one which I would love my blog to be known for! A big thank you goes to Faith, at www.faithrises.com for this generous award! Do please go and check out this inspiring blog – daily encouragement through Bible verses and photos. You’ll love it! 🙂

On the business side of things, the Sunshine Award comes with a few rules:

• Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog
• Answer 10 questions about yourself
• Nominate 10-12 other fabulous bloggers
• Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated
• Share the love and link the person who nominated you!

So about these 10 questions … what questions should I ask myself? What would people like to know about me? I’m fairly stumped and would like to be original if I can, so I’m going to bend the rules slightly …! 😉

I’m going to tell you five things about myself and then I will answer the first five questions that you post as comments to this post!

Now come on, be good sports and ask some, ok?! 😛

1. After the ceremony was over, I wore red Converses and rainbow coloured striped socks with my wedding dress.
2. I’ve flown over 36 times in my short lifetime.
3. I’ve been bitten by a poisonous spider.
4. I fancied my husband for over four years before he asked me out.
5. I couldn’t walk after spending an almost two whole days on a trampoline, after never using one before.

Right, so here I’ve given you five fun facts about myself – you lot ask me the next five!!

Now I need to nominate 10-12 fabulous bloggers to receive the Sunshine Award from me! I find this part extra-difficult, as I never want to leave anyone out, but here goes (I’m not promising to reach the full number! 😉 ) …

1. www.bigeejit.blogspot.co.uk
2. www.happinessstanlives.wordpress.com
3. www.confessionsofacornfedgirl.blogspot.co.uk
4. www.lovingsimplemoments.wordpress.com
5. www.resolved2worship.xanga.com
6. www.jelillie.wordpress.com
7. www.yesiwantcake.com
8. www.twominutesofgrace.wordpress.com
9. www.badpuppetproductionz.com

There you have it! I think these blogs give sunshine for many different reasons – go and find out for yourself!! 🙂

Today, I had some fun!

This morning when I left home for an appointment, it was pouring with rain … within seconds my waterproof coat was dripping through the inner sleeve onto my sweater – so much for being waterproof.

It stopped raining as I neared the last 10 minutes of my walk but then, while crossing a busy road, I noticed that an obliging seagull had pooped liberally on my jeans and shoe. Fantastic.

Two hand washing sessions, antibacterial handwash applications and an hour later, things began to look up.

My best buddy R and I went to the beach, where the sky was blue and the sun was shinning!

Despite the lack of rain and the warmth of the sun, it was still very windy on the seafront, so both of us look very windswept … hmm, I also look a little crazy …

I love the sea!

I love pebbles, sunlight and shadows!

More than that, I love fun adventures with R! 😀

Whiskey Tasting at NoBody Inn

Last Wednesday evening L, myself and five of our friends were at The NoBody Inn.

The NoBody Inn is a country pub and restaurant, filled with character and set in the small Devon village of Doddiscombsleigh.

The staff are very welcoming and make you feel like giving you the best service possible will make their day!

The mix of locals, regulars and first-time visitors lend a gentle buzz and friendly atmosphere to the charm of the old-word interior.

There is an extensive selection of beers, ales, wines and something they are more widely noted for – their whiskey collection.

They have amongst their collection a particularly rare single malt that will only be opened if you guarantee to buy at least a third of the bottle …

That expensive bottle wasn’t one of the whiskeys featured at the tasting evening!! 😉

The evening included a five coarse meal – and what a meal! I had been imagining five small, daintily sized portions – after all, there were going to be five of them! Each of these courses was a generous size and those of our group who consumed the whole lot went away from the table very well satisfied! 😉

The food was truly delicious and beautifully presented. I have a special fondness for food being served on slate plates, so I was a happy girl! 😉 The smoked salmon was smoked and grilled at the inn and was the best fish I’ve ever eaten! As with all of their menus, as much of the food as possible is sourced locally or from within Devon.

Oh yes, and have you noticed the cheese? Such good cheese! Yum!

 The seven of us sat at the far end of the table, which out to be a good thing, as we were definitely the youngest and noisiest group round the table! 😉

The whiskey tasting was led by Bill Hutcheson of Gordon & MacPhail specialists of Single Malt whiskeys.

We were led through the history, aroma and taste of seven whiskeys in total, so even with some of the glasses being cleared away between courses, there was a very impressive amount of glassware on the table by the end of the evening!

My personal favourites out of all the whiskeys was the 6th glass, which was a Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 12 year old. This was one of two whiskeys served with the cheese course and no, of course my liking for this whiskey was not influced by having cheese with it! 😉

Our wonderfully generous and thoughtful friends not only gave us a an evening filled with laughter, the best whiskeys, delicious food, good company and lots of memories …

… they also booked us a room for the night at the NoBody Inn. It was wonderfully spacious and comfortable with lots of character.

There was an attention to details in the decorations that made it a lot more homely and welcoming then many other hotel rooms … the attention to detail didn’t end with dcor and a nightcap of sherry …

… but extended all the way to folding the bath towels into an elephant! 🙂

The NoBody Inn is an exceptional experience for lunch, supper and staying overnight.

The welcoming staff, delicious and local food, fine quality wines, ales and whiskeys and breathtaking surroundings inside and out make this country inn a visit to remember!

So do yourself a favour and next time you’re in Devon, have a meal at the NoBody Inn!

Garunteed satisfaction.

Spring promises

I love spring!

Such promise of new beginnings and dead things coming to life.

Primroses also happen to be my favourite flower! 🙂

The Royal Mile – Edinburgh Part 3

I have read about the Royal Mile in story and history books and tried to imagine what it might be like. I think I based it on the nearest “big city” to where I grew up (it’s just a town really, nothing like a city!), then enlarged it in my town … combined with quite a bit of Bath (a city which features a lot in Jane Austen books/movies) … threw in the tiny amount of London I’d seen … much to my shame added some of the older parts of Washington DC (sorry for offending your sense of English or Scottish nationality … ) … and came up with something vastly different and vastly inferior to the regal and historic reality that is the Royal Mile, Edinburgh!

The Royal Mile begins at Edinburgh Castle and runs downhill, where it ends at Hollyrood House.

We started at the Castle, but didn’t make it all the way down to Hollyrood House. It’s just a mile, right? Trust me, psychology conferences and academic talk take it out of you! 😉

The views were amazing and apparently it’s pretty unusual to get such amazing weather in Edinburgh in the spring – must have been saved up especially for us! 😉

I especially loved the views from this side of the Castle, as there was so much green and springyness!!

I fell in love with all the daffodils and took many more photos of them than I’ll force upon you! 😛

But don’t worry, L made sure flowers were not the only local beauty that got caught on my camera! 😉

Tonight my hubby and I are going to a whiskey tasting evening (including a 5-course meal – um, you’re meant to fit that much food inhow?!) with some friends. L’s friends clubbed together and bought this and a night’s stay in the inn for us for his 30th – we’ve been looking forward to this generous present for a long time! For those of you who might worry, photos will follow!! 😛

I am the gratified recipient of a blog award, so a post with the various instructions which come with it shall soon be coming your way … and check your comments, as some of my lovely readers will shortly be given the award as well!! 😀

Seeing Good Things

Sometimes life can look pretty bleak.

Sometimes the “sometimes” seems to last for what seems like forever.

During those times, seeing good things … God at work … a slightly brighter side to your day … a bit of hope for the future … seems impossible … but we have a gracious God who doesn’t just leave us in the pile of gunk … at least, not permanently and not without some hope! 😉

Right now, these are the good things I see.

Who could not love that blue?!

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve taken an evening walk down to my beautiful cathedral to find some minutes of peace and stillness.

I have always loved trees – bigger than me, touching the sky, spreading branches, solid.

These photos speak for themselves really! 🙂

This evening my best friend R and I had pudding/desert at Giraffe cafe. Friends are amazing. These puddings were pretty good too! 😉

A is for Asparagus, O is for Obsession

Right now, I’m obsessed with this fresh, crunchy and green little vegetable!

This is the go-to veggie of the month. For now.

You see, I’m a self-diagnosed Food Phaser*.

* Please note that a) I am not professionally trained in the finer diagnostic points of this condition, so am unable to offer advice and b) it’s a self-created condition and is therefore unlikely to be recognised by clinical dietician. 😉

Although I love cooking and baking all kinds of meals for other people, I’m a bit of a fussy eater in my own kitchen. I like the majority of food and cuisines and will like almost everything cooked for me by others, so I am not what most people think of as “a fussy eater”.

It comes down to me being very particular and quite ritualistic about what I eat day-to-day – did I ever warn you that I’m wierd by the way?! 😛

As a consequence of this, I become obsessed with a particular food for a week, a month, then something else catches my eye and it becomes all about this new vegetable, grain or combination of ingredients.

I remember a time in my teens when I would eat noodles any time I could wrangle it in to my week – with butter and garlic, soya sauce or cheese.

Cheese, of course, is a constant food that has stuck in there through every single passing obsession (bar about 6 months, but we’ll choose to forget that 😉 ), so almost all of my food phases have included cheese of some kind or another. Yum. What more can I say?!

Some of my latest obsessions have been cooked vegetables with cheese …

… fresh, crunchy and raw salads (I think there might be some cubes of cheese mixed into this bowl somewhere …) …

… and roasted vegetables …

… all with this strong and zingy sauce of whole grain mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and soya sauce. Try it -it tastes so much better than it sounds/looks, although I am not keen on most salad dressings and would pick savory over sweet any day, so maybe I’m the only one who’ll love this strong and sour dressing! 😛

The roasted vegetables (and two largely unsuccessful attempts at making spinach and cheese balls) were thanks to the lovely Katie, over at Yes, I want cake. Several times in the past couple of months roasted veggies have been featured on Katie’s blog, including roasted broccoli. Yup, I know, that’s exactly what I thought!Roasted broccoli?! Ewwww! Wrong – DELICIOUS! I’ve actually survived over 25 years of my life without roasted broccoli. Guess I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

For now, however, asparagus is The Vegetable. It’s in season over here, so the local vegetable stalls are selling fresh bunches of it at bargain prices! Maybe Katie’s blog had something to do with encouraging my asparagus-obsession, as I just HAD to try this asparagus pizza:

My first trial was made on an English muffin, but then I had the real thing and now I love asparagus pizza! And yes, I love Katie’s blogg too – it’s another one of my obsessions. 😀

Last night and tonight I’ve had a pile of asparagus, covered in tomato sauce, some grated cheese and put under the grill until golden and bubbling – scrum-diddily-umptious!

Ok, so the cheese I eat doesn’t really melt properly and go all stringy and gooey, but hey – it’s the fact that it’s cheese that counts, right?! 😉

Oh yes, and the asparagus I’m obsessed with right now! 😛

What food are you obsessed with at the moment?!