WIN: Rainforest Alliance Tote Bag 22/06/2012

I won a Rainforest Alliance tote bag from Tetley's Farmers First Hand on Facebook on 22nd June 2012. I received it on 30th June 2012.

This will come in handy for a light shopping trip!

Inspired By Egypt

This blog post also serves as my entry into the easyJet Holidays Inspired By Egypt competition. Do follow http://holidays.easyjet.com/egypt-holidays.htm to see all the great value holidays to Egypt that easyJet have available, you won't be disappointed.

Please send me on a holiday to Egypt, easyJet, please make my dreams come true.

As most of my friends and family already know, I am very, very enthusiastic (to the point of obsessive) about Egypt.

I have never been to Egypt (well, I've never actually ever been abroad), but if I only ever got to visit one foreign country in my whole life, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick Egypt.

Why? It's magnificent! It has some of the most natural beauty you could ever see in the whole world. Not to mention an amazing and diverse history.

Whilst for most people, simply having lots of gorgeous beach area to relax and kick back on may be enough, I feel there is a lot, lot more to Egypt than this. If you're looking for drinking and visiting the beach, there are so many places you could choose from, to me, going to Egypt and not discovering its rich heritage would be a total waste of a holiday to the beautiful land of Egypt. I'm sure if I had the time, I might relax on the beach, but it would be low on my list of priorities.

Sharm El-Sheikh beach

An absolute must for me would be to visit the Great Pyramids at Giza. These are not only a beautiful sight, but also a miraculous feat that hasn't been topped in the many thousands of years since they were built. Even with the technology available today, nothing so magnificent has been made anywhere in the world. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the Pyramids, and that just adds to the excitement, awe and wonder. The most exciting being Khufu's tomb. The oldest of the Seven Wonders of World, and what a wonder it is...

The Great Pyramids at Giza

Whilst at Giza, I would not want to miss a visit to see the Sphinx, which means 'The Terrifying One' not least no doubt down to the fact that it a giant awesome creation with the body of a lion and the head of a human.

I would also love to visit the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. It was Imhotep who designed this for King Djoser. It's a fascinating piece of architectural wonder.

Step Pyramid

I would definitely want to visit Luxor. There is so much to see there - the Court of Amonhotep III (which is also known as the Sun Court), Alexander the Great's Barque Chapel, amongst many other delightful historic sites which I believe are collectively known as the Temple of Luxor.

                           

                                  The Court of Amonhotep III

Alexander the Great's Barque Chapel

I would love to take a trip on the River Nile. The River Nile is the longest river in the world, as I am sure most people know. In Ancient Egypt, it was known as iteru - which translates roughly as 'great river', the English name Nile is derived from the Semitic word 'Nahal' which means river.The River Nile is basically the life and soul of Egypt and has been for a very long time.

River Nile

I would want to visit Aswan. Aswan plays a great part of Egypt's history. It has some very noteworthy places I would want to visit. First and foremost, I would want to visit the Temple of Philae (which includes the Temple of Isis), the Nubian Museum (a must for an Ancient Egypt enthusiast such as myself), the botanic gardens at Kitchener's Island, the ruins of the Monastery of St. Simeon and Elephantine Island would rank highly at the top of my list.

                                   

                                            Botanic Gardens

Nubia Museum

Not everything would have to be about the history of Egypt though. For example, it would be hard to resist going on a camel desert safari or diving at Sharm El Sheikh. These both sound like loads of fun and I wouldn't want to miss out on the chance to experience them!

                          

                               Camel safari

Diving

There are many more sights and delights that I would love to experience in Egypt, though I fear my enthusiasm may keep me writing this blog post until I am old and grey (I'm only 29 at the moment!) as there is so much I would love to see and do, I think even if I lived there, I would not have enough time in a lifetime to see everything I wanted to see!

Last, but not least, I would undoubtedly want to visit Cairo, after all, it is the heart of Egypt. I think this would all be about the tourism aspect - I'd have to go shopping for lots of lovely genuine Egyptian products to bring home, experience the food and the culture, see the sights, and check out some traditional music experiencing the Egyptian night life.

Please send me and my husband, Paul on a holiday to Egypt

Dead Granny Cooks Dinner

OK, this isn't going to be the longest blog post ever, but I read about something so funny, I just had to share it with you all...

I read that a 95 year old Grandmother, Li Xiufeng in Guangxi Province, China sustained a really bad head injury and was pronounced dead a couple of weeks ago having been found in her bed motionless and not breathing by one of her neighbours.

Her funeral had been planned and the family had organised a wake. She was in an open coffin which had not yet been permanently sealed.

Six days after being found *dead* in her bedroom, after the wake, she *woke up* hungry and went to cook a meal in the kitchen much to the surprise of her family and neighbours!! It turned out she wasn't actually dead and just appeared in a state as though she was - but can you imagine just how shocked her family & friends were to find an empty coffin and their *dead* relative/friend cooking in the kitchen?!

I'm surprised they didn't die of shock!! Their local hospital says it was an *artificial death* - whereby she had stopped breathing but was still warm. Pretty lucky Chinese tradition says that the persons coffin is left open for several days for family and friends to pay respects or she really would have been dead!

Li Xiufeng, the 95 year old *dead* Grandmother

Anniversary Trip To Bournemouth (17th-19th February 2012)

On 17th February, I went to Bournemouth for the weekend with my hubby, Paul. I won 2 nights bed, breakfast and dinner at 3* The Cumberland in Bournemouth and we decided to take it the weekend after our 12th wedding anniversary (which was 14th February). David stayed with his Grandma (my Mum) for the weekend.

Our hotel room at The Cumberland

We originally meant to get to Bournemouth at around 5-6pm, but actually ended up getting there around 9pm after around a 4½ hour drive (well, for hubby, not me as I don't drive).

The next morning (18th) we went for a walk along by our hotel to see the east cliff view. Surprisingly, it wasn't as cold as we were expecting it to be with it being around the time when the temperatures around the country had dropped massively and being right next to the sea.

Paul during our walk along the east cliff

After our walk, we went off to Wincanton for a day at the races. Theoretically, this was a win too. As I won an experience voucher with Pepsi MAX and I exchanged it on the Buyagift website for the horse racing day. It was really brilliant. I've been betting and following the horses for as long as I can remember, but I've never actually been to the races. I won some tickets to Aintree (which is a lot closer to home) last year, but I was ill on the day and sadly couldn't go :( But going to the races was every bit as good as I expected. We didn't have a big betting budget - I put £28 out in total on my bets and Paul put £22 in total (we each had a £2 free bet included with our race day which is included in that amount as well). I got £45 back and Paul got £25, so we came out better off than we went in. The weather was rather dismal - it rained most of the time - but it was lots of fun anyway. We had our own table in the The Kingswell restaurant too for the duration which had a pretty good view and we got our lunch and a glass of wine - I personally wasn't very impressed with the food, but that's because I much prefer fish & chips to fancy food and niceties!

The big race of the day - 3.45

In the evening, we got to do something we enjoy doing together, but don't often get the chance to - we went to the cinema (Cineworld in Yeovil) to see The Woman In Black. It is a brilliant film, we both really enjoyed it - better than a lot of so-called *horror* films these days. Can't say I was jumping out of my seat, but then I really am not easily scared.

Then it was back off to the hotel for our final night away...

We checked out of the hotel around 9am the next day (19th) and headed off to Salisbury as we both really wanted to visit Stonehenge while we were in that neck of the woods. The entry fee was extortionate in my opinion - £7.50 each for something that took the whole of 20 minutes to walk around. It was worth for the photographic value, I guess, but a rip-off overall. Stonehenge is rather fascinating and magnificent though!

One of my photo's of Stonehenge

We then headed off to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, which was sort of on the way home, to go to Clearwell Caves - they are still working mines and have bats (eeek) and the UKs biggest spiders (eurgh) apparently living there, but we didn't see any (thankfully!). At one point we were over 100ft below ground level! Now I'd love to go deep level caving, but we just went for the normal tour as it was massively cheaper unless you're going as a group.

A photo in Clearwell Caves

And that pretty much concluded our weekend away together to finish the 3-3½ hour remaining drive home. We were both looking forward to seeing David though - it was our first significant time away from him since he was born over 9 years ago. It was really nice to get some time alone together though as well, to get some undisturbed time to spend together. It was very nice to have some spent with just Paul, as much as I love David, we haven't really had any time alone in all those years.

Valentine's Recipe: Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Rice & Beans

This is my entry for the Find Me A Gift Valentine's Day blogger competition.

Remember to check out all of the Find Me A Gift Valentine's Day gifts which you could buy for your loved one.

My recipe is a main dish recipe that is sure to "spice" up your love life this Valentine's Day. It's a tried and tested recipe and it's one that I make regularly and goes down a storm with anyone who has ever tried it!

Make some delicious and authentic Jamaican Jerk chicken with rice and beans and find the way to your lovers heart through his/her stomach...

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN, RICE & BEANS

Preparation time: 60 minutes
Time to cook: 30-45 minutes
Serves: 4
Heat rating: Hot
Difficulty Rating: 3/5

WHAT YOU NEED
Large packet of mini chicken breast fillets

For the dry jerk rub:
4g allspice
70g salt
20g garlic powder
25g sugar
1g chilli powder
2g ground cloves
4g dried thyme leaves
6g ground black pepper
10g cayenne pepper
3g ground cinnamon

For the rice and beans:
400g tin black eye beans
400g tin coconut milk
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups long grain rice (not easy cook)
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon thyme
2-3 Scotch Bonnet peppers

HOW TO MAKE
Mix all of the ingredients for the dry jerk rub in a large bowl until they are all well mixed together. You can store an remaining jerk rub in an airtight container and it will keep for around a month.

Pierce the chicken fillets a few times and rub in 1-2 teaspoons of the dry jerk rub. For best results, leave to marinate overnight, or put in the refrigerator for 1 hour prior to cooking. Or as in my case above, I only left it for 10 minutes as I was short on time, which doesn't produce the best results, but does taste good nonetheless.

As a suggestion, my husband is vegetarian, so if you or someone you are cooking for is too, simply replace the real chicken with some Quorn chicken alike fillets. I make that for Paul, but real chicken fillets for me and David.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and put the chicken fillets on a baking tray in the middle of the oven for 30-45 minutes (may take more or less time depending on the size of fillets you choose).

In the meantime, put the oil and coconut milk into a large pan and bring to the boil.

Once boiling, add the water, onion, garlic, black eye beans (including juices) and thyme and simmer.

Thoroughly wash your rice, then add this to the pan and stir briefly. Place the whole Scotch Bonnet peppers on the top and cover tightly.


Cook for approximately 30 minutes, until all of the water has evaporated. Try not to uncover the rice to check on it until it has been cooking for at least 20 minutes.

Serve the chicken on a plate with the rice and beans. I would highly suggest serving with hot pepper sauce too as it adds to the enjoyment of the rice.

Now, all you need is a nice bottle of white wine to go with it and voila! You've got a delicious and special spicy and romantic meal for Valentine's Day - enjoy!