Day 18... Little Bath

There are some advantages to living in a city surrounded by hills.

Thieves' Hot Chocolate

It is potentially a total fluke that this worked at all, but it was so good I had to share! It seems that weirdly one of the essential ingredients may be a stolen 'tall' starbucks mug (it's the least we can do, tax-hogging gits), as this didn't work quite as well in a standard one when I made it again! It was damn beautiful the first time round any way.

Ingredients
70% cocoa chocolate (Green and Blacks) approx 8 chunks
Milk (enough for 2/3 of a mug)
Single cream (couple of tablespoons worth, but depends on you!)
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Ginger

Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a mug, being very careful not to burn it! Add milk a small amount at time, heat between each addition, mix well. Add a sprinkle of each of the spices, add the cream, heat a little more, stir well. I wish you luck!

Day 17... Look Around You

The gears are knackered on my bike so had to walk up the hill this morning, taking in this glorious view made the slower pace worth it though.

Day 16... Marvellous Mackerel

I love smoked anything, but mackerel is particularly tasty. This was dinner tonight; peppered smoked mackerel, shredded, with dill and a little cream and lemon juice. Served on sourdough toast with watercress and spinach, so good, and extremely lazy!

Day 15... Say Hello to My Little Friend...

Say hi to Basil, being nosey out of the door of his cave!

Day 14... Green Shards of Light Through the Gloom

Found something a little exotic in the greenhouse at Uni today, made me forget the greyness outside for a few minutes. One of the best things about working at Kew Gardens was being able to escape to the beautiful warm tropical greenhouses even in the depths of winter.

Day 13... Sleepy Sunday

The cats have the right idea on a wet Sunday like this. He's been there so long he is covered in dust...

Day 12... and in the Local News

Says it all really.

Day 11... Trippin'

Ummm, slight lack of interesting pictures today so you'll have to deal with this 'man hit in side of face by platform shelter' mess. Sorry.

Day 10... Gentile Destruction of Perfection

Today I went for afternoon tea (which I am incapable of saying without affecting a silly accent), it was stunning! More cakes than I could eat, which is something of an achievement. We went to the Royal Crescent hotel in Bath, I would definitely recommend for a special occasion, or just if you are feeling a bit posh.

Day 9... Slackers Club

My brain seems to shut down at about 3pm, this is the inevitable result.

Day 8... Winter Warmer

It is beginning to look a lot like winter, so time to revive this project, can't wait to have it finished!

Day 7... Morning Has Broken

Up at the crack of dawn, literally! The old saying of 'red sky in morning, shepherds' warning' came true as it spent the rest of the day throwing it down...

Day 6... A Strange Sense of Familiarity

The usual Sunday afternoon activities... I have a strange sense of having been to this place before...

Day 5... Mini World

Not really branching out on the photographic subjects as yet but I thought this looked damn cool up close so it is the winner for today!

Day 4... Winter Skeletons

Bit of a foggy morning today!

Day 3... Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Ready to go into a tasty butternut squash and lentil one-pot creation, eaten very messily with tortilla wraps and an excess of coriander.

Day 2... Mountain or Macro?

Just an abstract shot of some autumnal colour today, I could of gone for leaves but I like that this doesn't necessarily look like what it actually is at first glance.

Day 1... Presents From The Postman

Not a particularly skillful piece of photography to start the 30 days, but the subject matter is interesting, which will do for me! I subscribe to Stack, which is a brilliant service that sends out a different magazine each month, quite often something slightly off-the-wall and always very interesting. Just got this month's delivery-Wrap magazine-which as the name suggests, consists of beautifully illustrated wrapping paper sheets in amongst stories about the illustrators and artists and other interesting people and things. It is a great idea, I love getting something surprising through the post each month, and it is quite cheap too considering the cover price of some of the mailings, I think I pay £4.90/month.

30 Days of Photos

Right, I have decided I need to practice my photography, and possibly take some photos of things other than views, so I am challenging myself to take and post a photo a day for the next 30 days. Here goes! (this post doesn't count).

Variable Temperature Settings

One minute snow, the next back to autumnal golds and oranges, I hope we get some more of the white stuff! It makes me happy. At least I am guaranteed a white Christmas this year as I will be back in the Alps, exciting! I do think I am going to have to spread my wings and explore somewhere different in the spring, this will be my third trip back to the same place, brave stuff.

4th of November

10th of November

Sunday ramblings over, I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Scones Are On

I am a lazy baker, but I love baked goods, so the inevitable result is a big ol' pile of scones, which are extremely low on the effort-front. This particular occasion resulted in both fruit and cheesy scones (have a hunt around here for myriad recipe options). The fruit ones were obviously enjoyed with clotted cream and jam, as I am from the Westcountry, so it would be rude not to! No pics of that though, they didn't last long enough for that sort of thing. I added cayenne pepper to the cheese ones, I like my cheesy savouries to have a bit of bite to them. Also, failed a little on the round cutter, so they had to be squares. Still tasted good though.

Science is not playing the game this week so I wish I had some of these left to console myself.