Down on the farm

On the subject of wonderful weather, this Sunday was brilliant too. We decided to go to Foel Farm Park near Brynsiencyn (pronounced Brun-shen-kin according to my Welsh teacher). It's a really fantastic place, especially for families I think (we were probably the only people there without kids in tow). You can buy bags of feed at the door and then you just head round the barn and fields and pet and feed the animals to your hearts content. I'm a big animal lover and had a great time petting the cows and bunnies and feeding greedy goats and sheep. There was a trailer ride up to some of the fields and you could walk round some of the other fields closer to the barn. There's also a 'bunny barn' with some of the cutest rabbits I've ever seen - tiny fluffy little balls of gorgeousness! The kind man looking after them even let me hold one (although I did catch him counting them up as I left in case I'd slipped one in my bag). We were only there for maybe an hour and a half but we thouroughly enjoyed it. Here are some choice piccies:

Easter Weekend

The weather really provided for us this year at Easter. I had Easter Sunday and Monday off work and the weather was totally gorgeous both days. Not wishing to be ungrateful, we set off on trips out both days.

On Sunday we did a favourite trip of mine and went over to Beaumaris. I had read in the Anglesey Insider (the local magazine that pops through the door every month or so) that a new ice cream parlour had opened in Beaumaris and that the owner had trained in Italy. This was not something I could ignore for long hence my suggestion that we visit Beaumaris that day. We had a lovely wander along the front and down the pier before heading to Neptunes which I'm sure I must have raved about on here before now - absolutely gorgeous fish and chips! Mmmmm! We took our plastic boxes down to the beach and got stuck in. Delicious! A little walking round the town to burn off ooh maybe 2 of those fish and chip calories and then I couldn't wait any longer - we had to try out Red Boat ice cream. I'm pleased to report that it was delicious and great value. I pay nearly £4 at the local cinema for a double scoop but here it was just over £2! Bargain! The flavours were fantastic too: creme brulee, Creme Egg, Ferroro Rocher and Jelly Baby to name just a few. I opted for creme brulee and Creme Egg while Ben went for fudge and rum & raisin.

After this we were planning to go to Rhosneigr beach for a nice walk but on the way through we saw loads of cars parked up at the entrance to Aberffraw. All those cars must be there for something we figured so we joined the pack and discovered a lovely little beach (the perfect beach cricket beach according to Ben). After a nice walk along the sand we headed home to rest our swollen bellies and sit out in the afternoon sun with the paper.

We decided to make Monday a shopping day and drove out to Llandudno. I was hoping to get some really cute purple shoes from River Island - I'd seen them in the store in Bangor but the only pair in my size was horribly scratched. The Llandudno branch had sadly not treated them any better and I decided that even if they were a bargain at £20 they weren't worth it with so much damage. In the end my one purchase of the day was a book - One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell which was half price in WHSmiths and included a free copy of Sex and the City as well. Bargain of the day! Ben fared much better than me and spent over £100 on 2 very nice jackets which feel lovely and look great on.

A most enjoyable Easter weekend!

Hen do!

I've been on a trip to Birmingham this weekend to go to my friend Hannah's hen do. It was brilliant to catch up with her and another friend, Jayney. We were all in halls together at university in Sheffield and we shared a house in second year. As is the way with these things we don't keep in touch as much as we'd all like because of busy lives but when we met up on Saturday everything just clicked back into place and we were chatting away like old times. Thanks for a great time girls - can't wait for the wedding next month!

Bye bye Nanny Smith

It wasn't just Jade Goody who passed away this Mother's Day. My Nan died then too. She was in her 90's and was in a hospice so it wasn't exactly a shock but still very sad of course. The funeral was last week - the first one I've been to - and it was as lovely a service as I guess a funeral can be. I don't want to be too maudlin about it but I just wanted to say on here that I'll miss her and that she was a great Nana - loving and bonkers in just the right amounts.

Perfect Sunday

I've been meaning to blog for a few weeks now about what I consider to be perfect Sundays. I don't get all that many Sundays off work but when I do this is how I like to spend them: sleep in till we wake up which isn't usually that late, maybe 8.30ish, then I go to the papershop and Ben makes breakfast. Usually croissants and tea for breakfast but every now and again we go the whole hog and have a cooked breakfast. We eat breakfast in bed and read the paper - Ben reads the serious bits and I read the magazines ;) Around 11ish we get showered and ready and then, if its good weather, head out for a walk or a little trip somewhere. Then its home for some food in the evening and Sunday night TV (which is great at the moment: Dancing on Ice then Lost, Desperate Housewives and Dirty Sexy Money). Bliss! Maybe I'm getting old because reading the paper in bed and going for walks doesn't sound like what I would have said a few years ago but its true.

Domestic goddess?

Anyone who knows me well will say that I'm not really into all that domestic goddess business of cooking and cleaning. Especially Ben who cooks about 99.9% of nights, maybe even more. This year I'm trying to be a bit better and pull my weight in the kitchen more (although to be fair its March now and this is my only effort so far!). With that in mind I thought I'd make Ben a yummy birthday treat back in January. I wanted to do his favourite cake which I found out after some subtle probing ('what's your favourite type of cake Ben?') was black forest gateau!! Black forest gateau!! That sounded hard to me so I called in the big guns - my friend Sian and Mrs Beeton.

After an assault on Tesco's for ingredients we set to work. For good measure we also did a batch of chocolate muffins to take to the pub with us later that evening. Although I'm not all that comfortable in the kitchen we had a really fun day and the results were, if I do say so myself, really tasty. Ben seemed chuffed with his cake aswell which made it all worthwhile :) Here is photographic evidence of me and Sian elbow deep in cake mix.

and here is the finished product. Not bad hey?

More Christmas updates

Last Christmas was the first one I've spent in Wales and the first proper Christmas for me and Ben spent just the two of us. Although we both missed being with family it was a really lovely day. We had good food (which as ever was nothing to do with me - Ben is the chef in this house) and both got some nice pressies. Here are a few choice photies from the day.

This was the yummy Christmas dinner Ben prepared. Yes those are veggie sausages wrapped in veggie bacon - anyone who's ever eaten veggie bacon will appreciate how difficult Ben found making those fake pigs in blankets.

Since Christmas things here have been quite chilled out. I got the approval on my thesis corrections and my friend Kim back in Leicester sorted out the printing and binding (thank you thank you thank you!!) so the thesis is now officially properly over!!! Hurrah!

Just wanted to mention that my sister has started an Etsy shop and wanted to point you in its direction. She makes chintzy stuff like aprons and bag tidys and is trying to make a bit of spare cash by selling a few pieces. You can check out her stuff at www.ProjectChintzy.etsy.com. She also writes a blog about her makes: www.projectchintzy.blogspot.com. I know I'm biased but I think the stuff she does is really cute!