Running far-away and a takeaway

Hello my foodie friends, how the devil are you doing?


So I've done something a bit Crazy I've signed up for the Wine and Dine Disney Half Marathon.. What no.. that's mental, I hear you cry... Definitely I don't know what came over me I think I got confused by the word wine and went on from there.

Lol but in all seriousness I am very excited about it and means that I will definitely be out at Disney World in November for some Sun, Run and now a big run 13.1 miles. As as the run will take in a couple of the theme parks before they open it will give me a unique perspective of the parks I've never seen before.

 I am feeling good and so positive that I'm doing something that will not only encompass one of my Favorite things,Disney, it will also benefit me in so many other ways,

So in prep I've been doing the Park Run, An amazing 5k run that is free to all and get you out and get you fit. I did the first 5k in 40 Minutes 30 seconds and the next one in 38 minutes 34 seconds so getting better. 

Although bit of a political rant one totally misguided council want people to start paying to use their public park to run. So I don't do this often but if you read this could you please sign the petition  to keep it free.Thanks! 

So been a bit of a mad week my Mother in Law has been staying with us to help look after the little one when I'm at work, normally my mum does it but while she's recovering, MIL came to the rescue as have you seen the cost of child care (eep).

It also enable me to have a night out as my boss was leaving, was fun but got a bit mess, which was great as we all had a big meeting the next day. But I got up got myself together and did my work while quietly dying. Darn you aging as in my 20's would have even made and impact (although that was probably a bad thing lol).

The downside is this did necessitate me needing a burger on the train home after the meeting, mmm greasy bad stuff is the best hangover cure bar non.. (I know I profess the benefit of Avocado on toast, which is great for a hangover) but sometimes only a burger or chips will do. 

As the MIL been down and I've had to work we have had a couple of take aways, As my Hubby was away I finally got to try my local Thai place Thai Moom, As Hubby is allergic to nuts we normally avoid that sort of food. 

But I managed to get some Pad Thai in with dumplings and chicken Satay. It was really nice but don't know if it was extra yummy as it was forbidden fruit. I always remember Eddie Murphy Cracker Sketch lol (It a bit rude) and the fact dinner came with Cracker make it funnier (Well to me) 

Also as it's my birthday soon I was drawn to the cake aisle in Asda and came across this, I am not sure what the Cat is angry about but now that's the sort of cake I want on my birthday to reflect the disappointment that is always come with getting another year old lol - Actually the older I get the more fun I seem to have so bring it on!!  

The crazy thing about moving is I spend a load of time in Ikea, then followed by arguments as swearing lots when trying to assemble flat pack furniture.

But what the best thing about Ikea - The meatballs I hear you all cry- If you don't like the meatball there is something slightly wrong with you lol :) 

So I bought all the ingredient and tried to make my own

It went pretty well (chips from the local chippy (UK name for Fish & Chip Shops)) I found the key is to make the gravy with double cream then thin it out if needed with a bit of milk. I was just like being in the store only less chaotic and I didn't walk away with an assortment of cushions.

Last bit of the week as it has been pretty slow, working, commuting, running and have a guest doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else.

We did however manage a cheeky trip to Bluewater, they had a  Leeds Castle display, I know I've blogged about Leeds Castle before, it's amazing and if your are ever in Kent (It not in Leeds I know confusing) you have to give it a visit.

The even had some prop chain mail which the other half had to try on. Actually it fit him perfectly. Which looked good but now he has some crazy idea about wanting to buy a set. We were only lucky they didn't sell them in the store you have to go to the castle to get them (Hopefully his desire to own a set will wear off in the coming weeks before we go back). 

As it was a nice day out we stopped in Giraffe for some lunch. I managed to get in one of my favorite drinks their Melon Margarita... oohhh so fresh... ooohhh so tasty... oooh I want another one right now.

The food is pretty good there too, Hubby had their Duck Salad.

I had their rice dish it was really tasty it reminded me of the rice dishes I got in Malaysia so with that and the Melon Margarita it made me think of holidays, nice food, nice drink shame about the British weather lol.

Winner, winner Sunday Dinner

Sorry bit late in posting but in the final stages of moving so try (and failing) to get the final bits done before we have to actually move.

But to cheer myself up we too a trip to the Disney Store my little chap got an Olaf  who join us for Lunch and I got this amazingly gorgeous cute little Tsum Tsum Jabba the Hut.. 

I also added to my happy by getting this uber sparkly office shoes  They have sandals too so I think I might be force to shop again to add to my sparkly collection. lol

We went out for an Amazing Sunday dinner  at the North Pole Pub  I've reviewed that pub before when we went in the summer but I haven't been for the Sunday Dinner yet so this was a treat.

Now being from the UK it's a good bet that I love a sunday dinner.  It's like a ritual well it was every Sunday when I was growing up. No so much now as it's a lot of work so unless my Mother offers to do it (and to be fair hers are much better than mine) I only do it on rare occasion. Also as they are super yummy but lots of calories.

Now the one at the North Pole is a Carvery so you can pick your own meats and veg I went for beef and turkey, with roast potateos, cabbage, cauliflower cheese (love it) carrots, parsnip, stuffing and a yorkshire pudding topped up with gravy. It was A-Maz-ing delicous and you can tell it was all freshly cooked. it was only £10 so a bargin for all that you got. have to say definitely try this place if you are looking for a good Sunday lunch.

They do a kids plate too save process just a smaller plate but as you can choose he had the beef and I filled it up with all the little ones favourite veg and he enjoyed it just as much as the rest of us. We sent back all the plates empty :) 

For dessert (so yes the diet is going well), they do have an fantastic dessert menu with loads of classic puddings, I had bread and butter pudding with custard.. I did share it with my little pudding pop so felt less guilty about getting it. 

I do like a classic English dessert but this had a twist and came with chocolate chips (traditional raisins) which I though was really neat idea and will definitely be pinching it when I make this in the future.

The hubby had the apple pie and ice cream.

That was great too, the only down side and this is totally just my weirdness but in winter I want hot desserts so the fact he had it with Ice cream put me off a bit. If it was custard or just warm on its own it would have been perfect (Okay I know that crazy but hey it's my blog and I can be crazy if I want too).

Oh and on the bar they had this lovely working mini carousel 

In was so detailed and really beautiful although I did worry about it being on the bar as I don't think delicate ornaments and alcohol mix lol :) 

So all in all a great lunch a great venue and a group of very full people :P

What with everything going on very little cooking took place this week. The only thing I did manage to cook up was a yummy vegetable risotto topped off with salmon (see pervious post for the recipe).

Hopefully this will go some way to compensate for the not so healthy but super yummy Sunday Lunch 

Well ta-tar for now and hopefully next week if things have calmed down, I highly doubt they would have I'll have a yummy recipe for you all :) 

Weird Christmas plans in the Netherlands

So last Friday I went to visit my friend in the Netherlands again..

It's weird as we were all full of fun in an airport with people traveling hither and thither, all full of happiness.

We started off in similar fashion having a few drinks because the working week was done, I was getting a bit of me time. Which for me personally I think is really important if you have young children. As sometimes you sort of lose yourself and just need a day or two to remind yourself there is another world out there and it not just nappies. Although can't last anymore than two days as I miss the cuddles.

So we had wine and cocktails at the airport:

Mojito

Followed by drinkies on the plane.

Some poor (Drunk) girl behind us had never flown British Airways before, and needed to tell the whole flight how happy she was that you got a free drink. She was only 20 and on her way to a rave in Amsterdam (Ah to be young and foolish).


The flight from London is really quick just under 1 Hour, that the great thing about living in the UK Europe is just on your door step. But I think in the UK as there is a body of water separating us, we feel further away. I haven't been to nearly enough of Europe as I should have been. Although that's because I'd rather head over to the States so always saving my pennies for that.

But I do plan with the little one a few more jaunts to nearby places to expand his horizon and my own. Especially as you can drive to Europe so can take all the stuff we need with us too.

We got off the plane and headed for the train. OMG coming from England where the train service at best is bad, to go on to the ATM service in the Netherlands, like night and day. So cheap for starters.


All the trains have free Wifi and when you log on it gives you information on when you will arrive at your destinations.

Absolutely bloody brilliant. To celebrate how great it was we had a bit of fizz (Although I have now discovered that you are not supposed to drink on these local trains so I apologies to the authorities and vow not to do it on my next trip).

We arrived at our destination and were reading for a great night, my Friend had just moved into a fabulous new house just on the Edge of the little town of Hilversum. It is beautiful she worked in fashion for years so has the most amazing eye for detail pair things together that I would never even think of.

I love her dog or as I call it the "Friends" dog.

As we were just settling for a big session of drinking and eating the sad, heartbreaking news of the Paris attacks was emerging. It's hard to fathom how awful it is. This misguided people driven by hate, taking innocent lives of people just trying to get on in the world.

I know a lot has already been said, and who am I with my lowly blog to add more? I'm saying something as I am a person in this world and I have a voice and even if only one person hears it could make a difference. All I am going to say is Hate breeds hate, compassion will always breed compassion. People have been hurt have lost loved ones and had their lives turned upside down in the most devastating way. I feel nothing but sorrow for everything that went on. I hope that we find some way to end this terrible loss of life.  And the most important thing is we all stay strong and keeping love and compassion in our hearts as that is the best way to beat hate and fear.

So was a bit subdued when we went to bed and got up the next morning especially as the scale of the horror unfolded. But we where there and we wanted to enjoy our time.

So we headed into Hilversum for a quiet day of drinking an eating.

As we were in the Netherlands we came across a sex shop, not my thing but I did like the theme of the window very autumnal lol

then we headed to the market, I loved it the last time and loved it again. So many stalls filled with fresh produce and it smelt divine. We picked up some yummy cheese for later on in the day.

As we skipped breakfast went back to the same place we went before "Flinders"  to get some eats. I got some traditional food of Bittenballen which are deep fried bites filled with meat (Don't know what kind of meat and thought best not to ask) but they were delicious but so fattening. We order the Fish Bittenballen and some great cheese bites. That were like spring rolls with cheese in the middle. Total Nommage

We also added some lovely dipping bread.

Washed down with a fantastic Gin and Fever Tree Tonic - Well I am on my holidays don't judge lol.

There seemed to be a commotion going on outside, our friend informed us it was the local Christmas parade. It is to mark the arrival of Santa coming by boat from Spain to the Netherlands. Now I normally happy and fascinated by other countries traditions. although I was slightly uneasy about this one.

Now I'm all for people, especially the kiddies having fun and feeling the Joy of Christmas. But I, as coming form London, didn't really get or understood Santa's helper "Black Pete". where people get dressed up put on black face make up, bright red lipstick and a curly black wig and give out treats to the children.

Now this is not my culture or my tradition so I am the first to say I don't full understand its significance. also someone tried to tell me it was because of the coal from going down the chimney (Although that would not account for the Red lip and curly wig). But in a western multicultural place it seem very outdated.

So people tried to modernize it and a caught a picture of this lovely lady with a pink face.

 But Our friend told me that only 18% of the population see a problem with it. I just think round children it send a weird message. Although it wasn't sinister in anyway and the kids loved getting the candy and all the local seemed to be having fun. I just think a bit of modernizing to bring it in to the 21st Century would make it a truly amazing festival.

Also got to see Santa and he seemed fun.

As for me I prefer the Elves version of Santa's helpers rather than these garish Petes

We stayed in the cafe most of the day gassing about this and that we even had to order some more food love array of meats and cheeses.

 at around 5pm we left to go and meet our friends son and his new girlfriend. All I can say is he was brave considering we're a nightmare at the best of times but after a drink it's a lot worse.

We met at the Soul Kitchen and after another round of deep fried snacks,

Some more drink and a chat with the Bar owner.

Sitting out in the cold

We moved onto shots to warm us up.
JAGERBOMBS

had a great chat and then made the long walk (which was all of 7 minute) back to our friends house where we all curled up on the couch again and had some glasses of fizz an tucked in the cheese we purchased.

Next morning and our last day boo. We awoke to our amazing hostess cooking us bacon.. mmmm bacon which was especially nice as she doesn't eat it.. I know mad right.

to make the most of our time before we headed back to the airport we went to the lovely town of Urtrecht.


Had drinks on the train again (Sorry still didn't know at that time it was bad).

Utrecht is fab, it like a mini Amsterdam with beautiful canals

Lovely architecture

Yummy shops and a great cafe culture.

we managed to find this great restaurant De Beurs and as it was dry we sat outside for a bit of a cocktail

it was so nice we went inside to have some lunch.

I have a big burger.

So yummy so tasty and medium just the way I like it.

So after being very well fed we had to make our way back to the train station and boarded the train back to Schiphol...


I was very excited as it was a double Decker train, we don't have these in the UK and I think they are very cool - but then again I am sad.

So plane home (after extensive Security which was heighten due to everything that been going on), cab back and just in time for a big huge mummy hug before bedtime. That what making go away great you get so excited for going back and giving the little one a big tight squeeze and just getting a beaming smile in return.


So apart from the obvious it was actually a good weekend and just want I need to re-charge my batteries before the Christmas Rush..