Seaside Shenanigans

I'm Draft So this weekend I attend the wonderful Whitstable Oyster Festival with the train gang.

Actually not all of the gang as you know from previous post there are the four of us but one of the gang due to other things could attend which was really a shame as I know a weekend away drinking and mayhem would do her the world of good.

But Hey Ho cant have everything :)

So me and my partner in Crime traveled down on the Train from central London Late afternoon of course we had supplies on the way.

Don't worry this was strictly a girl trip for the first 2 days the little man was safe at home with his dad and was kept well away from anything that could result in years worth of therapy lol

As we were staying at our other friends folks lovely house we had hoped the weather would be nice and we could spend the evening sitting out in their fab Garden no such luck it was tipping it down. The heavens opened so after an hour and a half of nice warm dryness of the train we were out at the station. Then I had the bright idea as it's not far to her house to Walk.  I blame the booze as it was hideous. We got to the house like drowned rats didn't help that Hannah then took forever to open the door.

so we dripped our way in my suitcase was so wet it had seeped into my clothes luckily I had wine in my bag so discovered this as it gave me a great opportunity to hang them out for then next day.

Our hostess made up for her lack of door opening by having a lovely spread laid on.. mmm Bread and Cheese with some nice bottles of wine what could be better for drying out.

It wasn't a too late night, I'd been up since 5am with the little one he does like to wake up with the dawn..

but it was so much fun sitting around chatting and catching up on everything and hearing everyone's news. Definitely if you've got a small child you need just the odd night like this to re-charge and replenish (oh and get a tiny bit tipsy lol).

We finally made it to bed at a reasonable time.

Work up the next day not feeling totally my best I grant you but after an amazing service of Orange Juice and Toast followed by  a nice shower I felt human enough to get dressed.

So glad I hung everything out as poor Sue clothes were still damp (even the undergarments lol :) )

But once we were all up and dressed we ventured out to see what the day had to offer. Thankfully the weather had done a complete u turn and was actually shaping up to be a really pleasant day.

We headed up the wonderful quaint High Street looking for adventure. First stop was this great little sweet come Nic-Nac Shop Sundae Sundae where I needed to pick up a diet coke to get some caffeine into me to even me out.

So cool not only did they serve it in a glass bottle they did an amazing twisty thing with the straw which added to the coolness of it all. I was uber impressed over such a simple thing. It true what they say the little touches do count.

so with a drink clasped in my hands we headed on visiting a lot of the boutique niche shops that makes Whitstable High Street such a rare gem.

We ended up in the Community Center and where like last time they were having a Art fair. All of it was lovely. I really like the TotalPap who made scene out of papier-rmache.

It also included scenes that move.

As well They do prints on card and had someone on hand demonstrating the process. It nice to see local artist at their work.

A Quick Pasta Recipe

Before all the fun of the fair well The Kent County Show tomorrow.  I'm so excited!! 

Thought I'd post a quick and easy pasta recipe 

I roasted some courgettes and mushrooms 

20 minutes in a 200 degree oven. I used spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.

I think boiled some corn on the cob 

I cooked them for around 8-10 mins then used the water too cook some pasta in.

I added red onions and prawns to a pan 

Along with the roasted vegetables, I chopped of the kernels of the corn added those.

Stirred in the cooked pasta and added some Philadelphia lightest cream cheese.

All in all it took less than half an hour and it is very low in fat. If you're on Slimming World like me I used my Healthy A and it was Syn Free :) 

Which is great as I think I might be slightly naughty at the show tomorrow as there be too many good Produced in Kent suppliers I won't be able to resist. 

Whitsta-Bubbles and Seaside Dreams

Yummy Wine

 

 

This weekend I spend most of it in the lovely Kent seaside town of Whitstable.

 

I left from work Friday and me, S & J of the "Train Gang" the girls who I cause havoc with in Amsterdam (see Amok in Amsterdam posts for more details) got the train down from London Victoria. I started the sans baby evening (who was at home with his dad) with a lovely glass of wine at Victoria Station.

 

As I waited for the girls to arrive I met a lovely woman who was over from Spain meeting her son at the station. she was telling me about all her adventures and I mine. This is what we lack sometime in this country just stopping to shoot the breeze with someone while passing away the time. This is exactly how I met the people I was going away with. If I just stayed in my own little bubble I would have never met them and never had the fabulous experiences I've had or forged such good friendships.

 

So when the last of the group finally turned up we hot footed it on to the train down to Whitstable. Of course there was drink and nibbles as it was an hour and a half journey.

 

When and after going the wrong way leaving the station I blame S who also got us lost on the way to the station in Amsterdam as well. Luckily this time it was only a quick detour and we found our was to H folks house where we would be staying for the duration.

 

H was a star and already had the wine open to celebrate our arrival but as we old had 3 bottles S and I headed out to make sure we wouldn't run out. This is where I got my first look at Whitstable properly. First impression so quaint. As it was nearly 8pm all the shop were shut but we did like our amble window shopping in all the fab stores.

 

We found the local Offie (Off Licence) and picked up a few bottles of fizzy stuff and took it back to the house. When we arrived back we were greeted by a table full of yumminess. H & J had put together a buffet of meats, cheeses, breads and dips oh and a bit of chicken.

It went very well with the fizz we got and had a few toast to friendship, life and just general drinking.
Moving on to conversation of what is happening in everyone lives. With H over from Amsterdam we wanted to catch up with all her news.

 

Its great how with friends you don't have to see each other for a while but when you all get back together you just click again and have a fun time.

So much fun in fact that we got a bit silly as the evening dragged on and ended up taking a 2am walk to the beach. Apparently, according to my friend S after showing us the harbour and the ships, the big black expanse in front of us was the sea (who knew right ) lol. As it such a quaint quiet town taking a night-time stroll by the beach is nice a peaceful and thankfully free of reprobates well apart from us.

 

we head back down the high street where I got a couple of incriminating shots of us out and about. Most of us are parent and I want to point out how disgraceful this is, very, very fun and stupid but not what you would expect from such upstanding citizen lol :)

 

 

we got back to the warmth of the home just before 3 then after some wrangling of who was sleeping were we finally drifted off into a nice peaceful (crying toddler free night).

The next morning only slight fuzzy headed we all got up bright and early, well early for the rest of the girls but it was past 8am and all people with toddlers know that nearly a 2 hour lie in...

Co-ordinated us all getting ready and using the bathroom we headed out in search of breakfast.

S recommended a lovely little café/bistro establishment halfway down the high street call Samphire

Beautifully decorated inside with a nice open kitchen so you can see when your food is coming.

The menu is full of locally source produce and the staff are accommodating and very friendly. And thankfully non-judgemental as we all (well apart from J) order either buckfizz/Kir Royal for starters.

Then for breakfast S and I had Egg Royal, like eggs benedict but with salmon instead of the ham. Then J and H who had a discussion only that morning about how they're both nearly vegetarians and have nearly stopped eating meat both ordered a full English.

I think all that talk of meat pushed them over the edge.

Now we where all fuelled up we headed for the high street and its shops. The high street is full of a mix of brick a brack, art and boutique clothes shops and we had great fun popping in and out of each one.

In one of the galleries as it was the literary festival they had a poety tree where people could submit their poems. So I added one of my own, for all the world, well the world of Whitstable, to see.

On the way back up the high street we stopped off at the community centre where they were having a couple of art exhibitions an art market where H bought a sculpture and a nudes postcard exhibit where local people were asked to submit postcard size nudes. The embroidered one was my favourite.

 

H folks  submitted a picture I think it rather good and it obviously a great bit of fun.

 

 

After the girls and bought nearly their body weights in clothes, jewellery, candles and sculpture we headed back to the house to met my Husband and the little man. The rest of the girls where staying an extra night but due to family commitments I could only manager the one :(

 

But the sun was out and we could use the house's wonderful garden. Had to take a pic of the garden and house as it was amazing H dad designed the layout and H mum filled it with all the amazing furnishings. Wish I could pull rooms together like this. Although currently my main decoration of rooms in my house is toys as he seems to get them everywhere. 

We decided to have another wine before they arrived. I went to the fridge to get a bottle and to my horror we had run out. H, S and J were astonished until we though about it and yes we had gone through 6 bottles the night before. in our defence that's only 1 and a half each and it was spaced out from 8pm to 3am.

J and S popped out for more supplies, while the boys arrived. The little man had such a fun time running up and down the garden. He discovered a water feature and loved removing the black stones, much to the distress of me and the amusement of the others.

That's the downside of toddlers they sometime can be un-intentionally destructive whirlwinds which is not too bad in your own home but in someone else and especially a place that obviously had so much care and attention put into it not so much.

so after quick toast we headed out to the beach to help the little one run off some of that steam. We stopped on the way for an Oyster. Whitstable is famous for its Oysters and the one I tried didn't disappoint. They are not everyone cup of tea and I couldn't eat a whole plate but I do like the odd one especially when they are this fresh.

I took the little one to have a look at the sea, making sure I had a hold on him so he didn't decide to go head first into the drink. It was a sunny but slightly windy day so the ocean was choppy and roaring in its wake. Very spectacular but I think the little man was slight scared and windswept.

Before getting in the car and heading back home which was thankfully a lot less of a journey than the train ride we stopped at a harbour front café. Where I had some lovely Moules and my other half and the little man shared in some fish and chips.

I have to say it was one of the biggest bits of fish in a fish and chips and considering we all ate every bite it was very nice.

I really loved Whitstable and even though it was my first time there it will not be my last.

As I got home the Saturday night and with the girls still there and drinking I was involved by text into their conversation and we booked to go back in July for the Oyster Festival. This time I'm staying for the whole weekend and the husband and little one can come down and pick me up on the Sunday.

If anyone is attending I would love to say hi..

Best Flight Ever & Giant Prawns

So We've made it to the wonderful Mayalsia. 

Can I just say it's amazing only been here two full days and I've fallen in love with the city. 

Getting here was also actually a pleasent experience. How? I hear you say, especially with a toddler as we all know long haul and little ones aren't the perfect mix but I think I found the solution, Emirates. Especially Emirates Business class, if you can. Truth be told our upgrade was a lovely Crimbo gift from my Father in Law. It made all the difference as the little one had to be on one of our laps.

It wasn't only the leg room the staff were so nice honestly the friendliest and most helpful people I've ever come across flying. 

It all started in the airport lounge, getting us water to heat up the babies food, another person finding us toys for the little and the rest taking the time to interact with him when ever he toddled by. (As it was such a big space he had to do a lot of exploring). 

I even found time to have a bit of a relax when the hubby took the little one on a wander 

The first leg of our trip was on the A380 a very swish plan, I could see what all the fuss was about. The friendliness of the staff continued with a cuddle toy with a blanket for the little one and a drink a some nibbles for me and there was ample room for both of us.

The food on the flight was also amazing I had a lovely Mezza 

While watching 'The Penguin of Madagascar'. The food I have to say for airline food was top notch; and I don't actually mind the bog standard airline food.

It was well presented and I liked the fact I had options. There was other snack on board if you were still peckish and a bar, didn't  get a pic as I only saw it in passing with a little one to settle I couldn't really make use of it. But the patron using it looked like they were having fun. 

We had a stop over in Dubai. The airport is fab and they also have Emirates strollers you can borrow to get the little one around. We headed straight for the lounge and found a little play which the little one enjoyed exploring they also have fountains which enthralled him.  

Then it was off on the second leg of our trip to Kuala Lumpur. The plane was an older A777-300, but what it lacked compared to the A380 (even though it was a perfectly nice plan) it was made up for but the brilliant and I do mean totally brilliant staff. They couldn't do enough,  so helpful.

More toys to keep the little one amused and the even took some Polaroids of him in a captains hat as a momento of the trip. 

The boys got some more sleep, so I got to have a relax another nice meal and a couple of movies. A little oasis of calm  which I thought was impossible when flying with an infant.

Although now I have definitely spoilt myself for other flights. I don't think I can go back, will have to have long periods between holidays now so I can save up to get this comfort and service all the time. 

As now I've had a bite know I definitely want another.

Arried in KL the least flustered I've ever been getting off a plane and was met by two things an emence wall of heat and my in laws. The heat is just amazing and was very welcome as leaving a near freezing mostly wet England to a humid tropical lo-cal is just what I needed. (Fingers crossed the weather perks up a bit for our return).

Got a taxi in to the heart of town back to the in laws apartment in a lovely block just round the corner from the Petronas twin towers. As we arrived in the evening and wanting to get our body clocks sorted we got some sleep. 

Our first day in KL was a slow paced affair we walked round to get a closer look at the towers that dominate the skyline. 

They are really beautiful but I don't think my brain can process that they are really there. They don't look real like some kind of Hollywood special effect.

We spent the rest of the day just looking around the shopping centre at the bottom of the towers.

Then back to the apartment for a dip in the pool. oh yes a fully serviced pool and a kiddies pool for the little one.

The food on the first day was a nice but was like back home, the In-laws took us to an Italian restaurant for lunch and for dinner we had lamb chops and veg. All very nice but no really very Malaysian. 

Although I did try a local drink Kickapoo Joy Juice 

Who knew, joy taste like citrus.

Our second full day was a bit more adventurous. We slept late in due to jet lag and after another pool trip and then us getting ready we went out for a late lunch and I had my first taste of Malay food. 

In the guise of a giant prawn. It was a monster, more a-kin to a lobster rather than the tiny prawns we get back in the UK 

It was accompanied by rice some curry sauce and fried spicy potatoes. It was so yum and I loved the spiciness of the potato next to the meat of the Prawn. Well after I won the battle to get into it. 

It was so filling I didn't feel like eating any dinner so after a beer in the warm night air I turned in.

So now up on my third full day and ready for fun we're going to take the little one to the KLCC Aquarium. I wonder if I'll see any of the prawn's friends lol :)