We went to all the pubs!

Last weekend Anthony and I visited Manchester and whilst we were there we thought we'd give a boutique pub a shot, to say the least it very over the top with the decor. It had chandeliers, tall leopard print and zebra print chairs, and bling everywhere!

Looking slightly tired

 If I'm honest I think my expectations were a little high, we sat down and ordered some food, pretty bog standard menu, similar to a chain restaurant, average price, tables were tatty and I got the impression this pub was trying to be something more than what it was. It cost us over £10 for two drinks and being in the city I expected drinks to be a little more expensive than normal, but being cooped up in the forest for so long I think I've forgotten city prices.

Looney!

We ordered some food and to my surprise they had gotten my order wrong and I got a mezze plate with hummus, olives and pitas. I didn't mind as I'd originally asked for just a few olives to nibble on. If I was going on a night out in Manchester I wouldn't mind starting at this joint, I imagine it to be pretty cool at night; you'd just have to remember to take plenty of cash!

All in all our day out in Manchester was lovely, I actually didn't want to get the train back to Anthony's I wanted to stay out and dance the night away. We did a little shopping and then just chilled out for the rest with coffee and a few drinks. When we've got a bit more spare time I'd like to spend it in Manchester, just for a change of scenery, and explore the city a bit more. Next week though we have all the time we want to explore Somerset and the West Country and we all know what that means! Real cider! Which up north is shocking for, I mean seriously, Strongbow and Bulmers is not proper cider, I'm going to show Anthony a proper pint as soon as we get to the West Country, he'll never want to drink Strongbow ever again hehe.

We make all the Moomin pies!

Tonight I thought I'd have another go at making Moomin onion pie, I made it during the winter and loved it! It's so simple to make, at first I thought it would just taste 'alright' I was so wrong. It's proper winter comfort food, really homely and warming. The pie has a really unusual pastry case using grated carrots, this makes it even better. It gives it more texture and adds flavour to the pastry but it's not over powering, plus the filling is amazing. They work really well together and if this is what they eat on a day to day basis in Finland, I'm there! You must give this a go, it's definitely in my 10 ten favourite meals. It's great for freezing and you can have it hot or cold to suit your mood, or even have for lunch the day after.

Well here it is so you can give it a try...

Moomin mouth-watering onion pie

Nommy!

What you'll need:
50g Butter or margarine
1-2 Carrots (finely grated)
50g Plain flour (I used wholemeal because I think it tastes better)
50g Rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
For the filling:
3 Large onions (cut into strips)
1 tbsp oil
100ml Cream
1 Egg (beaten)
120g Grated cheese (I used cheddar)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 225 °C
2. Mix the butter and the grated carrot; this is better when the butter has been left at room temperature to go soft. Add the flour, rolled oats, baking powder and the salt and mix this to a smooth paste.
3. Roll the pasty out, and with your hands press into a quiche dish so it covers the bottom and the edges.
4. Pre-cook the pastry case for 5-10minutes until it's firm.
5. Meanwhile lightly fry the onions in the oil until the onions are soft and translucent and not brown.
6. In a bowl mix together the cream, the egg, the cheese and seasonings then add the onions.
7. Pour the onion mixture into the pastry case and bake in the oven for 10-15minutes or until the surface has browned at 200°C.
8. ENJOY!

Really hope you give this a go, you won't regret it and once you do it once I can assure you'll be making it again!

We have all the wedding parties!

Last weekend Anthony and I, along with our friends went to celebrate the marriage of Eddy and Jessica. They got married in America (as Jess is American) earlier in the summer and finally Jess' visa was issued and she has now moved to the UK. As we couldn't be there on the day so, they organised a garden party to celebrate with Eddy's family and friends.

The theme of the night was red, white and blue for both nationalities flag (UK and USA). I think most people it was more of a coincidence with the colours they wore, but everyone looked lovely.

It was lovely evening, and it was great to see everyone for the first time in ages! Ed and Jess had a fantastic evening which is the main thing; Jess makes a fabulous cake too! Everyone ate, drank and was merry. Myself probably a little bit to merry, I apologised to Ed who said it just added to the entertainment of the night. Really do need some more nights like this, something about a wedding that puts everyone in such a good mood. I'll leave this one short and sweet, unfortunately because I'm terrible with a camera I got photos of everyone except the happy couple. I'll leave you with a few photos I did get; I'll try harder next time.

Me and Anthony

Josh and his new boyfriend

We give all the things to charity!

I have had one huge sort out of all my clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery and random stuff I own ready to take into the charity shop. I've been taking small bags of unwanted/unneeded things in to the local charity shop all year and it got to the stage where I just needed to be brutal and just get rid of things I have no room for. I had clothes that hadn't been worn for years, bags that had never been used and just things that were just not useful and taking up unneccessary space I don't have.

This isn't even all of it!

In the end I had two stereos and two huge bags of things to take in, not a bad spring clean if I do say so myself and there's still more to go! We have household items that have been here for years, we have so much junk around this house it's actually unreal. At least good things have come out of this spring clean and sort out, I have more space and my donations have gone to charity; our local hospice. It's probably my favourite charity in my local area, I've visited the hospice and it's a lovely place, the service they provide is amazing and it makes such a difference to the service user's and their families who use it. Some people may imagine a hospice to be a depressing place, but I assure you it's the complete opposite and it relies on mostly on public funding, to keep them providing this amazing service. This includes donations and the money from the charity shop as government funding id scarce so I hope the items which I have taken in today will make a small difference to improve and maintain the hospice, I also spend a lot of money in there so hopefully my funds have been spent wisely.

That's my good deed for the day so now I afford to be a little bit naughty tomorrow at Eddy and Jessica's wedding party hehe.