Birthday Wish

Today I woke up like an excited 7 year old on their birthday.  Only in reality I turned 31 today.  Most people complain about getting another year older, whereas I think why be depressed about the inevitable.  May as well enjoy it and get some great memories, as I'm never going to be 31 again.

Birthday Cards

My day started with a nice relaxed lunch with my parents at Nando's.  You can't beat the delights of spicy chicken and chips.  Simple, but soooooooo good!

Rose in my birthday flowers from my parents

Around tea time, my friend 'Bing' brought me her special chocolate cheesecake brownies.  They are my favourite of anything she's ever made.  They really do taste like heaven.

Around 6.30pm, the party started.  We ordered takeaway for 11 people, which was no easy feat.  But we managed to organise ourselves pretty well.  After food, we then went to a bar/club that I've heard a lot of good stuff about called 'The Jam House'.

We had to queue for 45 mins, but it was well worth the wait.  They had a live band that were singing covers ranging from Adele to Lady Gaga to Justin Timberlake.  They were amazing.  I definitely recommend people to go to this place.  We all had an amazing night.

Thanks to everyone who was there and made my day and night special.  My birthday wish is that every birthday is as great as this one was.

Heavenly Aromas

A couple of weeks ago, Marc and Sarah came round for dinner and I'd made a chocolate molten pudding.  Usually this dessert is always a winner as it is extremely indulgent and looks like I've spent hours in the kitchen rather than the actual 10 mins.

The recipe, courtesy of my favourite chef; Nigella Lawson, is for 6 and as there were only 3 of us, I only made half a batch.  That was fine until I added the flour, which I made the rookie mistake of putting the full quantity in.  So the pudding unfortunately ended up tasting of flour.  In my defence I was rushed to make it as it was a dinner that I hosted after work.

So today, as it is a rare occasion that I am at home for the day, I have decided to make a red velvet cake with white creamy frosting, to take with me as a dessert offering for when I go to Sarah and Marc's for dinner tonight.

This recipe is courtesy of one of my favourite baker's; Rachel Allen, and is a recipe that I saw her bake on one of her tv shows.  I've not had the chance to make it since I saw the show, so fingers crossed that there are no rookie mistakes today.

I have to say the smell of a cake baking in the oven is one of the best smells ever.  It's a shame that you can't attach an aroma to this blog as you can a picture, because the smell in here is absolutely divine.

I'm impressed with the finished article, even if I say so myself. I think the taste went down pretty well too. I had happy punters.

Geneva

Today Maryline and I braved the cold and took the train to Geneva. You may think from the pictures that it is a sunny day with lovely blue skies, but don't let that deceive you. Today has felt like my head has been in a boxing match with the weather. The wind has felt like someone has slapped me in the face a zillion times.

We had hoped to see the Jet d'Eau today, which is the fountain in the lake that shoots water up a few meters, but it is off season, so it wasn't operating today. We did manage to pass through the "Jardin Anglaise". I did see this in the lonely planet as a point to see, which Maryline replied with, "you've come all this way to see an English garden?"

As it was so cold and also because the lights of the high street were beaconing us, we thought we'd have a look at the shops. Unheard of for us, it was an afternoon of window shopping rather than any damage to the bank balance. But that's probably because Geneva is one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Today was my last day in Switzerland. I've had a great time. Many thanks for having me stay Maryline. Bissoux.

Ice, Snow and Mountains

I am not a skier. I never learned when I was little and since I had knee surgery a year ago, I think it's a given that it is a sport that I will never try for fear of injuring my knee again. So to find my self up in the snowy mountains today at Saint Cergue, for a little walk is something I never imagined that I would do.

I always imagined that the cold would be something that I wouldn't be able to cope with, as my hands turn white at any temperature below zero, but I was surprisingly warm. I think the fact that there was no wind helped.

As Delph, Maryline and I weren't there to ski, we decided to go on a walk to see if we could get some photos of our beautiful surroundings. To say the least we weren't really equipped to walk up the snowy hill. First of all we didn't have snow boots on, we had trainers and also we had our designer handbags. Hardly the attire for a short hike up the mountain.

It took us about 20 mins to walk up the hill, but we managed it without incident. When we got to the top, the view was breathtaking and definitely worth the trek up. We were even treated to seeing 2 Chamoix's.

The joy of carrying an iPhone is that I don't have to carry a separate camera. And also there is the genius "photosynth" app. Following my demo of how to take a panoramic photo, both Maryline and Delph now have it on their iPhones. It was cool to take a picture of us making shapes in the snow with the beautiful landscape in the background.

It was a perfect day hanging out again as a trio. Miss you girls. Bissoux!

Birthday Week!

This week is Birthday Week. Actually it's Birthday week and a day. But that doesn't sound as good as Birthday Week. Birthday week, as you have probably already figured out from the name, is the week surrounding my birthday where I have a week's holiday to hang out with friends and family doing all kinds of fun stuff. The reason why this year is a week and a day, is because I have flown to Switzerland to visit my good friend Maryline.

Maryline and I have been friends for years. We used to rent a house together when I used to live in Banbury. In May 2011 she moved to Switzerland with her job and has been living in a little place called Nyon, on the Swiss Riveria with a full view of the mountains, for the past 8 months.

It is very peaceful here and suits Maryline very well. I think the fresh mountain air is wonders for the soul. I am in the French speaking part of Switzerland so it is an opportunity to practice my French. Usually my reading is ok, but the speaking part is usually what I am shy about. I know the verb I want to use but it's the intricacy of figuring out the change caused by the tense that eludes me. I did surprise Maryline by sending her a French text message to let her know that I was on board the train "Je suis sur Le train!", which I think she was shocked by. But then when it came to asking something like "Where do we meet up?", I could only come up with "Ou rendezvous-vous?" and I knew that wasn't right so I was too shy to continue. I love the French language. I think it sounds lovely when people speak it. I need to start practicing more. Maybe when I stop travelling so much I can start some classes.

Hungry Hungry Hippos!

There are always games that parents regret giving to their kids.  Anything that is noisy or has a constant tune is always a no-no.  One of the games that my sister and I had when we were little was the Hungry Hippos game.  I haven't played that game for years, but I do remember it being a noisy game and Dad shouting at us to play something quieter.

Sarah and Marc came round for dinner last night and for a reason I cannot recall right now, they brought the Hungry Hungry Hippos.

I'd forgotten how noisy and competitive it can be.  It always surprises me how quickly the inner child comes out when playing a game like this.  And I think we definitely saw Marc's last night.

Quiz Night with the Trini's

My Little Sis has married a Trini, she is now a Rampersad.  I haven't seen her in months and this weekend was somewhat of a reunion.

The immediate Rampersad family all live in Dartford or the surrounding London area.  Saturday night included the usual suspects for curried goat, roti and some fun playing games.  Saturday night's game of choice was called 'His and Hers', so we were split into 2 teams; boys versus girls.

The questions were very entertaining.  I have to admit my Little Sis carried the girls team and Randy, my brother-in-law's brother, carried the boys team.  I was particularly rubbish, although I did manage to answer the question about Take That.

My Little Sis has this affinity to remember all sorts of random things.  I don't know how she does it, but I think she can retain knowledge like Mum.  Randy on the other hand is similar, but his mind works in a way that is rare; he can think his way around a problem in such a way that you think he's heading in the wrong direction and before you know it he has come up with the correct answer.

The best question of the night was asked to the boys... "What is the name given to a sexually excited male?"... Everyone just looked at Randy and burst out laughing.  Apart from his name being the literal answer to the question, he is also quite the ladies man... enough said.

This weekend was the Chinese New Year.  The pictures in the blog today are all from the outing in London on Sunday.  London was rammed but we still managed to fit in a bit of Dim Sum at the Golden Dragon, very appropriate as we are now in the year of the dragon.  The streets were too rammed to get a picture of the Dragon dance, but I got myself a paper dragon, which my Little Sis managed to break on the train, I've got the evidence!

Happy New Year.