It's a small world....

Before you think nooooo please don't get that song embedded in my head for the next hour, I am not about to sing you the "It's a small world" Disney ride tune (though I bet it's playing in your head now anyway, it is in mine, damn it!). I am however going to tell you a short story that lead to me writing this post (You can see an even shorter version on the Project 365 page).

I started working for my company a couple of years ago and my friend and colleague (boss) often talks about her group of girlies, naturally. I thought nothing of it other than that she was telling me about what they had done at the weekend or plans they were making. After some time, I noticed that one of her friends had some other mutual friends of mine. They turned out to be two of my great uncles. Usually I'm quite a good detective and I love to delve and solve things, but on this occasion I sort of just shrugged it off.

Later on, another great uncle of mine had visited from Australia where he now lives and a relative had put a note on Facebook to say how nice it was to see him and some other relatives who had been there. One of these people was my friends friend. By now I'm thinking that this a little weird, so I asked one of my great uncles who told me that in fact this lady was my third cousin, or my Mum's cousins daughter, meaning that our grandparents are brother and sister.

You might wonder how we had never met before, or even knew that each other existed, but when your grandparents are one of ten siblings you can imagine how easily a family spreads to all corners of the country and even the world. We did however meet last weekend at my friends birthday and we talked who's who in the family, who we are regularly in contact with etc, which was really lovely.

A major point of this story is that you never know who you are going to meet and who you are going to meet people through. If it wasn't for my friend, I may never have met my third cousin, and that would have been a real shame. 

Banana and Chocolate Bread (incl. recipe)

When there are bananas that are too far gone to be eaten and enough ingredients in the cupboard, it would be rude not to make some sort of banana bread. I've made it a few times so this time I thought I would add a chocolate twist. Ok so a banana and chocolate bread is nothing original, but I fancied it.

 

Recipe:

225g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

115g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

2 eggs

3 mashed bananas

Splash of milk

100g chocolate (I used Galaxy but you can use whatever suits your taste)

1. Preheat your oven to 160 celsius / 325 farenheit / Gas Mark 3, and line your tin with baking paper.

2. Melt 2/3rds of the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 15 seconds to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn. Set aside.

3. Mix together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Lightly whisk the eggs and add to the mixture a little at a time, beating after each addition of the eggs. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a little sifted flour.

5. Mash the bananas and stir in to the mixture, along with the milk.

6. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and combine.

7. Drizzle the melted chocolate in to the mixture and stir lightly so you get a swirl effect .

8. Pour the mixture in to the tin and bake for approximately 1 hour (this may vary slightly depending on your oven. Mine can be a little temperamental). Check the bread is cooked by inserting a skewer and checking it comes out clean.

9. When cooked, leave for a few minutes in the tin then turn out on to a cooling rack.

10. Melt the remainder of the chocolate and drizzle over the top. Either cut straight away and eat warm or leave to cool and enjoy later.

Happy baking! 

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A Valentines Trip To Venice

This Valentines weekend, Paul took me to the beautiful city of Venice. Unlike anywhere else I have been before, I pretty much started falling in love with it. The scenery is beautiful, the food is great and the people are lovely. What's not to like?

We stayed for three nights in the lovely UNA Hotel in the Cannaregio district and we had a room upgrade upon arrival. I have never been upgraded before! The hotel was beside a canal (obviously) and was in a quiet residential area a short walk away from the main sights, restaurants and shops.

We arrived at our hotel late afternoon/early evening and went straight out for dinner in St.Marks square.  We had one of the best steak meals I have ever had (Steak with mustard potatoes) and of course cocktails, including a Bellini. You can't go to Italy and not have a Bellini. Or a glass of Prosecco (which I drunk various times over the weekend).

Bellini

Best Steak Meal Ever!

Beautiful Decoration in the Restaurant

On the second day we visited the Rialto Bridge and fish market and all the other stalls selling Venetian souvenirs and other items. We also had breakfast by the bridge overlooking the canal. We then moved on to the Accademia and Peggy Guggenheim art museums. These museums were very different in the types of art they have, The Accademia being more older art relating to the church and The Peggy Guggenheim museum focusing more on modern art, such as Picasso and Dali. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside these museums. We also did a lot of strolling, found a great pizza place and ate crepes. 

The Rialto Bridge

Breakfast by the Canal

Pizza!

Sunday was my favourite day. We had breakfast at Cafe Florian on St. Marks Square - expensive but worth it and the cafe is beautiful inside. We visited St. Mark's Basilica, St. Mark's Campanile (or the Shard of Venice as I called it) and the Doges Palace. We drunk by the canal, ate Gelato and ate dinner later on again by the Rialto Bridge.

Inside Cafe Florian

Inside Cafe Florian

Cafe Florian Breakfast

St Mark's Basilica

Inside St. Mark's Basilica - Beautiful!

View From St. Mark's Basilica Balcony

St. Mark's Campanile

View of Venice from the Top of St.Mark's Campanile

View of Venice from the Top of St.Mark's Campanile - St. Marks Basilica

View of Venice from the Top of St.Mark's Campanile - The Doges Palace

View of Venice from the Top of St.Mark's Campanile

Gelato!

Pistachio Gelato

Dinner by the Rialto Bridge and Grand Canal

On the last day we had the morning before leaving for the airport. I love airports but I didn't want to leave Venice. We went to a local Patisserie and joined the locals in eating breakfast and drinking coffee, though I'm not sure how many people eat a pastry then a pizza!

Breakfast Pastries and Pizza - I Need to Make Some of these Bad Boy Pizzas!

Venice was a beautiful place, which I would describe as a toy town but in real size with real people and we definitely want to go back. If I could give anyone one piece of advice, it would be wear comfortable  shoes. We walked a lot and got lost once or twice (which I'm told is very easy in Venice) and although it didn't matter because we enjoyed looking at the scenery, our feet took the brunt! I also loved looking at the masks in the little shops and drinking coffee in little coffee shops along the streets. I would highly recommend visiting Venice. Just make sure you take those comfortable shoes and be prepared to spend. Here are a few more snaps from around the city.

Pasta

Giant Meringues

Venetian Mask 

Venetian Masks

Loved This! Think it was Street Lighting. I Want One!

Latte by the Canal - It's all about the Froth

Another of the Rialto Bridge

Loved these Ball Outfits

Venetian Masks 

Homemade Valentines Day Cookies

This year I decided to make Paul some Valentine cookies. Of all the things I bake, my cookies are his favourite, so I knew he would appreciate and enjoy them. I had to make them and give them to him early though as tomorrow we are off to Venice (my Valentines and one of my Christmas presents from him. I know you can't really compare cookies to Venice!).

I usually make these with sugarpaste on top for decoration but as he prefers them without it I did some plain and some with chocolate decorations. I used a chocolate flavoured piping icing which I found at the supermarket and some chocolate curls. Paul said they were my best cookies yet - high five to me!