How cute is this Vespa? I saw it on the street in Bruges, Belgium-totally decked out in various Beer Brands!
Travel
Off to Malta at the end of the Month!
I am so excited! I go every year, staying in Silema this year.
Here are some #throwback pics. This is in St Julian’s Spinola bay and there is the LOVE statue! The largest image in this collage is of the breath-taking Dome of Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. A very omnipresent church on the Malta Skyline.
Book Review: “Aleph” by Paulo Coelho.
Aleph was the first ever book I’ve read by Coelho. I was intrigued from the start. I was aware initially of the vast success Coelho has had and is notably deemed a spiritual master so it came as a surprise to read of the frustration and longing he still feels in his life in the very first chapter. It starts out very mysteriously as J. advises him to reclaim his kingdom. And so he sets off on his latest book tour and decides to merge his tour with his wish to travel the trans-siberian railway. He meets Hilal and the two have a unique connection. Hilal is tempestuous and a gifted Violinist. She is half his age and the dynamics of their relationship deepens from stranger to ambiguous love. I liked Coelho’s way with words near the end on how he feels for Hilal. It is perfection. This book is ideal for readers who are open or merely curious to the many beliefs and practices within the vast spectrum of spirituality. Here the plot dips into past life flashbacks as well as how Coelho falls into his past life via the enigmatic ring of light exercise. The characters meet a Shaman and for someone as spiritually open like myself reading his story satisfied my curiosity for things outside of the physical realm. Coelho definitely leaves the reader wanting to discover more about the story and their own life.
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Review: The Swallow Bakery, Cheltenham.
My first visit to the Swallow Bakery was back in 2012, whilst working at The Times Cheltenham literature festival (in the kids tent), and en route to the train station homeward bound, decided to stop by because it was right next to the festival tents. In a rush I grabbed a cupcake which was so scrumptious with a generous serving of icing, I knew I would have to comeback again.
Cut to December 2014 and beyond I throughly enjoy returning because the cakes are THAT good. Above on the left is the three-tiered lemon cake.
As you can see there is luscious, thickly spread icing between the beautifully moist sponges and very tasty icing on top and a squiggle of cream! Indulgent and satisfyingly creamy. Not the place to go when you’re on a diet! The slices are gigantic! You definitely receive generous, dreamy servings in this bakery.
First I ate the panini on the far right . It is a delicious, can’t-go-wrong: chicken, mozzarella and pesto filling. All good and served hot. This savory sandwich was followed by the lemon cake and Bailey’s cupcake eaten in alternating intervals of the cakes; per two bites. My taste buds relished the juxtaposing rich, creamy lemon cake followed by bites of the chocolately cupcake. Yes I am indulgent like that! Greedier than Nigella Lawson! The icing tasted of Bailey’s and sat atop the complimentary chocolate cupcake sponge. Absolutely fabulous! I urge you to visit the Swallow Bakery. (Or better yet order online as they prepare x24 cupcake batches for home delivery! Wow!) For readers outside of the UK at the time of this writing: http://swallowbakery.com/pages.php?pageid=2 states: “We can ship to virtually anywhere in the World.” Double Wow!!!
Though I am happy to commute an our for an afternoon in glorious Cheltenham and loose-leaf tea & cakes in this particular café.
The drawbacks to this lovely place is that the cakes sit prettily with no cake stand glass lid! Argh! So if you’re lucky the cake will be fresh and moist. If you have popped in on a quieter day then with no lid covering the cake you find one slice horribly dry and unappetizing. Damn!
No problems with the panini’s tasty and sufficient fillings inside. However the other ‘warm’ foods like the mini burgers are cooked presumably earlier on in the day then simply left out on display so when you eat it, it is COLD!!!!! *Bleurgh!*
So this lovely café receives 7/10. In my humble opinion this deserves a “very good” label.
Hay Festival 2014 Event: Picture Book Panel (Part 3)
Picture Books are very magical indeed. I will soon blog about how they magically, yes MAGICALLY came into my life in a later post. Obviously I love picture books so could not resist this event. And Rachel was most inspiring because she literally has her own card and gift EMPIRE plus she like randomly decided to work as an air stewardess (among many other ventures) which is sooooo the type of thing I would do except I’m not good with flying! Oh yes and Rachel was 5 months pregnant at the time and has since had her beautiful daughter!
So the Super-Awesome-Picture-Book-Gang is Chris Haughton on the left below, Oliver Jeffers centre and the sunny & gorgeous Rachel Bright! 😀 You need to read “Oh no! George” by Haughton because you need more colour in your life and you must purchase “This moose belongs to me” by Jeffers because it is a gorgeous picture book and you must read all the “Love Monster” stories. I also own some of Rachel’s “The Bright Side” range of gifts and cards. A post on that coming shortly!
Ok so seconds before I got a pic with the Super-Awesome-Picture-Book-Gang my hair was on point. Like PERFECT. On Fleek as North West would say.
Then somehow my hair turns into this…Like WTF? Just not on point, just seconds ago it was like Rachel’s with a side parting and then this raven cascade sans side-parting just flops down upon my scalp from outta nowhere! Just not a good look but my boobs look EPIC so can’t complain 😛
Apologies if you were looking for a more in depth discussion of the points raised at the panel. I have simply forgotten-it was a year ago! Notably the trauma of my hair not on fleek took precedent in the recollection of this event.
xoxo Catherine 😀
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