Advent Essentials

With only 10 days left until Christmas I thought I would share with you some of my advent essentials to help survive the festive season.

Books:
A good book is always necessary when it is too cold to go outside. One of my favourite things to do is curl up in the evenings under a blanket and read a book, especially when you can hear rain outside. I would recommend a fantasy book, or a book which you have previously read and loved. In the holidays it is nice to read something which you can loose yourself in and does not take to much effort to read.

Drinks:
I always find that a nice hot drink is the best thing to have after a long walk in the cold. At the moment i love 'Options: Belgian Hot Chocolate' and 'Whittard Lemon and Lime Instant Tea'. These are both warming drinks which are seriously simple to make and are easy to store.

TV:
I always love to have a good television series to watch during the advent season. This helps the evenings pass quickly and I don't usually have much time to watch series' during the term time. Some programmes that I loved were 'Ugly Betty' and 'Sherlock'. 'Ugly Betty' has 4 seasons and so kept me going for quite a while, especially with each episode being around 45 minutes long! Sherlock, on the other hand, is not as long with only 2 series available on DVD at the moment, each consisting of 3 episodes. The short series is understandable though as each episode is 1h 30m long.

Candles:
For me, Christmas is the time when it is important to have scented candles around the house. Cinnamon, orange and clove are some classic winter scents. Every year we get an Orange & Cinnamon candle from Heal's which always makes the house smell so festive. Yankee candle also do many Christmas themed candles and they are all on offer at the moment due to their advent calendar event.

These are some of the things which help put me in the festive mood and I would love to know what your festive traditions or essentials are, let me know in the comments :D

Brownies :D

I have never been good at making brownies, they are not crispy on the top or gooey in the middle.  Last weekend I decided to have another go at trying to make the perfect brownie.  I found this recipe online (http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6023/quick-and-easy-brownies.aspx), wanting a recipe that wouldn't take to long, and didn't require me to go out and find ingredients that I did not have at home.  I thought I would share this REALLY EASY recipe with you:

Ingredients:

400g Caster Sugar

225g Plain Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

225g Melted Butter

60g Cocoa Powder

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

4 Eggs 

(optional) 60g Walnut Halves

How to make:

Preheat oven to 180 C or Gas mark 4

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl

Pour mixture into a greased baking tin (23x33 cm)

Bake for 20-25 minutes - mine took longer because I think I used a smaller baking tin, they still turned out gooey in the middle though

Remove from oven after time/or when top is crispy and middle is set but slightly soft

Leave to cool and slice into equal portions

This is such a simple recipe, and it worked really well.  I am sorry I forgot to take pictures, and all that was left when I remembered was a plate of crumbs, oops....  This is a different kind of post so please comment and  let me know if you like it and I will do more.

Summer Reading Overview

Long time no see isn't it, well, more like long time no write.  I have just started back at school and I felt that it was a good time to update you on some of the books that I liked and disliked over the summer holidays.  I read quite a few non-fiction books over the holidays so I was prepared for school.  I will list a few below, but I don't want to bore you!

FICTION:

  I started off by reading two books from the 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' series.  I have read these all before, but I find them very uplifting and they were a nice change, especially after finishing my exams.  These were very quick reads for me as they don't have a very complicated story line and the characters are very engaging.  If any of you have seen the movie based on the first book then you should know that the book is much better.  For a start it is based in London instead of Manhattan, and the plot line is slightly different.

I then read the first three books in the 'Rivers of London' series by Ben Aaronovitch.  These are great books.  They follow PC Peter Grant, who starts one a case by interviewing a ghost!  He begins to learn that there is a special, hidden branch of the police force that deals with magical and mysterious events, and he begins to understand the techniques of magic. These are great books for anyone who loves murder mysteries or fantasy novels.  They are also very funny, so are quite an uplifting read.

I have also just started reading 'Last Stand of Dead Men' which is the 8th book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy.  These are books aimed at 12 year old boys, but I have been reading them for years and need to know what happens at the end. There are going to be 9 books in the series in total, so if you want to read these then I would advise waiting until the last one has been published.  These books tell the story of a skeleton detective (Skulduggery Pleasant) and a young girl named Stephanie Edgely who becomes his assistant.  The books are mainly set in Ireland, among a hidden community of mages and sorcerers.


I also read 'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling, but this was quite a different book.  This was some background reading for my history studies.  I found it quite a difficult book to get into as I was unused to the style of writing.  It had an interesting story line and it was well written, however unless you love Rudyard Kipling or are extremely interested in the subject, then it is definitely not an light summer read. I also read 'Luther' by John Osborne.  Do not let the fact that it is a play put you off, it is very small and easily readable. It is not published anymore but is easily available on the internet quite cheaply.

NON FICTION:
As I said I read non fiction books over the holidays, which for anyone who knows me is EXTREMELY unusual.  I read two Biology books and two History of Art books.
Biology:
I read 'Cartoon Guide to Genetics' which was quite a fun introduction to the subject and it was also an easy read since it was mostly pictures.  I also read a biography of Charles Darwin which was quite interesting because it gave me an insight into his life.  I would advise reading biographies of people who you are interested in because you will have the motivation to read them, and you get to find out some things which you might not have already known.
Art History:
For History of Art I read ' Art History: A Very Short Introduction' and 'Art Theory for Beginners' which for anyone interested in the subject are useful.  The short introduction is a much easier read, and the Art Theory book gives an overview of art movements throughout history. 

I hope that this has not been a very boring post, and I hope that some of these recommendations and reviews have/will be useful.
Don't forget to comment if you have read any of these books or have questions about any of the books I have talked about.
Hope you all have a good week, bye!

S.H.A.R.P.

DISCLAIMER: This post is not related to books,  stop reading if you are not interested.

 For the past week and a half I have been spending my time in Norfolk,  not somewhere i have been before and i was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful beaches and villages.

One of my interests is Archaeology and during the holiday I decided that I would like to do a beginners training course to see what it was like to work on trench.  After a lot of research (mostly done by other members of my family) we found a site which looked perfect, and it was easy to find somewhere to stay nearby.  We rented a lovely little cottage in Snettisham, it was cosy, but definitely big enough for a week and a half.  The doorway was surrounded by roses which smelled absolutely beautiful whenever you came in, and it made the cottage look like something from a postcard!

Everyday I traveled to S.H.A.R.P which stands for Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project.  They work a 6 day week (Sunday-Friday) and I was shocked to realise that we started work at 8:30, so much for a relaxing holiday!  The site consisted of a campsite on Boneyard Field (next to the site where they found around 400 skeletons) and the area 'Chalk Pit' where the trenches were.  This year is the 18th season of S.H.A.R.P which runs for 6 weeks during the summer. This year there were 2 trenches, 16 &  17.  I was working on trench 16, the larger of the two. 

For the first week I took part on the Basic Excavations and Recording Techniques course (BERT) to give me a good basic understanding of archaeology, and at the end of the week i was presented with a certificate to prove that i had completed the course.  There were 7 of us on the course in the first week, and we all got on well.  For the next 4 days i continued to help out on trench 16.



On Friday there is a dress code for the day (such as Formal Friday or Floral Friday) and a themed Punch Party in the evening.  On the Friday of the first week we had 'Tie Dye Friday' and everyone paid £1 to dye old white t-shirts. Most people used old S.H.A.R.P. t-shirts with designs from previous years.  The image on the left is my t-shirt.  I dyed it red and yellow but it kind of turned out pink, orange and yellow! It was so much fun as i have never tie dyed before and everyone looked great on trench in their colorful t-shirts.

I absolutely loved my time at S.H.A.R.P. and I definitely want to go back next year, but i think that i will camp.  I now have a good understanding of archaeological methods and it has helped me realise the subject which i am really interested in.

If you are interested in the development of the project and to see what they are finding there this year, visit their blog: http://blog.sharp.org.uk
The main website for the project is: http://www.sharp.org.uk/

The image of the logo is from: independent.academia.edu

Billy & Me - a love story to get lost in

I read Billy and Me on recommendation (from http://realityleaveslotstoimagination.blogspot.co.uk/), as soon as i heard the name I knew that I recognized it.  It is written by Giovanna Fletcher and it is her debut novel, she is the wife of Tom from Mcfly, and sister in law to Carrie Fletcher ( who you might know as It'swaypastmybedtime on YouTube).

I really enjoyed this book and it was a great escape.  When I read it I was in the middle of exams and it provided something to look forward to after reading about cells and equations and such like.  For anyone who is not an avid reader, or who wants a light summer romance for the summer then this is perfect.

 It tells the story of Sophie May, a young woman who lives in a small village outside of London.  This village has become the picturesque setting for a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.  Sophie May never focused on finding true love until she met Billy Buskin, the teen heartthrob set to play Mr Darcy! Sophie plucks up the courage to follow Billy to London, but is the hectic red carpet world really for her, and will her family's history be revealed?

The image is from the internet (www.goodreads.com ) as I bought this book on my kindle, so couldn't take a picture of my own.  I still love reading real books but it means that I can get classics for free, and most books are slightly cheaper.  It also means that i have more room for clothes when i am packing to go away!!

Please comment with any recommendations and I hope that you have a good summer holiday.  :D

A world of Greek Gods and monsters

I love the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' series (by Rick Riordan), I admit that it is quite childish, but the stories are captivating and a must for adventure novel lovers.  The series tells the story of a young boy, named Percy Jackson, who finds out that he is a Demigod (half human, half God) and that his father is, you guessed it, a Greek God (won’t reveal who, you will have to read the book!)  Percy travels to a camp, called camp Half-Blood, where he meets other half-bloods/Demigods, and learns to fight.  The series follows Percy as he goes on quests and discovers more about the perils of being a demigod.  The original series consists of 5 books, but Rick Riordan has started a new series called ‘The Heroes of Olympus’, if you have not read the original series then this will not make any sense.  However, if you have read the first and did not know that he had written more books then you should check these out. 

You might have also seen the film based on the first book in the Percy Jackson series, the second one comes out this summer (in the UK).  I don't think that the film was nearly as good as the books, so if you liked the film then you will definitely like the books, but please tell me what you thought of it in the comments.

If you don’t really like the Greek Gods then Rick Riordan has also started a new series called ‘The Kane Chronicles’ which is similar to the Percy Jackson series, but the Egyptian Gods exist instead.  I have only read the first book in this series, so cannot really comment on the series as a whole.

I really love these books and I they are great to read when you don’t want anything serious, they are a fun read.  Please comment and tell me if you like the books, or you have any recommendations.

This is the link to Rick Riordan's website if you want anymore information: http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx

Jasper Fforde - A Brief Introduction

Hey again...
Since the title of my blog is based around one of Jasper Fforde's books, I feel that I should upload a review of one of his novels, mostly for people who are looking for information about Jasper Fforde (mislead by the title).  However, at the moment I am half-way through the final book in the 'Thursday Next' series and want to review the series as a whole, that's something for you to look forward to!
Jasper Fforde is a Welsh author, this is what originally drew me to the books, being part Welsh myself, but my love of fantasy novels also meant that I really enjoyed these books.  I hope that this has been an interesting introduction, and I am looking forward to writing a more in-depth review of the 'Thursday Next' series.
I am sorry that this is such a short entry, but I have had quite a busy week, and not much time to sit and think about what I want to write. 
Please comment, tell me what you think of the books, and if you want me to review and read any others.