Summer cycling

Due to various reasons (bad colds, bad weather, bad timing) I haven’t been able to get out on my bike much over the past few weeks.

However, I finally managed to get out and about with my sisters and have a little cycle ride around the countryside.  Our cycle rides wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t stop off along the way to admire the views and here are some of the photo’s I managed to take.

Wild flowers growing along some of the grass verges.

And of course, I had to capture the beautiful sunset!

Hopefully if the weather stays nice, I’ll be able to get some more shots over the coming weeks.

Cycling by the lake

My sister and I have resumed our cycle rides now that the weather has improved.

We ended up cycling along a local lake and I managed to quickly take a couple of photos as the sun was setting.

I love these kinds of evenings!

Storm coming?

Just quickly took this photo of a dark cloud rolling in.

Don’t think we’ll have the full works of thunder and lightening, but I’m sure there’s plenty of rain to come.

Glad I don’t have to go out tonight!

Snow

We’ve had our first proper snowfall of 2012, so I just had to go out and about and take a photo or two!

Early morning moon

Getting up early each morning for work is not my most favourite thing to do, but it’s always made a little better when I look outside and see views like this:

Taken yesterday morning on a cold day before the cloud came along to warm things up again.

Some favourites from 2011 (part 1)

I’ve been looking through some photo’s that I’d taken last year and thought I’d share some of my favourites.

Here’s a couple of photo’s I took in August whilst out on a day trip to Wye in Kent.

Summer flowers on the Wye Downs

The view from Wye Downs

I’ll post some more of my favourties soon.

Oh what a beautiful morning…

Whilst half asleep and getting ready for work earlier this week, I poked my head out of the back door to see where my cat was and just happened to look up.

Seeing the beautiful morning sunrise, I quickly got my camera and snapped this.

This was the last good mild morning before the cold mornings came along.  Brrgghh!

Tea

I know tea is an ‘English’ thing, but I still find it incredible that other countries still struggle with making a decent cup of tea.

I recently spent a couple of days in Germany, and found that the only time I could get a decent cup of tea was if I made it myself in my hotel room.  Even then, it still wasn’t the same as the tea back home.

When asking for tea from restaurants or cafes, I get a teapot of hot water and a tea bag.  I then have to request some milk to go with my tea which usually comes back hot.  No matter how much I brew the tea in the hot water (whether it’s in the teapot or cup) it’s never enough so I end up with a milky weak tea.

I have all the ingredients there for a cup of tea, but it just never manages to be the same as the tea I can get back home in England.

A friend of mine that I was travelling with has resorted to bringing in her own tea bags and small pots of milk.  I think I might start to do the same!!

Idiots on the road

Oh my God!  Doesn’t anyone have any patience or consideration anymore?

On my way home from work, I popped into the local shop.  Once I got back into my car, I had to wait for a couple of minutes for a bus and several cars to pass before I could pull out.  I was soon on my way, but had to pull up to allow one oncoming car to reach me and pass me.  This car had right-of-way, so I had no choice but to stop.  I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a car approaching from behind.  Suddenly, this car decides to overtake me and drive down the road, forcing the car (who had right-of-way) to stop and pull up onto the pathway to allow this rude arrogant driver to pass.

It still astounds me that people think they can drive and behave any way they like.  All it would have cost this driver, is 30 seconds to wait for this car to pass.

All I can hope is that karma catches up with this driver.  And soon.

 

 

Home baking

Decided to give some home-baking a go and decided to start with…

Pizza!

I got all the fresh ingredients together for the topping and even for the dough-bread.  Yes, I made my own dough.  For some reason, I decided to make the dough by hand!  Phew, that was hard work!  Strangely enough, it did give me a little exercise, cos my arms and stomach muscles were really aching afterwards.

It was a big success and pizza and dough were cooked lovely and was very tasty as well.  Just one stupid mistake made though – I put the toppings on the pizza-dough before I put the pizza-dough on the trays.  It turned into a two-man job with lots of utensils to get them off the work-top in one piece!  Luckily it didn’t turn into a disaster!

Ham and mushroom pizza with home-made pizza-dough

Monkey Bread

I also had a go at making Monkey Bread.  Again, I decided to make the dough by hand.  It is hard work, but very rewarding.  Once it’s been kneaded and left to double in size and kneaded again, you have to separate the dough into lots of small balls.  The balls are then dipped in melted butter and then dipped in a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts (I used chopped mixed nuts and chopped walnuts).  The dough-balls are then put into a loaf tin (greased and lined) and left to rise for another hour.  Half an hour in the oven and then it’s ready.  Best served warm or toasted.

Monkey Bread

After being asked by friends and family what exactly Monkey Bread is, I did some research but couldn’t find any conclusive facts about where the name came from.  Some suggested that it got its name from the Monkey Puzzle Tree due to it’s ressemblence.  Others suggested it gets its name from the act of several people pulling at the bread as it’s reminiscent of monkey behavior.  Either way, it sure was tasty and I’ll definitely be making that again.

Next time…

My next task is to make Gypsy Tart.  A very delicious but very naughty dish.  I did attempt it last week, but I was unsuccessful.  After receiving several tips from family and internet, I will try again shortly!  Wish me luck!