Artist Giant Wheel, Edinburgh

As far as blogging gigs go, this one is the tastiest one that I have had yet. 
At the moment Millennium and Copthorne Hotels are trying to decide which chocolates from the Hotel Chocolat range they should place in the rooms of their hotel guests. This is no easy feat since the Hotel Chocolat range has a wide variety of beautiful chocolates to offer. So that’s where I come in, Milennium and Copthorne Hotels have sent me and various other bloggers a gorgeous bag filled with Hotel Chocolat goodies to review and to pick our favourite chocolate from. Don’t mind if I do

Here is the lovely sample pack that I recieved and what was inside it :

Obviously I couldn’t wait to dive in and start reviewing.

First of all I tried the Salted Caramels.

This was the first time that I had ever tried salted caramel so I was quite excited. The chocolates were a good enough size to give me a nice satisfying bite when I tried them. The first taste that hit me was unfortunately the salt which, although I was expecting it, I found quite unpleasant. After that the caramel taste kind of kicked in which improved things and then I finally got to the not so salty chocolate which was a relief. I think that people who like salted caramel would enjoy these but these just helped me find out that I am not a fan of salt in my caramel. With regards to the packaging I think that it resembles the packaging for tablets which, lets face it, is not very enticing but the look and shape of the chocolates themselves was quite inviting. I would say that guests who like salted caramel would enoy these but it is unlikely that all guests would enjoy them so I don’t recommend these for Millennium Hotels.

After the Salted Caramels I opted for the Smiley Lick.

This was a nice and simple chocolate lollypop. It was easy to open and the chocolate was lovely and thick so you get a real mouthful with each bite. I liked this so much that I couldn’t stop to note down my thoughts after just one bite. It ended up like this before I could stop eating it long enough to take notes :

The chocolate was very smooth and it melts in your mouth almost instantly. Out of all of the samples that I recieved it was the only one that protected you from getting chocolate on your fingers since it was on a stick. Although this was so nice that I felt like eating it all in one go, I think it is a little too goofy looking and not quite elegant enough to look at home within Millennium and Copthorne Hotels. If it were up to me I would stock this at the hotels but reserve it for the child guests and give the adults something a bit more elegant.

When I finally managed to put down the Smiley Lick I moved on to the Billionaire’s Shortbread Selector.

I thought that the presentation of the Billionaire’s Shortbread was quite appealing, to me it looks like something that would fit in with the elegant and luxurious feel of Millennium Hotels so it ticked that box straight away. Then I opened them. They have such a strong smell! They obviously smell of chocolate and caramel so nothing unpleasant but I was surprised by the strength of the smell, it hits you as soon as you open the packet and I found that a little off-putting. After that I expected these to be very rich and sickly-sweet. It turned out that they were really quite nice. Like the Salted Caramels they were a decent size and gave you a nice satisfying bite. I was pleasantly surprised by the filling, I had been expecting runny caramel and instead I got some kind of caramel-praline blend which I actually quite liked. I loved that the shortbread cookies were on top instead of at the bottom. I thought that was quite a nice twist. The Billionaire’s Shortbread is a contender.

Once I had sampled the Billionaire’s Shortbread I moved onto the Eton Mess Slab.

This smelled exactly like strawberry ice-cream. It wasn’t an overpowering smell either, you just got a faint whiff of it as you lifted the chocolate to your mouth. It was lovely

When I bit into this it was so flavoursome. The bar is a blend of strawberry and vanilla chocolate with scattered pieces of strawberry, merigue and cookies on top and inside. Each bite tastes a litte different depending on what kind of mix of strawberry, meringue and cookies you get. I really really liked this but there was just one problem. It was so messy. In the image above on the right you can see all of the debris that fell off of the bar when I snapped a piece off to eat. When you are staying at a nice hotel you really don’t want crumbs all over you so if Millenium and Copthorne Hotels do decide to offer this to their guests then I think they should offer it as a small bite size bar or in a selctor pakage like the Billionaire Shortbreads.

Last but not least I tried the Drops Gemstones.

These are my winner! I would strongly recommend that Millenium and Copthorne Hotels pick these to offer to their guests. Each drop is a fusion of white and dark chocolate and they just taste great. They are quite small and very moreish and I imagine that they would be something great to snack on while unpacking your case.

If I go to a Millennium Hotel in future it will be the Hotel in Glasgow which faces right on to George Square. I’d go at Christmas time when George Square has a nice big ice rink in it and is filled with fairgroud rides. I would hope that the chocolates that I found in my room would be Drops Gemstones as not only could I snack on them while unpacking, but they are also small and portable enough that I could fit them in my pocket and take them with me when I go on all of the rides at George Square.

So that’s what I think but what about you? If you went to a fancy hotel which of the chocolates above would you hope to find in your room? Which would you least like to find?

Thanks for checking out my blog

I may have grown up (on the outside) but inside I still believe in magic. I make a wish on the first star I see every night, see serendipity at work in a whole number of ways and still believe that one day I might just grow up and join the circus!

In honour of the eternal blush of youth, I leave you with these Helter Skelter pictures so that you too can whip out your imaginary coconut mat and spend the day having fun and finding the magic at work in your life.

You will find both these images for sale in my Etsy Wetsy shop.

On arriving at London Victoria from Bristol, we went in search of a good coffee. There was the usual plethora of chain cafes but they were all crammed and we decided to wander further afield. Less than a 10 minute walk away from the station, we stumbled across the Nightingale, a café and tearoom at 39 Grosvenor Gardens.

The café is located in an old pharmacy. I cannot express how gorgeous the building is and wish I’d taken more pictures. However, I didn’t want to disturb the other customers by getting too snap happy!

As you can see, the old serving counter and display units have been retained. In my picture, you can just about see the side of the kitchen to the left, which is a small corner separated from the main café by frosted glass. Delightfully, the kitchen used to be the pharmacist’s consultancy room.

In keeping with the theme, the opposite wall contains a bank of apothecary drawers.

I fell in love with the Nightingale and could have stayed all day. However, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park was calling!

We started our day by browsing the vast array of German market stalls and food stands. You could buy everything from giant pretzels to hot smoked salmon!

We feasted on hot dogs, hot chocolates and mulled wine to keep us warm.

Of course, Winter Wonderland is all about the rides. As well as the usual modern attractions, they also had some beautiful old fashioned rides like the helter skelter and a carousel.

Not forgetting the ice rink!

Being a big child, I went on lots of fun rides with my little brother Jacob. We went into a pirate world, which was similar to a ghost house with the added element of water! We also on some amazing German fun houses which were far superior to anything we usually get at the local fair!

Jacob also had a go on a bucking reindeer!!

The whole family went into the Magical Ice Kingdom, which was a land full of ice sculptures.

It was absolutely gorgeous but ever so cold.

I have never been more jealous of my sister’s Ugg boots, it felt like my toes were going to drop off!

The Kingdom’s crowning glory was a giant ice castle complete with an ice slide, which of course they boys had to try out!

After the ice kingdom, we need a warm drink and went in search of a mulled wine.  There were so many fun bars that you could visit, from the traditional style bars in the Bavarian village…

… to my favourite, a carousel bar!

The carousel’s horses had been turned into tables and the bar slowly rotated – brilliant!

There were a number of stage areas around Winter Wonderland where bands played in the evening.  Armed with mulled wine, we settled down to watch the Houndogs who were a brilliant rockabilly band comprised of three brothers. They were highly entertaining, setting symbols on fire and doing all sorts of tricks with their instruments! One minute the guitarist would be balanced on top of the drums and the next, he would be climbing the side of the bass! They had everyone singing and dancing and it was a great end to a wonderful day.

]]> http://answermethis.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/episode242/ Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:45:06 +0000 Helen Zaltzman http://answermethis.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/episode242/ …because pigeons do love to poo. And they get extra points for pooing on Jerry Maguire.

Sorry. Chain of thought. Follow it back to its origin in Answer Me This! Episode 242:

Today we ponder upon:

video podcasts
Americana aesthetics
semantics shifts of slang
filming in central London landmarks
Thomas Minton
baby photos
drawer liners
fairground fish
‘Word Processor of the Gods’
the public consumption of bananas
guerrilla movie-making
willow pattern
and
squares.

Plus: Olly wonders why the Black Eyed Peas are so keen to shut things down; Helen hates children who have far better business sense than she has, or ever will have; and Martin the Sound Man thinks an ornamental fence is no obstacle to ardour.

In this week’s Bit of Crap on the App (available for iDevices and Android) we go more bananas for bananas, except for bananas that are a year old.

We go bananas for your QUESTIONS, so email them to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com or leave voicemails on the Question Line by calling 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis.

See you next Thursday,

Helen & Olly

PS It looks like Tom Cruise might also be excited by the pigeon poo too…
PPS…if you believe obviously-made-up ‘news’ stories about obviously-made-up ‘beauty’ ‘treatments’.

ALBUMS • iTUNES • CLASSIC EPISODES • BOOK • QUESTION ARCHIVE • FAQ
iPHONE APP • ANDROID APP • FACEBOOK • TWITTER • YOUTUBE • MERCH

I thought you were gone.
I never suspected that
I’d find your silhouette
Against the bleak landscape
Which we once filled
With the glowing ignition
of our souls as they
Shook hands for the
First time.
I begged them not to
Tear down our fairground.
Now I stand
Among the rubble
Because you called
The demolition company
Without so much
As warning me.
The tears come
Because our shadows
Don’t overlap
Like they used to.
The tears come.
I thought they were
gone too.

Image not mine

The Noah’s Ark Speedway – the old girl lives in Cornwall now and has thankfully been preserved. This machine was powered by a Scammell and was faster than fast. Staff risked life and limb to jump on and off with grace while it was in motion. Collecting the fares was done at a slow speed which of course prevented people getting a free ride. (Up there for thinking (points to head) – down there for dancing (points to feet) – ok, more of a visual reference)!!

Wheel of Fortune

1/4th at f/11, ISO 100 (28mm)

Scream if you wanna go faster.

Info on this week’s photo challenge here.

And when she moves through the fair
It’s as if a flush of candyfloss touches her cheeks
And the wind picks up her hair
And you can see a smile you haven’t seen for weeks.

There’s something here that acts as a reminder
And so she scoops the coins into the palm of her hand
And moves through the fair, to where you know you will find her
In a small queue of people, where her impatience will stand.

She walks a short distance, to a horse with white curls for a mane
And a golden pole through his body and painted roses down his back
She launches herself onto him and takes hold of each rein
And rides into the darkness with not a single reason to look back

Because although it’s dark here she’s surrounded by light
Surrounded by the comfort of the speed and the sounds
And the feeling of knowing that everything’s alright
Because life, they tell you, is a merry-go-round.

Can’t decide whether I’m happy with this piece as a first draft, although it’s just that- a first draft. Will see where it goes from here..

So I left you last time asking for luck regarding taking the girls to PIN, the Christmas fairgound, and also to hope I have the Friday off for Santo Tomas, the festival of cider and talo (chorizo wrap basically) – well, good news, both events went very well!  The Thursday (19th Dec) I spent the whole day at PIN and the girls behaved incredibly, I was actually very proud! Nevermind the second we get home they were at each others throats… no no, I can deal with that in the house but out in public is much more difficult – so I was over the moon they behaved so well! They decided we should take it in turns to choose what ride to go on; me first, then Ines then Sofi etc (guessing it was age related), and we’d eat at a certain time and place and all go to the toilets together, no separating etc.  Worked very well! We spent about 5hours in this huge place and came out exhausted. In fact it was the girls who asked ‘can we go home now?’ I was happy because I got my face painted, Ines was pleased with her stuffed horse toy she won and Sofi was all excited after going on the dodgems four times in a row. All in all a good day.

The next day was the day I regressed to a 19year old and behaved most inappropriately.  Nah, not really.  But I did endure 12hours of drinking cider and by the end of it I was so grateful Javi was with me because I couldn’t walk or talk and I don’t remember being able to see things either… despicable I know.  But you know, well, it was a lot of fun, and hey, you only live once and all that.  So I met Eder and Lucil at 12 and we went into town to begin the festivities.  Eder was brilliant entertainment, barking at us when we poured slightly more than the 1cm serving you’re supposed to pour cider at here.  Roughly fifteen minutes after we arrived at all the brightly lit stalls selling cider by the bottle and talo and other food and souvenirs, the three of us were soaked (yep, in cider) and starving already. So you sample the talo, obviously.  Phwoar was it good.  And big.  We wandered around with the other thousands (I honestly don’t think I’m exaggerating) of people and I finally found this bar I’d been to once in Casco Viejo that does wonderful mushroom pintxos.  I’d had trouble finding it again but a few bottles of cider and I remembered the way.  Later Javi found us and then some of his work colleagues and usual friends I know joined us – the rest is history really.  We got back home to Javi’s about midnight and I am told I passed out within seconds of the front door closing.  Brilliant day.

So the next day we went to Sansan, yay! I should have felt ten times worse than I did, but I merely had a headache and got more and more tired as the day went on, but the excitement of having Javi accompany me to Sansan (finally) where we spent the day with the Nana and the Hoopers and Tohers (too many names there) kept me awake until we got on the bus back to Bilbao – then I had the right to konk out. Javi too. Was really nice to see those lot before going back to the UK for Christmas.  Sunday that’s exactly what I did and Javi’s brother-from-another-mother Jorge drove me to the airport which was mighty nice of him.  I was a little apprehensive of the flight as we’d had weather warnings regarding the strong winds here in Spain recently, but luckily it was completely smooth and turbulence free, phew.

I won’t go into too much detail about my Christmas visit as most of you who read this are the people I spent it with, so you know anyway, but I’ll outline my days.  My wonderful Nan and Grandad picked me up from the airport as usual as they live so close and I stayed at theirs for the Sunday night (and bored them with all 834 of my photos so far of Spain) and then Dad and Luke picked me up on the Monday, Christmas Eve, to deliver me to the Garden of England. I spent the next 10 days in various houses: Dad and Katie’s in Maidstone, Mum’s in Medway, Gemma’s in Winchester.  Along with lots of day visits of course – I squeezed in drinks with one of my oldest friends Antony, an afternoon with primary school friend Del and the kids, an afternoon with Alex putting the world to rights, lots of long dog walks with Ciddy, a lovely dinner up London with lots of people from various places in my life, girly time with stepmum Katie, pub lunch with Mum and the cousin Belen, and MANY Christmas dinners and silly games with  all sorts of sides of the family, oh and meeting Dad’s new kitten Bond – what a guy.  By New Year’s Eve I was a little sick with a cold so I barely saw midnight but we shared some wine and paxaran at Dad’s to see the new year in.  I was happily exhausted by the end of my 10 day ‘holiday.’ Oh and I managed to squeeze in an eyebrow wax literally in the last few hours of being in the country haha… nearly a mistake though, had a different girl to normal and I neglected to remember that the current ‘fashion’is big and bold and odd shapes aka hideous.  I got away with it though, she could have provoked The Rage (which hasn’t risen it’s ugly head since I’ve come to Spain) but luckily she didn’t do them too bad. No one has noticed anyway so that’s fine… close call.

Javi picked me up from the aiport which was WONDERFUL as I’d missed him quite a bit you know.  Yeah yeah, gag gag gag.  I did feel like I was coming home too, which I’m hoping is a sign I will make a life here.  That was a bit deep, but I think you get the idea.  I was promptly presented with a shiny set of keys to Javi’s flat! Well well! Lovely! Was rather happy about this but, if Javi isn’t just trying to be cool, it’s purely for convenience, i.e. if I forget something or if I want to go home earlier or later than him when we’re together at the weekend.  Alright.  Ok.  Whatever man, I was overwhelmed! Hehee.  So my first day back in Getxo I spent 1.5hours with Ana’s sister doing conversational english.  Apparently when she came up from Madrid for Christmas on the 23rd she’d asked if I’d be interested in giving her classes and then I buggered off to England.  Woops.  Well, we did four classes over the next four days and I did not have a CLUE how much to charge.  She asked me numerous times what my ‘rate’ was and I was like, err, can I consult my friends first then get back to you on that one? After lots of completely different suggestions from various people I said 20-25 per 1.5hours and in the last class she gave me 100 euros, so I was chuffed with that.  We just walked and talked and drank tea basically, but I do need to stop putting myself down.  Although that’s what it felt like to me, it was incredibly useful to her as she goes to Miami frequently for work and needed to improve her English for meetings etc. So yeah, that was rather nice to get some cash as soon as I got home!  Thursday 3rd Jan I came back to the house and saw the girls for the first time – God they were excited, which was both flattering and adorable.  They opened their presents from me (they’d been waiting for me) and I opened mine (which I did not expect) – a nice top and necklace from Zara. The Friday I was with the girls all day and we spent a good two hours on the beach, see pics, was an absolutely perfect day weatherwise – blue sky, no clouds, sun blaring, cold but the sun did have some strength.  On the Saturday just gone I had the 3rd class with Marta and also the 1.5hours with the kids upstairs – wasn’t quite sure how it’d work but I did the two classes back to back while Javi had lunch with his parents and then we met back up after so was fine. And more cash!  It’s amusing how you think you’re rich if you have a 20euro note in your purse when you’re an au pair. Ha.  That evening we (Javi and friends) watched the Christmas 3 Kings parade in the street where they literally lob hard-boiled sweets at kids – was quite funny. Not for too long though, those sweets can crack glasses you know.  This was when I met Javi’s friends’ new little baby boy, Alvaro, he’s only a few weeks old and gorgeous, so tiny. Sunday Javi and me spent the day in Plentzia – again, a perfect, sunny, crisp day, got some nice photos.

Oh I forgot, the girls got a Wii for Christmas including Just Dance 4, the fit board and everything and we are all LOVING it.  They’ve never had anything like it before and I’m all for encouraging them on the Dance, it’s simply the best game ever.  They have asked Ana if Javi can come and play on Friday so if he’s free for a couple of hours, I think we might all be in for some laughs.  Going on from the Wii and dancing, I have seriously started this week to be healthy, eat less and better, and exercise more.  Now, for the moment, any exercise I do is great because I don’t normally do any here (baaah I miss my gym round the corner in London!) but this week I have attempted a run (holding off with that now as this cold is hanging on and I got a bit wheezy), power-walked 7.5km and done 2 workout videos at home. That’s in 3 days.  Doesn’t sound a lot but trust me, it is better than my previous efforts.  And, thanks to Alex, from next week I am going to attempt the Insanity Workout – Google it. It’s a 60 day programme, one hour a day, guarantees huge results.  And I believe it, not because of the crazy before and after pictures or the ‘guarantee’ blahblahblah, but because an hour of these hardcore workouts really is guaranteed to do something to my body – I tell you, it’s like military training, but stuff you can actually do (or work up to haha) so yeah, come Monday I will begin! Really am going to try to keep the motivation to do it EVERY day and no excuses.  Shall blog about it no doubt.

So where are we… oh right, that brings us up to today, hooray! Well, tomorrow I am meeting a friend to speak only Spanish which I’m looking forward to, and Friday meeting Lucil for what I know will be a long catch up.  Then Friday night I think Wii Dance with Javi and the girls hehee – will be great.  To be honest if he doesn’t come I’m always happy to play that game anyway so roll on.  Sometimes I am glad I don’t have Fridays off  - saves me a hell of a lot of money and now we have the Wii for entertainment anyway, wop wop!  Javi and I are in the process of picking a weekend to go off somewhere, just local, like Burgos and Vitoria.  I need to start exploring but unfortunately money is a vice, but now I have some cash from classes and am trying to network and get some more teaching work to bring in more pennies.  Oo oo, Ana has said that I can go on holiday with them to Cadiz when they go for a month in summer, how kind and lovely is that!  If you don’t quite understand the big deal, it’s because my ‘contract’ ends when the girls finish school and then what happens is the family go off on holiday and then get the next au pair the next September.  They’ve never taken another au pair away before, so of course I was flattered.  That’s the significance.  I promised Sofi that if I can I will come visit her in August in Cadiz because it’s her birthday.  I fully intend to.  Would be a great reunion!

I’m not sure if I hold my fingers in a funny way when I type as they are aching considerably but luckily I have reached the end of this second mammoth update. So to conclude, New Years Resolutions for 2013 are as follows:

>  Become fluent in Spanish

>  Eat healthier and less

>  Exercise/INSANITY workout every single day

>  Get a job and see as much as possible

>  Blog more regularly (new addition)

So I have come to the end, as I said, hope you enjoyed and are not too sleepy after reading.  Hasta ahora!

unknown photographer, but the colours are cool

It takes macro (close up) and semi fish eye (wide angle) photos.

All photos have been taken on my iPhone 5, some of them have been edited on Instagram but all on the iPhone. I’m kind of impressed for a £20 lens from a clothing store!!

Here are some of my shots…

Polly Robinson © 2013

From ladymondegreenssecretgarden.blogspot.com

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