Youtube of the Month - Log Jam

I love Log Jam. They are short cartoons on Nickelodeon which are on between the scheduled programs. It makes watching kids tv bearable (no pun intended).

There are quite a few but I'd never seen The Snake until I searched for Log Jam on youtube.

Blog Award

I had a nice surprise yesterday when I found out I'd been nominated for The Versatile Blogger by Rebecca Leith. Her blog has author interviews and lovely, thoughtful posts on writing and things of interest.

The rules of the award are:

Thank the person who gave you this award, and include a link to their blog.

Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly (I'd pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!) If it's a bit of a task to list 15, and I don't want you to feel being nominated is a burden, but mention as many as you can - 8 or 10 is fine. List them, and you might like to include a link to the sites, and let them know that you've nominated them.

And tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself.

Okie dokie, seven things about little old me:

1. I am one of five; I'm the baby and my sister is the oldest with three brothers in the middle.
2. My Great Uncle was the mayor of the town I'm from and the local swimming pool is named after him.
3. I was once a vegatarian. I lasted almost four years until the lure of chippy gravy and Hollands meat and potato pie grew too much. I reverted back four days after Christmas - so I missed out on my turkey!
4. After leaving school, I went to college to train to become a beauty therapist, despite hating feet. I (somehow) managed pedicures but soon scarpered when it came to the waxing module.
5. I have no middle name. As a kid, I always felt I was missing out. My girls have middle names.
6. The first film I saw at the cinema was The Little Mermaid. I watched it with my mum, grandma and one of my brothers.
7. During the summer holidays when I was seven, I broke my ankle. This didn't stop me playing out with my friends once I discovered I could walk on my cast. I used to leave my crutches at the front door and hobble out into the street to play marbles. My mum had to then take me back to the hospital to get my cast reinforced as it cracked and crumble underneath my foot.

I would like to nominate:

Kyra Lennon  Me, My Books and I  DizzyC'sLittleBookBlog  One More Page  Books, Biscuit and Tea  Sarah's Book Reviews  ReaBookReview  Chloe's Chick Lit Reviews

Saved By Cake Challenge - May

I have decided to challenge myself to bake a different cake/biscuit from Marian Keyes' book, Saved By Cake, each month, between March and December. I am a beginner at baking and use the same recipes over and over again so it'll be nice to try something new. I will take photos and post them on here each month - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Black Hole Chocolate Cheesecake

I've had it easy over the past couple of months, easing myself in, if you like. I've made rock cakes and an apple crumble so far so this month's cake would be an actual challenge.

 

I love cheesecake. It's my favourite desert. The best cheesecake I've ever had was on Christmas Day 2011 in the Novotel Times Square hotel's restaurant. It was a New York cheesecake and while it was small, it was perfect (and it became clear why it was small - that portion was more than enough).

 

But I've never attempted to make one myself. I didn't think it would be possible but I gave it a go.

 

There is a whole section of cheesecakes in the Saved by Cake book but I chose the Black Hole Chocolate Cheesecake. With the previous recipes, I'd changed an ingredient for personal preference but with this one I followed the recipe exactly, even using black pepper despite being sceptical (black pepper in a cheesecake?).

 

It takes quite a while to make the cheesecake as you are supposed to leave it in the oven overnight (though not switched on all that time) and then in the fridge overnight. I started mine on a Friday evening and almost messed it up straight away.

 

The recipe uses digestive biscuits. Cool, I thought. I've already got a packet of those in the cupboard so I don't need to buy any.

 

No. I had chocolate digestives and so I had to make a dash to the shop before it closed. Note to self: double check the bloody ingredients before you start.

 

With the right biscuits, I made the cheesecake. The recipe was surprisingly easy to follow. I thought making a cheesecake would be difficult but, while it took a while due to overnight stays in the oven and fridge, it was straightforward.

 

Look at that bad boy

 

And it turned out beautifully. I did notice The Partner tasted the cheesecake before injecting his insulin (how's that for faith, eh?) but his test was unnecessary as it was gorgeous and very dense and chocolatey. Like the cheesecake I had at Christmas, a small portion was more than enough.

 

It was quite pricey once you'd added all the ingredients up but it was worth it. And there are plenty more cheesecakes to try (and taste) in the book.

 

 

For more Saved by Cake Challenges click here

 



 

Book 2 - Illness Gets In The Way

I haven't written anything or even switched on my computer since Friday as I wasn't feeling well. I only had a cold but it was a strange one. While the actual cold was only mild, I was constantly tired. On Monday I was in bed before the kids and yesterday I was fighting sleep all day. I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm not fuzzy and sleepy anymore.

So tonight I'm going to continue draft two and hope I can glide back into it easily.

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

Nothing can break the bond between sisters ... When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she boards the first flight home to London. But as she learns about the circumstances surrounding her sister's disappearance, she is stunned to discover how little she actually knows of her sister's life - and unprepared for the terrifying truths she must now face. The police, Beatrice's fiance and even their mother accept they have lost Tess but Beatrice refuses to give up on her. So she embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the truth, no matter the cost.


Back in January, I read Rosamund Lupton's Afterwards, which I absolutely loved and couldn't put down so I was keen to read her previous novel, Sister. It's taken me a while to get round to it but it was worth the wait. I started the book on a Thursday and stayed up until 1.30 Friday night/Saturday morning to finish it.

Beatrice is living in New York with her fiance, Todd, when she receives the phone call from her mother, telling her that her younger sister is missing. Beatrice rushes back to London where her sister's disappearance soon turns into a murder enquiry.

Who would want to kill Tess and why?

There are many suspects as Beatrice tries to unravel the mystery of her sister's murder and the reader is kept guessing as more information comes to light.

I didn't guess 'who did it'. My approach was to suspect everybody! The intrigue and twists kept coming right until the very end. I didn't see the ending coming at all but everything slotted into place and made sense.

My final word on Sister is very simple: wow.

Re-Reading Books

Do you re-read books? Or does the magic disappear once you know the plot and the ending?

I like to re-read certain books. There is something comforting about reading a book I know well, about knowing where it is all going to end up but enjoying the journey anyway. I'm the same with films and I love reading spoilers for soaps. I don't mind knowing what is going to happen and in some cases, prefer it.

Also I devour books from my favourite authors so sometimes it is nice to read it again (a good while later) and take it at a more leisurely pace and absorb everything.

Some books I just love and want to read over and over again. I've read Lisa Jewell's and Jane Green's early books time and again - I never seem to tire of One Hit Wonder, Thirty Nothing, Babyville and Bookends.

I've still got a massive reading pile but I've decided to re-read a few books from my shelf. I'm going to read:

Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge

I bought this to take on holiday when I was 17 and have lost count of the number of times I've read it. It's one of my most re-read books on my shelf.

What's New Pussycat? by Alexandra Potter

Another book I bought for the holiday when I was 17 but I've only ever read it once. There has to be a reason why I've kept hold of it all these years - it's survived many bookshelf culls.

Vince & Joy by Lisa Jewell

I've only read this once because it always felt too 'new' to read again but a few years have passed (without me realising) so I'm going to read it again. Mainly because I love Lisa Jewell's books.

Rachel's Holiday

It's one of my favourite books.


Do you ever re-read books? And what are you reading at the moment?

Book 2 - Over 25%

I've reached over 25% of my second draft (almost 1/3). It was a bit slow to begin with because I cut a lot from the start of the book and had to write some new scenes and I've introduced a new character, Rick. He had a very brief mention in the first draft but I've beefed up his part to complicate Karen's love life (I'm evil like that). I'm sort of back on track now, though Rick does need putting in some of the existing scenes.

It appears I'm still in the honeymoon period with this draft as I actually look forward to opening my word document in the evenings. With the second draft of Book 1 I used to dread working on it a lot of the time (it was a slog of a second draft though). I wonder how long the honeymoon will last...