Happy 2011!

Happy New Year everyone! I know I'm late but have been busy with work and writing.

My new years party went off ok :-) had a lot of fun. I didn't get time to do the Mario themed food I was planning to make so I just did the cupcakes:

Toadstool cupcakes

I couldn't get the butter-cream red enough though. I also made coloured pacman ice cubes for the punch and mario themed deocorations:

pacman ice-cubes

me with an Aku-aku mask (from Crash Bandicoot)

some of the decorations

I put chocolate coins on them but they kept falling off

I also attempted to cook one of my favourite restaurant dishes "Chilli Chips" served at Chawalla restaurant in Green Street. They have delicious vegetarian Indian food there and unlike a lot of the restaurants on Green Street it's pretty nice inside.
I have never managed to recreate Chilli Chips exactly because I can't quite pinpoint the spices they put in it, but the dish consists of chips, (of course) stir fried in spices with mixed peppers, chilli and spring onion. Hot and delicious. I didn't get the spices quite right this time either but it was pretty close and much better than when I tried chaat masala. I used SHAN jalfrezi mix (that comes in a box) and a little red chilli powder and soya sauce. Here is the result.

Chilli Chips

Well there was more but I took the pic after we'd started eating. As a result of eating like a pig and living in a cocoon without moving all through the snow days and xmas holidays, I've managed to gain the exact amount of weight I was planning to lose :-p so now have to lose twice as much.
Therefore, it's top of my to-do list this year:

1. lose 10 pounds
2. get my drivers license before my provisional runs out in September
3. Finish all my half-written stories
4. Get at least one novel sent off to a literary agent

So today I got the exercise bike out of the shed. Digging it out of the shed, dragging it across the garden, down the steps through the kitchen and finally to my room was a work out in itself and now I need a rest :-p. But I do plan to bike later on and that's my first step done.

For the last few days I've been making myself write at least a few pages or even just a scene for the superhero story I'm writing in the hope of getting it finished soon. I also spend much of the day sorting the plot out in my head and watching related programs, reading etc with it always in mind. It's actually going well and I really think I could finish it soon. Although I already feel a little stuck...

As for driving, well I've been saving up because my work is so random, I don't want to spend all my money on lessons and then be in debt for the next few months because I haven't been paid enough to cover it (like I did last year :-p). But now my driving... well...drive is gone so I think I should at least get the theory test done. Only problem is will have to buy another driving test CD rom because the one I bought last year isn't compatible with the windows 7 laptop I bought afterwards. I've been putting off buying a new cd out of sheer laziness coupled with a reluctance to drive a car.

I also don't want to own a car. As far as I can tell, a car is just a leech on your assets what with the cost, insurance, road tax blah blah blah, I can't be bothered. I'd rather have a horse. But I guess that just isn't feasible in this day and age.

Oh well. Now I think it's time for a little X-files to cheer me up.