The Dalemark Quartet

If anyone is looking for a good fantasy book for a child  or adult you should definitely get one by Diana Wynne Jones. I'm 27 and I have an ever-growing collection of her books that I can read again and again.
 I've been reading books since I was 4. My friends would hide their books if they knew I was coming because if I found a book in their house I'd sit and read it instead of playing with them. It was so much more fun for me to read in someone else's house because they always had books that I didn't :-p or at least hadn't read as often.
Diana Wynne Jones' books are the kind that can be read again and again.
Recently I reread the Dalemark Quartet which is about a mythological world and tells the story of the people of legend and myth and how they became so, as well as those who years later believe in them and whose lives are influenced by their beliefs. It's an absolutely amazing and imaginative creation of a world that sucks you in and keeps you hooked. After reading all four books I wish there was more!

The four books are:
The Spellcoats (Dalemark Quartet)
Cart And Cwidder (Dalemark Quartet)
Drowned Ammet (Dalemark Quartet)
The Crown Of Dalemark (Dalemark Quartet)

They are all available on amazon.co.uk at a good price. Just click on the book name for more.
There's nothing I can say that can do justice to the genius that is the Dalemark Quartet, if you're interested in fantasy then do give the books a go and find out for yourself. Meanwhile, below is some info about each book so you get a sort of idea of what it's all about. As usual, it's really hard for me to write a review/summary-type thing without giving too much away so it's a little vague :-p. The links above will help though probably because they have a sort of blurb on amazon about each book. But do not read the reviews on amazon! Some of the idiots reviewing end up telling the whole damn story! They don't seem to understand the purpose of a review. No one wants to read a book when they know the whole story already.

The Spellcoats is about a family of siblings who are driven out of their village when they are blamed for a natural disaster. The adventures that follow are intriguing and magical. Not sure it would appeal to the younger kids. It's written as a 1st person narrative by one of the sisters who weaves the words into a coat.

Cart and Cwidder is about a family of singer performers who travel Dalemark, a place which has been split up and ruled by Earls ever since an heir for the last King could not be found. The main character is a young boy called Moril who finds himself responsible for a sacred cwidder from legend. That's just a thread of the story, so many other things go on. There is conflict between the North and South and Moril and his family get caught up in it all. You really get a feel for the characters and the world and I'm sure once you've read either of this or Spellcoats you'll be eager to read the rest.

Drowned Ammet is probably my favourite because I love the main character, Mitt. He's such a flawed and yet good hearted boy. The story shows you how he goes from a sweet happy little boy to a cynical paranoid one who goes through a lot as he figures out the truth of the world. I love that he's not perfect and that he's so believable. You can understand his thought processes completely and feel for him and you're always hoping things somehow work out for him.

The Crown of Dalemark is about the quest to finally put someone on the throne of Dalemark. I usually do not like books where someone from real time goes back into the olden days into the middle of some legendary story. I haven't seen it work except in this book. And this is the book where a lot of the characters meet each other and the daydreaming boy from Cart and Cwidder meets Mitt from Drowned Ammet. Watching them interact is just so fun and interesting. Also, as it takes place some time after Drowned Ammet you get to see where the characters end up.

Pointless

Today was a weird day. My sister got us tickets to be part of the audience of a game show called Pointless at the bbc studio in London. I've been dying to go to the city for ages so I thought, excellent! I can spend the day roaming around my favourite places and meet up with my sisters and bro-in-law in the evening for the show.

Wrong.
I had to stay at home and wait for a delivery guy to collect something I needed to return and also for my sister's new laptop to be delivered. We missed one delivery already so she would kill me if we missed it again. So I wasn't able to shower and get ready until it arrived which was pretty annoying. More annoying was that I had planned to sleep in but for some reason I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep.
 Finally, at 2'O clock the laptop came and I rushed and got ready in time to go at least one place before the show and pick some dinner up too. I ended up in trocadero first because I wanted to check out the anime shop. I was also dying to pee :-p but when I got there I saw they charge £1 to use the toilet! WTH! So I decided to go after at Mcdonalds.
The anime shop was lovely! I wish I had more money to waste. There was almost an entire wall dedicated to Totoro and his little friends (from the studio ghibli movie My Neighbour Totoro). Not only plush toys but bags, keyrings, wall hangings and even slippers and gloves! In the end I bought a little Ponyo model and a little chibi L (from the excellent anime Death Note) and a floral watch. I actually wanted the Nightmare Before Christmas watch but it had an ugly strap.
Even after loitering in the shop for ages I still had about 20 minutes to grab some dinner on the way so I decided to go to Queensway and get a takeaway from Noodle Oodle!
 It was very strange to go back to that area on my own when before I was always with friends. Plus, it had gotten dark. It made the whole place seem to take on a strange unfriendly hostile feel rather than the magical feeling I'd usually get when I went there. It's odd how the same place can seem so opposite in different circumstances. It's like the memories are flitting passed you like ghosts and the town is all dead.
 The weird feel seemed to be chock full of bad luck as well. It took me at least 10 minutes just to walk to the restaurant from the station which was worrying as I was counting every minute so as not to be late. When I got there I couldn't decide what to eat! I was flicking through the menu trying to find something quick to eat and something with chicken veg and rice.
After ages I finally found a dish and asked if I could have chicken instead of prawns. They agreed. Then told me the minimum spend to use a debit card was £8 and my dish came to £6.30. I didn't want to order more things because it would just take more time. So I rushed outside looking about for a cash machine but it's down by the station and I'd wasted enough time already. I wouldn't have time to get money out then rush back and then rush to the station again so I decided to go to Subway instead. I also needed to pee and Subway didn't have toilets.
So I went into the Mcdonalds and the toilets were disgusting. And one of them wouldn't even flush. I had to clean the other one before I used it and then when I washed my hands, the hand dryer wouldn't stay on more than 5 seconds and it was so slow that blowing on my hands would have dried them quicker. I was in such a rush and so worried about being late that in the end I quickly took money out, grabbed a steak and veg wrap from subway then legged it to the station.
Managed to get to the bbc at the exact time I meant to in the first place and munched my wrap in the queue.
The show itself was fun to watch. I'd watched a few clips on youtube but they didn't seem all that. But seeing it live was a lot better. Maybe the contestants were more entertaining than the ones I saw or maybe it was because the guy who explained stuff to us about what we had to do was so funny. He was funnier than the host actually. There were times when the hosts were trying to make jokes and not quite getting there.
What was really fun though was being involved and seeing the contestants right in front of you so you can completely sympathise with them. It makes you want to root for them more.
It wasn't my first time as an audience member. Once in Whiteleys, a lady asked me and my sister if we wanted to join the audience of the Deadly Knowledge Show. That one had a much smaller studio and seemed more staged. It also had a rehearsal before filming of the whole thing to help the contestants get the hang of it. For Pointless, we did a few practices of things we had to do but then we went straight into filming which made me a little nervous even though we weren't really on camera. I had butterflies in my stomach just sitting in the audience, I can't imagine how the contestants must feel. I really admire how well they kept their cool and joked about.
Next time we are hoping to try and see a dance competition show. I'll remember to bring a drink though, was so thirsty during Pointless, the filming went on for hours. I also must remember to find the show on the Sky planner and put it on record. We didn't have sky plus in the old days so I never did see the episode of Deadly Knowledge Show on television.
Oh, I also got a chance to finally wear a choker I bought from etsy.com. I was so worried I hadn't tied it properly and it would fall off somewhere and be lost. But it stayed on all night. Would love to buy more.
Here's the shop I bought it from:
Hide and Stitch by MsMRDate All the pieces are one of a kind so it's not on sale any more. But it's the one the shop owner's wearing in the profile pic. I also bought the batman earrings which are awesome!

Howzat?

I made my cricket cake today :-) and it did cheer me up. Especially making the ganache (whipped cream, a little butter and lots of chocolate melted together) yummy! I could have eaten the whole bowl :-p.

Cricket Cake

The cake was a three layered chocolate sponge. The bottom half was sandwiched together with chocolate butter-cream and the other half with ganache. I also spread ganache all over the top and sides then dusted the top with cocoa powder.
The cricket ball is also chocolate cake that I made in a bowl but covered with coloured ready to roll icing and the stitching is in white chocolate. The stitching was going to be perfect, I was going to use my ultra thin piping bag to make the line's thin and accurate. But I made the chocolate too thick at first and it got stuck in the damn nozzle :@ my bad luck is still hanging round it seems. I just couldn't wash it out or anything. So in the end had to use a toothpick to make the thin lines of chocolate. Didn't want to use my regular piping bag because then the lines would have been too thick.
Anyway, I used the thickened chocolate to make the cricket bats and used sugar-paste for the handles. And then of course, stuck chocolate fingers all round the edges. 
Was the most chocolatey yummy cake I've ever made. I'm going to experiment with using two fillings for one cake more often.
Though with all that chocolate, butter, sugar and cream that one slice is probably 1000 calories :-p. Good thing I don't like eating cake all that much.
Plus, I had a lovely afternoon with the family and had fun playing Just Dance 2 on the wii with my 5 year old nephew :-)


Just in case you're interested, here's the recipe for super yummy ganache:


275g chocolate
250ml double cream
50g unsalted butter


Put chocolate and butter in a bowl. Put the double cream in a pan and bring to the boil. Then pour over the chocolate and butter and stir gently until it's all melted and blended. Try not to make bubbles. Then put in the fridge to cool and thicken. Then try not to eat it all before you put it on your cake :-p

Sucky Week

I thought last week was the suckiest ever; work was hard and the people I had to deal with were a nightmare and I couldn't find anyone to go to Chinese New Year with, which just reminded me that all my friends are miles and miles away and my life is depressingly lonely.
But this week was the ultimate.

Monday:
Went to the doctor before work because I noticed a lump inside my lower eyelid and it hurt and itched like hell. Found out I have an inflamed tear gland (there's a technical term for it but I can't remember, it begins with a B :-p) which has probably resulted from an ultra depressing event in January. So doctor prescribes me an ointment to apply to it 4 times a day and tells me I need to wipe the eye with warm salty water before each time. Of course the pharmacy can't give me the ointment for ages so I have to collect it after work. Work was surprisingly not so bad. But I was seriously pissed that the place was a mess because last week me and my colleague sorted/tidied/cleaned everything. I hate lazy messy gits. So I get my ointment after work and it's nigh impossible to stick in my eye because it's like vaseline and won't drop off the damn tube. Awesome. I've got the hang of it now, 4 days later. Was so tired when I got home but had to make dinner and sort out my uniform etc.

Tuesday:
My most difficult crèche with several crying kids and babies that need to be settled and I end up having to carry them about. Got home completely emotionally and physically drained. But I had to make dinner. Tuesday night, around midnight, a sharp pain in my eye woke me up. Incredibly annoying because I have to get to work at 8:30am on Wednesday, which means 7:30am catch the bus and wake up at 6:30am.

Wednesday:
My eye is red like darth maul so I wash my eye, put in some eyedrops and try to sleep. An hour later I still can't sleep, it's getting painful so I go to wash it again and see that the membrane is gone, my eye looks exposed and my eyeball has swollen to a weird shape. Looking left or right hurts even more, I can see my iris trying to move through the doughy white of my eyeball, making it crease. But it's like my eyeball is too swollen to move properly. I could literally see my iris as a separate thing to the white of my eye. I bet you're loving this awesome gruesome description :-p sorry but only after hearing it can you fully appreciate how completely freaked out I was.
But it was too late to go to the doctors and too late to wake anyone up to drive me to A&E. The last time something similar happened it was an allergic reaction to my cat.  She's started sneaking into my room to sleep on my bed of late so I took an allergy tablet and went to bed. I get to sleep some time after 2.
7:30 and the eye still hurts and is swollen but the membrane seems to be back. I texted my boss and stayed home from work. Eventually the pills start to take effect and I rest my eyes in the evening and they get back to almost normal. I stressed so much about the allergic eye I almost forgot about the other one.

Thursday:
Wake up for work and what do you know, the tiny screw holding my glasses together falls out and is lost and my lens falls out. With my eyes so messed up I can't wear my contacts. Great. So I decide to go to the opticians before work and get it fixed. It's pouring with rain but luckily I have my new wellies to keep my feet dry. I wait for the bus to the opticians which is in the opposite direction to the one for work. 20 minutes later there's no bus so I decide to swap sides and go to work or I'll probably be late. I get the bus to work (first bus anyway) and just to make life easier, the bus driver kicks off all the passengers one stop before my stop! Awesome, and it's still raining. And I have to walk 5 minutes from my regular stop to get my 2nd bus anyway, so now I'm walking about 20 minutes in the rain without my glasses so everything's blurry. A song comes on my ipod that reminds me of what had been depressing me since January and I end up walking to the stop in the rain with tears running down my face, too depressed to even open my umbrella. Pathetic, I know.
I get to work finally 40 minutes early! I could have gone to the opticians after all  but it's too late now. So I skip that stop and stop by a shop for a milkshake and walk back to work from there in the rain. At work I realise I remembered my eye ointment but forgot my allergy pills.
Luckily, work was a lot calmer than the week before and things go fine. I sellotape my glasses so that I can at least see. On the way home was expecting to be picked up but mum said she can't come and can I bring some coriander on the way. So I take a detour on my way to the opticians and get my eyebrows threaded too (ouch). This involves more wonderful walking in the rain. When I get my glasses sorted I go to pick up my inhalers from the pharmacy. Of course, they aren't there. And the shitty doctors surgery is closed so I can't even complain to them about it...until tomorrow.
3 buses later, I'm finally home with glasses fixed but eyes feeling sore again. I go in the kitchen to get my salty water for my eye and decide to wash the rice cooker. As I carry it to the sink, I slip in a puddle, the lid goes flying into to the sink and turns on the tap, the pan flies across the floor dropping rice all over and I land on my wrist and bruise my leg. I also somehow pulled a muscle in my shoulder. Awesome.

Tomorrow I have a long day at work that I don't even want to think about at the moment. Saturday I am going to make a cake for my cousin's 18th. Hopefully that will cheer me up a bit. Then Sunday it's his party at Nandos, that should cheer me up too :-p. I seriously need something good to happen, especially with bloody Valentines Day coming.

More X-files

Remember my post about the X-files and how glad I was that they were showing it on 2 channels, 3 different season? Well what do you know, soon afterwards they stopped showing it on all the channels every season.

 A few weeks later I found out why. There's a new channel on cable called Sky Atlantic and they are showing The X-files from the beginning. Great timing, as I already bought the first two seasons on dvd :-p. I don't mind though, buying the dvd saves me the hassle of setting up the dvd recorder. 

 It's fun reliving the series because it has been so long since I first saw these episodes, I barely remember them. If I had I would have realised that Nicholas Lea who appears as Agent Alex Krycek in season 2, first appeared in a season 1 episode called Gender Bender as a man called Michael, the final victim of the episode's killer.

 I also discovered that the actor who played Dr Ivanov (Ken Kramer) in one of my favourite episodes ever (War of the Coprophages -  the cockroach episode) appeared in the last episode of season 1 (The Erlenmeyer Flask) as Dr Terrance Berube. 

In my favourite episode Ice, I recognised a very young and pretty Felicity Huffman as Dr. Nancy Da Silva.