Tag Archives: vacations

by | April 19, 2013

Lanzarote 2013 & Three Ingredient Pineapple Cake

Hi everyone!

I’m back at long last!  Sorry I’ve been away so much longer than expected.  I hope you all had a wonderful Spring break.  While I’ve really valued my ‘unplugged’ time, I’ve been looking forward to my return to blogging world.  I’ve missed you guys!

So what have I been up to?  Well, over Easter, M, Lil’ L and I were very fortunate to escape the freezing cold weather in the UK and head to the Canary Island of Lanzarote.  It was wonderful to spend some quality time with my boys, without all the distractions and ‘busyness’ of life back home.

We enjoyed chilling out on the beach and at cafes, chatting, reading, playing card games and sketching (cartoon drawing was particularly popular this holiday!)

We’re huge fans of Cesar Manrique, and we loved spending time at the sites he designed, including Los Jameos del Agua, Jardin de Cactus and his own house (now a charitable foundation) which is situated in a lava field!

Lanzarote - Jardin de Cactus

Jardin de Cactus, Lanzarote

During the holiday, we also got to spend some quality time by ourselves.  M really enjoyed biking in the volcanic national park…

Biking in Lanzarote - 500

while I loved my daily runs along the coast path and meditation by the sea.

Meditating in Lanzarote 1 - 500

Lil’ L loved playing on the beach, rock climbing…

Playing on the Rocks in Lanzarote - 500

Lil' L at Los Jameos del Agua Lanzarote 2 - 500

and leaping!

Lil L at Los Jameos del Agua 2 Lanzarote - 500

However, in contrast to all this boisterous activity, sometimes you’d walk round the corner and find him meditating!

Lil' L Meditating in Lanzarote - 500

He also spent a lot of time reading.  He got through about seven books! (‘Big Nate’ was a popular read this holiday).

Beach Reading in Lanzarote - 500

We did some great walks along the coast and in the volcanic national park.  Away from the resorts and towns, you could easily start to feel like you were on another planet!

Lanzarote Volcanic National Park 2 - 500

To be honest, when I saw the newspaper headlines about the freezing temperatures and chilling winds in the UK, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to our return.  However, we seem to have brought the good weather back with us.  Perhaps Spring has finally arrived for sure (fingers crossed!)  I’m loving the lighter mornings and evenings too ♥

Inspired by the sunshine and warm weather, I chose to make a pineapple cake for my study class this week.  It was no ordinary cake though… it was fat free, dairy free and egg free!  A friend gave me the recipe a few years ago.  She’d spotted it in a newspaper, but I believe it was originally published by Kim and Rachael of the 4 Ingredients phenomenon.

Fat Free Pineapple Cake - 500 copy

Since it has no fat, its texture is different to other cakes, but it’s delicious none the less.  It’s one of my all-time favourite cakes and I’m happy to report that it got the thumbs up from my study group friends too :D

Here’s how to make it…

Three Ingredient Pineapple Cake

Serves: 12

Ingredients
250g / 8¾ oz / 1 2/3 cups self raising flour*
200g / 7 oz / 1 cup unrefined caster sugar
1 x 432g / 15 oz tin of crushed pineapple

* alternatively use plain (all purpose) or wholemeal (wholewheat) flour and 2 tsp baking powder.  I use chapatti atta flour, which is a very fine wholemeal flour, available in the UK from the world food aisles of Tesco and Asda.

Optional glaze
1-2 tbsp pineapple or tropical juice
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

  1. Grease a 22cm / 8½ inch cake tin and line the bottom with non stick baking paper.  Preheat the oven to 180c / 350F.
  2. Sift the flour (and baking powder) into a mixing bowl.  Stir in the sugar.  Add the pineapple (entire contents of the tin, including the juice).  Mix until just combined.  Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
  3. Optional glaze:  As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick it all over with a cocktail stick. Brush with juice and sprinkle on some granulated sugar.
  4. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin.  Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge (or slice and freeze).

Fat Free Pineapple Cake 2 - 500 copy

I wonder if this cake will work with crushed mangoes too? I’m definitely going to have to give it a try ;)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are xx

Link of the day: Orange and Almond Cake

Orange & Almond Cake 2

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by | August 31, 2012

What we got up to in Italy

As promised, today I’m going to show a few pics of what we got up to in Italy.

Poffabro, the village where we were staying, is situated on the edge of the Friuli Dolomites Nature Reserve, so we enjoyed lots of hiking. Some routes could be accessed directly from the village…

 … whilst others began a short car ride away.

The terrain was much trickier than anything I’ve ever experienced before, involving steep, uneven climbs and sharp descents on scree. I was often way behind the other two, but I just took my time and concentrated hard on each step so that I didn’t fall. Can you imagine breaking your ankle out here? I have no idea how you would access help!

At times I had to resort to climbing on all fours (very elegant), while Lil’ L’s favourite way of descending was skidding on his bottom. It was very effective, but I’m amazed he didn’t wear a hole in his shorts! 

Some of the paths were no more than a foot’s width… right on the edge of a crag next to a sheer drop. It was a bit scary, very challenging, but all good fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it :)

 We also visited some beautiful villages and towns within the region, including Pordenone, Spilimbergo and Barcis, with its stunning lakeside promenade.

We took a day trip to Venice, which was only 1 1/2 hours from Poffabro.

It was beautiful to see but, for me, the Venice of today seems to have lost its ‘heart and soul’ to tourism. After a quick walk round the crowded city centre, we were happy to spend the rest of the day walking round the quieter backstreets.

We also took a day trip to the beach at Lido di Jesolo, where Lil’ L had hours of fun playing in the sea. Have you ever seen a boy wearing socks and crocs in the sea? Well you have now. 

Lido di Jesolo was absolutely buzzing with people and I’ve never seen so many sunbeds in my life. They seemed to go on for miles!  The Lido was only a 2 hour drive from Poffabro, but what a contrast in scenery!

Closer to Poffabro, we found a hotel in Fanna that had a fantastic swimming pool and  beautiful gardens.

For a small fee, non residents were able to spend the day there. We must have gone there at least 5 times. In the morning, the pool was pretty quiet, but it steadily filled up as the day went on. 

We all did a lot of exercise this holiday. As well as the hiking and swimming, M and I did a fair amount of running. Poffabro is situated on a hill and I would run down to the bottom of the village and back up, then back down and up again. The ladies sitting outside the church found this pretty amusing and would wave and call out to me each time I passed them.

Of course, being in Italy, there was a lot of ice cream eating to be done. I believe Lil’ L had an ice cream every day… that’s 15 in total! His favourite flavours were pistachio and bacio (nutella).

Apart from the ice cream, we ate pretty healthily on this break. We ate pizza for the first couple of days but, by day 3, we were all craving something healthier (even Lil’ L was asking if he could have vegetable soup instead of pizza!) From then on, we made our own simple vegetarian meals.  The fresh produce tasted out of this world! We thoroughly enjoyed our home cooked meals and they weren’t a chore at all to make. As well as leaving us feeling good inside and full of energy, they also saved us a small fortune.  

And finally, in addition to all these wonderful activities, we had lots of time chilling out, reading, drawing and, for me, Dharma study & practice. Total bliss! Lil’ L loved to meditate for 10-20 minutes every night before he went to bed and I often joined in. 

After such a refreshing break, I’m on a mission (again!) to ’declutter’ my daily life back in England. I’m pretty sure I start this mission every time I come back from a break yet, within a week or two, I’m on the slippery slope back to ’busyness’ (a lot of which is self-created). Time once again to seek the ‘simple life’ (well, as simple as life can be with school runs, lunches to pack, after school activities, uniform washing & ironing, and so forth) ;)  

Summer’s over. It’s time to embrace the new season. And what a lovely season it is :) Have a wonderful September everyone xx

 

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by | August 30, 2012

A Trip to Treviso & Poffabro, Northern Italy

Hi everyone!  

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks but we’ve been on a family vacation to beautiful northern Italy.  At last I had a chance to dust off the summer clothes and get some wear out of them ;)

In this post, I thought I’d show you where we stayed in Italy. Tomorrow, I’ll post some pics of what we got up to whilst we were there.

Our vacation started with an overnight stop in Treviso, which is situated in the Veneto region of North East Italy, in close proximity to Venice. We stayed at the Titian Inn (booked via booking.com), which was a short car ride from the centre of Treviso. We loved the hotel and would highly recommend it.

I’m so glad that we made the stop over at Treviso rather than heading straight to Poffabro. It’s a lovely town with lots of interesting architecture, arcaded walkways and streets on waterways, encircled by a large town wall.

 

 There are some really interesting pieces of art work dotted about the town.


I particularly loved Treviso at night. There was a real buzz to the place, with people of all ages out for the evening, socialising in the al-fresco restaurants and stylish bars. Lil’ L was amazed to see how late the children stay up in Italy. By the time we left at 10.30pm there were still children (including toddlers!) playing in the town square. It was so refreshing to experience a place that has a ‘family friendly’ nightlife.

The buildings in Treviso looked absolutely stunning at night. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any decent photos as we didn’t have a tripod with us, but we did manage to take a photo of the ‘music’ art installation by balancing the camera on some railings.

 The next day we headed to Poffabro, a village in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, situated at the foot of the Dolomites. This is where we were going to base ourselves for the remainder of our two week vacation.

Poffabro is a beautiful village, with an array of interesting, historic buildings..

I loved this front door!

 

The village has a breath-taking back drop and stunning views.

 

Even though the village is tiny (181 inhabitants), it has a visitor centre; a church; a shop which sells fresh bread daily; a traditional Italian restaurant; and a cafe/bar. It also has some of the most friendly locals that I’ve ever come across :)

The cafe/bar was the real ‘hub’ of the village. For the hours it was open there was a constant stream of people coming and going, both locals and visitors. Lots of people came to the village as part of their cycling or walking route, and stopped off at the cafe for a refreshment.

Our rental apartment was located in this beautiful village house (next to the visitor centre, opposite the cafe/bar).

Shall I give you a sneak peak inside?

Here’s a pic of the open plan lounge / dining / kitchen area. 

 

The apartment was lovely and spacious. It had a modern bathroom with walk-in shower, and two double bedrooms (Lil’ L got the best room, no surprises there!)  Unlike our bedroom, his room had windows, a wardrobe and dresser/desk with chair (which he made good use of!)

All in all, Poffabro was the perfect place to stay for a couple of weeks, to relax and recharge the batteries. 

Tomorrow I’ll post some pics of what we got up to whilst in Italy.

See you then! xx

 

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by | February 13, 2012

Planning the 2012 Vacation

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend! :)

Our mission for this weekend was to book a vacation.  Long gone are the days when we’d leave it to the week before and bag ourselves a last minute bargain.  Those last minute deals just don’t seem to exist anymore.  The longer you leave it to book flights, the more expensive they seem to get.  In a matter of a week, the flights I’ve been looking at have already gone up £40!

Planning trips months in advance is not in my nature at all, but needs must.  This weekend, our planning shifted three times, from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C.

Plan A was to go to Thailand.  I absolutely adore everything about Thailand…  the food, the climate, the beaches, the flora and fauna, the temples and, most of all, the people.  We’ve been a few times, the first being back in 2002 for our honeymoon.  We also had the most amazing trip to Krabi early in 2003.

Here I am in beautiful Krabi... 9 weeks pregnant with Lil' L. Very poor quality pic, pre digital camera!

I thought it would be nice to celebrate our 10 year anniversary by revisiting Bangkok and Koh Samui.  Plus I was really looking forward to showing Lil’ L all the beautiful temples and statues of Buddha. 

Koh Samui Trip 2002

However, when I checked out the flights I was shocked at how expensive they were.  I don’t know whether there’s been a hike in the tax or cost of fuel,  but at over £2,000 for the three of us, those flights are crazily expensive at the moment :(

Onto Plan B… France.  Another favourite holiday destination of ours.  We checked out lots of rental accommodation in and around Annecy, an area that we last visited in 2008 and would love to visit again.  Incredibly, it was all fully booked!  Months in advance!

BTW I’ve just been looking through some photos of our 2008 trip to Annecy and I can’t believe how much Lil’ L has changed since then! 

Wow they grow up quick!

Despite these set backs, I’m pleased to say that Plan C has worked out and it’s all  booked up :)   We’re now going to stay in the Italian Dolomites.  It looks really pretty…

[Source]

…and the location looks perfect for us.  We’ll be able to do some mountain hiking and, in just over an hour, visit the coast and Venice.  I’m really looking forward to visiting Venice again.  

[Source]

I went there for a day trip when I was about 11 and, from what I remember, I was far more interested in the spectacular Italian icecreams than I was in the beautiful Venetian architecture.  I remember the black cherry icecream being a particular favourite on that holiday ;)  

[Source]

It will be fantastic to visit this beautiful city again and, this time round, take more note of the spectacular sights.  I wonder what will do it for Lil’ L… icecream or architecture?  I’ll report back later ;)

Are you planning to go away on vacation this year?  If so, have you had to book way in advance like us, or are you planning to ‘wing it’ closer to the time?

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by | October 25, 2011

A Wonderful Trip to Sherwood Forest

As soon as school was out on Friday, we packed the car, hoisted the bikes onto the roof, and set off for a mini break to one of my favourite places in the UK, Sherwood Forest.  This forest is most well-known for its links with the legend of Robin Hood.  We’re not sure whether Robin Hood really did exist but, regardless, I find Sherwood to be a truly magical place :)

 

M and I lived in Nottingham back in the 1990s, so we know the area pretty well.  Nowadays, we try and visit once a year, normally during the October half term when the forest is full of the colours of Autumn/Fall. 

 This year, for the first time, we chose to stay in a log cabin in the forest. 

 I loved the lounge area inside the cabin, with its little wood burning stove.  So cosy!  

Lil’ L had his first archery lesson… and turned out to be pretty handy with the bow and arrow :)

 We also went to visit Major Oak.  No trip to Sherwood would be complete without visiting this ancient tree where (as the legend goes) Robin, Marion and the band of Merry Men hid out.  This incredible tree is over 1,150 years old!

 However, the main reason for our trip to the forest was to ride the trails at Sherwood Pines.  The Kitchener’s Trail is absolutely awesome and currently my favourite trail in the UK!  

We rode it three times over the weekend.  Lil L’s verdict… “sweet!”.

 

The trail has lots of twists and turns, which makes it very exciting.  I love this sort of trail as it requires single pointed concentration… if your mind wanders… you’re likely to hit a tree trunk or stump.  I fell off once, which was more of a technical hitch where I skidded on sand into a ditch, rather than a mind wobble/fear moment (or a “mind slide” as me & M have started calling them ;) ).  Luckily, I was wearing the new knee pads that M bought, so I didn’t feel a thing :)

There’s lots of variety on the trail, including the options of a fast downhill section and dirt jump area for the real adrenalin junkies.

I loved all the different sections we rode through, which included pine forests and ancient woodland filled with chestnut trees.

There was even a super spooky section, which you had to wind your way through.

Here’s a couple of action shots.

 

From the back, it looks like I was dressed appropriately for biking… but I so wasn’t!  Under the jacket and knee pads, I was wearing jeggings and a sparkly top.  The Essex girl in me still loves a bit of sparkle ;)

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, filled with sunshine, lots of fresh air, exercise and a large dose of myth and magic ;)

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