Winter Reads...

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel- 3 stars ***

This was another book in a set that I got for my birthday, and I was quite surprised to learn that apparently it is well-known, as one of my teachers told me. It is about a woman called Alison, who is a fortune teller of sorts, who travels around performing in shows accompanied by her put-upon assistant Collette. It is basically a very long character study, following Alison as she discovers details about her past, some of which are pretty harrowing. There are some great characters in this piece, that she meets along the way, and as readers we are given every possible detail about them, so you really get a sense of what drives them. Obviously in such a bizarre setting, there are a lot of unique personalities, including many that are spirit guides, which were really interesting to hear about.

I really enjoyed the style of the novel, as it mocked the seriousness of itself in parts, and had a believable voice behind it. I particularly liked Hilary Mantel's description of 'The Other Side':

'Spirit world...is a garden...litter-free like an old-fashioned park, with a bandstand in a heat haze in the distance. Here the dead sit in rows on benches, families together, on gravelled paths between weed-less beds, where heat- sozzled flowers bob their heads, heavy with the scent of eau de Cologne: their petals crawling with furry, intelligent, stingless bees... They eat picnics with silver forks; purely for pleasure, because they never feel hunger, nor gain weight. No wind blows there, only a gentle breeze, the temperature being controlled at a moderate 71F.'

I enjoyed this book overall, although it didn't really feel like there was a main plot-line to it, which made some bits drag a bit as they didn't appear to have much point. I would be interested to read another book by the same author, to see if this is a theme that runs throughout her other work. One thing to be commended is her success in dealing with such a fragile subject as death and the afterlife, as she somehow managed to make parts comical, despite having quite grim topics at their core:

'There are unlicensed workings and laboratories underground, mutants breeding in the tunnels; there are cannibal moo-cows and toxic bunnikins, and behind the drawn curtains of hospital wards there are bugs that eat the flesh.'

It gave the book a slightly dark and twisted feel, that I thoroughly enjoyed, as it was so refreshing and different to anything else that I have read recently.

It's Christmasssss!

In Yorkshire!

So this is my final Christmas piece- promise! As ours was so unconventional (see previous post) we had to keep up the trend and have another Christmas Day, this time on the 27th. We travelled early morning to Leven where my

grandparents live; which is a village near Beverley in Hull. As usual, their house looked very festive, decked in lights with ornaments throughout the rooms, so no corner seemed un-Christmassy.

My Auntie and Uncle had travelled from Lancashire with my two cousins aged 8 and 5, which I was looking forward to, as Christmas is so much better when there are children around; they get so much more involved and are enthusiastic about everything. We only opened a few presents before dinner was served- prawn cocktail followed by a chicken roast dinner and Christmas pudding, exactly what is expected of a true Christmas Day. I was drinking a very nice 1998 château moumont rose wine, which I hope makes me sound very sophisticated, as it is the only instance in which I have seemed so!

After dinner, my other Auntie and Uncle who live close to my grandparents came with my other two cousins who are also young (4 and 6) and we opened

the rest of our presents. We each only had a few, but as usual the kids had mountains. The pile of wrapping paper left at the end was very impressive. So ensued a couple of hours of them playing with new toys, until Lucy and Cara left for home, and Hannah and Adam were sent to bed, a lot later than usual! We all collapsed onto various sofas and chairs with books to read, or fixed our eyes on the television (personally I had a nap). We left at about 11pm, stuffed, tired and stored up with Christmas cheer. Definately the last time I will recount a Christmas Day for at least 361 days!

Weekly Update!

Merry Christmas!

So, this week held the last few days before the big C- Christmas. I know I've been harping on about it on here for the last couple of weeks, but I just love this time of year. With finishing uni on 18th December as well, it means I had to do all the festivities with uni friends before then, so I've been in the seasonal mindset for at least the last three weeks.

This week, apart from wrapping presents and adding more and more decorations to our already

overfilled house, I had a lovely night with my friends (see previous post) and a visit from my boyfriend to exchange our presents. Mine were brilliant, but I was really annoyed as one of my gifts for him didn't arrive in time due to the snow delaying the post. The following day we went for a wander around Denzell Gardens, a park near my house. It looked gorgeous in the snow, even though it was very cold! The pond was completely frozen solid, and there were footprints on it from where people had walked across it. That evening we did the annual viewing of A Muppets Christmas Carol, accompanied by roasted chestnuts and Miniature Heroes, I never get bored of

seeing it!

On Friday it was Christmas Eve. I worked in the morning, and then chilled out

in the afternoon, watching a few bits on television. At 5pm, I went to my local church's Christingle service, which was lovely. We sang carols, listened to a few passages and then all collected Christingles from a box at the front, which were then lit and blessed. I am not a regular church goer, but it really got me ready for Christmas Day, and as it is quite a child-friendly service, there were so many adorable kids, there was even a baby in a Santa outfit!

Yesterday was the big day; for most people. As my dad works

shifts he unfortunately worked the night of Christmas Eve so was in bed for Christmas morning. Knowing this in advance, I offered to work as I'd get triple pay, and we decided to have our family Christmas on Boxing Day instead. So after work, my Christmas was spent watching TV and eating some yummy food- eggs benedict for lunch, and my mum made Hunter's Chicken with roasted vegetables and potatoes for tea.

So for all of us, while most people woke up hungover, and surrounded by wrapping paper this morning, we prettified ourselves and did the traditional separating of the presents into piles ready to start unwrapping. It took us nearly three hours, but I got some

amazing presents, including a double butterfly charm for my Pandora bracelet, and my much awaited olive green handmade corset, as well as lots of other bits and bobs. This was all followed by a fabulous goose roast dinner, and copious amounts of Bucks Fizz, chocolate and wine-mmm. Another 'Christmas Day' gone, another tomorrow at my Grandparents house in Yorkshire!

Seasonal Socialising

Christmas Feasting!

Last night was the first time in about two years that my seven friends from home and I had all been free to do something (shocking!) As we all go to separate unis we have differing holidays, and as well as that when we're home we have family and boyfriends to see, and a few of us have jobs as well. It's often like fighting a losing battle trying to organise things to suit everyone.

So with it being such a momentous occasion, as well as it being near Christmas, we decided to have a festive feast, and luckily one of my friends offered up her house for us to invade bearing goodies. We each chose something that we could take along, and basically sat around a big coffee table with it all spread out, having a natter and indulging in lots of yummy nibbles!

I took some home-made mini roast potatoes, that I decided to make after I saw a recipe on one of the many cookery shows on at this time of year. You just use normal new potatoes (the type you would use for potato salad) and cut slices in them about 5mm apart that go halfway through the potato. Then you place them all into a roasting tin and douse in olive oil, rolling them around in it until they are fully covered. The next bit depends on personal taste. I chose to sprinkle

rosemary and rock salt over them, but you could use chilli or garlic flakes, pepper or another herb of your choice. You could even experiment with different combinations and flavours. Once you have seasoned them, then you put them in the oven at a high heat (about 220 degrees) for thirty minutes or until they have gone brown on the outside, and are fluffy and soft in the centre. Because of the slits in the potatoes, when they cook they open up like fans for a more quirky look. As it was a buffet style meal we were having, I placed them all in a red bowl (very Christmassy!) and suck cocktail sticks in them so that they were more like 'finger food'. They are not difficult, but the little bit of extra effort really makes them look more special, and they were received very well!

As well as my mini potatoes, we also had pate and crackers, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, pretzels, nuts, crisps and dips, goujons, spring rolls, chocolate fingers, mince pies, yule log, chocolate covered strawberries and amazing mini fish fillets with a splodge of mushy peas and a chip on top to create little fish and chip bites! Of course, it didn't all get eaten, but we did a very convincing job of trying! We watched Toy Story 3 afterwards, and I had a couple of glasses of tasty rose wine as I wasn't driving for a change.

Not only was it lovely to see everyone together again, but it was a great chance for a good ol' chinwag to catch up on each other's lives. With this being the last year of university for some of us, I'm sure in the future it will only become worse to try finding time when we are all available, so I certainly made the most of it- and the food!