Thursday

October Round Up

So it appears my last Round Up (an oddly my first) was last June. The again I did not have much to "round up" about in those summer months. Nevertheless here is the latest....

What I blogged
  • My welcome post, announcing the new blog name and why I chose "The Flying Key"
  • Shortly after that I went to Switzerland on a physics trip (well only about 10% was actually physics. What can I say, a girl has got to shop)
  • I was overwhelmed by the Christmas Spirit that had been growing since June and so naturally I blogged (well more like ranted)
  • I baked a Hedgehog cake!! Twas scrumptious.
  • My pumpkin Harry featured. I also just bought two more (Ron and Hermione - to complete the collection). To spice things up this Halloween I carved an owl. Any ideas for the other two?

What I read
  • The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Not great, I'll admit.
  • Looking For Alaska by John Green. Well, I'm technically not finished. I just started the "after" part. I cried as much as I did with TFiOS. Actually I'm still bawling...

What I plan to read
  • The Clever One by Helena Close. Recommended by a friend.
  • Geek Girl
  • Allegient - did I mention I got it? AAAAGHHHHH! Cannot wait to read it!!!!!!
  • Wicked
  • The 5th Wave
  • 1984 (as a result of Ruby's fabulous post)
Other Whimsical Ideas

hmmm.... well at a fancy dress I was a minion. Even though I have never seen Despicable Me. Doesn't make sense, I know. I painted my nails to look like ladybugs today. Are they called Ladybugs or Ladybirds? Anyhoo I've started doing a lot of artwork. Yesterday I sketched The Mad Hatter (the Johnny Depp version of course!).  I am now super excited for Christmas!! The decorations are everywhere! How long now till the Cocoa-Cola add?!! I also think I use the word "well" too much...

Happy Halloween!
Marian x


Tuesday

Pumpkins and Minions and Pie (oh my!)

So that great gust of a storm and the often roars of thunder do create a nice atmosphere to coincide with Halloween. It certainly sounds like a ghost (or a whole army of them) are camping outside my window whilst I shiver in my bed and try to block out the flashes of lightning. Besides all that scary business, I actually do enjoy Halloween.
I'm one of those people who get far too excited over festivals and novelty days so as usual Last Saturday,I pondered, in the shop, over which lucky pumpkin would experience my mad carving skills this year.
Meet Harry: the chosen one

Somehow all our pumpkins have been following a Harry Potter theme. Last year we had George, Fred was before that ....etc.
I think next year we might have Charles. It also fits in with the Royal Family. (well, besides Fred)
I just love the Royal Family.
Anyhoo, to change things up a bit I carved an owl (I think I'll call her Hedwig)
 
I know it doesn't look great in that picture. It looks absolutely ghastly. But the final thing, all lit up, looks fairly good.
 
Result!
However my attempts to make a pumpkin pie failed, dramatically.
 
This year, for a fancy dress, I was a minion! The funny thing is, I've never actually seen Despicable Me.....
 
Happy Halloween
Marian x




Sunday

Hedgehog Cake

 
Because of my love for hedgehogs and cake, I made .............. a Hedgehog cake! Very original don't you think? ^_^
I'm really surprised how well it turned out. Usually all my big plans go horribly wrong. Well, I guess this wasn't a very big plan, just a sandwich (tin) size.
So if you want to make this, here's the recipe:
 
Ingredients
For Cake
120g plain flour
125g margarine
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tspn of baking powder
1tspn vanilla essence
 
For icing
25g Bournville Cocoa (or any other dark choc cocoa)
60ml Boiling water
175g butter
300g icing sugar
 
to decorate
3 packs of Chocolate buttons
1 pack of White Chocolate buttons
Or maybe some smarties
it's up to you - go crazy
 
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180* C (350*F). Line two sandwich tins.
2. Cream sugar and margerine of cake mix together.
3. Add eggs and vanilla essence and combine.
4. Sift in flour and raising agent.
5. Spread equally between tins and bake for 30 minutes.
 
6. When the cake has cooled make icing.
7. Dissolve cocoa in the boiling water to make a paste. Let cool.
8. Cream butter and icing sugar together until light.
9. Combine the butter mix and chocolate paste.
10.  Sandwich the two cake layers together with a little icing and carve shape of hedgehog (like an egg cut vertically)
11. Pipe the icing over the cake from the back to the nose (pointy bit) and smoothen the face.
12. Stick buttons in icing to resemble bristles.
13. Make the nose and eyes with white buttons or smarties.
14. Boast to everyone about you mad baking skills.
 
Enjoy!
Marian x



Thursday

Is it too early to be excited for Christmas?

If you said not at all, well then, great. Because I've been totally in the festive mood sense June! It's not that I'm a Holy Joe or anything, I just love the leading up to and atmosphere that comes with Christmas.
For me, this really begins to start a little while after we get back to school. Say end of September/ early October. Especially as last week, when I was in Switzerland, there was a wonderful nip in the air. I could see my misty breath rise into the violet night sky. I got to wear my knitted jumper, warm coat, wooly hat, snuggy scarf and mitten gloves. My cheeks tinged red and I say I could have stayed there forever.
Even now, at the height of Autumn, the crunch and colour of the fallen leaves make me smile. It's perfect weather for a bit of photography (if I had the proper equipment - *cough* *cough* it's on the wishlist) My instagramming will be on the rise shortly, as soon as I can find a free wifi zone. (you've no idea of the torture the countryside is)
And let us not forget Halloween! Not a major event on my calendar. If only I had a few dozen 5 year olds that would willingly let me make their costume. That would be a truly brilliant Halloween! Personally, I hate scary movies. They absolutely terrify me! Although I'm nearly always willing to give the ol' dvd a try, I usually have to change the channel or run screaming out of the room within the first five minutes.
But anyhoo, back to my focal pint:
It is 68 days until Christmas!!!!!
Does that sentence alone not make you want to shriek and jump around, singing Christmas carols? Agh, I'm so excited already! I need to Christmas shopping,.... where's my bag?.....

Happy early Christmas everyone!
Marian ^_^ x

(Dear Srcuges, *clears throat* l.e.a.v.e.)

Monday

When in Switzerland

doppler effect | Tumblr

Bonjour!
A word I used quite a bit last week. You may or may not have known that I study physics for the oncoming Leaving Cert --I think it's called A Levels in Britain. I really enjoy physics although I don't understand half of it. The perks of being a physics student includes totally getting the jokes on Big Bang Theory and also getting to visit CERN!

So that's exactly where I went last week. My class headed off to Dublin on Wednesday night to catch a flight to Geneva, Switzerland. Alas, it was raining for the most of Thursday but we had come prepared. We stayed in the youth hostel. That was brilliant, the breakfast was fairly good and the rooms were safe and comfortable. The spiral staircase looked pretty cool from the 4th floor. On the last night my hat was dropped from the top to the bottom. Some English dude tried it on....

Anyhoo I had a great time. I really wished it would snow, but we did get to see some on the mountains ( I'm not sure if they're the Alps). The place was absolutely gorgeous and the art in that city was astounding! I mean the doorknobs! WOW! Like they were some beautiful door handles! =)

 
Obviously the main purpose of our trip was to visit CERN. The Large Hadron Collider is 100m under Geneva but not in use at the moment since the leek in 2008. Ultimately they are sending two particles with opposite charge in opposite directions through a magnetic field for high speeds in order to collide them together. This creates the same type of setting there was during the big bang and so new particles that were around millions of years ago can be recreated. If you have seen Angels and Deamons there is a lot of this type of physics going on. But it is totally exaggerated!!! You cannot hold 3grams of antimatter in a container for that length of time without blowing up. And anyway its nearly impossible to create that amount of antimatter!!
 
I f you do not understand any of the above physicsy stuff, I do apologise and I will refrain form any further out burst of science....
 
We also visited the Red Cross Museum and the League of Nations. I loved the Red Cross tour. That place is amazing and what they do is even better. I found the UN a bit boring but the artwork kept me entertained. In one room, the roof was incredible. It was like being in a rainbow cave (*scroll up*).
 
Overall I would love to go back to Switzerland. The people are nice, the money is cool, the shops are expensive and the chocolate is yummy!
 
Marian

Sunday

Welcome

Hi there! Welcome to the newly named blog: "The Flying Key". After being away so much during the summer, I neglected my blog and other blogs with it. So to get back into the swing of things, I made a new url and name!
A fresh start so to speak.
I have also made a new header *scrolls up and nods head vigorously*. I actually drew it and scanned it on. Pity it looks like a 5 year olds scribble, left out in the rain after the dog ate it and spat it back out. But twill have to do!
I'm still on twitter, goodreads and all those other sites that I tend to become addicted to for weeks on end.
Bloglovin - (please follow, new blog means no followers ,so if you don't mind..)
Twitter
goodreads
instagram
pinterest
weheartit
*you can find the links on the sidebar*

If you're wondering how I chose the name, there are a number of reasons.
First of all there's the Harry Potter aspect of it all.
Flying is like defying gravity, therefore Wicked is inolved.
And the Flying Dutchman = pirates = Johnny Depp = future 3rd husband

And I just like keys....

So there you have it
Until next time...
Marian