Introducing: A Spot of Shakespeare

Tags

,

451 years ago, in the sleepy English town of Stratford-upon-Avon, one William Shakespeare was born…supposedly. Although no one actually knows his date of birth, records indicate he was baptised on 26 April, and there is general consensus that one was baptised back then three days after birth. So, although today is not officially Shakespeare’s birthday, it’s certainly the most widely accepted account—which, by the way, is just one of the many common myths and beliefs attached to Shakespeare.

happy-birthday-willOn this (unofficially) auspicious day, I’m pleased to announce my new series of blog posts, entitled A Spot of Shakespeare. Every week, I’ll be making at least one post about an aspect of Shakespeare or Shakespeare-ness, such as his England, his language, his works, his contemporaries, and any recent productions I might have attended. Some of these will be brief overviews, while others will contain a detailed explanation of a Shakespearean snippet, but all in all, I’ll be keeping the posts relatively short so you can nibble on them along with tea and biscuits during an afternoon break.

Continue reading »

Belfast Fivers: Build a Burger

Tags

, , , ,

I’ve been amassing a collection of photos and notes about restaurants in Belfast, but only just had a chance to sit down and put together a proper post. When I started teaching on a university course in February, I ended up spending quite a bit of time in the university area, and decided to try out a bunch of eateries. I was open to try out anything and everything, but seeing as the student area always had a whole bunch of meal deals and such, I toyed with the idea of doing a series of blog posts about relatively cheap eats. The aim was to find lunch (or perhaps even dinner) for under £5, and to that end, I present to you the first of the Belfast Fivers: Build a Burger!

Burgers at the ready! I had a BBQ Double, while my friend had a vegan burger (much to her delight).

Burgers at the ready! I had a BBQ Double, while my friend had a vegan burger (much to her delight).

Continue reading »

2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge – Quarterly Check-in

Tags

Hi everyone, I hope you’ve been enjoying the Authors A to Z reading challenge so far! We’re a quarter of the way through the year (!!), and I thought I’d ask about your progress. How many books have you read? Are you on track? Have you discovered any new authors? Do tell all, and link your progress page/s–I’d absolutely love to know!

On my part, I’ve been a little swamped by many work commitments, and have only managed to read 7 books that qualify for the challenge. Of these, I’ve not yet pushed myself to go out of my comfort zone, but I suspect that as I progress further in the challenge, I’ll be picking up books I wouldn’t usually read. And that’s an exciting thought indeed! You can find my progress list here.

March books: Rebecca and Cranford

Tags

, , , ,

March was a pretty crazy month for me, with teaching classes, some hard-core PhD writing, and quite a bit of work for Regency Love, so I only managed two books. Two wonderful books, though, so I’m not complaining!

8. Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca (7 March)

08-rebeccaBlurb: Working as a lady’s companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers…

Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.

Continue reading »

The Pound Cake Project: Part 3 – Finale (Days and Ways #9-12)

Tags

, , ,

It’s time for the finale of the pound cake project! (For the previous posts, check out part 1 and part 2.) I had great fun playing with these four variations, and was very pleased with all the results. Unfortunately, my camera SD card decided to give out after I’d taken photos for the final variation, and I didn’t realise until much later… Fortunately, I’d snapped a photo with my phone because I couldn’t resist sharing it with a few friends—I hope you won’t mind the sub-par quality of the shot!

And without further ado, here are the last four pound cake variations:

Day/Way #9: French “toast”

If you can dunk a slice of bread in an eggy, milky mixture and fry it, why not do the same with pound cake?

Why not, indeed!

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Continue reading »

The Pound Cake Project: Part 2 (Days and Ways #5-8)

Tags

, , ,

It’s been way too long since my initial 12 Days and Ways with Pound Cake post (more from the lack of time to post than to gobble up the goodness), but I’ve finally put together the next four variations. Hope you get a chance to enjoy these!

Day/Way #5: Simply fried

I heated a rough tablespoon glob of butter on medium-high until it was happily bubbling away, then added my fifth slice of pound cake. Mine was a little charred because I was indecisive about which ice-cream I wanted, and subsequently got distracted rummaging through my freezer. Eventually, I opted for a few scoops of gooey Häagen-Dazs salted caramel, which was just delightful with the butter-fried and slightly caramelised cake.

poundcake-05-fried-a

Lots of wonderful contrasts here: sweet and salty, hot and cold, crunchy and creamy.

Continue reading »

February books

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

February turned out to be a lot busier than anticipated, primarily due to a teaching position I was offered at the university that was very, very last-minute. But yay, I managed to squeeze in four books during my (sometimes sleepy) bedtime reading!

4. Alexander Pushkin – The Queen of Spades and Other Stories (trans. Rosemary Edmonds; Penguin) (8 Feb)
5. Joanna Briscoe – You (17 Feb)
6. Jennifer E. Smith – The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (22 Feb)
7. Vladimir Nabokov – Despair (28 Feb)

Continue reading »

12 Days and Ways with Pound Cake (Cake Recipe and #1-4)

Tags

, , ,

One of my favourite ways to spend a free(-ish) afternoon is to amble into the kitchen, switch on the radio, and play with my mixing bowls. A few weeks ago, when my afternoon/evening plans fell through and I didn’t want to clock any ‘over-time’, I decided to flip through my trusty copy of Nick Malgieri’s How to Bake in search of something to use up some soon-to-be out-of-date eggs—and lo, on page 280, I found his ‘Easy Pound Cake’. Named after its historic 1-1-1-1 ratio of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar (in pounds—hence the name), this cake is fairly common, but one I hadn’t made before. So I pulled over my apron, rolled up my sleeves, and got down to some serious hand-mixing.

The gorgeous darling.

The gorgeous darling.

Continue reading »

Reviews: January classics (Nesbit, Gaskell, Aeschylus)

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

January wasn’t anywhere near as booktastic as I would’ve liked, but the three I’d finished were all very enjoyable. I had decided to start working on the Classics Reading challenge first, and now I’m finding it hard to put down those lovely old books!

1. E. Nesbit – The Story of the Treasure Seekers (3 Jan)
2. Elizabeth Gaskell – Mary Barton (16 Jan)
3. Aeschylus – Prometheus Bound, The Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes, The Persians (trans. Philip Vellacott) (31 Jan)

As always, I’ve included cover images of the version I’d picked up. Some of them were a little difficult to find, so please pardon the poor image quality!

Continue reading »

Carlingford, Ireland

Tags

, , ,

Two weeks ago, I had the honour of attending my first Irish wedding reception, which was a flamboyant affair with lots of good craic. The reception was held in Carlingford in County Louth, Ireland, which is about a two-hour drive from Belfast. I carpooled with two friends, and we decided to make a weekend out of it—it turned out we had excellent timing, because the weather was magnificent, the sun was out, and everything was green and beautiful and picturesque. And I thought, well, why not make a blog post out of some of the photos I’d taken.

A few facts about Carlingford:

  • Carlingford is an Irish coastal town with an urban population of about 1,000 people;
  • The town is about 11km south of the border with Northern Ireland, and 90km north of Dublin;
  • Carlingford has a castle! King John’s Castle is named after King John, who reigned from 1199–1216, was younger brother of Richard the Lionheart, and has his own Shakespearean history play (surely the highest honour attainable by a British monarch or Roman figure). Unfortunately, work on restoring parts of the castle (it’s pretty darn old!) has been “under construction” for many, many years, and the inner castle remains inaccessible;
  • There are remains of a Dominican Friary, which was established in the 14th Century; and
  • You can grab a pint of Guinness at Taaffe’s Castle, which is basically a pub in a castle. It’s really all about the Guinness and the castles.
carlingford01

One of the wee Medieval streets in Carlingford. We had a lovely time meandering through these and going into the homely little shops.

carlingford02

The view of Carlingford’s town centre from a road along the coast.

Continue reading »