Recent weeks in bullet points:
Things I have cooked in recent weeks:
- Ginger and spiced Christmas cookies. I made them for the Ramblers, my office, and the finance office. Yum!
- Chocolate truffles. So easy to make, and an evening spent with a bottle of rum in one hand and a bar of chocolate in the other is an evening well spent.
- Chocolate and coconut fudge. VERY easy to make, and my manager's favourite.
- Chocolate flapjack (noticing a trend here?).
- Chocolate circles with dried fruit on top. Looks exactly as it sounds, but yummy.
- Many different batches of soup. Winter, 'tis the season for warming foods!
Concerts I have seen in recent weeks:
- University of Manchester Baroque Orchestra.
- University of Manchester Big Band.
- Resident quartet Quatour Danel.
- Amazing baritone Marcus Farnsworth singing Byron poetry in German.
- Chorus and Symphony's production of Elijah by Mendelssohn. Three hundred singers, a full orchestra, and one breath-taking event. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but it didn't matter because the experience was fabulous.
- Two music lecturers performing The Rite of Spring as a piano duet. Magnificent.
- Various odd and unusual lunchtime concerts which usually feature more modern compositions. I don't really know enough about music to say whether they are good or bad, but they are certainly different. One of them included a song performed solely on desk bells. Yeah.
Exciting and interesting things I have done recently:
- Went to Shrewsbury for the day with my mother for some Christmas shopping and a change of scenery.
- Joined a choir, the Choir and Orchestra Society, fittingly known as CAOS. I'm surrounded by music all day and I really wanted to do something musical too, but not something high pressured. This is a non-audition, informal choir, and perfect for me.
- With said choir, performed in the annual Carols by Candlelight Christmas service at the Holy Name church in Manchester. Huge, gorgeous candle-lit church with us up high in the choir stalls - amazing event.
- Ventured along with a friend to the Chorlton Film Institute to see The Orphanage, a great Spanish film which is really creepy and kind of scary. I'd seen it before, but my friend Ellie said she had nightmares afterwards. It's pretty damn good.
- Went with the Ramblers to visit Tatton Park and marvel at the huge grounds and very well decorated mansion house. So. Many. Christmas trees. We don't have one in our flat so this visit made up for our lack of Christmas cheer.
- Went on another walk with the Ramblers which turned out to be the Hardest Walk Ever. At least twelve miles and several hills in the ice and clear, cold air. We didn't dare stop because we'd probably freeze, so we actually RAN parts of it and were in the pub before it got dark. Some great icicles to be seen as well.
- Visited Manchester's Christmas Markets more times than I care to remember. Mulled wine = yum. Living so close to the markets this year = even better.
Ways in which I fail:
- Bought Christmas cards ages ago, and only gave some out in work today. Have not put a single one in the post, despite the mulititudes who keep sending them to us. How did they get our address? Bah humbug! (Next year will be more organised, promise.)
- Am now getting ill, even though it's so nearly Christmas and I only have one day in work left.
- Appear to have strained my back in some unknown, but painful, way. Am I old now?
That's all for now folks as I need a nice early night tonight to help get over whatever it is that is making me feel rubbish. Hoping to finish early for Christmas Eve tomorrow and then am going home to be with my family! Happy holidays, everyone, regardless of what you believe or how you spend them.
- Ginger and spiced Christmas cookies. I made them for the Ramblers, my office, and the finance office. Yum!
- Chocolate truffles. So easy to make, and an evening spent with a bottle of rum in one hand and a bar of chocolate in the other is an evening well spent.
- Chocolate and coconut fudge. VERY easy to make, and my manager's favourite.
- Chocolate flapjack (noticing a trend here?).
- Chocolate circles with dried fruit on top. Looks exactly as it sounds, but yummy.
- Many different batches of soup. Winter, 'tis the season for warming foods!
Concerts I have seen in recent weeks:
- University of Manchester Baroque Orchestra.
- University of Manchester Big Band.
- Resident quartet Quatour Danel.
- Amazing baritone Marcus Farnsworth singing Byron poetry in German.
- Chorus and Symphony's production of Elijah by Mendelssohn. Three hundred singers, a full orchestra, and one breath-taking event. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but it didn't matter because the experience was fabulous.
- Two music lecturers performing The Rite of Spring as a piano duet. Magnificent.
- Various odd and unusual lunchtime concerts which usually feature more modern compositions. I don't really know enough about music to say whether they are good or bad, but they are certainly different. One of them included a song performed solely on desk bells. Yeah.
Exciting and interesting things I have done recently:
- Went to Shrewsbury for the day with my mother for some Christmas shopping and a change of scenery.
- Joined a choir, the Choir and Orchestra Society, fittingly known as CAOS. I'm surrounded by music all day and I really wanted to do something musical too, but not something high pressured. This is a non-audition, informal choir, and perfect for me.
- With said choir, performed in the annual Carols by Candlelight Christmas service at the Holy Name church in Manchester. Huge, gorgeous candle-lit church with us up high in the choir stalls - amazing event.
- Ventured along with a friend to the Chorlton Film Institute to see The Orphanage, a great Spanish film which is really creepy and kind of scary. I'd seen it before, but my friend Ellie said she had nightmares afterwards. It's pretty damn good.
- Went with the Ramblers to visit Tatton Park and marvel at the huge grounds and very well decorated mansion house. So. Many. Christmas trees. We don't have one in our flat so this visit made up for our lack of Christmas cheer.
- Went on another walk with the Ramblers which turned out to be the Hardest Walk Ever. At least twelve miles and several hills in the ice and clear, cold air. We didn't dare stop because we'd probably freeze, so we actually RAN parts of it and were in the pub before it got dark. Some great icicles to be seen as well.
- Visited Manchester's Christmas Markets more times than I care to remember. Mulled wine = yum. Living so close to the markets this year = even better.
Ways in which I fail:
- Bought Christmas cards ages ago, and only gave some out in work today. Have not put a single one in the post, despite the mulititudes who keep sending them to us. How did they get our address? Bah humbug! (Next year will be more organised, promise.)
- Am now getting ill, even though it's so nearly Christmas and I only have one day in work left.
- Appear to have strained my back in some unknown, but painful, way. Am I old now?
That's all for now folks as I need a nice early night tonight to help get over whatever it is that is making me feel rubbish. Hoping to finish early for Christmas Eve tomorrow and then am going home to be with my family! Happy holidays, everyone, regardless of what you believe or how you spend them.