Cocktail Party!

Ice - lots of, spirits - a good mixture, mixers - a selection, one blender and an extensive home cooked Asian menu. Mix creatively and shake well together for a fun evening.

Bex's Bombshell

Nic Squared - Rum, rum and more rum.

Cocktail night host and chef

Nev's Pina Colada type cocktail

Bagged & Tagged (Liam's concoction)- which turned out to be a pretty nice one.

Another one from Nic & Nic - Nic Cubed

A second one from me, a little too strong, needed more milk.

Sue's turn - little too much cinnamon.

Legs Eleven

I've always wanted to go to a real bingo game, and last Sunday, armed with a borrowed blobber, which I have been told is actually known as a dabber, I reckon it sounds better as a blobber, I went to Beacon Bingo in Northampton accompanied by a few of my work mates in the first of our Xmas nights out. As you can guess from the photos, we went in costumes - pirates. The experience was a lot different from the bingo games I used to play in my English classroom.  

Pirate Bingo, the start of Xmas work fun!

Blobber, check!

The atmosphere in the hall is really intense, it's almost like no one is breathing properly as the numbers start, as soon as a 'claim' is made the whole hall exhales. Phew! The numbers are called at quite a sharp pace so you have to concentrate to keep up with what's been called. The whole thing is computerised, the numbers are produced from a computer, each bingo sheet has a number reference associated with it, so that when a 'bingo' is called, a member of staff shouts this number and the computer can tell the officials if it's a valid bingo or not.

Twenty quid buys you six books to play over about ten games of bingo. The session starts at 19.30 and lasts from about two hours with a few breaks here and there. There is a mixture of games played nationally and within the Northampton bingo hall we were in. The prizes got progressively more lucrative as the evening went on, up to £1000 for a line.

Me and my bingo buddy.

No Bingo prizes for me this evening.

I didn't win anything, shame, I had already earmarked the money for a plane ticket somewhere. We did have one winner in our group, Sophie, she won twenty quid for getting a line. Probably not somewhere I'd go every week, but it was a different night out.

Rest of the 'motley crew'.

Autumn Colours

Autumn in Japan is about going out and about to view the leaves as they change colour known in Japanese as ''momoji gari'', bringing a little Japan to UK, I went a little leaf viewing myself. A leaf viewing expedition in Japan would probably have also included an onsen visit, something that I really miss now I'm officially back in the UK for the foreseeable future.

Autumn light though the trees.

Pretty feathers

Photo Finalist!

Yes I am, I am a photo finalist! I found this competition in a random magazine when I was traveling though Cyprus to Lebanon, tlm-The Travel and Leisure Magazine. I am one of twelve with a chance to win a new camera where the winner is decided by public vote, hopefully I've round up enough support, fingers crossed! Of the twelve there are two photographers with two photos that made the final twelve, below are my favourites from the final twelve, to see the others see this link. I reckon the camel is my biggest competition.

I've entered a few competitions this summer with no results, it's a pretty easy/clever way for companies to get some free photos to use in their marketing materials, as the small print usually states that the company hosting the competition can use the photos as they wish.

A Locals Recommendation, Kent - Rebecca Watson

Bounding through the barley, Cornwall - Rose Pearson

Cornwall village - Dianne Stanford

A camera-friendly camel - Daniel Coutanche

Turtle Bay

Milton Keynes, a paradise for any retail chain outlet, we've got pretty much all of them. I'd pretty much come to terms with the fact that there is little to no independent shops, bars, restaurant, to be found here. But, guess what, Milky Beans now has a place to eat/drink that, as far as I'm aware, can't be found elsewhere. Wooooo Hooooo!! Welcome to Turtle Bay, a Caribbean themed bar/restaurant that stands where Dim T used to in The Hub.

New restaurant in Milky Beans!

Got chatting to one of the bar staff a few nights after the opening, he confirmed that the creator of Las Iguanas - a Mexican restaurant, is the same person who created Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is set to be a chain, one opening in Northampton next year sometime, but, for now, we here in Milton Keynes, have the first and only one.  

Island bar right in the middle.

Shrimp and mango curry with mango relish.

Nearly all the cocktails were rum based.

Would definitely recommend this place to a friend and will be returning to sample more from the menu. There is a £10 off two main meals voucher on their website which is valid until late February and appears to be valid any day of the week. There is a three day happy hour, lasting from Sunday though to Tuesday, or 12-19:30 Wednesday to Saturday and the cocktails are strong, delicious and totally worth it!

End of 2 for 1 cocktails.

Dim Sum in Leeds

Day in Leeds visiting Hannah in her uni town. Having Googled places to eat dim sum in Leeds, I found this place, Maxi's, a little hard to find with the one way street around the town but found it we did, and the food was pretty good. They even made us a noodle, sweet-pork dish that wasn't on the menu.