Questions I've answered

The lovely Bevchen at Confuzzledom nominated me for one of those award thingies, so I thought I'd answer the questions for it! I love these types of posts to read so I thought I'd write one in response. Thank you for the nomination! 
If you would like to answer the questions, answer these ones too- I'd like to see someone answer them better than me! I nominate anyone with an A in their name!

1. Why did you start your blog?

In all honesty, my friend Rach had started one and I was a PA with lots of time on my hands (oh the days before school work in the evening, when I started work at 9.30 and ended at 5pm!).  I have always written in my spare time- stories galore,poems and having a real live audience and your own place to write seemed a super idea! That was 10 years and 5 months ago, after I'd been reading Rach's for a few months!

2. What is the best food you’ve ever tried while travelling?

There are a few places and dishes I just loved!

When I first moved to Bali, I was scared and homesick and didn't know what to do about finding somewhere to live. Luckily, my friend Sophie was studying (on the same scholarship programme as I was but she was in her 3rd year) in Solo, Java and she heard from Ross, the other English Scholarship student that year, who I'd met in Jakarta when we arrived, that I was a bit miserable and scared and she invited me to come and stay in Solo until my Orientation programme in Yogya.

The first morning I was there, she took me to a warung (food place) near TBS and we had a simple Nasi Campur, which means you get a bowl of plain boiled rice and you pick bits to go on top. 

One of the extras they did was Tempeh Goreng which was a thin slice of tempeh (fermented bean curd) which was battered. It was THE most delicious thing I had ever tasted and I LOVED it. Better still, the meal in its entirety cost me 1500Rp which is just over 10p!

The dish I ate most evenings in Bali was at a market street stall and it is called Cap Jai (pronounced Chap Ji (rhyming with eye). It consists of leafy green veg, carrot slices, scrambled egg, tiny bits of chicken and a spicy chill sauce/stewy thick soupy mixture. You ate it with a bowl of plain boiled rice. I frankly adored it and not once did I get bored with eating it 5 evenings out of 7 for a year!

In Croatia, we stayed on this lovely little island called Sipan and ordered a regional speciality called 'lamb under the bell' in this lovely restaurant called 'The three sisters'. The lamb was cooked for a day under an enormous bell in a stone dish and it was SO delicious and tender with all the juices, amazing potatoes and veg.

The last choice is our honeymoon in Switzerland. We had travelled on the Glacier Express to the east of Switzerland to the Engadine valley and we stayed in a beautiful village called Guarda where they spoke the Romansch language.  On the first night, we went to eat in a local hotel and CBC ordered this beef dish. It arrived, this massive piece of beef that had been amazingly cooked, the gravy had been long prepared with juices and it had a massive plate of broccili and green vegetables cooked exquisitely. It was truly delicious and I rather wished I hadn't wanted to try a local speciality and ordered this! 

3. If you could have a second home where would it be and why?

That's a difficult question.  I really do love Austria, Switzerland and Germany, so actually a Swiss village in the Alps would be wonderful.  Alternatively, I adore Hay on Wye or Cornwall!

4.  If you were a ghost, which place would you haunt?

Er, what a bizarre question! I really don't know! Probably somewhere I wouldn't be able to access in real life!

5.  Have you ever planned a trip just because a book/film was set there?

I'm really not sure I have!  Aren't I an unsentimental one!

6. What is your favourite item in your home?

Awwww,  this is HARD!!! I'm pretty attached to my bed (the one in the spare room  more as it was my bed before, pity I don't sleep in it now!) . My flute is pretty cool and I do have a lot of affection for the bookcases and the squirrel painting!

7. What is your favourite pancake topping/filling? (depending on how you make your pancakes :-))

I'm afraid, despite trying a few other items, it's lemon and sugar all the way.

8.   Which song title best represents your life right now?

I really don't listen to the type of songs this question implies so I genuinely cannot answer this! I've sat for a while and still can't think of anything!

Ok, so many minutes later..

 If I could, I'd maybe say that the sentiment in 'Purify my heart' by Brian Doerksen as I think I've been really disappointed in myself for a while, my attitudes, actions.

9. Which of your blog posts has the most views? 

It's really rather odd but this one where I was wearing a sailor dress in this post and it wasn't a particularly note-worthy post but one day, a few months after the post, for some bizarre reason, there were 1000 pageviews in one hour on it, so it shot to the top of my page views list. It must be some sort of computer blip because I can't fathom why that happened in one hour! 

Other than that, again, it's a weird one- the blog post entitled How NOT to produce a blog outfit post. where I schlepped around in an unironed, creased outfit with unbrushed, messy hair (but with cute fox necklace!)

10.  What is a book you’ve been meaning to read for a while but keep putting off?

War and Peace by that Russian gezzer and Coot Club by Arthur Ransome- it's been on my shelf for ages! I need to read and finish it so I can give it to WOMOTM who expressed an interest in it when I mentioned it a year ago or so! Also, CBC bought me the 'Finkler Question' for Christmas a couple of years ago for some reason and it didn't look like a 'me' book so I just kept ignoring it subliminally!