Siggiewi World War Shelters

So, I have been slightly quiet the last few days, but I guess I needed some me time, as I have been very busy with work. I have made two new friends over the weekend, which was great too.

On Sunday, the Siggiewi World War Shelters opened for the very first time. There were a lot of people so it was difficult to get a lot of pictures. But this will give you a brief idea. For those who have been to Siggiewi, these shelters are right under the main piazza, so they are pretty massive. I used to think that the ones in Qormi are quite big, but it’s nothing compared to these shelters; corridors upon corridors, with small rooms which the families themselves dug to have their own private space.

Great work done by the Siggiewi Local Council who opened this for the public.

20150329 - Siggiewi World War Shelters (1) copy

20150329 - Siggiewi World War Shelters (2) copy

20150329 - Siggiewi World War Shelters (3) copy

Chocolate Chip Rock Buns

I will share with you my winner chocolate rock buns recipe. Now, you may think that this recipe is a bit weird, in the sense that it has ground almonds in it, but I thought this adds to both the texture and the taste of the rock buns. When I was young I used to eliminate this and replace it with flour, but boy was I missing out.

So, these are the ingredients you will need:

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 50 g ground almonds
  • 90 g butter or margarine
  • 90 g sugar
  • 90 g chocolate bits *
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 table spoon of baking powder

*this can be changed to raisins or candied peels or any other fruit you might want to have in your cookies

And this is the magic, also known as the method to make these gorgeous cookies:

  1. Before you start making the dough, make sure you start heating up the oven up to 180 degrees celsius. When making sweets, it’s of utmost important that the oven has reached the desired warmth otherwise it won’t cook the cakes properly.
  2. Sieve the flour and add the salt, sugar and the ground almonds. Make sure this is mixed thoroughly before you add in the butter or margarine. Stir this first using a wooden spoon and then using the ‘rubbing in’ method.
  3. At this moment add the chocolate bits and once this is mixed thoroughly, make a hole and add the beaten eggs. Keep stirring until you get a stiff ‘not so sticky’ mixture.
  4. Split the mixture into buns and place them on your baking tray. Make sure the buns look ‘rough’ and you can achieve this by using a fork to rough in it up.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes until they are light golden. Cool the rock buns on a wire wrack. You can add more sugar for extra sparkle but I usually skip this.

And the outcome should be something like this:

rockbuns

I made 8 buns with these measurements; they were around 10cm each, in diameter.

Pretty Little Liars – Charles

Hold and behold, what amazing season finale we had on Tuesday night (or in my case, since I’m in Europe… yesterday!).

I am still quite speechless about what I have seen, and I will most definitely have to rewatch the episode once more in the days to come. The episode was intense, I felt breathless a couple of times. I was so worried that one of the girls or one of their boyfriends is A!

girls

So, you can imagine my relief when I figured out the anagram…. Charles! And not just Charles… He’s a DiLaurentis! At one point while I was watching one of the earliest seasons of Pretty Little Liars, I was quite convinced that Alison had a twin; but it never gone through my mind that Jason could have a twin. The story was all the time about Alison, and Jason was never really the focus of the plot.

charles#

So…. my thoughts on the episode itself and the future epsiodes:

  • If Jason has a twin… Spencer has another brother…
  • We have met Charles before… but where?
  • A’s doll house… what’s up with that?
  • How long have the girls been stuck there? It looks like they new their way around the house by end of the episode… Does that suggest that within that 45 minutes, days have gone by?
  • Mona is blonde (yuck!) and alive
  • Andrew Campbell, is he in favour of the girls or against?
  • Emily and Alison… will there still be sparks between them?

girls2

GermanWings Plane Wreck Aftermath

Today the online news-feeds are all filled with photos of this horrible plane crash. I have also read about theories on what could have happened, and this is some of what I came across, which might be interest to you, and a quick recap of all things going on:

Both Mr. Hollande (France) and Ms. Merkel (German) were scene on the accident scene.

planewreck merkel and hollande

The before and after of the plane:

planewreck

…And the debris

planewreck3

planewreck4

planewreck2
The black-box / cockpit voice recorder is recovered

planewreck1

GermanWings plane crash; 150 dead

Today I will dedicate my blog post as a remembrance for those 150 people who are presumed to have lost their lives this morning in a plane crash aboard GermanWings Flight 4U9525. The passenger list is said to include two babies and 16 students who were on a school trip. The crash happened in a remote snowy area in the French alps. The plane left Barcelona to its destination being Düsseldorf in Germany.

germanwings-crash-france-map

A little under an hour since its departure, the officials received a call of distress.

5cc3108b-1949-410e-9368-0af129841d84
A rescue helicopter from the French Security Civil flies over the French Alps during a rescue operation after the crash of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes. (Reuters)

Since the weather conditions are considered to be drastic, with local storms, snow is above 1,800 metres and relatively low clouds, it is proving to be very difficult to land in the area with helicopters. French police explain that due to the difficult terrain, it is expected to take days to retrieve the bodies and debris.

During the conference, GermanWIngs CEO stated that the pilot has worked with the company for over 10 years and has over 6,000 flight hours under his belt. He continued saying that the crash itself lasted just 8 minutes. The crashed plane; A320 is 24 years old and has been serving with GermanWings since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will head to the crash site.

GermanWings is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, and is part of the services offered by Lufthansa. 

Laferla Cross walk

Another great area for walking, is the surroundings of Laferla Cross in Siggiewi. The walk is uphill and a bit tiring, however, you get to see the best views of Siggiewi and all the countryside which is part of the town I am living in. The photos below are of what you can see once up the hill. In the coming days I will also include other photos of the walk which leads to this cross. I encourage you to go here, as it is very peaceful and relaxing. It’s also really clean, and has just been renovated by the Siggiewi Local Council, thanks to the funds from the European Union.

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (47) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (48) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (58) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (13) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (34) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (38) copy

20150319 - Laferla Cross Siggiewi Walk (41) copy

I wonder…

Sometimes, I wonder why I used to spend time with certain people, even when they gave me so much shit….
Is it perhaps, because I did not love myself enough, or is it because I was in love with the idea of someone?

I wonder…

We love heartbreak, and we love putting it on ourselves. We’re more nostalgic for things that never happened than we are grateful and present in the things that are. We start missing things we never had, that we just created in our minds, in this false, alter-reality.

Brianna Wiest

Solar Eclipse

Have you managed to see the solar eclipse?

Are you stuck at work?

Is it too cloudy where you are?

This is what I managed to capture in the not so sunny Malta:

20150320 - Sun Eclipse (8) copy

20150320 - Sun Eclipse (9) copy

20150320 - Sun Eclipse (12) copy

X

My Pimped up Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino

Today, I decided to take a well known recipe and pimp it up to make it more tasty. It turned out divine and thought I will share it with you. Besides… I have not shared one of my recipes with you for a while 🙂

This can be served as either a main dish or as a starter…

Ingredients (for 2)

  • 200g pasta of your choice
  • olive oil
  • garlic, crushed
  • chili oil  (optional)
  • chilies, de-seeded and chopped thinly
  • mushrooms, chopped
  • butter
  • fine herbs
  • parsley, chopped thinly (optional)
  • spring onions
  • salt and pepper
  • cheese (grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, optional)

Method

  1. Start with cooking the pasta of your choice according to the instructions on the packet. Make sure that you leave them al dente. Drizzle some olive oil and fine herbs.
  2. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the cooking liquid in a glass on the side.
  3. In a frying pan I melted the butter and sauteed the crushed garlic and soon after, added the mushrooms.
  4. Once golden and not yet browned, I’ve put in the thinly chopped chilies, and added chili oil for the extra hot spice.
  5. Add the reserved cooking liquid.
  6. I didn’t want the spring onions to be fully cooked which is why I added them at this point. I wanted the bits to remain crunchy-ish.
  7. Once ready, add the pasta and season with parsley, salt and pepper.
  8. Toss to make sure that the pasta is covered in the mixture and everything is combined.
  9. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano.

20150319 aglio olio peperoncino pimped upBon Apetit!

Tattoos of Famous Paintings

As part of my on going research to find my next tattoo, I’ve indulged into researching tattoos of famous paintings, starting with my favourite painters/artists of course. Art has been a part of my life for years, and whenever I am on holiday, I do my best to visit art museums to learn more about this subject. My favourite museum to date is of course in Amsterdam since Van Gogh is my number 1 artist 🙂

Here’s some tattoos I come across, in no particular order:

  • Banksy

art_banksy art_banksy2

  • Hokusai

Art_The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” by Hokusai

  • Pablo Picasso

art_“War and Peace,” by Pablo Picasso

  • Salvador Dali

art_“The Elephants,” by Salvador Dalí

  • Michelangelo

art_“The Creation of Adam,” by Michelangelo

  • Van Gogh 

art_“The Scream,” Edvard Munsch  art_van gogh starry night