Halloween at Warwick Castle

I got to have a lie in at Saturday before going over to see Kerry and Craigs new house, which is very nice. We went out to a charity shop called New Life, which gets donations from shops and sells them on cheap and managed to get a few new things (my winter wardrobe is a bit shabby and in some cases falling apart). 

And then we drove over to Warwick castle. Kerry and Craig had got us all tickets for the Halloween evening at the castle.

Warwick castle.

Inside the court yard

After getting in, the first priority for all was food. There were a lot of people for only a few food places so it took some time. We were all so much happier once we had eaten.

We headed to a decorated path thing (not entirely sure what it was).

Headed in.

Romantic skeletons.

ghosts

vomiting gargoyle.

While I was taking the photo above, my sister decided to try to scare me. She walked in front of her husband and when she passed on of the bales of hay around, ducked behind it to jump out and scare me. But I had paused to take a photo and a young boy (about 9 yrs old) jumped in front. I am not sure who was most shocked when she leaped out at him. I was right behind and the looks on both their faces was priceless. That is Karma! (And that's the last time he jumps the queue!)

Spooky skies.

Heading back into the castle

We had a dungeons tour (which wasn't in the dungeon). They had rooms set out with witches and torturers etc. The last one was impressive. It went completely dark and the actor managed to move around without any light and making no sound. When the lights came back, he was standing right in front of you. Luckily I was pretty sure (and right) when he was in front of me, due to the process of elimination - he had been everywhere else but there at that point. I was not a great fan of that. Doing a lot of self-defence classes has taught me to react loudly and with violence when someone startles me when backed into a corner and gets in my face. Thankfully I managed not to hit anyone (though I did punch the wall when something moved behind me - it was just the seat moving but it felt like someone trying to grab my ass).

I was really looking forward to seeing the fire jousting. I wish I could explain it but I can't. As we couldn't see it. There were way too many people around so we headed back so the others could finally get their donuts. (We had been in the queue a few times but it never moved so we gave up. But everyone was now trying to watch the jousting so we succeeded.)

It was a long trip back, though Craig's impressive driving through the car park meant we managed to skip most of the queues getting out!

Dads First Sushi

I went home last weekend for a long weekend (it has taken me a while to get my photos transferred from my phone to computer due to technical issues). On Friday, after a trip to the dentists and taking my car for its MOT (happily we both passed with no problems), Dad and I got the train into Birmingham city centre.

The main purpose was for Dad to try his first sushi. (Mom won't but she was at work anyway.) So after some shopping and a look around the city centre which has changed a lot since I was last there, we headed to the Arcadian area and found selected one of the Japanese restaurants I have googled.

Dad very much liked the warm sake.

Cheers!

Pretty sake.

We ordered a sushi and sashimi boat which lots of different options (and some extra grilled eel as it's my favourite).

I also forgot it would be the first time he used chopsticks! But he got the hang of them really quickly, much quicker than I did the first 5 times I used them! 

Unsure....

... nope, he likes!

We enjoyed a lot of sushi and sat finishing the sake until they basically kicked us out. We went for a walk to walk it all off. The around around the Arcadian is lovely. 

Dad had heard of a new fad that he wanted to try, cheese tea. Unfortunately all the places google maps came up with sold cheese and tea but not cheese tea. (I did google this and it is a real thing.) We walked all over the city centre looking for it before giving up and settling for a boring coffee instead. We got back a bit late - Mom was wondering where we had gone. But it was really nice spending the day with Dad. And I think he'll be having sushi again (he's already trying to figure out hick of his friends he can introduce it to).

Happy Halloween

On Halloween this year, I decided to stay home and cook. (And given the weather I think I made the correct choice!)
I have a great recipe for pizza dough which has just 2 ingredients. It was so simple and tastes so good, though getting it into a snake was a bit tricker.

Snake calzone

"Are you talking to me?"

It was filled with mushrooms, olives, homemade tomato sauce, and pineapple. (Which is basically what I had in my kitchen!) And of course an Italian wine. Well if was Friday night!

Halloween special dinner

This weekend has been a real mixed bag of really good and really bad. But campus is very pretty at the moment with the fall leaves. It is not going to last very long. :-( Another week and it will be dark nights and super cold. It supposed to go below 0 C this weekend. Winter is coming. So I have been enjoying the sun whenever I can.

Near the department

Drill field,  looking towards the Memorial.

Once again I am spending the weekend working and cooking (including my favorite soup) and cleaning. But my apartment smells great now and I feel quite accomplished! :-)

Happy Halloween!