For Christmas I bought my Mum and Chocolate making experience for 2 and being the cheeky daughter I am invited myself along to make up the 2! We spent the day shopping in Oxford Street before arriving at My Chocolate to start the experience. We were taken in to great kitchen surrounded with chocolate and offered tea or coffee where our Chocolatier introduced some chocolate tasters for us to sample and explained to us the history of chocolate. Then he set about showing us hot to make vanilla cream truffles, dark chocolate caramel fudge, nut brittle and Gianduja.
After this the fun began and we moved in to the cut and dipping room. Here we had a slab of fudge, a slap of Gianduja, some nut brittle, some truffles and some bowls of melted chocolate and various bits to decorate with. And we set about cutting, dipping and decorating our chocolate. We both had great fun getting covered in chocolate and trying really hard not to lick our fingers. I am not very artistic so my chocolates ended up looking like a mess of chocolate but some people around the table were very talented making very professional looking chocolates. We then got to bag and box up our chocolates and tie ribbons around them and bring them home. I was very pleased to be able to bring some chocolate to reward my Dad who had spend the whole day obliterating the orange paint in the dining room - thank you so much Dad.
So now I have a rather delicious set of chocolates in the fridge even if they do look rather messy they taste gooooooood!
So we are in the new house, it all went very smoothly on the day. We had completed by 11:00 out of the old house by noon and the removal men had left by 4. There were no nasty surprises awaiting us apart from the red gloss windowsill and number of wallpaper borders there are which I had totally forgotten about since looking round. Everything is tickety boo, there is even some frog spawn in the pond and some rhubarb in the vegetable patch. There is quite a bit of decorating to do. The dado has to go along with the stone cladding in the living room. Also the orange walls in the dining room will be the first thing to be changed. We are loving the French doors out in to the garden, it will be so nice to be able to just step outside in the summer. The garden is huge and fantastic and if it stops raining them I will take my camera outside.
So it is all done and packed and tomorrow we move house. I have spent the last week wrestling with boxes trying to get all our stuff packed. 'We don't have much, most of it is still packed from going to Cameroon' I said, oh boy we have so much stuff it is unreal. A car full goes of to the tip courtesy of Joe parents (thanks) and that is a mere drop in the ocean of stuff that we have. How did we ever collect so much stuff, it is amazing and we still have stuff at my parents house to collect after the move - eek! Well tomorrow it will all go in one lorry (I hope) ready to move in to our new house.
I think we have never truly settled in to this house since our return as we knew we would be moving. We have a saying that has come quite common 'in the new house we will................' I wonder how many of those things we will do. I plan to grow vegetables in my new green house which I really hope I fulfil.
Once we have moved we will finally feel ready to open all those boxes from the loft and parents houses to unearth just how much junk we have. Everything mush have a place to live or be trown away - lets see how that goes! Off to Ikea to get more storage stuff me thinks.
Moving is not much fun, we accepted our offer on November and it feels like forever ago. With only two houses in the chain we thought it would be pretty quick but never mind we are almost there. By tomorrow evening I will be a very happy bunny and a celebratory pub dinner is in order I think, especially as we will have no oven we dong have much choice.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about Cameroon. I often think about Cameroon but recently even more so. The weather is cold and miserable now, in Cameroon it is the peak of the dry season and everyday would be glorious. Genesis and Marceline have just had their second baby (although not actually in Cameroon). Many thoughts have been brought on by Bills return to Cameroon following an unplanned visit to the states. Email conversations as he prepared to return and then when he saw all his friends again. Our friend Didimus has been in hospital following a car accident. All these things makes me wish I too was in Cameroon. Here is a video Bill found based in Buea and in Buea town market. Seeing sights I saw everyday, hearing the voices of the local people, seeing the produce in the market, things that were so familiar and now seam so foreign.
However in recent weeks I have been worried for Cameroon and glad I home in a safe country. The nation has been a nation of riots. Increasing fuel prices started the riots but soon this just became the ignition as the focus turned political as the President wanted to change the constitution so he could try to remain in power. Our peace corp friends were getting ready to be pulled out of the country, are Cameroonian friends had no such luxury and just hid in their homes waiting and hoping it will pass. Running out of food as there was no movement on the roads.
Thankfully it looks like things are settling down and the rioting has ceased but things are not yet completely normal. My heart goes out to Cameroon. I remember you fondly and hope you remain the stable peaceful country I spent a year in.
