Exploring the South West!

So some of you may know that I went to visit my boyfriend last week who's currently studying in Exeter, Devon. I got back yesterday after a wonderful week to find my house here in disarray so I'm writing this blog post to put off facing the mess the boys were kind enough to create while I was gone!

Anyway, you didn't come to this blog post to read my complaints, so let's get on with the week in pictures! Naturally I didn't take photos every day because I fail, but I got a lot of photos on one day so hopefully that'll do.

On Sunday we went to Dartington Food and Drink festival, which was a lot of fun. Had a delicious steak pasty for lunch (while in Devon...) and looked around all the different types of food Dartington had to offer. There were also animals there, which was just too cute! (Some of these photos are stolen from one of my friend's Facebook page.)

These were truly delicious. My pasty was warm too! Yum! Yeah, you can see that Mario and I appreciated them in the photo below, although my facial expression says otherwise...

The name of this tea made me laugh just a little too much probably! I wish I'd have bought it but it was hibiscus tea and I'm not such a fan :(

We had a barbecue that evening that the boyfriend was kind enough to cook for us. It was delicious! I won't include photos otherwise this post will be far too photo-heavy... But Mario's housemate did make a delicious Nutella cheesecake (recipe can be found here, good ol' Nigella) and I have to include a photo of that!!

(I'm clearly no food photographer...)

 We were blessed with gorgeous weather all week and I'm so grateful for that. We explored the coast a little on Monday and we went to Branscombe and Seaton, which are gorgeous seaside towns.

Seaton

Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet days. We went into town for a spot on Shopping on Tuesday and then went to a place called Trago Mills on Wednesday. Trago Mills is like a giant warehouse with literally everything in it and most of it is quite reduced in price! Mario was in his element.

Thursday was a very busy day. Mario originally wanted to go camping, but changed his mind halfway through the day. We did explore a lot of Cornwall though! First stop was Land's End. It was on Mario's list of things to do before he dies, so it was nice to tick one of them off! It's such a beautiful place and I may be spamming with pictures, but it is worth it; I think it is anyway!

Panoramic!

We then drove on a little way to the Minack Theatre. We did want to look round but after paying £5 to park at Land's End (!!!), we didn't really want to spend too much more money! We did walk down a little way and found a gorgeous cove that I have usefully forgotten the name of. Sorry :/ The sea was such a beautiful colour and the beach looked so sandy!

Cheeky shot of me, thanks Mario!

We then had lunch in Penzance. Delicious fish and chips on the seafront. It felt like I was truly on holiday! After a bit more driving around, we went to Hayle, which was another pretty town. In case you hadn't guessed it, there are many pretty towns in Cornwall. Definitely worth a visit if you have the opportunity!

We then went home after an exhausting day. Mario was worn out after driving all day so the next two days were lazy days. We stayed around Exeter and it was wonderful. Mario made biscotti and I attempted to make honeycomb, but I'm pretty sure the boyfriend ruined it :P We also made icecream, orange flavoured, but I left before I had a chance to try it. Hopefully it's tasty though!!

( recipe can be found here :) )

Yesterday I just spent the day travelling back to Nottingham and here I shall stay for the next 10 days or so until I go home. I'm going job hunting this afternoon, but the weather's nice so it shouldn't be too bad!

Sorry for spamming you with so many photos, but thank you for sticking it out until the end. Until next time!

How To Make Chocolate Rice Krispies Nests!

My sister, Charlotte, and I decided to make chocolate Easter nests on Tuesday! We were in the mood for baking and these delicious nests require the minimal amount of "baking" ever!

I'm clearly a professional food photographer...

I know there are many recipes out there to show you how to make these appetising little nests, but I thought I'd share how we made them! None of the measurements are exact as we just did it by eye a lot!

 Makes 24 Nests

You will need:

200g Milk Chocolate

100 g Plain Chocolate

A packet of Rice Krispies (You won't need them all!)

2 packets of Mini Eggs!

First of all, we broke up 200g of milk chocolate and 100g of plain chocolate into a glass, heat-proof bowl. Just use the supermarket's cheapest brand of chocolate as it melts a lot better than the posh, expensive stuff! Put some boiling water in a saucepan, but don't fill it completely. Then place the bowl of tasty chocolate on top of the saucepan, making sure that the chocolate doesn't actually touch the water!

Yuuuuum!

Stir the chocolate until it has all melted into a delicious smooth mixture! 

(I know the following photo still has lumps of chocolate, but we did keep stirring it! It took a lot longer than I thought it would...)

We then bought the supermarket's own brand of Rice Krispies (students on a budget!) and added them into the bowl. There was no exact measuring going on here... I just kept telling Charlotte to add more if I felt it necessary. It's quite easy to tell; if there is a lot of chocolate just existing in the bowl without a job, you need to add more! Stir in the rice krispies until they're all nicely coated with the chocolatey goodness!

 

After this fun is done, line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases. We made 24 Easter nests out of this batch. Using a couple of teaspoons, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and make a little well in the middle of them, to make a nest shape.

We then spoilt ourselves by buying Cadbury's Mini Eggs. Obviously, if you're on a budget, you can buy the cheaper equivalent, but these were on offer! We put two Mini Eggs in each nest, apart from some that had three. I was a bit obsessive about not having matching egg-colours in the nests!

After doing this, just leave them on the side to set, or in the fridge if you're in a rush, then tuck in! The plain chocolate makes them a little more bitter than just milk chocolate, which is a delicious addition!

All over the table... We're so smooth.

Et voilà! There you have it :) Your very own delicious Easter nests! I hope that you enjoyed making them and let me know how yours turn out!

Turns out it's also delicious crumbled over ice cream! This particular flavour was raspberry ripple :)

Bakewell!

My parents came to visit me last week and we went to the gorgeous village of Bakewell, which is located in Derbyshire. I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful place and I didn't want to leave! I decided for definite that I want to open tea rooms when I'm older and my parents actually support my decision, which is amazing.

So, onto the photos! We were blessed with gorgeous weather when we went to Bakewell, so that may have influenced, or at least encouraged, my love for the place. It is situated on the River Wye in the Derbyshire Dales and, according to Wikipedia, it is the only town included in the Peak District National Park. Every photo included in this post are my own :)

I just loved seeing the row of seagulls sat on top of this apartment building! There was another building next to it that looked the same and also had seagulls sat up there!

"This attractive medieval five-arched bridge built around 1300 is one of the oldest in the country and still carries main road traffic over the River Wye." (Fowkes, 2001)

And, of course, what with Bakewell being famous for its puddings and tarts, I had to have a cup of tea and a slice of Bakewell tart! It would have been criminal otherwise! I have included a link to a recipe for a Bakewell tart for those of you who don't know what one is! Just click here to go to the recipe :)

This was in the window of the tea rooms we went to for our tea and tart. You're able to post a tart to anywhere in the country, which I just thought was awesome! The café was called The Bakewell Tart Shop.

This tea cosy and stacked teacups were in a window of a cute shop, and I decided that I had to take a photo, along with the photo underneath, which was also in the window of the shop!

There was a craft fair on in the scout hut on the day that we went there so Mum and I made a beeline for it, as I get my love of crafts from her! On one stall, a company called Diamond Lil's was selling adorable hairclips and brooches. I wanted to buy them all but in the end I settled for this gorgeous little gingerbread man hairclip!

But yes, that was my summary of my day in Bakewell. It's such a beautiful place. If you have the opportunity to go, make sure you let me know so I can come with you :P I'm just joking! But seriously, you should go if you can. It's gorgeous!

Introduction!! And my evening.

Well it's time for me to introduce myself to you. If you've been reading my blog since I started it last week, which I suspect no one has been following it religiously, then I'm sure you're wondering who Hanana the Banana really is, and whether she is actually a banana!

Sorry to disappoint you. I am not some magical banana who has hands.

This is me. The aim of this picture was to show off my hair, hence the two images next to each other... But yes.

Hi. My name is Hannah. I am 22 years old and I am a student currently studying German with French in Nottingham, England. I am like any typical student, as in I'm far too stressed some of the time, far too laid back some of the time, or far too drunk to care the rest of the time! I have many interests which include hair, makeup, crafting and singing. I make friendship bracelets and run a (very) small business called Banana Bracelets.

I dye my hair frequently and I'm sure you will see a hair timeline at some point as I have had many colours and colour-combinations! The above colour was for Christmas, but I will be re-colouring it soon as I'm getting really bored of it. I am also interested in piercings and other body modifications. I've not done any of my piercings myself, don't you worry, and I'm still deciding what I should have as my first tattoo!

If you have any questions to ask me, please feel free to leave me a comment asking me!

So it was my housemate, Matt's, birthday today (11th Jan) and he reached the age of 22. He is naturally very drunk at the moment as he had some mates up to celebrate tonight. I'm off alcohol at the moment so I decided to save my money and call it a night after the first bar we went to!

Christine and I made Matt a birthday brownie yesterday! It's SO delicious. I almost can't believe I made something that delicious myself! (With Christine's help, of course...) Maybe I'll post the recipe I used here soon :)

I really need to stop biting my nails...

Anyway, I am now tucked up in bed, in my pyjamas, with a cup of camomile with spiced apple tea, watching Love Never Dies, which my best friend (also called Hannah!) bought me for Christmas. It's SO delicious and I'll write about the Love Never Dies DVD in tomorrow's entry :D

I hope that you all have had a lovely week. I had a French speaking test today so that was fun! Got my German one next week... Ah the joys of a uni student!