Geeky Gamer: The Simpsons: Tapped Out

It has been quite a while since I've been slightly kind of obsessed (ok totally obsessed!) with a game and The Simpsons: Tapped Out has spoilt my clean record. D'oh! I'll take comfort in that I didn't pay a penny for it as it's completely free! :)

Homer has once again destroyed Springfield and it is your job to help Homer and Lisa rebuild the town from scratch. It has a bit of The Sims about it as you order the characters around and build stuff. At the moment there's a Halloween theme update on the game which allows you to vandalise other Springfield towns and destroy zombies and pet zombies before they turn your characters. It's all a lot of fun! There are a ton of things to discover as you play the game and complete the quests :)

Rebuild the town and collect the taxes. 

Trick or treat? Trick it is!

And be warned, if your phone is not on silent you may find yourself hearing Homer talking to you quite regularly... Highly amusing! (My boyfriend thinks I'm texting Homer Simpson...)

Try it out, it's literally a whole world of fun ;)

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Super Choco Hot Choc

With London feeling colder and colder each day, I decided to make my favourite pure indulgence hot chocolate :) It's over-the-top chocolately so not suitable for everyone but I do love to treat myself every now and again!

Want to try it for yourself? It's simple and very versatile so please do custom make your own favourite!

In your favourite mug, make up your own favourite hot chocolate as normal. I love to use the different flavours of the Options range; orange and mint are particularly good :) Pour it into a pan and heat gently. Next, add in your favourite milk chocolate bar (a regular sized Cadburys Dairy Milk is my go-to for this task!). Once the chocolate has mostly melted, pour it back into the mug. I prefer to leave a few chunky bits of chocolate in there as a nice surprise for while I'm drinking it ;) Next add spray can cream and marshmallows and a few chocolate shavings on top to make it look pretty! Easy as pie :)

What is your favourite hot chocolate?

Hannah xo

Books I Love: Wizard's First Rule

I just finished an absolute beast of a book. When I say beast I mean a whole 775 pages! Surprisingly with my new epic commute it only took me a few weeks to blast through, the perks of my new journey to work :)

And what a magnificent beast it proved to be! I picked this book up because it is the first in the Sword of Truth series and this series was the basis for a TV show I fell in love with early last year when I first started working on my current set of channels. I'm not sure if you've guessed already but I am a sucker for a fantasy series and this one had it all; a struggle against evil, magic, romance and comedy, not to mention the good looking lead character ;) I quickly became quite addicted to Legend of the Seeker and was devastated to learn that there were only two seasons and they aren't even available to buy on DVD in the UK! So, I bought the first book and boy was I in for a shock! The book is so dark compared to the series, I imagine they would not have been allowed to televise a lot of the more horrific  subject matter. Some of it truly is disturbing but is effective in emphasising the need for the triumph of the good. There are many differences between the book and the series but I certainly recognised the characters from their dialogue and behaviour and I'm grateful the show was so faithful to the characters that Goodkind originally brought to life.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Chocolate Cupcakes

Howdy!

I'm enjoying a lovely break from work so decided to do some baking. If only I had known what I was letting myself in for...

I used this sweet recipe from this lovely lady and gave it a go. It was all going to plan until I decided I'd also try out the frosting recipe and discovered I didn't quite have enough butter. I mistakenly thought I could use my non-existent maths skills to adjust all of the ingredients' quantities to meet my butter shortage and just make a smaller amount of frosting. This didn't quite work out and I ended up with a big watery slop which still tasted pretty darn good, surprisingly! I figured I'd use it as a very thin sauce to moisten the cupcakes (see photo above...). Dessert was saved! Well, it was saved until I got ill... it turns out that my body doesn't like cocoa powder and because I'd consumed rather a lot that day I landed myself a pretty hefty migraine which wiped me out well and truly. Luckily for me, it seems to be only dark chocolate which affects me and is my least favourite kind anyway. And my Grandad has already volunteered to eat all of my future dark chocolate, what a trooper! :)

Not my most successful baking mission...

But on the bright side, we now have the Internet in our new home.... HURRAY! I'm feeling better already ;)

Hannah xo

Favourite Flicks: Made in Dagenham

I watched Made in Dagenham for the first time yesterday and I loved it! It's about a group of female Ford machinists in the 60s who decided to bravely stand up and say that it wasn't ok that they were being paid a lot less than the men. Rita (played by Sally Hawkins) finds herself leading the cause whilst trying to juggle her other responsibilities as a wife and a mother, and not always receiving the support that she hopes for.

The 60s fashion is to die for and I love the sight of all the women cycling to work together to start their shift. A film which leaves you feeling proud to be a woman ;) (if you are a woman!)

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Spinach Lasagne

Hello again!

I still have no internet access at home but plodding on anyway. I do miss it so!

The cold has started to truly set in and Autumn is here, I am loving it :) Any excuse to wrap up and eat comfort food ;)

I finally got stuck into one of the many recipes I've been patiently waiting to try from a very special book I read earlier this year. This lasagne was so simple to make and perfect for a night in when it's pouring buckets outside. My man even loved it and asked for seconds even though he's not a big fan of melted cheese or spinach, though lucky for me he's willing to try anything I cook up. No regrets this time!

You can find the original recipe online here but I can't recommend reading the entire book enough.

If, like me, you're not used to dealing with cups, oz and lbs, these are the measurements of the ingredients I used. They may not be particularly accurate conversions but they worked out fine :)

• 200g lasagne sheets ( I couldn't find noodles in my store but these worked just as well).
• 200g chopped spinach.
• 500g tomato sauce.
• 250g fresh ricotta.
• 250g mozzarella.

Enjoy!!

Hannah xo

Favourite Flicks: The Birds

I know, I know. This is an old film and I'm waaaaay behind the times. There are many classics I am yet to see but I count myself lucky that there is still so much for me to discover! I was very lucky to be introduced to some amazing classics while studying for my degree and that has made me rather keen to continue discovering these hidden gems :)

I found a boxset of Hitchcock films when we moved house. It turns out that my boyfriend had it stashed away somewhere so that I'd somehow managed to miss it for two years... Maybe that shows how unobservant I am ;) I broke it open the other day and this was the first film I watched...

I will certainly be watching more Hitchcock films, I absolutely loved it and was very sad that it wasn't a longer film. I was surprised by how much it affected me. I wouldn't say it was a terrifying film but it certainly has its moments, unexpected and quite shocking. And of course there is the vintage fashion to enjoy ;) Most definitely worth another watch! Have you seen The Birds?

Hannah xo

Phew!

Hello. Hi. How are you?

The last few weeks have been mighty busy over here! We've moved house, celebrated our second anniversary, my man started his new job and I spent a week with my family :) Phew indeed! I'm still waiting for our new internet connection to be set up and I hope to post some photos soon!

I'm sure things will calm down and return to normal soon enough!

But in the meantime, I thought I'd check in on my 28 before I'm 28 list and see how I'm doing. I suspect I'm failing miserably ;) I can't believe how quickly this year is passing by...

1) Get a new job. Hasn't happened yet... I have to admit I have applied for very few as of yet. I'm struggling to find a new direction as I feel like I need a completely new career!

2) Plan out the perfect second anniversary trip. Done! I had to scrap my original plan because of financial restrictions (moving house ain't cheap, people!) but we had a lovely weekend away together nonetheless :)

3) Discover a fitness activity I actually enjoy.  Done twice over! I found love in the trees :) I tried this thing called Go Ape and had so much fun! I am definitely planning to check out other courses and dragging my friends along too. I also tried out the swimming pool in the basement of our new apartment block and I can see myself spending a lot of time there :)

4) Make my outfit photo debut. Still haven't got around to doing this despite having bought a few cool pieces lately. Coming soon...

5) Customise an old bike. Still do not have said bike. But I know what I'm planning for the bike when I do eventually get it! :)

6) Perform a full digital clearout! Started it but I haven't dedicated nearly enough time to it. Maybe it will become more appealing now that the weather is turning colder...

7) Buy a polaroid camera. Nope! I'd feel too guilty spending that kind of money on myself at the moment...

8) Make something involving a vase, twigs and fairy lights. See No. 7.

9) Board the London Eye. See No. 7.

10) Finish Star Trek original series. I've almost finished the second series, hurray!

11) Find something I'm truly passionate about. I'm still far from it, though I have a few clues now :)

12) Sort out my vast collection of stuff. Having just moved house again, this has just jumped way up my priorities list! Hauling all my junk around made me realise that I NEED to clear out my stuff ASAP.

13) Study web design. I'm so keen to learn about this, I just need to find the time to explore it!

14) Read a Spanish language book. I recently started one but then it went missing during the move... I'm sure it will turn up soon!

15) Read 6 books. Two done, halfway through two more... This should be a blast with my new reading-friendly commute :)

16) Spend a week with my family.  I have just done this and had the best time! It had been far too long since I had spent a decent amount of time with the fam.

17) Organise a girls get-together. Done! We tried and failed to go to an Ice Cream festival but by the time we got there the ice cream had sold out, d'oh! Instead we went to a favourite bar of ours and had tea and cake. The ultimate girly hang out!

18) Create a piece of artwork for our flat. Almost! I've been working on a little something ;)

19) Learn how to play keyboard (again!). Failing miserably, I haven't even got my keyboard out of its case yet...

20) Start sending postcards all over the world! I'm spending so much time looking for the perfect postcard, maybe I should just send one already!!!

21) Dye my hair bright red. Still haven't been to the hairdressers... Hoping to book it this week though! :D

22) Go swim in the sea. Well it wasn't the sea, but I did go swimming in the pool :) It feels like it's getting too cold for this now...

23) Get a new pet. I've decided to hold off on finding my new little friend for now as we're waiting to see if we may be moving again due to some very exciting developments!

24) Add six new recipes to my limited repertoire. I've added another two... I've got another four to go so I'd best get cooking! ;)

25) Visit Madame Tussauds! I don't seem to be able to bribe anybody to come with me... A work in progress!

26) Bargain hunting at a thrift store. Done! I had so much fun I may have to do it again! :)

27) Go to the cinema every month. I'm just about on target with this. Unfortunately there never seems to be anything good on when we decide to go...

28) Go to a gig once a month.  Fail!!! I've barely been to any!

Hmmm... Not as bad as I thought it would be! Still got a lot to do though... GO!\

Hannah xo