Shortly after I went AWOL from blogging, I went away with a group of friends to Newcastle for one of my childhood friends from way back in Kuwait’s Bachelorette (Hen) Party. We went to High School together & she went to University in Aberdeen as well with me.

She moved to Cyprus in December so was having the Bachelorette Party earlier which was cool! We all booked the weekend away and stayed at a hotel right in the city centre with 3 of us sharing each room. The weekend was crazy from the get go, so much so that I needed a week to recover after I got back hahaha. We took so many photos, but we can only post so many of them as they are NSFW LOL So here’s a run down of what went on during the weekend…

Friday
I met up with Klaudia & Claudia (yeah it’s confusing lol) in Edinburgh and got the train down the rest of the way together, meeting Tonje at the station who flew in from Norway earlier. Emma & Carina were coming down later that night & would meet us at the hotel. Klaudia, Claudia, Tonje & I went shopping after checking into the hotel, while in a store, this guy approached me infront of my friends asked where I was from, what I was up to that night & if I wanted to meet up. I said sorry but it was girls only, then Klaudia tells him “unless you’re one of the strippers” which the guy said “sure, if she wants me to be” hahaha it was hilarious, but the guy had guts coming up to me infront of my friends lol

We then all went out for dinner at this Italian Restaurant at the Quay Side which was really yummy before going to a nearby bar while waiting for Carina to arrive. We ended up being surrounded by a group of guys who looked barely over 21 & we chated to them for a while as we drank triple vodka’s for £1.50 *gulp*. Needless to say, I shouldn’t of had 3 of them as I was swinging from the roof! We went back to the hotel to meet Carina, I ended up vomiting in the bathroom & almost passing out, but after vomiting, I was fine again hahaha I cleaned myself up & went partying again at various Nightclubs until 4am.

Saturday
For not coming back to the hotel until 4am, we all woke pretty early! Went shopping in the Metro Centre & binged on Nando’s *drools* before coming back to the hotel to get ready for the crazy night ahead. We booked a male strip show for Klaudia but she had no clue where we were going & also that we were in fancy dress! We kidnapped her, blindfolded her then dressed her in a Grease themed outfit with us girls as the Pink Ladies. While getting ready, drinking (do you spot a theme?!), Klaudia & I met up with a girl we went to school with in Kuwait who was originally from the Newcastle area, 10 years after we last saw her, it was really good catching up.

It was time for the strip show *swoon* & we had a total blast with the drag queen & 2 male strippers at the nightclub it was held in. There were 6 groups in total of Bachelorette’s so I feel sorry for the strippers hahaha. Now, these weren’t just strippers who stripped down to a thong, they went the full hog, bare frikin naked & I think we all had a heart attack hahaha but it was really fun overall & we had drinks with them at the bar after the show (& yes, they wore clothes haha).

After the strip show, we moved on to Tiger Tiger & spent the rest of the night there going from room to room. But with Bachelorette’s comes Bachelor’s, a huge group of Irish guys were all over us, talking to us, stealing our dick shaped straws (lmao!) & dancing with us. They were pretty harmless & funny except when one of them who was completely drunk as a skunk decided to whack my butt with this metal stick, I went to grab it to get him to stop & he ended up slicing my finger open! Blood was pouring everywhere & before I knew it, he stuck my finger in his mouth sucking the blood up *shiver* silly boy! We all danced & drank the night away having a total blast, before we knew it, it was closing time & we all got back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Sunday
It was a pretty crazy weekend of mojito’s, polish vodka, champagne, wine & shots and it was the first time I drank in over 10 months, so I didn’t do so bad LOL but I couldn’t handle any more alcohol hahaha. We all packed & vacated the hotel at lunch time, then headed to The Gate for much much needed food before getting our trains back home. The train to Aberdeen was packed so I had to stand until I got off in Edinburgh, lack of sleep + standing for nearly 3 hours KILLS, always book a seat people, seriously! I was in so much pain *cries*. I was so glad when I got home, it took me nearly a week to recover from 48 hours of partying hahahaha a sign that I’m getting very old & not used to it anymore! One valuable lesson I learnt was not to drunk tweet, some of the crap I said was hilarious hahahahaha

Enjoy the photos

How could you not love this little guy? I can’t believe he’s gonna be 4 years old this year! My baby is growing up so fast! He is like a little toddler, always demanding attention & snuggles against you so tight at night you can’t breathe! Getting him to sit still for photos is proving difficult though but he gets cuter & cuter day by day

Cupcakes! Who doesn’t love cupcakes? They cheer you up when you’re down, give you a sugar rush when you need it most & are addictive as hell! These cupcakes are no exception, in fact they are so addictive you can’t just have one!

Cupcake Ingredients:
60g soft unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1 egg
20g cocoa powder
40ml red food colouring
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1½ teaspoons white vinegar
Cupcake Tray filled with paper cases

Cupcake Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Put the butter and the sugar in a bowl and use a hand held electric whisk and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well mixed.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a very thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added.

3. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.

4. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into the paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top. This recipe makes approx 20 cupcakes.

Frosting Ingredients:
300g icing sugar, sifted
50g soft unsalted butter
125g cream soft cheese

Frosting Method:
1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a bowl using a hand held electric whisk on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is well mixed. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy making sure you don’t over beat it

2. Frost your cupcakes with a knife or an icing bag and then top with extra toppings of your choice. I topped it with 5 different things: sprinkles, crushed oreo’s, cake crumbs, pink sugar flakes & icing balls & bunny rabbit.

Ingredients:
115g unsalted softened butter
50g granulated white sugar
1 large egg
140g all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
100g of your choice of nuts, finely chopped (I used a mini food processor to finely chop them into pieces)
A jar of your favourite flavour of jam (I choose Strawberry)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°c. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk (separate yolk from the white) and beat until combined.

3. Siv the flour into the bowl (so there are no lumps) with the mix and a pinch of salt beating until mixed thoroughly into a dough.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy and place your choice of chopped nuts on a plate. In your hands, roll the dough into small balls. Taking one ball of the dough at a time, dip into the egg white and then roll into the nuts coating it completely. Place each ball on the baking tray and using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each ball filling the indents with 1/2 a teaspoon of jam.

5. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until brown. Once ready, remove from oven and cool down before eating. These little cookies are golden brown on out outside & taste like buttery shortbread inside, perfect with a glass of chilled milk

Ingredients:
1 Lemon Cut into Quarters
2 Tbsp Runny Honey
50ml White Wine (or White Grape Juice)
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
Handful of Chopped Fresh Parsley
Handful of Fresh Basil Leaves
8 Small Chicken Thighs
500g Baby New Potatoes
1 Red Onion, Halved & Sliced
Low Fat Cooking Spray

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 170°c. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a large bowl and add the squeezed out lemon into the bowl as well. Stir in the honey, wine, tomato puree, basil and parsley. Season well and add the chicken stirring to coat. Set aside to marinate.

2. Half the baby new potatoes and add then into a pan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain and cool under running water. Then place them in a large casserole dish. Scatter the onion on top, season well and mist with low fat spray.

3. Place the chicken on top of the potatoes and drizzle with the marinade. Roast for 1 hour turning the chicken over every now & then until cooked.

4. Plate up & enjoy with added vegetables if you want. I used whole baby carrots

This recipe takes approx 5 minutes to prepare & 1.5 hrs to cook. Serving 4, it has 372 calories per serving or 5.5 Weight Watchers Points

Ingredients for Curry Paste:
4 Shallots chopped roughly
4 Garlic Cloves chopped roughly
3 Green Chillies chopped roughly
2 inch piece of Fresh Ginger grated
3 Lemon Grass Stems sliced (or use 3 tsps of a jar of lemon grass already mushed up)
Zest & Juice of 1 Lime
4 tsp Water
Handful of Coriander

Method:
Place all the ingredients into a mini blender and whizz it all up until all slushy

Ingredients for Curry:
Low Fat Cooking Spray
400g Peeled Butternut Squash cut into chunks
1 Small Aubergine cut into chunks
Curry Paste (all of what you made above)
400ml can of Light Coconut Milk
200ml of Chicken or Vegetable Stock made from 1/2 a stock cube
400g Skinned Chicken Breast cut into strips
100g of Green Beans halved
1 tbsp of Whole Peppercorns
Handful of Coriander

Method:
1. Heat a large pan and spray some low fat spray adding the squash along with a generous splash of water. Sauté for 5 minutes and then add the aubergine adding more water if necessary. This is to prevent the vegetables sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook for a further 3 minutes, then turn down the heat stirring in the curry paste you made previously.

2. Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes more stirring, then gradually add in the Coconut Milk and then the stock. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Add the chicken and beans simmering for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Stir in the peppercorns and scatter the Coriander on top.

3. Add cooked white rice onto your plate, add your Thai Green Curry and enjoy

This recipe takes approx 15 minutes to prepare & 30 minutes to cook. Serving 4, it has 497 calories per serving or 7.5 Weight Watchers Points

Way back in June, my parents & I decided to go check out the Doctor Who Exhibition which is currently taking place at the Kelvingrove Museum here in Glasgow. Genuine props, costumes and monster characters from the long running television series are featured as well as over 100 exhibits, including the mysterious Autons, Ood, Costumes from the most recent Christmas specials and the frightening Stone Angel.

When we went there, we were slightly disappointed because we pretty much expected that the exhibition would be in a huge hall. However, the exhibition is in several small rooms with no staff around, it’s more like a mini museum. Saying that, I still had a great time, loved the scary looking monsters and dalek’s

Tickets are £7.50 for adults and the exhibition will run until Monday 4th January 2010

A few weeks ago I got my eyes tested when I went to buy new glasses and they suggested I get this new feature of where they take photographs inside your eyes. For £10, you get your eyeballs tested, checking the optical nerves and other eye bits for any health problems such as diabetes and cancer.

They then ask for your email address as they forward the images to you so you can keep them for your own records and to compare against any future pictures you get taken (every 2 years an eye test is recommended in the UK).

So here are my eye balls, all nice & healthy