emily@besottied.com
one girl, a bit of knitting and the great outdoors
Welcome!
Hello hello my petit chum, and welcome to beSottied!
My name is Emily. I'm 26 and I like to adventure. I work in social care communications and I'm gunning for a first at York St John University.
My heart is split between Northumberland and New Zealand and I'm not too bad on a horse.
The Year of Adventure!
2012 is my third Year of Adventure. I'm trying loads of mad stuff - why don't you try it, too?!
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An update for a happy new year
- January 8th 2013
Hello everyone. I hope the first week of 2013 has treated you well.
I’ve decided that this year - after the third Year of Adventure in 2012 - is to be the Year of Good Clean Fun. I’m worried that sounds a bit boring, however, and it’s definitely a working title with lots of room for improvement!
I feel quite sad that this year won’t be the fourth Year of Adventure. Last year (which was ‘The Year of Adventure 3: it’s not just a Year, it’s a Way of Life’) I learned to surf, improved my climbing, tried the Via Ferrata (Extreme, no less) at Honister, fostered a few different ponies, learned to ski and journeyed to Northern Ireland for the first time. My mum started work in Torquay and my sister and I experienced an unexpected exploration along the motorways of the south west when, on the morning of our first visit to our mum’s new home, FlyBe cancelled our flight from Newcastle to Exeter and flew us to Gatwick then onwards to Devon by bus, instead. It was pretty galling to think that the Emirates Boeing 777 which took off from Newcastle shortly before our Bombardier Dash-8 did will have arrived in Dubai before we got our first cup of tea at our mum’s house in Paignton!
In a way, though, 2012 not being another Year of Adventure is a good thing. It means that my friends and I are now so used to trying new things that we don’t need a special ‘Year of’ to make us do so. Doing random things whenever we get the chance has become second nature!
Things have quietened down around here as I’m finally nearing the end of my degree. I’ll submit my dissertation - which is all about how and why airlines use digitally mediated communication, such as websites, apps and social networks, to communicate with the public - on January 31st. I’ve started to set up a (slightly) more professional site and am gearing up for the next stage in my career, which is very exciting but pretty scary at the same time.
So things are likely so stay pretty quiet around here for a few weeks more. Thank you for continuing to drop in on me =) I promise that I have dabbled with knitting recently, but not really enough to blog about. Over Christmas I worked on a Stockholm Scarf (using Fyberspates DK and cappucino-kid’s modifications for knitting in the round), and I’m considering using some Kidsilk Haze from my stash to make a pair of White Rabbit Wristees [Ravelry link] by Tiny Owl Knits. There was a lot of activity on Ravelry over the holidays which definitely made my creative juices flow! I started a board on Pinterest to gather together links to ‘things I would make if I had more time’. If you’re on Pinterest, too, let me know!
Comments are disabled at the moment but if you’d like to get in touch with me, send me a quick tweet - I’m @besottied of course - or whizz an email to emily [at] besottied [dot] com.
Here’s to a jolly January!
New Zealand Diaries - part four
- April 26th 2012
More witterings from my big ol’ holiday last year =)
Friday 15 April 2011, Auckland, NZ
Good morning from Auckland! It’s 7.50 on Friday morning and I’m in bid watching Brickfast… OK, I’ll stop the ‘i’ instead of ‘e’ thing now, before I get carried away. Watching Breakfast on TV One. Very similar to BBC Breakfast, including the usual breakfast show crap such as this morning’s broadcast [by Tamati Coffey] from a hot cross bun factory.
Last night was my last night here in the hotel. I check in to the hostel on City Road today. I’m quite looking forward to it, actually. We’ll see how I feel in 24 hours’ time when I’ve had a shared bathroom experience!
Yesterday was a sunny day in Auckland. April is autumn in New Zealand [April is spring time in the UK] and loads of people were out in woolly hats and jumpers. Madness: it was boiling! I woke up early so took my time getting ready, heading to a café for breakfast before making my way to the Sky Tower. It might be a bit touristy to be in a new city and go up the nearest tall building, purely because it’s tall, but sod it: I spent more than 30 hours getting here, so I’m making sure I do all the touristy crap I can think of.
The Sky Tower is over 1,000 feet tall and the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. It has two observation decks - one of which has a glass floor - offering 360° views of the city. I took the obligatory stack of photos and chatted with a few people: this was my first solo visit to a tourist attraction but I just made sure to ask people to take my photo. I don’t want to get home and not have any photographic evidence of my being here, after all! I chose to pay a few extra dollars so that I could visit [the Tower] more than once in the day and ended up going back just before dinner so that I could see the city lit up at night. A guy took another photo of me leaning against the glass walls of the obs deck: he was v enthusiastic and told me how to pose etc but the finished product is a bit weird! I’m fully clothed but somehow the picture seems a bit pervy, hee hee hee. Don’t think I’ll be getting that one printed =D
I’m enjoying being here on my own: it means I get to be spontaneous (and a bit selfish, I suppose). After the Sky Tower I trotted down to the quayside and ended up on board a boat ready to tour the islands off [the coast of] Auckland. On the boat, I met a British couple who’re retired and live 6 months of the year in the UK and the other six here in New Zealand. We were having a nice chat (during which I learned not to bother buying cheese here - always useful) when bells started to sound on the boat. We’d made our way out of the harbour and were turning in a large circle. The alarm bells kept ringing as we continued on, eventually heading back towards the shore. There was a great big bang as our boat bashed in to the side of a huge orange container ship which was docked in the wharf! Dramatico.
The was a big jolt but nothing else: thankfully it wasn’t a life jacket moment. The boat’s steering wasn’t working properly (evidently) and so we had to wait for a tug boat to come and tow us back to the harbour, where the boat company refunded our money. At a bit of a loose end I ended up in the tourist information centre, or i-Site. I found out about a ferry service to the nearby Waiheke Island and decided to go for it. I bought a ticket, dashed back here to the hotel to throw some bits and bobs into a daypack and pull on a bikini before heading back to the harbour, stopping by a deli en route to collect a picnic for myself. I definitely wouldn’t have made it in time if I hadn’t been on my own, trotting as fast as my stumpy legs could carry me back to the ferry terminal.
The ferry crossing from Auckland to Waiheke Island takes about 40 minutes. It was a fast boat and I didn’t feel the slightest bit sick [I don't tend to get on very well with boats, normally. One day I may tell you the horror experience that was the ferry to Rum]. On the boat, I got talking to a man who moved here from Germany 52 years ago and hasn’t been back there since. I understood completely! It’s absolutely beautiful here, and everyone I’ve met - so far at least - has been so nice. I can definitely imagine myself living here (but I’ll keep that to myself for now).
On reaching the island I heeded the advice of the nice lady in the Fullers Ferry office back in Auckland and took the bus to Oneroa, the township at the top of a big hill on the island. It was worth getting the bus for $1.50: I happily walked back to the harbour when it was time to leave, though - it was downhill all the way! I had a lazy afternoon on the beach, sunbathing, reading, swimming and eating my picnic. I chatted to a couple from California and a local man who lives on the island. I snapped a lot more photos and, on the boat back to the city, sat next to my expat German friend again.
I feel as though I’m doing all right here, generally. I normally hate not knowing things but I’m making the most of my ‘hapless tourist’ state and forcing myself to ask people things. I think it helps that people are genuinely nice and want to help out. Obviously speaking the same language helps a lot! I’m not sure how well I’d be doing had I gone to Tokyo…
Just a quick scribble more as I’ve gone on enough for now. I only planned on spending ten minutes at the Sky Tower last night but ended up being there for about two hours, chatting to people and enjoying a cocktail on the observation deck! I didn’t leave in search of dinner until after 10pm but luckily found a really nice Thai restaurant nearby on Lower Albert Street, called Grasshopper. I threw a scrummy Pad Thai down my neck before calling it a night and Brown Mousing home. A couple of policemen [were driving by and] pulled over when I was about 100 yards away from my hotel, to check if I was all right. I’ve decided to think “that was nice of them,” rather than “oh my God, was I unknowingly walking through a really rough part of the city?”. I know it’s not ideal to walk around a city alone at night but I’m keeping my wits about me and using common sense. I’m sure everything’ll be fine: I haven’t once felt unsafe here.
Time to get up, shower and pack before making my way over to the [youth hostel]. I feel like having a day of just pottering around the city, being nosy but not doing much in particular. That might seem like a bit of a waste but it’s what I feel like doing. Anyway, it’s an experience seeing the winter collections arriving in shops when I’m strolling about sweltering in a skirt and t-shirt. Still, I suppose it’d be nice to treat myself to some NZ merino to wear once it gets cold back home…
Comments are currently disabled. If you’d like to leave a message or ask a question, please drop me an email or contact me through Twitter. I’m @besottied.
beSottied’s kitchen: sweet potato and lentil dhal
- April 25th 2012
A few weeks ago, I wittily/annoyingly commented on how a friend of mine was becoming overly fond of lentils. As a riposte, she bought a bag of red lentils for me and left it standing stoutly on my desk at work. Touché! I bought the ingredients to make spicy sweet potato and lentil soup, but bought far too many sweet potatoes. As a result, I ended up adapting a recipe from BBC Good Food to suit what I had in the cupboard to make this sweet potato and lentil dhal. It’s really filling and delicious served with a naan bread and a dollop of Greek yoghurt on top.
NB: Don’t let the title “beSottied’s kitchen” fool you: I’m not a budding TV cook, in fact I’m a total disaster in the kitchen and never pretend otherwise. This dish is easy and very tasty, though, and I wanted to share it with you.
Ingredients for 3-4 servings
- Oil
- One white onion, chopped
- One red chilli, finely chopped (I used a teaspoon of Very Lazy Red Chillies, instead)
- One tablespoon mild curry powder
- One garlic clove, crushed (I used a teaspoon of Very Lazy Garlic, instead)
- 550ml vegetable stock
- One 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 100g red lentils
- Two sweet potatoes, chopped into bite-sized chunks (I used a great big fat one and a smaller medium-sized one. I didn’t weigh them. Just add what you think would be a decent amount for four people and see how you go)
- One bag spinach leaves, torn
To serve
- Dollop of Greek/natural yoghurt
- Naan bread
Method
- Heat a glug of oil in a large pan. Add the onion, chilli and garlic to the pan. Cook on a low heat, stirring well, until the onion has softened.
- Add the
- Curry powder
- Vegetable stock
- Tinned tomatoes
- Lentils
and simmer for about ten minutes.
- Next, add the potatoes. Plonk a lid on the pan and let it bubble away for about 15-20 minutes, or until the potato has softened. You may want to add a bit of water. In the meantime, warm your naan bread(s) as per the instructions.
- Once your potatoes have cooked, stir the spinach leaves into the mix and heat through for a couple of minutes.
- Serve in a bowl with a dollop of Greek yoghurt on top. Yum!
I hope you enjoy it. It comes recommended after a day out biking, an evening climbing, or hours spent shovelling horse poo! If you’d like to check out the original recipe, it’s on the BBC Good Food site.
PS: I’ll post part four of my New Zealand diary tomorrow evening. It’s the part where I move from my hotel in to the hostel, which was fun. I still shudder at the thought of the showers!
Comments are currently disabled. If you’d like to leave a message or ask a question, please drop me an email or contact me through Twitter. I’m @besottied.
New Zealand Diaries - part three
- April 22nd 2012
Well, you’ve put up with two days’ worth of me writing about plane journeys. The good news is, in part three of the New Zealand diary, I’m actually in New Zealand! I look terrible, and my photos are blurry, but I’m there. Hurrah!
Thursday 14 April 2011, Auckland, New Zealand
My first full day in Auckland! Last night’s “2-hour nap” turned in to a 4-hour sleep. After setting my alarm for 5.30pm, I woke up - with no recollection of having heard my alarm clock go off - at about 7.45pm, which was a surprise. I quickly got dressed and, looking a bit ropey (I have shadows under my eyes that look as though they’ve been drawn on with marker pen), headed out to explore. My hotel’s in a good location, in the central business district [CBD] and close to the Sky Tower, but on what seems to be a pretty quiet street.
With a guidebook and map stashed away in my handbag I trotted down Queen Street towards what turned out to be the Viaduct harbour and ended up in a restaurant called the V Grill. The waiter was really friendly and asked about my travel plans, and I told him my body clock was still all out of kilter and how I wasn’t hungry, which made it a bit embarrassing when I polished off almost all of the seared snapper and prawn risotto I ordered. It honestly was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten: it would’ve been even better with a glass of wine, but I didn’t dare have any alcohol in case I fell asleep with my head on the restaurant table!
I did a fair bit of exploring around the Viaduct Harbour area and the CBD, and took some pretty blurry photos. There were a lot of people out and about, and some very lively-sounding bars, and it all felt very safe. I thought about going in one of the bars to sample the nightlife but felt a bit too scruffy. Sometimes [my mum and sister] call me The Brown Mouse, after the mouse in the children’s book The Gruffalo, and I felt pretty Mouseish last night! I’m sure I’ll get braver as time goes on, but last night I just headed back to my hotel (which earns extra points for having pre-stocked the fridge with water and a bottle of milk - simple pleasures!). I had a good sleep and now I’m up, dressed, sun-lotioned and ready to roll! Following the unwritten rule of travelling to a new city - find the tallest thing there and climb it - my first stop is going to be the tallest building in all of NZ, the Sky Tower.
Arriving yesterday was great. We flew in over the city around lunchtime and I was ridiculously happy to see Auckland from my plane window. [Auckland] looked quite a lot like the UK - very green - but hilly and with bright blue water. As to be expected in the “City of Sails” there were lots of boats in the water, too. Taxiing to the terminal was strange - it was bright and sunny, like Spain, but with green grass, like home, jutting out in to the blue bay. I couldn’t quite control my plane nerdiness and snapped a quick photo on my phone when I spotted an Emirates A380 taxiing past a fleet or Air New Zealands to its stand at the airport…
[Had to declare] my [horse] riding gear to customs on arrival. I was in a bit of a panic about it but they were all nice chaps. I think that the immigration officials in New York could learn a lot from their NZ counterparts! They disinfected my riding boots and chaps and asked about my plans, but in an “interested” sort of way rather than a “scary customs” sort of way! The worst thing about it was trying to get my case zipped back up once I’d put my chaps and boots back in! All was well, though, and I toddled out of the terminal building and in to the waiting Super Shuttle that I’d pre-booked [before leaving home]. Hurrah for planning ahead!
I suppose I’m just a little bit apprehensive about going places on my own, but I just have to tell myself that I know everything’ll be fine once I do it. Walking back to the hotel last night I felt truly, genuinely happy. Home is so far away and it feels like so long since I left Newcastle airport. I’m off to find somewhere to grab some breakfast then have a touristy day with my fully-charged camera!
Comments are currently disabled. If you’d like to leave a message or ask a question, please drop me an email (you’ll find my address at the top of the page!) or contact me through Twitter. I’m @besottied.
New Zealand Diaries - part two
- April 20th 2012
I’m afraid I wrote almost all of this second part of my NZ diary on planes and in airports. I’m a bit of a plane nerd so happily chirruped on to myself about Boeings and Airbuses and in-flight entertainment. I’ll spare you those details!
Rest assured, by the end of this post I’ll finally be in New Zealand (hurrah). I’ll post part three on Sunday 22 April.
Tuesday 12 Aprill* 2011, Malaysia
* I have no idea why I just spelled ‘April’ with two Ls. I’ll blame tiredness.
In Kuala Lumpur waiting to re-board my flight to Melbourne. Not in a big rush to get back on, though. We switched to a Boeing 777 in Dubai and I’ve been allocated the middle seat of 3 between two big (but sadly, not hot) Aussie guys. I’m going to let everyone else get back on the plane before I do!
I think I dozed a little bit on the Dubai - KL leg but I’m not sure. It definitely didn’t pass as quickly as the first leg. Also, I’ll never have chicken chop suey for breakfast ever again! The two Aussies were right to turn it down. The plane was cool, with a starry ceiling and a sort-of sunrise lighting effect as we flew towards dawn. I don’t have a phone signal here but there is free internet, so I whizzed a quick email to Mutti and [my friend at work] to let them know that all is well, despite my slightly swollen legs and the fact that KL airport has SQUAT TOILETS!!!
12 April 2011/13 April 2011, EK408 en route to Melbourne
Definitely the best bit of the journey so far! Not many people got back on the flight in Kuala Lumpur so, shortly before take off, I left my two Australian chums and chose an empty row of four seats to call my own for the next seven hours. I don’t think I’ve slept but I’ve managed to build myself a lovely comfy nest of pillows and blankets.
I feel as though it’s breakfast time but I think it’s coming up to midnight in Melbourne, which is just over an hour away. The best thing, though, is on the in-flight map showing where the plane is in relation to Melbourne. I can see Auckland on the map, peeking out of the right-hand side of the screen. Not too far now!
Wednesday 13 April 2011, Australia
G’day, mates! I landed here in Melbourne at about half past one in the morning local time, which I think was 4.30 in the afternoon in the UK. I’ve stopped looking at times now really as I’m totally baffled by it all. Anyway, I’ve had a text from [my friends at work] who are still tracking my flights online. They say they can’t believe I’m still travelling. Believe me: neither can I!
I didn’t have any sort of issues at security or customs, thank God. Imagine getting all this way then getting sent back! I followed signs for international transfers and ended up down some corridor that was a bit too reminiscent of The X Files for my liking, with a frosted glass door and intercom at the end. Once I rang the intercom and a man answered (by saying “G’day”!!) saying he’d be down in a few minutes, it all seemed a bit more friendly and much less X Filey. Now all I have to worry about is my case turning up in Auckland at the same time I do!
I’m worn out and looking pretty scary: trying to get comfy by stretching out on a sofa in the departure lounge but I’m thinking quite passionate thoughts about my hotel room in Auckland! Really hope the rest of my journey passes as smoothly as the rest of it has.
Wednesday 13 Aprill* 2011. New Zealand!
* Arrrgh! Why two Ls? Why?!
Just a quick note to say I’m finally here!
Despite plans to go straight out I’ve checked in to my hotel here on Hobson Street in Auckland. I’ve showered, made a cup of tea (you can take a girl out of England…) and am now stretching out in bed! There are blackout curtains, so I’m going to get a couple of hours’ sleep and head out in the early evening. Perhaps not the best idea to venture out as it’s getting dark but I’m not going out now and definitely don’t want to wait until morning. I’m so excited to finally be here!
Comments are currently disabled. If you’d like to leave a message or ask a question, please drop me an email (you’ll find my address at the top of the page!) or contact me through Twitter. I’m @besottied.
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