A lifestyle blog
Chicken Kabseh, or Kabsa, is a new recipe to me but one I wanted to try and make at home as soon as I got back from a recent trip to Jordan. One of the great things about travel is discovering different foods. I love mooching round supermarkets in whichever foreign city I am in to see what local delights they have, and what imports we might recognise. On my
I wasn’t sure what to expect during our day at the Azraq refugee camp, 80Km from the Syria border. I have so much I want to say, so much to process and share. I wanted to get this out though as we have just half an hour before dinner. The white shelters are iconic now. They are the picture you see when the media talks about the camp. There
. Desperate. That is how I would describe Da’ed and Manar’s lives now. The two sisters living in a basement flat with not only bars at the window but also boards up so they can’t see out. Presumably also so people cannot see in. Maybe it is the lack of natural light in this room that makes me feel their situation is desperate, I don’t know.
This is a post about friendship. I need to process the things we have seen today, and think about the people we have met before I fall asleep and of all the stories we have heard today the overwhelming thread to is all is friendship. Two different families hosted us today, in an area in the north of Jordan called Ajloun. It’s on the tourist route as Ajloun
In three classrooms of a school in Irdib, the third largest city in Jordan just 20 miles from the Syrian border, is a bustling student community. From the outside it looks like any other. A basketball court to the side, an area for playing football at the back. Nestled amongst houses and small businesses you might not think anything of this building. But what goes on
. Four years ago in the middle of night Aintifar woke to the sound of shelling. Louder than usual she soon realised that her house had been hit. The house she lived in with her husband, who worked in construction, and five of her six children, the eldest, Muayed away in Lebanon doing his National Service. Her children had been injured by shrapnel and the family soon
. I am off to Jordan today, for four days, accompanying WorldVisionUK as they look to mark five years since the conflict in Syria caused the largest migration of people since the second world war. As part of the charity’s #BarefootCoatless campaign we will be visiting refugee camps and also meeting refugees living with host families in the community. More than that I don’t really know if I am
“You all packed?” “Hell no, I have to go to the tip yet, take down the Christmas lights, phone the dishwasher repair man, take two chinchillas to the vet, clean out the fridge, get my car cleaned, do a food shop, Hoover the spare bedroom, write 16 over due reviews, drop something off to my granny, book the kennels for the dog in the summer and tidy away a pile
. I first saw #FirstWorldProblems pop up on Twitter. Tagged on the end of a tweet that was generally either being ironic, or taking the mickey out of somebody who was moaning about something that to them was huge but to readers was, well, a first world problem and, therefore, insignificant. The idea being, do you really need to tweet saying how unfair it is that your favourite coffee shop has
Last night I collapsed in front of the TV and found myself watching Derren Brown front his latest social experiment in the name of entertainment on Channel 4. Could he persuade somebody to push another human being off a roof. The premise being you can manipulate, or coerce somebody into doing pretty much anything. Known as social compliance the theory is that given the right set of
. There is a sign near Farnborough station which has always intrigued me this sign says Chapelle Impériale And I’ve always wondered about it so yesterday I found their website and we trotted along. The Imperial Chapel was built to house the body of Napoleon the third Emperor of France. Yeah you read that right: Napoleon III, Emperor of France is …..I would say ‘buried’ but he’s not buried
The British Motor Museum re-opens to the public on Saturday 13 February following a £1.1m refurbishment. Formerly known as the Heritage Motor Centre, the new Museum will be visually more exciting with an immersive display of British motoring history, designed to appeal to both current fans as well as new audiences. Also opening on the 13 February is the new Collections Centre, allowing public access for the first time to