A weekend in Milton Keynes

A couple of weekends ago, we travelled to Milton Keynes to visit one of my best friends from university and her husband. They've recently bought their own flat so we were excited about visiting and having a grand tour, as well as making the most of the opportunity for an overdue catch up.

We drove up to Milton Keynes on the Saturday morning and arrived at midday, just in time for lunch! We all walked around the corner to a little independent cafe and passed some very instagrammable architecture on our way there. Fee and Dave's block of flats is next to a canal and the old railway works which means it has some really unique and unconventional surroundings.

When we got to the cafe, everyone else opted for sensible sandwiches but I decided I wanted a sausage, bacon and egg bap because I couldn't stop thinking about it once I'd read it on the menu. It was really really really good... I'd like to think that everyone else secretly had food envy.

After eating our lunch, we went for a wander around the local neighbourhood which included walking alongside the canal and stumbling across lots of tranquil scenery. The weather was surprisingly mild and it was a walk full of picturesque views, certainly very different to the 'concrete' Milton Keynes everyone talks about! 

After walking for half an hour or so, we stopped at the local pub for a drink. We sat outside with our beers and our wines which was a nice change for February, but we were pretty cold by the time we'd finished our drinks as the sun decided to disappear behind a cloud halfway through!

After getting back to Fee and Dave's flat, we settled down and said hello to Fee's hamsters. They're so little and cute and I have no idea why I didn't take a photo of them! In the meantime, Dave was busy cooking in the kitchen and his creation smelt divine...

This was such good food! It consisted of lots of tasty gammon with a homemade onion and mustard sauce, along with all the trimmings. I was ridiculously full after this and even had to turn down dessert. It's rare for me to turn down dessert, believe me. 

After finishing our food, we played Exploding Kittens for an hour or so... don't panic, this isn't as barbaric as it sounds. It's just a very amusing card game which has weird parallels with the much-loved Uno. With all of us being over 30, we started falling asleep at around 12:30am so went off to bed at a fairly decent hour. 

The following morning, we went to the Harvester for breakfast which was lovely as always, although does anyone else get really confused by their breakfast menu options? I can never work out which option gives me the most value for money along with the most food)!

After getting back to the flat, Neil and I said our goodbyes (to the hamsters as well as to Fee and Dave!) and started our long drive back to Cardiff. The roads were quiet so we made it back in just over three hours, and I was in my pyjamas by 5pm. Standard Sunday evening. 

I always love visiting my uni friends, or having them over to visit us, as we don't see each other very often any more due to living in various different areas across the UK. Our weekend in Milton Keynes was no exception, and I definitely need to schedule in some more visits over the next few months.

Have you ever been to Milton Keynes? What did you think of it? 

Fake Christmas 2015

Fake Christmas is an age-old tradition... ten years old, in fact.

My friends and I celebrated our first ever Fake Christmas in 2004, during our first year at university. The idea was born when we decided to have our own very Christmas Day before we went home for actual Christmas. This involved Christmas dinner, Christmas presents, Christmas music... you get the picture. Someone referred to the day as 'Fake Christmas', and the name has stuck ever since.

I'm so glad we carried on the tradition after we left university as it's the one occasion we all attend without fail. As we all scattered to different places after we finished university, Fake Christmas now involves travelling to different parts of the country every year to the host's house. We've toured to Cardiff, London, Minehead and Milton Keynes so far! We also now meet in January rather than in December as it's so difficult to find a date before Christmas to suit everyone. It's also nice to have something to look forward to during the inevitable bleakness and diet-fest of January.

We travelled to Milton Keynes for the 2015 edition of Fake Christmas as Fee and Dave had kindly offered to host. Our partners have been invited for the last two years, so there were 11 of us present for this year's spectacular. Ten years since our very first Fake Christmas!

Kirsty is the Head Chef for Fake Christmas dinner due to her rather immense cooking skills... I particularly love Kirsty's cauliflower cheese, gravy and roast potatoes. I generally stick to chopping duty as I haven't got the slightest bit of experience when it comes to cooking roast dinners. The girls worked on the dinner in the kitchen while the boys played Wii U games in the lounge. This gave us a chance to catch up and to discuss our hilarious and rather catastrophic catalogue of ex boyfriends... those anecdotes never get old.

Our Christmas dinner was ready at around 5pm and was spectacular as per usual...

Mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, broccoli, carrots, sprouts fried with bacon, normal sprouts, parsnips, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, chicken, gravy, stuffing... ACTUALLY AMAZING. As yon can imagine, I was pretty full after eating this lot. 

However, there's always room for dessert. Liz has made a Christmas cake for the last few Fake Christmasses and the tenth anniversary was no exception. This year's cake was beautifully decorated (and tasted pretty good too), and Liz even bought a special anniversary decoration!

After dinner, the boys took over the kitchen to clean and wash the dishes and we retired to the lounge to exchange gifts. We decided that we'd only buy for one person this year instead of buying for the whole group as there are so many of us these days. I had lots of lovely presents from Kirsty including a Disney notebook, nail varnish, weekly memo board and a Love Hearts mug. 

When the boys re-joined us (leaving a sparkling kitchen in their wake), we proceeded with our other Secret Santa ceremony. In a nutshell, everyone spends £5 on the most rubbish/random collection of items they can find then the lucky recipients are randomly drawn on the day. This year's gifts included obscure children's toys, a goldfish pencil sharpener, chocolates, edible eyes, Tango shower gel, an expandable flannel, a One Direction annual and rucksack, a Rhydian CD, 'BOOM' party glasses... you get the idea. 

After the excitement of opening the presents and having a little mini slump/nap after food, we proceeded to play games on the Wii U until it was time for bed. Who knew that jumping over ski slopes, drawing pictures and racing animals could be so much fun? I don't enjoy video games as a general rule but even I had to admit that the Wii U games were so much fun. 

Fake Boxing Day is always sad because it means we're all going back to our respective homes and won't see each other again for a while. However, we've got Fee's hen weekend and wedding to look forward to in the next few months so all is not lost. 

Do you have any similar Christmas traditions with your friends or family? I'd love to read your posts if you've blogged about similar rituals!