Happy (Welsh) Valentine’s Day

Before you think that I’ve got my dates mixed up, today in Wales we celebrate Dydd Santes Dwynwen [St Dwynwen’s Day]. St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of love, which makes her the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine.  

There are several versions of her story, which you can find here.

I’ve already been brought flowers in work today. Happy days 🙂

Oooo. Mae’n gas ‘da fi dosbarth Cymraeg!

Hello friends. I sit here with a tired mind, as I’ve been struggling with my Welsh revision for the last couple of hours. I don’t really talk much on the blog about our Welsh lessons, probably because I try to forget they exist from week to week!

Every Tuesday, for the last year and a half, we have been going to intensive Welsh lessons. Four hours a week of torture in my opinion.

Although I love to learn I’ve never really got on with the lessons for two reasons:

–          I’m not very confident in front of a group of people and I just freeze and panic like a rabbit in headlights whenever the teacher asks me a question. I almost always get it wrong because I panic which makes me feel stupid and embarrassed.

–          I don’t have the motivation to do work outside of class. It’s an intensive class so we move on quickly and I need to be doing work at home to keep up. As a result I don’t feel very confident and the gap between people who do their work and the slackers like me is getting larger and more obvious.

Ugggghhhh…I really hate going and I really, really wish I could quit –but I don’t because I’m so stubborn that I hate admitting to myself and everyone else that I’m bad at something!(I’m pretty sure that’s not a good trait!)

Every week I tell myself I’ll work harder and that I’ll do revision, and that I know I could be good if I just applied myself. And then every week I procrastinate and find any opportunity not to do my work!

Well…now I’ve made myself accountable. I’ve put it on the blog! I’ve also contacted a friend to try and organise some extra-curricular practice sessions. She’s about the same level as me and I’m thinking that if we have sessions together the competitiveness of keeping up with her will spur me on to do some work!

Until then I will sit here feeling my stomach churning with nerves every time I think about my class tomorrow 😦
I’ll let you know how it goes. Hwyl!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Trifle

Just a quick and simple post because my brain is completely fried from learning Welsh and I can hardly string a sensible sentence together (Welsh is going well by the way. It’s hard but I’m loving it).

This recipe is amazing. It’s fairly simple to make but looks impressive and tastes great! I think I originally got it from a BBC Good Food Magazine so I’m not taking any credit! The only change I have made is that I use good quality raspberry jam (heated up) instead of coulis because no where seems to sell it in Aber. I also didn’t use the kisch because I couldn’t be bothered to buy any!!!

White Chocolate & Raspberry Trifle 

225g white chocolate
4 egg yolks
50g sugar
300ml milk
300ml double cream
1 large swiss roll
2 tbsp kisch
450g raspberries (I used less than this – about 300g and it was okay)
8tbsp raspberry coulis

1. The day before serving put 50g of the chocolate in the fridge then roughly chop the rest. Cream together the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Put the milk and cream intoa pan and bring almost to the boil, then pour this onto the egg mixture, stirring all the time. Put the mixture back into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon on a low heat until it thickens.
2. Take the pan from the heat and add chopped chocolate. Stir in to melt and leave the custard to cool.
   Then cut up the swiss roll into finger-thick slices and place them round the base of a serving dish (it looks more impressive if you use a glass one!) and sprinkle with the kisch. Cover with 300g of the raspberries and the coulis, the pour over the custard and leave to set.
3. When you are ready to serve, decorate with the remaining raspberries and grate the rest of the chocolate over the top. Serve and enjoy!