Chester

The unwanted misfortunes of life

I’ll admit that the title for this blog post isn’t particularly positive. It is however a pretty decent reflection of my mood and situation at the moment. Pinpointing down exactly what is causing me such misery would be difficult, mainly because there are so many things. In brief though, it’s not at all pleasant, and as much as I wish I could push it away, the problems are here to stay (until luck comes knocking at my door again).



 

By now you’re probably wondering what my rant has anything to do with my visit to Chester. The link’s indirect, but understandable. Travelling, as you know, is something I use as an instant mood booster. The idea of going somewhere new and fascinating is truly therapeutic to me. But when travelling just isn’t an option (like the current situation), the best thing to do is to simply recount about the adventures that had turned out well from the past.

 

 

So, in order to “turn my frown upside down”, today’s travel tale is about my trip to Chester, which occurred several months ago.



Entering the walled city

Known for its well-preserved medieval covered walkways that date back to the 13^th century, it’s no wonder that an architecture fanatic like myself was more than eager to explore the distinctive two-tiered medieval galleries in Chester’s town centre. Of course, there were other more popular attractions outside of Chester to see; a lot of people recommended that I pay a visit to its zoo but, having studied and lived in Australia for 3 years, I think I can safely say that I’ve seen enough exotic animals to las myself for a while (at least for this trip anyway). It’s no surprise that I ended up spending most of my trip simply photographing every store, window, door and sign I could find.

 



Note to future Chester wanderers, bring a camera (my iPhone was definitely NOT enough)



Chester Rows are filled with amazing shops of all kinds. Whether you want confectionery, clothes, cards or anything else, the items on offer can practically meet anyone’s shopping list. You could literally spend the entire day shopping, or window shopping if you’re on a student budget like I am! Would I be able to pick a favorite shop? Absolutely not with such a huge range available. I couldn’t have been happier just simply walking up and down the streets of Chester (especially since it was super sunny on the day that I went).

 

 

 



With an hour and a bit left before my train was due, I decided to pop in to Chester Cathedral for a quick peek. Being a bit of a history geek, I was sure that the Grade 1 listed building would definitely fit my criteria. I didn’t get time to take the Tower Tour (and for those that do have time, I strongly recommend that you do go; you get discover 900 years of history in just 30 minutes or 1 hour depending on which tour you book!), but I did have an enjoyable time simply wandering through each part of the cathedral. There was also an interesting Alice in Wonderland display on, which was rather cute in my opinion.

 

Inside Chester Cathedral

 

There were a couple of other things I didn’t have time to visit, like Chester Castle and the Grosvenor Musuem. And unfortunately, the famed Eastgate Clock was under renovation when I arrived, so I wasn’t able to take a photo of it. All this means that I’ll have to go back to Chester again sometime in the future (for sure)!



Feeling revitalized and ready for action  

Obviously the above wasn’t exactly how I felt after my trip to Chester had ended (I made sure I had a good night’s sleep to make up for all that walking!). However, the title does appropriate reflect my current mood. In just 600+ words, I have gone back to being my cheery old self, and am more than prepared to take on whatever life has install for me, be it good or bad.

 

The little things that blogging can do to one’s life à positivity regained through pursuing one’s passion.

A beautiful day out



Fudgy, (pure) Chocolate Brownies

Death by Chocolate

Quite simply, the best way to die in my opinion. I'd have chocolate in anyway - milk, dark, white (I don't care if it doesn't have cocoa in it, it's still an amazing type of chocolate), fruity, nutty, you name it. Chocolate and I are definitely  best friends. And what could be better than spending a day indoors baking something extra chocolatey whilst listening to the pouring rain outside? That basically summarizes one of the many highlights of my Saturday. I was in the mood for brownies but didn't have any cocoa powder. After a quick google search, I managed to find the perfect brownie recipe (from the website, journeykitchen.com) that didn't require any cocoa powder - just pure dark chocolate (delicious, period).

Mmm...melted chocolate... :)

Ingredients

Quintessentially easy-to-purchase essentials are needed for this recipe. I didn't have any walnuts in my pantry but otherwise I would have definitely added some/ a lot into the brownies for an extra bit of crunch and texture.

Note: I could only make half the amount because I only had 100g of dark chocolate - definitely worth making the whole amount or even double that (dieting can start another day ;)

Yields: 12

• 200g dark chocolate
• 175g butter
• 130g all purpose flour
• 325g caster sguar
• 3 eggs

Utensils

• A baking tin (33x23x5cm is the recommended size)
• Pot
• Scales
• Wooden spoon
• Rubber spatula
• Baking paper
• Whisk
• Knife
• Metal bowls x 2

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 170°C

2) Line the baking tin with baking paper

3) Measure the needed ingredients using the scales

4) Boil water in the pot and place one metal bowl on top of it.

5) Place the chocolate and butter into the metal bowl and let them melt; stir until well mixed/ incorporated

Resist the temptation to eat the entire mixture immediately (not as easy as it looks!)

6) Take the bowl off the heat and whisk in the sugar

7) Pour in the flour and mix until well incorporated

8) Whisk in the eggs until thick and smooth

9) Pour the mixture into the prepared pan - use the rubber spatula to scrap every last bit into it (wasting is a big no no in my household/ kitchen).

10) Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes.

11) Cool before cutting it up into squares or rectangles. 

Before the oven treatment :)

And c'est tout! Very simple and obviously delicious. I do advise everyone to wait until it's cooled down to eat as the brownies can burn your tongue if they're too hot. Although...I wouldn't say that it's necessary to wait too long because then you'll miss out on having a brownie with a crunchy top, a chewy interior and a minutely but perfectly moist centre. I basically melted as I had my share of the lot. 

Death by chocolate, literally.

Definitely a keeper and a great thing to share with friends/ eat by yourself when you're feeling down or is simply craving (a lot of) chocolate ;)