Green and Blacks, Maya Gold, Organic Dark Chocolate with Orange and Spices

I like chocolate.
During my life I've eaten my fair share of chocolate, in the form of traditional bars from the newsagent, but I rarely eat that type now. I haven't eaten it regularly for many many years.
Yes, occasionally I'll crave a particular bar, and always, without fail, I regret buying it - because they are all overly sweet, sickly, and low quality. Unfortunately that's just how chocolate is in the UK.

The type of chocolate I prefer is proper chocolate. 
Good quality, preferably dark chocolate. I usually eat chocolate that is 70-80% cocoa, so it's strong and slightly bitter.

I had a bar of Green and Blacks Maya Gold Organic Dark Chocolate a while ago, and having purchased Green and Blacks chocolate before I knew it would be good quality.
The wrapper said, 'Infused with a twist of orange and delicate spices. 55% cocoa'.

The description sounds nice to me, so I was expecting to enjoy this bar.
I didn't enjoy it. It had a peculiar taste, it was like eating perfume.
I only ate one square, and then the chocolate bar was shoved back in the fridge, where it stayed for a long time. Then one day, out of sheer desperation; we had no other chocolate in the house, and I had a serious craving for some, so I opened the pack and broke off a piece of the Maya Gold chocolate, hoping that the first time I'd tasted it there was something wrong with my taste buds, and this time it would taste delicious.
Unfortunately it was as unpleasant as the first time. This time, I didn't bother putting the chocolate back in the fridge, I threw in straight in the bin.
And that's something I don't ever remember doing before. Throwing away chocolate? Doesn't sound likely for a true chocolate lover does it?

Anyway, that was that, and although this was probably the only product I wouldn't like, the experience has put me off a little, and I haven't purchased any Green and Blacks products since.
Are you a chocolate lover?
Do you like Green and Blacks?
Have you tried Maya Gold Organic Dark Chocolate? Did you like the flavour?

Antony Gormley's The Angel of the North

I haven't seen The Angel of the North, the huge sculpture by Antony Gormley, up close and personal.
But, when we first moved up North, I did manage to shoot a photo on my phone as we whizzed by on the A1.

I'm sure you know of The Angel of the North, but if not here's a bit of info about it (courtesy of Wikipedia so don't blame me if it's incorrect) -
'The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture, designed by Antony Gormley, which is located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. 
Completed in 1998, it is a steel sculpture of an angel, 20 metres (66 ft) tall, with wings measuring 54 metres (177 ft) across.
The wings do not stand straight sideways, but are angled 3.5 degrees forward; Gormley did this to create "a sense of embrace".
It stands on a hill on the southern edge of Low Fell, overlooking the A1 and A167 roads into Tyneside, and the East Coast Main Line rail route, south of the site of Team Colliery.'

Concept -
'According to Gormley, the significance of an angel was three-fold: first, to signify that beneath the site of its construction, coal miners worked for two centuries; second, to grasp the transition from an industrial to information age, and third, to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears.'

Construction -
'Work began on the project in 1994 and cost £1 million. 
Most of the project funding was provided by the National Lottery. The Angel was finished on 16 February 1998.'

It's not a bad photo, considering I shot it through the car window, and over my shoulder after we'd past it, as we drove along the A1. Mr.R was driving not me.

If you're interested there's lot more info about The Angel of the North, on Wikipedia, and elsewhere on the internet - obviously.

I'm not interested enough to ever bother going to see it properly, but I would like to see Another Place - which again, I'm sure you know, is the 100 cast iron sculptures of Antony Gormley's own body, which
stand staring out to sea at Crosby Beach, Merseyside.
Have you seen The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley?
And what about 'Another Place', have you seen those figures?
What do you think about the work of Antony Gormley?

Muriel Rioja Reserva 2009 - Wine Review

Mr.R purchased this Muriel Rioja Reserva 2009 from Lidl, it cost £6.66.
It's a very nice smooth wine, aromas of liquorice and vanilla, and with flavours of dark cherries, and liquorice on the palate, and a pleasant oaky finish.
Tempranillo grape.

We really enjoyed this wine, and will no doubt buy some more bottles.

From the label -
A lovely ruby red with tawny hues. Complex and intense to the nose, with a blend of fruity and toasty aromas. Well-balanced, full-bodied and elegant in the mouth. 13% Vol.
Have you tasted Muriel Rioja Reserva 2009?
What did you think of it?

Lurcher Love - Photos Of Our Rescue Dog

Adopting Barley, our lovely Lurcher, was one of the best decisions we've ever made.
I know I'm biased, but he truly is a gorgeous dog, he has such a wonderful nature, which is all the more amazing considering he was a stray.

I'm a little obsessed with Barley, and with taking photos and video of him. I can't resist, he's just so beautiful.
I have millions of photos of Barley, that's only a slight exaggeration, and as I've written blog posts about him several times already I can't remember what photos I've uploaded to them.
So here are a few more of my favourite photos of Barley, hopefully not ones I've already shared.
What am I talking about, every photo of Barley is my favourite.

Fun in the sun on a local beach

Beautiful brown-eyed boy

Playing with his beach find

Grinning and dreaming

Ox knuckle, treat from the butcher

He loves the beach, and playing with his ball

Mr.R made lamb flavoured popcorn for Barley

Sniffing the sea air

Sniffing slippers

Snoozing, after reading about boozing

Another day, another beach

We live by several local beaches, with more just a short drive away, all of which makes Barley a very happy boy, he loves zooming about all over them.

If you're interested in the rescue charity where we adopted Barley, you can view their website here Stray Aid

Have you adopted a rescue dog?

Wonderful aren't they?

The UK Government is Very Generous - To Other Countries Via Billions Of Pounds In Foreign Aid

The UK Government Hand-Outs List

Or to put it more accurately - theft!

Our government makes us pay a very high amount of tax, then they tell us the country is broke, and then they give billions of pounds away to other countries in 'aid'.

It's not just one of the political parties, it's all of them, Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats.......

All of them constantly tell us we've got no money, they say, we're "broke" and can't help our own pensioners, ex-armed forces, orphans, homeless, NHS etc.

In the past few years the UK has provided aid, in the form of cash to all of these countries - 

        Country              £ Million

• Congo             £359,000,000
• Egypt              £397,000,000
• Ethiopia           £981,000,000
• Haiti                £1400,000,000
• Hamas             £351,000,000
• Iraq                 £1080,000,000
• Jordan             £463,000,000
• Kazakhstan      £304,000,000
• Kenya              £816,000,000
• Libya               £1450,000,000
• Mexico            £622,000,000
• Mozambique    £404,000,000
• Nigeria             £456,000,000
• Pakistan           £2000,000,000
• Russia             £380,000,000
• Senegal            £698,000,000
• South Africa    £566,000,000
• Sudan              £870,000,000
• Tanzania          £554,000,000
• Uganda            £451,000,000
• Zambia            £331,000,000

        TOTAL          £14,933,000,000.00

Yep, that's a total of £14,933. Literally Billions of Pounds!
Proving money can't buy you friends, as the majority of these countries hate us. 

Our retired pensioners are living on a 'fixed income'. 

Do they get any benefits from our government?
Or are they struggling to survive, going without adequate food, and sitting in cold homes because they can't afford to turn on the heating?

Our government and religious organisations 'donate' hundreds of billions of pounds, and tons of food to a long list of foreign countries.
Yet we have more and more people being forced to used food banks just to feed themselves, their families, and to survive.

We have hundreds of children in the car system who are waiting to be fostered and/or adopted, but their needs are being ignored in favour of adopting orphans from foreign countries.
Why? Because our government makes it so difficult for prospective parents to give these children a permanent loving home. 

It defies belief that we give away so much money to other countries, when in the UK we have homeless people without any shelter, children lacking the basics like clothing and going hungry, the elderly going without food, essential medication, or fuel to heat their homes, and mentally ill people being left to fend for themselves aka 'care in the community'. 

All of these things are happening, that's a fact.
There's proof that we aren't looking after our own people, and yet we still allow illegal immigrants to come to our country and not only do we not send them away, we welcome them, give them food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, education etc.

I'm a nice person, I'm all for helping those in need, but not before we help our own people first.
Charity begins at home. Doesn't it?

Wouldn't it be nice if our government, who work for us, and are paid by us, gave us the same support and care they willingly give to other countries?

Even when a foreign country says they don't want our aid money, we still give it to them. Why? Because as with everything in politics, it's not really about helping is it? It's about power, and money.
All politicians care about is power and money, money and power.

With the UK general election only a few months away, politics is obviously being heavily reported in the media.
I wish all of the political parties would stop acting like two-year-olds, blaming each other for everything that is wrong with this country, stop slagging each other off, and start telling us what they're going to do for Britain, what they're going to do for us.
I think our whole political system needs a shake-up. It's crazy the way it works at the moment; we have a general election, a party wins, and then they are in charge for the next 5 years.
They never do what they said they'd do - not that any of them are saying much about that at the moment.
Or worst still, we have a coalition government, as we do now; Conservatives and Liberal Democrats - who are in power for 5 years.
Five years! of being governed by a government that not one single person in the country voted for.
How can that be right? How is that democratic?
It's not, it's not democratic, which sadly is not a shock - as we don't live in a democracy.

Once a political party has won a general election they should be made by law to carry out all of the plans they said they would in their manifesto.
And during their 5 years in power, we the people should have the power to kick them out of they step out of line.
After all, they work for us. They want us to think they are our bosses, but they're not.

One last thing, slightly off topic; but then I've rambled from billions of pound in foreign aid, to general elections....... so I've already wandered slightly.......
The current government seem obsessed with painting all benefits claimants as lazy workshy scroungers, which is seriously outrageous considering that, as I've said in other blog posts, the majority of benefits claimants are actually employed people, not unemployed. They are working, but they're not being paid enough to live on, so they have no choice but to claim benefits.
And the biggest benefits scroungers in the UK are without doubt the royal family, closely followed by the politicians.

Phew! That's it!
Rant over!
I'm not sure I feel any better having got that out of my system, I think I probably feel even more pissed-off with the eejits in power.
How do you feel about our country? 
Our government?
The politicians?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts, just post them in the comments. 

Please Don't Worry

Do you ever think, or maybe a better description is feel, do you ever feel there's something looking after you?
I mean, despite the troubles of the World, daily struggles, and whatnot, do you, deep down know that everything is going to be OK?

I don't always feel like that.
We all have off days, but if I take the time to stop, be still, and just feel, I honestly feel a protection of some sort.
I feel as though everything, the good and the not so good, is as it should be. Like there's something bigger than me that is watching over me and keeping me alive.

This may sound like a load of nonsense to you, or it may sound similar to your own beliefs.
Both of which are fine, we are all different, but at the same time, not so different.

Anyway, the point of my rambling, if I can call it a point, is that I saw this quote a while ago and I liked it - so I thought I'd share it on my blog.

Please don't worry.
I've got you.
- The Universe

Some days I'm obsessed with quotes, I go on Instagram, twitter, and Google just to spend time reading loads of quotes. And I mean loads, I can happily spend an hour or more scrolling online soaking up all of the positive, inspiring quotes that are out there.
They seem pretty harmless, and they make me feel good.
Other days though, I don't specifically go looking for quotes, but they seem to be everywhere, and I ignore most of them, but I can't help reading a few. And then I think to myself, what a load of crap. A lot of them make no sense, and if you interpret them in a more literal way, they aren't even remotely true.
That's me - contrary. Haha!
So, there you have it. I love quotes. Usually. I think they are nonsense - occasionally.
Do you like reading quotes?
Have you got any particular favourite quotes? 
If you feel like it, you can share them in the comments. 

The Durham Brewery, Temptation, Imperial Russian Stout - Beer Review

We bought a couple of bottles of Temptation, Russian Stout directly from The Durham Brewery, which was a good choice because it is a seriously nice stout.

I'm a big fan of stout, ever since I developed an appreciation for the taste during our World travels.
I especially enjoy strong stouts, Temptation Imperial Russian Stout is 10%, and a particularly nice brew.

From the moment we purchased this stout I looked forward to tasting it, and I wasn't disappointed.
As it's poured into the glass it look luxuriously thick, with fruity aromas.
On the palate there was a pleasing richness of flavours; delicious dark chocolate, bitter coffee, and taste bud tingling fruitiness.

Just writing that description of this stout is making my mouth water, I wish I had a bottle right now.
Absolutely divine.

It's not surprising this lovely stout is an award winner -
Winner, Real Ale in a Bottle, Durham CAMRA Beer of the Year 2010

There's more information about Temptation Imperial Russian Stout on the website - The Durham Brewery

From the label -
Temptation is a Russian Stout: a style that was exported to Imperial Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Massive body supports oily coffee, liquorice and chocolate flavours. The alchemy of Goldings hops and roast malts make a complex aroma of anise, caramel and blackberries. 

This ale is bottled-conditioned. 
There is a live sediment which continues to mature and develop the flavour and character. 

Food match: Dark chocolate.

Contains water, barley, wheat, hops, and yeast.

Store upright and pour gently to avoid disturbing the sediment.

Natural; not filtered.

Serve at 10 degrees C.
This beer may be lively so have a glass to hand when opening.

Suitable for vegans. 

The Durham Brewery Ltd,
Unit 5a,
Bowburn North Ind Est,
Bowburn, Durham DH6 5PF.

As we live close to The Durham Brewery and have enjoyed all of the beers we purchased there, I'm sure we'll be popping back again soon to restock.
Have you tasted Temptation Imperial Russian Stout from The Durham Brewery?
If you haven't, and you enjoy a decent stout, this is definitely one to buy. Enjoy!