Hallowe'en

Now for my second post of the day. This'll probably be a short one as it's not so much about something you can do in Milton Keynes, but something you can do wherever you are in the world.

Last weekend we invited a few friends over for dinner and what with it being so close to Hallowe'en, we thought we'd carve a pumpkin to decorate our flat with and cook a seasonal chicken and pumpkin Thai curry. We were quite pleased with the resulting pumpkin, designed by myself and carved with great skill by my husband, Paul.



We were quite surprised to learn that a couple of our dinner guests (who are from Sweden) had never celebrated Hallowe'en and upon doing a bit of research it appears that Hallowe'en is most likely to be of Celtic origin and the traditional practices of dressing up in goulish costume to go 'guising' and carving turnips or swedes into lanterns that originated in Ireland and Scotland have since been adapted by the North Americans to the modern trick or treating and carving of pumpkins into 'jack-o-lanterns'. It is not really celebrated in this form across the rest of Europe, although most European countries celebrate All Saints Day on the 1st of November.

My memories of Hallowe'en from living in Glasgow involved going to costume parties where you would play games like dooking for apples and going guising, which involved getting dressed up in some spooky costume and knocking on your neighbours' doors where you would be invited in and have to perform some sort of party piece before being given sweets, peanuts (or monkey nuts as we used to call them) or money. In England the tradition seems to be very different, usually involving children playing practical jokes and committing acts of vandalism. Children who go trick-or-treating are also not expected to perform a party piece, but will instead knock on doors crying 'trick-or-treat' in order to be rewarded with sweets and money. I think I prefer the Scottish way!

Taipan chinese restaurant

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but well, y'know I've been busy with this and that and just haven't had the time... okay, you got me, I've just been a bit lazy of late so just to make it up to you, here is the first of two posts for today.

Before I get started, I just want to apologise for the quality of the photographs, but they were taken on my camera phone, which although good in a light outdoor setting tends to be a bit rubbish indoors!

Last Friday we decided to go out for dinner as we'd just been paid and had been living like monks for the last month due to the crushing poverty, so on the spur of the moment we booked a table at Taipan in the Theatre district. When I say 'Theatre district' what I really mean is the quarter square mile of central Milton Keynes that contains a range of chain restaurants and bars (T.G.I Fridays, Slug and Lettuce and the like) and also happens to have a theatre. It seems to be the favoured weekend drinking location for MK types as there are also a couple of nightclubs there.

We'd been to Taipan before and had been fairly impressed by the food which, having grown up in Hong Kong is not a compliment I bestow very often on a Chinese restaurant, so we thought we'd go back as it's been a while since we last visited.



The décor is pretty minimal for a Chinese restaurant, but I like it. Gone is the usual flock wallpaper to be replaced by white painted walls. Large Chinese banner-shaped artworks adorn the back wall flowing down from the one and a half storey high ceiling and light fittings that look like a modern take on the traditional Chinese paper lantern help to keep the whole restaurant bright and airy.



We ordered Cantonese style roast duck, a chinese mushroom, crispy pork and eel hot pot and a side dish of pak choi with oyster sauce accompanied by plain boiled rice and washed down with Chinese tea. The duck was beautifully cooked being succulent, but not too fatty and full of flavour. The hot pot was really tasty, but not being much of an eel lover, I left most of that for my husband. It's kind of an acquired taste I suppose, but I just find it overly fatty. The one fault I found with the food here is that there's probably a bit too much MSG (monosodium glutamate - a flavour enhancer used in Chinese cooking in place of salt), as by the time we were three-quarters of the way through our meal, I was beginning to get tastebud fatigue. Still, it all makes for a really tasty meal and we even ended up taking some of it home for dinner the next day. I can't wait to go back there to try out their dim sum!

Taipan, Milton Keynes

Salcey Forest

Ever since the age of 8 when I moved to the UK, forests have held a particular fascination for me. You see, there aren't any forests in Hong Kong (unless you count forests of skyscrapers), so when I first discovered them I was amazed at what fantastic playgrounds they are. There's no end to the things you can do in a forest, like climbing trees, building dens, lifting up rocks to look for weird insects... I could go on for hours!



So the choice of where to go wandering today wasn't too difficult. After hearing about Salcey Forest a couple of weeks ago I've just been waiting for a fair weather day to go walkabout in the woods. The weather today couldn't have been better. A clear crisp October morning that began frosty but was soon warmed by the low Autumn sun.



Although not technically in Milton Keynes (it actually falls within Northamptonshire county), it's only about 7 miles North of Newport Pagnell, near the village of Hartwell. The main car park seems to get incredibly busy at the weekends and they charge £2 for the privilege of parking there, so we opted for the horse box car park at the other end of the forest, which is much quieter and free to use, so it's certainly well worth the effort as long as you don't mind the 5 mile round trip to hike to the more interesting parts of the forest.



There are numerous walking trails ranging from 0.75 to 6 miles, a 5 mile cycle trail and a horse trail, most of which offer circular routes beginning and ending at the main car park where there is also a café and children's playground. The picture above shows part of the Elephant Walk, so called because it passes by the Elephant Pond over which this beautiful suspension bridge passes suspended from an arrow that seems to have been caught midflight having been shot out of the pond itself.



The most impressive construction in the forest however, has to be the Treetop Walk. Constructed in 2005 it was a finalist in the 2006 Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award. The walk begins at ground level and follows a gentle incline through the trees to a height of 20 metres above ground from where you can enjoy a view over the treetops to the city of Northampton.



Oh, and I haven't told you the best bit yet... there's absolutely no traffic noise when you're in the heart of the forest, so you can wander around feeling like you really are in the countryside!

For more information on Salcey Forest including maps and directions, visit the Forestry Commission website.

Caldecotte Lake

Today we went for a walk around Caldecotte Lake in the South of Milton Keynes. There are a few of these little oases of green space amidst the concrete jungle that are pleasant enough to walk around, but the constant drone of the traffic rushing by on the V10 just serves to break the tranquility and remind you that you're still in Milton Keynes. This is the second largest of Milton Keynes' lakes. If you only have time to visit one of them, I suggest you go to Willen Lake instead.



There were certainly lots of geese and other birds around, which I guess is nice if you like that sort of thing. Although I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be to roast one up for Christmas dinner!



There was quite a pretty old windmill by the side of the lake that has now been turned into a Travel Inn. I thought the windmill part of it was original until I found this quote "Built in 1992, it has been constructed in the style of a tithe barn with a windmill made with authentic parts from Holland." Er, right, ok!



The lake was built in 1982 as a balancing lake to prevent the river Ouzel from flooding the Southern part of Milton Keynes and is now the home of the MK Sailing Club and the MK Rowing Club. For more information about Caldecotte Lake, take a look at the Parks Trust website.

One year ago...

...give or take a couple of weeks, we moved to Milton Keynes for my husband's job.

Now, I've moved around a lot, so I'm used to the upheaval and I usually get itchy feet after two or three years in the same place anyway, but I never would have guessed that we'd end up living in a place like Milton Keynes - the city of the concrete cow. The place gets a pretty bad press and I'm sure that has something to do with the maze of roundabouts and lack of any real focal point to call a centre.

Now, I'm sure many of the born-and-bred Milton-Keynesians will disagree with my views, but let's face it, Milton Keynes doesn't exactly have much to attract the 20- or 30-something couples/singles with no kids who love the hustle and bustle of modern city living. I mean, going to the pub with your mates here is a pain because a) Milton Keynes is so spread out that everybody lives in a different part of town and b) the public transport here is virtually non-existent, so wherever you decide to go at least one person has to drive and don't even think about trying to find a taxi around here!

After a year of living here, I've decided that I haven't really given it a proper chance and I've set out to discover some of the parts of Milton Keynes that make it a place worth living in. I mean, there must be some reason why 184,506 people (according to Wikipedia) have decided to make it their home, hence the reason for this blog. Armed with my trusty camera phone and a bit of free time in between OU courses (possibly the subject of another blog?) I'm going to do my best to explore this city and tell you all about what I've found.

By the way, if there's anybody out there reading this who has some suggestions as to where I might start, or knows of some hidden gem that's yet to be discovered, feel free to let me know in the comments.