New Experiences #41- #44
N.B. Due to recent exam commitments, I haven’t kept my blog up-to-date and I must apologise to my regular reader for this. However, I have been keeping up my mission to try something new every week and have found it a great way to keep positive when textbooks got me down.
W/C 30th April
New Experience #41: A Vintage Market
With my summer calendar packed with festivals galore, I headed along to the regular Vintage Market at the back of Milgi’s to stock up on some trendy wears for the outings to come. Yes, trendy. The small warehouse was packed full o’ hipster and the vast majority of the retro clothes, accessories and jewellery were perfectly lovely originals or upcylced goods.
However, the vast majority of the clothes were for women and so having bought a colourful repeat pattern skirt for my sister (turned out to be a dress) I searched high and low for some bargains for myself. I came away with a Ted Baker beanie (for those cool summer nights) and a printed tee with a twist on the classic Joy Division album cover Unknown Pleasures, the latter certainly fit for a music festival. A good way to pass a Sunday evening and for someone who gets all flustered by shopping, a stress-free spending experience.
Rating: 4/5 I only parted with a tenner but came away with some great stuff and more importantly enjoyed a post-market (soft) drink in the Milgi Yurt with my mates.
W/C 7th May
New Experience #42: Trying And Making Jewish Food
My mum went along to the launch of a Jewish friend’s recipe book, Warm Bagels And Apple Strudel, and brought back a selection of breads, savoury snacks and gorgeous cakes as well as the excellent book itself. The latter includes not only over 150 recipes but some fascinating notes which links the food back to religious traditions, Jewish history and dietary guidelines in the Torah.
Having tasted some of the most delicious and interesting food from the book including a Shabbat Almond, Peach and Apple Kuchen and Vanilla and Almond Kipferl I decided to try my hand at one of the recipes. I decided to do the Coconut Pyramids, which were very easy to make and only took about 20 minutes - tasting amazing with a cuppa. Here is a slightly different recipe for the same sweet treat, so why not give them a bash yourself?
Rating: 4/5 This one has reminded me that within such a diverse country it’s not difficult to find different cultural customs and traditions on you doorstep just waiting for you to try, especially handy for me! And I didn’t know that bagels were Jewish!
New Experience #43: Letter To A Newspaper Editor
As a member of the Oxfam Cymru Youth Board, I was asked to send a letter about the Robin Hood Tax Campaign (see New Experience #32), to my local newspaper editor. We had drafted the letter as a group and it gave an overview of what the campaign is all about and what readers could do about it ( i.e. sign this here petition)
As far as I know, my personal letter was not included in the Echo, which was a shame, but our group’s letter was featured in The Western Mail.
Rating: 3/5 It was good to see our collective letter in the national paper but as my own wasn’t published in the Echo, I felt the experience was, well, a tad lukewarm.
W/C 14th May
New Experience #44: Jumble Sale
Following the success of the Vintage Market (New Experience #41 above) I headed along to Milgi’s £1 Jumble Sale to continue my quest to find cheap and cheerful summer clothes fit for the festival circuit. However, this time round the truly rock-bottom prices brought the students of Cardiff out in full-force and within minutes the market itself was a mosh-pit away from a sweaty gig, as women grabbed and delved with flailing arms and war-like cries. I say women because there was very little, if anything, on sale for men this time and as such, I came away with just a box of artist’s charcoal to my name. I have since used this as a doodling tool, to the detriment of my revision.
Rating: 2/5 Too busy to enjoy, too feminine for me to buy and ultimately nowhere near as good as the Vintage Market of two weeks before.
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2 Comments – Postiwch sylw
Sprout Editor
Rhoddwyd sylw 48 mis yn ôl - 1st June 2012 - 12:25pm
You're an inspiration leading such a full life! The more experiences you can get the better. Trying new things is so important - I take my hat off to you for keeping this going for so long! :)
Tom_Bevan
Rhoddwyd sylw 48 mis yn ôl - 1st June 2012 - 15:43pm
I'm not even halfway through the year yet but I have found this to be the most brilliant way to tackle life- at the start of each week I begin to look out for new things to try and grasp anything that I can do differently. I recommend this to everyone, it keeps life fresh and makes you more understanding, tolerant and a heck of a lot more interesting to talk to!