Book Page Folding. A Christmas, Valentine's Day Or I Love You Gift to make or buy - bought from a library room for hire in Harrow

Look up how to fold a heart in a book, or paper folding book pages. You can find guides on YouTube. You need a book you don't want.

What if you don't have a book?

Libraries often have books for sale.  You can support your library by buying an old book. Choose a book with a fancy cover, or cover it with suitable wrapping paper. 

North Harrow library

My library in London, North Harrow Library, was the venue for the HOD toastmasters (speakers' training) international club. I went to their Christmas party. i met the man who organized the group to campaign for saving the North Harrow Libarary from closure. the library was costing the council about 250,000 pounds a year to run. Now the library is run by volunteers and it still costs about thirty thousand pounds to run. 

How do they make the money? They have a large table of sales. Books for sale. Folded gift books. Greeting cards. Handcrafts. If you want to hire the library for an evening, a volunteer will open it up for you, and sell you items from the gift table if you wish to buy something. What costs the money, if it is run by volunteers? The usual running costs of a building, heating, lighting, cleaning, decorating, repairs.

At the back they have a fantastic children's play area with large soft toys.  

You have until December 23rd to visit the library. Then they reopen January the third. Activities include computing, knitting and community activities as well as the HOD Speakers' club which trains you in public speaking and evaluating speeches.

When I looked up book folding in Wikipedia I found an article on how to fold the pages when creating a book.

You can also pick up fre books from West Harrow Library station entrance and Hatch End station inside the entrance. They ask for donations or for you to drop the book back or donate another on another occasion. The system is called Freecycle. It makes using the station fun. 

Free Newspapers

You can also pick up free newspapers, the London version of Metro, most days at London railway stations. (The same system of free newspapers is available in places such as Singapore, the central Orchard station when you will see newspapers in the morning though they might have run out later in the day. The same goes for many other cities.

The newspapers are handy for travellers. Free newspapers not only give the capital city and worldwide news. They tell you about seasonal nationwide and local events. They carry lots of travel ads, for railway deals in the country, and trips overseas.

Useful Websites

How to fold a heart in a book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHrmuWWrbPw

North Harrow library directions and opening hours and activities and more

https://northharrowlibrary.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Nharrowlibrary/

https://bookfolding.net/

Chocolate Museum in Russia - do visit their website and read the chocolate lave cake recipe

Chocolate fairy statue in Russia.

September 13 is International Chocolte Day, according to the US national Confectioners Association. 22 September is White chocolate Day. 20 October is Office chocolate day. November we are all busy with pumpkins and apples. 16 Dec is chocolate covered anything day.

I am researching for my slides on chocolate. I am making chocolate the them of meetings in September and October for my toastmasters international speakers' club, Braddell Heights Advanced. Come along and join out Chocolate Party!' is my selling point and I have spent days researching chocolate for my speech and slides.

The Chocolate Museum in Russia is my latest discovery. They have the world's first and only statue to chocolate, outside the museum. It is about 60 miles from Moscow, in a small town where the main employer is Kraft, who produce the Gold chocolate.

When Kraft planned the sculpture, they ran a competition for the best design. The wining sculptor was a specialist in sand sculpture.

Lava cake from Wikipedia.

Chocolate Lava Cake
The handy website of the museum also had information about shops in Belgium and recipes for items such as the Lava cake, a chcolate cake with a melting hot filling. I like the way they have respberries on top to offset the overload of chocolate. Want to know how to make the cake and be sure it stays melting and does not set? Go to their site and wikipedia.


Museum of Chocolate
Muzey Shokolada
Lenina Street 79
119019 Pokrov
Russia
+7 (0) 1495 - 9996127

Useful Websites
https://www.erih.net/i-want-to-go-there/site/show/Sites/schokoladenmuseum-5/
http://choco-life.ru/2019/07/shokoladnyj-lava-kejk/
Toastmasters International Find a club

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Braddell%20Heights%20Advanced%20Toastmasters%20Club&epa=SEARCH_BOX

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, based in London, England, and Singapore. Please share links to your favourite post.

What Are Welsh Cakes? Recipe!

Welsh cakes from Fishguard Bay Hotel. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Notice the cakes contain currants. Welsh cake can be broken into four pieces using the cross which has been scored with a knife (or fork).

Problem
What are Welsh cakes? Where or how can I try them?

Answer
Welsh cakes are round or square cakes which look like flattened scones. Like scones, they have sultanas or currants. Like scones, you can serve them with jam and butter, or cream.

I first tried them in Fishguard, Wales. You eat them hot with butter and jam.

I had them for elevenses at Jane's. Delicious and more-ish. Perfect small cake to go with coffee for mid morning or after noon tea.

Handy bag from Janes reminds you of the address and phone number.

The second time I tried them was at Fishguard Bay Hotel. Scrumptious.

The third time was on the Aviva train from Fishguard ferry port via Fishguard to change at another station for the train home to Paddington, London. At £1.50 for two small cakes, not with crockery, just from a train trolley, they seemed expensive. No receipt either.

But I still thought they were a good buy. They filled me up and left me feeling satisfied.

Tips
You can make them from a recipe such as Jamie Oliver or the BBC or the Welsh tourist board. Here's the recipe from the tourist board:
http://www.visitwales.com/explore/traditions-history/recipes/welsh-cakes

If you put a cross on them, scored with a knife, you can divide them into smaller pieces to go with coffee.

Welsh cakes bought on the Aviva local train. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Blas y Castell means Taste the Castle.
Welsh Cakes bought on the Aviva train from Fishguard to Whitland (where you can change onto the train to Paddington).

My ticket was via Whitland, which is an easy change of train. You stay on the same platform. Whitland has no café and no toilets, so if you go via Whitland you will be glad of the opportunity to buy food and drink on both trains.

Wikipedia says:

• Llech Cymraeg: cooked with plain flour (particularly wholemeal flour) - rather than the standard self-raising flour, and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, hence the name Llech Cymraeg (literally, "Welsh slab").
• Jam Split: popular in South Wales. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam (and sometimes butter) added, rather like a sandwich.
• Apple Dragon: Adding grated apple to the mix helps to keep the cakes moist for longer.
• The Newport Lovely: regional variant hand-crafted by the men of Newport for their women as either a wedding-gift, or engagement present.
• Mynydd Cymreig: (literally, Welsh Mountain): from North Wales, doubling the amount of baking powder results in their increased rising. They are also finely coated in icing sugar, symbolising the seasonal snow cap of some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia.
• The Kiwi Cake: exported by Welsh settlers, the Welsh cake has been produced in New Zealand for many years.

I think the Welsh Mountain Cake would be good for tea-time in a snowy winter or at Christmas.
Here's a recipe from Wikipedia:
Ingredients]

• 1 lb (450g) plain flour
• 8 oz (225g) butter
• 6 oz (170g) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 oz (85g) currants, raisins or other dried fruit
• dash of milk
• pinch of salt

Procedure]

1. In a large mixing bowl, rub together butter, flour and salt until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Mix in sugar and fruit.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating together until mixture forms a thick dough. If dough will not form, add a small amount of milk.
4. Knead for two to three minutes until dough becomes cohesive and slightly elastic.
5. Roll dough out on a flat surface.
6. Cut two to three inch circles from the dough and fry on a griddle until golden brown.

Tips
Janes of Fishguard, Crafts, Coffee House14-18 High Street, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.
Website: Janes-fishguard.co.uk
https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/ (trips, tours, offers: London; England, Scotland, Wales)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author, speaker. I have several other posts on Wales and Welsh language. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Carrying Gift Wrapping Paper, Card, and Making Christmas Trees - Let's Craft with ModernMom - 12 Days of...

A video of making wrapping paper into conical tree table decorations is a great idea if you travel to a flat, second home or all suite hotel and want a table decoration for Christmas or New Year or a birthday. it reminds me of how I often travel with wrapping paper for gifts, because a wrapped gift has to be opened for customs and excise or security.

I travel with a roll of wrapping paper, a teeny set of paints or couple of felt tip coloured pens in different colours, and a roll of sticky tape. I have leftover wrapping paper to re-cover box files or to do craft work.

Transporting Paper Without Creases
A roll of wrapping paper can be transported flat in the base or lid pocket of a suitcase. Alternatively, use the outside pocket of a carry on bag.

Roll paper you need to keep flat (such as a certificate or birthday card or poster) either inside or outside a cardboard tube. Where do you find a tube? Use a tube from kitchen roll paper. Or make a long tube of two or three toilet paper or kitchen roll inner tubed taped together to make a longer one.

Alternatively, keep a tube from a poster which has been posted to you, or any kitchen roll. Roll up, the paper to be protected inside the stiff cardboard.

A kitchen original tube can later be cut to make a cone.

The more remote your destination, the more impressed others will be by such items as wrapping paper. For example, on a trek up Everest, one of the members had a birthday. The Sherpas (one of many mountain tribes of Nepal) cooked a cake. Friends among the trekkers had brought the cake frill and cards. On Mera Peak, in the Himalayas in Nepal in the year 2000.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.