Tour of Flanders, treats and travel...

What a busy few weeks we have had...the tour de Flanders, visitors from home bearing gifts of Marmite, Cream Eggs and warm socks, followed by great adventures in Berlin and Barcelona.

Firstly, the Tour of Flanders, a huge cycling race in Belgium that takes place every Spring. Cycling to Belgians is like Rugby to New Zealanders, so not knowing a lot about it we were in good company with some locals that knew the who's who. We were up early and arrived in Brugge at 8am to ensure a good viewing spot of the stage. The square filled up pretty quick and soon the teams were riding over the stage and signing the race board. At 10am our toes were frozen to the bone and the riders were off with a bang.

Being Easter weekend, after the start we warmed up with some chocolaty delights at one of the many local chocolate shops. I decided on a traditional hot chocolate with marshmallows, while the others experimented with more adventurous flavours including chilly and ginger.

Once back at the apartment we continued eating, drinking and gaining additional insights from our Belgian guests. They nervously watched the television religiously until Fabian Cancellara finally crossed the line to take the win...a very Belgian day with a Swiss finish!

disney...here we come!

We are heading to Disneyland Paris this weekend which calls for some appropriately child like treats to take along. Presenting...chocolate chip cookie and jelly bean rocky road!

Rocky road is truly the easiest thing to make and you can put just about anything in it. For example, while searching for the ingredients for my chocolate chip cookie and jelly bean concoction I came across coconut covered marshmallows. I stood there for a while deliberating and came to the conclusion...why not! So they went in too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Jelly Bean Rocky Road

600 grams Milk Chocolate

300 grams Coconut covered Marshmallows (Or plain with a little shredded coconut)

225 grams Chocolate Chip Cookies - roughly chopped

200 grams Jelly Beans (I used all the berry flavors out of a mixed bag)

100 grams Peanuts

1. Line small tray or medium sized cake tin with baking paper.

2. Melt chocolate in a large bowl, either on top of a pot of hot water or in the microwave. Just remember that chocolate burns easily so keep an eye on it.

3. Pour all of the other ingredients into the bowl with the chocolate and mix through, making sure everything is covered in the chocolate.

4. Pour the mixture in to the tin. You may need to spread it out a bit with the back of a spoon to make it roughly even in thickness.

5. Place in the fridge until set and then chop into chunks with a warm knife.

On another note...It is finally starting to feel like Spring is on its way. The water features are back to liquid form, flower buds are starting to emerge and you can get away with wearing three layers instead of the usual four. While this is a nice change, it is bitter sweet. By the time the real warm weather turns up we will be returning to a New Zealand Winter...