The MV Logos Hope [1] is operated by the German charitable organisation GBA Ships e.V. As the fourth ship operated by the organisation, she follows in the line of MV Logos, the wrecked hulk of which now sits on a rock shelf on the Chilean coast, MV Logos II which was retired in the fall of 2008 and which Logos Hope was designed to replace, and MV Doulos which was sold to a Singaporean interest in 2009.

Twice as big as any previous ship operated by the organisation, the ship was completely refitted over a period of 5 years. Logos Hope provides a better quality of life for crew as well as a wider range of activities for visitors and guests. The newly created Logos Hope Experience (which is situated on a deck that was installed into the original ferry’s car area) holds up to 800 visitors at any time, with capacity to host an additional 700 in the Hope Theatre and Logos Lounge. This publicly accessible deck offers visitors an introduction to the vessel and the organisation, a book fair featuring around 7,000 different titles, a visual presentation called the Journey of Life and the International Cafe.
The all volunteer crew and staff of 400 people, represent around 50 different countries. Unlike the crew during her original use as a car ferry, crew and staff normally join the organisation to live on board for two years.

Logos Hope generally visits ports for two weeks and is continually sailing from port to port year round. Since the launch into active service in February 2009, she has been in three regions: Northern Europe, the Caribbean and most recently West Africa.

the life raft was my son's highlight of the day!

This Old town house was built around the 1930's and is found in the centre of a typical Maltese Village.  When we bought the house it had 7 rooms in all and all situated on ground level plus a small garden and a shed at the back of the garden.  Here's what we are doing in order to turn this old town house into our new home.

 the 'kitchen'

 sitting area/ dining

 the kitchen sink :)

 the garden and the shed

 the entrance

kitchen window overlooking the staircase

It's all dusty and dirty at the moment, however I've decided to blog the process .  It's not really exciting for now but as they say things have to get ugly before getting pretty ...something like that anyway!!

The Walnut Cake

this cake is a wonderful cake, especially for those of you who like walnuts.

the recipe can be found here Walnut Cake by Rachel Allen

The Bacio Cake......

A few weeks ago I was discussing the bacio cake with Juniper and Guusje.  So today armed with all the right ingredients I've set myself the task of baking, taking photos and later tasting. 

Here are the ingredients needed for this very delicious cake ...

400grams of hazelnuts
350grams of sugar
14 cream crackers
4 tablespoons of drinking chocolate
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence
1 tablespoon of melted margarine/butter
6 egg whites
300grams of good quality chocolate for melting to cover the cake .



 Method. 



cake ready to be enjoyed


Preheat the oven 375, line the cake tine ( 20cm round), begin by crushing the crackers and nuts , then add the drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and baking powder .  In a separate bowl mix the egg whites and add the sugar and vanilla extract/ essence. Then mix the cracker and nut mixture together with the egg mixture.  Once this is done pour into the prepared tin and bake for  30-45 mins (varies on the oven).  Once this is done leave to cool on a wire rack, in the mean time you can melt the good chocolate.  Once the cake has cooled enough turn upside down on the cake plate, the reason for this is to have a flat surface when you pour the melted chocolate.  I hope you enjoy.  I know that we are as already

and here is my collection of cookie cutters and cake tins ....... oh my!! the cookie cutters sure could use some more relatives ;)

As some of you might already know my husband and I are renovating this 1930's townhouse in order to make it our new home. If you go back to some of February posts you will see how this house looked when we bought it. Here are a couple of shots of the changes. I just wish I could wave a wand or twist my nose and finish the project before I fall out of love with the house ;))..... but hey I'm no Harry Potter or Bewitched !!

So here's some photos of the birthday girl on her birthday.

3rd September........soon this little girl will turn 1 and I am busy preparing for a small celebration .... also in the meantime we shall be meeting with some friends and new friends too.. Will post some photos soon :) have a great weekend .

Week's update ........ from swimming to museum visits to making new friends to a welcoming surprise gift to knocking down walls and finally cheers to rebuilding them !!


I wish you all a wonderful weekend :)

Rhubarb Muffins ......


125g sugar
15ml sunflower oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100ml milk (or buttermilk if you have)
100g rhubarb finely chopped
175g plain flour
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
some sugar for top (it can be moscavado/brown/ normal white)

preheat the oven to 200, place paper muffins in tray or not ( i put the mixture directly into the muffin tray)
Place sugar, oil, egg canilla extract and milk in a large bowl, beat until well mixed, add the rhubard and mix. Sift the dry ingredients but do not over stir.
Fill 3/4 of the muffin cakes and sprinkle with a little of the sugar, then bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy :))

Sunday...



Upper Barrakka Gardens and the crafts market 'Patches'





Rhubarb is a very common vegetable however for us Maltese or let's say for me it's not. This is botanically classified as a vegetable; however, in the United States a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit it was to be counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction in taxes paid. Interesting.

So I've tried rhubarb muffins and they turned out delicious x

Little princess's latest menu .......



Spaghetti with meat and red sauce ......

olive oil
onion
carrots
lean mince beef
tomato puree
2 ripe tomatoes
spaghetti
...warm the oil, add the onion and saute for 3 min, add the grated carrots cook for further 2 mins, then add the mince beef once this browns add the tomato puree, tomatoes. In another pan boil water for the pasta, then cut spaghetti with your hands in small sticks and boil. ( for the first time I mashed the mince very well, maybe next time I try lumps).

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Couscous & veg

75g couscous
175ml stock
chopped carrots and chopped courgette

pour boiling water over couscous and leave for 6 min, steam the veggies and then mix together with the couscous.

tooth fairy came to visit :)

While house renovations, dust and dirt are strongly underway we still manage to get some play time :) Life cannot be good without a little bit of fun and play right?

Here I am sitting at my desk, drinking my tea and looking for design ideas for this particular area of the house. This is the entrance, the ceiling is high and vaulted. At the moment it has this horrible paint finish in yellow which I do not like. I want to expose the stone but since it has stone cornices too I would also like to create a contrast between the two. So any one of you out there has some interesting propositions or maybe some good sites where I can get more inspired with using colour together with the stones??

SO!! The house was built in 1934, that is after the first world war and before the second world war. At the time the houses had high ceilings, stone staircases and iron banisters plus lovely colourful patterned tiles. Here I am going to take you through the rooms to show you the different tile patterns!! (photos were taken with my mobile so sorry if the quality is not too good)

the floor in the kitchen...

the dinning and living .....

the hall way / staircase

the garage

the entrance

So much to blog about......so little time. This past couple of weeks I have been slightly busier than usual, however I must share with you my dear friends some photos of what we have been up to. We finally have the keys to our new (well it is really an old house) home. Our adventures include restoring this old town house we bought in order to make it our new home. I will be posting photos of the before and after of the rooms and the house. I love looking at photos of people's homes so I thought that I should share mine. With the new (old) house comes a lovely bit of garden, this my friends is the highlight of my children, they dig , they plant, they play and they have fun. Oh and we also had visits to our dear grandmother.

A visit to Ghar Dalam.........