social | Helen Glynn Jones

Boss Sacha holding court!

There have already been several great posts about the recent Bloggers Bash in London, held this past weekend. And I’m here to add my voice to all those saying, ‘What a fantastic day!’

Luca during his presentation

First of all, congratulations to all the award winners, and huge thanks to the organising committee, Sacha Black, Geoff LePard, Ali Isaac and Hugh Roberts – your tireless efforts and excellent organisational skills created something completely wonderful.

Sacha and Hugh handing out awards

I arrived early for the Bash to meet several bloggers at a pub near Euston Station, where we greeted each other like old friends. And it did feel that way. A lot of us remarked on the fact that, even though many of us were meeting in person for the first time, it was as though we all knew each other already through our interactions online. Of course, there were familiar faces from last year’s Bash, but plenty of new faces too, familiar to me only from their blogs. But nametags helped us to break the ice and, really, it felt like walking into a room full of friends, rather than strangers.

Me and Steve from Steve Says and Talk About Pop Music – we finally got to meet up!

So what else can I add? Food, drink and good company, plus a blogging/social media presentation by Automatic/Wordpress employee Luca, made for an afternoon that flew by all too quickly, and before we knew it we were saying our farewells, a last group of us heading out into damp streets before parting.

Love this photo! Me and Suzie from Suzie Speaks

I arrived home worn out from a great day. And the next day I even felt a little hungover, even though I hadn’t really drunk anything. Rather, it was the languor that descends after a big day out, when you just want to sit and remember it all (although, having to be at a 9am dress rehearsal for my daughter’s dance show kind of got in the way of any relaxing!). Facebook is heaving with photos of the event, and the date for next year has already been announced – June 10, 2017 – so put it in your diaries!

Lucy from BlondeWriteMore and Esther from Esther Newton Blog – I look a bit manic here because I couldn’t get my phone to work!

So who knows where we’ll meet up next year? Last year when we were in Pizza Express, The Royal Albert Hall was discussed as a possible venue, as was Buckingham Palace. Joking, of course. But the event is growing, and the difference between this year’s Bash and last year’s was easy to see. However, one thing remained the same. A group of people from all walks of life united under one common banner – blogging. And even though I didn’t get to speak with everyone there (which was a shame!), it was a wonderful way to share our passion for the written word.

Here’s to a wonderful Bloggers Bash 2016 – roll on next year! xx

So I woke up today thinking that I should probably write another blog post. I’ve been down the editing wormhole these past few days, as the final MS of Hills And Valleys has come back to me, so my posts and comments have been a bit all over the place.

Then I saw that the lovely Suzie at SuzieSpeaks had reblogged one of my posts, and that it had then been picked up and reblogged a further two times, which made me really happy – thanks, everyone! The post in question was a bit of a laugh, really, about writing a completely made-up author bio. However, Kristin over at The Pursuit of Another Adventure tried my bio generator using details of her actual life and the format still worked, so maybe I’m onto something.

Earlier this week, the gorgeous girl and I made some chocolate covered dried apricots. We make these fairly often, to be honest – they’re pretty easy to make and yet taste wonderfully decadent. Each batch we make is usually gone within twenty-four hours. I had thought I might write a blog post about making them – I’m not a chef or anything, and this isn’t really a ‘food’ blog, but I thought it might be fun. So we assembled our ingredients and started to take some photos. But they were kind of boring.

Then this happened, in an attempt to liven up the shots. (That’s BB-8, in case you were wondering – apparently he quite likes chocolate)

And then we decided it would be more fun to just make them and eat them, so we did. However, here’s the recipe, just in case you’re interested:

Chocolate covered dried apricots

You will need:

A small saucepan

A metal bowl (I’ve not tried ceramic, which may also work, but I think metal conducts the heat more efficiently)

A plate or tray lined with baking paper

Some water

A bar of good quality chocolate (I use Lindt or Green & Black, whichever is on special)

Some dried apricots

Method:

Fill the saucepan to about 2cm depth with water. Put it on to boil. While you’re waiting for that to happen, break the chocolate bar into small pieces and lay them in a single layer in the metal bowl. (Try not to eat too much of it). Once the water has come to the boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and place the metal bowl on top. It should be a tight fit, so no steam can escape. Then set a timer for five minutes. Make yourself a cuppa, read emails, play with Star Wars figurines, do whatever for five minutes.

When the timer goes off, remove the metal bowl from the saucepan (carefully, as it might be quite hot). Your chocolate will be all melted and runny. Yum! Then, using a spoon, drop your dried apricots into the chocolate and coat them on both sides, then remove and place them on the baking tray. Once you’ve used up all the chocolate, put the tray of coated apricots in the fridge for about half an hour to set. Then enjoy!

I think we might make another batch of these today, as we’re all set to watch the Eurovision final tonight and snacks are an essential part of the viewing experience. Steve from Steve Says is at the final in Sweden (lucky!) and Hugh over at Hugh’s News and Views has written a post listing his predictions for the winners tonight. I’m sure Twitter will be lots of fun as well, so am looking forward to a very entertaining night.

However you choose to spend your weekend, I hope it’s a wonderful one!

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