Elle Field's Blog, page 19

The month that was: January and February 2019

What happened:
The New Year started with a bad hangover. Actually, it started off with singing and merriment with Olly's sister and husband, then throwing up, then the hangover. Happy 2019! But, since we had Olly's mum and nan coming round for a New Year's Day roast, plus a toddler who was now awake, we had to rally to cook Tom Kerridge's treacle-cured roast beef for our guests. The thought of cooking beef at 55°C for a mere 45 minutes and eating it wasn't the most appetisi...

Vietnam: A suggested itinerary

If you search for an itinerary which allows you to see the best of Vietnam, you're going to get a lot of results, and a lot of conflicting suggestions. Whilst I can't speak for any of those itineraries, I can tell you about the itinerary I planned for my trip to Vietnam - and what changes I would make now that I've had my Vietnamese adventure.
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Vietnam: How to eat like a local

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Vietnam was our love of Vietnamese food. This shouldn't surprise you since we booked Cuba upon discovering the amazingness of Cuban sandwiches in Key West. Food played a big part in our Vietnamese adventure, but not strictly Vietnamese food. Let's face it, we don't eat British food every single meal time, every single day.

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The year that was: 2018

What happened:
Another year done, which saw me temporarily parking my writing ambitions as we're focusing on saving up to buy a house. After a stint freelancing at Sky, I accepted a permanent full-time position in the City of London which should, hopefully, bring us nicely to that house goal by the end of 2019/early 2020.

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Favourite books reads in 2018

Today I'm sharing my favourite books that I read in 2018 - these are the books I read for the very first time last year, and are ones which I rated as either 5* or 4* on Goodreads (listed in no particular order). Let me know if you've read any of them!Read more »

The month that was: December 2018

What happened:
We started the month with five days off work and a mooch around Richmond Park to see the deer, followed by a fun evening with my best friend and her husband who were over from Italy. During those days off we sorted out a Christmas tree, naturally, and went to Christmas at Kew, which was really lovely.

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Books read in 2018

In 2018 I read 132 books, abandoned reading 31 books, and listened to two audiobooks. Find out how I rated them over on Goodreads.
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Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City

After exploring Da Nang and Hoi An, with not enough beach/pool time as we'd have liked because turns out there was far more to see in Da Nang than expected, it was time to hop on a plane for our final stop in Vietnam: Hồ Chí Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, which used to be known as Saigon, turned out to be my least favourite place in Vietnam - it also turned out to be the most chaotic.

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Vietnam: Hoi An

Hội An is a ridiculously pretty UNESCO World Heritage site, located in central Vietnam. Known for its tailors and lanterns - and also yummy bánh mì, which I'll tell you about in my dedicated food post - Hoi An is the sort of place you shouldn't visit with a view to ticking off the sights, but rather a place where you should have a meander, a mooch, and soak up the colourful atmosphere.

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Vietnam: Ba Na Hills

You’re going to hear the name Ba Na Hills a lot from restaurant owners, taxi drivers and hotel staff if you ever find yourself in Da Nang or Hoi An. Sun World's Bà Nà Hills is a Vietnamese theme park, up in the mountains, which has had over 1 trillion Vietnamese dong invested into it recently – it's a piece of Vietnam that everyone is pushing at the moment.
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