Saturday, July 19, 2014

Tiny Teddy Bear Cars


I made these super cute and very yummy Tiny Teddy Cars for my nephews birthday. They were a hit! I got the recipe online here if you want to try to make them for yourself. They were very easy, albeit a bit fiddly. But very fun to make with kids!

I changed a few things when I made them.

  • I used Mars Bars instead of Milky Ways because I don't really like Milky Ways. 
  • I didn't add steering wheels because there wasn't any room.
  • I wanted my cars to have all different colored wheels so I didn't bother sorting them out.
  • Instead of using a bag to squeeze out the melted chocolate, I melted the chocolate in a saucepan in another saucepan full of water over the stove and dipped the smarties/teddies in the chocolate and stuck them on. Leaving the chocolate on the stove meant I could warm it up if it started to get hard again. 



I had quite a bit of leftover melted chocolate and tiny teddies so I lined a slice tray with baking paper and poured the melted chocolate in there. Then pushed the tiny teddies face up into the chocolate. My partner said it looked like a Tiny Teddy Graveyard, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this. It was very delicious!

What kind of party food have you made?


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Rose the Survivor

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts
368 pages
Released: June 2013
Buy it @ book depository

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that's in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.



Review 


Here I go again! Reading books that are companion novels to others before even reading the first. I know about 'Code Name Verity', but I didn't know you had to read it first before reading this. I was able to read it easily enough, so I don't think you need to read Code Name Verity because this is a separate story and didn't seem to follow on.

I loved this! I really enjoy war books, mainly because the ones I read are all about courage and heroism - they can also be very sad at times. Books that bring on strong emotions like sadness and anger are always a good indication of a great book and a talented author. Congrats to Elizabeth Wein for making me feel those emotions. 

I listened to this on audio and I found some of the characters accents a bit annoying, but the stunning writing made up for that. I felt a bit lost when I first started and couldn't really connect with the story or Rose, it didn't take me long though to be swept up in the historical tale.

Rose tells her horrific story of being captured by the Nazi's and thrown into a concentration camp. She tells us through her diary entries, we move back and forth between present and past. I liked that they did this because I knew that she survived the horror she witnessed. Although she survived, her metal state may have been a little bit lost to the camp.

At the camp we meet the "rabbits", women who have been experimented on by the Nazi doctors and left deformed. These characters and many more made me laugh and cry. Wein has done a fantastic job making them feel like real people. I found out that some of the characters mentioned in the trials at the end are in fact real people.

This is historical fiction at it's best, I highly recommend this if you love war books with big heart. Now I can't wait to read 'Code Name Verity' to see where it began.

 

On the cover


Such a powerful cover! I can't even imagine what it would be like to live in a concentration camp, so horrible. You can tell just by looking at the cover that it will be about war. No confusion there!

What I'm listening to next: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green


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