Black Maria re-read. Book review.

I'm re-listening to the audio book Black Maria, by Diana Wynne Jones, on audible. It's just an absolute pleasure to listen to. Mig is such a likable and relatable protagonist, the mystery and plot twists are set up well, Mig's mum is adorable, her brother Chris is hilarious, and Mrs Phelps is quietly badass.

Genre: fantasy, children's literature, fiction.

Warning: magic, character death, kidnapping

Book language: English

Plot summary: Mig, her mum Betty and brother Chris stay at their intimidating Aunt Maria's house in a small village after Mig's father goes missing. Trouble stirs when Mig and Chris visit and help Aunt Maria's ex friend, kind Mrs Phelps, and when Mig runs into a supposed ghost who is trapped underground by Aunt Maria's daughter. Can Mig set the ghost free, and will she be able to help Chris when he's turned into a wolf?

Highly recommended. 👍

Stay safe and remember to practice social distancing to avoid infection everyone. ❤

Egg and vegetable noodles recipe

Recipe from my family on cooking egg and vegetable noodles.

Chop florets of one broccoli, and slice half a large carrot thinly. You can also slice spinach, cabbage, one zucchini and one celery stalk.

Fill up a cooking pan halfway or a third with cold tap water.

Place pan on stovetop, heat pan at highest heat until you see large moving bubbles.

Add two raw eggs to boiling water, then turn heat to low. Boil eggs in water. If you see the eggs form a round shape, it means they're done.

Add some cooking oil (one teaspoon to half a tablespoon) to the water. You can use vegetable oil, olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil or coconut oil.

Add a dash of salt, garlic salt (if you don't have garlic salt, garlic flakes are fine), sugar, soy sauce and pepper to the pan.

Add vegetables to pan. These vegetables I mentioned can be eaten raw safely, but they also taste good cooked. Cooking vegetables should take ten minutes.

Now for noodles: for handmade noodles, just boil them for ninety seconds. As they're handmade, they'll cook fast.

For two minute noodles: just add to the boiling water. Leave out msg if you want to be healthy.

For dry noodles (rice noodles, yellow noodles) that aren't two minute noodles: follow packet instructions. You should boil them in water in a separate pan, usually for ten to fifteen minutes for one noodle packet. Bring water to boil. Once you see big, continuous moving bubbles in the water, turn stovetop dial heat to low.

Transfer noodles to bowl once noodles are soft, bending and no longer see through.

And that's it! Feel free to let me know if you tried this recipe, or if you have any more tips for cooking noodles. :)