BICCY

Did a few household chores before getting the bus to The Metrocentre.  Then another bus to Blaydon.  Shopping in Iceland ( Slimming World frozen meals ), Home Bargains and Morrisons.  Then two buses home.  Sorted out the shopping and then listened to the match on the radio. 

Newcastle were playing away against Manchester City.  I wasn't expecting great things as Manchester City are in a different class to Newcastle and they are top of The Premiership.  As I feared Newcastle did lose - but they managed to score a goal.  The final score was  3 - 1.

Neil came here this afternoon.  He is staying here ( off and on ) until next Saturday.  His girlfriend Rachael has jetted off to Grenoble.  Her boss has taken his staff on an all expenses paid skiing trip.  This morning they flew to Grenoble from Manchester airport. They are staying at the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez.  Rachael has never skied before so she was looking forward to having a go.

So it was back to cooking Neil's usual meal this evening - steak, curly fries and onion rings. 

I bought a pack of Maria biscuits and I got curious as to why they were called Maria so I " Googled".

A Marie biscuit is a type of biscuit similar to a rich tea biscuit. While the rich tea is the most popular version of this type of biscuit in the UK it is the Marie version that is most popular around the world. (  It is also known as Maria.) The biscuit is round and usually has the name embossed upon its top surface, the edges of which are also embossed with an intricate design.
 
The Marie/Maria biscuit was created by the London  bakery Peek Freens in 1874 to commemorate the marriage of the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to The Duke of Edinburgh ( Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ). It became popular throughout Europe, particularly in Spain where, following the Civil War the biscuit became a symbol of the country's economic recovery after bakeries produced mass quantities to consume a surplus of wheat. My pack of biscuits was made in Spain so its good to know that the tradition is still going. 

Many consider that the plain flavour of Maries makes them, like rich tea biscuits, particularly suitable for dunking in tea. My biscuit is a sugar free version so it only counts as 1 syn. (  normal Marie/ Maria biscuits have 2 syns each ).  It was not dunked in tea by the way.

Steps today -7,470