Michael Carøe Andersen

Month: February 2010

  • Beautiful Malta

    While London is cold, grey and dreary these days Malta is pretty warm so I decide to post a few pictures.

    Malta is very photogenic and very different from my usual habitats so there is lots to “shoot” at. Especially for the Christmas trip where I had a new camera and was spending 16 days. Here is a couple of my favorite pictures and themes from this trip and others to Malta.

    Red cat and wallMalta has many cats – some are pets others just roam around.

    Balconies in VallettaTypical Maltese balconies can be seen everywhere.

    Classical Maltese door and balconyThe decorative doors and windows begs to be admired whether they are falling apart or had a new lick of paint.

    Beautiful wall statue in VallettaOld, rustic street decorations as niches, statues and signs can be found on a lot of buildings.

    Big panorama from Hastings Garden, VallettaMtahleb Valley panorama2009-04-12 Risen Christ 028Beautiful panoramic views of the sun, sea and the sandstone of Malta.

    And a couple of the quirky and cute ones;

    Shepherd walking with his sheepShepherd and his sheep

    Green Toes - garden shop in ZurrieqGreen toes!!

    Japanese truckJapanese truck

    Privte PropeirtyPrivte Propeirty

    Last but not least I need to mention that I won two nights stay and the luxury hotel Kempinski in Gozo! They had a competition where you should write a blog post about Gozo and then the winner was found in a draw. If you are interested you can go read my piece here: Going to Gozo – A vacation within a vacation.

    Cruising on the Mediterranean

    …and now it started to snow – again – in London [sigh].

  • How to pour an ale

    One of the things I love about being here in UK is the hand pumped beers or cask ales as they are also called. These are unfiltered and unpasteurised beer that are not drawn from the kegs or containers by carbon dioxide but instead by hand pump or gravity. In UK you just have to look for the Cask Marque sign and you know the pub serves some good, traditional cask ale.

    Greene King IPA Revolution

    If you go to the north of England you will get your pint like the one on the left, smooth and creamy. If you ask for a pint in the south you will get one like the one on the right, clean and crisp. The two pints shown are the same beer but poured in two different ways that produces slight differences in taste. There is more of an explanation here.

    Thursday Ann and I went to the February edition of London Bloggers Meetup. The meeting was sponsored by Greene King brewery who wanted to show of their new beer engine that could produce both Northern and Southern style pints. The head brewer John Bexon was there with another guy to tell about the beers and explained how to taste a beer.

    Greene King IPA Cask Revolution

    I enjoyed speaking to other bloggers and having a night out. The beer was very good I enjoyed both versions – and it was free which makes it even better. We had a great evening where we got away with goody bags filled with interesting beers from the brewery and tickets for a rugby game but more on that some other time.