A crustacean's view of the world

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

A Happy Halloween to all of you! This year we are eagerly waiting to see if we get any trick-or-treaters at our new house. Yesterday we had a little party with Paul's family -- really a family BBQ with Halloween themed activities for the nieces. Here are some pictures of our day:

The four nieces came in costume! We had three witches and a kitty-cat:We carved pumpkins American-style and the girls all helped pick what they wanted carved on their own jack-o-lantern. A couple of the girls really got into the de-braining the pumpkin process: We also had a pinata filled with Halloween candy. It took quite a beating, but eventually the darned thing was opened. Never get between a woman and chocolate, I say! Here are the girls with their pumpkins.
Here's Uncle Paul getting into the spirit.Happy Halloween!

Rubbish, Trash, and Russell Brand

2011-10-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

In the UK, they don't use the word "trash" or "trashcan." Instead they say "rubbish" or "rubbish bin."

The differences don't stop there. Here where we live, we have a full recycling program where we separate out all food waste, recyclables, and only throw the remaining things in the rubbish bin/trash can. This means we can go longer without changing it -- a lot longer.

So trash can or rubbish bin -- there is a funny little game we all play when we live with someone. I affectionately call it the Trash Can Game. It's when we keep stuffing more and more in -- pushing the contents down and down until the bin is jam-packed full of almost solidified trash. When you live with someone -- the goal is to fit more in so that the other person gets stuck taking out the trash. Admit it. You play the Trash Can Game, too. On a slight tangent, I've been thinking about the Amercian slang "white trash" and how it is really the closest thing to the English term "chav," although the analogy is not perfect. It isn't a term that I feel comfortable using as a non-English person living here. The word "chav" is used primarily to describe someone who is lower-income, dresses a certain way, and usually takes pride in the term. If you want to explore the concept more, check out "Little Britain" or "The Harry Enfield Show."Russell Brand, a quasi actor/rocker here in England (you may have seen him in the recent redux of "Arthur") came out about how the term "chav" shouldn't be used because it was an anchor around the neck of financially deprived people and it promoted a stereotype that served only to alienate people. He called for a complete cessation of the use of the word -- even in comedic circles.The funny thing is that there are many people who (a) probably can't stand Russell Brand to begin with but also (b) view the terminology as a stereotype that is harmless as a comedic goldmine. Comedians by the boatload have come out and called Russell Brand a tw*t (an English swear word I don't usually use, but it is pretty much a quote in this case) because of his assertion.

I'm sure there are people like Paul, too, who just really can't stand Russell Brand and even though he's never/rarely uttered the word "chav" before, might take it up as a banner against RB now.

An English Beach Holiday

2011-10-25T05:33:00.001-07:00

In England, there are some glorious days to go to the beach and soak up the sun. Unfortunately, 362 days of the year are not those three days. So today I would like to tell you all about our beach holiday to Southwold in late June and about my impressions of the English spirit and determination when it comes to enjoying a beach holiday no matter the weather.
Southwold is a beautiful little English seaside town that is a bit sleepy in nature. It has a pier, but differs from the bigger more Victorian seaside pier towns like Brighton and it also differs from cities like Yarmouth that are mainly focused on the seaside arcade-type and entertainment attractions. Sure, Southwold has a little pier with a little arcade with various video games, but the overall impression I took from it was that it was mainly known for the working fishing port, a small lighthouse, and the Adnams brewery. (Adnams is a Suffolk cask ale that is absolutely lovely!) Here is a picture of what most of the town looks like -- including the lighthouse: This is a view of Southwold from the sea (or rather from the pier):Those little beach houses/huts seem to be a typical feature of the English coastline in this neck of the woods. One of the days there, we took a walk down the coastline to the working fishing harbor and found this little gem of a restaurant where you can bring your own beverages (wine) and enjoy seafood fresh out of the ocean. The trip also left me with an appreciation of just how determined the holiday-makers there were to have a nice beach vacation -- despite the driving wind and cold weather. And when I say wind....this is what I mean:We were bundled up the entire time! Yet, I was amazed to see so many beach-goers. In fact, it appears as if England has invented a beach accessory hitherto unseen by anyone on California's beaches -- the wind-break. The below picture illustrates how English people, determined to have quality time on the beach despite raging wind and cold, use windbreaks to ensure proper beach enjoyment. (Note: this picture wasn't from our trip, it is just an illustration of the type of windbreaks we saw and forgot to photo.)Even more perplexing, I've come to believe that young English boys are born with five extra layers of skin that provides extra insulation to the cold weather. These four went charging into the ocean despite the fact the rest of the world was bundled up in winter gear. I think it generally speaks to the iron will of all English holiday-goers that we saw many scenes like the above. We saw parents forcing children to have a picnic in the sandstorms on the beach behind their windbreaks. Of course they were all huddled in blankets. We saw couples all bundled up in scarves eating ice-cream cones that -- as they licked -- sent streams of melting ice cream in parallel to the ground flying into the faces of passers-by. We even saw one old man in front of his beach hut, lying on a beach recliner in the "sunshine" covered with three blankets while nursing a thermos of hot tea. We saw several families walking out on the pier -- children frantically trying to hold on to any stable surface to keep from blowing away -- and heard the following out of pretty much every father:

We have driven all the way here and by golly you are going to enjoy our time at the beach today!

The Great Train Robbery

2011-10-10T13:14:00.001-07:00

It was as I stood up to collect my things and depart the train in Amsterdam that I realized that I had been robbed. My bag was missing and for one brief moment I thought maybe it had shifted to another part of the baggage rack above my head. It was a brief moment, though, and when it became clear that it was gone. All of it. My computer -- gone. My camera -- gone. My passport -- worst of all -- gone.

I held it together when I went to speak to the conductor just long enough for it to dawn on me that even if I could get a replacement passport from the embassy -- it would likely only get me home to England and I would have to cancel my trip to the US this week. It would mean that I wouldn't see the friends I haven't seen in two years. It would mean I couldn't go wedding dress shopping with my mother. It would mean I couldn't hug my father -- someone who went through a horrible car accident this summer and who more than pretty much anyone in the world I wanted to hug.

I immediately was thrown back to a night when I was very little -- about 4 years old -- when our family returned from an evening out to a home had been burgled. As we walked in our house, the robbers were flying out the back door. Dad turned around and quickly herded the rest of us right back out the front door and Mom took us to the neighbor's house. I remember sitting there -- being told that robbers had come to our house to steal our things. I was especially worried about my Holly Hobby doll -- the one with braids you could pull to close her eyes at bedtime. I just KNEW the robbers would take something so precious. (As you can probably guess -- it was actually sitting untouched in my bedroom as they had opted for more lucrative items.) I remember feeling scared and vulnerable and I remember just how I felt when I saw the fear in my parents' eyes when they ushered us out of the unsafe house. Here I was, a business woman in her 30s, on a business trip, with all the sensibilities of an adult -- thrown back completely to the feelings of a vulnerable 4 year old. I'm ashamed to admit I had a volley of hot wet tears running down my face.

To be fair -- part of my "losing it" had to do with fear, but part of it had to do with anger. This same week, my colleague had her computer stolen at Gare du Nord in Paris and I had been targeted a couple of times on the street (as I stuck out like a sore thumb walking in a suit in the middle of the day with a suitcase) by unsavory folks. I was angry at the professional criminals that conduct these thefts. I was angry at myself for not taking better care of my possessions. And most of all, I was angry that some bad person had taken away the opportunity for me to see my family.

After reporting the crime to the police, I received a phone call with the very last 30 seconds of charge left on my phone -- from a number in the Netherlands. A very kind man and his boyfriend had been out for a night at the bars in Rotterdam and came to find a bag turned upside down on their car, with my business card set inside. It had been emptied of my computer and camera (and my asthma inhaler?), but miraculously, my passport was intact. These kind souls turned the bag into the police and I was able to claim it the next day and continue on my work travels. Because of these kind people -- I can now see my good friends married this Saturday, go wedding-dress shopping with my mom, and give a big hug to my dad.

Foxy Monday

2011-10-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

This morning as I prepared to leave town on a business trip -- I was sitting at our dining room table with the doors of the conservatory open to our back garden/yard. Suddenly, I heard a little noise in the bushes and looked up to see that we had a little visitor today. Sorry the pictures is so blurry -- he/she was moving fast and I only captured a quick shot of our adopted foxy friend because I happened to have my camera right next to me.

(I must admit I feel that our house is a "proper" English house now that we have a REAL ENGLISH FOX at the bottom of our garden.)

The English approach to laundry -- and the laundry fork

2011-10-02T07:05:00.001-07:00

I think pretty much every expat in the UK who has a blog has devoted at least one or two posts to the different attitude that is taken to laundry here. I just feel compelled to write about it myself today.

Today is a glorious sunny day in the mid 20s (80s F), with a light breeze and clear skies. My first reaction to weather like this? When I was in California it was "beach day!" And even though growing up in Ohio where we grilled our dinner outside even in the dead of winter, I still think of days like this as "what a great day for a BBQ!" But having moved to England and learned the idiosyncracies of laundry here -- now I'm starting to find my first reaction is "what a great laundry day!" (Yes..that is sad on so many levels, I know.)

You see, most US houses have a tumble dryer. In fact, it is so common, we just call it a "dryer." Here in England, when you say "dryer" you could be refering to the little stand next to your sink where dishes dry, a towel, or even the (grumbling) kid in your family who needs to dry the dishes-- but rarely do they mean the big white appliance that dries clothing. You know what that is? Because nobody has them. Ok -- maybe that is a teeny bit of an over-exaggeration. 10% of people have tumble dryers. The rest do not. Despite the fact that this is probably one of the grayest and rainiest countries in the world, people here mainly line-dry their laundry.

Why? I can't seem to figure this out. One reason given by most people is that they are energy-concious and don't want to waste resources in drying laundry that can be dried outside. I'd say that makes a good deal of sense on a beautiful day like today, so this gets me part-way to understanding the reasoning. But when you live in a little apartment (or even a not-so-little house) and you are trying to wash (and dry!) sheets in the middle of the winter -- the energy-saving arguement doesn't really fit against what a pain it is to get all of your linens arranged on drying horses and all around the furniture all over your house. This all might leave my American friends scratching their heads. Why wouldn't they get dryers? They're not more expensive than in the US...or hard to find. You know...I have no idea, but I can guarantee you that if you walk down a street in the winter and look in the windows of the homes -- you'll see people camped out under laundry tents in their living rooms.

I suspect the lack of tumble dryers here has a lot to do with space. The houses are a lot smaller and were built quite a long time ago in comparison to many American houses. It is rare for homes to have a garage where a dryer could be annexed. In fact, as many living overseas know, the actual washing machine is usually jerry-rigged under the countertop in the kitchen due to lack of "laundry room" which we have in the states. That -- or people just didn't have them in the 60s in the bulk that we implemented them in the US (here there was still a post-war recession while the US had the post-war boom) and they entire idea never took off? Hmmm...

Whatever the reason, in the winter, I miss my tumble dryer. In the summer, I honestly miss it too as at our last apartment I always had to frantically chase Paul out the door to the communal laundry line to remove all my underwear so that I could hang them indoors. (I mean....I didn't want our NEIGHBORS to see my knickers!)

I tell you all of this to share with you the laundry situation at our new house. When we moved in -- we were both delighted with our new "conservatory" (US equivalent = sun room? glassed-in porch?)I daydreamed about winter mornings where it would be warm in there and I could sit with a cup of coffee and watch the birds in our back garden.When we had friends over for a BBQ the other day, I realized just how "American" my reaction was to this room -- as every single English person made about the same remark when they first saw our conservatory. "Ooooooh.....ahhhhh." Yeah -- I liked that part, too! Then, "this room will be so GREAT at drying your laundry in the winter!" What? No sipping coffee watching birds? Laundry?!?

I will leave you with one image that makes me giggle each time I hang the laundry. For those of you like myself who have been spoiled your entire life with tumble dryers -- when you have a really big laundry line -- it sometimes sags in the middle and you need something called a laundry pole to hold it up. They usually are a type of telescoping stick with a prong on the end. when we moved in to our new house, we found this hand-made laundry pole:Look closer and enjoy the ingenuity!:

The day that an alien abducted me...

2011-10-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

So here I was....all happy the day after Easter being newly engaged and all....sitting in my front room having a cup of pre-bedtime chamomile tea and gazing dreamily at my lovely engagement ring. Ooooooh....how it sparkled! I was mesmerized and right then....whamo! A great big beam of light flew right into the front windows, blinding me. I cried out for my sweetie, Paul, but my voice made no noise. Instead of my darling running into the room to inspect the situation, there was a 2-foot little green alien standing right in front of me. He had four eyes, and I don't mean he was wearing glasses. He literally had four eyes.
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"Howdy" said the alien in a Southern drawl. "My name is Bob. Bob-the-Alien. I'm here to abduct you." Really -- I promise. His name was Bob.
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"What?! You can't! I'll be missed!" I insisted.
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"No you won't. We'll just put our standard body-double in your place and nobody will know what hit them. Don't worry. We'll return you when we're done with our tests."
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So that is the last thing I remember -- this past spring. I found myself awake today in bed and woke up to realize it is October. I have no idea how the last few months passed so quickly (the blink of an eye for me!) It seems I have a whole summer of goings-ons to catch up on....and to catch you and my blog up on. In fact, it seems I should write about:
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--Moving into a new house
--Growing my fledgling business to the point it is bursting at the seams
--Travelling to and fro all over Europe
--Planning a wedding
--Meeting and visiting with my new niece
--The allotment -- where we have GIANT (alien?) pumpkins ready for carving
--Baking new delicious things and making over 100 jars of jam
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Apparently my body-double was busy this summer!
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So please pardon the catch-up of topics. I blame the alien. Also, I should say that if you visit, any loud noise sometimes makes me start crowing like a rooster. Must be a side-effect of the experiments.

An engaging Easter walk in the woods

2011-05-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

This Easter was a very special one for Paul and I. In the afternoon, we went out to a woodland outside of Norwich called Hockering Woods. It is a proper ancient English woodland with a myriad of thousands of bluebells carpeting the forest floor. It was so pretty I snapped a few pictures: While we had exchaged chocolate Easter eggs earlier in the morning (they do eggs instead of bunnies here) -- Paul turned ot me and said he had another Easter egg treat for me. He pulled out of his bag a kindersurprise egg. It is a little chocolate egg the size of your palm that has a little plastic capsule inside that hides a little toy. They look a little like this: So I unwrapped the egg and gave Paul a bit of the chocolate and when I opened the trinket capsule -- inside was a beautiful and sparkly engagement ring! Paul proposed and I said YES!
Neither one of us could stop smiling! We're getting hitched!

Allotment update

2011-05-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

We've been busy on the allotment and even enlisted the help of two of our friends, Hitesh and Angela, in the effort to get our veg in the ground before it gets too late in the year. Thanks to their help, we now have 60 potatoes in the ground ready to grow. (And let me tell you -- it was MUCH harder work than we thought because the trenches we dug were FULL of blackberry roots -- some about as thick as your wrist!) We also planted the back part of the plot with various vegetables. We have sugar snap peas, bok-choy, spring cabbage, zucchini/courgette, pumpkin, butternut squash, rhubarb, beets/beetroot, and even some melon. Just today Paul's sister brought us some more plants so we'll have tomato, lettuce, cauliflower, and brusselsprouts.

We still have the middle 1/2 of the plot covered in blackberry stalks and dead grass so we'll keep working at that little by little each week to get it ready for winter planting. That's if the blackberry regrowth and bindweed don't keep us too busy on the other parts!

Telly advert giggle (Weetabix)

2011-04-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

This television advert (commercial) has been giving me the giggles lately. I wanted to share! I especially love the dog at the end....

Allota love for the allotment

2011-04-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, Paul put his name on the city registry to get an allotment -- a small parcel of land where we can grow vegetables. These waiting lists often take years. Last year we were both surprised that his name had come up and there was a 1/2 allotment plot waiting for us. The letter mysteriously said they would give us the second year free as "there was a lot of work to be done to repair the state of the plot."

When we first went to see the plot -- the entire 150 sq meter area was covered in 9 feet tall blackberry brambles. Here is a picture of Paul last autumn -- on our second attempt to cut down all the brambles -- at this point 1/2 of our plot was still covered.

Here is the same vantage point earlier this month -- after all the clearing had been done last year we went back to burn the dried out bramble remains this year. The large amount of rain we had in January and February had done their magic -- bringing us now an entire plot filled with grass.We came back just last week and pulled up some carpet that a former owner must have put down over 5 years ago. It was buried underneath a layer of dirt and many new grasses and plants, therefore pulling it up was hard work. Here is a picture of the pile of carpet we pulled up.

Here is the state of the entire plot from the same view as the above pictures -- note that you can now see the entire building behind the allotment...and.....and.....DIRT! Hooray!

We sprayed a bunch of round-up on the grasses and are heading back later this week to take a peek at how things are going. We have seed potatoes chitting (such an awesome word) in the window-sills at home right now. We will be planting those in the coming weeks.

Traditional English folk-dance OR too many pints at the pub + stolen tea towels?

2011-02-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

Today, Paul and I got up somewhat early and went to the city centre library for their twice annual DVD sale and we got a little treat. There is a festival currently running in Norwich called The Dragon Festival. Most of the activities are for children (puppet shows, craft activities, etc.) but today several groups of local Morris dancers were preforming for the festival.

Morris dancing apparently goes back several century in England. Apparently, it dates back to the late 1400s in England and may have similar roots to folk dancing in other European countries such as France, Italy, and Croatia. The term "Morris" seems to have its roots in "moorish" which is similar to the folk dances in those other countries as well.

I've previously seen the Morris dancers walking around town with their bells jangling around their shins, but haven't been lucky enough to catch a performance. Today I happened to have my camera handy, so here is a little video of The King's Morris, a troupe (side) from King's Lynn:

And here is the Golden Star Morris side from Norwich:

I especially like their uber-cool pipe-smoking accordian player:

I got to know The King's Morris' "beast", the dragon Izeels:

What would The Bard say?

2011-02-17T03:19:00.000-08:00

England. Home to great works of art, theater, and literature. Center of the 16th -19th century blooms of culture. England is home to authors of such great works as John Bunyan (A Pilgram's Progress), Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), the poets William Wordsmith and John Keats, Mary Shelly (Frankestein), the Bronte sisters, Jane Eyre, and many more. And looming on the fame-meter high in the ranking, of course, is Shakespeare. For the sake of this conversation, we're going to crown Shakespeare as the judge and jury representing all of the talented literary artists aforementioned.

England -- home to culture, right? Would you believe this country is currently cutting funding to and ultimately causing the closure of scores of libraries across the country? On the news the other day, a government spokesman defended the position by saying: "Difficult times call for difficult measures. And at any rate, libraries have become irrelevant with the advent of electronic media."

I know of at least one reader who might support this position being an avid Kindle-owner, but I must say that this position is frankly shocking. Libraries are a place of learning, a place of gathering for learning, and much more than dusty shelves with dusty books. Forget that there are some people who still enjoy the actual tactile feel of an old-fashioned paper and binding book, but a library affords more than just those books. It is a place we take our children to learn to love books and browse topics to let their minds roam. It is a place for older adults to gather to discuss their recent book club selection. It is a place that has a business support facility for small business owners to assist them in understanding applicable laws and regulations. A library is a place where you can ask for support in finding an appropriate journal article or how to use a search engine within a University. And most of all, a library is a symbol -- a physical beacon that a city values education and learning.

I haven't lived here long enough to be able to fully enter the political debate, and I am no economist by any means. A true economist might go on a tangent about how government cuts never solved a recession as opposed to creating economic stimulus, but let's pretend for a moment that it makes sense in times of hardship that cutting spending is a good way to save money and thereby help in a recession. Again -- I'm not a political guru or economist, so I could use your help. Let's take a look at something together. Below is a graph of the 2009 (sorry - can't find 2010) UK government spending by sector:

The number one area of spending is Social Protection. In the US, this would roughly translate as the Welfare System. And it would be hard to debate that there isn't room for improvement in the efficiency of spending in that area -- in any country. Indeed, the current government is attempting to target that area. (I'm sure there are many debates on the "how" of the cuts.) And we've all heard quite a bit about how the UK government is providing less funding to university students in cutting the third largest area -- education. Libraries fall into the bright blue "other" bucket -- where the funding for libraries is mixed in with many other services such as the collection of trash/rubbish. It is a very small percentage of overall spending in comparison.

Did you notice anything? What's that you say? Oh yes, dear me. We've completely missed the 2nd biggest area of spending by the UK government -- healthcare. Now before I completely lose you, I have to say I'm a HUGE fan of the NHS. I wish we had something like it in the US, honestly. I'm not about to attack its existance. However, wouldn't it make just a teeeny eeny weeny bit of sense to take a hard look at spending in....say...your top THREE sectors to ensure there aren't areas that could be made more efficient and thereby lest costly BEFORE going to some of the smaller spending areas? Surely, even a 1/2% decrease in spending due to efficiences would tally up to far more government savings in high-spending areas than in closing down libraries. Is there something I'm missing?

My thought on this is that tackling the NHS must mean political death to any governmental party and that is the reason it remains untouched. Or -- am I missing something else here? I honestly would love to hear your opinion on it.

But back to the libraries. The news of the libraries followed closely to the news of the UK government selling off a large portion of national forests to private hands. That, however, was halted due to large public outcry. While I'm sure there is great room to bring many libraries into the 21st century and embrace electronic media, I think that jumping to widespread closures is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

So what would His Excellency Judge Shakespeare say in light of the library cuts? I'd suspect he'd rule harshly. (Actually, if we're to believe historians, maybe he'd just swill down another pint, hop into bed with a lass, and turn it into another tragedy. Afterall, life was short in those days and there was no NHS.)

Impressions of a travellin' woman...

2011-02-13T02:43:00.000-08:00

I finished (hooray!) my degree in December and now I'm on to new things. I received my 2-year post-study-work visa and have formed my own company here in England as a freelance contractor. This will allow me to stay in my field of clinical trial research as well as still live here in beautiful Norwich, England by contracting with to companies who want to run trials in Europe. So far things are off to a good start with a couple of clients whose work will take me to a few countries in Europe about 2-3 times per month. This past week I travelled for one job in particular -- to The Netherlands and Germany.

I think the upcoming travel may afford me opportunities to noodle on the differences between countries and cultures -- which I expect may find its way here to the blog. This first trip was a very jam-packed blur, so my impressions are quite haphazard, but I wanted to share them nonetheless:

English businessmen, unlike US businessmen, wear cufflinks. And I don't mean just sometimes. The business lounge at Stansted or London City Airport is awash in cufflinks. And not unlike a woman's necklace, earrings, or handbag, these cufflinks highly reflect the individual. One particular man next to me came across as supremely organized -- with a very boring blue suit, very boring shoes, the boring black Tumi carryon laptop bag. Overall -- just another wallflower in the corporate collage of black, blue, and grey. But then I noticed his cufflinks. They were silver-rimmed with neon pink and orange inlays. For some reason I thought immediately of peacocks and how their plummage still lives on evolutionarily on this man's wrists.The tube in London is the fifth ring of hell and should be avoided at all costs during rush-hour times. I have absolutely no idea how they plan on accomodating Olympics tourists in 2012 with the amount of station closures there currently are due to overcrowding. Sigh.

European train links rock. It is so easy to get around Europe by train and -- at least in The Netherlands and Germany -- the schedule is more than the mere "suggestion" it is here in England. One of the days there, I was on a train from Koln to Mainz, which takes the train down the Rein river through German wine country. It was truly beautiful. The actual inside of the trains, however, were not the same beasts I remember from previous travel in the area. To be fair, the last time I was in Germany was 1996, so it has been a while. I remember the trains being clean and modern. My impression this time was that they were ancient and very dirty. I'm going to assume perhaps I had bad luck and wait to make a formal opinion until I've travelled around a bit more. Perhaps I just had bad train luck.

While there is a lot of bread in England, there is a lot MORE bread in Germany. Those Germans LOVE their bread. And after tasting it, I can see why. It's a far cry from the bread in France, but there is something to be said about a homemade breakfast pretzel.
Dinner roulette is a fun game that can be played by anyone travelling in a country where they do not speak a lick of the language. This is how you play: Go to a restaurant and even if they have a menu in English -- just keep the one in the local language. Look for fun words like putenbrustsnitzel or wildeswein and have fun guessing what it might be. Order the longest or most interesting worded item and enjoy the surprise! Or...you can play the less adventurous version and learn one to two words like "plizen" (means mushrooms) that you like and figure that whatever else it is -- it will be mushroomy and delicious.

Tartin' it up -- how to make an English Bakewell tart

2011-02-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Bakewell tarts are a part of English life -- a very small part, mind you -- but a part nonetheless. Every grocery store you go into has pre-packaged bakewell tarts and almost every bakery has their own version. There isn't an exact equivalent of the bakewell tart in the US. Twinkies or Ho-hos are a psychological equivalent in the pre-packaged area. They are naughty and full of dirty dirty preservatives and chemicals, yet (let's admit it here) a delicious in a one-in-a-decade context. But bakewells aren't just pre-packaged -- they can also be seen in the bakery. If you're old enough or live in parts of the US that still might have them -- the closest thing to a US bakewell would be a moon-pie.

Bakewell tarts are a combination of a pie crust, jam layer (usually cherry or plum), a cakey layer that is moist and tastes of almond, and (usually) a sugary icing layer on top. Honestly, they are ridiculously delicious and -- if on offer -- are impossible to resist.

I found a recipe for a homemade plum Bakewell Tart in Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home" cookbook and adapted it a bit for my use. The original recipe can be found in his book or here. I love his recipes, but darn-it Jamie, not everyone has a food processor in which to "whiz" all the ingredients. My adaptation is below (sans food processor and a few ingredient tweaks) along with a photo of the finished product.

Pie Crust Ingredients

Honestly, I cheat and use roll-out pastry. If you want to make your own -- just add those ingredients.

Frangipane Ingredients

1 1/2 cups almonds (either ground or bought ground)

3/4 cup flour
1 vanilla pod (or 1 TBSP vanilla)

1 cup butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon almond essence

Topping

1 pound plums (about 5-6) pitted and sliced

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/3 cup slivered almonds

For the jam filling

1 pound mixed plums, finely chopped

3/4 cup sugar

1 vanilla pod (or 1 TBSP vanilla)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1 TBSP cold water

Directions

Make (or roll-out) your pie crust and put it in a greased (butter) tart pan or a shallow pie pan. Poke holes in the dough (to prevent bubbling) and bake in a 350 degree (F) oven for 10 minutes. Now it is time to start the fangipane, which is a fancy word for yummy-almond-cakey part. Grind up the almonds anyway you can. Personally, I bought them already ground up. In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until fully creamed. Lightly beat the eggs and add to the butter-sugar mixture. Add in the ground almond and flour until well mixed. Add in the vanilla. If using a vanilla pod, cut the pod lengthwise and use the knife to scrape out the precious seedlets inside into the mixture. Mix well and set aside.

To make the jam, halve 1 pound of plums and take out the pits. Finely chop them (your choice on whether or not you leave skins) and put them into a sacuepan with the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Cook on a medium heat until soft with a jam consistency and then add in the cornstarch/water mix to thicken. Let the mixture cool a little.

Take the remaining 1 pound of plums and de-pit and slice them -- placing them in a little bowl. Put the powdered sugar on top to macerate them (fancy word for sweetening them and making them all glisteny.)

Spoon all the jam mixture into the pre-baked tart crust. On top of the jam layer, add in your frangipane. Take your sliced plums and push into the frangipane so that they are equally and plentifully spaced throughout. On top of the tart, place the slivered almonds liberally. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour -- until it is no longer "jiggly" in the middle. Once it is cooled, you can get fancy and take a combo of powdered sugar and warm water and make an icing paste you can drizzle over the top.

One piece of advice I'd suggest (one that I will follow next time I make it) is to either use a REAL tart pan that is wide and not too deep, or just a typical pie pan. I used a deep-dish pie pan and it made the tart-to-jam ratio a little too cakey. Also, this recipe TRULY gets better with time. It was yummy warm out of the oven, but SCRUMPTIOUS when we finished it a week later.

Photo round-up of Christmas in Yellowstone Park

2011-02-06T10:56:00.001-08:00

Paul and I went to Yellowstone this year for Christmas -- to visit my parents who recently moved there. I wanted to share a few pictures from our time there with you before getting on to other burning topics such as how to make a Bakewell Tart, the recent library controversy in England, a recent meet-up with fellow Americans, and a musing on the psychological image differences between "oatmeal" and "porridge." The abysmal sight of zillions of people at Heathrow after a record-breaking snowstorm. We were lucky to get out!Enroute to Mom and Dad's new home, we stopped by a stream to check out the view.Christmas Day at Yellowstone -- Mammoth Hot Springs.Paul and I took an all-day snowmobile tour to Old Faithful and then back to Mammoth Springs. We drove over 100 miles on the snowmobile that day and even had this close encounter with some buffalo!As a family, we took a tour of the Lamar valley in the snow.With their new jobs as a caretaker couple working on a horse ranch, Mom and Dad get to wake up to beautiful vistas and enjoy fresh mountain air. Dad especially loves that he gets to drive a John Deere!Pepper, Mom and Dad's new puppy, took a while to warm to us. By the end, though, we were all good pals.We got all fancy one night and made homemade sushi. We went a little overboard though and made WAY too much!Inspired by Ray Mears, Paul built a survival-style igloo.We decided to make a second attempt at a gingerbread house after our previous disasters. This time we had success.What a view!

Speech after long silence...greeting February with bizarre television

2011-02-01T01:58:00.001-08:00

Hello my family, friends, and other people who might stop by. It's been a while since I've posted -- mainly because Paul and I have been out and about and travelling a bit. I've got some beautiful photos to show you over the next couple of days of our trip out to the wild-wild west of Montana, and some interesting tidbits from a side trip to "the" (said with proper emphasis) OC. We are now back in England having enjoyed a rather balmy January for these climes. Paul is back in classes and I - having my MBA degree hot off the presses -- am embarking on a new work venture that is whisking me off to The Netherlands and Germany this next week. That is -- of course -- if the UK Border Authority approves my visa this Friday and gives me back my passport. So, as you can see -- things have been a bit nutty around our house lately.

To ease us all back into the new year and into the month of February (where did January go?!?) --I'd like to share three adverts with you that are currently running on the telly over here in England. Unlike an earlier post where I gave you my favorite ads, these are....well....um...NOT my favorites. These three quite honestly have left me scratching my head in what I believe might be a divide I may never cross -- the divide between US and UK humo(u)r. I'd love to know your thoughts on these!

Advert 1 is a commercial for Cheesestrings - basically mozeralla cheese sticks. Ummmmm...what?

Advert 2 is selling toilet paper (teehee -- loo roll!) with some very creepy looking doggies.

Advert 3 -- well I'll let you figure out what it is selling and see if you can guess before the end.

p.s. The Gavle Goat survived! More on that soon.

Gävle Goat 2010

2010-12-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Back in 2006, I told you a story about a tradition in Gävle, Sweden. If you want to check out the entire backstory from the earlier post, you can click here. In short, this city in Sweden builds a huge goat for Christmas out of hay and a wooden frame. Each year, the city guards the goat with a big fence, webcams, and security, but there has been a mysterious litany of pranks that have plagued this ill-fated goat. Here are some examples:

1966 The goat stood until midnight of New Year’s Eve, when it went up in flames.
1968 …it is said that one night a couple made love inside the goat.
1969 The goat was burnt down on New Year’s Eve.
1970 The goat burnt down only six hours after it was assembled.
1972 The goat collapsed because of sabotage.
1974 Burnt.
1976 Ran over by a car.
1978 Again, the goat was kicked to pieces.
1979 The goat was burnt even before it was erected.
1980 Burnt down on Christmas Eve.
1982 Burnt down on Lucia (December 13).
1983 The legs were destroyed.
1984 Burnt down on December 12, the night before Lucia.
1985 Even though the goat was enclosed by a 2 metres (6.6 ft) high metal fence, guarded by Securitas and even soldiers from the Gävle I 14 Infantry Regiment, it was burnt down in January.
1986 The big goat burnt down the night before Christmas Eve.
1987 A heavily fireproofed goat was built. It got burnt down a week before Christmas.
1989 Again, the goat burnt down before it was assembled.
1991 On the morning of Christmas Eve the goat was burnt down.
1992 The goat was burnt down eight days after it was built.
1995 Burnt down on the morning of Christmas Day.
1997 Damaged by fireworks.
1998 Burnt down on 11 December, even though there was a major blizzard.
1999 Burnt down only a couple of hours after it was erected.
2000 Burnt down a couple of days before New Year’s Eve.
2001 Goat set on fire on 23 December by Lawrence Jones, a 51-year-old visitor from Cleveland, Ohio, who spent 18 days in jail and was subsequently convicted and ordered to pay 100,000 Swedish kronor in damages.
2002 The goat received only minor damage.
2003 Burnt down on 12 December.
2004 Burnt on December 21.
2005 Burnt by unknown vandals reportedly dressed as Santa and a gingerbread man by shooting a flaming arrow at the goat at 21:00 on 3 December.
2008 The goat finally succumbed to the flames ignited by an unknown assailant.
2009 An unsuccessful attempt was made to throw the goat into the river the weekend of December 11. On the night of December 23 before 04:00 the goat was set on fire and was burned to the frame, even though it had a thick layer of snow on its back.The goat had two online webcams which were put out of service by a DoS attack, instigated by computer hackers just before the attack.

You can check-out the goat this year on the live webcam by clicking here. As of right now, it is still standing!

Pub Quiz Winners!

2010-12-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

Paul and I made it in one piece to Montana for the holidays and have lots of pictures of the Heathrow madness we experienced as well as some gorgeous photos of Montana wildlife to share. But first....Pub Quiz winners!

The grand prize winners for this year's Pub Quiz is team Sleepless in Stumptown! In honor of their win and their recent engagement, a package of English goodies have been sent to their home in Portland. Congratulations on all fronts!

In second place is team Your Mother Darns Socks in Hull. Congratulations and enjoy the holidays up in North Scotland this year. A very special box of goodies was sent to you for Christmas with some extra special supplements for your big win.

The answers to the quiz are in the comments below. (In case others want to still guess - we don't want to ruin their fun.) The final standings for those teams who played through the third round are listed below. A very special shout-out goes to Allison who got every single question right on this past round. Congrats!

Sleepless in Stumptown: 25.5

Your Mother Darns Socks in Hull: 23.5

The French Fries: 20.5

The Shooting Stars: 19

The Bruce Clan: 18

(Not so) Clueless: 16.5

The Black Cat Pub Quiz Team: 15

Ignorance is Bliss: 11.5

And only after completing two rounds:

Almost American: 14.5

Dare to Learn: 8

Canukin' Cali: 10.5

Congratulations everyone!

Snowy walk to school

2010-12-02T23:12:00.000-08:00

Pub quiz results later today! Stand by! But now for a little tangent about snow.

As you may have heard on the news, England has gotten a bit of snow lately. It hasn't been very much in comparison to the sort of snow we got growing up in the US, but things honestly do grind to a halt over here with just a little bit. It is all very complicated and has to deal with the fact that year-on-year they don't have enough rock-salt to use for de-icing the streets and always run out of "grit" on the first night.

On my way to an exam earlier this week, I walked out of my house full of exam anxiety and discovered such a beautiful winter wonderland that I couldn't help but be filled with a sense of giddiness. It had snowed and had been VERY still so all the snow was light and fluffy and just barely hanging on to each limb. The sun was coming through the clouds as I looked across the cemetary across from our house and although I have some pictures for you, it doesn't capture the beauty and magic from when there was the tiniest of breezes and little iridescent snowflakes slowly fell down from the trees like fairy dust. It took my breath away.

This is our little house.The street was all covered with snow.I really think the cemetary next to our house is very pretty throughout the seasons.On my way into the university, I ran into my friend, Apichat, who greeted me with a big smile and made all those exam anxieties fade away even more. Here I am ready for my exam! Before we were allowed into the testing facility, the whole group of students got together for a picture. Everyone looks so happy in the snow!

Pub Quiz Round 3: Picture Round!

2010-11-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

1. Name the girl in the below photo. Bonus 1/2 point if you know what movie this picture is from. 2. Name this somewhat under-appreciated man and for what he (should be) most famously known:

3. Name this somewhat under-appreciated woman and for what she is best known:

4. Name/identify this woman: 5. Name this comic-book and Hollywood star:

6. Who is this cuddly monster? 7. Who is this young guy?

8. For which famous motion-picture house does the below image represent? 9. Name this man: 10. Name this man:

Round 2 Answers and Current Standings

2010-11-20T01:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so delayed, everyone! The answers to Round 2 can be found in the comments section of this post (to save anyone who hasn't had a chance to answer yet.) Current standings are: (current round; total score)

Sleepless in Stumptown: (9; 17)
Your Mother Darns Socks in Hull (7; 15)
French Fries (8; 14.5)
Shooting Stars (5.5; 11.5)
The Bruce Clan (4.5; 11)
Clueless (4.5; 10.5)
Canukin Cali (4; 10.5)
Black Cat Pub Quiz Team (5; 10)
Ignorance is Bliss (4; 8.5)

We have welcomed some new players for round 2:
Almost American (8)
Dare to Learn (6)

Georgia Peach, Gross Marginal Profits, and Cat Pajamas can still play round 2. Just don't peek at the answers under this post. Once you play, I'll update the standings.

Round 3 is coming today and will be a PICTURE round! Best of luck to all and thanks for all the entertaning answers!

Pub Quiz Round 2: International Theme!

2010-11-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Here we go for round 2. If you are just joining us, please check out the rules-of-play by clicking here before you go forward. Most importantly, we need you to have a fun team name!

Good luck everyone! I'm planning to close this round on Monday night.

1. Yesterday was two international celebrations – Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night in the UK and a celebration of lights (good over evil) in India called____________?

2. Where will the 2012 Olympic games be held?

3. What is Poutine and where is it from?

4. What Dutch cheese is made backwards?

5. Where were the Commonwealth Games held this year? (Full point requires city and country.)

6. What country has the largest population?

7. After the US, what country has the 2nd biggest economy?

8. What country’s national anthem is called “The March of the Volunteers”?

9. What is the name of the green seaweed material that is used to wrap-up sushi rolls? (Hint – the name is Japanese.)

10. What country has the largest land-mass? (Hint: Antarctica is not a country.)

Pub Quiz Round 1 Answers and Current Standings!

2010-11-04T01:35:00.000-07:00

The answers to round 1 of this year's pub quiz are in the comments below THIS post. Great effort everyone!

For those of you who have yet to compete, you can still play -- just come up with a name, and enter your answers under the original post (no peeking at other comments before figuring out your answers, please!) All the other rules still apply -- no internet, as many people on your team as you want, and creative answers sometimes get bonus points -- and as the official grader of answer -- I'm always influenced by humor!

The current standings are:

Your Mother Darns Socks In Hull: 8*
Sleepless in Stumptown: 8
Georgia Peach: 7
Gross Marginal Profit: 7*
The Bruce Clan: 6.5**
Canukin Cali: 6.5***
Damon, Alma, Therese (now will be known as French Fries): 6.5****
Clueless: 6
The Shooting Stars: 6
Cat Pajamas: 5
Black Cat Pub Quiz Team: 5
Ignorance is Bliss: 4.5*****

*team won extra point for creative team names!
**extra 1/2 pt for reference to best zombie movie in last 5 years
***1/2 point awarded for 1/2 roux answer
****1/2 point for 1/2 cracker answer
*****1/2 point for answering "dole check" for UK crackers, but not full point because it's called "black" pudding, tsk!

The next round should be posted sometime before I go to bed tonight (midnight UK time, 3pm CA time) so keep an eye out!

Pub Quiz -- Round 1

2010-10-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween, kiddies! Here we go! I will just remind you of the rules. We work on the honor-system which means you should look at the questions below and only once you've written down all your answers on your own sheet of paper should you click on the comments to enter your answers. (Otherwise, you'd see everyone else's answers!) These answers need to come right out of you head and no internet research is allowed. We're playing on the honor system here, folks!

Please be sure to use your team name when answering to help me track the answers. The most creative team name gets 2 bonus points. This current round will go until Wednesday this week -- closing at noon California time (which is 8pm UK time).

Round 1 is based on the upcoming holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

1. What was the most popular Halloween costume for adults in the US in 2009? (There are two answers that will be accepted, as various sources flip-flop the number 1 and number 2 most popular. A bonus point will be awarded if you can identify both.)

2. In the making of the movie ET, M&Ms chocolate candy was written into the script as the candy to be fed to ET. Mars, the company that makes M&Ms refused to allow the candy to be used in the movie as they were concerned about the subject matter. A newly-marketed candy was used in the film – which launched this candy into popularity in the early 1980s US, making it one of the most popular Halloween treats by 1983. What was this candy?

3. What is the name of Tim Burton’s Halloween/Christmas claymation film?

4. If a silver bullet kills a werewolf, a stake to the heart kills a vampire, what is the best method to kill a zombie?

5. Mashed potatoes are a staple in my family’s Thanksgiving meal. What part of the world can claim potatoes as native?

6. Homemade turkey gravy, a key part of Thanksgiving dinner, is started by making a roux. Name the two ingredients in a roux.

7. Living in the UK, people commonly refer to the TV show “Friends” when talking about American holidays. In one Christmas episode, Ross is trying to teach his son about the importance of Chanukah. In this episode, Chandler dresses up as Santa Claus, Joey as Superman, and Ross as what holiday-inspired character?

8. In the US, you visit Santa at a mall in a temporary setup usually called “Winter Wonderland” or “Santa’s Workshop.” In the UK, what is the name of the area where you visit Father Christmas? (Hint…it relates to Hugh Heffner.)

9. What is the day after Thanksgiving pejoratively known as in the United States?

10. At Christmas in the UK, the table is garnished with “Christmas Crackers” that pop when you pull them apart. From inside these crackers comes two usual items and one small “gift.” Name the two items that are standard-fare inside crackers.

Coming Soon: Another PUB QUIZ!

2010-10-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

Since I've been MIA lately due to an ovewhelmingy glut of course work (I'm drowning!), I'm going to re-launch regular blog updates with a 3-round Pub Quiz starting with a holiday-themed set of questions to encompass Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (To all you nay-sayers who think it's too early to discuss Christmas -- please go attack the locay Macy's or Marks and Spencers for their contribution before you berate me.)

So this is your heads-up. I'm going to launch the first round of 3 rounds of this Pub Quiz starting TOMORROW on Halloween. The round will be closing on WEDS, 3 November, so get your answers in soon.

Also, due to popular gripe in the last pub quiz, I'd like to ask anyone reading this blog who knows something (anything) about sports to help me write up a list of quiz questions as I will be doing one round next week titled "Games and Sport."

The winner of all three rounds of pub quiz will receive a goodie package in the mail with either yummy English goods if you live in the US or US goods if you live in the UK. (And if you live in neither, we'll just get creative.)

So.....sign up in the comments now with your team name so I can start tracking points. The most creative team name wins a bonus 2 points. Best of luck!

Overheard line of the day: Shut your trap.

2010-09-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

(Apologies in advance -- this might only make sense to viewers of Dr. Who.)Me: Sweetie, whatchya reading?

Paul: (out of a sci-fi magazine about a TV show called Dr. Who) "The new daleks are like dalek telli--tubbies or iPod daleks." (He says with disgust.)

Me: So are they saying they don't like the new daleks? What's not to like?

Paul: (With a semi-snort.) They're rubbish! The old ones looked all metallic and heavy like machines and the new ones look like plastic rubbish.

Me: You do realise in describing the old daleks you are talking about a trash can to which someone glued on a few balls. I think it's really funny how your standards are so high.

Paul: (Horrified.) Shut your trap.

Guess where we're going for Christmas? (So excited!)

2010-09-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures to give you a hint where Paul and I will be spending our Christmas this year. We're both so excited to have found affordable tickets!

For another hint and the reason why we are travelling to such a winter wonderland, see my Mom's new blog by clicking here.

If our flat were on MTV cribs...

2010-09-19T12:09:00.001-07:00

Do you remember the TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Or how about MTV Cribs?

Well,we don't have a jacuzzi at the foot of the bed or a masseure in the closet. Nor do we have a garage chocked full of fancy "rides" like the goobers on MTV. I thought, though, I'd take you on a tour of our crib, starting with the focus of very good MTV cribs episode -- the kitchen.

I'd like to start with a glamorous tour of our high-end refrigerator. Standing at an entire 2 feet tall, you can see it here with Paul's pajama-ed leg to give you perspective. (Add in the ooohs and ahhhhs at the massive size of our fridge.)

No English kitchen would be complete without an electric kettle. Yay for our electric kettle! You just put some water in, hit the button, and in less than 30 seconds you have boiling water! This is great for tea, which goes nicely with these little bites of heaven called McVities dark-chocolate digestive biscuits. ("Biscuits" are English-English for cookies.)There are only two problems with the kettle. The first is this little energy-saving scheme that is seen on every socket in the UK. Do you see that little white switch next to the plug? That allows you to keep appliances plugged in, but with no electricity flowing to them. This little devilish device foils me on most mornings as I stand, groggy and sleepy, in front of a kettle that never boils because I forgot to turn on the wall-switch. Doh!This is the second problem caused by the electric kettle. The fact is, I'm not a morning person. And, truthfully, I've become quite lazy before classes. And so (I can't believe I'm going to admit to this) my love for REAL BREWED coffee has come into conflict with my need for an extra 5 minutes of sleep. So (gasp!) I have resorted most morning to (the horror!) instant coffee. (Let the vitriole fly in the comments, my friends. I know! I know! It's unforgiveable.)Next on our tour are the contents of the cabinets! I've found that many things in the kitchen have different names here. Instead of baking soda, it is called bicarbonate of soda. Baking powder isn't (sadly) the traditional Clabber Girl. Instead of raisins, they are called sultanas. I can't decided if this is all just in a secret effort to confound newbies like me -- or if these new names are meant to give the products a more glamorous air. For example, anyone can say zucchini, but you have to be very posh indeed to say courgette.

There are even new discoveries in the English pantry. Two of my favorite new products are Marmite and Golden Syrup. Both are a bit hard to explain, actually. Marmite is a really really salty spread made from yeast extract. At first taste, I think my face screwed up into a grimace that lasted a week. But after getting used to it a little, I really love the saltiness. I still only add a little dab to buttered toast while Paul slathers it on thick. Golden syrup is sort of a cross between maple syrup and honey. You put it on toast like honey, or on ice cream. I think it is cane sugar syrup in the ligheter variety -- while treacle is the darker variety. (I might be wrong on that front.) In the end, it is sugary and yummy, and makes a huge mess on the cabinet shelf (hence the paper towel underneath.)Of course, no American gal is worth her salt in England if she hasn't sourced out a box of Bisquick. This one caused a bit of drama this weekend as the recipe for pancakes on the box is for "English pancakes" which are a little more like French crepes and less like the fluffly carb-laden American variety. Living with Paul means also living with his humungous collection of hot sauces. Here is a peek at our sauce shelf:To be honest, I miss the blue and yellow of the Morton Salt girl and her umbrella. When it rains, it pours. But here in England, Saxa lives in our cabinet, or sometimes on the countertop or on the table. Although I've been trying to cut out salt lately, Paul has come to tease me and call Saxa my BBFF (or, my British Best Friend Forever.) I think it is funny that the label on the container gives you some good ideas on how to use the product -- on soft-boiled eggs, corn, tomatoes, and on roast potatoes.

Paris: 1996 versus 2010

2010-09-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to Paris for the wedding of my friends Damon and Therese. Here is a picture of their amazing wedding on a boat on the Seine with Notre Dame as their back-drop. It was such a lovely wedding. The bride was beautiful, the weather lovely, champagne was flowing, and we all had an amazing time dancing until 5 in the morning!

Going back to Paris was very special this time. Paul was away on a trip to Ireland, so I was on my own. While I've visited once since (with my sister), the last time I was in Paris by myself was 1996, just after I graduated high-school. I remember saving up a part of the money for that trip. (Thanks a zillion to my parents who helped me with the rest!) I remember being tearful on the plane leaving Ohio -- leaving my family for the first time for a full month in another country. I was sitting next to a woman in her 60s who must have been more than perplexed when she saw me tearing-up and simultaneously being shocked at opening up the "have fun on vacation" travel package my Aunt Jenny gave me. (I'll leave the contents to your imagination, but let's just say it wasn't a strip of lollipops that I pulled out of that gift bag!)

At 18, I remember touring the streets of Paris, feeling independent and amazed at all that I saw around me. I remember being very shy and nervous at using the French I had learned in school -- afraid of making mistakes or being misunderstood. I remember the feeling of being 18 and that special brand of self-consciousness that used to feel like a weight on my neck. I always felt awkward and out-of-place.

Of course, at 32, much of the teenage insecurity is gone, but I still felt a twinge of self-consciousness as I disembarked the train at Gare du Nord and had to ask for change at a news agent's booth. But as I went along, asking directions from each successive person along the route I walked, my confidence returned. What a joy it was to be understood in French and to understand in return!

My confidence wasn't the only thing that changed since my last solo visit in 1996. So did some of the people I was visiting. In addition to the wedding, I was able to visit with cousins Johanna and Andreas, and my Aunt Lena. Here is a picture of Johanna from my last big visit to Paris in 1996:And here is a picture of the two of us from last weekend. Here is a picture of Lena, Johanna, and Andreas all together in 1996.And now...

A little humo(u)r for the ladies

2010-09-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know.....

In Hollywood California, you can go to a spa and get a service called "The Full Monty."

In England, you can go to a spa and get the same service, but it is called "The Hollywood."

I don't know why that makes me snicker so much!

Of train trips and whistling bus drivers

2010-09-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

This past week I got to go...drum roll...to Paris! I went for the wedding of two dear friends, Damon and Therese, and also got to visit my French Family, Lena, Johanna, and Andreas. I have a few pictures to share with you from the visit, but first I wanted to share with you my love of public transportation in Europe.

There is something about the clip-clap-clip-clap when you're on a train -- it is just so satisfying to the ears. And to hear that clip-clap while looking out the window to the beautiful Norfolk countryside -- it is warming to the soul. I left Norwich excited about my trip in general, but also just wanted to share with you the ping of excitement I get simply from getting to the train station, the teeny anxiety about finding the right platform and getting on the train before it leaves. When the train arrived in London, I felt the excitement of being in a large city train station -- the steelworks overhead, the background whistle of a conductor before another train departs, and the huge clocks that keep travellers on their toes.

I felt a warm smile spread over my whole body when I saw the name of the train I departed: The Evening Star -- The Pride of Ipswich.

Growing up in the US, I can only remember one time I rode a train -- when my grandparents arranged for our entire extended family to take a train trip to Chicago. I think I was about 8 or 9 years old and I just remember how exciting it was to be on the train watching the world whir by. I wonder if those of you who grow up in Europe are used to the trains and perchance miss out on that little 9 year-old excitement that wells up in me still when I get onboard.

Of course, the metro in Paris was amazing -- so easy to navigate. Europe really has this public transportation thing figured out.There's one more aspect of public transport here that I'd like to share with you. It is Clive the Whistling Bus Driver. Clive is probably about 55 years old and drives a bus route from the train station, past my house, all the way to the campus I attend. He always has time for a smile for each person boarding, always says goodbye when you get off the bus, and the entire time you're on -- he whistles. Mostly Clive whistles songs that sound like old 1940s movie songs. They all sound romantic and happy and full of joy. When I got off the bus with my suitcase from Paris, he said, "Have a lovely evening, Lovely!" How great is that?

It's called an ALLOTment because it is A LOT of work!

2010-09-04T09:54:00.001-07:00

As I'm busy procrastinating from a big paper due Tuesday, I thought I'd update you on our recent Project (note the capitol P here!) Over here in England (and actually, catching on in some parts of the US where life is more urban and less rural) the idea of having a plot of land to garden is very popular, even though houses are smaller on average and land around the house usually doesn't allow for gardening of the vegetable and fruit variety. Well....that's certainly true for the cities here at least. (I'm sure someone will pipe in with how I live not 30 minutes from gorgeous farm land, but that would mean I'd have to have a car to drive those 30 minutes. As I do not -- I consider that another world.)

Ok -- starting over. In the world in which I now live, within city limits and without a car, most houses have very small gardens that are really more along the lines of "a few rose bushes." Paul and I live in a flat/apartment with no garden, and there are a lot of places like this, too. So, in order to compensate for this inability to plant/harvest/garden, the city has set aside several areas (think -- big fields) that are partitioned into plots where people can plant and harvest anything they like.

After waiting three years on a waiting list, Paul was approved for 1/2 a plot (150 meters-squared) at an allotment across town. It isn't very close to our apartment, but it is on a direct bus route, so with some planning -- it isn't such a bad commute. We should have suspected what we were in for when the city council included in their letter the statement "due to the rough nature of the plot, we would like to offer you the second year free of charge should you choose to accept it." As it turns out, our particular plot has been untouched for 8 years and is a right mess.

We've spent the last few weeks cutting back a load of brambles that covered most of the plot and were about 7 feet high in places. Here is a picture of our third attempt to cut back all the brambles:

We had to leave a patch because we discovered a wasp nest amongst the branches.
It might be hard to tell in this picture, but under all the brambles, we found lots of weeds that needed clearing. Once we tackled those, we found they were growing over carpet that must have been placed there 8 years ago. We pulled up part of the carpet and found big wooden-crate palates. Needless to say, we stopped "investigating" at that point and we have no idea what lives under the palates or when we might "discover" actual dirt.This is picture of one of our "allotment neighbor's" plot. I have plot-envy:

We have a few funny stories already about the characters on the allotment, but I'll save them for another post. In the meantime, I highly suggest you try to find a copy of a movie called "Grow Your Own" (in some countries it is called "The Allotment") as it is a very funny and a heart-warming glimpse into the character and politics of one particular English allotment. Here is small clip of it:

Grow Your Own Trailer - The funniest videos clips are here

Cocktails in Edinburgh

2010-08-29T04:30:00.001-07:00

Paul and I took a trip up to Edinburgh to see my sister and brother-in-law along with catching a few Fringe shows.

Should I be worried that most of the pictures I took while visiting Erika and Ben in Edinburgh centered around cocktails?

Egg-cetera

2010-08-25T01:33:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time I went to a supermarket in the UK back in 1998 when I lived in Scotland for six months. I remember walking around and around for an hour trying to find the eggs. You see, in the US, we keep the eggs in the refrigerated part of the supermarket -- next to the milk and yogurt. Not here in the UK! Here in the UK, eggs are kept on an unrefrigerated shelf, often near the bread or cereal.
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The first time I saw this, something inside me thought "Whaaat?!? What about salmonella?" Mind you, this was even before I took all my microbiology classes. While that may have been the influence of my grandmother, who is kitchen-science queen and would toss words around like salmonella and botulism in warning whenever she'd teach us some new dish to cook, I think that many people in the US are aware of salmonella as an ever-present concern.

There are all kinds of things here that are not refrigerated that seems odd to an American. For example -- ketchup. Most people in the US would lob that straight in the fridge once it was opened, but here it often lives in the cabinet. The first time I had the ketchup/fridge debate was with a roommate in Scotland. The refrigerators here are often very small in comparison to back home (ours now is the size of a college dorm room fridge), and even in restaurants in the US, ketchup is left on the tables and not refrigerated. (If you're wondering, Paul and I keep it in the fridge, but that's because we don't use it very often.)

Back to eggs. Usually people here buy them off the rack in the store and bring them home to the fridge. But still -- something worried me about them not being cooled at the store. And another thing -- you don't EVER hear of anyone cooking here worry about eating raw cookie dough because of raw eggs. People happily put raw eggs into smoothies. Why no worries over this?

I once took a cooking class with a chef who pointed out that while we need to take precautions in the kitchen, salmonella only comes from infected chickens. It sounds simple -- but her point was that if you buy your chicken and eggs from a reputable farm, you wouldn't have salmonella worries. She pointed out that most salmonella comes from farms where they are producing mass amounts of chickens/eggs under un-safe practices. An interesting point, but I've since learned that even the best of farmers need to constantly be concerned about salmonella in their flocks.

Without getting too science-y about all of this -- I've begun to wonder -- why isn't salmonella such a concern here in the UK? Is it just not as widespread?

The answer is -- no. It is not so widespread -- at least not anymore. The UK, in 1997, started vaccinating chickens against salmonella and has just released a report showing that the efforts have been hugely successful in wiping out the bacteria amongst all UK farms. If you want to read all about it, click here.

With the recent outbreak of salmonella in the US, I've begun to wonder why we Americans have become so complacent and basically just USED to the presence of salmonella, when there is such a reliable and available vaccine for chickens. In the UK, it is not a law to vaccinate chickens, but eggs and poultry do not get a special "red lion stamp" unless they've been treated this way. Why not do something similar in the US -- mark the products from farms that vaccinate -- and allow consumers to choose "safe" products?

Now off to eat a soft-boiled egg in an English egg-cup with "toast soldiers" for breakfast...yum!

Buddha belly -- a musing

2010-08-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

Since moving here to England, I've lost quite a bit of weight and gone down a trouser size or two, but for some (evil) reason, I still have this ridiculous (above the belly-button) belly that won't seem to budge. It's as if my entire body is shrinking except my belly. That only makes it stand out more. You've got to love irony.

I was recently reading a post off of one of my favorite blog-haunts by Iota regarding a comment she received from an Asian fellow mother-picking-up-children-from-school. The fellow mother smiled and remarked that Iota must have enjoyed her vacation, and pointed at her belly. (I'm paraphrasing here, Iota -- please forgive me.)

Gasp! Horror! How dare she???? Actually, I laughed out loud at the telling of this story -- not because I find it funny that someone might actually enjoy their vacation by eating home cooking and not because I do not commiserate with the story-teller. In fact, I commiserate very well. I've just learned to laugh at how blunt different cultures are about body weight or how you look. Here are some honest-to-goodness stories (word for word, I swear!) of my own experience:

When I was working in Southern California (home of all manner of ridiculous body-standards on the beach, etc.) it wasn't on the beach that I was taken aback. I worked in a company that had a clean-room chocked full of the most lovely, warm, and BLUNT women from Laos and Cambodia that you'd ever meet. One day, when I had just bought a brand new top with a lovely empire waistline, I was stopped by some of these lovely women who said: "Are you pregnant? If not, you should stop eating so much because you look pregnant." They said this just like they were telling me I should pack an umbrella because it looked like rain. And they smiled. Whaaaaa?

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In my current class, there are some women from Hong Kong and Taiwan who told me: "If you lose weight, you could be a model!" Grin. Grin. Nice.

Several times this year, I've been told: "Rachel, you look so tired! You have dark circles under your eyes!" by Asian women.

I remember a story where my sister (please forgive me, Erika) came back from college and visited the Chinese restaurant where she had worked all through high-school. Mrs. Lee, before even saying hello, said: "You've grown so fat!" My poor sister didn't quite know how to react.

My friend, Angela, who is ethnically Chinese but has lived her entire life in the US, tells me that weight is the first topic that greets her when she sees family after a long while. It is just part of the culture.

I find it bordering on hysterical just how the topic of weight and bellies is handled very casually like talking about the weather or even akin to the English inquiring if someone wants another cup of tea. The times I've encountered it -- such things are said just "matter-of-factly" without a clue about how tactless it might come off to someone from the US or the UK.

I think all of us face outside cultures as if what we know is "right" in some fashion -- and the way another culture behaves is "alien." I've begun to think, though -- what if our perception and shock at these sorts of comments is really a product of our own Western obsession with all things to do with body image? Imagine, for a moment -- living in a world where body shape and size has more to do with health and activity, and is not a measure of beauty or self-worth. Take one step further. Imagine in this world that the deity you worship is a big-bellied man with a smile on his face. And imagine that the only negative a big belly would belie is perhaps affluence at best or laziness at worst instead of ugliness.

I'm glad to know that at least here in Norwich, Buddha bellies are back in stock. (Photo taken at a local shop here in Norwich. Giggle.)

My current three favorite commercials in the UK

2010-08-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ok, ok -- I know they're called "adverts" here, but I've decided to stick to my Americanisms and American spelling as long as I'm able. There are three commercials currently running here in the UK that make me very happy. I thought I'd share them with you today.

1. The Ribena commercial. Ribena is a type of drink called "squash" which is concentrated juice where you add water. It's the same idea as the frozen juices we buy back home, but just not frozen.

2. The Pimms ad. Pimms is an alcoholic drink that is mainly made in the summer -- for BBQs. It is mixed with Sprite (in UK Sprite is called Lemonade) and served with fresh strawberries, orange slices, lime slices, cucumber, and fresh mint -- all over ice.

3. The Muller Yogurt ad. This one explains itself.

Summer Shenanigans

2010-08-11T01:51:00.000-07:00

Since the last post was picture-less, this one will be all about the snapshots! Here are some images from our summer so far:Paul and I, along with our friends Hitesh and Aven, went to volunteer at a local dairy farm for the day. After, we took a drive to a town called Wells-Next-The-Sea (yes, my NFAH friend, they dropped a word there!)
Here we are in Wells eating the local favorite -- crab at a crab stand!Later in June, Paul and I went to his sister's small town where they were having a scarecrow festival. As a part of it, you basically walk around and look at people's gardens and scarecrows. This one was our favorite -- a spider scarecrow. This is Paul and his littlest niece who told us: "It's not a scary spider, it is a silly spider!"Enroute to another scarecrow stop, Paul had to practically jog to keep up with his other older-sister niece, who was a speed-demon with her pram and baby doll.As part of the MBA, we work in groups of four to complete consulting projects. This was the group I was in -- a picture snapped just as we finished our final presentation to the PR company for whom we did our project. My team members are Serik, Hitesh, and Stephanie.In mid-July, Erika and Ben came for a visit and we went on a old-fashioned city tour. This picture was taken in front of Cow Tower alongside the river.The following day we rented a car and drove up to the coast. On the way, we stopped at the Real Ale shop. Norfolk is especially known for a type of beer called ale -- which is different from what you might be used to in that it is not pasteurized, does not have carbonation, is served just slightly cooler than room temperature, and is aged in wooden casks. On the farmgrounds here they grow all the barley for all the ales in Norfolk. We went to Wells-Next-The-Sea for some local crab. Paul and I tried something called whelks, which were super gross. They were like large rubbery snails. Ewwww!Erika stuck to the crab. You can see she is happy with her choice.After our meal, we went on a walk and bought a little line, some "bait" (read -- bacon scraps from the butcher) and a bucket and decided to give crabbing a try. It is far less technical than it sounds. We pretty much just dangled a line in the water with the bacon and the crabs grabbed on. You might not be able to tell, but this bucket is full of the little guys. After crabbing, we had a little "run free, crabs!" release party.I was less into the crabbing and more into an English seaside favorite -- the fresh made donuts. Didn't anyone tell you that donuts by the sea shore have no calories?We went for a walk on a local beach, but because the tide was out, there was no ocean to be seen. "Where is the sea on this sea-shore? Where????"Erika finally found it for us. "There it is!"

That magical 6-month point....

2010-08-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

There have been so many "highs" moving here to England. The first time I realized I could have milk delivered to my door was a high. The first time I saw a kingfisher the other day was a high. Knowing that I can talk to my sister in real-time without one of us being exhausted or rushed is wonderful. Being able to spend an evening with Paul zoning out to our latest favorite TV show (from Chuck to our recent geek-love Battlestar Galactica) - is beyond what words can describe. Just tonight Paul cooked us one of his magical-mystery soups made from all the veggies we needed to use up before our upcoming vacation, and I just thought one simple thing: I love this magical soup man!

But as you can imagine, after the magical honeymoon period of living in a new home in a new country, there are some rough spots. There are days you miss your friends, and even more days you miss your family. There are days that you tear-up simply because you can't make your dear friend's simple pot-roast recipe because there is no dried Lipton onion soup in the entire UK.

I'm no stranger to the adjustment period of moving to a new place. I've counted 7 apartments in the last 10 years. Some of the moves were longer-distance than others, but I've found that in any of the moves there is a magical 6-month point at which you find yourself in a state of limbo. Before this time you don't feel rooted in your new home and keep in close touch with your friends from before. After this magical time-point, you start feeling more and more rooted in your new home. But in the middle of this 6-month time zone -- there is a no-man's land -- right where I'm at right now.

I miss the day-to-day interaction with my friends back in California and Ohio, and while I have pretty much the best friend in the world with Paul, I don't have other close friends the way I had back home. There are many good people here in Norwich and I hope to become closer to some of them -- but what I miss are the friendships (and you know who you are) where you crack on me for being such a clutz, the friendships where you know I'm completely full of hot air sometimes and call me on it, the friendships where I can't wait to hear what happened at your work or with your new baby, and the frienships where we challenge each other to be better people day to day.

I'm missing that a little right now and feel pretty far away from the friendships over the great big ocean.

Today I went to my statreader for this blog and saw something that made me smile and feel dragged out of this no-man's land just a little. I saw that my friend Sarah checked in on my today from her job. I saw that someone in Sacramento was reading my blog from my Facebook page link. I saw at least two of you in the Columbus area checked in on me. Someone else in Huntington Beach checked-in as well. Woohoo! That ocean suddenly didn't feel so big. Hello my US friends!

And then I noticed something else. There are more cities/people in England that are checking in on my blog than I ever knew existed before today. Plymouth, Bristol, Sudbury were some of them. Hello English cities!

Even more intriguing, I have visitors from Russia, Japan, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, The Netherlands, and Australia! Wow! Hello my far-flung readers!

So with a great big huge smile on my face right now, I know that sometimes being in a no-man's land between an old home and a new one -- it doesn't mean you are alone. I am humbled by what I've learned this evening and hope to buck-up and give you something less drively to read in the next few days. I have some great pictures to post and some great "UK-English" inspired Overheard Lines of the Day. Until then, thank you all for making me feel a little more connected and rooted today.

And another poem...this one for Paul

2010-08-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

I love you, honey!

A poem that touched me today...

2010-08-05T12:12:00.001-07:00

I really like this poem and reading. I hope you enjoy it, too!

Update on life as a mature student

2010-07-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I've been sleeping since July 4th....needing more rest than you can imagine! I am back in classes now and have finished my one consulting project (almost) and am on to another consulting project. As we're bound by confidentiality clauses, I can't talk too much about them, but I can say the first was broadly about public relations -- which I found really interesting. As part of that project, I reviewed the websites of 150+ PR companies in the UK and I realized a few things:

1. There are a lot of PR firms here!

2. There are many many more avenues for public relations than I ever thought.
3. The area of social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) is a hugely growing area for PR companies -- which I would have never believed before our Dragon Hall event.

4. PR companies love to build super-complicated FLASH websites that crash my computer.

Ok -- the last point is a little flippant, but was still a lesson. (Note to self 1: when starting a new business, make sure your website is viewable to most people. OR: Note to self 2: Get a new computer.)

My new consulting project has a lot to do with the exhibition trade and learning what features people want in an exhibition hall when they hold events such as trade conferences or travelling antique fairs. As part of that project, our team of four is going to check out the closest upcoming travelling fair at another local exhibition hall: The Norwich Body Art Festival. (Look Mom! I picked up a tatoo today while working!)

I guess the theory behind all of these projects is that by the time we've organized a food and drink festival, learned about the PR market in the UK, and completed market research for exhibition centers -- we will have a grasp on how to (a) be a project manager/part of a project team, (b) plan an event, and (c) understand how to do market research. I'm going to be really blunt and honest here -- while I'm learning a lot about new trades, the event planning, project management, and how to do research is pretty much par for the course when you do clinical trial work like I've been doing for a while.

If anything, marketing research seems to be more "fluffy" than the work I've done before and (gasp!) less stringent. (I guess that makes sense as you probably don't care so much about statistical significance when someone is testing mascara for an advertisement, but probably care quite a bit when someone is testing your heart disease medication.) If anything, I've learned a little about a research area called "qualitative research" in that we've had the chance to conduct qualitative interviews. They are similar to focus groups. If you watch Mad Men -- think about the focus group they had with lipstick. The sort of information you get is more about the emotional response or reaction that is obtained in discussing a product -- more than a yes I liked it/no I didn't response.

In other news, Paul and I have started a new project that I will be writing about later today or tomorrow. Paul had been on a list for several years and finally was chosen to lease an allotment, which is a plot of land in a huge field where other people lease a plot to garden. We went and worked for the first time this past weekend and "overgrown" does not even begin to describe it! I think we'll be taking pictures each time we go to document our progress in gardening.

Paul is on summer break from school right now but is very busy collecting moths for a project that will be due once school starts again. In fact, he just ran off this morning with jars of laurel leafs in order to meet up with one of the moth-loving professors at the university in order to be present when they open a "moth box" at school today. (Laurel leafs apparently release cyanide when chopped up, so it "stuns" the moth so you can properly identify it.) Needless to say, my non-bug-loving-self is slowly coming to grips with things like coming home last night to find a 5-inch beetle slowly roaming on the kitchen table. (Paul caught it after it had been hit by a car.) Here is a picture of one of the "beauties" Paul found on our front doorstep. He brought it in to the house to show me and I immediately ushered him back outside. It is called a chaffer.

And after that, I will just leave you all with a little image from Columbus Ohio's 4th of July Doo-dah Parade. Yes...while we were running a food festival, Columbus was celebrating the weird and bizarre political and other statements such as this:

Boudicca's Feast at Dragon Hall

2010-07-06T02:43:00.000-07:00

Four long months of work and the results were spectacular this last Sunday! Boudicca's Feast was bigger and better than anyone could have imagined. We had over 350 adults attend and many children, as well. The weather cooperated with beautiful sunny skies and a great time was had by all -- listening to great folk music with a medieval backdrop and enjoying local food, ale, and cider. I hope you enjoy some of the pics of the day!

Some of our guests enjoying ale in the sunshine.

Paul's cutiepie nieces showed up and had their faces painted.

The main gallery is where our sponsor, The Green Grocers, set up.

Upstairs in the medieval hall we had many food vendors ranging from local cheese to artisan bakers, from sushi to Indian curries.

We set up our bar in the medieval cellar called The Undercroft.

One of our guests enjoying her ale.

The entrance crew!

Boudicca looking fierce.

Taking a break before the big clean-up.

A happy team at the end of the day. Success!

Getting ready to get our Boudicca on!

2010-07-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

So the countdown has begun! Sunday is the big Boudicca's Feast festival and preparations are coming along well. We had three firkins of beer delivered to Dragon Hall today and tomorrow we are going to set up all the stalls and tables and get all the infrastructure set up. (This time last month, I didn't even know what a "firkin" was!)

There have been ups and downs in the last month, especially when one of our key vegetarian participants cancelled. (We still have 4 full-vegetarian vendors, and two with vegetarian options, though). This week it has been overwhelmingly up, though. The team has spent two weeks doing heavy promotion including going to a local county farmer's market, blanketing the city in posters and flyers, and I even went along to the Royal Norfolk Show (Ohio people think Ohio State Fair) to promote a little more.

Team at the Fakenham Farmer's Market (Promoting!)

Making friends with cattle at the Royal Norfolk Show

We were even in all the local papers! Click here to see the online version.

Would you like to meet some of the cool cats who are coming along to the festival? Sure you would! I seem to have a new favorite every day, and today's is CutiePie Cupcakes, who keep a pretty cool blog. I think I have a biz-crush on them, actually. They're doing what I daydream about doing -- bringing sugary-sweet goodies to the masses in a funky-chic way. I *heart* you, CutiePie!

You should also meet some of our musicians. Adelaide's Cape is our latest addition and I really dig his sound. Jess Morgan is opening our festival, and you really have to dig her butter-smooth voice and guitar. All that talent and she's drop-dead gorgeous, too. (Some gals have it all!)

So keep your fingers crossed for us this Sunday and send all your "no rain" juju our way. We're hoping for a great day!

An update on the food festival -- Boudicca's Feast

2010-06-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I promised an update on our big food and drink festival, but got so swept up in the work that I haven't had a chance to even stop lately. It has taken a minor surgery (nothing major -- no fretting!) to land me on the couch with a break from the work.

Don't get me wrong -- the work of putting this festival together -- along with other school projects running at the same time -- is invigorating and exciting! Things are coming along very well indeed with Boudicca's Feast. We launched our website (http://www.boudiccasfeast.org), had an overwhelming response from local food and drinks businesses in participating, and have even -- just as of this week -- found our much needed sponsorship from a local organic/local/fairtrade grocer called The Green Grocers. The event is truly shaping up to be an exciting day! We have over 20 food vendors who are participating and selling their wares to the public who are attending. We have food and drink across the organic and local ethos, as well as two vegetarian stalls. We have an ethnically-diverse food line-up also with vendors selling Thai, Indian, Japanese, and even Caribbean foods. We will have two different BBQs, as well as a wood-fired pizza stand, too. And since all the stalls are local businesses, we are supporting these businesses while at the same time supporting Dragon Hall as a listed historical site through all proceeds.

Each attendee will get one free pint of (hard) cider or beer (ale) as they've been donated from a range of local breweries. There are 5-6 local bands that will be playing on a stage in the courtyard, and we will have face-painting for children. We're still working out the details, but we hope to have the Norwich museum involved in a stall to speak about the Iceni, Boudicca, and Roman times in this part of England, and we may just have a little visit from a historically-clad Boudicca herself. All of this is set at Dragon Hall which has an absolutely beautiful 15th century ambiance.

All of these aspects of the event are quite exciting, but as you can imagine -- as a team of 13, we have quite a mountain of work to get done in the next few weeks with promotions, ticket sales, work with the press, and all the logistics of actually prepping and putting on the festival. So I just ask you, dear readers, to send all the good juju you can towards Norwich on the lead-up to and actually on the 4th of July. And anyone in the area -- you're personally invited to come along and see the fruits of our labor on the day!

Don't worry Grandma -- this isn't an existential crisis, just a bit of a noodle

2010-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Having read over the recent address made to graduates of my alma mater, I remember my own graduation from Ohio Wesleyan over 10 years ago. This year, the speaker was a US Senator who advised graduates to not lose sight of working to maintain human dignity and human rights. I remember my own graduation -- we were all so starry-eyed and ready to make a difference in the world. We were going to build a brighter future one brick at a time, and we had the energy in that one day to do it, too.

Life has a funny way of taking that youthful optimism and energy and providing it a dose of reality, although maybe not right away. After leaving university, I headed out west (Go West, Young Women!) with a friend to the golden land of adventure -- California. I remember the first night I spent at my flat in San Francisco at the corner of Haight and Ashbury -- I was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic drumming of congo drums from the hippy neighbors next door. I was living with a group of Americorps volunteers and day-dreamed of the day I would hop a plane for Kenya or maybe Guatemala with the Peace Corps.

Life and reality, though, had a fast hold on me -- as did those "real" things like student loans and -- to be honest -- I really fell in love with the work I was doing in my job. Who knew that I'd be so drawn to a career in medical research the way I had previously been drawn to birkenstocks and coffee-shop poetry readings? And...along the way I was able to find some parts of the job that were not only rewarding professionally, but also provided me a way to "give back" and do something impactful in the world.

Fast forward to today -- Norwich England, life as a "mature" (I cringe at that term -- why can't we just say "old" and be done with it?) MBA student living with my Norwich Sweetie, Paul. These past six months living with my sweetheart have been the absolute best six months I can remember. Life with Paul is gorgeous. Life as a student, though, has its ups and downs. I hear that is to be expected -- the ebbs and flows of classes and exams along with projects -- not to mention the reality of living in a different country. Having just come down off a somewhat stressful mountain of exams and with the lead-up to the Boudicca's Feast food and drink fair, things are currently going well overall. But am I anywhere near the hopes and dreams I once had as an undergraduate? If challenged today, could I say that I've worked hard to make a difference in this world and worked hard to do something important like preserve human dignity and rights? In the middle of this year of attempting to broaden my mind -- I've begun to wonder what exactly it is I want to do when I'm finished with this degree.

A recent speaker at our school gave our class advice akin to what you'd hear from a talented commencement speaker -- to follow our passions in order to become truly impactful in this world. I've thought about that advice quite a bit lately -- especially upon reflection of how much I've learned about the importance of some of the socially-conscious food initiatives that are up-front-and-center with the food festival we're organising. I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the need we have as a society to lessen our dependence on oil and just how vulnerable we have become as a society with our food being sourced so highly from abroad. Buying local food not only supports local businesses and farms, but makes a lot of sense from a macro-economic level, as well. I've been noodling about this quite a bit, and while the rational part of my brain knows that my future most likely lies in continued work in medical research, I wonder.....I just wonder...is there a way I could follow this one particular passion in the future? I think I need to "noodle" on it a bit.

Boudicca's Feast: A food festival in progress

2010-05-20T13:11:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, as part of an MBA project, I was tasked with forming and leading a team tasked with raising funds for a historical medieval merchant hall here in Norwich. That sounds so much more official than what took place. What actually happened is that I went into a room with another student who's event was chosen (a charity rugby tournament) and we took turns picking our team members from the rest of the MBA students in the class. In the end, we both ended up with the perfect teams for our respective events.

Anyway, I digress. You want to hear about the festival! Since early March when the team properly launched the project, we've had a few hurdles, but overall the project is coming along well.

Boudicca's Feast will be a food and drink "faire" where attendees pay a minimal ticket price for entry, receive one free beer or cider, and be able to shop at a variety of food and drink stalls. We have signed up four local bands and are currently working on getting some entertainment for children. The best part of it all is that we have some excellent local restaurants and food vendors (the sort you'd see at a Farmer's Market) coming along to our event. The focus is on local business, and several socially-conscious food initiatives such as being locally-sourced food, organic and sustainable, vegetarian, and even culturally-diverse. We want to give our attendees a chance to sample the range of the food and drink culture here in Norwich. I'm especially excited about Mrs. Temples Cheese who has won awards as a local producer, and Oasis Indian Restaurant which has amazing curries. We even have a participating business called The Funky Fresh Van. How great of a name is that?

In all, it is shaping up to be a great day. We've had a few hurdles, as I mentioned. After contacting over 40 local businesses (large, medium, and small), we still haven't found a sponsor who will help us with our event budget. We did, however, have an amazing bake-sale to raise some of our funds!

We've had a lot of success bringing down that budget due to generous donations from local service and goods providers, though. Also, while we have had generous donations from Chalk Hill Brewery and The Norfolk Cider Company towards the event, we are a little worried about Adnams who originally offered to donate beer as well. We haven't heard back from them in a while and are beginning to worry they might pull-out of the event. We all have our fingers and toes crossed (as, dear readers, we'd implore you to do on our behalf) that our gracious contact at Adnams has just been a bit busy lately and there are no problems on the horizan.

As our event is just a little over a month away, we are in the middle of preparing our promotion plans. (We have a team competition for the best flyer going on right now -- of which the above image is one of the teams' more creative designs.) But more on that soon. I'll let you all know when the website is ready to launch, as well. So until another chapter is ready, dear readers, send all the good juju you can our way because I feel like this next month is going to be a doozy of a ride!)

Haircuts by Kids

2010-05-09T06:09:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in the earlier post, yesterday Paul and I went to an event as part of the Norwich and Norfolk Festival -- in which 10 year olds give adults free haircuts. The kids were from a local school and were trained by hair-styling professionals ahead of time. Their training included scissor-skills, styling skills, and how to use clippers.Upon arriving on the scene, there was a buzz around the salon that had been converted for the day into the festival event, and across the ally was a (somewhat disturbing) array of plastic heads on spikes. (They were the practice hair-dos the kids had used leading up to the event.)

In a video about the lead-up to the event, the narrator mentioned that the first thing kids usually want to do when given the chance to cut hair is cut it all off. Then the next natural reaction is to give a mohawk. They worked during the week to open the kids up to the ideas of styling hair and other types of cuts, only introducing the electric clippers on the last day.

After checking in at the "recepion" desk, Paul's appointment time had come around and as he sat down in the barber chair with his two little hair stylistas -- this is the conversation that took place:

10 year old girl 1: What sort of hairstyle do you want?

Paul: Anything you like or want to do.

10 year old girl 2: Let's shave it all off!!!

10 year old girl 1: Or....we could do this (hands making a mohawk over Paul's head.)

10 year old girl 2: Yeah! Let's do it!

So in the space of 30 seconds, Paul's fate was sealed and two very eager young girls went at his head with the abandon that I remember in cutting off all the hair from my Barbie's head. Here is a "before" picture, a video of the action, and the "after" picture.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

2010-05-07T03:59:00.001-07:00

(More update on Boudicca's Feast soon -- but for now, an aside...)

I've been doing a bit of thinking lately about entrepreneurial spirit. There is a definite cultural difference between the US and the UK in terms of the focus on salesmanship of oneself or a business, or even corporate-partnership. I personally don't think either country is "right" per se in their views or approach, but just have noticed a difference.

For example, growing up in the US, our neighborhood would host an annual garage sale where we would put out old toys, clothing, wares, and basically junk to sell to people looking for their personal treasure or a deal. (If you are from the UK, think boot-sale, but on a bigger scale.) It was simply part of the fabric of growing up in the US. And kids would get involved by hosting lemonaide sales or baking cookies for bake sales. It is something I didn't realise until moving here to England -- but it is such an "American" thing in comparison.

It didn't really stop there, either. When in girl-scouts (girl-guides) growing up, we would go door-to-door selling cookies to earn money for our troop. From babysitting jobs to amateur lawn-mowing gigs -- that was the norm for kids growing up in the midwest of the US.

This past summer, my mom came across the above ad placed by two young girls in offer of caring for dogs. I can't believe how adorable it was! They had posted the ad in the video store of the small Michigan town as well as in the grocery. My mom hired them to care for her new puppy, and recently told me that every day they would provide her with a hand-written report on all the activities the little pup did -- from having a bath to taking a walk. They even put the times down for each activity and added illustrations for each. That is a level of entrepreneurial spirit and salesmanship (ala customer service) I've not heard of in the professional world!

I think that these childhood memories might shock or sadden some that I've met here in the UK. People here are extremely hard-working and there certainly isn't a lack of entrepreneurial spirit. What seems to be different, however, is an undercurrent of modesty, modecum, and propriety that seems to conflict with the "up-front-sell-yourself" attitude that we instill in our children at a young age in the US. At least -- that's been my impression. What is yours?

Tomorrow, Paul and I are going into town to take part in an interactive theatrical/festival performance as part of the Norwich and Norfolk festival. Specifically, the festival has partnered a hair-salon with a local school and they are offering hair-cuts for free to the public -- given by 10 year olds. The event is free and people can come and watch the dynamics between the 10 year old stylist and the "customer" unravel. Paul has been growing his hair for a while in preparation of the event. A few days ago, he received a call with a tiny voice on the other end of the line: "Mr. Holman? We are just calling to confirm your hair appointment this Saturday. Will you be there? We are very excited about the opportunity to provide a quality hair-cut." How adorable is that??? We will definitely be posting before and after pictures....

How Norwich inspired a green food festival

2010-04-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

Many of you know the main motivation behind my move to Norwich is my Norwich-sweetie, Paul. While I'm here, I'm doing an MBA at the University of East Anglia at the Norwich Business School. It is my hope that I am able to stay-on (visa fingers-crossed) after with Paul and make Norwich my new home. And while Paul is the main motivation behind this, the city of Norwich has wooed me in ways I can't do justice in conveying. Norwich sits in the heart of an absolutely gorgeous area of England -- surrounded by rich agricultural areas, broad-lands (lakes), and has a great diversity of wildlife. The city itself has all the amenities of a larger city -- cinemas, two malls, a great market -- but the population here (between 135,000 and 200,000 depending on who you talk to) means that you run into people you know when you go in town. (Even having only been here six months this happens to me. Unbelievable.)

Perhaps because historically, Norwich was considered far-afield from London -- and the river served as a trade-route, Norwich has many unique local products that cannot be found elsewhere. There is such an enlightened focus especially on eating locally-produced foods and drinks. Some of my local favorites are Bray's Cottage Pork Pies, and the local (real) ales made by Chalk Hill Brewery. The shop around the corner from our flat, Green Grocers, sells farm-fresh eggs and produce at affordable prices, and my favorite shop downtown, Rainbow Wholefoods, has all my favorite organic baking ingredients. And the Norwich market -- full of food and goods stalls -- it is my favourite haunt.

As part of my degree course, we were tasked with designing an event at a local medieval-aged merchant hall that would serve a purpose with local business as well as raise money for the hall as a charity. As I sat watching UK's alternatives (Come Dine with Me, Masterchef, and The Great British Menu) to my US favorite Top Chef, I decided that my event proposal would focus on my passion for good food, good ingredients, and socially-responsible food practices -- and tie it in to the festival in a way it would support local business here in Norwich. Thus, I dreamed up a food-tasting event called Boudicca's Feast. At the time, I blithely handed in my proposal along with all 46 other MBA students and didn't give it a second thought. That is, until....on February 26th the course director announced that my proposal was chosen.....(to be continued)

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni

2010-04-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a long long time ago (10 BC) in the area of Norfolk and Suffolk in the East of England, there was a celtic tribe called the Iceni. When the Romans first came to England, they conquered many of the celtic tribes, however, since they had a long-standing trade relationship with the Iceni, they entered into an alliance with them.

According to the local historian here at the Norwich Castle Museum, the celts in general, and especially the Iceni, had a ruling structure very different than the Romans. Kings and Queens ruled equally -- whereas in Rome there was no paradigm of female rulers.

Leading up to AD 60, the Iceni were ruled by a king called Prasutagus and a queen called Boudicca (previously known as Boudicea by the Victorians due to a mistranslation of the name from Roman texts). When Prasutagus died, he bequeathed his kingdom to his wife and daughters -- in opposition to Rome's expectations that he would leave his kingdom to his ally, Rome. In turn, Rome took on the Iceni, publically flogged Boudicca, and did horrible things to her daughters. In response, Boudicca -- a queen by every right -- led the Iceni and neighboring celtic tribes in a revolt against the Romans. While ultimately they were defeated and Boudicca poisoned herself rather than be taken by Rome, the battle was fierce and a close-call for the Romans.

In Victorian times, Queen Victoria revived the story of Boudicca as captured in Roman writings and took her story as a sort-of "mantle" for her own reign. (Boudicca means "victory" in the celtic languages, similar to the Queen's own name.) Since Victorian times, the legend of Boudicca as a strong woman ruler and tied to the history of Norfolk has been deeply ingrained in the culture in this area.

What the signs are sayin': Over(seen?) lines of the day...

2010-04-08T01:55:00.001-07:00

Apparently it was a slow news-day:Knickers. It says "knickers." Tee hee!I saw this one on the notice board of the grocery store. I wonder...who books-in to get a bikini-wax from someone who advertises with purple marker and notebook paper?

Life is green...

2010-04-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm just coming up for air from writing a finance paper to give a quick update as Spring has arrived first with crocus and then daffodils. One very green day Paul and I took a trip to the cemetary across the road. I know some might find it creepy, but I really love just how overgrown, old, green, and peaceful it is. We found the above gorgeous celtic cross as well as a sea of bluebells:

The pursuit of happiness

2010-03-20T02:47:00.000-07:00

Last night there was some discussion on John Stewart's Daily Show (we get it -- just a day late) about the American core values of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It made me wonder what was in our founding father's minds when they thought of those foundations of our US governing documents. It made me think they were very wise men to include that last clause.

Michelloui over at Mid-Atlantic English gave me a happiness award for my blog. Thank you, Michelloui! It entails that I make mention of what makes me happy, but since I wrote about it recently here, and passed it on then, I think I'll just ask you, readers, a differently-angled question:

I wonder about the phrase "happiness is a state of mind." Do you have some days where -- no matter if good things come your way -- you are just under a cloud and cannot be happy? Do you have days that are the opposite -- where the biggest slight just can't get you down because you're floating above ground?

Chutes, Snakes, and Hinduism...

2010-03-13T10:05:00.001-08:00

If you are American, undoubtly you grew up with the Milton Bradley game "Chutes and Ladders." It is a great game when you are small because it is dynamic and involves a bit of luck in landing on the right squares to avoid going down a chute (slide) to a lower square. Parents love it for their kids because the chutes that demote you to lower squares are given when you land on something that is naughty, like pulling your sister's hair. The ladders show up on the game when you land on squares where you've done something good, like having done your school-work.

In England, the game is called "Snakes and Ladders" and is pretty much the same game, with the exception that naughty deeds mean you have to slide down the back of a snake to your lower scoring square. (That -- and older versions have slightly more hysterical naughty deeds like "chasing a pig" as you can see in the picture above.) In talking to Paul's family, I learned that the game had been in England since Victorian times, and therefore it was clear that the US had adapted the game from the English version. Paul's family has an older version of the game -- which has some (what we thought were) classically-Victorian-era mores in the inside cover explaining each naughty and nice behaviour and the points associated with each.I still was left wondering, though -- why the difference between snakes and chutes? It isn't as if England is particularly well-known for snakes (thankfully!) as there are only 2 types of snakes here and they are rarely seen. In fact, snakes are much more common in the US. And at the time the game was introduced in the US -- it was long before the PC times of "let's tame it down so we don't frighten our children". I was left scratching my head at this one US/UK difference. Where did the "snakes" originate?

The answer to this little riddle, as it turns out, was farther afield than either country. Interestingly, I've only recently learned that "Snakes and Ladders" doesn't originate in Victorian England at all. In fact, what -- upon first glance -- might seem like Victorian-esque mores actually come from a completely different source, as do the snakes: India.A few of my Indian fellow students told me about a game called Vaikuntapali, that is played in India to teach children of the tenants of Hinduism -- specifically that good deeds raise you up the scale in terms of reincarnation.

Who knew there was so much history in one little board-game?

Spelling bees

2010-03-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Moving to England as a student has proven difficult in one very persnickety area: spelling. Having managed clinical trials in England previously, I was aware that words like fetus are spelled foetus in England, as well as hematoma becomes haematoma. And I knew full well that words like color and humor become colour and humour.

A few things I can't seem to get right, though, are the English "s" versus American "z" words, as well as the confusing use of double Ls or lack thereof. Some examples:

1. Utilize, monetize, and burglarize become utilise, monetise, and burglarise. (Actually, you'd never say "I've been burglarised" here anyway. You'd say "I've been burgled," which sends me into fits of inappropriate laughter thinking about McDonald's Hamburgler.) The problem is with the word organization. Apparently the Oxford English Dictionary sticks with the "z" but states that "-ise" is recognized. (Oh shoot. That's recognised here!) But most publications in the UK now buck the "ize" ending as "ise" is being taught here -- as in organisation. It only seems to be this way for just this one word -- and I find it extremely confusing.

2. Strange "L"s exist here. For example a chili pepper becomes a chilli pepper. (Why? I have no clue -- especially since the root word isn't even English.) If you were on a phone and had dialed a number, in England you would have dialled it. But strange "L"s aren't just added in bizarre spots here, but also eliminated. If you were talking about the active stage of a clinical trial or having signed up for classes here in the UK, it is not enrollment as we'd say back home, but enrolment (one L.)

Needless to say, my writing has become a giant muddle of the two! When asked, I'm just going to say I'm not writing in American or English-English, but in mid-Atlantic-ese.

Two Americans storm the castle using Jedi mind-tricks

2010-03-07T08:39:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I had a lovely visit with a fellow American expat-blogista, Not From Around Here (NFAH). Amongst sight-seeing, NFAH and I discovered that we have some common ground from our careers, so we were able to fully "nerd-out" with some quality conversation. (It was truly lovely to get together, NFAH!)

During our walking tour of Norwich, we had brilliantly sunny weather and were able to see many of the sights. We went to see the beautiful cathedral, a historic ferry-building on the river, and the Norwich mott-and-bailey castle.

Yes, two Americans stormed the castle. It was all done with the cunning use of Jedi mind-tricks (and a small entrance fee). After this, we went for a latte and realized that we had only barely escaped the wrath of Norwich's security force -- who were on patrol outside of Starbucks:

Apparently Norwich is not only home to Mr. Perry the Puppetman and Mr. Pastry (from a BBC children's show), but also Darth Vadar.

Chocolate, Celery, Green Peppers -- the DREADED GREEN PEPPER post

2010-02-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned how much I love chocolate, how I'm really indifferent about celery, but there is only one food that I absolutely dread: green peppers.

I used to remember being very little and waking up from a nap at my Grandma's house and smelling the absolutely mouth-watering smells of ground beef cooking with a tomato/garlic sauce. I remember coming to the dinner table all ready for a delicious meal when KAZAAM!, I realized I had been fooled. Smack dab in the middle of the table were THE DREADED STUFFED PEPPERS.

"You can eat the stuffing part and leave the pepper" she'd tell me.

But it was all for nought. The horrible metallic green pepper flavor had soaked all the way through -- which meant it was inedible for me. Blech!

Now there are some of you who might love green peppers. I'm fine with that. They're just simply not for me. So in this green peppers version of my Chocolate, Celery, Green Peppers list of differences I've found here in England, I would like to tell you about the (very few) things that really really aren't my cup of tea here in England:

1. Sweetness: It is my impression that the English palate is much more sugar-loving than in the US. To me -- everything from pasta sauce to Indian take-out tastes like there are tablespoons upon tablespoons of added sugar. (I'm sure, though, that someone from here who went to Ohio might complain of all the salt we use there!)

2. Weird pizza toppings: Tunafish and sweetcorn with cheddar cheese is just the beginning of the weird toppings here on pizzas (or on potatoes for that matter). Dominos has a new pizza over here called "The Meltdown the Revenge" pizza that has chili-cheese, meatballs, spicy-beef, jalepenos, sweet roquito peppers, birds-eye chilis, and American-style mustard. What????

3. Binge-drinking lads and ladettes: If you walk down the main bar stretch in Norwich (Prince of Wales Street) on any Friday or Saturday night, you'll see a bunch of girls dressed in barely anything (in the sub-zero weather) and all kinds of lads and laddettes drunk beyond recognition. I'm no stranger to partying at that age, but what I see here is beyond anything I've ever seen back home -- even at Fraternity parties I recall from my college days. There are at least 4 ambulances lined up at the top of the street each night as ready and waiting for a problem. The drinking is beyond a "good night out" from what I've seen. I've seen gals passed out cold on the pavement with their heads in the gutter. I don't particularly like this aspect of the culture here, and from what I've gathered from my English friends -- they don't particularly like it either. There is a big campaign on at the moment to warn people of the dangers of binge drinking, but I'm not sure it is being taken-to-heart.

4. Not rinsing dishes: I was warned about this before I moved here, but I foolishly thought it was a myth. But I am here to tell you that none of the English people I've met "rinse" their dishes after washing them, but instead just put them straight onto the drying rack/draining board. I just think of all the times my Grandma used to tell me that "you'll go blind from the chemicals in the soap if you don't rinse those dishes better" -- and I cringe a little each time I see this UK dish-washing phenomenon. But -- logic says that our current dish soap is a long cry from caustic soda -- which actually could make you go blind. I think this is just a custom in the US carried over from older practice...

5. The lack of electrical plugs in the bathroom: Yeah...I've said it. If you're English -- go ahead and gasp in horror at the thought of electrical plugs in the bathroom. If you're American -- go ahead and scratch your head at this one.

6. Weird packaging: The fact that packages of things like cheese, coffee, etc. -- do not have those handy little perforated parts that help you rip them open. It is a little thing, but sometimes I find it quite frustrating to find the scissors for YET ANOTHER package I need to open in the kitchen. (Yeah..I'm spoiled.)

A mutual dislike for experimental jazz...

2010-02-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

...is one thing that really makes me smile. I was tagged by Heather from Notes from Lapland this week -- and challenged to come up with the top 10 things that make me happy. And while I'm not quite as technically-talented as Heather, here is my list:

1. Shared goofy moments with my sweetie. When we were sitting in Millennial Park in Chicago this last summer, there was a rehearsal going on for an experimental jazz concert. Paul turned and said to me: "If you were to find the biggest nutcase in the whole city, and you were to cut a window into that guy's brain -- you would see what we're listening to now." Then he did his very own impersonation of experimental jazz, to which I dare you not to giggle as much as I did!:

2. Creating sweet desserts for friends and family.

3. Singing -- especially as part of a group of people.

4. End of the world movies -- especially ones with great special effects.

5. Seeing older couples holding hands when walking down the street.

6. Finding humorous grammatical and typographical mistakes.

7. The satisfaction of figuring out a puzzle.

8. Picking wax drips off of candles. 9. Spending time out on the ocean.

10. The special out-of-synch feeling you get when you travel somewhere completely new: like the world is truly bigger than you and your viewpoint.

Thanks for the writing prompt, Heather! Now, I'm going to challenge four completely loveable bloggers who are in the middle of grayest part of winter -- Mom, Jen Teal, Mike, and Christy -- to have their hand at this project. Good luck, my bloggy friends! I hope this project makes you smile the way it did for me!

Norwich Local Character: Mr. Perry the Puppetman

2010-02-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

I'm really beginning to love Norwich. With a population just over 136,000, it is small by large-city standards, yet the downtown area has pretty much everything you'd ever want from a city-center. There are cinemas, two major shopping malls, a large and historical farmer's market, and pretty much any cuisine you'd want. One of the things that makes the cities I've lived in truly memorable, though, are the quirky local characters that become institutions.

Who could imagine New York without the Naked Cowboy, New Orleans without Grandpa Elliot, or San Francisco without the famous Fisherman's Wharf Bush Man? One very big reason that I have come to love Norwich is a very quirky and eccentric local man known as Mr. Perry the Puppetman. Unlike other puppeteers who might entertain with dialogue, Mr. Perry sings along to a karyoke machine and shakes his puppets up and down at a frantic pace to the music.

Mr. Perry originally started busking in Norwich over 25 years ago. When local legislation became concerned about the money he was making as compared to his pension benefits, Mr. Perry began giving almost all the proceeds to charity.

I wasn't able to find a high-quality unadultrated YouTube video of Mr. Perry that would keep me out of copywrite issues, but here is a great highlight of his nuttiness:

Chocolate, celery, green-peppers -- let's talk celery

2010-02-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Ok -- time to be honest. Have you ever been at a dinner party and -- when a tray of celery topped with cream cheese, peanut butter, or "ants on a log" comes around -- had to fight the desire to just lick off the goodies and leave the celery? Come-on -- admit it. You've all thought about it at least once. I'm going to guess if your friend/Aunt/Grandma weren't looking, you might even try to stuff the celery into your hand-bag or convince the family dog to eat the celery stalk.

Celery is a funny thing. If you don't include it in your Thanksgiving gravy, the whole thing will taste wrong. And I can't even begin to imagine homemade chicken-and-noodle soup without it. Raw celery -- while I don't hate it -- just isn't my cup of tea.

With that in mind, I'd like to share with you my "Celery List" from my original "Chocolate/Celery/Green Peppers" post. These are things I've found that are different here in England that I'm not overly wild about, or am "on the fence" when it comes to liking/disliking.

1. Switches at the electrical socket: over here they have a switch on every outlet so that you can turn off the electricity "at the main." This is a great way to save energy when it comes to turning off your TV/DVD player/cable box-type items that use electricity even when turned-off. And while I am 100% behind that intent, I can't tell you the number of times I've been waiting around -- zombie-like -- at the toaster waiting for toast that will never arrive because I've forgotten to turn on the main.

2. The heating situation: "Central heat" in the US seems to mean something different than here. "Central heat" here usually is radiator-heat. This in itself is not an issue, but there seems to be an issue with old buildings that have been renovated with "double-pane" windows and heating -- where someone forgot that heat + humid English air + lack of ventilation = water/damp/mold problems. Ok -- maybe this is just my current gripe about my flat.

3. English "sub-text": sometimes it will be two days later that I realize that the woman at the bank wasn't actually being nice -- it was a back-handed compliment. Doh!

4. Purple restrooms: Public restrooms here have overhead lights that are purple. It isn't just a little violet. Imagine you are at a dance club and the DJ puts on the black-light. It's like that. Paul tells me it was added to public restrooms so that people injecting drugs into their arms can't see the blood vessels and thus will not use public restrooms for that purpose. Gross! Yet...maybe ingenious?

5. Social Justice & Simmer and Burn: It seems that the English people I've met and interacted with have a very high interest in "social justice" whereas it is very important that people treat each other equally and any injustice is stamped out. The only paradox is that it seems there is a huge aversion to confrontation here. My English acquaintences seem to have perfected a "simmer and burn" attitude where they alternately silently fume about an injustice (but say nothing) or toss a few of those English sub-text comments/ribs the way of the offender. The problem? People from places other than England never "get" the jokes/ribs and usually don't figure out that they've offended someone. Oh -- and being a confrontational creature myself -- I go over like a lead balloon in a group of English friends. I'm going to need to work on this!

6. The speed of speech: I'm not entirely sure there is a city, country, planet where people speak as fast as me or my immediate family -- but for goodness-sake -- people here in Norwich talk really really slowly! I think it is something I'm going to end up loving, but jeese-o-pete it is sometimes hard to see where people are going when they are talking. I think even my Dad will agree, though, that if living here slows down my speech even just a teeny bit, then it will be a good thing.

7. Marmite: Marmite is this funny dark-brown spread that comes from the bi-products of beer-making. Specifically, it consists of yeasty saltiness that Brits spread liberally on toast with butter -- for BREAKFAST. It has quite a strong taste for someone who didn't grow up for it, but I have to admit -- being the salt-lover I am -- it is definitely growing on me. I can now put a teeny-weeny pin-head sized dot on my toast and stand (even begin to like) the saltiness.

Pancake Day and Lent

2010-02-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

Today, as Americans know it, is Mardis Gras or Fat Tuesday. Here in England -- Shrove Tuesday (the religious name) is known widely as Pancake Tuesday! People all over the land make pancakes that look and taste more like crepes (as opposed to American pancakes) and eat them with lemon and sugar. Paul and I celebrated the holiday a few days ago and here are his amazing pancakes!

I don't often talk about personal thoughts, money, politics, or religion on this blog. But I'm about to break my rule. As many in my family know as we've grown up in a German-Swedish Lutheran family, Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent. Lent is a time when Christians remember the 40 days and nights Christ spent in the desert -- resisting temptation from Satan. It is a time to reflect on resisting temptation to do all manner of things deemed sinful by the faith -- lying, cheating, stealing, adulty -- as the big ones -- but even things like gossip, having a heart with hate in it, and not actually going that extra mile to help out someone in need.

I've been doing some thinking about the nature of Lent and what I, as a Christian, could be doing differently to follow my faith. Some Christians spend this time giving up things like meat, chocolate, swearing, or other things they deem as "luxuries" in order to try to emmulate the discipline of Christ. For some reason, that has always struck me as the wrong approach -- at least for me. My beliefs are very personal and I tend to be on the side of "attraction not promotion" with my faith. That is -- I don't often share my beliefs openly, but I try to live each day with love in my heart. To me -- the two more important tentants of my faith are to: 1. Love God, and 2. Love everyone (even those that aren't that love-able) with all of your heart and every moment of your life.

Sometimes -- that second one isn't easy. And I admit that I've been failing on it. There are irritating people I scowl at. There are times I'm short and abrupt with people who -- whether or not they "deserve" it -- I could love better. There are times I ignore helping someone out because it would get in the way of my life. And there are many times I could just be doing more for other people and the world in general. I haven't quite formed my thoughts around exactly what I'm going to do for the next 40 days as a positive step in my life as a Christian, but it is founded in these thoughts.

So you, dear reader, regardless of your faith-views -- I'm curious. How are you spending your day today? Are you eating pancakes? Are you partying it up big-time in New Orleans to celebrate the superbowl win? Are you in Venice with a mask on? And, whether or not it was faith or Lent-related -- have you ever taken a concious step in your life to make a change? Maybe you've made New Year's resolutions. How did they go? How did you resist temptation to slide into old ways?

Organic Food Fest!

2010-02-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

This friday, the movie Food, Inc. will be released in the UK. Paul and I are going to a showing on Monday as volunteers for the Soil Association. (The Soil Association, as I understand it, works in promoting organic farming all over the UK, as well as consumption of organic goods as opposed to non-organic goods. As my sister works for the SA, though, I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm wrong!)

On the organic front, Paul and I got our first "veg box" from the University of East Anglia's Student Organic Association. (We also added on a "luxery" organic fruit bag.) At the same time, one of my fellow classmates brought me some of the eggs that his chickens laid this week. They're organic, too! I'm super excited about all these fresh wares.

Now my question for you: One of the ingredients in the veg box is kale. I've never cooked with kale. Any suggestions? I know what I'm going to do with the beet. If you're curious, head over to my friend Mike-the-Chef's site for a great recipe!

Frenetic weather, frenetic birds, and frenetic studying

2010-02-09T03:47:00.000-08:00

We've been having some peculiar weather over here lately. Just yesterday it was snowing buckets, and today as I lok out of one window I see blue skies and sunshine, but out the other side I see gray clouds and buckets of rain. Paul has taken it all in step and said, "Yup. That's Norwich."

Yesterday as we walked to classes in the snow (after seeing the bus turn the corner ahead of us before we could catch up to it), we came across several trees filled with starlings who were registering their complaints on the weather. I hope you have speakers for this video clip, because the view (with the exception of Paul!) isn't half as interesting as the sound:

And because Paul noted that he's often the subject of the pictures on the blog, he stole my camera the other night to document the fact that YES I am a student and am studying. Although it isn't the most flattering image, I thought I'd just provide you that proof here:

Chocolate List: Omissions -- whoops!

2010-02-08T00:11:00.001-08:00

There are three more things on the Chocolate (Love, Love, Love) List that I forgot to mention in my previous post. These three things just shouldn't be overlooked!

28. You can have your milk delivered to your door here -- by Dairymen in little electric trucks called "floats" that look like this:

29. Crumpets: How can you not love little bready inventions with holes uniquely designed to hold warm, yummy, butter in such a way? And as Paul just added...they're even better with butter and golden syrup! (Sorry, US friends -- there really is just no equivalent, so click on the link for an explanation. Paul says, "It is sort of like maple syrup, but it goes with more things.")

30. Egg cups: When I was little, I went to Europe with my grandparents and fell in love with the idea of eating soft-boiled eggs at breakfast. Since then, however, I never really made them in the US and I believe that is due to a lack of egg cups. What is better in the morning than a soft-boiled egg and toast soldiers??? (Toast soldiers are little cut-up strips of buttered toast that you dip into your soft-boiled egg yolk. I believe it was an invention of some frustrated mother trying desperately to get her children to eat their breakfast.)

Satan has a new pasttime -- running Lloyds TSB

2010-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

I am so livid at this moment that I will only say one thing. To any future ex-pats looking to jump the pond to England -- stay far far away from Lloyds TSB. Their discriminatory banking practices are beyond reproach -- and mixed with a high degree of ineptitude -- I honestly think that dealing with them is probably less pleasant than any hell you could imagine.

If anyone with connections to the UK has any advice on how I might go about filing a formal complaint with consumer affairs -- I would be very grateful.

A laugh served up with your morning cup-o-joe

2010-02-04T23:33:00.001-08:00

Last night after I posted those pictures from the supermarket, I saw the following television advert for coffee and was brought to tears laughing. I can't even begin to tell you how those Big Saucy Bangers, Red Hot Balls, and even this commercial would have incited outrage and protests in parts of the US!

(Note: for mature eyes only, please.)

Supermarket Humor (or...Humour)

2010-02-04T12:46:00.001-08:00

Before I moved to England, I had this romantisized view of the English as a people with a "stiff upper lip" who were prim and proper. Images of high tea and meals with mysterious utensils like "fish forks" and multiple spoons crossed my mind. I'm sure there are many psychological and cultural reasons why many Americans see "the English" as nation of people driven by etiquitte and manners and little old women wearing ankle-length dresses with flowered hats -- mostly dating back to colonial times. And I'm pretty convinced that you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone here who would be offended by such a flattering stereotype. The fact is, though, that it just doesn't ring true sometimes.

I won't even get started on the super-short "dresses" that are really just shirts that hang past the hips by 1/2 inch -- that are being worn on a daily basis to classes. I think that none of you would even believe the amount of undies and lack of undies I see on a daily basis on campus -- so I'll hold that post until I get some sneaky camera action going on the bus ride one day this coming week. But for now, I'd like to address what is a rather humorous contradiction to the "prim and proper" image I had for this country.

Enter canned breakfast foods that can be commonly seen at the supermarket:

Need I say more?

Love/Question/No Love (Chocolate, Celery, Green Peppers)

2010-02-02T01:43:00.001-08:00

I've been keeping a list of things that I love love love!, things that are different and I question, yet I think I can adapt to, and things that are really not my favorite things here in England thus far. I've organized them into three categories that probably make more sense for those of you who've lived around me:

1. Love love love = chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!
2. Question, but think I can live with = celery
3. Don't really like at all = green peppers

I've been keeping a running list of these things and thought I'd share the chocolate, chocolate, chocolate list with you today, in hopes that you know this is just one girl's opinion and "take" on life here in Norwich - and (especially when I get to celery and green peppers in a future post) -- it is not meant to offend. There are several of these I think I might take the time to write about in separate posts coming soon -- especially my experience with one (or several) local foxes! So without any more prattle, here's the chocolate (things I love) list:

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!:

1-22. Being with my sweetie, cooking with my sweetie, watching movies with my sweetie, studying with my sweetie, etc.

23. Lemsip: it's like Theraflu, but with some mysterious juju that cures all and gives you energy along the lines I imagine from crack-cocaine.

24. Electric kettles: why oh why don't we have these in the US commonly?

25. Squash: no -- not the vegetable -- it is concentrated juice that is not frozen but in a bottle -- just add water and "Bob's your uncle" you have a great drink!

26. The availability and ease of public transportation -- and the fact that many people walk and bike to home/work/school.

27. The day-to-day focus on energy-saving and all things eco-friendly

28. Foxes -- I've seen them all over the place!

29. Excellent facilities and services for people who are disabled/differently-abled/handicapped

30. My fan-assisted oven: while I've had to adjust my recipes, it bakes things faster and more evenly!

31. Hot water bottles (although I'm dubious about the reason we seem to need them all the time)

32. AMAZING cheese and yogurts

33. Quorn: a truly versatile and yummy mushroom-like substance that is an excellent substitute for meat.

34. The fact that all fruits and veggies in the supermarket are labled as to where they originated so you can make more informed decisions on buying local.

35. TV shows like Dragon's Den, QI, and Only Connect. It is such smart entertainment!

36. Fun child-like discoveries/differences like Snakes and Ladders, Ring-a-ring-a-rosie, the Hokey Cokey, and The Giant Turnip.

27. Unintentional (?) grocery-store humor (more on that soon!)

Overheard Line of the Day: Future Business Opportunities

2010-01-30T03:40:00.000-08:00

(While sitting in our living room in pajamas and robes, Paul was leafing through the local paper.)

Paul: Maybe we can open up a psychic bakery.

Me: What?

Paul: I just saw in the paper that psychics charge one-pound-fifty (1.50) a minute. So you could make cakes and I could make up psychic bullshit and we'd be rich.

Argos and the Laminated Book of Dreams...

2010-01-24T02:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Paul and I made it downtown to the city center to pick up a few things for our new home and with a targetd plan to stop by Argos, which is a home-goods store here in England. (Interestingly, unlike Target, they actually don't have a store you can browse, but only a store-front where you place your order and pick up the goods. Everything is based on their physical and online catalogue.)

Yesterday was the first day that Argos came out with their new and shiney catalogue. In order to promote it and drive business, Argos has taken down their online site. Because of the hype, people were showing up in droves for the new book, which seems to be a staple in every English home.

The only thing I could compare it to in the US is the JCPenny catalogue or Sears catalogue we all got when we were little. I remember it arriving in early November and my sister and I would sit down with markers and drool through the toys section and circle our hopes and dreams for Christmas. The Argos catalogue is sort of like that for adults. Comedian Bill Bailey describes it as the "Laminated Book of Dreams" which molifies everyone into believing the world is A-OK.

Making friends and tackling technology...

2010-01-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

I have a big jumble of thoughts on difference with life in the UK versus back in the US -- so much so I'm going to save that for another day. Today, I'd like to talk about my life as a student, making friends, and tackling technology.

First off -- backpacks and laptops. UGH. I knew that my laptop would be a necessity in getting an MBA, and I know that students these days use laptops for notes, but I hadn't figured in the WEIGHT of a backpack with a laptop, plugs, textbooks, notebooks, etc. My goodness I'm gaining back muscles!

My classes are going great -- 44 students from 20 countries -- many of whom are in a similar boat as me -- being new to Norwich and even England. Even more than the degree -- it is such a great opportunity when in a new place to make new friends. Over the last few days, I've learned about jewelry in Azerbaijan, cardemom coffee and dates in Saudia Arabia, music tastes in Kazhakistan, and science fiction movies in India. It is so interesting!

On another note about connecting with new friends, part of our MBA group project is to create a strategic marketing plan for Twitter. I have to admit, I had never quite understood Twitter and really thought it was just a forum for pointless babble. (Sorry to offend any of you users!) However, over the last few days of market research, and learning about the platform, I'm really surprised to see the applications of the technology. For example, I logged in for the first time and found out (through Twitter) that SoCal was flooded and had tornado warnings. Yesterday, "Massachusetts" came up in the top three topics -- and alerted me to check on the MA congressional results that would tip the healthcare bill. So it is possible that Twitter can become a news source, I guess. It is pretty interesting technology in terms of getting a pulse on the current ethos of any topic. But now that I'm on Twitter, does that make me a Twit? (Please don't answer that question!)

Snowmageddon!* (Norwich in the snow versus Scotland in the snow)

2010-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

*Phrase blatently stolen from the She's Not from Yorkshire website as it was completely brilliant!

The past four days have been total havoc here in Norwich, as a millimeter (read: MILLImeter) or two of snow had fallen each night. The headlines on newspapers stated "Severe Winter Weather Causes Chaos" and shops all over town had notices like this:(This wasn't any severe winter weather, it was Marks and Spencer's severe winter weather, after all.)

At first I scoffed and thought surely this is a joke. But soon after I had a giggle or two, and donned all the severe winter gear to run about town shopping for our new apartment, I began to realize that this city is completely unprepared to deal with snow and ice. It is an entirely different world compared to Northern Michigan where every-other-home owns a professional-grade snow plow and snow blower. They don't even salt the roads or sidewalks here. It think I truly began to grasp the scope of the weather/transit problem when I saw a huge back-ho driving up our street with a digging attachment full of grit -- laying down deep treads in the snowy street as two men followed along slowly on foot shovelling dirt out of the scoop to throw on the road on top of the snowy treadmarks. The snow (and ice) have truly impacted this city!

That is in comparison to Aviemore Scotland, where Paul and I spent our New Year's Eve celebrations this year. The first night we spent in the Cairngorm National Forest hills, we got over a foot of snow and woke up to their car looking like this:

On New Year's Eve day we decided to go out into the winter-wonderland and walk about in the little town as well as in the woods. Immediately, we turned into 5-year olds and began to play in the snow. Amongst the pictures below are some videos of our antics:Proof that I helped shovel the drive (or at least posed with the shovel!)Erika parking in a "no-parking" zone.The after-effects of a well-placed snowball.Sisters!I wonder how to get to Woodland Walks?The men expressing their more feminine side.

Erika "shaking the tree":

Paul "diving in head-first":

Snow-angel:

Paul being ambushed by Ben whilst taking a photo:

A montage of movie/TV re-enactments including Point Break, Hot Fuzz, and Spaced:

Scotland bound....

2009-12-28T11:41:00.001-08:00

First off, I must report that Paul and I had a very very lovely Christmas full of treats and presents and cheer. Our favorite gifts were games, books, and food items such as the delightful chocolate biscuits (think sort of not-so-sweet cookie, but dipped in yummy chocolate) from Michelle at Mid-Atlantic English. Thank you, Michelle! The sustained not only myself, but also Paul as we braved the mobs at the mall yesterday in my hunt for a pair of wellies (rubber rain-boots.)

So, wellies in hand, we are headed tomorrow for fair and bonny (read: snowy and cold) Scotland to visit with my sister, Erika, and her husband Ben. In honor of visiting the land of the Scots, tonight for dinner I tried my very first Scotch egg, and I have to say it needed a little ketchup or something. I might have to experiment a bit.

See you in a week!

Fancy a cuppa tea, anyone?

2009-12-26T02:14:00.000-08:00

Apparently this is how you make tea in the UK, as demonstrated by the PG Tips tea monkey:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2009-12-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

And now....for the mushy stuff! The best Christmas gift I could have ever asked for this year is to spend Christmas with my sweetie after a long and exhausting year of trying to work out visas and a way for me to come to England. So last week, I hopped off my long flight, collected my embarrassing amount of baggage, and entered the arrivals lounge to be greeted by the sweet and smiling face of my lovely boyfriend. Christmas came early! Paul was so sweet to help me navigate London (in the snow!) with my obnoxious bags all the way to the train station headed towards Norwich. As we sat waiting to board, we both had hot Cornish pasties (think cubed potatoes, lamb meat, carrots -- all stewed and put inside a pastry that is piping hot), and I realized that all of the organizing, packing, unpacking, repacking, not to mention the litany of ailments I had last month -- were all worth it!

Onward to Norwich we went, with me sleeping soundly aboard the train for most of the way. (Paul says I didn't snore, but I somehow think he might be lying to me. I woke up with a mysterious bruise on my temple that Paul later told me came from me banging my head into his as I slept!)

Once in Norwich, Christmas greeted me early again! Paul's mum had gotten me a beautiful fuscia fuzzy robe that fit perfectly, as well as drip coffee pot to help meet my awful morning cup-o-jo habit. It was so sweet! Paul also presented me with my main Christmas present early -- a really great high-quality hairdryer -- which was one of the first things I meant to buy. He did an excellent job choosing the model, and had clearly done his research as he quoted that it had "tourmaline ionic technology." (He even said it in a super radio-presenter voice -- tee hee.) Who knew that hairdryers were so sciency?

One of the days that we haven't been flat hunting, we went downtown in Norwich to see a presentation of ice sculptures meant to represent the various recreation activities in Norwich. Here are a few highlights:

Soccer (Football):

Fencing:

Mr. Pastry (A Children's TV show host born here):
and (of course) a barrel of beer:

Now to leave you with just a couple more images of what is becoming my new favorite Christmas treat -- the (fruit) mince pie:

Christmas made fun with little girls, funny hats, and sugar!

2009-12-22T05:04:00.000-08:00

The day after I arrived, Paul and I woke up to a beautiful snowy scene! We snapped a few photos and then -- after baking cookies all day, went out for Indian take-out food. It was snowy!

This past weekend, Paul's entire family came over to his mother's house for a family get-together before Christmas. It was a very cheerful time with sugar and laughter abounding, including many giggles from Paul's four nieces -- all four-years-old and younger. Paul had the great idea to have some of the gingerbread teddy-bears all ready for the girls to decorate.

I personally though this would end badly in an icing-covered ground-war, but the girls were really into making their own masterpiece and did a fantastic job! If I ever get around to opening my American-style bakery over here (a day-dream of mine) I think I've found some great bakers-assistants! Here is one cutie showing off her creation:

From the US, I had brought the girls over some Native-American (ish) feathered head-dresses. I found it very amusing that half of them ended up on the heads of the adults!

Baking in England -- Hurdles Overcome!

2009-12-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I made it in one piece to Norwich, England, just ahead of the dreaded British Airlines strike that is coming this week (maybe?) and just a day ahead of snow and gale-force winds. The entire move has been overwhelming to say the least, but was all worth it to snuggle with my sweetie the other night while watching the premiere of "Glee" in the UK. But more on the mushy stuff later. First we need to talk baking, my friends. Specifically -- baking cookies in the UK.

Tomorrow morning (well...I must admit that is past 1am right now, so just later today...) I am going to meet the entire entourage of Paul's family. His two brothers and one sister and their respective families are all coming over here to his mother's house (where we are located until "Apartment Hunt 2009" is successful) for their Christmas get-together. That meant we had exactly 2 days after my arrival to pull together the planned American-style Christmas Cookie Tins.

Ahead of time, we did our research and learned that there are several key differences with availability and names of the ingredients I needed. So in addition to hauling over the Hershey's kisses, Hershey's hugs, Tollhouse chips, and Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate (no exact equivalent over here), we discovered this useful set of vocabulary:

US (UK)
Baking Soda (Bicarbonate of Soda)
Baking Powder (same)
Brown Sugar (use light brown SOFT Demerara sugar*)
Baking Sugar (NOT table sugar, but Castor Sugar)
Powdered Sugar (Icing sugar)
All-purpose flour (NON-self-rising flour)
Canola oil (Rapeseed oil)
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter =1/2 of the 250g Lurpack typical-sized package of butter**

*Brown sugar gets tricky over here, so I'd suggest just going to the store and getting it yourself instead of sending a local. Muscavado is the darkest one they have but it has a strong molasses-flavor that I'm not fond of. Demerara is the right color and consistency, but a medium-molasses flavor. In the end we used generic Morrison's-brand "light brown soft sugar" and it worked very well.

**The typical butter size over here is = 1 full US measuring cup

I came prepared with my measuring cups as over here they typically measure flour and sugar by weight with kitchen scales -- hence rendering a US recipe completely useless. I also came prepared with my handy Farenheit to Celcius converstion table only to find out that the oven here has numbers 1-9 on it instead. No degrees. They are called "gas-marks" and they actually make more sense in Farenheit as they go up every 25 degrees (as opposed to the conversion into Celcius, which is all higeldy-piggeldy). For example, gas mark 4 is 350 degrees and gas mark 5 is 375 degrees. (Paul made me a handy converstion chart, though!) Finally, I realized that ovens here truly are smaller width-wise than the ovens back home. This meant we had to do smaller batches of cookies, which meant overall more bake-time. Also, it meant that my TRULY AMAZING silpat silicon baking pads that were one of three non-clothing items I brought with me did not fit on the baking sheets. Sigh.

In the end, though, we were truly successful in our 2-day baking extravaganza and were able to put out 8 dozen gingerbread cookies, 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 4 dozen peanut-butter blossoms, and 4 dozen Hershey's hug Zebra cookies.

Mom's Healthy Granola -- Yum!

2009-12-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

Something you may or may not know about my Mom is that she makes the BEST GRANOLA EVER. It seems that ever since she moved up to Michigan last year -- she got it in her head to experiment with homemade granola to figure out a way to make it as absolutely healthy as possible -- which means it has all kinds of yummy grains and is super low-sugar and low-fat. (This recipe is great for anyone who might be pre-diabetic or diabetic as it doesn't use raw sugar and very little sweetening ingredients.) I thought I'd share the recipe with you -- as it is not only nice to have around the house, but makes great holiday gifts for people like teachers, colleagues, and friends.

Mom’s Healthy Granola

Dry Ingredients:
6 cups old-fashioned (long-cook) oatmeal
¾ cup wheat germ
¾ cup ground flaxseed meal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped pecans
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sunflower seeds

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup no-sugar-added applesauce (e.g. Mott’s Healthy Harvest individually packaged Granny Smith flavor or Country Berry flavor applesauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup blue agave syrup (this is a low-sugar sweetener, but you can substitute honey if you are not concerned about sugar)
½ cup (packed) brown sugar (for low-sugar, use Splenda brown sugar)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups dried fruit (e.g. dried cherries, dried blueberries, dried currents, and raisins)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix (by hand) the dry ingredients listed so that the mixture is uniform. Add the wet ingredients (except dried fruit) and mix by hand until it is mixed consistently. Using a cookie-sheet with edges (or large baking pan) – line the sheet with parchment/baking paper or a silpat cover. Spread the granola mixture evenly over the parchment paper. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees (F), making sure to remove it from the oven and “stir” the mixture every 15 minutes before putting it back in the oven – in order to ensure even roasting. At ½ hour of baking, add the 2 cups of your favorite dried fruit to the mixture before putting it back in the oven. Once 1 hour is complete, remove the granola from the oven and let the mixture dry in the pan for 12-24 hours in order to remove moisture. Store in a sealed container until used.

Book review time!

2009-12-11T14:21:00.001-08:00

Since I haven't been working these last few weeks, I've had a lot more time to do some reading. Here are the last three books I've read:The first one I read, Rules, Britannia, was written by Toni Summers Hargis, who keeps a great blog called Pond Parleys that is an interesting forum for discussion of various topics for people from both the US and the UK. The book has been a wealth of information -- anything from how to order coffee (say "milk" not "cream") to the pitfalls of obtaining a UK driver's license (spelled licence there, by the way.) It has great advice for day-to-day things such as conversational faux-pas and common British words that require translation for Americans. Overall, it is a great general guide to getting started overseas and I've enjoyed the writing style quite a bit.

The second book I've read in the last couple of weeks is called Knickers in a Twist and was a gift from two of my California friends: While not as serious as the former book, it is a veritable lexicon of every bit of slang that you'd ever need in an English pub. For instance, it explains the difference between a Chav (not the foam on a beer!) a Ned (not your neighbor's name!), and Lady Muck (not actually royalty!) Also, I found it very helpful to learn that while in the US you'll ask someone for their John Hancock, and when in Canada you'd ask for a person's John Henry and it would mean the same thing, in the UK -- it would be a VERY big mistake to ask for someone's John Thomas. A mistake, that is, unless you were into that sort of thing...

The final book that I'm currently reading is The Pioneer Woman Cooks and is EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS this year! (My parents got it for me and gave it to me early as we were a little concerned about wrapped presents at the UK customs station.) For those of you who haven't seen my link over to the right, I am an avid fan of the Pioneer Woman's website, which has great little daily snippets from her life on a real working ranch, as well as recipes, photography advice, and awesome weekly giveaways that I have yet to win even though I enter every Kitchenaide competition she posts. The cookbook is everything I had hoped for and more. The recipes are amazing and have really great photos to help you along with the steps. What is an even better treat is that some of the American food I know I'll be craving overseas, but didn't know how to make from scratch (like buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, and jalepeno poppers) are all included. There's even a recipe for no-fail (American) pancakes. Yum!

Looking ahead...five days until fly-time

2009-12-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm headed towards my flight to England with a big bundle of excitement! However, it just occured to me today that even though I'm into my thirties, this will be the first Christmas I've spent away from my parents. And even though I've had the last three weeks with them here in snowy Michigan, and I am overjoyed about my move to England, that thought makes me a little sad today.

On another topic, I'm in a bit of a pickle and I'd like your advice. For the majority of my sweetie's family (brothers and sister and their families) Paul and I plan to bake American-style Christmas cookies and fill tins to give away. I figure it shows that I was thinking of them, but because I haven't yet met the majority of them -- it doesn't leave them feeling like they need to reciprocate. I haven't quite figured out what to do for Paul's mum, though. I have met her both times I visited and know her better than the rest of his family. So far I have a nice box of Debrand truffles for her (she loves chocolate) and some local Michigan loose tea. I have a chance to go into the "big town" an hour away tomorrow (because the blizzard-like snow is supposed to slow-up) to find something to add to the small gifts I already have. Do you have any suggestions? Perhaps some of you ladies who live in the UK or come from the UK might have an idea of something nice from the US she might like?

And for your viewing entertainment, here is another Tucker video:

No Goodbyes, Just "See You Laters"

2009-12-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

One of the things I've been meaning to post about is the art of saying goodbye. When I was preparing to leave California, I knew full well that some of my friends I might not see for a very long time, and others I might see sooner than I expected. The funny thing about this, as I've learned from nine years and four major geographical moves, you never really can accurately predict who is from each group. People who are travelbugs and you'd expect to come for a vacation and visit your new and interesting locale end up having children and getting busy, while the gal who lived down the hall during your semester abroad might come and visit you every place you land. Or vice versa -- the friends with both an infant and a toddler who you'd never reasonably think would be travelbugs -- end up doing a world-tour. (Sim and Michelle if you ever read this -- hats off to you both with your toddler travel adventures!)

The fact is, goodbyes are hard because you never really know if/when you'll see your friends again. In this age of blogs and Facebook (with which I have a love/hate relationship for reasons I'll have to go into another time), it seems easier to stay at least in casual touch. So I was determined not to say goodbye to my friends in Southern California (some of whom I've known now for almost 8 years during my various California adventures), but instead "see you later." I'm hoping for the best!

I had a few get-togethers with friends before I left including one very cool going-away party where the theme was "Everything British" and included a shepherd's pie, chicken curry, English Ales (well...we really only could find Boddingtons at the store), and some amazing Union Jack cupcakes made by the hostess, Julia:
I'm not sure how wide-spread it is, but the hostess also looked up traditional English party/pub games and came up with something called "Pitch Penny" where you try to throw a penny into a box with a fairly small slit. Here is Therese pitching her penny:

One of the other things that absolutely brought me to tears was the love that my friend Kelly put into making me this truly amazing quilt. The predominant color is green (which is my favorite) with very sunny and cheerful flowers throughout. It is coming with me to the UK and will make a nice colorful addition to a new apartment (not to mention it will keep me warm!)On one of my last nights in CA, I was able to get together with some friends at a local restaurant/bar and we got this wonderful group shot:

And that doesn't even begin to touch some of the other great last meetings I had with folks over smoothies, chicken-chili dinners with the Holleys, bagels with Sarah, etc. I will miss you all and cannot wait until you can visit Paul and I in England one day soon!

Reason 124 why I am head-over heels for my Norwich sweetie...

2009-12-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

The other day as I was deadly ill with the flu and had to miss an extended-family Thanksgiving get-together in another state, my Norwich sweetie, Paul offered to make Christmas this year in Norwich as "Thanksgiving-y" as possible. He even said he'd make a pumpkin pie and EAT IT, too.

(American friends and family -- believe it or not, a lot of people in the UK think that pumpkin pies are the LAST dessert they'd ever want. Can you believe it? Specifically, Paul once said something about the consistency being like baby-poo. And there is the matter that they really only eat pumpkin in Indian dishes with curry and coconut milk.)

I told him that we should keep Christmas the way it is and just plan for a T-day feast next year. Even so, his offer is reason number 124 I love him today.

We'll just plan to have a great big pumpkin pie next Thanksgiving, as long as we can keep him from having a pumpkin-pie-inspired stomach ache....

Michigan Snow

2009-12-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

As much as I'd like to stay chronological here, I can't wait to show you what I woke up to today. (I'll have to go back to a post about my California send-off in my next post.) Today I woke up to this:And this:

My Dad treated me to breakfast at a local diner and on the way there, we saw these Jakes (young male wild turkeys) wandering towards town: And my parent's home looks like this in the evenings:It is beautiful! I'm still battling for my voice a bit, but have been really blessed to be in such a beautiful and comfortable place while I've been sick. (And let me tell you, this flu was a doozy this time! I'm going on 9 days now and I'm still only about 70%.) Something that has been a comfort and entertainment this past week as I've been laying about has been my parent's puppy, Tucker. Here is his all bundled up in his little "sweater" so he can go out in the snow: Here he is getting ready to go out with Dad to shovel the driveway:And here he is after he stole my scarf and decided it suited him better:And finally, here he is getting a bath in the kitchen sink. (Close your eyes, Grandma!)

T-minus 14 days! (And Turkey Pot Pie -- yum!)

2009-12-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

While on the phone with my sweetie today, we realized that it is only TWO WEEKS until I hop on a plane to relocate to England. With my VISA in hand, my copy of Rules Britannia in my back pocket, and most of my packing hurdles solved, I'm getting sooooooo excited!

And while I'm excited overall -- there are some specific things I'm excited about. I'm excited to hop off the plane (and after the luggage-shuffle on the Heathrow Express and then on the tube for a few stops), catch my breath at the Liverpool Street Costa Coffee with a mince-pie (fruit with alcohol in case you are like me and immediately thought of meat!) before catching the train to Norwich. (Thanks for the suggestion, Lorna!) I'm excited to see my Norwich-sweetie, Paul (of course!) and I'm excited for all kinds of holiday shenanigans possibly even including a "panto" (which for you other Americans who might be as obtuse as I, is not a tropical disease, but is some fun fairy-tale play that is over-the-top and fun for kids.) I'm excited to shop for a brand-new hair flat-iron, as well as a pair of knee-high black boots in my UK size 8.5. (Yes, I have massive feet and am SO excited to be trading in a size 11 for 8.5!!) I'm excited to spend Christmas meeting my beau's family and I'm also very excited to be seeing my sister and brother-in-law in Scotland for New Years. (By the way -- Happy Birthday today, Erika!) Let the festivites begin!

Now speaking of pie (bad segue, I know) -- I'd like to let all of you know how I'm channelling my excited energy. I've been baking! And today I discovered a little secret that is by far a little piece of heaven when it comes to using up Thanksgiving leftovers. Today I stopped by the Pioneer Woman's website and found an awesome recipe for Turkey Pot Pie. I tried it tonight and not only is it super-simple, but the results were amazing. All of us went for seconds and now Dad is in a food-coma on the couch. Nice!

Kazam! Magic exists! (Otherwise titled: How I packed everything I own into 4 bags)

2009-11-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Hello lovlies! I thought I'd tell you a little tale today about my adventures in packing in California before I left for Michigan and caught the dreaded lurgy. Ok -- well it wasn't lurgy but flu, but I wanted to share with you that funny little phrase from where I'll be moving.

But back to packing. I'll admit, I put it off far too long. There is really no "good day" to pack up everything you are taking to your new life in a new country. Inevitably, you'll need those bandages and adhesive tape you packed at the bottom of your biggest bag. (Well...erm...you will if you're as disaster-prone and unlucky as I've been lately!) But again I digress.

Now I'm not a "girly" girl -- at least not to a large degree. I was able to get my shoes down to five pairs -- much to the horror of several girlfriends. (Secretly, I didn't wear more than those five pairs to begin with since I'm already super tall and think heels are evil.) And it was easy to finally throw away over 30 bottles of nail polish that I've probably been collecting since before 1996. And I had several evenings of tears over the books I had to pare down to nothing, but felt much better knowing they were going to the public library to sell for fundraising. It was the clothing, though, that was the hardest.

But surely they have clothing in the UK! Why didn't you just pare down and buy what you need there? I'm sure most women might have done just that. I, however,was not born with the "shopping" gene and not only hate shopping for clothing, but have a difficult time finding clothes that fit correctly. That's not to mention that I'll be not only adjusting to life in a different country with different stores, but also I'll be adjusting to life as a student again -- meaning much less money for clothing. So, while I pared down items like the lavander-colored-off-the-shoulder 80s top, all my business clothing and dress clothing stayed.

So now I'd like to share with you how I got this pile of clothing......to fit into these lovely suitcases:
Enter the magical Space Bag. They have bags that you use a vacuum-like device with, but I chose the lesser-tech version where you just squeeze the air out after you pack it. It has these little portals where air gets out while the clothing gets compressed into smaller parcels. It's genius!!!!You have to be careful not to fill about the marked line, or (as my sister would say) "You'll have a blow-out."

The best part is that you get everything in the bag, but as I found out, it significantly increases the weight of the bag. I had to distribute my Space Bags into different suitcases to distribute the weight a little better. I was still slightly over the weight, but because I had to pay for extra bags already, the check-in woman turned a blind-eye to the 2 pounds over per bag. (Whew!)

Kazam! Mission accomplished!

Blog spammed

2009-11-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. My blog was "cyber-attacked" and every single entry was spammed in the comments with links to some Korean or Japanese site. I don't want any of you to inadvertantly click on the spam, so until I can clean up all 368 posts of the spam comments, I've temporarily taken them down. I hope they will be back up soon - along with a few new posts I've been writing.

In addition to this, there will be a few changes to the comments section similar to what you may have seen on other blogs. It will ask you to type in a word that shows on the screen from a random-word generator. I was hoping to keep the "your comments will show once approved by the host" stuff at bay, but I have read that this spam-artist finds a way around that, so now I'll have to "approve" your comments before allowing them to post. I give you my promise that whatever you write -- even if I don't agree with it -- as long as it isn't spam or abusive -- I'll post it. Keep your fingers crossed that my changes work. And PLEASE DO NOT click on any links in the comments in the meantime. I have no idea where they go.

Thank you.

(And please send some good juju this way. It has seriously been a very trying few weeks with the foot injury, the stress of the move, the flu, and this. I'm getting close to the end of my rope with this run of bad luck.)

Update postponed...

2009-11-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

I have written in my head the exploits of packing everything I own into four suitcases, the travel to see family for a few weeks, my happiness that the staph infection in my foot is healed, the elation at receiving my VISA from the UPS delivery woman the other day, as well as my excitement that the day until I move to the UK is fast approaching. I also would like to update you on the absolute CUTENESS of my parent's dog, Tucker.

But....my camera cable is missing. I think (in a moment of packing where I thought I was being smart) I may have sent it via the postal service to my parent's house. And it hasn't arrived yet.

And....I have the dreaded horrible nasty reviled H1N1 SWINE FLU. Ugh. The guy behind me on the plane coughed on me for four hours, so I guess it was inevitable. And now my parents are both coming down, too. I feel awful for that part. I have only just come up for air from a nap and will probably go back to that in a minute. So, folks....until the fever breaks....

A-miss

2009-11-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

Amiss is a good way to describe my life right now. I'm writing this laying on an airmattress in my living room with the TV on the floor and boxes everywhere. My foot is bandaged up post-icky-hurting-toe-procedure and I'm wearing the absolute last of my clean laundry as I haven't been mobile in days. (Sigh.)

Today at work I began to think about the things that I'll miss about California when I leave and those things I definitely will be happy to leave behind. And since I've been in a list-making mood, here you go:

Things I'll miss about California/US

(of course) Family
California and Midwest friends
Great Mexican food
Living a block from a beautiful sandy beach
Sunshine and all around great weather
Clear winter days where you can see snow-covered mountains and islands all at the same time
Random movie star sightings
Quirky nights out with friends in LA (woot woot Canter's Deli!)
Sushi
Being able to sail, swim, hike, and camp -- all in the same day
Cheap gasoline
Cheap blue jeans and tennis shoes
My (sold!) beautiful Toyota Matrix
Duncan Hines cake mix
Not having to wait for most movies to come out
Overhearing crazy conversations daily
Liberal political views
Smoothies (why hasn't Jamba Juice made it out East yet?)
Pink Berry
My drip coffee pot
Having a dryer available for laundered linens
California Farmer's Markets
Amazingly fresh produce available every single day of the year

Things I am happy to leave:

Massive SUVs crowding the road
Incredibly aggressive yet bad drivers
9 lanes on the freeway (noticing a theme here?)
Traffic at 2am on the 405 (where are all these people going?)
Referring to freeways as if they are a proper noun ("the" 405, "the" 55)
Playing the "what time is it there" game of long-distance calling with my sweetie
The weird balance of politics in Orange County (California bastion of the Republican party)
The "I'm not going to RSVP yet" syndrome (aka: Waiting for something else more fun to come up)
People refusing to recycle or believe in a need to conserve
The paper thin walls of my apartment
My gimpy foot

Cut it out, voodoo priestess!

2009-11-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Call it Murphey's Law, Sod's Law, bad luck, or chalk it up to the fact that I've more than earned the nickname Catastrophe Johnson over my lifetime -- but this is getting a bit ridiculous. I have less than two weeks before I move from California, with a list of moving activities a mile long. Meanwhile, in the last week I've had to deal with:

Flakey people who back out of buying my car
A fender-bender to rental car 1
A neighbor doing damage to rental car 2
Pulled my back again mid-week
A breakout to rival that of any 16 year old
A toe injury that has gotten complicated enough to require a minor surgery tomorrow
The discovery that I'm allergic to the antibiotics I was prescribed (Read: hives -- lots of itchy hives. It's a really hot look, I'm telling you.)

So whoever you are that has a voodoo doll with a lock of my hair: cut it out! I've got packing to do!

On a lighter note, I had a wonderful time both nights this weekend with friends who threw me going-away dinners. I am beginning to see that -- as quirky as this place is -- I'm really going to miss the friends I've made here. There are some wonderful people here in Southern California who I've had such a pleasure to know. (A few knew me so well that as a going-away gift they got me a portable first-aid kit!)

Pub Quiz: And the winning team is.....

2009-11-06T13:51:00.001-08:00

Team Spiracle! Congratulations to everyone who lasted through three brutal rounds of our quiz game. (Answers to the last round are in the comments to that round.) Team Spiracle -- I'm going to bring your chocolates with me to England, you smarty-pants!

Here were our final standings for teams that made it all three rounds:

Team Spiracle: 23 (amazingly got ALL 10 correct in the last round!)

Repatriated Expats: 19.5 (smarty pants!)

Sloppy Two Shots: 19 (Double the citizenship -- double the fun!)

Alexanderpools: 17.5 (Rocking three languages simultaneously!)

Daddy-o: 16.5 (Refusin' to play with Mom.)

Bogeyman Ben and Ectoplasmic Erika: 15 (Very spooky!)

Infected Butt Hair Tweezers: 14 (Still Ewwww!)

Team Holley: 14 (A whole family of smarties!)

Home Boy and Home Girl: 12 (Yo!)

Reckless Endangerment: 11.5 (Be good!)

Silent Threat: 11.5 (I am dying to reveal your identity!)

3 Black Cat Pub Quiz Intellectual Team: 9.5 (Cats are too dignified!)

And an honorable mention goes to Allison H who kicked some serious booty on the one round she answered, as well as Silly Sarah, and the Michigan Murphies.

This just in! The 2nd and 3rd runners-up should keep an eye out for Debrand treats as well! Yeah...maybe it's this moving-stress and my desire for you all to put on a few pounds along with me. Who cares, though? Free chocolate!

Another brief intermission: How one girl fell madly in love with a Brit and has since decided to jump the pond

2009-11-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Here’s another intermission while we’re waiting on the results of the final round of PUB QUIZ! Well, both Paul and I missed the date (doh!), but yesterday was exactly two years since we first met. Today is two years since he first held my hand, we had dinner together, and I confessed that I had lied when I told him about my fabulous career as a massage therapist. Maybe I should start at the beginning. Hold onto your horses – this post might get a tad long. If you happen to be one of those “close your eyes at the sappy parts of movies” people – you might want to skip this post altogether.

Halloween 2007 rolled around with me newly-single and my amazing (and single) friend Bridget out to California for a 1 day lay-over before we left for our “Single girls’ tour of exotic New Zealand.” The next afternoon, we lugged our entirely-too-big-and-overpacked luggage to the Los Angeles airport and hopped on a plane for New Zealand. Wahooo! We stepped off the plane ready for a fun night on the town in Auckland as it was Saturday night and the men had such cute accents. (I think we asked guys at the bar hundreds of times to say “It’s seven, Steven.” If that doesn’t make sense – just ask the next Kiwi you meet.) Some other time I’ll have to tell you the story of how (in addition to many nice Maori men) Bridget managed to attract the attention of probably the seediest man in the entire country. If I get her permission, I’ll post it as an “overheard line of…” because it truly was THAT funny. All in all, we had a GREAT night out and were ready to start our tour of the North Island the next day. Little did we know we were in for a monsoon.

The next morning, dressed in our rain-gear and umbrellas in tow, we drove out to a tourist hot-spot called Rotorua. On the map, it looked reasonably close to Auckland – like maybe 50 miles. We estimated we’d be there in two hours. We were sorely mistaken! Little did we know that there must be some nepharious plan in NZ to make all the roads circle around in the least direct manner possible – and speed limits of 40 kph weren’t the same as 40 mph. We were really worried because we had plans that night to go to a Maori hangi (think Hawaiian luau complete with cool native/cultural dances and a roasted pig.) We pulled into town with barely 5 minutes to spare, ran to our rooms in the B&B, threw on a clean shirt and maybe a little lipstick to clean things up from our mild hangover-driving-all-day-in-rain-appearance, and bolted across the road to the cultural center.

After watching a video on the roots of the Maori, we were shuffled onto one of four tour busses and were told that – along with the other people on our bus – we made up a tribe. The first order of business: to elect our tribe chief. Two American gals sitting ahead of us elected their rather quiet and red-faced friend as our chief and he was made to come to the front of the bus to learn all the necessary rituals he was going to have to perform when we first encountered the (rather scary) tribal leaders of the Maori tribe. I think by this time, our chief’s face had turned slightly purple. I asked Bridget if she thought he was going to pass out. The driver had him introduce himself to us and he said his name was “Pole.” What? Pole? Like Pol Pot? Bridget and I were perplexed, and apparently so was the driver. He repeated his name and spelled it and we realized that his name was “Paul” and wow – he had an even cuter accent than the guys in Auckland! After the driver managed to embarrass Paul even further, we were led off the bus and presented to the Maori leader. Poor Paul looked sooo uncomfortable standing up to the guy dressed all crazy who was screaming and sticking out his tongue at them – all the while twirling a flaming spear.

Sadly, we were escorted to a table at the hangi about as far away from Paul and the two American girls as possible. Also, unfortunately, we were at a table with all retirees who – we discovered as soon as we told them that I work in medical research for heart disease and Bridget said she was an eye doctor – loved to tell us all about every medical problem they or any relative or friend EVER HAD. Imagine eating roasted pork and being told about foot fungus or aneurysms. Gross! It was after that moment that Bridget and I decided (a) we were on vacation and didn’t want to talk about work and (b) our jobs probably weren’t the sexiest to describe to men at bars. We spent part of the evening coming up with cool “sexy” jobs that we could use if and when we met cute guys while out. I can’t remember what Bridget came up with (school teacher?) but mine was “massage therapist.” What a cool profession is that? It is much better than explaining the ins and outs of medical statistics or online web data entry. I was ready and raring to try it out on someone!

After dinner we hopped back on the bus and came to discover that EVERY OTHER TABLE EXCEPT OURS had (instead of telling tales of medical ills past) gotten sloppy sloshed at dinner, therefore we were the only two not singing silly songs and dancing in our seats. We tried our best to fake it! In the midst of all of this, our chief turned around in the seat in front of us and started chatting us up. It was then I noticed he had gorgeous sea-blue eyes and it was then that I suddenly couldn’t feel my knees anymore. Sigh. “Have you ever been to NZ before?” he asked me? “Yeah,” I said. “I sometimes come here for work.” “Oh – what do you do?” Uh oh. How could I have made such an elementary error!?! Damn his cute blue eyes! “Um….well, I’m a massage therapist.” Groan. I’m totally busted. “Huh?” he looked perplexed. That’s when, luckily, his two American friends came to the rescue and started asking Bridget and I what our plans were for the following day/night. We told them about our plans to go zorbing and to the spa, and they invited us out with their group for dinner the next night. Paul chimed in: “We’re going to eat deep-fried scorpion! Will you join us?” I was so nervous and mesmerized by Paul’s swimmingly beautiful blue eyes that Bridget had to elbow me to knock me into my senses enough to accept the invitation.

The next afternoon as we got pampered at the hot springs spa, I was all butterflies and silly-girl nervousness about our dinner. We met up with the group and Bridget took the two American gals and walked ahead while I was left with Paul. I have no idea what we talked about and I know I was running on a verbal marathon (for those of you who haven’t met me in person – imagine a turkey gobbling because YES I can talk that fast) because at one point he said (kindly!) “I really love your accent, but I’m having trouble understanding what you just said.” Doh! On the walk to the restaurant he held my hand and said: “Wow – I thought as a massage therapist you’d have calluses, but your hands are so soft!” He said this with a laugh in his eyes and I knew that I had blown it the night before and he was merely teasing me. I confessed that no – I was not a massage therapist and that I had lied to him. “We’re not off to a great start here – if you’re lying to me already!” he said. I inwardly groaned. Then he laughed and his eyes sparkled and I knew he secretly liked the fact that I had tried on a new “sexy” career for him. At least that’s what I told myself and continue to tell myself. (Honey – don’t shatter it for me and tell everyone it was because I had spilled something on my shirt!)

I hardly remember at all what we talked about at dinner (see note about swimmingly adorable blue eyes), although I did learn that Paul was working for a year in New Zealand but originally came from England and was heading back there in the Spring. Also, for some reason boxing shrimp were a topic of discussion. (See? I told you that crustacean seem to be following me in my travels!) I remember that because when Paul had to leave that night and take a bus back to Wellington, we promised to email each other soon. The next week when I had worked up the nerve to finally email him, the topic was boxing shrimp. I love nerdy conversations like that! By the next Spring, we had traded hundreds of emails on topics that were just as nerdy as the first, and I discovered that Paul was just as avid a Sci-Fi movie fan as myself. (In fact, he runs circles around me!) I’d look forward to each email from him and probably read each several times. It’s a wonder I didn’t do my eyes permanent damage from staring at my email account! Fast forward to the following June and he hopped the pond from England to the US for a summer-long visit which was magical! Fast forward to now...and I'm still frantically packing up all my hair baubles, costume jewelry, shoes (groan), and clothing to start a fresh adventure in the UK. Hmm...I wonder what sorts of crustacean I might find there?

A brief intermission to our game: Ramblings of a packing woman

2009-11-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying the Pub Quiz. I've certainly learned all kinds of odd-ball bits and bobs while researching the questions. I thought I'd share my last several days with you while we wait for people to log-in and guess the answers to the final round.

Friday: Gal #1 who was supposed to buy my car flaked on me because her "daddy" didn't put money into her account. We planned to meet-up on Saturday. Friday night I picked up my rental car (after dealing with the world's biggest jerky jackass* for several hours at the rental car place) and then within 2 hours was involved in a fender bender with the rental car with 1/2 of one of my favorite couples ever. Went home and indulged in a bowl of THE BEST HALLOWEEN CEREAL EVER -- Frankenberry cereal.

*trademark phrase of a Mr. PH
Saturday: Woke up early to help a friend move apartments. Ate Frankenberry cereal on the way out the door. (It's even good dry!) Gal #1 flaked again. I called Gal #2 -- a perspective buyer -- who hoofed it out to where I live to look at the car and test drive it. She made me an offer and bought it. (Yay!) Went out on the town with friends in a group-costume. We were the characters from Clue. I was Mrs. Peacock. You haven't lived until you've donned gold cat-eye glasses and a peacock feather in your hair. Seriously. Try it sometime.

Yes -- the jar of mustard is wearing a mustache.

Sunday: Had breakfast with Clue cast. (Sadly, Frankenberry cereal was gone.) Ran some errands. Went to the gym. Took a long nap. In an effort to lessen the load I'm packing for England, sorted through piles and piles of random costume jewelry I've collected over the years as well as about 100 lipsticks. Carried a massively-heavy garbage bag to the dumpster. (Thought of going to Target to get more Frankenberry to comfort me in my loss.)

Monday: Woke up on my airmattress (sold my furniture) with the biggest breakout I've had on my face and hairline since I was 14. I blame the stress of packing - not anything dietary. Duh. Now I'm off to get some more Frankenberry cereal.

Pub Quiz Round 3: Creepy Crawlies and Phobias!

2009-11-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! For the third and final round of our competition, I'm going to ride on the recent Halloween wave of ghoulies and goblins and do a round on all things creepy-crawlie and scary. (The answers from the last round are in the comments to those questions.) Good luck everyone! This round determines who gets those AWESOME chocolates!

1. What is the largest (by weight) living reptile (currently) living on Earth?
2. What is the longest venomous snake?
3. What is Dendrophobia the fear of?
4. Prior to the discovery of penicillin (and gaining use once again since the advent of antiobiotic-resistant bacteria), what creepy-crawly was used in wound debridement?
5. Characterized by a raised red circle/ring shaped pattern on the skin, Ringworm is caused by what type of organism?
6. What is the technical name for the fear of heights?
7. Only one gender of mosquitos bite. Which is it – male or female?
8. Considered to be a delicacy, “sweetbreads” are what?
9. True or false: You can get rabies from a squirrel bite?
10. In what country is the mythical “drop bear” supposedly on the prowl?

Pub Quiz Round 2: Standings

2009-10-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! With a few teams yet to check-in with their answers, our standings show that we have several teams neck and neck for the big finishing round! I'm going to post the third round later tonight, so either check back this weekend or Monday for the new round. (I'm giving a few teams time to weigh in on the current round before I post answers, too.)

Here are our current standings!:

Sloppy Two Shots: 14
Alexandropoulous: 13
Team Spiracle: 13
Repatriated Expats: 12.5 (1/2 point given for entertaining answer to question 3)
And Joobers Makes Three: 12.5 (1/2 point given for "Double Double" as answer to #6)
Bogeyman Ben and Ectoplasmic Erika: 10
Team Holley: 10
Infected Butt Hair Tweezers (Eww!): 9.5 (1/2 point given for creative answer to #6)
Silent Threat: 9
Reckless Endangerment: 8
Silly Sarah: 8
Home Boy and Gal: 7
3BCPQIT: 7
Michigan Murpheys: 4.5 (1/2 point for "chlorophyll" in round 1)

So for those of you who haven't weighed-in yet, please post your answers and I'll update this post. Answers will be posted soon in the comments section of the Round 2 questions.

Pub Quiz Round 2: Villains!

2009-10-27T23:21:00.001-07:00

Everybody loves to celebrate a good villian -- especially this time of year. Round 2 of Pub Quiz is all about these baddies and their dastardly deeds. Good luck!

1. Name the villainous duo who tried to thwart Rocky and Bullwinkle at every turn? (1/2 point for each one named.)

2. What was the name of the evil hypnotizing snake in Disney’s The Jungle Book?

3. What was the name of the serial-Heather-killing teenager played by Christian Slater in the 1988 movie “Heathers?”

4. What is it that Brain is always trying to do from the cartoon Pinky and the Brain?

5. What is the name of the villainous Venus Fly Trap in Little Shop of Horrors (the play or the movie)?

6. With what food did Hades trick Persephone into a debt to return to the Underworld for six months of the year, creating winter?

7. Who was it that was killed by Dorothy’s wayward house in The Wizard of Oz?

8. Who is the archenemy of Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s series of stories, making his first and lasting appearance in “The Final Problem?”

9. Sometimes described as a villain for his ruthless ruling style, name the ruler of the largest contiguous empire in history.

10. In what movie was Jack Torrence the main baddie?

(Please write down your answers before clicking on the comments below to provide your answers. The answers to this round and the questions to the final round will be posted by Friday morning.)

Pub Quiz Round 1: Standings

2009-10-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please! With a slightly more difficult round than usual, the results in our game thus far are in!:

Alexandropoulos: 6

Team Spiracle: 6

Sloppy 2 Shots: 6

Infected Butt Hair Tweezers (henceforth known as EWWW!): 5

Silly Sarah: 4

Bogeyman Ben & Ectoplasmic Erika: 4

Team Holley: 4

Repatriated Expats: 3

Home Boy and Home Gal: 3

3 Black Cats' Pub Quiz Intellectual Team (3BCPQIT): 3*

Reckless Endangerment: 2

Silent Threat: 2

*I'm awarding the most creative name to 3BCPQIT, which helps the team score from a 0 to a 3. Great name!

The answers to the last round are found in the comments. For the two teams who expressed interest (or anyone else who wants to play) but didn't get their answers in yet, you can still play on the honor system -- just don't look at the comments below the round until you've already written down your answers. The next round will be posted before the end of the day. Game on!

Pub Quiz: Round 1

2009-10-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

Buckle-up! Here we go!

Given that Autumn is in full swing pretty much everwhere in the Northern Hemisphere (with the exception of SoCal where it's always sunny and 70 degrees), I thought we'd have a Fall-inspired round of trivia. I know some of these questions are specific to US holidays, but most of you have spent time in the US, and I think the questions are either equally easy or equally obscure. So grab your closest flannel shirt and a mug of hot apple cidar and let's get rolling!

(Reminder: don't check the comments until you have already answered these on a piece of handy scrap paper as you'll see everyone else's answers. And no internet searching, please! If you haven't commented yet that you are playing -- please just join in with your wittiest team name and I'll make a 3-point call on the best name after round 2.)

1. In the Northern hemisphere, Autumn begins in September. What month does it begin in the Southern hemisphere?

2. In Eastern Canada and New England (think Vermont), fall foliage tourists are called _______.

3. Speaking of Fall, how many shapes fall in the original video game Tetris?

4. A change in ____ is what causes leaves to change color in Autumn.

5. Halloween is considered to have evolved from the festival of Samhain from what country?

6. In what year was the (original) movie “Halloween”, starring a fresh-faced Jamie Lee Curtis, released?

7. The first Jack-o-Lanterns were made of what?

8. What was the most popular Halloween costume in the United States in 2004?

9. Since we're just past Canadian Thanksgiving and heading towards US Thanksgiving, let's talk turkey. What is a male turkey called?

10. What country consumes the most turkey per year per capita?

This round closes at the end of day on Monday, when I'll post the answers in the comments. A new round will be up on Tuesday morning. Game on!

It's that time again: Pub Quiz!!!

2009-10-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Because it is less than eight weeks (yahoo!) until I'll be in the land of real Pub Quiz, I think it is time again for own Crustacean View Pub Quiz!!! It has been since February since we had our inaugural round and I think it went over quite well. Pearish Paris Pair won the entire shebang and we had a great showing from Sloppy Two Shots and Professor Bacon. For a full round-up of the February scores, click here. (Pearish Paris Pair -- just mailed out your fabulous prize today -- sorry for the delay but I didn't want it to arrive while you were travelling!)

The scoop: there will be three rounds starting with round 1 THIS FRIDAY. Scores are tallied after each round. If you are interesting in playing this absolutely fabulous and entertaining blog game:

1. Respond to THIS posting (in the comments) registering your Team Name (you may play as yourself or with a partner.) A bonus 3 points will be given up front for most original team name.

2. After each Quiz Round, write your answers on a piece of paper (honor system here!) BEFORE you click in the Comments Area to type in your answers. These answers must come from YOUR OWN HEAD, not the internet or any other reference you dig up.

3. Points will be awarded on the accuracy and completeness of your answer. I reserve the right to give partial points here and there, as well as the right to occasionally give 1/2 points for creativity. I also reserve the right to ignore any quibbling on who has the more creative answer in case there are sibling rivalries. (Ahem Vanderclan -- this rule was added for you!)

4. In the eventuality of a tie, the winner will be chosen with a SUDDEN DEATH round based on either General Pop Culture or a category I like to call "Lyrics: Coolio or Menudo." Try to avoid a tie --as the songs from both "artists" are truly earworms and I'd hate to ruin your day by quizzing you on the lyrics to either.

THE PRIZE: Get ready folks! The prize this time is silky and smooth and everything lovely. It is Debrand Chocolates!!!! (If you haven't had these marvelous truffels, you are in for a treat. These suckers are the size of golf-balls.)