Another Year of Life

As most of you know, I celebrated another birthday earlier this week!  It came at sort of a bad time, unfortunately.  I have a lot of work on right now with uni.  I had a huge exam the next day that I absolutely had to pass or would not be earning a Masters degree.  So the pressure was on and I spent most of my birthday in the library!  However, I was able to spend the morning with some of my lovely friends.

Brunch was planned at White Rabbit Teahouse with some of my classmates... really, any excuse for coffee and cake!  Turns out my "out of class" friends had been scheming with my classmates and they showed up also to surprise me!!  They even arranged to arrive early to secretly order me a slice of cake and gave the woman working candles to put on it!  Seriously, so thoughtful.

White Rabbit Teahouse

The group of us, minus one | My cake with candles :)

I have to say I wasn't particularly excited about my birthday, my feelings were coined the birthday blues.  But I ended up feeling so incredibly special and it was really warming to have these girls do so much for me!  Of course, I very much appreciated all the cards mailed to me, text messages, emails, Facebook posts, Instagram collages, and FaceTime calls also from family and friends near, far, old, and new!

My collection of cards from every one!

Considering my exam was the next day that was the extent of the celebration on my birthday.  But the next day I went out for Mexican with some other friends who couldn't make it to the brunch. They knew I had been craving it and it was bloody marvellous!!

It ended up being a lovely birthday celebration (spread over a few days)!  Many thanks to those that had a hand in making me feel loved.  

... oh, and I passed my exam ;)

Wicked Weather

Britishism of the week: 

brolly - an umbrella

My friends and family are keeping me very up to date on the snopocalypse happening across the US with weather alerts, photos, and snapchats.  I wonder how many people know that half of England is flooded?  Parts of the southern coast are practically falling into the ocean.  Ok, that may be a bit exaggerated.  But the flooding isn't.  There is a lot of animosity at the moment as there are not enough sandbags, nor are the agency responding as quickly as the tenants in the effect villages need.

Luckily, Nottingham is far enough north to not be affected much.  However, the rain has been intense lately.  I could deal with the rain.... but this rain is combined with cold and the most evil wind you every experienced in your life.  Brollies are useless because the wind just turns them inside-out.  Sometimes you have to hold your hat on your head.  Sometimes you have to just stop for a minute because you just can't seem to push through the resistance.  It whips through streets and against the buildings keeping you up at night.

Anyway, even though multiple people are without power in southern England and homes are destroyed, as in all natural disasters, people always turn up to help.... even Princes!!

School Spirit and Varsity Sport Matches

First, I'd like to apologise for my absence, especially for those of you that use this to keep up with me.  I was in the US for the holidays, and even though I've been back in the UK for a month now I have been really busy with school, and thus not much exciting has happened to talk about.

Until last week.... when I went to a hockey match!

Nottingham has a large ice rink and a renowned hockey team in the UK.  But that isn't why I was there.  Every year the University of Nottingham (my uni) has a series of varsity tournaments against Nottingham Trent University, which is on the other side of the city.  Apparently this is quite a big deal, and the two unis are pretty competitive rivals.  The tickets went on sale on a Friday and were sold out by Monday and then the venue released another 600 tickets which sold out within 30 minutes.  I haven't been to any student event in years, and this was quite exciting!  It made me miss undergrad a bit, because every one was so school-spirity and energised!  With somewhere around 6000 students from both unis watching the match I also got my first real experience of what a D1 sports environment is like in the US.

Upon arrival we bought tshirts and foam fingers to support our team

Within the first period we were down 3-0.  It was disappointing and frustrating, but the crowd was amazing.  Every one chants, mostly derogatory things towards the other Uni.  There is a rift between UoN and NTU because UoN is a prestigious university, with higher entry requirements and typically more affluent.  NTU used to be some equivalent of a community college, but now is an official University, however doesn't carry quite the same credibility to its name.  I didn't really participate in the chanting.  One, because I don't know the chants.  Two, I felt bad, especially having gone to a University for my undergrad that isn't considered a very high calibre.  Three, I'm just not a super competitive person and didn't see the need.  But I did get tons of enjoyment from listening to it all.

Anyway, the second period started and we managed to score, and again and again and again until we finally won 4-3 with just a few minutes left in the match!  It was quite exciting!!  Needless to say NTU students weren't too pleased, but we certainly were!!!  Claps for the hockey team!

They also host a variety of others matches over the next few weeks: American football, basketball, I think swimming, and maybe volleyball.

Seasons Greetings from the UK

I think Christmas is a big deal in a lot of places... many stores in the US will start playing Christmas music by the beginning of November, items are rolling out on shelves before Halloween.  It's a constant bombardment of holiday cheer.  The past few years I've been a Scrooge and avoided it until December, not wanting to participate in the ridiculousness of Christmas for months on end.

The UK does Christmas even better!!  I would say stores started stocking items in early November also, and Nottingham's Christmas Market kicked off mid-November.  But it's just so festive!!  The markets are all these little cottages in the squares selling a variety of goods - handmade artisan items, baked goods, street food, and mulled wine.  

L: The Christmas tree on the square all lit up - there is an ice skating rink around it
C: The Exchange building on the Market Square and you can see some of the cottages
R: Sacha and I at the lighting of the Christmas tree, they do fireworks for every thing!

Mushy peas - an apparent signature dish.
You eat it with mint sauce... I preferred it with some salt.

I also took a day trip to the Manchester Christmas Market to see my friend, Harriet.  It's much larger than Nottingham's Christmas Market.  The centre photo is me with my mulled wine and my cute little keepsake mug.  Mulled wine is essentially warmed red wine, though I think there's more to it than that.

Then my group of friends had a Christmas Soiree before we all go our separate ways for the holidays.  

Us, minus one who was taking the photo

Our Christmas Soiree
L: On the top of the plate is the Cracker - you cross arms around the table, linking with the cracker and pull.  Inside is a crown, a toy and a joke!  (Those of you who know my love for cheesy jokes can understand my giddiness over this!)
C: Christmas Pudding, which you eat warm, and then pour cream over it.
R: Our Secret Santa tree!!!

America 1 and America 2 with our paper crowns from our Crackers

Last, but not least, is my humble Christmas tree for my flat.

I've enjoyed all the preparation for Christmas here, but I'm looking forward to spending it at home with my family!!

Thanksgiving in England

I am thankful for...

My friends (new and old)
My family
My education
The ability to live abroad
And many more things.

Of course, we should be thankful for things more regularly than on an annual holiday; but at least we have one reminder each year that brings us all together.  You've been following my preparation so far, and it gets more interesting, I think.  For an example of my difficulties in buying ingredients:

This is double cream... apparently there is also single cream.
This is what I used for half and half and it was pretty comparable.

I went to multiple grocery stores millions of times, it seems, over the last week to get every thing I needed... or so I thought.  Yesterday, upon returning home from class, the agenda was to bake the pies, prep some other dishes, and clean the apartment.

Pumpkin pie!!!

We had lots of left over filling so we made mini pies too!!

The table is all set!!

Rookie mistake number 1: forgot to remove the pie crusts from the freezer.
Rookie mistake number 2: (or possible ex-pat mistake) When all your recipes are in American measurements, but you're shopping in metric measurements - convert your recipes before buying things so you know how much you need.  This mistake required yet another trip to the store, but luckily just for a few things.

Despite a few hiccups, every thing turned out splendidly!!  Have to say I'm pretty proud of our accomplishments.  See photos below.  We had great company, lovely conversation, and all of our British friends were able to experience a new tradition and even did some of their own research on the holiday!

Brittney basting the turkey

Our Thanksgiving spread (from L to R): macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, cranberry mold

And finished off with pumpkin and pecan pie - with whipped cream, of course!
And clotted cream for my British friends who prefer it.

P.S.  I have a deep admiration for people who host large Thanksgiving dinners every year.  And reflecting back on my childhood, great respect for my grandparents who not only prepared dinner but also hosted our entire family for 3-4 days in their home.  It takes so much effort and energy.

My Quest for a Turkey

This year I won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, so instead I am hosting it here on Friday.  Initially it's exciting!  I love to host!  Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday!  The food is amazing, I get to eat as much as I want without feeling guilty, and I don't have to buy any presents.  After the initial excitement, the anxiety sets in.  I've never hosted a Thanksgiving.  I don't have a proper table, so it won't be as formal as my family's Thanksgivings.  More importantly, I've never baked a pie.  Or stuffing.  Or a turkey.  I've been a vegetarian for a year - I haven't cooked any type of meat in a long time.  Six of my guests are British and I don't want to disappoint them - even though they'll have nothing to compare.

In Type-A Cathy fashion I started planning really early.  I made lists of what I wanted on the menu.  I am co-hosting with my fellow American friend, so we talked about what things our families do and what types of food we have.  I looked up recipes for every thing, made lists of ingredients, broke down the lists into dry ingredients and perishable ingredients.

Saturday I went to ASDA, the English Wal Mart.  I figured it'd be the easiest place to find every thing I need (hopefully) and for the best price.  I went with my dry ingredients list and it took my probably two hours.  Some things are named differently, but I found almost every thing.  For example, I need jello mix to make a cranberry mould, they call it jelly.  I need corn syrup to make pecan pie - ummm, I'm not sure what exactly I bought but it was the closest thing I could find.  I have my fingers crossed it works well enough.  I needed marshmallows to top my sweet potato casserole, and the only marshmallows I could find are bigger than any one I've ever seen in America.  But beggars can't be choosers.

So far the only thing I can't find is fried onions to top the green bean casserole.  To solve this problem I think I'll just fry my own onion slices - or mix in onions and top it with breadcrumbs... haven't fully decided yet.

Anyway, the whole point of this is actually about my quest for a turkey.  While I was in ASDA I looked for a turkey to see how much it would cost.  All I could find were chickens!  So I went to my local grocery store, the Waitrose.  They have signs "order your turkey now for Christmas!"  I asked the woman in the butcher section, and she said they wouldn't be getting their shipment until 22 December.  So I went to Tesco Local, nothing.  So I went to Sainsbury's Local, nothing.  Finally I went to the big Tesco and FOUND MY TURKEY!  Since I had such a hard time, I decided to buy it.  It's frozen, so it'll take a few days to thaw in the refrigerator any way and then it should still be good by the time to bake.

Now I'm just researching how to bake a turkey!  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.  Have a wonderful celebration of your own! X

Traditional Afternoon Tea

I presume every one has heard of afternoon tea, but I doubt any one has done it.  Hot tea isn't much of a thing in the US, and definitely not a structured meal around it.

Here afternoon tea is set between 3 and 5 pm.  It's certainly not a daily occurrence for every one, it's sort of a treat.  One of my classmates is from Nottingham and has made it her personal mission to play tour guide of English culture, and one of the goals is to try different tea houses.  This week we went to Tiffin in West Bridgford just outside the city proper.

We actually browsed around West Bridgford a bit before heading to tea.  Since the holiday season is upon us we were able to pop into a little craft market.  We also stopped in a few boutiques on our walk through the town.

Tiffin is a quaint little spot tucked into a small row of shops.  It has a bicycle outside displaying it's sign and a basket full of greenery.  It's small when you walk in, but can accommodate a decent number of guests.  And it's totally what you would think of a tea room.  It has a flower patterned wall paper and white table cloths on the tables.  We settled into our table and browsed the menu.

We ordered the Traditional Afternoon Tea for 5 and decided on two pots of tea... English Breakfast and Earl Grey.  These are both traditional black teas.  I prefer Earl Grey to English Breakfast, to me it's a bit lighter in taste.  I don't like to put milk in my tea, just sugar and I find that English Breakfast is too bitter for me like that.  The tea comes first, in these lovely vintage pots.  Each pot and cup is unique, I doubt they have any two the same.

Then the tiers of food arrived!  The bottom tier is sandwiches - the one in the photo is all vegetarian sandwiches: cucumber and cream cheese, egg and cress, tomato and cream cheese, egg and pickle*.  The other tier had things like salmon and cream cheese and some kind of chicken salad type sandwich, and possibly a ham one also.  The second tier is cakes and the top tier is scones, jam and cream.  So you eat it in a certain order... sandwiches first, then scones, then cakes.  It's all small so it doesn't seem like a lot at first - but we were so stuffed by the end!!

*Pickle is not like American pickles.  It is still pickled vegetables, but it's a mixture of onions, cucumbers, sometimes beans or cauliflower.  And it still pickled in vinegar, but it's more of a spread used for sandwiches and it's brown.