John and CB's Most Excellent Adventure

What a brilliant weekend we’ve had–both planned and unplanned!  Friday night was date night, so we went to a lovely dinner on The Strand and then to see “The Importance of Being Earnest,” an Oscar Wilde classic.  It was performed at the Theatre Royal Haymarket near Piccadilly Circus in a beautiful old theatre.  The show was brilliantly cast and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  John and I both re-read the play during the last week, so we were fully prepared.  Wilde is so witty, it’s easy to miss the finer points so being refreshed was absolutely necessary.  Some favorite quotes of mine:

After a wonderful show!

From Gwendolen in Act 1:  “And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude.”

From a conversation between Jack and Algernon:  JACK:  “Well, at any rate, that is better than being always over- dressed as you are.”  ALGERNON:  “If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”

The next evening, Saturday, was a National University of Singapore Alumni Event, a Chinese New Year Celebration called a Lo Hei (Yusheng).

The higher you toss, the more prosperous you'll be!

A Lo Hei is a selection of ingredients that are mixed using chopsticks.  As the items are mixed, the participants toss the food into the air–the higher the food goes the more prosperous the new year will be.  We used to do this in Singapore to celebrate the Lunar New Year–so nice to be able to do it in London, as well!  The evening was topped off with an Elvis impersonator from Kent.

Snow-lah!

As we were preparing to leave the dinner the host, a Singaporean man, uttered a phrase I never thought I would ever hear uttered in Singlish:  “Better go-ah.  Heavy snow-lah!”.  He wasn’t kidding.

As soon as walked out of the restaurant, we found London coated in a layer of beautiful white snow with plenty more coming down.  It was so pretty–like something out of a story book.  We were really enjoying it when we got to the Tube station and realized what a pain it was going to be to get home.  The transport system had gone haywire–delays and closures everywhere.  This was going to be an adventure in itself.

Cheeky, but true.

We boarded the second to last train on the Central Line heading East into the city.  It was only 10:45, so people were expecting the line to be running for at least another hour and a half.  As we went from station to station, the car quickly filled, to the point where I had a stranger sitting in my lap, because there was literally nowhere else to go.  I’ve been on a TON of crowded trains, but this, I think, was the most crowded. The stations weren’t bad, but the cars on the train–wow!

Nightmare at Holborn

Other than the crowd, the trip down the Central Line was fairly uneventful until we got to Holborn, a stop right in the middle of the city.  The doors opened and people tried to cram onto a train that had ZERO room left.  It was the second to last train, people had been waiting on the platform for up to half an hour, the trains were packed, and the snow was getting worse.  People were yelling and screaming to get on the train, yelling at the station attendants, etc.  It was quite the scene.  Fortunately, we had a fairly cheeky driver.  He tried to shut the doors, which wouldn’t shut because people were hanging out of the train.  The first thing he said over the speaker was “I’m the only one on the train who is being paid to sit here.  You all are not.  I’m fine to sit here as long as you wish.  If you don’t want to go anywhere, keep hanging out of the doors.”  A few minutes go by and he tries to close the doors again.  Apparently, he looked down the train and it was clear, except for one guy whose head was sticking out of the train.  That’s how packed it was.  Because of this one guy, the train couldn’t move.  The conductor gets on the speaker and yells, “Hey, guy with your head out the train.  WHAT IS YOUR MISSION??”  Our entire car erupted in laughter.  The ride was pretty miserable, but fortunately, this cheeky conductor provided some comic relief.

Snowy Platform

A few moments later we were on the DLR headed towards our house when it suddenly comes to a stop due to “an unauthorized person on the tracks.”  At this point we have been trying to get home for more than an hour and a half (the journey should have taken about 45 minutes) and we are all hoping and praying that the snow wouldn’t cover the tracks so we could get home.  Once they cleared the unauthorized person from the tracks we finally got to our home station.

Snowball fight!!!

The Docklands were covered in snow–it was quite pretty.  I was in heels, but that didn’t stop John and me from having a snowball fight on the way back to our flat!  The night ended with a cup of tea and watching the snow fall outside our window.  A beautiful finish to our first snow in Londontown!!!

View from our cozy flat!

This weekend, we decided to have our friends over for a Saturday brunch.  We decided on 11am–not too early because everyone had to take the Tube to reach us.  Because of the upcoming Olympics, the DLR had been shut down for “repair” so our guests had to figure out other ways to reach our flat.  That was a comedy in itself.

Yay Brunch!

I was keen on making a Praline Pull-Apart Recipe I had made at Christmas for my family back home in Kentucky.  Never mind that I caught the oven on fire (it was a small fire) I wanted to try it here in the UK.  So, I got the recipe and proceeded to go to the grocery store to get all of the ingredients.  Follow the link to the Praline Pull-Apart recipe to see what I needed.

You’ll realize this isn’t a very difficult recipe, nor are the ingredients hard to find in the US (at least in KY).  John and I went to ASDA (Wal-Mart’s European store) and found everything except arguably the most important ingredient:  frozen dinner rolls.  I had all the delicious seasoning and sauce in the world, but no rolls to put them on.  I scoured the frozen food aisle to find a suitable replacement.  The only frozen bread they had was garlic bread.  No go.

Posing with my Yorkshire Puddings. Before I knew if it would work...

Finally I came across the frozen Yorkshire puddings.  The first time I had Yorkshire pudding was with a traditional Sunday roast (made by one of my best friends in Singapore, Kerry, who made them from scratch).  They are little cups made of batter and typically served with roast meat and gravy.  By the time you eat them with your Sunday roast, they are swimming in gravy.  They are delicious, but in a savory way– not exactly the first thing you would think of to use in a cinnamon roll type concoction.

I told John I was going to do a Southern US-British fusion experiment and grabbed the puddings.   He’s used to me by now, so he was not surprised…haha.

In the oven.

The next morning I started to create the first dish of my new fusion cuisine.  I know it says to start the night before, but based on the consistency of the puddings, I wasn’t sure how that would go, so I made the executive decision to wing it in the morning.  It’s also worth stating I couldn’t find a bundt pan for a reasonable price, so I ended up using a loaf pan instead.  Not a huge deal, but the puddings weren’t my first  concession with the recipe.

Finished Product!

So, I made the dish and popped it out and the loaf shape slowly disintegrated on the platter.  Despite it’s inability to hold a shape, it turned out quite delicious.  The taste and texture were definitely different than what I made at Christmas, but it turned out ok.  Oh, and there was no oven fire this time.  That’s one ingredient I was happy to omit.  It didn’t turn out as pretty as the pull-apart did at home, or as it looked in Southern Living (does it ever?), but it was edible and some people even went back for seconds :).

I guess I’ve created a whole new type of cuisine.  Stay tuned for more culinary adventures–you never know what we’ll end up eating next!

Best part of the morning: the men cooking!

What a crazy four months it’s been since we moved to London!  We are settled in our new flat and have had several adventures both in and around London.  We are living in Canary Wharf, on the east side of the city.

The battle ship was about a five minute walk from our flat

It’s a new (within 20 years) financial district and is connected to the main part of London by the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the Tube.  The area is called the Docklands and used to be a major hub for shipping.  We love the location as we can zip in and out of central London very easily and we have all the amenities of the city right here–since Canary Wharf is like a city of its own.  It actually reminds us a lot of Singapore with its underground shopping malls and such.

Roman Baths

We’ve made a few friends since arriving and have had some lovely outings with them.  Back in October, we took a holiday in Bath and Bristol in the Cotswolds.  Jeremy (bravely) drove us out of London and into the countryside.  After a quick McDonalds run–haha–we were on our way to Bath.  We stayed in a beautiful three bedroom cottage off of an adorable country road with a stone fence.  It felt like a movie!

Part of the gang in Bath Circus

We went into Bath and Bristol during our days in the Cotswolds.  Bath was fascinating–it hosts the northern most Roman bath ruins which were built over the local hot springs. The Romans thought the springs were magical (it’s a hot spring with bubbles coming up) and in the days before modern scientific advances, the only explanation was that the bubbles were from the gods.  People traveled from miles around to have a chance to bathe in and drink from the magical spring.  While there, we explored the ruins, the accompanying museum, and even had a chance to try the water, which is supposed to cure what ails you.  Honestly, it tasted like metal, but I was determined to get all of the healing power I could from it.  You never know when healing water will come in handy ;).

Antics in the countryside

Our next day, we went walking on the country paths that connected the lovely farms and explored the country side.  We even ate a delicious Sunday Roast at a local pub complete with Yorkshire pudding!

In Bristol

The next day, we were off to Bristol.  It seems like a university town and felt like a much smaller version of London.  We happened upon the early days of Occupy Bristol and explored some old churches and saw a fascinating suspension bridge.  All in all–a good day in the Cotswolds!

Oxford!

We also recently took a trip to Oxford for the day with the same group of friends–minus two.  We saw the University and had a drink where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met to discuss their latest works.  Our day ended with a drink in a church converted into a bar and before we knew it–we were back on the train to London.  It was a fun day–just so cold!!!

At Lewis and Tolkien's pub

London has been a fun place to live.  John is enjoying school and I am working part-time at the American School in London as a cheerleading coach.  Whoever thought I would use that skill set again?  haha.  I’m still on the lookout for other opportunities here as we will be here for a while longer.  We are already exploring options for next year (John’s programme ends in September) but are taking this time to enjoy living in one of the world’s greatest cities.

Ice Skating at Somerset House

Our date nights consist of evenings at the museums as they are open late on the weekends and free followed by a drink at one of the historic pubs in town.  It’s neat to get off of the Tube at Baker Street and think about Sherlock Holmes and go through King’s Cross and look for platform 9 3/4.  A few nights ago, we were able to go ice skating with some good friends and then we walked across the bridge to Waterloo and had a beautiful view of Parliament and Big Ben on one side and St. Paul’s Cathedral on the other.  We are so blessed to be in London and to get to experience these things.

The adjustment hasn’t been all a dream though.  It’s a whole new country, with new laws, national healthcare, different words (yes it’s English, but it’s different–I promise!!!), and a new lifestyle.  London is an expensive city and it’s cold!!!  I’ve definitely learned that I am a warm weather person.  I don’t mean warm weather as in summer, I mean warm weather as in equator. 🙂 But, all in all, we are loving our European adventure.  🙂

If you’re ever in the area…look us up!

Well, we made it to London!  We’ve been here just under a week and are enjoying our new European home.  We found a flat today (yay!!!) and are looking forward to moving in as soon as possible.  In the last few days, we have learned to use the Tube efficiently, that most everything you order comes with chips (french fries in American vernacular), and that London is much cooler than Singapore (I, for one, am missing the equator ;)).

This being my first time to the UK, I have enjoyed seeing the sites, such as Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Parliament Building, and the red telephone booths.  🙂  John starts at LSE on Monday, so he is doing some prep work and meeting some of his classmates.  All in all we are settling in well and are excited to get our flat set up so we can have visitors!

Our US phone number still works here and our email addresses haven’t changed–please do contact us!  🙂  Hope everyone has a brilliant week!!!

Cheers!