Reading week.

This week is reading week -- or, officially, "Enrichment Week" -- so there are no classes. Except there are, because I've still got class on Thursday.

What? Lame.

But that's okay, I guess. I'm happy to have a few days off, especially since I've got a presentation to give on Monday, and that gives me more time to actually sit down and work on it.

So I'll be doing my best to get everything done over the next few days, because in just one little week my dad is coming to visit! He'll be staying in Kingston, but I hope to take him into central London at some point. You know, show him the sights. And we're going to Ireland. I've never been to Ireland.

Yeah, so reading week, dad, Ireland. I've got a lot to be excited about.

Friends don't let friends dress like skanks...even (especially?) on Halloween.

Did you know that Halloween isn't a big deal outside the States? I mean, yes, it's recognized as a holiday in the UK and elsewhere. But I've met so many people here (Brits included) who've never actually celebrated it. (Oh, and they call costumes "fancy dress," which can be really confusing.)

When I think back on Halloween as a kid, there are two things that come to mind.

The first is trick-or-treating, obviously. My favorite part was the big candy exchange that always happened when we got back to the house. We'd would dump all our candy out on the floor of the living room and figure out who got what. It'd start out as a mad scramble for the Reese's. But by the end it would become a lot more democratic, as we attempted to make deals involving Tootsie Rolls, rock hard bubble gum and those weird black and orange paper-wrapped chews.

I hated those things.

The second is cake. Halloween is my dad's birthday, and we'd always make him the same cake: chocolate with chocolate icing, decorated with candy corn and those little pumpkins. My brother and I always got to finish off whatever icing was left over. Those were the days.

But Halloween changes as you get older. Especially for girls. This sums it up rather nicely:

"The hardcore girls just wear lingerie and some form of animal ears."

Seriously, though. It's getting a little ridiculous. If you don't believe me, have a look at Emily G's Unnecessarily sexy Halloween costume roundup. The older you get, the harder it is to find a non-skanky costume. I did a little research and put some pics together to illustrate my point. It's the same costume concept at different ages.

Am I the only one who finds this depressing?

Look, I realize that Halloween is tomorrow and it's probably too late, but if you haven't already decided on your costume, I've got a request: Please don't go as a slutty "sexy" nurse or Disney princess or skunk or remote control or plumber or Big Bird or watermelon or Chewbacca.

It's been done (seriously, I found all of those). It's old news.

And girls, we can do better.

Birthday baking.

It's birthday season at my building -- also known as baking season. And you know I love it.
Since people know I like to bake, I've had several requests.

Fiona wanted a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Easy enough.

Lisa wanted Funfetti with buttercream icing.

A bit more time intensive.

The funny (slash frustrating) thing about baking in the UK is that they do measurements completely differently. As in you can't buy a "stick" of butter, and everything is in grams, so I'm constantly having to consult Google for conversions.

But that's neither here nor there. What you want is recipes. So without further ado:

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

(Note: I never measure chocolate chips, and I can't find semi-sweet here,

so I used a mix of milk and dark chocolate.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 175ish C).

Beat butter and sugars till fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda in a separate bowl. Combine dry ingredients with butter mixture until well blended.

Stir in chocolate chips. Eat (at least) one handful of chocolate chips. Spread dough in a 9 inch round pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Funfetti Cake (from scratch)

 

I'd only ever made Funfetti from a box, but it's basically just a white cake with sprinkles in the batter. Nothing too difficult. 

Ingredients
12 tbsp butter
2 eggs

2 egg whites
  2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour
  3 tsp baking powder
1/2 salt
  1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 bottle of sprinkles

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F (175ish C). Line two 9 inch round pans with buttered parchment paper. 

 Beat butter and sugar together. 

Add eggs and egg whites, beating on a slow speed until just combined. Add vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients. 

Gradually add the dry mixture into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.

Add the sprinkles. I didn't measure. I just used about a (smallish) bottle. 

Pour the batter into pans and bake about 30-35 minutes, until the edges are light brown and a toothpick comes out clean (if you don't have a toothpick, dry spaghetti works well).

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the vanilla buttercream, I used this recipe. If you want the frosting to be white, make sure to use clear vanilla flavoring.

Then decorate to your little heart's content!

Wednesday randoms.

Some musings:

I've noticed my web ads are starting to change. They still look the exact same, but instead of promising to help me "lose 20 lbs," I've now got the opportunity to "lose 4 stone."

Same product, better results. Thanks, UK.

No one here eats candy corn. And people legitimately asked me if it tastes like corn.

I don't notice accents as much as I used to. At least not the ones belonging to the people I spend most of my time with. It used to be that I'd kind of stop listening to what was being said because I'd be focusing on how it was being said. But not so much anymore.

I've started picking up phrases (especially "I can't be bothered"). I really want to be able to say "cheers" but I don't think I could pull it off. Maybe if I said "cheers, y'all," instead.

Today I bought tickets for a postgrad boat party. And so did half my hall. We're pretty much gonna own that event.

It's funny learning about American culture from British people. The other day I admitted to a friend that I'd never seen Sex In the City, and she said, "But you're American!" and promised to bring me the box set. The same sort of thing has happened with Jersey Shore.

Speaking of Jersey Shore, there are several versions of that here, including The Only Way Is Essex and Geordie Shore. Why anyone would want another show like that is beyond me.

And I was asked to explain Glenn Beck to my political communication class. That was fun.

Dreams really do come true.

You know those childhood dreams? Like having a pink polka-dotted pony, flying to Never Never Land or meeting the Ninja Turtles? Well one of mine came true today.

(From the inside, looking out.)

I was locked in an ice cream shop.

On Tuesdays, Baskin Robbins has a buy one, get one free two scoop sundae deal. So obviously, we decided we were going to take advantage of it.

We got there at around 1:30. The poor lady there was working by herself and had been swamped all day. After serving us, she said she needed to run and grab lunch as it she might not get another chance. We said okay, and got up to leave, but she stopped us.

"I'll just lock you in," she said. "I'll only be 10 minutes."

We couldn't believe it. The best part was the random people who wanted to get in, but were unable to, since the door was locked. They just stood outside, blatantly staring at the three very happy girls who had the whole ice cream shop to themselves.

See, kids? Dreams really do come true.

Weekend sightseeing.

Yesterday, I went to Hampton Court Palace, which was the favorite vacation spot of Henry VIII. I didn't really take any pictures (oops!), so if you'd like to see it, click here.

Today, I spent the day in Oxford. We had a tour of the university, and the buildings were absolutely beautiful. See for yourself:

Appropriate, right?

After the tour, we got a few hours to explore. We popped in and out of several cute antique stores, and had lunch in a little tavern.

It's apparently quite popular. The burgers were tasty, and they had really good mulled wine, which might be my new favorite wintry drink. 

Next time I'm in Oxford, I want to visit the Eagle and Child, -- a pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien spent a lot of time. We saw it, but didn't actually get a chance to go in.

But I live here, so it's not like I'll never get the chance to go back.

(Crazy.)

Jackpot.

Look what I stumbled upon this afternoon:

Isn't it beautiful?

My favorite thing about this section (besides the abundance of American flags, naturally) was the fact that Aunt Jemima products take up three of the shelves. It's as if pancakes are the staple food of our fair country...and none of us are aware they can be made from scratch.

There was also Jif peanut butter, Duncan Hines cake mix, Nestle bittersweet chocolate chips, Lucky Charms, and Hershey's cocoa -- none of which I've seen here yet.

AND they had PUMPKIN. I practically skipped out of the store.

Oh happy day.

Wednesday randoms.

It's that time again. Here goes:

I finally got my bank account set up. Now I have a debit card with a chip in it, which means no more weird looks from the checkout people for me!

I'm going to Ireland! My dad's coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and we're flying to Dublin for the weekend. Oh, and our return tickets were only £18.99 each. So excited.

My flat's radiators quit working a couple of days ago...you know, right as the weather stopped being all sunny and gloriously warm. We shivered our way through the past few days, but it's back on now, hallelujah. And we got a cake as a result, so there's the silver lining.

Got a problem? Call on the Council of Men. The guys in our building have banded together to solve all our problems. That's where our cake came from. When the Council of Men failed to get our heat working (not that they really had any means to do so...), Gerry made it up to us by providing us with a chocolate cake. Isn't that the best?

Every time I walk by this restaurant, I can't help but laugh. Perhaps someday I'll actually go in.

I was unaware Dallas was known for chicken.

I've established myself as the one who bakes. We had an informal hall meeting in our kitchen the other night, and more than one person asked if there would be refreshments. I, of course, happily obliged. I love having people to bake for.

There are New York Yankees hats everywhere here, but no one watches baseball. It's so weird.

It's strange being the "American representative" in all my classes. Basically any time anything American is mentioned, the lecturer will, at the very least, look my way and often asks me to comment. It's like I'm speaking on behalf of the whole country. I feel woefully unprepared for this.


That's all I've got. Happy Wednesday!

Rugby.

We wanted to play rugby last Tuesday. Instead, we spent 2 hours wandering around looking for a park. And we found plenty. The problem was that none of them were open to the public.
But we had a good walk. Plus, we found a fox.

Today, we tried again. And we were successful! We found this great park -- big fields, a playground (with a zipline!), basketball courts, tennis courts and a miniature golf course. Perfect.

We played "played" rugby for about an hour. Now, when I think of rugby, I think of this:

But thankfully there was none of that. Charlie did hit himself in the face though. But don't worry, Hannah and I were really polite about it...you know, rolling on the ground laughing and all.

The wind was crazy, so I'm blaming my total lack of rugby skills on that.

Here's what I learned: (1) Rugby balls bounce funny, (2) I can catch better than I can throw, and (3) I'm really out of shape. 

Seriously though, I'm going to be super sore tomorrow.

Lazy Sunday.

It's Sunday, and I plan to do nothing but drink coffee, catch up with friends from home and browse Pinterest*. Oh, and kill the fly in my room.

Unashamed.

 I lead such an exciting, glamorous life.

*Warning: Be aware that this site will suck you in. Don't click the link unless you have an absurd amount of time on your hands.

 

All the pumpkin things.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite season. But if I had to, I'd probably say fall. That's partially (okay, maybe largely) due to the fact that fall is when pumpkin is in season. And now that fall has finally arrived, I've got big plans. Most of them include my kitchen and these recipes:

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Pumpkin Spice Muffins With Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Pumpkin Spice Scones

And, of course:

Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie

 One little problem, though. It seems pumpkin -- the canned kind at least -- is completely nonexistent in the UK. What?! It's not fall without pumpkin. Guess I'll be ordering online...

Wednesday randoms.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! These randoms are going to be slightly less random than usual. Here are some of the things I love about living here, so far.

Digestives - These are biscuits (the British-serve-with-tea kind, not the American-smother-with-gravy kind), and they taste a lot like graham crackers. Except a bit more crumbly. Love them.

Weird name, I know.

Tea - I've always been more of a coffee kind of girl. Tea was reserved for when my throat was hurting. But ever since I got here, I've really started liking tea. Maybe it's because I've only ever added honey, and cream/milk makes a huge difference. Don't get me wrong, coffee is still my first love. But tea has become a [marginally] close second.

Red buses - You know those red double decker buses that everyone associates with England? I ride one (or two or three...) every day.

Aero mint chocolate - Oh my word. How did I not know this existed?! This light minty bar of chocolate tastes almost exactly like mint chocolate chip ice cream, so of course I love it. I froze a bar and had it with hot coffee. Heavenly.

 

Cold weather - It's not really cold yet. But I love actually getting to wear wintery clothes. I feel totally justified in buying things like scarves, which isn't really the case in Southeastern New Mexico and/or Central Texas.

Wifi - It's back, and I'm so happy.

The Lion King - Yes, I know this isn't just a London thing. But a big group of us went to see it in theaters last night, and it was so so fun. Which brings me to...

My building - Sure, there's still a lot of work being done. Yes, we complain about the equipment and builders all the time. But the people here are wonderful. It's hard to believe I've only known them for just under a month. People are always dropping in to say hello and chat (and eat the things we bake, so we're not stuck with two dozen scones), and I find myself laughing all the time. Speaking of laughing...

Flat 1 - I seriously could not have asked for better roommates! We're all pretty laid back and we get along so well. These ladies crack me up, but are also incredibly helpful and kind and easy to talk to. I really lucked out.

Flat 1, representin'

And it's also nice that we have...

Our giant kitchen - We joke about it all the time, but it really is wonderful. We're all pretty fond of cooking, so it's nice to have so much space. Plus, its become a bit of a hang out place for a lot of other people in the building. And I love it.

  That's all for now. Enjoy your Wednesday!
 

Cinnamon sugar scones

Why are all of my posts about food? Oh well.

Katie wanted to make scones today. I want to make scones everyday. 

It worked out great for both of us.

Notice that I was kind enough to test them before serving.
Just looking out for my friends.

These babies are lovely. Soft, but still flaky. There's a whole cup of butter (not margarine) involved, but don't let that scare you off. Butter makes everything better. 

Here's the recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Ingredients

Scones:

3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cups cream (either heavy or whipping)
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon cream
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (about 175 C).

Combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter (or a fork) until it looks coarse, like cornmeal. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together cream, egg, and vanilla. Pour into dry mixture and combine gently (don't over-combine).  Mixture will be crumbly.

Turn onto work surface. Press dough together to form a large rectangle. You can use a rolling pin, but it's really not necessary. Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle over the top, and press into the dough.

Cut into squares, and then divide each square into a triangle. Transfer triangles onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden. Remove and allow to cool completely before eating. (Good luck with that.)

These are best served with tea or coffee. Invite friends over, or you might eat them all yourself.

Thanks to Pioneer Woman for the fabulous recipe!

    

Breakfast, British style.

This isn't even the large portion.

Hannah and Sheila introduced me to the "traditional English breakfast" (slash "full breakfast" slash "fry-up") this morning. It's an egg, grilled bacon (rashers), sausage, baked beans, mushrooms, hashbrowns and a grilled tomato. 

Often, black pudding is involved. But I passed on that.

It was so much food. And not too different from the breakfasts I'm used to. Well, except for the baked beans. That struck me as kind of weird.

But the verdict overall? Not half bad.

  

Productivity, vegetables and lads.

Remember how I told you about my [wonderful] presentation? Well today my group met up to work on our reflection report. It's not due till a week from Monday, but we pretty much finished everything this afternoon. Best group ever.

Afterward, we stopped at the market down in the town center. I got three bags of vegetables -- a huge bowl of mushrooms, 8 beautiful tomatoes on the vine, 5 cloves of garlic and 3 avocados -- for just £3.50. Unreal.

We made it down to the bus stop right as my bus was leaving. It was a nice afternoon, so rather than just stand there waiting for the next one, I decided to walk a little ways to another stop. Halfway to the stop I wanted, a van full of "fitties" (see How To Speak English for the definition...thanks Hannah and Sheila!) pulled up. One leaned out the window and waved. Then he blew me a kiss. I couldn't help but laugh (especially since I still get confused about which side the driver is on, and homeboy looked like he was driving with no hands). I kept walking, but traffic was thick, which meant the van stayed at my pace. They started chatting me up:

"Hello, darling!"
"You're lovely. Really."
"What's your name?"
"Where are you from, love?"

They were really persistent, so I answered that last question. "The States." That got a reaction. I never know what to do in situations like that, and normally I'd have been way awkward (always am). But their accents were just so lovely, and they had me laughing the whole time. Nonetheless, I passed on the ride they offered me and caught the bus home instead.

What I'm trying to say is, if I measured my days by productivity, vegetables and lads, today would have been one of the best ever.

And now the Baylor game is on, so I'd better be going.

Sic'em.

Grandma shoes.

I went shopping today. I didn't mean to, but who can pass up dresses for under £10?

Anywho, while I was browsing, I saw this:

It's not that great of a shot, but give me a break. I was trying to be inconspicuous.

This sweet old lady was checking out this selection of impossibly high, sparkly, strappy heels. She spent quite a while on each pair, picking them up and turning them so they caught the light. Sure, she may have just been intrigued or amused. Or maybe she was shopping for a granddaughter. But I'd like to think she was trying to figure out which would go best with her favorite little black dress.

 

And I'm sure she'd have rocked whichever pair she picked.

  

Today could have been a disaster.

I had to give a presentation this morning. I woke up early, got ready, made breakfast...and just as I was walking out the door, the bus drove off without me.

Oops.

But that was fine, because I was really early. Plus the buses typically come every 10(ish) minutes. No problem.

Twenty-three minutes later, the next bus finally arrived. Then there was a ton of traffic. I was getting nervous. My group had planned to meet a little early to make sure we had everything read to go. I arrived a little later than expected, which really bothered me since I hate being late. But it turned out that was fine, since one of my group members arrived just as I did. We walked into the building, got on the elevator, the doors slid shut...and nothing happened. We were stuck.

I don't panic easily. But I had a presentation to do.

We weren't stuck for too long (PTL!), and made it into the classroom with plenty of time to set up. Our presentation went really well. It was fun, and the class actually participated, which was a major concern since we had no control over that aspect. Afterward, we asked our prof. for some feedback. She said (and I quote), "I don't have any negatives!"

Hallelujah. That presentation accounts for 30% of my overall grade. And now it's done and I don't have to worry about anything till an essay in November. Love it.

Oh, and the fire alarm went off during class and everyone had to exit the building. But thankfully we had just finished presenting. So despite a rough start and an interesting rest of the class, everything went really well.

And now I'm done till Monday.
 

Wednesday randoms.

It's Wednesday again. You know what that means...

Wednesday randoms:

I've got my first presentation of grad school tomorrow morning. I've done enough presentations in my life (thanks, PR undergrad degree) that I don't really get nervous about them anymore. Plus, my group is solid. So I'm feeling pretty good about it.

We thought our supermegagiantawesome kitchen couldn't get any better, and then Hannah got us fridge poetry!

She bought the "romance pack."

I just registered for a course called Understanding Britain. It's for international students (like me!), and it looks like fun. It's only 6 weeks long, and there are no exams. But there are field trips. Yay!

I've got another presentation lined up for my other class. Topics were assigned on a first come, first served basis, and Alex and I got our first choice...which just happened to be everyone else's first choice too. Needless to say, we're not very popular in that class.

I made cinnamon rolls over the weekend. You can find the recipe here. You need to make these. And soon. Be warned, though. If you follow it exactly, you'll end up with more cinnamon rolls than you'll be able to handle (sounds impossible, but it's not...trust me). I divided everything by 6 and still got all these and another half a pan:

(This is pre-icing. Too bad the Internet isn't scratch and sniff, right?)

The colder weather is rolling in, but that's okay with me. I love winter clothes.

I stayed up laaaaate the other night to listen to the Baylor game. It was a good game, and the fact that I couldn't see anything made it even more intense. In the end, we lost by one. Boo.

Oh, and our wifi is still out. No good.

How to start a riot.

There's a really simple way to cause an uproar among a group of twenty-somethings:

Take away their wifi. 

Last night, we got an email from our network engineer. He scolded us for using wireless all the time instead of using Ethernet cables, and he also encouraged us to "stop being selfish and consider [our] colleagues" (whatever that means). His tone was more than a little patronizing, and most people weren't too happy with him afterward. 

Then today, our connection mysteriously disappeared, and all hell broke loose.

(Via Facebook, of course. Because, come on, it's 2011.)

 Two hours and 47 comments later, we're still without wireless Internet. Let's just hope nothing like this happens any time soon. In the meantime, I'll be making friends with my Ethernet cable. If only it worked with my phone...
     

"Swingy, bouncy, turny aroundy thingy."

Question: What happens when grad students decide to play basketball at 2 am? 

Answer: They turn into 5-year-olds.

Not really because of the basketball, though. Mostly because of this:

Behold. Best described by Gerry as a "swingy bouncy, turny aroundy thingy," it's kind of like a see-saw...except so much better. Not only does it go up and down, but it also spins around. So you'll be on your way up, when suddenly you fly sideways.

I haven't laughed that hard in a very, very long time.

And the basketball wasn't half bad either.

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Props to Fiona for the photo documentation!