Adventures in food allergies.

My friend is here visiting. And she's allergic to a lot of stuff. Stuff like peanuts, tree nuts and gluten.

She didn't used to be. She used to eat peanut butter by the spoonful. But things change, apparently. And it makes life really difficult. Especially the whole no gluten thing, because typically gluten-free breads and pastries use almond flour in place of wheat flour...but almonds are nuts. And she can't have nuts. So it seriously limits her options.

But today, we were victorious.

Not only were we able to find gluten-free bread and pasta, but we also stumbled across gluten-free cupcakes! And not the stale, tasteless, not-really-worth-the-calories prepackaged ones, either. No. Beautiful, freshly baked ones from a little cupcake shop in Kingston. As we were walking by, gazing longingly at the window displays, we noticed a sign: Gluten-free cupcakes, this weekend only.

It's like it was meant to be.
 

Wednesday randoms.

This morning, I woke up at 5am for no reason and couldn't get back to sleep. I was not happy about it. But thankfully, I had Kim to entertain me via text. And entertained I was. I swear I have the funniest friends in the world. No lie.

We finally had a good sunset! That's a big deal guys, because (1) I love sunsets, and (2) we don't really get them here. But this was definitely one of the best yet.

Makes me thankful for my west-facing window.

This recipe makes me sad that there's thousands of miles between me and my bundt pan. But I suppose I could make it into loaves...though it just wouldn't be as pretty.

I got a surprise delivery this morning! Pie tins and graham crackers! (Neither of which I've been able to find here.) And just in time for some 4th of July pie making. My mom is a star. (This one's first up.)

This fork is stupid and I hate it. I don't need a trident. These guys know what I'm talking about.

Dumb.

This made me smile. How to feel classy in three easy steps.

England might be out, but the Euro Cup continues on without them tonight. Spain v. Portugal. It's nice living in a country that actually likes this sport, especially during a big tournament like this one.

Apparently the Tower Bridge just got some bling. I'm excited to see it in person. Only one more month till the Olympics.

Kira's done with her study abroad in Italy, so she's coming to stay with me for a week! Sad to say that there London is seriously lacking in sunshine and gelato, but we'll make the best of it.

 

Thanks, Kingston!

Guys, I got some fun news today.

My university is having a student blog competition, and I just found out that they listed mine as one of the top five! So fun.

My blog was selected along with this nature-y one, this fashionable one, this random-assortment-of-stuff one, and this artsy one. They're all great. Go show them a little love. 

The competition runs through August, so they haven't picked an overall winner yet. But I'm just happy to be considered.

So thanks, Kingston! And thanks to all my sweet friends (back home and elsewhere) who laugh along with me as I stumble through my new life in London. I wish you could be here in real life (aka, come visit!), but for now we'll just have to settle for some long distance love.

Y'all are the best. Seriously.

The entire Internet...

Everything on the Internet, was not enough to keep me entertained today. I finished what I wanted to on my dissertation fairly early, so I decided to take the rest of the afternoon off. You know, just waste time and chill. But no. Later, I went back to it out of sheer boredom.

Basically I was so unmotivated that I couldn't motivate myself to stay unmotivated. Which meant that I ended up being motivated. Does that make any sense?

I think I just really need to go outside.

(source)

Though I did find this and this and this. Each of which definitely made me smile.
  

Omigod You Guys.

A big congratulations to my favorite newly engaged couple, Shannon and Dakota! I've been waiting for this for a few months now, and by the time this week rolled around, Kim and I were practically counting down the hours.

"They're just like that couple from Titanic! Only no one dies...

I can't even begin to tell you how many engaged and/or recently married friends I have in my life right now. It's crazy. And I'm finding that it's the exact opposite of the culture here. When I mention a friend's recent engagement, I'm typically met with the question, "How old is she?" which is quickly followed by, "How long have they been together?" No one here can believe that I have so many friends married just out of college.

At home, it's super common. We joke at Baylor about "ring by spring," and MRS degrees all the time. And since pretty much the only time relationship statuses are announced to the world is when there's a ring involved, it can be easy to think that you're the only one who's not headed down the aisle any time soon. Which is so not true. It's just that you never see someone posting, "Guys, guess what! I'm single!" on Facebook. So my friends and I have started letting each other know, "Don't worry, I'm still not engaged," every few weeks just to remind one another that we're fine, normal, etc.

But here? It seems like no one even thinks about marriage till they're like 30. Which is totally fine and completely understandable and all that. It's just a bit different where I come from.

Anywho, another shout out and big hug to my sweet sweet friends. You two make an amazing couple, and I'm so excited for you!

British summer.

This couldn't be more true. Not that I'm particularly bummed to be missing the 100+ degree weather that's currently plaguing Texas. But my goodness -- the rain we've been having.

There's just so much of it.

 

Wednesday randoms.

Some Italian lessons:

Kira and I are culinary wizards...and resourceful too. But despite being able to whip up dinner for under 2 euros, we never did figure out what to do with this little guy:

An octopus! Cool...but how are you supposed to cook it?

Feeling down? Don't worry, just walk past a random Italian guy, and you're almost sure to get a creative compliment. Shameless, hilarious, and always entertaining.  

The cherries. Oh my gosh, the cherries. We ended up buying a huge bag of them in the mornings and then just devouring them all day.

Lemons can grow to the size of my face. 

And this was one of the smaller ones.

The perfect combination of gelato? That would be dark dark chocolate and coffee. Without a doubt.

Boardshorts over Speedos...always. Seriously, guys.

I was certain popped collars died in the 90s, but [unfortunately] they live on here.

Street bands are exponentially cooler when there's an accordion involved. 

Best ever.

I could eat Brie with breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Open air cafes are the best place to watch the Euro Cup. Especially when Italy's playing.

And finally, you don't need to speak Italian, you just need to know how to gesture animatedly. (Thanks to Francesco for that one. It proved to be so very true.)

  

I don't understand accordions, but I love them.

We stumbled across this wonderful band of street musicians, and promptly fell in love.

And, just when we thought it couldn't get any better, this guy jumped into the middle and did a little dance. So fun. We were so enamored that we missed kickoff for the Euro Cup game we were on our way to watch. That's how you know it was good.

 

Friday photo frenzy.

A look at Italy, so far.

Yes. I've taken a ton of pictures. And this is only like half of them. But I can't help it.

This place is just so photogenic.

 

Pompeii.

It's beautiful, but it's also kind of morbid.

Pompeii is an ancient Roman city that was buried under 20 feet of volcanic ash in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted. It wasn't discovered until 1748. Now, it's a popular tourist attraction. Not only do you get to see the ruins of the city, but there are also plaster casts of the victims. Apparently, the bodies were buried and decomposed, leaving a space in the ash. So they filled them with plaster, and bam -- we get to see what these people looked like at the moment they died. Creepy.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day to be outside, and after trekking through Pompeii all afternoon, we rounded out our evening with coffee and some more gelato (this time tiramisu flavored) and watched Spain beat up on Ireland in a little outdoor cafe.
  

Wednesday randoms.

Thoughts on getting to Italy:

Airports are great. There's a never ending stream of people to watch, which is probably one of my favorite pastimes.

My plane didn't have a row 13. Guess they were superstitious. But just because you don't label it doesn't mean it's not there. So even though I was seated in row 14, I know what row it really was...

The Linate airport at Milan is more of a shopping mall than an airport. I know that all airports have little shops things, but this takes that to the extreme. You legitimately have to walk through stores to get to the gates.

The flight attendants would make two sets of announcements, first in Italian, then in English. But sometimes their accent was so thick that I wasn't sure which language they were speaking. Italian English just sounds like Italian.

Gnocchi is delicious.

We met up with my friend's classmates, and all they wanted to do was go to an English pub. On my first night in Italy. Seriously?

It's got little English flags and a sign for fish and chips.
So you know it's legit.

When you think you're too full for gelato, you're wrong. There's always room for gelato.

 

Irrational insomnia.

I'm going to Italy tomorrow.

I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight, due to a mixture of excitement about the trip and sheer terror that I might somehow oversleep and miss my flight. I never ever oversleep. But whenever I've got something important, I still manage to convince myself that this time it will happen. So I set like 3 different alarms and wake up every hour or so, panicked that I'm late.

I realize this kind of worry-induced-insomnia is irrational. But I can't help it.

Anyway, I'm super excited. One, because it's Italy and it'll be sunny. And two, because I'll be staying with a friend I haven't seen since May of 2010. I can't even wait. I'm smiling as I write this.

(This Sorrento forecast also makes me smile.)

So long, rainy London. I'll see you in a week.

 

Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars.

Most people I've met in England have never had a s'more. Actually, most haven't even known what one is. I'm guessing it's because (1) There are no graham crackers here, and (2) No one here has seen The Sandlot. It's tragic, really.

So I made a point to bring some graham crackers back with me after Christmas. Up until recently, they'd just been chilling in my room, patiently waiting for the day they'd be made into something delectable.

That day came about a week ago. I had a refrigerator full of blueberries. This is what I did with them.

Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars

(courtesy of this wonderful site)

 

Ingredients:

Crust:
9 graham crackers, crushed
2 tbsp sugar
dash of cinnamon
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 lemons (juice and zest)
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Directions:  

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. The extra paper can hang over the edges -- that just makes it easier to remove the bars after baking.

Crust: Combine crushed graham crackers, sugar, and a dash of cinnamon. (Real talk: whenever a recipe calls for a "dash," I can't do it. I usually go with a hearty sprinkle. I've found that's not a good idea with cloves or nutmeg, but it's perfectly okay with cinnamon. Just FYI.) Add melted butter and mix till it's fully incorporated. Press the mixture evenly into the lined pan. Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden. Set aside to cool completely. 

 

Filling: Mix cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice with a hand mixer until smooth. Pour over the cooled crust. Sprinkle blueberries over the top (or, if you're a mild control freak like me, place the berries in a manner that's both strategic and aesthetically pleasing).

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the center is mostly set -- only slightly jiggly. Remove and cool to room temperature. Then pop it into the refrigerator (still in the pan) for at least 3 hours before serving. Once it's set and chilled, remove from the pan, slice and serve. 

Yum.

Tom Cruise gets what he wants.

On Sundays, I get to hang out with kids at Hillsong London, while their parents attend church. Last week we did cartwheels in the foyer and learned about Queen Esther. It's a sweet deal, really.

Kids Team is just one of the many ways people get involved, and today everyone who serves on a team got together to hang out at the Odeon in Leicester Square. It's a really nice cinema and plays host to quite a lot of film premieres, so it was a great venue for our day together. 

Stylish seating.

Welcome to church. Welcome home.

When I arrived there this morning, there was a number of men putting up light fixtures and other things at the entrance. Our pastor later told us that he'd asked them if they could wait till after we'd left, you know, because of the noise. They said no. Why? Oh, because it's for Tom Cruise. The premiere for his Rock of Ages (with Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige and others) is happening there tomorrow. "And Tom Cruise gets what he wants," they said. 

Fair enough.

  

No relaxing.

Saw this on the train into London the other day. It was both confusing and amusing.

What?

Maybe it was meant for me, as I've essentially haven't really done anything remotely productive (at least in the academic sense) lately. I really should get to work on my dissertation. Because this time next week, I'll be in Italy. And I plan to be doing plenty of relaxing.

  

Wednesday Randoms.

So the Jubilee is over, but I wanted to share this sweet video with you. It's from Stevie Wonder's performance at the concert at Buckingham Palace Monday night. Not only did he sing "Isn't She Lovely" (which just happens to be my absolute favorite Stevie Wonder song), but he also changed the lyrics to make them fit the occasion. It was fantastic.

This made me smile. It also made me realize that the Google homepage is tailored to fit the country it's accessed in. Which, when you think about it, is kind of a no-brainer. But I hadn't really considered it till now.

Remember that church service I told you about? The one in honor of the Jubilee? Well here's a pretty good video of it.

I've been working on job applications the past week. There's one in particular that I'd really really like to get. So prayers are appreciated.

If you're a nerd like me, you might find this reading speed test interesting. Not sure how accurate it is, in terms of rankings, but it's still neat.

I had the best Skype session today when my dog heard my voice and then pranced around the room trying to find me. When my mom finally put her on the screen, she was more than a little confused. It was the cutest thing ever.

This cover makes me want to dance with somebody. Somebody named Ben Rector.

I made cobbler this week. It was interesting how many people had no idea what it was. Crazy, considering how it's pretty much a staple where I'm from.

One week from today, I'll be in Italy! Can't wait.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Yesterday, in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, there was a river parade on the Thames. Over one thousand boats participated. And despite all the beautiful weather we've been having, it rained. But that's okay, because that's pretty typically British, yes?

Afterward, the trains were absolutely rammed. I can't even imagine what kind of chaos the Olympics will bring. It should be interesting.

Tonight there's a big concert at Buckingham Palace, featuring Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and others. They've set up big screens all over Hyde Park and St. James's Park. We'd talked about going into central to see it, but after spending the last three days running all over London, I just want to stay in.

Anywho, today's a bank holiday, and tomorrow's a public holiday. (I asked Hannah what the difference was, but she didn't know.) So we'll still be celebrating.

Happy Diamond Jubilee to you!
 

God Save the Queen.

We got handed flags when we walked into church today. So fun for a foreigner like me. And then there was this great performance to celebrate the Queen (as it's her Diamond Jubilee) that included trumpeters, an electric guitar version of the national anthem, and some crazy dance moves.

As the pastor was leading us in a prayer for the Queen and the country, he said this: "If you're from this country, she's your Queen. And if you're not from this country...well she's the Queen." The Queen. Lisa and I had a good little laugh about that.

 

Also, can we just talk about how we totally stole Britain's national anthem? Whenever I hear "God Save the Queen," I can't help but sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

Also also, you know how if you write something enough, it starts to look weird? Well that's what's happening to me with the word "Queen." I think if I type it one more time, it won't even seem like a real word anymore.

Queen.
 

Walking tour.

We made up our own walking tour of London, hitting all the major sites: the Eye, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum, a crazy old pub, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace. It lasted approximately 7 hours. I'm spent.

But what a sweet time with good friends! I'm so glad they're here, and I'll be sad to see them go. I've promised myself to take more pictures of them and not stuff when we go exploring tomorrow. Because I seriously failed at that today.