Snow.

Heathrow cancelled almost 400 flights, trains were delayed, and panic ensued this weekend, as London was crippled by a fierce snowstorm that brought the city its first snow this year.

Now, based on the chaos it caused, you might be picturing something like this:

  

Notice that the ground floor apartments are barely visible...

But you would be wrong. That picture is the entrance to my apartment complex in Illinois after the Snowpocalypse that hit our area and surrounding states a couple of years ago. We got a foot of snow in one afternoon, and I still went to work the next day.

No, this was the snowfall that wreaked havoc throughout London over the weekend:

A whopping several inches. Enough snow to make a footprint, and yet somehow enough to cause Europe’s busiest airport to grind to a halt.

Still, snow does make London look particularly picturesque. My parents were in town, and we decided to brave the “blizzard” and play tourist while the rest of the city hid indoors. 

I’m glad we did, because this is what we saw:

Isn't it lovely? It certainly makes winter feel worthwhile.

 

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime.

 

I spent Christmas up north in Manchester, with my sweet friend Hannah. It was lovely and festive and full of warmth and cheer (despite the grim weather). 

The cherry on top was tuning into Christmas with my family in New Mexico.

 Skype is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Frozen.

Apparently, there are a lot of spiders near my bus stop. I wasn't really aware of this until this morning, when it was so cold that their webs froze, and all of the sudden their presence was very noticeable. The webs that weren't perfectly formed (more like strands strewn all over the place) made it look like the bushes were covered in white silly string. 

Weird.

Anyway, I realized something as I was standing there shivering in the cold, looking at this frozen web: I'm gonna need to buy some thicker socks. 

Happy winter!

 

Wednesday randoms.

Well, I’m back in England, where there is significantly less sunshine. Here are a few Wednesday randoms:

 

The highs here have been around 45 (7ish degrees C), and I’ve been wearing tights and scarves for about two months now. But when I got off the plane in Dallas, there was sunshine galore, and at 85 degrees (30ish degrees C) I instantly realized I was wearing too many clothes for Texas.  

 

The UK changes their clocks back a week earlier than the US. And since I was in the US a week after the time changed, I got to fall back twice this year. Which is fine with me – I can use all the extra time/sleep I can get.

 

With the time change, the sun sets earlier these days. Pretty standard, right? Except here, because we’re so far north, that means that by 4:30pm, the sun is gone. It’s really sad having so little daylight.

I missed out on being in the States for the presidential election by one day. Not that I was particularly heartbroken by this (I’d already voted absentee). Watching even an hour of election coverage at the airport was enough to make me want to run away from all things political.

 

You know how we say “what’s-her-name” when we can’t remember a name? Well here, a lot of people just say “thingy.” As in, “I was just talking to thingy.” It’s not my favorite bit of terminology.

 

Great news! I went to Asda the other day in search of tea, and guess what I found. Cocoa. HERSHEY’S cocoa. I haven’t seen it anywhere else in this country, so that made my day.

  

Silver lining.

Mondays come much too quickly after Sundays. I think we should get at least two Sundays before Monday springs on us with its silly requirements like waking up early and actually getting dressed.

On this particular Monday, I'm hungry and sniffly and my throat is tickly and it's grey and foggy and I broke a nail this morning and my computer keeps asking me if I want to restart to install updates and I don't want to and I've still got to be at work for another 4 hours.

But. BUT.

I'm headed back to 'Merica in a week from Thursday.

Silver lining.
 

Peach pie.

Summer is over. I think we had about two weeks of it here in London. On one of those rare summery days, I wandered past a fruit stand that was absolutely overflowing with peaches.

So I decided to make a pie.

Peach pie

(recipe c/o smitten kitchen)

Ingredients: 
Crust

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp granulated
1 tsp salt
1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup cold water

Filling

6 large peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar (or up to 1/3 cup, if you prefer sweeter pies)

1/4 cup brown sugar (same as above)
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp sugar

 

Directions:

Dough

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Work cold butter into mixture (using your hands is the easiest way). You'll want small pieces of butter -- I'd suggest freezing it and then using a cheese grater. It'll give you a flakier crust.  

Stir in the ice water and mix until the dough begins to pull together. Knead a couple times and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and flatten into two discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour (but you can leave it in there up to two days, or freeze for up to 2 months). 

Filling

You'll need to peel the peaches. But before you grab that paring knife, check this out! Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and also prepare an ice bath. Then, using a sharp knife, make a small X on the bottom of each peach. Place peaches into boiling water, and poach for 2 minutes. Remove from the boiling water and put immediately into ice bath to cool for one minute. When you take them out of the ice water, the skin should slip right off. It's amazing, I tell you.

Halve the peaches and remove the pits. Then slice into 1/3 inch slices and measure out about 6 cups. Feel free to snack on the leftovers as you bake. 

In a large bowl, toss peach slices with lemon juice. Combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to bowl of peaches and toss to coat.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (218 C). 

Generously flour your work surface. Put one disc of pie dough in the middle and flour it too. Roll your dough out from the center. Go slowly, or it will crack. Every few rolls, lift dough up and rotate a little. Repeat until you've got a 12-13 inch circle. Add more flour as needed (you shouldn't have any dough sticking to the counter or your rolling pin, and if it gets too soft, pop it back in the freezer for a minute before resuming the rolling). 

Transfer your dough by folding into quarters (without creasing!). Place the folded quarter in your pie dish and gently unfold it out over the base. Trim away excess dough (you need about an inch overhang). 

Spoon filling pie-lined dish, making sure to get all the juices. 

Roll out the other disc of dough. For a lattice top, cut into 1/2 - 1 inch strips. Place strips across pie filling in one direction. Fold back every other strip and add a strip going in the other direction. Fold strips back down across the filling. Then fold the others back and place another strip across them. Repeat until you've got a full lattice top. Trim the strips till they're even with the dish (no overhang). Fold the overhang of the bottom crust up over the lattice strips and crimp. 

Brush the top crust with milk, and sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes until crust is beginning to brown. Then reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 C) and bake for another 30 - 40 minutes. If the crust browns too quickly, cover it with foil until the pie is completely done baking. 

Cool for three hours. Yes, this is a long time. But it's mandatory, if you don't want your pie filling to flood out of the crust when you cut into it. It must be fully cool before it's fully thickened. 

Then top with ice cream, and serve!

 

Wednesday randoms.

Well, summer has finally hit London, and sunshine abounds! The highs this week have been in the upper 80s (20s and 30s for you Celsius lovers). I know that's nothing compared to the 105+ degree weather back home, but it certainly feels hot.

Say you want to shave some calories off your Starbucks beverage. You'd probably ask for "no whip," right? Well that would get you confused looks here. Instead, you'll be asked whether or not you want "cream." Whipped cream is the homemade stuff that you actually have to whip yourself. The stuff out of the can? That's "squirty cream."

To get the full effect, say it out loud.
But don't pronounce the 't'.

Now that the rain has stopped, I keep looking for excuses to be outside. The past few days, a bunch of us have gotten together to play football (European style), which has reminded me just how out of shape I am. Still, so much fun.

A fellow American and I really wanted to get an American football to throw around, so we went to this giant sports store in town to find one. It was four floors of every piece of sports equipment you could think of, including baseballs and bats, but alas...no pigskins. It worked out okay, though, because his brother is visiting, and he brought one. Since no one (and I mean no one) from here has ever thrown one, my sloppy spiral might actually look good for once!

The most frustrating thing about job searching is the fact that you don't often hear back if you're unsuccessful. And I guess I kind of understand. Companies get hundreds of applicants. But the not knowing just means you sit there waiting, indefinitely. It can be very frustrating. I'd so much rather get an outright rejection, even in the form of a mass email. And I'm not the only one...

Just to clarify, that's hyperbolic language.
I promise she didn't mean it.

Hannah showed me this months ago. I still laugh out loud.

Imagine you're sitting in your room trying to get some work done, and all of the sudden, you hear this blaring from your flatmate's speakers. You may or may not almost fall out of your chair laughing, like I did...after a brief moment of pure horror, of course.

And finally, since today is July 25, I want to wish you a happy Christmas in July! Take some time to celebrate with these boys.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Wednesday randoms.

This week, I learned an important lesson. The quickest way to NOT hate the rain (even if it hasn't stopped in weeks) is to go outside and play in it.

We saw this ad in the underground. Now, I'm quite familiar with Mexican food, so my first thought was, "Oh no. Those white gloves were a bad decision." Obviously.

This made me laugh a lot.

Speaking of "a lot," my friend recently reminded me of this hilarious blog post on that phrase. Being that I too am a huge grammar snob (I swear, text speak kills my soul), I can so relate.

After 10 months of living abroad, I finally saw my first Baylor shirt in London! After a brief (but enthusiastic, on my part) chat, it was quite obvious that the guy knew nothing about my fair alma mater. But I gave him a smile, a "Go Bears!" and a assured him he'd made an excellent choice before dashing off to catch my train.

Remember when I said I hated those forks with only 3 tines? Well, my friend took it upon herself to make me feel better about the whole situation.

And I found this video really clever. I wonder what my 12-year-old self would have to say to me now...

Enjoy your Wednesday!

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.

 

Sunday stroll.

My Sundays typically look something like this: train to Waterloo Station, Northern line to Tottenham Court Road, church at the Dominion Theatre, Northern line to Waterloo, train home. But today, the sun was so shiny, and the sky was so blue, I decided that I didn't want to spend my time underground. So rather than take the Northern line, I decided to walk to Waterloo. 

But here's the thing: I didn't know how to get to Waterloo from the Dominion Theatre. All I knew was that when I pictured it on the map, it was southeast-ish. Now, I'm not the best at maps and directions and such (understatement of the year), but I do know that the sun sets in the west, so I figured if I could keep my shadow in front and a little to the left of me, I'd be going the right direction. And, what do ya know! I made it there...eventually. But I definitely took the scenic route.

Still, my dad would have been proud.

I got an ice cream cone and strolled down Oxford Street for a bit, before heading over to Piccadilly Circus. Then I went on to St. James's park, down around Westminster, and along the river, where I walked across the bridge and found my way to the station.

Lovely.

 

Sunny days ahead.

No, that title isn't a metaphor. This post is legitimately about weather. Sorry.

If you stop reading now, I'll still love you. 

I'm one of those people who checks the forecast. Like, all the time. I don't really know why. Maybe I just hate being unprepared (I do). Maybe I plan my days around whether or not there will be sunshine (I do). Maybe my mood is notably improved by blue skies (it totally is). The point is, I simply have to hit "w" on my address bar, and my laptop knows I want to go hang out on weather.com.

I know, I know. Ten cool points for me.

The last few days have been seriously lacking in sunshine, and last I checked, this weekend was supposed to be just as gloomy. So I could not have been more excited to click onto the 10 day forecast and see this instead:

(That's in Celsius, by the way.)

No gloom in sight. Glory, hallelujah.

----------------------

Also, apparently, this happened today. So maybe that's what happened to the clouds. Or something.