You know what's awesome about the UK?

So, this post is basically a response to a friend's Facebook comment about my recent wardrobe post. The friend shall remain anonomyous and as such I will call her Jayner.

Jayner, in response to my post said 'You know what's great about the US? Closets.' Though I know this light-hearted attempt to lure me back the US with the promise of better clothes storage was not meant to warrant a proper response, never the less, the comment kept nagging at me. It was also interesting coming from Jayner who for so long has studied and adored the British Royal Family! Anyway, it got me thinking and I've decided, all in the name of good fun, to respond.

Ever since I immigrated to the UK in on 6/6/06 (yes '666') I have found countless things to miss about the US. They usually have to do with candy, fast food, weather, or shopping. Here is a quick list, in random order, I compiled (just in case you ever decide to emigrate these might be the things you don't think of):

1. 24-hour Wal-Mart's
2. Wendy's
3. Arby's 
4. Twizzlers (subtle gift idea)
5. Tootsie Rolls (this link also relates to 14)
6. Decent sitcoms (though I can normally find most of them the day after they air)
7. Candy Corn (this link also relates to 14 and 5)
8. Abundance of domestic space
9. Candy Canes (this link also relats to 14, 5, and 7)
10. Hershey Kisses (this link also relates to 14, 5, 7, and 9)
11. Authentic bbq (mainly pulled-pork sandwiches)
12. Crab legs
13. J Crew
14. Halloween costumes/parties (see 5, 7, 9 and 10)
15. 4th of July BBQs
16. Thanksgiving
17. Road Trips that take longer than 4 hours (see 16)
18. Warm Summers
19. Pretzels 

I'm sure there are more, but that's really all I can think of. As you can see most have to do with food, and to be fair, living in London means that, if I'm willing to pay imported prices, I can get pretty much all of these foods or I could just learn to make them myself. Please pay particular attention to the lack of 'closets' on this list.

So I got to thinking, what would I miss most if I lived outside UK or in other words, 'You know what's awesome about the UK?' So here is list of the things that make the UK worth losing all the things listed above. 

1. Universal Healthcare (NHS)
2. Pub life 
3. The BBC (particularly Iplayer, Radio 4, and BBC 2)
4. Pies... delicious meat pies (despite the name this looks delicious)
5. Borough Market
6. Trains
7. Fizzy Vimto
8. Sunday Roasts (mainly roast potatoes)
9. The Guardian
10. Eccentric British people
11. Tomatoes, perfect tomatoes!
12. Free admission to all museums (specifically the V&A)
13. Wimbledon (and it's lovely weather)
14. Boxing Day
15. 20 days minimum statutory holiday (not including 8 bank holidays, I get 25)
16. Extra Bank Holidays for Royal celebrations (this link also relates to number 10)
17. Kopperberg Pear Cider
18. Just a quick train/ferry ride to Europe
19. The South Bank
20. The 2012 Olympics (for which Rob and I have tickets)
21. Urban parks and rose gardens
22. Pimms (sans strawberries)
23. Caffe Nero Chai Lattes
24. Creature Comforts 

There are several here that I could very easy find or recreate in the US, I admit, but it's really the NHS, BBC, and Holidays that keep me here! Tax paid quality health care free at point of service for anyone in the country, citizen or not, commercial-free quality television and radio, and standard holiday entitlement double the amount in the US. 

So, Jayner, you can keep your closets. I'm fine right where I am, content with the charms of the UK, holding my umbrella under grey rainy skies. 

Our second 4th anniversary!

Rob and I were fortunate enough to have two weddings. The first was in December 2006 and this is technically our official anniversary (this year it will be our 5th Anniversary and I'm sure I'll put a big post up about whatever we do then). On 27 October 2007 we had a second wedding that was basically a big party where we said some self-written vows and had lovely readings.

Both days were spectacularly special. I highly recommend having a wedding. Getting married changed very little for Rob and I as we were already living together and have never had enough money to worry about how marriage would effect us this way, also being non-religious we felt no need to marry for spiritual reasons. We married and had a wedding because we wanted to celebrate with everyone we cared about.

I recommend weddings as opposed to marriage for the reason that both my weddings were such special days, not because I got married, but because everyone Rob and I loved were all together in the same place. There is no other time in my life when this will happen, and for us this happened TWICE! That feeling is indescribable, you feel truly loved and happy. That is my only advice to people: if you get the chance to, have a wedding.

We planned the first wedding quickly and only immediate family of mine could make it, my mom, dad, sister, and her boyfriend. The October 2007 wedding was more for my family and friends though a lot of Rob's family were able to come too and it was incredible. That was four years ago, yesterday.

Since then Rob and I have celebrated both anniversaries, in some way, normally we do something small for the October date and something a bit more special for December. This year I planned to make Rob a lovely lemon cake, economical and filled with love. I wasn't expecting anything from Rob, other than a nice dinner or a bunch of flowers. Instead, Rob surprised me with a beautiful book we saw at the London Transport Museum about a plan to have each tube station tiled, Tiles of the Unexpected (geeky, I know). It's a very sweet and personal gift as it was something I said I'd enjoy in passing.

Feeling guilty that I didn't spend as much or even take the time to think about something that sweet for Rob, I set about making what I thought would be a fairly easy lemon cake. About 2 hours into the detailed instructions I realized this cake was much more effort than the book and my guilt subsided... phew! I'm not posting pictures as it's not very pretty, but I've made two so I might post pictures of the second once it's decorated.

Anyway, Rob made a fantastic chicken stir fry for dinner and we spent a quite evening in eating and watching TV. It was a very nice anniversary. And just for nostalgic sake, here are a few photos from the day four years ago. Thanks to everyone who made that day so overwhelmingly lovely for us.

My dress was made by Rob's sister, it was the
remnants of her wedding dress, it was fantastic!

A private simple beach ceremony with stormy skies, but no rain!

The wedding party.

Me and my bridesmaids, three best friends and two sisters.

Rob and his grooms men, three brothers and two friends.

Our families.

A day off in the kitchen

So I took a day off today and spent pretty much the whole day baking. I made vanilla cupcakes with orange coloured vanilla frosting, they were going to be halloween cupcakes but I totally messed up the black food colouring and went with orange only, now they are just orange cupcakes.

After the cupcakes were finished I started on two loaves of bread. Normally Rob makes the bread on the weekends but due to the wardrobe I used my day off to catch up on lost time and make the bread for the week. I haven't made a loaf in a few years so I was a bit rusty and kept emailing Rob for tips but I think it turned out alright!

Finally, I really worked up an appetite with all the time in the kitchen and decided that I'd better make up some dinner so I made soy salmon with chilli and coconut veggie rice.Again, it was delicious!

Overall it was a very productive day in the kitchen... now I just have to deal with the dishes... sigh!

Here's the recipes for all three items: 

Vanilla Cupcakes

18 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups self-raising

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)

1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice- add acid to the milk then set aside for 5 minutes before using or use 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

In another bowl with an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and oil, continue to beat.

Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined. Scrap down the side of the bowl. 

The batter will be thin. Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.

Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Frost with orange coloured vanilla cream cheese frosting.Or any kind of frosting you like.

Wholemeal Bread

2 loaves

1kg wholemeal or wholegrain flour (I used Dove's Malthouse but any wholemeal or wholegrain flour will do) 

1Tbsp dry active yeast (I use Allison's)

2 Tbsp caster sugar

olive oil 

water

plain flour for dusting

salt

Mix the flour, yeast and sugar in a large bowl, large enough to rise in. Add about 1 Tbsp oil and add warm water slowly. I never measure the water; it must be warm, not hot. Add in very small amounts of water and work in the ingredients with your hands until the dough is sticky but not over wet. 

Cover the bowl with a clean towel an leave in a warm, dry place for at least four hours, the dough should at least double in size. 

Coat two bread tins (normal size) in olive oil, be generous.

Once the dough has risen, turn the dough out on to a floured surface, oil your hands and knead the dough until it is elastic. Be sure to really stretch the dough. Rob has great kneading tips on his post for pizza.

Split the dough in two and add salt and a quick drizzle of oil then knead again. Shape the dough into a loaf shape and place in the oil tins. Turn the oven on to a medium heat and place the tins on top of the oven to let it rise again while the oven heats. 

Leave for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes the dough should have doubled in size. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. You'll know your bread is done when you knock the bottom of it and it sounds hollow. 

New Wardrobe: Part 2

We are now the proud owners of a wardrobe that works <cheers all around>! You'll remember how excited we were to finally be rid of our last wardrobe, and taking it down gave us a very warm and fuzzy feeling all over. I was worried at first because delivery was a week late and then, on Saturday, it came nearly 4 hours late! We were very much ready to start building when it arrived. Despite Ikea not sending us a few pieces for Rob's shoe rack, and the drivers breaking two glass shelves we ordered for the kitchen, the wardrobe building was a tremendous success. It took us longer to put the doors on than all the other parts combined... or at least it felt that way. Working with the glass was scary and I chipped a tooth moving the doors into the bedroom! But overall, we were very surprised how little trouble we had and are super proud that we got it all together without any left over pieces! He's a quick picture timeline, just in case you want to follow! 

The mess.

The first bit done.

Chest of drawer frames ...

... and drawers.
Keeping the Rugby on for Rob was great motivation!

Already forgot something... the mess we left
while we went to the hardware store.

Rob levelling out the two sides, now my
clothes don't have to fraternize with his! 

Looking good, we'd felt like we'd hit a
halfway point here, but really there was a lot
more left; sliding doors are complicated. 

It took me ages to decide how I wanted this
organized. To give you a bit of perspective,
the railing on the left is a good foot
 taller than me, this is so tall I'm going
to need a foot stool just to get to my bags!

All done and no mess anymore.
The 'After' photo!

Showing off our lovely window. 

Pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon frosting

Well, Rob and I ran out of pound cake and were dessert-less so I had to to bake a bit early this week. Last weekend we visited a speciality food shop called Partridges near Sloan Square, amongst all the gourmet food they sell classic American favourites like Candy Corn and canned pumpkin. I've been in the UK for 6 years and have not seen candy corn at all and normally canned pumpkin sells out very quickly. This year I got in early and got plenty of both. The pumpkin is primarily for pumpkin pies at our annual Thanksgiving dinner; however, I over-bought and decided to use the extra for these delicious pumpkin cupcakes. The recipe is from the same Glorious Treats blog that I used for my chocolate cupcakes, but adapted to make spicy and warm pumpkin cupcakes that really make you feel great in the blustery autumn weather. The original recipe is here.

Here is the recipe as I did it:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground clove

1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

In another large bowl whisk pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until completely combined.

Scoop batter into cupcake pan, lined with paper liners.  Fill cups about 3/4 full.  This batter perfectly makes 12 standard sized cupcakes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 (F) degrees for 22-24 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Then transfer cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely.

The recipe called for a vanilla cream cheese frosting but somewhere on Pinterest I saw a cinnamon cream cheese frosting that I thought would go perfectly. I found this one and it worked great, not too sweet or too heavy, it balanced the cupcake spice just right.

Here is the recipe as I did it:

Cinnamon Frosting 

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (add more to taste)

2-3 cups powdered sugar (add more or less to make it a stiffness that you like)

12 candy corn pieces (optional)

Mix cream cheese and butter well.Add vanilla and cinnamon.Add powdered sugar, whisk until desired consistency. Top the cupcakes then add a piece of candy corn. 

New Wardrobe: Part 1

For more than two years Rob and I have been in a never-ending battle with our wardrobe. It holds immense sentimental value as it was the first piece of furniture we bought together and for that reason we both feel a nagging sense of guilt about how much we now hate it. At the time it was all we could afford but in hindsight a cheap pine monstrosity might not have been the best idea, though it did serve us well in Brighton for nearly 3 years.

The move to London upset the wardrobe and it has slowly decided to fall apart in protest. First it was the railing falling down slightly, then the drawer fronts falling off, and then a complete breakdown, doors falling off hinges, drawers breaking completely and now, I fear it will collapse on me or in on itself every time I go near it!!! It's been so bad that most of our clothes no longer make it into the wardrobe and we simply live out of plastic laundry baskets. Rob has been hanging all his good trousers and shirts on the back of the bedroom door all of my lovely wool coats live in our utility closet getting eaten by moths... I'm fed up!

After throwing many fits and completely loosing my mind I've worn Rob down and convinced him it was time to purchase a new wardrobe... that was 6 months ago! Last weekend we finally bit the bullet and actually bought a new one.

We're still not in a position to get an amazing built-in wonderfully bespoke 'systems' like I fantasize about but the Ikea Pax wardrobe we ordered was exciting and it felt pretty damn good to play around with their wardrobe designer and get exactly what we wanted.

Ever since it's been ordered I've been frantically going over my clothes and keeping only those I truly love. This is what I'm left with...

We'll call this 'Before'

Normally the thought of organising, folding, and hanging all this would fill me dread, not now! By next Sunday I'll be jumping out of my skin to put it all away properly for the first time in a long time!

Next Saturday we'll be tackling the flatpack swedish puzzle... watch this space for the finished product in part 2 and hopefully a lovely clean 'After' picture.

Pizza

So, we're going through a phase right now of weekly pizza making. I have also been asked to share my secrets with those out there who would like to know them, however, as these things are I do a lot of this by instinct so perhaps I will attempt to take measurements next time for anyone who is interested.

There are essentially 3 parts to this:

1. the Base (which reminds me of this classic youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfeyUGZt8nk)

2. the Tomato Sauce

3. Rolling out the dough and adding the toppings

The Base

So, to make this you will need for the base: Flour; Oil, Yeast, Sugar; Tap Water and at least 3 hours.

I pour about 300g of flour into a large bowl, throw in some dry yeast, about 1 or 2 desert spoons (essentially the more yeast the quicker the rise), then I tip between 1/2 and 1 cup full of olive oil in and about a desert spoon of sugar.

Once that is all in your big mixing bowl (remember it is going to rise a lot), rub it all together and start adding hot water (not too hot or it will kill the yeast). The trick here is to add it slowly and mix it (I hold my mixing bowl by the tap and use one hand to stir), once the mixture is slightly wet but not runny you can start the full knead. I move the bowl to a stable surface and mush it up for about 2-3 minutes with both hands.

A word of advice, you should try to remember to take of any rings or accessories from your hand or they will (unsurprisingly) get doughy, another tip, remember where you put the aforementioned jewelry or your wife or husband may get mad at you for losing your wedding ring even if it is temporary.

Now you have your dough, all you do is cover it with cellophane or a kitchen cloth for a few hours. I make my dough in the morning before going out to buy my other ingredients.

The Sauce

So, you've come back from the shops and your ready to prepare your pizza. You now need to make an amazing tomato sauce. For this use Tomatoes and what ever you like (garlic, herbs, celery, chili, onion etc.). I usually add grated carrot and garlic and salt and pepper. We have been fortunate enough to have had 6 tomato plants that have provided kilos of lovely tomatoes, otherwise I would use tinned but you could buy them from a store. At this point it is worth remembering to be careful where you get your tomatoes (http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1033179/scandal_of_the_tomato_slaves_harvesting_crop_exported_to_uk.html)

So, with about 8-10 quartered tomatoes or 2 tins place them in a deep saucepan and let them to a light simmer. If you use fresh tomatoes this will take a bit longer to boil off the excess water. Once they get to boiling and you have reduced it to a simmer I add garlic and some salt and pepper then use the hand-mixer to get my sauce to a nice consistency. I then add grated carrot and continue to simmer until it gets to a decent level of thickness to spread.

Building Your Pizza

Finally, your ready to build. First step is to oil your pizza tray. I use an ovenproof, cast iron, Le Creuset frying pan and add a generous covering of oil to the bottom. I find the frying pan gets the base really crispy and rises better as a tray will allow the dough to expand sideways as it rises in the oven. As you can see in the picture, the frying pan forces the dough to rise up. Remember that the handle will be very, very, very hot and you will burn yourself eventually when you foolishly try and pick it up by the scalding handle (I think the pizza is worth it though).

So, now to the dough. Your dough should have sat for at least a few hours and have raised to be double its original size. I use a big cutting board, I coat it in olive oil and lightly dust with flour, I find if you use too much flour you may mess up your dough. Place enough dough for 1 pizza on the board, flatten it out and add some salt then you need to knead! (this video probably shows you how if you don't know how (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWj8oHMPFm0). I like my pizza thick so once I've rolled mine out it has a height of approximately 2cm.

You now have kneaded and rolled out your dough, you place it on your tray (pan) and can smother it in a layer of tomato sauce and place shredded mozzarella cheese and toppings to your hearts content. I usually add the cheese first then have olives, pepperoni, green pepper, onion and mushroom. I cook at about 180 degrees Celsius in a fan assisted oven for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is slightly browning. Once it is cooked and I've taken it out of the oven I add a freshly chopped basil and a bit of pepper and then, well then I bloody eat it don't I!

Gin and Tonic but not as you know it

Anyone who know us, know that we really enjoy our G&Ts. I drink mine with lime and Rob with lemon, which means we have to buy twice the citrus, a bit of pain but we've dealt with it (ahh the 'problems' we have!) However, this is no longer a 'problem' as we have just discovered G&Ts with lemon and... CUCUMBER! 

The lovely women at Rob's new job suggest we try out G&Ts with a wedge of lemon and few slices of cucumber. I'm converted! It's brilliant. As if a this drink could get anymore refreshing? Give it a go, let me know what you think! 

Cream cheese pound cake

Today it was cream cheese pound cake. I was very worried about this one being too heavy and too plain. I didn't ice or put any additions it at all and I'm so glad I didn't! The cake was moist, light and delicious. The most surprising thing about it was the crust. I normally don't like the ends of cakes but the crust on this recipe turned out really yummy. It was almost like a chewy toffee candy, I've never really had anything like it. I baked it in a loaf tin instead of the bundt tin recommended in the recipe and it made two loaves and the cook time was only 60mins at 300F. 

The cupcakes last weekend and this pound cake have been the best so far. Rob has eaten most of my creations but this one might be all me! 

Cupcakes

So this week I was going to try tiramisu but Rob didn't get too thrilled about that and I really wanted to try something that could be shared easily because Rob and I haven't been able to eat a whole cake by ourselves and it never lasts more than a few days. Instead, I decided to make some chocolate cupcakes (recipe here) with a vanilla cream cheese frosting (recipe here), they are very yummy! I can share them with work, too.

The cake is like a very light brownie and the frosting is rich and creamy. I also attempted to make homemade cupcake liners with baking papers, they seemed to work well and gives the cake a very organic feeling. The colours also look great on my china!

I'm also getting a hang of how to photograph them so they look a bit more appetizing.

Happy Birthday, Nancy!

This is just to say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! Here is a collection of your finest over the past year!

We love you very much! x

Hangin' with the King at Hampton Court!

Yes, you did! 

Barcelona with Dad and the back of me!

More in Barcelona

Loving your fun 'kitchen' tools!
Used to cut a pizza. Barcelona again!

Catching up, what a weekend!

We saw a lot of family this weekend... it's Tuesday and I'm STILL exhausted :)

From Thursday until Saturday we had Rob's stepsister, Ruby. She was passing through London on her way to Paris after travelling the world for a few months - as you do! It was great to see her, I think it had been almost five years! We took her around the Southbank and to Borough Market, lots of walking, lots of yummy food! Saturday afternoon she left :(

Seriously, look at how lovely the
weather was... OCTOBER?!

Saturday evening Rob and I travelled down to East Grinstead to see his parents who live there. Rob's brother William, William's wife Michi and our lovely little niece, Hannah (just under 18 months) were visiting from Germany. The weather was incredible this weekend and we spent the Saturday night and Sunday bbqing, swimming and sitting in the sun! I can't believe how big my niece has gotten and how funny she is. She would hold up the Ipod to her ear and start dancing and head-banging to the music - it was cracking me up!

Hannah, so fun!

I also got some quick lessons in German and can officially count to 20, state the days of the week, the months and the colours! Next time I'm in Germany I'll be able to state obvious facts and shout numbers whenever I want to!

My mother-in-law also gave me a special tour of her new project... soapmaking! Victory Soaps are organic, wonderfully fragrant and beautifully packaged bar soaps, as she says, 'A triumph of soap over experience!' She will start selling in market stalls locally and hopefully people will like it, it will take off and we'll all be rolling in soap money! The website isn't live yet, but when it is I will post.

Victory Soaps

It was so lovely to catch up with distant family! With my family in the US and Rob's spread out across, Germany, the UK and Australia, it's a real treat for us to see any family at all, not to mention so much in one weekend! So glad people can visit.

Praise and Shame

I stumbled on this website earlier today. It shows two maps of the US one for something the state does best and one for something the state does worst. I found it quite interesting. It really provides an extra special little glimpse into the dynamics of the country. Here are some highlights from states I've lived in/have an attachment to:

Ohio
Best: 8th Grade Science Students (seem to be stretching)
Worst: Most Autism Rates

Georgia
Best: Most Industrial Electricity from BioMass
Worst: Most Pollution from Urban Runoff (I blame Atlanta)

Colorado
Best: Lowest Obesity Rates
Worst: Most deaths by Avalanches

North Carolina
Best: Most Organic Christmas Tree Farms (????)
Worst: Least Liberians per capita

South Carolina
Best: Most Nuclear Power
Worst: Fewest Acres of Organic Farm

But, my favourite little bit of info out of this was the fact that Alaska has the most airports per capita! Check it out!

Cake 2 - Bridge night

Last night I tried a butter cake with a meringue frosting. It was delicious but the black food colouring seemed to react poorly with the frosting and the 'spade' started to bleed (I should have done a heart?). Why a spade? Well it was Bridge night, of course, or Shithead night as it turned into. At least it taste great! I am improving.

Recipe from Family Circle: Making Beautiful Cakes, available here. Butter cake with meringue frosting.