Another New Year in London

I'm ringing in another new year in London, and it's another one I'll be spending at home in our cosy flat. J and I have big plans to split a beer and a pizza and watch a movie. If you can't tell, New Year's Eve isn't much of a holiday in my books.

However, it is the perfect occasion to look back on the last year and see what I have (and haven't) accomplished. Here were my resolutions from the beginning of the 2011:

1. Enroll in a photography class. FAIL. But I did play with my camera a lot and bought Photoshop and Lightroom.
2. Learn French. FAIL. I think this was a good fail on my part. As pretty as it sounds, it's probably not as useful as one would hope. In any case, the French would be appalled at my atrocious accent.
3. Get back to fighting weight. WIN. I've lost a lot of the extra weight I gained when I first moved to England (thank you, Heathrow Injection), but I'm not as fit as I'd like to be so the fight continues.
4. Visit Bath, England; Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Sydney, Australia; hike in New Zealand. WIN. I've visited Bath, Paris (twice!), Barcelona. I haven't gotten to the other side of the world yet, but I think I'll postpone those trips for a while yet since there's still the possibility that J and I may move back to LA and the plane ride to Australia/ NZ will be much more bearable from there.
5. Make more of an effort with my appearance - I probably shouldn't be proud of the fact that I could get ready to leave the house in less than 10 minutes, which usually just entails putting on a long coat over my pajamas. WIN. I suppose it was inevitable with having to go to work without the risk of them sending me home to get dressed properly. As for the coat over pajamas, I'm happy to report I've done that only once this year.

In sum, I think I did alright, and I even did things that were off the list such as:

1. Ran a half-marathon.
2. Visited Formentera and Ibiza (Spain), Zurich and Luzern (Switzerland), Lake District (England), Las Vegas (US).
3. Learned how to shoot a shotgun.
4. Learned how to golf properly.

And now for the upcoming year, I'd like to:

1. Run more half-marathons - I pretty much stopped running after the Royal Parks half marathon in early October and need to start up again.
2. Start weightlifting again - I also gave up weightlifting when I focused on running for the Royal Parks and so need to start this up again.
3. Visit Iceland (August); Seville, Spain (September); Rome, Italy (April); Santorini, Greece (October); Yorkshire, England (March).
4. Be better about keeping in touch with friends back in the US.
5. Learn how to use Photoshop and Lightroom.

I think that's a feasible list of to-dos for the upcoming year and now to see if I actually do it!

Is It Christmas Yet?

No two ways about it, I Love Christmas. Love love love. And to get into the spirit of things, I've done loads of typical Christmas things such as:

Ice skating at Somerset House

Watching an excellent performance of The Nutcracker ballet at the Royal Opera House

Going to an eggnog party and watching Love Actually

Shopping in London with all the twinkling lights

Visiting Christmas markets in Switzerland

Decorating my flat with baubles, homemade gingerbread men, cranberry garlands and poinsettias

But for some reason, the Christmas spirit seems to be eluding me this year.

I think it's probably because I'm still far away from the things that really make Christmas so wonderful - family and old friends. I've also shipped all of my family's gifts to my parents' house in LA, so I haven't wrapped a single gift myself. Sad.

I think I'll finally get into the swing of things when I see how my parents decorated their house this year, add to the presents piled under the tree and feel the warmth of the fire crackling in the fireplace. It'll be Christmas when I get to see my friends and ask how they've fared in the last year and hear about the big news in their lives. I'll be ready to celebrate when I see my cat again and have her curled up by my feet.

I hope Christmas comes soon.

Ice Skating at Somerset House

Okay, so I know I was supposed to write about Zurich and I will, but I went ice skating yesterday and had such a blast that I figure I'll get to Zurich when I get to it.

One of my friends organized a big group of girls to go ice-skating at Somerset House yesterday and we all showed up a little nervous and a lot excited. It had been a while since any of us had gone ice-skating and one of the girls had never gone before!

 

We showed up at the beautiful outdoor ice rink decorated by Tiffany, which also had a tuck shop shaped like a Tiffany jewel box nearby where you could buy candy and jewelry. How perfect is that?! There was also an enormous Christmas tree overlooking the entire rink and holiday music to keep our spirits up.

We checked our things in the cloak room and made our way to the skate room where we traded in our shoes for skates. I think the real fear struck when we were tightly laced into our skates and there was no turning back. Most of the people there were novice skaters and a queue formed to hold onto the railing as we all made our way onto the ice.

I had gone rollerblading a few times about 5 years earlier, and I think it really helped that ice-skating was actually quite similar. Pretty soon, I was actually skating as opposed to clinging to the rail and trying not to fall. I got confident enough to take the ones who were still nervous around the rink until they asked to be dropped off at a different part of the railing. Everyone started out really nervous but by the end of the hour long session, we were all out on the ice and having fun.

I was actually pretty disappointed when the session ended as I was finally feeling up to speeding up a little bit, but I figured I could always drag J back for a quick session. Oh, and there was a proposal midway through the session where a guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the rink, and we all stood and clapped as they hugged and kissed. It was a great setting for a proposal, and we were just hoping that neither of them would fall on their butt afterwards.

I Say Lucerne, the Swiss Say Luzern

J and I ended up spending Friday night holed up in our hotel room while he did some work while I read Bill Bryson's History of Everything. I could tell J felt bad that we were stuck at the hotel, but he made everything better by sharing some of the chocolate he received from his client. The chocolate was from Confiserie Sprungli, the place to get chocolate in Zurich, and it was amazing.

The next morning, J and I hopped on a train for an hour long ride to Lucerne as I had heard it was a very picturesque and charming town.

We started getting more and more excited as we got closer to town as we caught glimpses of the Alps, which were so beautiful that they almost looked fake.

The first thing we did when we got to Luzern train station was buy some gluhwein for J. He was pretty happy.

Once we left the train station, we wandered around and it wasn't long before we saw the charming part of Lucerne, mostly in part because the entire city was dressed for Christmas!

 

Of course, Lucerne had its share of sights to see.

Chapel Bridge, Europe's oldest wooden footbridge...

The dying lion of Lucerne carved into a cliffside in remembrance of the Swiss Guards that were killed in battle in the Tuileries...

The painted facades of the buildings...

The carved doors of St. Loedegar...

But most beautiful of all were the surrounding mountains and Lake Lucerne. The water was so incredibly clear that we could see the lake floor when we peered over the edge from the quayside. And the air was like none I've ever breathed - remarkably fresh with a hint of pine.

 

 

To be honest, I didn't think much of Lucerne as a city aside from its natural gifts. It was much too touristy, and it seemed like there was a H&M or cheap souvenir shop every time I turned around. I wish we had gotten to the city earlier so that we could've made the trip to Mount Pilatus, where you're able to get a phenomenal view of the Alps. We also wasted too much time walking around looking for the entrance to the Museggmauer, a wall that was part of the fortifications protecting Lucerne in the 13th century, which turned out to be underwhelming and closed for the winter!

I'd say better luck next time, but I doubt that we'll be returning unless I'm in dire need of a cowbell with "Luzern" inscribed on it. We were quite ready to leave by the time the sun started to set and happily got back on the train back to Zurich.

Switzerland? Why Not?

I was still outrageously jealous of J's Sweden trip, and I consoled myself with the thought that I would be tagging along with him to Zurich on his business trip.

We woke up at an ungodly hour on Friday morning and hailed a taxi to London City airport while it was still dark. It's a lot more convenient flying out of City as opposed to Heathrow since there are a lot fewer people and they're usually travel savvy business people who don't hold up the security line arguing with airport security as to why they should be allowed to take their gallon jug of shampoo on the plane.

In any case, J met up with several of his colleagues at the gate, and we all piled onto the plane for the very short and very bumpy flight to Zurich. J and I split up after customs as he and his colleagues were going to jump into a cab and head over to their client's offices whereas I was going to hazard the Swiss railway system into the city. Cabs are very expensive in Zurich (along with everything else, I was to discover), and the public transport system in Switzerland is supposed to be excellent. I bought my ticket from an agent that spoke perfect English and barely made it on the train as the doors were closing.

It was a short ten minute ride to Zurich HB, which is the city's main station, and I hoofed it to our digs for the weekend, the Hotel Continental. I was pretty tired by the time I found my way to the hotel, and I was grateful for early check-in and for the upgrade I didn't even ask for. Excellent!

The hotel was extremely charming and done up in a Swiss chalet style with a Christmas tree in all of the communal areas. A generous bunch of mistletoe hung over the revolving doors, and a barrel by the lifts invited you to take a sip of Swiss apple juice. Fat little Santas were liberally sprinkled around the property, and my equally charming room didn't disappoint.

I was exhausted from waking up so early and getting my bearings in a new city that I took a quick shower and jumped into the very cute bed for a nap.

It wasn't long before I was up and ready to go so I bundled up and grabbed my camera to head into the city to see what Zurich was all about. I had just walked into the city center when my phone rang and it was J telling me that he had finished his meeting and that he would head back to the hotel. So I guess the real sightseeing would have to wait, but I did get to take this one picture that only whetted my appetite to see more of Zurich!

Swedish Treats

J went on a one day trip to Stockholm and brought me some Swedish essentials. Something to eat, and something to read. How well does he know me?

Lady that Lunches

So this is what I've become.

The project I've been working on finally ended last Thursday. I was willing this project to end for some time now, and I was positively gleeful on the last day. Despite being overjoyed at the prospect of imminent unemployment, I was also worried about others who were concerned about where their next paycheck was going to come from.  It was also kind of sad that we would all disperse into the ether and would no longer have our usual day to day routine.

As sad as it was to say goodbye to everyone, it wasn't too terrible as I figured I would see the ones I considered friends again. And that I did! One of my friends was kept on to help wrap up, and my other friend and I met her at the office for lunch. While I was waiting for her in the lobby, I ran into a few of the others who were also helping wrap things up. I knew I would see them again!

I enjoyed lunch with my friends, and our project manager joined us for a quick minute to hand over his hat. We've been obsessing about getting his hat, and he's been really reluctant to hand it over for fear that we would burn it. We kicked around the burning idea for a while, but ultimately, we decided to give the hat the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants treatment. Basically, we're going to take the hat on all of our travels, and take pictures with it in front of various landmarks and then email them to each other. The hat is currently in transit to New Zealand. Can't wait for the pictures!

My Kiwi friend also brought along her lolly cake. Per Wikipedia, a lolly cake or lolly log is a New Zealand cake which features "lollies" in the ingredients; in New Zealand English, "lolly" is a piece of candy. The traditional lollies used are Fruit Puffs which are like firm, slightly chewy marshmallows and are obviously fruity. Malt biscuits and coconut are also used and other ingredients can be added or substituted.

Holy yum!

After lunch, I wandered over to Covent Garden and whiled away the afternoon shopping. So I've become that girl with the corporate husband who spends all of her time lunching with her friends and shopping. =) I can't imagine it'll last long since I already got a call to return to another project that's meant to start tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll take it, since I'd really like a rest during Christmas, but we'll see.

I'm enjoying the downtime. Things to do in the upcoming days:

• Ironing, cleaning the flat
• Entertain my friend visiting from NYC
• Possibly hop over to Zurich for a quick weekend getaway
• Finish Christmas shopping
• Supervise the painting of our ceiling

Not working, but still busy! Oh, and I just got an email from a group of girls to join them from lunch - I'm off!

International Potluck

We thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas at the office with a Secret Santa and if everyone brought a dish from their native country. However, this plan went to pot after a few "shifts" were made, and our happy family was very sadly broken up. Those of us left behind decided to forgo Secret Santa, but we decided to go ahead and do the potluck anyway.

Since most of the people in the room had never had pumpkin pie before, I decided to bake one for the office. It was a good thing I had made an extra pie crust when I was baking for Thanksgiving! J looked so pitiful this morning as he watched me prepare the pie for its journey to the office that I couldn't help but cut out a piece for him and cross my fingers that no one at the office would notice that my pie was missing a slice! =)

Anyway, we had quite the array for our Christmas lunch! The two Spaniards had a cook-off, where both of them made a Spanish tortilla (omelette) but with a few different ingredients. We got to be the judges, and I much preferred the one with the onions. Yum!

The Japanese girl brought sushi, and the Italians brought fresh mozzarella and carpaccio. The Aussies brought Lamingtons, which is a sponge cake with a cream/ jam filled center and covered with a chocolatey sauce and shredded pineapple. Also excellent, despite the fact that I hate coconut.

The English girl brought mince pies (a pastry with a sweet fruit filling) and Christmas cake (a fancy fruit cake with icing and marzipan).

The Kiwis were meant to bring a lolly cake (I still don't know what that is, exactly), but their care package from New Zealand didn't arrive in time, so I'll find out what it is once the parcel arrives!

One of the nicest things about London is the international community that's here. I'm always discovering new things, and it's not always just about the UK. I feel like I'm always learning something new about people all around the world, and it makes me curiouser and curiouser every day!

A Lot to be Thankful for

It's our second Thanksgiving here in London, but the first that we're actually properly celebrating. We're definitely not the only Americans celebrating the holiday in London since I had a difficult time getting hold of a turkey. Everything was completely sold out at my online grocer by the time I decided to go ahead and commit to making the feast myself instead of booking reservations at Bodeans, the local American haunt. Luckily, I managed to wrangle a few of the essentials, and I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my flat tonight for a few Americans, Brits and a Kiwi.

I made cranberry sauce on Tuesday, rolled out the pie crust and baked the pumpkin pie last night and even had time to make whipped cream before it was time to go to bed. So all that's left for today is the big show: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans.

I'm also trying to figure out if we can watch the Thanksgiving parade on TV, but we'll see. I'm aiming to make this all-American, but there are some concessions to where we live. For example, some of the snacks we're putting out aren't exactly common in the US...



Despite all the hoopla around the food during Thanksgiving, today is actually a day where we give thanks. I'm thankful for...

1. a husband that loves me unconditionally
2. a family that's supported me this far, and will continue to be there for me without regard to time or space
3. complete freedom in choosing if and when and how I want to work
4. the expat experience, which makes life so much more interesting

I have more than I could possibly deserve, and for that, I am truly thankful.

[Day after Thanksgiving day...]

Everyone showed up bang on time and with lots and lots of beverages to share. I was stirring the gravy like mad when they all arrived, and J was kind enough to take over the hosting duties by ushering everyone in, taking their coats, and making sure everyone had a drink in hand.

I spent the first half hour flying about the kitchen, and J eventually popped in to carve the turkey. He did a pretty damn good job! Despite my fears about the size of the turkey, it turned out to be the perfect amount for the eight of us, and we even ended up with some leftovers!




Dinner was served buffet-style, and everyone was raving about the stuffing. Isn't it weird how it's always the dish that you cared about the least that ends up being everyone's favorite? Or at least that's how it always turns out for me.

 


In any case, the pumpkin pie ended up displacing the stuffing as the highlight of the evening by the time we got to dessert. About half of those present had never had pumpkin pie before, and they were originally a bit aghast at the idea of a pumpkin pie. If you think about it, they've got a point. It's like how I would react to a turnip pie. Gross. But in the end, they all loved it!

 

We all sat around and chatted while the food digested, and J and I were pretty tired by the time everyone left. J pushed all of the furniture back to their original positions, while I tackled the huge pile of dishes sitting in the sink. By the time we were finished, it was like the evening had never happened.

It really was nice having people over at the flat, and J and I agreed that we would do it all again next year. Good, because I think I need a year to recover from all the cooking that I did.

Work Widow

It's been a crazy few weeks for J and I as we're both putting in long hours at the office.

J doesn't really have much of a choice, but I'm putting in the long hours voluntarily since I may as well earn some extra pocket money while J's working and can't go gallivanting with me. To be fair, I really shouldn't be complaining since I'm literally working half the hours that J's working (100+) at a job that's 1/10th as hard. Don't go to law school, kids.

But still...

It would be nice to not have to ask the question "are you coming home tonight?" every night. It would be nice to have breakfast together. And it would be nice to go grocery shopping and stop by the news agent for the latest magazines and do the million other mundane things that make up every day life together.

Until then, my days consist of pretty much of the following:

Take the Tube to work...

 

Get bored at work and look out the window at this...

And then leave when it looks something like this...

I guess that's not the most accurate portrayal since it gets dark around 4pm now, but that's a whole different kettle of fish I'd like to complain about. Upcoming post "Who Stole the Daylight?" coming to a blog near you.

A Kimchee Dinner

A few months ago, a new Korean restaurant called Kimchee opened up by my office but I never paid it much attention until a couple of different people from work mentioned that they enjoyed the food there. First off, I should've taken their reviews with a very large helping of salt since these are people who had never had Korean food before. Ever.



Some of the girls and I decided to have dinner there last night, and it was a reminder why I don't eat Korean food in London if I can help it. It was about 6 of us - me, a Brit, two Kiwis, an Aussie and a Spaniard. The British girl was a bit reluctant to give it a go because she thought it would be a lot like Chinese food. *Sigh*

Anyway, I should've known something wasn't right when I noticed that there were pretty much no Korean people in the open kitchen. I think I may have spotted one, but that was pretty much it for actual Koreans in the entire place. And I know I've complained about this before, but it's positively criminal to charge for rice and banchan (side dishes) in a Korean restaurant.

After looking through their confused menu, I decided to order bulgogi (seasoned grilled beef) and rice. The others ordered dolsot bibimbap (hot rice pot with veggies), bulgalbi (seasoned grilled beef), and chicken udon katsu (is this even korean?) I got to supervise the people who ordered the bibimbap to make sure their rice crispened up on the bottom and that they didn't overdose on the spicy sauce.

In terms of taste and flavour, the food could be considered Korean but was heavily Anglicized to appeal to the British palate. And the portion sizes would've made my mother cry - they were teeny! My meal was also not served properly. My bulgogi came with a side of iceberg lettuce and a fermented soy/miso paste sauce. That is not how you eat bulgogi. And don't even get me started on the iceberg lettuce.

All complaints aside, everyone had a good time and really enjoyed their food (me excepted). I'm tempted to invite them over to my flat and cook them some real Korean food so they know what it really is all about. But I'm lazy, so maybe I'll just suggest that we go across the street to Asadal, where the food is a bit more authentic, the next time they get a craving for Korean food.

Football or Soccer?

Around this time last year, I was at a NFL American football game at Wembley Stadium with a bunch of fellow American expats. This time around, I was headed to Arsenal Stadium with a bunch of Brits, Kiwis, and Aussies to watch a different kind of football game. The times, they are a changing.

Arsenal was slated to play the Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup tournament, and a bunch of my work mates and I decided to check it out. The tickets were dirt cheap, and we headed there as a group after work.

There were loads of stands outside of the stadium selling all kinds of food and football gear, and we all bought a little something. I scooped up an Arsenal scarf and a korean bbq baguette. I was super surprised that they had korean food, which isn't exactly common in London, and even more surprised that they had put bulgogi in a baguette, but I wasn't complaining as I wolfed my sandwich down.

Prior to coming to the game, I had decided to cheer on Arsenal for three reasons: (1) it's a London team; (2) they have a Korean player (go Park!); and (3) their fans are referred to as gunners (pronounced gunners or gooners), which reminds me of my time in law school where overanxious students with their hands perpetually in the air were commonly referred to as gunners (J was, I wasn't).

We finally headed into the stadium, and let me tell you, those turnstiles are super narrow! I saw some larger people after I entered, and I couldn't figure out how they got through those damn turnstiles. We had a few pints and then went looking for our seats, which were pretty close to the field!

The game itself was lots of fun. The first half was quite boring, but the second half was much more exciting and had us up on our feet most of the time. My poor friend sitting next to me had to explain a lot of the rules of the game to me, but no explaining was necessary when our team scored a goal and I jumped up to cheer with the rest of the crowd.

There were a few things I noticed that were a bit different from other sporting games that I had gone to in the US:
(1) The chants and cheers - Definitely very different. I didn't know half the stuff that they were chanting, but a common one was "Who are ya? Who are ya?" hollered at the fans of the opposing team while swinging your arm and pointing at them.
(2) They applaud after their team has missed a goal. I asked why, and the response I got was that it was a good kick and it wasn't their fault that it didn't go in. Wow, talk about good sportsmanship.
(3) The game keeps on going no matter the weather. It started raining midway through the game, and the players and a lot of the fans were getting soaking wet. Nevertheless, the players kept on playing and the fans stayed resolutely in their seats. That's devotion.

All in all, it was a great game, and now there's talk about going to another one in a couple of weeks. Could this be happening? Am I turning into a football hooligan? It remains to be seen...

Conquering Fears - Marmite

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, but the cold weather has been making it hard to do much of anything. It's definitely autumn, and I just want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. Needless to say, everything's kind of fallen by the wayside until I've made the mental adjustment to the cold weather.

The nice thing about the cold weather is that it finally got me to try Marmite! Now what is Marmite, you ask? Per Wikipedia:

Marmite is made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing. The British version of the product is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury. This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company's marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it."

Judging from the description, this doesn't sound at all appetizing. It's even scarier when you ask people to describe the taste, and they just don't have the words. I've been instructed that the best way to eat Marmite is to get a nice piece of toast, spread a thin layer of Marmite and top it off with a slice of cheese. Believe it or not, Starbucks supposedly does a great Marmite and cheese sarnie!

I was at work late one day and the cold weather gave me a craving for some hot food. My work mate was making a Starbucks run, and on an impulse, I asked her to pick up a Marmite sandwich for me. It was hot and gooey with lots of melted cheese - perfect for a cold night!

I didn't hate it and I didn't love it, but I did like it enough to have it again. The best way I could describe it is that it tastes like hyper-concentrated gravy - brown and very salty, but with a much runnier consistency. I cut up my sandwich in bits and shared with some other people that hadn't had it before. Another American hated it, while the Japanese girl liked it.

Of course I couldn't let J get away with not trying Marmite at least once, so I dragged him to a Starbucks the following day and bought him a sandwich. His verdict - he liked it! Definitely enough to eat it again.

Now I just need to try Bovril....

Dalt Vila

We woke up on Sunday morning with a plan to head out to Ibiza Town, where we could explore the older bit known as Dalt Vila.

J was pretty excited because we heard there was a castle thereabouts, but that's not exactly true. What you do get see is a walled city and the Catedral - not too shabby. Interesting bit of information: the city was established in 7th century B.C. Craziness!

Anyway, we stuffed ourselves at the amazing breakfast buffet and headed into town. It was a short 15 minute walk to Dalt Vila, and we were in the city.

Because the high season had ended, a lot of the shops were shut and J and I spent most of our time roaming through the mostly deserted streets.

 

We could see the Catedral and the walls high above us, and we started the slow and winding way up.

 

I wasn't quite sure how to get there, but I figured we were fine so long as we were on a steady incline. And there were inclines. Lots of them. And stray cats. Lots of them. Words for the wise: the stones are slippery and the slope is steep so definitely wear your walking shoes!

 

 
 

Every time I thought we had reached the top, we came across another slope to climb.

Although it was a tiring walk uphill, we saw lots of interesting sights along the way. I was enamored with Ibiza's charming doors - they're quite small and have a small window in the middle with a metal grill covering the glass.

 

 

  

 

 

We finally reached the top, and the view and the breeze made it completely worth it.

 
 

 

We also got to take a quick look at the Catedral, which happened to be shut. Boo.

After enjoying the view for a bit, we decided to head back down into town for some lunch. It was only after we made it out of the walled city that we discovered that we had entered it from the rear. The front entrance was fine as front entrances go, but it wasn't one of those knock your socks off kind of entrances.

 

We were pretty hungry so we quickly grabbed a table at the pizza place right by the entrance of the walled city, even though I was wary of eating "tourist food." I was really surprised when I took a bite of my pizza - it was delicious! J and I happily munched away on our food as we watched the open air market in front of us. Because it was no longer the high season, there weren't that many people about.

After lunch, there wasn't much left for us to do since most of the shops were shut so we decided to head back to the hotel. We didn't need to be at the airport for another hour or so, so J and I decided to chill out in the hotel's library. I chilled and read magazines while J took a cat-nap.

Soon, we were off to the airport and on our flight back to London.

Turning thirty doesn't seem so bad when you get to do it in Ibiza. =)