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...