Overheard today - a British guy was talking excitedly about his upcoming "holiday" to Las Vegas with an Indian-British woman. She recommended some sort of Indian restaurant for him to try while he's in Vegas, to which he replied "I never think of there being good food like that in America - whenever you go into a restaurant it's always full of pasty white people."
And here I thought that England was the pasty white country with bad food!
On a related note, you can now take a direct flight from London to Las Vegas.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Christmas in London
For Christmas, my parents and grandmother came to visit us in England! First they spent a few days in Oxford and got to see our apartment as well as to meet some of our friends here. The Gotzs and the Flamms brought their little ones over, which definitely brightened up everyone's day. My grandmother had been eager to meet little Miss Millie Flamm because they share the same name! I had shown her Amanda's blog with little Millie singing when I was last home in the States, and even days later Grandma was still talking about how exciting it was to finally meet the other Millie.
We had a bit of an adventure getting to a suitable place to stay in London, as the place we were supposed to stay in, while it looked elegant on its website, turned out to be a real dump (to put it politely). So we stayed in a Best Western the first night, and then moved to the replacement flat, which turned out to be right around the corner from Harrods!
The weather was typical England, overcast and damp, but it wasn't brutally cold. Here's me at the Serpentine in Hyde Park enjoying some hot mulled wine
They had a little Winter festival set up in the park with rides and little gift vendors.
Here's Paul enjoying some poffertjes, a Dutch mini pancake that is absolutely delicious! He was nice enough to carry my backpack for us even though it's a "girl" color.
Most of the touristy stuff wasn't open on 24-26 December, but we at least got our pictures in front of some landmarks. See if you can guess where we are!
(that's Paul's silhouette!)
Touristy things we saw: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, BigBen, London Eye, Covent Garden, Hampton Court, the British Museum, Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, and loads more stuff we walked by. It was Paul's first time in London, and I think we managed to see (albeit from the outside) most of the major tourist attractions.
We had a Christmas eve dinner of a beef roast, and a turkey dinner for Christmas day. It was so nice to be staying in a flat so we had use of a full kitchen and dining room. I had made pepparkakor beforehand so we could have some Swedish cookies for dessert. We also tried the local Christmas specialties: mince pies and Christmas pudding with brandy sauce from Marks & Spenser's. I can't say I'd order those over chocolate cake, but it was nice to try the traditional food.
Also on Christmas Eve, we attended a midnight mass at an Anglican church down the street. It was tough being our first Christmas without Grandpa, but it was nice to be able to go to church as a family and to remember the blessings that we do have. Paul and I know that our lives aren't going to stop changing nor slowing down any time soon, and it's important that we remember how much we love our families and try to spend time with them whenever we can. Christmas is an emotional time, and I know it was especially so for my Grandmother. We are so happy she could spend this Christmas with us, traveling all the way from Rhode Island to be here.
On the way back from London, Paul and I stopped at a little French cafe in Paddington Station- guess what the name of the cafe was!
We had a bit of an adventure getting to a suitable place to stay in London, as the place we were supposed to stay in, while it looked elegant on its website, turned out to be a real dump (to put it politely). So we stayed in a Best Western the first night, and then moved to the replacement flat, which turned out to be right around the corner from Harrods!
The weather was typical England, overcast and damp, but it wasn't brutally cold. Here's me at the Serpentine in Hyde Park enjoying some hot mulled wine
They had a little Winter festival set up in the park with rides and little gift vendors.
Here's Paul enjoying some poffertjes, a Dutch mini pancake that is absolutely delicious! He was nice enough to carry my backpack for us even though it's a "girl" color.
Most of the touristy stuff wasn't open on 24-26 December, but we at least got our pictures in front of some landmarks. See if you can guess where we are!
(that's Paul's silhouette!)
Touristy things we saw: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, BigBen, London Eye, Covent Garden, Hampton Court, the British Museum, Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, and loads more stuff we walked by. It was Paul's first time in London, and I think we managed to see (albeit from the outside) most of the major tourist attractions.
We had a Christmas eve dinner of a beef roast, and a turkey dinner for Christmas day. It was so nice to be staying in a flat so we had use of a full kitchen and dining room. I had made pepparkakor beforehand so we could have some Swedish cookies for dessert. We also tried the local Christmas specialties: mince pies and Christmas pudding with brandy sauce from Marks & Spenser's. I can't say I'd order those over chocolate cake, but it was nice to try the traditional food.
Also on Christmas Eve, we attended a midnight mass at an Anglican church down the street. It was tough being our first Christmas without Grandpa, but it was nice to be able to go to church as a family and to remember the blessings that we do have. Paul and I know that our lives aren't going to stop changing nor slowing down any time soon, and it's important that we remember how much we love our families and try to spend time with them whenever we can. Christmas is an emotional time, and I know it was especially so for my Grandmother. We are so happy she could spend this Christmas with us, traveling all the way from Rhode Island to be here.
On the way back from London, Paul and I stopped at a little French cafe in Paddington Station- guess what the name of the cafe was!
Exams and winter in Oxford
Well, a lot has happened beyond my getting a full-time job. In December, Paul took his first set of exams at Oxford. Before I get into that, I must mention again that on the night I went out to see the "winter lights" in downtown Oxford, I and my friends all confessed that our husbands/boyfriends had grown beards in the study week between classes and exams. It wasn't a fashion thing, mind you, they just didn't want to take out the 5 minutes time to shave every day when they could be studying instead (or so the story goes...). Most guys shaved for the day of, but not my mountain man!
Here's Paul in his subfusc, ready for his exams:
And then there's Oxford around the holidays. This is when stores start stocking all kinds of treats, including very fresh foods. At the Covered Market, they had every sort of animal you could think of hanging up, ready to be brought home for Christmas dinner. I'll save you the picture I got of the boar, but here's Paul at the stand with the most plucked turkeys I've ever seen at once:
And at that very meat vendor, we purchased a tenderloin for our first dinner party as a married couple. Our Australian friends Karen and Richard were our victi- I mean guests. (haha) We made beef tenderloin with a rosemary port sauce, paired with green beans and mustard crusted potatoes. Doesn't Paul look like a natural in an apron? He's really a great cook!
Here's the finished product:
I won't tell you how much the meat cost, but I will tell you that we could have had a darn nice meal at a fancy Chicago restaurant for the price! Apparently British beef comes at a premium...
I also must share the gorgeous (and delicious!) dessert Karen and Richard made. It's called a Pavlova, and it's a traditional Australian dessert.
Apparently the food was so tasty and exciting that I didn't get any pictures of the four of us! Though I did get a picture of the fanciest and tastiest place to eat in Oxford:
Here's Paul in his subfusc, ready for his exams:
And then there's Oxford around the holidays. This is when stores start stocking all kinds of treats, including very fresh foods. At the Covered Market, they had every sort of animal you could think of hanging up, ready to be brought home for Christmas dinner. I'll save you the picture I got of the boar, but here's Paul at the stand with the most plucked turkeys I've ever seen at once:
And at that very meat vendor, we purchased a tenderloin for our first dinner party as a married couple. Our Australian friends Karen and Richard were our victi- I mean guests. (haha) We made beef tenderloin with a rosemary port sauce, paired with green beans and mustard crusted potatoes. Doesn't Paul look like a natural in an apron? He's really a great cook!
Here's the finished product:
I won't tell you how much the meat cost, but I will tell you that we could have had a darn nice meal at a fancy Chicago restaurant for the price! Apparently British beef comes at a premium...
I also must share the gorgeous (and delicious!) dessert Karen and Richard made. It's called a Pavlova, and it's a traditional Australian dessert.
Apparently the food was so tasty and exciting that I didn't get any pictures of the four of us! Though I did get a picture of the fanciest and tastiest place to eat in Oxford:
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Employed!
Today I started my first day at my new job! My official title is Senior Market Research Executive, and I'm working at a company that does survey market research for pharmaceutical and other health care companies. It's sort of a start-up company that's really started to take off. My boss is great; I can tell he really wants me to succeed in this position. Everyone else at the company has been extremely welcoming, and offered to help with anything I need.
While the company claims they have "no benefits", I'm getting 25 paid vacation days, 2 weeks of paid sick days, discounted gym membership, nearly free shuttle from the train station, my own laptop (which means I can work from home if needed), a generous bonus scheme, and all the coffee I want to drink all day - and TWO dishwashers in the employee kitchen! Maybe to the English who have national health care and great public transportation that sounds like "no benefits", but to someone who's worked a job with 5 vacation days in the first year, or one where sick days were deducted form vacation time, these benefits are incredible. Nevermind that I really believe in the company and think it's going to continue to offer me all kinds of career growth opportunities.
And did I mention I get paid in pounds sterling? (haha)
While the company claims they have "no benefits", I'm getting 25 paid vacation days, 2 weeks of paid sick days, discounted gym membership, nearly free shuttle from the train station, my own laptop (which means I can work from home if needed), a generous bonus scheme, and all the coffee I want to drink all day - and TWO dishwashers in the employee kitchen! Maybe to the English who have national health care and great public transportation that sounds like "no benefits", but to someone who's worked a job with 5 vacation days in the first year, or one where sick days were deducted form vacation time, these benefits are incredible. Nevermind that I really believe in the company and think it's going to continue to offer me all kinds of career growth opportunities.
And did I mention I get paid in pounds sterling? (haha)