Happy Thanksgiving

*Warning! Nauseatingly sentimental blog post ahead!*

I’m not going to lie, today is a very tough day to be an ex-pat. I started the morning like any other day. I ran Bailey 8 miles, took a shower, and started working on my daily chores. And then it hit me- today is Thanksgiving. And I started moping. I sat on the stairs and hugged my pups and shed a few homesick-laden tears. I resolved that today, I would excuse myself from all household duties and lounge around ruminating over how much I missed my family and how badly I wanted to sit around the kitchen table with them for a not-so-friendly game of trivial pursuit.

And then I snapped out of it. Because today isn’t about focusing on what my life is lacking, the sacrifices we’re making, and what we’re missing out on. Today is a day to deliberately show gratitude for the multitude of blessings that my life is overflowing with. Because let’s be honest, I’m not with my family today because I’m out in the world, living my dream, supporting my wonderful husband, and spoiling my pups. So without further adieu, here are the things I’m most grateful for today.

I’m thankful…
...For long runs through Scottish forests. 
...For the best jogging partner a girl could have.

...For legs and lungs that will carry me 8 miles while my mind is free to wander, process, and pray.
...For friends who see the nasty forecast and offer to drive several miles out of their way in peak traffic just to take me to the gym.

...For a dog who gets me out of the house no matter how hard the wind is blowing or how freezing the temperatures are. It’s always hard to get started, but I never regret getting her out. 
...For my husband who is so much more than a best friend to me. 

...For my husband’s job that more than provides for our needs and still allows him to be home and present for dinner each night.
...For the choice to stay home and play mahjong instead of drudging off everyday to a job that sucks the soul out of me.
...For a husband who encourages me to go back to school, to write novels, to follow my dreams…even if my dreams never bring in any income.
...For my sweet Sam, who brings joy to my loneliest days and warmth to my coldest nights. 

...For Scottish sunrises. We don’t always see the sun here in Aberdeen, but when we do, it’s something to see.

...For friends who drive miles out of their way in peak traffic just to give me a lift to book club.

...For books, who keep my mind learning and my imagination working. And brilliant and interesting women to discuss them with.
...For the AWA who fills my social calendar up to the brim, as if to say, “Go away Seasonal Affective Disorder. You’re not welcome here.”
...For friends who in the last 6 months have become a surrogate family to us.
...For friends’ dogs, who have also become extensions of our family.

...For I-phone’s iMessage program which allows me to text my friends and family back home for free.
...For all four of my grandparents.
...For a brother who is fiercely loyal and kind hearted.
...For a sister who inspires me to have the right sort of values in life.

...For parents who modeled an expat adventure to us and taught me to color outside the border-lines.

...For parents who raised me to have a relationship with Christ.
...For my relationship with Christ.
...For the freedom to write this blog. For the readers who support it. For the archive it’s providing of our lives, that already we look back on and cherish.

My friend Tanvi is organizing a Thanksgiving Pot Luck dinner for the AWA tonight, so I will still get to gorge on turkey, potatoes, and pecan pie.   She’s even arranged for the Texans game to be playing while we’re there, which is just a small detail that means so much to us displaced Americans. I’m beyond grateful for such a large expat community who totally understand why days like this are tough. And for local friends who still reach out to send a happy Thanksgiving message, even though the day brings no significance to them.

For all of these things,  I’m extremely thankful. I’m constantly grateful. I’m undeniably blessed.  Happy Thanksgiving! I'd love to know the many ways your life is blessed, so please comment away with the things that you are grateful for!

This is Britain.

About a month after moving to Aberdeen, I was bragging away to my Mom about how great Scotland was and how the 4 of us were loving life on the other side of the pond. Her response was “It sounds like you’re in the honeymoon phase. I hope it lasts for a long time”.

I shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself, ‘Honeymoon phase? Nah. Life here is fantastic. It will never get old.'. Flashforward 6 months later, and though I am still pleased as punch with our lives in Aberdeen, I’m starting to see some of the cracks in the UK's outer shell.

Say what you want about the US, but America is nothing if not intuitive, convenient, and efficient. These three things are not as highly valued here in the Kingdom by the Sea and sometimes its drives me bat-poop crazy.

Ever seen Blood Diamond? If you haven’t, please go watch it immediately.  Seriously. Anyway, in the movie Leonardo DiCaprio’s character has a saying, ‘T.I.A.’ which stands for ‘This is Africa’. While my parents lived in Nigeria, they had a similar motto of “We are here” that they would say whenever something so bizarre would happen that they just had to laugh. Now, the UK is in no way as culturally shocking at the Dark Continent, but sometimes Jonathan and I have a chuckle over  our own ”We are here” and “This is Britain” moments.

For instance, you know you live in Britain when…
1)Your mail understandably gets delivered to wrong house, since all of the neighborhood streets begin with the same word.

2) You can buy over the counter codeine with no questions asked, yet if you want to buy some hydrogen peroxide this will involve an interview by a suspicious pharmacist about how much you need, what percentage of solution (?), and what you are going to use it for. I actually had to show the pharmacist the cut on my nose that I was trying to clean. Only then did he give me a bottle of the stuff, the amount of which was about enough for one ear cleaning. Never has first aid been more inconvenient.

3)This is a speed limit sign.

It means ‘national  speed limit’ for whichever type of road you are on, which varies according to dual carriageways (interstate), country roads, city highways, etc. Which is all well and good if you plan on memorizing the textbook sized pamphlet on British road signs. (Don’t believe me? Here is the 140 page PDF file with all the road signs.) Otherwise, you’ll spend your first 4 weeks of driving in the UK wondering what the heck this road sign is prohibiting. Seriously, is this symbol easier to print on a sign than 50/60/70 mph?

See what I mean by not very intuitive? (Okay, so I did some research and apparently most of these signs were put up before 1965, when they basically meant ‘no speed limit’. When a ‘National Speed Limit’ was put into place, it was cheaper to reassign the meaning of the symbol than to replace the signs with ones indicating the actual speed limit. That makes sense…sorta.)

4) The government is classified as a constitutional monarchy but yet has no constitution. This is the kinda stuff I’m talking about…

5) You pay for parking at a public park.

6) The guy who comes to fix your broken doorbell thinks you aren’t home, and leaves without repairing it, because you aren’t responding when he rings the doorbell. True story.

7) A broken doorbell takes 6 months (and counting) to fix.

8) If you aren’t home (or your doorbell isn’t working) when Royal Mail delivers a package, they will not leave it on your front stoop. Instead they will bring it to a post office across town (despite the fact that there is a post office in your neighborhood) and you will be given a 2 hour time slot in which you can retrieve it. Good thing Jonathan has a housewife who can go pick up his Amazon purchases. Never has online shopping been more inconvenient.

9) You can buy 49 varieties of baked beans at the grocery store, but don’t expect to find a single brand of Pinto or Black beans.

10) You are served baked beans for breakfast.

11) If you want to make a doctor’s appointment with a specialist, you must first go to your NHS GP who will refer you to another doctor. But instead of just calling up the specialist at this point to schedule an appointment, you must wait for them to send you a random appointment time in the post. And this initial appointment is really just a quick consultation in which the specialist will decide if you need another appointment. If so, they’ll send you your appointment time in the post…instead of scheduling it while you’re in the office…with your calendar...and theirs. Never has meeting with a dermatologist been more inconvenient. But hey, at least it’s ‘free’.

12)  You show up at your NHS GP office violently ill with a stomach virus of biblical proportions hoping to get some medicine to ease your nausea. Instead, the nurse hands you an 8 pack of Tylenol. Never has puking your guts up been more inconvenient. But hey, at least health care is ‘free’.

13) You pay a 50 % income tax rate. But hey, at least health care is ‘free’. 

14) Sure you can watch LSU football on ESPN America…5 days after the game was played.

15) You might not be able to find breadcrumbs, but if you need coozies to keep your tea kettle warm, Britain has you covered.

16) When you get on the scale, you weigh half as much, yet you went up 2 sizes.

17) You travel to 3 grocery stores to gather all the ingredients for one recipe.

18) You hope and pray that the toilet doesn’t break since the mechanics are inaccessibly located inside the wall.

19) You can’t blow dry your hair in the bathroom because there are no electrical outlets. I spent our first 4 months in Scotland doing my hair and makeup while sitting in front of a full length mirror on the floor, until I finally got fed up and splurged on this vanity set.

Because we really have room for more furniture...

20) When you go to a friend’s house for the first time, and you aren’t impressed with the of the number of bedrooms, the great location, or the quality of their floors; instead you exclaim to your husband “Did you see the size of that closet!! So unfair!”

21) You live in a house with no closets, attic, garage, or basement. Seriously, where do Scottish people put their Christmas decorations for the other 11 months of the year?  

22) You have about 14 Starbucksi and 4 McDonaldses in your town and yet, none of them have a drive thru. Never has having a hangover been more inconvenient.

23) Want to grab a evening coffee with some girl friends? You can’t since all the coffee shops close by 6. Seriously, how do the students in this college town pull all-nighters without late night coffee houses?

24) You have doors leading into every room, including the living room. Doors which are too small to fit a couch through, I might add. So you’re forced to order a loveseat small enough to fit through the door frame, which then takes 11 weeks to be delivered.

I could go on and on and I’m sure I will as the need to vent overcomes me from time to time. Yes,  I am beginning to see some of the flaws of this beloved country, but I don’t forget for a second how blessed I am to have this opportunity. Because as much as I have those culture shock moments, I still have those honeymoon experiences as well. This is Britain.

We are here.

AWA Craft Fair Goodies

It’s become quite a Fall tradition of mine to attend shopping fairs where I load up on Christmas gifts and house décor. So many of the accent pieces in our house were purchased at HollyDays in Baton Rouge or Nutcracker Market in Houston.


beautiful mirror we got last year from Houston Ballet's Nutcracker Market

I was starting to feel quite homesick for missing out on these events, which is why I was unreasonably excited for the AWA Craft Fair. And though the Craft Fair was only a fraction of the size of those stateside events, it packed a mighty punch.

About a hundred vendors from across Scotland came to sell their artisan goods. Since I was a volunteer floor monitor, it was my job to peruse the stalls and make sure all of the vendors were happy and healthy. After making three rounds of all the stalls during my 1 ½ hour shift, I knew exactly what I wanted to spend my Jonathan’s hard-earned money on.

My first purchase was a few cans of Pumpkin that I got from the Wowzie stall, a local store which stocks American goodies.

Only cost me about 3 bucks a pop! Woohoo! Now I can indulge in my pumpkin craving just in time for Thanksgiving.

Next up were some Harris Tweed purchases. These items were hard to select, simply because I was dizzy with all of the adorable options. There must have been at least five stalls specializing in tweed items. First up was a pair of Wellie socks for my Hunter boots.

Yep, moving to Scotland comes with a whole new wardrobe vocabulary. Before moving to the UK, I had no idea what wellie socks even were, much less that I would scour the country trying to find the perfect Harris Tweed Pair. But alas, it was love at first sight.  

And just to prove that I don’t just wear these boots for fashion, look at how muddy they are!

I’m kind of grossed out right now.

After I had footwear covered, I decided I absolutely needed Tweed book supplies when I found this amazingly perfect purple and gold thistle bookmark.

I absolutely love combining my Tiger Pride with my Scotland memorabilia. Two birds with one stone. And since they had the keychain to match…well I couldn’t pass that up, now could I?

And because I didn’t want my beloved Kindle to feel left out, I splurged on this Harris Tweed kindle case, complete with embroidered bunting.

How British is that? So. Stinkin. Cute. Speaking of bunting…

I’ve been thinking that our living room looks a bit too masculine, what with all the leather and the tartan and all, so I was on the lookout for something to soften the room up.

Quilted, flowery, heart-shaped bunting oughta do the trick.

This seriously might be my favorite 2 feet in the whole entire house. Nothing makes my heart sing quite like bunting. Can I get an Amen?

 

And then of course I couldn’t pass up this highland coo figurine.

Seriously, I cannot handle the cuteness.

 

And I didn't just buy things for myself either. Nope, I also scooped up these Cheese and Oregano Christmas treats for the puppies. I'm selfless like that.

Merry Christmas fur babies!

Adventures in Baking: Pecan Pie Bars...Sorta

Well, I’ve had another near disaster in the kitchen y’all. See, this past weekend, the AWA hosted a craft fair to exhibit some of the local artisan goods, and as a personal contribution the board asked us to donate baked goods for the Sweet Shop booth.

As soon as I found out that they expected 100% participation, I started hyperventilating. Perusing Pinterest only made it worse. Not only did I have to find a recipe so simple that I could not mess it up, I had to find a recipe in which all of the ingredients are readily available in Scotland. That took several graham cracker, pumpkin, and reeses pieces delights off the table for me.

After hours of research, I finally narrowed it down to these Pecan Pie Bars.

Knowing my track record with baking, I made sure I had all my bases covered. For instance, I bought three times the necessary ingredients along with all the fixings for Cookies and Cream Popcorn, because I always need a back up plan y’all.

Since these treats were supposed to be sold to the public instead of politely endured by my friends, I even did a practice run on Thursday to make sure they were edible. The first attempt was at least palatable, with slight room for improvement.

Since my first try was pretty near successful, I had confidence that by my second try, I’d surely be able to perfect this sweet treat. Of course, this wasn’t the way it unfolded in my kitchen...

You see, I’ve always been better at cooking than I have been at baking. To bake, you have to be precise, and I’m just not a very precise person. If the recipe calls for all purpose flour, you better not use self-raising. If it calls for 2 sticks of butter, 2 cups ain’t gonna cut it.

Whereas with cooking, it’s a bit more artistic. 1 teaspoon of salt? 4 bay leaves? 2 sticks of butter? We’ll call those judgment calls and move on. In cooking, there is room for both experimentation and error. Not so with baking. Baking involves measuring. Reading directions carefully. Undivided attention. Let’s just say, not my strong points.

I knew pretty early on that my second attempt at Pecan Pie Bars was going a bit off script. I was supposed to use the paddle attachment on my kitchen aid mixer and of course, I forgot to do this. Using the paddle would have involved reading the directions carefully. Like I said, not my strong point. But a whisk should work the same way right? It’s all going to the same place right? Wrong.

Also, for some reason the recipe I was using used two different terms for butter measurements in the crust and the topping. For instance, the pecan topping called for ½ cup of butter. The crust called for 2 sticks…which I read as 2 cups, logically. Seriously, what kind of trickery is the author of this recipe trying to get at?   

But according to Paula Deen, there is no such thing as too much butter, so I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal that I used double the required amount. Wrong again. My crust that was supposed to be crumbly was doughy instead.

No worries; I prepared for this sort of mishap and bought enough ingredients to make another batch of crust. This time I used the paddle and 2 sticks of butter. What could go wrong? I opened the new bag of flour and paddled away. But yet, it still came out doughy.

I racked my brain, and reread the directions and ingredients carefully. 2 ¾ cups of all purpose flour. Which, in case you were wondering, is not the same thing as self raising flour. Whoops.

With no more back up ingredients and Jonathan out with the car, I had no choice but to proceed with a doughy crust and hope and pray that the bottom layer would be strong enough to support the caramel pecan heaven on top. Once the baking part of the equation was done, all that was left was the waiting and praying while the concoction cooled.

After 2 hours of mental anguish over whether or not I would have to start from scratch with the backup popcorn, it was time to face the facts. As I peeled the foil back, all looked well in Pecan Pie Bar land.

But the true test was whether or not the doughy crust could sustain the weight of the top layer. So without further adieu, I began to cut the block into individual bars. And lo and behold, they didn’t fall apart. Then it was time for the all important assessment: the taste test. Jon and I cut one of the edge pieces in half and dug in. Hallelujah it was heavenly!

Turns out the doughy crust gave the treat more of a chewy texture than a brittle effect. It may not have been what the recipe was aiming for, but Jonathan and I both preferred the 2^nd batch. It was like a pecan pie cookie. Ain’t nothing wrong with that! Take that All Purpose flour!

So we’ve already established that baking is not my strongest domestic skill, but even lower on my list of housewife talents is crafting. Now that I had an edible (and fairly delicious) snack to offer the Sweet Shop, I had to come up with a pretty way to display them.

I originally bought zip lock bags, but since they were the foggy kind, I felt like they didn’t flatter the pecan pie bars very well. I worked too hard on them to have them be overlooked because of haphazard packaging. I tried just plain plastic wrap with a ribbon but the wonky and uncohesive shapes of the bars made this look too messy.

When I went to Jillian’s house that night for Football watching and Mahjong playing, I saw that she had cut a square out of card board and wrapped it with Christmas wrapping paper as a way to display her Rum Cake. I decided to steal this brilliant idea and make mini squares for my dessert.

And while I know it doesn’t look good enough for pinterest, I was sure proud of myself for managing to come up with a baked good that I wasn’t terribly ashamed of. Now I’ll be scouring the newspapers and BBC to make sure no Aberdonians fall ill from a Pecan dessert bought at the AWA craft fair. Fingers crossed.

Come back tomorrow to see the loot I scored at the Craft Fair. Lots of Scottish adorableness is coming your way!

Highs, Lows, and Mahjongs

Lows:
1) I played Mahjong on Tuesday night and didn’t win a single hand. I had to face the fact that my winning streak was over and that I might not be a Mahjong prodigy afterall.

2) Getting a taste of that Seasonal Affective Disorder everybody keeps talking about. Cold + Rain+ Darkness = Sad and Lazy Laine. It’s time to start that Vitamin D regime I suppose. Or I could just keep napping from 3-6 every day. Hmm…

The sun in now setting around 3:30.

3) Burning my lip while taste testing my Pecan pie bars. More on that little ‘experiment’ later…

They were tasty but perhaps not worth a giant blister on my bottom lip.

But I can’t be expected to wait for pecan laden caramel to cool down before digging in, can I? This is why I don’t bake. Ouch.

4) Jonathan is growing a moustache for ‘Prostate Cancer Awareness Month’ which made me realize that I have an irrational aversion to moustaches. Gross.

Highs:

1)  Having a really supportive husband. I am an awful, terrible, inefficient housewife. I spend most of my time blogging, hiking, running, playing mahjong, reading, and talking on the phone. Yet he hardly ever mentions my neglected chores, he always asks about my various hobbies, and he encourages me to take naps more often.

Hands on dad...bathing pups after a romp through the forest

I guess for all that, I could overlook a moustache… Nah. Still gross.

2) Spontaneous Tuesday night Mahjong with some girlfriends. Even though I didn’t win, I had a great evening spending quality time with my buds. And the gingerbread martinis Debbie made were pretty swell. Not to mention the pumpkin cheesecake that Tanvi made for dessert. See- these women hike, mahjong, blog, run, read, talk on the phone and yet still manage to rock the whole housewife thing. Some people are just gifted I guess.

3) Three Mahjongs this morning! Just call me the comeback kid. Some people are just gifted I guess…

4) Jonathan got some major reassurance from his boss this week about taking on a 2^nd assignment here in Aberdeen. That means we can confidently assume we’ll be here for at least another 2 years, which is longer than we’ve ever known we were going to be anywhere. We’ve always been ready to move at a moment’s notice so it’s nice to be able to breathe out and settle in. Now I really don’t have an excuse to put off unpacking those last few boxes!

Bailey will be more than happy to stay in Scotland a few more years!

How about you? Highs and Lows this week?