Happy Birthday Grandma

Each night out at Brinnon we sat around the table playing Pinochle.   This card game I’ve only ever played with my grandparents and it’s part of the experience visiting them.  A bit skill and a bit luck, I must admit I’m pretty good at it (my cheat sheet helps.)

Last night between games we took a break to celebrate my Grandma’s birthday.  We were a day early, but we weren’t going to want cake this morning before we left.  I made a raspberry and cream sponge cake topped with pink candles in the shape of an A for Avis, my grandma’s name.

We sang happy birthday as she blew out the candles in one go.  I sure hope her wish comes true.  Grandma opened her card and we cut the cake.  It was delicious, light and moist just as it should be.  I was pleased with my efforts, and think she enjoyed it too.

Grandma, happy birthday to you!

Love

Deadliest catch, Brinnon style

Part of the reason my dad was looking forward to taking us to Brinnon over the holidays is that it’s crabbing season.  Usually we go in the summer, but it’s only legal to catch crab in the autumn and winter months.  It was Tom’s first time crabbing this holiday.

Unfortunately, we had dreary weather whilst there.  We are driving back to Seattle now, and of course it’s sunny.   The rain and wind meant taking the canoe out was not a safe or enjoyable experience, so the crab pots were not pulled as often as we would have liked.

Tom and my dad rowed out Monday morning to set three pots.  The weather prevented them from pulling the pots that evening. They had to wait and hope for better conditions Tuesday morning.  Luckily when we awoke it wasn’t raining as hard, so out the boys went.  As they rowed to the pots us girls crossed our fingers that the crabs were plentiful as they are what we intended to eat that night.

Through the telescope we watched the pots come up and were hopeful many crabs were inside.  But you can never be too sure because there are size restrictions and all females have to be thrown back.

Excited to hear the results I walked down to the dock as Tom and dad started coming in.  Twenty-three legal crabs they had in those pots!  A record amount, It’s the most my dad has ever pulled at one time.  Incredible work boys!

We cracked crab in the afternoon to save and take home.  That evening we cracked more, munching as we went until we were full.  I have to admit the crabs defeated us though, and three were left untouched.  Even Tom was too full.  So I cracked the leftovers this morning and bagged them along with the rest to bring home and enjoy on another day.

Love 

“O, Oysters, come and walk with us!”

“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:

Pepper and vinegar besides

Are very good indeed—

Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,

We can begin to feed.”

The Walrus and the Carpenter, Alice in Wonderland

We are spending a few days at Brinnon out on Hood Canal with my grandma gorging ourselves on fresh seafood.  Yesterday at low tide we bundled up in rain gear and braved the pouring down rain to gather oysters.  The beach is covered in them.  

Filling up four buckets we had more than the five of us could possibly eat in a day.  We set up on the dock with our overflowing buckets to shuck the oysters (remove them from there shells).  

My dad went up to get the oyster knifes and bowls for this task, and he also brought down Tabasco sauce so Tom and I could enjoy a few raw as we worked.

As a starter that night we went through two rounds of barbecued oysters.  Covered in butter and Tabasco before they are cooked, these oysters were definitely a hard earned treat!

Love

Here comes Santa Clause, right down Santa Clause lane

I Love Christmas!  This year I woke up early like an excited little girl.  My Papa was in the kitchen preparing food, but the rest of the house was quiet as I tip toed out of my room.  I placed Tom's stocking under his bed, but decided against waking him and my cousin Evan.  Instead I went to shower so I could get in and out of the bathroom before it was in demand.

By the time I was cleaned up there was movement, so with a hug and "Merry Christmas" for everyone I welcomed Christmas day.  I grabbed Tom and pulled him into the living room where we opened our stockings from each other.  I was having so much fun opening pressies until I pulled out the plastic white mouse that made me scream, boys... honestly.

As we were finishing I began to smell brunch wafting down the hall.  On Christmas morning we always have quiche, sausage, bacon, an assortment of fruit, cinnamon rolls, mimosa's/box fizz, juices and this year we even had home made bread.  We enjoyed our food by the tree, then got down to business.

Present opening starts with stockings from Santa, which he now just does for the kids.  I'm glad to still be considered one of the young ones.  Next is always searching the tree for our ornaments with gifts inside.  I was already feeling spoiled at this point, and we hadn't even touched the wrapped presents.

My Uncle Charles was not able to join us until early afternoon so we  decided to slowly open the gifts so there would be some left when he arrived.  About half way through we took a break for Tom and I to Skype his family, which gave my Papa time to prepare and start baking the prime rib for our evening meal.  I also made nibbles at this time; devils on horseback and smoked salmon on toasted baguette.  Just as our our break was coming to the end my uncle arrived.

Then it was time for more presents.  We were seriously spoiled this year, as we usually are.  Thank you Grami and Papa, and the rest of the family.

Our evening meal included Caesar salad, twice baked potatoes, prime rib and green beans.  I couldn't finish my plate, although I wished I could.

After our meal unfortunately my cousins had to leave, but that did leave more dessert for me!  We had apple and marionberry pies along with cheesecake to choose from.  I was stuffed like a  turkey, but made room for a small sample of all three.

Filled up and happy I watched Christmas day come to an end.

Love

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Being home for the holidays this year meant celebrating the birth of little baby Jesus as I did growing up.  Christmas Eve is always a gathering of my dad's side of the family.   My dad is one of four and I have five cousins and now two second cousins on this side, which makes it the larger side of my family and makes one full house.

My mom, dad, Tom and I arrived at my Aunt Wanda (my dad's sis) and Uncle Kim's in the afternoon looking forward food, presents and seeing family I had not seen in a while.  We were the first ones there, but the house quickly filled.  I think there were seventeen people in total that night if I counted correctly, and a few of the family unfortunately were not there.

Tom was a hit with my second cousins Kensi (7) and Kendall (3), daughters of my cousin Chris and his wife Heidi.  He was much better at blowing up rocket balloons than I was, and we were quickly sent to one of the bedrooms to play with these noisy toys as our meal was prepared.

We ate a delicious feast of honey glazed ham, baked salmon, walnut gorgonzola salad, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and various other little treats.  It enjoyed meeting my cousin Eric's girlfriend Megan.  Tom and I sat across from them during the meal and as Megan is allergic to all dairy products it was interesting to hear how Eric (who loves to cook) is adapting many recipes to be dairy free.

Then came the presents.  Who doesn't love a gift exchange?  Although, I think half of the fun this year was watching the excited little girls.  My cousin Kari played Santa passing the gifts around whilst wearing the required Santa Hat.  Tom and I were both delighted with our gifts, thank you very much family.

More food followed.  Desserts were spread across the table for sweet tooth's to enjoy; lemon bars, brownies, pumpkin cheesecake, and more.  Eric then prepared a classic for this family, oyster stew.  A thin rich broth filled with tasty oysters, of course I had to have a bowl.

With my stomach in pain the evening began to die down.  Away we went to get some sleep whilst Rudolf was flying Santa in his sleigh.

Love

Problems at Heathrow?

England has not seen this much snow since 1960 something, it just keeps falling and falling. Driving up through the country to Brook Farm is seriously looks like the ideal white Christmas you see on cards at this time of year. Perfect for Christmas, not perfect if you are travelling.

I haven’t been home on Christmas day for the past two years, and didn’t want to miss it this year. Then the snow came. I stayed optimistic but deep down I was slightly concerned. Flight disruptions and airport closures began on Saturday. Tom and I were booked to fly on Tuesday. I kept my fingers crossed, but stopped enjoying each new snow fall.

The news constantly shared information about the chaos at the airports. 45,000 people stuck at Heathrow sleeping on the floors with emergency blankets. People stranded for days. This was not good news. Tom’s sister Sally got stuck in Paris for a night on her way back from Tanzania. Luckily she got a hotel to sleep in, and made it back the next day. Only not by plane, she shared a cab with a couple others to Calais and took the ferry to Dover where a friend was able to pick her up. I tried not to worry about the news; instead I worried about how to fit all of our clothes and presents into our suitcases without being overweight.

Monday night news reports said only go to the airports if your flight has been confirmed as only one third of flights were operating. We had already checked in online, but knew that didn’t mean much. With fingers crossed we check our flight right before bed. I was so pleased; our flight was as planned! Tom had also read they had finalised the flight scheduled for Tuesday at this point. This was as positive as I could have hoped for. Tuesday morning online it said the same, so to the airport we went.

Upon arrival the airport was more crowded than normal. They only let us inside the airport when we proved which flight we were on. Then we were led to the bag drop. There was a queue, but not much worse than I’ve seen at other times, and it moved quickly. Additionally, the airport was full of provisions and we got sandwiches whilst waiting to check our bags. Bonus! It might be bad to admit, but we were laughing, what problems? We made it through security with only a minor hiccup; Tom’s parents gave him a mini tool set with pliers he had wrapped in his carry on. You aren’t really allowed to carry tools on to a flight. But the man was nice and didn’t confiscate Tom’s gift, We boarded our flight and departed on time. I think we were the lucky ones. I am now sitting semi comfortably writing to you from the plane and will be in Seattle shortly.

Love

Trip to Food Heaven

Every year just before Christmas Tom’s younger sister Flo turns another year older. This year she is 22. To celebrate, she decided to go shoot her friends with lasers then pig out. Tom and I missed the laser tag, but made it for the meal at Cosmo’s.

Neither of us had been to Cosmo’s, and we were slightly weary of driving there in the snow. If you haven’t heard, England is experiencing a record snowfall this winter but this post is about the meal. We made it there safely, although fashionably late. We heard it was Chinese and all you can eat, but that was all we knew.

Entering the restaurant was like entering a club. There were bouncers on the door who would only let you in with proper ID, a reservation. Once past the bouncers, rather than being seated you queued again this time to pay your entrance fee, or bill for the meal. After paying you received a ticket and were led through doors to a man who took that ticket and allowed entrance through the golden gate to food heaven.

Inside was a fat man's dream. The placemats even had a map to help you navigate through the food labyrinth. There was Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, fresh seafood, a grill, a carvery, pasta, salad, a dessert buffet, and my favourite the teppanyaki.

We ate and ate and ate. Tom was a happy man when his fresh plates of lobster, crab, oysters and eel were delivered. (Although I don’t think he will order eel again anytime soon.) As mentioned I loved the teppanyaki; fresh scallops, calamari, prawns and Japanese mushrooms wrapped in beef all cooked and seasoned on searing hot plates before my eyes. Yum! I must admit I had two servings of Eaton mess; I still have a bit of my sweet tooth now and then.

When we reached our two hour time limit I was ready. I don’t think I could have fit another bite in anywhere. I’m fairly positive no one left hungry. Although, right before bed that night Flo did mention she was hungry again (and no she isn’t fat).

Happy Birthday Flo! Thanks for the party.

Love

Museum outing

Tom and I recently decided to start going on monthly dates. The idea is to get out of our normal routine by doing something fun and different together. This month Tom decided to take me to the Natural History Museum in London. What a great idea I thought! Especially as it’s been ages since I’ve been to a museum, and entry is free.

We took the train up around 1pm giving us an afternoon to explore all that is inside the museum. Guess what we explored… rocks, lots and lots of rocks. It is the Natural Histroy Museum after all, and we entered by the earth zone. It was cool though. One section had cases full of beautiful gems, some jewellery collections which I really enjoyed. We learned all about diamonds as well, along with many other much less interesting minerals.

I enjoyed the ecology section that showed growth and decay, and although we rushed through it at the end I think Tom liked the Darwin area. The monkeys were cute. I couldn’t help but be amazed by the giant Brontosaurus skeleton at the main entrance.

The best exhibit by far in both of our opinions was the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. You are supposed to pay extra to see this exhibit, but lucky for us Amex is a museum sponsor so employees and guests get in for free. Almost all of the images were incredible. One of my favourites was taken by a fourteen year old boy from Scotland that showed a small pretty bird among pink flowers. I also enjoyed the black and white image of giraffes in the vast desert. My descriptions definitely aren’t doing the images justice. Take my word for or visit the online gallery, they’re impressive.

After a few hours we’d had our fill of the educational experience. We wandered out into London town and soon came to Harrods which of course we had to browse through. Trust me Tom wanted to go too, I think mainly to awe at the food halls. We ended up running into one of his school friends working there and stopped for a chat. By this time hunger had set in. We found a grill house and enjoyed some ribs and roast chicken before exhaustedly catching our train home.

Excellent idea Tom, and thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed the date.

Love

Shaftsbury Christmas reunion

I know I haven’t posted lately, but life has been horribly busy getting ready for Christmas and packing to fly home. By some miracle, despite snow disruptions my plane is one of the few flying out of Heathrow today. I am writing this in flight. I figured ten hours crammed in one small space is a brilliant opportunity to get you, my readers, caught up on the past couple weeks of my life.


When I met Tom he was living in a house of seven guys, I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. The house those guys lived in was on Shaftsbury Road in Brighton, hence calling them the Shaftsbury group. These guys and their girlfriends still remain most of Tom and my good friends. Most of this lot have moved from Brighton and it’s on rare occasions everyone gets together. Christmas though, being a time to share with family and friends, is the perfect excuse for a reunion and the past couple of years we have enjoyed catching up over a Christmas meal.

I have to say it is mostly thanks to Siobhan for ensuring this reunion happens. Additionally, she and her Tom are able to get a lot of the food through their jobs and discounts at M&S which is a big help. The organising was a bit last minute, but when suggested Tom and I were happy to have everyone over for a feast. Being the day after my office party I was incredibly thankful to not have to worry about the food. However, as a good hostess should do I prepared some canapés just before everyone arrived; devilled eggs and devils in horseback. I find these always go down well.

We enjoyed incredibly moist turkey, stuffing, mini sausages, sprouts, carrots, parsnips and roast potatoes, filling ourselves until our bellies could take no more. The group decided to pass on the cheese board and the Christmas pudding. While the boys sprawled on the sofa in front of rugby us girls had a good chance to catch up and dream of the shopping trip to New York we will take some day. After resting a bit we decided there was just enough room for mince pies with brandy butter before everyone had to return home.

Who was in attendance:

Tom and I of course

Tom and Siobhan: They now live in London and work for M&S, Siobhan is in the food department and Tom is just doing his time in the office before he has completed the mandatory 2 years voluntary service and can join the police.

James and Megan: They live in the Cotswolds with their two cats. James is a budding lawyer and Megan just received an excellent promotion at her publishing company that takes her to the Caribbean for work a few times each year.

Shaun: He is around a lot as he is one of the few still in Brighton, and such a great guy. He is a talented musician who gigs and teaches in a youth centre.

Skins: Real name Andrew. He is a doctor and could save your life. He recently started working for a GP rather than hospital and is enjoying normal working hours.

Dave: Dave turned up a bit late as he was with Lucia his girlfriend who sadly couldn’t make it. Lucia is another lawyer in training, and Dave is practically our neighbour and works at Amex with Tom, and was a great help when Tom was applying for the job.

Those are our friends and the people who shared in the Shaftsbury Christmas reunion.

Love

It must be Christmas time

Growing up my mom and I had a collection of about three Christmas cd's we constantly played from Thanksgiving up until the 25th.  One of these cd's was a Starbucks collection, and contained my favourite Christmas song.  The only problem is that the back cover didn't have the song list, so I never knew who this song was by, that is until today.  I have heard this song on the radio a couple of times this weekend and it brought back happy childhood memories.  With a little internet research I have found the song, 2000 Miles by Chrissie Hynde.  I love it. I think it is such a pretty song.  Hopefully you will enjoy it too.

The Christmas do, Pure360 style

Friday night my office celebrated the holidays in style.  We had a wonderful party full of Christmas cheer.  Following a company wide meeting, where the exciting news that soon Pure360 will extend its focus into Europe was announced, party clothes were quickly changed into and we made our way to the Royal Pavilion.

Our evening started with a perfect winter activity, ice skating.  Most everyone braved the ice.  Some  gracefully floated round and round, a couple of the guys courageously sped through the crowds with no fear of falling, and a few enjoyed a slower approach comforted by the banners around perimeter.  I am glad I didn't fall, I was wearing a little dress and I didn't want to get cold and wet.  After I got my fill of the rink it was time to visit the bar.

The delicious seafood restaurant Due South has set up a temporary site in a glass building around the ice rink, which is where we enjoyed the rest of our night.  With drinks flowing we chatted and laughed throughout the night.  Our commercial director entertained us with the email marketing tips he continually filmed throughout the night, I can't wait to see those up on YouTube. The meal was wonderful as well, I savoured every bite. To start I had scallops, followed by the sea brill and finished with a white chocolate parfait.  Delightful!

I throughly enjoyed the evening, and feel lucky to work with such a fun group of people.  As the party started to die down I left along with my friend Katie to meet up with Tom and a bunch of our other friends who were down in Brighton for our annual Christmas meal.  With club tickets pre-purchased we continued to to dance the night away.

Love

Bowling we go

It's taken a little while to follow up on my previous post and report this exciting news... the Huskies have made it to a bowl!  We won Apple Cup in a very exciting game I followed primarily via Twitter, and on 31 December will face Nebraska in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

I'm ecstatic that I will be in Seattle during this event.  I can't wait to be in purple and gold cheering with the rest of my Husky friends.  GO DAWGS!

Love

Bow Down to Washington

Today is a big day for the Washington Huskies, my alma mater. It is Apple Cup. Our annual opportunity to demonstrate our superiority by defeating our foes the Washington Cougars.

This year the event is even more important as it's also our last chance to make it to a bowl, something we haven't achieved since 2002. As you can see, a lot rides on today.

You can help the boys today by wearing purple and singing our fight song loud and proud. I will be!



Love

"Someone stole my snowman!"

You hear of stupid police reports all of the time in America. Guess what, England has them too. Below is the article published by the BBC. Enjoy!


Woman dials 999 to report snowman theft in Kent

A woman who dialled 999 to report the theft of a snowman from outside her home has been branded "completely irresponsible" by Kent Police.

The force said the woman, from Chatham, thought the incident required their involvement because she used pound coins for eyes and teaspoons for arms.

During the call the woman said: "It ain't a nice road but you don't expect someone to nick your snowman."

Kent Police said officers had given her advice on real 999 emergencies.

The force said the call was made at the same time as operators fielded thousands of other phone calls about the heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures in the county.

During the conversation she said: "There's been a theft from outside my house.

"I haven't been out to check on him for five hours but I went outside for a fag and he's gone."

When she was asked who had gone, the woman replied: "My snowman. I thought that with it being icy and there not being anybody about, he'd be safe."

She was then asked whether it was an ornament, and answered: "No, a snowman made of snow, I made him myself.

"It ain't a nice road but at the end of the day, you don't expect someone to nick your snowman, you know what I mean?"

The operator then told her she had rung an emergency line and she should not be calling it to report the theft of a snowman.

Ch Insp Simon Black said: "This call could have cost someone's life if there was a genuine emergency and they couldn't get through.

"It was completely irresponsible.

"We have spoken to her and advised her what is a 999 call, and this clearly was not."

Visit the actual BBC article to hear the call, hilarious!

Love

the one pound veg man

I didn't really know this man. I bought my fruit and veg from him every now and then. Just down the road and only one pound for healthy quantities of a variety of produce, he definitely owned the best fruit and veg shop around. Visiting his shop was about more than just picking up the essentials as he didn't just sell fruit and veg he made me happy. Nearly every time I visited the friendly one pound veg man he threw in an item or three for free. I would rush home excited with the good deal I just received. "Look Tom," I would exclaim, "Look at all of this I got for free! I only spent five pounds and look at how much we have, enough for the week at least." My favourite was the mango, so ripe and juicy. Mango wasn't even on my list the day I came home with three I was given for free. I remember the pleasure eating it with plain yoghurt for pudding that night, scrumptious! Then there were the plums. He gave Tom so many plums we literally had to eat three a day in order to get through them before they went off. We told all of our friends about the one pound veg man, especially those that moved to the area as of course they had to shop there too. I didn't really realise it at the time, but this man I barely knew brought joy to my life.

Now I don't think it's really fair for me to keep calling him the one pound veg man. His name is Tony, Tony Magdi.

Now for a slight change to this story, we will come back to Tony in a second. About a month ago Tom and I were driving up to Brook Farm for Sunday roast when we were shocked to see police tape blocking our road a couple of streets down. There must have been an accident, and a pretty bad one at that. We didn't hear anything about it for a few days and honestly I didn't give it much thought. Then, thanks to following @hovepeople, I came across a report about this accident. There was a major altercation between a car driver and a few cyclists. When the driver accidently got in the cyclists' way when opening his door they went mad. One of them road raged on the driver to the extent that he had to be rushed to the intensive care unit at a nearby hospital. Additionally, it was a rage and run and a search soon began for the angry cyclist. As the days passed more information was discovered and revealed. The cyclist was found as the driver continued to fight for his life. The driver was revealed as Tony Magdi. Yes, my lovely one pound veg man. It was such a big story, even the BBC covered it on the nightly news. Unfortunantly, Tony did not survive. The infections he contracted were too much for him.

I know this is not the most pleasant story, it makes me very sad which is why I wanted to share it. It shocked me how upset I got about a man I didn't really know. It shows how much of an impact being friendly can have on those around you.


I don't understand how people can be so cruel as that cyclist, its not right. Tony was a lovely man who will be dearly missed in the neighborhood, along with his amazing fruit and veg shop.

Love

snow, snow, snow

I woke up this morning to more snow than I have ever seen in England. I quickly got online to check the trains only to find they were not running. That can only mean one thing, a Snow Day! After Seattle received so much snow last week, I'm happy that now it's a winter wonderland here as well. Have a look at my neighborhood covered in white:









Love