Mr Whippy

After work today I spoilt myself with one of Britain's classic summer treats, a Mr Whippy.

(yes that is a lick mark on the right)

Today was not a hot sunny day; the sun did shine in the afternoon but it wasn't ice cream weather.  Of course that didn't matter when I saw the Mr Whippy van ahead of me.  Luckily Tom was driving.  I grabbed some change and jumped out to join the kids.  Yes, literally it was me and four ten year old boys excitedly queueing for our ice cream.

Being a child didn't bother me one bit, especially as it was for a Mr Whippy.  This is literally only the second one I've ever had in my life.  For those of you not familiar with this its a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone (although it tastes a little different than American soft serve) with a flake stuck inside. Yum!

Love

Happy Birthday John

Today is Tom's dad Birthday.  We celebrated on Sunday morning by racing around the go-karting track.  Go-karting was Flo's idea and a pretty good one at that.  It would have been a great idea, but I've realised I'm really bad at go-karting.

It was fun and that is what matters most.  Flo's friend Ben came first each race, as he should do because he races cars in real life.  Flo beat Tom, and he wasn't too happy about that.  If you ask Tom he'd say it wasn't correct because he had a faster average time.  John's friend Steve shocked us by getting the "bumping" sign for being bad and bumping into other carts.  And I was disappointed in the last race when I came dead last.  Yep, Tom's Dad beat me (I'll call that a birthday gift) and the three little twelve year old boys racing at the same time as us were faster than me.  I used to think I was good at this, but I now have enough evidence to prove racing is not my calling.

Here are the racers:

Afterwards we went to The Brickmakers Arms.  This pub is just down from Brook Farm and recently was refurbished under new management.  We had a wonderful lunch, some enjoying roasts, others checking out the sandwiches, one plate of fish and chips was served and I had my first ploughmans.

Love

I realised I've been in England too long when....

 When I caught myself with tea in hand as I was washing the car!

Drinking tea whilst washing a car, what type of multi-tasking is that?  

As we cleaned and scrubbed the cars on Sunday Tom's Mum kindly brought our afternoon tea outside.  I did sit down briefly to enjoy mine, but then I was told a missed a spot and I jumped up to continue sudsing.  About a thirty seconds later I took a sip of tea and it hit me.  

I don't know what more to say, other than in America you would NEVER see someone washing a car and drinking tea.  Oh my, Oh my.  Next time perhaps I'll have to sport my bikini, then I'd feel American again.

Love

Happy Birthday Skins

Saturday evening Tom and I hopped on a train and traveled up to Clapham to wish our friend Skins a happy birthday.

Skins' real name is Andrew Skinner.  He is a doctor; currently working in a GP (general practice) but soon to transfer to A&E (emergency) and in August he will be leaving to work in Australia for a least a year.

Tom and Skins have been friends since uni.  They met through rugby and Skins is part of the Shaftesbury lot, although he never actually lived in that house.   We were a bit disappointed none of our other friends in this group were able to make the party, but we know Skins was happy to have us there.

Skins celebrated his 25th birthday at The Frog, and trendy and happening bar.  It was packed on Saturday!  Part of the crowd was made up of all of Skins' doctor friends, a few randoms like us huddled in the walkways and all of the others were revelers out for Saturday night fun.

We met a very friendly couple who knew Skins from childhood.  She is a lawyer and he is a chef.  Tom and I had a great time chatting to these two all night and ended up staying out until the last train, much later than planned.  Not only did we leave late, we joined the party later than intended after walking at least an hour from the station to the pub.  We decided to save money and just take a cab on the way back.  It was a good walk though, even in the urban setting with fast loud cars, a saturation of curry shops and offies every 100 yards.

All in all Saturday night was a good night, well until a had a tray of amaretto shots spilled down my back.  I was one sticky mess on the train ride home!  Hey ho that's what washing machines are for.

Happy Birthday Skins

Love

The Foragers

Last night Tom and I went out for drinks and a meal with our friends Ben and Joy.  We met this couple on a night out nearly a year ago and instantly became friends.  Ben is a passionate chef and Joy is a talented fashion designer.  They both have been incredibly busy with work lately and I was very much looking forward to seeing them.

We met at the beach for a drink before heading up into Hove.  It's really nice going to relaxing at the peaceful seaside after a week of work.  I feel lucky that it's so easy to do.

It was great seeing Ben and Joy and it was non stop chatter from the time we arrived at the beach.  As the evening started to get chilly we made our way to Misty's for cocktails.  Misty's is the most happening bar in Hove with an incredible heated outdoor space and even more incredible cocktails.  The cocktail menu is pages long; luckily I was decisive last night as they have so many options I could have been there for years.

It soon neared time of our reservation.  We finished our drinks and continued our walk on to The Foragers. I've walked past this pub many times as it is near where I live, but this was the first time I've ever gone in.  What a pub!  With bright coloured walls, soulful music playing and tables full of people the place was buzzing.  We were promptly shown to our seats and then the meal began.  Mmmm, it was sooo delicious!  For my starter I had a cream of celeriac soup with truffle oil, it was divine!  I didn't want it to end.  Then came my main, twice baked goats cheese souffle with beetroot, fennel and tomatoes.  So much flavour exploded from each bite.  The four of us shared tastes of each of our dishes and everyone's food received high marks.  My stomach was full up, but as happens when growing boys are around it was agreed that puddings were a must.  Since there were four puddings on the menu and four of us the boys decided it made sense to order one of each and share.  They were lovely.  My favourite was the white chocolate and hazelnut souffle.  I could have rolled all the way home.

Wonderful food + good drinks + fun friends = an outstanding night out!

Love

Lovely, lovely sunshine

 The past couple of days have been beautiful!  I just have to share more of my drive to work pics...

Towards the end of my drive I always hit a queue at the same spot which gives me the perfect opportunity to take some countryside snaps.

And the drive tonight was picturesque as the sun began to set...

Love

My first spring weekend of the year

The weekend that just past was so lovely and sunny, Spring is here!

Saturday I had a relaxing morning before dropping Tom at his day of rugby.  The day was warm and bright, the perfect weather for my first bike ride of the year.  I need to start cycling a lot more regularly if I'm going to be in shape for the London to Brighton in a few months.  If you have any training tips please let me know.  I rode from my flat in Hove along the sea to the quaint village of Rottingdean.  If you ever come to visit I will definitely take you there for the best cream tea around.  The beach was buzzing and I took a little time to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere.

I will admit to my embarrassing fall.  Its my silly cycling shoes, they just don't like me.  Seriously, I don't get along with them.  I think I've fallen a time too many and I'm a bit scared of unclipping myself when I stop.  As I cycled into Rottingdean I was on the pavement (aka sidewalk) with a row of parked cars on my left and a short wall on my right.  Instead of stopping and unclipping my shoes properly I thought it would be smart to grab the wall to stop myself and then unclip my shoes.  Silly girl I am.  I fell right over into a Mercedes and banged up both my knees.  How they both got scraped I do not know.

After changing into normal shoes I made my way back home passing a display of impressive motorbike tricks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen.  I had offered to make lunch for Tom's parents on Sunday and decided it was best to make a few dishes ahead of time that I could heat up later.  I made an amazing pink soup that turned out bright purple.  Not only is it delicious, full of veggies including red cabbage, beetroot and apples, it is the best colour ever!  The soup we had for a starter, for the main meal I made Chicken with Lardons and Lentils.  For pudding I made a Raspberry and Nectarine Slump.  It was relaxing turning up the radio and taking my time to make these yummy dishes.

Sunday we spent a wonderful afternoon with Tom's parents.  We had a bit of a late lunch because Tom had to meet Ade at the airport to exchange his bags.   Ade was returning from a ski holiday with friends then leaving again on a business trip and couldn't fit clothes for both in one bag.  When Tom returned the food was warm and we soon began to enjoy the meal.  I was pleased with each of my dishes and think everyone enjoyed the food.  Once finished everyone went for a stroll to the beach.  On our way to the sea we had a quick wander through the Hove Museum looking at all of the old toys and historical exhibits.  It was a beautiful day at the seaside, although not quite bikini weather.

Love

a morning in the country

 The drive to work this morning was pretty/eerie as I made my way through the thick fog engulfing the countryside.  I thought you might enjoy the scenery as I did:

Love

my brown bag

In an effort to tell you more about my work life today’s post features a cruicial part of the day, Lunch.  Usually, as in 99.9% of the time I pack lunches for both Tom and I.  I absolutely love nights when there are leftovers that I can quickly box up for the next day. It makes my life a lot easier. However, at the moment my flat of four does group cooking so leftovers are rare.  Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the group cooking and think it is a good idea.  Each of us is assigned one night Monday through Thursday to cook a nice meal for the house. The other three nights require no work as it is someone else doing the cooking and cleaning up.  

Back to lunches though.  Usually at around 9pm I’m getting tired and start thinking about what food is in the cupboard/fridge that I can possibly do something with.  Lately couscous is a popular option.  It is ready in only 5 minutes, and I add in whatever vegetables I can find in the fridge cooked with lots of spices. Quick, easy and delicious.  Last night as I started to think about lunch I wasn’t just tired, I was exhausted!  I think the two day training course this week and two nights in a row at the gym did me in.  Luckily Tom was kind enough to offer to make me a bean salad.  To be honest he said I should make one and then I put on my best begging face and asked very sweetly if he could do it for me, and it worked. Splendid!

As I watched the morning hours roll past today I excitedly thought about my lunch.  I anticipated it much more than normal in think mainly because I didn’t make it.  It was delicious!  Yummy beans with a lovely light dressing and fresh herbs, see:

Only mine weren't still in the jar.   They sprawled beautiful across my plate until they all disappeared leaving just some dressing behind.

Love

Changefirst's public programme

I promised I would write more about my new job soon.  It's keeping me super busy and I've been exhausted every night for the past two weeks.  I'm not complaining thought, I do enjoy having loads of different projects to work on.  Right now our focus is on launching our Md's book, engaging in LinkedIn discussions, finding people to participate in  market research and promoting the webinar which is at the end of the month, among many other things.

The past two days I had a break from these tasks.  Instead of my normal day to day routine I went on the "public programme"  the company hosts every month.  This is a two day training course on change management.  It teaches people how to effectively manage people, both in roles above and below them, during change projects to help make the changes as effective as possible.  People attending the programme come with a project they are already working on in order to put the methodology to use right away.  I was there to learn the methodology more in depth and see how it is put to practical use.  I learnt a lot and felt the two days were a good use of my time, my objectives were achieved.

To attend the programme I travelled to the Gatwick Hilton.  As it was right at the airport I took the Gatwick Express train up; this journey of only half an hour was definitely convenient for me.  I realised when I was standing at the platform this morning that those of your reading this in America don't know much about English trains, so here's what it's like catching the train in the morning:

Time on the train meant I've really gotten into The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, seriously I cant put this book down!  Highly recommend.  Another bonus was the lovely spread of sandwiches and soup we were served each day for lunch.  I didn't go hungry.

I am very happy to have attended the course, and I have a much better understanding of what my company does.  I wont bore you with explaining it here.  I do know though that when I get back in the office in the morning I will have loads of emails/work to catch up on.  What a busy marketing executive I am!

Lovc

I'm cycling the London to Brighton!

On Sunday 19 June I will be cycling 54 miles from London to Brighton.

The British Heart Foundation's London to Brighton is the Europe's biggest cycle event, with 27,000 people participating last year.  Because it's so popular I was really worried I wouldn't get a place.  I've been determined to do this race for a couple of years, even more so after getting my incredible bike last year.

Now it's time to start thinking seriously about training.  The sun is starting to shine more, which mean I need to get myself out peddling.

Other benefit is that this race is early June therefore training for this is killing two birds with one stone as I'll get bikini fit at the same time.  Bring on summer!

Pancake day, yum yum!

I can't believe its taken me a week to get my post about Pancake Day up!  I've been super busy though and my new job is exhausting me, but in a good way.  More on that in a post soon I promise.

What is Pancake Day those of you at home may ask? It's also know as Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.  Whatever you want to call it marks the beginning of lent-  The start of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before he was crucified on the cross, which leads up to Easter.  Of course you know the story and if not, where were you during Sunday school?

Whilst they are celebrating in New Orleans by reveling in the streets and exchanging peeks for beads in England people are preparing for lent by fattening up with pancakes.  According to Wikipedia this tradition originated as "a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent.  The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure."  I love it, you have to love pancakes and everyone spends the day excited about the sweet feast ahead.

English pancakes are vastly different from American ones.  They are much more like crepes and the popular filling is lemon and sugar.  It's delightful!

We had friends over for a pancake feast, six of us in total filling ourselves with these treats.  We made them in two batches, Tom did the first and as everyone else was enthralled in the football I made the second batch.  Sorry for bragging Tom, but my pancakes did get massive compliments!

Now we are in lent, and I have to admit I haven't given anything up yet.  How horrible of me, I'm usually really good at lent.   What did you give up, any suggestions for me (late is better than never)?

Love

Four years and counting

As of Monday 7 March Tom and I have been together four years.  I can't believe its been four years already, that's a long time!  It has flown by. Although, our long-distance relationship seems like a different lifetime.

Remember back in November when I took Tom to the wine tasting event and we won the three course meal at the upscale Pelham House?  Well if not, I took Tom on a date and we won a free three course meal for two at an upscale restaurant/hotel.  We decided to save it for this celebration.

I love getting dolled up so I was incredibly excited to wear the dress I wore to the Sandhurst Charity Ball for this meal.  The dress is from H&M and was priced increadibly reasonably. In Tom's words I look "very elegant" in it.  Tom work nice suit trousers and a button up shirt.  See don't we look gorgeous:

Our meal was delicious!  Pelham House is in Lewes so we took the train there.  We arrived about twenty minutes befor our reservation so we had time for a drink in the bar.  I was treated to a Champagne Cocktail, it was delightful!

Here is the delightful meal we porked our way through: For starters we shared a butternut squash tagine and veal with parmesan.  Both were scruptious and made me very eager for the rest of the food to arrive.  For my main I had a twiced baked smoked haddock souffle.  It was absolutely deilcious.  I wasn't quite sure to what to expect, but each bite of this dish was full of flavour, and it was the perfect compliment to my sparkling wine.  Tom had the pork belly and not one bite was left on his plate.  Then came the desesrts!  Both of us were full at this point but knew we must carry on.  As I said growing up, there is always a hole for dessert.  Tom choose the apple bread and butter pudding.  It was quite tastey and much much better than I expected.  I had the apple and ginger cheesecake. You can never go wrong with cheesecake!

We practically rolled out of the restaurant and down to the station where our train was just arriving to take us home.  It was an enjoyable evening and saving this meal for a few months was very worth the wait.

Love

Shaun Migrates North

Tom's best friend an my dear friend Shaun has left Brighton.  Shaun lived in Shaftesbury towers with Tom when I was studying here, and I've know him as long as I've known Tom, minus a few days.  After graduation the majority of the Shaftesbury lot moved away, but Shaun remained here in Brighton with Tom and I.  Until now.

Shaun grew up far way north in Manchester.  After living the good life in Brighton for six years he's decided it is time to go back.  He wants to be closer to his parents and is just ready for a change.  Shaun is a very talented musician and a qualified music teacher.  In Manchester he intends on starting a band and supply (or substitute) teaching for a while.

To say goodbye to all of his friends down here, who will be missing him horribly, Shaun threw an incredible house party.  A good English party is always fancy dress and the theme of this night was enchanted forest/ woodland creatures.  I dressed up as a woodland fairy with loads of glittery face makeup.  Tom went as one a character from the Lord of the Flies.  Shaun definitely won best dressed with his Puck costume.

It was the live music that made the party a smashing success.  Old band members and friends of Shauns were happy to entertain the party for the night.  Party attendees even jumped at the chance to rock the mic.  I of course did not damage anyone with my shocking voice, instead I stuck to what I am best at and danced the night away.  Tom attempted the drums, and it's a shame he wasn't born with rhythm because he would love to be good at music.  Overall it was a very fun night!

As a leaving gift Tom and I made Shaun an amazing collage with a gorgeous picture of the burnt down pier in the middle.  Typically and unfortunately, right as we were leaving to get in the cab on our way to the party it fell cracking the glass frame.  Shame!  Shaun loved it anyway.

Luckily we don't have to miss Shaun too much yet as he will be back down in Brighton in a few weeks.

Love

Love for Jamie's 30 min meals

I am completely obsessed with Jamie Oliver's 30-Minute Meals!

Tom got this from his aunt and uncle for his birthday, which means that I now own this amazing book.  Even before taseting one of the numerous delicious meals this contains I already thought that Jamie Oliver is amazing.  His food revolution in Huntington, West Virginia made me a devoted fan.  For those of you not familiar with his food revolution, Jamie went to the statistically most obesse city in America on a mission to change the way people there ate.  He met with residents in the town, but also took on the schools which meant challenging the federal regulatory system.  Without backing down Jamie charged through loads of resistance, and is now in LA continuing his fight to convert people to eating healthy home made food.

In addition to all of his work in America, recently Jamie's 30-Minute Meals began to air in the UK.  The cookbook he put out to accompany this show.  I've only made two of Jamies meals so far, but both received rave reviews.  Tom requested both be made again which is a huge compliment as he can be fussy with food.  The first meal I made was a Spinich and Feta pie accompanied by a cucumber salad and a tomato salad.  This week I made Piri Piri Chicken with dressed potatoes, a rocket salad and portugues tarts.  I just finished the leftovers for lunch and I am very satisified.

The incredible thing about this book, in addition to the delightful meals inside, is that its written in a brilliant new way.  I can't beleive no one has thought of doing this before.  Rather than a collection of recipies, this book is a collection of meals.  So each main has a couple of sides and a pudding.  I think this is a great idea as I often find a recipe I want to make but don't know what to put with it.  The directions are written in a creative way as well.  Instead of three or four seperate recipies the steps for all recipies are intertwined so the dishes all finish at the right time.

Jamie's recipes will be greeting my table frequently in the future.  If you don't have Jamie's 30-Minute Meals rush out and get it now!  Or order it from Amazon (click here if in the UK, here if in the USA).

Enjoy!

Love

My First Day

This morning I woke up feeling like it was a first day of school.  I found a fabulous dress the other day as I wandered through the lanes and it was hanging ready for me to face today in:

I was slightly nervous and excited as I got ready this morning not knowing quite what to expect.  I felt like this because today was my first day as a Marketing Executive for Changefirst Ltd.

The day was a success.  I felt very grown up carpooling with Tom to work.  There is just something about carpooling that seems adult.  I dropped Tom at Amex then continued on to my cute office in the country without getting lost or ruining Tom's car.

I spent the majority of my time today learning.  I learnt about the history of the company, the products we offer, who they are offered to, the marketing strategies that are in place and the marketing goals I will be helping with. I started reading the Md's book that is about to be published.  The book explains the change management methodology our MD created, and this methodology is what the business is founded on.  The book is surprisingly easy to read and quite enjoyable.

My boss, the Head of Marketing and Partners, treated me to lunch at a restaurant in the nearby village Lindfield.  I enjoyed a delightful duck salad whilst chatting away with my boss who ate a delicious looking tiger prawn salad.  He lives in Scotland and comes down to the southeast for work three days a week; he has two adorable children and a wife who's also in marketing.

I had an opportunity to get acquainted with the two ladies who were in the office today.  They are very friendly.  I look forward to working with them, and to meeting my other colleagues.

At the end of the day I was tired, but at the same time looking forward to going back tomorrow.  I know I am going to enjoy this job very much.  I am so happy for the change!

Love