Happy Fifth of July!

We finally found the camera (it was in the shed, for some reason) so I can post this with photos of our Fourth of July cookout. Or Fifth of July barbecue, if you will, because it was held on the 5th (because it was a Saturday) and because I had to amend my invitations to call it a "barbecue" rather than a "cookout" because that's what English people call it when you cook and eat outdoors. I found this a little silly because, to me "barbecue" suggests that you will be eating barbecue, with sticky sauce, ribs, etc, but whatever. (Also, I was annoyed that no one could work out the very simple etymology that "cookout" means cooking outside, but again, whatever.)

After a couple of weeks of warmth and light, the weather has been pretty unpredictable lately and it was actually raining when we woke up on Saturday. I remained optimistic (or pig-headed), though, and just kept thinking, it will clear up, it will clear up. My sister had sent some gorgeous pictures of my niece in their neighbourhood parade (riding in her Radio Flyer wagon festooned with bunting and a balloon) so that kept me positive. And, eventually, it did clear up! Which was good, because even though only a fraction of the invitees made it, we had over 30 people and I don't think they would have all fit in the house. And it wouldn't have worked to put the grill in the conservatory... We kept it simple with the food. I asked people to bring salad, buns, sausages and drinks and we provided burgers and desserts, as well as some drinks, condiments, and desserts.

For decoration, I made a garland by cutting stars out of red, white and blue paper and sewing them together on my machine. The cutting was a bit tedious (thank you, Matthew, for helping me!) but the sewing was a breeze. I draped it over and around the conservatory door and around our Jamie Reid print. Matthew said, "See, the Queen loves the 4th of July, too!" Our friend Colleen, who just came back from Texas, brought little flags, which graced the mantle. You can just see them in the photo.

The other big thing I did was make cupcakes and a cake. I know - I'm awesome!

For the cupcakes I used the same Hershey's recipe as for Matthew's birthday cake, with a cream cheese frosting. I used low fat cream cheese and low fat margarine from a tub because I can't find stick margarine around here. That affected the consistency of the frosting; it was a lot runnier than I'd anticipated. This was fine for the cupcakes, as it "flowed" nicely. I baked them in silver liners and sprinkled with red and blue sugar sprinkles - on the early ones I was a bit heavy-handed, but I got the hang of it eventually. Then I stuck a tiny American flag in every other one (to avoid flag fatigue). Too cute! Matthew's friend Kim brought beautiful, Sex in the City style cupcakes from a fancy shop. They were genuinely gorgeous (and I've just realised, really expensive), but I thought the cake on mine was better. And mine were definitely more patriotic.

The cake was more of a challenge, and not one that I met with total triumph. I made two butter cakes (from Martha Stewart's recipe) and put them together to make roughly the right size and shape. From my experience making Easter bunny cakes, I figured the seam would be hidden under frosting. However, the runny cream cheese frosting had other ideas. It hid the seam okay, but it was not prepared to stick to the sides, so I just poured it on and let it dribble. Fortunately, English people are used to that look; they regularly spoon runny custard over cake (and other desserts) and just thought it was supposed to look like that. The real problem was that the bottom line of strawberries kept sliding off the cake! In the end, I had to cut toothpicks in half and use them to spear the strawberries to the cake. Fortunately, I cut the first slices, so I was able to remove the picks and thus avoid any injury to guests. The blueberries were much less problematic. They stuck just fine.

Other than the frosting drama, things went really well. We aren't big barbecuers and the first batch of sausages were pretty severely burnt because Matthew kept going off and talking to people. Fortunately, his cousins Kathy and Tone took over, resulting in much more edible food. Also, we put the grill on the wrong side of the patio and initially a lot of smoke went into the living room, but no one seemed to notice except me. Most people left around 9pm, but a handful stayed until midnight, hanging around and (sort of) helping clean up. As after our housewarming party, I was struck by the realisation that we must really be grown-up now - people had put all their dirty dishes in the kitchen, our recycling bin was full to overflowing, and nothing was broken. In all, it was lots of fun...and we've been eating sausages and cupcakes non-stop for the past 5 days now!

Summer Time Greenery

It seems that summer was finally really arrived. It’s been sunny and warm not just for a couple of days, followed by cold, grey rain, but for almost two weeks now! It was almost too warm last night for our duvet, but I’m reticent to do anything about it just yet. When it’s really warm, we take the comforter out of the cover and use the cover alone as a light bedspread. Several weeks ago, I mistook a warm spell for actual summertime and took the duvet off the bed. Of course, we froze for a couple of nights before I broke down and admitted to myself that maybe night time temperatures in late May do warrant a big fluffy duvet, even with the additional warmth of a wool blanket, my beloved brown blanket, Matthew and one or two cats.

Anyway, now it’s lovely and hot (not two words that normally go together in Texas, but work well in England) and the garden is lush and green. Our next door neighbour/gardener Rocco is working on the garden to a plan that exists only in his mind – and seems to change week to week, so my gardening has been confined to the conservatory. I don’t want to get in his way. I must say, it’s going pretty well. I have two out-of-control basil plants that I’m trying to pinch and trim into bushier, less awkwardly tall shapes, a bushy basil with mites, the convalescing orchid, three agapanthus plants that were originally a single plant given by our friend Jane as a housewarming present, another plant from Jane (I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s sort of twiggy) and some tomato seedlings. Oh, and a hot pink plastic watering can.

The bushy, mite-y basil is sequestered on top of the CD shelf, with the orchid, which doesn’t have much to lose at this point, and an agapanthus and at a (hopefully) safe distance from the tomato plants. Since this photo, I have divided the tomatoes into three pots – none have died yet! – and the basil has moved to the table.

The orchid isn’t up to much at the moment. I did some research and apparently dark green leaves mean that the plant could use more sunlight. This one couldn’t get more light unless it were under a spotlight, but it still doesn’t look too happy. I think I’m not giving it enough water. Or too much. Hard to say.

This is our new plant table, which provides space for more plants and hides the cat box! We were having a problem with the cat box getting a bit smelly in the warm conservatory. Since the conservatory doubles as our dining room, this meant we were mostly eating at the coffee table. However, covering the box with the table and table cloth has made a huge difference – as has a can of industrial strength air sanitizer. I’ve been looking for a table for some time and even considered getting my dad to build something, then break it down and ship it, but Matthew found a little flat pack table at Argos for about £12.99, we bought and assembled it together, and our lives were significantly improved, all in the space of a single Sunday afternoon.

Keeping Busy

So what have I been doing with the time that I should have been posting over the last week and a half? Let’s see…

We got our new washing machine last Friday and have been blissfully laundering since. Matthew had several days off so he has done more than I have, but I’m trying to catch up.

Last Saturday we went over to my friend Virginia’s for lunch and got back at 2am. Hampstead Heath, hippies and Spanish people figured in our adventures, more on which later. My niece's birthday party was on Saturday, too. Judging from the photos, there were 4 grandparents and at least one federal judge present, so it had to be fun!

This was supposed to be my last week at work, but they like me so much they want me to come back! I was originally contracted to work for four weeks at an architectural practice in Central London to cover one receptionist being in the Czech Republic for a week and the other receptionist being in South Africa for three weeks. Near the end of the fourth week, we heard from the second girl that she’d developed a blood clot in her leg on the way back from South Africa and so couldn’t come back to work just yet. However, she’d been hospitalized in France and her doctor’s note was in French, so there was a bit of confusion about what exactly was going on. She’s coming back on Monday so I was prepared for this to be my last week, but on Tuesday, they asked me if I’d like to come back to do another role, which involves entering all their project contacts into a data base for use on the intranet they are setting up. Should be pretty boring, but not difficult. I really like the people there, the location is great and the office is very laid back and friendly. Also, this project should last for several weeks, which will take me almost right up to the beginning of the school term. So yay for me! To celebrate, we had a slap-up meal of George Foreman-grilled steaks, broccoli and thick-cut pan-fried potatoes. So tasty it made me wish I got a new job every day…

Also on Tuesday, I found a book club I’m going to try out. I was aimlessly googling and found a group that meets in Central London and is accepting new members. The list of books they’ve read in the past sounded good – I’ve at least heard of most of them – so I am going to their next meeting this coming Tuesday. To that end, I’ve been reading John Fowles’s 600 page novel The Magus, desperately trying to finish by Tuesday. I know I can do it, but I’m just so busy these days, ya know? Also, I’m not finding myself really engaged in the book in a way that would force me to sit down and read for 4 hours at a stretch. So, we’ll see.

On Wednesday, I took homemade kiwi bread to work and received general adulation. There are no photos of the kiwi bread because it mysteriously disappears every time I make it. In fact, all that’s left of the loaf I kept at home is a very small sliver that I’ve saved for Matthew. It’s not a very generous serving, but should be enough to keep him from accusing me of eating it all while he was at work. Anyway, I got one request for the recipe and many, many requests for more bread. I will have do it again in a couple of weeks, if only because the kiwis are “liberated” from the fruit bowl at work so I feel I owe it to the company to give them back, value-added. Some of them, anyway; lots of them end up in my cereal in the mornings.

Also on Wednesday, I went to my new yoga class. It’s my third week and I still feel the next day as if I’ve been beaten up.

On Thursday evening, we joined Virginia and some friends of hers for a picnic on Hampstead Heath. We sat on blankets in the long grass and ate cold sausages, potato salad, olives, pate on crusty bread, and lots of other yummy things while dogs came over to say hello, families rambled by and a boot camp style exercise class kept running past being shouted at, I mean, encouraged by their instructor. It was windy and got very cold but we had a good time and plan to do it again next week. We took the overground train home, which I’d never done before, so that was interesting too. It’s like the underground, except you can actually see things out the windows.

Friday was extremely busy at work. The practice hosted an awards ceremony for architectural students doing sustainable building projects and I had about 30 minutes in the afternoon to set up the “drinks and nibbles” area for about 50 people. It was hard work, but the most annoying thing was that I kept setting out trays of beers, only to have people keep drinking them! Actually what annoyed me was that they kept leaving the bottle caps all over the tables, making them appear very messy, even though I’d set out a little cup for the caps and even “seeded” it with one so they’d see what it was for. Honestly… Anyway, I fell asleep on the sofa as soon as I got home. When I woke up I whined a little bit about making dinner and we eventually ordered Chinese food and watched several episodes of the American Office. Pretty much a perfect Friday night…

Yesterday I did some shopping (to celebrate the Summer Solstice, perhaps?) and today I went to a crafts fair. It was fun and I bought lots of things, but I will have to wait to write about it, since I mainly bought presents for my sister’s birthday (next weekend) and don’t want ruin her surprises!

Happy Birthday, Mattie!

Today is my niece Mattie's first birthday. She is sweet, pretty, utterly charming and now a whole, entire year old! We won't get to attend her party this weekend, but I've sent a little package and, if the past year is any indication, I'm sure there will be LOTS of photos.

On this festive day, we tried to go to a taping of QI, one of our favourite TV shows, but they were overbooked. We actually made it through two cuts (were literally the last two people in line after the second), but in the end there was no room at the inn. Instead, we were guaranteed seats at a taping of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in August. Instead we had a nice walk, over the Thames toward Fleet Street, then came home and had an excellent meal of stuffed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, broccoli and salmon croquettes. So we've had a lovely Mattie's birthday even without Mattie herself.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

Oh, and...

We're getting a new washing machine. Yesterday, I had a load of towels going when I heard a loud bang followed by loud thudding. When I got downstairs, I saw water streaming out of the machine. The drum had come off one of the springs that hold it in place. The machine is old and a bit rusty, so we decided to get a newer, better, more energy efficient one. We'd done some research on new washing machines last year before we moved in, so we ordered this year's model of our favorite from John Lewis today and it arrives on Friday. I am absurdly excited about this.

Weirdly, the new machine, with delivery and disposal of the old washer, costs £308. This is exactly how much I earned last week. Huh.

Baby Velvet

Two weekends ago, I went to a baby shower for our friend Mia. (Matthew went to Nashville last year with her husband Paul to co-produce his album. He described it as the best holiday of his life and returned with a Western shirt, a cowboy hat and a mustache. He'd obviously had a good time.) Anyway, for Mia's tea party shower, I made scones and customised a set of onesies (or baby-grows, as they are called here).

I made one batch of strawberry scones and one strawberry and kiwi. They were well received and two people asked me for the recipe – just the sort of reaction I like.

Strawberry Yogurt Scones

2 C flour
3 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
4 T butter, cold, cut into ½ cubes
¾ C chopped strawberries
¾ C plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Stir together dry ingredients. With a pastry cutter or two knives (or, if you can’t quite coordinate two knives, a potato masher) cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in strawberries. Stir in enough yogurt to form dough into a ball (up to ¾ C, but I used less). Turn dough onto a floured surface and with floured hands knead a few times. Press into a 9 inch round, cut into 8 triangles. Place onto cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake until golden, about 12 - 15 minutes. Remove to rack to cool.

Note: For the strawberry-kiwi scones, I used just under a half cup of each fruit and added an additional tablespoon of sugar. The dough is very sticky and was hard to deal with when I used all the yogurt; it was much easier when drier.

The onesies elicited oohs and ahhs, especially the one with Paul’s album cover. That one was Matthew’s idea and it was genuinely adorable. The images on the shirts were straighter than it looks in the photos, by the way.

Mia looked like she was ready to pop the day of the shower, but she didn’t actually have the baby until last week. She is a very pretty little girl named…Velvet Giselle. Well, they are rock-n-rollers.

Plant Hospital

Yesterday I rescued a bloomless orchid from the office where I've been working. It had been on the desk for about 4 months and finally lost its final, withered flower that morning. We got a new one at Marks and Spencer and to keep it from going in the bin (and having heard that they will eventually bloom again), I took the old one home. Lots of people seemed interested in this and offered advice. One girl said she has one that is finally starting to bloom after a year. She keeps it in the bathroom because they like the humidity. Another girl said that if you give an orchid a contraceptive pill, it will bloom continually. I said, "Do you crush the pill and put it in the water?" She said she just sticks it in the soil. Then someone else asked if she has lots of extra contraceptive pills laying around. She said it only takes one. I don't know what her boyfriend thinks about this, but I didn't think it was my place to ask.

When I left in the evening, I got several comments:

Comment 1: Is it your last day? Are you taking your little plant?

Comment 2: Are you stealing that? (When I explained I was taking it home as it'd lost its flowers) Oh, are you good with orchids?

Comment 3: What is that? (I explained) Hmmm. (This was from the founding partner of the firm, when I ran into him on the tube platform. I couldn’t really read his “Hmmm.” It didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic.)

I don't have a picture of the plant in question. I'll try to take one tomorrow, even though right now the orchid is just five droopy leaves and some creepy-looking roots snaking out of the holes in the bottom of the pot. I'm not sure it was worth the effort of getting it home (in the cold and rain), but if it does bloom next year, I'll be thrilled that I got a £14.99 plant for free. Woo, and indeed, hoo.