Days 104, 105, 106, and 107. Heaters. Boots. Toilets. and Christmas.

Days 104, 105, 106, and 107. Heaters. Boots. Toilets. and Christmas. Day 104. 

Wednesday. Christmas Eve. Deirdre and I take walks everyday. It is good to get out of the house, see things, and make up stories about the things we walk past. Our walks usually turn into shopping. We walked to a couple of grocery stores, a pet store with some frisky guinea pigs, walked some more, and shopped. There is a 'chain' of cute boutique clothing stores called Polly. Deirdre was the first to notice that there was more than one in the town on our daily walks. They each have a different theme, bohemian, posh, shabby cheque, etc. One of the stores had some amazing boots in them. I was having a hard time justifying the purchase of said boots, and thought if I am still thinking about them by Saturday, I will buy them then. After more thrift stores, and shops we headed back to the house to check on the others. The two hosts were doing school work, sister to one host has been sick the week previous so she stays home and reads, and bus rider was doing school work too. SO you can see why it is not a problem for Deirdre and I to be out so long in town because no one else can explore with us. When we got back to the house, we all went for a walk...to the castle together. First time all six of us had been out of the house together in three days. Bus rider had not even seen the ocean yet! Deirdre, Host2, and I stayed a bit longer than the others waiting for sunset. It was cold, windy, and in true sunset waiter fashion, clouds rolled in. Nevertheless I got some good pictures. That night Deirdre made sausage rolls (even some veggie ones for me) and I made Ginger Cookies and crossaint dough. After that we all played card games. Progressive Rummy. Then I had bought some face masks, and all were supportive in commencing in the first annual christmas eve face mask regalia. Deirdre, Host2 and myself decided to go to Midnight Mass. None of us had ever been before, the oldest church in the town is 60 seconds away from the flat, and so it was easy to just slide on over. It was Anglican. The church was beautiful. It had drippy candles up all the aisles of pews, and a Christmas tree simply lit with just lights. They had a house band, with a guitar/cello/tambourine singers. We sang some carols, the minister gave a nice sermon on Jesus is always with us, we sang some more carols, and it was over. It was Christmas.

 Day 105. I slept in tell 9am. I baked the croissants. Ate them. We slowly all gathered in the common room. Host1, Host1Sister, Dierdre, and BusRider had gotten things to stuff the Christmas Stockings, so we opened them up. Got some faux glasses that were snowman's eyes, mini top hat, and a carrot piece dangling over my nose. Host2 opened up a gift from her family, which included a nightie from her dead grandma. Yep we laughed at that. Deirdre, Host1 and myself then left to go foraging for spices for the roast turkey, as there were none in the house. We got rosemary from the garden Host1s old flat, and a mini market for a herb mix. We spent the afternoon cooking. I made a very rustic lemon tart for BusRider as she would not eat the pumpkin pie that Host1 made. In between rounds of cooking I talked to the family back home. It was nice to see their cute faces. Our traditional British Roast Dinner included, roasted potatoes, carrots, turnips, Yorkshire puddings (german pancake like things cooked in muffin tins for individual portions), and turkey with gravy for everyone else, and I had Quorn vegetarian country fried chicken with mushroom gravy. The meal was amazing, and I ate more in one meal than I usually do in a few days. We played games, everyone talked to their families via some device (modern technology is great), played more games, and watched movies. Host2 and I took a walk, it was nice to move that food around a bit and enjoy the night sea air as we walked along the boardwalk. More card games and bed. BusRider asked Host1 if she could turn off the heater as she gets really hot. I told her not to turn off the heat, as I still get a little cold at night. She said she would leave it on the lowest level. Deirdre and I fell asleep and BusRider binged watched Once Upon a Time tell 3 in the morning in the common room we were all sharing.

 Day 106. Friday. Every morning, I wake up to the sound of Seagulls. This morning, I woke up hearing the seagulls louder than usual. I also thought the air was crisper and colder. I thought that was strange too. Host1 and sister opened their bedroom door as I was headed to the bathroom and I thought 'wow their room is warm....I love warm.' It was then that Host1 Sister discovered that someone opened the window during the night because said person was hot. She left the heater on low as promised, but opened the window as well. Makes perfect sense right? Not. At. All. It was a take it easy day. Host1, Deirdre, and myself to took a walk to the lighthouse. It was cold, rainy walk and lovely to see the fishing side to the town. Came back and played games all day inside. Literally a nice low key relaxed day. And discovered that the heater in the common room was now not working at all. Fabulous. We ate Christmas leftovers and all watched Guardians of the Galaxy. My first Marvel movie. I know don't go into shock. I also watched the Christmas Special for Call the Midwife in between rounds of games and during dinner.

 Day 107. Saturday. The heater kicked in about 2am. BusRider went home. I got up early with Host2 and Deirdre to take BusRider to the bus station and to see if we could rent a car for a day trip, the rental agency was overbooked, so no car possible. Dierdre and I took a hike up a tall hill (mini mountain) on the edge of town and had great views of the ocean, town, hills, and yep everything....on the way down the hill I did a little mud surfing and got a little trail of mud up my back. It was a good laugh. As we came back into town, there were "sale" signs on all the buildings...we had missed Boxing Day (UK's equivalent of black Friday) the day before as we stayed inside and played games....so we headed back to one of our favorite finds, Polly, fresh from hiking looking a bit worn out and mud on my jacket and I was going to purchase some boots I couldn't stop thinking about....well apparently a lot of other people couldn't stop thinking about them because they were now out of my size in all colors three days later. Ugh. That was the worst sentence ever written. Don't judge. Read on. Deirdre was lucky in the boot department and walked out with two pair. I looked online, and my size feet apparently is super common as none available there either. After shopping, we met the girls back at the apartment. Some wanted to go shopping, so we all headed back out again. Nice to get out of the apartment and enjoy this cute place! I neglected to mention that this is also the point where we found out the toilet was clogged up pretty bad and unusable tell help could come. Outdoor adventures it is! We were going to go out to dinner, but the girls decided they'd rather order pizza which turned into buying frozen pizza's....but luckily for me, Host2 said she'd rather order a pizza than eat frozen. It was a really good pizza with peppers, tomatoes, olives, and jalapeños. Probably the first time I've ordered pizza in the UK. We played games, took a bathroom run to the Starbucks next to the flat before they closed at 8pm (that's true. Eight PM. This is the last shop in town to close). We played more games until we all got to tired, and now i am writing a novel about heaters and boots and toilets. super fun.

Days 101, 102, and 103. Why are they talking wrong?

Days 101, 102, and 103. Why are they talking wrong?

 Sunday. Day 101. Got up and went to church. The third our was great with the primary putting on the nativity. I swear it is even better with British accents. They were adorable...and it got out early. Sweet. Had enough time to catch the bus to the train station & off back to London I went. I had enough time to repack my purse, grab my other bags & head out. I thought that my travel companions were packing light, so I packed my duffle bag, a grocery bag, and purse. Not the lightest. I showed up a the bus station and met Dierdre and BusRider (met her for the first time) and they both had large suitcases! Dang. I didn't want to bring that much but carrying it all on my shoulders vs pulling a suitcase, I am pretty sure that a suitcase is a win. but not this was not the case. pun not intended. We headed out on our megabus trip....for seven hours. I had no idea it was that long. I didnt do the math, but yah. Seven hours is so much fun when you want to sleep and cant....until its actually your stop its when I woke up. Ha! We walked through the quiet small town of Aberystwyth, Wales. It was really dark, but it was like a small rural town in the states...one main street, and all the other streets are off of it. That late at night it was cool to experience but I just wanted to sleep.

 Monday. Day 102. I tried to sleep, got out of bed at 10am. Apparently the household was all needing some sleep as I was the second up for the day. Three of us headed out for a walk.... turns out the ocean is three minutes away! Yippee! I would be sitting on a bench everyday watching the ocean here if it wasn't so darn freezing. We walked the boardwalk & a bit around town & then back to the flat. Dierdre and I headed back out to some thrift shops (they call them charity shops here) and I had no intention to buy anything but I bought a sweater, and two Harry Potter books for a friend back home. Now I need to find the rest of the UK HP books (they are different than the US HP versions). We were gone for a couple of hours. Came back home, made a grocery list with the others as all stores are closed on Christmas, and the day after, so it was like a stock up for the next few days. My contributions are daily treats for everybody. I took requests, and I wanted classic american treats as I need them so there will be a treat a day if I am feeling ambitious. Grocery shopping was next. As we were milling around the baked goods, a boy about six near us said, "Mum, why are they talking wrong?" He was referring to us! "Because they are speaking with American accents." His response, "What's American?" His mom apologized for her son, but we were all delighted to be talking wrong. Came home, unloaded groceries. Made snicker-doodle cookies that got rave reviews. Played a card game while watching 'White Christmas' in the background. Tried to figure out how Welch I actually am, before sleep took over.

 Tuesday. Day 103. Dierdre and I got up for another walk. This time we walked more in the town streets. I forgot that I needed yeast & molasses on my list of treats. So we ventured to the grocery store, no such luck. Through the day was tried at 5 other places, but no such luck. 4/6 of the group went to9 see 'The Hobbit' in the afternoon. 2/6 went and got lunch. Can you guess which group I was in? My baked potato with veggie chili was great. :) After that I FacedTimed with my dear dear friend Angela for the first time since moving to London, (as she just got an iPhone) and her family is moving to Saudi Arabia next week. It was great to see her and her family. Talked to pops for a minute too before making brownies. There were movies going on in the background, another round of games, conversations, and good times. I love this simple Christmas season. No big fuss over decorations, traditions, or perfections, just simply enjoying Christmas time.

Days 98, 99, and 100. Yippee!!

Days 98, 99, and 100!!!! Oh my goodness. I hit day 100. How is this possible? Happy Day!! Day 98. Thursday. I'm enjoying being lazy too much. I made some errands for myself so that I could get out of the house. I've been wanting to try a cute cafe on the corner by my house. It was lovely. I rewrote some recipes/notes as I ate parsnip soup & crusty bread. Yummy. Then I headed to the bus stop to catch it, but it was cold & taking too long. I ended up walking to where I needed to go & never once did I see the bus. Glad I did not wait. TK Maxx (TJ in the states) did some shopping...and headed back to the bus station only to see it pulling away as I approached the needed to cross the walk. So I walked home. Yippy! It was fun to walk the route at night. Sunset is 450pm-ish here...so not much time for sunlight with a sunrise at 8am. If you want to get things done with the sun, you gotta get up early. After I dropped off my stuff I headed to the cinema to see "The Imitation Game." Fantastic and sad all in one film. I also decided I couldn't sit around for the next three days waiting for Wales so I booked train tickets, and a B&B for Saturday night. More on that later.  My landlady asked if I could give a months rent upfront (as she is leaving for well a month). I didnt know if my ATM would allow such a thing. I told her I would try tomorrow and see.

 Day 99. Friday. I cleaned my room. I swear every time I clean my room it still looks messy. I vacuumed, cleaned my bed linens. Everything. Then I decided to do a test run to a train station I had never been to, collect my tickets, and ATM it up. I was declined at the ATM three times. What the heck?!? I panicked thinking I was hacked and my money gone, but nope. They had put a security hold on my card because I was at the ATM two days in a row and that is not like my usual pattern. More than you needed to know, but it was a slow day. Came home, packed my things for the quick trip & for Wales as the window between trips is two hours. Not much time.

 Day 100. Saturday. I didn't even realize it was a day to celebrate until I laid down to write this. I packed up my messenger bag (my lightest travel pack ever) and headed to the train station to go to.... Southampton, England. I have ancestors on my mom's side that were born and died here. I don't know why I am nostalgic for family history over here, but heck it gives me something to explore. First stop, I found a walking tour of the city online (Oxfords was good so i figured why not do another one). I was the only person to show up for the tour plus the guide, so it was a personal tour of the old city. This place has serious serious history. It has been around forever. The wall that once guarded the city on the seashore is now in the lower end of town, as during the depression they drained the water to make jobs and build more things. Then the town was bombed during WWII. Not much was left after that, a few buildings survived. It was amazing to see the really old mixed in with the new.

Next up the cemetery. I saw in my FamilySearch.org account a specific church that one of my relatives is buried at....problem is there are two churches with the same name. I contacted one of the churches (they have a website, just not a 'find a headstone' section) on Thursday and they wrote back telling me most likely it was the other one due to the date of the burial. So I headed off out of town on the bus to one cemetery, looking for the oldest headstones, of which most were unreadable, falling over, or fallen over. I liked on the headstones of some it said "went to sleep" vs d.i.e.d. No workers were there for me to ask for help, so I just wondered about the many history books of lives in that place. I wondered around a long bit, called to my ancestors and was satisfied I was in their city, and that a headstone didn't matter too much. I grabbed some lunch before determining to go to the other St. Mary's church as I had some time to see if I could read any of their headstones. They were older and moss covered. Still sweet to see history.

 I headed to the B&B for a break/rest/rejuvenate. I watched the last half of "Nativity!" with Martin Freeman. Funny. Then just as I was debating on dinner, UK's version of Dancing with the Stars came on....I haven't watched much of it, but it was the finals, so I decided to watch. Seriously love how there are NO commercials on a lot of shows here. It is dance, results, dance, results for 90 minutes straight through! And being that this country is all in one time zone, they opened the phone lines for voting, an hour later they are back with the results & a champion! Crazy! No prolonged days getting results. I'll stop talking about TV. I headed out during said hour break to get some dinner. Found a Jamaican place with rave reviews on Yelp & it was the most packed restaurant on the street....and I walked a mile to get there so I know what other places looked like. Yep 2 miles round trip for squash curry. It was worth it.

 Tomorrow I head back to London, and then off to Wales for the week! Yippee!

Days 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97. I just believe in natural history and little villages and being lazy as possible.

Days 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97.  I just believe in natural history and little villages and being lazy as possible.  For days I have tried to plan for adventures over the channel to european destinations but the frugality in me has won too many battles of saving money and not wanting to travel alone.  Weird.  I know.  I have travelled too much on my own to enjoy the independence, but this time around, I need some company.  So no travel it is, but making new adventures in and around London.

I got up Saturday (day 93) and made plans, then I was too late to make the train for said plans, so I made other plans, and other plans and finally a rough idea of what I could do.  I got a London number for my iPhone.  I got tired of depending only on wifi for three months, and so I got a cheap pay as you go plan.  It was easy to do, pour guy at the shop got an ear full out of me asking a million questions about what plan was the best for my money.  After that I decided to hit up a nice little farmers market that i had been to before.  The first time I went I had stuffed myself silly prior to going, so I had no room for more food.  This time, I was so hungry and indecisive i walked around for an hour before deciding on something to eat.  After that, I decided I needed to see a musical....one that has a lottery to win tickets to that shall remain nameless and I was only going to go if I won the lottery.  As they were drawing the winners, the man announced that this would be the last two tickets available, "Oh but someone else is in luck because this person only wants one."  "oooooohhhhhh" was the pity cry of the crowd waiting.  "Oh gosh its me. I won." was my thought.  Sure enough.  I was the winner.  I figured if i won the lottery, I'm destined to see the show.  I'll keep you guessing as to what it is I saw.  Very funny, very obscured, and overall I liked it.

Sunday.  Day 94. The usual morning routine.  As I left church, the Natural History Museum had no queue (aka line) to get in, this was a first as usually it is down the street.  I took advantage of the no line and enjoyed a couple of hours of looking at dinosaur bones, life-size relics of whales & mammals, and other enlightening exhibits.  It was a nice cultured afternoon.  I was starving by the time I got home.  I made salsa, chocolate chip cookie dough, and sweet potato tacos (thanks for the idea Lisa) and watched movies, talked to the parents, and planned out my next adventure.      During my indecisive walk around the farmers market on Saturday, I did text Vermont and California and told them I was renting a car and headed to the Cotswolds on Monday and they could join if they liked.  They both jumped on it.  Vermont asked if Singapore could join.  Why not.  The more the merrier.


Monday, Day 95, we all got up bright and early and met up at the airport to go to the neighboring rental car agency.  It took a lot longer to find the agency and fill out the paperwork then I had expected.  Nevertheless, we took off, and had a fantastic time in the Cotswolds.  I asked the other three if they had any preferences on what to see, and none of them had done research.  California mentioned a Cathedral, she showed me where it was on the map, and it was out of the way fro what I had planned and far from the hotel (manor) we were staying at.

Seriously it was magical.  Little towns full of [really old] people living their lives.  I told the girls that if any of them wanted to pull over at anytime to take a picture, I would.  I think I pulled over more for myself than the others ever requested, but there was so much to capture!  The towns and roads all blended together.  They were all fabulous.  At one stop Vermont talked to a man that had only been to London two times in his life, and never wanted to go back again.  London is two hours away.  Shoot I've been two hours away in every direction Sent from my iPad

Thanks to Mindy (hi Mindy!) for suggesting that I look up Rick Steve's recommendations for places to visit in the Cotswolds, we had a great variety of places to go and see.  I divided the list for the two days, and the first list was completed.  I told everyone that we were headed to the hotel as it is 30 minutes away and now dark at 5pm.  We'd been up since 5am.  California pulls out her phone and says "the cathedral is open for another hour we can still make it."  I was a bit stunned at the request.  It was thirty minutes away.  Directionally, we were at the top of a triangle, the cathedral was the lower left point and the hotel was the lower right point of the triangle.  It did not make directional sense to go there.  I knew there had to be an ulterior motive for going, but me being a good sport, agreed to go without knowing the reasoning for needing to go. Once in the Cotswolds, I knew there would be no major freeways to the hotel, but somehow we managed to get on one to see this Cathedral. I knew we were getting further away from our destination.  The cathedral was really pretty, all cathedrals are.  Once in the parking lot, California got really excited.  "Is there a significance for this cathedral like a movie was filmed here or something?" I asked.  "Yes! Harry Potter was filmed here!"  was California's joyful reply as she sh.  Ugh.  I should have known.  She was wearing her Hermonie (however you spell it) costume all day long.  She's worn it before.  I just didn't know she wanted a photo shoot in the Cathedral as a Harry Potter character. We made the most of it.  Vermont and i took a picture in the Men's bathroom next to the urinals I figured Daniel Radcliffe had used.  Once back in the car, California put her phone away and left it to the rest of us to find our way to the Manor.

The Manor.  Originally Vermont tried to get us a little cottage on HomeAway.com but when the owner didn't get back to her in time, she found the complete opposite (no complaints) on booking.com.  Seriously I thought of their commercials as we walked into the Manor.  Seriously grand history.  The rooms were over the top (velvet headboard & comforter, bust in the fireplace, leopard fabric covered armchairs) grandiose.  It was amazing to feel like royalty for the evening.  We grabbed dinner at a local pub, after stopping into a convenience store for snacks.  We were hungry.  When we got out of the pub, the town was foggy. Singapore said that was the first fog that was not pollution that she had ever seen.  Did I mention that this was also Singapore's first road trip ever???  Um yah. There were a bunch of firsts on this trip.  Must tell a funny tale from dinner.  Vermont told us about a friend she has back home that is quadriplegic and at concerts uses it to get back stage to see the bands better.  Singapore says "Im going to have to use that at the next concert...I'll just close my eyes and tell them that I cant see so I can go back stage."  Singapore did not know that quadriplegic and blindness are not the same thing.  We laughed forever with that one.  We walked around the grounds of the Manor by moonlight before heading in for the night.

Day 96.  California was our door knocking wake up call to see the grounds at sunrise (mind you it was 8am, but I was exhausted from driving all around).  Turns out the Manor was a B&B.  We had a nice breakfast.  Walked around the grounds a bit and headed out for more adventures.  The manor people recommended some more towns that we added to the list, and they were all lovely as well.  We went to the information center in one town, and I talked to a local man (not an old man) and he drew us a map of where to go in the town to see things.  As we were walking down one of the oldest roads, a young boy was helping his grandpa bring groceries in the house.  I was taking a picture when the grandpa starts talking to me and tells us that the merchants house was the one at the end and that these houses were the wool weavers.  Singapore asked him if I could get my picture with him.  He obliged. It was then our goal to get more pictures with old men then paparazzi shots of the past 24 hours.  We stopped into a church, looking for a restroom, and just as we were headed out, an old man gave un an impromptu tour of the church, showing us Ann Bolen's wine sacrament cup, Roman pillars (the town was built by the Romans), and stained glass.  Seriously nicest people town.  We headed off for more spots, and picture taking, fun and laughs.  And a lot of driving.  I was getting tired, and we tried to stop for dinner, but got stuck in traffic, and so we pressed on, returned the car, metroed to our dividing point, grabbed some dinner at a restaruant, and then a pub for dessert.  Came home, and crashed.

Day 97.  To be or not to be lazy.  Lazy morning.  Did a load of laundry.  Decided to be a tourist.  Walked by the Sherlock Holmes statue and 221B Baker Street and walked through Regent's Park.  I havent been there in 10 years.  10 years ago I walked through the soccer fields, not knowing there was a lake.  This time, I walked around the lake.  I went to Burough Market looking for a gift to give the host of my upcoming Wales adventure, but no such luck.  I didnt want to chance cheese incase she wasn't a stinky cheese lover. Grabbed some Indian Food for dinner.  I headed over to a Christmas Market on the Thames to get something there, but was unimpressed.  I wanted some paper Christmas stars for myself, but 1. dont need anymore extra luggage and 2. didnt want to spend the money.  donations gladly accepted.   Headed home for a lazy night of Chocolate Chip Cookies, toast with jam & hot chocolate for a snack, and youtube watching and writing this novel for my evening.  what is in store tomorrow I have no idea.  Just glad to take it easy.  I like slow days.  

DAYS 90, 91, AND 92. FROZEN. BRAVE.

DAYS 90, 91, AND 92. Frozen. Brave. Well, I made it to day ninety. Ninety days in London, Ninety more to go. The half way point has been reached. I've had great days, challenging days, exciting days, rough days, normal days and amazing days. Its been quite the adventure. I am glad I am here. Its not like I thought I would find myself here, or be a completely different person, I know who I am and I am who I am. Day 90 Wednesday morning was found bright and early (actually it wasn't bright as the sun wasn't up yet) in the classroom finishing off the celebration cake. My inspiration cake I found on line was a simple white base, with a red ribbon with stars wrapping itself around the cake. The cake I actually completed was a base of marbled green and white (kind of like a Dr. Seuss marbled look) with red flowers wrapping itself along one side up to some pine trees (in the shape of cones) with one star on top. Completely different than where I thought it was going to be. It turned out pretty good. Chef Arizona walked through the room and said that it needed a border between the cake and the base board. I tried to do a tiny border of red marzipan, but it was not holding itself together, so it turned out to be bigger than needed/wanted border. Oh well. It turned out pretty alright in the end. The school required that we clean out our lockers and take everything home with us for the break for a "deep clean" of the locker rooms. So I packed up all my things, and carried a cake home with me. Some of us decided to go to dinner rather than lunch as we had so much stuff with us. I was so tired by the time I got home. So was everyone else apparently we all took naps. I woke up with 20 minutes to get ready and meet up for dinner. The meeting place was the most interesting one yet "The entrance to King's Cross Station" --- if you've never been there before there are multiple entrances and we were all at different ones. Ha. We eventually all found each other. 3/5 actually got out of bed and came. I've travelled through Kings Cross Station on the tube, but never got out on the street before today. As we walked through the station to get to our dinner destination, we passed the infamous King's Cross 9 3/4 Platform of Harry Potter. They have a wall/photo area for tourists to take pictures with. Shoot, when in London, do as the tourists, and take a picture. There were two girls there who were taking pictures "as a free service" and if you wanted to pic them up you could buy them at the neighboring Harry Potter Gift Shop. Luckily we took great iPhone shots that we didn't need to buy the picture at the gift shop for twenty pounds. The shop had wands, scarves, mugs, shirts, lots of things Harry Potter. Nice quick stop for the night. We went to our dinner place, the wait was too long, so we kept looking for a new place. We eventually found a pub with mediocre food to suffice. Good conversation, good fun, but we were all ready to call it a night. Day 91. Thursday. A day to be normal and clean my room and do laundry. Seriously its a mess. I haven't had time to properly tidy up with school and studying being at the most random of hours. I got up just to go buy laundry detergent, as i know that the washing machine takes two hours a load, I needed to get an early start. I organized my drawers, receipts, food supply, you know really exciting things. My reward for myself was a trip to the movie theatre...oooooohhhhh. I got my ticket from the concession area at the theatre. The worker asked if I wanted VIP or Standard. Shoot has it really been that long since I've been to the cinema that I don't know what he was talking about? VIP=reserved reclining seats. Standard = regular seat. I got a regular seat, and still got to pick my seat....something I've never done before. I saw the Hunger Games. It was alright. After that I hopped on the tube and joined some of my classmates at Hyde Park for Winter Wonderland. They were going to go ice skating, I wanted to just watch. They wanted me to join. They bought me a ticket. I went really slow. I didn't fall once. I enjoyed myself. Poland kept complementing me on my bravery. Ha. She must really appreciate my skating style. My skating style is this: Left foot solidly on the ice while Right foot does all the paddling/movement. It's been my technique for years, it works. Shoot its not everyday that I can Ice Skate in Hyde Park. Good Times. Day 92. Friday. Certificate Ceremony at school. After each level (Basic, Intermediate, Superior) of completion, there is a ceremony to get your certificate. As we are on the fast track, we didn't get a ceremony for Basic, so this was our first. The room was packed with people. I was surprised at how many people go to this school. The locker room is pretty packed, but not as packed as this. The principal gave a speech going over the highlights of the term & the successful things that the chefs had been doing outside of the classrooms. After that, we were called up by group to get our certificate. Our group (of 5 that had not left the country yet or gotten out of bed) was last, which meant I was last. After that they had a wine, orange juice, or water to offer everyone. Malta, Poland, California, and I headed for Asian food afterwards for a celebration lunch. I got "vegetarian chicken" --it looked so real I thought it was a mistake. Malta tried it and assured me it was tofu. After that we were all a bit tired. I headed home. I've been trying to make plans to do something for the next week, and I should have booked tickets weeks ago but didn't. So now I just over analyze where I could be going/doing but doing nothing but sitting in my bed. I saw that there was a Hyde Park singles activity going on at the National Museum, so I headed over, got there a bit late (as someone had fallen on the tracks and it took sometime to get them off so the tube was stuck) couldn't find them so I enjoyed the art in the museum for the evening before going back home and still not finalizing any plans as to what to do for the next 8 days. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. And needed.

DAYS 86, 87, 88, and 89. Baking. Walking. Making.

DAYS 86, 87, 88, and 89. Baking. Walking. Making.

Days 86 and 87 I can sum up in one word. Baking. Okay a few more words.

Saturday I got up and went to school to pick up my knife kit. I was surprised that a cuisine chef was guarding the door. It was the first Saturday all year that they were closed, but luckilly there was one class going on, so he let me in to get my knives to take home & prep for Monday. Then I headed to a bakeware shop to buy some tools for Monday (premade piping bags, mini spatula, and cake pans for practice bakes). Then I went home and did a practice bake on the Fraisier. It is a strawberry lined cake with pastry creme filling for those of you who dont know. As I was getting ready to pipe the filling I discovered I was missing my #8 piping tip in my kit. It wouldnt be that bad if it was needed on 2/3 of my cakes, so I headed back to the baking store on a thirty minute round trip bus ride. Luckilly that meant more time for studying the recipes. At the store, wouldn't you know, they were out of individual #8 tips, but had it in a kit w/4 others. Great. Luckily the lady took pity on me and gave me a discount (specialty store close at 7pm around here, no Wal-Mart's to come to my rescue and it was 630 I had no time to go anywhere else). I also got an extra brush for kicks. Back home, and finished the cake. It turned out like it was supposed to, unlike my first attempt at school.....with the cookie crust you may remember. Redemption felt good. I practiced piping for the rest of the night. 


Sunday. Day 87. The usual. I baked again in the afternoon the Opera cake, probably my favorite cake we've made and an exam bake bonus. I tried to turn on my scale only to find it was dead. I couldn't find the spare battery, I was out of luck. I used my landlady's weight-watchers scale, only she told me its not in actual grams. I pressed on. Then, as I was making my buttercream, I broke a blade on her hand-mixer. Not my greatest day. The odds were not in my favor. I wanted to cry, but carried on and headed out to Argos to buy a new scale and hand mixer. Came back, and tried to finish the cake. I had an issue with the glacage, it wasn't doing what it needed to be doing, and turned out not shiny, but pale. I couldn't take it anymore. I cried. I cried sitting in the kitchen chair, looking at my sad opera cake. I cried at my circumstances, how everything did not seem to be going right. I cried that I was crying over cake. (I know I keep this blog pretty upbeat and positive for fear of what is spread through gossipville, but sometimes, I gotta tell the truth). My landlady came in the room, unaware of my silent tears, but when she saw me, she didn't really know what to do, other than eat a piece of the opera and tell me that it tasted amazing. that made me feel a bit better. I piped some more, cleaned up the kitchen and studied. I texted Dehli and she told me I was worried too much, and that it would all be okay. I talked to the parents as I ironed my uniform. I tried to study my recipes. I had 1/3 down. I chatted with Mel. I texted pics of the 2 recipes I needed quizzed on to dad so he could quiz me. He is so cute. He printed them off, and had copies of the recipes in his hands ready for quiz nation. I got them down. He helped me a ton, and I am glad to have him as my dad. I needed an encouraging word, so I called Mel again. The whole clan got on the screen and wished me good luck. It was a good moment. Annabelle played me some lovely songs on the piano to put me to sleep. I read my notes "one more time" and my bro called me. It was 1230am, but I took the call. All encouragement gladly accepted. Then I truly did read my notes for one more time, and went to bed.

Day 88. Test Day. At 740am. That means be on the tube/bus by 615am to make it there and get ready in time. The test went fine. I had issues with my glacage again, it was shiny, but had lines going through it when it was supposed to be smooth. I was frustrated, but what can I do when you cant go back, only forward. After that 8/14 of my group went to lunch....at a vegetarian place! Yay! Really yummy. Really expensive. Really relieved that the test was over so I didn't care about my salad plate costing 9 pounds. At lunch I told Malta that we should "do something" after lunch. Apparently do something to her meant walk, when I was thinking go to the cinema or something. But we walked. And walked and walked. We walked from school to lunch to Hyde Park through 'Winter Wonderland' (a german themed county fair like thing happening this month) then across the width of Hyde Park to Kensington Palace (where I got a drinking chocolate sooo good) then to the north end of the Park, and down "millionaires road" behind Kensington Palace the entire height of Hyde Park, to Whole Foods (yes the american Whole Foods), to another grocery store, to a bus, to the tube, and then my final walk home. I was so exhausted by the time I got home at 5pm I didn't want to eat/drink/do anything. I talked to fam letting them know how the test went, made some dinner and was in bed by 9pm. I mapped out how far I walked....5.4 miles in one afteroon.  Bananas.  Dad called me at 930, talked to him for a bit before I was really asleep by 10pm.

 Tuesday. Day 89. 8am class. All of November we had night classes, the last week of the term, we have 8am class every single day. Rough. We had a demonstration on our last dish, a celebration cake. We are covering the Fruit Cake we made a month ago (which the staff have been "maturing" ahem for a month for us) with marzipan and fondant & then decorating it to whatever we liked. Then we had TWO classes on decorating it today, and another one tomorrow. NINE hours to decorate a cake! That I am not even going to eat! Sitting in the demonstration class I didn't even care what I made. But for some reason, come the two classes to decorate this cake, I started to care. It also reminded myself why I tell people I don't do cakes covered in fondant back home....a waste of time and no one eats the decoration anyways. Chef Touille was with us, and he didnt even care about it as sugar paste/flower work is not something he is into either. Nevertheless, I cared enough to look up a design on line, plan a motif, and only to have it change through my class a few too many times. I'll keep you in suspense for waht it is.....just incase it changes again tomorrow. Ha! ttfn. goodnight.

Days 83, 84, and 85. I owe Maine lunch.

Days 83, 84, and 85. I owe Maine lunch. Day 83. Started the day off with a Tech class all about chocolate work, demonstrated by Chef Arizona. Seriously, the man has skills. He was just in a competition last week, and the team he was on won silver. His sugar work is unbelievable and he is competing at the Olympics of sugar work in January. Needless to say it was amazing to watch him work. He made a chocolate box (like we will be making in superior) -- but he made it like a grand piano (on small truffle size legs), then he did two big easter eggs (about 1 foot tall) and put them in display form, and attached a chocolate rose/flower and a whole bunch of other stuff. We were captivated and entertained. After that my class made the tropical mousse (mango & coconut) with a red currant jelly in the middle, encased by sponge. My landlady seems to like them....there is only one left. Day 84. Thursday. We had three classes. All of which did not involve cooking, but watching. The first one though was a fun one. Chocolate tasting. Yahoo. My kind of class. Twelve kinds. All varieties from lime to 83%. Then we had a demonstration class where we watched sugar work by another chef. It wasn't as fascinating as the chocolate work the day before, but crazy to think that next month I'll be doing sugar work! There was a break before the next class, so I opted to study over lunch at a cafe with a girl from another class. The cafe closed, so we went back to school's library to study there before the cheese class. In the library sat Maine, diligently studying. I think we all distracted each other enough to not really focus on getting down to business of memorizing recipes. Maine said that he thought that the chocolate fondant would be on the test. No way. I protested, and with that we made a wager on if it was on the test, I would owe him lunch, and if it was not on the test, he would owe me. And I was so confident in my choice, I did not memorize the recipe. More on that later. Let me talk about the cheese class. The school brings in a guest lecturer for cheese. Tom the Cheeseman. Seriously. That is what he calls himself. As he was setting up the counter full of cheeses before the lecture has begun, he unwraps one of the cheeses and says "oh hello beautiful." I look and I swear the cheese is oozing like some bubble pond you would see at Yellowstone. I was as much shocked as I was curious to eat such a cheese that looked like it was ready for a Harry Potter film. We had over twelve cheeses he had personally selected for us to taste from Feta's to Blue Cheese. He had stories and histories of every cheese we ate. It would have been more delightful had my nose not turned into a home for snot that past five days, as I could barely even taste the first half, and the second half, only after a good sneeze was I able to taste....the no longer bubbling gorgonzola...it was strong...creamy...and pretty good. There was also a cheese from France that is cured in baskets that have mites living on the cheese. That's right little tiny creatures right there on the slices of cheese for us to eat. I ate around the rind of mites. He was most delightful to sit and listen to the Bill Nye/Alton Brown of Cheese. The tube ride home, Malta, HongKong, and another girl were quizzing each other on recipes. i was impressed with how many Malta knew and she said that she had only learned them in the last two days and that I would be fine. As Malta quoted the eigth recipe, Hong Kong said it right, "You're scaring Michelle with how much you know." Apparently I have really good facial reactions. I came home, studied, memorized as much as I could and went to bed. I know I was no where near prepared as I was for my basic exam. Day 85. I got up, revised some of my notes, got ready and headed off for the only class of the day, the exam. Yep. It was today. And everything that I did study, was rarely on the test, and everything that I didn't study, was. Ha! There are three sections, multiple choice, short answer, and True/False. I breezed through the multiple choise section, and then as I turned the page for the short answers I thought I do not know any of this off the top of my head....and then I saw it, "List the ingredients for making chocolate fondant. Then draw a picture of how it could be plated with three accompaniments." Um what? Yep. I sat it dread, shock, and sadness that I did not study this one at all. Then I immediately started to laugh as Maine was right, and I owed him lunch. Dang. I drew a lovely picture, and did my best worst guess on the ingredients for it. On with the rest of the test, I was writing up tell the very last second, when Chef Bread told up to put down our pens. After the exams were turned in, I turned to Essex who had a shocked look on her face and she said, "What was that?!?" That's what I was thinking. As we left the class, the room was roaring in conversation about how that was nothing what we expected it to be. Maine came over and said "Can you believe it?! It was on the test!!" "Um nope. And now I owe you lunch." We laughed at the irony. I should know not to bet. It was California's birthday, so eight of us went out for a bite after class. I was exhausted, and still fighting this darn cold. I came home, took a nap, and did laundry to try and get my room back in order. I went out to a kitchen supply store to buy some things for practicing the cakes this weekend, only they didn't have what I needed. So I bought the ingredients instead. This weekend I am getting my bake on, re-memorizing sixteen recipes, and the methods and assemblies for all three cakes. This is gonna be good. The past week Delhi has been telling me I don't dress warm enough and that is why I am sick for so long. Well, I am pleased to report I have been wearing tights and long-johns under my jeans and three layers on top for the past three days. I must say it is really lovely being toasty warm all the time. And with that goodnight.

Days 78, 79, 80, 81, and 82. Lava, The day I went to school in my pajamas and more fruit mousse

Days 78, 79, 80, 81, and 82... Lava, The day I went to school in my pajamas, and more fruit mousse. Wow. I am turning into a slacker blogger. Really been busy. I'll try to quickly catch up. Friday (Day 78) I had googled images of what we were making in class to determine by the description if I needed to bring my cake tin or not. "Fondant Au Chocolate avec Sirop D. Orange et Gingembre Caramelise" aka Chocolate Fondant with orange and ginger syrup". As the only fondant we had used in class thus far was for coating eclairs way back when, and the image of american fondant used for decorating cakes in my head, I opted out of bringing a case for runny chocolate on top of runny syrups. In our demonstration class, we never start out with a picture of the end result (hence why I try to google before class). Chef makes caramel, adds some fresh ginger and orange juice to it. Fine. Caramel sauce done. Then he starts making a chocolate cake like thing....I'm wondering where the fondant is....then he pours it into individual tin moulds (like my tall cupcake tins from Ikea) then he chills it....then he puts them in the oven. He designs his plates quickly as we wait for them to bake...then he pulls one out of the oven onto the plate...it shrinks down and fudgy gooey goodness pours out....wait a second he's making ...... chocolate .....lava .....cakes ......oh my goodness since when does fondant mean chocolate lava cake!?! [Pour chefs cakes weren't standing, its supposed to stand on its own, only for the customer to spoon into it and have the fudge gooey center pour out]. "Chef! This may be the strangest question you are asked all week, but what does fondant mean? I can't find a definition for it. We used the fondant for eclairs, and it was runny, American fondant is like sugar paste here. We call this chocolate lava cakes back home. How does it have so many multiple meanings, but none coincide with the other?" "That's actually a very good question to ask," was chef's reply, "Fondant is many different things, but what it really means is two things that make one thing, all fondants have a crisp edge, but a creamy center. We get that crisp with the fondant on eclairs, and the crisp edge of the chocolate we have here, and both have creamy centers." -- So there you have it folks. Now you know too. Must say I was pleasantly surprised when I got to make these when I had no idea what a chocolate fondant was. After that class, we made them (and the banana mousse filling that we would finish on Monday). My partner and I were the first to pull ours from the oven, and I must admit that I was a bit nervous as it was going to 1. be too early and fall all over the plate 2. be too done and have no runny center, or 3. practically perfect in every way. We pulled one out of the mold on a side plate to see which of the three options we had before plating them and we got....number three!!! I jumped for joy, the class laughed, and we hurried to plate so we could present to the chef. They always find things to say about improvements. If only there was a day they focused on the positives I'd die happy. We finished our mousse prep and we were done for the class. Malta was making a wedding cake that was for Saturday. She thought she might need some help, and as I had offered, she took me up on it, and after class Friday night I did a kind act of service and stayed up tell 3am prepping the cake, cutting supports, trimming it with ribbon, and making roses. Really I was there for moral support and encouragement more than anything. She got me a cab home so I wouldn't have to walk the streets back home. Seven hours later I was back at her house to help deliver it to the hotel. It looked amazing. Three tiers, cream fondant base, when autumn leaves/branches/flowers made of sugar paster all around. Pretty impressive. She was so thankful to me for helping her out so much that she insisted on buying me brunch. I should have insisted on a bed for me to get some sleep, but we had a nice lunch. I came home, started prepping for studying and fell asleep kneeling by my bed. Ha! I studied for a bit before heading to bed, not feeling the best with a sore throat and a cough coming on. Sunday the sore throat and cough were more present and I was in no condition to go anywhere, so I opted for bed and food for the day with the best studying distractions ever...sleep, internet, and TV. It really was a day of rest. I talked to Mom and dad, and as they were making dinner during our FaceTime chat, I decided to iron. Well, apparently my flatmate did something to the iron, because the bottom of it was all black, i rubbed it off, and tried to iron, but it leaked brown water on to my apron & with that I stopped and determined I needed to buy an iron. Only problem is that there are no 24 hour WalMarts around here, and most stores close around 7 on a Sunday night, and dont open tell 9 on Monday. I did my research for where to buy an iron the next morning..... Monday...I headed to the store in my pajamas. For some reason I wore my workout jogging pants, and a sweatshirt to bed the night before, so I didn't look too out of the ordinary. I took the bus to the store, bought the iron, and was back on the bus back in 20 minutes. I got home with enough time to iron my uniform and head off to school. I had to justify why it was ok to not take a shower or change my clothes to go to school, as we always change once we get there so it doesn't matter what we wear. I made it with time to spare for class to start to show us how to finish up our white chocolate encased banana mouse with caramel dollop & chocolate sponge, and how to make a Tart Tatin (apple pie fancied). Then we made it. Honestly the mousse could use a few recipe revisions for me to make it again, really plain & bland, not much textural differences inside. The Tart turned out pretty good. My partner was making the caramel as I peeled/chopped the apples. Our neighbors and myself told her that the caramel was practically burnt and she needed to start over again. She insisted that it was just fine, and got the Chef to say that "it is the maximum I would let it go." I cooked the apples in the caramel sauce, and they actually turned out a nice amber caramel color on the apples. I had barely started my blackberry sauce, when my partner insisted my pot size was too big, and i needed to start over. I obliged, thinking she is crazy as I needed to mix sugar & water together so pot size didn't matter. She added in the blackberries to the water/sugar and we jointly made the sauce "I think your thermometer is broken." I told her. "It hasnt moved up from 102 degrees in 5 minutes." She insisted it was fine. I pulled out my thermometer and the same thing. I finally convinced her to pull it off the heat, it was really thick. We plated our desserts, presented them to chef, and as we were cleaning up, my partner asks me if I want to take her Tart Tatin's home as she "doesn't like apples at all." Um sure. You toast our caramel & you had no plans on eating it?!? I laughed a lot inside at that one. After that Poland, Vermont, and California headed over to my place after school for a Thanksgiving dinner! We had changed the date/time/place on it a few times and it was lovely to actually have it! It was a fun night. I picked up a roasted chicken on the way home from school (no I didnt eat it, but its not thanksgiving without a bird), and roasted some veggies. Vermont brought homemade green bean casserole (Malta, Essex, and Poland had never heard of such a thing) and cheddar apple turnover, California brought potatoes, and pies, Poland brought amazing tomato soup. Delhi was going to come but had really bad back pain, so she opted out of attending, but gave me the food at school to eat at the dinner -- curry & rice pudding. It was a feast for Queens. California told Maine (who wasn't feeling well so didn't come either) the next day that she'd never laughed so much at a Thanksgiving in her life. Wow. Now that's a party. I had to kick them out to get some sleep. Tuesday. Day 82. I woke up not feeling the best, coughing a bit. But I was determined to making it to classes. Today at school, we had a Tech class on Soufflés, and a Demonstration on what we are making tomorrow -- fruit mousse in a sponge plated with fruit sauce and decorations. Its a combo of everything we've done in intermediate pastry. The Soufflés tasted like soft scrambled eggs. I didn't mind, as it was my breakfast. The mousse is a mousse oh give me a mousse of chocolate any day....but fruit.....blasé. More studying tonight, and that is my day. Goodnight!!