English Trifle Lesson

This afternoon the guys headed out to watch the Posh football match (that's the local team in town), so Sarah came over to teach Min and I how to make a proper English trifle.  Trifle's are very popular "puddings" or desserts in England.  They are the type of thing that you learn how to make from your mom and just know how to do as you grow up so she's never had a recipe just to give us.

Today she showed us two different ways to make a strawberry trifle.  First you put down a later of cut up trifle sponges filled with strawberry jam or you can cheat and buy a jam filled swiss roll and cut that up.   Addie wanted to get right into the fun!!!

You put down the layer of sponges down, then sprinkle in a bit of liquer (usually a brandy) but you don't have to put any in at all.  We did though!!!  Next topple in some strawberries.  Sarah likes to used canned strawberries because they are softer.  

Next we make up the "jelly" layer (which we call Jello in the States).  Here the full sugar jelly comes in these little cubes which are like very concentrated jello jigglers at room temperature.  You break up the cubes and add hot water.  Sarah told us that as a child she used to eat the cubes by themselves.  They are quite tasty.

One benefit of using the canned strawberries is that you can use the reserve juice for the cool liquid in the "jelly".

Then you pour the jelly on top and stick it in the fridge to set...usually a couple of hours.  

A few hours later when the boys got back, Sarah came back over and we mixed up custard for the next layer.  Now custard here is much different that what we typically think of it in the States.  Most of the time you serve it warm and pour it over your puddings.  This time we were making it to set up as our next layer in the trifle.  After the custard layer you top it all off with some fresh whipped cream.

It is very, very good and looks amazing in the trifle bowl that I got from my Pampered Chef Party.  Sad thing is that we ate all the trifle before I remembered to take a picture of it so you'll have to make your own to see what it looks like...or I guess I'll have to make it again sometime soon!

Another Crazy Night at the Wong's

Tonight we hung out with the Wong's and the Clayton /Gorman's just to spend some time together after learning about our friends' news about moving back to Singapore.  Eventhough we were still in shock and sad about the news, we had a complete blast and just enjoyed the evening together.  We totally pigged out on my world famous taco dip - I really need to find a larger plate!!!  Then Sarah made this amazing Thai chicken for dinner and Min brought out the strawbery trifle that she made during our trifle lesson with Sarah this afternoon.

We of course had loads of questions for Danny and Min about where they lived in Singapore  and their thoughts about going back.  Danny being the total technology junkie pulled up Google maps on his TV and zoomed in on the apartment complex that they lived and the park across the way.

Then in true Wong fashion, Danny broke out the karaoke.  I love Danny's karaoke collection because they are all Asian collections with pictures of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries and words in English.

 Addison joins in the fun with her dad who loves to sing.

I even had to join in which I am NOT a karaoke person and never will be, but Harrison helped me out so it was all good.

Then we broke out Guitar Hero World Tour...Addison took on lead guitar...looks like a natural to me.  She loves to play the guitar...maybe I should look into lessons???

Addison loves her "Auntie" Min!!!   We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and we are excited to go visit them next year.

The Big Crick in Our 18 Month Journey

It was just 2 years ago Kevin and I committed to take on this overseas assignment two weeks after having our little Addison. We couldn't image in our wildest dreams the experiences we would have and the people we would meet over the past 18 months. Yes, we have made a lot of sacrifices and we thank everyone back home for loving and supporting us over all this time. It really took us a good year for this place to be "home" and our lives have now become normal...Big Ben in London, castles, tiny refridgerators, thatch roofs, the British accent, driving on the left side of the road...it's all normal now.

Okay, now that everything is normal and comfortable, a wrench has to get thrown in our worlds. For the past several months as the world wide economy has tanked, the effects are really hitting home and today I am really struggling. Several of my ISE friends have finished up their assignments and have headed home which was tough, but in my heart I knew that I would be able to hook back up with them when we moved back to Peoria. Today my life felt shattered when Min came over to share with me that they were moving back to Singapore this June or July. Okay, I knew this day was going to come but I really anticipated that it would be next summer. I have developed a very close sister-like relationship with Min truly since we live so close to each other and are going through the same type of experience. She and her family are a part of my and my family's daily lives and the thought of them not being a part of our "normal" life is devastating to think about. After lots of crying that first day I have calmed down and taken the attitude to make the most of each day we have with the Wong's and everyone else we have gotten to know here. Kevin said it best when he reminded me how blessed we are to have been such good friend's with people from half way around the world. He got me even more excited when he didn't completely shoot down the idea of planning a trip to Singapore next year to see them.

It is so hard to watch as other ISEs are being sent home early and to hear of friends who have had to take new jobs because their jobs have been cut. We sit and wonder if our day will be coming which really dampers getting excited about trying to make plans for trips and adventures. Kevin is working on a very important project that is a big focus for CAT right now and we are hoping that this allows us to stay on our assignment a bit longer. We do miss "home" and friends and family, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. We do know that God has a plan for us and we pray every night that we can accept whatever that plan is for us.

Framlingham Castle

Today we started a 15 month adventure... we purchased a membership to the English Heritage which gives us free access to over 400 properties across England.   This morning we ventured off to Framlingham which is about 2 hours east of Peteroborough (about 14 miles from the North Sea and north of Ipswich).  Our quest was the Framlingham Castle which was first built in the 12th century by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. 

There is a little exhibition inside the Poorhouse that showed how the poor and priveliged Tudors lived.  Kevin, Addie, and Harry check out the big brick oven.

They had some kids activities like this crayon rub that children could learn that the rich people got to eat lots of meat while the poor people at bread and veggies.

Addison loved playing with the giant chess game set up in the middle of the court yard.

Here is Addison inside one of the narrow window slits where castle guards would take position to shoot arrows in attempts to protect the castle.

The remains of the castle are thick walls which have a walkway at the top for visitors to walk around.   Harrison rode on Kevin's back while Addie got to run around and I ran after Addison to make sure she didn't try leaning out some of the big holes in the wall.

Some of the most distinctive points of the castle are it's mural towers and the decorative Tudor style chimneys.  The chimneys were all added after the castle wasn't used as a fortress and the current owner wanted it to look more like a home.

This was my favorite chimney.  Most of them were not functional chimneys...just for looks.  Chimneys were often a sign of wealth so the more you had the more well off you looked.

Here is the poor house where the exhibitions are and where we walked up the tower to get up on the wall.  It was pretty interesting getting the kids up the spiral stone stairs.  

After our castle tour we headed over to the pub for lunch which was not a pleasant experience.  The people there weren't the friendliest and they were not accommodating for young families.  It happened to be that Addison wasn't feeling the best because she was just starting to potty train and said she had to go every time I got to sit down and eat.  We went back to the toilet 3 times in a row and she did nothing.  Then Harrison was horribly cranky because he was tired and had to sit on my lap to eat.  Finally Kevin finished his food and took Harry to get the stroller while I sat with Addie and ate my food really fast.  It so happened that a group of four ladies were sitting next to us and they turned to me and said they totally sympathized with me.  They were all moms of very young children and said they knew what it was like having to eat cold meals when going out.  They reassured me that it will get better as they get a little older.  

After lunch we thought we would take a little walk around the castle.  The castle was built up on these huge earthen works and we assumed that we could walk around the base pretty easily, but we ran into a few tricky spots.

We had to get pretty creative when we hit a huge muddy patch.  I held up the front wheel while Kevin shimmied the back end.  I of course didn't have the right shoes on to be doing much mudding.  I guess in the medieval times they didn't try trekking like this with strollers for a reason.  The muddy patch was just under where an old bridge used to be...you can see the remains of the supports.

Ready for the Stage???

Min had brought over some of Mei Mei's dress up clothes for the little girls to play with at the Tea and Addison loves playing dress up now so she was in high heaven for the next few days. The box also contained one of Mei Mei's Highschool Musical microphones. Since Addison discovered how much fun it is to karaoke from our crazy nights at the Wong's, she now takes any opportunity to perform for us.

Hosting the March ISE Tea

This month I hosted our ISE "Tea" which is technically now more of a potluck lunch and nobody drinks any tea - just Coke and Diet Coke. This tradition of "tea" started way before I arrived in Peterborough when they actually did drink tea and has evolved quite a bit over the years as people come and go. Ultimately it is a monthly get together where a lot of the ISE wives will get together and catch up.

The teas are one of my favorite times of the month because everyone makes their favorite American goodies to share with everyone and I gather lots of new recipes this way.

I also love the teas because it gives me the opportunity to see a lot of really great people that I don't get to see on a daily basis.

The kids also have loads of fun. Min brought over a box full of dress up clothes for the little girls to play with.  Also uur Cinderella DVD has really been used time and time again to get the little ones to calm down and focus....for a little while at least.

Since I'm obsessed with gathering information (must come from my list making fetish - I love information) I asked everyone to bring some details about one of their favorite holiday trips. I set up a little display in the dining room and had people put a pin on the map to where they had been and post an index card with the info on it. My main motivation was to get people thinking about posting their trip summaries on our ISE Yahoo site so I thought I would help give everyone a hand by giving them a head start. Kevin thought I was a bit quarky for attempting this but lots of people participated and some people even brought printouts, pictures, and scrapbooks with them.  He was very proud of his crazy little wife!!!

Harrison is 6 Months Old

Wow, my little baby is turning into a little boy already. He has been sitting up really well on his own this past week and doesn't need the Boppy around him anymore. He has been getting pretty aggressive with trying to reach for toys. If you set something a few inches in front of him he gets into a pretty good rock until he sometimes ends up sprawled out on his tummy. He's a great eater and is wanting more than just a single jar of baby food. He really loves all the savory stuff like Shepard's Pie, Caribbean Pork, Chicken Rice and Squash and more... He isn't too keen on fruit yet. Anything with apple puree in it he wrinkles up his nose and you have to really sneak some more in on him. He's still not taking a bottle but he has fun playing with the sippy cup so I have some high hopes that we'll get him transitioned to that soon.

He is now taking two to three naps a day and getting pretty tired around 7:30-8PM and goes down for the night. Now if I could get my two year old to do the same!!!  It's weird to think that his was how old Addison was when we moved to the UK 18 months ago.

He is pretty vocal now days and can get pretty loud when a toy gets taken away from him...usually by big sister. He does love his big sister and if he starts fussying in the car she says, "Harry it's okay" "Okay, baby?" and then he starts to giggle. I love his laugh and I'll purposely tickle him so I can hear it.

Spring Fever - A Bit Early

Today started out very sunny, so we got a touch of spring fever and thought it would be great to go out for a picnic. There is a great lake near by called Rutland Waters that is pretty popular for bicycle riders and it had been a place we had been wanting to check it out. So we packed up the kids and headed for Stamford to pick up Subway (we have been eating way too many Saturday lunches at McDonald's). Now it's great that we have Subways in the UK, but so of them are darn tricky to get to. We found one in Stamford which is only about 5 miles from Rutland Waters, but we had to wind all the way into the city centre and Kevin hopped out while I waited for the kids in a restricted car park hoping not to get caught.

When we finally got to Rutland, in true English form, the weather changed on us, and as we got down by the water it was darn right freezing. We laid out our blanket and started eating. Poor Harrison is a real trooper because his baby food got really cold but he's not a fussy eater so he mowed it down anyway. Addison, who was fearless with the big geese at Ferry Meadows, was now terrified of the little Mallard ducks that waddled up to say hello.Kevin was "super dad" and help ward off the ducks away from our picnic by taking Addie down to throw them bread down by the water. 

Determining that this wasn't the best idea, we quickly finished eating our lunch, packed the crying children up and headed to the car....just to drop off the blanket and diaper bag!!! Yes, we are cruel parents and were going to make our children suffer some more by taking them on a walk on the trails. Actually it got much warmer once we got away from the water.  As we got walking I had another epiphany moment that I was really happy that we were able to be doing what we were doing...living in England, being in this place, really it was just being able to be together as a family (and finally out of the house).  I kind of get all emotionally when we get to go do even the littlest things anymore, wondering what I'll be like when we get to start traveling again. Well after trudging through a lot of mud and attempting to cross a cattle grid (when the sign specifically tells cyclists to dismount and not cross it) we found a really nice play area for Addison to finally have some fun.

We met a really nice British couple from near Nottingham who were "caravaning" (camping in a camper) for the weekend.  They had a little boy who was "two and three quarters" - I thought it was cute they added the "three quarters," and the two kids had a blast playing with each other.  We found that Addison has absolutely no fear.  Kevin helped her up the ramp and across the wood bridge and down the slide just once and then she was doing it on her own.  She would be up and down twice before this other little boy would get around just once....I felt sorry for the little guy.  

Addison had a lot of fun playing and we even got her to "hang out" a bit.

A New Blog Site

Ever since we've moved to the UK I have really missed some our favorite American ingredients.  There are a few options to get some products: load up your suitcases with food or bribe a family member/friend to load up their suitcases for you when you come over from the States (I'd rather load up on other things that security doesn't have to drug test in my bags), you can have people ship you things but that is atrociously expensive, you could order things on Skyco.co.uk or Americansoda.com, but those are pretty expensive as well and they are usually non-perishable items.  If you are really lucky you can find someone who lives on the Airforce base who can buy you American products at American prices, but that is pretty tough.  I finally came up with the philosophy that "If you can't buy it, make it yourself."

I have created a lot of "homemade" things since I moved here 18 months ago and I like them almost better than the purchased things.  I've also learned how to make a lot of new recipes from scratch so that I can re-create them anywhere we live.  So what I have done is created a totally different blog site that I can dedicate to recipes and other do-it-yourself projects to share with the masses.  My goal is to try a new recipe or project each week so check it out and let me know what you think.

Can't Buy It? Make it!

Bath Time

It's great that Harrison is now sitting up on his own because I can sit him up in the tub instead of laying him down. The past couple of weeks his feet have been hanging over the edge. We've been giving the kids their baths at the same time so since it's a bit difficult and risky to have Harry in the tub with Addie we fill his little tub up on the floor next to the big tub. We have to line the carpeted floor with lots of towels because he LOVES to splash the water.


Addison loves playing with her little duckies in the tub these days. She lines them up on the edge of the tub and covers their heads with a wash cloth and calls it their hat. Also now that her hair is longer we love to make funny hair-do's especially mohawks. She is now finally understanding and following through with laying down in the tub to let mommy and daddy rinse out her hair. For the longest time we have tried getting her to put her head back to rinse out the soap but she always looked down and we ended up having to douse her head with water and she usually gets really mad.

Another trick we recently learned was to start using the "bedtime" bath soap with lavender in it for our night time baths. After the bath we lather them up with the lavender scented lotion as well in hopes that it will calm them and zonk them out for bed.

Gerbil-Sitting

This past week we got to gerbil-sit and, no, that's not some weird British past time or sport. Our neighbors got to enjoy a week-long cruise in the Caribbean during half-term break and since we were going to be around all week they asked us to watch their gerbils.

Addison loved watching them run around on their wheel and I was totally amazed on how fast they can gnaw away at a paper towel cardboard roll. We had the perfect spot for them is a spot that Addison couldn't torment them too much but where low enough that she could enjoy seeing them.

A Day in London - Covent Garden and a Few Surprises

Today we ventured down to London because we needed to head out on some type of adventure. Eventhough the weather is warmer here than the Midwest during the winter, the sun doesn't shine a whole lot and when it does you need to take advantage of it.

We like heading down to London for the day and picking one thing we'd like to do and then let the rest of the day take care of itself. Today we decided to checkout Convent Garden which is home to loads of shops, the Jubilee Market, and lots of street entertainment. We decided that we've been in the UK for a while now and that we better start collecting a few special items to have when we go back home instead of waiting until the last minute. So we picked out some great photographs of famous places in London that we will get framed someday. I also picked out a new scarf because the are just need little things to have and since I'm not much of a fashion guru, it's really the only thing I have to give me the "English" look. We enjoyed a great lunch at one of the millions of Bella Italia's and got there just in time because the tiny little place was packed full about 10 minutes after we arrived. I got out the camera to take some pictures and to capture some moments and the battery died after 8 pictures and of course in true luck of mine, I didn't have the spare battery!!!

As we were walking by one of the more cheesy looking street entertainers we saw someone waving at us...it was Lana Dobberfuhl and her girls (they are the other American family who live in Glinton with us). They were down visiting with her parents who were in town to visit them. We sat with them for a while to watch the crazy guy who claimed to be able to juggle while riding an 8 foot giraffe unicycle. Ultimately I wasn't too impressed with this fellow because first of all he started walking towards my daughter and Lana's daughters as to draw attention to them and ended up frightening away Amy and Emily and then brought Addison to tears in front of the whole crowd. The crowd did boo him as Addison rushed to my arms. Secondly, he was a bit vulger because he stripped down to what looked like a wrestling singlet and ended up grinding is crotch on some guys head as he was being boosted up on his unicycle. He asked families to donate 5 GBP to his hat at the end since it was the cheapest entertainment they would get during half term break. Kevin did give Addie a few coins that he had to put in the hat but he was horrible.

After all that we just started walking and ended up crossing the Waterloo bridge and found the Southbank Book Market which had thousands of used books for sale out in the open on tables and then some skateboarding park that smelt like freshly spray-painted graffiti. By that time both kids were zonked out and Kevin and I made our way down past the Eye, Big Ben, and finally got out of the millions of people as we headed to St. James Park (one of our favorite places)!!!

How ordinary, but extraordinary London seems to be for us. There is always something new to see and do. I have a whole list of different things that we are going to check out on future day trips and we'll see how many of them we will get to see and what new things we'll find along the way.

The Quiet Book Project

Back before Thanksgiving I started this sewing project to create a "Quiet Book" for my children and one for my nephew. I've talked about it in previous blogs on how they all liked it but haven't gotten to show you what it looks like so here it is:













The star, hearts, and circles velcro off and on this page.













Here you snap the tail off and on the pony. Addison loves the next page with the mirror and comb. I added the rope on the mirror because I didn't want to lose it.













I modified the zipper page from two plain zippers and made a tent with a sleeping bag on the inside...it's even lined with plaid flannel. The next page has shapes that velcro on and off.












Here you snap the wheels on the train. Next you can put your hand in the red flannel mitt.












I tried to be cute with the purse and make it "English" by writing "mummy", but in true English form I should have put "Mummy's Handbag" because in England a purse is what we would call a wallet. Next you button the flowers on the stems.












Here you velcro the fruit into the basket and next you put the fuzzy bear in his bed. Addison likes to take all the fruit and shapes and stick them in bed with the bear.












Addie can't tell time yet but she knows this is a clock. Then you velcro the lights on the stop light.












The puppy is hidden behind a door and can velcro on and off the inside door. Then you can tie the shoe.












Finally the last page has a spot for a notepad and pencil.

Addison loves the book and we used it on the plain rides home to keep her busy. The one thing I would have done differently would to have been to attach heavy string or thin rope to each of the shapes and small pieces so they could have stayed connected to the book. It was a bit difficult bending down on the plane looking for pieces she felt like throwing.

Two Peas in a Pod

Addison and Harrison are both growing so fast and starting to develop that brother and sister relationship already. Addison loves to "play" with Harrison by holding him, trying to dance with him, she has him lay on top of her tummy (guess she gets that from me doing that), but she is pretty possessive "her" (hers and Harry's) toys and yanks them away when Harry tries reaching for them.
Harrison loves to watch his big sister like a hawk. He obviously finds that she does lots of funny things because he is always smiling at her she can really get him giggling. Last night I was reading them both a book and neither of them paid attention to the book...they both kept giggling at each other. He doesn't seem to mind her man-handling of him too much but gets a little upset when she drops things close to his head.