Christmas with the Pooleys

Ah, the long awaited English Christmas post; I have been inundated with requests to share and so, after arriving home from my Christmas holiday, here it is.

On December 22 I took the train from Egham to Dartford which is a fairly good sized town in Kent and is located on the fringe of London. I was invited down by Rachel and her family to spend the 22-27th with them and was ecstatic when the day finally came to visit. After being greeted with a giant bear hug by Rachel (whom I hadn't seen for two weeks, which honestly felt like an eternity) at the station I was driven home by her mom, Liz to her house. Once there I met the rest of the Pooley family, her dad Simon, brother Jim, and sister Helen, all of which were instantly welcoming and hilarious to be around. Her family is a tight knit one but they easily welcomed me in as if I had known them for years. The first night consisted of a visit to Rochester cathedral for an evening church and carol service in the beautiful nearly 1,000 year old building. The carols that were sung were not completely recognizable to me and others like Oh Little Town of Bethlehem had completely different tunes and thus confused me a bit.

The 23rd was Rachel's 20th birthday and we spent it roaming around SoHo in London with Helen and Simon, complete with birthday lunch at a 1950's style American diner and later a big dinner and presents. The 24th consisted of spending the day at the nearby shopping centre, Bluewater, as Christmas Eve is not really celebrated as Christmas in England.

Christmas in Covent Garden, London

Rachel and Helen

Rachel with her dog Meg

It's a hard life for a dog

Now to the good stuff: Christmas day. I keep getting asked "what do they eat in England for Christmas?" and surprisingly (or not) the meal is not that different from what Americans eat as well. The staples of turkey, ham, potatoes, brussel sprouts, assorted veggies, cranberry sauce, sausages, and stuffing are all there. What is different is the way in which some of the dishes are prepared. Stuffing for example is usually pork based and not bread based, so you make it with minced pork rather than bread. It  creates a much thicker stuffing that is not crumbly. The puddings (desserts) were the biggest difference that I noticed on the dinner table. Christmas pudding is the main dessert at Christmas and it is unlike anything that I have ever tasted. It is made with suet, dried fruit, flour, assorted Christmasy spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, or ginger, apples, oranges, and the loads of brandy, rum, or stout (whichever you prefer). The pudding is soaked in the alcohol and then steamed in a pudding tin to form a sort of gummy mass that is eaten with brandy flavored cream. The best part of the Christmas pudding (because, to be honest, I hated the taste and consistency of it and had chocolate mousse instead) was that it is lit on fire by first lighting brandy in a spoon on fire and then dropping it onto the pudding; it was really cool to say the least. 

    The video above is the lighting of the Christmas pudding, don't forget to watch it! The rest of the evening consisted of lounging on the sofas in the living room and watching the traditional Christmas tv specials that are so near and dear to Britons. Most major television programs air a special Christmas show on the 25th and this year the blockbusters included Eastenders, Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who, and my personal favorite Downton Abbey. Remakes of Charles Dickens classics dot the holiday season as well to mark the upcoming 200th anniversary of his birth in 2012.  We opened gifts and there were even a few under the tree for me including the new Claire Tomalin biography of Dickens which I had nearly bought a few days before. It warmed my heart more than I can say to have been including in the gift giving because I honestly had not expected to be at all. I had already been invited into their home for the holidays and considered that present enough and was overwhelmed by their continuing generosity towards a person that they barely even knew. 

The Pooleys (minus Liz) and I having the big dinner

lounging after presents

Rachel's favorite present, a crocodile hand puppet :)

The 26th of December is a bank holiday in Britain and is labelled Boxing Day. We took the traditional Boxing day walk in a beautifully quaint Kentish village called Shoreham a few miles away from Dartford. The countryside was green and lush and the air was filled with mist and fog. It was in the 50s on Boxing day and for the first time in my entire life I was able to go for a long country walk in late December without a jacket on and was still warm. I was in heaven. Boxing day called for round two of the heavy eating and I once again packed my stomach full of turkey, stuffing, etc. Every meal finished with dessert and Simon remarked that I wasn't allowed to leave without putting on two stone  (which is about 28 pounds); I don't think I quite managed that but I know that I left with at least a few extra pounds gained. Boxing day was another rather lazy day spent playing games, resting, and watching Christmas tv. I left the morning of the 27th with a bag full of Liz's homemade raspberry jam and a tin of mince pies (another holiday tradition, they are mini pies filled with dried fruit and a sort of mulled wine flavored orange and cranberry sauce) and thoroughly disheartened at having to leave so soon. They days flew by but it was time to go back home and prepare for the impending arrival of Rachel McLean from America. I won't see Rachel Pooley again until January 8th and I am already sad at having to be without her for so long. She and Nikki keep my days interesting and vibrant and life is never quite as good when they are not around. 

My first English Christmas was a gift in and of itself; I've been waiting to have one for many years and I was not disappointed. If anything my time in Dartford strengthened my already overflowing love for Great Britain and her culture and I find that I love living here even more than I could have before. It is such a pleasure to be invited to learn about a culture through the eyes of its people and I love to learn about anything and everything to do with Britain. I hope that through this post I have given at least a slight taste of what Christmas is like here in England; it is a magical time and all I can say is that the British know how to celebrate the holidays! I thought Americans knew how to gorge over the holidays but we can't hold a candle to the Brits! They know how to do holidays properly.

                      

Walking the Streets of Old Paris

Well, my first term as a master's student has officially come to a close; with my essays turned in and classes ending on December 9th, I am now a free woman ready to enjoy the Christmas season. Nearly two weeks ago now Nikki, Rachel, and I spent three days in Paris to celebrate term's end. We took the best path of transit to Paris, the Eurostar, from London's St. Pancras station and two and a half hours later we stepped off the train into the heart of the most beautiful city in Europe.

Because it is winter and it gets dark so early, we had very little daylight and so ended up roaming Paris mostly in the dark. If I had to be in any city in the dark though, I would pick Paris every time. I can never decide whether I enjoy Paris more when it is day or night as each is so uniquely beautiful in its own ways. 

Most of these pictures are courtesy of Rachel- she is a great photographer!

We spent our three days walking; we didn't end up going into any sites except for the Notre Dame but instead just enjoyed seeing  Paris from the outside. We ended up on some pretty long death marches though and by Tuesday were thoroughly worn out, but loved every second of it. It is one of those places that no matter how many times I go, I pinch myself each time to make sure what I'm seeing is real; the city is simply that enchanting. Now, it wouldn't be a trip to Paris without some hassling from gypsies or being hit on by a rather forward French guy on the metro, and those occurred in bounty on this trip (and made for some funny jokes later). The last morning that we were in Paris it was pouring rain and we spent an hour in a cafe near our hotel. The waiter asked as soon as we came in where we were from and the second that he heard I was American (never mind those English girls) he launched in with "American? Oh.. so beautiful!" and did not give up with his special attentions until we left. Men, all I can say is how envious I am of you when I am in countries like France, Spain, or Italy; you have no idea how much attention foreign women draw in those countries.

The Christmas lights were everywhere throughout the city and it added to the magical effect of the coming season. One thing that we did that was new for me was that we visited Pere Lachaise cemetery in Eastern Paris. It is a beautiful, gothic cemetery home to 800,000 graves. We spent two hours there and barely saw it all. It reminded me of many Charles Dickens novels that have memorable scenes in graveyards such as Great Expectations, Bleak House, or Oliver Twist. It is a proper cemetery and the three of us agreed that we would give our left leg to be buried there one day. 

Our trip to Paris was short, but incredibly sweet; I had such a great time seeing the city through Nikki and Rachel's eyes. Paris is beginning to feel familiar to me and, after London, it is the city outside of America that I know best. I will be returning to Paris on January 2 for four days with Rachel McLean and am looking forward to sinking my teeth into the city once again. It is a strolling city and life is not as fast paced there as it is in London; I can relax a bit more and just absorb some of that Parisian "je ne sais quoi" that I love. 

our faces all the time :) so excited to be in Paris

Nikki and Rachel, my adorable travel companions

I love this one

This will be my last post before I am off to Dartford to spend Christmas with Rachel's family and I am winding down this past whirlwind of a year, I can't help but to smile at how much my life has changed. In 2011 I took a life altering class about the Holocaust, graduated from college, moved home, had a topsy turvey summer, and then moved to a foreign country where I knew no one and started over from scratch. I'm quite proud of the strides I have made and, looking back, can't imagine my life as it used to be. As they say, the only thing in life that is certain is change, and I learned long ago to embrace rather than to fight it. England and Egham grows more like home to me everyday and I am more excited than I can say to celebrate my very first proper English Christmas with the Pooleys. With that being said, I want to wish each and every one of you who are kind enough to read this blog a very happy Christmas and cheers to a beautiful New Year, wherever you may be. 

A Trip to Roman and 18th Century England

For months now I have tried in vain to visit the city of Bath in Somerset, which is in the Western part of England. Finally on Saturday, December 3rd, my friend Emily and I took a day trip to Bath. Bath is the second most touristed city in England (after London) and it is famous for hosting the site of the Roman bath and spas from the first century AD. The city is also famous for its 18th century architecture and for being featured in multiple Jane Austen novels such as Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (both of which I highly recommend reading).

Pulteney Bridge, Bath

Bath Abbey

The Pump Room

The Spa Water 

On first arriving in the city, Emily and I immediately realized that we were by no means alone in our idea of visiting Bath; the city was jam-packed and literally we inched along the narrow and windy pre-industrial era streets. We wandered past Bath Abbey, which is a magnificent Gothic church and made our way through the Christmas market (though we couldn't actually stop and look at the stalls, that would have impeded moving traffic). We walked through the Pump Room, known for pumping water from the spa up to the surface for people to drink (it was thought to improve health). We did not try it though; Charles Dickens famously described it as "warm, flat, iron-water" so we thought our health would probably be more hurt than helped and avoided it. Now the Pump Room functions mainly as a rather posh restaurant serving afternoon tea (which is very popular in Bath).

Christmas Market

Inside Bath Abbey

This Video shows Carol Singers Outside the Abbey

After having lunch we went to the Roman Baths museum and toured through the property. Included in the tour was an excellent, and comical, free audioguide and in parts of the tour Bill Bryson's audio comments were featured which was thoroughly enjoyable. The guide was a bit comical as it featured a "Celtic Briton" living in Bath during Roman times as well as a highly excitable Englishman, both giving over the top accounts of life in Roman Bath. I couldn't help but turn to Emily after having a listen and reenacting some funny line I had just heard in a thick Scottish accent. The museum featured Roman artifacts from the area and pieces of the exterior temple walls, which were dedicated to Minerva. We were then brought to the Roman Baths themselves. The thing that I found so wonderful about the museum was that we were allowed to get as close as we wished to the baths without going into them. Thus, I was able to reach in and feel the warmth of the hot springs and sit right next to it on the old Roman 1st Century ruins and imagine what it would have been like then. People just sort of lingered, taking photos, resting, and enjoying the beautiful English sunshine. It was one of the most beautiful and tranquil spots that I have ever been to. 

Roman Baths Museum

Gorgeous beyond words

Emily touching the water

So close I could be in it!

 After the museum we headed for one other museum that I had been dying to see: the fashion museum! The museum is known as one of the best of its kind in Europe and it features clothing from the 18th century onwards, focusing mostly on the 19th and 20th centuries, which I was thrilled with. 

Dresses from the 1820s and 30s

From the 1840s

Bowler and Top Hats

As the day winded down and we grew weary, we refreshed ourselves with a cup of tea and headed off for our 2.5 hour train ride home. The sun had set and the Christmas lights adorning the high street were in full form, reminding me that Christmas is just around the corner. If you get the chance to visit England, make Bath a stop on your list (but avoid holidays and Saturdays); You could never be disappointed with this truly beautiful gem of a city. I am so fortunate to only be 2 hours away and I do plan on returning as I only just managed to scratch the surface of Bath and the beautiful county of Somerset.

Rugby Match in Bath

Bath High Street

A Foodie's Weekend in Birmingham

Two months ago I read in a BBC Good Food magazine (an excellent website and magazine for those of you who like to cook) that during the weekend of November 25-27th the city of Birmingham, which is about 2.5 hours northwest of Egham, would be hosting a Good Food Winter Exhibition. I decided that it looked like something that I would like and have never experienced so I booked a ticket to go on the spot. And so, two months later, I headed up north for a quick foodie weekend.

I left Egham Friday evening after class and arrived in Birmingham at 830pm. The next morning I headed to the Good Food fair at the NEC conference centre near Birmingham's airport.

What awaited me inside was utter chaos. As I went on a Saturday (probably not my best decision), every person in the vicinity of Birmingham and I flooded into a conference arena jam-packed full of stalls advertising foods from every corner of Britain. The theme of the show was winter food as well as British food, so things like British sausage, smoked kippers, Christmas cakes, mince pies, and brandy were fully represented and dominated the show. One could buy himself a turkey, ham, or christmas basket for their Christmas meal in a month and lots of people pulled around small trolleys to put their meat or wine purchases in to take home. If I had lived closer to Birmingham (as well as had a fridge at my hostel) I probably would have bought some of the lovely Christmas food. But alas, I did not, and so my hours at the show consisted of partaking in the plentiful free samples at stalls, watching cooking demonstrations, and hearing about different ways to make one's Christmas dinner flavorful and festive. I even learned the correct way to carve a turkey and to keep it moist until dinner. 

Turkey Carving Demonstration and Food Tasting

After a few  hours the crowds began to overwhelm me so I hightailed it out of the NEC in favor of the giant shopping centre near my hostel, the Bullring (again, not my finest decision). Basically, I moved from one crowded area to another, Saturday being the last day after payday before Christmas. The shopping centre was packed and while I found a lot of very nice clothes in different stores, the queues to pay were at a complete standstill and I just couldn't be bothered to wait for a half hour to buy a shirt. I ended up staying for about 2 hours and then headed in for the night. 

The next morning I checked out of my hostel and decided to spend a few hours lounging in the Starbucks near the Bullring and to take advantage of their free wifi. The place was decked out with Christmasy cheer and Christmas music was playing beautifully in the background; it was a lovely change of scenery from my hectic, and rather overwhelming, Saturday. 

near the Bullring 

I did have one more stop on my foodie agenda and I was told by friends that I could not come to Birmingham and miss it; so at 1230 off I went to Cadbury World in Bourneville, a suburb of Birmingham. Now, I know Cadbury World sounds cheesy and silly, but the idea of touring the factory of my favorite chocolate on the planet just sounded good to me. From the second that I got off the train at Bourneville, the air literally smelled of Cadbury chocolate. Right then I knew I had made the right decision to visit. 

Bourneville was created to house the factory as well as the workers that were employed there. The town is so quaint and simply cute that I wished that I lived there. The houses were all Tudor style (like the picture above) and a throw back to older England. The Cadbury family built a cricket pitch, soccer field, and swimming pool for their workers and were also one of the first to implement a 5 and a half day work week for all of their employees in England in the mid-Victorian period. 

While in the factory I had a tour of the background of the Cadbury family, how they make their chocolate, and the town of Bourneville. I also got to see the packaging plant where thousands of bars of Cadbury chocolate are made and packaged up everyday. I then proceeded into a room where I could see people hand crafting things like chocolate shoes and santas for christmas. I also had a demonstration on how people at the factory used to make the filled chocolates by hand. I have to say that the workers at Cadbury World certainly know how to keep their visitors happy (rides for children, a cup of molten chocolate to eat, and three free Cadbury candy bars doesn't hurt) and going through the museum and factory was an absolute pleasure. Of course the tour ended in the world's largest Cadbury gift shop and I am guilty of buying 12GBP worth of chocolate to give as gifts and to eat myself, and I maintained serious restraint in not buying more. Once I exited the building to head back to Birmingham New Street station (and Egham) I was once again greeted with the lovely smell of chocolate wafting through the crisp, autumn air. What a way to end a weekend!

A Thanksgiving First

This Thanksgiving held many "firsts" for me: first time that I've introduced non-American people to the holiday, the first time I've been the only American at the meal, and the first time that I've cooked the entire meal by myself.
I decided to have my Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday evening rather than Thursday because Thursdays are my late class days at school (until 730pm) and I didn't want to deal with cooking so late. I made two decisions that made my cooking on the day of a million times easier; first I decided that instead of roasting a turkey I would just buy a cooked roasted chicken instead and simply reheat it. Secondly I chose to make an online order of all my supplies on Waitrose.com and to have them delivered to my house. Both significantly cut down on the amount of stress on the day of Thanksgiving. Once the delivery arrived at 11am on Wednesday I got right to cooking the pumpkin pie (which thanks to my Dad, who sent me a can of pumpkin, I was able to make. Canned pumpkin isn't available here). Surprisingly it all went smoothly. I say surprisingly because my oven, which is basically a tiny box, is extremely temperamental and tends to run very hot. I ended up cooking my pie 15 degrees celsius colder than the suggested temperature and for 10 minutes less than the suggested time and voila! it was perfect! (Now do you see what I mean about thank goodness it didn't burn? I had to watch it like a hawk even after turning it down so significantly!)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

A few hours later I started in on the proper meal itself, first tackling the stuffing recipe provided by my mom. Keep in mind that I've never made any of this food before so everything was sort of an experiment as to how it would turn out. The stuffing turned out beautifully and with that safely in the fridge awaiting the oven I turned to the real experiment of the night, scalloped corn. Scalloped corn was always my favorite thing at Thanksgiving or holidays and when I was a picky eater as a kid I always knew that I could at least eat that. For those of you who don't know the recipe, it's creamed corn, an egg, saltine crackers crushed up, milk, and paprika on top and it is baked in a bowl for about 30-40 minutes until it is crunchy on top and warm in the middle. It is a bit like a corn souffle but denser. This recipe proved the most risky because, despite looking everywhere, cans of creamed corn were not to be found anywhere. Since this is the key ingredient in the recipe I placed an emergency email a few days in advance to my mom and grandma. They gave me ideas and I adapted the recipe in a few ways too. What I did to produce my own creamed corn was to put sweet corn in a food processor with a tub of creme fraiche and then whip them together with the mixture above and included some corn starch and flour. It actually turned out just right with the addition of the creme fraiche and my housemates loved it. After that I popped the stuffing and chicken in the oven, made the mashed potatoes, cut up the french bread, and set the table. 

All of the food came out splendidly, none burnt or undercooked, and tasted fabulous. My final menu was chicken, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, cranberry sauce, bread, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. Everyone tried everything and enjoyed it all. Rachel and Nikki couldn't get over that my stuffing was homemade, as they've only ever had it from a mix. They all tried the pumpkin pie and I think the liked it, though I think they were a bit unsure about it, never having had pumpkin before. It is a bit of an acquired taste so I was just happy that they ate even one piece each. As per usual, we all ended up eating way too much and effectively spent the rest of the evening on the couches in our food comas. We ended up watching "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" on my laptop and I told them about the origins of Thanksgiving on Plymouth Rock. Yesterday morning when I woke up they even greeted me with "Happy Thanksgiving!" which made me happy because they were so enthusiastic about my favorite holiday. I still have about a half of a pie leftover and lots of potatoes, corn, and stuffing to get through before I head off to Birmingham later today (but Nikki and Rachel will help me finish them). 

The Meal

the corn turned out!

Enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Thanksgiving is always a time to be retrospective and to reflect on those people and things that are most important. This year more than most I have cause to thankful. I am thankful for my mom and dad for supporting me no matter what and for banking on the idea that England and Royal Holloway is the right place for me. They are the ones who made this once in a lifetime opportunity possible. I'm thankful for my old and new friends for always being there (even if I'm across the ocean) and for not forgetting about me. I'm thankful for Nikki and Rachel because they've welcomed me into their lives and hearts in a way that I could never have expected or hoped for and for indulging me in bringing a bit of America to Cherrywood Avenue. I'm thankful for my extended family, for my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, family friends, neighbors, and siblings (that includes you Cristina!). I am also thankful for future visits of friends and family that are making the big venture to visit me overseas during this next year; I cannot even wait to see all of you! I am thankful for people that are coming into my life and for those who have recently left it. I'm thankful that last year I was able to spend one last Thanksgiving holiday with my grandfather as I hold that memory truly dear to my heart. It is always difficult to be away from home on the holidays and the months of November and December are heavy hitters in terms of holidays and ensuing homesickness. I've had my share of it this month but am trying to work through it. When given the chance life opens up new experiences and paths to be taken and I am thankful for being given the chance to live my dream. Having Thanksgiving in England is a small sacrifice to pay, and ended up actually being an enjoyable one, surrounded by new loved ones and plenty of great, American style food.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to all!

My 23rd Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone leaving me only feeling older, and maybe a little wiser too. My birthday was on a Tuesday this year and being in the middle of the week, it felt anything but festive.

I started off the day and afternoon by studying; I know, happy birthday right? I was in the midst of researching for my first 5,000 word essay (about 16ish pages) and since that is the longest paper I've ever had to write, was feeling legitimately nervous that I wouldn't have enough extra source material to bolster my arguments. So basically I spent the week buried in papers and articles and reading like a mad woman. (I would just like to say to all of those people who think that I spend all of my time traveling and none at school, try flipping that idea around. You could not be more wrong! I even spent my birthday doing work!)

By late afternoon I was feeling fairly disheartened and thoroughly unexcited about the idea of my birthday; until Rachel and Nikki got home. The thing that I love most about these two girls is their ability to get excited about life; they have somehow managed to still have that child-like happiness and genuinely get excited about things, rather than me who tries to downplay my own excitement most of the time. As soon as they each got home the first thing they did was to literally run to my room, scream happy birthday with the biggest smiles on their faces, and hug me (followed by dancing, jumping, singing, or all of the above). That reaction in and of it self would have been enough for me but to top it the three of us and our other housemate, Meilin, went out to eat in Egham at a nice italian restaurant named Prezzo.

the four roomies

The dinner was amazing and we spent the entire dinner laughing; I even got a balloon and a piece of cake with candles on it. After the waiter and the girls sang me happy birthday, we happily ate our desserts and had a leisurely chat and sit at Prezzo. I am so thankful to have these girls in my life; they single handedly, and easily, changed my day from bad to great in a matter of minutes. It was a birthday that I will never forget because it was surrounded by new, caring friends. So, again, thank you Nikki, Rachel, and Meilin, from the bottom of my heart; you made my birthday a great one.

reading the most amazing, hand drawn card ever

blowing out my candles!

opening my present (i got a fuzzy, warm bathrobe!)