Earth Day

New Jersey was pretty serious about recycling.  It was actually a law that you must recycle there- you could be fined if you were caught not recycling.  We had a large bucket-style bin in which we placed all cans, glass and plastics (numbered 1 and 2) and we also had a large lidded bin (like a garbage bin) for paper and cardboard.  Recyclables were collected every other week and garbage was collected twice a week, every week.  Also, it is worth it to note, that the garbage men would take whatever you had on the curb next to your bin.

In England, they are serious about recycling too, but it is different.  They are so serious about recycling that they inadvertently make it mandatory by only picking up your garbage every other week.  And, they will not take anything that does not fit into your garbage bin.  So, if you don't recycle, you will be overloaded with garbage.  We have a black garbage bin and a green recycle bin.  Plastics, paper, cardboard and cans can be placed in the green bins, but not glass.

  There is a separate large recycle container (dumpster) at the village hall for dumping glass.

Our recycle bins are picked up on alternating weeks with the garbage bin being picked up on the recycle off week.  We also have small gray bins- a really small one for under the sink...

 ...and a slightly larger (but still small) one for outside.

These gray bins require compostable liners and are for food waste.  I can put leftovers, vegetable peelings, bones, eggshells, coffee grounds and tea bags in them.  Once the small container under the sink starts filling up- or starts to smell foul- I can remove the bag and place it in the bin outside.

This gray bin is collected EVERY week.  It's brilliant, really.  I really like the concept of the kitchen waste caddy as it seems- without garbage disposals in the sinks- I dump out a lot of food.

Finally, even though this is not related to recycling it is still about conserving energy and therefore relevant, I wanted to talk about the wall outlets here in England.  In America, we were always being told to save energy by unplugging items from the wall while not in use.  It makes sense, and it helps, but, let's face it, I don't have time (or maybe I am too lazy) to go around unplugging everything every day when I leave the house.  It just isn't going to happen.  And that is why I LOVE the way England handles this.  Each outlet has a switch that can be turned off and on.

When you need to use that outlet, simply flip the switch to on and when you are done, flip it back off.  Again- brilliant!

And if this whole informational post bored you- here is a previous Earth Day post about the time Zoe locked me out of the house on recycle day.  She was two at the time.


Happy Earth Day!

Open Mic Night

So- since I have been terrible about writing lately, I figured I would open up the page to other contributions.  And it turns out, Noah wrote a great poem at school last week and Zoe just spent some time putting together a great little book earlier today.

First I will start with Zoe's work (Zoe is 5 and in kindergarten).  I will type her words and translate in parentheses.

Nobrs dod sop. (Numbers don't stop.)

Its fon to kat. (It's fun to count.)

I lik Nobrs. ( I like numbers.)

Doy yoy lik nbrs (Do you like numbers?)

3, 7

Som peBl dod no haw to kad (Some people don't know how to count.)

I like Nobrs 1 2 3 4 5 6 ( I like numbers. 1,2,3,4,5,6)

It's really cute- she even cut the little pages and taped them together in book format.

Now, on to Noah's contribution.  In class last week, his teacher asked them to write a poem about spring. (Noah is 9)

Spring Dream

Drip, Drip Drip

Can you spot the rain's tip?

Will it ever stop?

I sort of want to hop.

I'll be entertained by a bunny

as it hops around and acts funny.

I'll sling-shot myself off the swing

When I hit a cloud, I will cling.

I'll pull myself on the cloud

then I'll yell very loud.

When I came to the ground

you won't believe what I found.

"Hooray!", I cried

"The rain has stopped, everything has dried."

I woke up from my dream

and let out a little scream

I have not found the rain's tip

but still...

drip, drip drip.

A big thank you to Noah, 9 and Zoe, 5 for contributing to my blog and keeping it from falling into complete and utter derelict status.

A Taste of Home

As a Texan that has lived outside of the state of Texas almost fifteen years now, I often get homesick for certain foods.  If you have never been to Texas and had TexMex, then you will have no idea what I am talking about here, but it is an entirely different cuisine than authentic Mexican, although the two can be found side-by-side in many authentic family-ownded restaurants in Texas.

I realized after I left Texas that what I consider to be enchilada sauce is not what anyone else  (aside from the state of Texas) considers to be enchilada sauce.   The sauce we tend to have is more of a chili-gravy sauce and it is delicious.  I spent years looking for a good recipe for it with no luck.   When I was pregnant, I discovered that Amy's Organic Cheese Enchiladas include the chili gravy sauce.  It is a wonder I did not gain 80 pounds during that pregnancy.  But, alas, I was unable to recreate it for myself.  That is until a few months ago when I ran across a post by Homesick Texan.  The recipe seemed promising so I tried it.  Definitely worth a try if you are a misplaced Texan craving this sauce.  My husband does not do well with meals sans meat so I just added ground beef and made them beef and cheese enchiladas with the gravy sauce. Yummy!

Here is the recipe- copy/pasted directly from Homesick Texan's blog (note: I eliminated the oregano):

Chili Gravy (from Robb Walsh)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup lard or vegetable oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1 teaspoon powdered garlic 
2 teaspoon ground cumin 
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chili power
2 cups beef broth, chicken broth or water

Method:
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.

Add the black pepper, salt, powdered garlic, ground cumin, dried oregano and chili powder and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients. Add broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water to adjust the thickness. 

Yield: 2 cups

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cheese Enchiladas
Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
8 corn tortillas 
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (can make it with Velveeta for extra melting oomph and good ol' Tex-Mex authenticity)
1 medium onion, diced 
2 cups chili gravy

Method:
Preheat the oven to 450 and grease a large baking dish.

Pour the oil in a small skillet, and heat the tortillas one at a time. Keep them wrapped in a cloth until all 8 are heated.

Pour the oil in a small skillet, and heat the tortillas one at a time. Keep them wrapped in a cloth until all 8 are heated. Pour 1/2 cup of chili gravy in a baking pan.

Take a tortilla, put 1/4 cup of cheese and 1 tablespoon of onion in the center and roll it. Place rolled tortilla in baking dish, seam side down.
Continue with remaining tortillas.

Take remaining chili gravy, and pour it over the rolled tortillas. Sprinkle remaining cheese and onions on top. Bake for 10 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Yield: 4 servings


So that was one recipe aside, but I still needed to find the Mexican rice you get alongside dishes like these in restaurants.  I tried several of those before landing on this one.  I made it the other night and it got rave reviews from the family.

Here it is copy/pasted from the recipe site (I edited it to show exactly how I made it):

2 cups white rice
3 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
4 tablespoons oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon paprika 
1/2 tablespoon chili powder 
1/2 teaspoon cumin 
salt and pepper
Directions:

1
Heat water and boullion in separate pot or microwave to make broth.
2
In separate saucepan add oil and brown rice until rice is golden brown color on medium/high heat.
3
Add seasonings, garlic, and onion. Be sure to keep stirring rice so it does not burn.
4
Add broth & tomato sauce. Boil for a second, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 25 minutes.
5
Fluff and garnish with fresh cilantro if you like.

Another classic I think every Texan has a recipe is King Ranch Chicken.  It is a slightly spicy,  chicken-y, Mexican-ish sort of casserole.  Some put corn in it, but I only like corn by itself on a cob- for some reason corn mixed IN my food skeeves me.

King Ranch Chicken (recipe mine):

whole chicken, cooked and deboned 

approximately 1 Tbsp butter

1/2 onion, chopped

can cream of mushroom soup

can cream of chicken soup

can RoTel tomatoes (original flavor)

3/4c chicken broth

corn tortillas

grated cheddar

Cook chicken and pull the meat off the bone- set aside.

In a saucepan, saute chopped onion in butter until onion is soft.  Add soup, RoTel and chicken broth and stir to blend.  Simmer on low, covered for 5-10 minutes.

In a casserole dish, tear tortillas in 1/2, dip them in the soup mixture and layer the bottom of the casserole dish.  Sprinkle chicken on top, cover with a few spoonfuls of soup mixture, spread cheese over the top then repeat the process layering until full ending with cheese layer.

Bake covered at 350F for 35-40 minutes.  Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Another "home recipe" I love to make, although not Tex Mex and more southern than Texan is chicken and dumplings.  I get compliments on this dish, so I thought I would share this recipe as well.

Chicken and Dumplings

Melt about 2 Tbsp butter in a stock pot and saute 2 stalks of celery (chopped) and 1/2 onion (also chopped) until onion is browning- then add enough water to the pot to boil the chicken and drop in 3 bouillon cubes, salt and pepper.  I usually buy a fryer already cut up and boil about 30 minutes until it is done.

Remove chicken to side to cool but keep broth simmering.

In a bowl, mix 2 1/2 c flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Measure 1/4 c shortening and cut/blend the shortening into the flour.  Now, here is where you can use a pastry blender if you have one ( here is what I am talking about).  I have never owned one, though, and I just plop the shortening into the flour and use two butter knives, cutting in a criss-cross pattern and blending until the shortening is cut into the flour and blended well.

Slowly add approximately 1 cup of cold water, mixing with a fork, until you have a sticky, moist dough.

Spread flour on a flat surface and turn 1/2 of your dough out onto the flour and knead the flour into it until it is no longer sticky.  Flour your rolling pin and roll it out to about 1/8- 1/4 inch thick depending on how thick you like your dumplings.  Use one of the butter knives to cut lines down and across the dough so you have square dumplings.  Drop the dumplings in the boiling broth one-by-one waiting until they surface.

Repeat above step with second half of dough.

Pull chicken off of the bone and add back into pot with dumplings and broth, cover and cook about 10 minutes.  Taste broth and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Of course, if you are IN the state of Texas, disregard this and just go get yourself some good authentic TexMex at your local restaurant. If you are needing some chicken and dumplings, get your momma or your grandma to show you how to make it.  If, however, you find yourself outside of the state and craving these things, then, by all means, try my recipes.  

Enjoy.

Fun in the Fens

The thing about air force bases is that they are usually located in rural farmland.  They need room to land the planes.  So, it is not surprising that we are located in a rural, farming section of England.  We are surrounded by farmland and pig and chicken farms in an area called "the fens".

The fens were a vast area of marshy land with rivers and lakes.  You can read the entire history of the fens including their drainage here.  Essentially, some wealthy businessmen, decided to undertake draining the fens starting in the 1630's.  The "black gold" discussed in the linked article is the peat soil.  The businessmen wanted to drain the fens so that soil could be used for farming.  The term "black gold" is no exaggeration.  The soil is extremely fertile here and I was just driving through an area yesterday where a farmer was tilling his field and noticed that the soil is black.

So- to recap- they drained the fens and now the area is used for farming and raising livestock.  Our village is very small and surrounded by farmland. This translates to the fact that on any given day, when you walk out of our door, you are hit with either the smell of the beets being made into sugar at the nearby British Sugar factory or the smell of poop. Manure, fertilizer, pig farm, chicken farm, the geese behind my house, the pigeons that sit in abundance on the power lines around our house.  All poop.

This past weekend, we were headed home and were struck by the smell of poop.  Now, the different types of farms have different smells.  This was not the usual smell of pig farm poop that I have grown accustomed to.

 I wrinkled my nose and DJ said, "That is that chicken farm right there. I don't know WHY they put a chicken farm RIGHT THERE but when I ride through here on my bike, that smell absolutely envelopes me and threatens to strangle me it is so awful."

"Well, I didn't think it was pig poo, I guess I never noticed the chicken farm right there."

"Oh yeah- it's there alright."

**slight pause and then DJ again**

"Hey kids, do you want to play a game?"

"YES!!!"

"Fun in the Fens!  Part One: Identify that smell!!"

**me, laughing while the kids look confused**

"Yes, that's a great game!  We can call that portion 'Whose Poo are You?'  The next category will be 'Farm Road Obstacle Course: Dodge the Tractors and Pheasants!' "

The kids went back to ignoring us- not in the least bit amused by our antics.

Hey- don't judge- there is no 3G and barely a cell signal out here.  We have to find ways to entertain ourselves.  If we come up with any other categories, I will be sure and let you know.

Craft Space- Take Two, Secondhand Goodies and a Beautiful English Day

When we first got our household goods, I unpacked all of my craft stuff and set it up in an adorable little out building on the property.  I loved how it turned out and having my own space.

But as the winter months set in, the fact that the building has no heat really put a wrench in things.  We purchased a space heater for use when I was out there.  But, honestly, when I would go out there, it would be so cold and take so long to heat with the space heater, that it made me not want to go out at all.  I also started noticing condensation in the room from the cold, damp, English winter.  Some of my albums were damp and my paper was starting to warp from the moisture.  I knew it was a matter of time before things started to mold.

Our next approach was buying a different space heater with a timer and keeping the room steady at around 50 degrees and turning the heat up when I went out there.  It didn't seem to solve the damp issue, though, and I finally decided I was going to need to do something else or get rid of all my stuff.

I thought on it for a few weeks.  There really was no room in the house for all of my stuff.  And then, one night, it came to me in a dream- the funny little nook in the dining room:

(I still can't believe I fit all that stuff in here)

It is still not the best solution (because I know all of that stuff is crammed in that tiny corner and the OCD-I-need-clean-open-spaces-crazy-lady in me stays slightly unnerved about it all) but it will have to do for the next two and a half years.

Once I got everything crammed in the little nook, I realized I needed somewhere to fit my Cricut cartridges.  In New Jersey, I had cabinets specifically made to fit those.  In the out building here, I had them in our tv cabinet that I repurposed to the craft room (because it will not fit in our living room here).  Not one more thing could go in that nook, so I started thinking on it again.

BAM- solution!  I bought an over-the-door shoe organizer and took the cartridges and books out of their boxes and placed them in the organizer.  I let the boxes out in the out building, so it is entirely possible they might get ruined, but at least the cartridges will be okay.  I used the weight of the paper bins to hold the hooks in place and when I need to get to the shelf, I can just unhook the organizer and move it.

Now on to the shopping part of the post.  I already told you here and here about the fun finds at antique, secondhand and charity stores as well as auctions.

In addition to the things I have already showed you, I also picked up these gems:

 Hall table we picked up quite some time ago, but I forgot to post it.  I love the carving.

Monday, I found this little beauty.  The carvings around the top are very similar to the carvings on the above hall table.  So I picked this up to go in the upstairs hallway.  Look at those beautiful legs!

I needed a skinny shelf to fit in this space since there was just nowhere to put shampoo and soap.  I found it on Monday!

I've been wanting to exchange my modern towel rack for one of the old wooden ones and this little cutie was just the right price:

Finally- when we moved here to England, another family we knew from New Jersey, moved at the same time to a smaller base about an hour away.  We have been discussing since they got here that we need to meet up at some point.  Finally, we decided that the beautiful, charming little town of Ely was a halfway point for both of us and she brought a friend from Alconbury and I brought one of her other friends she had met in Arizona and the four of us met up today in Ely.

Luckily, today was a BEAUTIFUL day!  It was sunny, blue and the temperature even made it all the way up to 58F degrees!  We met around 10am, visited the antique shop, a couple of charity shops and then popped into a local tearoom for lunch.  We had initially been disappointed because the tearoom we were supposed to visit (and quite a famous one in the area) was closed today.  But it all worked out because we ended up at the one with an INCREDIBLE view (Ely Cathedral)!

My sandwich (bacon and brie) and tea:

The food was yummy, the tea was delicious and the company was refreshing. I managed to survive the trip without buying anything (miraculous, really).  The other ladies bought a few small items at the charity shops and Sara found a beautiful floor-length formal for £10 to wear to an event this weekend.

As for me- this weekend, I have no plans.  Sunday is British Mother's Day- so the restaurants will be full.  Translation: no Sunday roast for us. 

Update and Pictures

Okay- so this isn't a particular story- just a quick update with some pictures.

The week after my mid- January birthday, it snowed.  The snow, ice and bitter cold stuck around for a month and has finally melted away, but we are still having some rather chilly and damp weather.  But no snow or ice, so it is a gradual progression.

First the snow...

 (waiting for the bus after the snow)

 (walking to the bus after one night of a little snow)

The photos above were taken from my iPhone, but I did take my good camera out one afternoon and snapped some pictures while the snow was falling.  I loved one I got of the village church so much that I made it into a New Year's card (which of course I posted on Facebook and then never printed or sent to anyone).  I have smudged out our last name, but you get the idea.

And then after the snow, came the ice.

It got colder and colder, we started blowing through our tank of oil at an alarming pace, and I started cooking comfort food.

homemade chicken noodle soup

 goulash

On a random day the kids were out of school, we visited the farm shop at Elveden Estates and I picked up these adorable little "hot chocolates on stick".

They were delicious!

I indulged in a little retail therapy.  

I bought another beautiful second hand plate to add to my collection.

I bought a beautiful gramophone cabinet with twisted legs.  It does not have the gramophone in it, but I intend to put it in the guest room and use it to store extra sheets or blankets for the guest bed.  It will also double as a bedside table.

And one Monday morning, I decided to pop into the village auction just to see what it was all about. I won this little beauty for £2 ($3.24) !!!  It was originally a cabinet for a stereo with turntable and I needed a small cabinet for a little nook in my dining room.  I wanted to use it as a drinks cabinet and this worked perfectly.  The wood even matches my sideboard!

One cold weekend the sun came out and we decided to go visit an English Heritage property we had not seen (since we are members). We ventured out toward Castle Rising.  We plugged the post code into the GPS and took off.  We have had several humorous trips using the GPS.  It often takes us down byroads (which tend to look like someone's driveway, pasture or a sidewalk here).  Granted, we always get where we need to be, but on this particular outing, we got to giggling so much because we were in the Beetle. The GPS never told us we might need a 4 wheel drive for this route!  Matilda (my Beetle) almost bottomed out a couple of times and I wasn't entirely certain we were going to make it out without needing to call a tow truck.  So, of course, rather than panic, I let DJ drive and do that while I pulled out my phone to snap a picture. (Note: this was NOT the road where the castle was located- we were still 15 or so miles from it.  This was just some random road on the way there.)

But it was worth it when we made it.  What a charming place!  It is over 870 years old!!

In February, we went to stay the weekend with our friends Andrea and James.  They were our neighbors (neighbours?) the last time we were stationed here, but have moved from the area to down near London.  

Now, I have been trying to see Wicked for quite some time now.  Every time we talked about going to see it in New York, something came up or it got postponed.  Finally, in December 2009, DJ finally purchased tickets for us to go see it in Philadelphia for my birthday in January.  Sadly, my grandfather passed away and we had to go home to Texas for his funeral and missed the show.  

Well, I FINALLY got to see Wicked in London!  It was well worth the wait!  FABULOUS! Andrea, her friend Julie and I went into London for dinner and to see the show while James took DJ and the kids to a local farm.

 When we stepped out of the train station, I decided to be a tourist for a moment and take a picture of the double decker bus.  Later, Andrea pointed out the ad on the side of the bus.  How appropriate since we were belatedly celebrating my 40th birthday!  And if "This is 40" then 40 is totally fabulous!!

Meanwhile, at the farm, there was a rock wall.  Noah was hesitant and didn't want to climb, but Zoe insisted on trying.  She was really too small for it and only got a little ways up before the pegs were too spaced out for her to reach; but seeing her do it gave Noah the courage to try and he climbed all the way up!

Last week was the 100th day of Kindergarten and Zoe had to bring in a project with 100 things on it.  Their school mascot is the hedgehog so she made a little hedgehog and we glued 100 pieces of spaghetti on him for his spikes. By the time this picture was taken, he had lost some of his spikes.  Oh well... close enough.

And finally, while I don't have a picture, I will tell the story anyway.  Since Zoe has a summer birthday and would not get to celebrate it at school, her teacher lets them celebrate their half birthday.  She sent a note home last week stating they would be celebrating Zoe's half birthday on the 26th and asked that I send in a box of cake mix, tub of icing, 3 eggs and cupcake liners.  Part of the celebration is that Zoe gets to help make the cupcakes for the class.  She came home with her little birthday crown yesterday and said she got to go first in all the lines and also got to choose which rows lined up first from the carpet.  I asked her if she wore the crown all day and she said she did and that her bus driver asked her if it was her birthday today. She told him that no, it was her HALF birthday.  I am guessing he was probably thinking Americans were nuts- celebrating half birthdays.  

I think I have you all caught up for now.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Day-Before-Lent

I'm not Catholic- so while growing up, we always talked about and observed Lent but I never had to give anything up for it.  Because that is how Protestants roll- we make our own rules to suit us and giving up food just doesn't suit us.  I use "us" as a blanket term for Protestants when I know that many of them DO give up things, so, really, I guess, by "us" I mean "me".  None of my family ever gave up anything for Lent and neither did  most people I knew in my youth.  We had a few Catholics in our school and I was aware they ate fish instead of meat on Fridays, but that was really it. And I don't like fish- so the idea of giving up our Friday hamburger for fish never sat right with me.

Because of all of that, I have always been fascinated by various religions and fasting.  Mostly since I have never done it.  Well, except that one time a few weeks ago I had to fast for blood work but instead drank a giant glass of sweet tea in the morning, sheepishly admitted it to my doctor who told me to have the work done anyway and she would note it when tests shows I was a raging diabetic.  Except that she called me later laughing because my blood sugar was fine anyway.

But, I digress...

If I want to get back on topic ( and I am not sure that I do because a big glass of sweet tea sounds pretty good right now) I need to talk about Lent and fasting.

Most people know Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and that observant Catholics and other Christians give up something during this period.  Traditionally, it was things like eggs, milk, meat and fats.  They also didn't believe in wasting food- so a big celebration was held on Tuesday including a feast where they ate all of their remaining ingredients that would be forbidden during Lent and that were perishable and would not last through Lent.  "Mardi Gras" is french for "fat Tuesday"- because of they ate of all the "fats" before fasting for Lent.  My dad's side of the family is Cajun- so if you speak to me in terms of Mardi Gras, I can understand.

However, in the UK, this day is called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day".  Here is the information I have found on Shrove Tuesday:

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent.

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent.

During Lent there are many foods that some Christians - historically and today - would not eat: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.

So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour. (source)

Today, they kids had a free pancake breakfast at school to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.

I think it is great to learn about, celebrate and incorporate celebrations of your host nation.  My kids were very excited to experience their first Pancake Day.

But, most importantly, they must remember their roots.  And that is why, tonight for dinner, there will be jambalaya!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!  Ayeeeeee!