Busy Bees

Hey guys- sorry for the week of no posts, but things have been really busy and we didn't have internet for a few days last week. I promise to update soon with lots of events- my birthday (which was last Tuesday), the arrival of my parents in Merry Ole' England, sight seeing, and wedding events. Stay tuned!

A Very Cupcake-y Post

Wow, I didn't mean to slack on writing in here! Sorry for the absence, but things have been pretty busy in England. Mick had his stag weekend in London all day Saturday and stayed the night with his best man and some other friends. I took the train up to meet him (all by myself!) Sunday midday. He and his friend were in the middle of gorging on a giant fry up breakfast. We met up with his friend Gus, as well, and saw The Inbetweeners at a cinema in Piccadilly Circus. The Inbetweeners is a very popular sitcom in Britain. It just finished its last season and so they made a movie. We had a bit of stroll around the City- through St. James' Park and past Buckingham Palace down to Victoria Station. We caught an evening train home. It was a really nice day.
Today we woke up early and headed into Chichester because I had a dentist appointment, then we came back home. I crashed out and had a nap on the couch before heading back into Chichester for my final dress fitting which didn't really happen because the friggen seamstress who picked the dress up from the shop and brought it back a few days later DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO THE ALTERATIONS. I felt bad for the girls in the shop because it wasn't their fault and they were falling all over themselves apologizing. They had no idea she hadn't done the alterations. And Natalie (the girl Mick's mum and I got locked in the shop with. Remember?) had a nice little surprise for me. She remembered me mentioning when we booked these fittings back in July that this particular one was the day before my birthday.
"Tomorrow's your birthday right?" And she disappeared into the back room. "We wanted to get you something..." And she reappeared with a darling little cupcake wrapped in a tiny paper basket from a bakery down the street. I was ridiculously touched and gave both the girls in the shop a hug. "I guess, given the situation, it's a good thing we had a cupcake to soften the blow!"

I left the shop and called Mick's mum (who was leaving work early to meet me) then saw her walking towards me. I told her the news and that I was going back Thursday for my actual fitting. She saw my cupcake and decided we should go to the bakery where Natalie got it and have a snack. We each had a cupcake and picked out a chocolate croissant to bring home for Mick (one of his very favorite things in the world).



While I was walking from the bus stop to the dress shop before any of this had happened, I couldn't help but smile. The sky was a bit cloudy and I had time to kill, so I got a drink from a cafe and wandered around a few shops, dreaming about the day when I'm allowed to work and can actually have money, and looking for possible gifts for Mick's birthday. It's not for 3 weeks, but it's not often that I'm out without him so I thought I'd get a head start. I wandered the cobbly streets of one of my favorite British cities (so far) and just felt really, really happy. In that moment, despite my multiple worries about visas and not having a job or money or a car, it didn't matter, because I've done the right thing. I made the right decision. I left my world behind for a new one I adore in order to be with someone I love. Then, after Mick's mum and I had met up she went into one store while I visited a card shop to see what kinds of cards they had. By the time Mick's birthday rolls around we'll be married, so I headed to the Husband Birthday Card Section. It felt really strange to be looking at cards that say "to my lovely Husband" or "to my fantastic Husband" and "to my perfect Husband on his birthday." WTF? I felt like such an impostor, standing in that section, looking at cards that such grown up women by for their grown up husbands. I'm not a grown up woman, and Mick certainly isn't a grown up man. We're just kids playing at being grown up! At least that's how it feels, because really, no matter how old you are, you still feel like a 6 year old version of yourself wiggling your loose teeth out so you can get your tooth fairy money even if your tooth is barely loose (which I stole from Mick because I just learned today that he used to do this). Anyway! Point being, it was pretty crazy to be standing in a card shop in England where I now live looking for a card for my soon-to-be husband, who I'm marrying next week. Bonkers! But if there's anything I've learned in almost 25 years it's that life is just that--- bonkers.


Much love.

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Pita Bread

Soup is good food. And I think it's often under-appreciated. Hearty, warm, filling-- fantastic.

The lack of Mexican/ Tex-Mex food in England is starting to take a toll on me. A couple weeks ago I made soft tacos for dinner and last night I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. I know this isn't authentic Mexican food, but the flavors and influences are there and I miss them.
So- here's what I did. Again, pretty much all made up in my head. Or, going with the theme, my cabeza.

What you'll need:
3 cans of cream of tomato soup
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning
Cumin
1 Cup rice
2-3 diced chicken breasts
1/2- 1 onion
Mozarella Cheese (grated)
Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
In a large saucepan, empty 3 cans of tomato or cream of tomato soup. Add about a pint of vegetable stock (you can use canned, I use granules and boiling water). This helps thin out the tomato soup a bit. Heat on a medium flame. Add in a generous helping of cumin. Then, empty a packet of your average taco meat seasoning. The only one I've been able to find here is Old El Paso, but Mission or Taco Bell would even work, whatever you can find in the store. Mix in well. Add two cans of diced tomatoes.

While that is heating (try not to let it come to a boil and keep stirring), prepare about 1 cup of dry rice in another pan. I used a bit more than a cup for three people and had a bit left over, it's up to you. If you have a steamer, you can use that as well. Let that set up and set to one side.

Check on the soup mixture. Taste it and add more cumin if you want, possibly a bit of paprika.

Pop your pita bread in the oven, directly on the rack. Keep checking on it so it doesn't get too crispy or burnt. I did one pita for each person.

I bought pre-cut chicken breasts, but you can buy your own breasts if you want and slice them up yourself. Make sure they're in about 1 inch cubes or smaller. Fry them in a pan with diced onion. Mick is my designated onion dicer because my makeup gets everyyyyyywhere if I try to dice an onion. PAINFUL. Let the chicken cook fully and set to one side.

Make sure your soup mixture is good and hot.

Spoon a glob (however much you want) of rice into the bottom of a large soup bowl. Set the chicken in the bowl is well (I divided the amount evenly amongst the three bowls). Ladle the soup mixture on top and fill up the bowl. Break up a handful of tortilla chips and sprinkle over the bowl. Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded mozarella and enjoy! Oh, and don't forget about your pita bread!!!

And! I remembered to take a picture of the finished product!

Tonight is steak fajitas and nachos. Woooot!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Okay, time for another recipe! I tried this one last week and I thought it was pretty darn good. Stuffed Bell Peppers! It's taken most of my life for me to learn to appreciate the bell pepper. The crunchiness, the bitter flavor of the green or the sweet flavor or yellow and orange, the earthy red. I think my favorite thing about them is how much color they can add to the most plain and simple dishes.

I mostly made this recipe up as I went, but I did look a few things up online (temperatures and cooking times, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350F or 180C.
Here's how we start-- Wash and slice the top of your peppers (4-5 peppers) off and set to one side- save these! Remove the membrane and seeds from the inside of your peppers as best you can. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and using a slotted spoon, add your peppers. Let them sit in the boiling water for about 3-5 minutes, just long enough to soften them. While these are boiling, fill a glass baking dish with about 1/8 inch of water. Remove your peppers from the pot and let them sit in the cold water. You will cook them in the water at the end. While those cool down, get started on your filling... Start by using the tops of your peppers that you set to one side. Cut around the stem and chop up as much as you can salvage. You can also use an extra pepper if you have one handy- I didn't. Also dice an onion and a tomato.
Brown 1 pound of ground beef in a pan. Add your chopped peppers, onion and tomato. Add about 1 tablespoon of cumin, as well as 1 teaspoon of paprika. I love adding garlic salt to just about everything I cook, so I added that as well. Cook all of this until your veggies are soft and your meat is done. Using a spoon, fill up your peppers with the meat mixture and pop in the oven at 350f (180C) for about 15 minutes. Remove the peppers and add a sun dried tomato to each, and sprinkle with grated cheese. Pop back in the oven for 5 more minutes, then ready to serve.

I served mine with couscous, though some people actually use rice or couscous with the meat mixture. I'm going to try this next time.

I'm also going to really start trying to remember to take pictures of the finished product for you. I always think of this as Mick is coming into the kitchen and grabbing his plate, but he never has his phone on him and I never use mine in the kitchen. And he's always too hungry to find his phone and snap a photo for me. Tonight is Chicken Tortilla Soup with Pita Bread, which I'll chronicle tomorrow WITH A PICTURE!

Happy eats!

Let's talk about Pubs

Everybody knows about pubs. Even if you've never been to the UK, Ireland or Australia, you know about pubs. Even my 8th grade students, when the topic of my British travels came up, would ask "did you go to any pubs?" I've mentioned on here a few times how much I love these homey establishments. They range in the quality of their beverages and food from sandwiches and chips (premade and microwaved) to gastro-pub quality. Some of the best meals I've had in this country were in pubs. Few meals can top the pork belly I had at The Bull Inn in Wrotham, Kent last summer. Let's talk about pubs in more detail. What are they, really? What does the word "pub" mean? And what is the history of the pub?

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment which is part of British, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand culture. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller villages no longer have a local pub. In many places, especially in villages, a pub can be the focal point of the community. The writings of Samuel Pepys describe the pub as the heart of England.

The inhabitants of Great Britain have been drinking ale since the Bronze Age, but it was with the arrival of the Romans and the establishment of the Roman road network that the first Inns called tabernae, in which the traveller could obtain refreshment, began to appear. After the departure of Roman authority and the fall of the Romano-British kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxons established alehouses that grew out of domestic dwellings. The Anglo-Saxon alewife would put a green bush up on a pole to let people know her brew was ready. These alehouses formed meeting houses for the locals to meet and gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Here lie the beginnings of the modern pub. They became so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village.


Thanks, wikipedia. Though that law no longer holds up. There are multiple pubs in each village, though now many pubs are closing down. Some villages have no pubs at all.

Now, something else we need to discuss is how unusual pub names can be. I think the strangest one I've ever noticed was The Black Boy in Sevenoaks, Kent. Though the Scared Crow in West Malling, Kent was also unusual. Probably the most common I've seen is The George and Dragon. Just like the Irish have St. Patrick, the British have St. George who slayed a dragon. Here is a list of unusual pub names in England and their location, should any of my UK readers want to visit.

The Whole in the Wall (Dumfries)
The Bucket of Blood (Cornwall)
The Inn Next Door Burnt Down (Bedfordshire)
The Drunken Duck (Ambelside)
The Quiet Woman (York)
Who'd a Thowt It (Middelton)
Bull & Spectacles (Staffordshire)
The Duke Without a Head (Wateringbury- heeey, I've been here. Never seen that pub, though!)
The Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower (London)
World Turned Upside Down (London)
The Office (Sheffield- get it? I'm guessing this is so men could tell their wives "I'm going to the office" but really go out and get drunk, but not really tell a lie...)
Bull & Bladder (Brierley Hill)
Sir Loin of Beef (Southsea- haha, love that one!)
Plumber's Arms (London)
Man on the Moon (Birmingham)
Crooked Chimney (Hertfordshire)
Jolly Taxpayer (Portsmouth)

These are just a few, but there are thousands of pubs in England alone, so if you want to find some more, go ahead and do some research. For now, I'm going to leave you with some amusing pub signs.

There. Now you have your "Something I learned today." Cheerio! 

Hen Night: 4 Girls, 1 Camera, and lots of booze

It's Monday now and I'm finally caught up on all the sleep I lost partying the night away on Saturday at my Hen Night. My soon-to-be sister-in-law (how many hyphens?!) arranged such a great night and I can't thank her enough.
Laura came to the house in Kent where we visited while she did my hair, then we did our makeup together.
The night started at Black Rock, a really cool restaurant in Maidstone where your steak or fish or whatever is served to you on a volcanic rock on a plate, still cooking. When you decide it's cooked enough to your liking, you dig in!

Mick's mum and her good friend, Lin, joined us girls for dinner

My steak cooking on a rock! It was a 400 degree rock!

For some reason Karen's husband, Andy, got stuck in a picture with us. He came to take Karen and Lin home.

First place we hit was Strawberry Moons. A very fun decorated club with too-loud music and annoying drunk men, all of which were obsessed with stealing or destroying my pink headband. Which they succeeded in doing.

I didn't realize he had bitten it until I saw this picture

All that remained of my headband :(

See the balloon? It was tied to my wrist haha.

Aimee, Laura, Heidi and me

 We walked down the street after Strawberry Moons and went to Muggletons, a pub where we drank blue drinks and I made good use of the shotglass around my neck.

Blue drinks make for blue tongues!

Laura brought dare cards. This one was really hard- see the struggle on my face?

Blue Tongue Club :D

Next we headed to Chocolate Bar (which got me excited because I thought they'd actually have chocolate...) where we danced for ages and made friends with boys.

I was trying to do that dance where your arms hang....

Strange dance moves...

After several hours of dancing at talking and drinking, we decided to call it a night at 4:30am. Then Laura realized we didn't have a key... so I had to call Mick and wake him up, which was not well received. He put a key under the mat for us. We took a cab home and crawled into bed at 5am. I slept restlessly and feeling less than fantastic for about 5 hours before it was time to get up and start the day!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night that I will never forget!

Another English Tradition

Something I noticed on my first trip to England as Mick and I walked around various towns and cities and villages was the fact that houses have names here. That's right, houses with names. Not like George and Bill. No, because that... would be... silly.

No, some British people are lofty enough to name their house. Why does a house need a name? A house doesn't have feelings. A house doesn't fetch. A house doesn't need to follow certain directions. You wouldn't walk into your house on a cold day after shuffling around quaint little English lanes and slam the door then bellow "HOUSE! Turn on the bloody 'eating, I'm frozen to the bone!" No, you simply would not.

Since Mick and I don't have a car, we find ourselves walking a lot (ie I find myself walking a lot because I've been designated gopher of the house) and I tend to check for houses with names. Some are really good. The most common names for houses you see involve the word cottage. The Cottage is the single most popular name for a house in England. I've seen Amnesia Cottage which I found to be a bit unusual. There was also Trees. Not The Trees or Green Trees or Leafy Trees or Trees in Autumn. No, just Trees. Here is a brief history and explanation of house naming in England.

Naming ones House is an old British custom which began with the gentry naming their manors, halls, and castles. The custom gradually spread to the masses and everyday folk began naming their homes as well. Traditionally the house name is based on who the house was 'tied' to or located at. For instance, the Lord of  'Evesham Manor' would have several properties tied to the estate. You might reasonably find Evesham Hall, Evesham Lodge, Evesham Cottages, The Gate House, The Dairy, The Barn, The Forge etc within walking distance of the Manor House.

Tradesmen and merchants also started naming their properties - Mill House, Forge Cottage, Wool Hall etc. Once the convention of house naming became the norm many other property owners followed suit by naming their house after distinguishing features within the boundaries of the house - Oak Cottage, Rose Cottage, The Pines, Orchard House, Meadow View etc.

Nowadays people name their homes from all kinds of inspirations. - The previous usage of the building inspires house names like The Barn, The Old Schoolhouse, The Old Rectory whilst some home owners name their house after well known beauty spots or   places they have had happy holidays at like Ambleside, Windermere, Broadstairs, Sorrento, Santorini or Vermont. Other house owners choose features of their home like Red Gables, Two Chimneys or Grey Tiles. Sometimes the view from the property is used like River View, Mountain View, Vista Montenasa etc. Some home owners name their residence with  terms like Serenity, Nirvana, Madhouse etc. Naming your home after animals usually seen around the property is also very popular - Badgers Cottage, Cuckoo Cottage, Curlew Cottage, Dolphin Cottage, Fox Hollow, Kestrels, Magpies, Mole End, Nightingale Cottage, Robins Nest, Rookery Nook, Squirrels Leap, Swallow Barn, The Jays and Two Hoots are all  favourites.

Properties throughout the British mainland had just house names until 1765 when an act of Parliament decreed that all new properties must also have a house number and street name for better identification of properties and boundaries.

Thanks to the site where I found that information.

Also, from the same site, is a list of the most popular house names in England.

  1. The Cottage                         

  2. Rose Cottage                    

  3. The Bungalow                   

  4. The Coach House               

  5. Orchard House                    

  6. The Lodge                            

  7. Woodlands                              

  8. The Old School House        

  9. Ivy Cottage                            

10. The Willows                             

11. The Barn                                 

12. The Old Rectory         

13. Hillside                       

14. Hillcrest                     

15. The Croft                  

   

So, this ridiculous tradition has captured my eye and what do I have to say about it?

I CAN'T FRIGGEN WAIT TO HAVE A HOUSE TO NAME! Mick wants to name it The White House because his (almost our) last name is White. And he fancies himself the President of Bognor or something, I don't know. I hesitate to name it something so vanilla (haha, white, vanilla, get it?) when there is a plethora of interesting names out there. I do like the idea of using the word White in it, though. White Glen? White Willows? White Sands? The possibilities are endless and I look forward to the day when I've acquired an English accent and have been scrambling about on the wintry lanes in town and can come home and bellow after slamming the door "Oiiii! White Willows, turn on the bloody 'eating, I'm frozen to the bone!" And then you get to go out and select a cute little plaque or sign with your house's name that you can proudly hang next to the house number.  So many styles!

What would you name your house?

Epic Pork Chops

Another recipe for you! Tried this one out and it was to die for. Mick is tired of hearing me talk about how proud I am of myself for making it but boo! It was Epic, and that's what we're going to call it. Epic Pork Chops. In fact, if the pig we got the chops from knew how tasty he would be post-mortem, he'd have walked around looking pleased with himself. Something like this

So, here goes.
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Place your pork chops into a glass rectangular dish. Dissolve a beef stock cube in one cup of boiling water, add 1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce, and about 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Stir it all up until the cube is dissolved. Pour over the pork in the glass dish. Let it sit for a few minutes while you slice up some mushrooms. As many or few as you like (I like lots!) and whatever kind you like. Toss in a pan of hot butter (about 1/3 of a stick). Add garlic cloves or garlic salt and marjoram. Dice up an onion and throw that in as well. When the onions have sufficiently sweated and the mushrooms have shrunk to about half their size, pour the mixture over the pork and stock. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes. I served it with rice and carrots and runner beans.
The best thing about this is that the chops were really tender and really juicy. I don't usually go nuts over pork chops because they're often dry and tough, but these are amazing!

Welcome to Bunntopia!

Friday Mick and I wandered down to the pet shop about a half mile away. We wanted to pick up some more hay for the bunbuns. While we were there we took a look at some hutches. I somehow talked Mick into paying for a bright pink hutch that looks like a castle. And then we carried it home. OUCH. It was way too far to carry something so big. On the bright side, it made us realize how badly we need a car so I think as soon as payday rolls around, Mick's going to be looking into that seriously! Anyways, here's the hutch, all set up!

Bunelot? Bunntopia? I can't decide.

Truffles on moving in day. You can see Harley in the background in the "bedroom"

And here they are in their run in the garden. They love it out there. Cutest summer camp ever!

In other news, our honeymoon is booked! We're staying in Cumbria, in the Lake District. I've never been and I don't think Mick has either, but it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in England. Here is our hotel

image from explorelakedistrict.co.uk

dining room. image from asiarooms.com

the view from the hotel. image from oldukphotos.com

So, thanks to Mick's mum and stepdad, we'll be spending 7 days and 6 nights hiking, boating, fishing and relaxing. And the hotel even gave us a free upgrade to a room with a lake view! We can't wait. Here are some beautiful shots of The Lake District that I've found online.

image from my-hospitality.com

image from moneyweek.com

image from i.telegraph.co.uk

image from happytellyus.com

Hope you all have a nice Sunday!

Something I'm Good at

I was raised by women who were amazing cooks. First of all, my mom. We always had wholesome, filling dinners growing up and mom worked really hard. Of course there was the one night a week when dealing with three kids and a husband working away from home would just make her too tired, and so we'd have pizza. Mom makes amazing meatloaf, spaghetti, roast beef and pork, all kinds of great stuff. There was also my Grandma Flo (mom's mom). I will never, ever forget the sweet tartness of her lemon meringue pies. And my Grandma Helen (dad's mom) does fantastic cookies, beautiful turkeys and stuffings. And there's Peggy, a dear family friend who is more like an aunt than anything. Peggy is gifted. Her apple pies (often made from her own apple trees!) are to die for and were even featured in her local newspaper.

Growing up around all of this, I hoped that I'd pick something up, and I seem to have gotten lucky. I'm still learning, but I must be doing something right, because my soon-to-be mother in law asked me a couple weeks ago if I'd do the cooking in the evenings. It works out well for now, because Mick is busy working all day, and so is she. While I keep myself busy during the day (exercise and little chores, wedding planning, writing, etc) it just makes sense that I would do the cooking.

I always hate on cooking shows when people say "Oh, I don't follow recipes, I just cook by FEELING." I think it sounds so cheesy, but to be honest, I think that's how I cook. I get ideas from my favorite show of all time ever, Come Dine With Me, and from things my mom made growing up, and just from my imagination. Now, I know a lot of my friends who read this are either working or stay at home moms who have A LOT to do and can't really find the time to plan out a new menu for every night. That's why I thought I'd share some of the really simple but yummy dishes I've been making.

Stuffed Chicken Breast
This one is my favorite, and I keep adding on it. The first time I made it, I slit a pocket down the side of each chicken breast and stuffed it with little chunks of cheese (I prefer camembert or brie, but any soft, sticky cheese like these will do. I find that if you use a smoother cheese like cheddar or mozarella, that it runs out of the chicken breast while in the oven). Then I get a little block of chicken stock (Knorr works well) and put it in a small bowl and pour just a tad of boiling water over it. Let's say 1/4 cup- just enough to dissolve it. I then add some garlic salt and Italian seasoning to the mixture and mix it up. Then I place the chicken on some foil on a pan, drizzle the Knorr mixture over the top of each breast, making sure to stick some in the cheese pouch. I bake them at 400F for 20-30 minutes and they are realllly good and moist. The second time I made them I added a few little leafs of spinach into the pocket with the cheese. Next time I'm going to add sun dried tomatoes. Very yummy!

Shepherd's Pie

I guess technically it's Cottage Pie (Cottage Pie=ground beef, Shepherd's Pie=ground lamb). But either way, it's really easy and really good and filling. Fry about 1lb of lean ground beef in a skillet. Add pepper and any other seasonings you like to flavor your meat. Fry until cooked all the way through and drain off the fatty juices. You will also need mashed potatoes- instant work great, but home made are always better. It's up to you. Either way, prepare your mashed potatoes and get some peas and carrots to boil for a few minutes. Next, you layer it all up. Meat goes on the bottom of a large glass dish. I like to sprinkle some cheese over the meet- this isn't traditional in English cooking, but I find it helps the whole mixture to stick together. Next I layer in the carrots and peas, and finally the mashed potato. You can sprinkle some peas or add carrots to the top to make it pretty if you like. Put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375F to melt the cheese and get it nice and gooey.

Asian Chicken

This one was kind of a mistake- I had planned to do it with salmon but the little shop around the corner was out so I resorted to chicken breast. Fill a glass dish with about half a bottle of soy sauce and place the chicken in it to marinate for as long as possible. A couple hours is okay, but I'd put the chicken in the dish and place it in the fridge first thing in the morning if I were you. Also, sprinkle some ground ginger on the breasts (of you can cut up fresh ginger root and toss it in the soy sauce, if you like) Next- carrots. Slice about 4 carrots really thin and put them in another dish with as much soy sauce as you think necessary. Sprinkle more ground ginger in. Stir the carrots a few times. They only need about 2 hours in the marinade as they absorb the soy sauce much more quickly. When the chicken is done marinating, place each breast on a separate sheet of tin foil large enough to wrap the breast in. Place a serving of the carrots on top of the chicken and make a pouch out of the foil. Wrap it all up and place the breasts on a baking tray. Bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes. Unwrap and serve. I served this with rice.

No Sauce Sausage Pasta
This is a great light pasta option. It's not heavy with sauce, very yummy! Slice 4 herb (or spicy, if you're so inclined) sausages into circles and place in a pan to cook in olive oil. Throw in sliced mushrooms, tomatoes, and plenty of basil. I also like to throw in a yellow or orange pepper for color and flavor. Fry it all up until the sausage is cooked through. Boil up your favorite pasta and serve the sausage mixture over it with some olive oil. Voila!

Try some of these out and let me know how they work for you. I'll be sure to share more. Tonight is mushroom and sprout stir fry with noodles and diced steak!

Today I ordered the party favors. Mick and I did our Intent to Marry thing on Tuesday. We took the train to Crawley, the closest registered office (because I'm a furrrrnerrr we had to go to a special kind of office to do it all). I thought we'd just sign some papers and they'd post them on the wall, but in fact it was a bit more official than that. The lady greeted us and took our documents (Mick’s passport and a letter from his bank just to show the address he lives at is the same as mine, my passport containing my visa, and a letter from Mick’s mom saying I’ve lived with them for over a month and one from Mick, too) and went into her office. Then she called me back into her office and talked to me while Mick stayed in the waiting room. She quizzed me on my own information- full name, date of birth, occupation. Then the same stuff about Mick. Then she dismissed me and called Mick in to do the same. Then I was allowed in. We signed the papers, and were excused. She will post the paperwork to us after it has been visibily posted in the office for 16 days. Once everyone is sufficiently satisfied that we’re not previously married, related, or sworn to celibacy (hehe) we can get married. And, just so you know, we are none of those things.

We found a wedding photographer for a really decent price. We will be meeting up with her in a couple weeks when we are back in Kent. Woot!

The rabbit’s run came yesterday. We set it up in the grass and let them run around for a couple hours. They were exhausted when we brought them back in. They were literally just running around in circles and jumping all over the place. We wanted to let them out again today, but it’s been dreary and rainy all day. Hopefully we can let them out tomorrow and I will take pictures.

Okay, that’s all for now. Hope everyone is well!

Just to catch you up...

Hey, everybody! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Just a quick rundown of what's been going on with the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. White. Friday we went into Chichester. It's the nearest big town, technically it's a city because there's a cathedral there, which is apparently the criteria for a city in England. It's got some really cool old buildings, the cathedral, and the Cross, which is in the center of the 4 main streets. Looksie.

Haaanyway. We took the bus in where we sat behind a man who seemed to be conjuring spiders because there were at least three crawling all over him. Mick and I are both hardcore arachnophobics (he's worse than me, to be honest) so we kept a very close eye on the man and his little leggy friends. We visited a few shops in town, including the bridal store where I got my dress. I picked out some shoes to wear with my dress while Mick waited "patiently" for 40 minutes. We then met his mum for lunch. She headed back to work and we walked down to the cinema to see Harry Potter. I'd been waiting for weeks and was so excited to see it. However, when we got to the box office and told the girl the time we wanted to see it, she seemed confused. Apparently the showtimes Mick saw when he checked the day before weren't for Friday. We couldn't get the next show either because Mick's mum would be off work before then and we had to go to Kent that night. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I threw a contained, vertical tantrum that all 2 year olds should aspire to. Instead, we went to the pool hall and played a few games. I actually beat him once. Then we just wandered around for a bit and Mick bought me a new pair of awesome headphones. Then we hit the road for Kent.

Saturday, we walked down the the pub and had a fry up together. Then we went to Bluewater (see this entry if you don't remember Bluewater) and registered for wedding gifts at John Lewis, which is a nice department store. At first Mick wasn't really into the process, but eventually he was taking the scanner away from me to register for things. We signed up for some really nice stuff, but I'm most excited for the Vera Wang China.

image from artedona.com

After we got back to the house, some of Mick's mum's friends came over for dinner. I had too much wine and a nice headache to accompany the wobbles when I got into bed.

Sunday we went out to lunch with Mick's grandad. His birthday was last weekend and we weren't in Kent so we had a belated celebration at the Chef & Brewer Pub in Wateringbury. It's pretty old looking and has all kinds of wooden beams inside.

image from bmwccgbforum.co.uk

 

 

Then, we headed back to Bluewater to see Harry Potter finally! And on July 31st, which my nerdular inclined friends will know, is Harry's birthday. England is weird, though, in that they actually have assigned seating at some of the cinemas. For a movie. So even though we got there when there were still lots of empty seats... the only tickets available were for the third row on the far left side. Even though Mick wasn't thrilled (not that he was thrilled to see the movie in the first place...), he felt really bad and didn't want me to have to miss the movie twice, so we went for it. It wasn't all that bad, really. I guess I was pretty underwhelmed with the film. I mean, they did it well, but movies are never as good if you've already read the book, and I didn't want it all to end. After it let out, we were going up the escalator to exit the cinema. I was on the step below Mick and rested my face against his arm and he looked down to see me pouting.
"What?" He asked.
"It's over."

Then we got up at 5:30 this morning to come back to Bognor with Mick's mum before she had to go to work. And when we were getting out of bed there was a pigeon outside the bedroom window cooing. Except the way it cooed made it sound like it was saying "wooooooooohooooooooooo!" which made me laugh.

And now here's another week. And in 4 weeks my parents will be here! Yay!

Tomorrow we have to go to Crawley to do the banns of marriage, which I already told you about but in case you forgot...



Have a good Monday!