Beast from the East 2019

Another polar vortex is creating atypically cold weather here in the UK.  Of course, it's much colder in the States right now, so I won't complain much. I will share some of my frosty morning pictures though (apologies if you've seen some of these on Instagram already).

Thankfully, we haven't yet had lots of snow like we did last year (knock on wood). I did have one school pick up in snow/freezing rain, but it didn't last very long.

Matt's car broke down, so the kids and I had to walk to school for a couple of days. The temps were slightly higher on those days. I was grateful, because the kids are no longer used to walking every day, so they were already a bit whiney about it.

The forecast calls for more cold weather, so I may have more pictures to share. For now, we will be huddling inside under blankets!

Chips (aka Crisps)

We were talking to the kids about planning a trip to the US (watch this space...), and Lily asked if they have crisps there. In the States, we refer to crisps as chips (which are thick cut french fries in the UK). I told Lily that yes, there are crisps in the US, but the flavors may be different than what she's used to.

That got me thinking about the differences in flavors, and I thought I'd share what seemed strange 2.5 years ago when we first arrived.

photo from wikihow.com

According to statistica.com, the top flavors of chips in the US last year included the following:

Plain
BBQ
Sour Cream & Onion
Salt & Vinegar
Cheese
Jalapeno


Those are all varieties I've tried before (and Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion are some of my favorite), and they probably all sound familiar.


I remember the first time we went into a convenience store in the UK, looking for a few staples to keep in the cupboard. The first thing I noticed was how the British like their meat-flavored crisps. That seemed really odd at the time, but having tried several varieties, they're actually pretty tasty.


A few common meat flavors are:

Roast Chicken (these actually taste like juicy roasted chicken)

Bacon (they're good, but don't taste like the bacon we're used to)

Prawn Cocktail (it took me 2 years to try these. They don't taste like shrimp so much as cocktail sauce, but they're not terrible)

Beef/Beef and Onion

Ham/Roast Ham/ some variation of this


There are also many flavors that are suitable for vegetarians:

Cheese and Onion (Lily's absolute favorite, and they're very good)

Tomato Ketchup

Marmite (hard no)

Thai Sweet Chilli (one of my favorites)

Salt & Vinegar

Ready Salted (which is plain to Americans)

Worcester Sauce

Paprika

Some kind of cheese and chutney


I'm not brave enough to try them all (I'm looking at you, ketchup, paprika, and Worcester), but it has been sort of fun and interesting to try different kinds. Last year there was a seasonal goats cheese and thyme flavor by Tyrrell's, which I loved. I think that Walker's has the most popular varieties (at least that's my impression), but we do also have Lay's and Pringles here. Also a small selection of Doritos, though Cool Ranch is known as Cool Original (due to the fact that ranch is not a UK institution like it is back home).

There's a brief and lighthearted overview of my experience with potato chips in England. Lily might be disappointed not to find Walker's Cheese and Onion crisps in the Midwest, but I'm sure she'll be willing to try new kinds. 😊

December Catch Up

Happy New Year!

Wow, I've been terrible at keeping up recently. December is such a busy time with the holidays, two birthdays, and all of the school stuff going on. It's just now, after a week of decompressing and relaxing, that I can start thinking straight again.

I'll do a quick recap of the past month and try to keep up a bit better from now on.

First, Matt and I went to a gin tasting event. They had several vendors set up with free tasting, and 5 or 6 bars where you could buy cocktails. We received a handy booklet describing the gins available, so we were able to plan what we wanted to try. One of the vendors was a new subscription box called Gin With... We didn't sign up, but we did buy their premier box.

The most unique thing about this subscription is that they include the proper garnishes. I thought that was a nice touch. I did attempt to compare this box with our Craft Gin Club goodies for December, but both were so good that it was a draw.

Miles and Lily had their school Christmas production (Clara will do a nursery production starting next year). This year we had two children posing as ITV Calendar News readers, and they were presenting Christmas activities around Yorkshire. Lily was a dancer in the Nutcracker, and Miles was Father Christmas on the Santa train. It was a cute play (written by two members of school staff), and was actually in the running for best original nativity in our region!

Also this year, we had three very special guests at the productions. After the first performance, we welcomed Sir Gary Verity (who brought the Tour de France to Yorkshire) along with Christian Prudhomme (the general director of the Tour de France). They were likely in the area because a special cycling race is coming to the area again this year.

Sir Gary Verity (left) and Christan Prudhomme (right)

The special guest attending the second performance was Christine Talbot, one of the co-anchors of the real Calendar News. (I did not know who any of these people were beforehand, but of course I took pictures.)

After photos he said, "And what do YOU want for Christmas?"

Birthday celebrations (with Miles' official party to come).

Lily invited her friends to a gymnastics party, which was loads of fun. And it wore them out, which was a bonus for the parents.

It seems like everyone wants to have dinners and get togethers in December, and this year was no exception. I don't have pictures of all of them, but there was a book club Christmas party with a small gift exchange. There were two nights of dinner and drinks, with mums from different groups, as well as a family dinner one night after school.

We also had our annual trip to the pantomime. Clara is now getting old enough to really have fun with it, although she was still quite fidgety.

We also had shopping time and a bit of silliness.

Unfortunately, we did not get through the holidays without tummy bugs. Luckily, it mostly waited until the school break (three weeks!).

Finally, it was Christmas! It was a great year, but I do get a bit homesick being so far from family and friends. Not to worry, though, as the kids put forward their best efforts at keeping us busy.

Under my cozy new blanket

It was a chaotic end to another great year, and I am happy that we were able to have downtime between Christmas and New Years.  Here's to a great 2019!