St George's Day

April 23rd was St George's Day! Huzzah!

Well, not quite. Apparently, each country in the UK has a patron saint to whom they look to for help in times of distress... or something like that. But poor St. George has been all but forgotten. Though the holiday is the 23rd (supposedly the day he died), there's no day off work. So this week, the few people who did celebrate did so on Monday, since they had the day off for Easter anyway. :-P Kind of tragic.

Anyhoo, the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is trying to get the holiday back up off the ground, and hosted a Feast of St. George in Trafalgar Square. It guaranteed to have entertainment, lots of food stalls, and a tent with cooking workshops- right up our alley! Well, the result was underwhelming. Amidst the rain and around the fountain stood about 10 food stalls and one paper mache dragon breathing fake smoke. But it was a nice walk, and a good afternoon out. I do love going into the city! 

At least we got some good food from Heck Sausages!

Oh, and the food workshops expected were one per hour, no latecomers- line up for the next one. We didn't feel like standing in line to learn how to make Kentish Pudding with pickled walnuts and a side of cumin carrots. (Even after a pretty thorough Google search, I can't find a decision on what Kentish Pudding actually consists of!)

*Oh! And since I'm on the subject of kinda snobby food..... I love food. A lot. But I'm kind of over restaurant menus describing in agonising detail every ingredient of the dish. We no longer get a hamburger and fries. We get a patty of grass-fed, mature, Angus, 95% lean steak mince patty topped with pan-fried golden onions and wild mushrooms, optional heirloom tomatoes and lettuce, with a stone ground english mustard, served with parmesan-crusted maris piper potato wedges. Don't get me wrong, dear chefs- I love eating your food-- I just get grumpy with hunger as I try to read through your menu!

Speaking of.... can you tell our dinner is a little later than usual tonight? In someone on Pinterest's words:

Look How Far We've Come (After!!!)

Happy Monday! Since most of my friends reading this are Stateside, here's a bit of fun to liven up what I hear is yet another snowy weekend!

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You've waited for the FINAL REVEAL of all the work done in our flat, and HERE IT IS!

We've been up here for a few months now, and things are settling down. Routines are gelling, habits are forming, and most things have a proper place (a place for everything....). I love the process of getting in a home and watching it arrange and rearrange till the space finally fits your needs. (That sounds passive, like the house rearranges itself. Really, it's me rearranging things during the day which confuses and boggles the spouse when he comes home!)

So, let me take you on a little tour of our home, at least as it is now. Though, as my dear husband knows, it's never really done. It's always a work in progress. (You can blame my mom for that one!)

To make it to our flat, you have to climb to the third floor (called the second floor here, as they count it ground, first, then second floors). You start in our entryway, which is generally a good place to enter. Apparently, the little steps to the doorway make a great kids corner, especially when filled with pillows and blankets.

From this entryway, you are facing the doorways to the guest room, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. Yes- it's a lot of doorways. Yes, they each have a door. English homes have every room separated to save on heating (or so I've heard). Open concept living is admired, but considered energy inefficient.

At the top of the stairs, you first look into our living room. I love the sunshine that pours through our massive windows each mornings! My reading spot moves throughout the day, following the suns rays across our home. Yes- I'm like a cat.

(Do you remember the blue carpet that was there before? What a change laminate floors make!)

To the side of the living room (behind the fireplace) is our bedroom. Look at the massive chest of drawers that is my bedside table! I found it on Freecycle, and couldn't believe my luck! It's not in perfect condition, but I think that kind of lends to its charm!

Going back out to our entryway, to one side is our guest room, which was previous the kids room- remember the blue carpet and yellow walls? It also serves as a kids play room when friends come over. The pallet futon is pretty kid-sized, though my hubby has been known to nap on it occasionally.

Next to the living room is the dining room: arguably the most important room in our house! (Remember the built-ins that they added during the remodel?!) I never thought I'd like a formal dining room, but as we love having company, the ability to seat ten people and not spill into the rest of house is such a wonderful blessing! And I love our mdf tabletop. We took a (used) Ikea table/base and added a sheet of mdf on top. In answer to your DIY questions: No, we didn't seal it, though we put a few coats of mineral oil on to deepen the tone. Yes, it gets water stains, hot pad marks, and dents and scratches. We like to think of it as a 'patina'. Besides, at £20, it's not too hard to replace if it wears out.

Since we don't often use the dining room when it's just the two of us, we make it do double-duty by adding a writing desk and piano to the other side of the room.

And to the other side of the dining room is our kitchen! I am SOOO happy with the kitchen! Lots of storage and counter space, gas hob (stove), and my pot rack! It's a good thing too, since we do a lot of cooking! Isn't the space so light and airy?!

Yay for reusing jam jars and coffee tins (covered in burlap, of course)! And featuring our stovetop kettle... which my husband insists on keeping, rather than an electric kettle. He thinks its cooler. Though its quaint boiling whistle quickly escalates to an ear-splitting scream if left to boil 12 seconds longer than it should.

Ok,  so here is my best kitchen trick: get a magnetic knife rack. I know- profound right? But seriously- you don't have to dig dangerously in a drawer, knives stay sharper than in a block (since they aren't laying on their edge), you keep your counter space, it's still out of kids reach, and you can see them all at once- instead of randomly pulling handles from a knife block.

*Bonus tip*- don't go to Williams Sonoma (or Amazon) and pay $30 for a fancy magnetic knife rack. Just go to your local home improvement shop and get a magnetic tool bar. If it's sturdy enough to hold a hammer, it can hold a knife. (We got ours at Lowes, and brought it to the UK.) Mount it in the wall if you can. If you have tile, like we do- use a couple Command heavy-duty picture strips. Works great!

Oh- and always have a stash of cute aprons. It makes you feel domestic

And... to finish our house tour... here's a little guy I drew for our Brazil party. The hubs liked him and asked to keep him around.

It reminds him of this guy. :-)

We're so grateful for all the work that was put into this flat to make it what it is today. We realise how blessed we are, and we don't take it for granted! God is always good, but he's been abundantly gracious with where he has us now!

Ramblings and Such

While my friends across the pond are experiencing the angst of a government shut-down, we're waiting with anticipation for the completion of our upstairs flat. Today the painters arrived, signaling the transition from building to finishing! We're so excited to really settle in, and I can't wait to show you all the process. I've taken some pics along the way, so perhaps I can post a timeline when its finished!

In the meantime, here are some shots of our last few weeks.

Our sleepy Saturday morning. Breakfast casserole & french press coffee are always a good way to start out the day!

Last night, the hubby got a hankering for some prawn crackers (or shrimp chips!) If you've not had them before, they look like little glass discs (see the bag in the foreground), and when you put them in hot oil, they *poof* up and look like colorful, bendy, fishy, styrofoam, which is basically what they taste like. (Though he'd probably argue with me on that one!)

Last week, another Auntie stopped by for a few days. I'm loving all these family visits! We took a few hours and visited the Columbia Road Flower Market. It was jam-packed, shoulder-to-shoulder scuffle down a crowded quarter mile, whilst vendors yell out their sales, competing for buyers attention. I'm convinced the two men competing to sell orchids are actually brothers out-bidding each other to make twice the profit! ;-) (But I won't spill their secret!)
We picked up a lovely bouquet of drying hydrangea. This is it, a week after purchase, drying out, but keeping its color beautifully. And I'm so excited to have a plant I can't kill, as its already officially dead!

Auntie and I went to Buckingham to try to see the Changing of the Guard. We arrived a half hour early to find crowds already lined up at the gate. We pushed in, and got glimpses and peeks, but watched most of it through the raised iPhones in front of us. Basically, if you come to visit me and want to see the changing of the guard, we'll plan to pack a breakfast and be there all morning. :-P Still fun to say I've done it, kinda sorta.

Browsing the Southbank Book Market under Waterloo Bridge.

Kensington Palace, past home of Princess Diana, and current home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. (I'd say Wills and Kate, but apparently, that's not 'proper'.) We were surprised they didn't come out to say hi and give us a tour, but they did just have a baby, so I suppose we ought to cut them some slack.

I was told a certain aunt of mine loved/loves Princess Diana, so we made sure to stop by the memorial fountain.

Rather puny if you ask me, but Auntie said the queen was pretty peeved at Di for divorcing Charles, so I guess this fountain is all she got.

Crocus plants (crocuses?) (crucusi?) pop up throughout London's parks, showering the ground in a carpet of purple. It's an unexpected punch of color in the usual shades of autumn.

Loving our time in London, and praising God for his continual blessings, both little and big!