I'm not starving him, honest!

I know I haven't been updating much recently, but that's just because I haven't been cooking anything new! Yesterday we had pork chops cooked in sauce (his Reggae Reggae that I brought from the UK, mine in BBQ) and mashed potatoes. Apparently I cooked his in the wrong sauce, that one was more of a dipping sauce than a meat sauce, but he ate it all the same :P And I can't make that mistake again as that was the last of it LOL

I didn't cook a Christmas dinner, his Mom and Step-Dad did and it was very tasty. They knew that I don't like turkey so they cooked beef, which happens to be my very favourite meat. It was marinated all day in some kind of sauce, then cooked on the BBQ outside, then finished in the oven, it was really nice - but not as nice as my Dad's cooking of course :) With it we had various veg (with carrots for me, I'll eat most veg but not green beans), and roast potatoes. I'd mentioned that in the UK we have roast potatoes and cook them in the pan with the meat, so it cooks in the meat juices. So their Mom cooked quartered them, rolled them in oil then in with the chicken (We had a little chicken too) they were tasty :) Overall a really lovely meal, that wasn't what I'd come to expect after Thanksgiving. Not saying that Thanksgiving wasn't lovely, just that it wasn't quite my kind of meal and this was all my favourite things!!

Sooo yes, I'm not starving my boyfriend or anything, I'm just not trying to make anything blog worthy! He seemed to quite enjoy the jam buns and the giant fairy cakes, as they all seemed to disappear! :)

Jam Buns and Giant Fairy Cakes

Here's my wonderful baking! I made 10 jam buns and 2 giant fairy cakes, I think there's only 5 jam buns left? My Boyfriend has been taking care of them :P So I'll assume they're actually pretty good...he seems to think so anyway!!

Oh and

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Jam Buns

In my family we have a Christmas treat called Jam Buns, they're my favourite treat at Christmas and are practically a tradition. Apparently it allstarted when my Grandma tried to make Jam Tarts, but kept burning the jam, so she just plopped some sponge mixture on top!

As I'm in America this Christmas, I asked my Grandma if she would send me the recipe so I could make my own. That was today's project.

A Jam Bun is made up of three things -

: BASE - Short crust pastry ("Pie pastry")
: FILLING - Jam ("jelly")
: Topping - Sponge (like for fairy cakes)

I started by making the sponge mixture, which was soft butter, castor/granulated sugar, self-raising flour and 2 eggs. I got a little impatient (patience was never my best feature) and briefly microwaved the butter. Apparently only 20 seconds is enough to melt it! Woops!! I distinctly remember reading somewhere that you do NOT want oily or melted butter. Never mind, I threw it in there anyway...! My mixture didn't end up "pale and fluffy", but it looked ok anyway, I didn't want to waste all the ingredients...!!

As I've never made these by myself before I decided to buy premade pastry, which just rolls out into a nice big circle (ready to be put in a pie dish) and just cut out the circles. I was a little stumped when I found every cookie cutter under the sun BUT a circle one, but my Boyfriend kindly pointed out I could just use a cup. Duuh!

I was told to grease a bun-tin, but I decided to just use bun cases instead, it seemed easier! So I put the circles into the bun cases, then plopped a spoonful of jam into them, then covered them with the sponge mixture, making sure the edges were sealed so the jam didn't boil out.

Then they went into the oven for what was supposed to be 15 minutes but turned into more like 25. When the sponge was springy, I took them out. My boyfriend, being a typical guy, was soon in the kitchen eyeing them up. I warned him they were hot, but he was welcome to eat them. He disregarded this warning and ate one....and quickly regretted it!! It was apparently like "molten lava!!!"

I tease him for it, but I didn't realise how long they took to cool down and burnt my hand! Some jam squeezed out when I took a bite and onto my hand, it actually went quite red!! Woops!

I only made 10 since I wasn't sure how much I'd messed up with the sponge mixture, and that was how many I got out of 1 pie pastry "circle". I had a bit of sponge mixture left over so I just plopped some into the two remaining cases and am now cooking two huge fairy cakes! And I mean HUGE, I just went and checked on them and they're more like American Muffins!! I'll take a photo, I didn't quite mean for that to happen, I just didn't want to waste so much mix and only had 2 bun cases left...!!!

I'm not sure what to make of the Jam Buns. I used Strawberry Jam rather than Mixed Fruit like my Grandma, so it tastes a little different. The pastry on the bottom doesn't seem entirely cooked but I don't know how I'd fix that, as the sponge is totally cooked and I wouldn't want to burn it. My Boyfriend says they're nice, but I never know when he's just being polite!! I think I'll just conclude that I need more practice, they're edible but not as good as Grandma's.

When I'm a mother of four and Grandma of 10, I'm pretty sure I'll be good at them too! :)

Hash Browns

Ah dear, this one was a bit of a disaster, but I was able to laugh it off!

I tend to get up in the morning and make my boyfriend breakfast before work, so that he can have a little more sleep before going out and working all day (I go back to bed once he's gone). His sister made hash browns a couple of days before and left the rest of the potatoes (mostly cooked) in the fridge, and instructions on how to make them on the counter so I could make them in the morning if I wished.

I decided to give this a go. Her directions were put a lot of oil in the pan, turn it up to 7, grate the potatoes into the pan and season with a LOT of "pizza seasoning". I also threw in some pepper and spice. Then "don't touch them at all until they go brown round the edges", the flip them over.

I followed all these instructions to the letter, but I think I waited til they were a little tooo brown round the edges. Plus now my pan was way hot and I cook eggs on 4, so my eggs were a little overcooked.

The problem is that the hash browns were a little too brown and dry looking, so didn't look wholly appetising. The main problem though was the taste. My boyfriend ate them all manfully but admittd they were "disgusting" and requested that I never use pizza seasoning on them again!! In his words "my sister eats some weird crap!!". He has offered to show me how to make them how HE likes though, with just salt and pepper I think!!

Woops!!

Ah well, we live and learn :)

Quilts/Duvets/Blankets/Covers

Ok I've heard them be called a million different things, so I'm on about that big thick cover you have on your bed, possibly two when it's cold. Not the thin little sheet, not a blanket like you'd have in the living room, the big THICK one (which I'm going to refer to as DUVET from now on)

The difference here reaaally puzzled me and my boyfriend. He came to the UK first so he got confused first! I asked him to go and get the "Duvet cover" so I could wash it. He dutifully went upstairs and took it into the utility room where the washing machine was, then came to find me looking all confused. "It won't fit". Huh? So I went to see what he was on about. Turns out he brought the whole thing downstairs, and it really wouldn't fit.

In America they have multiple DUVETS. For example my boyfriend has one that is blue with Chinese characters on, one that is blue and green and red, and one that is just a denim blue. When you want to wash them, you put the WHOOOOLE thing in the washing machine. In the UK we have multiple duvet COVERS, that you put on and take off the big thick thing itself. So I have ONE duvet, and several covers. I'm struggling to explain it to be honest, so I just hope you all know what I mean! In the UK the colourful part (with the patterns that match your bedroom) is removable and THAT is what you wash, the inside that is the duvet which is like a material shell filled with fibres (originally feathers). In the USA the colourful cover is NOT removable and you wash the ENTIRE thing, so you can typically fit ONLY that in the washing machine.

Duvet - UK

We both think that our way is the better way of course! He thinks that it's a pain to strip the duvet cover and put another one on. Especially while watching me do it! I'm smaller than average, and have a double bed, which means my duvet is quite large. It usually involves me standing on a bed and shaking the duvet a lot to get it to the bottom of the cover!! I really don't make it look easy! I think it's a pain to stuff the entire duvet into a washing machine, especially when I listen to the poor machine labouring away trying to spin, and when I have to run the tumble dryer THREE TIMES just to get it dry.

But each of our appliances is set up to work for what we consider normal. Our washing machine drums won't really fit the duvet in, because we rarely need to wash the whole thing, their washing machine drums are much larger because they do do it that way. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, just that my way is better ;p

Tinsel and Baubles VS Garlands and Balls

Woops I've really fallen behind! First I was sick, then my Boyfriend was sick, so I haven't really been doing much cooking or baking, we've mostly been living off soup or cereal and things!!

So we've been doing our Christmas decorating over here, and it's made me realise more differences in our languages. For example, what I refer to as Tinsel, they refer to as Garlands, and what they call Tinsel...I've never seen in my life :P

"GARLAND"

"TINSEL"

The other one that has reaaally tickled me, is the whole "Christmas Balls" thing. I'm immature, I know that, I accept that, but I just can't help it :P We call them "Baubles", so this is the first time I've ever heard them be called "Christmas Balls" or just "Balls", so...well I'm sure you understand! It didn't help when my Boyfriend's Sister dropped one...that one had me giggling for ages! I'll grow up one day, honest!

I haven't really noticed any other differences in Christmas decorations so far. Obviously people's outdoor lights are more common and more elaborate, I wouldn't expect anything else in America. I've found that typically Americans do all holidays more elaborately than we do! I love to see all the Christmas lights, but I'm very specific on what lights I'd have in/on my own house. Luckily my Boyfriend almost entirely agrees with what I like :)

There was one thing that I thought was really cool though. My Boyfriend lives near the sea, and the next town over is a port town. A load of the boats were actually decorated! Like people do to their houses! I've never seen anything like it, I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I really hope to go back and take some better photos, but what with all the rain and with us both being sick, that hasn't happened yet. Plus I keep forgetting :P

I'm sure there was something else I wanted to write about but I can't think what it was, so that will have to do for now. My Grandma has kindly sent me some recipes for me to try out, so I may give that a go sometime soon, I'll make sure to blog when I do :)

My Mum just posted this as her status on facebook, and I wanted to post it on here to spread the word just that little bit more :) -

Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon character from your childhood and invite all you friends to do the same for the NSPCC. Until Monday (December 6th), there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign to stop violence against children

Make it stop. Full stop.

Guess Who's Sick again..!

Before I start in on this post, I would like to say a HUGE

to two of my Aunties, who both recently had BEAUTIFUL baby girls :) I don't know if either of you read my blog, but I'm sooo pleased for both of you and I can't wait to meet my two new cousins!

Anyway, let the whinging commence :P

This time my boyfriend's sister has also got a stomach bug, which kind of makes me feel a little better! I'm sure that makes me a horrible person, but I hate that it's always me getting sick, I feel like some sickly little thing, or a total hypochondriac! So I think I feel justified, like it's not just my imagination! Obviously I'm very sorry that she's been ill also, it sucks to feel unwell, especially as she still has to work.

This post isn't so much about me feeling sorry myself, it's actually more about how totally amazing french baguettes are! I buy bread from the supermarket's bakery, as I don't like the normal bread. In the UK our bread only lasts a week at the most, whereas here in the USA it seems to last at least a month, because of all the preservatives in it. Now if you're used to that, then it's fine, but I'm not and so I can actually TASTE the additives, and it doesn't taste too good!! My sister said the same thing, so it's not just me :P I've been trying different breads from the various supermarkets we go to, Italian Bread or Country Farmhouse, I even had a presliced bread last time which was nice, so much less effort! All very tasty, makes good toast, I have no complaints. Now yesterday I came across a rack full of French Baguettes ("French Bread" I think it was called, over here it's more common to find random Spanish words than French ones), they were all actually still warm. OMG. Amazing! So pleased! I wasn't entirely lucid while shopping yesterday, which I'm using as my excuse for why I found BREAD to be so exciting :P

Baguettes are my absolute utmost FAVOURITE type of bread. I'll eat it with nothing on at all, I'll eat it with just margerine/butter, it makes delicious cheese sandwiches, and it's amazing with soup. Sadly this baguette wasn't very...round? It was the "proper" length, but it was weirdly thin! This means that I'm almost entirely out already and this makes me sad :( I have to have several slices just to eat a decent amount!! I think when I had a small bowl of soup last night (I was feeling better) I had about 5 or 6 "rounds"!! Because I'm sick I can't really eat much, so bread is about the only thing I can keep down which doesn't help me try and make it last!!

I was very naughty just now, because I'm rapidly running out, and the best thing about baguettes is the wonderfully tasty cheese sandwiches you get, I did make myself a small cheese sandwich. I just didn't want to miss out LOL I'm already feeling the consequences (see my post from last time I was sick about dairy products!) but it was so nice, I don't really regret it :P I'll probably end up having veg soup again for dinner tonight, I kept that down alright, and it'll be more filling than just the bread.

I know this is such a random post, about bread of all things! But this is the first time I've actually even SEEN it, and it tasted so nice - just like at home! I'll definitely be looking out for some more next time. Might have to get a different loaf of bread for when I finish it all up :P I didn't realise I'd eat it so quickly, so I didn't think to buy more than just that. Will have to ask my boyfriend to pick me up a loaf from the nearby shop so I can still eat if I'm still sick tomorrow!

(Ooh, in searching for a photo I've come across a recipe to make it myself, hopefully it won't be too complicated and then this post will make some semblance of sense in the long run...me leading up to trying it myself LOL...aaaand after reading it, it sounds pretty difficult, I think I'll start with ordinary bread and work up from there..eventually!)

Good Days and Bad Days!

Everyone has them, I think it's something to do with karma. I've noticed it when my boyfriend plays on his playstation. He'll have an AMAZING round playing online shoot-em-up's, typically when there's a mouthy little soul who thinks he's awesome in every way, then his next 3 rounds or so will just be...TERRIBLE! This has happened on multiple occasions, and my conclusion is pure and simple - KARMA.

I've also noticed it in the kitchen. I have days where I manage to make an entire Thanksgiving Dinner, almost totally without assistance...and days where I can't even make SOUP. The latter was my day yesterday!! We'd eaten before Karate, so we were just having a light dinner. My boyfriend wanted soup, I wanted honey on toast. Super simple right? It was one of those soups where you add a canful of milk to it (I've never seen those in the UK?), I managed to spill some milk while I was pouring it into the pan (no idea how I did that, I think it bounced back out?!?!). Then as I was buttering my toast, I literally turned away for a minute, the soup boiled over! I didn't think I had it on that hot! So that made a HUGE mess on the stove, as it went all over the burner (glass top stove so it's flat at least) and instantly burnt on. Cue a frustrated string of swear words :P

Then this morning, I took the frying pan out of the dishwasher, it seemed dry on the bottom so I started cooking my Boyfriend's breakfast. As I was serving it up...I found that it must have been damp or SOMETHING on the bottom, as now THAT whole burner was a mess! ARGH! I left a note for his Sister saying I was very sorry for the big mess I'd made of the stove, I'd fix it when it cooled down!!

I'm not doing very well in the mornings at the moment. One morning I started the coffee pot without putting any coffee in, another morning his whole sandwich fell apart as I tried to put it into the sandwich bag...I don't remember what else I've managed to do, but obviously I don't cope with mornings very well!! Or with rushing, the second I feel hurried and try and speed up a little, I turn into a massive klutz and honestly into a danger to myself :P I've almost sliced my finger with a knife, I've made a whole toasted sandwich fall apart...twice (same sandwich!), I've dropped things...I'm just a disaster :P

So I'm hoping that karma will balance itself back out soon, before I do some serious damage to myself...or my selfesteem :P