Home for the Holidays

It's been a while- and I'm not talking about this blog (yes, it has been a while with the posting, as well). It's been a while since I've been home, and even longer for the holidays. So when my sister decided to stage an intervention to get me home, I snapped it up! We worked it out that it's been 5 years since we've had a sisterly Christmas.

Top tip about booking holiday travel- if you fly on Christmas Day, the flights are extraordinarily less expensive. Heathrow was not too busy, and I was hoping for a festive flight, salmon and rice didn't quite live up to expectations and neither did the lack of Christmas movies! The bonus in flying west is that I had 24 hours of awake Christmas time! Exhausting?! You're right.

Welcome to Canada, and the weather is perhaps a bit colder than I was asking for (-15C on average) with a heck of a lot of snow. Good job I brought my winter boots! My Dad must have been reading my inner mind's shopping list knowing full well that I would need a new winter coat, as the first Christmas present I opened at home was a new winter jacket- Sochi Canadian Olympic Team style!

From the airport with my Mom to my Babcia's for a quick visit and spot of Borscht to warm the insides and then off to my Aunt's for dinner with my Dad and his side of the family and what would begin a Turkey marathon. It felt good to be home and celebrating with family, and I forgot how nice it is to be surrounded with Christmas decorations. I have been extremely minimal in my decorating (even non existent this year), getting into the habit of "what's the point?". But it did and does put a smile on my face when I walk into a room with a decorated tree, lights in the windows, and some tinsel and garland trimmings around the room. But then again, I like most things that sparkle.

So what does Christmas look like with my family and friends? Like I said, I spent the first night back with my family on my Dad's side. Turkey, meatballs, Tourtiere, potatoes, asparagus, salad, and raw veggies. It's not a Canadian party if it doesn't have raw broccoli! For dessert, a selection of Company's Coming best Christmas cookies and something that I forgot about- coconut caramel squares! Yum!!! I think I will make that a resolution for the new year- bake more squares! I've done well to bring Nanaimo bars to work a couple of times, and I think the UK is ready for more than Millionaire Shortbread or flapjacks (not pancakes).

On Boxing Day I visited my friends Sharon and Jace for what was meant to be lunch (and turned out to be Turkey Dinner #2). This was what Christmas is all about- visiting friends and family, catching up on old times, new gossip, and how things are generally going while watching the kids play with their new toys. As the afternoon (and dinner) cooked on, I was welcomed into Sharon's family and heeded with the honours of carving the turkey for Christmas Dinner. Turkey Dinner #2 included a ham, potatoes, sprouts, beets, broccoli (steamed), salad, and a festive lasagne (anything goes!). Dessert a la Sharon's husband Anthony was something I'd never had before and will definitely try to re-create: Yam pie! I forgot to take a picture, but I can assure you it was well delish!

Moving on to Turkey #3, it was time to have Christmas with my sisters- about time! This was to be a little bit less of a traditional Turkey Dinner, with escargot, bacon wrapped moose, stuffed peppers, and dolmades; although, I did get a second chance at carving the bird.

However, this wasn't the first time the three of us got together as I finish up by telling you how we organised a typically Canadian gift (or so I have been told) the day before. The story goes that Craig and I bought a reprinted old map of the area we live in, we thought it was cool, so bought it as a gift for friends of ours. We wrapped it up in the frame and brought it over. The first thing our friend said was "Is this a picture of the two of you? Because that's such a Canadian thing to do". 

And I thought about it- he is totally right! As a Canadian or someone who knows Canadians, you surely must have at some time received a picture of someone as a gift. School photos, Sears photos, family Christmas Cards- it happens all the time! My point was reinforced when I showed up at my Dad's place to see that he had on display two pictures from his at-work son. My Dad got these as a gift! He can't have two pictures of his rent-a-son up and none of us (love you, really J-Rod)! To the mall we went to get some pictures taken for Christmas gifts- with a lack of standard department store photographers and in true Carriere sisterly fashion, these were never going to be your ordinary pictures. 

Merry belated Christmas! Love, Kristyn, Leanna, and Nadia

A Few More English Things To Do This Summer

English Summer- pfwah- no such thing, some say. But whoever denies that the past few months have been un-summer like are perhaps typically English in their pessimism and depreciation of things that are going well so not to show off (#5 of 102 English Things To Do) when in fact they are full-knowing that the summer has been rather good. Or perhaps, they are creating weather focused banter (#4) as a typical topic of conversation. Whatever the situation, the summer has been lovely and warm and nice (#47- taking on one of the apparently 44 meanings of nice in the Oxford Dictionary, which I believe is an over exaggeration); and if you haven't quite caught on, I've decided to review my summer in the context of a few more of the "102 English Things To Do".

Apart from my Kili break, we have spent much of the summer doing one of the most English "things to do"- #28, "Sitting in a cottage garden full of hollyhocks". However, we spent most of the time building our cottage garden (well, actually just our normal (nice) back garden) to sit in. Apparently, English gardens are typical in content and design: a mix of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruit trees. Dense planting in massed banks with a sense of order and disorder. Typically, daisies, pansies, wisteria, roses, lupins, peonies, and geraniums. I'd like to add that the fuchsia is a key element to an English garden, especially when planted in a hanging basket. I'll let you judge for yourself how well we've done. 

We take much inspiration from visiting other English gardens and we recently visited one of the biggest English Gardens- the Eden Project. Built from a quarry in the early 2000's, the land has been sculpted and transformed into beautiful gardens that host learning, art, and conservation projects. Famously there are two biomes that house an equatorial rainforest and Mediterranean garden. Outside, there are plant exhibitions of native wildflowers and cultivated plants that are used in human everyday life and presented in an educational way. These included various herbs, fruits, medicinal plants, hops for brewing, and weed. Not weeds. Weed. Yup, about 20 feet long and 6 feet deep of wild growing marijuana plants situated between the lavender and hops gardens. Nice (interpret as you will).

Grounds at the Eden Project

English Garden outside the Biomes at the Eden Project

Mediterranean Biome

Art Installation- Eden Project

The Seed- Eden Project

The Eden Project is in Cornwall in the south of Britain and during our mini break, we managed to tick off three other "Things To Do", one of which was # 97: Eat a real Cornish Pasty made in Cornwall. For those of you that don't know, a Cornish Pasty is "a cheap, portable snack" for the miners of yore and has Protected Geographical Indication status (not only reserved for Champagne and Feta). The foodstuff is a robust pastry folded in a half-moon shape. The filling "should include no less than 12.5% beef, plus swede, potato and onion, with a peppery seasoning.". As an attempt to get into the spirit of the South, I attempted the dish myself a few weeks prior to the full Cornish experience- however, with chicken instead thus naming the dish a lonely Chicken Pasty (pronounced PAH-stee) with no legal designation. Still tasty (TAY-stee), though.

The Cornish Pasty is not the only Cornish branded foodstuff from England, and using the term Cornish seems to project a certain level of indulgence and quality that when in comparison to a like good, makes the Cornish good far superior. Other examples of Cornish goods are Cornish Cyder (with a y) and Cornish clotted cream- a cream somewhere in-between a normally high fat cream and butter. Ice creams specifically made with Cornish cream are an extra quid a scoop (so more delicious??); where a Cornish Cream Tea is most definitely not comparable anywhere else in Britain... I have tried my fair few. Although, I believe that the citizens of the next county over (Devon) would contest. Devon cream vs. Cornish cream- the life long debate of creamy indulgence.

And while on the topic of typical English foods, staying away from home in a B&B lent itself to #94- Eat a Full English. A fried breakfast with bacon, eggs, fried bread (although not on this occasion), sausages, tomato, baked beans, and mushrooms. Components of a full English from the local builder's greasy spoon would normally be "all fried together and served in their own fat". However, my arteries were thanking the B&B owners for baking the components in the oven. Mmmmmmm... oven baked sausages!

Closing off the Cornish getaway, we partook in a slightly modified English Thing To Do #25- Go to sleep in a deck chair on the beach wearing lots of clothes, because of the cold. This mostly happened because we were on the coast and it was meant to be summer (and by summer, I mean not raining), so we felt obliged to go to the beach. However, it was probably only 12C and windy, so we took to the nearest rock and I donned my scarf to take in the view- surfers in head to toe wet suits attempting to ride the foot-high waves. Sound anticlimactic? You are right. But in practising for my British citizenship, we did as most Brits would and were "determined to have a good time, since having a good time means staring at the sea as if it were a broken television set". However, unlike Alex Quick (the author of 102 English Things To Do) relates, we did not have deck chairs, but we did have a nap after our Full English

Padstow Beach

And with the end of the summer, I end this entry with the last "Thing To Do" which is # 50: Write a Clerihew (about my experience at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant). According to Wikipedia, a Clerihew is a whimsical  four-lined biographical poem usually making fun of famous people. It is structured in the rhyming scheme of AABB. Length and meter are irregular. And apparently Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant is meant to be the Don of seafood in Cornwall (or even the South West coast of England). 

Rick Stein OBE

Self-styled king of flesh from the sea

Cramped in like sardines in a can

Less flavour than food from a Gran.

Foodie Alley- Rick's Cafe, Rick Stein's Shop, Paul Ainsworth No. 6 all in a row.

Well, maybe that was a bit harsh... but the point is, we should have spent our £150 at Paul Ainsworth No. 6. Although, we did glimpse the man himself and the famous Carol Vorderman.