Cooking in America

On our expat adventure, we ate some really amazing food.  On each holiday we sought out the local delicacies: 

Portugal - pastel de nata

Spain- churros con chocolate, Jambon Iberico, paella, and sangria

Italy- the best pizza, pasta & gelato you've ever had

Norway- herring (um no we passed on that one)

The Netherlands- Stroopwafels & appeltaart

France- coffee, croissants, macarons, and champagne

German- spätzle, currywurst, beer, and pretzels

While each country has rules about food labels & ingredients in their food, the overall food quality across our European travels was of great. Meats & produce were almost always from local farms with minimal processing.

Upon our return to the US, it was difficult to acclimate back to American food. First of all, the portion sizes were at least double of what was served in the UK. Secondly, the taste of many foods we used to like are nothing like we remembered. We've gone out to chain restaurants that we frequented before our expat adventure, and it's been awful. After a few disappointing meals we are more content with eating at home where we control the quality versus spending our money on mediocre, deplorable food.

I've made some pretty spectacular things lately that I think you should try. You'll notice a lack of quality photos because I had no plan to blog about them, but as the weeks pass I can't stop thinking about making these recipes again.  

Shawarma

Shawarma is nothing new to our family because it was very common in the UK. I first heard about this NY Time Shawarma recipe from a Real Simple Podcast, Things Cooks Know: Cooking for Crowds. I served it with pita bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and this delicious cucumber raita, My family loved it, and it is now heavy in the dinner rotation. It has several spices you may not have in your cabinet, but that's not a problem. You will love this recipe so much that you'll make little packets of the spice mix to give to your friends & neighbors. They will want to make this too.

Pizza

Our family was surprised that it's darn impossible to find a quality pizza in Raleigh. Our favorite thin crust pizza is back near The 407 in Chicago, and I suppose we assumed that this pizza was everywhere. The pizzas we've tried were either tasteless behemoths of dough or greasy cardboard. Our neighbor told us about one local chain of restaurants on the west side of town that is on our list. Until we venture that way, a homemade option was required. 

Making your own pizza dough is easy, but it takes some preplanning to allow time for the dough to rise. It's far superior to the premade crusts from the market.  We had good results with Bobby Flay's dough recipe, but Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough is a winner for a weeknight pizza. The sauce is extremely delicious. I made four individual pizzas with this recipe and had a lot left over. It's in the freezer for next time. If you are in a hurry, a small can of tomato sauce & paste, garlic, and Italian seasoning will get you going as well.

Cinnamon Rolls

Our Sunday breakfast at The Manor was always Pain au Chocolat. Don't think I learned from the Parisian masters how to make this amazing pastry. I bought them at the market like you find cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator case. The only difference the Pain au Chocolat don't suck like refrigerator cinnamon rolls.  

I've made one home made recipe, which requires mass patience for the different rise stages.  The recipe I used made enough for two pans, and the second went in the freezer before the final rise. The end result was only OK so I won't share the link for that recipe.  Despite the OK nature of my confection, it was light years better than the garbage in the market refrigerator case.

Baking at home
Baking is a hobby that I really enjoy.  I suppose it makes me an enabler of my own sugar addiction. I came to love Handmade Baking by Kamran Siddiqi. The chocolate chip cookies really are the best you will ever eat. The banana bread is phenomenal. The blueberry corn muffins are beyond delicious. And then there's what the author calls Everyday Chocolate Cake. Both kids asked for it as their birthday cakes. It's my new favorite book.

At the end of the day, cooking at home is a much healthier choice.  There are times when I would prefer to be served. However, I quickly get over my laziness when my dining mates send their compliments to the chef.  

Making the House a Home

For our two years in London we experienced the joy of renting. Weekends were not spent fixing things around the house or spending hours at the home center. (Let me interject that Brad Pitt and his kids were at the home center in our borough over Easter weekend. We left too soon!) We spent our weekends in the city seeing all we could see.

Fast forward to today, and we are in full homeowner mode. 

The first thing anyone should do upon moving into a new abode is clean the place, obviously. Upon first look, the place looked it would just need an easy scrub of the bathrooms, kitchen, and a cleaning of the carpets. However, that was not the case. We quickly learned that a deep clean had not happened at our abode in quite some time. Please enjoy a few examples.

Exhibit A - behind the oven knobs - Those had never been cleaned prior to my discovery. The insides of the kitchen cabinets were not much better. So many bleach wipes were consumed before any of our belongings touched those surfaces. I was also very thankful for the Bed Bath & Beyond coupons to buy copious amounts of shelf liner.    

Exhibit B - the master bathroom flooring (the cleaned portion is the top left) - This required a hands and knees scrub with a firm bristled brush.  And multiple refreshes of the soapy water bucket. In the three months we've lived here the floor still looks as good as the top squares.  Consider this your PSA against wearing shoes in the house.

The fireplace was not much better. According to the technician, it had been many, many years since it's last clean. The gas supply line entered the fireplace box through a hole that was not properly taped, and enough bugs had found their way in that an entomologist would think it was Christmas. Thankfully it checked out fine and all he had to do was vacuum out the box and a squeegee the glass.

Once the house was clean, we started with projects to make it our own. Matt installed a closet organizer in the master closet to replace the inefficient one we inherited. Check out Matt's fancy new drill. 

The inherited water heater was nearing the end of its life, and no one wants to figure that out in a cold shower. We had a tankless water heater installed, and so far it's been great with no conflicts between two hot water uses at the same time. Every attempt is made to not have showers and the dishwasher run at the same time, but no one complained when it has happened.  

The main living area of our house was painted yellow, not a pretty yellow. It actually hurt your eyes on a sunny day. The color ran from the living room into the entry, up the stairs, and down the hall.  Over the years many nail holes were patched, which were unsightly. Based on the size of the project we immediately knew that a professional would have to remedy this color fail. Our painter was phenomenal; he patched every hole and even sanded down the bad drywall joints up the stairwell. The new color is not a dramatic change, but I'll take boring beige over blinding yellow any day.    

Our neighborhood is hilly, and our back yard slopes to a dry creek bed. When it rains the water runs from the two side downspouts & from the driveway along the side of the house dragging the land along. A drainage system was in place from one of the previous owners, but it was blocked and useless. Matt had an irrigation contractor out to remedy the drainage by connecting the downspouts to a pipe that empties into the creek bed. We eagerly await a rain storm to see if the land stays put. If it's a good fix, Matt will start landscaping.

What's up next?  We have some short & long term projects that will keep us busy. Nothing is pressing so we can take our time and make smart decisions based on how want to use the spaces. The master bathroom and kitchen are high on the list, but those are big budget items that need saving and planning. Until that time I'll continue pining over bathrooms and kitchens on Instagram.

A4 Update - March 2016

We've worn shorts a ton in March.  Thought you'd like to know. 

 

The painter finished the hellacious job of patching & painting the living room, hallway, stairs, and main floor ceilings. Geesh that was a big job.  

Holly continues to volunteer at Youngest Kiddo's school once a week in the library & classroom.

We were supposed to have friends here for Spring Break but sickness in the house changed those plans. Once everyone was assuredly healthy, we hopped in the car for our first road trip to join our friends in Disney World. Oldest Kiddo was so happy that she could ride everything solo. The adults were just happy to be together.  

Youngest Kiddo started swimming lessons. 

We finally bought furniture for the living room. It should be delivered in just ten short weeks. Until then we continue to hobble by using a card table as a TV stand.  

Matt traveled a bit this month to Alabama & Indy.  

Matt's doing a great job working projects around the house. He built new shelves in the garage to replace the awkward ones we inherited. 

On the landscape front, a new surprise seems to pop its head through the mulch each day. There is quite a variety of plantings with no discernible theme, so Matt is formulating his master planting plan.

A4 Update - January 2016

Today is my first chance to open Blogger to write a blog post. It's been a super busy month!

The family rang in 2016 with a sleep over at our college friends' house. Time with friends was just what we needed after the busy holidays with family.  

We arrived in Raleigh on 4 January. The flight from Chicago was comically short. Without any furniture at the new house, we spent the first week in a corporate apartment.    

Our container arrived on 15 January, and we promptly slept in our new digs. Happy to say that by the end of the month almost all of the boxes were empty (the photo above is only about 1/3 of the boxes).  The only boxes left are those that await a home on yet to be purchased shelves.    

The return to reality happened fast when we bought two cars. Public transportation just isn't the same as London. ;)

I thought enrolling the children in school would be a piece of cake compared to London, but I was mistaken. Look for a post about that soon, but so far both kids are happy with school, whew.

Maybe that's because they hardly attended school once they enrolled. They started on a Wednesday and promptly had an early release day that Friday. Then the next week brought Martin Luther King Jr. day, an institute day, and 2 1/2 days off due to a huge ice storm! All told they went to school 8 days in January. No need to call the truant officer, it's all good now.  

Matt traveled back to Europe for meetings in Dublin & Warsaw to finish up pursuits he started before we left. Hopefully his travel back to Europe isn't a trend.

Holly's parents spent a week at the house helping with a few home improvement projects. Dad was brave to climb the extension ladder to wash the windows that seem to be 100 feet off the ground. Mom used her sewing skills to make Oldest Kiddo a Greek dress from a bed sheet for class. They also kindly returned the items we stored in their basement whilst in London. The Kitchen Aid mixer has returned, and it already made cookies & muffins.  I sure missed that machine.  

The home improvement projects don't stop. Some are to fit the way we live such as replacing the grossly inefficient master closet organizer.  Others are imperative such as the bathroom sink that leaks into the cabinet below.  That's the joy of home ownership, right?

The weather in NC is absolutely gorgeous, aside from the ice storm a week ago.  We had lunch on the deck the other day when the temperature was 72F.  Not a bad thing for January.

Stay tuned to see what February holds. We need to get out and about in Raleigh to enjoy our new home town!

When Life Gives You Lemons

Sometimes you would rather suck on them than make lemonade.  That's the mood I've been in lately because the family is set to move back to America in December.  

Matt's two-year contract will not be extended as we really, really hoped.  The reason for no extension stems back to a company merger nine months ago.  That left a surplus of employees in Europe and a shortfall for help in America.  On the plus side America needs more people, and my guy is just who they need.  

Hang with me while I be selfish for our family for a moment.

Selfish Point #1 - We love living in London.  The city setting works well for our family; public transportation and delivery services keep our no car family running day to day.  Come on, the history that we walk by every day constantly awes us.  On the walk to school alone we pass by several WWII bomb sites, and our house is well over 100 years old.  When you visit places around the city to realize that many of the buildings are over 600 years old, it becomes apparent that America is just getting started.  

Selfish Point #2 - It took us a long time to get The Manor to feel like our home; rented accommodations are never near as inviting & cozy when you can't really make it your own.  White walls and subpar appliances aren't my cuppa.  The Manor finally started to feel like a home in March of this year - that's sixteen months.  

Selfish Point #3 - Leaving friends is never easy.  Upon moving into The Manor, we quickly found out that it was extremely hard to make friends as adults.  The neighbors are polite, and we only hit it off with a few.  We created a quality support system with the families at school, which was a life saver on so many occasions. I also have an amazing friend that I met through Instagram who became my partner in city touring shenanigans.  Our girls became good friends in the last year, too.    

Selfish Point #4 - Oldest Kiddo started middle school in September, and we hoped that we could stay through the end of the school year.  You remember middle school, right?  The most awkward time of your life.  We want to make sure her transition from UK schools back to a US schools is as smooth as we can make it.  It won't be perfect, but we'll try darn hard to make it so.

Selfish Point #5 - The biggest reason I have to be a sourpuss - We are not done here!!!  A UK home base facilitates travel to Europe with short, and often cheap flights.  Yes, we've traveled to a lot of stupendous places: Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Berlin, Italian Lakes, Florence, Stockholm, Barcelona, Lisbon.  There are so many more places we want to see!  We will squeeze in one or two quick trips before we repatriate, but there are so many things to get done before that can happen.  Yes, yes this is a first world problem.  

As I've gone through the stages of grieving our pending change, I also have to remember that it's not about me.  Matt's job brought this opportunity to our family, and we have to do what's right for the family.  If the next stage in his career happens to be in America, then that's where we go.

Now that I'm ready to make the lemonade, there are several things to which we look forward.  First we get to decide where we will live.  If you recall, we sold The 407 in the Chicago suburbs so we can live wherever we choose.  The only thing we need in our new town is easy access to an airport for Matt's work travel.  There are several things that would be nice, such as little or no snow.  We've started researching houses in different cities to see what our dollar will buy.

Positive Point #1 - We will be back near our family and friends (somewhat).  Regardless of where we decide to move, our family will be closer to us than to London Manor.  Despite the amazing things we've seen and done in London, it's been hard being away from our families.  We've missed holidays, birthdays, and simple weekend picnics.  Sadly, we've said good bye to three very close family members in our time here.  On the other hand, we've happily hosted several guests at The Manor and shown them the city that we love.

Positive Point #2 - A move back to America presents opportunities to show our kids more of their home country.  Although the ease of travel to Europe greatly diminishes when we return, that won't stop us from returning when we can! 

Positive Point #3 - It sounds cheeky, but I so look forward to proper pizza & Mexican food.  London just doesn't understand the fine points of a quality taco or salsa.  Although I've gotten quite good at making my own.  

Send good thoughts our way for a smooth transition back to 'Merica.