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.  

Hey Honey, I Bought Us House, Without You

There's a great story about our house that Matt loves to tell. 

He bought the house without me.  

To some that's no big deal, but to most to whom the story is told it's complete lunacy. 

In the fall of 2015 Matt spent more time back in American than he did in London. It only made sense that he use those trips to scout for a future hometown. We had decided that the mid-Atlantic was our first choice due to the desirable weather and the minimal time zone difference to Europe. The internets was a huge help to narrow our city choices based on our desired house criteria & budget. The more we looked, the more Raleigh seemed like the place for us. 

So Matt added a weekend detour to Raleigh on one of his trips to the US to look at houses. We found a great real estate agent to take him around. They started at some of the houses we saw online and soon found that those houses looked better in pictures. So they regrouped and scoured the listings for a second day of touring. Matt fired up FaceTime and took me on tour of the newest listings. Some views were short (or nonexistent) as he knew immediately that a house was not the right fit.

Then he walked into our current house, and there was a complete change in his attitude. It had everything our family needed, and oh my goodness a whole lot more. He summed it up by saying this was the house for us; no other house came close to this one. He was going to write an offer straight away.

My reaction?  If you think it's the one, then go ahead. I'll admit that I wasn't the most invested in the home finding process.  I was still in the anger stage of the grieving process.

The negotiations were quite straightforward. We made an offer, they accepted. Done. Matt bought a house that I had not seen with my own eyes, in a city I'd never visited. I was OK with that. Why? We've experienced a lot in the last two years, and the abode was never an issue. As long as my husband and kiddos are with me, we can make it a home.

The most anxiety occurred for the home inspection.  

Matt: "You are coming to Raleigh for the inspection, find a sitter for the kids."

Me: "WHAT?!"

Matt: "Yes, you are going to Raleigh.  You need to see the house before the deal goes through."

Me: "WHAT?!"

I agreed that I wanted to see the house, but goodness sakes finding someone to watch our kids for a minimum of two nights was asking a lot of someone. It's one thing when you go into the city for the night, but it is a whole new situation when we travel across the ocean!

It was not difficult at all to find places for the Kiddos to stay as we made some really awesome friends in London. Each stayed with a different family, and they were beyond happy for a weeknight sleepover. Once the Kiddos were set, we booked my flights. Get a load of this itinerary - I left Thursday morning for a Friday morning inspection and caught a return flight on Friday night that arrived back in London on Saturday morning. 

You know how this story ended. The kids had a great time with their friends and our inspection went just as expected. Matt closed on the house a few weeks later on another of his trips back to the US.  

I didn't have to go back for that.  Whew.

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 - February 2016

February can be drab, but we have some incredible sunrises & sunsets.

The kids had two days off this month due to inclement weather. One day was from another ice storm, and the second was for a horrendous tornado outbreak in the Mid-Atlantic states. Wake County schools announced a three-hour early release at 10:30am on the day of the tornadoes. Everyone was nervous as a day of decision to release students early is not an easy task for a school district to undertake.  

Matt traveled a ton in February.  This time all in the USA.

The family went to a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game, and it was a ton of fun! The audience was engaged during the whole game. We even saw the Stanley Cup at the ceremony celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Hurricanes Championship.  

Holly started volunteering at Youngest Kiddo's school. She is starting in the library and hopes to get into the classroom soon.  

Speaking of Youngest Kiddo, he needed new shoes. Apparently his size 13 trainers no longer fit his size 3 feet!  Going for parents of the year on that one. 

We continue to make the house our own. Matt installed a new Elfa organizer in the master closet, which is phenomenal. The painter started at the end of the month to bring the house out of the mid-1990's. The electrician made sure all the proper outlets were GFCI connected. The fireplace technician cleaned up the unit to remove about 20 years of dust and insects. 

To round out the month, the laborious task of furniture shopping is in full force. Ugh.  

The highlight of the end of the month was an excursion to one of the many nature preserves in Raleigh. This town is full of parks. The kids loved jumping over the fallen trees and throwing rocks in the lake.  

The warmer weather is moving in, we've already had a few 70 degree days.  

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!

A4 Update - December 2015

While the London expat adventure is officially over, it does not mean the adventure stops.  The theme of December was Leaving London.

Holly sold many household electronic items that could not come back to America.  Happy to know that someone in London is enjoying our alarm clock & blender.    

Both kid had Christmas shows at school, which are always interesting.

We attended several going away events with our much loved friends.  

The week of December 14 we had the pleasure of spending time with movers, a professional cleaning team, and the landlord checkout clerk.  Happy to report that the checkout clerk was pleased with the condition of The Manor.  

Our final flight out of Heathrow was after lunch on Friday 18 December amid many tears from the whole family.  

The tears dried up as the strong sunshine of Aruba hit our pasty skin for four days in the sun.

Christmas was spent among our family & friends.

That's a wrap on 2015!

Trip Advisor Review - Home For The Holidays

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  A Lovely Holiday Stay

date of stay 23 December-31December

Our family booked a stay at Nana & Papa's Inn during one portion of our repatriation adventure. We arrived on a cold Northern Illinois evening to warm hugs and kisses for the whole family.  Nana immediately bombarded our family with offers of fresh Christmas cookies and milk.  

Our two room booking provided enough space for our family of four. The adults cozied into a full size bed with a television connected to satellite TV. The children shared the second bedroom with two twin beds, which was a welcomed sight since they hate sharing a bed. Both rooms overlooked a nicely landscaped front yard. However, we didn't see much of it since we thoroughly appreciated the blackout curtains.

The shower always had an ample supply of hot water & fresh towels.    

The cuisine at Nana & Papa's Inn was American fare. Each morning Papa provided a lovely hot breakfast and plentiful coffee. We dined on eggs, breakfast burritos, and french toast. During the day the pantry was stocked with crackers and chips. The family had dinner at the Inn just a few times because of holiday obligations, but when we dined it was delicious. The Christmas cookies continued throughout our stay with a fresh batch baked midway.

The common area of the Inn were so comfortable! Nana always had a huge supply of quilts for everyone to stay warm and cozy. The internet connection was a bit slow so binge watching YouTube videos was difficult. However, it allowed us to have more personable conversations. 

One day Papa was very kind to drive me to the Drivers License Bureau to renew my license. I was impressed with his above and beyond spirit as the office was out of town, and we needed to wait for the office to open.  He kindly treated me to breakfast at a nearby cafe while we waited.  

My husband and I enjoyed a night out with complimentary babysitting. They said the kids went to bed on time but we are suspicious of that report.  

The surrounding area provided easy access to the expressway to zip into the Chicago suburbs or just over the Wisconsin border.  The Inn had plenty of self-parking. The driveway was promptly shoveled after an icy snowstorm. The staff were extremely helpful with the luggage.  Onsite laundry facilities were a major plus.

Overall our stay at Nana & Papa's Inn was a memorable holiday experience.  I highly recommend you book a stay any time of year.  I hear there's a great garden in the summer with plenty of samples if you help weed the tomatoes.  

   

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.