While in Vienna...

and it rained, and rained, and rained. I thought maybe winter had returned. I wore just about every article of clothing I brought - which was not very much - trying not to risk my fashion sensibilities too much which meant that I went a tiny bit cold on one or two occasions. Nathaniel had a good laugh at me over this.

(I would have wanted to sit on these seats if they had not been dripping wet)

The weather certainly did not stop us from exploring that beautiful expensive city though ...

(enjoying one of the free things Vienna has to offer...
a statute of Mozart in the wet park)

thank goodness we remembered our umbrellas!

Sugared Pecans

Just in case you would like to try this "Easy, Fool-Proof" sugared pecan recipe:

1lb pecans (about 4 cups)

Mix together in a bowl:

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sugar

beat together:

1 egg white

1 Tbs water

add egg white mixture to sugar mixture then stir in pecans to coat.
spread pecans on a baking sheet

bake at 200 for 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes

Enjoy!

Not too long ago I was cleaning out one of our drawers in search of an important piece of paper. As it often goes with me, I got distracted by a pile of envelopes and their content. Most of them needed to go into the bin, but there were a few keepers - one of which was a pretty little card from my mom.

Funny enough, this card was written back in the spring of 2008 and somehow it made the cut to move to London with us (I am sometimes surprised at the little bits that I decided to pack into our precious suitcase space back in the summer of 2008 when we headed to London). Well I am glad it did make the cut because tucked inside was a small piece of card which contained the recipe for sugared pecans - Delightful!
Now I love, just love sugared pecans...and we have a special bond, sugared pecans and I do...here is a bit of our history. It was the month of my wedding, over the past few weeks Mom and I had been compiling welcome boxes for our out of town guest. Fun little things like, a lovely hand knit wash cloth and a recipe card with our wedding soup written out. Also to go in the boxes were small containers of homemade sugar pecans (pecans from our own back yard none the less!).
I took on the sugared pecans. For a week, any spare moment I had was spent shelling pecans - my fingers and nails being the worse for the wear! It was worth it though and finally I had enough shelled to being the 'sugaring process'. I followed the recipe to the T - but somehow I burnt the sugar and instead of yummy sugar coated pecans, I had hard burnt only worthy of the bin pecans. What a shame! I had to start the whole process again, now my fingers were really feeling raw from shelling pecans.
A long story short, I proceeded to burn a whole other batch of pecans at which point mom (ever so kind) took over. She found a new recipe that came out so wonderfully, we were in the end able to tuck little packs of sugared pecans into the welcome boxes.
Looking over the recipe card I found - I laughed when at the little note mom put at the bottom of the card 'This recipe is easy and fool-proof' she wrote. I imagine mom was remembering the struggle I had making them before and was reassuring me I make do these despite past failure!

I made my first batch of sugared pecans last week and have been munching on them ever since... just a few with my coffee I tell myself.

a little poem I found...

DEAR March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat—
You must have walked—	5
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,	10
I have so much to tell!
I got your letter, and the bird’s;
The maples never knew
That you were coming,—I declare,
How red their faces grew!	15
But, March, forgive me—
And all those hills
You left for me to hue;
There was no purple suitable,
You took it all with you.	20
Who knocks? That April!
Lock the door!
I will not be pursued!
He stayed away a year, to call
When I am occupied.	25
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come,
That blame is just as dear as praise
And praise as mere as blame. Emily Dickinson

I found culture shock came slowly when I moved to London. It took a good six months for it to really sink in that I truly was the foreigner. Mostly I found it was in the nuance of the vocabulary where I most felt like the outsider.

Just for fun, I have been putting together a list of words and phrases I have encountered since arriving in London. I thought you might enjoy a few.

to faff (v./adj.): a waste of time, to dither about.
'Sorry we are late, Abi kept faffing about with her makeup.'
or
'I would rather not fill out those forms, it is such a faff.'

To take the micky: to make a joke at someones expense or to make fun of someone

Elevenses (n.): a late morning snack just to tied you over till lunch, usually to go with a cup of tea.

Queue (v./n.): a line you have to waitn
someone may ask you, 'Is this the queue for the toilet?'
or
'People have been queuing for ages and ages to get a look at the Van Gogh gallery'

Moreish (adj.): when one helping will simply not be enough, usually given as an excuse to take a second (or third) helping when a person knows he probably shouldn't.
person standing next to a plate of yummy chocolaty cake might say:
'I really would like a piece but it looks so moreish that I won't be able to stop once I taste it.'

I caught on quickly that if you through words in like,
Brilliant! or Fab! to describe anything I was excited about,
by putting 'a' in front of coffee or tea (ex: a coffee),
& by complaining about the weather
(which really I don't because, well that is not cultivating a thankful heart, and on the whole I really do love rainy drippy days!)
I would not stick out like a sore thumb any more than I had to.

When Mercy and Jeremiah arrived from Spain at the beginning of January we had a mini post Christmas Christmas celebration. It was fun - we had a happy time of wrapping gifts, and saying things like, "Don't come in here!", and "Who took the tape?", and "Oh no, I cant seem to find so and so's gift!" Then we settled down on the sofas and cheered, admired and celebrated as each gift was given, then opened.
Double Stuffed Oreos! A whole box of Lucky Charms Cereal! Twizzlers - and not just one kind either!...Nathaniel was over the moon with delight.
A back rub for Jeremiah!
and so the evening went happily.

We settled down contented - and tired out from the excitement. Then Mercy produced one more gift - "Abi" she says, "you have the awesomest sister in the whole wide world." and she handed me the parcel.
and what do you think it was?


hmmm - Thank you Rachel for your sweet generosity, if only you could see how perfect they fit in... really just about anywhere I chance to use them.
and thank you Gab for your hand in the process and Mercy for caring it safely across the ocean. I certainly do have the awesomest sisters in the whole wide world.

the towels in the kitchen...

One day last winter I was down stairs in Aunt Gillian's kitchen helping with some washing up.
We were chatting away about something or other and soon enough all the washing was done. All that was left was a bit of drying. I reached up and grabbed the towel hanging on the rack near me and began to dry the dishes in the strainer. Mid-sentence, Aunt Gillian interrupted herself and exclaimed, "What are you doing?!" confusion must have been written all over my face because she went on, "Why are you using a hand towel to dry the dishes? You should be using a tea towel for the dishes." Feeling a little silly I explained I had no idea there was a difference between the two towels - and to be honest did it really make that much of a difference?

So I got a mini lesson right there and then about kitchen towel rules and etiquette. One must always have a hand towel and a tea towel in use in ones kitchen for both have unique purpose.

• the Hand towel: used to dry your hands after washing, or used to wipe food and juices off your hands while cooking (ie - perhaps you are making some tomato sauce and you get a little on your hand and so you wipe the sauce off on the hand towel). It is understood that this towel may get dirty quickly.
• the Tea towel: Used to wipe clean dishes dry, also can be used to cover dishes to keep them warm before being placed on the table. This ensures that clean dishes are always wiped with a clean towel, and that guest are not presented with a dirty towel covering the food they are about to eat.

Huh - it made so much sense! I decided to try it out for myself and probably if ever you come to my house and have a peek into my kitchen you will find some version of this kitchen towel advice being put to practice... though I will admit that I am not as vigilant about it as Aunt Gillian!