I Want a Red Ryder Carbine-Action, Two Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle

Now that I am out of classes for the winter break, I've had a bit of excess time on my hands...some of which has been allotted to productively lowering my workload, while an excess of it has been spent shopping. Much of this shopping has really just been me, wandering into various shops or perusing online websites and oogling pretty things I hope to one day acquire, but I thought I would share some of the lovely things I've happened upon (some of which, I actually have managed to purchase!)

- Blue Chair apron - Happened across this when I was reading a blog of someone else's Christmas wish list and as I have always wanted a proper apron of my own, I thought this one would be perfect. Just imagine it with pearls, a flouncy dress and heels..

- Choose Your Own Simply Print - A blog I love, called Simply Breakfast (which I'll post about later), offers you the choice of any image from the blog to turn into a print. Here are my favorites - yoghurt and blueberries , oats and apricot jam, and oats and apples.) 

- Yoghurt makers - I eat a rather large amount of yoghurt and would love to make my own yoghurt making machine. I just haven't managed to do any research into how they work or which one would be best... so any recommendations are welcome!

- Jack Wills Cable Sweater - Ridiculously overpriced but somewhat of an iconic love or hate brand that after having researched it for a project, I have developed a soft spot for. I also hate to admit it (as it seems these are associated with chav-y wannabes throughout the UK) but I quite like their sherpa-lined gilets too. 

In order to prepare myself for two weeks of Christmas weather in Lancaster, I needed to do some actual purchasing of warm and functional clothing. This is what I came out with...

- Original Hunter wellies in Navy

- Chunky New Look socks for under said wellies

- Beige Gap jumper 

- Plain black tank for under said jumper

- Navy Primark "extra chunky extra long" (their words) scarf

- Dark grey Gap peacoat

- Floppy light grey Bhs hat

- Light grey Dorothy Perkins mittens

I can now officially say I look like I fit in in England - basic greys and navys, chunky knits, and a pair of wellies. Apparently my Canadian wardrobe was insufficiently warm for the slushy, sloppy English Christmas... 

Walking Through the Lady Bay

Decided to walk back into town from a friends place, which is south from the city centre, while my place is north-west of it. The weather was so nice for once, I strolled along and took a couple pictures of the scenery, then stopped off in the city to shop.

The view from the Trent Bridge. 

Welcome to Nottingham!

I had been shopping in the city for a few hours and given that I had been (oddly) craving mushy peas and chips for the last week, I stopped off in the market square to pick some up. They put salt, vinegar AND THEN the mushy peas on top. Looks radioactive. Tastes great. I'm officially a dirty Brit. 

(I also tried roasted chestnuts at the market a few days before and loved them! They make your mouth feel strangely dry almost but have a lovely flavor. Bit of a bugger to break em apart though when its cold outside and your hands are freezing.)

One Massive Vegetable Sandwich

There was a book I picked up from the library over the summer called 'Real Girls Eat.' I originally picked it up because I quite liked the name, having worked in fashion for a few years, I can relate to the misconception that all people in the fashion industry don't eat.

This book had a variety of recipes that I wanted to try. My favorites that I discovered over the summer were Carrot and Apple Muffins, Avocado Bruschetta, and the Grilled Vegetable Quesadilla. There was one recipe, however, that I never really got the chance to try. It seemed super easy, I just never had all the ingredients on hand. The Veggie Salad Sandwich is essentially a triple decker, with all of the following in between each layer: hummus, spinach, tomato, cucumber, avocado, cheese, tomato chutney, salt and pepper.

Finally had all the ingredients in my fridge at one point and here we go...

For the cheese, I decided to try stilton for the first time. Not being a fan of stinky cheeses quite yet, I opted for white as opposed to blue stilton. It was much milder than expected (and cheap, too!) I do love how cheap cheese is here. I have been consistently buying triangles of brie for only 80p and its enough for two big ol cranberry and brie sandwiches. 

I have also definitely become a fan of chutney while I've been here. How have I not found this stuff before? My mother is going to kill me since she used to try to get me out for indian food all the time and I consistently resisted, not really enjoying spicy food at the time, but turns out, I can't get enough of it here. This chutney is an organic sweet tomato and chili chutney from an english jam/chutney company. The avocados are also organic too!

The finished product. It wasn't quite as massive as it would have been with full-sized bread but since I probably couldn't eat that much, I opted for my thinly sliced baby bread. 

Chaucer Cafe Christmas Lunch

Sam and I got an email a while ago about one of the cafes at school offering a special Christmas lunch this week so we decided to go and experience a typical British holiday meal. We each got a different dessert to try, too. 

My meal...

The main dish was Roast Norfolk turkey with Nottingham sausage and bacon, cranberry and leek stuffing, herb roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts, buttered carrots, honey baked parsnips, and turkey gravy. I discovered I don't really mind brussels sprouts. Strange, I know. Also, I have a newfound love of turkey and cranberry and a continued love of parsnips. 

My dessert was proper Christmas pudding with brandy sauce - first time I've ever tried it. Was quite tasty. 

Sam chose the caramelized apple flan with vanilla cream. 

This was her meal. 

Needless to say, we both devoured our meals, feeling quite stuffed afterwards. It was amazing. Lunch cost 3.70 and dessert 1.80, not too bad. 

Next lunch on my list to try is a sandwich at Bocca, which is right on campus, where they make stilton, bacon, and cranberry baguettes. Odd mix but I've decided I need to try stilton while I'm here so thought it might as well be something interesting. 

 

Christmas Fair in Market Square

Snapped a couple quick pictures of the Market Square fair. They've got a skating rink, lots of food and drink stalls, some rides and various gift stalls. I had a chance to try an Olde English Sausage (which was about a foot long!) later in the week.

A view of the skating rink.

The sausage stall. It had a huge circular rack in the middle where all the meat was cooked. 

Merry Go Round!

Cookies After Midnight

Stayed up until 2 am this morning baking cookies, intending to distribute the sugar-filled parcels of Christmas joy to friends at Uni as I am poor and cannot afford real gifts and always thought edible gifts were much more fun anyways. Here's a picture of one of the little assortments I made... They include (from left to right) my mother's famous peanut butter chocolate balls, large mint homemade oreos, small vanilla homemade oreos, and cranberry butter cookies with vanilla icing drizzle. 

Currently have a fridge and freezer full of cookies. Will never starve. 

What's This?

On my merry way to the Orange Tree pub, I had to snap this quick picture of downtown. Picturesque, isn't it? It had recently started snowing and I have to say, its become quite cold since then. People keep saying "Well, you're from Canada, you must be used to it." Just to clarify, just because I am from Canada doesn't mean I was used to the cold there either, nor does it mean I like it. Unless, of course, you are talking about the type of snow I can watch from the window and romanticize about while sitting next to a toasty fire with an alcoholized hot chocolate beverage in my mitten-covered hand.