A Very British Christmas

I am way behind, it's been a busy month and I've just got back from a short work related trip.

I went back to England for a couple of weeks over Christmas, which was lovely as always (although I did miss the big snow storm in Albany and came back to my car covered in a foot of snow). There were no big adventures like last year, but I did need to  go to London to renew my passport and pick up a new one the same day a few hours later.

The passport office was close to some reasonably famous London establishments, including this one...

Yes, the Queen was at home but she didn't say hello

... so I joined the tourists and took pictures! I'm sure I must have seen Buckingham Palace sometime in the past, but I don't remember so this was kind of like my first trip!

Tourist time

I also took a trip to East London to visit the Olympic Park. You can't go and walk around like you could during the Olympics as they are in the process of dismantling the temporary venues (and parts of venues) and generally convert the whole area. You could however get a good view of the major stadiums and tower from the department store across the road. Plus I got some nice souvenirs for half price! Wish I could have seen it during the Olympics but this will have to do. I can add it to my list of Olympic parks that I've visited (Sydney, Salt Lake City, Lake Placid and London).

Team GB!!

I didn't stay on Oxford Street long enough to see the lights all lit up, but particularly enjoyed this Marmite display. I can say with full confidence that I HATE it and always will.

Christmas Lights

Twas Christmas in the Martin house, and I apparently look about 16. Oh well, I was wearing clothes from when I was about 16 so I cant complain!

The Familia

2012 in short

In the same vain as last year, I though I would make a list of some of my firsts and lasts from the past year. Here goes!

Firsts....
1) Visit to (mainland) China (I spent 3 days in Hong Kong in 2005)
2) Time in Massachusetts and Connecticut
3) Half marathon!
4) Trip to New York City and Boston
5) Purchase of my own apple laptop (I have one for work but I don't own that)
6) (and probably last) time standing at the top of an Olympic ski jump
7) Post doc paper accepted!
8) Getting stitches (and they were in my mouth, yuck)

Lasts....
1) Olympics in the UK (in my lifetime most likely) and watching online as the torch goes past the top of my road at home
2) Birthday that starts with a 2 :-(

Okay, so the last list isn't very long but it's far more fun to think of firsts! I think I wrote blogs about most of these events so you can find them if you want to read more.

Early Christmas

So sad for all those affected by the shooting yesterday. Newtown, CT is only a couple of hours from Albany. It puts so many things in perspective.


With events of the past 48 hours in mind, this is only a short post about our early Christmas today. What with all the traveling (not together) we're doing over the next few weeks it was present time today.

Kitty got a nice new winter jumper. She's not that impressed though and walks with her belly on the ground when wearing it. It's very funny, will have to get a video soon.

Christmas Cat

It was Christmas pudding eating time! After steaming again for an hour it was ready to eat. As I had one big and one little, we made a tiered pudding!

Pudding!!

Poured Brandy over it and ready with fire...

Fire...

Flaming pudding (hard to see I know)...

... success!!

It was really good. Just like I hoped it would taste. I will 100 % be making this again next year.

We also had jigsaw puzzle completion this past week (after finding the last piece under the couch - I blame the cat).

Much harder than it looked

Thanksgiving 2012

It was nice to have such a long weekend, eat good food and take it easy. Here is the story of our thanksgiving feast. The success of the clams from last year meant we had steamer clams again! We had to request Price Chopper (our supermarket) get some in (which they were really nice about) so we had some nice fresh clams. I made two little loaves of white bread to go with the clams (which were cooked in a white wine garlic sauce). Yum!

Fresh homemade bread

Lunch

Instead of eating all the food in one sitting, we had clams at lunch time and then we had fish for the main course. Whole red snapper, which we roasted, jalapeño and cheddar cheese corn bread, lemon asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes with goats cheese and maple balsamic. All were delicious, including the fish, but I think the potatoes were my favorite!

Red snapper before the oven

Corn bread

Dinner time

For desert I (actually Matt made them) made my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (see the recipe here). They were as delicious as always and the silicone baking cups were very successful :-)

Muffins!!

I don't really remember what else we did apart from cook and eat on thanksgiving but it was successful nonetheless. We went black Friday the next day, but didn't do the crazy early thing - we got to the mall around 9.30/10 and still got some good deals.

The holidays are here :-)

Carbon Dioxide

I read an article this morning on the newest measurements of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (you can find the BBC article, based on a World Meteorological Organization report here).

I know I don't usually talk about "work" related things on my blog. But this is less work and more world problem. Here is a graph from co2now.org of atmosphere carbon dioxide since 1958...




This to me, is quite shocking. Since I started my undergraduate degree in meteorology in 2001, CO2 has increased about 20 parts per million. I vividly remember being shown in various classes that CO2 concentration was 370 ppm and using that number in exams. Now it is OVER 390 ppm.

CO2 isn't a gas that we emit and then disappears quickly. It sticks around in the atmosphere for years (some estimates are up to 200 years). SO, if we want to mitigate the impact of CO2 on changing the climate and warming the earth we need to start stabilizing CO2. This means emitting less. A lot less.

Just think about it. I really need to start riding my bike more.

Christmas Pudding

I decided to take my chances and make a traditional Christmas pudding for the first time. I figured I could make it and we would eat it when we exchanged gifts before I left for home for Christmas. Plus, if it tasted terrible I knew I could get the real good stuff when I got home. Win win.

So the first step wasn't even in the recipe. The recipe required candied peel. I couldn't find any candied peel anywhere so I made it. Semi-successfully.

I started by scoring and peeling 7 lemons and 4 large oranges.

Oranges and lemon peeling complete

The peels were then boiled in water and drained, then boiled in water and drained again. This is supposed to get rid of some of the bitterness in the peel. After boiling and cooling, came the tedious part. Scraping out the white pith from all the peel and chopping the peel into strips.

A giant pile of pith and the useful orange and lemon peel

The strips of peel were then cooked in a sugar syrup in a pan. This is where things went a little wrong. I used the same amount of syrup for the orange and the lemon and it was supposed to simmer for 45 minutes. I stupidly left them simmering without checking regularly enough and the orange peel sugar syrup got a little burnt. But the lemon was perfect! After simmering the peel was laid out to cool and after a day or two I put them in a sandwich bag with some sugar and shook it to coat the peel in sugar.

Candied lemon peel success!

The lemon was delicious! Some of the orange peel was a little blacker than it should have been, but it still tasted good. A lot of work for 25 grams of candied mixed peel but the rest was a great snack!

Anyway, onto the pudding. The ingredient list:

1lb /450g dried mixed fruit (I used golden raisins, raisins, dried plums)
1 oz /25 g mixed candied peel, finely chopped
1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped 
Grated zest and juice ½ large orange and ½ lemon
4 tbsp brandy, plus a little extra for soaking at the end
2 oz /55 g all purpose flour, sifted
1 level tsp ground mixed spice (ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz /110 g shredded vegetarian suet (I ordered this on amazon as I couldn't find it here)
4oz /110g soft, dark brown sugar
4 oz /110 g white fresh bread crumbs
1 oz /25 g whole shelled almonds, roughly chopped
2 large, fresh eggs

So onto the steps...

Lightly butter a 2½ pint/1.4 litre pudding basin. I didn't have one/couldn't find one this size. Mine was slightly smaller so ended having a second mini pudding.


Place the dried fruits, candied peel, apple, orange and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the brandy and stir well. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave to marinate overnight.

Marinated dried fruits. Yum.

Stir together the flour, mixed spice and cinnamon in a very large mixing bowl. Add the suet, sugar, lemon and orange zest, bread crumbs, nuts and stir again until all the ingredients are well mixed. 

Add the marinaded dried fruits and stir again.

Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl then stir quickly into the dry ingredients. The mixture should have a fairly soft consistency.

Spoon the mixture in to the greased pudding basins, gently pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon. 

Puddings in bowls and ready for steaming

Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then a layer of aluminum foil and tie securely with string.

Place the pudding in a steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water and steam the pudding for 7 hours. Make sure you check the water level frequently so it never boils dry. The pudding should be a deep brown color when cooked. The pudding is not a light cake but instead is a dark, sticky and dense sponge.

They've got their coats on and a ready for a long afternoon in the steamer. The little string handle was very useful for lifting them in and out

Place the pudding in a steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water and steam the pudding for 7 hours. I didn't have a big enough steamer set so just set the pudding in a large pan with 1-2 inches of water in the bottom and a lid. It worked just fine.Make sure you check the water level frequently so it never boils dry.

The pudding should be a deep brown color when cooked. The pudding is not a light cake but instead is a dark, sticky and dense sponge.

Remove the pudding from the steamer, cool completely. Remove the paper, prick the pudding with a skewer and pour in a little extra brandy. Cover with fresh greaseproof paper and retie with string. Store in a cool dry place until Christmas day. 

The puddings a week or so after steaming during an additional Brandy soaking. Looks like it should!

On Christmas day reheat the pudding by steaming again for about an hour. Serve with Brandy sauce, Brandy butter, cream or ice cream (my fave). Obviously I haven't got to this part yet but I promise to show a picture when it gets eaten. It smells like it should so I'm hopeful it will work!

It really wasn't that hard to make so if it tastes good I'll def do it again!

Bonfire Night is not here...

... because in the US, no one knows what bonfire night is! Unless they've seen V for Vendetta and have some kind of clue. But even then, most people have no idea.

"Remember, remember the fifth of November.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."

Nowadays, November 5th is essentially a night where you have big bonfires, maybe burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes (or other disgraced person currently making headlines, I hear Mr Lance Armstrong will be making a few appearances this year) and have fireworks and sparklers. With the fireworks, it's a little like 4th July, except colder!

Bonfire night is essentially a celebration of successfully foiling a 1605 plot (plot) to blow up parliament (gunpowder), kill the king (treason) and lead a revolt to return Catholicism to Britain.

Many British people learn about this in school history lessons, usually in primary school. I hope they still do! Most will find the following picture of the conspirators very familiar, with Mr Guy Fawkes himself third from the right.

Guy Fawkes was the first man connected to the plot that was found in the cellars below parliament and arrested. Although I think it is well known that Fawkes was not the leader, as he was the first one caught red handed, his name is synonymous with November 5th (hence the whole V for Vendetta mask and story).

Anyway, seeing as I will not be partaking in any kind of fireworks or bonfire I wanted to share the story with you all. You can find way more detail online if you want to know more

I will say that during 5th November fireworks they do not play patriotic British music... that's one huge difference between 5th November and 4th July fireworks displays!!