Some more America! (Weeks 2 & 3)

Yup...still here. And once again I have to apologise for my extraordinary ineptness at updating a blog. So this one is a follow up to the first America post, and as it helps with continuity I expect the best way forward is to talk about weeks 2 & 3.


Week 2 - Didn't do too much, was my first week of lessons here at the Uni so I was taking it easy. Went to Wolfies some more, listened to Lady Gaga some more, ate in Eat & Park at 3am, and even visited some elementary schools. Obviously I had to take this picture:















And thus ends week 2. Mega exciting, huh?




Week 3 - Settling into classes now. It's still snowing! This week, I visited Goodwill and bought 5 tops for less than $20. Bargain. Visited some more restaurants (there are a fair few in town...), and the highlight of the week was a very pleasant evening at Katie's parents house. You don't understand just how good it is to have a freshly cooked dinner, and eat it in a small, quiet room, instead of a large dining area with food that's been sitting on hotplates for a questionable amount of time...





So, not a particularly eventful fortnight, but I'm still enjoying it!

Ameeerrrriiiiica-ca-ca!

So much for 'yeaaaahhh! I'll clear out my blog and then only write interesting things about America, and I'll update alllll the time!'


Pff. I'm a bad blogger. Fact. I have all the intention to do it, and I don't, so I apologise. But while I'm here I might as well update you a bit on what I've been doing.


Week 1 - Let's start at the very beginning which is, as a wise woman once said, a very good place to start. Had to wake up stupidly early (4am...) to leave for the airport. I don't remember the journey so I'm guessing I slept the whole way. I've not been to Heathrow before, but it seemed nice enough. Check in was simple, had a really expensive but pretty nice panini with Mum & SD before heading down to the boarding gates, via a good frisking and some x-rays. The flight was alright, I had a window seat so I got to watch the miserable, snowy, grey clouds fizzle out and make way for brilliant sunshine, which is always nice! Breakfast on the plane was actually pretty tasty considering it looked like this:















So anyway, the journey passed fairly quickly I suppose. I listened to some music for a bit and then spent ages going through the film selection, which was pretty decent actually. I watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs followed by Momento, which together killed a fair few hours. Lunch was this pastry thing, which wasn't as good as breakfast but still nice. I'm actually a little dissapointed that my flight home is a night one and I wont be treated to those hash browns again.


So, arrived at Toronto airport about 11:30am, and had to hang around in the boarding area until my next flight at 5:30pm...Jesus that's a long wait. My advice? Take a damn travel adaptor in your hand luggage. Fail for me. Lost at Mahjong for about 2 hours, laptop died, did some crosswords. Pretty uneventful. Eventually boarded a 37 seater plane (seriously...smaller than a bus) and chilled out, had a little nap. Arrived at Pittsburgh airport feeling a little bleh, so I called a hotel, they sent a car for me, and I got a room for the night. It was a weird feeling, the journey to the hotel was in darkness, I had no clue where I was, and not a single person in the world knew where I was either. It gave me an uneasy feeling, slight concern mixed with the excitement of being in an exciting new place, with a bit of loneliness chucked in. The room was pretty decent though, the bed was about 3 pillows wide, and it had tv and internet for free (not that I could get on the net...what with the lack of suitable plugs). Considered having dinner (I could see Pizza Hut from my window!) but decided against that and went to bed about 8pm, slept for 12 hours and woke up refreshed and ready for the world!















Got the car back to the airport at noon, and had a couple of hours to wait for the IUP guys to pick me up. While I was waiting, I decided to grab something to eat. 'Hot Dog & Chips' it says. 'Great!' I think. I could go for that. So I go in, grab a cheese dog (oh my god...there's cheese *inside* this sausage), and look for the chips. Hm. No chips. I'm a little perplexed at this point, so the cashier helpfully points me in the right direction.
This, my dear, is not chips. This...this is crisps. Ok, I get that we've just experienced a cultural difference, but what the hell? Why would you have a hot dog, and crisps, as a meal? Just doesn't make sense! Bleh. The hot dog was nice though.


So they came, picked me & a few others up from the airport, got lost in Pittsburgh on the way through (one way to get a tour of the city, I suppose) and eventually arrived in Indiana, PA. Seemed nice enough, but it was late and I was tired. So I met my room mate, met my room, met some other international students, met some American students, met some huge portions in some restaurants...basically, it was orientation week and we did a lot of meeting and learning and whatever. You know, orientation stuff. It was good, they planned a few social events so that we could mingle and make friends, which is always handy when you don't know a single person. It'd been snowing in PA for a little while so when we arrived it was pretty deep already. I'm amazed at how much snow some places can have and still continue working, when England just comes to a stand still at the first hint of a snowflake. Losers.


During the week we were introduced to Wolfies, a local bar, and had hours of fun playing air hockey, pool, drinking Tequila Sunrises and dancing to Lady Gaga. At the weekend, Katie (American girl, new friend) took me, Anna (New friend, room mate, English) and Nicolas (new friend, Argentinian) horse riding, which is always fun! Had a bit of a fail moment getting on the horse in the first place, but we had a lovely time strolling around. We're hoping to go on a trail ride through the woods one day when the snow eventually buggers off.


So that concludes week 1. Seeing as this post is a bit meaty already, I'll post each week's frolicks seperately, just for ease of reading. You might want to make a cup of tea, or have a nap between reads.

Happy New Year (again...)

It's come again! A new year. In fact, a new decade.

But anyway, the point of the post.... I'm going to America in 9 days! Eek! This time last year it was just something that I'd been told was possible, and was thinking about. Now, I've got flights booked, I know where I'm staying and pretty much just need to pack. I'm just waiting now.

I'm planning to actually update here more often now I'll have things to talk about, whether I remember and/or get round to it is a different matter entirely.

This time last year, I posted a blog. A snippet from said post:

So what do I envision for this new year? No resolutions... I've decided to go in with a new approach - 'Do It'... 

...I'm going to learn things about myself, about my friends, and about the world. And then I'm going to see if I'm a different person this time next year.

And now here I am. 9 days away from a life changing experience. I didn't even question the logistics, the details, the work involved. I knew from the moment we were told we could, that I would be doing it. And I couldn't be happier.

Placeeeeebo :D

New Placebo song, where have you been? It's been so long! I cannot believe how much money I willingly parted with to get an album. Ok, so an album with a few extras. A box set worth of extras....extra songs, live albums, books, handwritten lyrics, vinyls, etc, etc. It's worth it, right? Right? I suppose my collection wouldn't be complete if I didn't get it, and I'd only regret it later if I didn't get it. Right?! I've got all the other albums, the special editions of them, the DVDs, a few of the singles, some vinyls, posters, a neon light for god's sake (see below)!






I don't know why this is the only pic I have of this...














The album is a good'un though.

It's Spring, and suddenly the sun comes out.

Oh no! I'm slacking at this blog writing malarkey!


The weather has been amazing this past week! Considering how much snow we had a few weeks ago, it's pretty much summer!

Makin' Cakies

So, a little off from what I normally blog about, I've been baking today and thought somebody might enjoy what I've been making, so here is a full step-by-step instruction blog complete with photographs to help you along as you make the wonderful cakey goodness that is Cakies. I call them Cakies because they aren't quite cakes, but aren't cookies either. Sort of in the middle, but you can make them go either way depending how you prefer them.

So first up, ingredients and other things you will need:
- 4oz Sugar
- 4oz Butter
- 6oz Self Raising Flour
- 1 Egg
- Chocolate (I've gone for a bar, but chocolate chips work great too)
(Click Here for a good site for conversions)


- A mixing bowl
- Scales
- Baking Tray
- Greaseproof Paper
- Whisk (if you don't have one, just use a wooden spoon)
- Wooden Spoon



Step 1: Prepare!
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/350F, and get your greaseproof paper on your tray. I know some people like to grease trays, but I always just use paper for these Cakies and I've never, ever had a problem. This is always a good time to get your chocolate chopped up if you're using a bar, I like big chunks in mine, so that's what I've got!


Step 2: Butter & Sugar!
This is the part where you chuck it all in and get it looking like more than a collection of ingredients.
First, put your butter into your bowl and add the sugar to it (just as a note to my picture - if you use your mixing bowl with your scales, make sure you always set it to Zero when you put the scale tray back on!)

Then, give it a blitz with your whisk until the butter and sugar have mixed together to form a creamy yellow substance, like so:





If you don't have a whisk of any kind, just use a wooden spoon. This will mean more arm power, but it gets the job done just as well.




Step 3: Egg & Flour!
Crack your eggs into the butter/sugar mixture and add a small amount of your flour. Give it a whisk until it's all mixed in, add the remainder of the flour, and whisk again. By this time you will have a thick sort of cake mix.





















Step 4: Chocolate!
Pour your chocolate chunks/chips into the mixture, and fold in with a wooden spoon, until you're happy that it's thoroughly distributed.

Step 5: Baking Tray!

I always go for a whole tray of Cakie, but it would work the same if you wanted to spoon blobs of the mixture onto the baking tray instead. I prefer to bake it all together, and then cut it into slices. This way, the centre pieces are amazing and so soft! This choice is obviously completely up to you though! Note - smaller cakies will take less time to cook.

Step 6: Into the Oven!
Go on, pop it in! My Cakie took 15 minutes to cook, obviously this will depend on the oven.
Please take note! Your Cakie will come out soft. Do NOT judge it by how firm it feels - it will firm up when cooling. I have made this mistake before, and the outcome isn't great! It will have started to brown off at the edges, but will probably still be pale in the centre (see my picture below). Just take it out of the oven, and leave it as it is on the baking tray to cool down. When it feels firmer to the touch, slice it up into squares, and use a spatula or other flat utensil to gently peel each slice from the baking paper, which should happen with ease.


If you want it to be more like cookie dough, take it out sooner, you just want it warmed through really. If you want it to be more like biscuit, leave it longer in the oven to dry out some more.

I love it the way it is - soft and Cakie! ^_^


Step 7: ENJOY!!

It's been a cold week....

Ok, this is going to be a picture heavy post. (Click them for the full sized image)

I'll start with Chinese New Year - went into central London with a couple of friends, their baby & my young cousin to see a bit of the celebrations. It was absolutely packed! We watched some of the singers/dancers in Trafalgar Square for a bit, which was good. Saw this incredible picture drawn on the floor in chalk by a homeless man. My drawing talents stretch about as far as stick men....


It snowed heavily all day on Monday, and apparently will do again this weekend. I don't think Winter is gone at all.
So, some pictures of the snow, which includes the 'Gigantic Balls' phenomenon:













And the first hint of Spring:


















Also, I've been making. Well, customising actually. These are for my best friend's baby:
























And here are some shoes I attacked for a friend in my infinite boredom:















Right well this is overly long now, and no one even reads it so it doesn't matter too much!