Thanksgiving, the British Way

Last night we finally had Thanksgiving - all my fault we didn't have it last week as I had school. Oh well. Six Americans and one Brit ended up having the following (I feel the weight gain as I am listing):

• Turkey (a very nice 10 lb. or 5.6 kg version) and gravy
• Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes and sweet potato souffle
• Green bean casserole
• Creamed corn
• Raspberry salad (thanks mom for the recipe)
• Cranberry orange relish
• Rum cream pie
• Pumpkin pie with a kick (Katie's version with whisky)
• Pumpkin pie (my traditional one)

Oh so good!

In other news, tomorrow is St. Andrew's Day. Although I won't be in Scotland to celebrate - apparently the Scots are making a cake replica of the Stone of Destiny. Mmmm ... rock cake.

Post Grad Revolt and Ferrets

The Plum & Jello is reporting from Edinburgh, Scotland this week. Needless to say, I have been very busy with five days of school and three papers due in the next two weeks. Ah, the student life.

Here is a slight recap of what has happened since the last post:

• The Buckeyes won - woo! Championship here we come!
• The Brits love candy buckeyes (or conkers).
• The train is the best sleeping pill ever (Jeff, take note!).
• Grad students have power! After the worst Research Methods course I have ever seen, we are leading a charge to get the course removed. Besides PR students, the rest of the class is Public Health (who, I'm sure need to know about the epistemology and ontology of research. I however, do not.). We were granted the extension today, and now there is a hearing into the class! Yay!
• Media in Britain is the best course - topics this week: pirate radio and newspaper spin. Fantastic.
• When you load your backpack with 10 library books and there are 60+ mph winds, you are going to get blown over.
• The fervor of Scottish rugby (playing the land of OZ tomorrow!) is nowhere near Buckeye madness - we are crazy!
• The Brits are extremely interested in Thanksgiving. Their belief is that it is like Christmas and we get gifts. Ha.
• I am having a British Thanksgiving on Tuesday (look for pictures next week).

Whew - that was a lot and I'm sure I missed something. I get back on the train to York tomorrow. Another good 2+ hours of sleep ahead.

In other news, I spotted this headline on the cover of Country Life magazine: "Ferrets: Better than playing Playstation." Wow.

Buckeyes!

Thanks to online and email-submitted recipes, I was able to make a batch of buckeyes this week. The Brits went nuts (sorry, no pun intended!) for the candy, since there is no candy here that has a chocolate and peanut butter combination. The sad thing was, since there are no buckeyes here, it takes about 10 minutes to describe the candy and the nut itself. Now they are in high demand. I will need to get U.S. peanut butter when I am home - the British version isn't quite the same.

In the other row house news, the entire household went to a dinner last night, hosted by a couple who work for hedgehog rescue. The currently have only one hedgehog, Nipper, who they found on the side of the road and weighs just eight ounces. Very cute and prickly.

Monday it's off to Edinburgh for a week's worth of classes!

Trip to the Dales

Today Katie and I went with Leslie to Swinton Park - a large manor house in the North Yorkshire Dales. It's actually a hotel, but is still owned by the family. During the tour of the park, we were joined by a cat, who affectionately named Cecil. He followed us through the entire park.

Photos are posted to Yahoo! - also posted today were photos from my London trip Saturday.

In other news, Bond is everywhere. Although the movie doesn't officially open here until Friday, the world premiere was this evening -- with the Queen in attendance. Bond specials, Bond interviews, old Bond movies, etc.

My Desktop for the Week

Yes I know - I'm over 3,500+ miles away, but I still love my Buckeyes! I will have to rely on ESPN Gametracker on Saturday for all the madness. Feel free to click on the photo and download for your desktop.

On the dessert menu this week, candy buckeyes!

Go Bucks! Beat Michigan!

A Wicked Mess in London

Oh what a mess! I went to London Saturday morning for an afternoon performance of Wicked, starting Idina Menzel (the original Wicked Witch of the West). I have been trying to see her perform for over a year and either a) she has been injured or b) I couldn't get to her.

After a morning of Portabello Road, the Tate Modern (to see the slides!), and to the Founders Arms (Jeff!!) for lunch, I headed to the Apollo Victoria .... only to find out that she is out! Grrr! Not only out, but had been out for days due to illness. The performance was great, and her replacement was incredible, but it wasn't her. Sigh ...

I stuck around for the evening performance, hoping to get tickets, but it was sold out with no return tickets. I ended missing my train -- but snagged a swanky hotel room (next to Buckingham Palace) for relatively cheap. So I enjoyed the humongous tub and had a night's rest.

Maybe I will get back before she leaves on Dec. 31 ... it would be worth the trip back to see her.

Industrial University

After several emails requesting to see what Queen Margaret looks like - images have been posted to Yahoo! (also images of Edinburgh and the rain from my trip Tuesday have been posted). It's an industrial masterpiece ... and being torn down next year. The school has two campuses in Edinburgh and is consolidating to one next year.

Guy Fawkes Night Photos

Guy Fawkes Night photos have been posted to Yahoo! Photos. Katie and I went to the Ebor Inn in Bishopthorpe, where I think all of the village showed up. Whoever made the bonfire was an expert - over 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide and after it was lit, it got supremely hot! Hot fire plus toffee apple equals yummy!

Calling 999 ...

Well we had our first encounter with the North Yorkshire Police Department. Nothing horrible now, but at the time - it was rather scary. Around 3:00 a.m. Sunday I was in my room (which is on the ground floor on the street), when very loud Scottish men were roaming about, but then quickly left. About 20 minutes later, I heard knocking and something sounding like a stone being thrown against a window. Didn't think much of it, until my flatmate Leslie came in looking for the phone because she saw a man in the back garden.

So begins the craziness .... Leslie and I wandered around the house in the dark to the kitchen where we both spied a man roaming around the the next door's garden. So we quickly ran upstairs to her room to spy, without being caught (at the same time - Katie slept through it as did Aleks and Steve, who were staying over). We were going to call the police, but decided to when he jumped the fence and began snooping around in our garden and then throwing rocks at the next door's back door.

Calling 999 (911 over here), Leslie was connected to the police and I was able to give descriptions of the man and keep an eye on him until two very nimble North Yorkshire police officers scaled the back garden wall. Whew! Turns out it was the girl next door's evil ex-boyfriend who hadn't been there for months and it was a semi-domestic. Ack!

All is quiet now - and we were very impressed at the quick response of the police. Well done ... sleep was a little quieter last evening.

Buckeye Conspiracy

Now that the college football season is 3/4 over, I officially vent my internet radio issues. Apparently the radio-nistas at 97.1 and 1460 ("The Fan," who does not want me to be "a fan") will not let you download the commentating. If you try to download the internet radio on each site, 97.1 doesn't broadcast the game online (silly!) and 1460 will not let you listen overseas unless you in the military and have a special code. Grrr!

I realize that OSU has to make money (but geez - the football team alone as a $35 million surplus), but all I want to do is listen to the game ... and The Game on Nov. 18.

For the season, I am forced to watch little red lines go back and forth on ESPN Gametracker and their tiny video re-caps. They are slowing forcing me to become a football (that's soccer for you U.S.ers) fan.