london calling

Even though I spent most of my time while in the UK in Cardiff, Wales I still feel like I’m in London. Sure, the accents here are a little harder to understand and they also have their own language (welsh), but the feel is almost exactly the same. People are so polite, they call you “lovely” as a term of endearment, still drive on the wrong side of the road and when they ask where I’m from, “Maryland” they usually give a blank stare until I say, “it’s about 3 hours south of New York, where I grew up.” Then their faces light up and stories or dreams of their trips to the big apple come flooding out.  It’s actually very heart warming and makes me realize how lucky I was to grow up so close to the city that never sleeps, even if I didn’t take advantage of it enough!

I’ve been here for work and there have been a few moments that I will NEVER forget. First, being at the WRU (Welsh Rugby Union, the national Rugby team) vs. New Zealand. New Zealand is the best rugby team in the world and people fly from all over just to watch them play. The WRU is just as important to the Welsh people are the Ravens are to Marylanders and as the Yankees are to (the real) New Yorkers. It’s hard to compare it to any American sporting event, maybe the super bowl? It’s HUGE and the players are looked at and respected like any of your favorite pro athletes- Ray Lewis, Derek Jeter but times your love for them by 10. Before every New Zealand game the team performs this ancient ritual dance or war challenge called the, Haka. I’m not a Kiwi (slang for New Zealand native) but it gave me the chills while watching and up until that point of my life it was  one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen:

You can read more about it here and see a clearer video here. Another cool fact about this ritual is that the All Blacks (that’s the team’s nickname, because of their all black uniforms) will never be the first to turn away after the performance or challenge is over. You see, while the All Blacks are dancing, the opponent will stand about 20 feet from them watching the “challenge”. Kind of cool right? I can only imagine the Ravens doing a choreographed dance prior to every start of a game! This is the one time the WRU didn't turn around right away..

Just when I thought that being mid field, at one of the biggest sporting events in the world, in a company box, watching the Haka, listening to thousands of fans sing in unison and glass of wine in hand was the best the night was going to get, I turned around and saw this:

That’s William and Kate.. as in Prince William and Princess Kathryn. They royal box is directly next to our corporate box and since it was such a big game (and because they wanted to see me) they came! My seat was right on the end of our box, conveniently next to where they came in and sat. here are a few pictures. I promise you, I was THAT close and these are 100 percent real. They sat about 3 or 4 rows below me and about 8 seats over. They were very polite, waved to us, said hi and were just as royal and perfect in person. Kate walked right by and I couldn’t help but drool when I saw her ring, it’s even prettier and bigger in person!

HE'S TOTALLY LOOKING AT ME!

It was a great trip, rained for about 90% of the time I was here and it was pretty busy with work so I’m ready to get home tomorrow and  see my boys, eat real food and sleep in my own bed.  

Locker Room

random castle and the only blue sky

thanksgiving (one last splurge)

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you are all full, thankful and ready to eat leftover turkey for the next week or so. RC and I hosted our first thanksgiving in our new house! His parents, grandpfather, sister and her boyfriend all came over. I’ve made a turkey for RC and I before but there was something about the pressure to feed other people with the turkey on THANKSGIVING that brought a whole new level of anxiety to things. It worked out with only a few hiccups and points of confusion.

Confusion point #1- stock vs broth. What the hell is the difference? I finally found out (google, my boy) but when looking up brining recipes each called for something different- broth, stock, just water, wah wah wah. I forgot what I ended up with but either way, when the brining bag collapsed about a gallon of it ended up on the floor, counter and bar stool.

If you’re not familiar with brining, and not a turkey cooking pro like mio, it’s basically a shit ton of salt, stock and water that you soak the turkey in overnight. It makes the turkey super juicy and delish. Look how pumped RC was about it.. don’t you want to have this much fun?

you know you're only a pseudo adult when you brine a turkey with a hangover

 Confusion point #2- poultry seasoning. I had never heard of this, if it’s not hot sauce, tobasco, buffalo sauce, siracha, red pepper flakes, I want no part of it. If it doesn't burn my tongue and make me tear up, I’ve never heard of it. So when RC’s dad sent us the stuffing recipe it called for poultry seasoning. RC told me it was the same as season-all (howeveryourspellit). Wrong. It’s not. It wasn’t until his parents came to our house that we (HE) realized it wasn’t so off I went to the grocery store at 3pm on Thanksgiving and shocker, they didn’t have ANY! Note- stock up on poultry season and sell it on the black market the week of thankgiving.

Confusion point #3- maybe it’s a Maryland thing or a southern thing or just NOT a New York thing but there was a point in the grocery store when we were talking about who was going to peel the potatoes, basically the worst part of Thanksgiving and my arch nemisis. RC kept mentioning how he was in charge of the “dressing” so he couldn’t and I kept asking “you’re making a salad?”. He then kept saying in a progressively louder tone, as if the louder he said it the more I would understand “NO, E. THE DRESSING. The point of thanksgiving”. All I could think was Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! WTF is dressing and why do we need it?! The people around us must have loved us because it was a pretty heated conversation about how we weren't having salad on Thanksgiving. Anyway, after about 2 minutes of the same conversation and RC’s frustration reaching an all-time high I finally figured out that he meant STUFFING. Which makes about as much sense as Kloe Kardashian being the host of X Factor. For the record, my first thought was gravy..doesn’t that make more sense for a dressing synonym?

Other than that it was a wonderful day, filled with wonderful people. I didn't take a picture of the finished turkey but trust me when I tell you it was probably the best looking turkey in all of Canton, with the most delicious stuffing this side of the Mason Dixon line and the most perfect apple crisp to finish it off (thanks to RC's mom!).

 I’m off to Wales and London for work tomorrow night and leaving RC to finish all leftovers by my return on Thursday evening. The line is Wednesday for when he’ll be done with everything. I’m taking the under.. what do you think?

daddy do list

 Honey do. Daddy do. PLEASE! There have been a few things we wanted to do in the house but we felt like we needed some supervision and help. Like I’ve said before, my dad knows how to do everything so his visit this past weekend was perfect timing. The big joke is that most of us don’t really know what my dad does for a living besides “everything” so that naturally only leaves one option.. he’s in the mafia.  When he is not moonlighting as the boss of the Irish mafia he spends his spare time fixing things. I think he is or was an electrician at some point or pretends to be and has a minion that really does the work for him. Either way, we were waiting for his visit to help with a few projects. While my mom and I went WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING (!!!! Eeek!!!!) the boys stayed home and checked some things off the honey/Daddy do list..

1.      Install a ceiling fan in the living room- connection box (technical term- TBD) already existed

2.      Install a dimmer switch for the living room can lights- so now I won’t have to wear sunscreen while watching Gossip Girl

3.      Move blank plate from said connection box in the living room to replace the crack house light in the kitchen.

They did a great job! They finished all 3 things by the time we returned with a case of beer, champagne, an invoice for a purchased wedding dress and 4 different kinds of cheese. I’ll let you decide which I was the most excited about..

Here’s how everything looks!



BING!




BAM!



Boom! (box cover and speaker on the right)

The next question will be, why a fan.. in NOVEMEBER? The answer is- because it will circulate the heat if you turn it backwards. Which still blows my mind and I have a hard time wrapping my head around the logic of it but I’m trusting RC and my Dad on this one. Other than those little projects, we also hung some coat hangers!



No supervision required.



And for your reference this was the crack house light, it was basically a light bulb in the ceiling JUST in case we wanted to put a chandelier there eventually. This is the only picture I have to show you, excuse the mess this was during construction!

it's your choice!

Whatever your feelings on the candidates may be, I hope all of you vote. We live in a great country that allows each and every one of us (over a certain age- where you can choose a president but can’t have a drink.. different topic though) have a voice about who we want to be our president. So- whomever you like or hate PLEASE vote but more importantly don’t post about your beliefs on Facebook and don’t try to push your beliefs off on me. In my opinion, talking about politics and pushing your favorite candidate on someone (me) is just as disrespectful as pushing your religion on another person and making fun of them for something they believe in.  Here are my thoughts that I will share with you..