I have recently reduced the frequency of my blog posts from every other day to once a week or so, since time seems to be moving especially quickly nowadays, and I’m very aware that my time spent in the US is fast approaching its close!
Recently, I’ve been knitting a hell of a lot, since I have decided to make scarves or hats for my relatives here, as Christmas presents. So far, I have knitted 3 scarves (1 dappled brown and seen in a previous post, 1 cream and light brown, and one plain light brown), and two hats (one burgundy, and one light brown). Below is a pic of the light brown and cream scarf, and the light brown hat:
Obviously, knitting takes a lot of time, and I’ve been knitting whilst watching the TV, or traveling in the car with Winston- just whenever I have a spare moment! It’s satisfying to see a finished product handmade from long strings of twisted wool, and it makes a lovely gift. I’m so grateful to my ole’ Auntie Frances (the next door neighbour who babysat me and my siblings when we were little) for teaching me to knit during school holidays. Hopefully, I’ll learn to crochet as well, and Winston will be my teacher in that. I find it quite funny he knows how to crochet, but he learnt how to do it himself, and used to sell his beanies at $10-$15 a pop in college!
I do not like suffering extreme allergic reactions. Especially when it’s to a substance that I haven’t suffered an allergic reaction to before. That substance was oyster sauce, and I used it to make some chicken and bacon adobo as an aromatic surprise for Winston when he came home from work the other day.
Granted, the adobo was very tasty, but about an hour later, I started to itch a little. Then…I started to itch intensely, and complained to Winston about it. He told me to lift my top- not in a perverted manner, but to see how my skin was doing, and I had broken out in hives. My skin was welted everywhere on my torso due to my scratching, and after another short while, when I noticed that the hive blotching was spreading to the hollows of my knees and the insides of my elbows, I took a antihistamine called Loratadine. This is a non-drowsy anti-allergy drug with one dose lasting 24 hours, and I was so grateful I had it in my bag. When you’ve suffered from bad eczema in the past, and urticaria is a constant but manageable bane in your life, you become more conscious of allergens that could cause a potentially large reaction, and hence carry antihistamines as a backup. Imagine if the reaction had happened when I was outside and wearing a sleeveless dress with no tights? I would have been okay, but people may have recoiled at the sight of me, lol! It didn’t help that I’d been drinking light beer with Winston beforehand whilst eating the adobo, so it took a while for the antihistamine to kick in. A very uncomfortable while! Winston got quite worried, but the antihistamine did its job well! I don’t quite understand why I had such a reaction, since I’ve eaten enough oyster sauce in the past and use it in a lot of my home cooking, but when I checked the bottle with its faded BBE date, I saw it state Oct 2011. Maybe that’s why I had a reaction? What do you think?
On a lighter note, we visited our local Dave and Buster’s the following evening. Obviously, saying anything is local in the US is equivalent to a place being 15 to 30 minutes car ride away from a home location, and D and B’s was 15 minutes car ride away. This social place has a big bar, a restaurant, and loads of video game machines and gambling machines, and Winston and I had a great time gambling on one machine in particular- Deal or No Deal. The prize was a number of tickets that could be exchanged for a gift, as long as one had collected enough of them. We managed to get a lot of tickets from this machine but haven’t exchanged them yet.
We also played a video game using those plastic guns. My character died after the enemy started getting too close for comfort, but I had a good innings while I still had some life! Winston was a much better shot! I guess guys just have an inherent ability to play shoot-em-ups particularly well.
The next day, Winston and I visited his friends, Sid and Annie. Sid and Annie are a married couple who own a dog named Bella. She’s two years old, and pretty energetic and boisterous most of the time. Here, she was relaxing with her head half off the sofa cushion, but usually she’s a streak of energy I can’t capture properly on the camera!
Anyhow, we had a nice time hanging out with them watching the Victoria’s Secret Model Beauty Pageant, and chatting before going home via the Trolley (San Diego’s tamer version of the tube, but above ground). Before we went home, we offered to Bella-sit for them on the Saturday, since they were flying off to a different state to attend a wedding during the weekend. Their lodger, Rodney, could have looked after the dog, but he was away at Disneyland on the Saturday. So, Sid and Annie accepted, and Bella was picked up and ran free in Winston's flat. Goodness, does that dog have a LOT of energy. We took her for a walk around the local area for 45 minutes or so, and she bounded up and down playing with the fallen autumnal leaves. On that same walk, I discovered the mall is half an hour fast walk away, so at some point, I’m going there to check it out properly.
Later on that night, Winston told me that Bella was used to sleeping at the foot of the bed. Now, I don’t mind dogs, but I’m not used to them sleeping in the bedroom, and it didn’t help that Bella liked sleeping on my covered feet, or resting on my calves. But she was a welcome warmth on a cold night (along with Winston of course), and luckily for her, I didn’t toss and turn as much as I usually do. Must be my subconscious being polite, hehe!
The nights are really cold here, but the days are quite warm, so multiple blankets are great to snuggle into. At this time of year, the UK is absolutely freezing, so since I’ve acclimatised to the recent San Diego weather, I’m not going to insult a Londoner’s intelligence by saying ‘You think it’s cold in the UK….gosh, it feels much more colder here at night!’ (said with a wry grin).
Bella went back on Sunday, and, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Winston and I hung out with him watching football the entire day, and me (being a football widow) watching old Family Guy episodes on the iPAD via Hulu (a streaming channel provider), and knitting. I would have read instead, but my kindle had become defective and the eInk screen was obscured with vertical and horizontal lines and spaces.
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| Turned off completely! |
I rang up Amazon, and after discussing my problem, they said they’d replace my defective kindle with a new kindle! I call that great customer service! However, since my kindle was registered to the UK, they could only send the replacement to a UK address (so thanks, Belle, for looking after it for me!). I’ll be returning my old one back once I’m back in the UK, otherwise Amazon will charge me the price of a new kindle! Fortunately, having no Kindle means I’ve rediscovered the joys of a hard copy book and newspaper world, and I came across some funny cartoons while I was waiting for a cookie to bake. Two cartoons specially tickled me, so I’ve posted them below. Do they make you smile too?
As for the cookie…I spontaneously decided to make one huge giant cookie for Winston as a demonstration of my affection for him, and it was a big, chewy success! I obtained the recipe from this website: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/05/giant-cookie.html but I baked the cookie at a lower temperature of 325 degrees Fahrenheit for a slighter longer time to ensure the cookie middle was cooked sufficiently, and I used chopped Butterfinger pieces (from a leftover box bought during a cinema outing) instead of chocolate drops.
For convenience’s sake, here’s the recipe as taken from Mel’s Kitchen Café:
GIANT COOKIE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, cream together the sugars and butter. Add the egg and vanilla and mix. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Line a large (11X17-inch) baking pan with foil and press the cookie into a circle. I press my cookie into a 9-inch circle, about 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick. When it bakes, it spreads to about 11 inches, which fits perfectly onto a 12-inch round cardboard circle you can find at most craft stores.
If desired, top the cookie with M&M’s or any other garnishes. Bake for 13-16 minutes until the cookie is lightly golden brown. Let the cookie cool completely on the baking pan – this helps the cookie stabilize and set so it can be easily lifted off the pan. Once cool, gently use the foil to lift the cookie off the pan.
Winston wished we’d had some plain icecream to eat with the cookie, but it was only a wish, and the cookie was absolutely DELISH!
I just wish the tines of the E hadn't got slightly wonky! :)
I just wish the tines of the E hadn't got slightly wonky! :)
(Certain names have been changed to protect identities.)
