Valentine's Day(ting) and American Sweet(ie)s

First, I have found the Holy Grail. I feel sure that if Arthur, Galahad, Gawain and the other were really sure what they were looking for, they would have discovered Lucky Charms in the last supper's cup. At Selfridge's, a really expensive, Neiman Marcus-like department store, I found the following:

Skippy peanut butter
Double-Stuf Oreo's
Lucky Charms
Aunt Jemima pancake mix
Aunt Jemima syrup
Hershey's candy of all kinds
Willy Wonka sweeties**
Vosges chocolate bars.

It was like American heaven. They did not have Sour Patch Kids, but I'll just have to wait till Easter (maybe the Easter Bunny will send me some, hint hint). Here's a photo of the other delicious items I didn't realized I missed until I no longer had them:



The Lucky Charms were amazing, although Cinnamon Toast Crunch would have been better.

Last weekend, I went on a double date with Josh, Josh's (now former) flatmate** Jim, and Jim's girlfriend, Rachel. They were really nice, and we went to the Trafford Centre, which is essentially a ginormous mall. It's about the same as Phipps Plaza, size wise, but much prettier. There were lots of restaurants, but we weren't too keen on any of them. TGI Friday's had a pretty short wait, so that's where we went. I came to England to experience all kinds of new things, and we ate at TGI Friday's! Who knew? However, I had a margarita, and it was amazing. Yet another thing I miss from Atlanta. Also, I never noticed how everything at TGIF has some kind of Jack Daniels sauce with it. Josh and Jim both had some kind of monstrous four patty burger with back and onion rings on it. It was a little disturbing that they both ate them and still had dessert. Here are pictures:







Finally, last night was my first Valentine's Day. Okay, not my actual first Valentine's Day, but it was the first one I've ever had with a sweetheart. And what a sweetheart he is! He gave me the plushest, softest bathrobe ever and some pretty "posies". I got him tickets to see Blur in Manchester at the end of June. I wore a new dress that has a "carwash" skirt with black sequins, and it's beautiful. Thankfully, Josh did not wear a paisley shirt, and he even let me put a posey in his buttonhole.



For dinner, we went to Gaucho, and it was marvelous. The restaurant is a renovated Baptist Church with even the organ left in (appropriate), and there is cowhide just about everywhere. It was very politically incorrect, but I thought it boded well for the cuisine. I had a strawberry margarita, and it was absolutely AMAZING. Josh had the mojito. For starters, we shared the scallop ceviche and sweetbreads**. Josh had the rump steak and I had a fillet**. I have now converted someone else to the wonder that is the Pittsburgh/black and blue steak. My steak was perfect, and I did not have to send it back (which, for those of you who have ever eaten steak with me, is a rarity). For dessert, Josh had the chocolate truffle cake (lush), and I had the braised fruits and a dollop (definitely not a scoop) of ice cream.





Also, I've been put through to the semi-finals of Manchester's Student Pop Idol competition. I sang "Falling" from Smokey Joe's Cafe for my initial audition, then "Over the Rainbow" and "Tears of a Clown" for the last two callbacks. The semi-finals are Monday week, and the theme is "Songs of the Beatles". I chose "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" because I figure it's basic 12-bar blues and I can do a lot with it and actually be entertaining without doing 7 minutes of Hey Jude. If I get through this round to the finals, I'll get to sing with a big band, which is my aim (rather than winning the competition, although it would be nice).

** sweeties - any kind of candy, though usually sold at a convenience store
flatmate - the British term for roommate, which is actually more accurate, since no one shares a room
sweetbreads - fried glands of cow, yum! The waiter asked if I knew what they were, since sweetbreads does sound pretty non-gross, like escargot or osso bucco.
fillet - what the Brits call a "filet", but it sounds like "fill-it" steak

Snowdaze

Okay, it's now snowed (really good) twice. Monday, it snowed around 4 or 5 inches, but on Tuesday, it looked like it never had. Then, I wake up this morning and Voila! More snow. I made my first real snowman (not made on the trunk of my mum's car!) in the park with Lucy, and we saw the cutest yellow lab puppy in the snow. He kept trying to eat my snowballs! Of course, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of my awesome snowman, but here are some lovely vistas anyway. One other awesome fact I learned: Sometimes, snowflakes are so big that they make this kind of splatting noise as they hit the ground, but it's not sleet.

A "Wendy" visit with "Granny" on an "Estate" (and other January events)

I went to the lovely market town of Macclesfield last weekend to visit my boyfriend's Granny. I have a grandmother named Granny too, so it's nice to have a proxy in England who also makes yummy comfort food and has a sweet home filled with things to read and family pictures and knick-knacks covered in grandchildren's fingerprints.

Macclesfield is about 30 minutes south of Manchester on the train, so we were there in no time flat. Macclesfield used to be a silk mill town, but obviously that was sent overseas many years ago. Macclesfield is also on the edge of the Peak District, so it's always a little chillier than Manchester.

Josh's Granny lives on an estate, which I originally thought was some sort of manor or stately home. As it turns out, it's basically what Americans would call a subdivision. However, it's on a hill and has an amazing view of Tegg's Nose and some other big hills. We had a delicious tea (dinner) and pudding (dessert) on Friday night then watched tv. Saturday, we had a lazy morning then a walk near Tegg's Nose (a 380 metre hill named after a "teg" or sheep in Norse). It was so windy, I could lean backwards and not fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold on to Josh not to fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold onto his Granny for fear that she would blow away. Needless to say, we did not make it all the way up the hill, even though I did buy nice hiking shoes for the occasion.

Yes, this is me riding a stone sheep.

This is by some heather, which is apparently not always purple like in the Secret Garden or Wuthering Heights. If it weren't so cold, I'd have been sorely tempted to wear my hair down and run through the moors in an empire waist dress.


Saturday afternoon I took a nap (short due to Josh's snoring-I still love you!) and then we did crosswords and played Scrabble with Josh's Granny. You wouldn't think that Scrabble with someone's granny would be very dirty, but it was! I started it, sort of, by making "S-E-X", but of course, I needed the double letter score on 10-point "X" and I mean male or female, people. Then, on the very next turn, Granny made "P-U-B-I-C"! Don't worry, the raciest word we had after that was "QUESTS" on which I scored over seventy points, thankyouverymuch. I won the game of course, but I won't toot my own horn too much (especially since...well, keep reading). Sunday, we went to a lovely little church on a hill down the street from Granny's house. Josh's Grandpa Naylor is buried in the cemetery there, so it's very special to him. He was in the navy and Josh has his old scarves and sweaters and loves to wear them. Sunday afternoon we came (very reluctantly) back to the reality of school and class today.

As for other slightly more random events in my life:

1. A Question of Genius - As many of you well know, I am a "clever cloggs" as Josh says. Anyway, I entered the running for a BBC television quiz show, A Question of Genius. It's supposed to be harder than The Weakest Link and easier than Mastermind, if that means anything to you. I made it to the audition/callback portion of the tryouts and I was the only girl there, and the only American. Despite my incredibly poor showings in the categories of 20th century British politics, football, and British television, they have invited me to be on the show, which will be taped at the end of February. I have a chance (albeit a VERY slim one) to win £5000 and an even smaller chance to win 10K if I make it to the finals (which I won't). It would be nice to win the money, but being on the BBC is almost as cool to me. Here are some pictures from the audition:



2. The Inauguration - Of course I watched it, and I felt more American than when I first came to Manchester. Here was my beautiful outfit and lovely fellow citizens (and a couple of wishful-thinking Canadians).



3. Delta Spirit - The boys from one of my top 5 favorite bands were in Manchester, so I took Lucy to see them. They remembered the time that I made them pecan pie and recognized me from their couple of shows in Atlanta (and one particularly steamy one outdoors in July). Lucy and I chatted up the lead singer (pictured), and I predict, with my careful tutelage, that Lucy will have snagged a rocker boyfriend by summer.