Happy Thanksgiving!

Here we are. With Tobias and Louis.

Thursday was, as all of you know, Thanksgiving. On this side of the pond the holiday is just the beginning of another academic week (yes, they start on thursdays here instead of mondays), and Thursdays are one of my busier days so there was not too much of that "kick off to the holiday season" feeling on the very day.

Katie was visiting this week however (a whole post will be dedicated her visit at some point), so we had to make Thursday a little special after classes were over. Dan, one of my friends and fellow Trumans, invited us to Churchill College for a Thanksgiving Formal. So we met up with him and a couple of other American friends and had the full Thanksgiving Dinner meal, plus a new formal hall experience. In addition, since it was a special day, they not only toasted the Queen at this formal but also took to the opportunity to toast the President of the United States of America, which was very fitting and appropriate (and exciting for the Americans so used to toasting the Queen!)

At Churchill College Formal

Friday the real preparations began. Chloe and I had volunteered over a month ago to host a Thanksgiving Feast for the Maid's, but by the time the day rolled around we were up to about 25 guests, Maids and non-Maids, had two twelve pound turkeys and assigned a load of dishes to every participant. Katie and I baked Pecan and Pumpkin pie, and Chloe and I took good care of our two turkeys (Louis and Tobias) throughout the day by basting every 30 minutes and following closely to Martha Stewarts instructions on how not to dry out the turkey (which always tends to happen..)

Katie Preparing the Pecan Pie!


Everyone in the kitchen putting together their dishes..

By 7 p.m. the guests were seated, the table was set, the turkey was done and we had 2 sweet potato casseroles, 2 different stuffing options , 2 corn dishes, vegetables to feed an army, salad, 75 pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, gravy, mashed potatoes and celeriac, and to top it off, 6 pies and "George Washington" who read for us the Thanksgiving proclamation.

It was a good way to introduce our British and French friends to a very special American holiday and tradition and everyone had an incredibly wonderful time. The food also turned out delicious!

Setting the table


Feasting!

So, in conclusion, I should say what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving and that includes all the wonderful friends that I have come to know since arriving in Cambridge and the opportunity I have to be here and study. I am also thankful for all my friends everywhere else who are so supportive, and many of whom I had a chance to talk to this month whether for my birthday or Thanksgiving! Also, of course my family. It was a bit strange to spend my first Thanksgiving without them, but the gmail video chat had to remain sufficient this year. And finally, I am so grateful for good health and that we were fortunate enough to have the luxury of taking the time to prepare and indulge in this Thanksgiving feast.

I hope everyone had a very very Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Calorific (yet amazing!) Day

The "I" Birthday Cake

Crepe Making is a very precise activity - not to be easily messed with.

First of all, thank you to all of you for the warm birthday wishes that you sent my way. My day started off before it even started with a late night phone call from Sean wishing me a happy birthday. It took off from there with phone calls from Norway and home, and emails from around the world. The world feels incredibly small these days, and it is so strange to think even when I am half-way around the world, I can still video chat with my parents, or get birthday messages from people currently in various corners of the world. I feel so lucky to have such incredible friends and friendships!

When away from home, special days (such as one's birthday) in theory can be difficult as there tends to be tradition, memories and certain people that you regularly spend the day with. Fortunately, (as demonstrated this past week when I was not..so..well), I have been lucky enough to make some new and phenomenal friends here in Cambridge as well who were more than eager to celebrate my birthday in ways that were about 99% focused on food consumption.

My first surprise was when I went to my security seminar. A dear friend presented me with a pink and white cupcake from what is considered the best bakery (or at least cupcake shop) in town. Not sure it holds a candle to Georgetown Cupcake (let's be honest, nothing does), but it was such a surprise, especially considering cupcakes are really not much of a British thing.
He simply said to me, "Its a cupcake! Americans like cupcakes, right?! Happy Birthday!"

Pink Cupcake!

About an hour and a half later a friend from church found me in the Graduate Union and demanded I accompany him for half an hour. He led me to Fitzbillies (the other best bakery in town), and bought me a Chelsea Bun. You can imagine at this point I was already feeling pretty overwhelmed with sugar (But how does one say no?!)

Immediately following the chelsea bun excursion, I met up with some of the housemates for the evening celebration. Iain made phenomenal risotto with smoked salmon and Emily and Rich worked hard during the day to make a double chocolate cake! We all had a nice time just sitting around and enjoying our meal and then we had some additional people over for cake.
It was a low-key day, yet still full of surprises... and some good laughs.

Iain 1 and Ian 2 (who planned my birthday celebration)

Rich and Emily - Epic Cake Bakers!!

The point at which I was required to give a speech.. standing on the chair.

The calorie count did not end there however! Yesterday, Chloe and I partook in part two of the "cookie/crepe echange" and I learned how to make real french crepes, including flipping them in professional french chef style. (Ok, admitted, they are about the same as Norwegian pancakes). We had them with chestnut preserve jam (Delicious), bananas, chocolate and yes.. let's just say the fasting has commenced today.

The Crepes!

Chloe got the flipping technique down!

All in all, credit goes to all of my friends who helped me celebrate the fact that I am now.. a little bit older.

FEASTING

The Girls of Maids before departure and Sitting down to feast.

After 3 hours, pretty excited about the Pyramid Gateau


Eagerly on our way

So, my final post to get everyone updated on the past week's events is about the Woodville Feast.
These feasts are very famous here at Cambridge, and only take place at Queens' College three times a year (one per term). One can only get into a feast through a ballot system, and I was lucky enough to get into the first feast of the year that was held last week. Several of us from the Maid's were selected for this feast, which is six courses and takes place in the Old Hall. It is probably the only occasion all year where we get to "wine and dine" in this magical (though rather small) Hall.
The fire was crackling, we were served up everything from pate to butternut squash soup, mediterranean style lamb, and finished off the with a pyramid gateau followed by a course of cheese. They don't mess around here.

I have a series of pictures I will put up (it was also an occasion where we had reason to put on our cocktail dresses and hit the town sans the black gowns. woo hoo!) All in all it was a good time, although it was an epic night full of tales - some of which may never be told again!


The ceilings/walls of Old Hall are very warm and vibrant in color, and everyone posed prior to sitting down for a photograph of the official feast attendance.

The NHS

So for years now, the United States has been battling with the issue of health care reform.
I should start of this post by stating that this is by no means an academic look at the NHS, nor does it necessarily reflect my overall opinions of how I think the healthcare system should look like in the United States. The U.S. is so different that the two cannot possibly be compared beyond looking at basic models of providing universal health care coverage.

Initially when I came to Cambridge, I was required to register with a doctor. It was free and took no more than 10 minutes out of my daily routine to get it all squared away. They were very nice and efficient. I registered out of requirement, and had the idea/hope that I would never have to return to the doctor's office for a real visit.

Well, a week ago, I started to feel a bit ill and just crossed my fingers that I wasn't going to start growing a snout and turn into a pig (aka contract swine flu). My throat continued to hurt for 4 days and by that time I decided it was best just to get it checked in case it was a bacterial infection. I headed over to the docs office, and was so pleased to arrive, give them my name, and only have to wait about 7 minutes to be seen. No co-payment necessary whatsoever.
Quick, efficient health care coverage at no cost = priceless.
Well, almost.
The doctor just looked at my throat (didn't check my ears/heart etc. just the throat) and told me to go home and just rest. It was a nasty virus going around.
Well, around midnight the following night, my ear became excruciatingly painful and I couldn't hear anything out of it... nor could I sleep, all night (as Katie, mom, dad etc. can attest to..).
Saturday morning: second attempt to get some sort of antibiotic from the doctor. They didn't even want to see me though. Called the NHS helpline and they just told me it was result of my virus and the congestion would calm down over time.
By afternoon, quite the opposite was the case as my ear started draining (this is a bit graphic, I know), and the pain did not ease.
Sunday morning: Another phone call, this time to a friend's dad who is a GP in Britain. He told me I needed to get antibiotics right away, because I had an ear infection (the second doctor to indicate that this was probably the case).
So, after telling the NHS helpline that I was in fact bleeding from my ear, they finally decided it was serious enough for me to be seen by a doctor. I went to the nearest instacare equivalent, and after about an hour waiting (which is average in the states as well on weekends), I was seen and the doctor said, and I quote, "Ooo. You have a severe infection. Those are very painful."
As if I didn't know!! This is what I had been trying to tell these people for a couple of days at this point (and had the doctor thursday checked my ears i arguably would have never gotten to this point to begin with).
Well, he said to just go sleep it off. Again, no antibiotics.
We had a bit of a tiff over this and I insisted that antibiotics were what I needed to speed up the recovery. Finally he consented to writing a prescription, and then followed up by telling me (in passing) that I had a perforated eardrum, and my hearing may not be restored for at least a little while (it simply takes time for it to heal itself).
Well, after 48 hours of antibiotics, I can say I am already feeling much better, am finally back in business and attending classes again, and am eagerly anticipating the day when my right ear is no longer buzzing... and my hearing is completely restored.

Thank you NHS. (And hey, it was FREE).

Cookies at Causeway

So Chloe and I a week or so ago decided to make a batch of cookies. Pretty easy, pretty basic, we just used the oats, butter, chocolate and flour we had lying around.
Well, the French men in the house were pretty excited about this because they love the concept of the American cookie, but do not know how to make them.

As a result, we decided to plan a cookie/crepe exchange. We teach them how to make cookies (in English) and then they would teach us how to make legitimate crepes (en francais).

Last night the madness commenced, and it felt a little bit like we were producing our own version of cooking with Martha Stewart. By the time all the cookie baking was done, we had so many cookies we had to invite about a dozen people over to devour them. We also were so cookied-out that the crepe half of the exchange was postponed until further notice.
That did not stop french from being spoken, however, as we produced the first episode of Cooking at Causeway: Cookies, en francais. (Actually cooking with Anael would probably be the more appropriate title).

Kristian Comes to Cambridge

Last Monday, after spending the morning having my brain infused with statistics from the Arab Human Development Report, you can imagine my excitement and relief at having a distraction for the remainder of the day. Kristian (my cousin from Norway), came to visit for the day!

We met up and spent most of the day just looking at the various colleges from King's to Trinity, St. John's, Pembroke, and of course.. Queens' (which, random factoid, didn't admit women until the 1970s or 1980s despite having 2 female patronesses for centuries. tsk tsk). Also got some great Autumn pictures of Cambridge.

There isn't TOO much to do in Cambridge, but we did also have a chance to eat some lunch in The Eagle pub, which during WWII was the RAF pub and was also the place where the discovery of DNA was first announced (also where several pints were consumed as Watson and Crick mulled over the science leading up to this discovery).

Kristian also got a chance to visit the polar institute when I ran back to a seminar for an hour, and we topped of the day at Benet's. I can't speak to their coffee quality, but I can say they have the best hot chocolate this side of the Atlantic. Or at least on any island this side of the Atlantic?
I don't fear generalizations at all, clearly.

Anyway, we had a great day and it was definitely a good change of company and break from the daily routine!
I hope if any of you find yourselves in England or nearby, you drop in for a visit as well !

Halloween

On 27th October (that is right, not the 31st), Emmanuel College hosted an exchange with Queens' College - the Halloween Formal. The menu included "death by chocolate" cake and "Trickle Treats" to finish off the night (also included: a delightful harvest main course including squash, apples and other harvest food deliciousness).
We all "dressed up" which, in my case, included a cat mask and... a black dress. Pretty original, I know, but I was pressed for time on a school day and all.

We feasted in their old dining hall by candlelight that definitely set the tone of a genuine halloween evening.

By Halloween itself, we were all a bit Halloween'd out, but after spending 3 hours on the river rowing I felt inspired to make a Halloween treat for the house. After venturing out to Tesco's, a returned and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Maid's kitchen preparing "Susanna's Beste Sjokolade Kake" as well as zucchini pancakes for dinner. It all turned out to be quite a success as the cake was gone within minutes.

Breaking the Silence

Wow. I do not know where time has gone. I literally only have 2 1/2 weeks left of lectures before the end of term (which also means 2 essays yet to be completed, oi vey) and then I will be back to the Wasatch Front for a few weeks to enjoy the holidays with the family, and catch up on reading.

So where to begin? To get you all up to date I suppose I will do a series of mini posts, to keep things organized. More for my sake than anything else.
Highlights include: Halloween, the Feast, Maid's Causeway Cooking Cookies, a visitor from Norway and some insight into the NHS, my latest and most entertaining ordeal to take place here in the United Kingdom.
Scroll through my posts to whichever one you will think is most interesting/entertaining.

First I'll start with a couple of pictures from nighttime punting/appreciating fall (so you all can see that I still look exactly the same despite the period of silence).