Happy Birthday Kal & Food pics

Hello readers,
I wasn't going to post this week but after reading my fellow ex-pat Steve's blog I changed my mind.  This will be a short entry since we didn't do anything this weekend.  The weather was cold (upper 20's and lower 30's) and the snow decided to stay all week which severely limited our activity options.  So we just lazed around and had a sloth weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALLE!  Wednesday was Kal's 10th birthday which was a very low key affair.  We ate at Pizza Hut for her dinner which isn't quite the same over here but we had a free surpise coupon which turned into a hot fried cookie topped with ice cream that Kalle really liked.  For her present we ordered her some Roald Dahl books which she is really into right now.  We will have a party for her with some of her mates in a few weeks once the holiday break is over.    
   

What's a birthday without cake?  I bought a local ice cream and a Cadbury cream cake.  The ice cream was as advertised - buttery.  I thought I was eating melted butterscotch.  The cake was a little dry and crumbly for me and the chocolate frosting was a little to dark chocolate flavoured for me but she liked both so I was happy.  In typical British food style I was disappointed again but was happy that Kal liked both.

Happy Birthday Kal!

This week's Dana Johnson.  One of my meals this week, a beef kinda stew with onions, carrots, leeks, and potatoes.  Tasted okay but nothing special.  I am really starting to miss American beef.  I don't eat a lot of beef normally but the beef here just tastes "different." 

One of Karl's classes here is a cookery (cooking = cookery) class which is great.  This week he made a Swiss roll with strawberry filling (tasted great) which he baked again for dessert one night.

The final product.  It tasted great but his chocolate truffle is still my favourite.

 

The kids are off this week for school break but we aren't going anywhere which means I have two Sous-Chefs and two assistant house cleaners this week.  I am so excited!

A side note is that we have found a funny TV show here, Come Dine With Me.  The premise is four or five everyday people take turns host a meal night at their house.  The other guests rate the meal and at the end of the week the scores are tallied and the winner takes home the one thousand pound prize.  What really makes the show watchable is the rudely sarcastic omnipresent narrator who never appears on the show but helps explain the meals and generally acts as the tour guide throughout each episode.  Some of the people are quite funny (clothing styles, personality dynamics, snippy comments) and the meals range from disgusting (don't ever feed me ox tail or black pudding when I come over please) to restaurant quality impressive.  Right now we are watching a man wear the world's most confusingly coloured sweater.  Think Connect Four board background with eight different colored circles in a randomly mismatched pattern.  He also made green pancakes on his night and didn't know how they turned green.  Probably won't win this week's contest.       

I missed an event from last week's post that Kalle will probably do again for her birthday party.  At the Westfield Mall is a 6D experience theatre which we finally tried.  The movie was 3D with glasses plus the fourth D was the chair rocked side to side and front to back.  The fifth D was sound and the sixth D was a fan that blew on us and changed speeds to match the movie.  The movie was a winter themed sled ride around snowy mountains that ended inside an abandoned mine.  The mountain ride made you feel like you were going up and down mountains while the mine ride was a little lacking.  Lori was kind of sick when it ended while Kalle and I though it was cool.  Teenager KJ thought it was babyish.  A little pricy (four pounds for a ten minute ride) to do every time we go to the mall but I am glad we tried it.  

Thanks for listening,

Jay