My Life On The Move – Current Location: Houston

Wanna know what alcoholic drink you are? Click here.

So do you knowif you are an alcoholic? Click here to find out for yourself.

I can’t believe the outcome for me is "the chances are that you are an alcoholic" Just because I sometimes drink alone, that does not make me an alcoholic right? =(

In England, my MIL told her brother innocently ‘Other than her cup of coffee in the morning, Yvonne drinks only water or alcohol’

Damn malu, sound like alcoholic really. She made that statement because at her brother’s house when asked what I wanted to drink, I asked for a glass of water, I am not a tea person like the English.

It’s tradition that the bride will toss her bridal bouquet to her unmarried, single female friends and family. The one who catches the bouquet is said to be the next to get married.

I, of course, will toss my bouquet. You single female friends HAVE TO try to catch it. I spoke with a few girlfriends and I believe we came to an agreement that they WILL BE on the floor when I toss my bouquet. My wedding is small, only close friends are invited therefore no one will see you differently. Girls, I expect to see ALL of you there.

What about the guys? So in North America there’s a tradition to toss the bride’s garter to the single, unmarried guys and the one catches the garter will be the next in line to get married (death sentence to some). The catch is, the groom has to bite the garter off the bride’s leg. I am quite apprehensive because I have to be sitted on a chair and have Adam bite it off me in front of everyone.

My girl friends are really excited with garter tossing because yours truly will have her legs up but if they promise to line up for my bouquet, I will have Adam toss my garter.

Then again I am not sure if any guys will willingly be on the floor to catch the garter. Probably if they are drunk? Girls, get your partners on the floor if you wanna be next.

I totally didn’t plan to start my Happy Hour at 2.30pm on a Monday. A friend just got back from a holiday and since she’s still on leave, she called me out for brunch. We went shopping after that for some groceries and we headed back to my apartment.

We didn’t intend to have a drinking session (really didn’t…). We thought since we are not working today, maybe we can have a little Rum & Coke. That leads to more Rum & Cokes and Vodka & Tonics until Adam came home around 7pm to join us.

At 7.30pm (after been drinking for 5 hours now) I prepared dinner. I was hoping not to screw anything up. The fish was delicious, mashed potatoes just right but the steam vegetables weren’t that safe.

I normally steam vegetables by putting all the vegetables in a metal colander and have that colander over a pot of boiling water. Somehow I don’t quite remember what happened, the water in the pot dried up and when I realised this smokey smell fuming up the kitchen, I quickly turn the flame off and the bottom of the pot is filled with black burnt out stuff.

Quitely I served the meal and amazingly over dinner, Adam and Sandra loved the vegetable with the smokey taste. Hmm… didn’t know the burnt smell got into the veg and gave it a smokey taste!

So what happens when you had too much to drink and then you prepare dinner for 3? It’s either you screw the meal up or the meal goes on well because everyone else is too drunk to notice the screw-up!

Obviously Sandra didn’t go home. By the time we went to bed past midnight, we had finished 1/2 bottle of dark Colombian rum, 3/4 bottle of vodka and 2 bottles of red wine.

I feel yukky this morning and I have an SSA meeting at 10am. Gotta go get ready for my meeting soon. Adam’s already at work, poor thing but Sandra is still asleep, lucky her.

That’s Adam’s favourite English dish. Eh? Apa tu katak? There are no toads, frogs or any other forms of amphibious lifeform in a traditional British Toad in a Hole dish.

Essentially, Toad in a Hole is sausage covered and baked in Yorkshire pudding. It’s a favorite pub food and also a classic dinner, usually served with roasted potatoes, vegetables and gravy.

Yorkshire pudding is an English savoury dish made from batter. The Yorkshire pudding recipe is not an actual pudding, but a baked pudding made from flour, milk, and eggs.

When my MIL came for a visit in Feb, I asked her to teach me this dish. After 5 attempts, I finally made an entire meal successfully. Success is determined by how well the pudding rise and that is determined by how hot the oil in the pan is when you pour the batter in but your batter has to be well beaten if not it will not rise even if the oil is hot enough. Simple dish yet difficult to master.

I have slightly changed the cooking methods to what my MIL taught me. Somehow my way suit me best and it works for me.

Recipe
4oz plain flour – sifted
1/2 pint milk
2 eggs
Pinch of salt

Measure flour and sift it into a mixing bowl.
Add a pinch of salt.
Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and break in 2 eggs.
With wooden spoon, mix eggs with flour.
Add milk and mix well.
Beat the batter with a hand mixer for about 3 – 4 minutes.
Once done, let it stand for 20-30 minutes
Stir again before pouring the batter into the pan.

8 sausages

Cook the sausages in a pan and set aside.

Cooking instructions
Drizzle some olive oil into a square cake pan.
Put the cooked sausages into the pan and place it into a pre-heated 450F oven for 10 minutes
Remove the pan with the bubbling hot oil and pour in batter.
Let it bake for 30 minutes.

Adam likes his Toad in a Hole with steam vegetable, roast potatoes and gravy. For gravy my MIL suggested I get Bisto which is a brand of instant gravy powder she uses in England. Thankfully I can find it here and that saves me time from making real gravy.

I also made individual Toad in a Hole, the same method as above but just use a muffin tin rather than a sqaure tin. I like the looks of it.

If you like some British food, give this a try but please be reminded that

1) the batter has to be well beaten. Using a hand-mixer is the best way to do it.
2) the oil in the pan has to be very hot before you put the batter into the pan.
3) try not to open the oven door the first 15 minutes when it’s baking.

Good luck!

A good day is a day you set out with friends to get a few (not so important) things done but end up not doing it because you were too busy gossiping over coffee first, then wine and before you know it, it’s time to go home.

On Friday, I was to meet Beatriz and Cristianei (my Brazillian friends who has just moved to Houston) in the afternoon, go the to library to get a library card (becauce the libraries here offer alot of goodies) and then grab some lunch before heading home around 5pm as that’s the time our husbands get home from work.

At 11 am I called Bea and asked her to prepare a pot of coffee because I am coming over with some freshly baked cinnamon buns from the bakery. YUM! We had a great time chatting and having a good laugh before Cris come over after her English class.

Although in our minds we have every intention to go to the library but we were just too into the topic of conversation we were having, you know what women talk about when they get together. Bea decided to cook us some lunch and when the wine came with lunch, we knew we were not going anywhere that afternoon.

It’s a great way to spend the day, especially when everyone else was at work. Great friends, good conversation, loads of laugh with some wine from noon. Cheers to Bea and Cris, lets do this again Monday.