Pancakes

It all started the Monday before Shrove Tuesday.  Laura let me know that she got pancake batter so we could have pancakes for Pancake Tuesday.

Hope (with confusion): "What?"

Laura: "You know...Pancake Tuesday.  Before Lent starts."

Hope: "You mean Fastnacht Tuesday?  You call it pancake day?"

Laura (with confusion): "What's a Fastnacht?"

Apparently, the English tradition is to make pancakes rather than doughnuts on the Tuesday before Lent.  Well, one thing was cleared up.  Then we made pancakes.

They were not pancakes!  There were too thin, more like a crepe.  I was so confused by this point.  Those were English pancakes.  To clear things up, I made American pancakes the next Saturday.  And a tradition was born...

I'm really thankful for this house.  Laura and Joanne (who moved in three weeks ago) are both great.  This morning, we had a lovely Saturday brunch of American pancakes, English strawberries, and Kenyan coffee.  But the cultural mixing continues...Joanne is from South Africa and today, for the very first time, put strawberries on her pancakes ;)  But neither she or I are willing to try Laura's variation of yogurt and strawberries on a pancake!

Walk a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes...

I don't think I could walk a mile in these shoes.  I doubt I could walk twenty feet in some of these!

Wanstead Park

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here the past few weeks.  Saturday was rainy, and it was unusual!  I don't know what's going on, but I'm liking the sunshine.  After church, two friends and I drove to Wanstead Park and enjoyed the sunshine and the green for a few hours.  Perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Chapatis :)

Laura taught me how to make chapatis :)  Chapatis area a thin pancake of unleavened whole-grain bread.  Very yummy indeed.  They aren't very hard to make either!  Here's how you cook them, although I don't know the recipe...I just know the cooking part!

1) Roll out the dough:

2.  Cook it slightly on both sides in a pan:

3.  Put the chapati directly on the flame (we have a gas stove) to finish it off :)  It will puff up with air and slightly darken...flip it over to do the other side as well.

4.  Take it off the burner, put that one on a plate and repeat the process all over again, because one chapati is just not enough :)

London Wildlife

My little corner of London is a little further out from the centre of London.  It affords me the great joy of some backyard entertainment :) Occasionally the foxes scavenge the neighbors rubbish and leave tin foil for us to clean up, and the cats leave poor little mice behind to be "buried" in the biodegradable wastebin, and a pigeon decided the tree outside my window would be a nice place for a nest, but the squirrels are just plain cute.  They love to climb the trees in our garden.  We have glass French doors in our lounge, and when I sit on the couch, I can see the squirrels doing their acrobatics.  They are closest thing I have to pets!

Peter Fenby

On July 7, 1780, Peter Fenby married Ann Fletcher at St John Church in Beverly, England.  They moved to Maryland, USA.  Just over two centuries later, their great great great (not sure how many greats!) granddaughter, Hope was born in Africa.  Two hundred and thirty one years later, Hope was able to visit Beverly Minster, and walk around the church they were married in so very long ago.  Now that's awesome.

It was really incredible to walk in and around this incredible church.  It's awe-inspriring for it's sheer size and beauty, which pictures cannot do justice, but it was also the spine tingling knowledge that my ancestors walked these streets and were married in this place.  I'm not putting it into words well, but I'll never forget the feeling.