First snow

We had our first snow here last night.  Not a lot at our house, but enough to stick.  The picture was taken through the mist on our bedroom window.  Not winter already!

Happy Birthday Lowell!

A few words of wisdom from your big sis.

Wow, my baby brother is 21, that makes me…old.

Granada (part 1)

We now resume your (often delayed) tour through Spain and Greece.

One of the reasons that we chose to go to Granada is that we have a friend living there.  It is really great to visit a city where a friend lives as they make the experience so much better.

1.  They tell you where to stay.  Brian referred us to a great little hotel.

2.  They introduce you to their friends.  Brian had a friend who wanted to practice his English, so we took a walk and then hit up a few Tapas bars for some food and drink.

3.  They take you to the great out of the way places.  Brian and his friend took us to two different Tapas bars, both off the beaten path and both without English menus.  One was packed 10 mintues it opened.  And for good reason.  Both tapas we had were incredible – the second was by far the best meatballs I’ve ever had in my whole life.  And, to top it all off, they were free!  Yes, traditionally in Spain tapas come for free with your drinks, but this tradition has not persisted in the tourist areas.

4.  They tell you where to go shopping, even if they don’t tell you they won’t have your size:-)

5.  They translate for you when needed.  The desk clerk at the hotel (a woman filling in it seems) didn’t speak any more than the most basic hotel English.  The hotel made reservations for us for the Alhambra.  We could understand that she had reservations, but no idea what the logistics were.  When Brian came to our hotel he asked the clerk for us.  Good thing because the drill was extremely complicated.  Score.

The next post will be the start of our Alhambra experience.  I’ll warn you now, it was probably the most photogenic place I’ve ever been in my life…so expect to be there for a while.

Soup

Since the days are getting colder I’ve dug back into my soup recipies.  I love cooking a big batch of soup and having it with hot, fresh bread on a cold day.  Megan posted her favorite soup recipie, which I’m excited to try soon, so here is mine.

CHICKEN AND PASTA SOUP

2 TBS olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 ½ c chicken broth
16 oz can Italian stewed tomatoes with juice
¼ cup fine chopped, fresh parsley or cilantro
½ tsp black pepper
¾ tsp dried basil
¾ tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
6 oz. spiral pasta

In Dutch oven combine oil and chicken.  Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently till chicken is cooked.  Remove chicken.  Add onion, red pepper and garlic to pan.  Cook and stir till tender.  Add stock and tomatoes, breaking up tomatoes.  Return chicken to pan.  Add parsley, basil, oregano, bay leaf and pepper.  Stir.  Simmer covered for 5 min.  Bring to boil.  Add pasta.  Lower heat and simmer 12 min. or till pasta is done.  Serve with shredded parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, if desired.

Cops

OK, we admit it, COPS is our mindless TV vice.  Luckily they syndicate old episodes over here in England so we can have a taste of home.  (particularly when they are in Pierce County, WA)

There are several British knock offs.  And on these, we will share a few observations.  First of all, they are not nearly as exciting.  I guess that’s good.  People here don’t have guns.  A lot of stolen cars.  Gangs of bandits stealing petrol.  Uninsured vehicles.

Granted, I haven’t ever seen an episode filmed in London.  That can probably get pretty dicey.

We learn lots of great new words.  Like Yob =  slang term for an uncouth blue collar individual or thug.

The neighborhood

Last weekend we took a walk around the neighborhood.  First we walked west along the river.  Some cows were hanging out in the field and one was blocking the path. 

He moseyed on along without a fight.

Past the college (boarding school) we stopped at the Shiplake Church.  Tennyson was married here.  The church had some handy little boards with the history of the church and Tennyson’s connection to the church and town.

After a stop for refreshment at the pub we walked up towards Binfield Heath. 

We stopped to visit with a man from our church, Ted, who lives up in Binfield Heath.  Of course, like any good Englishperson he had tea and biscuits for us.  Since he lives only a couple doors before the next pub we couldn’t justify another stop. 

We walked back down home.

And, after we got home we watched some of the boats go by, folks enjoying one of the last good boating days of the year. 

I love autumn.  Life is pretty exciting here in Shiplake.  Just my speed.

Seattle Wedding

We were in Seattle the first weekend in October for our good friend’s wedding.  He was kind enough to get married at exactly the right time for Steve’s first visit to Seattle since we left last November.

The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun.  The ring bearer was a real cutie, about 6 years old and really well behaved all night.  Then, to top it off, about 10 pm the kid is still going strong and starts breakdancing.  Fabulous.  His parents should hire him out as a professional ring-bearer.

The wedding was held at the Bellevue Harbor Club.  A little ironic because as you know (if you’ve spent any time in Bellevue) that Bellevue doesn’t have a harbor.  (I found out later online that it is really a branch of the Seattle Harbor Club, and Seattle does have a Harbor) 

Thanks for a great wedding Ray!

In other Seattle news our friends Kate and Ryan held a fabulous party so we could see a whole ton of our friends.  It was so good to catch up.  Everyone’s doing great.  All the kids are growing up so fast and there are so many new ones we hadn’t even met yet. 

Our other fabulous friends Jon and Rebecca graciously let us stay at their house (our Seattle home away from home).  They have the best guest room with yummy plush carpet and blackout blinds that make the room dark and quiet.  The best accommodations the Eastside has to offer.  Steve got to watch an Illinois football game (and they crushed Michigan) and he also got to play Halo with Joshua.

We ate all our favorite American food.  Mexican, steak (properly medium-rare), Mediterrean Kitchen (our favorite restaurant in Seattle), Qdoba and Yummy Teriaki.  I got quite a bit of shopping in too.  And a haircut.

All this, despite me being as sick as a dog when I got there.  Somewhere over Greenland I starting feeling awful (probably the worst place in the world to start feeling sick).  Thankfully my old doctor squeezed me in the first morning we were there and got me some good meds.

Since I was sick I took hardly any pictures.  I started in on the travel blogging backlog with Seattle, since that is where I took the fewest pictures.

Home for a spell.

Wow – that was a bit too much travelling!

We’re back home, again, and staying put til Christmas.  Over the last 5 weeks we’ve spent 27 days on the road.  All outside of England.  5 countries.  8 stamps in the passport.  13,348 air miles.  1 return trip through the slightly fire-damaged Chunnel.

On top of it (or because of it) I’ve been fighting being sick, so it is a good thing that we’ll be staying home and resting.  I’ve yet to get our photos totally sorted, so I’ll slowly get them posted.

December will be here before we know it, then back to Illinois…