Wednesday, March 29, 2017

A Walk Along the Frome Valley River

The British love their walks. The whole family dons their wellies (rubber boots up to the knee) and heads off with the dog(s) to go for a walk. And there are so many places to walk around here we may never have to go to the same place twice.

On this Sunday morning, we headed off to the Frome Vally trail. Unfortunately, Brian didn't realize what I meant by walk and had on relatively new shoes and socks - big mistake. It's March in England and there is a lot of mud. And lots of muddy dogs and children about. Let's just say we were glad to have rubber floor mats in the car and a hose outside back home.

This is one of the trail heads by Snuff Mills. It's a tended garden and just starting to spring up with flowers. It was overcast and looking like rain when we arrived.

And then things cleared up a bit and the sun poked through.

Five minutes later it was overcast again.

And two minutes after that it was pouring down rain.

Tapering off to a light drizzle.

And then gorgeous sunshine for a little while. And it continued cycling through rain, sun, rain, sun throughout our whole walk, which was only about an hour.

One of the little mud buckets. The dogs were loving it - swimming in the river, splashing through the mud, fetching sticks and chasing each other. It was pretty fun to watch. I was glad I didn't have to give them all a bath later!

Monday, March 27, 2017

Spring has Sprung in Bristol

The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer and the flowers are blooming - it's spring in Bristol! I started seeing daffodils as early as late January and couldn't believe it. Due to our mild climate, the spring flowers seem to bloom forever. Daffodils from late Jan through April. At this writing, the tulips are just popping through but not too many have bloomed yet - I'm sure they're on their way soon. By Easter the whole countryside will be filled with color! Here are a few pics from our recent walk around the neighborhood.






Saturday, March 25, 2017

Bristish Vocabulary Lesson (Food & Drink)

It's been a while since we've had a vocabulary lesson, so here is a list of particularly British food and drink terms. Enjoy!

Bangers & mash: I'm sure you've heard this one. Sausages and mashed potatoes and usually served with onions as well. Yum.

Bubble & Squeak: But I'll bet this one is new. This was originally the name for all the leftover bits of vegetable after Sunday roast and often served the next day fried up for breakfast or lunch. I'm sure that's still the case, but you can also order many meals with bubble & squeak as a side dish. I even saw it packaged up in the grocery store. Typically a bit of onion, carrot, turnip, leeks ...

Tipple: A wee drink - alcoholic. Not a specific drink just a term to refer to drink in general. "We'll have a bit of a tipple before we go to the theatre."

Crumpets vs Pinklets vs Muffins: There are so many version of baked goods, I really can't keep up. Crumpets are sorta like English muffins but thicker and softer. They have holes all the way through and are served slathered in butter. Unless you use a knife and fork, you'll be covered in butter by the time you finish eating one of these. Pinklets are a thinner version of a crumpet - no idea why. And muffins (English muffins) are similar to those back home, but are denser so the holes are smaller. And yes, they also have muffins like Blueberry muffins. Not sure how you would refer to a muffin vs a muffin - they certainly don't call them English muffins here!

Mince: Yummy mix of spices, raisins, dried fruit. Lots and lots of mince pies at Christmas time and then they're gone - no seriously you can't find them anywhere until Christmas again.

Chips vs Crisps: You've probably heard this already but chips are fries and crisps are chips. Not such a problem when you say fries as everyone gets what you mean (especially with our American accents) but ordering chips when you mean crisps can be a problem.

Biscuits: British word for cookies - they really don't use the word cookie unless referring to something American like oreos. Chocolate chip cookies are seen to be an American thing although you can of course find them everywhere here. British biscuits tend to be crisp and crunchy, not soft and gooey like American cookies. Most likely because they are primarily served with tea. Tea and biscuits - yum.

Puddings: As well as I can understand, puddings are a generic term for dessert, but I've also seen menus that will list puddings and then a list of desserts so it might refer to a particular type of dessert - mainly some kind of cake with sauce. Whatever the pure definition, puddings are yum! Now, if you are actually looking for pudding (that creamy goodness you eat with a spoon) you'll probably have to ask for custard here. I have not seen any boxes of Jello instant pudding in the supermarkets, but you can find custard in the dairy aisle.

Pigs in blankets: We've talked about these before, haven't we? My favorite British invention. Cocktail-sized sausages wrapped in bacon. As good and decadent as they sound.

And on that note, I think it's time for tea (which either means an actual cup of tea, afternoon tea with tea, biscuits and sandwiches, or dinner which is sometimes referred to as tea). Are we sure we're all speaking English?