Here are some random things.
A Christmas thing I really don't like: That carol about the drummer boy parum-papum-pum. It's really dumb-darum-dum. Drumming for a baby is stupid. Mary would have got really cross. It would have woken the baby up.
British English words that I miss: Stupid instead of dumb. Cross instead of mad/angry.
Fruit I miss: Bramley apples!
Christmas food: mince pies.
Fact about living in Scotland: they call mince pies, mincemeat tarts (which could be great inspiration for a fancy dress costume).
Christmas food that I miss, though I don't like the taste: Christmas pudding and Christmas cake.
Christmas food that is marvellous beyond words: cold turkey and cold stuffing.
A phrase in American English that I really like and use a lot: "Good luck with that". It means "that sounds truly dreadful, I don't envy you".
Something that made me laugh yesterday: my boss called me Eunice Fairbanks all day. It was an in-joke. It was funny at the time, though I can see it loses something in the telling.
Something I am grateful for: oh lots. I'm in that kind of a mood.
Something I bought half price, in the sale at Williams Sonoma yesterday: a mix for making sticky toffee pudding. It says that they researched the recipe in the Lake District, from where the pudding hails. I didn't even know puddings could hail. I don't want to make the pudding. I just want to read the side of the tin over and over, and luxuriate in the fact that I've bought a mix from Williams Sonoma, which is what I do in my dreams sometimes.
Something I saved $100 on, in the sale at Williams Sonoma yesterday: a Le Creuset oval pot, cast iron, enamelled. Only a couple of days ago, I said to Husband "the trouble with my two Le Creuset pots is that one is too big, and the other is too small; I really need the one in between." It would have been criminal not to have saved $100 buying the very perfect one. It's like the baby bear's Le Creuset in Goldilocks. It's orange. Hot orange. I know I'm a better cook already.
Something that happened while I was writing this post that was very nice: my brother phoned from Paris to say Happy New Year. It is, of course, already 2011 in Paris. I'm just so darn international.
Something nice I'm doing tonight: going out. We have been invited out as a family. And - get this - this is the second year running that we have had a New Year's Eve invitation. This could almost be a reason to stay in America. We never used to get invited out on New Year's Eve.
A true fact: I will be late if I don't go and get ready right now.
Greeting: Happy New Year, Bloggy Peeps!
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Congratulations, Iota, on surviving a Christmas season in the retail business with sense of humor intact—and not just any business, but the toy business to boot! Happy New Year—enjoy your party!
ReplyDelete1. A phrase I really like wch I think is American.. It's "here's the thing" you can just hear the 'I.m being very patient & explaining why yr idea/point/suggn etc is NOT what I'm going to do' My son used it on me recently & made me laugh out loud. Child to grown up, it seemed th ewrong way round...
ReplyDelete2. I made a mincemeat bread & butter pudding for our New Yr's Eve bash. It was yummy,very English & Christmassy. What's not to like??
3. Who is Eunice Fairbanks??
4. Did YOU know Orange was the original colour for Le creuset? Used to be the only available colour so you will look like a v seasoned, experienced cook having the original colour & not 'aubergine' or 'baby pink'. We thought we were v avant garde getting BLUE Le Creueset for our wedding 20 yrs ago! Tho I rather crave the turquoise version i must admit.
5. Sticky toffee pudding. I THINK I am right in saying the original recipe comes from Brambles Bistro in Ambleside, where it just so happens I had my 1st 'date' with my hubby. We had sticky toffee pudding & he asked for the recipe! We gave them my address & they sent me a copy of it! It's very easy & very yummy.
Enough, hope your New Yr was fun, despite the lack of Auld Lang Syne, coal or even left over Christmas cake!
I love the sound of those mincemeat tarts. There are some funny pictures in my head involving black fishnet tights!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Peace and good health!
Maggie X
Nuts in May
I hope you enjoyed the aprt. There is something so fun about being invited out for New years Eve.
ReplyDeleteI agress that "Cross" is much better than "mad". My favoriate phrase is "bless her heart" which means, "gosh, what an idiot." But I think that's southern thing not often heard north of the Masion Dixon line.
Happy New Year! Though you should have said you wanted some Bramleys. I'm sure FedEx would have obliged... (could have slipped a jar of mincemeat in too - good way of using them up as it turns out).
ReplyDeleteAmerican English phrase I just don't understand: "I could care less". Well of course you could, but is that really what you're trying to say?. Doesn't it make so much more sense in the (British-English) negative?
Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteDarn. There's another one.
ReplyDeleteHave a very happy 2011.
x
Mincemeat tarts? Haha. And for the W Samona dreams... looks like you haven't let go of the idea of being the perfectly domesticated wife just yet. I knew it :)
ReplyDeleteIota you're so darn funny. Really. I'm going to tweet this whether you like Twitter or not.
ReplyDelete- I grew up calling them mincemeat pies also, so it must be a 'far north' thing.
- I also have a whole set of Le Creuset you could have had as it weighs a ton and all the lips on the saucepans mean I have to pour them with my left hand which is the weaker shoulder. But mine are white, and they aren't doing white any more, so perhaps not such as good idea.
I am jealous of the hot orange le Creuset. Really. And the mincemeat tarts thing: once, many years ago, I and two friends went to a fancy dress New Year's party dressed all in short black dresses with mint wrappers pinned all over us and a sprig of mistletoe in our hair. Tenuous link; we were a 'tres of mints tarts...' Boom boom.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Iota! Hope to see you at some point in 2011. x
There us a version of that carol sung in duet by david Bowie and bing Crosby called peace on earth/little drummer boy that I just love. I always did have a thing for david Bowie, mind you.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year!
Happy new year! Haven't you been having fun at Williams Sonoma? It is indeed a wondrous place.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the drummer boy carol. It's annoying. I'm actually really glad my car radio station has gone back to normal music - we had Christmas songs 24/7 from Thanksgiving to Boxing Day.
You can never have too many Le Creuset pots. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year - your mince meat tarts made me giggle. And I'm with A Modern Mother, there is no such thing as too many Le Creuset, as to have one in the perfect size is such a delight!
ReplyDeletein city super food store, the hong kong check out girl says 'have a nice'. she never adds 'day'. i guess she didn't learn that bit in her american english class. but i like the hong kong version. i add my own ending.
ReplyDeleteI've eaten way too many mince pies. And Christmas pudding. And Christmas cake! I think I was determined to consume as many British items as I could.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge Williams and Sonoma fan too, very envious of your purchase!
Happy New Year!
i have just treated myself to a new beast of a Le Creuset pot too. Old one just too small now that i have gannet children. Actually i can't blame my children. i now eat twice as much as i ever did before, and tom continues to eat a mountain. Just re-read this back, i am such a bore. sorry
ReplyDelete