The Alphabet Dinner strikes again!

Some of my followers may know about the Alphabet Dinners already, but for those who don't, here's a little history and explanation of what it is:
Sometime in 2006 or 07 (eek!  they've been going on for a bit now!), we and three other couples wanted to figure out a fun way to catch up with each other on a regular basis, doing something that wouldn't cost the Earth.
We decided on dinner parties, held in regular intervals, roughly once every 2 months.  Not just any old dinner party, it would follow the letters of the alphabet.  Each letter must represent a country and its cuisine.  Yes, only countries - no provinces, no cities, no states (and we are very strict with our rules, well with the expection of the letter Q). 
Several points to mention here:

• None of the countries of our patronage could be used at all in the process.  Being quite the international group of 8, The States, India, China, Ireland and Vietnam were automatically struck from the record. 

• Restaurant wildcard could only be used once every 2 turns.  Hence, if you wanted to eat out on your turn, the next time around you would have to cook.

So, wide eyed, naive and excited, we embarked on this epic, eternal dinner party.
Three years on, one new baby, countless disputes whilst cooking and 17 letters later, we arrived at Q on Saturday night. 
Only one country comes to mind for the letter Q.  Lucky us, it was our turn (not jaded at all by the fact that the three other couples get easy street with R, S and T, but nevermind....).
We decided to take a stance and risk the consequences of breaking the "Alphabet Rules" and told everyone we weren't going to do Qatar - we were going to celebrate Quebec.  Heck, Quebec has been fighting for independance for so long anyway, it might as well be its own country!
Joe planned the menu and we prepped together.  All I have to say is WOW, those Quebecians (or whatever you call em) sure like their stodge!
Starter:
Ham and Yellow Split Pea Soup
Mains:
Salmon and mash pie
Roast Dusk with Pecan stuffing
Poutine (french fries with cheese, bacon and gravy)
Dessert:
Maple Syrup Pie

Afterwards, my stomach was a brick.  None of us could really sit upright at the end, but it felt good to know we only have two more letters to go for our contribution!

Speaking of the Big Chill....

Just got a chance to look through some photos Shari (my sister) sent me of their trip to Chicago a few years ago..
and to my fellow Brits, this WAS my childhood......every year!
the only two things that are different about this photo than one taken in the early 80s is my dad's age and the actual kid  - otherwise this is the stock winter photo for the Lock household - now with grandkid being photographed!

From Drop Box

mom and coco out front. 

the snow is so thick the swing can't move much!

the stock winter outfit for chicago!


sis and fam - look at the size of that!

The Big Chill

I feel pretty lucky that I have seen snow more than a few occassions in London over the past eight years.  It has never been much, but enough to bring back those fab childhood memories of building snow forts, sledding on Briargate Hill, snowball fights, the 20 minute mandatory "get ready to go outside" ritual filled with moonboots, sledding pants, winter jacket, long underwear, scarf, mittens, hat, double sock layer, double trouser layer, double shirt layer.....you get the idea.
Well, winter came with a vengence this year.  Snow everywhere!  London was hit and the snow actually stayed because of the freezing temps.  All outside London got dumped on causing travel chaos like nothing seen in decades, and which will not be soon forgotten. 
And boy was that snow THE perfect packing snow!  Kids in the street slamming snow balls at each other, Joe smashing one in my face (yep, what a guy!) and snowmen everywhere - a winter wonderland!
So, here is what we got up to on one of the bigger snow days - my first snow man in a good 20 years!

Christmas Time!!!

Joe and our friends Has and Lui decided to volunteer for Crisis this year, which meant Christmas Eve and Day, they would be spending the day at a temporary homeless shelter helping the running of the centre through cleaning up, serving food, chatting with the "guests" and so forth. 

I was duly appointed chauffer and chef for the duration and grasped my responsibility with full vigor!
The centre was in West London, nearer has and lui's place, so we decided to move into theirs for two days and enjoy Christmas together.
The entrusted me with their keys and I opened up Christmas Eve early and alone in their kitchen cooking up ribs, chicken wings, fois gras that I got from a great colleague!, quesadillas, prawns and dip, and a massive triple layer chocolate cake that couldn't make the journey upright and ended up in a big bowl.
When they all got in Chrismas Eve night around 10pm, the food was ready to go. 
Lui and I ended up talking into the morning till 4am and we woke up, exchanged pressies and managed to suck down more food - this time a wonderful Swedish Christmas feast made by Lui!
With all bellies full, we dressed and I got them to the centre and went home for phone calls to the states.
Later that night, I picked them all up again (by the way, I was well impressed with my uneventful drives across central London all by myself!) and we, you guessed it, ate again and crashed.
Boxing day started with a lay in, breakfast out and a four hour walk through the fabulous Wimbledon Parks.
We headed home late afternoon filled with warmth, love and lots and lots of food!
Thanks to Has and Lui for sharing their Christmas with us!

My pressie from Has and Lui!

From xmas with has and lui

Lui likes her pressies!

From xmas with has and lui

What could it be?

From xmas with has and lui

The anticipation!

From xmas with has and lui

I'm guessing Has liked his pressie?

From xmas with has and lui

Joe's turn!

From xmas with has and lui

Lui's feast!

From xmas with has and lui

Everybody is feeling the love!

From xmas with has and lui

From xmas with has and lui

The Godfather Part 4

Well, I'll say, that little Scarr sure is cute!!!
Godfather Joe and I made our way over to Simon and Catherine's for a long awaited reunion with little Juliette, and boy she did NOT dissappoint! 
I monopolised her most of the afternoon because she was just so much fun to giggle with, but Joe managed to hold his Goddaughter a few times and enjoy her lovely little personality.
I have to say, she is going to be a heart breaker and you can arlready see how daddy Simon is going to have a hard time saying no to anything she asks for!!
Given Catherine's incredibly difficult pregnancy, this baby is truly a miracle and we are so happy to be a part of her and her parent's lives!

Peace Corps Reunion!

Ten years after the shit storm that was Kazakhstan, my dear fellow Kaz-6er, Bruce, decided to pop into London for a little visit.  To say I was overjoyed was an understatement! I was ready to show him London.  Instead, we just sat in most coffee places we rambled upon and just got caught up.  I felt like I jipped him, not showing him anything about London, but he seemed happy enough.  And that made me happy.
Yeah!

Off to Spain!!!

We decided to get away in early December to Barcelona - and boy were we in for a treat!
What an amazing city!!!!  The weather was amazingly warm and sunny for December and with all that the city had to offer, we found it difficult to get in everything we wanted to see.
I don't normally like visiting places more than once, but I definitely want to come back.
Main highlights of the trip include visits to Park Guell, walks through Barri Gotic, the massive Fountain, bike ride through the city, Mont Serrat, lots of cafes for cappucino descaffianatos, a casino(!), and just walking around aimlessly dipping into shops and restaurants as our mood carried us.

Visit to Hughenden Manor with Has and Lui

As members of the National Trust, we've enjoyed frequenting the beautiful manor houses, ruins and castles dotted across the country. Our friends Has and Lui don't have a car, and I made it my mission to get them out of London to visit a nice but of British history that they wouldn't otherwise be able to get to (well, wouldn't bother with public transport to get there - nor would I without a car!). Plus Lui's and my new British citizen stati (is that plural for status?) means we need to brush up on our new country's history!
Home of Benjamin Disraeli, ex-prime minister of Great Britain sometime in the 1800’s, this manor house was his sanctuary away from Westminster. Only an hour outside of London, its completely rural and peaceful.
We walked for quite a long time and inevitably ended up eating in the cafe warming up our mitts while doing so.
Great day out!

Rock climbing with the girls

We decided to have a girlie day out rock climbing, hanging out at the pub and enjoying the south bank celebrations!
lui, yen, juliet, yvette and I tested our mettle hanging from walls then tested our endurance in a 4 hour session in the pub. we managed to force gelato down afterwards too.
later that night, we ended up in front of the Tate Modern where a fire festival was in full swing - fire everywhere! so cool!

My Birthday getaway!

Joe treated me to a weekend getaway from London for my birthday! We stayed at a beautiful spa hotel and each got two treatments to relax us before the chaos November will be for us!
The hotel was set in the countryside, surrounded by beautiful manor houses. We took walks, slept, had massages, played tennis, and even went running. We managed to be very productive which helped work off the lovely food!
We also stopped in at Stratford Upon Avon to see where Shakespeare lived - lovely town!

Sarita is here!

Busy busy busy - that girl was running herself ragged, but I managed to get a day in with her and Rahul!
They treated me to lovely dim sum and we caught up on things. Too short but I'll take what I can get!

My first football match in England

And it only took 7 years!
But, what a great way to experience a footie match - in the box seats with complimentary lunch and drinks!!
As I sat in our seats, I asked a great work colleague of mine "all the seats in this stadium are leather?". he laughed and I realised we were in the posh seats, centre field!!!
It was a great show because Liverpool and Chelsea were playing and ended up having a sudden death finish with Chelsea bringing home the trophy!
A great time had by all!
Thanks to dunhill for offering the seats to me and Joe - otherwise we would never have ever made it to a match - ever.

From summer 09 charity shield game

I did it!!! I ran two hours without stopping!

Today was the big day...I managed to finish my half marathon in 2 hours 14 minutes with a sneeky little walk for 45 seconds near the finish line....
yeah!!!
Thanks to has and lui for being part of the cheering section with joe!

it's tennis time!

we thought after 7 years in England, I should go experience Wimbledon!
We ended up getting some cheap tickets for court 1, NOT centre court, but it got us in the compound where we watched the big final at Henman Hill (who we saw on a walking bridge later that day!) and then some friends of ours kindly gave us their centre court tickets for the doubles match so we did get to experience it after all!
yes, we did do strawberries and cream, as every Brit worth their weight in salt should do at the tennis....

Sea, sun, sand and sunburn

Joe and I managed to save enough air miles for a trip to the caribbean and chose Tobago for our big getaway!
we couldn't be happier with our choice - what an amazing island!
Joe found us a great "no-frills" cottage overlooking a golf course which ended at the ocean, so fab views!
Avocado Cottage had no air con, open air plan (meaning the geckos got to hang out with us at night), a resident doggie with such a sweet disposition, and an avocado tree whose dropping fruit managed to wake us up every morning...and some nights too!
Being only 26.2 miles long, before arriving I thought it could be a great place for a marathon. However, one day of driving around the island for over 7 hours slowly crawling around hair pin turns and incredibly steep gradients, we managed to get back in one piece.
One beach we settled into after our lunch had a great bit of wave to it, so we enjoyed splashing around. it wasn't until I got out and dried off that I saw the sign warning visitors of the manta ray that resides in the area. If growing up in land locked Illinois hadn't already ill prepared me for the creatures found under water, that sign certainly sealed my fate of being forever fearful of open water (yeah, I hear the ozzie contingent laughing at me right now!).
Having to prepare for my half marathon next month, I did attempt running at 6am a few mornings, getting up with the rest of the island who do all their yard work that early to avoid the sun. well, I might as well have run at high noon because it didn't make one bit of difference to me. it was hot, damn hot. Joe even got out there to run on the beach and we both gave up quite soon after starting.
We enjoyed snorkelling, jet skiing, drinking and just being plain lazy - overall fabbest (is that a word) hols ever!