curious.

A very neat English pine cone. 

I think this pine cone is so neat looking. One thing I've found while living here is there are plenty of similarities, but some things are tweaked just enough to be unusual, this pine cone being one of them. There are beautiful black and white feathered birds flying about that are unlike any city bird I've seen in the States; along with that, their unfamiliar songs sound lovely.

chocolate chip cookies; good with a cuppa!

I baked chocolate chip cookies this afternoon for the second time this week. Kind of crazy, I know, but we devoured the first batch, so I made another batch! I got the recipe from smittenkitchen.com; an excellent food blog with plenty of tasty recipes. (I used the recipe titled "our favorite chocolate chip cookies."

(Tasty Treats.)

Yesterday I went to an arcade in town; a kind of shopping plaza. In case, like me, you hear arcade and think of a game arcade, hear's a picture of the Cleveland Arcade (thanks to Wikipedia).

The arcade I visited is much smaller than this one pictured, but it was a really neat place. I found an art supplies store, a used bookstore, a vintage clothing store, and a nice cookware store on the top of which is a place where you can sit for tea and biscuits!

I have been drinking quite a bit of tea here. There's plenty of it and it's very good. A cup of tea is often called a "cuppa." 

Nice, isn't it?

One more language tidbit: a common greeting here is "Heya!" and of course, "Cheers!"

Ray and I ended the day with a visit to the Asian Market; the Dong Dong Market on Beast Market Road. Next maybe I'll find the Beast Market?

Cheers for now!

I've got a bit of catching up to do.

I thought it would be a good idea to (very briefly) review the past few weeks:


Ray and I set out to Huddersfield, UK on September 21st. We arrived here on the 22nd and stayed with friends, Ben & Jen, until we found ourselves a nice little terraced house to rent. Ray has started class and has been teaching, and I've been settling in, working on writing, exploring and researching MFA programs. I've also been trying quite a few new recipes (more on that later). 

This is the view from my room. 

One thing that has intrigued me since I've been here is the now overturned assumption that we use the English language in the same way. There is an obvious similarity in language, but it's tweaked just a bit. For example they often use "s" where we use "z;" apologise, cosy. Cookies are often called "Digestive Biscuits" because it was once thought that the sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda) aided in digestion. Pieces of fruit in jam or in orange juice are called "bits," so if looking for pulp-free orange juice, "No Bits" is the one you want. These are fun to come across, and I find the subtle differences in the use of language quite fascinating. (There will be more on this. . .)

Our indoor herbs.

We have chives, thyme and rosemary. 

I love house plants.