that canadian girl

Blog

  • So much to say…

    What can I say… i’ve been slacking off! Planning on spending an evening working on the new blog (alright fine you can see the preview here!!) and it’s still not been finished to go live. (Alright, I’ve changed my mind again about what I want my blog to be. Wait for the new and pretty (and easy to manage!) one! – 22nd September)

    So, after a week and a half at work, I can say that it’s good to be back! Nothing much has changed, still mountains of manuscript and books sitting on everyone’s desk, still the same old cafeteria ladies mucking up your change at lunchtime, and still the same old office gossip… But a whole new point of view of how things are run in the business and a stack more responsibilities for me!

    Friday was Lisa’s wedding — It was beautiful and the ambitious choice of location for both the wedding itself, and then the reception (nearly an hour away, requiring some driving on the M25 in Friday afternoon traffic! How risky!!) really paid off in the end! It was nice to see many of the Pepperrell relatives who I’d only met once or twice. The service at Lythe Hill Hotel was great during the wedding meal, the staff was very nice and they were doing a great job at keeping our wine glasses topped up! Lisa and Stuart both looked great!

    Another big bit of news is that my sisters are back from Peru, still have the tourista (want details?) and certainly have a new outlook on life. Jo will be updating Mission Perou website soon, so I’ll link to her photos (not all — she took over 600!). I don’t even know where to start telling their story so I’ll let them do it when they post their travel diaries onto the site.

  • Workie workie!

    I’ve been quiet this week, haven’t I?

    I’m working on the latest and greatest version of my blog, with a little help (a lot!) from Andrew. It’ll have a Shoutbox, which means you can leave me messages really easily! And it’ll be much more customized for ME ME ME!!! It’ll have less useless features along the sides, and be much prettier!

    Also, I can now confirm that Monday morning, I’m starting my new job. I’ll be back at work, as Marketing Executive. I’m excited to go work with that team again!

    I was lucky enough to get my passport straight back from the Canadian High Commission in London after sweet-talking the lady in charge of updating names in passports… Then on Monday, we went to Croydon (what a scary place!) to get my visa. Being white and speaking English fluently, Andrew and I felt like a minority in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate Office, but we managed to get all the paperwork approved. STAMPED! Got the visa, I’m free to work for two years now. In 2yrs, they’ll verify whether Andrew and I are still together and I’ll be able to apply for permanent residency FINALLY!

    A lot of work, but it’s all worth it in the end!

  • sushi II

    Alright, I could try and explain how to make the rice and how to make the roll but here are two links that will do that for me 😛

    How to make sushi rice:
    http://www.rain.org/~hutch/rice.html

    How to roll california rolls:
    http://www.rain.org/~hutch/calif.html

    Just remember to make the wasabi (if you bought it as powder) at least 10 minutes ahead so the flavour can develop a bit!

    And if you’re curious and want to make the other types of sushi, be my guest, here’s the link to the rest of this guy’s site. (and let me know how it turns out!)

    I’m really fancying sushi right now but we don’t have what we need and we’re probably going to Costco and Ikea tonight, since we’ve pushed it back so many times.

  • More about sushi

    Since my mommy and a few friends have talked about sushi and asked how I make mine, I thought I’d make a post about it 🙂 It isn’t the end all and be all of sushi, I’ve only made it twice and it may be different to how others make it, but all I can say in its defence is it’s really tasty 😀

    Ingredients to buy in Asian supermarket:
    * Sushi rice
    * Nori (seaweed sheets)
    * Pickled ginger (light pink slices of ginger in vinegar)
    * Wasabi (in powder form, or pre-made mixture)
    * Little wooden rolling mat

    It’s worth getting enough sushi rice and nori for a few meals since most of us have to go out of their way to go to an Asian supermarket

    Now, I’ve never made fish sushi so far, only veggie california rolls. The reason for that is because I DON’T trust the fish counters at our usual supermarkets… I’ll tell the Tesco fish lady story one day…

    So from the normal store I’d get:
    * Avocado
    * Carrots
    * Cucumber
    * Roasted red peppers (ok that’s cuz I had that in the fridge.. its good I swear!)
    * Crabsticks (could also use smoked salmon)

    This post looks like it’s gonna get longer and longer, so I’ll write the next part on how to make the sushi later! Go buy the ingredients, I’ll be back 😉

  • sushi

    I highly recommend trying to make sushi at home, particularly california rolls and other easy no-raw-fish ones.

    We had some twice now, and both times it turned out really well and was an absolute treat to eat! One little trip to Chinatown for the sheets of nori, the rolling mats and the pickled ginger. The rest can be picked up at any grocery store really! MMmMMmmm It doesn’t really take longer than any other meal to make and it’s really yummy!

    Last night, I made homemade pasta and well, it went alright for a first attempt but… I can hear Gordon Ramsey screaming about how rubbish it is already! Next time we’ll use a different kind of flour to see if it works better. One way or the other, we finally got to try out our pasta maker and it’s GREAT!

    Next Friday, we’ll be going to Vinopolis in London (http://www.vinopolis.co.uk) for one of Andrew’s coworkers’ leaving do. I haven’t been to London since before the wedding, when my family was over. Should be nice. 🙂

  • Weekend in Brighton

    So I survived to the weekend in Brighton surprisingly well 😉 We had a good laugh at the Adonis Cabaret, though the strippers were kind of minging and creepy! Lisa was the best looking cop ever, and I think she really had a good time.

    Brighton is so nice, I love going along the seafront and watching the waves roll in. It’s very touristy but I’m sure when it isn’t midsummer, the beach can be really empty at times.

    My sisters have now left for Peru for a month. Their website describes what they’ll be doing over there. For the French-impaired folks, I’ll summarize: They’re going to build the extension to an existing aqueduct system in a village called Indiana, near Iquitos in the north of Peru. They’ve been working all year to raise funds for the project. They left with suitcases full of gifts and supplies for the village.

    For this occasion, one of my sisters, Julie, decided to shave her head. Both as a fundraiser and to simplify hair-washing while in Peru, she let her friends shave it for her on Friday night. She calls herself G.I. Julz now 😛 I bet it feels GREAT to get rid of the huge head of curly hair she has! Now the question is, will it regrow curlier, straighter, or in the same kinky wavy mess as before? We all wonder!

    They only left yesterday, but I miss talking to them already! I can’t wait to hear about their experiences, see their photos and witness how much this experience will change their lives. They’ll be back the 23rd of August!

  • L'auberge espagnole

    Why did it take me so long to see this absolutely charming movie? I’ve had it for over a year, yet I never watched it. For those who haven’t seen it, I highly recommend! It makes you want to travel, makes you want to turn things upside down and in my case, it’s making me want to give my spanish some practice 🙂

    I’m completely pooped and exhausted but the weekend isn’t going to be a relaxing one! It’s Lisa’s hen party, so we’ll be out and about in Brighton, apparently going to see drag queens and strippers at Adonis Cabaret… I dooooon’t know what the hell’s going to happen! I’ll tell you when I come back!

  • A little fall of rain

    When it’s raining, I always wish I had a window ledge with cushions, like Anne of Green Gable, to sit there and smell the rain falling. Unfortunately, reality has given us the slanted ceilings and gables but no wide enough window ledge to sit on. It isn’t raining much but I love that wet dust smell for some reason. It reminds me of camping a bit. 🙂

    Most of all, it reminds me that I need relaxation. Somehow, everyone assumes that because I don’t have my work visa yet, I’m sitting at home, bored and playing videogames or something… Believe it or not, it’s entirely the opposite. I’ve been busier than I have ever been when working in an office job! At least, at the office, there is a finite amount of work and a deadline. Here, we’ve got two business that are being started, we had a wedding to plan. Now I’ve got to do my official name change and all the paperwork that goes with it, get my visa and apply for jobs. So while some of you may be surfing the net at work and reading my blog (and getting paid for it, you lucky buggers!), I’m working too, and sure ain’t getting paid for it!

    Ahhh I feel a bit better now that I’ve ranted about that! 😉

    So Andrew and I are on a no-drinking-during-the-week break. The weeks preceding the wedding were great, the week of the wedding was great, the honeymoon was great, and the back-from-honeymoon drinks with our friends were great too… Except, my little body wants to get healthier and junk food and alcohol are the best things to cut out to help that process 🙂 Last night’s cheese fondue followed by maple fondue were both lovely but *scratches head* they just reminded me of how unhealthy I feel!

    Join a gym? Might do once I work, but I know I have very little initiative when it comes to going nowhere fast on a treadmill. Get a bike? Unfortunately, the Moorings offer no bike sheds or areas to lock them, and in our one-bedroom, I find Andrew’s bike is already too much. Two would be ridiculously in the way. Swimming? Very tempting and most likely option at the moment. I wish the Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbo pools had more than like an hour a day for adult swim though, their schedule is *already* getting on my nerves and I’m not even a member yet. So tell me, tell me my friends! What should Vero do to get back in shape? 🙂

  • Honeymoon photos are up!

    I’ve put the photos of the honeymoon in Menorca online 🙂

    Can I go back on holiday yet? *sigh*

  • The official return of raindrop's blog (and the wedding photos!)

    So you wonder where I’ve been all this time?

    Well, there’s the obvious… I got married therefore went on honeymoon for a week in Menorca! MmMmMmm beautiful holiday, very relaxing. I also got my fix of chipirones for the year, those tasty baby squids who stare at you while you eat them! Muahahaa!

    I’ll tell all about the wedding and honeymoon in my next few posts, as I haven’t had the time to talk to everyone personally yet. For the time being though, the first photos of the wedding are up!

    Thanks to everyone who came to the wedding, it was great seeing you all! I’m making a mass appeal to everyone who took photos – send me copies electronically or by mail please! I want to compile an extra-large wedding album (both online and in a proper album) to remind us of the great day it was!

    This blog is going to evolve over time (read, I’m going to get rid of the ugly green skin I’m currently using for it) but one thing that’s for sure, this time it’s here to stay! I paid for real hosting with http://www.micfo.com (great service!) and I’m not going to take it down EVER! 😉

    You can leave me comments, and I promise I’ll re-add the posts and comments from my previous blog so nothing you said is lost 🙂

    Vero xoxo