A Hop, Skip & Jump Over The Pond » A Hop, Skip & Jump Over The Pond

Cupcake Heaven

Ashley T — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:43:33 +0000

Everyone loves cupcakes. The newest trend are minis. It really does make sense. You can try different flavors instead of having to choose one if you were to choose a big cupcake. LivingSocial was running a deal for Crumbs and Doilies so I snatched it up and got it for Jon’s birthday this past weekend.

Popcorn on cupcakes?! How creative!

I know you want to try one now!

Bistrotheque

Ashley T — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:02:18 +0000

Bistrotheque is a restaurant in Bethenal Green. It was hidden and on a random street but is such a gem. Everything we order was delicious. Highly recommend.

Trying New Food

Ashley T — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:55:43 +0000

I’ve been introduced to a lot of new “British” foods since working in an office. I’ll be honestly they are all snacks and junk food but it’s interesting because if it’s just me and Jon alone we would never try any of these.

This is an iced finger bun. It’s a roll with icing on it. I guess it could be compared to a cinnabon but actually that’s a far-fetched comparison when you taste it. It wasn’t hot and the icing was hard. My friends said there are other versions with jam int he middle. Maybe that would be better?

Worcestershire sauce chips (or crisps) were delicious! Strong vinegar taste so I think that’s why I liked them. Weight Watchers wafer bar was blah. Refreshers reminded me of an airhead.

Snack A Jacks are just like rice cakes and come in different flavors. Yummm!

With all this “britishness” I had to add in some American touches so I made Snickerdoodles. Now, I thought they were an American cookie since it’s pretty much just a sugar cookie but Wikipedia says they are of German origin. You learn something new everyday. But either way I wanted to make these for my co-workers.

They were a hit! My co-workers loved them and even dunked in them in their tea (so British!). I dunked mine in my coffee and I’ve come to realize that the Brits might be on to something.

What international treats have you tried lately? Loved it or hated it?

Crack Kills

Ashley T — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:54:57 +0000

I know here hasn’t been an official statement about the cause of Whitney Houston’s death but I think drugs is a major assumption going around. It’s very unfortunate and sad. My mom and I would crank up the volume on the cassette player in the car and belt out her songs together. We would rewind the tape trying to get it to our favorite parts. Long trips or short trips there was only 2 choices of cassette, Whitney Houston or Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. We are awesome!

In honor of Whitney here are some classics showing off her incredible talent.

Where Are Your Eggs?

Ashley T — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:34:59 +0000

As I’ve said before the eggs are not stored in the cold section at grocery stores here in the UK. Fine. No big deal. I’ve gotten used to it. But why is there an egg section in my fridge if they don’t have to be in the cold?

So are they supposed to go into the fridge when you bring them home from the store? Is it personal preference?

What do you do with your eggs?

Nothing But The Truth

Ashley T — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:57:16 +0000

All anyone was talking about for the last couple of days was the weather. The weathermen predicted snow this weekend and suggested for us to stock up incase you can’t get out of your house. I didn’t believe it one bit because 1) weathermen usually aren’t that spot on and 2) when it snows 2 inches in London everyone panics. Well as much as I’m annoyed that it snowed because it makes the city shut down and I had errands to run today I should have believed them because I bet the local grocery stores are wiped out of everything and all we have is some pancake mix, corn and pineapple in our flat. Oops!

My Street in London

On top of the weekend tube closures the lines that are working have delays!! Grrrrrrrr

And here’s a peak at the weather this week. At least there isn’t anymore snow coming out way.

Oh we do have wine and champagne in the flat so all is good!

Yummmmmmm

Ashley T — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:48:46 +0000

If you are craving something sweet go to Wafflemeister.

Waffle with vanilla gelato and whipped cream.

Girls Night

Ashley T — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:09:33 +0000

Melissa emailed us saying she was craving sushi so we had to plan a sushi dinner ASAP. I’m picky when it comes to sushi so I suggested Sushinho and we all agreed to meet there on Friday.

Melissa, Anne Taite, Betsy and myself headed to the Japanesse/Brazilian restaurant to catch up, eat and drink. We didn’t take any pics at dinner because we were too busy chit chatting away.

Afterwards we headed to The Cross Keys to continue the night with the guys where we did get one photo.

Just another reason why I love to blog. I met all of these ladies through the expat blog world!

Barrecore

Ashley T — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:07:07 +0000

I have been searching for a class like Barrecore for the past year and a half. There wasn’t anything like this in London. When I saw American Girl In Chelsea post about Barrecore in Chelsea I went to their website and bought the intro package right away!

I went to my first class yesterday and can’t wait to go back on Monday. The studio is perfect with clean locker rooms and lockers with keys so you don’t have to bring your own lock (which I find SO annoying when they want you to bring your own lock and remember yet another password/number combination).

The class is an hour long and works your whole body. The class is broken up into sections where you focus on upper body, legs and tush, core conditioning and ends with a 5 minute relaxation.

They say you can see a difference in your body within 8-10 classes so I’ll let you know if I can.

Hope to see you there!

Back To Reality

Ashley T — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:44:45 +0000

My first week of work has been great. It’s been all classroom training which is semi-boring but very helpful at the same time. There are 11 new hires in total for my department since it is a new department for the UK office of the company.

They even gave us our own laptops with these AWESOME cases:

Yeah I know you are sooooo jealous.

I know what you are thinking….cool backpack but are you at a bar on your first day of work?! The answer is YES……and it was a great way to start my time at the company.

All in all I love being back on a schedule and in an office interacting with people on a daily basis. I’m pretty sure my couch misses me but not my problem.