Mary Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?

Rather ravenously to be honest.  

I thought you might like to how green my thumb is...

We've got all sorts of stuff growing at Casa DeCourcy right now.

The only problem is we can't plant anything in our garden without it being terrorized by Heidi.

But, I'm pretty innovative and we have found some good growing solutions...

The hanging bags work like a charm because you can fit 7 plants in them 

and they are totally out of reach of the dog.  

They seem pretty happy in there so far,

 but we won't find out if there will be lots of tomatoes and tomatillos until later. 

Doesn't everything look so happy and healthy?  

Nick is getting a teensy bit irritated about the number of pots we have bought, 

but hopefully they will pay for themselves with fresh food goodness.  

I have big plans for making salsa. 

The only salsa you can buy over here is Old El Paso.  

Definitely not my favorite.... 

Thats why all visiting Americans are required to bring a jar of 

Rick Bayless's Tomatillo Salsa.

But hopefully this year I will be able to make my own!  

They don't even sell tomatillos in the grocery store here, 

in fact, no British person I have talked to even knows what they are.

In other news, people have been nagging me about this blog thing.  I wish I had new material, but truth be told, I haven't been getting busy that much lately.  My job is super duper horribly boring and I only really have my mind to entertain me which means no photos to share which means boring blogs usually.  But if you must know these are some things that have gone through my head at work lately...

(sorry for the repeats if you follow me on FB or twitter.)

• When I am at work I feel like Harry Potter must feel when there are dementors around.  You know when your soul gets sucked out and you feel like you'll never be happy again...?  Ok yeahhhh debbie downer.  
• I had the thought that I was Ash Ketchum the other day and that Heidi was pikachu and that I could tell her to shock everyone on campus.  That made work enjoyable for a few minutes.
• I have been thinking about quitting my job to pursue my dream of being in a 50 cent video, but everyone keeps laughing at me.  I don't really know why... 
• Today I occupied myself by reading The Jungle Book for the 2nd time.  Yeah I read the whole book today, at work, in it's entirety.  I need a Kindle.
• A few days ago I bought myself a pack of mints and ate them as slowly as possible for entertainment.  
• I put on hand lotion frequently to give myself something to do.
• On Wednesday I only sold £3.00 worth of stuff the whole day, and 60p of that was a candy bar I bought myself to eat because I was soooo bored.

In all seriousness I really need a new job.  I feel shitty saying that because when I was unemployed I told God that ANY job would make me happy, but I am a liar (public confession).  I need a job with challenges.  There are very few opportunities in Sheffield though so if any one wants to see my resume in the USA holler atcha girl.  I'm so ready to move stateside.  

In a positive note tomorrow is the Eurovision Song Contest and I am soooo excited for the ultimate display of Eurotrash to occur.  You can see my Eurovision 2010 Highlights post here.

Chocolate Tasting Evening at Cocoa

Since moving to England I have become addicted to tea.

When in Rome, eh?

I must admit it took me awhile to "get" what the British obsession with tea is all about.

But last night we went to Cocoa, 

a tea and chocolate shop with our new cougar club for a chocolate tasting evening.  

If only someone would've taken me to this place when I first arrived...

I would've jumped on the tea bandwagon much much sooner.

Isn't it the cutest?  

The adorable shop owner took us on a tasting journey 

from 100% dark chocolate all the way up to white chocolate.

I thought I hated white chocolate, 

but I realized I just have never been given the good stuff.

We also got a doggy bag of truffles.  

I am the annoying person who always eats half of each one....

In the front of the shop there were rows of candy and and tons of chocolate.  

My favorite was dark chocolate flavored with chili and lime... 

I never knew what my life was missing until I tasted that.

Delicious!

I have a feeling I will be taking American visitors here and helping them to get on the tea train.

Is it cheating if chocolate is involved?

Hey, Hey, Hey...

Hey random a-hole from Brazil that hacked into my gmail account and screwed up my blog,

 I don't like you one bit.  

But I'm glad you haven't accessed anything more important.

Hey GRE vocab words,

Why are you so obscure? No one uses you in real life.

But I got flashcards with you on them, 

and I'm going to have you all memorized very soon.

Hey Heat Radio,

You're my favorite radio station in England. 

Please keep playing such awesome jams.

Hey English bus drivers,

Why can't you ever understand me?  I'm speaking English.

Hey Husband,

I'm sorry I complain so much about not having a car.  

Your joke about me donating my legs to someone who would actually use them wasn't that hilarious, 

but I get your point.

Hey Girls My Age in Sheffield,

Why must you all dye your hair unnatural colors and pop out so many babies?

No offense to your babies, but they don't seem like much fun at our age.

Hey Cups of Tea and Biscuits,

Our relationship has got to end.  

I've become addicted to you since living in England, 

and you're making me fat.

Hey Blogging Friends,

Thanks for reading the crap that I write. 

Sorry if I haven't been leaving comments on your lovely blogs lately.

Our internet isn't working well at all.

Until next time...

Cheers!

Perfectly Poached and Pretty Eggs

Thank you all for your egg-cellent ideas yesterday!  I'll definitely be using them so look forward to a few more egg posts.  Unfortunately, on Saturday, thanks to a shady job done by our builders, the power went out to our kitchen and conservatory.  Which means no washing machine, no dryer, no dishwasher, and no oven.  Oh and the power to our fridge went out so we have extension cords all over the kitchen.  Anyways I didn't cook too much this weekend.  But our gas stove still worked (thank god for that) so I was able to light it up with a match and make some poached eggs.

Now I know this isn't innovative and it's probably old hat to a lot of you foodies out there.  But I love poached eggs and surprisingly every time I make them for company the person is shocked at how easy and delicious they are.  So I figured someone would benefit from this post.

Ok so you start with a pan of water.  Turn the heat way up and wait for it to boil.  Add a splash of cheap white vinegar.  Then crack your eggs and slip gently into the water.  A little trick I've learned is that if you put toast in the toaster at about the same time as you put the eggs in, they'll be finished at almost the exact same time (maybe 3 minutes or so).

When the egg whites are solid (you can check by cutting a little into the white bit - if anything spills out its not finished! - this isn't rocket science I know!) take them out of the water using a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to dry.  This is a delicate procedure.

Now you can butter your toast, or if you live England, your crumpets.  Oh how I LOVE crumpets.  I mean its basically just bread with extra nooks and crannies for the butter to melt into.  Yum.

Personally I always add that delightful Australian yeast spread, Vegemite , to the crumpets.  I think it makes everything just extra tasty.  But Vegemite haters can skip that step.  Make sure you add some salt and pepper and you're ready to slice into it.

You should have a nice gooey yolk.  Doesn't that look de-lish?  Well I ate it and I can tell you it was.  Simple perfection.  Enjoy!