I'm Chuffed to Bits

Its Tuesday already!  and its no normal Tuesday, nope its Travel Tuesday and today we are celebrating the fact that my parents came home from Jolly old england!!!

My parents and i in Lyme Regis, England a few years ago

Can i just say how insanely jealous i am that they spent 10 days in beautiful England when they were experiencing one of the hottest Aprils ever?

Sample text messages from them included this, they like to rub things in! 

Unfortunately due to just coming back from Aruba and being in the middle of selling the house BF and i could not join them (insert rocking on the floor sobbing here)

So i've decided to share with you my Fav British things, photos and what my parents let slip that they brought us back, YAY!  Oh and there is a recipe thrown in at the end, Its totally not British but i'm sure you will forgive me ;o)

Random favourite British Things

My family

Sainsburys shopping bags

British Candy (see post here)

Small village pubs
Ploughmans lunch
Hyde Park


I went back in 2008 for the first time since we came to Canada and had a wonderful trip, these are a few highlights...

Classic photo opp!

Bath

Stonehenge

Avebury

London

London

So happy they are home safe and sound and they spilled the fact that they brought us home Easter chocolate, i have to tell you, British Easter Eggs are soooooo much better then the ones you can get here in North America, we didn't really have the Easter Bunny in England (which made for a fun talk when we arrived across the pond, can you imagine my sister and I learning about the giant bunny that delivers tiny chocolate eggs? we were leery for sure!)

Oh yummmm, is it Easter yet?  Okay on to the recipe before i ruin my macbook with chocolate envy drool

Mang-ana Soft Serve

Ingredients

1 frozen banana
4 pieces of frozen mango
Pretty shiny new Kitchen aid food processor 

Directions

1. Spend 10 minutes trying to get rid of that awful styrofoam off of the food processor

2. Spend another 10 minutes trying to get it to actually work

3. Realize they literally mean it will not work unless you have it on right

4. Possibly have it on right?

5. Nope, wishful thinking
6. *CLICK* yaaaaayyyy - figured it out and do happy food processor dance around the kitchen
7. Blend banana and mango together
8. Delight in the look and taste of this beautiful, healthy, easy dessert!

Vegan DAY ONE:


* Drank a lot of water (this was a serious conflict with the fact i broke the zipper on my skirt at 9am and having to wiggle out of it to pee every half hour was super annoying, Due to my inability to get the zippers to line up perfectly i had a little bump under my shirt, i refered to it all day as my tail nub, the last hour the zipper just came undone and i kind of let it stay like that, yup thats how i roll, thank god for long Banana Republic sweaters!)


* Loved having all our food organized for the day and didn't have to run around the kitchen at 5 to 6 throwing things together!

* Ate every few hours which helped but i was still seriously starving by the time i left work at 4:30!


* Learned that we need to eat a bit more protein in meals so we feel fuller (a word? yes? no? maybe so?)

Question of the day, are you planning on watching the Royal Wedding on April 29th? I admit when Fergie married into the family i SO wanted to be a bridesmaid, totally unrealistic but hey, i was 6

Ps: Wishing my sisters fur baby a speedy recovery from having her lady parts snipped xox

God save the QUEEN!

First off, i went to Zumba last night and was FULL of energy, even when we did the new dance that had me going in the wrong direction each and every time for the entire 3m30s song!

While waiting for D to be done squash i used a few weight machines and then hopped on the treadmill, i miss summer running SO bad :o(

Today we  have someone working on the house so i stayed in and utlized Angelas kettle bell 101 tips and then tried my wii zumba game, some how i was chosen to be male and i swear the guy moves in slow motion?  So i finished with some abs that came with a faceful of doodle tail, the furry baby loves to be rightnexttome when i work out at home!  At work now and already feeling it a bit, still trying to decide what classes to go to tomorrow - suggestions?

Not much to say today, i'm having one of those treaded girly fat days, might be because of that very special time of the month is coming (my unreasonable time as D likes to call it), but either way i feel like moo-ing and i can't be reasoned with, it will pass... i hope

Odd title right?  It's the first song that comes to mind when I think about being British!

Yup, thats right, i'm not a "real" canadian, i've lived in Canada for 23 years and still my passport is a shade of plum and i pronounce garage as gar-adge :o)
My accent didn't stick around long, going to school in Canada cured my sister and i of that quite quickly but words not often used around Canadians some times pop up in my vocabulary!

My entire family is british which means everyone but my sister, myself and our cousin all have accents so i'm quite adept at translating odd british words and phrases (did you have to que up for the lift today?)

My uncle and cousin came to Canada about 5 years prior to my parents and couldn't say enough good things about the country, my parents decided to go on an adventure and we moved to Canada justlikethat!  Well not really, lots of tests paperwork, boxes etc...

The memory that stands out the most is my parents talking to my uncle prior to getting on the Wardair flight to Canada and him telling us it was sunny and 25 degrees (in march) and to just pack our winter gear in the boxes being shipped, well we arrived to a blizzard producing about 2 feet of snow and ice, my mum and dad weren't impressed house and car shopping in anoraks and trainers (wind breakers and running shoes) but it was a great introduction to the finicky weather that is Canada

I've been back only once, it was a wonderful trip full of memories of growing up in an entirely different country and i ate A LOT

This post has a purpose, my biggest weakness is british food...

The candy is fab, they use flavours like black currant and raspberry insead of grape and cherry (ewwwwwww)
They lluuurrrvvvveee butter and puddings (desserts)
The grocery stores are full of whole foods, delicous prepared dinners, etc....

My list of favourite british things are

Thortons toffee
Proper english tea
Scotch eggs (though i think they might be scotish)
Pastilles
Scones with fresh cream and jam
Trifle
Banoffee pie
Bubble and squeak
Crisps
Cadbury chocolate buttons
I could go on for DAYS

Seriously, the next time you pass a quaint little british store (you know the one, each town usually has it tucked away in the downtown area), stop in, try something new, you won't regret it, trust me (just don't blame me if you start to moo!)