Happy New Year!

So this post is kinda super late. Oh well. It's only February 4, so I can still post about New Year's, right?

New Year's Eve was a quiet affair for us. During the day, Mom and I braved the rain and headed to Kensington to visit an exhibit I've been dying to see since arriving in London.

Pearls are my absolute favorite accessory. They are classic, sophisticated, and timeless without being pretentious or ostentatious (usually). I have way too many, to be honest, but they go with everything. I wore pearls for my wedding and so did all of my bridal party. I have real pearls, fake pearls, white pearls, black pearls, heirlooms and new gifts, chokers and long necklaces, earring studs and drops, and even a pearl ring. I expected this exhibition to be a grand display of elaborate jewelry. What I didn't expect was that jewelry and fashion were only part of the experience, while the science behind pearl development and the process of diving for pearls and preparing them for use would make up the other half.

x-ray photogaphs of pearls inside various shells (not all oysters!)

a pearl dealer's box, including multi-sized sieves to separate pearls of varying sizes, scales, and other tools of the trade

on the left: a specialized scoop to count out 100 pearls at a time

Among the jewelry and fashion pieces, there were also paintings (unexpected) depicting royal and aristocratic people bedecked in pearls. (Now, whenever I watch an episode of the Tudors, I am fascinated by the pearls dripping from the dresses, hats, and waistcoats.)

an exclusive project by Mikimoto; it took about a decade to collect the 5,000 pearls of equal size and lustre to create this solid pearl scarf

Honestly, because of the sheer beauty but also how much I learned, this may be my favorite thing I've done in London so far. (The display ended on January 19, so unfortunately it's impossible to return.)

From the museum we headed to Notting Hill where the week before we'd incidentally passed by Jamie Oliver's Recipease on the bus and immediately searched and signed up for a class. The following is an adventure in filled pasta!

shop on the ground level, restaurant and school on the "first floor"

Making our own ravioli, tortellini, and torteloni was so ridiculously simple that I think we will both be repeating the process in the future. Joe and I actually received a pasta maker as a wedding gift and now I can't wait to get it out of storage when we get home so that I can try things out!

Step 1: roll out the dough

Step 2: Play with your pasta scarf!

Step 3: Shape into adorable filled pastas!

Despite the promise of a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a multi-sensory spectacle in central London, we decided to forego the cold, the rain, and the crowd crush in favor of a couch at BrewDog and a low key NYE celebration.

Joe & Janis

Joanne & Sarah

New Year's Day we made one more trip to the Thames for our trip around the London Eye. It was grey, wet, and very windy, but seeing as Joe and I are suckers for a view-on-high, we still enjoyed ourselves. The whole rotation takes about 30 minutes. We had pre-booked our ride, which I thoroughly recommend since it saved us about 2 hours of queuing. Each egg-shaped pod holds about 30 passengers and it is essential to be as close to the front as possible, as nearly all of the recognizable London landmarks are on the north side of the river. (We can actually see the Eye from our neighborhood, but with the fog it was difficult to accomplish the reverse this time.)

a view from the top... of the carriage next to us

Westminster Bridge across the Thames to Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey

My ideas about visiting Westminster Abbey and having lunch at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese were both thwarted (the first by extremely high entrance fees and long lines in the rain, the second by New Year's day closing that was not listed on the website). We headed instead to Blackfriar's Pub next to the tube station of the same name and had a cozy, delicious British pub lunch. (The very first fish and chips I've tried where the fish batter actually tasted like something other than oil!)

wet and windy selfie

Christmastime a la Britain

Beyond seeing London and visiting us, the biggest reason that both of our moms wanted to be with us was Christmas. When we decided to move here it was with the understanding that we would use my school breaks to travel in the UK and Europe, not to go back to California. When my mom learned that I wouldn't be home for Christmas, she immediately staked out that break for her visit and when Joe's mom learned that my mom would be with us for the holiday, she quickly jumped aboard.

Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing Day (24, 25, and 26 December) were days for relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

Christmas Eve

Festive Menus, set course meals with special recipes and treats, are popular all over London (and I imagine the rest of the UK). When we arrived in September nearly every restaurant we visited already had their Festive Menu available for booking any time from 22 November to the New Year. Joe and I wanted to participate in this tradition and give our moms a taste of fine British pub food, so we tried four different pubs in our area before settling on the Flask for our Christmas Eve "do."

The Flask did it right. We placed our orders ahead of time, so when we arrived they were ready to put on a little holiday party for us.

Christmas Crackers at every place setting - a British tradition (that I still don't understand).

A HUGE turkey dinner with all the trimmings in addition to our starters
and desserts - possibly the best valued meal we've had in an English restaurant.

Christmas "pudding" is a must, of course. Pudding is just the Britishism for dessert. This dessert is apparently like a fruit cake that is soaked in brandy for up to two months ahead of time. Then, on Christmas evening, you turn all the lights off and set it on fire and it glows blue. I even snapped a pic of this advert for it in a tube station on the way to the airport:

Here is Janis's Christmas pudding. I caught the blue glow!
The stuff on top that looks like cheese is custard, the British alternative to ice cream.

Christmas Day

All public transportation was shut down, so the moms got to order a taxi and avoid the bus for this visit to our flat. The day was relaxed. My mom and I cooked breakfast and dinner. We watched television (Christmas-y specials, DVDs, and a BBC special on Buckingham Palace). We lounged and occasionally dozed off.

instead of big gifts, we stuck to stockings

the most perfect London-themed Christmas wrap EVER!

Even in London we wanted to continue our tradition of Christmas brunch. We toned down the menu quite a bit, though, and stuck to pancakes and English bacon (basically ham) and, of course, mimosas. 

Pancakes the way we know them are an American thing. My regular grocery store does not sell pancake mix and only sells syrup in small bottles in the specialty foods aisle. We had to buy this pancake mix in the international food section at Marks & Spencer. In USD, this small container cost over $7. (Yes, we could have made scratch but this was a special occasion.)

Janis and Joanne both got to add pins to our map of the UK for the places we visited in County Kent. 

make-shift stocking weights on the radiator (that's like a fireplace, right?)

In the afternoon before the light disappeared, we took a walk to Waterlow Park, a hidden gem just above Highgate Cemetery and across the street from our flat. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a relaxed stroll. Joe and I love this park in our little corner of London; living so near a green space makes it easy to think we're not in a big city. 

On the way we saw a fox in the cemetery!

Instead of the traditional "Our First Christmas" ornament, our newlywed keepsake is a token of our year in England.

For dinner and dessert, my mom and I decided to be a little adventurous. We chose a Jamie Oliver recipe for roast Christmas duck that was delicious but more work than it may have been worth. The gravy/sauce was probably the best part. I love duck, personally, and will usually order it whenever I have the opportunity, but this recipe directed us to shred the meat before serving it and that wasn't very pretty. We also made the onion squash I'd received in my most recent Abel & Cole delivery, as well as Brussels sprouts (a British tradition), roasted potatoes, and Bailey's chocolate bread pudding with vanilla custard. Everything was delicious!

Boxing Day

Since BrewDog was closed on Thursday as well, I figured this was a good day to head down to Theatreland for a play. We debated the current offerings and tried to settle on something that would please everyone, but we just weren't hitting the right note. Lion King? Book of Mormon? A musical? A classic? Shakespeare?

Janis is a big Beatles fan and I knew she would be interested in seeing Let It Be, the musical that mimics a Beatles concert. My mom, however, would be more interested in one of the power musicals like Mama Mia or Les Miserables. So Joe and I decided to split them up and give them each what they'd want most: time with their own kid and the play they'd most enjoy. We also decided to keep the decision a surprise, even though we booked the tickets in the middle of November.

Both of our moms were thrilled when they opened their tickets on Christmas morning. Janis said she sang along to every word of the show and it was the closest she would ever get to seeing the Beatles live. Joe also really enjoyed the show, particularly its fidelity to each time period in the band's career. 

Seeing Les Mis live was an emotional experience for both my mom and I. From the first notes we both had to catch our breath; the music alone is so powerful and overwhelming. This musical is so special to us and we were both excited to share this experience here in London. Such a great memory to make!