Blog Archives
The Hokey Pokey, Shakespearean style
Each week, the Washington Post hosts a weekly contest called the Style Invitational, inviting readers to a different creative writing challenge.
The best one I’ve seen to date is the response to their prompt – create a set of instructions for something, in the style of a famous person. Voila! Meet the Hokey Pokey, Shakespearean style:
The only thing I take issue with the name of the game. Brits call it the Hokey Cokey, not the Hokey Pokey, and I do expect that Will Shakespeare would fall in line on the cokey side of things. Don’t you?
The Limited’s British line
The Limited has unveiled their new arrivals and it’s a lot of British mod styling and red, white and blue. Graphics and patterns galore! Love it.
How I became an anglophile
“I haven’t always been the tea-drinking, Boden-shopping, Bond-watching anglophile that you see before you. In fact, my first 19 years were spent in relative ignorance of British culture and customs.
My knowledge didn’t extend beyond Princess Diana’s latest designer dress and what I could gather from “Are You Being Served” reruns on PBS.
But everything changed my junior year of college when I took part in a study abroad program in the U.K.”
And so begins, my first guest blog post, published this week, on another blog — SmittenbyBritain.com, another great site dedicated to anglophiles. I’m so excited to share this with all of you!
Check out my blog post “How One American Became an Anglophile” and have a wonderful weekend!
Brits love the onesie
Photo credit: Tony Buckingham
The U.S. may have created the slanket and the snuggie, but the U.K. is doing one better – they’ve introduced the adult onesie and it is taking off like wildfire! Pink, Miley Cyrus and even the Mayor of London Boris Johnson has one.
Every major high street story in the U.K. is carrying them and ASDA grocery store reported selling 140,000 of them in the last week alone. Check out ASDA’s Christmas video with grown adults romping around in some amazing animal printed ones:
(OnePiece sells to the U.S., if you’re looking for one stateside.)
Radio Times Christmas issue
There are few words to explain the allure of the Radio Times Christmas issue, which is on newsstands in Britain now. It’s just one of those traditional symbols of the season for Brits. Think TV Guide but bigger, better and packed with all of the juicy details about the Christmas programs that will be airing on British TV during the holidays.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact Brits only have five main TV channels (if you don’t have a Digibox) or the fact that British TV shows typically are limited runs (compared to American TV shows that continue on for years … I’m talking to you, Simpsons!), but there is genuine magic when Christmas rolls around and many of these shows that had ended (ie. “The Office” or “Only Fools and Horses”) have a Christmas episode (a reunion with our old friends on the telly!). This Christmas, there will be Christmas episodes for “Downton Abbey,” “The Royle Family,” and “Doctor Who,” as well as a new sequel to “The Snowman.”
There’s always the usual parade of Christmas movies and children’s programming and even the glorious cooking shows (Delia, Nigella, Jamie Oliver, etc.) serve as a tasty reminder of the season. The Radio Times details them all so you don’t miss a bit. It’s an enduring British tradition that I love this time of year.
Follow me on Pinterest!
I joined Pinterest a little while ago at Pinterest.com/britrish and am having fun pinning and finding great Britrish content! Won’t you give me a follow? I’ll follow you back!
Have a wonderful weekend!
The right time to buy a Christmas tree
We put up our tree last weekend. It was, perhaps, a little premature by British standards (it’s not unheard of for Brits to put up their Christmas tree on Christmas Eve!) but a little last minute by American standards and I did want to make sure that we didn’t get the last Charlie Brown Christmas tree on the lot.
I remember one year we waited until nearly the 18th of Dec. and it was serious slim pickings (particularly since many tree lots get their big delivery right after Thanksgiving and sell off what they get. No daily shipments of fresh trees.) Anyway, it’s also just nice to have a little extra time to enjoy the tree, particularly now that our kids are getting older and the run up to Christmas feels more like a sprint than a marathon.
Decorating the tree is always one of my favorite things to do. I love the collection of old and new ornaments, the mix-match patchwork quilt of memories collected over the years. We bought this Santa ornament a couple of years ago in remembrance of our years living in London. (It’s actually from Cost Plus! They still sell this little glass Santa with Big Ben).
When do you usually buy your Christmas tree?
British panto season
Last weekend, we took the kids to their first play in the theater – and their first British panto.
For the uninitiated, British panto is a rich holiday tradition that goes back for centuries. It’s a family-friendly musical theater extravaganza, always during the holidays, with lots of audience participation. There are some constants: The shows are always based on a fairytale. Pantos always include a dame (the story’s narrator) played by a man dressed in drag, a horse or cow, and a leading man, played by a woman wearing boots and shorts. I’ve been to a panto years ago when we were living in the U.K. but haven’t seen one in recent years and never here in the states. When we heard there was playing here in Sacramento (City Theatre), we had to check it out.
The panto was “Alice in Wonderland” and we loved it. They threw some characters from “The Nutcracker” into the mix, along with heavy pop culture references and some familiar pop songs. Candy was tossed into the audience at regular intervals, we had a great time shouting at the actors (“She’s behind you!”) and we were all given balls to pelt the Queen of Hearts. It was amazing, manic and joyful and will certainly be part of our holiday tradition going forward.
Now I am just hoping the kids aren’t really disappointed when they go to a regular play for the first time!
Gap Britwear for boys
I love Gap’s dedication to the union jack! Check out some of their boys’ stuff!
Gap has a 25% off sale on all regular priced items through Sunday. Enter Gap25 at checkout!
Roasted butternut squash and caramelized onion tart
I have fond memories of a Thanksgiving dinner celebrated in London so many years ago. One of my managers at the time was American and graciously hosted a spectacular dinner at her home near Marylebone for her American friends and a host of curious Brits.
I was vegetarian at the time and my contribution to the feast was a roasted butternut squash and caramelized onion tart, a recipe I found on Epicurious.com. It was a terribly involved recipe (at least for me, at the time) and required pastry (which I avoid like the plague), but the results were so festive and delicious, I hardly missed the turkey.
These days, I am back to eating turkey but I still like to make this tart at least once a year during the holiday season. This year, I made it the day before Thanksgiving as a tasty reminder of that one Thanksgiving meal so many years ago. If you’re looking for a pretty dish to please vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, try this! Read the rest of this entry
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