Daycations...............................it was fun while it lasted.....

 As Levi's time off dwindles down, we attempted to visit more museums and fun places with the extra time on our hands.  

The Hunterian Museum:

The Hunterian museum is housed inside Glasgow Uni.  There are many parts to it, with some areas yet to be open.  Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house is connected to the art museum and it is what I (Kitty) want to see most of all since it is supposedly art nouveau style.  The Hunterian is the oldest museum in Scotland.  

Inside the Hunterian Museum includes collections of many things such as rocks and minerals, dinosaurs and fossils, zoology and scientific instruments. The Zoology collection has a ton of specimens of insects. There are also scientific instruments ranging from the 18th century to more recently in the 20th century.   (hmmm, not sure which boy wrote this....plagiarism much?)

The Hunterian Art Gallery:

All of this came from William Hunter, a renowned anatomist and physician, that went to University of Glasgow.  He was a voracious collector, which was all bequeathed to the University.  I found Levi contemplating apples.  I think you will notice that the boys liked the next museum/science center, than the Hunerian.

The Glasgow Science Centre:

Jackson:

Sunday we all walked to the Glasgow Science Centre. It was about a 40 minute walk from our flat and we walked right next to the River Clyde to get there. It was a cloudy day and after we walked over a bridge that took us over the river, we arrived at the Science Centre. Inside there were many hands on experiments or puzzles to try out. There were many optical illusions, a section on space, anatomy and electricity and energy. They even had a harp with no strings but instead beams of invisible infrared lights that would make sound if your hand passed through it. 

On the walk back we walked a different way and passed by some cool murals on the side of this brick building. They all looked like they were done using spray paint which is very impressive.

Levi: The second museum was amazing there were three floors and the first was creativity and physics based.  There were a lot of puzzles and magnets, things like the tower of Hanoi type puzzles and electricity generating crank wheels that power a radio. I liked the electricity type stuff and the puzzles of course. The second floor was my favorite, it was about electricity, renewable energy and the future, it had a bunch of simulations about renewable energy and how it would impact the future if we had/did not have renewable energy in the world, there was a part where there are 4 wheels you can crank in front of a race track and there are 4 cars, red, green, yellow, and blue. When you crank the wheel the car starts going and races around the track and you can race with other people and a board counts the rounds of your car around the track. The second floor was very fun and had so many things that were very fun to use. Finally the third floor was about the human body.  When you first go up, there are 3 machines;  the first one is a thing you can grip that shows your grip strength versus the average human, the second one is a bar that tests the time you can hang from the bar, and the third one is a machine that shows your strength of your own jump and landing, it was a cool floor and my favorite part was a little section where you put your hands on metal strips and it shows your heartbeat. The museum was very cool and I learned a lot from it! 9 out of 10 I recommend it!

                    kitty crocker's chaotic cooking corner

It has been a great week for cooking and listening to books.  I've found that the more time I am in the kitchen, the more books I can "read" when they are audible.  Woooohoooo - win-win!  I never knew how much happiness I would find whilst cooking.  In fact, I barely even recognize myself!  I mean, I have a full functioning bakers cabinet, complete with treacle!  (is it a Harry Potter ingredient?)  Who would have ever thought?  It just goes to show, you never know how life will turn out, so you might just go with the flow and find your joy!  And since eating is a passion of everyone in this Flat, we are all joyously meandering along.

Here is a break down of the week of Kitty vs. the Kitchen:

Meat filled Monday - Thanks to Aunt Tessy, we learned how to make ribs in the crock pot by standing them on end.  Fabulous!

Taco Tuesday - was dressed up as Creamy Tuscan Chicken, ala the internet.  Completely yummy!

Work-it Wednesday - Was a meat pie direct from my favorite Israeli Ayala.  So quick and easy.  I thought I would have leftovers, since I made a bunch, but alas, the boys ate every bit of it.  (they supplemented with hot sauce for full disclosure).

Thirsty Thursday - Was brought to us via Chelsea Rossow (keeper of the GR house and gardens) and her fabulous fish taco homemade recipe.  It took me a while to get it all together, but the boys loved it.  I think I will always say "this is a recipe from Chelsea" so Levi will eat it without question!  😛

Free Friday - I don't have to cook!   Yippeeee!  I ended up eating tortilla corn chips dipped in left over cold chicken korma.  Seriously?!?!  And it was good......

Chaos in the Kitchen also showed up this week.  I did find out why you don't melt the butter when you make scones!?!?  I thought it was a good idea at the time, but the boys loved them and ate them within 24 hours none-the-less.  I gave myself a D-, or maybe an E for effort!  Maybe I should just call them Scone pancakes or Sconecakes??  

My, baked from scratch banana bread got a little burnt on the top, as I have yet to to make friends with this oven.  He's a surly chap, and has quit working on me once.   But I kinda liked it crispy on the top.  B-

I have also joined like 100 new FB groups and am loving all of the info I am getting from them.  From silent bookclubs, to American expats in the UK, to Rick Steves Europe (Estonia high on the list when we open up); I am finding out all sorts of stuff and am having a tough time trying to keep up on all of the information, which are the kind of problems that I like to have.  But the most exciting thing I learned is that there is a store in Glasgow that has a small American section that is prepping us for Thanksgiving.  So I got my trolley, and set out to find my treasures.  

This is direct from Chelsea, Michigan to Glasgow, Scotland.  The Chelsea Milling Company started in 1930.  Mabel White Holmes (owner) designed the first mix and it was marketed as a way to make biscuits that were "so easy, even a man could do it!"  💪. You go gurlll!  

I found it fitting for one of the two cast iron pans I stowed in my luggage as critical item(s) needed in my Scottish kitchen.  Better packing and moving has never been done!

Okay, Levi is back to school tomorrow, which I think I am going to enjoy more than he will.  The Scotland Squad is looking forward to bringing to you the Halloween edition next week, whatever that means in 2020.  Get your costumes ready...... I'm going as Kitty Crocker, chef in training;  complete with dirty dishes, make-up less face and a book being listened to in the kitchen.

Chaos Kitty signing off.......for now.

Happy eating y'all

   

Staycations all I ever wanted............. Week #1

 Well, I was hoping that we could go away for a week or so, during this October break that Levi has, but with covid, it is not meant to be.  I'm okay with it, as it still feels like we are on vacation anyway!  I've decided to keep us busy by having an outing every day, and since the museums are open, they are my first choice.  I haven't been to any of them, and they are mostly free, so why not checkout Glasgow from the inside?!?!  It is a great city and exploring it has been a blast!

I'll let the boys tell it from their perspective, but if you are following along, here are the two that we visited this past week.

This is the Kelvingrove Museum:

This is the front and it faces the river.  There are many stories about how it was built the wrong way around, and that the architect leapt to his death when it was discovered.  Truth or Glaswegian stories???   This side faces Glasgow Uni, and in my humble opinion, are two of the most beautiful buildings in Glasgow.  

This is the back side that faces the road.  Where most people enter and also think that it is the front.  Foolish tourists!!  

The building is just stunning inside and out! 

This is the Riverside Museum:

This is the home of the city's transport collection.

Levi: The week has been going very well so far and I have been having a lot of fun not having to go to school, we went to many museums and saw old cars, old gliders and a very old train of Scotland that was moved into the museum by truck.  The first museum (Riverside) had a lot of cars and vehicles, almost ALL cars and vehicles and I went with one of my friends from school, we saw some very cool old vehicles and even a bike that had two wheels of the front!  

The second  museum (Kelvingrove) was a museum of old animals, paintings, and sculptures. This museum had a bunch of floating heads as an exhibit and I thought that was interesting, but over all all the sculptures were very cool and the paintings were nice. My favorite out of all of them was the floating heads of course. 

I also just got a new bed this week. It was tough getting up the stairs but in the end it looks really nice and is now the best bed in the flat! I put some lights on it and it looks very nice now!  

Jackson:

This week we visited the Riverside museum with Levi's friend Cameron and his mom Karyn. Inside there were many historic vehicles including old cars and trains. They had old busses and even (one of) the original chitty chitty bang bang car(s). 

Right outside the Riverside museum on the water was the Tall Ship which we had a chance to go onto. The boat was built on the River Clyde in 1896 and is one of only 5 still afloat today. 

We also visited the Kelvingrove Art Museum. Inside there is a ton of art including a famous piece by Salvador Dali called 'Christ of Saint John of the Cross'.

Kitty:  I loved both museums and need to plan a couple more for the coming week.  My favourite part was hanging out with Cameron and Karyn.  We met them the first day of orientation at Levi's school in mid-August.  They are Scottish, but were also just moving to Glasgow from the US.  It was the greatest serendipitous meeting and I've been grateful ever since! I force Karyn to hang out with me weekly for tea.   They are good people and I feel lucky to call them our friends!

Kitty Crocker's progeny Jackson Bourdain

Oh happy day, look what I found at the top of the utility closet!  Never been used, KitchenAid no less.  I couldn't get over my good fortune.  Let the concoctions begin!!!!!  

Jackson:  Tonight along with our dinner, we made our own hummus! We got to use our food processor and used garlic, salt, lemon juice, tahini and chickpeas. We first boiled the chickpeas in order to get the skin off of them easily, then we put the garlic, salt and lemon in our food processor. After our chickpeas were done, we put our tahini and chickpeas into the food processor and added a bit of ice cold water to make the hummus more thick. The end result was a ton of delicious homemade hummus:

Neither of us have any clue on how to use this thing!

I'm thinking now that we didn't need to double the recipe, but maybe we can freeze some??

A photo for our cookbook!  

Kitty:  Okay, week one of fun is finito, but we are now on to week two.  
We will let you know what shenanigans we get up to soon.  Until then, keep cooking, vote, lower your shades and savor your life!

Ciao!