Papa's turn to blog...

Hey, gang, it's Tim here, hanging out in Glasgow with Kitty & the boys for the past week.  My flights were trouble-free, and the boys ran down the stairway to meet me when I arrived on Dec. 19.  So great to see these fellas after 4+ months!

I got the grand tour of the flat; it is pretty sweet!  Seems like just the right size, with an extra bedroom being the largest one, which I was glad to settle into for a nap, after a game of Marbles.  It is nice to have all living space on one level, unlike the Dublin place.  

Levi's last day of school was the day I arrived, so we have all been able to just relax and do whatever we want.  Sort of.  Shortly before I got here the UK announced that after Christmas they would be closing all non-essential businesses again, after opening them on Dec. 11.  So we had a few days to go shopping, go to a restaurant, etc.  So we did.

The day after I arrived we walked (you do a lot of walking in Glasgow) to Partick, a nearby neighborhood on the West End, where Jackson had secured a reservation at a fancy Itlalian place, Celino's (nowadays you can't get seated without a reservation).  It was an excellent late lunch!  

       

A couple of days later, when it stopped raining for a bit, we headed to the city center to do some shopping, wander about with all the other masked Glaswegians, and when it got dark at about 3:45, enjoy the ambitious holiday lights.  It was pretty excellent.

 
 

Buchanan street, which has many high-end shops that were all lit up like a waterfall of lights.  The City Chambers building was lit up with red and green, but after a while the colors would change!

We've been having dinners back at the flat, with me subjecting the family to my culinary whims, while Kitty Crocker takes a break for a bit.  After dinner it is game time for an hour or so, then whatever Netflix show we are binge-watching (The Queen's Gambit, and now The Crown).  After Mama goes to bed it's a quiet free-for-all.  The boys and I are in a bad habit of sleeping late.

OK, gotta share this with you.  This is the local hardware store.  I'm told the owner can find anything you need amongst this pile of detritus.

A few more pics of the gang in action....

We had a great Christmas morning, Santa was good to us.  It was a late start now that both boys are teenagers, but Levi was still the one to get it all started.  We even had Christmas crackers at dinner complete with crowns and riddles.

There can never be too much hot sauce!

I really like the coat that the boys chose for me.

Now I just need to figure out how to get from the UK to the US on Jan. 8th with new rules in place to prevent the spread of the freak covid virus from the UK.  Ugh!  

Take care,

Tim

Our first guest in Glasgow

 Levi:  

The Christmas break has started and I am ready to enjoy it! Oh man has this semester been something, tests, assessments, and a lot of work. Finally a break from it all, on Friday I had a half-day of school and just couldn't wait to get home. I made it through the day and was in my last class as I sat there watching the goodbye video. Once it was over I booked it and went home, ate dinner, and went to bed. The next day I woke up, and Jackson my mom and I went to Lidl and Pound Land to get some things. I got some fluffy socks that I am wearing at the time of writing this and I like them very much. The corner I sit in is very cold usually and freezes my feet every time I sit here. The others got normal groceries, we filled up 3 bags and a backpack of stuff. It was a tough walk home but we did it. 

  After we got home I took a shower and was laying in bed when I heard the doorbell ring, I remembered my dad was coming to visit us for the break! Jackson and I rushed down the stairs to greet him and take his luggage up to the flat. He got settled in and we instantly played a game of marbles thanks, to Jackson's proposal. Jackson won of course and it was really fun, after that we all sat down in the living room and watched "The Queen's Gambit" a really good show about an orphan girl who learns to play chess competitively and gets quite good at it. We sat there and enjoyed the show as it went on and eventually all got tired and said our goodbyes for the night. 

  The next morning we had a reservation at a restaurant called "Celinos". We all got ready right after getting up at around 12:15 PM and headed out. Once we got there we wore our masks through the restaurant and got to our table, admiring the opulent decorations of the place. After thinking for a while we all ordered and I got a whole Margarita pizza with fries on the side. This was probably the best pizza I have had and it was very nice. I ate the whole thing to my and everyone's surprise. The next part was my favorite, dessert.  I ordered a sticky toffee pudding it was very, very delicious and sugary as expected. After like 2 hours we left, Jackson and I chose to go shopping with my dad while my mom went off to buy her things. We three went to a hardware store to check it out and didn't buy anything as we didn't need any hardware at the time and went to some other places to get some snacks and other items.

  After the trip, it was getting dark even though it was only 3:30 PM and we went home to watch another episode of "The Queen's Gambit."  After the show we all hugged and went our separate ways. Jackson went to play chess of course after watching a show about chess. My dad went to cook some chili. My mom went to browse Facebook as usual. And I went to write my segment of the blog! The next three weeks will be a blast for sure with my dad here! 

Jackson:

Yesterday my dad arrived in Glasgow. It was a Saturday and we were at Lidl right before he got to our house around 1 PM. Once he got here we ran down to see him and helped him bring up his things. I helped him set up wifi on his devices and we hung around the house for the rest of the night. I showed him some videos about Chess and had him make a chess.com account so we could play. We played a match of chess and I won. The next day we had a reservation at a nice italian restaurant. We plan to go to more restaurants.  Levi, my dad and I walked past a Vietnamese place in Partick that we want to try some day for lunch. We plan to give him a tour of the Glasgow Uni lights that are hung up and to George square where all the Christmas lights are set up. We also wanted to get a car and drive around to visit some cool landmarks. After our lunch on Sunday, my Mom brought home a shoe rack that she ventured to find at the Lidl in Finnieston.  She luckily found one and we put it together Sunday night. It fit right under the table next to our front door and now holds all of our shoes that we have. We have been watching a limited series on netflix called 'The Queens Gambit' and watched the second episode tonight. My dad and I have already seen it but we wanted to show Levi and my Mom because it is such a good show. After we watched the second episode I went to my room to take part in a chess tournament my friends and I were doing. I won a couple games but lost the third game to my friend Kevin. 

Kitty:

Thanks to Tim, Chelsea and Oma, I got an entire luggage of stuff from home!  Christmas came early!  It was so exciting to open everything up.  Oma even slipped in some surprises like her hand knitted socks, fels-naptha soap, goo-gone and another beloved cast iron pan.  Woooohooo!  Funny the things that make you happy when you are an adult!  

Levi even got some Christmas lights Oma had from Dublin!  

On another note..................................................Kitty Crocker has been sent to time-out!  She may not come out until next year!  

🤬🤬🤬

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas!  Love, hugs and good health is being sent your way.

The Purrple Cat Cafe!

 Levi: 

Wow, this weekend has been something. First, my family and I walked down to the farmers market and bought some goods, we got to meet a variety of people and talk to some Scottish folks. We met this guy who was selling Scottish spirits made in the Highlands!  We talked to the man for a while and learned he has lived all over the world as well, it was very interesting. Once we moved to the back of the market there was a cheese stand and it had blocks and wheels of cheese on the counter, once we approached the stand we noticed that is wasn't cheese. It was soap! For some reason, the maker had it in giant wheels, we all thought it was cheese but we smelled it from where we were standing and noticed it was soap! After the farmers market, we went back home and lounged around until night time.

The next day we had to wake up at about 10:30 AM to get ready to go to a surprise location that my mom planned for us to go to. We walked to the train station and got on the train and in 4 stops we got to High street, my mom said she did something wrong and we don't actually get off at High street like she said we would earlier, so we stayed on the train. About 5 seconds after the train starts moving she says "Oh we actually were supposed to get out there..." We all laughed and decided on walking from the next stop. 

We got off and started to walk to the exit of the station but we noticed maybe we could take the other train back one stop to go to High street and save us some walking, it wasn't ethical but we got on the train and got to High street without any ticket confirmation! Once we got there we walked just a little more and on the way, Jackson said he knew where we were going and that he figured it out. I didn't have any idea and it took until when I was right in front of the building to notice what the surprise was. A cat cafe! I love cats and when I saw this I was very happy and we all ran inside (it was raining too). 

We got in and took our shoes off and watched a rule video that was telling us what to and not to do in the cafe. Once we sat down at our table we saw about 11 cats flying around the place, around 5 were young kittens and were playfully fighting each other and dashing around and under tables at light-speed. We also saw one very large long-haired cat who kind of looked like Gandalf! I can't remember all the names so I kind of just made up some names to call them temporarily. We ordered some drinks and food and started petting the cats, I got a bacon sandwich and hot chocolate. 

Their food was really good in my opinion, a lot of the cats were too busy chasing lasers and cat toys to notice us but some did and came over to investigate. One cat named Alex was a very nice and chill cat, unlike the others Alex was okay to be pet, the others kind of wince when you pet them since they probably get pet so much. Alex liked getting scratched under the chin and eventually laid down on one of those cat tower things while we petted him. The kittens would sometimes jump on the tower and try to climb to the top, then be distracted by a toy and jump down then repeat the whole process.

The place had little bridges up in the air for the cats to walk across, getting a birds-eye view of the cafe, it was a really nicely designed place and a very comfy area. My mom and Jackson found some string type toys to wave at the cats, the cats loved the toys and swatted at the string jumping around like springs. Alex even jumped on the table and tried to snatch some of my sandwich! Alex became my favorite cat out of them all. Alex was a kitten but not as hyper, which is like his special trait. Speaking of Alex, the cafe had merchandise they were selling saying #team(cat name here) on a mug or tee shirt, so you could get a #teamalex mug to show off to your friends. 

The trip truly surprised me and I am thankful we got to go there. 10/10 I will definitely visit again someday.  #TeamAlex!

-Levi

Jackson:

This weekend on Saturday, me, my mom and Levi all went down to Partick to a local market. There were a lot of tents with people selling fresh food, meat and other goods. We got some salami and bread from a nice guy at one stand, and some gifts for other people. I also got some Indonesian food at a stand where they said they made the food fresh that morning and had it for dinner later that night. It was very delicious. My mom got some soap from a stand that at first we thought was selling cheese but upon further inspection revealed it was actually soap. There was a tent where a couple of men were making fresh angus cheeseburgers for people for lunch and we decided to have lunch at the next farmers market in a couple weeks.

We then walked across the street to Mental Munches which is a store that sells American snacks and candy. My Mom wanted to see if they had any stuff that she liked but they didn’t have them unfortunately.  (chewy sprees and whopper in case you are wondering).

On Sunday, we took the train into city center to visit the Purrple cat cafe. It had a total of 32 cats inside and they were all over and we got to hangout with them and watch them run around. 

There were bridges and all sorts of structures around the room that they would climb on. 

Since it was also a cafe we got lunch there. Levi got a bacon sandwich and I got a ham & cheese panini while we hung out with a ton of cats, it was pretty cool. 

Kitty:  It was a fabulous, fun weekend!  It was nice to get out and about.  The cat cafe being the best one we have visited thus far, so well done to them!  I even got to finish Schitt's Creek which was so great and so sad all wrapped up into one.  What an absolutely fabulous show!  I will miss it.

 

Kitty Crocker, on the other hand, was on a bit of a hiatus (or time-out) after managing to unintentionally torch an oven-mit, being ever grateful it wasn't the entire kitchen!  I never liked that oven-mit anyway!  

(don't ask)

May you all have the most purrrrrfect week!  

Kitty

My first turkey, and most likely my last

 Oh happy day, I had my new cast iron pans and a bit of Christmas shopping done.  I was certain the day would be better than yesterday.  I even got my work-out in so that I could eat anything I so desired.  I planned out the day and paced it all around the turkey.  I set an alarm to give the turkey 60 minutes outside of the fridge (as suggested by all-recipes on line), before I dressed it up for the impending oven of doom.

We had other sides ready to be made like mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread and gravy, but those were to come later.  

I felt grateful from the moment I got up.  It was just one of those feelings of loving life and being thankful for all that I had.  It felt magical!  Like I'm not sure how I got so lucky as to live here in Scotland with my two boys, but wow, 'it doesn't get any better than this' kind of feeling.  Totally loving life!

It was such a great feeling, exactly what you need on Thanksgiving.  I was ready to 'Win the Day!"  (Anybody from Perrigo remember that Hendrickson euphemism?)

It was actually quite a calm and easy day, such an easier start to the cooking day vs. yesterday.  2.30pm was my start time.  The turkey had been out for its required hour and I was ready.  I have been baking a full chicken every fortnight since we have arrived in Glasgow, so I knew my way around a bird....at least I had seemed to think I did.  

It was a nice looking 10 lb bird and I quickly found the little bag of giblets near the neck, so far so good!  But once I tried to open the bird, I couldn't get inside of it.  Hmmmm?  The skin was not opened and I couldn't cut it, so I yelled for back up.  Once Jackson got into the kitchen, he couldn't figure it out either.  

This doesn't seem right?!?!  At least not to me, the newly minted Kitty Crocker.

Well okay, I know when I'm out of my range, so I called for more powerful backup.

"Jackson, get Oma on the phone stat!"

Oma was having a lovely breakfast with my sister RuthAnn, as they had celebrated on the correct day and were now done with all of that stress.  They were both relaxed and joyously eating breakfast.

But that was soon to change!

Oma takes charge and immediately says to just get some scissors and cut it open, with a hint of foreboding, she tells me later.  I had Oma and RA on video chat, so Jackson started cutting open the bird.  Cool, I've got the recipe all ready to go.  I'll stuff the bird, do the pre-mixed herb butter and move on.  The curmudgeon of an oven already pre-heated.    

It took a little bit, but we got inside the bird.  But as I went to stuff it, I realized it already had stuff in there.  Stuff that shouldn't be there.  Oh Jaysus, Mary and Joseph.  What in god's name is in there?

Please note, the following content is not suitable for young children or anyone with a queasy stomach...

STOP

READING

NOW 

IF

YOU

FIND

THAT

BLOOD

MAKES

YOU 

WOOZY

BECAUSE 

FRIENDS

THIS 

IS 

WORSE 

THAN

BLOOD

!

IMHO

YUKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

For the next 15 minutes, Jackson (god bless his soul), reached in and pulled out intestines, bladders, a heart (I think), a liver, tubes going nowhere, something super hard.  Truly gross stuff.  All while Oma and RA had a play by play of the action.  Because all I could do was hold the camera and keep from barfing!  

Every time we (meaning Jackson) thought we had it all, we (meaning Jackson) would find MORE.  When will this end?  Can I just throw this one away and buy another one, is all that is going through my head.  

Oma and RuthAnn cannot even believe what is going on.  They even brought Rich in to see the carnage.  At this point, they've stopped eating.  As I continue to exclaim, "what is this", "is this normal", "why is this happening to me?"  "What have I done to upset the gods?"

I really questioned at this point in time, if we were going to have a Turkey for our Thanksgiving meal.  Surely, there was enough burnt pumpkin pie to sustain us for the day, me thinks.

But onward we went until it was cleaned out!  

Oma still remarking for the 135th time, that she cannot believe this.  

Yeah - me either Oma!  I didn't sign up for this.  I was NOT born in a barn, however many times my dad asked me that growing up!  For if I had been, maybe this wouldn't be so gruesome?!?

BUT, when life serves you undressed turkeys, it is time to make gravy!  

Right?

Anyway, nothing to do now, but get on with it and make Thanksgiving dinner!  

    

one cup of herb butter can't hurt anything, but maybe I really should've used the brush

homemade cornbread complete in cast iron skillet, that I may or may not have, dropped directly onto the floor when retrieving it from the oven with a poorly made (read too thin) hot pad

my small version of green bean casserole sans mushrooms that Levi won't eat

carrots, celery and sweet potatoes

Yet the best side of all and I forgot to take a picture.  Jackson made the tastiest smashed potatoes I have ever had!  Seriously, soooooo good!

And the centerpiece, the coup d'etat, while it wasn't pretty, it was actually quite good and moist.  Shocking to none other than me.  Score one for me, and 0 for the oven!  💪

Kitty Crocker in all her glory

The mashed potatoes can be barely seen on the bottom right in my new black cast iron casserole pan

And because we had done our time, did more than we ever bargained for, the pumpkin pie was actually FANTASTIC!  And gone in less than 24 hours.  The ginger snaps didn't last the night and the culprit for that wasn't even the boys!!!!  

finally a good title for this

So there it is friends!  My first ever Thanksgiving meal, from tears to triumph.  It is one I will NEVER forget.  And I'm pretty sure that Oma and RA won't either.  But you know what is funny, and completely bewildering to me, Jackson just asked me why I titled this blog my 'first and last turkey,' and I explained (I mean, do I really need to explain?) it was so gross, didn't that even phase you I ask.  "Naw," he replies.  Jackson really thought nothing of it.  So thank you Uncle Art, I believe you have set him up well for life working on that lobster boat of yours!  

Kitty 'city-girl' Crocker

PS.  Does this packaging say anything about what was to come?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.