VOTE.......like your life depends on it!

We have voted, have you?  

This isn't my first rodeo, nor my first rodeo voting abroad.  It is a lengthy process and time consuming to vote from another country, but I can assure you, I wouldn't miss it for the world!  This year it was much more important to me as it was Jackson's first time voting.  I was so proud of how he handled himself.  He really took the time to research the candidates and vote with a conscience.  It seriously took us 4 hours to complete our ballots.  I saw Willow Smith talking about voting on "Red Table Talk," and mentioning just how confusing it is for a new, young voter.  I agree wholeheartedly and was glad that Jackson and I could discuss whatever he had questions about, while we researched the candidates and proposals.  Jackson asked questions that hadn't even occurred to me and challenged me on my decisions and how I made up my mind of how to cast my vote.  It was really pretty cool to vote together and take as much time as we wanted.  (instead of just voting for all the women, like I usually do).   😉

I'm not here to tell you how to vote, but I would encourage you to get out there and do it.  I do believe that every vote counts and that it is important to make your voice heard.  Take the time, make a plan, and VOTE like your life depends on it.  Because from my perspective,,,, it does!     

Jackson:

This year was my first year voting and we are overseas so we had to request Absentee Ballots. My Mom and I both filled out forms that would make sure we were registered to vote and request our Absentee Ballots at the same time. We mailed them to our clerk in Grand Rapids, and about a week after we got an email with our Ballot. We printed them out and cast our votes for the election which included voting for president, state senators, congress representatives and other local elections. It was interesting to see how many different types of elections there were in Grand Rapids and the State Proposals that were on this years ballot. After we were done casting our votes, we sent our ballots back to the United States in time for November 3rd. 

Levi: I am really excited for this week because I have October break and I get a 16 day weekend, it will be very fun and I am probably going to play games with my friends and go on walks, enjoy the stars and just enjoy my time off in general.  I have been waiting for some time off in school and finally the time has come! School has been going fantastic and has been very fun, we had to wear yellow on the 9th to spread mental health awareness and we donated 1 pound to charity groups. It was fun until I fell in the mud while playing football. The weeks have been fun and I am very relieved to finally have some time off!  

Jackson:

This week we got to try a new restaurant in the city center called Chaophraya. It is a Thai restaurant and was located right on Buchanan street. The inside was very nice and had statues and huge ceilings with big chandeliers. 

My Mom and I started by sharing the Chaophraya Platter that had Thai chicken tacos, traditional Thai fish cakes, chicken spring rolls, tempura prawns and spicy duck salad. Our favorites out of all of those were the Thai chicken tacos and the tempura prawns. 

I then ordered Pandan Chicken as a starter because I wasn't that hungry. The dish had tender chicken marinated and fried in fresh Thai spices wrapped in pandan leaves. 

For dessert we had the Chocolate Bombe that had a dark chocolate sphere filled with a chocolate mousse, peanuts and hot caramel sauce. It was very delicious. 

Kitty:  I ordered this as my entree (while Jackson 

ordered the chicken) 

It was to die for! 

We walked a full hour to get to the restaurant, and 

an hour home.  It was worth every mile!!

Later in the week we tried a new pizza restaurant called Paesano Pizza. Levi brought his friend Cameron from school. I ordered a pizza that had Spianata spicy salami from Calabria with tomato sugo, mozzarella and evoo. It was very tasty and I ate the entire pizza in one sitting. 

These were great restaurants, and the food was amazing!  As of this past Friday, Glasgow has gone on a two week shut down calling for restaurants to be closed (if they have a liquor license), due to the highest cases of the coronavirus thus far.  So with that said, Kitty Crocker is scheduled to be back next week.  Pray for us all, as I've already ruined a perfectly good banana bread! 

See you at the polls,

Kitty

OMG!

 Okay friends, due to the small issues of moving to a new country, arguing with my landlord over filthy accommodations, finding a new place to live, moving in, and starting everything over,,,, I just haven't had the time to even shave my legs!

LITERALLY!

I have been overdue for a bath and luckily the new Flat has one.  Not really lucky, as I wouldn't rent without one and my precious epsom salts.  My legs REALLY need attention.  So finally today after working all morning on setting up gas and electric for our new Flat, I was ready for a little R&R in the tub.  I mean I deserved at least this much I thought.

This will be the first time using it, so I took the time to draw the bath water, find all of the accoutrements I needed like a new bar of lemongrass soap, a new razor, sugar face scrub, and some nail clippers as frankly my finger nails are getting out of control as well.

The water was perfect!

I had everything ready.

I couldn't wait to get in, so I dropped my robe and slid into the luxurious water.  

No sooner had I done that, when I see a workman, on the scaffolding next door with a perfect birds eye view of the entire tub.  

OMG!  WTF?  Holy sh&$!

What in the world do I do now?

I closed my eyes.  Kind of like toddlers do when playing hide-n-seek, and believe if I can't see you, well then certainly you can't see me!  RiGhT?!?

I then placed my hands and legs in strategic positions, to take a breath and decide what to do next.  I mean, come on, I needed this bath.  It was my right and I earned it this morning.  Am I gonna let this ruin my bath?

Let's look at this a different way, there must be a bright side.  This just may be a great way to meet people during lock down!   (just kidding Oma - take a breath!)

No is the answer, I'm having this bath!  The guy walked on to a different area of the scaffolding (I'm thinking he was wholly unimpressed), and I kept my strategic position and my eyes closed.  

As I relaxed more, I'd look frequently but didn't see him back for a while.  I figured out how to shave with my back sort of towards the window, and in the end I did have a nice bath, only seeing him once more.  But when I did look, he quickly moved on.  (or maybe he was running for his life?).

Anyway - I couldn't help but laugh at all of this.  As my favorite businesswoman as of late Sara Blakely says, if she hasn't laughed at herself in a while, she makes up something like singing in a packed elevator to keep herself laughing and grounded.  I doubt that she would try this stealthy bathtub move...  (at least not without her spanx on!)

When I came out of the 3 hour bath (okay not really, maybe 20 minutes tops), I said to Jackson, be careful in that shower, as the bath is a perfect view for the workmen outside.  To this Jackson replies, doesn't the window have a shade.  "No," I reply, because the bottom is stained glass and the top is too high to worry about.  Isn't it.......?  

I go back into the bathroom and really now did Laugh OUT loud.  

Sure enough, it does have a shade and it works perfectly well.  

So here's to laughing at yourself, or me, as the case may be!  

Happy bathing guys and I hope your baths are much more uneventful than mine!  

Kitty

ps. I did pass by one of the workmen in the hall to go outside, he was very friendly......😁

kitty crocker's cooking korner

In keeping with the theme above, I am going to fill you in on my new found baking abilities.  You may not know this, but I made scones from scratch the other day.  Yup, you heard me right, FROM SCRATCH.  It doesn't matter if Oma was on the phone with me the entire time and that they were a little dry from over baking.  I made them FROM SCRATCH people!  And the boys loved them!  So now, with my confidence at an all time high (maybe a low high), I decided to make blueberry muffins, because I gotta be honest, I don't actually like scones!  

I have dubbed these, Mishap Muffins. 

I got all of the ingredients, talked to friend #1 and asked if I could use the self-raising flour,  (who has ever heard of such a thing? but I bought it for the scones), and she said sure.  It wasn't hard, there was a super easy recipe on line, and with my baking cabinet fit to bursting with all of its contents, I got to work.

Jackson pitched in to help, ever so sweetly, and Levi only offered to 'help' with the eating. 

I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, buttered the baking tin, pre-heat the oven and set out to bake.  They did exactly what they were supposed to do, rising in the oven, looking spectacular with my bit of sugar on the top.  Made the Flat smell amazing.  All was right in the world. 

Up until I tried to take them out of the muffin tin.  For they wouldn't come out, however gently I asked and prodded them too.  The tops would come off just fine, but the bottoms had decided to stay put.  Well that was unacceptable, so I forced them to see the error of their ways.  Here you will see the outcome of our hard fought battle.  Muffins 1, Mama 0.    

Levi wouldn't try them until Jackson said they were good.  I thought they were amazing and decided not to judge my muffins on looks alone.  Since you can't tell how many you eat when they are in tatters, I just kept eating!  

I did do the next batch with baking paper cut into circles to mimic a baking cup.  And those looked perfect.  Jackson said that they even tasted better.  (?huh?) 

Either way, I was happy with my creation and they didn't last long in the kitchen.  I've sought out advice from friend #2 (as she is a closet 5 star chef), and I've got my marching orders on how to do them better next time.  I also have regular flour and real baking cups to line the muffin tin.  

As I told you from the beginning, where I lack in talent, I will make up in effort!  And that's some real hard efforting!  

kitty crocker over and out 

 

Cooking + Exploring + School....oh my! by Jackson & Levi

Now that we are in our new location in Hyndland, we are exploring the area and finding new places to eat. A while ago we tried this new cafe that we found on Byres road called Kember & Jones. 

I had a steak sandwich on sourdough bread, Levi had a Belgian waffle and Mama had the soup of the day. 

I also got a hot chocolate with white chocolate, Levi and I both got a banana + nutella muffin each and was delicious.

Another restaurant that my Mom and I recently tried is called 'The Left Bank' and is located near University of Glasgow and was close to our old flat. 

I got the special of the day which was the buttermilk chicken burger and my mom got a spiced lamb shawarma. 

We are also trying to cook different types of food so my Mom has been coming up with different recipes of things to cook such as Shrimp Scampi. We took all the shrimp that we had and tried this recipe with spiral noodles we got from Tesco and it turned out pretty good!

We also have been making pork tenderloin in our crock pot as well as fish in the oven. 

The food here in Glasgow is amazing.  There are so many good restaurants around where we live.  And - the food at home is getting better too!

Levi: 

My new walk to school is very nice and probably more scenic and adventurous than the 

last one. I get to see many trees and I get to see a lot of nice cars. I was really motivated this week in school because I have a 4 day weekend Fri-Mon and it has been very fun so far, I got to talk with my friends that I have not heard from in 3 months and do a lot of homework, it feels nice when you finish a big assignment after 3 days of work! I love our new house and the walk to school and everything, and I think I will enjoy living in Scotland for a while! The school weeks are doing good so far and I ironically wear my classic school uniform 2/5 days. Mondays and Tuesdays I wear my PE uniform, Thursdays I wear my army uniform and Wednesdays and Fridays I wear my classic uniform to school. Can't wait for October break!

I joined the Kelvinside Academy CCF (combined cadet forces) and chose army, not navy or air force, but army, this week we practised marching and had a marching competition, my team lost but it was fun. Soon we will go on field trips and get to use army equipment on the field! We have to iron our uniform every week and polish our own boots, if you do not do these things you will get a warning and then after that a punishment (standing in a field for 30 min) so you have to have your uniform perfect unless you want to look at nature for 30 min, which doesn't sound that bad so some people aren't worried about it. Army is the best section out of the 3 in my opinion because you get to go on field trips and camp, eat army rations, shoot firearms, make shelter, learn first aid and on and on and on... In airforce you just learn about planes and fly a glider at the end of the year, and navy you sail and swim. You can do that on the weekends! Army is special and not an everyday thing. 

Flat 2/2 13 Queensborough Gardens, Glasgow, G12 9PP

We are HOME!

But let's start here .. I have been schooled on how to say this...Queensburra, just like Edinburra, and it's Glas-go (hard o sound) not the ow - as in 'now'- sound).  I'm learning, and until then I apologize to all my Glaswegian friends, of which I now have 2.  

I am absolutely loving it here!  It is cozy, warmer, so well loved and taken care of, that we feel almost enveloped in a hug.  Okay, that is how I see it, it seems that the boys don't care one way or the other.  Actually Levi is thrilled to be closer to school and Jackson likes his bedroom much better.  But we had some tradeoffs, less bathrooms and en-suites, and we are further from city centre (I always want to say downtown, but that is not correct over here!).  But we do have 4 bedrooms now, one for Oma or visitors.  

That is us, 3 floors up, all the way over to the scaffolding.  The Master bedroom faces the other street. We are on the corner of Queensborough Gardens and Falkland.

This is a very quiet area

This is the front door for the 8 apartments, 2 per floor.

The landlord met with us for 2 hours to go through the place, and it isn't even that big, just 6 rooms in total.  He clearly loves it and is on call at a moments notice.  Many of the features here are top notch.  I've also already started antique shopping to fill some areas - it is a sickness, I'm telling you!  But this place is screaming for a buffet (or sideboard).   

We are only starting to explore this side of the West End.  It will be fun to have new places to find and try out.  I think we will be very happy here and the neighbors seem fantastic.  With Professor Malcom in the flat above us, to the German family across from us, we are in a true tenement.  Even when I googled it, it shows  a picture of one in Hyndland (look at the picture to the right in widipedia), which is exactly where we are.  So cool!  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenement

Jackson:

Our new house is a flat located on the third floor on a street called Queensborough Gardens. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 of them have beds in them. Levi chose the largest bedroom and I have a bedroom with the most comfortable bed. It has a window view out to the street and a large closet.

The living room is large and has 2 very nice black leather couches. It has a big television and an oriel window with 5 windows sticking out of the house.

This is an oriel window. Oma assures me that it is in many crossword puzzles.  It is a great place to sit and contemplate life!  Or play board games!  

Our kitchen is smaller than our last one but has a more homey vibe to it. We have a large fridge, a toaster and a crock pot that was left for us by the previous tenant. There is also a small faucet that has instant boiling water when it turns on so thats nice for tea or instant noodles. 

The landlord left these flowers!  So very sweet of him.

In our apartment there are really nice windows above some of the doors and in our bathroom. Also on the stairway up to our door there are Glasgow roses on the tiles. 

This is the window in the main bbathhroom

This is the Glasgow Rose, which outlines the staircase (called the close) all the way to the top. Which i hear is rare?

This is our front door.  The owner has painstakingly recreated all of the stain glass in the home, it is really stunning and partly what made us (okay Kitty) fall in love with the home.

Levi: 

I think the new house is great and I got to sleep in the big room for the first 2 weeks, this weekend I moved into the den because its more comfortable in there than in the big room.  The view from the house is really nice and I love how its only 15 minutes away from my school. It is very nice walking to school and seeing the sunny sky and trees while I walk. This is one of the best places I have stayed in ever and I think it will be very nice for the next year or two.

The master bedroom. Of which nobody is in right now?!?!  Crazy right!!!  But it is a huge guest bedroom for those of you coming to visit!

This is Mama's room.  It has a small bathroom attached.

The gardens by our front door

The Close

kitty crocker's cooking korner

Crazy Sexy Chili - Kris Carr has one of my all time favorites and whenever I make it, I make enough for about 4 nights!  It is a vegan dish, and you chop for about 13 hours straight, but it is fantastic.  I do cheat and add chicken stock (vegan be damned), because it tastes so much better.  Since we now have a full size freezer (housed in the bathroom - don't ask), I always have some at the ready!  I made this soon after we arrived and I froze a ton. So for Soup Snnday, all I had to do was let it defrost.  It made this Sunday that much more pleasant.