Traybakes and Crotchets

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bangor

Reed’s chocolate birthday cake turned out fine, quite beautiful in fact, even if the cake itself was a little drier than I would have liked. The dryness was canceled out by the huge amounts of buttercream frosting in between the layers. I split it into 4 layers so in the inside the frosting was pink, made by mixing strawberry jam with the butter and powdered sugar and milk. Outside, it was chocolate, made by mixing melted dark chocolate with butter and powdered sugar. I assembled the cake Saturday evening after a day of mostly hanging out at home – although I did take an hour and a half long walk late in the afternoon along the coast, my favorite time of day to be walking – and let it sit in the cupboard on one of Anna’s beautiful platters overnight.

Reed’s excitement level grew as time dragged by on Sunday, until the appointed hour of 3 pm arrived and a couple girls appeared, thankfully. Reed would have been VERY upset if no one had come on time. When they discovered there was indeed cake and ice cream to be had, they went and rounded up the rest of the children, so within a few minutes I was trying to pour drinks for 9 kids crowded into the summerhouse. Then we brought out the cake, lit the 7 candles, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Reed and waited patiently while I cut cake and ice cream and Reed served everyone. It was a chilly and windy day, and Walt kept making noises about me making the kids be out there, but I found a heater in the summerhouse earlier in the day and made good use of it. Afterwards I explained to Walt that I kept the children outside for my own sanity, knowing that having them in the house would’ve turned me into a quivering wreck, trying to make sure chocolate cake crumbs and grenadine sodas didn’t get spilled onto the white dining chair cushions, not to mention all those pairs of muddy shoes, and the problem of getting everyone back outside to play when it was over. The group quite naturally started a game of tag in the back yard when the refreshments were gone, and soon they headed back up front to the street to kick the ball around. Reed was exhausted by the end of the day as usual, but all in all seemed pretty pleased with the turnout.

Monday I headed out on a major grocery gathering trip, inspired by watching Two Fat Ladies on the Foot Network the night before. They had made a lot of yummy looking party treats including something called Devils on Horseback, consisting of a piece of chicken liver stuffed inside a prune with a piece of bacon wrapped around it, which was then baked. As I had chicken liver in the fridge, I bought some prunes and some bacon, and tried it out for lunch yesterday. Walt and Reed didn’t care too much for them but I thought they were delicious, with the salty-sweet combination of the fruit and bacon. Of course, I love bacon; you could probably wrap a Styrofoam peanut in bacon and I’d pronounce it great. I also tried to find canned clams to make clam chowder, but was unable to locate any. I did see canned mussels, and restrained myself from buying them, since we know that there are mussels for the taking down on the beach at low tide. Walt and I had both seen people harvesting them but Walt actually talked to some people one day to find out for sure. Walt got a tide chart today, and learned from the Coast Guard office that paralytic shellfish poisoning is nonexistent during the winter, so we can safely plan our harvesting trip. By the time I came home on Monday morning with my pack full of chickpeas and black eyed peas and rice and bacon and milk and pickles and other things it must’ve weighed 35 pounds – it felt at least as heavy as my big pack when it’s full of clothes, shoes, and books.

This morning I went to the market to stock up on vegetables from the local farmer who sells there. It was a misty/rainy morning so I took the umbrella for the first time, and filled my pack with potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and from another vendor, oranges and apples. Prices were low since the weather was so bad – so we’ll eat good veggies this week for relatively cheap. Tonight I’m doing a stir fry with carrots, broccoli, chicken, red peppers, and onions.

Monday afternoon we walked into town for our appointment at Northern Bank to open our account. Anna had said that they’re very strict about opening up accounts so it took a lot of legwork before this just to get to this point – but thankfully Anna did most of it, having worked at Northern Bank for a long time. The amount of time it took to take care of the rest of the process was an entire hour, with a pile of papers rivaling the paperwork for closing on a house, with somewhat fewer signatures required. Heather Brown was very friendly and helpful, though, giving us tips about nice villages to visit and good restaurants in which to eat, in case we ever get to do so. Afterwards we had a snack at Heatherlea – a sausage roll and a Cornish pasty – and then Walt headed off to run errands and Reed and I killed some time at the library looking at the reference book of world flags until it was time to get the bus to his violin lesson. I won’t go into detail about how THAT went, but it was all I could do to keep my eyes focused on the Harry Potter book I was reading. Fortunately Kerry is extremely patient and understanding, and she didn’t get visibly annoyed when Reed was flopping down on the couch complaining about being tired. Amazingly enough Reed and I managed to have a fun time with practice on Tuesday morning, and this morning went okay as well, as I keep reminding myself it’s not about being perfect, it’s about having fun… repeat…

You think you’re in an English speaking country until you see something completely different. Reed learned that the frog on his violin bow is here called the heel. He also learned the names of whole, half, and quarter notes at his lesson on Monday: whole notes are called “semibreves,” half notes are “minims,” and quarter notes are “crotchets.” Eighth notes are “quares” or “quaren” I think, if I’m reading her writing correctly. And at the train station snack bar, they had a special on any scone or “traybake” and cup of tea or coffee. It’s obvious what traybake means, but it’s a brand new word for me, and I even knew already that the stove burner is called a hob and that cheap wine is plonk.

We are glad to be missing out on most of the presidential election campaign rhetoric. I do have to make note of a hilarious comment in one of The Times’ commentary pieces the other day: “The next President of the United States will undoubtedly be more articulate than the current one (only Marcel Marceau could fail to meet that standard but he is (a) French, (b) dead and (c) thus not running for the Oval Office).” I note, for those who might be unfamiliar with Marceau, that he is a famous mime. But indeed, dead.