Double Stuff Oreo Lick Race: WIN a Flip 4GB HD Video Recorder!

As an American I grew up with Oreos and it's hard to believe they've only been in the UK for 3 years! Well not that hard to believe for me because I remember being crazy excited when I was able to find them in UK stores and I may or may have not squealed like a tweenage fan girl when I found Double Stuff Oreos at my grocery store and immediately tweeted a picture and then bought 4 packages just in case they weren't there next time. So I guess it's fair to say I freaking love Oreos. I regularly had Oreos and Oreo milkshakes throughout my pregnancy with Blondie Boy and while he hasn't tried them yet (they are egg free so he can eventually!) my Mom craved Oreos when pregnant with me so there must be a genetic link!

So when Oreo got in touch about their Double Stuff Oreo Lick Race I was really excited. Oreo is challenging families to upload their attempts to www.oreolickrace.co.uk and be in with a chance of winning a VIP family trip to Florida. As an added incentive, for every video race uploaded to the website the brand will be donating £1 to the children’s charity, KidsOut who work with children affected by domestic violence. I'm on the Board of Glasgow Women's Aide so I know how much these children need this kind of service.


Entering is easy:

Using a glass of milk and an Oreo cookie, the Lick Race gets two family members competing to finish their Oreo first by following these six, simple steps:

Twist. Lick. Show. Dunk. Eat. Drink. 

First you twist, then you lick the creme filling, then once you have shown the “clean” cookie to your opponent, you dunk it in cold milk. Next you eat the cookie and finally, you drink your milk.


Upload your video before July 31st for a chance to win or if you'd rather be a spectator you can take your chance and enter for daily prizes like a Nintendo Wii just by watching!


I'm going out with some of my friends tomorrow and I'm going to have her 6 year old challenge me since Blondie Boy is still a bit too small. No offense to Aedan but I'm pretty sure I have this race all locked up! Who will you race against?

To help you make a video of your race to prove your are the UK's "Most Entertaining Lick Racers" I have an Oreo goodie box with everything you'll need including: Oreos, two rainbow glasses, badges and (wait for it) A FLIP 4GB HD VIDEO CAMERA (with tripod)!

To enter:
Follow my Blog publicly (link on right sidebar) and comment how you eat your Oreos! Do you eat it whole, cream first, dunk or something else? (mandatory)


Extra Entries:
-Follow me on Twitter and tweet "I entered to win an @Oreo #TwistLickDunk Goodie Box with @Melaina25 and TransatlanticBlonde.com! You can too!: http://tinyurl.com/TBOreo" and comment to let me know (1 extra entry)
-Check out Oreos on Facebook and comment to let me know which recipe you'd most like to try (1 extra entry)


Make sure to leave each entry in a separate comment.
All entries will be verified and deleted if not valid so make sure to leave the usernames you subscribe or tweet with.


Open to UK residents over 18 only. A winner will be drawn at random on July 28th at 12:00 GMT. Winners must contact me within 48 hours or another winner will be drawn. GOOD LUCK!  CLOSED
Transatlantic Blonde was provided an Oreo Goodie Box but view and opinions are my own.

Guest Post: A Blogger's Confession

When you're an expat you can hear an American accent across a room; you hear that twang and immediately know you're not alone and you have to find that person. My last guest post is by the lovely Erin  from an American Mom in England who's originally from Oregon (but went to university in Ohio) and after an initially difficult adjustment loves living in England.   


This might seem a bit odd, but I have to admit that one of my favourite things about living in England is meeting other Americans who live here.  It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for Americans living abroad to connect.  

There’s something almost magical about the ease with which friendships are formed among expats.  All the differences that might have separated us in the states don’t matter over here.  Instead we bond over the things we miss from home: macaroni & cheese, mountain dew, pop tarts, Mexican food, good sushi.   I think it’s because we share a common cultural literacy with one another that simply makes friendship easy.

Unsurprisingly, my husband disagrees with me.  His theory is that since there are substantially fewer Americans over here we expats substantially lower the level of oddity we’re willing to tolerate accordingly. 

Yet, I know for me that’s not the true.  The expats I keep in touch with are some of the most amazing women I know. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get to spend a day in Manchester at a BlogCamp with the lovely Melaina and Lindy.

(Please forgive the crazy frizzy hair, it had been pulled up until moments before Lindy took the photo!)

Besides the obligatory expat chat:  Where are you from?  How long have you been here?  How did you meet your husband?  This is followed by shared geographical knowledge (in this instance Dayton & Cincinnati, OH) and then the inevitable mention of Costco. 

I met two strong independent women who have the self-confidence to be themselves and those are the kind of friends I like the best. 

Guest Post: Abby's Easy Ranch Pasta

The lovely Abby from Life with B and A is back to blogsit again with another one of her easy and crowd pleasing recipes. If you've ever met an expat one of the biggest things we complain about is the lack of Ranch dressing outside of the States. I am no exception and love Ranch and can't wait to try out Abby's recipe when we get back!

Hello everyone I’m back, helping my blog friend Mel out while she’s off on her fabulous holiday! Last time I shared my recipe for Asian Style Pork Chops. I thought I would continue the trend and share another easy peasy recipe with you that is a favorite here in our house. I was given this recipe by a co-worker of mine and it has been a staple in our household ever since.


We call this Easy Ranch Pasta and in fact we just had it last night! Even our 15 month old Drew loves it.


So here's what you will need:


-1box of bowtie pasta


-2 packages dry ranch dressing (Non-US peeps you can make your own Ranch seasoning mix)


-Cooked diced chicken


-1medium bag frozen vegetable mixture ( I use the one with peas, carrots and corn)




Boil water in large pot, enough to sustain the entire box of pasta. In another pot boil enough water to sustain the entire bag of veggies. Cook both pasta and veggies.  While they are cooking dice chicken into small pieces.


After pasta is cooked, drain it and put it back in its original pot.  Drain veggies and put in large pot with pasta. Add in chicken and coat mixture with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add in ranch dressing and mix together. If you really like the ranch taste, you can add a couple of tablespoons of actual ranch dressing from the bottle to thicken things up and make it even.

Serve it up in a bowl or on a plate, and VOILÀ! Easy Ranch Pasta!

Peepshi Easter Treats

The lovely people at Kellogg's UK were ever so kind to send us out a wee Easter surprise package this week with aprons, a chef's hat and all the goodies you need to make Rice Krispie treats.  Blondie Boy is still a little young to help cook (I can't wait until he's big enough!) and for such a sugary treat so I set NotBlondeHusband a task using Rice Krispie treats and his favourite American candy: Peeps.

First off for those who don't know this is a Peep and they are awesome.  It's basically a marshmallow chick covered in coloured sugar.  They are amazing and NotBlondeHusband LOVES them.  Luckily for him my Dad sent over a bumper pack that arrived the same day as our Kellogg's goodies.

So what is Peepshi then?  It's a sugary reincarnation of one of my favourite foods: sushi! You can read how to make Peepshi here but all you need is Rice Krispie treats, Fruit Winders or any Fruit Roll-Up snack and Peeps!

Isn't it cute? NotBlondeHusband had a lot of fun making them and I can't wait to bring them out tomorrow for a Easter treat at half-time during the football. If you want to make Peepshi yourself why not check out The Five F's competition to win your own Kellogg's goody bag! 

Mixtape Monday

It's one of my best friends Deb's 30th Birthday in two weeks time and they've asked for song suggestions to play on the night that represent her past 30 years.  Deb is also American and  I feel like it's my duty as a fellow American to suggest the type of songs we would have danced to back in the day.


It is probably fair to say I went out dancing at least once a week my freshman year of college and I loved it!  Going clubbing wasn't something you did in Ohio if you were in high school so the world of DC clubs was something totally different to me. Sure back home you danced at Homecoming and Prom, but this was completely different.

Judith and I at GWU (not clubbing, but goofing)

I can remember basically just copying whatever my friend Judith did at first.  Judith's Belgian so it's safe to say most of my dance moves had a Eurotrash flair.  I always wanted to be Eurotrash so it worked for me.  If you're a girl you need to choose to lead with your butt or with your boobs; obviously I lead with my boobs. Somehow I managed to pull it all together and when I went back home to Ohio over the summer and went to Bourbon Street (a bar in a mall, I kid you not) with my friend Dana I got told I was "an awesome dancer." 


These are some of the songs that I remember getting my swerve on to back in the day.   I'm actually really excited about it as I love dancing and I think the last time I did was most likely at our wedding!  So what songs are your favourite all time, 100% will get you on the dance floor songs?

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

Pretty in Pink

Cute photo right? A mother and son laughing and playing together.  Well it's causing HUGE controversy back home in the US. It's part of the ad below which was sent out to JCrew customers and features their creative director Jenna Lyons and her son Beckett.

If you are like me you're thinking, um what's the big deal? Well the extreme right says it "features blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children" and even goes on to say "Jenna's indulgence (or encouragement) could make life hard for the boy in the future.”


WHAT THE F*&£!!!!!!!!!!


First off, correct me if I'm wrong, but nailpolish does not make someone transgendered.  Furthermore the only thing that dictates that nailpolish or the colour pink for that matter are "only for girls" is culture.  Culture can not change your biology and whether you are gay, straight, boy, girl, transgendered or otherwise is decided by your DNA.  Pink nailpolish won't change your DNA.


Secondly, how dare some right-wing pundit (that quote is from a woman by the way) call Jenna a bad mother!  How does she know what kind of mother she is and how can she so callously declare she's making her son's life hard by painting his toes?  Women are supposed to help one another aren't we?


Regardless for the reasons (for all we know Beckett has two big sisters and didn't want to be left out of the pedicure fun) there is absolutely nothing wrong with painting a boy's toenails pink.  The only thing that tells us it is "wrong" is popular culture dictates that it's just for girls.  I don't know about you but I don't let culture tell me what to do or not to do.


I say that Jenna Lyons is a FABULOUS feminist mother who let's her son be who he wants to be and love whatever colours he wants to love.  Y'all know I love dressing Blondie Boy in pink and if he wanted a pedicure, who am I to tell him no because "culture" says he can't?  I'm going to raise my son to believe he can be anything he wants to be and do anything he wants to do whether it's popular culture or not.


Quotes and images from the LA Times. And thanks to Sally for bringing this story to my attention.

Is your refrigerator running? You better go catch it!

The lovely Pippa tagged me in the Fridge of Bad Parent Meme that Sally created and while I'd like to think neither of us are a bad parent, I'm actually going to follow through! I'm rubbish at responding to tags, but I'm going to make more effort from here on out. I've actually shown y'all my fridge before back when we still lived in our flat believe it or not. At that time I was totally in love with it.

Now, I actually hate my fridge because it has no freezer.  It's large and in charge, which I love, but I have to schelp my lazy ass out to the garage if I want any tasty frozen delights from the freezer. It also means I can't have ice in my drinks and y'all know how us Americans LOVE ice in our drinks! Regardless here in all it's full sized "American" glory is my fridge.

Let's see we've got my gym's class schedule, a not from Blondie Boy's leprechaun, autographed Henry Rollins ticket, US-UK conversion chart, recycling schedule, my sister's Save-the-Date, photos of my Grandparents and lots of fun magnets and other random crap stuck up there for who knows what reason.

(Clockwise from top) Authentic Thai Green Curry, Yeo Valley Organic Yoghurt, Hummus, Dog Food, Sparkling Water, White Whine, Grapes/Melons, Lurpak Light, Plum tomatoes, Reduced-Sugar Ham, half a lemon, Maraschino cherries, Feta cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Chicken breasts, Laughing Cow Cheese, Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, Pineapple, Coleslaw, Organic Whole Milk, Skimmed Milk, more Yeo Valley Yoghurt, Reduced Fat Whipped Cream, Ketchup.

Leftover Chinese, Leftover Sloppy Joes, Purple Drank, Coke Zero, Mayonnaise, Corona, Mahoosive thing of Soy Sauce, More Whipped Cream (?), Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Rocket, Izzy's Kosher Pickles

So judging from my fridge alone am I a bad parent? Do y'all have any of the same stuff in your fridge? I'm going to take this meme international and I tag::

Scottish Mummy

Lil Misa

Sunday Baker

JJV

IamWitWoo

Birthdays a go go

My family is over run with April birthdays and today alone is the birthday of 2 different cousins, my step-sister and my Dad!

I hate being so far away from family on days like today but hopefully we'll be able to Skype later on today. Blondie Boy and I are going to play outside in the fabulous weather in their honour to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Grandpa! 

Happy Birthday Aunt Gin!

Handle with Care

I love a good care package, especially one with American treats in it and I was lucky enough to get two recently! Blondie Boy and I got an awesome package from his Mimi Linda with a microphone, Little People Plane and Paul Frank monkey tshirt for him and Girl Scout Cookies and Peeps for NotBlondeHusband and I! If you don't know what Girl Scout Cookies are you are seriously missing out. I'll be calculating the Weight Watchers Pro-Points for these tonight that is for sure :)

Before I left for London last Friday I got an awesome package of Sugar-Free Goodies from the Appliances Online, who sell cookers and other appliances, Fairy HobMother! They wanted to send me a wee treat, but knew I was doing well on Weight Watchers and didn't want to mess that up so they got me a selection of treats from the Sugar Free Megastore! Most of the snacks are American so I was super excited! I got creme filled cupcakes, snack bars, licorice, chocolate mints--YUM!

If you are in need of a treat yourself you might just want to comment on this post as I've heard the Fairy HobMother's ears prick up when they hear of a blogger in need of a little sweetness in their life :)

Guest Post: Better in Britain

Meg, like me, is an American married, raising a family, working and living in the UK. She is  also, like me, in the expat minority and isn't in or around London and lives in the north of Wales with her husband and adorable little boy Iwan.  She's currently expecting baby number two and I'm hoping that my all you UK Mummy bloggers will welcome her into the fold as you did me :)  Meg blogs over at The Rare Bit (click and show her some love!) and was inspired by my expat post and decided to put her own spin on it!

Whenever I get into a discussion with a stranger over here (and it happens a lot- friendly American that I am) there’s almost always a moment, about 45 seconds into the conversation, where they realize that I’m not a wayward tourist, but that I’m actually choosing to live in Britain. In Wales for that matter. Why? They’ll ask, why in the name of Tom Jones and all that is holy would we live here when we could live there? I get it, or at least I think I do, if all you know of a place is what you’ve seen on holiday or in the movies, it’s bound to look more fun/ glamorous/exciting. I mean, if someone I knew married Mickey Mouse I’d be shocked if they didn’t choose to live at Disney World. But, while there would certainly be some advantages to upping sticks for America, there are a few things that I think are much better in Britain and that I would definitely miss should we ever move. Here they are, in no particular order:

Public toilets- I didn’t realize how much better public bathrooms are in Britain until the first time I went back to America for a visit. Generally in Britain, each little toilet cubicle is its own little snug private world. Not so in the U.S. Stateside, even in rather nice restaurants, you’re bound to have a gap about an inch wide at the place where the door hinges onto the wall of the cubicle. Add that to the foot or so gap at the bottom of each stall and you’re in for a real treat.  Peeing in American toilets is often an adventure in contorting yourself so as not to be caught en dishabille by children crawling underneath the walls, vagrants trying to steal your purse, and nice old ladies checking whether or not the stall is occupied. That’s right- there’s no ingenious little window on the outside of the door telling you if the cubicle is vacant or occupied, so people are often reduced to stooping over to check for dangling feet, or, more rudely, peeking through the crack.

Snacking- Snacking in America is basically an all or nothing type thing. Either you’re guiltily indulging in a calorie ridden feast (umm, KFC “snack wrap” anyone?), or you’re snacking as part of diet, dutifully counting out the nine grapes you’re allowed to have. In my humble

opinion, they do it better in Britain. The whole concept of “Elevenses” is something I can definitely get on board with. When I was working in America I was never able to make it between breakfast and lunch, and so I usually had eaten half of my midday meal by 10:30. But a designated time when the entire working nation stops and has a couple of biscuits and an apple? Brilliant!

Radio - I love that I can switch on my radio and hear top 40 hits, show tunes, classic rock, and up-and-coming new bands. And that’s just on Radio 2! As much as I grumble about having to pay a TV licence fee every month, I must admit that I love the things it funds. There’s a bit of a stigma attached to public radio in America, and I think that’s too bad. Americans who listen

to NPR (National Public Radio) are often stereotyped as crunchy, middle class, yuppy, liberals. NPR doesn’t seem to do a heck of a lot to change their listener demographic, but you can’t really blame them. A great deal of the funding for NPR comes from listener donations, so they’re stuck having to keep their supporters happy. BBC Radio, on the other hand, is funded by any British resident owning a television, which not only gives them a larger budget, but the freedom to mix things up here and there. Of course, “mix things up” is a relative term here- compared to a lot of independent radio stations, the BBC can often seem quite stodgy, but when you’re used to having to slog through a cacophony of “zany” radio DJ’s, a commercial after every song, and the same pop hit overandoverandover again, BBC Radio is a breath of fresh air.

Jacket Potatoes- Oh the humble baked potato. When I first moved to Britain I was shocked (and a little horrified) by the concept of jacket potatoes. Why oh why, would you want to put baked beans on a baked potato? I turned up my nose. I would try coronation chicken, I would

even taste black pudding. But toppings on a potato other than butter or sour cream just seemed obscene. Seriously? Coleslaw, on a potato?! There just aren’t enough italics in the world to express my shock and dismay over the molestation of this noble tuber. Then one day in a Cardiff café, my husband ordered a jacket potato with beans and cheese. I wrinkled my nose. Our food was brought out. The cheese on the potato had gone quite melty, and it smelled kind of good.I tentatively asked to try a bite, and hoisted the fork to my mouth with the same hesitation of an eight-year-old eating a worm on a dare. I chewed it thoughtfully for a few seconds. The clouds parted. It wasn’t good. It was divine. I realized that I had been culturally blinded in my bias toward acceptable potato toppings. In retrospect, I don’t really know what I was thinking.

What’s not to like? Baked potato? Good. Beans? Good. Cheese? Good! This is now one of my favorite comfort foods, and it was actually the first thing I ate after giving birth to my son. If we were to ever move back to America I’d miss jacket potatoes the same way I now miss Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Jello Instant Pudding.

Food products aside, there are lots of things I do miss about America, and lots of other things I’ve come to love about Britain, and, more specifically, Wales. It can be hard to have two places that feel like home, and I think we’ll always feel torn between the two no matter where we live. So, although it might shock those strangers I meet, I’m actually quite happy here. If I could just get an electrical socket in my bathroom, my world would be complete.

Culture Shock

I got an email from a friend last night saying she might be moving and how did I deal with the culture shock when I moved to Scotland. Obviously the UK isn't that different from the US. We speak the same language (supposedly), have a lot of the same foods and same TV shows. Here are some of the things that I still don't get as an American abroad.

-Tea. To me tea is something you drink with honey and lemon when you are sick. When I worked in bars employees were allowed as much free tea as they wanted, but not pop. When I got my first office job in the UK I probably got asked 6 times a day if I wanted a cup of tea. After two weeks they finally realized to stop asking me. I was also shocked at the number of people who took tea breaks. Really? A break? You can drink tea at your desk and work at the same time. It reminded me of how much I hated smokers who's tables I had to cover while they got a smoke break; I never got a fresh air break.

-Butter on sandwiches. To me mustard and mayonnaise are the appropriate condiments for a sandwich. I hate that butter is on everything; sure sometimes it's nice but when you can leave teeth marks in the butter it's too much.

-Road signs or lack there of. I really feel that American road signs are far more helpful. There's a Taco Bell, BP, Dunkin Donuts and a Holiday Inn at the next exit? Thanks Mr Sign that is really helpful! I hate that you don't have signs like that here. I seriously had to map out various McDonald's throughout Scotland before I put on forums for work. If I'm up early I like a McDonald's breakfast and I like it even better if a sign on the side of the road will tell me how to get it.

-Night time soaps: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, East Enders, Hollyoaks. I don't get them. I've never watched them but almost everyone else seems to do so. Sure I watched Days of Our Lives religiously back in the day, but it was in the afternoon. Don't ask me why a daytime soap is better than a nighttime soap, I don't know. I do know that a storyline involving identical triplets (one of whom is a nun) and a baby swap involving a baby named Elvis is FAR superior to the baby swap story line that caused drama over here.

-Variety of products. When you go to the American grocery store you have loads of brands and varieties to choose from; in the UK not so much. If I want to buy cake mix there are maybe three flavours. Variety is the spice of life! If I can get all sorts of random Polish foods in my store, why can't I get lovely, delicious American products?

Those are some of my WTF UK rants. There are plenty more but I think I've gone on long enough.

Blondie's WW Buttermilk Pancakes

Pancakes are kinda my thing. I love them and I'm good at cooking them. I can still remember the first time I ever saw chocolate chip pancakes and was amazed. My Mom had dropped us off at her best friend's house before school for one reason or another and her sons were eating chocolate chip pancakes and they looked amazing. I started making chocolate chip pancakes for my friends and boyfriends at Uni and I've even made egg-free applesauce pancakes for Blondie Boy. Like I said, pancakes are kinda my thing. My Grandpa also used to make Mrs. Butterworth talk to me, but that's another story.

When it comes to pancakes you want them to be light and fluffy, so when I saw the Best Buttermilk Pancakes recipe in my Google Reader I knew I had to try and make them AND make them Weight Watchers friendly.

Here is my Weight Watchers Buttermilk Pancakes adapted from the recipe by Brown Eyed Baker which was adapted from Cook's Illustrated. I halved the recipe to make eight golden, fluffy pancakes, but here is my adaptation in full. I've include metric measurements in parentheses for those who don't have American baking cups.

(Photo © Brown Eyed Baker)

Blondie's WW Buttermilk Pancakes

Yield: Sixteen 4-inch pancakes


2 cups all-purpose flour (125g)
1 1/2 tablespoons Splenda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk (1 pint)
¼ cup sour cream (56g)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs
3 tablespoons Lurpak lighter unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Non Stick Cooking Spray (I used Fry-Light, but in the US Pam would work)

16 servings, 2 pro points per serving

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. In a second medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, eggs and melted butter. Make sure your butter isn't too hot or it will cook the eggs. (I find it's best to microwave the butter for 15-20 seconds and then swirl it around so the liquid butter melts the remaining butter.)

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients; gently stir until just combined (batter will be lumpy and quite thick). Do not overmix. Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes before cooking.

4. Spray a pan or griddle if you've got some super cool stove with the non-stick spray and allow to heat up. You'll know it's hot enough when if you flick water on it, the water sizzles.

5. Using ¼ cup measure, portion batter into pan. My pan was big enough for 2 pancakes at the time, but you know your pan, you judge.

6. Cook until edges are set, first side is golden brown, and bubbles on surface are just beginning to break, 2 to 3 minutes. Resist the urge to poke, prod or flip early. Walk away if you have to!

7. Using a thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes longer.

8. Put on a plate and cover with tin foil until ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter, using non-stick spray as needed.

These were seriously the best pancakes I've had or made since I moved to Scotland 6 1/2 years ago and they are vaguely healthy--SCORE!. I had my pancakes as part of "Breakfast for Dinner." Some people call it Brinner (not me) but they'd be a great as part of a lazy weekend breakfast or brunch.

Two pancakes, two rashers of Bacon, 1 tsp of Lurpak for my pancakes and 1 tablespoon of real Maple Syrup

8 pro points!

I'd advise having your syrup on the side and dipping your pancakes in as you will use less, I certainly didn't use my full tablespoon. You could also top them with fruit, honey or your favourite topping. Next time I think I will experiment with making a strawberry sauce to go on top!

In the Kitchen with Abby

Abby, from Life with B&A, is one of the amazing group of women that I'm part of that all have babies around the same age. She's a fellow Midwesterner and one of the most upbeat and generous people I know! She's going to help y'all with one of the things I am absolutely horrible at: cooking meat :)

Hello everyone! I am A to to the B @ Life with B&A. I'm Abby and native Midwestern gal raising my now 9 month old son Drew that I personally think it adorable, but I could be bias. I'm married to B, hence the Life with B&A....You get the the picture. We like living our little life in Iowa, and have no complaints, other than the really cold winters and really hot summers, but what are ya gonna do?

So you're probably wondering what the heck I'm going to talk to you about today. Well, so glad you asked! Since I'm a busy working mom, I find little time to cook. Although I still love me a good dinner at the end of the evening and it has to happen when the little man is awake. So we have to juggle. I like to find some recipes that are easy peasy, have few ingredients and I can prepare early.

So today I'm going to share with you a recipe that was shared with me a few months back and Brendan, my hubby says it's company good. As in if we have company over, I can make it, it's that good. It's called Asian Style Pork Chops and just writing this has me drooling because I'm now craving them!

So here's what you will need:
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 onion chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Blend above in blender and out in put in large gallon Ziploc bag, add in 4 pork chops and marinate for 6 hours. Grill when ready. We also baste with the extra sauce. These seriously are the mostly delicious pork chops we have ever had! I hope you enjoy them. I usually make the sauce and marinate the chops overnight, this way the next day we just throw them on the grill and VIOLA, dinner is served!

Infertility is Universal

Sandy from how beautiful are the feet and her husband are currently working in Namibia in Africa as teachers at a school for AIDS orphans. Sandy's story is of Watjantja a woman she first met almost ten years ago in remote Namibia, but it's also the story of millions of women around the world as infertility affects roughly 1 in 7 women worldwide. As expats we often talk about what is different from home, but some things, unfortunately, are universal.


I usually write about life in Namibia and what is going on in the lives of the students that my husband and I work with. Not many people know about our struggle to get pregnant, and it is not something I have discussed on my blog. When Blondie presented the opportunity to write a guest spot for her I thought it would be a great way to share some of the things I have noticed in dealing with IF in a foreign country.

In 2002, when I lived in Namibia, I met a lady who could not have children. Her name is Watjantja, she lives in Swartbooisdrif, one of the most remote villages in Namibia. There are no medical doctors there; in fact, there are no fertility specialists in the entire country of Namibia. In the Himba culture (recently showed in the movie “Babies”) children are life. Without children you are doomed to be forgotten. Her husband did what almost any Himba husband in that situation would do, he took a second wife who bore him many children without any problem. At the time I was sad for her, but I could never grasp the full force of the devastation behind her expression as she told us all of this.


Fast forward to 2009, my husband and I are about to finish college and we are finally ready to begin our family. I remember that day like it was yesterday, we sat in a restaurant and decided that it was finally time to start trying. The absolute possibilities of what that decision meant for our future made both of us cry. Now here I sit at the beginning of 2011, it has been almost two years and we are no closer to having our family than we were that day in the restaurant. In the last two years I have had several diagnoses thrown at me from doctors thousands of miles apart. (Including PCOS, Endometriosis and Anovulation “here have some Clomid!!!”) Who knew that trying to have a baby included so many needles and an absolute stripping down of one’s dignity?

In 2010 we returned to Swartbooisdrif, Watjantja’s village. She was still there, as barren as ever. When she saw me her eyes lit up, then she looked down at my arms searching for a child. When our eyes met again she read me like a book, her expression said : “You are like me aren’t you?” In an instant she recognized the pain, the emptiness, the hopelessness, and the loneliness in my eyes and in my empty arms. Watjantja can speak no English and through a translator she said “Don’t be like me!” To this day it is one of the hardest and most comforting things I have experienced on this road of infertility.

The one lesson I have learned in dealing with IF and travelling across the world is that women of every culture language color and economic standing share the same feeling of emptiness and heartache when it comes to IF. Anywhere on earth you will be able to find someone who has been touched by this relentless pain and someone who , without having to say anything, can understand the hurt that you are feeling.

Liane, The Lifer

My second guest poster Liane from Movement, like me, is an American expat in the UK and we both moved 6 1/2 years ago. The American expat community can be a transient one and I know the majority of American women I've met have since moved back to America. Personally I don't want to say I'm here forever, it's too permanent for me, but Liane is a lifer.



Hi. My name is Liane and I’m an expat from the States. I’m not just an expat…I’m a lifer.

I arrived the summer of 2004. One of the hottest summers on record for London. And ya know what? They don’t have air conditioning there, nor do they even have air conditioners as we know them. You know what I mean, the ones you put in a window. Even though I didn’t have central air in Boston, I still had air conditioning in my bedroom. What the heck had I gotten myself into? But, yeah, it was 6-1/2 years ago, so clearly a few things went well.

I had moved over for a job working in an international school. I was excited to be overseas as many of my relatives, including my parents, had done a stint. Here I was, 35 years old, single (to my mom’s regret), owning no property (to my regret) and so it was perfect timing. I had a two year visa and job contract, with the ability to leave after one year if I so chose. Well, after discovering that I loved my job, loved London and came to love a guy who was from London, I decided to stay, and now I’m here for what may be life in my own home with husband and dog.



Being a long-timer is interesting. Working in an international school and living in such a transitional city such as London means that I meet a lot of people who then leave a year or a few later. The thing about being a long-timer is that the short-timers see their time here in London differently than I do. It’s almost a long visit in a way. They have to go travel everywhere and do everything RIGHT NOW. They may never actually get to know London or any true Londoners, because they spend any time here with other Americans and living in big expat areas. Not a bad thing, mind you, but a different life to that of a lifer.

As a lifer, you may chose to live a bit further out from central London because you can buy a bigger property. The potential of having children there means you want to find a place with a decent neighbourhood, parks, and more interior and exterior space.

As a short-timer, you may want to live in the thick of it or the ‘nicer’ areas where other expats live (close to that big American style store).

As a lifer, you focus on the long-term. You don’t have to get it all done immediately and so you may not travel as much as you originally had A short-timer doesn’t necessarily worry about saving their pounds because travel may more important to them. Sometimes I’m very, very jealous that they see so many places; many more than I have in my 6-1/2 years here.

A short-timer may not get to know so many locals. It’s not entirely their fault. They may only get to socialize with a lot of Americans. It is easier to do that cause we understand each other’s stories. We get that peanut butter and chocolate is really a wonderful thing. We don’t blink when they spend £5 on a bag of marshmallows from the States (they kinda suck here). They know our school system, our government, etc, etc. And it’s tough getting to know the locals. They have their own friends a lot of times or, if not, there are people around who may understand THEIR story, education, life in ways that we might not. It takes effort and time to get to know a local, something that a short-timer just may not have or want to spend.

So is it easier to be a long-timer or lifer? Not always. You may begin to lose your friends from the States, one by one. They may not come to visit and or they may move away from your hometown and so you don’t see them. It takes a lot of work to maintain your friendships and it takes two. Even worse is that you aren’t nearby when things go wrong in your family, such as a grandparent dying or a parent falling ill. You miss out on the good things too, including your nephew’s birthday party and the family gathering for the 4th of July.

Being a lifer means you get to know another culture intimately. You are no longer just an American, but something else. You may end up with two or more citizenships. And you have experiences that change you to the very core. It’s not a life for everyone. But it’s something that I treasure. I love my life here in London. And I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Thanks for letting me visit and write a bit of my story. If you want to learn more about me and my thoughts, feel free to visit me at my blog: http://mrsukyankee.wordpress.com.