Toasty sandwiches

I have a bit of a thing for the Poundland store near my house (yes, you guessed it, a store where everything costs £1, I am such a recessionista). They carry quite a few brand name products (like Tetley Tea and Jelly Tots) and other stuff that you don’t really care if it is brand name or not (bin bags, paper towel etc). They also have great little gadgets like battery powered fairy lights, blinking reindeer ears, pink tools (for women only – of course I got these when we were working on our flat cause they were so cute) and my most recent find last night…a toaster bag which I couldn’t resist.

I know they have been around before but I haven’t seen them as cheap as 2 for £1 (for those of you whom haven’t seen them, you stick a sandwich in them – preferably one with cheese) then stick it in the toaster and it comes out crunchy and warm, and doesn’t mess up the toaster. Anyhoo a colleague of mine tried it today at lunch on her cheese and tomato sandwich and voila! Toasted and melted!

I am actually not a fan of sandwiches (weird, I know) but the other day I picked up a microwave lunch only to find out that it was actually one that needed to be cooked in a real oven as the breaded chicken that needed to get crispy. Knowing that the microwave at the office would make them soggy, I stuck them in the toaster.  Which was a good idea until I tried to get them out.  I eventually did but it was a bit of a pain and involved tipping the toaster upside down and getting covered in crumbs.

Anyway, my thought was that this bag may revolutionise my lunches and I can cook things like chicken fingers…will keep you posted, until then my colleagues are enjoying their toasted sandwiches.

Eating your words

I figured out fairly quickly after moving here that I don’t sound like everyone else. We were at the tower of London getting a group tour by a real live Beefeater. At one point he looked at me and said ‘Where are you from” to which I replied, “Toronno”, he said “Where?”, I repeated “Toronno, Canada”. At which point he said (very loudly in front of the group in his bellow-y English accent) “…oooooh you mean ToronTOE”…okay point taken I don’t enunciate, we, as a nation, fail to enunciate (ever been to Wadderloo?)

Since then I have been of the opinion that since the English invented the language, I don’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to pronunciation. As such, I have adopted a terrible Eng-adian accent combining the two languages. There is one word however that drives me nuts and I want to drag that Beefeater around London with me and personally ridicule people who say this word….

The word is ‘et’ pronounced like bet without the ‘B’…and this word is used by the English when they mean to say ate (pronounced like the number eight) – the past tense of ‘to eat’. I was watching television last night and the announcer actually said ‘When you ‘et’ that, how did it taste?

Seriously….I can understand me being lazy and thus receiving an English lesson from a Beefeater but what is the excuse for bastardising one perfectly fine word, ate, and turning it into a short cough sounding word that certainly shouldn’t be regarded as being part of the English language..Come on people, can you please stop, I have taken the D’s out of Toronto, can you put the ‘eh’ back into ‘ate’?

WTF? Friday continued…

Oh no!  I spotted these elastic waist jeans in Miss Selfridges, it’s not just River Island!!!  Please make it stop.

WTF? Friday

I think it is fair to say that London is fairly up there in terms of being a fashionable city. People here just seem to have a built in knowledge of what is going to  be the next trend even before it happens (myself on the other hand, adopts said trends well after they have already passed, oooh ballet flats and leggings – cute)

Anyhoo I was out shopping last weekend and saw these in River Island (fairly trendy store) and I wasn’t in the maternity section….

Please please tell me that elastic waist jeans are not going to be the next big thing (no offence to all the pregnant women out there or that guy in high school who’s mom made his jeans…you are trendy now!!). Although it doesn’t really matter I probably won’t pick up this trend for another 2 years til it is well and truly over…that’s how I roll.

Bright lights

I probably shouldn’t admit this but I just got home from standing outside of the London Premier of 17 Again (movie with teen heartthrob Zac Efron and not so teen heart throb Matthew Perry).  Anyway, they tend to do these big ol’ premieres quite often and I have always been anxious to go to one due to my ridiculous intrigue with celebrities.  Luckily a colleague of mine also shares such intrigue and has a bit of a crush on Zac so we were a perfect pair.

Unfortunately we missed him coming out to the audience by about 10 minutes but based on the screaming and body squishing we experienced when he was 50 metres away, I can’t say I am too disappointed that we missed the chaos when he would have been mere inches.

Anyhoo it was fun to see the crowds, bright lights and D list celebrities walk by and into the premiere, one of those nights that reminds me how much I love this city.

PS Did you know that the celebrities don’t stay at their own premieres?  Zac went in, caused chaos then 10 minutes later left in a shiny BMW, guess he knows how the movie ends – I still thought he would have to sit through it!

Some dude from Hollyoaks

The paparazi

Zac and proof that I will never make it as a paparazi

Zac, well the back of him anyway

I love techy kids

I might consider having kids if someone would guarantee me they would be this amazingly geeky at 4 and a half (although mine would be Mac, not PC…and probably blonde)

With my luck however I would get one like this and I wouldn’t be able to return it to the Apple Store

Happy Birthday Little People

One of the blogs I read as a way to increase my useless knowledge mentioned that this weekend marked the 50th Birthday of Fisher Price’s ‘Little people’ (is this politically correct?)  and they were able to dig out this fantastic commercial.  The reason I am so excited about it is that I had BOTH of the ‘Little People’ play sets featured in the ad.  I remember hours of fun playing with the front doorbell of the house with the puppy in the window and the mooing barn door on the farm…it rocked.

I also had the Little People Sesame street…complete with Big Bird’s nest and Mr Hooper (rest his soul) which was equally as awesome (me? spoiled?…to be fair I think Mom got them at a garage sale for $1 each and is secretly hoping they will become collectors items so she can get that condo in Florida she has always dreamt of).

It seems however that the more recent ‘Little People’ have been exposed to too much junk food, TV and genetically modified chicken as they are a bit rounder and plumper than my 1960’s version….a ‘Little People’ gym might be a nice addition to the set perhaps?

Mothering Sunday

Today is Mothers Day/Mothering Sunday in the UK so, Happy Mothering Sunday to all you UK Mums. Canadian/American Mom’s you have to wait until May (must not forget, must not forget). This means that in theory I should be able to go out next week and get Mothers Day cards on sale however, I am quickly caught out on that trick as they spell Mom differently here…it’s Mum. I am not sure where Mum comes from as it’s not Muthering Sunday or Muthers Day.

I just don’t think you get the same dramatic effect withh the Mum pronunciation.  I have spent years perfecting the dragging out of the word Mom ‘…but Maaaaawwwwwmmmm or Please Maaaaawwwwwm’.  You just can’t do that with Mum, its too short and to the point.  I am sticking with Mom, I can’t let those years of practice go to waste.

WTF? Friday

You have to love a country where customer service is an afterthought everywhere but in the pub.

'If you think that the head on your beer is too large we will gladly top up your glass'

Evidently this is a policy n most pubs (not just the cute little one I snapped this photo at) however I haven’t seen this to be an issue, almost the opposite.  Most of the times my pints are so full I spill 3/4 of it down my hand, leg and the floor as I walk to my seat and are still left with a very full looking pint.  Its magic.

After spilling what felt like half of it on the pub floor and down my leg

Someone needs to let Tim Hortons and Starbucks in on this policy, I swear I have been served drinks from there with 2 inches of space at the top…either that or it is so full it is leaking out of the little blow hole in the lid…can’t win

Quick…

…anyone know how to reverse 7 years of bad luck??

Our bedroom mirror fell off our dresser this morning (no, it wasn’t attached to the wall it was merely propped against the wall and dresser and yes, it was inevitable that one day it would fall since we were too lazy to hang it properly).

When it fell, hubby and I were in the middle of a discussion about how our mortgage rate had decreased  (thrilling, I know!)  so we will be  paying slightly less per month….unfortunately this months savings will go toward a new mirror.