Back in the Saddle

I mean, figuratively. We'll leave the horsie riding to my more experienced, Barbour-bleeding equestrian friends. So, the holiday season has come and gone quicker than the oh-so-brief snow fall in New England yesterday. I feel like I was home for less than a minute, and don't know how I managed to fit it all in. A whirlwind 12 days--occupied primarily by food, family and friends--a tearful sendoff on January 1st, a quick hop across the pond, and finally, I'm back at it.

I've got new students to supervise, different lecturers to listen to, and old London friends to find some 2012 fun with. This past week, I dove headfirst into a new semester, and I'm honestly loving sitting in that lecture hall, hour after hour, four days a week. It's nice to be back to normalcy, and I can't say I'm all that upset about having some serious blocks of time filling up those formerly blank 2012 pages.

I hope you all have had a fabulous start to the new year!

Cheers!

I'm so glad it's you...

And not me yet...Happy 24th to the fabulous CMS! I'd rather be buying a round for the house at Buddy's, but instead I'll toast you from abroad. Thanks for paving the way two weeks in advance every year...

You don't get older, you just get better.

Cheers to the best kind of birthday, Slyney!

I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

For most families, Christmas begins early morning on the 25th, when kids (yes, 23-year-old kids) rush down the stairs, tearing through the pine-and-holly-clad banister, to rip open the gold, green and red-wrapped presents under the tree. For my family, it begins at 8pm on the 24th, when the first airing of A Christmas Story begins their tried and true TBS tradition of a full-day marathon. After hanging the stockings and setting out a plate of cookies and pre-nibbled reindeer carrots, SMN and I settle in with our Swiss Miss and sugar cookies to watch Ralphie get up to his now oh-so-predictable antics. Classic.
Christmas movies are a seasonal staple for the Nunan clan, and it just wouldn't feel like home without Bing Crosby in the background while J whips, stirs, and folds Christmas cookie dough in the kitchen. These are a few that I'm so looking forward to watching with my brother in 4 short days!



Cheers!

A South Ken kind of day

This morning I woke up with a long list of to-do's in the South Ken neighborhood. I met a Sotheby's cohort at the Christie's South Kensington showroom to watch the 20th Century British Art sale, and we went to grab coffee after a few hours of observing some serious paddle-raising and pound-spending. After a quick caffeine fix I headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum one last time before I hop a plan home on Monday--there was a talk about conservation of new acquisitions to the museum's permanent collection that I wanted to hear today.

The best part of the day was stumbling into a used bookstore on my walk back home. Right around the corner from the South Ken tube station is a used bookstore with the organization and rolling collection to rival even Raven Used Books in Harvard Square (http://www.ravencambridge.com/). After about an hour of scouring the shelves, from art to biography to fiction and non, I fell across Fitzgerald's Dreams of Youth for 4GBP. That's right, Christmas come early for this girl! So now I have four days and a flight home to kill 600 pages of perfect first-hand prose. Looks like London will have to wait until after Christmas, because my calendar just filled up...

Few things make me happier than to be curled up with a hot cup of coffee and some unread pages that smell like a library when you flip the cover open. Cheers to the end of semester one!

Sunday Splash of Christmas Color

Happy Sunday, all! To celebrate my "one-week" countdown, I thought I'd take you into Monday morning with a few pretty images of wintertime in London. Not that it feels much like wintertime, with the 50-degree highs and the rain-substitute for snow...




I'm sure my former Skyhawks are thanking the Christmas god's that I'm not home right now, because I would without a doubt be dragging them out of their comfy-cozy couch-perching to see the Charlie-Brown-meets-Charles-Dickens Improv musical this week (http://www.improvboston.com/whatthedickens). There IS a show on the 22nd...I'm just saying...
Cheers!

"It's a girl!"

Those were the exact words scrawled across the pink balloon I brought to J while she was in a hospital bed in New Haven, exactly 21 years ago today. December 8, 1990. My brother had been born. I'm sure they excused my complete disregard for gender comprehension (and my revulsion to anything other than pink, lacy skirts) with, "she's going through a phase." I wonder if my parents still use that when they talk about me...

SMN turns the big 2-1 today, and as I write this, he's drilling out a powerpoint, a paper, and a presentation...the most responsible sibling.

A lot of girls I know aren't lucky enough to have grown up with a brother. While I never had a sister, I wouldn't trade a clean, collaborative closet for a bathroom shared with a pre-pubescent> pubescent>adolescent>teenage boy in a million years. I mean, only if that boy is my brother. If it's not, bring on the shared shoes and swapped tops.

There's no question about it, we wouldn't have survived without each other. And the fact that we've both made it to the 21 milestone speaks volumes of J and M! Only 10 days until I'm homebound, celebrating this birthday properly, sending SMN into his early-twenties with a proper shot of Jose!

Happy Birthday little brother!

Mull it Over

One thing European's love at Christmastime is their German markets. German markets in Paris and Prague, in Brussels and Budapest...and, of course, in London. At the start of December each year, these markets stake out space in the capital cities like Americans in a park on the Fourth of July. Little kiosks sell trinkets and toys while succulent sausages are turned over grills and paper-thin crepes are flipped and drizzled with Nutella. Carnival rides whirl with flashing lights while families make their way through the pathways, lucky to get out without a million "can I have/do/eat/play with/touch that"s from their screaming strollers, laden three-deep with kids.

I ventured back to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland (http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/) last night with some girlfriends after our last law seminar. Best. People watching. Ever. Even on a Tuesday night, you couldn't get near the place. After considering the endless options for dinner, we all opted to drink our calories, and headed towards one of the stands offering mulled wine. De-lish. Two cups and some shared sugared-almonds later, we had had enough of London for one evening, and hopped on the tube in different directions, each of us happy to go back to our quiet flats, away from Hyde Park.

If you haven't made mulled wine before, the recipe looks simple enough, and it honestly is like Christmas in a cup. I would definitely suggest simmering up some for Christmas Eve dinner (J, I hope you're reading this)!

Ingredients

2 clementines
peel of 1 lemon
peel of 1 lime
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 bottles red wine
1/2 cup Cointreau
orange slices for garnish

Combine sugar, lemon and lime peel, juice of 2 clementines, nutmeg, vanilla extract in large saucepan

Stir in enough red wine to just cover sugar

Simmer on medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved

Bring to boil, keep on rolling boil for 4-5 minutes (should form thick syrup)

Turn heat to low, add remaining red wine, clementine halves, and cinnamon sticks

Gently heat wine for about 5 minutes*; should be ready to serve warm

Ladle out in festive glasses and garnish with an orange slice!

* Do not let wine boil, as the alcohol will all burn off
**Make the recipe your own by adding your favorite spices, honey or swapping in brown sugar!

Cheers!