With much to be thankful for— in particular the chance to live on the other side of the pond for nearly three months in a comfortable flat with views of said pond on two sides. We’re also thankful for Sam’s Grand-mère, who arrived here just a few days before Thanksgiving. Sammy now has an additional playmate, and the …

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Last summer, some of AC’s Brighton colleagues were in SF for a month, and so we had them round to dinner. I must have asked one of them if he liked his living situation in Brighton or something like that and he replied, “Oh, I live in Hove, actually.” And then the colleagues laughed and explained that “Hove, actually” …

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I made my first trip to the UK when I was 15 years old. I loved it. The Roman ruins, cold Welsh castles, and majestic cathedrals fired up my anglophile-imagination. At the time I could name the English kings and queens from the Plantagenets to the Windsors. English history–bloody, bawdy, and long in the beard–was …

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Earlier this week I came back to the flat to discover that my laptop couldn’t see out to the internet. I put Sam to bed for her afternoon nap and then tried the few things I know how to do to debug such problems. Nothing worked. I picked up the phone to call AC to see if he could help me troubleshoot the problem. No …

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The Fifth of November. Sr. Mary Hyde, my senior year English teacher, drilled that phrase into us when we were reading Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, whose story begins on the fifth of November, Guy Fawkes Night. So far, Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night as everyone here seems to call it, consists of lots of …

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Many Brits told us that Halloween is not be a big deal in the U.K., at least nothing like it is in the U.S. That may be changing, as retailers have figured out that they may be able to push Halloween products and candy and the like on youngsters. In the final days before the 31st I did see more and more plastic jack …

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We’re just back from a weekend in Cambridge. AC’s colleague’s parents offered us the use of their flat for the weekend while they were away. Flat does not do it justice. It was a three-story house–enormous– with large and winding carpeted stairs, which prompted Sam to remark again that “England has a lot of stairs.” …

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I told the wife of one of AC’s British colleagues that I am getting to know English culture through the playgrounds. It’s really true. Being in a foreign country with a small child means that we do fewer adult touristy things and more hanging out in parks and gardens. So what have I gleaned so far? Playground …

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Tonight while I was making dinner, Sam came into the kitchen with her backpack on. She explained that she was going on a trip. Me: “Where are you going?” Sam: “To the United States.” Me: “Oh, I’m from the United States.” Sam: “This is a different United States.” Me: “Oh?” Sam: “Yeah, it has an east coast. It’s called …

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Here they are– my version of the British “Bubble and Squeak.” All in all they were pretty tasty. Similar to a potato cake, but with cabbage mixed in. Definitely an easy way to sneak cabbage into one’s diet. You can find the BBC Food recipe I loosely followed here: But I am incapable of following a recipe exactly. So …

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