Living in the US - Where we say TO MA TOE and you say TO MAH TOW

[alipiggie]

Wow we filled the thread guys. So as I was about to Say UR you've probably had squirrel if you've eaten Chinese . Think I've had most things. Just don't ask eat. Roasting hot here, very busy but having a blast. Enjoyed our new gym yesterday and picnic in the park tonight which was wonderful. Live music, handsome young men - need I say more.

Ooo, tell me about making mead! I have never seen elderflowers here but I'd love to make cordial.

Who has a bread machine? I am fed up of expensive crappy bread but am not organised enough to make it regularly by hand - I do it a couple of times a month but that's not enough. If I had a machine, I could throw the ingredients in and have bread for breakfast every morning. I need reccomendations. I wanted a panasonic but it is much more expensive than the other brands.

I have a bread machine. Until ds2 was born I used it every week. I can't remember the brand but it wasn't that expensive at all. I got it at Wal-Mart. Will probably have to get it out soon again when I rev up the courage to try going gluten-free for ds1.

Hi guys, don't know if you remember me posting a few months back about our move to Oregon this year!!!
I can't believe its this year we will be moving, in just under 6 months. Flights are booked for June 30th just 6 weeks after the expected arrival of DC3.
Me and DD1 have our visa interview on the 14th January, think we have everything prepared.
I have so many questions and worries going around my head i'm so scared but excited at the same time! Tell me i'm going to be alright.

Hello 2beautifulgals. The Northwest seems to be increasingly popular on here. You'll be fine! Look at how many of us are over here and have survived! Oregon is so beautiful. And civilised. I'm a bit envious actually.

Gluten-free always looks so tricky, Jabber. I suppose you get used to it but all gluten-free recipes seem to have a million strange ingredients in them.

You'll be great 2beautifulgals!

Superbunny - Mead! It's a honey wine which is very easy to make. Some friends of mine make it. I'm always hoping I've been good enough to get on their giveaway list every Christmas.

I've decided to brew this year because ...well...I'm cheap. (Or frugal.) I have a goal of saving 20% of our income this year. So, it means doing without some things or learning to make them. Wine is something I won't be doing without!

Free information here:
www.gotmead.com/

This book has been invaluable to me. It got me over my irrational "what if I mess it all up and it explodes" limitation.
www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802

So, for an investment of about $200 (roughly 20 bottles of wine) I can brew twice as much. I think the average cost of producing a bottle of mead is about $1.50. Don't quote me!

Just FYI - a person can save $1,200 a year by simply eliminating coffee shops. Investing $300 in a good expresso maker would generate a savings of $900 yearly. Then, $1,200 every year after. (I was too frugal to do this. I opt for brewing expresso strength coffee in a French Press.

Hence my desire to make mead.

Oh, what a good idea, poet. Will read link tomorrow. I like wine. And mead. And lots of things that I shouldn't.

Good luck with your frugalness.

I use a fairly cheap Oster, and MIL had a cheap Walmart brand one, and they work just fine. I used mine more than average before I got my KA, and will still use it due to time constraints sometimes.

Poetmum- love the frugality. I do "odd" things (at least what my friends consider odd) in the name of frugality, and have some interesting nicknames because of it.

I remember you 2beautifulgals. How could I forget anyone coming to Oregon. I actually thought of you, because DH had to go do some work in Sandy a few months ago.

I whip up bread in my Cuisineart. What I dislike is that recipes generate 2 loaves. Does anyone know if I can put one loaf in the refrigerator and still have good results the next day? (The 2nd loaf always goes stale or has to be pawned off on very grateful neighbours.

Long live frugality!

Freeze the baked loaf. I do it all the time. When we were snowed in a few weeks ago, I made 12 loaves, and froze 11, and we're still eating off them.

Yep dooneygirl still starting off in Sandy with the in laws. Then hopefully moving to Gresham renting DH's grandmas house.
Do you or anyone know where i can get information on playgroups/play schools somewhere/thing for my 3 year old to attend?

Very impressed with all the bread making, i'm very sorry to say my cooking baking skills are none exsistant. I did start getting into baking/cooking for the 1st time ever than i fell pregnant and the dreadful morning all day sickness hit.
Now i'm feeling better i might start trying to get back into it.
So what do you expats suggest definately packing in the crate to be shipped, have started many lists for all the organising i will be doing over the next few months.

Dooney, I'm curious about your 'odd' frugal things. I'm quite good, I think.

2beautiful, depends on what you are shipping but definitely pack duvets & duvet covers.

If I do a food list, it will be very long.

Look up your local moms club and see what you can find on meetup.com.

I just found out totally by accident that the father of the kids I used to nanny for in London died 4 months ago of cancer I stupidly (lazily) lost contact with them in late 2007 and I was reading some of the Mum's latest medical journal things (she works in a field I am hoping to go into), and there was an obituary in her husbands name. I nearly ignored it thinking it couldn't be him. But then there were the children's names right there and I knew. I have written a card to the Mum expressing my condolences and how I felt honoured and privileged to have known him and seen what a devoted family man he was. Is it inappropriate given the fact I have not been in contact, to send a card to each of the children (aged 8 and 5) saying how much I knew their father loved them, and a little memory I remember for each of them that involved their father when I still looked after them (bearing in mind I left them over 3 years ago now?)

Oh Mananny I think a card for the children is a lovely idea but I think it would depend very much on the family. I think it would be a nice thing for them to keep when they are older

I just had some bittersweet memories that struck me as being things the children would like to hear about, maybe when they are older, but if I write them down now then the MUm can decide when to share them. IT was such a shock to read his obit. I had goosebumps and then cried

((hugs))

I was going to suggest putting the cards in with the one for the mum and letting her decide what to do. You are very lovely, Mananny.

Thanks SB. I'm not really lovely, I just am so sad that these lovely petites will grow up without their father, who was totally devoted to them. It's so unfair.

Forgot to bookmark you and I see much chatting has happened. . Is there a way to keep up without being inundated with emails. Wading through is hard work on limited time. What does everyone else do? Check in daily? I'm Mel and I live in Denver, CO. Dh's USAF so we're here for a bit. I'm from the UK.
We went looking for a breadmaker today- waste of time. Should have just looked on line. The promising one was the Emerril Tefal one. I'll have to look it up though.
Anyone twitter? Ok off to try my first yorkshire pud recipe outside of the UK. Dh has a craving for it. Toodle do.

Oh Mananny, how sad. I think it is a lovely and sweet thing for you to send a card.

After reading this thread, I had to make bread. It is huge! I am going to go and read in the bath and then will sit drinking Earl Grey and eating hot buttered bread.

Ribena, I just click on threads I'm on and this is always on there because I post too much

I don't twitter, only FB. Good luck with the yorkshire pud. DS doesn't like them

Sorry about that, Mananny. You sound like such a lovely, caring person.

I guess the "odd" things I do include:

Making my own bread, jelly, syrup, applesauce, etc (I haven't told anyone I ventured into making my own stock.)
Picking 40 pounds of berries, 25 pounds of peaches and doing that thing where I got loads of apples and pears for cheap and then freezing the berries and peaches, and making baked things out of the apples and pears and freezing them.
Buying bulk flower, rice and sugar. Buying bulk meat and repackaging and freezing them.
Keeping a list of sale prices of often-bought items at different stores, so I know what the cheapest price I can get it at is, and buying as much as I can at a time, especially if it is a non-perishable.
Buying the kids' clothes several years in advance when they're 70% off clearance prices. Also, I bought 6 pairs of shoes in sizes that they're not in yet. The normal price was 22.99-29.99 a pair, and I got 6 pairs for $22. Apparently buying clothes ahead of time is odd, but keeping every single solitary thing your child has worn from birth isn't, even if you aren't going to have another child.

There's actually a lot more, but you get the idea.

You don't sound all that odd Dooney. if I had space, I would do the same re clothes and shoes for DS. It's a very good idea. Same for freezing all those berries but I only have a tiny freezer.

Ali has persuaded me that I should take DS ice skating. So, if I am brave, we will go tomorrow!

Ribena3 email me at alisonsmits at gmail dot com. If you're ever my way in Boulder would be lovely to get together. My boys had Yorkshire Pudding for dinner tonight.

Did you realize both threads have the word tomato in them? I get really confused. One of them needs to get big and go away.

I don't think any of those things are odd, either, but somehow lots of people I know think they are.