Uh-oh ... urine trouble ...!

So this week I went on another 'field trip' with my friend John, exploring another couple of store, the first of which was Fry's Electronics.

The best comparison I can make would be to a HUGE Curry's Superstore or similar.  It had everything .. well ... er ... electronic .. from TVs to fridges to computers to games to kids toys to urine spray ... wait ... back up ... urine spray???!

Ewwww!

We also found a nifty little gadget for those men who can't aim straight in the middle of the night (read pissed) ... yes really!  It was a very random kind of a store and another one of those that we were lucky not to have been thrown out of as we were continually doubled up in the aisles laughing ... ahem.

Next stop was an Asian Food market.  This had all kinds of interesting ingredients (plus the obligatory Made in China plastic tat), and reminded me a bit of a Saturday morning down Tooting market!  There were 15 types of eggplant (aubergines to you and me), ladies fingers and all manner of strange looking vegetables which could have been gentleman's toes for all I knew!  I did find a jar of Harissa paste in the 'Mediterranean' section though which I had been hunting for for a while ... not quite sure which bit of 'Asia' that falls under but having previously noted that Geography lessons are missing from the school curriculum here, I rest my case.

I also got to go to a Scrapbook Convention this week with some of the lovely ladies from the Scrapbook group that I have joined.  The plan was that we would 'car pool' down to the convention, go for lunch afterwards and then get back in time for the various school pick ups later in the afternoon.  Except, as Ethan's school helpfully finishes at 1.15pm on a Friday,  I elected to take my own car so that I could leave earlier and collect him in time on the way back (after double checking with him several times that there were no activities that he wanted to go to after school that afternoon ... apparently not)

"Oh well, if you're sure.  Still come to the meet up point though, then you can follow us down and you won't get lost"

OMG!!! Have you ever tried to follow someone who appears to be auditioning for the next Fast and Furious film and you don't know where you are going?!  Luckily, I had also programmed the Convention Center into the GPS which was handy, as I had to abandon all hopes of trying to keep up with her after the first 10 minutes.  Ironically though, I pulled into the car park right behind her ... the tortoise and the hare and all that ;) ...

It was a fun morning out though and I did come home with a few goodies of the paper variety ... er .. Mr B, if you are reading this, it was just the one ... and it was practically free **coughs and walk away whistling**

Just as everybody was about to head off to the restaurant for lunch, I received a text from Little Lord Fauntleroy, advising that he was staying on at school after all for some of the Homecoming activities ... you don't say ... and could I collect him later, around 3 ... **mutters expletives**

Oh well, at least I would be able to join the other ladies for lunch after all.  They are a fun bunch and even though I might have had to grit my teeth and smile sweetly through the predictable 'Harry Potter' references and the assumptions that  'all British food is bland and tasteless' it was nice to be part of a girls day out again, after 6 months of male company (no offense chaps).  Although, I think I might stick with my own driving on any future excursions thank you very much!

Have a great week dear friends and see you at the other end!
TTFN
Bev x

Food Glorious Food ...!

One of the things I love about living here is the sheer amount of choice for pretty much anything you want to buy.  And even if you can't find what you are looking for locally you can get it shipped to you in a few days, thanks to the marvelous world wide web!

This is doubly true when it comes to grocery shopping - in fact, there is almost too much choice! I have never seen so many different supermarkets in one place, all competing with one another for our loyalty with weekly deals, special offers and various incentives such as  fuel points and $5 Friday specials, which of course is great for us, the consumer.  Of course there are some good ones and some not so good ones, (just like anywhere else), and then there are some GREAT ones (but with a price tag to match!).  

If you are smart (and can be bothered, which generally I can't :-/), you can save a lot of money on your weekly shop if you are prepared to spend time trawling through various websites and newspapers to find the best deals and then split your shopping across several supermarkets.  If you know how to work the system you can also make huge savings on gas too.  For example. I recently read an article via another local blogger, of how they took advantage of the 4 x fuel points being offered by one particular store on gift cards. They were going to purchase a new family computer, so bought $500s worth of gift cards for Best Buy (an electronics chain), earning 4 x Fuel points. Then both she and her husband drove their cars to the gas station and filled up both cars from the same pump, using the maximum discount allowed at one time of $1 per gallon.  Given that gas here is currently around $1.36/gallon, that would equate to two tanks of gas for just a few dollars.  Genius! I would never have thought of that.  

Over the last 6 months (how quickly did that go?!), I have had lots of fun checking out most of the local offerings, making this weekly chore slightly less boring, and this is what I learned: 

• Albertsons - I would maybe compare to Tesco in the UK.  The first time I went, I bought some fresh shrimp to use for dinner that evening which by the time it came out of the fridge again around 6pm had gone off and had to go straight in the bin!  Obviously, they were struck from the list immediately!
• Haggen - maybe similar to Morrisons in the UK ... meh!
• Safeway - love their $5 Friday bakery items, and they were top of the list for my weekly shop initially, but they seem to have slipped over the last couple of months (well, the one near me certainly has) so have had to transfer my allegiance to ...
• Frys (part of the Kroger group) - lovely fresh produce (lots of locally grown stuff too) and really friendly, helpful staff.  Bakery not as good though (although that's probably a good thing)  and a bit pricier
• Costco - enough said. Who doesn't love Costco?! 

Then there is

• AJ's which is I suppose the local Waitrose/M&S equivalent but much much more.  It's kind of a top notch supermarket crossed with a country store and boutique gift shop.  It has a bakery to die for (can you tell which is my favourite section yet? Lol), top quality meat/fish/produce, a gorgeous deli and an amazing wine section (another favourite).  It is also very expensive.  I saw a beautiful autumn wreath in their floristry section this week, full of silk leaves, twigs and berries, for $29.  Thinking that that was very reasonable, was just about to add it to my trolley when I realised it actually said $229!! Good God! I would be expecting real gold leaf and berries made of rubies for that price! Needless to say it quickly went back. Similarly, I was tempted by a gorgeous scented candle which also turned out to be $60. Sigh (why do I never like the cheap stuff?).  However, if you like to cook and bake (as I do) and are searching for a missing ingredient, you can bet you will find it at AJ's.  

This week, my good friend John, took me on a field trip to visit two more stores that I hadn't yet managed to check out yet.

After a healthy breakfast of bananas, pecans ... oh ... and a waffle all covered in hot caramel ... ahem ... we headed to

• Trader Joes - a Californian based chain which advertises itself as a 'neighborhood grocery store with amazing food and drink from around the globe and around the corner'.  It had that laid back California vibe and there were lots of interesting products on the shelves (and some very interesting shoppers!)

  

  Er ...?

  We had to pay for our purchases and make a quick exit after dissolving into a fit of the giggles causing John to spill his 'pumpkin spiced' coffee sample (I ditched mine - bleugh!) as we were laughing so hard ... ahem.

And finally,

• Whole Foods (or whole pay check as John calls it) - Oh my! If you have ever been to the Food Hall at Selfridges, you will have experienced a small corner of Whole Foods Market.  As well as a top notch grocery store, there was also a full bar with large TV screens; a sit up grill bar; sushi bar; Asian food kitchen; coffee shop & cafe ... and of course the most amazing patisserie & chocolate section.  Think I might be popping back there soon!

Mmmmm ...

Macarons are my absolute favorite but not sure I would pay $2 each!

Hope you've enjoyed my little view into the otherwise mundane world of grocery shopping, and hope to see you next time!

Bev x

Please do not adjust your sets .....!

Did I mention how bad 'Summer TV' is here? Ugh ... ! From what I have seen so far, with a few exceptions which I will get to in a minute, it seems to consist largely of sit com repeats from 30 years ago (there's only so many times you can watch Everybody Loves Raymond), cheesy quiz shows, really bad dramas, interspersed every couple of hours with news programmes (with the same thing regurgitated on every channel at varying intervals).  Of course, if you are into sport, which I am not, then you can always find something to watch.  (To be fair,  I do quite like NBA basketball but that hasn't started yet ... sigh).

Mr B has been in his element this week as the NFL season kicked off on Thursday, plus he has found a channel showing UK football (I'm still refusing to call it 'soccer') from 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning, so he is as happy as a pig in shi mud.  When he is not watching sport he is either watching Game of Thrones or House of Cards on Netflix on his iPad, (both of which I gave up on after the first couple of episodes in Series 1 **yawn**).

Don't get me wrong, I am not in favor of us becoming a family of couch potatoes either, but I do like to sit down for an hour at the end of the day and relax with either a juicy drama - think Sherlock or Broadchurch or something to make me laugh ... like Gavin & Stacey or Stella, or even, dare I say it, some great reality TV - love 'em or hate 'em, you have to agree that Ant & Dec on I'm a Celebrity can't be beaten!  Oh ... how I miss British TV.   I did get all excited a couple of weeks ago when I saw an advertisement for Bake Off ... or as they call it here ... 'The Great British Baking Show' (what's up with that??) which was due to start here this week on the PBS channel.  Well, let me tell you, 'disappointing' doesn't even begin to cover it!  Firstly, I discovered that not all schedules are the same, and whilst in some regions it did in fact start last Sunday, it doesn't actually start here until next Thursday **groan**, but then even more annoyingly, after waiting excitedly all this time,  I then discovered that it is actually the series from last year in the UK (or was it even the year before ... it's the one where someone steals Howard's custard...?).  Outrageous!!  What a let down ...

That was the final straw as far as I was concerned and so I set about researching ways to access UK TV via t'interweb.   After a bit of faffing and trying out a couple of solutions  (Google Hola was decidedly difficult to get set up easily on all our Apple devices and couldn't get 'Watch UK TV Abroad' to work at all), I found an app called Tunnel Bear.  A couple of clicks and I was in.  Eureka!  BBC iPlayer here we come!  Whilst it is slightly annoying that we can only watch on either the computer or iPad (streaming via Apple TV was not very successful as everybody looked like they had nervous twitches!), it was really great to be able to get our fix of Strictly this week (especially critical now that Mr B and I are training to be the next Orla and James Jordan ... **ahem**).  I also amused myself greatly by watching 'Fried', a comedy series about the daily lives of the disgruntled employees at a London fried chicken shop, which was right up my street!  LOL.  Now I just have to catch up with Bake Off at some point this week ... **does happy dance**

One of the few shows that we have all enjoyed watching on US TV each week though has been America's Got Talent.  There have been some great acts - many worthy of being winners - and unlike the British version you don't have to suffer a whole host of the hopeless and desperate.  I guess with a country this size they must struggle to fit in all the genuinely good acts and so there thankfully there is no time to show any of the rubbish ones ... Hallelujah! This week is the final,  so we will all be watching the final 10.  My money is on Paul Zerdin - a brilliant ventriloquist, but then there is also Stevie Starr, the Professional Re-gurgitator (look him up on YouTube!), who, whilst completely gross, makes compulsive viewing (even if it's from behind a cushion in my case).  Oh yes, I should mention here by the way, that both of these acts are actually from ......... Britain!

Still, we are currently being bombarded with trailers for the 'Autumn schedules' ... not least the new series of Modern Family ... yahoo! ... so maybe there will finally be something worth watching at last.

Anyway ... on that note, think I might go and get the first episode of this year's Bake Off under my belt (which may have to be let out a notch or two by the end of the series!)

Thanks for dropping by and hope you all have a good week,
TTFN
Bev x

Beam me up ...!

Hello again - how's your week been?

I understand that this season's series of Strictly has started again in the UK.  I am missing it already **sniff**   I think though, that I may have found a way of watching it from across the pond, via an App called Tunnel Bear, which simulates a UK VPN allowing you to connect to sites such as iPlayer as if you were in the UK.   Result!  Have only tried the free version for now though, which only allows a small amount of data per month, but so far so good.   If it works then I will definitely be subscribing to the full version!   The US version of Strictly ... Dancing with the Stars ... starts here in a couple of weeks though, so if all else fails,  I will still be able to get my fix - plus we get to have Artem back ... **swoon**

On a related note, Mr B and I are still making progress at our dance lessons.  In fact, we are doing so well that we passed this week's 'progress check' with flying colors, and have now graduated from the Beginners Program and moved onto the 'Social Foundation' programme (?) four weeks early!  Watch out James & Orla! All together now ... da da da da, da da dahhh ... da da da da dah!

I think Mr B and I have also made a great impression on a few of Ethan's teachers.  Not least his Biology teacher, as he came home with some homework earlier this week which entailed asking three members of his family to list what they thought were the '8 characteristics of life' (without the help of Google!).  Oh Lord!  Well, after exhausting my initial list of the essentials such as water, sunlight, oxygen etc. I was still two short ... ha!  got it .... chocolate and wine.  There, that makes 8!  Ethan reported back with much hilarity to his school friends later that evening whilst on their regular evening Skype call (because they hadn't seen each other since at least 3pm) which apparently was met with an incredulous "Oh. My. God!" :0)   24 hours later he took great pleasure in informing us that I had only got one right,  (reproduction in case you were wondering), Mr B didn't get any (he had gone with the love, honesty, hard work angle ...obviously) and Ben had done the best and got five (although apparently 'partying' was incorrect) **gobsmacked!** ... he soooo cheated!  His teacher did ask him to let me know though that Chocolate and Wine were numbers 9 and 10.  (Note to self - best swerve Biology at next parents evening ...)

We have also had another week of dentist visits ... **ker-ching!**

Mr B went for his initial registration/check up and came home two and a half hours later looking like he had had a stroke!  After the initial check up with the dentist, he was ferried in to see the hygenist who informed him she needed to perform a 'deep clean', promptly numbing his mouth on both sides as it was 'so bad' and tutting all the while about the quality of cleaning in the UK **gasp**.  

I had already had my initial visit and 'deep clean torture' at which time our (rather dishy) dentist had gleefully informed me that I required 3 small fillings ... **ker-ching!** ... and so it was for this reason that I also found myself back there this week.  As the dental assistant ushered me into the chair to await the arrival of the man himself, she explained that once she had reclined the chair, I would be able to see the large TV screen on the ceiling and would I like to select something from Netflix to watch?  What a good idea, I thought!  The perfect distraction whilst at the dentist!

Hmmm ... what to watch though?  I know ...  how about Orange is the New Black?  I had seen lots of rave reviews on the show and had been meaning to watch it for ages ... Perfect!  When I informed the dental assistant of my choice, she looked slightly surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered advising that 'lots of clients' chose that show and did I know which episode I was on?
"Oh I haven't seen any of them yet", I advised, "so just start at the first episode if that's OK?"
Well, just five minutes in I realized (five minutes too late)  this was probably not the most appropriate thing to be watching at the dentist.

Picture the scene if you will ...  there I am, fully reclined, headphones on,  incapable of speech (as mouth stuffed with what felt like huge tampons soaked in vile local anesthetic), when to my horror I found myself watching an explicit lesbian sex scene in a prison shower ... OMG!  Right on cue,  enter dishy dentist.  OMG!!!   God only knows what he must have thought.  I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.  To his credit, I only detected the slightest raise of an eyebrow, as he proceeded to numb what felt like my entire face and then launch into the Spanish inquisition ... can you feel anything if I stab you with this sharp torture implement?  ... does your mouth feel like you have got a big fat lip?  No? ... how about now?  etc., etc.  to which I could only shake my head or nod, whilst dribbling like the village idiot and blushing the color of a boiled beetroot.  Note to self ... on next visit to Dishy Dentist, you can't go wrong with an episode of Friends ....!

Let's hope next week is a less embarrassing one!

TTFN
x