January Blues ... and reds ... and purples ... and oranges!

Hi friends!

How are those New Year's Resolutions going?  Bored yet?  I must say my initial enthusiasm for fresh fruit and vegetables has fallen by the wayside somewhat and has dwindled to a few blueberries and raspberries on my yoghurt for breakfast and an extra slice of lime in my margarita **yawn** .  I have been sticking to my resolve of doing more cooking though and so far have managed to make a home cooked meal every weeknight for the past two weeks ... yay me ... Mr B can't believe his luck!  Think he is already regretting one of his, which was to expand his cooking skills and try a new recipe for dinner every Saturday.  Last week consisted of steak on the grill and some oven chips **rolls eyes**, however, this week he is tackling a Chicken & Ham pie, a la Jamie Oliver.  I have had strict instructions to keep out of the kitchen until it's ready ... just sneaked in to get myself a glass of wine and it is all looking a bit fraught in there with every available surface covered with either flour or an assortment of utensils and dishes.  Have a feeling that next week we may be going out!  Lol.

Whilst the majority of the US has been having some wild weather this week - dangerous ice storms, torrential rain and heavy snow (Northern California alone has had 15 feet of snow in some places and 12 inches of rain!) - here in Arizona we have been basking in the mild mid-60s and even managed 70°F on a couple of days.  There have been a fair few clouds this week though and whilst somewhat grey and gloomy, they have made for some pretty spectacular sunsets and sunrises.

Since we have been in Phoenix, I have witnessed some of the most beautiful sunsets I think I have ever seen anywhere, however, this week they have been particularly stunning both morning and evening.   I have already shared a few snaps on my social media pages, however, my amateur attempts at capturing the beauty on my iPhone from the car window or from the back garden are nothing compared to some of the shots submitted to one of our local news station.  If you're not fed up of looking at them yet, here are a couple more examples shared on their Facebook page ...

Shared by 3TV Phoenix 

Shared by 3TV Phoenix 

So in other news this week,  Techno Teen has now worked out that he can step his gadget multitasking up a notch by wearing his ear buds underneath his headphones, thereby enabling him to listen to the commentary of a You Tube video on his laptop whilst playing a game on his playstation!  This is of course whilst still monitoring Snapchat on his phone.   I have no words.

After managing to escape all forms of exercise at school so far since we moved here, his luck has finally run out, and after taking the classroom based 'Health' course last term, this term is the dreaded
PE rotation, Lol.  On Friday,  Ethan informed me that he spent some time in the gym (they have a fully equipped weight room) working out a circuit for himself and then he played tennis with one of his friends ... well, when I say 'played tennis' I am using the term in the loosest possible manner (he is his mother's son after all).  His friend Dougie, coincidentally also a Brit (and recently moved here from Guernsey to study part time at the affiliated golf academy ... yes, really), valiantly attempted to offer some coaching tips after watching him flail about with the racquet for several minutes hitting nothing but a mosquito with a death wish ...
"See if you can throw it up really high and then try and hit it " he encouraged.  Ethan threw up the ball and waited expectantly,  poised and ready to smash it ...... before missing the ball altogether and merely succeeding in smashing himself over the head with his racquet!  Good grief.
"Erm ... well at least you hit something!"  his friend offered patiently.
I expect next week he'll be suggesting that maybe it would be safer if they just stayed in the gym.   Sadly I fear he has inherited the 'non-sporting' gene from the Sutton side of the family.  I shudder at my own recollections of High School sports lessons which invariably involved freezing to death on a sub zero hockey pitch (for some reason I was always the bloody goalie in those ridiculous big clown shoes and those minging pads which strapped to your legs on bits of elastic that were always too short and left welts round your knees for days), or breaking a nail trying to catch a sodding netball.  Tennis was a rare summer treat to be enjoyed for a few short weeks if by some miracle you managed to finish your hideous needlework project early (a particularly attractive elasticated waist skirt as I recall).  I seem to remember stapling up the hem of mine in an effort to escape early to the tennis courts - not because I was desperate to play tennis but more because there was a conveniently situated hill at the back of the courts behind which you could sit undetected whilst enjoying a crafty cig! (I used to spend the majority of my lunch money on a pack of 10 x No. 6 and a box of matches, leaving just enough for a couple of 'snack tickets' with which you could buy beans on toast or a greasy spam fritter ...  Happy days!

I also learned this week that the US National Debt now amounts to $19.5 trillion!  I don't even know how many noughts that is but I do know it is a phenomenal amount of money!  Allegedly though, in just the past 12 months, the Federal Government has apparently also contributed to this debt by wasting a heap of money on some of the most ridiculous studies I have ever heard of.   Below are a few examples taken from this article ... lol 

• Fish on a treadmill - The National Science Foundation distributed $1.5 million to studying a fish on a treadmill, one of which was a mudskipper fish. It was discovered that the mudskipper fish "exercise longer and recover quicker under higher oxygen concentrations." 
• Hamster Cage Matches - The National Institutes of Health provided $3.4 million to Northeastern University in Boston to have hamsters fight each other in cage matches to examine their "aggression and anxiety." The researchers would even give the hamsters steroids which turned them into "violent, vicious" creatures.
• A study on which gender spends more time playing with Barbie dolls. The study came to the obvious conclusion that girls tended to play with Barbie dolls more often than boys do, as the latter preferred playing with Transformers. No shit Sherlock.  The National Institutes of Health spent $300,000 on this kind of research
• Fraternities and sororities like to party - National Institutes of Health issued a $5 million grant to Brown University to study fraternities and sororities and came to the shocking conclusion that fraternities and sororities consume more alcohol than other college students and people who attend fraternity and sorority parties are more likely to drink alcohol than at other events. 

Well, think that's it for this week.  Thank you for all your feedback and kind words in response to my question last week about future blog postings.  Amazingly, it seems that there is still an appetite for Barlow's Big Adventures and so I will continue with my random ramblings for now but perhaps at a lesser frequency when there is not much going on and therefore nothing much to report.

Have a great week and look forward to seeing you back here next time.

TTFN
Bev x

24 Carrot Magic...!

Hello dear friends - I'm back after a couple of weeks 'blogging break' over the holidays.  Happy New Year to you!

So, I don't know about you, but every January I seem to end up resolving the same things ... eat more fruit and veg, be less wasteful, drink more water etc. etc. and this year is no different (although as I write this it is currently 12.20pm and all I have had to drink so far today is two cups of coffee .. oops ... but water is soooooo boring isn't it?! **she wailed**) I always seem to begin the month full of enthusiasm and come back from the supermarket with a trolley full of fresh produce and then after one meal can't face it again  and so it sits languishing in the fridge until it's time to throw it away, lol!

This year I am determined to try and buy what's in season and make use of every bit, although I think I am on to a loser already to be honest.  Mr B and I made a trip to Costco last weekend as I had a yearning to cook roast lamb on New Year's Day.  I really wanted roast beef however have not been able to find a joint of topside (or even anything remotely similar) here to save my life!  **sulky face**  Whilst we were there we tried to gather all the other ingredients we needed for dinner to save having to go to the supermarket as well on the way back (that is never a good idea on New Year's Eve) and just about managed it.  The only downside was that Costco being Costco, everything came in gigantic quantities ... and there were only three of us for dinner after all.  Still, Mr B pointed out that the price for a gigantic bag of carrots at Costco was hardly more than a smaller bag from the supermarket and so, as I couldn't really fault his logic, we came away with a bag that would keep Bugs Bunny in snacks for months, plus an equally ginormous bag of sprouts;  the same of green beans (which for the record I am sick of already); plus two cartons of fresh berries ... oh and a MASSIVE cooked ham!

... and this was after 4 meals and a huge batch of carrot soup!

Jan 1: So after roast lamb, roast potatoes & butternut squash, Yorkshire pudding (yes, I gave in to the pressure and we had it with lamb ... shock, horror ... sorry Mum) carrots, sprouts, green beans, gravy and mint sauce on Sunday we still had enough Yorkshire pudding batter to make at least a couple of pancakes, half a joint and had hardly even made a dent in the vegetables!  Damn.

Jan 2: Still feeling fairly enthusiastic about my 'no waste' resolution, I made the Teen some pancakes for his breakfast with the rest of the pudding batter & whipped up a Shepherd's Pie with the leftover lamb, which we ate accompanied by ... yes ... carrots and green beans (I couldn't face sprouts two days in a row).  Whilst the pie was in the oven I also roasted the rest of the butternut squash, an onion ... and more bloody carrots ready to make some soup the next day.

Jan 3:  Not feeling quite as enthusiastic, I managed to find a recipe for carrot & butternut squash soup made in the slow cooker ... genius.  I chucked in all the roasted veg with some stock and seasoning and left it to do it's thing.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my slow cooker?  ... just checking.   As I opened the fridge to get the stock though, I saw the large tubs of untouched blueberries and raspberries glaring at me accusingly.  Bugger ... I forgot about those.   I checked the cupboards and realizing I already had everything I needed, decided to whip up a batch of granola to eat with the berries and some yoghurt (another over enthusiastic purchase at Costco - still unopened). Inspired!

I have to say though that the soup was soooo good!  Here's the link to the recipe I used if you fancy giving it a go.  Slow Cooker Carrot & Butternut Soup.  The recipe says to finish off with Almond milk, which I didn't have (obviously ... yuk) so I just used a healthy dollop of .... double cream, lol!  It was still a bit thick and so I added a little regular milk until I got the consistency I wanted, however, next time I make it I think I might use some more stock if it still needs thinning out after adding the cream as it was a bit too creamy for me (if there even is such a thing as 'too creamy'!).

I doubled up on quantities (as I had plenty of carrots!) and put half in the freezer for a quick supper another day.

Yum!  (Not my picture - I couldn't be arsed with all the fancy bits on top!)

Jan 4:  Breakfast of yoghurt, granola & fresh berries.  **checks fridge**  Still half a bag of sodding carrots, enough green beans to sink a battleship ... oh god ... and ... half a ton of sprouts **groan**!  Right ... I'm out of ideas.  Managed to find some salmon steaks at the back of the freezer - that will do for tonight's dinner and get rid of a few more of the blighters to go with.  Just as I was dishing up though, I realized that I had actually forgotten to cook the carrots (it was accidental, honest guv!).  Dammit!  Never mind, I'll just pop them back in the fridge and we'll have to have them tomorrow ...

Jan 5:  McDonalds anyone??!  Oh good Lord, but we haven't even started on the ham yet! **weeps quietly into fridge**  The Teen's first day back at school and back to the dreaded task of making the packed lunch ... that'll be a ham roll then ... with a side of carrots .. for the next three weeks!  Deciding I had better use some of that for tonight's dinner, I adapted a trusty Delia recipe and made a cheesy ham and leek pasta bake, however, as it made LOADS, there's now half of that left in the fridge as well!  It's like a scene from the Magic Porridge Pot - every time I open the fridge everything seems to have multiplied!  Incidentally, had just dished up the pasta when Mr B asked where the carrots were that we were supposed to be having with it?   Oh crap!  Forgot them AGAIN!  (ok ... it may not have been entirely accidental this time!)

Jan 6:  Can't even look in the fridge, so we decided on dinner and a movie!

We tried a new place that's just opened in Scottsdale - Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse which was great, then on to see the movie Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

We really enjoyed it, but I have to say it wasn't quite what I was expecting and seemed a bit slow in places (the old biddy next to me was properly snoring and I had to do one of my none too subtle 'coughs' to shut her up!).  I would not be at all surprised though if both Denzel Washington and Viola Davis aren't nominated for Oscars based on their performances, which were both superb.  I would give it 8/10 (oh and take your tissues).

We had originally set out to see Hidden Figures, which just opened last night, however, all seats bar the ones right at the front were already sold out!  Will have to do that one next week perhaps

Finally, a question for you ...

I am in two minds whether or not to continue with the Barlow's Big Adventure blog and have been wondering whether it has now come to it's natural end?  I started it as a way of recording our giant move across the pond and to keep friends and family updated on our adventures as we embarked upon this exciting journey, however, given that we will have now been here for two years at the end of March (I know!  How quickly has that gone?!) I am wondering whether it has lost it's appeal somewhat?  (the blog ... not the adventure!).  I must admit, as we have kind of settled into a new normality, some weeks I really struggle to find things to write about that aren't dull as ditchwater.  What do you all think?  Let me know, as without you, dear readers, it is kind of pointless anyway!

Thanks for stopping by again ... you are appreciated!

TTFN
Bev x