Rules of the "Resolution"

At what point do you consider that you have broken your New Years Resolution(s)? Are there rules on this? Do you have all year to resolve to do the things you said you were going to do? Just curious because..........correct me if I am wrong...........but wouldn't it be considered a "bad thing" if before the end of January you had to go back and look to see WHAT your New Years Resolutions were?!

And when, if ever is it okay to make excuses for why you've not started or completed or keep doing your New Years Resolutions?
Well, never mind..............the simple truth is..........I did have to go back and look to see what all three of my resolutions were. I could remember two of them, but not the third one. And while I started out strong and heavy into the New Year, I lost momentum by the time I got to mid January. I have a ton of excuses if you'd like to hear them?!

Okay, okay.............enough with excuses and putting them off. I'm getting back to all of them starting today. Okay..well maybe not today.......maybe tomorrow? I will........I promise! I want to accomplish all three of them, so I will!

On a side note, Jeff and I have both been sick. But..........if we are feeling better by tomorrow afternoon I am going to make arrangements for us to head down to Stirling on Saturday. It's about a two hour drive and a little less than that by train. So we thought it might be fun to take the train down and see Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument. You know.....Braveheart.........
If something happens and we aren't feeling better then I'll push it off, but not for long. We'll try again later in February. It's hard to find a good weekend to do that and plan it because Jeff's been working offshore a lot lately, but if we can't go this weekend then we'll hopefully find a good weekend in February to go. And when we do go, I'll post plenty of pictures and try and write something up to give you a good idea of what it's like and what all we did. So stay tuned!

The busy months ahead

Good news!!! I should have something fun to write about in the coming months! We got a busy couple of months ahead of us. So I'm hoping to see some new stuff, take some great pictures and write about some parts of Scotland and some experiences we haven't had yet.
It's been so cold and the daylight hours are so short it's hard to get out and about and see things and take pictures.
We had sleet last night and I am hearing that we might get some bad weather this weekend. So we'll see what the weekend holds. Regardless, its cold so I am thinking about putting on a pot of seafood stew this weekend for us to have for dinner one night.

So with spring right around the corner and a busy couple of months ahead, there should be lots to write about (crossing my fingers). I've been looking into a mystery murder dinner at a local hotel and restaurant for us to try and do in March. And we also have our trip to Dublin in March for St. Patrick's day! In February we have a couple of outings planned to a nice local Italian restaurant and we are also going to try and attend a Mardi Gras party being hosted by some Louisiana folks that are living and working here in Aberdeen too! Jeff and I will also be celebrating our one year anniversary at the end of February. I mention this because we are planning to have dinner at an Art Deco restaurant in Stonehaven. We've heard great things about this place and think it will be fun to go check it out for our anniversary dinner.
And before we know it spring will be upon us! I personally am looking forward to the longer days of daylight and hoping to really get out and see some more places as the spring trees and flowers start to bloom. I hear that the roadsides and hills are gorgeous right at the beginning of spring and are covered with flowers. I'll be sure to get some good shots of this!

You'll notice off to the left that I put up a new poll. After the poll about our next holiday I thought it would be fun to just try and do something a little different and post different polls for fun. I'll try and change them up about once a month and I'll try and keep them related to Scotland or the "experience" here in some form or fashion.
Oh and Italy won.....by a landslide on the last poll. So I'm looking at some cruises that stop off at several places in Italy. I think it'll be the best way for us to really see a lot of Italy and hit some of the high points without us spending a great deal of time traveling by car. And hey......sitting on the deck of a cruise ship or chilling doing some fun things while in transport is NOT a bad way to travel! ;)

Off the beaten Path - Talking Sushi!

So I'm gonna get off the beaten path here a bit and talk about something that's not really all about Scotland. I mentioned on my Facebook page the other night that Jeff and I were making sushi. A few people send me messages in one form or another asking how to make sushi. So I thought I would write a little "How To" for those that are interested in making sushi at home. It's really a lot of fun if you enjoy time in the kitchen and once you get all the stuff prepped, it's fun to do as a family or a couple or even a date night type thing! Honest......it's fun! The best part about making sushi is that you can really make whatever you want in it. It doesn't have to be raw fish. For those that don't like raw fish............sushi can be made with all ingredients that are cooked or okay to eat raw.
Jeff and I are no sushi chefs, by no means. We both just really love sushi and a few years ago we got a book on how to make it and just thought it would be fun. Then we moved to Scotland and it's not easy to find here. For the longest time there was only one sushi restaurant here and now there is two in Aberdeen. But still, making it at home can be so much fun!

Okay so lets get started. I'll start with the things you will need to make it.
The most important part of making sushi is rice! It's key! And the rice must be sticky to really hold it all together. A lot of grocery stores carry sushi rice now. You can usually find it on either the Asian aisle or you can find it on the rice aisle.



But don't worry, if your local supermarket doesn't carry sushi rice, just look for either short grain or medium grain rice. Long grain rice will work in a pinch but not near as well as short or medium grain.

You'll also need Nori. This is the dark green seaweed paper. Don't freak out if you think seaweed is gross. It's very mild in flavor and honestly............it doesn't taste bad. You can find Nori on the Asian aisle as well. If you can't find it at your local supermarket then maybe look at a speciality store like World Market or some place like that. (Doug if you are reading this........I'm almost certain you guys can find it at Brookshire Bros on Rice Road. Plus they usually have a pretty good selection of fish to put in your sushi.)

Nori aka seaweed paper

You'll also need some rice wine vinegar and some saki. It's hard to say where you'll find the rice wine vinegar, but look on either the Asian aisle again or maybe with the other vinegars. You can get a small bottle of saki and it will last you a while since the recipe I am going to give you only calls for 1/4 cup. And you'll need some regular old sugar.

Rice wine vinegar, sugar and Saki

On a side note.....if making sticky rice isn't your thing........a lot of times if there is a sushi restaurant in the area, you can call them up and just get some sticky rice to go. But to me, it's fun to make the sticky rice at home and it's easy to work with when it's warm.

Okay........aside from those things you will need ingredients for the inside of your rolls. Pick the things you like and slice them thin and long. We used things like avocado, cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon, toasted sesame seeds (for the outside of a few of the rolls), tuna (if you can find it, yellow fin tuna is the best.......especially if it's fresh), jalapenos, crab meat and spicy mayo. Spicy mayo is really simple to make if you can't find it and it's key to spicy tuna rolls. All you need is some real mayo (Hellman's) and some of the red rooster red chili sauce you find in the Asian section of your store and a little lemon juice. Put a couple good tablespoons of mayo in a bowl, then squeeze a little lemon in it (about 1/4 of a lemon) and add chili sauce to taste. Remember the red chili sauce is pretty spicy and a little goes a long ways. So add a little, mix it and then taste, then add a little more if you like it hotter.

We had a lot of extras, but here is all our fillers for the rolls
(remember to keep thin long slices of what you put inside)

Also you'll need a sushi rolling mat. And you'll want to cover this mat with cling wrap to keep from getting the rice in between the parts of the mat. We didn't have any cling wrap and I didn't realize it, so we used wax paper, and it worked okay, but cling wrap works better.

Sushi rolling mat

Okay..........so we have all of our ingredients and now we want to make the rice. I've heard that sushi rice is really best when cooked in a rice cooker. I have no idea if that is really true or not but we use a rice cooker because...........well Jeff really wanted one a few years ago and bought one. lol But if you don't have one, I don't think it's a problem to cook it on the stovetop. With sushi rice though, cook it in 1 to 1 portions. I cook 4 cups of rice to 4 cups of water. Sounds like a lot but depending on how much sushi you want will depend on how much to make. It takes roughly half a cup, or a little more to make one sushi roll. Rinse your rice really well before cooking it. Rinse it several times and try and get the water running off of it as clear as you can. People thing you are cleaning off the starch that makes it sticky but you aren't, trust me, it will be plenty sticky! Especially if you use actual sushi rice.
Get your rice cooking. Rice cookers usually tell you when the rice is done and on the stovetop you'll just have to monitor it. I think once you bring it to a boil and simmer it, probably only take about 20 to 30 minutes to absorb all the water.


In the mean time, while your rice is cooking, add to a pot 1 cup of rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of saki and 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir and dissolve sugar over a low heat. You don't want it to boil but you just want it to dissolve. Keep in mind this recipe is for the 4 cups of rice you are cooking. So if you make more or less rice you'll need to adjust this recipe. Once your sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
While it's cooling I usually use this time to start slicing my ingredients that I am going to use inside the sushi roll. And remember, a little goes a long ways. So if you cut up to much you'll have lots left over.

Okay, so once your rice is done you want to turn it into a large mixing bowl. It'll be very sticky already and it sticks to everything! Try and use either a wooden or glass mixing bowl, not a metal one. I've read that the rice vinegar can sometimes have a reaction to the metal bowl. And you'll want to use a wooden spoon as well. Pour the rice vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in. Try not to be to rough with the rice and try not to mash it. Just fold it in gently and then let it set for about 10 minutes while you finish prepping. After ten minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and your rice should be super sticky. Give it one more good fold and you are ready.

Work with your rice while it's hot and use it while it's warm
(Pouring the vinegar mixture over the rice)

Okay so here we go with the fun. Lay your mat out on a nice flat surface with room to work. Lay down a piece of Nori on the mat. You'll want to leave the smooth side facing down and the more rough part facing up. Then spread some rice over the nori with the wooden spoon. Leave a nice edge at the top with no rice, about 1/2 and inch or so.

This was my first roll and I forgot to leave my top edge with no rice......so as a result I had rice squeezing out of the top on this roll.
(this picture is from the side because I couldn't get good lighting)

Then closest to you put your ingredients in one nice long strip, and beside each other and on top, trying to kind of keep it compact. Don't put to much because if you do then your rolls will be really big and fat, and harder to use with chop sticks, plus harder to eat in one easy bite.

Again, I had to take the picture from the side. The top of the roll is actually to the left and the bottom of which you roll is from the right.

This is just another roll, that Jeff was making with spicy mayo
(he made the same mistake I did on the first roll, not leaving an edge with no rice)

Once you have your ingredients in there then pick up the edge of the mat closest to you, then nice and tight (but not to firm) start rolling it away from you. Make one nice roll over and then pull the edge of it up a bit so that you can continue rolling without the mat getting in the way. Kind of like this.

You want to kind of keep it firm and roll it tight, but not to tight that the ingredients pop out the sides.

If you pull your mat back, this is what your roll should look like at this point.

But keep rolling it over!

Once you have it nice and rolled up, you can roll the mat back out and seal the seam of your roll with a little water on your finger tips. The water on the fingertips and running it along the seam is the key to keeping the roll intact so it doesn't fall open on you will you are cutting it.

This is what it should look like all rolled up and sealed

So when you are ready to slice it you take a nice sharp knife and you dip it in a cup of water.

Use a tall cup to get your knife in there good and get the blade wet!

Then slice the ends off. You'll want to dip your knife before each cut. Don't worry about the water, just kind of shake the blade off a little but you need the moisture to keep a clean cut. Now we rarely keep the end pieces because they aren't pretty and usually lack ingredients. The next slices you make are the ones you want to keep.

See the end pieces aren't full of ingredients so they want to just sort of smash down

Make thin cuts so its easy to eat in one bite (this one could have stand to be a little thinner) but not to thin that they want to fall apart. Your ingredients will fall out if you make them to thin.

Okay, so lets talk about the rolls that have the rice on the outside. Same principal, lay the nori down and put a layer of rice on it. This time you'll want to cover all the nori, leaving very little free edges. Very carefully pick up the nori with the rice on it and flip it over. Putting the rice on the bottom and the nori on top. Okay, now back to the basics of placing your ingredients on the roll (just on top of the nori this time) and then roll. I toasted sesame seeds in a pan and sprinkled them on the roll when I was done. And on one of them I put slices of smoked salmon on top. Be creative and have some fun with it. That's the best thing about making sushi at home is that you can make it your own, experiment.

Here's the roll with the rice on the outside. Sorry I forgot to take a picture with the nori flipped over, but I think you get the idea.

This is the roll I put smoked salmon on the top of it, just kind of draped over the slices.

So there you have it! I know it sounds like a lot to do but trust me, once you get the hang of it you'll love it and it's really something Jeff and I have fun doing. Of course there's fun in going out and having someone else prepare it for you, but this is fun for families and date nights or having friends over, get the family or friends in the kitchen and everyone make some sushi.

This was 4 cups of rice and it made about 7 rolls. Plenty to feed about 4 people for a meal. Or appetizers for a party.

I hope I did a good job of trying to give a "How To" but if something isn't clear, or if you aren't sure about something, maybe I missed something, or it just doesn't sound right, send me a message or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to clarify.
I hope some of you will feel inspired and give it a try. It's pretty healthy and like I said before, you don't have to eat the raw fish to have sushi. Use some crab meat or shrimp (anything like this should be cooked.....just fyi) and add a little cucumber and cream cheese. One of my favorites is to add a little piece of sliced jalapenos (deseeded of course for those that like it mild). Next time we make it I want to try to add a little piece of slightly cooked and blanched asparagus to one as well.

Next post I promise will be about Scotland again. :)

The Post that no one wants to read......or believe!

Yes, it's true........this is the post that no one really wants to read or believe is true. This is the post that kind of brings a little reality to the situation and brings forth the concept that things aren't always peachy and rosy when living in the rolling green hills of Scotland. Sorry folks........but now and then you have to have a post like this..........it's life......it's reality............just the way it is.

So what have I been up too lately? I've been busy and haven't blogged in several days and the posts have been kind of bland........haven't they? We haven't really traveled much lately, (but hey Jeff has to work some time) and I've not been taking very many interesting photos lately. So what gives.......you ask? It's cold, it gets dark early, it's snowy, Jeff's working a lot and so he's offshore a lot, and well..............things are a little drab. Things get a little old and redundant, even in the land of rolling green hills! And I've really been longing for someone to talk to that "gets it". It's nothing against my family and friends back home or even the friends I've made here. But unless you've really kind of been in this situation, it's hard to understand. It's even hard for Jeff to understand my side of the situation because while we've both moved and have this big adventure together, he's still very much involved in his career and he interacts with people on a daily basis. Me, I spend more time interacting with Simba, Rhett and Audrey than I do anyone else. Okay............don't make it sound like I am crazy cat lady or that I am pathetic................blaka, blaka, blaka! It's not that boring really in my life and I stay busy doing other things........I just long for the interaction with other people. It's in my nature.......it's who I am, it's what I do.

Not that it's a bad thing hanging out with these sweet furkids. This is Audrey (the black cat) and Rhett. Audrey is the sweetest kitty and this is really one of the first times she's really kind of sit like this for me to take a good picture of her. She has really come out of her "shell" since I've been home a lot.

For those of you that personally know me.............then you know this..............I am (at least until I moved here) a very independent person. I am career minded and orientated and I love challenges of completely a job, at my best ability and like most people, I love to feel that accomplishment. I love to socialize and interact and I love to get involve in community events and help out where I can. And at the same time I love being a wife, cooking, and just being part of the life I have now. But this year a lot has changed for me. I went from being that independent, living alone and single gal that loved her job, the people she worked with and loved being able to relax on the weekends with Jeff and be part of that life too. This year I got married, quit my job to move half way across the world with my loving husband and be a housewife. We came to a country where we would know no one and have no friends and would have to start nearly from scratch.............plus newly married and living together for the first time. Okay............and then you throw in there the occasional home sickness and the general differences between living in the U.S. and living in Scotland.
Okay..............so like I said............not the post people want to read about "life in Bonnie Scotland". lol But it's the truth...............and sometimes you just have to put it out there so people at least "sort of" get it!

So what am I doing about it.........you ask? I got a word a couple of months ago that there was a women's group here in Aberdeen that was an association for Americans and Canadians living and working here. After some research I found some information on the group and how to get in touch, be a member and kind of a general synopsis of what they do. They are involved in a Charity event each year and they do several fun things throughout the year and have monthly meetings with guest speakers. They even have a "newcomers tea" to welcome new members. Sounded like a pretty good place for me to get involved and just try and meet other people "like me". I attended my first meeting yesterday. I must admit when walking in and immediately speaking to people that spoke "American", that was a breath of fresh air for me! I hadn't heard another American voice here in Aberdeen outside myself, my husband and a few people he works with (which actually are Canadians).........since I have lived here. And quickly I found that the majority of the group have husbands that work in the oil and gas industry for one company or another. I am still not quite sure where I fit into the group or if I fit into the group but I'm willing to give it a few more goes and meet a few more people and see if I can't find a few women in the group that I can relate to and hit it off with. I'm looking forward to getting involved though and hopefully doing a little to help with charity and also just enjoy some of the fun socializing events. Oddly enough, the person I did meet that I hit it off best with is from New Zealand. I found that people from all over can be part of the association and that's pretty cool too!

In closing...............see I told you it was the post that no one really wanted to hear or read. And yes, we are fortunate, we are lucky, we have this great adventure....................but this just goes to show that it's not all fun and games all the time. We have unique challenges on top of the everyday challenges that some people come across. We are still very blessed to have had this opportunity. I just wanted to kind of show the flip side of living in another country and some of the more personal challenges to over come. For me, from my eyes, I went from being independent, single and career minded...........to dependent on Jeff, married (don't get me wrong I love it) and a housewife. NEVER in all my years did I ever think I would be a housewife. Not that there is anything wrong with it........but some people are cut out for it and some people are not. I am not sure where I fall just yet.............but I am having a time adjusting and finding out!
There are days I love that we had this opportunity and there are days I am counting down the days until we can start looking toward going home. But all in all..............this has truly been an adventure to talk about in the future and something to tell our kids one day.

On a side note...............the snow has mostly melted and as did our icicle. but the last day it was still there and pretty big........the two single icicles had sort of grew together and made one big one.

I made this Irish Mint Mocha Rice pudding the other day. It was pretty tasty......for rice pudding!

The Icicle!

Okay........so I'm lagging a little behind on updating the blog. Perhaps I should have considered making one of my resolutions to update my blog more often?!?! Nah..........that would sure have been one of the first resolutions to break!

Truth be told...........I've been busy! And the one or two days since I last blogged that I wasn't busy..........well I was being lazy and catching up from all the previous days of busy! Really!

Jeff finally got to come home on New Years Eve. I had a lot of things to catch up on.........like having our New Years Day lunch, celebrating his birthday, opening Christmas presents and also having Christmas dinner. So we crammed that all in over a few days. My personal favorite was celebrating his birthday. We went into Aberdeen and had Yo Sushi (very cool place) for lunch and then went to see Avatar in 3D............then did a little shopping.........and came home for chicken fried steak, mash potatoes and river bottom gravy (what Jeff calls cream gravy) and I made some cheddar chive biscuits to go with. Plus the day before I made him a Boston Cream Pie. Frankly........I'm not good at making Boston Cream Pie........and I am deeply disappointed in myself for not being able to make Boston Cream Pie better. I pride myself on my cooking abilities and all I can say is that I must continue to practice and tweak the recipe!

Christmas dinner was great and the cornbread mix finally arrived, so we were able to have dressing. We had a ton of turkey left over............but it froze well and I've made salads with it and used a little honey mustard dressing on the salad and sprinkled it with Feta Cheese and it's fab!

Jeff carving the turkey!

Looks like we were feeding more than two. Good leftovers though!

I got some great things for Christmas! I got some kitchen stuff, some cookbooks and my favorite thing is a crystal stem ring holder to slip my rings on when I am washing dishes, cleaning, etc. I love it! And my cookbooks have inspired me to try some new recipes. Of course I am not one to just take a recipe and make it exactly as it's printed. No, I have to change some things up.........add a little of this or that.............and just kind of make it different. I don't know why I do that, but always have. I guess it's my way of inventing a taste I enjoy out of something that someone else planted the idea for.
So I found a chocolate rice pudding that calls for orange zest and orange liquor. I personally am odd in that I am one of the few people in the world that doesn't like orange and chocolate together. So I decided to change things up a little and make an Irish Mint Chocolate rice pudding. Its chilling and setting now..........so I'll have to get back to you if it was worth it and if it's a good change to the original recipe. And I know many of you are saying, "Yuck, rice pudding?" YES.......rice pudding. It's huge here...........so I figure I might as well try and make some to see if I would like it. Honestly I think people either love it or hate it, but I like tapioca pudding, so I am thinking I'll like this.

Oh and the title...........the icicle.............Jeff and I have a couple of small tree like bushes in front of the house that cover the windows to the atrium. We've got one of them that has a growing icicle on it. We keep thinking any day now that the limb is going to break, or the icicle.........but no........it keeps growing.

This was our icicle yesterday!

This is our icicle today...and it's friend!

And today I looked at it.......and we now have two icicles. Really........it's like the biggest icicle I have ever seen! I know it's hard to tell from the picture............but I think it's got to be at least 12 inches long and probably a couple inches round at the top.

The little things in life amuse me!