sometimes… London is the loveliest city to live in. How could I say no to an exhibit about Fashion and Gardens and the Garden Museum? I didn’t even know there was a garden museum. Turns out, it is Excellent. The permanent exhibition is really interesting, with a fabulous display of ancient tools
You know how lace scarves are suddenly everywhere? It’s like you can’t be a knitter unless you’re draping some lacey shawl around your neck. Well I’d never knit lace (and I wasn’t committed enough to fork out for a fancy pattern) so when I decided to knit a lacey number of my own I took it […]
Soon these wreaths will come down too. It is considered bad luck in England to keep your Christmas ornaments up past January 6th. [Note: here they are most definitely not considered “holiday” decorations] At work on Monday as we were taking down our seasonal decor, my colleague joked he’s not sure how they manage to […]
Today is the first day in a while where I have been able to sit on my couch all day to work on job applications. Last month, it was time to be more proactive in my job hunt. I went out and found a nanny job, a cat-sitting gig and have been picking up shifts […]
April 3, 2013 12:33pm Walking the Wicklow Way somewhere in Ireland “Sitting in Mullacor Hut, having just had a fine lunch of Heinz cream of tomato soup with Dubliners cheese on buttered brown soda bread. Enjoying a cup of Ceylon Tea and some Cadbury’s fruit and nut. I don’t have to sit in the hut, […]
Two important discoveries: 1. My hunt for pumpkin pie filling is over. Tesco’s on Essex Road in Angel carries Libby’s in its International foods aisle, right next to the Caribbean section on the bottom shelf. The American section consists almost entirely of sweets. I believe whole foods also carries a canned pumpkin filling but it’s […]
In September 2011 when I began my studies in International History at Columbia University, I was amazed to see the orientation sessions filled with so many other young MA students like myself. New graduate programs are proliferating at American Universities. There are few statistics available yet about where today’s graduates go on to apply their […]
Hello, I’m Nicola. I’ve been blogging here since 2008 and only my friends ever noticed. I’m not even sure they did. But that’s okay! I have so many hobbies I wanted to keep on track of them somehow. Knitting, baking, cooking, sewing, writing, cartography, music, drawing.. the list goes on. This blog is a portfolio […]
it’s a grey day lashing rain in London and I have pie on the mind: Most often I bake fresh open-faced peach or berry pies. It’s a seasonal thing for me- July and August are pie season. I’m picking up a few tricks- I use a few tablespoons of minit tapioca to thicken the filling […]
There is a fence in my new neighborhood covered in blackberry vines. By now the blossoms there will never bear fruit. Oh England, imagine this: warm blackberries, picked from the bush by the side of the road with the sun beating down. This is kind of a west coast thing. Himalayan blackberries may not be […]