Lately

Hello!

Today is the 23rd of November. Strange how time flies! In LESS than a month, I'll be home! That is both frightening, sad, and wonderful at the same time. I love London, and there is still so much I want to do! But I do miss home. My family also arrives today though, so I'll be less homesick :) I am so excited to see them!

Yesterday my friends and I went out in search of the best hot chocolate. We got off at Tottenham Court Station, which is right next to the huge shopping street, Oxford. Oxford street has everything from H&M, touristy things, Primak, Office (shoe store), and much more! But if you go off the side streets, there are really cute places to eat. Oh boy, my stomach was growling! After walking just a short while, you end up in SoHo which is were Paul A. Young's is. Oh. My. God. It is amazing! The store was heavenly, with crafted chocolates on display amongst mouth-watering signs with phrases like "85% dark with pressed almond flakes". On Fridays, they serve hot chocolate. It was the best I have EVER had. It was pretty much liquid chocolate. It was only 3.95 Pounds, which is pretty good too. You can add spices as well, for no charge. One friend added ginger and my other friend cayenne pepper and cinnamon. I stuck with good old chocolate. :) It was so good I couldn't even finish it! I would highly recommend it to all chocolate lovers.

Next we went to the South Bank for a Christmas market. Yes, it's November...but this is London! It was so beautiful! There were handmade toys and decorations that were so beautiful! My favorite were these little fairy ornaments made of pine cones. If I wasn't so full from the hot chocolate, I would have bought some sort of food-there was so much to choose from. German bratwurst, sausage, crepes, roasted chestnuts, doughnuts, you name it! There was also a choir singing Christmas carols, all in appropriate Santa garb. It was so great! I'm sure to make many appearances there...

To finish off a great day, I made mini pumpkin pies last night. I am missing the fall and Thanksgiving so much! Baking can be a challenge-and expensive-here, so I don't do it often. But it was really fun! I couldn't find brown sugar at the three stores I went to (who knows why), so my friend loaned me 1/4 a cup, then I used about 1/8 white sugar, and the remainder was maple syrup. Despite all that, it came out so delicious! I used a muffin tin instead of a pie dish. Now they'll be more portable! I had a lot of pumpkin left over, and no more pie dough, so I made pumpkin muffins. I poured the leftover flour (maybe a cup and a half?) and added about a teaspoon or so baking soda. I sprinkled the top with oats and brown sugar for a little more pizazz. I baked them at 350 for about 15 minutes, and they came out so good! They're not too unhealthy as well, because there is no butter or oil in them.

Hope all is well back home, and everyone is enjoying getting ready for Thanksgiving!

Cheers,

Liv