Like this:

I need to stop ignoring ATM (A Tuesday Morning, for all of those who are acronym-challenged [like yours truly]):

I don’t know why I wait so long in-between posts.  Probably because I lead the most boring, sorry-excuse-for-a-student-in-London life there ever was.  (Case in point: Saturday nights, I finish work at 8, and by 8:30 I am in a bathrobe with my hair in a towel watching episodes of Sons of Anarchy on a DVD Matt lent to me.  Completely normal, right?)  But most likely it’s because I have been oh-so-lazy with my baking and writing ideas; and surprisingly enough, I’ve been quite busy with a recent holiday to Turin, Italy, a coffee or drink date with someone-or-another pretty much every other day, working, dates and nights-in with the monkey-man/boyfriend figure/Matthew multiple times a week, the rare occasion shopping day (like today)…

oh, and a Master’s dissertation thrown in there somewhere, right?

But mostly I have been quite busy because —

The Moving Plans:

That’s right — in two weeks time, I will be leaving the oh-so-touristy (and apparently ‘posh,’ according to some.  Clearly they have never seen my flat) Knightsbridge area of London for another, a bit farther out, up-and-coming area of London called Bermondsey.  I’ll be moving in with my friend/manager from work, Katie, into a white-washed and wooden-floored two bedroom, separate toilet and bathroom, newly remodeled flat on the 15th floor.  Currently it’s unfurnished, but soon the landlord (who just happens to be a famous singer!  Ever heard this tune before?)  will put in a couch, some wardrobes, a TV.  The only thing we have to supply are, annoyingly, beds.  But, with the rent being as cheap as it is (about £150 less a month than I pay now), and with the council tax being taken care of for a year (an extra £30-40 I am saving a month), I figure a bed really isn’t that bad.  And now I get to pick one out!

(And by “pick one out” I clearly mean find the cheapest one on the Ikea or Argos websites…)

I have pictures on my horrible “new” (and by new I mean more outdated than my older phone) phone, and when I actually figure out how to send the bloody things to my email account, I’ll post them here.  But overall, I am SO excited, and after a million house and flat viewings (all over the damn city) it’s nice to finally be excited about a place.

New Recipe Plans

As most–all?–the two people who read this?– of you know, nothing brings me more joy than cooking and baking and sharing my food with those whom I love.  I have “the gene,” as my grandmother calls it, “the need to feed people.”  Sometimes, I get quite lonely being here, with no one to bake desserts for; I bring them into work, sometimes, but mostly I end up eating them myself (never good for the calorie-conscious, like myself).

Recently, Matt has divulged his secret infatuation with bananas-and-custard to me.  Apparently, this is a normal dessert combination here that people grow up on; maybe it is so in the USA, too, but Mom never mentioned or served this when I was a kid.  Matt made it for me (and for himself, too, and he happily ate most of mine), and honestly, I think it tasted like the inside of a doughnut with bananas on top.  However, my mind immediately went to various dessert options — what if bananas and custard could be made into a cake form? Matt heartily agreed that it’d be the best cake in the world.  I have been brainstorming, and tomorrow, I will accept the challenge.

Baking Challenge #1: to turn bananas and custard into a cake. (I say cake because pastry would be too easy — it’d be a banana cream pie, essentially — and Matt isn’t a big fan of pies and pastries.  So cake it is!  And clearly, calling it a “challenge” makes my want to bake a dessert way more exciting and Iron Chef-esque than it actually is).

Baking Challenge #2: A Dairy-free baked dessert. Matt’s housemate, Mike (who is one of my favorites in his house) is “severely allergic” to dairy.  And by severely,  I’m pretty sure he is just lactose intolerant, but I will go with this “extreme dairy intolerance” (very similar to this scenario, obviously… if anyone would be Superdude, it’d be Mike!)… When I was pondering my bananas and custard cake possibilities (while the three of us inhaled — well, more accurately, while the boys inhaled — a stack full of fajitas), I proposed the idea of making this impossibility called the Dairy-Free-Cake.  Mike rejoiced at the idea and said I’d be a legend if I created one for him; and thus, my challenge was set (though Matt vehemently argued that I should just ignore that and make the bananas and custard cake instead).

Clearly, as a Master’s student in London, I have time to do both

So, to be continued:

- Pictures of the new flat

- Updates on the recipes/results of the two cake challenges

- Photos of these updates

And on a final note, I want to mention how fantastic my good friend, CJ, is with her house renovation site, Something To Chase, where she diligently describes the exact processes she does in home improvement, home decorating, and gardening.  I will definitely be using these tips when I am lucky enough to have my first home.  Go and take a look!

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