An Inflatable Christmas

Is it just me or is this the year of the Christmas inflatable? I know I’ve blogged about the American celebration before – their fondness for over-the-top celebrations and how far ahead of Britain they are in the “look at how many lights and flags and decorations and ornaments we can put up” race – but inflatables?

Lights I can deal with – colored ones, white ones, twinkling ones, icicle ones, flashing on and off ones, ones in the shape of a reindeer, even blue ones (no, I did not realise that these were Hannukah lights until it was explained to me) – but where did the inflatable Santa/snowman/igloo/airplane, yes, airplane come from? Target, you probably answer, hehe!

So, anyone moving here to Silicon Valley should be alerted to the American tradition of lighting up the outside of houses, yards, trees, bushes – in fact anything that grows out of the ground at Christmas time – whether it be with lights or inflatables or both.

It is a celebration of lights like no other and one which amazed me – the effort, time and dollar amount that went into these super-lit homes as soon as Thanksgiving was over – when I first arrived in California twelve years ago. And naturally, we have totally been sucked into this light mania, and have probably the most lit house in our street now. You will too, mark my words, when you move here!

But I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t find an inflatable Santa anywhere near our front yard…..

Tipping the scales

As a way of introduction to Dwight Garner’s review of British cookery books in yesterday’s New York Times,  he poses the question :

“Why are British cookbooks, circa 2007, so much better than American ones?”

His hypothesis is that British cookbooks are

“smaller, more soulful and more idiosyncratic than their American counterparts”

and continues to give examples to illustrate his point.  It’s an interesting article, worth reading if you are English and are looking for the perfect cookery book for your chef friend for Christmas, or if you are American, and fascinated with the whole subject.

However, before you rush out and buy one of his recommendations, a word of caution : measurements.  This article jogged my memory into the past when I first moved here from the UK and was dismayed to find the methods of weighing ingredients prevented me from using my English recipes in my new American kitchen.  It’s CUPS here, my friends, not lbs and ozs, and I don’t think I saw Dwight mention this small hiccup in his fine eulogy.  It’s all very well to tempt us with English recipes, but without your traditional weighing scales, you are not going to get very far.

That’s probably one of the reasons why, I’m sad to say, I have had to leave my English cookbooks gathering dust on the shelf and acclimatise myself to American fare.  Going to such online websites such as Allrecipes and Family Oven allows me to find the American-size ingredients for such delicacies as scones and Welsh cakes, but when it comes to my Mom’s irreplaceable recipe for that great Welsh spongecake, Tishen Lap, or my French penpal’s totally over-indulgent Gateau au Chocolat, I have to get out the good old-fashioned weighing scales and weigh everything out.  And it’s slow and it’s tedious…and who has the time?

Williams-Sonoma do a similar scale, as do other kitchen stores, but it’s nothing like the one we received as a wedding present many moons ago where you balance the weight on one side and put the ingredients into the bowl on the other and wait for the correct balance. It’s still a little guesswork for me, as I have to own up to losing the 2 oz weight one year when I used it to hold down a Christmas garland on top of our entertainment center – it’s never been seen since.  When my husband decides it’s worth moving that huge piece of furniture out, then I will get my 2 oz weight back!

So please don’t be discouraged from promoting our English fare in America by buying a great British cookery book, but be warned, you may need to buy the scales as well.

Hannukah – between Thanksgiving and Christmas

So, we’ve all got through Thanksgiving, and now we’re veering towards the next celebration in the American calendar. No, it’s not Christmas – it’s Hanukkah which this year begins at sundown on December 4th and ends at sunset December 12th.

Actually, I was reminded of this fact when I read a Silicon Valley Mom’s blog on the hardship she faced hunting for presents and wrapping for this Festival of Lights celebration. I say, reminded, because, if like me, you were not born here, you may easily jump to the conclusion, that after the madness and turkey stuffing that Thanksgiving is made of, our next uphill battle is shopping for Christmas. And if you’re reading this and about to relocate to the States, or indeed Silicon Valley, where I reside, you would be wise to read up on Hannukah. Everything I know about this celebration, I have learnt in the 12 years since I moved here from the UK and you will hear about it from the friends you make here and your kids’ friends. Best to know what they’re talking about.

Not sure if I just didn’t have many Jewish friends in England, or those that I did have, didn’t celebrate that much, but for sure it’s here and depending on where you live, there may be just a few or loads of blue and white twinkling lights on the houses next door to the Christmas icicle lights. According to Leslie in her sympathetic comment to the Silicon Valley Mom’s blog :

“Unfortunately for you retailers are doing their holiday buying based on demographics. Christians make up over 75% of the US population; Jews about 2%. In California it’s not much higher — a little over 3%”

explaining why it’s hard to find that Hannukah gift wrap in Target.

I would like to add that when I was in my Lucky’s yesterday (formerly Albertson’s) there were at least three aisles totally devoted to Kosher food, so maybe the Jewish celebration focuses more on eating than opening presents.

I’m all for that!

Thanksgiving debrief

Aarrgghh! Much as I love the Mercury News on Wednesdays for the Cooking Section, (and I have the huge folder of cut-out recipes to prove it) this time of year makes me flip as I read everything I need to know from cooking that damn turkey vertically to laying the table, to choosing the right wine, to eating out (fine idea to me!)

But please, cookery editors, spare a thought for all those people who have relocated here from another country (and I’m sure there’s just a few of those among your readers?!!) and don’t have the foggiest of what this Thanksgiving thing is all about or what you’re supposed to do for it.

In the meantime, that job falls to me so listen up, all you who are new or fairly new to Silicon Valley and the USA in general!

Thanksgiving happens on the 4th Thursday in November so it’s always aThursday but not always the same date. Americans try and get together with families for this annual celebration. Given that, as we are of course a very transient population in Silicon Valley, many of us have families in another country and many in a different state so we do not all have this cosy picture of 20 people sitting around a dining table with Dad poised with carving knife in hand above the humongous brown bird. And so, if Thanksgiving means nothing to you, YOU DON’T HAVE TO CELEBRATE IT! Take advantage of the fact that you and the family have 4 days off (Friday is always a holiday as well) and get out and enjoy yourself – no guilt allowed for no turkey. I have friends who always used to go to Sausalito on Thanksgiving Day and drink some fine beer, gazing out to the sea. Sounds good to me!

I digress, so back to the traditional Thanksgiving. A few days beforehand, Americans flock to their Safeway or Lucky’s or to the more upmarket Whole Foods, to buy their turkey, so they can spend several days preparing their dinner comprising of – said turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, some hideous pink mixture which my good friend Carol tells me is Cool Whip (sweet manufactured cream…) mixed with fruit (now there’s a nutritious side dish for you) , sweet potatoes (like ordinary potatoes but orange and sweet) and a selection of vegetables. Dessert is usually some form of pumpkin pie.

The reason they have Thanksgiving is something to do with the Pilgrims coming over from England and thanking the resident Indians for their help with growing crops – I may well have this slightly wrong but just ask one of your kids at school about it or maybe you already have when they asked you to help them dress up like a pilgrim…

So we and our families get to spend some time being thankful for what we have which is a very good idea, considering that four weeks later, those same kids are tearing into Christmas presents.

And on the subject of Christmas, for all of you who have come from the UK, isn’t it sad that we end up eating turkey twice a year here, and both times within a month of each other? Turkey is so good it would be nice to space it out a little more. For those not from the UK, a little background – traditionally the Brits have turkey at Christmas and that’s it, the one and only time. So when Christmas comes around here, you could opt for something else, as you may have just recently finished the last of your turkey from Thanksgiving. Can’t remember what the Americans do, maybe have ham or beef, anything but turkey.

Hope this helps to understand this quaint American custom. Let’s just be thankful it’s only once a year!

US vs Britain on celebrations? No contest…

I read another blog on Silicon Valley Moms this morning about the stark contrast between the Brits and the Americans with regards to Halloween celebrations. I’d already mentioned that in my previous blog from yesterday, but it got me thinking about US celebrations vs. UK celebrations.

Question for you Americans – is it just in California where we go over the top with these things (thinking of St Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, Valentines, Easter, and let’s not even go there with Christmas…) or is it just in Silicon Valley? Being a native Brit too, I haven’t had the pleasure of living anywhere else, guess I could ask some friends but it’s much easier to ask you bloggers out there! We in Britain are very low-key on all of these festivities. Is this a reflection of our demure personalities vs the American “out-there” style, or hasn’t Hallmark got its act together over there yet?

Where does this need come from? I also just read about the guy in Mountain View (I’ve been busy!) who won $50,000 for his horrific house (yes, I’m sure we’ll take a trip there this evening), spending thousands of dollars every year on this, and they can’t afford to buy a place (so that prize money will come in very handy). Go figure!

We Brits can’t touch him on that one!

Trick and Treat??

I just read a post on Silicon Valley Moms Blog called Halloween Street.

It reminded me of our move to Silicon Valley from the UK twelve years ago, when we literally moved into the house we had just bought, a couple of days before Halloween.

We had no time to put up decorations outside, but I did manage to get some candy, and, as a very pregnant Mom, opted to stay home and deliver the goodies to any “Trick or Treaters” who came by, while my husband took our two little girls around the neighborhood in their just-bought costumes, can’t even remember what they wore now.

I remember that I was initially disappointed that Trick or Treaters here don’t actually earn their candy. In the UK, you were supposed to say a rhyme, sing a song, or do a trick, the parents applauded and gave you a candy as a reward. Here it’s just a given, that as long as you ring a doorbell, you get your candy. I don’t even think a costume is mandatory! Reflective of our “grab and go” society?

Over the years, my husband has acquired quite an amazing assortment of decorations and I have to say, we are now one of the stellar examples in the street of a Halloween house. (Christmas is the same story by the way). Everything from ghosts hanging from a wire, black lights (did you know that tennis balls light up under those lights?) , spooky music, gigantic spiders, gravestones and witches in trees, you name it, and we probably have it! And, as Sarah mentions in her blog, you don’t want the kids to pass you by, so you get out there and decorate! It works!

Definitely a far cry from the solitary pumpkin that was put on our front wall as the only decoration in our London suburban street, only to be stolen later that evening!

The only sad thing about Halloween decorations is they have a relatively short life span, given how much work is put into setting them up. You pretty much have to take them down as soon as October 31st is over, not much point in keeping them up there. Not like Christmas, where several families I know just seem to think those lights are oh so pretty, let’s just leave them up for one more week…..

Happy Trick or Treating!

Halloween or Thanksgiving or Christmas?

Forgive me if I’m stunned, but as an English person who’s moved to Silicon Valley, I am constantly amazed by the obnoxious commercialism surrounding these events.  No sooner is summer showing just small signs of coming to an end, ie the temperatures are now in the 80’s, not 90’s, then Halloween is ushered into the supermarkets in glorious technicolor displays and I have to stop myself and ask “What month are we in?”

Almost hypnotised into thinking we have to buy more orange and black decorations, and even more massive bags of not-nutritious candy, we are coerced into adding goodies to our cart that we never really need.   And for the first time, I think, I saw massive storage boxes in Target, ORANGE ones, so that you don’t confuse your boxes of Halloween decorations with your huge green and red storage boxes for Christmas decorations.   What color are the Thanksgiving ones?

Putting all those spooky spiders and manic monsters and whispy webs and orange and infra-red lights outside – is this necessary? Though I have to say our house is the best decorated on the street – amazing how my husband finds the time to do it all – he doesn’t read my blog anyway.  Just sad it all has to come down the next day.

And I know Macy’s has their Christmas tree and decorations all set up – not sure when that happened but who wants to think about Christmas in September?

We are in such a frenzy of buying, do we really ever have time to enjoy (or even think about why we’re doing this?

Connecting

Go through your Christmas card list – we’re half way through the year – and send a quick note or email to anyone you haven’t connected with since Christmas.  Why wait?