The Cookie Exchange – A Sweet Celebration of the Season

One of the best ways to celebrate the holidays is to find fun ways to gather friends and family. One idea to do just that is to host a cookie exchange. It's a wonderful and rewarding way to bring together everyone you know who has a (potentially unrequited) interest in creative baking.

Cookies, at their core, are the simplest little creations: delicious, portable sweets with so many varieties that everyone can find something to love. A cookie exchange is simply a party which celebrates the fun behind cookies!

Cookie exchanges can be as simple or complex as you want. My favorite way to host a cookie exchange is to set it up around a coffee morning.  In this scenario, the host provides coffee, tea and cookie-display space. Then she or he invites friends and family to bring a couple dozen of their best, most creative cookies to share. This is when everyone’s hidden baking talents come alive.

Every person invited brings a dozen (or more) cookies which they have baked, bought or decorated and when you have a room full of people and their cookie creations, everyone takes turns filling empty boxes with different kinds of cookies. As a guest, you arrive with a dozen of the same kind of cookies and leave with a pile of variety.

It doesn’t have to be a formal affair. In fact, the more casual and comfortable, the better the cookies taste!

Cookies exchanges give us a way to reconnect with special people and as a bonus, everyone leaves with a variety of delicious treats and in some cases new recipes to try.

For ideas you can always check out Pinterest or one of a dozen other blogs dedicated to the topic.

Happy holidays!


Written by Stephanie Sandoval. Stephanie is FOCUS' Magazine Editor.


Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org

London Legal Quarters

As an expat living in London I love to explore what this incredible city has to offer. With a group of like-minded friends in the last few weeks we have ventured into London’s legal quarters.

Located near Aldwich, on the western border of the City of London, the Inns of Court represent the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. Since the 14th Century all barristers must belong to one of the four Inns where they receive training and support for their profession.

What impressed me the most is the sense of stepping back in time  these cobbled lanes, tucked away gardens and tranquil squares offer. Tradition and formality permeates the air and the magnificent Middle Temple Hall represents a unique example of Elizabethan London with its striking double-hammer beam roof which was completed in 1573 and the stained glass windows that were miraculously saved during the blitz in WWII.

Temple Church is a hidden jewel between the Inns built by the Knights Templar, the monks order that was protecting the pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem in the 12th Century. Its carved stone doorways are original from the 11 hundreds. I was so pleased to finally be able to visit it as I have tried a few times in the past but always found it locked. Music is a big part of the church life with a rich programme of organ recitals  and choir concerts. I will definitely go back to experience this music.
 

Our last stop was a tour of the Royal Courts of Justice: our guide was fantastic and took us into a court room where she presented us with the history of the building and the activities run by the Courts. We were able to sit on the barrister benches, the witness stand and in the jury box. Walking around we met barristers and judges dressed in their gowns and wigs; the horsehair wigs and coulourful robes worn by judges can be traced back to medieval times but are now part of the tradition an still worn these days.

There is always something new to discover in London: step out and discover a treasure of your own!



Written by Paola Longobardi. Paola is Resource Manager at FOCUS.


Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org

Where are you from?

While travelling in the American southwest with my family last summer, I had an odd experience. We had been seated in a restaurant and were discussing the menu, in Italian. The waitress came over and asked if we had any questions, and my husband turned to her and spoke in perfect, albeit heavily accented English. When it came time to take the orders, she started speaking with my husband and asked him what the ‘children’ wanted (the children are teenagers).

Number one son started speaking in ‘the Queen’s English’, and once he finished, his brother immediately followed suit. I then started speaking in American English, and you could see the waitress needed a moment to process that each party in this seemingly normal family had a completely different accent when speaking in English. 

Curiosity got the better of her and she asked, ‘but where are you from?’  Ah, what is normally a simple question to answer for most people, for us becomes incredibly complicated.  I am American but have been living in England for more than 20 years, but I arrived via Brussels.

My husband is half Italian, half German and has
lived in more than six countries throughout his life. Our children, are relatively normal, having been born and raised in London. But then, they aren't really normal, are they?

They have parents from different nationalities, while being raised in a third. They have the major advantage of being brought up in a bilingual household, and as a result, find learning additional languages fairly easy compared to their monolingual friends. And if you ask them which nationality they most identify with, the answer depends on which set of grand parents they have most recently visited and which international sports competitions are currently taking place. 

The only thing that is certain, is that they don't
feel English. But then, we live in London, and if I look around at the friends that we have, our children are absolutely normal.  Many of our friends are mixed nationality couples, with interesting combinations such as Irish/Syrian, German/Chinese and Dutch/ Chilean. London is a multicultural melting pot and no one bats an eyelid when a family is made up of many different nationalities. In fact, it is often the norm.

Written by Eva Stock. Eva is Director of Sponsors Relations at FOCUS.



For more information about FOCUS visit:  www.focus-info.org

Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org

Queue or Kew? Redefining Hidden Gems

While leading a presentation last week on London’s Hidden Gems for parents at an international school I was reminded of just how familiar and unfamiliar this extraordinary city has become and continues to be since my arrival in 1996!

One of the reasons I have decided to make London my home is that I love that nearly every day I discover or experience something new - a small independent bookstore on Ebury Street, pink flamingos high above Kensington High Street, an extraordinary family run cheese shop on Tachbrook Street or a Rugby World Cup quarter final team training at my local gym. London is always full of surprises! For this same reason I love doing the research behind the Hidden Gems presentation. I, with the FOCUS team, have strived to curate a selection of truly unique London gems and pride ourselves on avoiding the ‘obvious.’

So it did indeed take me by surprise when, in the
middle of presenting, I had a moment of realisation that I had come a long way in becoming familiar with London and that ‘obvious’ was not always so. I was, at the time of this revelation, speaking about some of the lesser-known gardens in London- Embankment Garden, Mount St Garden, Postman’s Park, Inner Temple, Southwark ‘s Red Cross Garden... I could go on for at least another page but that is another blog altogether. The point is while one participant was granting me every presenters dream of audience participation by sharing an experience of being at Kew Gardens one of the other participants diligently taking notes interrupted wanting to know whether we were talking about Kew with ‘K’ or queue with a ‘Q’.


Inside I was laughing in a most sympathetic

manner, however it was at this stage that I was abruptly reminded of just how many different interpretations of ‘hidden gems’ there might be. I had wrongly taken for granted that the much treasured ‘better known’ cultural destinations now so familiar to me were already discovered by this well educated and well travelled audience of international parents.  However, in my drive to uncover the undiscovered I failed to remember just how daunting the multitude of cultural options can be for someone new to London. After all, I should know well that the possibilities, so vast in number, can be dizzying even for us longer-term expats.


In my hours of research and commitment to 
uncover the most hidden cultural gems I had forgotten what it was like to be so fresh in this great city. What was obvious to me was indeed hidden to many in the audience that day.

In some ways I was quite envious knowing the participant with the Kew/queue question was just embarking on a journey I have now been on for 19 years.  However, I will continue my quest to unearth new treasures daily and have complete faith that London will continue to deliver in spades!

If you like the sound of learning more about FOCUS’ favourite hidden gems keep an eye out for our seminar in early 2016 where we will reveal all!

If you want to hear what some of the parents at the ACS Egham, ICS and the audience at American Women’s Club had to say about this presentation please email office@focus-info.org.

Written by Nancy Dickinson.  Nancy is Deputy Executive Director at FOCUS.

For more information please visit www.focus-info.org

 

Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org

A jewel in the Crown

It may be National Curry Week until 18th October but not all Indian restaurants are curry houses.

Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited for lunch at Quilon restaurant. This fine Indian restaurant is definitely not your typical local curry house: I quickly understood why it was awarded a Michelin star in 2008 and has retained it since then.

Located between St James’ Park and Victoria, Quilon serves South-West coastal Indian cuisine.  The décor is quite modern and sleek whilst warm and inviting with extensive use of dark wood: you are transported in the warmth and depth of Indian culture and cuisine without being overwhelmed with traditional decorative references.

And this progressive stance is also reflected in 
reflected in the original approach of the award-winning chef to Indian cuisine:  successfully blending the roots and flavours of Indian traditions with modern tastes and cooking techniques, the menu focuses on seafood while also serving excellent meat, poultry and vegetarian dishes.

We had the opportunity to try the tasting menu. What a journey of flavours, herbs and spices! I personally like spices as they add character and depth to a dish but I must admit I am usually not a big fan of very hot food. As soon as the appetisers arrived, I discovered the explosion of
flavours was more about the quality, subtlety

and mix of the spices used than about the strength. In the assortment of dips, some were significantly hotter than what I usually eat, but they were so full of deep and tangy flavours of lemon, mint, coriander, etc., that I could not really stop dipping…

The rest of the menu then brought us from succulent stuffed quail legs (with brown onion, chilli, ginger, spices and served with mustard) to a soft-as-a-feather coconut chicken breast, from a surprisingly light and cleansing spiced lentil broth to a deliciously indulgant layered bread with pure ghee (Indian clarified butter), from an assortment of tasty vegetables to comforting tomato- and lemon-flavoured rice… And not to mention one of their signature dishes, the beautiful melt-in-the-mouth baked black cod!

The desserts did not let us down either: the pistachio cake with melted black sesame fondant, the hot vermicelli kheer (creamy hot vermicelli pudding served with rose ice cream), and the chocolate and hazelnut praliné cake flavoured with cardamom and coconut, are equally delicious and surprising.

I already liked Indian cuisine before, but Quilon has definitely showed me new flavour horizons.

Quilon restaurant
41 Buckingham Gate
London SW1E 6AF
020 7821 1899

For more on Indian cuisine in the UK, read also the ‘East meets West: Britain’s curry quest’ article in the September-October issue of FOCUS Magazine.


Written by Aude Eyraud. Aude is FOCUS Director of Marketing.

For more information about FOCUS, visit: www.focus-info.org

My 'Dîner en Blanc'

The one and only time I have ever worn all white was for my wedding. It's just not one of my favourite colours for apparel. So, the idea of wearing this very tricky colour (for me) produces some trepidation.   

Dîner en Blanc is an international pop-up event phenomenon and, as the title suggests, all-white attire is a must. No negotiation on this point.  

My husband, Ernest, and I first learned about Dîner en Blanc back in the U.S. but were never able to get past the wait list to actually attend one.

When we learned about a planned Dîner en Blanc event in London, we never dreamed that we would actually get to go right way. We had hoped to get on the wait list and perhaps make it to one before we returned home in a few years. We were thrilled, then, to learn that we actually made the cut on the first try!  So, for the first time in nearly a decade I found myself garbed head-to-toe in white - well, actually more of an ecru.

The concept of Dîner en Blanc is simple:
Diners supply their own food, place settings and linens; organisers arrange the location and entertainment for the evening. Confirmed attendees meet at the appointed rendez-vous spot and are then escorted to the super-secret venue where they set up for the world’s 'most elegant picnic'. 

Our meeting place was The Birdcage sculpture at St. Pancras, and the venue was only a short walk away at Lewis Cubitt Square. Other attendees that evening, however, had to travel by tube from meeting points all over the city. The Facebook photos showing the marching white brigade attest to this amusing sight.


Most of those around us were DEB newbies - we
could tell by the shared wide-eyed wonder at some of the spectacular outfits and paraphernalia of many diners. DEB veterans were also easy to spot. They were meticulously packed to party with fancy baskets, their own tables and chairs (we rented ours from the event organisers) gourmet fare and table decorations that would do Colin Cowie proud.

For many of these vets, elegance was enthusiastically embraced - white sequinned gowns, Ascot-worthy hats adorned with ostrich feathers, parasols, and even powdered wigs! Others - I’m guessing some newbies - chose a more relaxed interpretation of elegance with white jeans, button-down shirts or T-shirts and trainers. No matter the style, 1,200 people dressed in the same colour is, itself, an amazing sight. 

It was a festive evening spent with new found
friends from all over the world, including Canada, France, Japan, Ireland, Germany and the U.S.  We danced to a great party band, played board games and enjoyed fireworks (well, hand-held sparklers!) If that weren’t exciting enough, our Canadian table mates got engaged in the middle of dinner. It happened in a flash:  Daniel kneeled and popped the question in a whisper to Angie. They embraced and she cried.  Once I figured out the momentous news, dozens (then hundreds) of us tapped our wine glasses and whirled our napkins overhead in celebration. How awesome is that?

I’ll never have a love affair with white clothes, but for an evening of food, fun, good cheer and colourful people, sign me up to dine en blanc any time.

Written by Pamela Rucker Springs. Pamela is a PR and communications expert with her own consultancy. She and her husband, Ernest, moved to London in late 2014 for his secondment with a global news organisation.

For more information about FOCUS, visit: www.focus-info.org

Gaudeamus Igitur

There is no better place to celebrate academic achievement than Cambridge University. I was delighted to be invited a few weeks ago to the Homerton College Graduation Ceremony. The day was beautiful and the girl who was graduating was shining (and melting) in her gown. We started the day with some drinks at the college grounds to then move to the formal halls for a buffet lunch. The atmosphere was very festive yet solemn. All students were wearing different gowns depending on their degree and their parents and guests were all in formal outfits. You could breathe the excitement but also the tension for the imminent graduation. After a surprisingly delicious meal we were asked to go to the centre of the town where the ceremony took place.


Cambridge university was founded in 1209 and today’s graduation ceremony is amongst its oldest traditions. The awarding of each degree is still an act of the whole university and it is therefore a very big celebration. Graduands were presented by their College to the Vice-Chancellor of the University or a deputy in the presence of the Proctors and entered in a procession in the Senate-House. All guests needed to hold a ticket and were asked to take a sit before the students came in. We were also requested to refrain from taking photos and videos. There was an official order of proceedings and formal announcements were read before the start of the conferment of degrees.

I was very amazed to see every student called up by their name and kneel before the Vice-Chancellor with hands together enclosed in his hands. A Latin formula was read aloud to every candidate. The newly graduate then rose, took one step back, bowed to the Vice-Chancellor and left the Senate House. I could hear some parents blowing their nose behind me and I also got emotional when my friend Lola

received her degree. It is such an amazing University and I kept thinking of how their time there must have been as well as of the career opportunities these kids will have.

At the end all new graduates gathered outside the Senate-House and with their best smile and incredible pride they all joined in the celebration of their lifetime achievement!

Written by Alessandra Gnudi. Alessandra is FOCUS Executive Director.

For more information about FOCUS, visit: www.focus-info.org

Exploring Outside of London: Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath

As much as I love being in London, it was nice having a chance to leave and see the other beautiful sites that England has to offer.

My programme booked us a field trip to see Salisbury, Stonehenge and the city of Bath.

Our first stop was Salisbury where my breath was taken away at the beautiful landscapes. It was amazing to see the lush landscapes and the famous Salisbury Cathedral rising up in the distance. We were given the chance to walk around a bit then we went on a tour of the gothic-style Cathedral. I loved looking at the beautiful stained glass windows and hearing the history of the Cathedral from the tour guide. We even had the chance to look at a copy of the Magna Carta, which unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of. It was a great experience and I learned a lot.

 

Next, we stopped at the famous Stonehenge. Before starting this trip, I knew what Stonehenge was, but I did not know what made it so special. Stonehenge is believed to be built over 5000 years ago and it still remains intact for people all over the world to see. The most interesting part is that no one knows the actual history of it, there are many speculations backed up by science. The most recent speculation was that it was used as an ancient burial ground. Seeing one of the World Heritage Sites was something that I will never forget.

We then finally made it to Bath. Bath is somewhere I have wanted to go since first arriving in London. The baths there date back to the Roman times where they named the city, a spa with hot springs and beautiful architecture. We were privileged enough to go on a tour of the Roman Baths where I had a personal listening device. I learned that they have the only hot springs in England, originally formed with rainwater. The baths were said to have healing powers that the Celtics used. At the end of the tour, we were able to have a drink out of one of the springs; the water did not taste great, in my opinion, because it was filled with many minerals that gave it a metallic taste. We then walked around and explored the great city. Bath has cute shops and great food that anyone would like. I really enjoyed the night life with many pubs playing live music and happy people all over.  

Overall, this was a great field trip and I am so glad I got to experience it. I learned so much about the history of these cities and was able to see some amazing sites. These are places I definitely need to try to get back to. 

Written by Jennifer Roth. Jennifer is working as an intern at FOCUS this summer.