99p worth of home

Every Expat knows that there are little things from back home that you really miss. Those things that you took for granted, but now can't find.

I'm talking to you Target Long & Lean Tank Tops*.

my favourite layering piece

There are alternatives, sure, but the known item that fits/works just how you like it isn't available. 

Well- Hark, Expats, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy. One of those can't-get-them-here items can come off your list.

What am I talking about?

My favourite cleaning product

Well, not exactly. After years of trying various imposters (I'm looking at you Doktor Power Magic Eraser) that were found severely lacking and asking my mom to bring some when she visits, I stumbled upon this little item at the grocery store last week.

Can it be?!

My breath caught. Could it really be? It looked promising. I bought my single eraser for 99p (a fine price, but it was market 1/2 off and 1.99 seems a bit steep) and rushed home to try it. And, Hallelujah! This is it! 99p worth of home to clean my bathroom and kitchen!

What little things do you miss from back home?

Have you found any acceptable substitutes for your favorites?

*Let's be honest, I pretty much miss everything about Target. Y'all know I'm slightly obsessed.

Gourmesso Coffee Pods

I've already talked about one company's Nespresso-compatible pods, and while I hadn't intended to become an official reviewer of alternatives for Nespresso machine pods, several companies have contacted me. And, well, free coffee is not to be denied.

The nice people at Gourmesso offered us some coffee to review and we said "Heck yes!" I was pleasantly surprised that the Gourmesso capsules addressed one of the problems that I'd expressed about another pod. Namely, the packets that the pods come sealed in are color-coded and labelled.

Copper Packet of Caramel Coffee

I can dump the pods (in their cheerfully coloured foil packets) into the bowl next to my Nespresso machine and am still able to tell which kind is which!

The other thing that I loved about Gourmesso is that they offer flavoured coffee. While I was pregnant with Linus, I really went of sweets. To say that I made up for that once he was born is an understatement. I realized that my sugar intake had gotten out of control and decided to make an effort to cut down on sugar in my diet. (In our house, that does NOT equal switching to artificial sweeteners.) I started by cutting down on sugar in my coffee. I used to have 2 sugars and milk. I very quickly weaned myself down and now enjoy my morning coffee with no sugar. I realized that my brain had become programmed to expect sweetness. I think if I had sugar in my coffee now, I'd be disgusted. 

I do like a flavoured coffee from time to time, but the only option is generally to add a syrup. That syrup is either laden with sugar or laced with artificial sweeteners. The flavoured Gourmesso coffee pods for the Nespresso machine let me have a nice treat without the added sugar. We tried both the caramel and vanilla and they were both excellent. As far as I know, Gourmesso is the only alternative pod that offers flavoured options. A definite win for Gourmesso.

Gourmesso capsules are compatible with all Nespresso machines and are available starting at just £0.21 per pod. They offer free shipping on orders over £40.

*I was provided with 2 boxes of Gourmesso coffee pods at no charge. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Curls

Prior to having Linus, I self-righteously declared:

 

I don't understand those women that are obsessed with their son's curls and won't cut their hair.

I'll never do that. I hate long hair on boys.

 

Linus was nearly 23 months old before he had his first haircut. When it was wet, his hair reached his shoulder blades. Now, it is curly, so it never looked nearly that long when dry. But still. Some days it looked like the hair of a ridiculous ragamuffin.

 

But some days... oh the perfection.

 

 

Angelic, beautiful, gorgeous, perfect. Colour me obsessed. And I dithered for months over what to do. I knew the time for a haircut was imminent, if not well-passed. I decided that I should cut it myself as I didn't trust anyone else to do it. I figured that I would be more angry if I let someone else ruin it than if I ruined it myself.

 

At any rate, I bought some nice hair-cutting scissors. Then I didn't do anything for another week or two. Then one lunch time- I did it.

 

 

I nearly cried. But I did it. A few snips across the back, made trickier by a massive cowlick across the nape of his neck and a teensy bit of trimming on the sides. I decided that keeping the curls in a bowl was crazy. So I put them in a ziplock bag. 

 

I've been pleased with how it turned out, but I'm still fearing future haircuts. I know I can't do it forever. Or can I? Are there any YouTube-based hair-cutting curricula?

 

Oh, and the day after I cut it, a woman referred to him as a "she". So much for the hair making him look like a girl.





Thankful

This Thanksgiving, even though I am not in the United States, I am thankful.

I admit that, most of the time, I am able to ignore my homesickness through a sheer force of will. I love my life here in Manchester. My husband and my son are my favorite people to be with in the world. Yesterday morning however, I was hit hard with longing. Longing for my family and for the familiar traditions, food, and noise of Thanksgiving in San Antonio. I worried that I wouldn't make it through the Skype session we'd arranged without bursting into tears. By the time it was skype-o-clock, I was feeling better and had procured the ingredients to make a pumpkin pie. (Did you know that it's really hard to find a pie tin in the UK? By really hard, I mean neither of the 2 grocery stores in our area had any.)

So here is where I will tell you things I'm thankful for:

I'm thankful for my son and my husband. I simply adore them. They are both kind and clever and beautiful and funny. Every day I am happy to be theirs.

I'm thankful for my parents. They are so loving and supportive. They are also so understanding. I know they hate (HATE!) the distance between us- especially now that Linus is around. And I do too. However, I have the joy of my marriage and son to make up for it. They have to wait for our all too infrequent visits. They are such wonderful parents and grandparents. We are all so very lucky to have them.

The biggest thing that I was thankful for yesterday, though, was this:

I'm thankful technology and that my G'ma doesn't really understand it. We connected to my family before they sat down to dinner on my brother's iPad. When my beloved G'ma was handed the iPad, we spoke briefly and she got to talk to her first-born great grandson. I didn't, however get to hear whatever she tearfully said to us after that. I think this is a very good thing as I likely wouldn't have been able to keep it together. Instead, I had a good laugh as I played charades to let them know I couldn't hear and the iPad was passed back to my brother to fix. We got passed around the kitchen of my Aunt and Uncle's bustling house and said hello to everyone. Linus sang some songs and met his cousin Wyatt. We were introduced to my cousin's fiance- a lovely girl. The laughter and noise and hub-bub of preparation almost made me feel like we were there for those brief moments. And it was wonderful.

Today, I made my pumpkin pie. In a loose-bottomed flan tin because that's what I had. And it was good. And for that, I'm thankful.

A Different Option: Big Cup Little Cup Nespresso Pods

The other day Ross and I had a conversation.

Ross: People are talking about Gravity. Have we heard about it?
Me: Yes. It's with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in space. We watched her on The Daily Show the other day talking about it.
Ross: George Clooney?
Me: Yes. (pause and eye roll) No. Sandra Bullock.
Ross: (confidently) George Clooney is the one in the Nespresso Commercials.
Me: Yes. That is what he's primarily known for. (huge eye roll)

That's what Ross said.

The best ways to get Ross' attention are by relating something to coffee, British comedy from the first half of the 20th century, or Frasier. He's a unique snowflake.

All this to say that coffee is important in our house. You might remember when I told you about our coffee machine, the aforementioned Nespresso. We are still really happy with it more than 2 years later. Well the people at Big Cup Little Cup read that post and offered me the chance to try some of their coffee for free in exchange for reviewing their product.

Needless to say, I was super-excited to get my first product review offer. Who doesn't love free stuff!?! I knew Ross would be thrilled to. He replied "Free coffee is my second favorite kind of coffee!" Clearly, good coffee is in first place. With free AND good coffee taking a special place above the ranking system. It's very scientific.

Let me tell you a little bit about what Big Cup Little Cup has to offer. They are a smaller company that is trying to take on the might of Nestle and offer an alternative to discerning coffee drinkers with Nespresso machines. They are a UK-based company who offer 9 different varieties of coffee in pods that are guaranteed compatible with most Nespresso machines (check which ones here). They also offer free shipping on all orders over £50.

One of the boxes we were sent. And one of the pod packets.

 

We received two different varieties to try: Millers Yard Espresso (Little Cup) and Highwire (Big Cup). One thing I like is the simple labelling system. It tells you right on the box whether your coffee is meant to be made as a "Big Cup" or a "Little Cup". With the Nespresso pods, I can never remember which fancily named "flavour" should be made which way. BCLC makes it easy as I know just from looking at the box which button on our machine I should push- the one with the picture of the big cup or the little cup. It would be even better if packets the pods come in were marked too. I like to put my pods in a bowl next to the Nespresso machine and I couldn't do that because the two varieties were indistinguishable if they weren't in their boxes.

Now lets talk about the biggest advantage of BCLC pods. What is the best thing about coffee? I'll tell you. The smell. Mmmmmmm. Fresh grounds. Nespresso pods don't smell at all. Once you open the packet that a BCLC pod comes in you get a huge whiff of delicious coffee smell. So good.

Too bad there's not smell-a-vison.

 

I found the coffee to be on similar par with other non-Nespresso pods. BUT! But, Big Cup Little Cup offers more varieties and can be recycled pretty easily. You don't have to drop them off or arrange for a pick up like with the Nespresso pods. You can just take care of it yourself. You can even make use of the grounds for compost! The styles that we tried were both 10 strength (the strongest they offer). Ross and I both agreed that they tasted more like a filter coffee than an espresso-based drink. That was sort of nice as there's no real way to make a traditionally brewed coffee with Nespresso pods. It's always good to have options. I'd have to try some more BCLC varieties to see if this is common across all their styles, or unique to the ones we tried. We found the taste to be good and the price even less than the Nespresso-branded pods. In addition, the customer service was great. It felt like a real personal touch that you wouldn't get from a big company.

Cutest cup of coffee ever

If you're looking for alternative pods for your Nespresso machine, I'd encourage you to give Big Cup Little Cup a try! You can't have a Linus coffee mug though. That would just be creepy.

**Big Cup Little Cup provided us with 2 boxes of their pods to try in exchange for a review. They didn't compensate me in any other way. All of the opinions expressed are my own. No one tells me what to say, buddy.**