Springtime

Another beautiful spring day in Aberdeen.  The city deserves a bit of a break after having to endure the tragedy of losing all passengers and crew of a helicopter on its way out to one of the rigs.  In that way, Aberdeen still has quite a small town feel to it.  It was something everyone talked about and sympathized over for the better part of the week.  

We've been getting a few things done around the house, doing some spring cleaning, sending forms for our US taxes, hanging the last of our pictures, etc ...  Yesterday we walked up the hill into Rosemount to look into getting a few pictures framed.  We must have spent a good half hour with the shop attendant getting the right mats and frames, and all for a quite reasonable price.  It feels good to stay in the community for stuff like that.

We also went down to the butcher to try and find some back ribs.  We have word that Fiona's dad is coming in mid-September, so we have to make sure that we can make his favorite ribs.  It didn't start out well.  We spent a fruitless ten minutes trying to tell the butcher exactly what we were looking for.  In the end we got a cut of meat with pork ribs in it, but not what we would normally cook.  We've since consulted the internet for a more exact description of what we need.  I guess it is not a cut of meat that is ever used here.  We then had to make our own apple butter, a key ingredient in Fiona's ribs.  We've had some success making our own apple sauce, but apple butter is another story.  The ribs are cooking now, I'll let you know how they work out.  Don't worry, Roger, we'll have all the kinks worked out by the time September rolls around.

I think the lack of readily available, good quality rib racks won't help Fiona's ribs regain their lost position as her signature dish.  Her apple-rhubarb crumble has, in my opinion, solidified its position as the new top dog.

We're also getting ready to buy another car, as well.  Friends heading back to the US have a nice new Honda Jazz that they are giving us a good deal on.  It will be nice to have a second car - it opens up some other opportunities.  We're also excited because it is an automatic as well.  If we have an automatic then at least one of us should be able to just trade in our license for a British license, instead of going down the path of lessons and tests.

We spent some time outside this afternoon working on our patio in the backyard.  It has been a little overgrown and we tidied up the edges and removed some of the most obnoxious overhanging bushes and plants.  We're looking forward to some nice dinners out there, enjoying the sunshine, flora and fauna.  That being said we are hoping Mother Nature would tone it down a little bit.  We saw the Hannibal Lecter of seagulls quite calmly and savagely latch on to the head of another seagull and drag him all over the neighbour's roof.  The smaller one kept trying to get away, but Mr. Hopkins wouldn't let go.  No word on whether fava beans and Chianti were enjoyed afterwards ....