When I lived in Chicago for 6 years….my ONLY Heidi really was named Heidi:)

Now, we’re moving to Portsmouth ,England.
It seems impossible to find any info about the place on the internet.
My husband is there already. I can not join him until the “6 month wait” is up for our 3 cats.

I am totally going insane!

I hear London is only about an hour and a half away:)
I’ll be happy to be one of your Heidi’s.

But you should know that I’m selfishly just as glad you guys are here! I’ve been hemming and hawing about whether or not I can make it through three years. Most of my friends have already left and my “Heidi” (Jenn) leaves next October, so life was looking grim for that third year. Having you and Avery and Cheryl and her kids here makes staying worth it! We just decided last night that we’re staying.

Oh, and I also have the atomizer thingy that I use for olive oil. It works great. Just ordered another one for canola.

I’ve seen olive oil atomizers in the US– maybe you could probably order one from Amazon (or something… I’m still figuring out where to do shopping in the UK) and fill it with your choice of vegetable/corn oil?

As a former person who used to fit in that category I assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

On the homefront though – you’re not missing out on anything. It rained all day, I had to park on the roof of the garage and my pants got all wet as I waddled into the building.

WHEN IS THIS BABY GOING TO BE BORN?!

I think one of the spray brands is called frylite or something like that.

1/2 cup corn, vegetable or canola oil (you should be able to find ONE of these in London)
1/2 vegetable shortening (like Crisco…do they sell that?)
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer (do you have one?) until it has multiplied in volume and resembles marshmallow cream.

Place in a storage container (tupperware, glass jar). In hot weather it can be refrigerated but should be room temperature so that it spreads well.

Mix gently before using, then either brush onto pan with a pastry brush or clean paper towel.

The really funny thing about reading about your experiences in London….is that I have experienced the exact same problems since moving to Utah. We joke that Utah is like a foreign country and it is so true!

Where is my Heidi?

I have enormous sympathy for you – I am British and even I wouldn’t want to live in London. My brother lives there, and I once spent a fortnight looking after his flat while he was on holiday – that was more than enough for me! I find London a dirty, overcrowded, oppressive and in many ways dehumanising sort of a place. Bleak and depressing and miserable, like some sort of sci-fi dystopia. Plus people always seem to be being either shot or stabbed to death there.

There *are* nice places in Britain – some very nice places – but I don’t think that London is one of them. So I admire your bravery in moving there!

In general terms, I find your outsider’s prospective on Britain fascinating – there are some things I recognise, and others that took me by surprise.

I look forward to following your updates!