What sort of odd or regional foods do you crave?

Oh man, I am SO glad this was asked.

A bit of back story: My entire family is English, proper living-in-the-UK English. I was born & raised in Canada & the US, but my parents steeped me in English culture - I have never lived there, but in some ways it is very much home to me. (Can you get nostalgic for a place you've never lived?) There are so many things that I had as a kid that I pine for now - when we lived in Chicago, most of it was easily obtainable, but now we're in PA, my options are shot.

Hard-to-find British foodstuffs that make me all wibbly & happy:

Branston Pickle

Milky Bars

Black currant/gooseberry jam (though honestly, I am a jam whore - any kind will do!)

Thick honey (Waitrose's Tanzanian Leatherwood & Sunflower honeys, esp)

Battenburg

Dark chocolate & plain Digestives (I could eat whole sleeves of the plain ones)

Shredless marmalade (this is for my Mum, who had to turn her jar over to Customs on the flight home )

Smarties

Rose's/Quality Street

Taylor's of Harrogate Scottish Breakfast tea (loose or bags)

Yorkshire Gold tea (loose or bags)

Thank you!

Is anyone playing this round of SW into ABJ? (asian ball jointed dolls)

No dolls at all, thank you.

Whats your favorite childhood toy?

Oo. I was a nerdy bird even then, so books top the list. Colored pencils. I did have a doll house that got a lot of attention... Mostly I liked just exploring in the woods & fields, poking around in the mud & picking black raspberries...

What is your favorite Halloween icon?

Mm, bonfires. Punkies & all manner of lanterns. Bare trees, blowing leaves.

Favorite kind of take out kinda burger? Whats your burger preference? veggie, meat or ????

Gotta be veggie... there was a place in Evanston that did fantastically greasy, crispy veg burgers. Cheese, mustard, extra pickles

Imagine that you're given a shoebox-sized time capsule, and you are asked to put one item in that box that symbolizes who you are. It may be anything you can imagine, and money is no object, but you are limited to one item, and it must fit within the box. What item do you choose?

A picture of a spreading tree, ancient & rooted to the center of the earth. As you tilt the photo, the tree reveals itself in different guises, according to the seasons. Its branches dance in the wind, showering the ground with scarlet leaves & huge ruddy gold apples. Its blossoms catch on the breeze & spiral toward heaven, and the swallows dive & flit between the petals. It stretches its roots to drink in the warm summer downpour. Its boughs shimmer with frost & shelter a myriad of tiny birds, fluffed out against the winter chill. Because it is a magic card, you can feel the breeze & smell the blossoms as you shift the photo, and an occasional swallow darts out of the picture & flutters about your head.

Are you involved in any long-term, ambitious project? something like decorating your house or saving for a trip to the other end of the world, for example.

Ooooooh, the house. The house, the house, the house. (And raising our 3-year-old. But that's different.)

We bought a 1915 Arts & Crafts-style shingle bungalow 2 1/2 years ago, and it is our joy & our despair. So much potential, so much character, so much that needs work. We are trying to do some uplifting, cosmetic/quality of life projects, but the money & time keep getting diverted to basic safety/code compliance/major system issues. I am desperate to get the lighting re-done before winter sets in - it is awful, badly wired & UGLY, and parts of the house look worse than they really are, simply because the lighting is so bad.

If you have a pet, what kind of gifts would be good for them?

No pets, but I do spoil the local song birds A seed sock or small shelf feeder might be nice (something I can mount on the fence that faces the kitchen window), and I have to replace the suet cake every 3-4 days in the depths of winter... We get wrens, cardinals, mourning doves, juncos, chickadees, and the occasional titmouse, jay, and goldfinch. The wrens are my favorite

Twitter?

Technically yes, but I rarely use it. It's strictly for work crap.

Ravelry?

Oh yes. I am tartchef there, as well.

Would any witches be interested in home-made sewn type crafts? If so, what type? (e.g. tote bags, pillowcases, laptop covers, etc..)

Absolutely - we are trying to ditch plastic grocery bags, so sturdy totes would be awesome. Tiny C is into packing his lunches now, so a neat lunch sack for him would make his day! Bonus points for Pixar Cars print, or sushi fabric

What's your favorite color?

Green, in nearly all its permutations, but grey is gaining as I get older...

Any other steampunk fans/lovers?

Yes indeedy!