Aussie Baking Woes PLUS! Something Australia is good at!

So I have been doing a lot of baking/cookng lately for a few reasons:

a. I have a lot of time on my hands being partially unemployed

b. We have good gas cooking at this place- stove top and oven

c. Central Market- high quality, fresh ingredients at the right price

d. Recently discovered bulk food store in the same building as the market! I haven't been this excited about something in a while... isn't that sad?? haha

My most recent endevour was thai red curry, something I miss a lot from thailand. I used Gordon Ramsay's thai red curry paste recipe from his World Kitchen book, fresh ingredients from the market and bulk place. Apart from the paste recipe I roughly followed his green thai curry recipe from the same book, but just for the order of how things should happen. It ended up tasting like thailand, I was so impressed! And I made enough paste to have it again next week!!

On Tuesday I had the day off and decided I should make some pies. So I made a tortiere and an apple pie... second time doing the crusts from scratch, and again, my gawd, they turned out well.

But here is where the woes come... I made an angel food cake a few weeks ago and an Italian cream cake a few weeks before that, and could NOT find two ingredients that I know are readily available in a regular old grocery store in North America... these were: egg whites (like just egg whites, in a milk style carton) and buttermilk! I was both shocked and pissed off that I couldn't find them anywhere.

But on a more positive note. I am pleased to report that other than smarties, I have found something that Australia does alarmingly well! Iced coffee flavored milk! Now, since I didn't look for it in NA ,and well, it obviously wasn't in my face like it is here, it may actually exist back home. It's a big thing here anyways and I like it. haha

Farmers Union Strong Iced Coffee is probs my fav... don't know what this Tasmanian thing is about...

BRUCE

Last year when I was working up in Tully, Far North Queensland, there was an Aussie named Andrew, a kiwi really but he'd been in Oz for 20+ years, who had a name for his man parts. This name was Bruce. He told the boys this and not long after everyone called him Bruce.


The name Bruce evolved once we'd left Tully to encompass a particular type of Australian male, one having the original Bruce's traits. These included, but are not limited to, the following:

Alcoholic/Drinks too much and does not know how to handle his alcohol... loses control of motor skills, bodily functions, etc.
Smokes cigarettes and perhaps more things
Calls everyone just 'mate' most of the time
Swears profusely
Is easily aggravated and is often looking for a fight
Bogan
Spends weekly wage in this order: Rent and bills, beer and liquor and smokes, food. Often has to borrow money by the end of the week.
Yells/talks too loud
Sometimes has multiple illegitimate children
Does seem to understand why he is often banned from the local pub
Often not very smart
Likes to talk about how great Australia is and will tell lies to make it sound better than everywhere else
Tattoos... many scratty ones



You get the idea.

Bruces are all over Australia; they're like kangaroos. From the outside Adelaide doesn't seem to have many, but over time you notice them more and more. I have a theory that every Australian has a little bit of Bruce in them ;)

The Original Bruce

It's My Birthday, bitch!

Things that have happened in the last 72 hours or so...

-On Thursday I bought a bike from Kmart and had to assemble some it (with Andy's help)

-On Thursday I also had the first baking "disaster" I've maybe ever had- I made angel food cake in a scalloped silicon mould and it didn't cook all the way in the scallops... I didn't realize this until it was cooled and I'd taken it out of the mould. I popped it on a cookie sheet and baked it longer and somehow salvaged most of it... it's not pretty though!

Half-failed Angel Food Cake... boy it tasted good though

- We went to a gas station to pump up the tires and somewhat stupidly inflated them to the recommended psi on the tires... when we put the bike back in the car and set off for home there was a f*cking loud as POP! The front tire (well inner tube) had blown and was just sitting there!

-On Friday morning I met with a media guy and thought it was just for a 'chat' but then he basically offered me a full time, secure, job... but before I accept I have to be able to guarantee that I'm going to be staying here, in Adelaide, for more than just 6 months (aka I need to see how to get a more permanent visa)... eeee decisions! (I have a few weeks to think about it and the job wouldn't start until late May)

-I bought a new inner tube

-We went into the city on Friday evening to watch NRL (Rugby League) and have some beers at a pub/bar/hotel only to first be devastated that it wasn't on and then be elated that it was on but just about an hour later than we thought it should have been. haha

-On Saturday morning we went to Central Market and had breakfast at Big Table. Australia, as a whole, may have redeemed itself in terms of being able to make excellent breakfasts, in one flew swoop.

-Saturday Beach time at West Beach! And saw dolphins just 25m from shore!

-Milkshakes!

-I installed the new inner tube on the bike.

-We went out for dinner on fancy dancy Hutt Street to a place called Citrus. It was very good. We sat outside, in the perfect temp (probs around 25) and could hear the nearby Clipsal500 buzz. We started with the Carpaccio Trilogy (scallops, beef, beets). Had a nice bottle of SA wine (2008 Ralph Fowler Viognier) with our mains, I had a pasta as a main, tea-smoked chicken something rather, it was pretty good, the pancetta was north american bacon though, not pancetta. Andy had the fish of the day, which was snapper, and he could not find fault. They had delivered the wrong dish to me at first and then apologized a million times, then we had to wait like 10minutes (they took Andy's away while we waited to keep it warm/cold? His came with a little scoop of pomergranite sorbet on top), and then said they'd take 25% off our bill for the error. Plus they gave us complimentary necterine sorbet! Great service, we'll go back.

Carpaccio Trilogy

-Andy's friend from home, Craig, who lives in Brisbane, was supposed to fly in this morning (Sunday) at 8:30am. The two of them are taking a course to get their Aussie electrician licenses and it starts tomorrow morning. Since we live so close to the airport (we can walk to the terminal in less than 10mins) Andy kept calling his mobile to see if he'd got his bags and was ready to be pikced up. Eventually someone had answered, but it wasn't Craig. He'd left his phone in his friends car and this was after he'd overslept and missed his flight! So he doesn't arrive until noon now and is without a phone AND the course is over 3 weeks! haha

-Andy made an amazing bday breakfast!

-It's my birfday!

Weekend Update

Saturday started out nice enough... driving through McLaren Vale

This past weekend was a long one because Monday was the Adelaide Cup. Yes, a horse race. A public holiday due to a horse race, due to one of Australias favourite vices: gambling! Andy and I decided we should get out of town and see some of what South Australia was to offer so we decided on a one night camping trip. Sure the forecast called for rain, but last time it rained in Adelaide it lasted about 30 minutes and it was like it didn't even happen 30 minutes after that. We set off Saturday morning for Deep Creek Conservation Park at the Southen tip of the Fleurieu Penisula. Our roomates had said you could see kangaroos and penguins here and we liked the penguin idea, a lot. It was a usual Adelaide day, clear skys, sunshine... this all changed as we made our way South. The clouds rolled in. Some raindrops fell. Great.

It seemed to have cleared up when we got to the campsite and set up our tent. Halfway through setting up the tent it began to rain. We got back into the car and waited it out. It didn't last long. We got the bedding into the tent and then it started to rain AGAIN. Into the tent we went this time. This time it lasted about an hour and it was raining cats and dogs. Our tent decided it wasn't so good at this type of pounding rain and began letting in a few drips. A few led to many and soon we had a few wet spots inside the tent. It was decision time: what do we do? It was only about 3pm but what if the rain doesn't stop all day? We won't be able to cook on our camp stove, we won't be able to eat! We decided the best course of action was beers. The rain stopped again and we hung out, standing, for a bit. Then it started again and we sat in the car. Next time it stopped we took a little walk and found out the hike to the cove where the penguins are was steep and not recommended in wet weather, not to mention the flipflops we were wearing weren;t the best choice of footwear.

Around 5pm the rain let up and we quickly cooked our food and then retreated into the backseat of the car to eat it all because, ta da, the rain started again!

Finally, the rain stopped and some blue cloud and sun peaked through. We went for a walk along the coast and saw dozens of kangaroos feeding. They didn't seem to mind the weather.

Roos

It rained some more as it was getting dark, and we decided to just go to sleep. Of course when I got up to go pee at around 10pm the sky was totally clear and the stars were amazing. But it was also freeeeeezing!

Next morning was more of the same: grey skies, rain, cold. Ugh. We packed up and decided to try some fishing at a popular jetty up the coast. This lasted about 20minutes before the rain and wind started again. At this point we drove home. By the time we got back into Adelaide the sky was clear and the sun had come out, it was even a little warm!

That afternoon Andy wanted to fish some more so we went to the Henley Beach jetty, about 10minute drive from our house, and the sky looked angry! The jetty had a roof over it at one point so Andy fished from there while the heavens opened and hammered down on us. Andy almost caught a fish this time, and also almost caught 3 crabs (they let go of the bait when they came out of the water).

Henley Beach Jetty

Rainbow over Henley Beach

On Adelaide Cup Monday the weather was shit again. We tried to go to a mall but everything was closed. We did however go to a pub and place a $5 bet on a horse for the race... our stupid horse came second! That's the last time I bet on anything ;)

In other news, I have another advertising chat this week and get inducted into the swim school on Monday. If all goes well I'll have a paying gig as a swim instructor by the end of the month! Oh yeah, it's my birthday on Sunday too :)

The Journey Part Two

Hyams Beach on Jervis Bay

Let me continue from where I left off last time...

Our GD greedy on gas car would not start. It sounded like the battery but the lights and things still worked. We were quite worried it was something more than just the battery. Anyway, we needed to get it going and take it to get fixed or something so Andy asked the man in the campsite closest to ours if we could get a jump start from him. And boy was that a good choice in who we chose to ask for help... this guy was a rally car driver and knew EVERYTHING about cars and even had a spare battery with him and all his tools! So we put his battery into our car and tried to start it... Nada. SHIT. Well wait a tic... our battery was coeroded as shit all over the terminals and so the guy helped Andy clean them off and discovered that one of the terminals was so f*cked that he gave us one he just happened to have hanging around and didn't need. !!! Then the car started. Thank gawd. Then with the car still running we took our his spare battery and put ours back in. He said that was a good sign, it meant the alternator (the thing that charges the battery when the car is running) is fine and it must be the battery and might just be the coeroded terminal he just replaced. So we let it run 10mins. Then turned it off for 30 to see what would happen. It started again, yay! It must just be the crappy old terminal. Problem solved. I still sort of wanted to go get a new battery that day just to be sure, but whatever that line about hindsight is... blah blah blah. So we set off and into town and took the car for a drive to Seven Mile Beach National Park and stayed another night in Kangaroo Valley with the wombats. The next day we set out for Jervis Bay and a night in the popular Booderee National Park, Cave Beach Camp Ground. It was beautiful day and the car worked! Along the way we checked out Hyams Beach, which boasts the whitest sand in the world, it was beautiful and the water was amazingly clear! Then we went to the camp site and checked in and went to the beach! Andy tried some more unsuccessful fishing. I was no help as I've never done ocean fishing before. We saw a pod of dolphins a couple hundred meters off shore too. Then in the middle of the afternoon a few black clouds rolled in and there was a big thunderstorm with rain and everything. We huddled under the overhang of a wildlife information kiosk thingy near the picnic area until it passed.

Cave Beach at Booderee National Park

After that we got into the goon and played some cards and then had some visitors! Kangaroos! A couple bunch, over a dozen at least. They came right into the camp site and feed on the grass. We was pretty sweet.

Furry visitors

After some dinner we went back to the rocks for more fishing and I thought we were gonna die when another thunderstorm rolled in from nowhere and we were stuck on these rocks and it started pouring! But it really wasn't that bad, I just over reacted, haha. By bed time it had cleared up and the stars were out.

Cave Beach from the rocks, approaching dusk and thunderstorm

Next day we had to get up and move out of the camp site since we could only stay there one night (it was booked for the long weekend). It was also Andy's birthday. It ended up being a pretty shit day to tell the truth. First we tried to go to a free campsite but couldn't get there because the dirt road going in was so bad. We ended up hitting a rise in the road and later we heard something fall off our car... we found out what that was about a week later, haha. So we powered on to another free campsite, again down a dirt road, but not as bad this time. It was in Eurobodallah National Park. The camp area was among very tall, old gum trees and low shrubbery... it was a little erie almost with the wind from the ocean, that you couldn't see through the trees, ripping through. All this camp site had was a hybrid toilet aka a hole in the ground with a plastic seat in a small outhouse above. Stinky.

We decided to stay here 3 nights to wait out the long weekend busyness. The weather was shit and the wildlife intimidating. First night a saber tooth ant made it into our tent. It's teeth glistened in the light they were so big and it took a lot to kill the sucker. We saw another few outside the next day and they again seemed to come back to life another you thought you killed it! Then the giant lizards (some sort of monitor lizard I think, or goanna) came out from the bushes and climbed the trees. These were like 4foot dinosaurs. By the last day here we were going a little bit crazy and smelt bad and hated camping. We left on Australia Day hoping we'd find a campsite in Merimbula. We did and it wasn't even that expensive and had two pools, camp kitchen, and hot showers! Heaven. We decided we'd stay here 4 nights or maybe longer. It was time to look for work because we were slowly but surely running out of money.

Giant lizard who ran up the tree... check out the claws!

To Be Continued!

Up next: No harvest work ANYWHERE and Andy makes some calls.

Running and The Running Man, among other things...

Sorry for the lack of posting, I have no excuse other than unmotivation... is that even a word? Today is the first day of my 4th week of looking for a GAWD DAMN JOB. It is a true proverbial ball ache. I had an interview today with a big catering company that does corporate functions at the big AFL stadium. I lied on my resume, saying I used to work catering events all the time in early the summers during university... well I didn't prepare this lie very well for the interview and my answers were shit and it went not very well. I felt dumb walking out of there. Tomorrow is more hopeful though, I will meet with an advertising guy for a 'chat' and probably more advice like the guy on Friday gave me. Apparently the Adelaide ad agency scene is small and therefore competitive to become a part of... balls. Also tomorrow I have an interview at a swim school... some what of a last resort in my books. It'd be for lessons I think, not coaching TG. If I land that at least it will be easy and honest, although the mandatory $230 AUST SWIM course will be another ball ache.

In more positive news I went for a run on Thursday and can't believe how bad a shape I'm in. I'm still sore from it today (Monday). But it's made me want to be more active again... I'm really itching to get a bicycle and ride everywhere instead of driving the blue petrol binge guzzeler. That bitch. Also, I read the Running Man last week and now need to see the movie. Did the book inspire my run? Not really.

On Saturday our roomates had a joint 30th Birthday Party. They called it their 60th. HA. HA. HA. They made shit loads of food and said 30 people had RSVPed and 40 more had said 'maybe.' We weren't there for the whole thing but guess less than 30 showed up, and that includes 4 parents, 2 siblings, and a cousin. Ouch. Andy and I enjoyed a free dinner and some drinks... too many drinks for me in the end (middle of the night puke, followed by water not staying down the next morning... fun! The second time I threw up the water I had just brushed my teeth and it actually tasted alright... that's pretty gross isn't it?) damn Champaign. Of course no Aussie gathering would be complete without some drama. Instead of the usual raising of the voices and violence that I've so far experienced in Byron and Far North Queensland, this time we had tears, tears, and more tears, and oh wait there was a violent action that caused it. See the roomates got this puppy a week ago and at the party the puppy was going for some food on the table. Our female roomate went to get her away from the food and all I ended up seeing was the dog flying over a chair and on to it's head and then doggy crying for a few minutes and an Aussie crying in disbelief that she'd just done that to her dog.
Say What?
She says she went to pick the pooch up, the dog wriggled as she scooped her up and slid out of her hands, and then went flying. The dog wouldn't put any weight on it's back leg afterwards for the rest of the night, but was walking the next morning. The leg is fine now and the puppy doesn't seem phased either.

Oh yeah, one more thing...
How about those Canadians?!!! 14 Golds at one winter games is not only a record for a host country by 4! BUT a record for most Golds won by any country at a winter games by 1! YAY!