Wow

Hrm. Over a year since I last wrote in this little blog.

Sorry for neglecting you, little blog!

2009 brought three trips from Canada to Australia: in April I went and helped my parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and my Dad's 65th birthday. In September I joined Sox on a guitar tour with some other musos. In November I headed back hoping to say goodbye to Grandma before she passed away. I didn't make it in time for that but had a good quality time family trip.

What does 2010 bring? Well, hopefully the opportunity to save a bit more money. There are no travel plans sorted yet, but we'll see how that develops!

In the meantime, I'm surrounded by the Olympics.

Vegan Fondue review

I have been following the Vegan Lunch Box blog for a steady couple of years, and have worked my way through Jennifer Shmoo's back catalogue completely :) I bought her book (you should too: Vegan Lunch Box) for myself and have been picking and choosing which recipes to try sooner rather than later.

Who said you need to have kids to enjoy fun lunches?

Tonight, I made her vegan fondue (page 72), which I have been coveting for months. Actually, I made it as a mac-and-cheese sauce. This worked out very well indeed. To add some vitamins, the macaroni had diced carrots, frozen peas and frozen corn kernels added to it. The fondue sauce itself (no, I'm not giving you the recipe - buy the book yourself!) has some vitamins and protein in the ingredients, and of course no dairy at all, so it was reasonably healthy ... for comfort food.



Doesn't that look YUM???

For the record, Sox had three bowls, and I had two. It didn't taste like the neon orange box product they call mac and cheese (or KD: how many of us have noticed that they don't call it mac and cheese? I think it may be far enough removed now that it no longer resembles its' original inspiration ...) but it was smooth and very creamy, with a good medium level of cheeseness.

Yay! I made so much, there are leftovers!

Did you know ...

That I can't touch type?

Back to BC

I hereby declare that 8 hours in Hong Kong International Terminal is too long, although the Transit Lounge is very good.

Got on the plane, got bored, got back to BC.

It's autumn now, or "fall". I like that a lot.

Arrive Sunday afternoon, back at work Monday. A plan with no drawbacks. Well ...

Where did you get that hat ...

Yeah baby.

Nardia and Lindsay went on vacation, and brought me this hat ... and a t-shirt ... and a tote bag ... and ...

Kings Park

This one's for Anita -

We went to Kings Park today! It was good. Overcast, but still 30 degrees. Mum, Dad and I had a huge walk through the wildflower botanic gardens (wildflower season officially ended a few weeks back, so it is still rather spectacular), and walked over the new bridge walkway - very pleasant.

Mum had packed an outstanding picnic lunch - we feasted on rice paper rolls, home made apricot iced tea, and date slice.

It was up there with "really good days out"!







For the record, it has been over 30 degrees for 3 days in a row, and Sunday was 34 degrees - the highest temperature in October in Perth for 8 years or something.

I am a Sun God. I had forgotten this.

A frog he would a wooing go

I go to sleep listening to this little guy courting.

He may be a girl, I have no knowledge on these things.

I must have a nice face

As may be generally agreed to (just don't ask Kevin), I have a pleasant demeanour. Sometimes this leads to random events.

Mum and I arranged to meet up at a cafe, I got there early, so I settled down with a book and my flat white.

A lady settled down with me.

I have never met her before, and she knew it too. She showed me her shopping (one bling blouse and three pairs of slacks from Big W), told me she was happily surprised by the amount of cash she had in the bank, and pulled out a lot of $50 notes to prove it to me. She offered me half her chocolate eclair that she pulled out of her purse. I declined.

I have never drunk a flat white so fast. I am not able to review it, as it tasted like burnt tongue.

While it is sad that I - a complete stranger - was her best option for companionship, I selfishly ask "why me?".

And don't you dare say "why not?".

Sundays are for barbeques

Yes they are.

Blainie and Steve do good barbeques. E came, it was good to see her - I think she and I look more like girls now than we ever have in the past. Weird. Pete was there too, and it's always good to hang out with a Yuncken. Nicole proved elusive at first, but apparently EVERYONE had a huge night beforehand at American Jen's Halloween/birthday party. She made jack'o'lanterns out of watermelons, which was quite culturally relevant.

Anyway, good bbq, best bean salad ever. We sat in the back yard, for a while we were under the tree that pelts you with berries all day long. We decided first to get hit was the winner. Sadly, it only aimed for empty chairs.

Must bug B for that salad recipe ...

Flat White #5

I can even get a flat white in backyards here, man!

Blainie and Steve are good at their coffee. Really. It's always a bit strong for my personal tastes, but that is because I am a wimp.

Atmosphere as 10 out of 10, as it was a backyard, a barbeque and friends. No tree berries fell in, which I consider a bonus.

Sundays are for pancakes ... well, crepes

Ever since we were kids, my Dad has made the best pancakes ever. Well, the rest of the world calls them crepes.

My Dad makes the best crepes ever. He flips them. We smother them with golden syrup.

Nothing beats reliving childhood fun.







Man, they were good.

Harsh!

I know I whinge about the harsh sunlight in Oz, how you don't really get it until you spend time in it etc etc - but really. I mean it.

While getting Malibu-bottles-that-didn't-stop-birdsong-before-dawn out of the swiming pool, we had to lay the pool cover down on the grass. This was simply so we could get to the pool water. The pool cover is designed to stop evaporation (apparently it does not stop bottles). It reminds me of bubble wrap - but big. Heavy plastic, but that's all it is.

We left it on the lawn for less than 90 minutes in the morning (least harsh sunlight of the day). It trapped some heat in there, I guess.

Check out the lawn damage:




Yeah baby. No wonder I burn so easily.

Random event

Apparently not everybody likes the sound of wattle birds at 4:40 am.

I listened to one woman going off her nut at the one in the tree in our neighbour's yard, at 4:40 am, screaming at it to "f$%# off". Which is really going to work. So she threw bottles at it.

Yeah. They landed around Mum and Dad's pool. One went in the water while the others smashed on the pavement.

The bird kept singing. I liked it's style.

Not thrilled at waking up to the sound of glass breaking *very* close by, and people screaming. That's less good.

Saturday Big Day

Not much sleep as Mum and I got to bed at about 3 am, so I thought I'd have a quiet Saturday:

8-11: Archery with Dad and Uncle Harry (highlights: not crap, and I got to do clout; lowlight: sunburnt sternum from badly applied sunscreen)
11-2: Beach picnic with highschool friend Alana and her three kids (haven't seen Alana since year 11?)
3-6: Afternoon tea at Luigi and Fiona's to meet 4 week old Thomas (he was grumpy/gassy, but spewing a lot on me seemed to help)
6 - 11: Dinner at Grant and Mel's, who are still looking after Nardia and Lindsay's offdog Charlotte. Charlotte liked the mostly-rinsed-out-baby-vomit on my skirt. Dinner was good.

Some photos:

Flat White #4

Mends Street Cafe in South Perth ...

They didn't have florentines, so Mum and I shared a piece of chocolate mud cake. Cake verdict: stale, no good at all.

Flat white was rather good, it was made with freshly frothed milk, not too bitter. About a 6 out of 10.

Mum did buy it for me though, so that's a bonus!

Friday night three kids night

I'm backtracking now, as I had some busy days there and got out of habit of sitting at a computer. Well, sitting at a computer actively. Just didn't feel like typing stuff, really.

Anyway - Friday day time, Mum and I became 90 years old, and took the train into town, disembarking at the new Esplanade station (very similar to any other train station built in the last few years)and took the ferry over to South Perth.





Yeah - like that juxtaposition? Fake sawns - real swans. I'm VERY arty.

Mum grew up in South Perht - close enough to the zoo that you could hear the lions roaring at night. How cool is that? So we had a good wander around, marvelled at how some old buildings keep a bit of class while some don't:




Yeah baby. Some things never change.

Anyway, lovely wander in the sunshine, ferry back across the river, train back to Duincraig, then I went on to Mark and Angie's for dinner - a very pleasant evening at a three-kid household. Mark is looking into the microbrewing courses offered at ECU, which I think is outstanding, and Angie is expanding her nursing by specialising in diabetes. With three kids under 6. Some people don't know how to switch off, I think.

After that, Mum and I stayed up and watched Chicago on dvd, then solved the problems of the world until about 3 am. Woot! Late night ragers!

Slave to fashion # 2

Mental note - I haven't really used the scarves I packed at all. They don't take up much space, but next time that space will be used for extra sweaters.

Flat White # 3

Man, had I been looking forward to this one: it's from The Merchant.

After all the angst of highschool, and simultaneous with the earnestness of university, I made friends with jugglers. That was fun. Some of us would meet a couple of times a week at the Merch and get mochas and talk crap for hours. HOURS. The Merch will always have a special place in my heart. Good times.

Even though the owners have definitely changed, and they seem to be hiring the ubiquitous beautiful 15 year olds instead of musos trying to make it big, they still make a damn fine flat white. Smooth, creamy - not a hint of bitterness. However, a bit too much fluff ended up on top for my liking, I suspect the 15 year old wasn't tall enough to see the top of the coffee cup and therefore didn't realise they'd let fluff in.

They don't sell florentines any more (at least - they had so many funky things to eat on display that maybe I just couldn't see them) so I got an ANZAC biscuit instead: basically an oatmeal cookie, but made with golden syrup - one of cane sugar's less refined forms. Part way between molasses and maple syrup. It adds a depth of flavour that is really most enjoyable. Mmm. Chewy.

Although I know I am getting old when I start to reminisce about when bisuits were normal sized, instead of these monstrosities that fill a plate.

Thursday night - No kids night

Thursday night was a no kids night (but back to three kids on Friday night).

The plan was to meet at Blainie and Steve's, with Pete and Nicole as well then we would all pile into one car and head to 2 Fat Indians, the new restaurant on Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley. Blainie and Steve are still mourning the closure of Little India, which was by far the best Indian restaurant in Perth ever - we worked out it must actually be about 5 years since it closed, so it really is time to move on. They're still looking for a good substitute. 2 Fat Indians may well be it! A bit more expensive ($15 ish for veggie dishes, $20 - $25 for omnis). Service was pretty good, venue funky, etc. well worth a look if you find yourself int he neighbourhood. Blainie got her camera out, but I haven't seen the pic/s yet - I'll ask her for some copies.

Then we walked up Beaufort a bit to get to the Flying Scotsman. Now, this is simply a pub on a street corner. You can drink and eat inside, you can drink and smoke outside. I don't believe you can eat and smoke outside though, I think that may be illegal.

Anyway - The Scotsman has the weirdest quirk that none of us can make sense of. You order and pay for things at the bar (reasonably standard in Perth) - but you aren't allowed to carry the drinks to an outside table. Really. Start heading towards the door with a beverage and staff swoop on you from all angles and grab it off you, put it on their tray and walk it to your table. Bearing in mind this is not a tipping culture, it seems to be some sort of legal requirement. It can be quite a fun game though - see how clsoe you can get to the door before you're stopped. Well, it's Perth, there's not much else to do ...

After a while, we decided to find our way to the upstairs room, as we could see people on the balcony. Man - was that swish! Very gothic, cocktail bar. Leather studded lounges, bookshelves covered with "old" books, Smooth DJ dude in the corner, gothic flock wallpaper ... We give it two weeks before it is completely overrun by tossers.




I love that guy in the background.



Back at Blainie and Steve's, I bonded with Yuki, their ragdoll cat. She is loved like a firstborn, that one. I plan to have many photos of her on Sunday, when I return to Mabel Street for a barbeque.

Bus stop

I wonder how many hours of my life I have clocked up at this bus stop?