What's cooking?

So my new favorite thing is an immersion blender, you know, the electric stick thing that you stick in a pot and BRRZZZZZZZZRRRTTTTTT, and now your soup has a pleasant texture as opposed to the standard "broth with stuff floating in it." However, be sure not to pull the immersion blender out of the soup while it is still on, lest you end up taking a soup shower- and that's not a euphemism.

So the immersion blender and the winter weather (Southern hemisphere shout out!) have put me in the mood for soup. Here are two I've tried lately:

1. Moroccan sweet potato, carrot, and chickpea soup. Yummers!!

2. Tortilla Soup. I did change this one a bit since I wanted to share with my vegetarian flatmate. I subbed veggie broth and didn't add the chicken put put in some diced zucchini, corn, and kidney beans to bulk it up, and then I hit it with the immersion blender- not a full puree, just about a 50/50 mix. I also used tortilla chips instead of frying my own corn tortiallas, because who has time for that shit? Okay, so essentially what I cooked had little to do with the recipe, but it was really easy to make and tasted very good, especially with avocado and cheese and cilantro all over the top.

And to continue on the vegetarian kick, I had friends over for dinner recently and turned it into a parma party and ended up making Martha Stewart's Baked Eggplant Parmesan (I like how it has aubergine in parentheses, cause Martha's so European) in addition to this oven baked chicken parm. The eggplant was a little more work than the chicken but both came out well and made for a perfect winter dinner, served up with pasta, salad, garlic bread, and plenty of red wine.

Sorry, no photos this time around- you'll have to settle for my witty commentary.

Links!

Here are some links of interest:

Reagrding the women's world cup, I watched a few of the later round games and the final- which was a great game- exciting goals, tough play by both teams, and even though most soccer purists hate it when a game is decided by penalty kicks, I can't help but love the drama. It would have been nice for the USA to win and they did play a great tournament, but I did feel happy for the Japanese team- they were underdogs who didn't give up when they fell behind, and they deserved to win. Something felt different from the men's world cup, and I couldn't put my finger on it at first- in women's basketball, the game always seems like it's being played in slow motion compared to the men, but that's not the case in soccer. And then I realized- the game seemed to run so much more smoothly because there were relatively few stoppages of play- in comparison to the men's world cup, hardly anyone was diving! They were just out there playing soccer, not rolling around and feigning injury every time they lost the ball. It really made the game so much more enjoyable to watch. I'm not sure if the difference is due to the fact that women tend to dive less than men, or that the final was played between the USA and Japan, whereas South American and European teams are much more notorious for diving. Here's a nifty NYT article about less diving in women's soccer (thanks, JR!).

Other links- Perfectly Timed Photos. Crappy layout aside, there's some great stuff on here.

My new favorite talk/interview show: The Graham Norton Show. On this BBC program, Irish host Graham Norton interviews celebrity guests, but in a much more interesting format that the typical US late-night shows. Kind of like on Conan, all the guests sit together so it's more of a conversation than a series of quick one on one interviews. And because it's British television, they're allowed to swear and tell raunchy stories. Here's a great episode with Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Alex Kingston, and Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe comes across as a bit of a tool but the other three seem relaxed, witty, and hilarious.

Lastly, Rihanna is hilarious in a lot of these photos with fans. It makes me like her even more. (via Metafilter)

Adventures in Massachusetts

Okay, I promise this will be the last post on my big June/July trip. In my mind, it's a summer trip, but the whole winter in the southern hemisphere is kind of throwing me for a loop.

After Helsinki and Newport, I spent a week and a half back in my hometown, spending time with the family and catching up with friends. It was great! I must say, though, when you live far away, returning home for a visit is definitely not a relaxing vacation. The entire time was a whirlwind of activity- seeing friends, running errands for my parents, spending time with my nieces, visiting my grandmother, meeting new babies (and getting spit up on by one- I considered it a sign of affection). I did manage to accomplish my two priorities- eating and shopping. Fried clams at Harry's, sushi in Boston, good Mexican food, nice crispy American bacon, Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, and all the things you just can't get in Australia. Since it was 4th of July cookout season, I also packed away my fair share of hot dogs. As for the shopping, between the Natick Mall, DSW, and the New Balance outlet, I may have singlehandedly stimulated the Metrowest economy.

Highlights included an overnight in the city with my sister Kerry and my nieces, and an evening that culminated in a distasteful photo shoot with my arch nemesis: Edible Arrangements. One of their stupid vans always hogged the best parking spot in front of my apartment for my last couple of years in Southie.

Around the World in 22 Days

On my last trip, I ended up traveling around the world: Melbourne -> Singapore -> Helsinki -> Reykjavik -> Boston -> LA -> Sydney -> Melbourne

I spent a lot of time on airplanes, and probably took enough weird one-way flights to earn myself a spot on the TSA watch list. One effect of living in Australia is that I've become accustomed to long flights. Here are some tips:

1. Neck pillow and eye mask. I look like a huge dork, but at least I get some sleep.
2. On overnight flights, I try to stay up for the first 2 or 3 hours, during which time I consume 2 glasses of red wine. 1 is not enough, 3 causes too many trips to the bathroom. When I'm ready to sleep, I pop a couple of whatever mild sedative I was most recently able to legally acquire- lately codeine has been my airline drug of choice.
3. Be polite, but keep quiet. Don't run the risk of getting trapped in an awkward conversation with someone you're stuck next to for 10 hours.
4. Bring your own headphones.
5. Bring an empty water bottle through security and fill it up before you board.
6. Movies and books are your friends.

On this last trip, I watched the following:

1. Red Hill- a modern western set in Australia. Really good!
2. The Apartment- A young Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon in a Mad Men era comedy. Enjoyable but not as good as I was hoping.
3. Terms of Endearment- A much older Shirley McLaine stars in a movie about a mother-daughter relationship. Apparently I was on a Shirley McLaine kick. How did I not know until I just looked at IMDB that Warren Beatty is her brother? Anyways, the movie was pretty good, and Debra Winger was fantastic as the daughter.
4. Adam- Girl meets boy, boy has Asperger's. Meh- their relationship never seemed believable to me.
5. Win Win- Everyone's favorite loveable loser Paul Giammatti ends up taking on a troubled teen who turns out to be a star athelete. A bit predictable but highly enjoyable.
6. Just Go With It- A rom-com starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Just as bad as I expected it to be.

and I read the following:

2666, by Roberto Bolano. I've actually been reading this for the past few months and I finally finished. It is LONG and also a slow read- despite excellent writing and an interesting story (the backdrop of the book is the serial killing of women in a Mexican border city), the sheer length of the book made it feel more like a chore than a pleasure. The book is divided into sections with a variety of characters (a reclusive German novelist, a group of four literary scholars, a Mexican policeman, and American sportswriter) who all end up in Santa Theresa, a fictional city based upon Ciudad Juarez and its femicidos. Bolano died before the novel was finalized, and I can't help but think that it would have been better had he lived long enough to fully finish and edit it. The numerical title is never explained.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. I do love good Young Adult fiction and this one is a winner. Set in the future, the United States no longer exists and has been replaced by a number of territories ruled by a Capitol City. As punishment for a previous uprising, every year each territory must send one teenage boy and one girl to The Hunger Games- a fight to the death. Think Stephen King meets Harry Potter, with a female protagonist. I loved it! A creative premise, great characters, and fun and quick to read. It's a trilogy so now I need to hunt down the next two.

Wedding report

After Helsinki and a night in Framingham, the next stop on my trip was Newport, RI for Ern and Pat's wedding. As expected, the festivities were an absolute blast- the bride and groom looked fantastic and so happy, the ceremony and reception were pretty much perfect (seriously, it was like a magazine wedding), and it was great to see so many friends. I was a bridesmaid, which was especially nice considering A. I loved my bridesmaid outfit and B. I didn't have to do anything except show up a couple of days early to drink cocktails with Ern and friends.

It had been cool and rainy all week, but fortunately, by the afternoon of the wedding the weather had completely transformed into a sunny summer day. Ern's uncle performed the ceremony- it's always nice when someone who knows the couple well takes on this role, and he did an excellent job. Plus, we didn't have to sit through a mass. The reception was a traditional lobsterbake (my first!) where lobster, clams, corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, and a few other goodies are slowly cooked on hot rocks and a bed of seaweed. Deliciousness. As for the entertainment, they had a great bluegrassy-type band and an assortment of lawn games, as well as giant picture frames you could pose in for photos. I enjoyed checking out everyone's outfits- lots of polo and nautical themed attire, as well as hats and gloves. I didn't take too many pictures but here are a few of my favorites (some pilfered from Liz).

Congratulations to Ern and Pat! Thanks for getting married so the rest of us could go to your awesome party.

Five Days in Helsinki

My trip started off with a whimper when the ash cloud disrupted my original travel plans, so instead of spending a few days in Boston prior to a work trip to Helsinki, I flew the other way around the world, stopping in Singapore and continuing on to Helsinki. It’s a lovely city- beautiful buildings, parks, and a lot of coastline- the city sits on the Baltic Sea and is surrounded by small islands. The architecture of the city is dominated by two huge churches, a white, modern looking one and a red brick orthodox one. Since it’s close to midsummer, the light was constant so I never felt any jetlag, partially because I never had any idea what time it was- good thing I brought a sleeping mask. Visiting Finalnd in the winter would likely be a vastly different experience. I had been warned that Helsinki was expensive but it didn’t really seem any different than Melbourne to me.


I arrived a couple of days before my meeting so had a chance to explore the city a bit, mostly on foot. My favorite stop was the market along the waterfront right at the city center. Fresh berries, reindeer meat, furs, knives, and herring- all of your Scandinavian favorites! My prize find was a pair of clip-on amber earrings for my grandmother, who loves jewelry but never got her ears pierced. I also checked out some of the local landmarks and took a ferry out to Suomnelinna island, which has an old sea fortress and a brewery.

Monday afternoon was my big meeting, in which I gave a two hour presentation to a bunch of pneumococcal bigwigs and representatives from the Gates Foundation, who are funding the project. My supervisor is the project coordinator and since she’s on maternity leave I was tasked with giving our steering committee an update on the laboratory portion of the project. It went very well, so yay for that. The next couple of days I attended the conference, which was largely focused on pneumococcal vaccination. The amount of research, time, thought, and money that lays the groundwork for introducing a vaccine into a country and ensuring that it’s safe and effective is astounding. Since pneumococcal vaccines are now being introduced to developing countries (where they are most needed), a lot of scientists from places like The Gambia and the Thailand/Burma border were at the conference, so it was really interesting to hear about their experiences.

Aside from the science, the conference had some other highlights. The hotel we stayed in was a converted prison- the rooms were obviously modified and really nice, but the hallways had a distinct prison feel and the restaurant used tin plates and mugs. The Finnish organizers of the conference had arranged for two social activities: birdwatching at 5am and “traditional Finnish evening with sauna.” I skipped the birds and went for the traditional evening. I was a little suspicious about the sauna when I noticed that there were separate sauna times listed for men and women. It turns out that the in a traditional Finnish sauna, everyone is naked. I walked in wearing my bathing suit but felt like a weird foreign prude so I ended up slipping out of it and just going with the naked Finnish flow. These people seriously love saunas- nearly everyone has one in their house or apartment, and apparently one Finnish prisoners have the right to a daily sauna. The World Sauna Championships were an annual event in Finland until one of the finalists died last year.

After the sauna, we went for a dip in the Baltic Sea (with bathing suits on) and then played a few games of Mölkky, a lawn game that's apparently Finland's answer to cornhole. After dinner and drinks, we participated in another Finnish tradition- cooking bread over the campfire. Instead of marshmallows, they toast sweetened bread dough on sticks over the fire. Yummers!

Overall, I really enjoyed my few days in Helsinki- the city was pretty and clean with a lot of do, and the people were friendly, almost all blonde, and fond of nudity.

Eileen vs the Volcano

So that big volcanic eruption in Chile a few days ago (here are some crazy pictures) created a massive ash cloud that's currently hovering over southern Australia and wreaking havoc on flight schedules. I was originally supposed to fly out today (tuesday the 14th) to Boston, hang out for a couple of days, and then fly on Friday night to Helsinki. That original flight was canceled and they couldn't get me a new one until Friday, so I scrapped that whole plan and will be going the other way around, via Singapore and onto Helsinki. (I will still be heading to New England after a few days in Helsinki)

Since I spent much of the day on hold with various airlines, I did catch up on my web surfing, in particular sports coverage- something that I used to be really into but I generally don't follow much anymore. There's been some excitement lately so here's what I've caught up on:

- Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat to win the NBA finals. Yay! I've had a soft spot for Dirk ever since those pictures of him and Steve Nash wasted and posing with a fan circulated around this internet a few years ago. And the Mavs beat my two most hated teams, the Lakers and the Heat, en route to their championship, so good on them.

- The Bruins are going to be playing in Game 7 of the NHL finals, a sporting event that features two of my favorite things: the Stanley Cup, easily the coolest trophy in all of sports, and the Canadian national anthem. I have anthem envy; I admit it. Canada, your bacon is a sorry excuse for ham but "O Canada" was written to be belted out at a jammed-packed sporting arena. Sadly, due to my travel difficulties I will me watching Game 7 in my workplace cafeteria rather than at a beer soaked bar in Boston.

- Bill Simmons has started a new sports/pop culture blog called Grantland (it's named after a sportswriter, not a mythical place that torments academic scientists). I'm not feeling it. I guess I'm over Bill Simmons- I used to really enjoy his columns on the NBA, but his sexist attitude towards female sports fans (see this article as a prime example. Seriously??) sometimes makes me want to punch him in the face. While wearing my Celtics jersey dress. And yeah, his writing can be downright tiresome. Bill, so you like The Karate Kid, trips to Vegas, and the Wire? WE GET IT. As for some of the other names attached to Grantland, I've written about Dave Eggers before and overall I do love his writing, but maybe he should stick to novels and McSweeny's. I also like Chuck Klosterman. But Malcolm Gladwell? Don't even get me started. I read the Tipping Point and thought it was awful. He is my least favorite kind of non-fiction writer, an essayist who portrays his own ideas and theories as facts rather than opinions. He cherry picks examples to support these ideas and often uses correlative data to make causative arguments. The hard scientist in me just can't get past the inherent bias. So basically, I think the whole Grantland concept is stupid, but that's just my opinion.

Upcoming trip

I leave in a couple of days for a multinational, multipurpose trip. First I'll have a brief stay in Boston prior to heading to Helsinki, Finland for a work meeting and conference. My boss is on maternity leave so I'm filling in for her and will be presenting to a group of Very Important People who serve on the steering committee to a big Gates Foundation project our lab coordinates. Wish me luck! Also on the agenda are eating reindeer and herring and going to a Finnish sauna with the other conference goers, and activity that possibly involves seeing my colleagues naked.

After Helsinki, I'm off to Newport RI for a few days for Ern and Pat's wedding, yippeee!

And then it's another week and a half back in MA, catching up with friends and family before I fly back to Melbourne.

I'll do my best to post some updates along the way, so stay tuned here at DCoE.

Free music mix!

My friend Kelly organizes a music club that I participate in. By music club, I mean that we exchange mix CDs, not that we get together and play the recorder. We used to burn CDs and mail them, but for the latest round, we've gone high tech.

Here's a link to my mix if you're up for checking out some new music.
It downloads as a zipped folder. I tried to include a lot of Aussie bands I like, as they don't get much radio play in the US.
Get it soon, though, as the link will expire in a couple of weeks.

RSVP

Warning: rant ahead

So, I've noticed a trend in the past several years, a trend that I'm not at all fond of. People no longer feel the need to respond to an invitation. And this bothers me.

I like organizing events and throwing parties, and despite my laissez-faire facade (whoa! I sense a theme: French terms commonly used in English), I am something of a compulsive planner. When planning an event, I don't need to have an exact number, but I do like to have a rough idea of how many people will be in attendance. I mean, there's a big difference between preparing a dinner party for 6 and setting up for cocktails and nibbles for 36. Back in the 2000s, we had Evite, but even by 2005 or so that was starting to lose its charm, and people stopped replying. And Facebook Events never really caught on- partly due to the horrible layout, and partly due to the fact that even to this day, not everyone uses Facebook. It's a good way to announce and event but no one feels the need to respond. Generally, when inviting people to something, I send out an email. How quaint. I've come to accept the fact that people generally don't respond to invitations anymore, and in some ways I blame the advent of the cell phone and other technologies. We used to have to be on time to meet someone at a designated meeting spot, otherwise we would never find each other. Now it's all "sorry 20 min late meet me at the bar on the corner thx!" I'm guilty of tardiness as well, so I'm certainly not pointing fingers.

However, not responding to an invitation is something I would never do. Sure, I get annoyed when someone doesn't answer yes or no to a group email about a Halloween party, but I get over it. Lately I've heard from a couple of friends that they've had to chase people down for a response to a wedding invitation. COME ON! Who doesn't respond to a wedding invitation?? Now that's just rude. Imagine my horror when I received an email a couple of weeks ago with something like "Just checking in because I never heard back, I know you're in Australia but are you coming to our wedding next weekend?"

Turns out that I wasn't going, but I had never received the invitation. (Damn you, international post!) And I was absolutely mortified that I was lumped in with the deadbeat non-responders. I always RSVP, even if with regrets.

In summary, if there's one courtesy I believe modern society should hold dear, it's the necessity to respond to an invitation, especially to a formal catered event. Even if you're a maybe, or might run late, at least provide a response. It's the polite thing to do.

Ode to convenience

As a city dweller, I've become a big fan of the corner store. Not those soulless chain 7-11s and Store 24s, mind you, but the little independent ones where the selection need not abide by corporate regulations and is therefore far more interesting. In Southie, I lived across the street from a convenience store known simply as The Hub, or as I like to call it "the most convenient convenience store." For a small shop, they stock pretty much anything one could ever want. In addition to the typical eggs, toilet paper, Gatorade, and other convenience store staples, they also sell booze and rent DVDs. Win! And you can even play Keno if you are so inclined. The staff were on the surly side but it added to the overall atmosphere.

Here in Fitzroy, my local corner store (generally called newsagents or milk bars in these parts) is more like a Building 19 version of a convenience store. I mean, look at that store front! I can't even figure out what the store's name is, so I just call it the Crazy Shop. It's fairly large for a convenience store and sells the standard fare plus any random item you may be seeking. A large tinfoil roasting pan? Check. An ashtray? Check. A "No Junk Mail" sticker for your mailbox? Check. Unfortunately, no alcohol sales or DVD rentals, but they do offer a dry cleaning service and sell tram passes, which almost makes up for it. I love the Crazy Shop and average a few visits a week, but I do avoid the food section, as many of the items look like they've been sitting on those shelves since the mid 1980s. The staff consists of three people: Young Guy, Middle-aged Guy Who Wears Suspenders, and Middle-aged Guy With a Bowl Haircut. Or so I thought. A few weeks ago Bowl Cut was wearing what was clearly a woman's blouse with a brooch. I went back to my apartment and expressed surprise that the man from the Crazy Shop was a transvestite. My flatmate's response? "That's a woman." Yikes!! I thought she was a man for an entire year. I kind of feel bad about it, but someone's in serious need of a makeover.

Weekend Report

Haven't done one of these for awhile...

Friday- Dressed up like a pirate and went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with a bunch of my soccer teammates. Since I left my old costume collection back in the USA, I had to improvise- a silk scarf with whales on it that my mother had sent me was put to use, and I fashioned a hook hand out of a coat hanger, cardboard tube, some tinfoil and a sock- MacGyver style. As for the movie, it was fun, and I do say it's more enjoyable if you're dressed as a pirate while you watch. And another lesson learned is that if you ever want to pick up men at a bar, go with a bunch of girls dressed in pirate attire. Seriously, EVERYONE talked to us.

Saturday's most notable achievement was paying off my the last of my credit card debt. Hooray! During grad school I had a bit of trouble living within my means (in my defense, my means were unreasonably low) and managed to rack up over $8,000 in credit card debt within a year. And like a mullet, that shit takes ages to get rid of, especially when you're living on a stipend rather than a salary. However, now that I have a real job and the Australian dollar is doing well, I'm finally starting to get my finances in order. Next up: outstanding student loans.
The rest of Saturday was spent running errands, then going to dinner at a local restaurant and watching a movie (Vicky Cristina Barcelona...Woody Allen goes Almodovar and Penelope Cruz steals the show).

Sunday- Some soccer, some beer, and a trip to Wagamama- a winning weekend, overall.

Australian planking meme goes global

Someone recently asked for a post on planking, and who am I to deny a reader's request?

For those of you who aren't aware of Planking- it's an internet meme that began in Australia where you post a photo of yourself lying facedown and straight like a board (or a plank...get it??) in an unusual location. Sounds innocuous enough, right? And it was, until some kid fell off a balcony and died, prompting a ridiculous amount of planking press and a planking backlash. Now schools are banning planking, which just strikes me as absurd. What if the "dangerous trend" were sitting? Would sitting be banned as well? For the record, I do find some of the planking photos humorous, but I'm so tired of the hullabaloo (grandma vocab!) that I might just have to go plank in my bed.

Eurovision and Moldova's amazing hats

For those of you unfamiliar with Eurovision (i.e. most of the world other than Europe), it's an annual song contest in which several European countries compete for the best original song, performed live. It's also the contest that brought the world ABBA. I watched Eurovision for the first time this year and it is oh so much more ridiculous and entertaining than I ever imagined. The costumes, the variety of music, the over the top performances, the fact that the voting is unabashedly biased (Finland votes for Norway, the eastern European countries all vote for each other, etc...), the whole thing is amazing. There were way too many cheesy ballads, but aside from those we were treated to the likes of Jedward- Ireland's ridiculous twin singers and Icelandic men in vests.


But the country who stole my heart was Moldova, with their ska music, a girl in a fairy costume riding a unicycle, and the tall, pointy gnome hats. Behold the hats:



I fell in love with the hats, and I wasn't the only one to appreciate their awesomeness, as this photo soon circulated around the internet. Moldova hats are the new Aretha inauguration hat! YES!


My friend Maria, clearly a photoshop genius, made these for me.

The new pinnacle of cuteness

I've found something EVEN CUTER than interspecies friendships! OMG you guys...

Animals with Stuffed Animals


Seriously, I cannot even handle some of these. Eeeeeee!

Movie review: Incendies

I went into the movie Incendies knowing very little about it, other than the fact it was nominated for Best Foreign Film and was some sort of family drama. The story begins when Jeanne and Simon, twins in their 20s in Quebec, are given some unusual instructions following the death of their mother Nawal- rather than a traditional will, the notary hands them two sealed envelopes addressed to the father and the brother they didn't know existed. Their task is to find the recipients and deliver the letters, and in the process they must travel to their mother's middle eastern homeland and learn about the history she had kept hidden from them. When you see what Nawal lived through, in a series of flashbacks, you fully understand why she never spoke of her past.

I spent the first thirty minutes racking my brains trying figure out what country the movie was set in...it looked the the middle east, but I hadn't heard of any of the cities mentioned, and the two warring factions were Christians and Muslims so it couldn't have been Israel. It turns out that my confusion was intentional- the film is set in a fictional country so the names of the places are made up, although in truth it's filmed in Jordan and takes place in Lebanon- the home of the playwright (the film is an adaptation of a play) and the setting of a lengthy civil war between various armed Christian and Muslim militias (of which I was completely ignorant).

Early on, Nawal's boyfriend is shot dead by her brothers, who do not approve of their Christian sister dating a Muslim refugee. She's pregnant, and in a moment of sympathy, Nawal's grandmother tattoos the baby's heel before he is taken away to an orphanage, giving Nawal hope of finding him again someday, but a brutal civil war gets in the way. I won't divulge more of the plot but let's just say Nawal's life gets a lot worse, and the story unfolds like an ancient Greek tragedy as the twins unravel the mysteries of their mother's past. Incendies does have a few lighter moments, mainly involving dedicated notaries and the drinking of tea, but it's definitely one of the most intense and haunting movies I've seen in a long time. For that reason, I can say that it's a very good movie and certainly captivating, but traumatic enough that I can't quite say I recommend it, even though it's been on my mind ever since. It did inspire me to read up a bit on the history of Lebanon, though. Here's the New York Times review.

Hot cross buns

Before I moved to Australia, my only exposure to hot cross buns was that song you play when you're first learning the recorder...a la these kids. However, in many countries they are traditionally eaten around Easter, on Good Friday in particular, and it turns out they have an interesting and somewhat controversial history. Considered a symbol of Catholicism, they were banned in England during reign of Queen Elizabeth I but eventually allowed to be sold at Easter and Christmas. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of raisins in bread products- but here in Australia everyone eats them on Good Friday, and the lapsed Catholic in me still loves a tradition, even if the idea of eating baked goods to celebrate a crucifixion strikes me as a little odd. And this recipe for hot cross bun french toast looked like a winner. I'm happy to report that it was delicious.

New Zealand vacation

My friends Yuki and Jonathan came to visit Melbourne, and then the three of us took off for a week on the south island of New Zealand. Six days, four stops, and 1900 kilometers later (that's 1180 miles for you non-metric folks), we saw and did as much as we could pack in and ended up happy and exhausted. The south island is sparsely populated (the major highways are all two lane roads) and the oft-quoted statistic that there are more sheep than people is indeed a fact. We lucked out with absolutely gorgeous weather- it's late fall (or autumn, as they say in these parts) and it was a bit chilly but sunny and clear for our entire trip. We started off for a couple of days in Queenstown, which feels a lot like a ski town and is famous for adventure sports- bungee jumping, skydiving, zorbing, etc. We decided to partake in paragliding. Tandem, of course, as even in New Zealand, letting novices jump off of cliffs on their own in generally frowned upon. The day I went the winds were quite strong, so rather than running and jumping, once the parachute was unfurled we were pulled backwards and lifted off the ground. It was really fun! I'm not a big fan of the idea of free-falling, but this was much more like flying or floating through the air, and therefore quite enjoyable. In addition to the paragliding, we took a scenic drive up to Glenorchy and took the gondola up to the Skyline restaurant and had some fun on the luge track- an alpine slide, essentially a go kart track down the side of a mountain (see photo).
After that, we drove down to Milford Sound for an overnight cruise in the fiordlands. In addition to sheep, the south island has a lot of lakes and waterways surrounded by mountains. The boat set off in the late afternoon, and we did have the chance to kayak before the sun went down. After that, all of the passengers hung out for dinner and (many) drinks and then eventually retreated to our tiny beds.

The next day we had a looong drive back to Queensland and up the west coast, finally arriving at Fox Glacier. Based on a friend's recommendation, we signed up for an all day hike on the glacier. What goes on your feet and rhymes with tampons? Crampons! They actually work better than I had imagined, although my legs were pretty tired by the end of the day. We had a lovely meal at the Plateau Cafe- good food, a friendly staff, and a free glass of wine is enough to win me over any time.

We left bright and early the next morning for our last adventure, a cave exploration trip further up on the west coast. Decked out in wetsuits and flashlight helmets, we hiked up to the top of a cave and crossed the top level on foot until we came to an underground river and floated through on inner tubes. They don't have many bats in New Zealand, but the roof of the cave was covered in glow worms that look like stars, so we all turned off our lights and floated our way down to the cave's exit. It was really cool and nothing I've ever seen before.

We spent our last night in a cute little seaside town called Punakaiki. I was feeling a little bad that Yuki and Jonathan didn't get a chance to see the Great Ocean Road while they were in Melbourne, but sunset at Punakaiki was almost as good. After that, we drove across the center of the island through Arthur's Pass and made it to Christchurch in time for our flights home. The driving wasn't so bad- Yuki and Jonathan did fine driving on the left, and although Jonathan was by far the speediest driver, an ill-timed passing attempt led me to keep my title of the scariest driver. And luckily for us, the only animal we hit was already dead. (lots of roadkill on those windy mountain highways) The only snag of the trip happened right at the start, when Yuki got nabbed at customs for forgetting to declare her hiking boots- a $400 (!) fine. So look for us on Border Patrol, right behind the Vietnamese father and son with the enormous bag of mushrooms. Almost everyone we met was really nice and friendly, and good thing I'd been watching New Zealand's Next Top Model, because I could decipher the accents. I'd love to go back, especially to check out what the north island has to offer.

Odds and ends

Links:

The fantastic mating dance of the Australian peacock spider. If I were a lady spider, I'd totally go back to his web. (via Metafilter)

Dolphin + kitty = BFFs (thanks, Jos!)

Peep dioramas- the winner was a Peep reenactment of the Chilean miner rescue.

What I've been up to:

Running a bizarre distance (14.38K, or 8.9 miles for you metric haters) to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital.

Checking out the King Tut exhibit at the Melbourne Museum.

Right now I'm waiting for my friends Yuki and Jon's delayed flight to get in. Yay for visitors!
Hilariously, when I checked their reservation for the flight number, I discovered that they had booked themselves with the titles Master and Reverend. They'll be in Melbourne until Friday, and then the three of us fly to Queenstown, New Zealand for a week on the south island. Woohoo!

No Reservations in Southie (as if you'd need them)

So, this morning I checked my email and three people had informed me that traveling food reviewer Anthony Bourdain had done a show in Boston- thanks, guys! Boston.com posted details and photos here. Props to him (people still say that, you know) for including The Quencher and the South Boston Bowlarama on the itinerary. If you like beer and bars and haven't been to The Quencher yet, you should consider yourself incomplete.
However, I have one major criticism:

"Bourdain and Ruffino made the first stop on a pub crawl through Southie at Murphy's Law."

Wait, wait, wait...everyone knows that Murphy's Law is the LAST stop on a pub crawl, not the first! And here is when I tell you a little anecdote that epitomizes Murphy's Law:

Several years ago, my roommate Maria and I attended a beer festival at the Harpoon Brewery with our Irish neighbor Peader. Anyone who's been to a Harpoon festival knows that they're essentially a recipe for intoxication. Seriously, it's as if they serve blackout juice. When the doors closed, we decided to walk back to our apartment and stopped in at The Law for a couple of late-night drinks. Peader ordered a flaming Sambuca, as you do. He knocked it over and next thing you know the entire bar was aflame. Without batting an eye, the bartender, a gruff looking woman in her 50s, snuffed out the flames with a a wet rag. I mean, that shit was nonchalant! Like it had already happened five times that same evening (which, in truth, it may have). We had a good laugh and next thing you know, we woke up the next morning, the three of us scattered among living room furniture. Because when you end your night at Murphy's Law, you may just teleport home.

And I am looking forward to the No Reservations Boston episode.