The Time Has Come for Colds and Overcoats

This is the Father's Day Card Boyfriend sent to my Dad, saying it reminded him of me!

It probably feels that way, but this blog isn't turning in to a recipe blog, I promise. It's just for now, while the weather sways between sunny and kindof warmish and freezing and overcast/rainy there aren't a whole lot of adventures going on in my life. Plus, I'm really trying to focus on finding on job so that doesn't make for very exciting days, either.

Boyfriend's name has been resolved, sortof. I'd prefer to call him Beau because it means both handsome and someone's sweetheart which Boyfriend is and it's also a guy's name so it'd be easy just to start referring to him as that, but after reading everyone's suggestions in the comments he would like to be called MOTH Dude, like some sort of super hero! He has been thinking up a MOTH Dude theme song, contemplating what sort of outfit MOTH Dude should wear, and even referring to himself (in public!) as MOTH Dude to drive me crazy!

Friday night MOTH Dude and I headed out to an uncelebratory dinner for me not getting the job. There is a SsS BBQ Barn not far from us and we've been wanting to try it because they serve ribs. It wasn't that great and we won't be going back. I ordered a margarita and it tasted like a frozen lemonade, I don't think there was any tequila in it at all. The ribs fell of the bone, but there was less than you'd get at Tony Roma's in Sydney and they needed more sauce. MOTH Dude was starving so he ordered a damper roll that was $5 and the size of a bread roll! We were full when we left, but not satisfied and for $87 you want to leave a place satisfied!

After that, we went over to the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser's place and hung out with them and the baby and it was just a fun, relaxed night sitting around talking and watching the football game on in the background.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the Farmer's Market at The Entrance with MOTH's parents. It was a beautiful day and although the market was super crowded and more expensive and had less produce than I am used to, it was nice that after we were done shopping that we could sit on the walkway with our feet hanging over the water and look for schools of fish swimming by. Saturday night, we went over to the Farmer and Tinkerbell's house and it was another fun, relaxed night of sitting around and talking with friends.

Sunday morning, I slept in super later, while MOTH actually got up early and was productive. He went out for a dive at one of the local beaches and it was so cute to see him when he got home because he was bursting with excitement and happiness over all that he had seen. He told me all about it then proceeded to pass out for 3 hours, while I baked up a storm for our weekly dinner at his grandparents' house.

And that was our weekend! Now it's Monday, nearly noon my time and I'm waiting for my family to get back from dinner so I can call my Dad for Father's Day. I'm also working on finishing up my contracting job for the University my Mom is working for and I've got soup started in the Crocpot. So yeah, it's not a recipe blog, but I do have another recipe for you all today. Now a) I claim to not eat pork, but I ate ribs the other day and there is ham in this soup, so I guess I go through phases and b) Yes, I know ham and lentil soup sounds kind of yuck/boring, but it's actually really, really good! One of our family friends threw this together with stuff she found in our fridge the day after Easter and I was skeptical at first, but after having a taste I was hooked and had been craving it ever since! It's really cheap and easy to make, which is a bonus, too! MOTH and I both agreed that the soup kind of tastes like smokey Mexican beans.

You Will Need

1. Crocpot

2. 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3. 1 Medium Brown Onion

4. 1 Heading Tablespoon of Minced Garlic

5. 1 Large or 2 Medium Ham Hocks

6. 1.5 Liters of Chicken Broth (I use a brand called Massel)

7. 1 Bag of Green Lentils, I think the bag is about 300 grams? or maybe 1.5 cups worth, dried

8. Blender

What To Do

1. Turn your Crocpot on to high and add Olive Oil.

2. Chop up the Onion and add that and the Garlic to the Oil. Let sit for a few minutes, I don't know if this really sautes them or not since Crocpots cook at such a low heat, but I like to pretend it does anyway.

3. Throw in your Ham Hock(s).

4. Add .5-1 Liter of the Chicken Broth.

5. Let the Ham Hock(s) simmer away on low for 6 hours. Meanwhile, soak your Lentils in water for 6-7 hours (can also be done before hand and soaked the night before).

6. Add Lentils to Broth and turn up to high for 2-3 hours, until Lentils are soft and all meat is falling off the bones.

7. Fish out the bone and fat.

8. Scoop half of the Lentils, Ham, and Broth out and into a blender and blend on a medium setting for about 15 seconds.

9. Pour the blended stuff back in with the Broth and other Lentils and mix the two batches together.

10. Serve with hot bread.

We got 6 HUGE servings out of this.

Oh, Mexico....Baby's Hungry and the Money's All Gone

We've been eating very healthily around here for the past week and Dad and I have been trying to get our 10,000 steps in a day (he's been doing better than I have, sometimes getting as much as 16,000 a day, but I am at least doing 30 minutes of working out each day) and since I do the cooking around here, I also do the menu planning. One night I made fish tacos, another night I made lettuce wraps, and one night I did Mexican chicken and rice, which I had never made before and that turned out amazingly! Since I thought it turned out so well I wanted to share what I threw in to the pot with you in case you want something delicious, healthy and super cheap some night. (Skip to the bottom of the post if you could care less about the recipe because there is more news from me down there.)

Mexican Chicken and Rice

You will need:

4 Chicken Breasts

White Rice, I used what we had which was basmati...probably about 2 cups (I just dumped part of the bag in to the pot)

1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic

2 Large Chicken Stock Cubes...I used the Knorr brand which are bigger than stock cubes I've seen in Aus, so might need 3 if you don't have access to Knorr

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil (this is approximate, I just dumped some in to the pan that I thought was right for the amount of garlic and onion I had)

3/4 of a brown or yellow onion

1/2 red bell pepper

A couple of shakes from No salt Mrs. Dash or whatever multipurpose seasoning you use for cooking

A couple of dashes of cracked black pepper

A 28 oz (794 g) can of tomatoes

Water, about half of the empty tomato can's worth

1/2 Can of Diced Green Chiles (I used Ortega Fire Roasted Chiles, these are mild), you could probably use fresh green chiles, just a lot less

Instructions:

1. Dice up your onion and red bell pepper fairly small.

2. Pour olive oil in to a large pot and start heating it up. Add garlic and onion and saute for about 2 minutes, you just want to sweat the onions, not get them brown.

3. Add the red bell pepper to the pot and saute them for a minute, before adding the green chiles and sauteing them for another minute.

4. Add the can of tomatoes, water, the stock cubes, and the spices and let cook to boiling for 5 minutes. Make sure you keep stirring the sauce so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

5. Add the chicken breasts whole to the sauce and turn down to simmer. Cook for approximately an hour and then try to shred the chicken breast with two forks in the pot. Let the sauce and chicken cook for another 30 minutes and then shred it further if you couldn't get the chicken to shred in to small pieces before.

6. At this point, you should have a lot of sauce in the pot still. Mine looked pretty watery. I was going to originally serve this as a stew over rice, but when I noticed how runny the sauce looked, I decided to pour the rice directly in to the pot and let it simmer for another 20 minutes.

7. After 20 minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and you should have a delicious pot of Mexican Chicken and Rice.

I was surprised how good this turned out. My Mom ate it for lunch and dinner the next day in San Francisco and called me raving about how good it was. I'm already craving it again so it's a good thing that I have all the ingredients in the cupboard still because we will be having this for dinner again this week at some point!

Still no ETA for when I'll be back in Australia, but Boyfriend and I have both been working on my visa stuff this week. Hopefully his stuff will arrive by Thursday next week and then I can send off all the paperwork to the Washington office on Friday and then fingers crossed that I have a quick turn around time for my visa being granted and can be back in Australia by April.

Tonight Boyfriend is headed down to Sydney with Bob Marley, the Miner, Croc, the Teacher, Tinkerbell, and the Farmer to see ACDC. I'm bummed that I am missing out because I think it would've been a really fun night with everyone, but I'm glad that my ticket could go to Bob Marley in my place.

Also, GREAT news: Boyfriend went in for an interview this week and he got the job!!! Woohoo! He is really excited about it and the company seems pretty cool: they are an engineering company who focus on building sustainably. I'm so happy for him and can't wait to hear all about his first days there.

Soup, Soup, a Tasty Soup, Soup!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. Mom's friend brought it over as a thank-you for their girls' weekend in San Francisco and I thought it was pretty and it's been making the whole kitchen smell like Hawaii!

It's raining here today and after checking what was available in the fridge last night I decided to try and make wonton soup. Luckily, it was really easy, especially because Trader Joe's has awesome potstickers that I used in place of homemade wontons. It was warm and hearty and filling, and with only 1 tablespoon of oil and all other ingredients being low cal and low fat, it tasted like we were being bad and having takeout Chinese without the guilt!

Here's what you will need (any of my substitutions will be in parenthesis):

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic (used about 2 tablespoons of the crushed stuff in the jar)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (used about 1 tablespoon and it could've used more, keep in mind 1/2 of this they are saying is for the wontons, but if you are using the TJ's and follow this you'd only use 1 tblsp, but I'm saying go ahead and add 2 tablespoons to the broth)
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus 3 tablespoons finely chopped
• 10 cups canned low sodium chicken broth (I used half free range organic and half Swanson's in a can)
• 1/2 pound ground pork (the next few things are for the wontons, which I substituted by using Trader Joe's chicken potstickers...I think they do a pork one and they for sure do a veggie one, too)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• About 30 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced bok choy
• 1/2 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps (I used the stems, too)
• 1/4 cup sliced bamboo shoots (oops, I forgot these)
• (I think some celery and carrots would be good in this, too, felt like it could've used a few more veggies)

Directions:

In a large saucepan or soup pot heat the oil over medium high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the 1/4 cup of sliced scallions and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low so that the broth just simmers. Allow broth to simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes while the wontons are being assembled.

Add the sliced bok choy, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots to the broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

(Skip next two paragraphs if using pre-made wontons)

In a small mixing bowl combine the remaining teaspoon of minced garlic, remaining tablespoon of chopped ginger, 3 tablespoons of finely chopped scallions, the pork, egg yolk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and crushed red pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Working on a flat work surface, lay out a few of the wontons. (Keep remaining wonton wrappers covered with plastic wrap.) Fill a small bowl partially with cool water and set aside. Using a teaspoon measure, place a heaping teaspoonful of the meat filling in the center of each wonton. Using your fingers, lightly wet the edges of the wonton. Bring 2 opposite corners of the wonton together to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pressing edges firmly around the mound of filling to eliminate any air pockets and seal. Moisten opposite corners of the long side. Curl moistened corners toward each other, overlapping one on top of the other, and press the edges together to seal. You should now have a rounded stuffed wonton with a triangle poking up at the top. Assemble the remaining wontons in the same manner. When the wontons are all assembled, set aside.

Using your hands or a slotted spoon, gently add the prepared wontons to the simmering broth. Increase the heat slightly so that the broth returns to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally (very gently), until the wontons float and the pork filling is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Serve immediately.

What You Gon' Do With All That Junk? All That Junk Inside That Trunk?

So Boyfriend and I have been trying to eat healthier and be more active for the past couple of months, but while I am feeling a lot healthier and walks feel easier, I'm not losing any weight so from now until I get back home I'm going to be on a pretty strict diet with my only cheat days being the day we have everyone over here for a bbq and if Boyfriend decides to take me out to dinner before I leave. I'm hoping the extra exercise I will be doing, by for sure getting up and walking while Boyfriend is at bootcamp, and my diet of fish, fruits, veggies, and brown rice will have a noticeable change in the numbers on the scale and how I look over the next month. Wish me luck because it won't be fun! It'll totally be worth it though if it means my Mom isn't on my case about my weight as much when I get home (you know it's true Mom! and I know you only do it because you love me, but I still hate it anyway) and I've got plans to see various friends from high school when I'm home and some of them haven't seen me in 5 years so I don't want them to think I've turned in to some kind of beast when they see me now. So, in advance, sorry if my posts get a little bitchy over the next month or so, but remember I will be chocolate deprived and in my book, that's a good reason to be a bit bitchy and sorry because I probably won't have any fun, junky recipes to put up until I am back home and cooking with my sister. I will try and post some fish recipes, though, if that makes up for it any.

I Wonder What They're Doing (In Sydney Today)

Yesterday Boyfriend had a meeting with a recruitment agency down in Sydney and asked if I'd come down for the ride with him. I said sure and got excited because only the week before I had gotten a coupon for 30% off of lunch at Tony Roma's down near Darling Harbour (I think the area is technically called the King St. Warf area?) so we decided he'd do the meeting and then we'd go eat some ribs. Once his meeting was done we had about a 10 minute walk up to King's Cross Station and stopped at a convenience store to see if they had any Reese's products. They did and we got a standard back of peanut butter cups (i.e. 2 cups) for nearly $3! I couldn't believe it! While we were in the area, we decided we might as well stop in at Gomez y Guerrero and pick up another pack of tortillas in case we weren't back in the area for awhile. Then we hopped on a train to Town Hall to walk down to the restaurant.

I don't really eat red meat or pork, but when I was back home at Christmas time, my Mom and Nae made ribs one night and it smelled so good that I decided to try a bite. That bite turned in to 3 or 4 and I've had a craving for ribs ever since! Figuring I shouldn't push my luck too far with my stomach not being used to meat, I ordered the half slab of baby backs (in my Dad's opinion the only ribs worth getting and I certainly like how they taste) with french fries on the side. Boyfriend went for the full slab and while he techinically only got 3 ribs more than me, his were all a lot bigger and meatier than mine. He got his with mash potato and the cole slaw. The sides were all just "Meh"- the french fries were undercooked and cold, the mash doesn't come with any gravy or anything and is fairly bland, and I'm not a coleslaw person anyway, but their's looked pretty watery. But we weren't there for the sides, we were there for the ribs, and they were AMAZING! Haha! It was a really good lunch and if you're a local, I'd say to definitely sign up for the Tony Roma's website because you'll immediately get a coupon for a buy one get one 50% off meal and then quarterly they send out emails with good deals, like the coupon I got last week for 30% off lunch or 15% off dinner, Monday-Thursday.

Rather than walking back up George Street and just passed stores and businesses, I suggested that we go for a walk along Darling Harbour since it eventually ends down near China Town and a short walk from where we needed to get back to-Central Station. What a great idea that turned out to be! It was a beautiful and sunny day, with just enough heat to make walking comfortable. I always have to run to the side of the walk and peer into the water and yesterday the view was gorgeous-you could see down all the way to the bottom-probably 10-15 feet in some spots! We saw some fish and it was just pretty to see the seaweed swaying on the pier pilings underwater. There were also a bunch of tiny jellyfish swimming around and they looked so neat doing their funny, undulating little swim that they do. They were clear and seemed to be glowing from even far depths from just the little sunlight they could pick up from down there. Further down on the walk, the water was still clear below but on top there was lots of gunk. I thought maybe someone had chucked over the side or had let their bilge out, but as we saw more and more of it, I'm thinking it was an algae bloom. It was red and red algae blooms are neat because at night, if disturbed, they glow, but aren't cool as well because they are a neurotoxin to animals like dolphins.

I remembered that their was a Starbucks before you start walking in to China Town and got a craving just to go in to the place. Boyfriend said let's go pick something up so I got an ice tea and he got a Grande 4 espresso shot carmel macchiato...I think I'd have a heart attack! Then we continued on our walk and came across a mother duck with 9-10 little, fluffy babies swimming with her. I have been looking for ducks with chicks for the past couple of weeks, hoping I'd see some and know that spring was finally, nearly here and now I've seen them! They were so cute and darted across the water so quickly. You can see one little one has the cutest, tiniest wake behind it.

Directly behind the ducks was a huge ferris wheel, with completely closed in buckets. We contemplated going on it, but figured we should get going to our train, plus they set it up kind of dumb, the buckets face in towards the city, when I think they should've faced them so when you are at the top you are looking straight out over the Harbour. Oh well, it was still really big and

would be a fun ride.

After that stop, we figured we should hustle to the train and the gods were on our side because we made it on to an express train with about 4 minutes to spare! All in all it was an awesome day out in the City. Boyfriend has a couple of meetings next week with companies and other recruiters and I said, Ok, I'll come with you on Tuesday and we'll hit up our favorite spot Malaya, then Wednesday we can go back for Flying Fajita Sisters, then Thursday...Boyfriend just laughed and said let's wait til he technically has a job and money to spend...sensible that one!

Party Like a Rockstar

Boyfriend, like me, is an energy drink FREAK. For awhile there, he was having 2 a day everyday, but then when he went in for his scuba course's doctor's examination he learned he has slightly high blood pressure and figured 2 energy drinks a day weren't helping that. And I was just as bad; I used to drink between 1-2 sugar free Rockstars everyday while working at the surfshop. When I moved out here I was disappointed in the taste, variety, and size of the energy drinks available. We went to this one concert series called "Rockstar Presents the Taste of Chaos Tour" in Sydney the first year after I moved here and we were all excited to have some Rockstar at the show because if they were sponsoring it, they must also be selling their product at the show, right? Wrong!

After visiting California for the first time, Boyfriend was blown away by the variety of energy drinks we carried....Rockstar, Monster, Lost...and the flavors...punch, cola, random, different coffee flavors, that it was a let down to rely on "V" and RedBull once we got back here. Last year we noticed Coles was finally carrying RockStars: my favorite the sugar free, the regular and a juice one. We went nuts at first and bought one for everyday of the week. Those were what Boyfriend had been drinking 2x daily when he had to slow down for fear of a heart attack.

Just yesterday we went to our local Coles which is pretty small and known for its lack of variety when Boyfriend started pointing at an endcap. There were cans of Monster Energy Drink! We went down the soda aisle and there was the regular, sugar free, and then two other flavors that I didn't recognize...an orange one and a yellow one I think. Anyway, we immediately loaded up our basket with about $15 worth of energy drinks. Boyfriend said he had been waiting for this moment to start drinking energy drinks again. I had my sugar free one at the family bbq last night and it was like sweet heaven on my lips!

Haha, anyway, a dumb thing to post about, I know, but just thought I'd let other energy drink aficionados out there know that Monster is in Australia now and there is something totally comforting about seeing a familiar product on the shelves here.

My Country Tis of Thee

So it's 4th of July...a day where if I was back home, I'd be bbqing, drinking, hanging out at the beach, lighting sparklers and watching really awesome firework displays. Instead, Boyfriend and I celebrated the day by hanging out in doors mostly because it was just so darn freezing around here. We did make it out just before sunset to feed the ducks and walk along the lake before finding a nice bench along the water to sit and watch the sunset. We didn't even have anything traditional this year for dinner or dessert...we had Thai food. Last year I at least made us all strawberry shortcake for dessert, but this year I didn't have the money for all the ingredients and just didn't feel like it. I guess this posting will be an ode to all things American I'm missing on this day.

I'm missing warm summer weather. I'm missing the smell of hot dogs (not snags) and hamburgers grilling on the bbq. I'm missing our annoying radio djs playing marathons of the greatest classic rock songs. I'm missing seeing people running around in american flag bikinis or those $5 4th of July shirts that Old Navy brings out every year (so white trash, yet so American). I am missing seeing our flag flying in general. I'm missing Taco Bell and Carl's Jr and In-N-Out and Rubios and Pick-Up Stix. I'm missing good sushi rolls. I miss Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Cheese-its. I miss being able to ask for a lemonade and being brought lemon, water, and sugar rather than a Sprite. I miss cake mix that costs $1 on special rather than $4. I miss choice at the grocery store. I'm missing being able to use coupons at the grocery store so I can shop for everything I need for a reasonable price. I miss Trader Joe's and Safeway. I miss having a car to drive around in. I miss the sounds of the sea lions barking at the warf. I miss the view from my parents' deck. I miss the lemon tree in the back yard and the deep jacuzzi to soak in. I miss the smell of the chapparal and sea air mixing together. I miss the scary sound of the coyotes at night and the soothing sound of the owls calling to each other. But most of all I miss my family. I miss the teasing I received from my Dad and Nae. I miss my Mom nagging me to get my butt out of bed and go with her on a beach walk. I miss dinners with them. I miss going to farmers' markets with them. I miss just hanging out and talking their ears off. I miss being able to see them face to face. I miss laying in bed with them and watching tv. I miss cooking for them. I miss them PERIOD (not full stop like they say here, period, damnit)!

Mom's birthday is this week, too, and Nae's is exactly a month after. I hate missing their birthdays. I've sent them presents, but wish I could be there with them on their special days. I haven't seen them in about 5 months now and if all goes to plan, I won't be seeing them for another 5 months. That is a really sad pill to swallow, but it's not all doom and gloom. I'm here with Boyfriend and I've got wonderful friends here to see me through my down days. I've just got to think positively and be thankful for the things I do have in my life right now.

Just as an update from around here, too: LC is more than a week overdue now and will be induced on Sunday afternoon/Monday morning and I am bursting with excitement to meet her baby! Even seeing her belly all the time, I still don't feel like the baby is real so it will be so different when she is finally here. I'm praying for LC, Bob Marley, and the Baby that they have a safe, healthy, and speedy delivery. I'm wondering what I will call the baby on here...I'm thinking "Lo" as she is LC's sidekick on The Hills (where I get the LC from, as me and LC love that trash and is one of the things we first bonded over)?

All I Want Is You

If you're from California you'll probably recognize the delicousness in that picture above....Animal Style Fries from In N Out. That and some of their pink lemonade would really hit the spot right about now...