I've just been reading an online article from The Age back in February entitled 'What Melbourne Foodies Miss'... sounds like pretty much every overseas traveller from Victoria craves exactly the same foods that are well nigh impossible to acquire in any other country. A lot of people say they hanker after certain types of beer and wine but, not being of that turn of mind, this is my list...
ESTHER'S TOP 20 AUSSIE FOOD CRAVINGS:
1. Deep fried dim sims
2. Spring rolls
3. Steamed dim sims with soy sauce
4. Sausage rolls
5. Banana malt milkshake at Max Brenner's in the Melbourne CBD
6. Meat pies that ARE meat pies
7. Battered flake and chips with a potato cake and more deep fried dim sims
8. Gourmet coffee, not just coffee that's brown water but where you have CHOICES and FLAVOURS!
9. Singapore noodles
10. Sausages that aren't fat and weird tasting!
11. Chicken parmagiana from La Porchetta or similar
12. Honey soy chicken wingettes
13. Ham steaks fried with pineapple rings on top
14. NANDO'S NANDO'S NANDO'S
15. Cadbury snack chocolate
16. Big M milk that comes in more than just chocolate
17. Magnums, esp. the classic and peppermint versions. The white's not bad either!
18. One of those cheap hot dogs with onion in a piece of white bread, like at Farmworld
19. Kangaroo anything
20. One of those disgusting hot dogs from Donut King with the frankfurter thingy in it. Burp. Yum!
I think I'm going to come back to Australia for like 2 solid months just to eat!!!!! :P
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Oats. Oats. Oats!
Kurtis planted the oats. I screened the oats. Not all the oats. But a lot. At least if you were screening gold you'd get fame and riches out of it lol. Not the case with oats. You just get oats in a seed drill and straw and dandelions and dead insects blowing all over you. And sore arms. However! We got all the cultivating done and the oats planted before the rain hit. It's meant to rain solid for the rest of the week so I'm trying to remember where my gumboots are! I'm starting work today with the lady who wants help with getting her house cleaned and other odd jobs done...so that'll be a few dollars!!!!! Yay! Not enough for a plane ticket, but maybe one day...
I think we've perfected how to cook a roast. Thanks to Adam and Khatt sending us the details! YUM! And then the best part is that you have leftover roast beef which you fry up with cheese and onion and have on a wrap with sour cream and stuff mmmmm and the roast vegies are like candy :D
I shall end with a joke I heard on the radio yesterday morning...
A lady named Mary Katherine decides to join a convent. She walks to the nearest convent and the head of the convent comes to the gate when she rings the bell. Mary Katherine tells him she'd like to join the convent.
"Certainly!" the man says. "This is a convent of silence. I am allowed to speak but none of the sisters must ever speak unless they are directed to. You may stay with us in this convent for as long as you choose."
Mary Katherine decides she still wants to join and soon she is Sister Mary Katherine.
After five years in the convent, the head calls her into his office and says "Sister Mary Katherine, you've been here for five years. Today you may speak two words."
Sister Mary Katherines says, "Hard bed."
The head apologizes and promises to replace it with a softer, more comfortable bed.
Another five years pass and Sister Mary Katherine has been in the convent for ten years. The head again calls her to his office and says, "Sister Mary Katherine, you've been here for ten years now! You may again speak two words today."
Sister Mary Katherine says, "Cold food."
The head apologizes and says, "I promise the food will be better from now on!"
Another five years go by and Sister Mary Katherine has reached her fifteenth year in the convent. The head calls her to his office and says, "Sister Mary Katherine, you've now been with us in this convent for fifteen years! You may speak two words today."
Sister Mary Katherine says, "I quit."
The head shrugs and says, "Yeah, probably just as well. You've done nothing but complain since you got here!"
I think we've perfected how to cook a roast. Thanks to Adam and Khatt sending us the details! YUM! And then the best part is that you have leftover roast beef which you fry up with cheese and onion and have on a wrap with sour cream and stuff mmmmm and the roast vegies are like candy :D
I shall end with a joke I heard on the radio yesterday morning...
A lady named Mary Katherine decides to join a convent. She walks to the nearest convent and the head of the convent comes to the gate when she rings the bell. Mary Katherine tells him she'd like to join the convent.
"Certainly!" the man says. "This is a convent of silence. I am allowed to speak but none of the sisters must ever speak unless they are directed to. You may stay with us in this convent for as long as you choose."
Mary Katherine decides she still wants to join and soon she is Sister Mary Katherine.
After five years in the convent, the head calls her into his office and says "Sister Mary Katherine, you've been here for five years. Today you may speak two words."
Sister Mary Katherines says, "Hard bed."
The head apologizes and promises to replace it with a softer, more comfortable bed.
Another five years pass and Sister Mary Katherine has been in the convent for ten years. The head again calls her to his office and says, "Sister Mary Katherine, you've been here for ten years now! You may again speak two words today."
Sister Mary Katherine says, "Cold food."
The head apologizes and says, "I promise the food will be better from now on!"
Another five years go by and Sister Mary Katherine has reached her fifteenth year in the convent. The head calls her to his office and says, "Sister Mary Katherine, you've now been with us in this convent for fifteen years! You may speak two words today."
Sister Mary Katherine says, "I quit."
The head shrugs and says, "Yeah, probably just as well. You've done nothing but complain since you got here!"
Friday, April 22, 2011
Sly Cat~~~~PHOTOS!!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
This Is Not Australia
By this I mean that just because it's spring doesn't mean it'll act like spring. A week ago the temperature reached 14 and we had a picnic lunch outside in one of the back fields. The birds were singing, the sky was cloudlessly blue, the sun was hot, and we were having a lovely time kidding ourselves that this was how it was going to stay. 2 days later it was pouring rain and freezing cold. A few days after that and it was snowing! I have subsequently learnt that you should never expect Canada to do anything in particular. It makes up its own mind.
Last week Mort died of unknown causes. She appeared to have distemper, although when I looked up the symptoms on the Internet she only had some of them. Apparently it's very contagious to other cats and lo and behold, now Manny is exhibiting the same symptoms. Harry tells me older cats are immune so we're not too worried about the other two. On Sunday afternoon we picked up a free kitten to replace Mort. She's ginger and white and extremely cute and we've named her Jay. During her first 24 hours here she attacked anything that moved of the dog, went for a ride on the stable cleaner, tried to run underneath a cow, and swung off a gate with her back feet dangling way off the ground. Obviously she won't be anywhere near as lazy as Mort was. Fortunately she hasn't shown much interest in the other cats, so that makes it easier to keep her from catching any bug floating around.
I've been given a job for a few hours one day a week helping a very busy lady with some general housecleaning, cooking, laundry, gardening, etc. It's not much but it's more than I've had up till now and hopefully it works out that I can use it to supplement my income when I get a 'proper' job. This lady sounds young and enthusiastic and fun to be around.
Harry went to Holland with his older brother for 10 days to visit his relatives. He took the video camera and came back with well over 2 hours of footage which we put on DVDs for him. We've been spending time watching them with him and asking him to translate what the relatives are all saying as he speaks fluent Dutch.
Last night we made a raspberry pie and that, I think, is an awesome excuse to stop typing and go eat! :)
Last week Mort died of unknown causes. She appeared to have distemper, although when I looked up the symptoms on the Internet she only had some of them. Apparently it's very contagious to other cats and lo and behold, now Manny is exhibiting the same symptoms. Harry tells me older cats are immune so we're not too worried about the other two. On Sunday afternoon we picked up a free kitten to replace Mort. She's ginger and white and extremely cute and we've named her Jay. During her first 24 hours here she attacked anything that moved of the dog, went for a ride on the stable cleaner, tried to run underneath a cow, and swung off a gate with her back feet dangling way off the ground. Obviously she won't be anywhere near as lazy as Mort was. Fortunately she hasn't shown much interest in the other cats, so that makes it easier to keep her from catching any bug floating around.
I've been given a job for a few hours one day a week helping a very busy lady with some general housecleaning, cooking, laundry, gardening, etc. It's not much but it's more than I've had up till now and hopefully it works out that I can use it to supplement my income when I get a 'proper' job. This lady sounds young and enthusiastic and fun to be around.
Harry went to Holland with his older brother for 10 days to visit his relatives. He took the video camera and came back with well over 2 hours of footage which we put on DVDs for him. We've been spending time watching them with him and asking him to translate what the relatives are all saying as he speaks fluent Dutch.
Last night we made a raspberry pie and that, I think, is an awesome excuse to stop typing and go eat! :)
Friday, April 1, 2011
The Problem With Blogs...
...Is that you have to use a computer to update them! And our computer is so ridiculously slow I can't even be bothered emailing people half the time because I'd need a whole day off just to wait for the computer to open the Web browser.
Kurtis and Esther welcomed two new arrivals into the world of Helling Holsteins in the early hours of Thursday morning last week. Monday had a bull calf who was about as huge as a three-month-old calf as soon as he popped out. He's being sold today to a neighbour who raises beef cattle. Then a couple of hours later Chilly gave birth to Helling FBI Camo. Camo's a tiny little thing and very possibly the cutest calf I've ever seen here. Her whole personality is "Hi! I'm Camo and I'm cute. Will you be my friend??!" If I ask her if she's angry she starts bawling and jumping around her pen.
I suspect The Foosa is also expecting a litter of kittens judging by the shape of her belly. Usually when she gives birth she's a horrible mother and lets them all die. So I'm hoping this time I can find them as soon as she has them and give them a better start in life and make good mousers out of them.
This morning we had a bat in the basement. Kurtis told me bats are the only animals who can carry rabies and still live. Learn something new every day around here!
I'm applying for more jobs...this time as an outdoor living salesperson with a garden/gift/outdoor furniture place, and also at Tim Hortons where I can get all the free tea and coffee I can drink. Our neighbours worked there. They say that living under a bridge in a cardboard box would be preferable to working at Timmies so we'll see. Sounds like it might be as bad as Coles!!!!
The April Fool's joke news article on the radio this morning was that Westjet have agreed to make their planes lighter by partially filling the tanks with lighter-than-air helium.
Last night I took Kruze out of her pen (my 4H calf) and led her with her halter for the first time. She did amazingly well. All calves plant their feet and won't move on their first time out so you have to drag them along but Kruze walked perfectly so I'm hopeful that she ends up being an amazing cow to show.
Also just worth mentioning that 2 days ago it was between 7 and 9 degrees Celsius and we were sweating and only wearing tshirts :) Also the local county fire authority has no clues. The ground is frozen. It's still cold. There are tiny little patches of snow. There are no thunderstorms. So they got bored and decided to declare a total fire ban until the end of April!! Only in Canada...
Kurtis and Esther welcomed two new arrivals into the world of Helling Holsteins in the early hours of Thursday morning last week. Monday had a bull calf who was about as huge as a three-month-old calf as soon as he popped out. He's being sold today to a neighbour who raises beef cattle. Then a couple of hours later Chilly gave birth to Helling FBI Camo. Camo's a tiny little thing and very possibly the cutest calf I've ever seen here. Her whole personality is "Hi! I'm Camo and I'm cute. Will you be my friend??!" If I ask her if she's angry she starts bawling and jumping around her pen.
I suspect The Foosa is also expecting a litter of kittens judging by the shape of her belly. Usually when she gives birth she's a horrible mother and lets them all die. So I'm hoping this time I can find them as soon as she has them and give them a better start in life and make good mousers out of them.
This morning we had a bat in the basement. Kurtis told me bats are the only animals who can carry rabies and still live. Learn something new every day around here!
I'm applying for more jobs...this time as an outdoor living salesperson with a garden/gift/outdoor furniture place, and also at Tim Hortons where I can get all the free tea and coffee I can drink. Our neighbours worked there. They say that living under a bridge in a cardboard box would be preferable to working at Timmies so we'll see. Sounds like it might be as bad as Coles!!!!
The April Fool's joke news article on the radio this morning was that Westjet have agreed to make their planes lighter by partially filling the tanks with lighter-than-air helium.
Last night I took Kruze out of her pen (my 4H calf) and led her with her halter for the first time. She did amazingly well. All calves plant their feet and won't move on their first time out so you have to drag them along but Kruze walked perfectly so I'm hopeful that she ends up being an amazing cow to show.
Also just worth mentioning that 2 days ago it was between 7 and 9 degrees Celsius and we were sweating and only wearing tshirts :) Also the local county fire authority has no clues. The ground is frozen. It's still cold. There are tiny little patches of snow. There are no thunderstorms. So they got bored and decided to declare a total fire ban until the end of April!! Only in Canada...
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