jon and kim's excellent adventures

san francisco

2011-04-19T21:06:00.006+10:00

{lunch at tartine}

{watching people ice skate at union square}

{ginkgo}

{ferry building}

{cupcake and macarons from miette}

And an even shorter (but great) stay in SF.

new york

2011-04-19T20:43:00.009+10:00

{central park}

{empire state building}

{brooklyn flea}

Some really old photos from our short stay in New York, on our way home. Awesome.

halloween, pt 1

2010-11-09T04:10:00.028+11:00

Had a fantastic Halloween weekend in New Orleans. (I took my Pentax, so have been waiting to get my film processed before posting about it, and still have another roll to finish.)

We had weekend passes to the Voodoo festival. We saw Jonsi (who was wonderful!), a bit of Weezer, Muse, Florence and the Machine, White Rabbits, Janelle Monae (had a stage and time change, then started 45 minutes late, but was still good), Interpol (one of our favourite bands, always good live) and MGMT.

The venue, City Park, was great. Although the main stages were out in the open and got quite hot in the middle of the day, there were lots of nice big trees and shaded areas to sit. Pretty good food stalls too, lots of local food.

We also fit in a visit to the aquarium, and a couple of very tasty meals in the French Quarter at Deanie's Seafood (incredible charbroiled oysters and BBQ shrimp) and Crescent City Brewhouse (nice beers brewed in-house, and good food to match –
we had a deli platter, more baked oysters and hot wings. Yum).

Hope you had an enjoyable Halloween. And if you want to see, there are more photos on Flickr.

top no. 3

2010-11-03T10:46:00.002+11:00

For this one, I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but no existing pattern, so decided to customise/draft it myself. I used this pattern to get the basic shape, but changed the neckline, made the armholes bigger and took out the darts. I made a muslin to test the shape and fit, making notes of more changes. I re-traced the final pattern, then cut it from my fabric.

I followed this online tutorial for the button placket (my first buttons and button holes!) I drafted it on my computer, and used the print out as my pattern for cutting the fabric, and as a guide for the button placement. Once the placket was done, I sewed the top together, and finished the armholes and neckline with bias tape. Last step was sewing in the buttons by hand.

BAM! Top no. 3 finished! Feels great to learn and make new things.

back online!

2010-11-03T07:37:00.007+11:00

We went to pick up my computer last night, after it had spent two weeks at the Apple store getting assessed/repaired. When the girl came back out with a computer that wasn't mine, we were a bit confused... She checked with someone else, and they told us that because the repair costs were so high, they decided to replace it.

Now I have a slick new MacBook Pro, AND all the data from my old one (really relieved about this). So very thankful I spent the extra money on an extended warranty when I bought my computer. I will recommend to anyone buying a mac: get AppleCare too, if you can. It's worth it if something goes really wrong.

Thank you Apple, I love you.

a pictureless post

2010-10-26T02:03:00.008+11:00

My computer died on me the other week. I opened the lid to wake it up and about
10 seconds later, the screen went black, and it wouldn't boot up again. It's off now getting a new logic board. Fingers crossed it comes back to me ok. I'm hoping I haven't lost anything from my hard drive, as I haven't backed it up for... ever.
For now I'm using Jon's old, slow computer, so I'm not going to upload any new photos (sorry!).

Anyway, hope you had a nice weekend. Ours started early on Saturday morning
with a phone call from a friend's bucks party (in Melbourne). The phone got passed around, so Jon got a quick catch up with a few friends. Afterwards, we headed in
to LSU for an all-you-can-eat pancakes fundraiser, and stopped by Mike the tiger's enclosure (LSU has a live mascot!). We went out to BJ's for dinner (burger and pizza, good beer and a very excellent cookies 'n cream pizookie for dessert). The restaurant is part of the Mall of Louisiana, so after dinner, we went for a walk round the shops. Yesterday, we drove out to Gonzales for some more (outlet) shopping, and stopped in at Latte e Miele on the way home for some delicious gelato. Fun!

RECIPE : butter pecan ice cream

2010-10-05T09:24:00.023+11:00

I love ice cream. It's one of my absolute favourite things to eat. Strangely though (and despite the fact I enjoy cooking/baking), I'd never really considered making
my own. After spotting these groovy ice cream makers on special at Sur la table,
we decided to buy one (in blue. The colour is really nice in person, quite purpley).
I searched the interweb, and we picked butter pecan for our first batch, though I bookmarked quite a few other recipes I'd also like to try.

Recipe from here and the video here (mostly for the directions)
Makes about 1.5 litres

Ingredients
1 stick (approx 115g) butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar (we found the end result pretty sweet, so might try 1/2 or 2/3 cup next time)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Melt the butter in a pan, add pecans. Cook until lightly browned. Remove from heat and strain, reserving the butter. Allow pecans to cool completely before use.

Heat milk and cream in a saucepan. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy. Pour cream and milk into egg mix slowly while whisking (a tea towel or damp paper towel under the bowl helps keep it from slipping around on your bench). Once combined, add cream and egg mix back into saucepan and continue heating. At this point, I added a few spoonfuls of the pecan infused butter. Once this is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, strain into a bowl and add the vanilla. Cover with cling film (with the cling film sitting on the surface of the mix, this will prevent it from developing a skin), and refrigerate until chilled.

Assemble ice cream maker and switch on. Slowly pour in ice cream mix and churn for 20-25 minutes. Add pecans and churn for further 5 minutes. Transfer to a container and freeze 3-4 hours until firm.

Great on its own, even better in a waffle cone :)

geaux* tigers!

2010-09-23T06:11:00.008+10:00

Last week we were lucky to be given a pair of tickets to Saturday's LSU v Mississippi State game. It was the third game of the college football season, and first home game (at Tiger Stadium).

We tailgated from around midday, which for us, involved hanging out with friends, drinking beer, eating burgers and hot dogs for lunch, and trying not to melt in the heat (while some keen people played volleyball).

The game was great, exciting to watch, and the Tigers won 29-7.

One of the things I like most about going to the football here (aside from the tailgating, because that's also fun) is the enthusiasm of the supporters (92,538 of them at this game, minus some for the MSU supporters). The crowd wear the team colours, so the stadium is a sea of purple and gold. They know all the chants, and make LOTS of noise with the marching band to support their team. It's crazy (in a good way, of course), and quite unlike anything we've experienced, but definitely something we'll remember.

It was an enjoyable day, but also a long one – we sat down to dinner (gyoza and sushi) at 10 pm. Looking forward to getting along to more tailgating and games before we head back to Australia.

(*geaux = go. We were a bit confused by this at first, but it's a thing here)

PS. Coming up : a post about our new ice cream machine, and my first attempt at home made ice cream!

another new hobby

2010-09-09T06:38:00.012+10:00

I decided recently that I wanted to learn to crochet. I bought a few supplies and followed these online tutorials. Now I have a slowly growing pile of colourful granny squares, the beginnings of a blanket. I'm using some soft cotton yarn – Peaches & Creme and Sugar'n Cream (check out the groovy retro labels) – purchased for only around $2 a ball from Walmart and Hobby Lobby. The weather's still pretty hot here, so I've been happy to stay in and watch episodes of Futurama or 30 Rock on Netflix, while I crochet my squares and drink cups of tea.

• • •

2010-09-06T11:51:00.023+10:00

We recently drove down to New Orleans to meet up with one of my cousins, who's two-thirds through a 93 day tour across the States. Spent our day in the French Quarter, and did pretty much what we usually do there – lots of eating and lots of walking. We caught up on what's been happening here and back home in the year we've been away, and heard about the things she's been up to on her trip. It was stinking hot, but a fun day. Such a treat spending time with friends or family
who visit.

(Tried some Lomo film this time. More photos from this roll here.)

a new favourite summer dinner

2010-08-14T06:14:00.015+10:00

Now that crawfish season is over, our almost weekly (!) dinners of boiled craw, corn and potatoes have been replaced by tacos. They are the perfect meal for this warm weather. My hub (the bread man) makes great flour tortillas from scratch, and we fill them with guacamole, grilled and sliced steak or seafood, salsa (whatever kind we are in the mood to make), and grilled spring/green onion. So simple, so good!

(The above photos are from last weekend. Fish and prawn tacos with grilled tomatillo salsa. Yum yum yum...)

more from the garden

2010-07-29T13:14:00.005+10:00

I'm loving watching our plants grow (and grow, and grow)

{kale}

{basil}

{capsicum/peppers}

roll no. 3

2010-07-10T07:26:00.008+10:00

Have had this roll of film in my camera for MONTHS. Fujifilm Pro 400H this time. Here are my favourites, you can see the rest in this set, on my Flickr. The first couple are from a crawfish boil we went to a while ago. Oh, how we like the craw.

Happy weekend!

the long weekend and other stuff (mostly food related)

2010-07-08T04:27:00.002+10:00

We had a pretty foody long weekend here for the 4th of July. It was also Jon's birthday, and good birthdays usually involve indulging in great food – and cake,
of course!

We spent the evening of the 4th in downtown BR, on the bank of the Mississippi. We ran into some friends from Jon's work, and ended up sitting with them. We listened to music, shared plates of funnel cakes, drank beer and enjoyed the fireworks after the sun went down. The show finished around 9.30, so we all went out for one more round of drinks, and finished with giant slices of pizza from Schlittz & Giggles (sort of dinner, as we hadn't eaten anything except the funnel cake), before heading home.

For Jon's bday, we went out for a nice dinner at Ruffino's Saturday night. We shared a ridiculously rich pork belly dish, and had some lovely creme brulee. With dessert, Jon ordered a scotch, and was surprised when he was brought a full glass (about four shots)! At home, we made a layer cake using recipes from the King Arthur book we got. Our yellow cake turned out nicely, quite dense and moist. For the icing, we thought we'd try the silky buttercream (sugar syrup poured into whisked egg whites, with a heap of butter whipped in). It sure turned out silky smooth, and very buttery. Pretty good though. (Here's a pic.)

While I'm on the subject of food, last night I made double broccoli quinoa for dinner. With the chilli oil, avocado and feta on top – deeelicious! I've tried a couple of recipes from 101 cookbooks now, and they are really good. Would definitely recommend taking a look if you're in need of any tasty vegetarian recipes.

Also, this afternoon I baked some banana bread (recipe here, but I added chopped dates and fresh blueberries). Fortunately/unfortunately (I'm not sure which), I'm the only one 'round here who likes banana bread, so I'm going to slice and freeze it. When I feel like some for breakfast or lunch, I can just pull out a slice or two, pop into the toaster and enjoy with a cup of tea. Very nice.

july?!

2010-07-04T06:04:00.017+10:00

Already? I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I really don't know where the time is going. We've been here nearly a whole year.

Summer's here, it's pretty hot, and our plants are going gangbusters. I'm totally amazed at the comeback our tabasco chilli plant has made. Only a few months ago, it was so dried up, I was about to pull it out of the pot and throw it into the dumpster (I may not have been watering so regularly back then!)

I noticed a little bit of new growth coming through though, and decided to cut the dead bits back, and leave it to do its thing. Now it is big, leafy and covered in flowers and chillis!

We are also growing a few other things – tomatoes, capsicum, and some mint and thai basil that are doing really well considering they started from cuttings.

Growing tasty stuff is fun!

Also, top no. 2 is finished! I bought the pattern online. It was much simpler to make than my first top, and is nice and light for summer.

busy sewing

2010-05-26T13:03:00.026+10:00

Been doing a bit of sewing lately. Here are some pics of things I've made:

A fun bunting and bibs. Made for our month-old niece with lotsa love, and miles of (handmade) bias tape. The pattern for the bibs is from my Martha Stewart book

An embroidered handkerchief – I guess, but I hope no-one blows their nose into it... The pattern is from Clover

And my very first top! It was a little tricky at times, but good to learn and get experience making a garment – sewing darts and sleeves, and using interfacing.
I even customised the pattern a bit, shortening the length and using sleeves from
a different pattern. The fit is pretty loose, but overall I'm happy with it, and definitely looking forward to more sewing projects :)

roll no. 2

2010-05-06T07:02:00.006+10:00

Got my second roll of film developed yesterday, and I'm pretty happy with the results. It's exciting to get some good photos back, especially since I have a fear
(and actually recently dreamt) of getting a roll back that is completely blank!

I loaded this film (Kodak Portra 400NC) into my camera when Jon's family were over, so have quite a few shots from around BR, and our visits to Memphis and New Orleans. Here are some of my favourites:

Mmm... filmy. The rest are in this set, on my Flickr.

lately...

2010-05-06T06:22:00.013+10:00

We have:
• been to Lafayette for the Festival International. Music + food + arty stalls = fun!
• been eating LOTS of delicious boiled crawfish
AAAND
• become uncle and aunty to a cute baby girl! (Congrats J&C!)

Apart from that, the weather's starting to heat up (I think we're skipping spring and headed straight for summer, minus the humidity though, thankfully). Jon's busy at work, and I've been having fun sewing things. Also, I won a competition on Jamie Oliver's twitter and got his Food Revolution book. Sweet! It has some really nice and simple recipes, including a fresh cherry tomato and basil pasta which I made last night. Super quick and very tasty!

colourful cotton

2010-04-27T05:33:00.016+10:00

Some necklaces I made recently with embroidery cotton and nice wooden beads from a local bead shop (tutorial here, by Jenny of Wiksten/Wiksten-made). I'm also keen to try some different styles of embroidery, like cross-stitch and sashiko. My new Martha Stewart book and the purl bee have lots of lovely looking projects.

(Oh, the possibilities!)

attention : people who like food!

2010-04-24T08:37:00.012+10:00

I've just added a little spot on the sidebar (to the right, below the tweets) for the recipes I've posted (all tried and guaranteed tasty). Hope you can try some.

film fun

2010-04-22T02:08:00.019+10:00

I recently bought a Pentax K1000 from KEH. I'd been thinking about getting a film (35mm or instant/Polaroid) camera for a while, and was especially inspired by looking through the beautiful film shots on Brian and Molly's photostreams. I really like the look and texture of film photos. I like that the process makes me slow down, to be more selective with what I photograph, and try to compose my shots better so I'm not wasting my film (when I have plenty of space on my DSLR memory card). I'm hoping the more I use this, the more I learn and more practise I get, the better photographs I'll take (with both my cameras). And I do like the idea of having lots
of lovely pictures to look at and remember everything by.

Here are a few photos from my first roll* (there were also a couple in the last post). Stay tuned for more, I've nearly finished my second.

* I was a little disappointed with the processing of this roll. I took it to a local pharmacy, and my film came back marked (see above) and creased. Oh well, lesson learnt, and better luck next time.

two weeks and 2340 miles

2010-04-17T05:49:00.021+10:00

(On the road. Somewhere between BR and Houston)

(Galveston, Texas)

(Hello! from the NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas)

(Boots etc in Gonzales, Louisiana)

(Beignets at Coffee Call in BR)

(State Capital in Jackson, Mississippi)

(Dinner at Huey's in Memphis, Tennessee)

(Graceland)

(On the way to Shreveport, Louisiana)

Some photos from our mini road trips, and time in and around BR with Jon's family, who spent two weeks with us recently. It was really great to see them, and
a little more of this big, big country.

We managed to cover quite a few miles in their short visit. We picked them up from the airport in Houston, and spent a couple of nights in Texas (in Humble and strange, kind-of-beach town, Galveston) before heading back to BR for a few days. Over the Easter long weekend, we drove up to Memphis. We spent two nights there, and got to look around Beale St and Downtown, and fit in a visit to Graceland.
On the way back, we stopped in at Little Rock (Arkansas) and spent a night in Shreveport (Louisiana). We spent their last night here in New Orleans, where we
ate ourselves silly – red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya and beignets (too many beignets! Maybe... if there is such a thing?!)

It was so nice to have family with us for a little while. While their visit seemed to
go quickly, the time we spent together felt full, with all the things we got see and do. It was lots of fun. Thanks for visiting us, family!

san diego and ensenada trip

2010-03-18T07:21:00.019+11:00

I did a massive Flickr upload a few days ago of photos from our trip. I probably went overboard (there are a hundred photos), but I think they might tell the story better than I can, so if you have the time, please have a look!

San Diego was nice. We went as a group with other students and the supervisor from Jon's lab, for an aquaculture conference. It was nice to spend time (in another new place) with Jon, and for us to spend time with the others when they weren't at the conference. For the times they were, there was plenty for me to go out and see on my own.

We spent an afternoon in Old Town, the site of the first Spanish settlement in California. There were some nice shops and places to eat. After some time looking around, we found a place to sit down for happy hour drinks and tacos. This place had a large selection of chilli sauces, and after trying a couple on our tacos, Jon and a friend decided they'd do a 'hot sauce tasting'. There were a couple of habanero based sauces that really burned, but for the most part, they were pretty mild.

On our way back from Old Town, we ran into some friends organising a trip
to the other side of the city for tacos. We decided to join them. It took three different trams, and a while to get to (even longer on the way back), but the food was definitely worth the trip. And the smile/look of surprise on the lady's face as we
(a group of around 12-15) arrived was pretty funny! I was not very adventurous
with my choices from their menu, but Jon tried the lengua (tongue) and buche (esophagus), and thought they were great.

(My pastor (pork) and carnitas (slow-cooked, shredded meat) tacos)

On a day Jon was at the conference, I took the trams (they call them trolleys) into downtown San Diego. I walked around Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp Quarter, found a little Thai restaurant for a big lunch, and walked down to Seaport Village. Nice.

We had heard the San Diego zoo was a good one, so we were keen to visit. We made it there on Friday, our last day in town, and saw lots of animals. Lions and tigers and ... gorillas (no bears). And some nice-looking free range peacocks.

We were picked up and driven down to Ensenada Friday night. It was actually a pretty hairy van ride. I'm not sure if the driver thought we were in a race? He was going VERY fast, and not slowing down for the bends in the windy road. But don't worry parents – we are all OK!

Once we arrived, our hosts prepared us dinner. Tacos and quesadilla with BBQed beef, salsa and guacamole. After dinner, we walked to a nearby bar. They had a live band, and the grossest toilets ever. Dirty, kicked in doors and no running water! That's right folks – no flushing and no hand-washing. Eewww. Anyway, Jon and I called it a night after a couple of drinks, but a few others kept going.

In the morning we were brought sweet Mexican breads (like brioche rolls with
a sweet, crumbly topping) for breakfast. We were picked up and driven to the university/research centre for presentations, a tour and lunch. In the afternoon
we went into town for coffee and a short look at some of the local shops.

(View from the research centre)

We went out to a taco place for dinner. We could pick from beef, chicken, fish or pork, and could add chopped onion, coriander, cabbage, sauces, salsas and fresh lime. Delicious. Afterwards, we met up with some more people for drinks at one of the oldest cantinas in the area, Hussong's. It was a pretty cool place. The old timber floor was littered with peanut shells, and walls were packed with framed pictures. Groups of musicians would move around playing songs for people who were dancing and singing along. A few of us moved on to different bars. Jon and I ended up (with a few others) at a place with people lining up to sing karaoke – badly!
It was a pretty fun night though.

The next morning we had a 6am start for the van ride back to the San Diego airport. We had a different driver this time, luckily. It took us all day to get back to BR.
So when we finally got back to our apartment at 9pm, we were exhausted, got take away for dinner and hit the hay.

The end!
Of this mini adventure.
Of fun in San Diego and a taste of Mexico.
Next adventure in nine sleeps when Jon's parents and sister arrive!

a mini adventure

2010-03-10T16:24:00.007+11:00

On Sunday night (exhausted after a full day of travel), we got back from a week away. The trip was for Jon's work – a conference in San Diego followed by a short visit to a research centre/university in Ensenada, Mexico. We got a little bit of time to look around San Diego, and ate lots of great food on the trip. Will do a post on it when I've edited all our photos and can include some pics.

(Taken in Old Town, San Diego)

mardi gras!

2010-02-27T09:54:00.019+11:00

This post has taken a while to write – especially since I've been giving the blog a mini make-over instead of typing posts :)

Anyway, Mardi Gras was last Tuesday the 16th. It was also the day after President's Day, so Jon had the Monday AND Tuesday off work. Gotta love long weekends and three day weeks. On Saturday, we went to the Spanish Town parade in downtown BR. It was great to see so many people around, having a good time. There have been a couple of times we've gone in to the city and seen hardly anyone else around. On this day though, the streets were lined with happy people! We found lunch soon after we got in, then spent a while walking through parts of the parade route. The parade was fun, with lots of floats and bead-catching.

(I actually weighed our beads the other day, and we caught about 2kg each! Pretty heavy weight around your neck, I can tell you!)

We decided we'd head over to New Orleans on the Sunday too. We were a little worried about how crowded and crazy it might be, but thought we really couldn't not go. And we were so glad we did. The atmosphere was great. It was like a massive street party, with people drinking, BBQing, cheering, celebrating. There were lots of people around, but we still had plenty of room to move. We ended up walking along a large section of the parade route, and on our way back, ran into a friend (and New Orleans native) from Jon's work. We spent the evening in their tent (more like a marquee though, in case you get confused) watching the Krewe of Bacchus parade. The floats were much more elaborate than the ones in BR (some of which were trailers with a portaloo in the middle!). Each of the floats had themes, and all the people on them wore costumes and masks. There was also music, from marching bands. And plenty of beads, again! Such a fun day!

There are more photos on Flickr too.

lovely snow

2010-02-13T08:09:00.008+11:00

We were getting special winter storm reports on TV last night. Nothing exciting happened though, it was just COLD! More wintery weather was reported this morning. They predicted a cold day, and a chance of snow. Unlikely, I thought, but I peeked through the closed blinds and saw beautiful, light snow! Twice in one winter – may be a first for this place!

who dat!

2010-02-09T07:09:00.014+11:00

Last night the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts to win the Super Bowl! We watched the game at a friend's house, with a few other friends from Jon's work. The Saints didn't get off to a great start, but the game got pretty exciting in the second half, with the Saints coming from behind (10-6), to win 31-17.

I must say, I'm not really into sports. I don't know American football very well either, having never seen a game until college football started last September. Football is huge here though, and for the Saints to win – it's a pretty big deal.
So, I'm excited to be here for their win, and excited for New Orleans and all the Saints supporters. It's also Mardi Gras season here, so I'm pretty sure New Orleans will be partying like crazy! Speaking of which, these are some fun photos I found of people celebrating the Saints' win in the French Quarter:

(All photos are from the Times-Picayune – NOLA.com)

If you are interested, you can read more about the game on the NFL website.
Go Saints!

sounds of louisiana

2010-02-05T06:26:00.022+11:00

I came across this clip as a featured video on Youtube:

I looked around for some more Cajun and Zydeco clips. Found a couple of old ones, including this, of Buckwheat Zydeco (who won the grammy)...

... and this one of Dewey Balfa and his nephew, Todd Balfa, on the fiddlesticks (!)

It's been raining all day here, and I've been watching water run down the walls in our living room. It's actually starting to drip from the ceiling on to the carpet now. Let's hope the wall doesn't collapse or anything. Anyway, I'm going to put some cups on the floor to catch the drips, and bake some of these...

RECIPE : anzacs

2010-01-30T08:00:00.024+11:00

So, this isn't a Southern recipe, but I thought I'd post it anyway because I made them for Australia Day. I've always thought Anzacs are best chewy, so this is a good recipe.

Recipe from Taste
Makes about 24

Ingredients
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
1 cup (85g) desiccated coconut
3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
125g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Directions
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the oats, coconut and brown sugar.

Put the butter, golden syrup and 2 tbsp water in a small saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until melted. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda.

Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on the trays, about 5cm apart.

Press with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so they cool completely.

'straya day

2010-01-30T03:56:00.032+11:00

We had a few people over on Australia Day (well, it was the 25th here. We are 17 hours behind Melbourne). We had been thinking about doing it for a while, but weren't sure how many people would fit in our little apartment. In the end, we had a small (but good) amount of people come and it worked out well. We had sausages in bread, chicken wings and some salads. And beer, there was of course, beer. I also made Anzacs. We showed them last year's AFL grand final (recorded on DVD by Jon's parents), and listened to the Hottest 100 for a while too. It was a good night, and we were glad we decided to do it. It was nice to have people over, to share dinner and have a few drinks – it's something we enjoyed doing back in Melbourne. Hopefully we'll do it again soon, I know Jon is keen to knock up some pizzas for them!

PS. I don't know if anyone is reading this blog, but we were interested to hear what people thought of the Hottest 100? There were a few good songs in there, but our favourites didn't seem to rate as high as we thought or hoped (and I was sure Phoenix be no.1)...

Here were my favourites from last year:
• Clare Bowditch - Start of war
• Doves - Kingdom of rust
• Florence & The Machine - Dog days are over
• La Roux - Quicksand
• Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
• Peter Bjorn & John - Lay it down
• Phoenix - Lisztomania
• Sarah Blasko - All I want
• Silversun Pickups - Panic switch
• White Rabbits - Percussion gun

back to the french quarter

2010-01-20T11:18:00.011+11:00

We spent another afternoon in New Orleans last Thursday. We had a visitor from Australia, and it was my 25th birthday – good reasons to head down to the big easy.
We basically spent the afternoon eating, drinking and walking through the French Quarter. I took a few photos, though they're mainly of building signs, like this...

You can see more on Flickr.

brrrrr...

2010-01-09T08:23:00.007+11:00

Winter has set in over here. This week has been especially cold. My weather widget says it's only one degree outside now, and tonight the low will be -7. Chilly!

On Sunday, we had lunch at Capital City Grill and then went to the Louisiana State Museum in downtown. There are two permanent exhibits in the museum. Downstairs covers Louisiana's history, and upstairs has displays relating to culture (food, festivals, football/tailgating etc). We spent most of our time downstairs, looking at the displays on the Mississippi and the Louisiana purchase. We ended up rushing through quite a bit downstairs, and everything upstairs (we thought we'd be booted out at closing time), so we are hoping to go back for a better look.

That's about it for this week, just staying in to keep warm (and drinking lots of tea). I'm off now, to start some pea and ham soup for dinner.

skidboot

2010-01-02T09:28:00.014+11:00

We saw this dog, Skidboot, on a 'best of' Oprah show yesterday (couldn't find the actual clip, but he did this same trick). So cool!

happy new year!

2010-01-01T04:09:00.015+11:00

Hoping you had a nice Christmas and great new year's eve (happy birthday mum)! We still have a few hours left of 2009, but saw some shots on the local news from Auckland and Sydney's new years. We aren't really big on new years, so we're going to make pizza and have a couple of drinks at home.

Christmas was pretty quiet for us. We stayed in, baked ham and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We opened our presents on Christmas eve while Skyping family (on Christmas morning) in Melbourne. It was strange spending Christmas away from home and family, but still nice and very relaxed.

Jon has a few days off over Christmas/new year, so we are trying to get out and about. On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon in downtown Baton Rouge. We started off with lunch at Poor Boy Lloyd's, which is right near the Mississippi. I had a delicious shrimp po-boy, and Jon tried a hot roast beef po-boy which was pretty much dripping with beef gravy, yuuum! We had planned to visit the State Museum afterwards, but it was a nice clear day, so we walked over to the State Capitol building instead (hoping to go up to the observation deck). We spent a little while looking around the hall, and the Senate and House chambers. Unfortunately the observation deck was closed, so we didn't get to see BR from 27 floors up this time. We finished off our day with a coffee and short walk along the Mississippi.

We took a few photos over Christmas and in downtown, which I've uploaded to Flickr. I've also upgraded my account, so all our older photos can now be viewed (previously you could only see the 200 most recent photos). We had a look back at some of the pics we took in LA and during our stay in the trailer – fun times (and Jon's hair was so short)!

our tasty tree

2009-12-22T11:14:00.000+11:00

This weekend we went over to Whole Foods (organic supermarket, US/UK chain) for a couple of things, and came home with a rosemary Christmas tree. It looks pretty good, smells great, and (best of all) we can cook with it after Christmas. I think it still needs a bit more decoration, but I've put a couple of photos on Flickr taken this afternoon. Only four more sleeps til Christmas!

hello december

2009-12-10T08:12:00.016+11:00

I can't believe it is already December – and another month I haven't posted anything on this blog (so lazy of me). Starting now though, I'm promising a post a week (was going to make it a new year's resolution, but why wait?!) So, now to remember all the things that we've been up to since my last post...

It's old news really, but our Halloween was pretty quiet. We didn't end up getting any trick or treaters, but it was a good night. We lit our jack-o-lanterns, ate homemade pizza and Butterfingers (yummy peanutty buttery toffee chocolate bars), and watched Ghostbusters.

In early November, we went down to New Orleans again. We went back to the French Quarter for lunch, and Jon got his first tattoo. It's an outline of a swallow (no colour or shading). He's wanted a tattoo for a while, and got some money for his birthday (back in July) to get one. Anyway, it was quite quick (about 20 minutes), healed pretty quickly and looks really good (check out the pics on Flickr). Afterwards, we drove over to Magazine St (in the Garden District) for coffee and a look at some second hand clothes and antique shops. It was a nice day.

Just thought I'd share this picture too. It's what I saw on my iPhone map of our entrance to the freeway leaving New Orleans (we were on Claiborne/I90, trying to get on to the I10)... eek!

We went to our first game of football – LSU v Louisiana Tech. We tailgated all day, then headed over to the stadium in the evening. We missed the first quarter rushing my backpack (not allowed in the stadium) back to the car, but once we got in and found our friends and seats, it was exciting. The stadium was full, everyone was dressed in the LSU colours and sung/cheered along to the marching band. Football and the Tigers are so huge here, so it was great to get to a game (and lucky for us, LSU won).

We spent Thanksgiving day watching the Macy's parade on tv, followed by the National dog show, and some episodes of The office (we have become addicted to this show, and watched five seasons in one week on Netflix). We also made a pavlova and some cheese and vegemite scrolls, which we took to dinner at Jon's supervisor's. It was a nice evening with lots of food – including an 18 pound turkey!

Demcember's been nice so far too. We got a little bit of snow on Friday night. I don't think I've ever seen falling snow, so it was pretty exciting. We'd been hearing in weather forecasts that there was a chance of snow, and while talking to Jon's family on Skype, we heard some people outside and they sounded pretty excited. We both rushed to the window and saw SNOW! It wasn't a lot, but enough for us to take our cameras outside for some photos like this (more on Flickr):

This weekend we did a bit of Christmas shopping. It is starting to get cold here, so we also got some jumpers and slippers to keep warm! Sunday was our first wedding anniversary, so we treated ourselves to pho for brunch, coffee and beignets for afternoon tea, and our favourite dinner – etouffee (with chicken, andouille AND prawns!) We also made some mini red velvet cakes with cream cheese icing, which we ate while watching Best in show. Awesome!

So that's everything. Until next week :)

PS. Hi Sam! Grits is ground corn. It's common in the South, and can be eaten for or with any meal – like the shrimp and grits, or as a side to eggs and bacon for breakfast.

RECIPE : shrimp and grits

2009-11-11T16:53:00.027+11:00

We tried grits for the first time a few weeks ago (warm with cheese, like in this recipe), and it's delicious. This is pretty quick and simple to make, but very tasty!

Recipe adapted from Martha Nesbit/Bobby Flay, Food Network
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups water
Salt and pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits (could substitute with polenta if you can't get grits)
2-3 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (we used a combo of mostly cheddar and some parmesan)
455g shrimp/prawns, peeled and deveined
6 rashers bacon, chopped
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 cup spring onions, thinly sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
we also added some cayenne pepper and a pinch of paprika for more spice

Directions
Bring 3 cups of the water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Add grits to one cup water, mix, then stir in to the boiling water (this will help prevent lumps) and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well (but leave a little fat in the pan). Add shrimp and cook until pink. Add lemon juice, bacon, parsley, spring onion and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.

Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately. (Was good with some asparagus on the side.)

RECIPE : pumpkin cupcakes

2009-10-30T07:13:00.017+11:00

We are getting in to the spirit of Halloween here, and carved some jack o lanterns which we'll light on Saturday night. We're not sure whether we'll get any trick or treaters since we're in an apartment complex. I'm hoping we do. We have some chocolates ready just in case... (and if not, well, I guess it's all for us. A win-win situation really).

Anyway, with a big bowl full of good pumpkin flesh scraped out, I thought I'd make something tasty, and found this nice recipe. I'm not sure about the canned solid-pack pumpkin... I've not seen this before, and not sure why it even exists. It sounds like something Sandra Lee would use in one of her 'semi-homemade' recipes, even with stacks of pumpkins around like there are now. Yes, we think 'half-baked' is a more accurate description of her 'cooking'. Anyway, I microwaved/steamed the flesh with a little water, and mashed it to use in this.

Recipe adapted from Honey & Jam (which was adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 17-18 cupcakes (I made a half batch, which was enough for about 36 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients
CUPCAKES
1 stick (approx 115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
 1/3 cup caster sugar
 2 cups cake flour*
 2 teaspoons baking powder
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon ground ginger  (I didn't have any, but grated in a little fresh ginger when adding the pumpkin)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
2 large eggs 
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

* I hadn't heard of cake flour before, but looked it up and found a substitute recipe here. The cornflour with plain flour seemed to work out fine.

ICING
Two 8-ounce packages (approx 455g) cream cheese, softened 
1 stick (approx 115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature 
2 cups pure icing sugar 
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

So, for a half batch of the cupcake mix, I made about a quarter batch of this icing. I hardly measure anything when making icing anyway, just throw it all in! Inspired by this Jamie recipe, I decided to add some lemon zest instead of the maple syrup, and a dash of milk.

Directions
Make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with liners.
In a stand mixer (or by hand with a wooden spoon like I did!), beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.
Add the eggs one at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter in to the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full.
Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Make the icing:
 In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. If you are doing this by hand, I'd recommend beating the cream cheese and butter together first, to soften. Then, sift in the icing sugar bit by bit, to avoid lumps.

Enjoy! They are quite delicious. I'm off to make pumpkin scones and soup for dinner.

it's been a while...

2009-10-19T16:55:00.003+11:00

and it feels like there's lots to catch up on. Time is just flying over here, it seems like the weeks are over before you know it, and the weekends come and go so quickly. Hard to believe we left nearly three months ago already.

A couple of weeks ago, we headed down towards the Gulf of Mexico, to a town called Cocodrie. Jon and a couple of others from the lab organised a five-day work trip based at research centre called Lumcon. The trip there took about two and a half hours. We had to drive almost to New Orleans, then down through a place called Houma. Lumcon was about 40 minutes from there. The last part of the drive was most interesting, as we started seeing more and more water, and houses only metres away (gators in the backyard anyone?!). We were amazed at how flat it was – the water met the land at practically the same level, so a little bit of rain would mean a little bit of flooding, but I'm pretty sure they get a LOT of rain... Most houses were on stilts. It was quite a strange place, different from anywhere we've been before.

Not long after we arrived, we went out fishing with two researchers from Lumcon. It was quite a calm, clear day, really nice conditions (but no fish). Jon and the others went out each day over the next few days, and worked in the lab, while I stayed behind and read, or took photos. We went out for dinner one night and spent a few hours one day at Coco Marina getting Red drum samples from charter boats while they were being cleaned up. It was a good trip, but we were also happy to get back to our apartment (and away from the swarming mosquitoes).

Last weekend, we had our first tailgating experience and it was utter madness! The LSU Tigers (no. 4 team) were playing the Florida Gators (no. 1 team). We knew it would be crazy and crowded, but thought if we were going to see what tailgating was like, this was the week to do it! It actually started Friday night (day before the game). We went to campus for a get together at around 6pm and already the cars and RVs had started to arrive. We got to campus at about 11am on the day, and drove around for ages looking for somewhere to park. We ended up about 20 minutes walk from campus because all carparks and nearby streets were absolutely packed. I'm not sure whether I am explaining this very well though. It was much worse than trying to find a park around Christmas time at Chadstone shopping centre – does this help?

After lunch (hot dogs of course), we went for a walk around campus and the 'RV village'. Our idea of tailgating was probably a bit old school compared to what it is. People set up their tents (like mini marquees) and RVs with BBQs and loads of food, seating, flat screen TVs and sound systems. We actually found out that people pay up to $5000 per season to park their RVs on campus near the stadium. Often people don't actually go to the game, they just come to tailgate. We left at about 6pm and got home in time to watch the game (Tigers lost 13-3). It was a fun, but quite exhausting day.

This weekend was pretty quiet, mainly spent grocery shopping. We went for a drive over to Tony's Seafood, where we picked up some fish (for tacos) and prawns for a boil tonight, yum!

I've maxed-out our Flickr recently with heaps of new photos, starting with this one of my groovy bike, and lots from our Lumcon trip. Will post the tailgating photos soon. I've also set up a twitter account. I'm finding I'm not so good at sitting down to write posts (as the date of the last post would show), so we'll be able to upload shorter 'tweets' more often, here.

Y'all take care, until next time :)

RECIPE : chilli

2009-09-09T12:13:00.015+10:00

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse, Food Network
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
1 pound (about 450g) ground beef
1 cup chopped brown onion
3/4 tablespoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bottle dark beer
1 (400g) can crushed/diced tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Directions
Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over high heat. Add the beef and brown well, about
10 minutes. Add the onions, chilli powder, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, and bay leaf and cook, stirring often, until the onions soften, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beer and cook until the foam subsides, about 1 minute. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and sugar to the pot.
Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent the chilli from sticking to the bottom
of the pot.

Jon had some chilli in a hot dog, I had it on a baked potato with cheese and coleslaw. We had the left overs with coleslaw and fresh tomato salsa in tortillas. Yum!

RECIPE : fish tacos

2009-09-09T11:45:00.008+10:00

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay, Food Network
Makes 8

Ingredients
TACOS
1 pound white flaky fish
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
8 flour tortillas

COLESLAW
White cabbage, finely shredded
Carrot, grated
Red onion, finely sliced
Mayonnaise and/or sour cream
Squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper

TOMATO SALSA
2 tablespoon oil
1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 chilli, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
Salt and pepper

AVOCADO
1 avocado, flesh smashed
Squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, chilli powder, jalapeno, and coriander and pour over the fish. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the fish from the marinade place onto a hot grill, flesh side down. Grill the fish for 4 minutes on the first side and then flip for 30 seconds and remove. Let rest for 5 minutes then flake the fish with a fork.

Place the tortillas on the grill and grill for 20 seconds. Divide the fish among the tortillas and serve with the coleslaw, salsa and avocado.

For the salsa:
Heat oil in medium saucepan, add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add tomatoes, chilli and jalapeno and cook until tomatoes are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Puree the mixture with a hand-held blender or crush with potato masher and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Add the hot sauce, oregano, coriander and lime juice, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

the french quarter

2009-09-08T04:20:00.006+10:00

What better place to spend a Sunday afternoon than New Orleans?!

Was a long weekend here in the US for Labour Day, so Sunday afternoon we headed east on the I10 for our first trip to the 'big easy'. Only took us about an hour to get there, but what felt like another hour after that stuck in traffic and trying to find a car park. Narrow streets and people everywhere! We had no idea it would be so busy but found out later this long weekend is time for the Southern Decadence festival.

After lunch at The Market Cafe, we spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the French Quarter. So what did we see? Street performers and buskers, tarot card and palm readers, souvenir shops selling feathered masks and colourful beads, and bars selling beers and daiquiris to go. Lots of people, food, colour and music. Lots to see and do in New Orleans. We're looking forward to returning again soon!

More photos >

RECIPE : lemon iced tea

2009-08-26T02:50:00.011+10:00

Iced tea (sweetened and unsweetened) is very popular here. It's nice and refreshing on a hot day. I know it's winter in Australia (with some wild weather in Melbourne we hear), so you might have to wait til the weather warms up to try it out.

Recipe from Ina Garten, Food Network
Makes lots

Ingredients
4 tea bags
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (5 to 6 lemons)
1/2 cup superfine (caster) sugar
3 lemon slices

Directions
Steep the tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water for 10 minutes. Discard the tea bags and allow the tea to cool.

Combine the lemon juice, sugar and 4 cups of cold water in a large pitcher. Add the tea and lemon slices. Serve over ice.

RECIPE : chicken and smoked sausage etouffee

2009-08-25T04:44:00.029+10:00

Etouffee is a Cajun dish, popular in southern Louisiana. We saw it made on Tyler's Ultimate (Ultimate French Quarter episode), while in LA and had been keen to make it since. This can also be made with seafood – here it would be crawfish or shrimp. The smoked sausage and chicken were great though, and this turned out better than what we've had at restaurants. Would highly recommend giving this
a try.

Recipe from Tyler Florence, Food Network
Serves 4

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 andouille sausages (or other smoked sausages)
4 pieces chicken maryland or thigh (with bone)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (or salted would be fine)
3/4 cup plain flour
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 green capsicum, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 (stubby) beer (newcastle brown ale worked well)
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons paprika (or to taste, we put in about 3 tablespoons)
Pinch cayenne pepper (or to taste, we put in about 2 teaspoons)
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 spring onions, chopped (we didn't put any in)

Directions
Set a Dutch oven (cast iron pot) over medium heat and add a 2-count (a couple of tablespoons) of olive oil. Add the sausages and brown slightly. Remove and set aside on paper towel. Season chicken with plenty of salt and pepper and add skin side down to the pan. Cook over medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes, then turn to brown both sides of the chicken. Remove and set aside on paper towel.

With the pot still over medium heat add 2 tablespoons butter to melt with the fat (from the sausage and chicken) then add flour and whisk to incorporate, and then swap to a wooden spoon. Cook until it is nice and brown (you want a nice deep rich coloured roux – aim for the colour of peanut butter), about 10 to 12 minutes.

In a food processor add the onion, celery, capsicum, and garlic, and pulse to roughly chop. Add the vegetable pulp to the pot with the roux and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes to sweat out some of the moisture, then deglaze the pot with the beer. Add the stock, bay leaves, paprika and cayenne. Return the chicken pieces to the pot and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken pieces from pot to a cutting board and shred the meat. Discard the bones and return the meat to the pot. Cut the andouille sausage into chunks and nestle back into the pot amongst chicken to heat through.

Give it all a final taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with plenty of parsley and spring onion. Serve with rice.

2009-08-19T06:46:00.005+10:00

Have a look at some of the ads we're seeing on telly at the moment:
• Outback Steakhouse (they have restaurants all over the country)
• Orville Redenbacher popcorn
• Baskin-Robbins ice cream and cake (my favourite)

weekend

2009-08-17T12:21:00.020+10:00

It's Monday again, which means we've been in our apartment for a week (and in BR for three already). We spent the weekend pretty well – starting off on Saturday morning at the Red Stick Farmers Market in town. It wasn't as big as we were expecting, but seemed to have some good fresh veggies (not so much fruit). They also had a couple of stall holders selling seafood like shrimp (prawns) and crab. We picked up some potatoes, jalapenos (which I stuffed and baked, see below), and a tabasco chilli plant. I repotted the plant today and it's sitting on our balcony. Hopefully soon we can get some herbs growing out there too.

Jon heard from someone at work that there are a couple of asian grocers here. Keen to make fried noodles, the asian grocers were our next stop after the market. We found everything we needed from the Saigon Hong Kong Seafood Market – fish, soy and oyster sauces, fresh rice noodles, chinese broccoli. We also picked up a cheap mortar and pestle. It was great, just like any shop we've been in at Box Hill or Springvale. Vietnamese music playing in the background, Hennessy behind the counter, food sitting out that should be in a fridge... there were some pretty funky smells coming from the 'seafood section' too...

After a chat on Skype, we headed out to Ralph & Kacoo's for dinner. This place was recommended to us by a girl from the local cupcake shop for some Louisiana cuisine. Jon had shrimp topped steak, and I tried the Atchafalaya. Not bad, but maybe not the 'seafood excitement' the front door told us we'd get.

On Sunday, we had brunch at IHOP. Light, fluffy pancakes drenched with pecan maple syrup. Need I say more?!

We've passed a shed style fruit and veg shop called Southside Produce a number of times, and this weekend we actually went in to get a few things for the week's meals. It was great – everything seemed fresh and seasonal, but they also had some nice looking breads (not just the sugary, over packaged crap they sell at the shops – hence my bread baking), olive oils, dairy products, local sauces and honeys. Will definitely go back.

In the afternoon, I stuffed and baked the jalapenos from the market (recipe here). I used salami instead of chorizo and didn't bother with the egg though. They turned out deliciously hot and cheesy, mmm! For dinner, Jon made a favourite – fried noodles. The chinese broccoli we bought was a little bitter, but other than that, they were tasty!

settling in

2009-08-14T03:01:00.012+10:00

Earlier this week we said goodbye to the trailer and moved into an apartment. It was actually kind of sad to leave the trailer. It was a good little place to start off. Quiet and cosy with nice surroundings.

Our new place is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in a big complex of hundreds of apartments. It already has a fridge, microwave and dishwasher (most apartments here do). We also have central aircon and heating, a fireplace (didn't think it got that cold here though!), nice high ceilings, plenty of storage and a balcony. It's also in a great area – not too far from work for Jon and close to shops and restaurants.

We've pretty much bought everything here from Walmart – tv stand, coffee table, couch, desk and chair, lamps, bedside tables and a mattress that came in a box. Yes, that's right, a REAL mattress in a BOX! (check out the pics on flickr).

It's been great to finally get a place, set it up and be able to unpack. It's still kind of weird to think this is our new home though (for a while). I'm imagining friends and family coming to visit and stay here with us, it's quite strange!

It's also so great to be able to cook again. We're keen to get in the kitchen and try making some southern food – etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya, and sweets like beignets and red velvet cake. Stay tuned for some recipes!

the red stick

2009-08-07T02:27:00.008+10:00

So I think we've covered most of our trip getting here, now I can tell you about Baton Rouge. It is essentially a college/university town. There is not a great deal happening at the moment, but I have a feeling that once the semester starts, things will be pretty different.

We have been staying in a trailer (!) since we arrived almost two weeks ago. It's on the LSU AgCenter 'farm', and across from the research station where Jon will be working. We are surrounded by green grass, trees and fish ponds.

The trailer's been pretty good – it has electricity and hot water, so we have aircon, a fridge, microwave, stove, shower and toilet. It's been a bit hard to cook though, so I'll admit that we've had more microwave dinners and take-away than we would normally, but it's only temporary!

The others in the lab (where Jon will be working) have been great help, picking us from the airport (five hours after we were due to arrive), giving us lifts to the shops, and to look at apartments. Speaking of which – we signed the lease on a one bedroom apartment this week, and are keen to move in so we can unpack and finally start to settle.

Right now though, we are looking for a car to buy. Public transport here (we've been told) sucks. I've seen a few buses around, but really, you need a car to get around because everything's so spread out.

There is either a Walmart, Albertsons or Winn Dixie on almost every corner (otherwise it's a take-away chain). These are the mega chain stores, kind of like a Safeway or Coles put together with a Big W or Kmart. So you can pretty much buy anything there for cheap. We haven't come across any greengrocers, butchers or bakers, apparently they are quite uncommon here (I guess due to the gigantor stores taking over). We know of a farmer's market held downtown every Saturday though, so that's on our to do / go to list.

Also worth a mention is that the folks here like their sport. We had an idea that college sports were very popular, but didn't fully comprehend until passing the home stadium (Tiger Stadium) on the way to the farm from the airport. It is the same size as the MCG – no kidding. The stadium seats a hundred thousand! Their home baseball stadium seats about 40,000. Also there is a chain of shops called Tiger Mania that sell all the uni/team merchandise. You also see the team colours (purple and gold) everywhere here.

the lax to btr saga

2009-08-07T02:20:00.004+10:00

LAX domestic is ridiculous, they need to have a look at Tullamarine and learn how to run an airport properly. We got there at 3am sunday night, and it took until about 5am to get our bags checked. It's set up so that passengers check themselves in, but no one knows how to use the system and there are only a couple of staff around to help. The layover at Houston was supposed to be about two and a half hours, but the flight was delayed by about half an hour. Then we sat in the plane on the runway for a bit, before being told that there was a problem with a wing flap or something and they needed to get it fixed before we took off. So we sat there for another two hours in the plane, then when we went to take off, the pilot came on to say the problem was back and we'd need to get another flight. Luckily they got us on to a flight leaving at 5:30, which was delayed by an hour, so we finally left at 6:30 and got to Baton Rouge about 7:30. The actual flights were fine, except that because the plane companies charge for all checked baggage, everyone takes suitcases as their carry-on luggage so the overhead compartments are packed pretty tight. All in all, I think I'd recommend the train. I've never tried it, and it might still get delayed, but at least you could get off and hitchhike.

la la land

2009-08-07T01:23:00.009+10:00

It's almost hard to remember LA, it already feels like so long ago. Here are a few snippets from our first taste of the States:

It is warm and steamy! I'd say the weather (or mainly) the humidity (80% +) was harder to get used to than the time difference. It's different to an Aussie summer because that's a drier heat. Here, the air feels so thick and heavy. By the end of each day you kind of feel a bit gross and in need of a shower.

We stayed at a hotel in West Hollywood. Our room had some interesting artwork, and zebra print sheets (maybe this will give some idea about the artwork?!). Possibly not the nicest area or hotel, but definitely ok for three days. Would probably be great if you're the kind that likes to 'paaarty' ... we did hear a few people getting back noisily in at the wee hours of the mornings.

We spent an afternoon in Santa Monica, which turned out great after paying $40 for a taxi to get there! We weren't entirely sure where we wanted to go, so got a bit conned by the driver who told us it 'wasn't too far' ... sucked in. (Got back to the hotel by bus for only $5 though, so not too bad.) The shopping was good, came across some nice shops like H&M, Urban Outfitters and the very lovely Anthropologie. Saw some buskers, walked down the pier, and took some photos of the people on the beach that had walked half a kilometre to get to the water and were eating the sand cos it was so windy!!

A couple of other things to note: the coffees are BIG, and the cars are REALLY BIG. You can buy beer from a pharmacy. Oh yeah, and they drive on the wrong side of the road!

update

2009-07-31T06:41:00.005+10:00

We arrived safely in Baton Rouge a couple of days ago. It's been hard to keep this up-to-date, so we'll have to do some catch-up posts soon about what we've been up to so far. In the meantime, I've just uploaded some photos to our flickr.

on our way to the usa

2009-07-14T21:33:00.014+10:00

It's official – we now have visas and our flights to the US are booked. Very soon, we will be on our way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana (via LA)!! A little nervous, but very excited and lots to do in the next week and a bit.

We've set up this blog to document our adventures overseas and keep in touch with everyone in ozland. We'll try to post often and have set up a flickr page to share photos also. So, hello, welcome and please feel free comment :)

PS. I'm no writer, so apologies in advance for any poorly written posts!