it was full of seaweed:
~
I'm not sure I want my food to announce it's going to make my jiggly bits dance but this was a wonderful dinner on a hot evening:;
And how could I resist wine with a label like this? It was actually pretty good and I've bought another bottle... :
Huge storm last night. This was after a day where it hit 40 Celsius here in western Sydney. A day where I went to the city to meet my Economist son for lunch and in my "wisdom" decided to ride the Monorail from Darling Harbour parking over to city centre (Pitt Street).
There was a notice at the "station" warning that due to extreme heat the a/c in the little cars would not be efficient. Well, I got a $9.50 all day ride (cheaper than a return) and got on it anyway. Holy Moly - it must have been over 50 degrees Celsius in the little tube!!!. "I can do this; I can do this" - I repeated to myself - surely it won't take that long.......
There are more stations now than I remember and it seemed to take a very, very long time though it's probably only 15 minutes - but 15 minutes in that kind of heat and stuffiness is no fun. I considered getting out two short of where I wanted to go but that defeated the entire purpose of taking the monorail in the first place as the walk would've been longer but surely it could not have been hotter.
I had images of a news story "woman collapses in heat of monorail" or worse - the monorail breaking down and everyone expiring before we could be rescued.
Last night there was a tremendous storm with lightning so intense I saw us all being fried in our little tin huts.
So today it is raining and there is a bus strike so it should be fun on the roads - but at least it is cooler.
This is Rose Bay, Sydney - I have a friend who lives in this idyllic location:
I have 67 kg (148lbs) of photos to get back to DC which somewhat exceeds my United baggage allowance even if I leave all my clothes behind. I've had these stored in my son's garage but now that he has a wife she will be moving in with her own "stuff". It's time for me to get these so that I can scan/preserve them.
So ... research was required. First I tried Australia Post which is how I got my worldly possessions to America nearly 10 years ago. The lady told me in 3 minutes that it would cost an exorbitant.1,228.30.$$$$ - though she didn't actually use the word "exorbitant" - she had a tone that suggested I was getting such a bargain that I should race home pack them up and get back in time to catch the last post of the day.
I had actually saved up and budgeted an amount of $1,000 for this exercise but I was not really expecting to have to use it all.
I
had seen an advertisement for Fed Ex International Economy so I rang
Lawrence in India and had a nice conversation where he used my name a
lot as well as "that's a good question Emjay, I can tell you the
answer"... After 10 or 15 minutes Lawrence decided that Economy service
was not going to work for me and that actually the 25kg flat rate boxes
sent at Priority service would be cheaper (apparently the economy
service just means it takes longer to get there!).
So ... today they will start their journey to the manservant's office and the cost of getting them there in about 3 days will be less than $800.. (FYI: Oz Post could send them by sea for about $650 but I've seen those statistics on how many containers go overboard every year...).
****
The landscape got a little greener as we headed towards the Hunter Valley...
This little church was in the middle of nowhere ( I love the "outhouse"):
A few of the very small towns have these fancy big signs:
This place thinks it is in the Mediterranean - these are all olive trees:
And, now, we interrupt our pleasant country drive to bring some ugly open cut mining....
I remember a couple of years ago you could not see this from the road...
For the few days I was here before the manservant I had a cute little Getz rental car but after a 3 hr trip north to see my parents I decided we needed something bigger for our road trip west. I like to feel a bit more metal around me and more power under the bonnet.
So back to Budget we went where we were given a brand new shiny white Toyota Camry with only 6km on it - which it probably got driving from manufacturer to truck and then off and into it's parking spot.
In a week we have put 2,063 kms on it (10 km = approx. 6 miles) and made it very dirty. I drive faster than the manservant and, as I sailed blithely past a speed camera yesterday, I commented to him that as the car was in his name he was probably going to be receiving a lot of speeding tickets in the mail. At least there won't be any from school zones - I am always very careful to stick to the 40kph outside schools - of course this is helped by the huge array of warnings and flashing lights and "check speed" neons around schools. Speed cameras are cunningly hidden around bends and at hill bottoms and just at the exact spot where I have to speed to get past someone driving "weirdly". Yes, I know there are signs posted saying speed cameras are used in NSW, just before the camera, but sometimes they are not very obvious.
~
It's hard to blog on the road and when one is racing around like a maniac trying to fit in visits with all one's relatives and friends - so apologies to my virtual friends for not being a very good neighbour at the moment.
The morning after the wedding, and 4 hours sleep, we hit the road to Coonabarabran and the Anglo-Australian Telescope because the manservant was going to play astro-dweeb at Siding Spring Observatory.
I thought about calling for the manservant but then realised that my image as a tough Aussie farm girl would be seriously tarnished if I had to call an American for help with one of our native creatures.
I slowly backed off the stump and skulked backwards to the room never taking my eye off it - and it never took its eye off me.
That night, sleeping in that room alone, I'm sure I could hear it using those little hands to tap on the window.
So ..... the mother of the groom woke with a really blood shot eye; the sister-bridesmaid broke her shoe before she left the house; our side of the church was lean in guests (small family) and had to be filled with the bride's family and friends; the mother of the groom and her manservant got terribly lost on the way to the reception and did not get to hang out drinking in the "green" room with the bridal party before being introduced to the crowd and the groom's trousers split when he was hoisted into the air by guests. Oh, and the first set of professional photos taken at the groom's place have me in what can only be described as "house shoes" because I forgot to take my "real" shoes with me to his apartment!! But, for all that it was a great day! I think it was the best wedding I have ever been to - though I have to wonder if young people just don't want to talk to each other because everything was so loud!
The church was a lovely old Catholic one in Hunters Hill
This is my daughter, the Princess, who was a bridesmaid
Then this morning the manservant and I left Sydney early for a road trip as he is playing astro-dweeb at the telescope in Coonabarabran tonight. I'm looking forward to starting my vacation soon.......
Had to upload it to youtube this time!
At least his bedding will be clean soon, even if he isn't....
Reasons I Am Buying Less At Trader Joe's
or
Items Trader Joe's Has (Apparently) Discontinued
in no particular order other than the most heartbreaking is first (also you might notice a theme)
- Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies--I told the cashier last year that I loved these so much I wanted to marry them. Then I wrote Trader Joe's and told them that, and they said they were a seasonal item. And they didn't bring them back this season. I want to punch them in the face for this alone.
- Pierogies--these had become rather a staple for me over the last year or 2. I'm not sure if they have been discontinued but I haven't seen any in a few months.
Hot chocolate mix in the round blue can--okay, they have the sipping chocolate which is good, and this one I can live without but still, just another turn of the thumbscrew. Saw it 12/10 on the shelf.- Chocolate yogurt--the kind with the real cocoa in the bottom that you mixed up and it was all delicious and shit, not that Eurotrash crap in the smaller container they try to shove off on you.
- Cookies with Perks--the chocolate chip cookes with espresso chips (or espresso flavored cookies with chocolate chips?). Haven't seen them since probably last winter or spring. Bastards.
- Milk chocolate cocoa almonds (are you getting the theme yet?)--now they have the black cocoa almonds, and they are pretty good, though unless you eat them with a spoon or chopsticks it's like you just read 100,000 newspapers (okay, newspapers that taste like chocolate, but still, it's messy!) Now---90% of the time I prefer dark chocolate, but this is one of the few exceptions (one of the others is the milk chocolate covered McVitie's digestive biscuits which I haven't had in years but I would probably sell a kidney for a packet right about tomorrow). Would it be SO WRONG to have both?
- I didn't check for it this time because I bought some at the regular supermarket since I couldn't find it at Trader Joe's the last couple times, but if they have discontinued their frozen broccoli florets I'm gonna bust up the joint.
- I don't think they have discontinued them (YET) but their sea salt brownies were really delicious until they lightened up on the sea salt. Now they are just bland.
- I didn't see the little chocolate mint cookie clusters. They were so good that I can't even remember what they were. They were in a brown and dark pink round container, like a pint of ice cream, like Thin Mints or something, all crumbled up and covered in chocolate, maybe?
- Also I haven't seen the dark chocolate toffee squares I've become rather addicted to, in a while. I bought some in September to bring on vacation. I have one left in front of me.
There are probably other things but it's probably like regular food that doesn't stand out in my mind like chocolate stuff. I will add things as I recall them. I know my neighbor was pissed about some croissants they discontinued, maybe almond croissants.
They are discontinuing stuff I like but not replacing them with anything as good or better. Are my tastes that eclectic? Do all the rest of the Trader Joe's customers have bland ass taste?
Oh--the first thing I ever had from Trader Joe's, before I lived near one, were these little chocolate animal cracker type cookies (my sister had them at her house when I was babysitting once and I wanted to eat the whole thing). They weren't chocolate covered or anything, they were like chocolate butter cookies that melted in your mouth. And they replaced them with something BLAND.
I seriously was planning on buying 10 boxes of those Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies. And next trip I would have bought 10 more. I'm completely serious. I was going to stock up so I could have them at least through the spring. Or till New Year's. Or till I OD'ed on them, or at least till I vomited.
Quit breaking my heart, Trader Joe. You are getting to be evil and sadistic, getting me hooked on this stuff and then yanking them out from under me, without warning, before I can stock up and buy out every store in the area.
I thought this was kind of neat.
The Beatles Complete on Ukulele (recorded in Shabby Road Studios in Brooklyn!)
I was just looking again at a newsletter I got in October from Spottiswoode & His Enemies and noticed it mentioned at the bottom. Well, Spottiswoode does a cool version of Within You Without You which I downloaded for free. Yep, all of the songs are free to download. They are doing a song a week for 185 weeks till the catalog is complete. And if you happen to be in Brooklyn this weekend, they are doing a Benefit Concert for Yoko Ono. Last year it was a benefit for Warren Buffett, so I don't think it's like Yoko's broke and needs bone marrow transplants or anything.
Sunday December 6, 2009, from noon to midnight at Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Whythe Avenue, between N. 11th and N. 12th Streets, Brooklyn 11211.
more info here.
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