Geez, it’s been ages since my last post. I am trying to do a monthly post but time is getting away from me. I can’t believe it’s June already and I can’t even remember everything that’s happened in the past month or so. But here we go.
Firstly, I have to say that I cooked my first dish at work today. A momentous achievement to say the least. It took me nearly all bloody day as it was a busy day and I was making the recipe in stages, very slow stages, under guidance, lots of patient, tolerant, guidance!! Now, I recently moved sections into the pie section. So I now make pies, sausage rolls and quiches. I have until today only assembled and cooked the pies but today, I got to make my first pie mix, Butter Chicken from scratch. It tasted ok and looked ok so hopefully surrounded by thick pastry it will be even better. I took the photo to mark the occasion. Only 4 more mixes to learn now.
The next bit of good news is that our shipping container from DC finally arrived. We had a few weeks delay due to customs needing to fumigate some of our items, mainly shoes and dog beds. We ended up losing the dog beds but got everything else back. It’s been exciting to see our things again and we both felt quite homesick for DC – which was really weird. I think opening the boxes and seeing all the momentos and reminders of our time in the US was a little more overwhelming than we expected. So we’ve been working our way through the boxes and wondering how we’re going to fit it all in. The spare bathroom is currently full of linen and the garage is chockers with empty boxes waiting to be collected. Poor old Ruth (my car) is stuck outside until the empty boxes can be collected. I need to buy new gas bottles for the bbq and pizza oven so that might be a job for this weekend. For now, the kitchen is fully kitted out again and I can cook with more ease.
I’ve returned back to school (TAFE) and joined my new group – the other first year apprentices. Oh dear. They are a mixed bag of lollies. I had my first kitchen lesson and got to meet some of the guys and girls. They are a good bunch and it’s good to hear about their work experiences as we are all working apprentices. We are currently doing Soups, Stocks and Sauces which I’ve been excited to do. Our first lesson was learning basic stocks and then we made a fish volute (pie) (photo) and chicken soup from the stocks. We also made a crème anglaise (sweet custard) which everybody seemed to drink from the plate by the end of class. Stocks are so easy really and I think I’ll be doing my own at home from now on. I have also applied for a tour to Singapore with TAFE on a funded trip for 8 days. I should find out soon.
I took a quick overnight trip to see my best friend in Brisbane. We hadn’t seen each other since I left for DC so we had lots to talk about and much tea and coffee to drink. It was fabulous to see her again and it has made me want to move up to Queensland more. We had lunch at Redcliffe and there was a Bee Gees memorial lane. The good ol Bee Gees grew up in Redcliffe and this laneway was dedicated to them.
The bird photos are for my US friends – this is a Kookaburra. A native Australian bird that has a beautiful call sound. My friend is visited by these birds and others each day and she hand feeds them. We say that when the Kookaburra is calling that he is laughing at you.
Australia also had their federal election and to the shock of everyone, the current government retained power. As usual, the choice was the best of a bad bunch and I’m disappointed with the result. We were both excited to sit down on election night and watch the results roll in and it felt very much like the night Trump was elected – excitement, went to quiet, went to concern which ended up in WTF, how the hell did that happen? Anyway, another 3 years of conservative old men. Can you the younger generation hurry the hell up and become our leaders.
My flying has taken a stall. I had lessons booked in June on my days off but, I changed sections at work which also changed my days off. So I had to cancel my lessons and can’t get lessons until August - it really is a small school compare to my school in the US. I was totally flattened as I feel like it’s just impossible to make progress. I’m debating whether to stop/delay until I can get more time. But, I’ll wait until my next lessons and make my decision then. Suffice to say, not a happy little Batman being grounded.
We are in the middle of winter and while it's pretty cold, it's not as cold as DC. I recall our winters being colder, maybe it hasn't hit just yet or is that I'm a bit more tougher after the snowy cold of DC? I really think we've just had a milder start so far. I managed to get knocked down with a heavy cold and ended up off work for 2 days. It was a bad one that really knocked me flat and taken about 3 weeks to shake off.
One final thing before I go is to share the website of a friend who is making her own brooches. These things are very cute and selling on Etsy. Check our her website and check the range on Etsy. The business is called Moose and Dear, click here Moose and Dear Brooches
Well that's a quick wrap of life so far and here's a few fabulous photos of the dogs from Deb's photographic hand.
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