What's for Dinner? Aussie Edition

I'm out of practice, so I failed at photographing many of our dinners.  Most disappointingly is I that I forgot to bring my HD card when Gavin ordered kangaroo.  It was pretty good, not much different than beef to me.  I expected it to be much much gamier and was pleasantly surprised.

Chicken from Nando's Apparently this is a UK/Canada/Australia chicken chain.  I wasn't hungry, so I picked off the boys' plates.  Overall very good.

  

 Steak Tartare from Rockpool at the Crown This is better than it looked in the picture.  In fact I'm pretty glad it was dark in the restaurant or I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Lobster Omelet from Rockpool  This was pretty good.  Overall, I wasn't impressed with the restaurant.  The service was pretty terrible (standard for most of Australia actually).  They also stole my glass of champagne and accosted me in the hall about it.  I still may write them and tell them about it.

Spaghetti and Pasta Terrence was hungry so I decided to make him spaghetti.  It's difficult cooking in a kitchen that is not your own. Still, the sauce came out pretty good.  I used Australia sausage which I wasn't very impressed in but it was really good in the sauce.  Terrence seemed to like it.

Chicken and Avocado Risotto at a little Cafe off of Little Burke Street I've been on a bit of a risotto kick.  Probably because I had the best Risotto I've ever eaten a few days ago at St Kilda's beach (Vegetable Risotto).  This one wasn't as good, but still alright.  I mostly picked around the chicken.

Wine and Cheese with Gavin Doesn't count as dinner, but a more accurate representation of how I've been consuming calories lately.

Maybe next week I'll do better.

Tennis: a civilized sporting event.

We had the chance to go to the Australian Open and watch a match in the Rod Laver Arena.

I'm not really a sporting event fan.  I have some jersey's, and am a 'fan' of a few teams, but I'm certainly not hardcore about it.

My favorite sport to watch live has been hockey. It's fast moving and fairly easy to follow.  I've also seen football games, baseball games, MMA, soccer, basketball and as of today tennis.

Watching Tennis was significantly different than any of my other live sports experiences.  First, the stadium.  As we walked up, I was shocked by how HUGE it was.  I wondered if we would be able to even see a tiny little tennis ball in such a large area.  The stadium was also super clean.  I was surprised at how 'intimate' the stadium felt.  It was decent sized, I won't endeavor to guess how many seats, I posted some photos instead.  It just had the feeling of every seat being a good seat.  We were lucky and didn't have the sun in our faces for the match.

Then there was the crowd.  I can't  stand to have football on the television because I can't stand that drowning crowd noise that's constantly in the background.  Tennis is different.  During play the entire audience is quiet, a bit like golf.  Then they erupt into a few minutes of celebration.  When there is a funny picture on the screen, or the athletes told a joke in an interview, they laugh in unison.  It was bizarre, but also cool.  They were also incredibly friendly (which is generally true of Australians).  They would turn around during the game breaks and make small talk, and not just sports banter.  On their way out of the stadium, every single person I saw picked up their trash and threw it out.  I was impressed.

While the sports itself is slightly confusing (game, set, match; love, 15, 30, 40; etc) it's easy to follow what's going on.  Hit ball over net.  Repeat.  Don't miss.  Don't hit the net.  I think when we get home I'll actually try playing tennis with Gavin finally.

Rolex Keeps the time.

Ball Kids.  Seemingly a very complicated job.

Movie Date 1 of 6.

I don't like going to the movies.  I like watching movies, sort of.  But I prefer to do it in my Pajamas, on my sofa, with my puppy in my lap, and my head on my husband's shoulder.

Said husband prefers the giant screens and too loudness of movie theaters.  So as a Christmas gift I gave him 6 movie dates.  One each month through June.  Tonight was date 1 of 6.  Since we are in Australia, the movies available here are a bit behind the states.  But Gavin was quite excited to see The Green Hornet 3D.

We ate a huge lunch, so our date 'dinner' was wine and cheese.

But we did have it on the 24th floor of an apartment overlooking Melbourne (albeit with less than ideal furniture!)

Did I mention we saw it in 3d and with snacks?

The theater was quite nice and very large.

As for the movie itself, I actually liked it.  I only had to leave once (right before they go into the cement yard for those who have seen the movie) and it was funny as well as being all action-y.  Overall, not a complete fail which is more than I can say for most movies.

I also made a somewhat interesting discovery that movies, as well as books and alcohol, are great at distracting you from the present moment when that's a good idea for your sanity.  I've asked Gavin to compile a list of good(and safe) movies for me to watch.  Perhaps I'll document my immersion into American Cinema on my blog.

Sometime next month look for Movie Date 2 of 6.

Walking about Australia, Part 3

Walking about Australia, Part 2

Walking about Australia, Part 1.

Pictures>words

Interrupted, but maybe not so broken.

Casting my cares.

My life will never be the same.

The last few months have shaken the world I've so carefully constructed to the foundations I've guarded so cautiously.

This blog was never suppose to be about the deepest longings of my heart, or the wounds of my soul, or even my career.  This blog was about what I had for dinner, what I made on craft night, the tomato monster and the adventures that make me love my life.  There's a little pink book in the drawer of my vanity for my deeper concerns and my more intimate thoughts.  Still, although I can divide blog and journal, I am only one Amy.  Just one person, not meant to be divided.  Some wounds are so deep and some changes so profound that it is dishonest to myself and my world to pretend that I am the same as I was before.

I am not the same, and I never will be.  Therefore, I suppose that my world, my home, my family, my relationships, and even this blog will also never be the same.  What I'm working on right now is believing that never the same doesn't mean never okay, or even never happy again.

For my closest friends, pray for me.  Call me or write me a letter.  Prop me up for a while.  And understand that I'm broken.

For this blog, someday soon I'll start posting again.  I'll post what I eat for dinner, even if I still don't taste it.  I'll post what Alyssa and I make.  I'll post about the vast improvements I've made to organization in our little nest.  I'll post the new words I learn in Australia. 

Someday soon.

In the meantime, I'll cast my cares on Him the best I can.

Pay it Forward

So Nathalie's playing a blog game, so now so am I! :)

Rules?

* The first three (or so) people who comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me!
* I will have 365 days to get your gift to you.
* The three people taking part will also host a Pay It Forward, so you'll need to have a blog to join in.

You pretty much have to.  You have no idea the crafting I've been up to lately.

 These are the crafts Alyssa and I made together last week. Yep, we MADE our own bouncy balls. And then we bounced them. 

 My sister also recently taught me how to crochet.  I'm not very good, but I did a fantastic job of framing this 'creation' (so named since I have no idea what it is) so that you can't really tell.

I know I totally hijacked this post so it's actually all about cool crafts, but imagine such cool crafts arriving in your mail box!  How fantastic would THAT be??

2010: A Year Review

Wow, 2010 has been an amazing year.   Normally I make Gavin a little month by month memory book every year, but I'm having a really difficult time this year because really July has an entire book to itself!

This year I changed my last name, added some letters to the end of my name, finished the biggest project of my career to date and fulfilled a lifetime dream of eating at Disneyland's secret restaurant, Club 33.  All in July.  How can the other months even compete??

That's not to say the other months don't count.  Some of my fondest memories of this year, and life in general, are the everyday.  To steal a song lyric, I'm finding I love the darkness between the fireflies.  The non-red letter days that make those special moments shine that much brighter.  I'm happy and content with my everyday, in fact I'm in love with my everyday life.  My (almost) weekly drinks with Jen, my veggie Wednesday's with Alyssa, grocery shopping on Sundays with Gavin (most of the time).  Routine doesn't mean boring.

Next year will bring some major changes to our everyday and our red letter days, but I can't wait!