Two out of three isn't too bad...

Remember the hot wing recipe I posted a while ago? Dh loves them. I love them. Unfortunately, it is kind of hard to recreate some American recipes in Australia. Take, for instance, our famous spaghetti. Oh, I have no idea how Mrs. Tornator was able to make her fabulous spaghetti in Japan, but I am unable to recreate it in Oz (ok, perhaps it is due to the commissary... an unfair advantage).

We tried a week or two ago to make wings. There are 3 key parts to wings. Sauce, the wings themselves, and then the dressing. I found the sauce, Crystal, at the "USA Foods" store. For SIX dollars a bottle. Hmm. That's only 4 times what I pay in the US. But, it's better than the mark-up on Lucky Charms. Good thing I don't like Lucky Charms. Anyway, due to lack of cornmeal, the wings were bad. Plus we couldn't find Bleu Cheese dressing. The meal was not edible. I sent dh off to find food at the nearest restaurant, which, unfortunately, was McDonald's.

Fast forward to yesterday. I found corn meal (aka polenta - duh! for not thinking of that earlier), and set off to make my own Bleu Cheese dressing using an allrecipes.com recipe. I thought it was passable, but dh turned up his nose and didn't eat his normal amount. But he did eat some. I'll continue to work on the Bleu Cheese dressing recipe... and until then, 2/3 isn't too bad..

This week in pictures

The weather's been gorgeous lately, so I've headed down to St. Kilda's pier
(and it reminds me of my days in Grand Haven ;)! )

OMG - so I met someone downtown at Federation Square, and it was full of Rocky Horror Picture Show fans! It turns out that they were all there for the Time Warp world record attempt. Yeah, I have no idea what that was. All I know is that there were a lot of "colorful" people there.

One of our favorite meals here is Fish and Chips... mmmm!
(and oh, so nutritious!)

Me on the windy St. Kilda pier - I made dh come with me this weekend

Looking back at Melbourne from the pier

The Prahran Market - a great place for fresh food and flowers
We buy the best gnocchi there!

by the Prahran Market, waiting for the tram

Gnocchi & salads for dinner on our new Ikea coffee table

Melbourne and the Yarra River

The Time Warp in all its "glory"

If you come to Australia, bring your own:

- Blue cheese dressing, and ranch for that matter
- Hot sauce
- Lucky Charms (unless you want to pay $13/box)
- Sour Patch Kids or any good sour gummy snacks
- Chocolate & Peanut butter treats - ie Reese's PB cups, Reese's Pieces, PB M&M's
- Corn Meal
- Canned Pumpkin

Just FYI...

Who you callin wife?

First of all, I'd like to offer another contest. Dh just started reading my blog - Hi honey! - and decided he doesn't like the name dh. I don't want to use anything that will give away his identity, to honor his request. Anyone have any ideas? Winner gets a fabulous prize, and that just might include Vegemite. Or not. I can't bring myself to try the stuff. It just smells awful.

Dh and I got our insurance cards from his school the other day. We still have our Tricare, but were required by our visa to get insurance through the school, which might prove easier should we actually need to use it. So we get our cards. This is what it says on them

1. Dh firstname, dh lastname
2. WIFE, dh lastname

WHAT? I've been relegated to no name wife. Not only am I "dependent" (thanks US military) but these people took it one step further and took away my name... Grr. So much for womens rights.

Life is a little different

One of the questions we get asked the most is what is different between the US and Australia.

I think these are our main answers:

- Coffee/Cafe culture - Australians, particularly Melburnians are really crazy about coffee/tea. There are sanctioned breaks in the morning and afternoon for tea. Melbourne is full of cute cafes and coffee shops. It's really cool to visit different ones.

- Kind of along with that is NOT TIPPING - It's kind of nice to have everything included in the meal price, tax, gratuities, and all. It's hard to get used to though, I feel like I'm being rude every time I don't leave anything.

- Tax is included in the listed price. Yup, if a sign says $8.95, that's it! You don't end up paying an extra 9% tax!! Woohoo!

- Heat - It doesn't get as cold here as it does in, say, Michigan. But fewer places have heat. That makes it really cold.

- Clothes dryers - Every American has one. No where we've been in Oz has them. Except maybe this one laundromat we saw once... And FYI, towels take a REALLY long time to dry!

- The whole "left side" thing - People drive on the left side of the road here. This means the steering wheel is on the RIGHT side, and the passenger's side is on the left. When you cross the street, you look right then left. You have to be on the correct side of the road when getting a tram because its doors open on the left (curb-side) in the direction of travel. People walk on the left side of the sidewalk. Up escalators are on the left side, instead of the right. It affects more than you think. Nothing too crazy... just kind of unnerving.

- Things here can kill you. Well, sharks, spiders, and snakes in particular. Not so much the Melburnians themselves. We saw an exhibit about "Surviving Australia" when we were in Sydney, now I'm all jumpy about things.

- Fewer chain stores/restaurants - well, aside from the 7-11's on every corner, and the occasional Subway, Pizza Hut, and Domino's Pizza, there aren't too many chain restaurants. This is really fun to figure out what things we like and which we don't. Grocery stores are chains... but that's ok. But then again, without chain stores, it's hard to know which stores have good quality and which ones don't... but it's an adventure!

This week in pictures

Melbourne has lots of old stuff... stuff covered with graffiti

Swanson St., downtown Melb

Flinders St. Station - aka "the clocks"

(a working train station with the next train times on clocks)

100th anniversary of "The Great White Fleet"

The HMS Darwin?

Me by the USS John S. McCain based out of Yokuska, Japan

It was named after the current Senator/presidential-hopeful's grandfather and father

The bridge - always my favorite place on a ship ;)

Aussie ship on left (04), McCain on right

For Melbourne Day, I went to see the replica of the ship that took the first settlers to Melbourne. It's called the Enterprize. Not the StarTrek Enterprise, sadly.

View of Melbourne from the Docklands area (where our church is)

Telstra Dome is in the center-left. A lot of "footy" is played there.

Wait a second... Hungry Jack's stole Burger King's logo?

Nope - it IS Burger King!

The house that dh's grandma grew up in

The church where dh's grandmother and grandfather were married

A beautiful sunset from St. Kilda

Our cousin Anthony had an art show.

This is us with Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Peter, and the artist himself

dh and I with Anthony and Alli (his girlfriend)

Lou and Reubs

They let dh drive their car home... (they were present - don't worry!)

Would you go in a park? Would you go in a pub?

To church that is...

I tend to like non-denominational churches. I've been to churches that have met in parks, in restaurants, in schools, in movie theaters, in an Elks building, and most recently - in a brewhouse! I think the hardest thing about moving so often is trying to find and connect with a good body of believers.

Last week, we were unsure of where we would go to church, but then I saw a sign on the way back from a "Melbourne Day" event. It advertised church in the James Squire Bar and Restaurant. I convinced dh we should go, and we did. We enjoyed it! The people were friendly and helpful, even though we were a bit late. For only being here 4 more months, this church is perfect!

Check out more at Docklands Church.