from a kitchen on a cool thursday

one of the things i have become most excited about - most involved in - since moving to australia is cooking. i have always enjoyed it but i think this last year in china especially piqued my interest in making things from scratch. in the past it's always been more frozen bits and bobs with nice salads - maybe some homemade burgers or a pasta but nothing beyond that. really it was spending a lot of time with chris and trying out his gorgeous curries, stir-fries and pasta sauces rich with red wine and fresh vegetables.

since arriving on this vast chunk of land i have had quite a bit of time on my hands and have started to create my own repertoire of recipes - things i had never dreamed of trying previously. a few weeks ago i roasted an entire chicken - took out the mucky inside bits and stuffed it with chunks of lemon and olive oil and coated it liberally with sea salt and basil. it was absolutely beautiful, juicy and tender and getting all over our fingers as we just picked at it off the pan. two nights ago was vegetable and lamb moussaka - all rich layers of lamb and fresh tomato, salted eggplant and potato covered with a creamy cheese, yoghurt and egg sauce. there have been other dishes in between and before these - date and vanilla muffins, pastas with home-made roasted red peppers and today a beautiful, fragrant chicken soup with beefy mushrooms, carrots, thai chilli and basmati rice. i wish i'd documented some of these things, the recipes i can't remember now but just have some vague recollection of licking my fingers and saying i should post the recipe on my blog! too little too late unfortunately. (not to say all the recipes have been good, either - there was that gluggy mee goreng with overcooked baby squid, some tasteless sauces and dishes oilier than Tony Abbott.)

while being in oz has been tough in a lot of ways - lack of friends, no family, bouncing around from badly-paid temp jobs - having this stove-top, this oven, this market full of fresh produce - has been a saving grace, something i look forward to when i get home from work. i put my face in a cloud of fragrant steam, close my eyes and can finally relax.

new skill

april: yabbying (look it up!)

updates

we've moved into the west of melbourne, to a suburb called footscray. when people have heard we were relocating here they've called it all sorts of things from "downtrodden" to "scary" to "i've heard lots of people get mugged at the train station!". encouraging! however, we happen to live in a quiet sort of area, about 10 minutes walk to the main drag and that is where the real value, the real beauty of this scruff, 'working-man's' suburb is.

walking down paisley, barkly, or hopkins st you will see the most vast range of ethnic backgrounds, a cacophony of languages pouring through and best of all, a range of restaurants to back them up. there is every kind of dining experience to be found here, all extremely cheap, too. however there seems to be a heavy concentration of vietnamese, chinese, indian and african eateries. i think we've had pho and rice vermicelli bo la lat just about every day for the past week! it's exciting to see all these little places with their variety of exotic foods and the people that fill them.

the other beautiful thing about footscray is the market. it's massive, filled with fresh produce, meat, seafood and everything else under the sun for great prices. we've yet to do a weekly shop there (unfortunately a coles is pretty close by) but i'm looking forward to giving the market the attention it deserves.

all in all footscray has been a good experience thus far. our apartment is lovely and is starting to feel like home, as is the area we're living in. thumbs up!

The Skill O' the Month

march: playing cricket

i feel like i'm losing myself
like i am a ghost
where do you fit in when nobody sees you

a-skill-a-month

so my new years resso was a new skill per month -

january: snowshoeing

february: baking muffins

so far so good!

settled in here in melbourne. looking for apartment (have temporary abode until end of march) and job, currently, but things are looking up. australia is hot, dry, and beautiful.

new years revolutions

a lot has happened since my last blog post, including three separate trips to beijing, nanjing, and guangxi province, numerous parties, new friends, bike trips, and many other adventures. however the biggest news has to be my leaving china mid-december - i am currently back home in canada, nursing a tea and warming my toes. the boyfriend and i were more than happy to finish up our teaching jobs in hangzhou, and being here for christmas and new years has been a wonderful gift. we are getting ready to leave in about a week from now, bound for australia! we will be settling in melbourne, doing grown up things like having real jobs, paying taxes, and hunting down an apartment. scary, but i'm excited. i'm ready to explore a new country and all that comes with it.

i made some resolutions this year, the usual of course being to lose 15 lbs, but i've also vowed to learn a new skill every month, be it baking bread or snowshoeing (the latter of which i will actually do tomorrow!). i want this year to be fresh, full of promise and new experiences. when i left for china around this time last year, i had a list of things i wanted to accomplish in my time there, and i'm happy to say that i crossed most of them off. this year is the same. i want to be in a pipe band again, to volunteer in my community, to find a job that i truly love.. i want to take a course on web design, be a loving, considerate friend and girlfriend, and put 100% into anything i do. hopefully, that also includes this blog. i want to learn to cook a leg of lamb and catch a fish, i want to take lots of photos and do lots of cycling, be strong and smart and fearless. so here i go.

dad,

you would have been 62 today. i wish you could be here to celebrate (or not celebrate, since you hated both big fusses and big parties). i miss your warmth, your humour, your very presence. i miss hearing you stomping around the house. i miss talking to you about life, learning from you, listening to you rustle the newspaper. i miss driving places with you and listening to your terrible music. i miss going over the day with you, making plans, talking about trips and the future. i miss your calm, stable ways and your goofy jokes. i wish you could see me now, a year later, see how much i've grown, meet the new people in my life, tell me if what i'm doing with my life is okay or not. i need your guidance and your support. i need your hugs and your smiles, your words, your voice. i miss you so much dad. i love you. happy birthday. i'll be seeing you.

home

back in canada, revelling in how cool it is. i missed wearing jeans and hoodies. i think i'm getting on track with time change, thanks to sleeping pills and a whole lot of coffee. have spent the last couple of days reading, chatting with my mom, shoe-shopping and just today - doing the local farmer's market. we went over around 9am, grabbed our organic coffees then purchased up stacks of fresh lettuce, onions, mushrooms, new potatos, and dill, and some local farmer's sausages. i'm going to make a big salad for lunch, and cook the potatos in their skins with butter and dill. i missed this so badly. the farmer's market was also great in that i kept seeing people i'd worked with last year when i'd been employed by the township, so it was great catching up and hearing the latest news on various local events and recent changes. i love the people and the stories in these little towns, and how everyone knows one another.

next week i'm meeting up with friends, then next weekend my mom and i are heading off camping for four days throughout eastern ontario, quebec, and maybe a little bit of upstate new york. i'm a whiner when it comes to gathering wood and slapping off mosquitoes but i'm looking forward to quiet nights under the stars and the smell of campfire on my clothes.

this morning, as my mom and i were fighting for space in the bathroom, i took a look in the mirror and realized how much older i look. i told my mom that i think i finally look like a woman, like someone who's been forced to grow up faster than she would have wanted. this is not something i'm afraid of and after all i'm only 23, but for the first time i feel older than i am.

the flower said i wish i was a tree

the past couple of months have whizzed by, full of parties and nights out, visits from the family, good food, good company, goodbyes. kim left about two weeks ago and i'm feeling it a little more every day. it makes you think about how temporary this place is, how transient these friendships are. the time we invest in relationships here - is it ultimately worth it when you know, at some point, in a few months, a year, whatever - you'll be bidding them farewell with only the hope of a few e-mails to keep you loosely connected?

the semester is winding down and i can really sense that promise of summer break in the kids. they're excited and so am i. i'm looking forward to having weekends again and being able to go on little trips, penetrating this province a tiny bit more. the boyfriend and i went to shanghai last week, just for one night, and i enjoyed getting away from hangzhou way too much. we had amazing meals, got to see exhibits at the shanghai museum, and to top it all off i went on a shopping spree at h&m (pretty much my number one reason for going to the city to begin with). i've realized how over hangzhou i am - maybe how over china i am. i'm so ready to move onto the next thing - the Career, the Stable Life, all of that grown up stuff that deserves capital letters and booming voices.

on july 22 i'll be heading back to canada for about three and a half weeks. i've already plotted out the best ways i can wile away time and give in to complete relaxation and the comfort of home. i can't wait to cook, to barbeque, to go camping, to walk to tim horton's, to go to the mall, to watch movies with my mom, to sleep in my own bed - to do things that wrap me up in familiarity of the days when my dad was still alive.

i guess the most important thing to document in my life right now is that i am so completely in love with this australian guy, the aforementioned Boyfriend, that most of the time it feels like my heart is about ten sizes too big and that i can spit out any romantic cliche possible. he likes classic rock, aussie football, and cooks a mean curry. he has these blue eyes and a voice that feels like home. he's clever and funny and with him, i feel infinite.