Cereal

It amazes me that companies go through all the trouble to completely re-do boxes just for cereal in different areas of the world.  Not just cereal, either.  There are many products that are basically the same thing, but given a different name for the region.  Here are a couple of examples of cereal I found.

At least they still call the little elves Snap, Crackle and Pop!

Thanksgiving Down Under

Never again.  Sometimes I wonder why I even take the time to make an effort to please my husband.  Mr. Smith has never liked or appreciated a single thing I've ever cooked.  I wonder if he ever complimented his mom's cooking?

No matter what is cooked...  when I ask him how it is, he always gives some variation of, "It's alright." Seriously.  I'm not kidding.

So I looked for a fresh turkey, but there is no fresh turkey here.  I should clarify - I couldn't find a fresh turkey.  The cheapest frozen turkey was just under $60.  Not to mention that our oven is essentially a mini-oven.  There's no way you could fit a turkey in there anyway.  So I ended up getting a frozen turkey thigh traditional roast.  Honestly, I though it was awesome.  Of course, Mr. Smith complained that it was dark meat.  Well, that's what I prefer and he always gets his way.  And as I've already mentioned, he wouldn't like anything I cooked anyway.  Why force myself to eat dry meat when he wouldn't like it either?

Mr. Smith loves stuffing.  They don't have stuffing as we know it here.  You basically buy a box of breadcrumbs and then have to add other stuff.  Now, we usually added onion and celery to the stuffing mix we got in the states, so we did the same thing here.  I guess if we're ever making stuffing again, we should really make the stuffing.  I'll have to buy bread and cut it up and let it dry out.

What am I saying?  Am I nuts?  A glutton for punishment?  Why go through all the trouble when he won't appreciate or like it anyway?  I must be out of my mind.

Anyhoo, here's the stuffing mix we bought:

Okay, I hope you are sitting down.

There are no biscuits here.  I mean real biscuits.  Not cookies.

So I decided that I would make a batch of biscuits from scratch.  This meant that I had to find a recipe for southern biscuits.  Then I had to find the ingredients here.  Not too much of a problem once I realized that baking soda is called bicarbonate soda here.  Then I had to convert grams of butter into tablespoons.  Then I had to convert the Farhenheit temperature into Celsius.

I got them all baked up and I was so excited.  They looked good.  They smelled good.  They tasted good.

When I asked Mr. Smith how they were, he told me that they tasted "funny."  Honestly, I give up.  He talks about us running a bed and breakfast place together in Vermont.  No freaking way.  Obviously, I cannot cook.  He hates everything I make.  I like (pretty much) everything I cook.  So either I have terrible taste or ...

The last thing on the menu is the apple pie that Mr. Smith found and baked up.  It was frozen and not made by my hands, so I'm sure he's going to love it.

Our Thanksgiving (overall) pretty much sucked.

I hope yours was better.  :)

2012 Christmas in Sydney

So it's our first Christmas in the southern hemisphere and I have to say that it is very odd for it to be hot during the holidays.  Although it hasn't been all that hot.  Obviously, we don't have as much room as we used to with the house, but we put a few things out to make it feel like Christmas.

Voyager of the Seas

There are currently a couple of cruise ships docked in Sydney's harbour.  One of them is the Voyager of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world.  Mr. Smith and I saw two cruise ships passing near each other... one of which passed right under the bridge as we crossed it.  Here are a couple of pics:

The Jacaranda

I couldn't let another moment go by without mentioning the lovely jacaranda trees that totally transform Kirribilli and other areas of Sydney around this time of year.  I had no idea that there was a festival and everything, so I guess I'll have to remember for next year.

Just click on that link and see the purple majesty!

Or click here to see the Jacaranda Festival photo gallery!

Kid's Meals

Here in Australia, no one seems to mind when an adult woman orders a kid's meal.  Mr. Smith and I went to Nando's today (I love Nando's) and he noticed that there was a kid's meal section.  

We've been to a Nando's before, but everywhere you go in Australia everyone seems to think you should be ready to order in about 5 nanoseconds and I'm the type of person who loves to look over a menu for hours.  That's why, my friends, I like to plan early.  I love when I can find a menu online and spend lots of time reading over everything to make sure I order EXACTLY what I want.

Anyhoo.  I digress.

The menu at Nando's SAYS that only persons 12 and under can order from the kid's menu, but I walked right up and ordered the kid's menu I wanted and no one questioned me or seemed to care that that was what I wanted.

I order the kid's size of lots of things in Sydney.  And apparently I can carry on because no one minds.

I like it here!

Sharing a Bathroom

It has been quite a long time since I've had to share a bathroom with Mr. Smith.  I really like having only one bathroom to clean.  Even though I have to clean it every morning after he shaves.  But after speaking to other wives, I've come to realize that all men have a blind spot when it comes to fallen whiskers, so I've decided to accept it and move on.

The only part of sharing the bathroom that really irks me is when Mr. Smith gets out of bed first (happens every Saturday and Sunday).  He grabs fresh clothes and heads straight for the bathroom and stays in there until after he's used the facilities and taken his shower.  In the meantime, I've woken up and made a cup of coffee and pretty much dancing around the apartment waiting for him to come out.

My blue eyes are turning yellow.

My back teeth are floating.

Pick your favorite saying...

Crazy Weather

The weather forecast called for rain and possible thunderstorms today.  Looking out the window at 7am did not reflect that.  It was gorgeous outside.  But as I began my walk to the office, I did notice that it was quite humid.  About halfway there, I realized that my bag felt a bit light.  That's when I remembered that I had taken my brolly out of my bag to re-organize it.  And, of course, I never put it back in.

As soon as I got to the office, I announced to everyone that it was DEFINITELY going to rain because I had forgotten my umbrella.  :)

So the day carried on much the way it started... gorgeous!

We stepped out to go to our favorite Japanese restaurant for lunch at about 1pm.  It was still quite a beautiful day.  Smack in the middle of our meal, suddenly the sky turned black and this happened:

Melbourne Cup 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012 = my very first Melbourne Cup!

The Melbourne Cup is a horse race.  If you live in the state of Victoria, it's a holiday and you don't have to work.  If you live anywhere else (well, Sydney, at least... okay, maybe only Komli), you have a BBQ on the balcony at work and have an awesome day!

Americain was favored to win, but didn't.  Of course, I put money on Americain and lost my $50.  LOL!  But it was all in good fun.  My friend, Belinda, told me over and over that I would have to dress up and wear a hat.  Most girls wear what's called a fascinator.  I didn't know what they were called before my first Cup, but once you see us wearing them, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Of course, I'm going to attach my photos, but there will be three videos at the end, so go grab some popcorn and beer!

First pic of the morning!

Belinda in her fascinator

Me in my fascinator

Girls and their shoes!

Frances in her fascinator

Tracy :)

Declan and Tracy

Yep...  the food!

And plenty of beverages...

Tas and Deanna

Dan, the rock star

Declan

Nicki and Hazel

Chris, Hazel and Declan

Shiplu, Deanna and Paul

Phoebe and Hazel

I tried the panorama option on my iPhone

Poor Chris.  He lets us girls do crazy stuff to him!

Our view at work...  I know, it's a tough gig.

These guys serenaded us from down below.

Love this pic!

Betting on the horsies!

Hazel won first prize in the office pool

Paul won second prize in the office pool

And Chris won third prize!

Dan is trying on the ladies' shoes.
Okay... the alcohol was flowing!!!