Thursday, January 12, 2012

Quinn loves food + CSI

Hi all. Sorry for the lack of posting...our internet at home was out for a while! Thankfully, places like Carl's Jr. and Pizza Hut (yay fast food...not) are wi-fi spots so I was able to upload some pictures at a super fast (not) internet speed! Anyways, here is a food post from Australia:
On arrival into Sydney, Abby and I were starving. Virgin Samoa/PolyBlue Airlines = CRUEL. I may have already mentioned this, but on our flight that lasted almost 6 hours, we were given no food...not even a sip of water. This was very frustrating especially because the flight wasn't exactly cheap. Anyways, the minute we were off the plane and had our bags, we ran to the nearest airport convienence store and grabbed a Crunchie bar (aka a delicious Cadbury honeycomb covered in chocolate treat). I used to eat them in New Zealand and Australia is also home to a Cadbury factory so I was happy to be re-united.
After our trek to Amie's flat, we ran out the door to find lunch. We ended up at a cute little cafe called Europan. I had a delicious veggie sandwich on amazing bread (I forgot that there was such a thing besides fake wheat bread and sweet white bread!) and it hit the spot. I paid $10.50 for that sandwich. Darn those Australians for making their fresh, amazing food so expensive! Later that night, Abby and I treated ourselves to pizza and dessert at a cute little restaurant also in Rose Bay. The pizza was fresh and we watched the chef make it from our table. Fresh dough, sauce, wild mushrooms, capsicum...etc. etc. etc. It was mouthwatering and I could have eaten 10 of them. For dessert (obviously we had dessert), I had pavlova, also a treat you will find in New Zealand and Australia. It has a whippy (is that a word?) consistency and is usually topped with kiwi, strawberry, and passionfruit. Looks pretty too, eh?
My pavlova was almost too pretty to eat!
Other food highlights include eating frozen yogurt. I had frozen yogurt for the first time in Los Angeles when I was hanging out with my friend Emily. I fell in love. On our first trip to Bondi Beach, Abby and I discovered both frozen yogurt shops and decided that it was only fair that we made sure to try each place. This was from "Twisted Frozen Yogurt". I give it an 8 out of 10.
Chocolate frozen yogurt, strawberries (oh strawberries..how I missed you!), rasberries, and chocolate chips. Delish.
Later on in the week, Abby and I stopped at a cupcake shop. They had a deal: a regular coffee and a gourmet cupcake for $5.50. That was a steal in Australia! We of course took part.
Flat Whites and chocolate cupcakes make me a very happy person. I'm not exactly sure what is in a Flat White. All I know is that Australians don't drip their coffee. They only press it or go fancy by having espresso drinks. Works for me!
This was our Christmas dinner that Amie and her flatmate cooked/prepared for all of her guests. It was absolutely amazing and we were all stuffed by the end. Meals like this don't exist in American Samoa.
Fresh salads and vegetables...fresh cheese...a ham!...mashed pumpkin...I was in heaven!
Christmas appetizers:
Amie made some egg nog. Australians don't have it and most have never tried it. I'm still not a fan.
Last but not least, it's only fair that I show you a picture from "Smooth". It was our last day in Australia so I went all out.
Peanut butter and original frozen yogurt, m&m's, and m&m cookie dough. Yep.
I'm sure you are all very hungry right now. Sorry about that! Abby and I ate very well when we were abroad. This was a definite highlight to my trip!
In other news (and in regards to my CSI title), my classroom was once again broken in to...boo. This time, the robbery was a little more serious. I had just gotten two more beautiful, brand new iMac Apple computers on Monday and on Tuesday night, someone unscrewed the metal gate that covers my windows, bent it back, removed the window panes, climbed into my room, took my computers, my mouses, and my keyboards, turned on my fans, and unlocked my doors. Sigh. Now I have one computer left (weird.) but no mouses or keyboards. BOO. While I was furious when I first got to school (why me??) I'm over it now. Nothing I can do about it, it just stinks that my students won't be able to use them. The police came, I gave a report, they took pictures and investigated. It was all very CSI'y. Interesting to say the least. Will this be what it takes for Leone to bump up their security? I don't know. Will I get my computers back? Doubt it.
OK! Off to school I go. Did Sycamore or wherever you live get snow? If so, enjoy it for me! I'd love to come face plant into a giant snow drift...it's been unbearably hot and humid this week. I have to sit down in each class directly under a fan so I don't overheat. Fun!
Fa soifua!

3 comments:

ami said...

this post is definitely missing your usual pep - so sorry to hear about the robbery in your classroom. they are supposed to be safe spaces, so it can be unsettling when something like this happens. :(

we are getting snow here in dekalb as i type. first real snow of the season - yesterday it was 53 degrees and i was wearing sandals! i'd send you some, but i don't think it would last through the mail... ;-)

mom said...

Eatin' with Quinn! Can't wait to take food pictures with you in NZ!

Kristine said...

I think it's so bizarre that both times your room has been broken into they've turned on the fans! Do the robbers get hot stealing stuff? Do they want to make sure you knew they were there? Do they think if you come into a cool classroom that you won't notice you're missing 2 computers? So weird! So bizarre! But, most of all so frustrating for you!