Trying to cook..

My new apartment looks great. Everything works now and the toilet finally flushes properly.

The latest drama is trying to bake. I'm having a housewarming party next weekend and promised to provide some Australian food. Lamingtons are the obvious first choice. I can't find anywhere to buy slab sponge though so decided I should cook my own. I finally found the ingredients, note that corn flour is called corn starch here (I hope) and I can't find custard powder. I think custard powder is an English thing and you have to order it on special websites. Haven't cooked the sponge yet, will let you know how it goes.

I also decided Anzac biscuits would be a good idea especially as it is nearly Anzac day. I even got some golden syrup shipped in especially! There was no desiccated coconut so I thought I just get the sweetened type they have here which is in larger shreds like grated cheese. It tastes like its been soaking in condensed milk. So I set about making the Anzacs only to discover I didn't have any mixing bowls. Went to the Family Dollar store which is a bit like chicken feed and stocked up on cooking utensils. To cut a long story short, the biscuits didn't work. They just sort of melted and boiled and taste a lot like toffee. I think that the desiccated coconut normally soaks up a lot of the liquid, which didn't happen in this case. So I now have a batch of sticky not-quite-Anzac biscuits. Not sure what I'll do with them. Have ordered some desiccated coconut on ebay, not sure if it will get here on time.

Tablespoons here are smaller than in Australia. They are only 15ml instead of 20 - a trap for the unaware!

Am having trouble adjusting to only having one person in the house. I have too much food in the house and no one to eat it. Especially as I've been out nearly every night.

On Wednesday a friend from work, Bryan had me and another guy from the lab, Florian, over for dinner. He cooked us a big steak and acorn squash. The acorn squash looked like a pumpkin to me, but Bryan says its different and anyway Americans don't eat pumpkin straight, they only put it in pies and stuff. So he cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and in their place put about 1 Tbs butter, 1 Tbs maple syrup and 1 Tbs brown sugar, and then you bake it for an hour. Despite sounding atrocious to the Australian palette it was actually quite yummy!

Last night we went to happy hour which comes with complimentary 'buffalo wings'. Which are chicken wings marinated in a foul bright orange sauce. Not my thing really.

Tonight I am going to dinner with Steve and Tracy at a Japanese restaurant. Looking forward to it but at the moment I am still full of burnt Anzac biscuits. Hopefully I will get hungry again soon.

Today is Good Friday - which you would assume is a public holiday. Not so. I am supposed to be at work today. The postman doesn't have the day off either it seems. They even have to work on Saturdays!

Am off to 'Edge of the Woods' now. Its a small shop that has organic fruit and vegies - a bit like Eumurrah in Hobart. I'm hoping it may have desiccated coconut.

bye,
Jaci xx