The rest of the week featured more eating and less excursions (except for places to eat) but it was still pretty memorable.

Wednesday, June 10:

• Ash had to go back to work, so Tom and wandered the city together. We had to try the McDonald’s here, and I opted for the Sweet Chili Chicken wrap. Observations:
  • Patrons have the ability to order while in line and are given a reference number to retrieve their order
  • Meals come in small, medium and large. I’m pretty sure this refers to the size of the accompanying drink and fries and not the sandwich itself. I wonder if it means that sandwiches cannot be ordered individually?
  • Most places we went to called ketchup “tomato sauce”. Here I asked for tomato sauce and was returned with “Oh, tomato ketchup?”
• Visited Koko Black and had a few chocolates. While the offering here was larger (and a bit more expensive), I still prefer Bernard Callebaut.
• I had a craving for pho or ramen (it was chilly and I wanted to warm up) but was incredibly pleased with Grill’d. The decor and variety of gourmet burgers brought me to a level of contentedness and forgot about my desire for soup.
• After a satisfying meal, our inner child urged us to visit Max Brenner afterwards.  No chocolate was left uneaten.
• Walking home we saw more possums in the park, this time with a baby on a parent’s back which looked like something else at first.

Thursday, June 11:

• Tom and I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens. Highlights include seeing black swan cygnets, discovering a plant that smelled like Kellogg’s Froot Loops, and having the joys of our usual outdoor excursions in new surroundings.
• Dinner that night was Indian with some new and familiar faces from ThoughtWorks. This was probably the only meal this week where I didn’t eat more than I was capable of, just because someone else ordered for the entire table and we shared everything.
• Afterwards, we saw a local band playing, and indie rock group called The Weekend People. I’m waiting to see more of their stuff on their site and/or iTunes. I liked what I heard, but it was sometimes difficult to hear because of the sound mixing quality.

Friday, June 12:

• Our last day in Australia was made sad with Tom’s observation and reminder that we wouldn’t be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year with Ash. Then Ash mentioned he might be home for Christmas and I felt a bit better.
• Today I also discovered that the almond croissants from my favorite stall in the Queen Victoria Market are not only topped with almonds and icing sugar, but have a delicious filling inside. Do I regret those other chocolate croissants that I chose over the almond? Not at all.
• One of the things we had to do in Australia was eat kangaroo. We picked up a roast from the local supermarket and Tom cooked it up with garlic mashed potatoes with proscuitto and Aussie parm from the market. Tom also tried to recreate the jalapeño sauce from Nobu but the result was a close but chunkier version, as we didn’t have a food mill.
• I didn’t want to go to bed that night, I wanted to stay up and keep talking or watching tv or something, just because it was our last day and I didn’t want to go home yet.

Saturday, June 13:

• I’m glad I actually got a bit of sleep the night before, because 5:00 came with a fierce earliness that hurt my tired eyes and barraged my sleepy limbs. “Who wakes up at 5am?” I would ask, to be replied with, “Rose, you wake up at 5:15 to go for a run at home.” I guess that’s an indication that I was able to get into vacation mode.
• We got to Southern Cross and the shuttle was already ready to go, meaning our goodbyes had to be brief. I had no problem staying awake at this point, but to be sure I picked up a savoury muffin and my last strong flat white at the airport. I grabbed an apricot danish for a snack, and as it went through a few x-rays in Sydney I wondered if eating it afterwards would give me super powers.
• Maybe my only superpower was not getting motion sickness on the flights back, but I was glad for it anyways. Qantas dinner was beef bourguignon with polenta, and while I fell asleep when they were handing out ice cream, I asked politely and got one when I woke up.
• The toughest part was waiting in LAX for our last flight going home. We were there between 11am -3pm local time, which was something like being awake for a long time at 4am in Melbourne time. It was brutal, and all the while I was looking forward to the 3 hours flying where I could finally get back to sleep.

I had no problems waking up after our trip, so jet lag didn’t affect me that way at all. It’s just that I would get extremely sleepy as early as 4pm at work, and I don’t think I was able to stay up past 9pm last week at all. Luckily, it meant that waking up at 5 for my exercise routine wasn’t difficult at all, but it meant that I couldn’t do anything in the evenings, such as finishing up this last blog post.

While I miss a few things in Melbourne, I’m glad to be home.

• Went to the Melbourne Aquarium. Freaking penguins in the first exhibit! Sharks, rays, lots of fun stuff. Have pics coming soon.
• Tom’s birthday. Saw a freaking platypus! Walked to Melbourne zoo, had samosa and fried rice for breakfast with coffee, saw as much wildlife begging for food near the eateries as behind bars. Saw wild parrots in the trees, beautiful!
• Tom’s birthday dinner at Nobu at Crown casino and entertainment complex. Delicious drinks, friendly bartender. First drink had ume shu and a rare spiny mountain peach as garnish. Second drink had an apple liqueur and cinnamon with lime. Dinner was amazing, don’t know if I can eat sushi anywhere else ever again. Okay, that’s a lie, I’ll continue to eat sushi but this place is definitely a favorite. Other highlights: jalapeno sauce on roasted cauliflower, flaky and melty cod, soft shell crab tempura rolls. Dessert: sampler platter including sake sorbet, green tea parfait type thing, Japanese doughnut, chocolate bento box with green tea ice cream.
• Day after Tom’s birthday, found out that Gordon Ramsay is in town and is going to eat at Nobu as well, to be joined by Robert DeNiro, part owner of the place.
• Went out for drinks with some ThoughtWorkers at Double Happiness. Liquid vice: “Great leap forward” – lychee vodka with ginger, lime and muddled mint leaves. Crazy and fun night.
• Hangover day. Slept in, so did Ash (even though it was Friday and he had to go to work). Tom and I had breakfast/lunch at Nando’s (there’s one in Calgary we haven’t been to before). Delicious. Took it easy that night, watched How I Met Your Mother and probably almost peed myself laughing.
• Saturday. Packed and the guys picked up the rental car for our trip to Great Ocean Road. Beautiful scenery, windy roads made me wish I had my motion sickness medication too. Saw two groups of wild kangaroo. Saw a flock of wild sulfur-crested cockatoos. Internet booking went wonky and got upgraded to an apartment. Had an amazing calamari meal at Room Six. Watched a game of footy. Kept waking up in the middle of the night because I was switching the heating pad from 0 to maxiumum when I thought I was just setting it to 1.
• Woke up before sunrise, went to see the Twelve Apostles. Beautiful sky, chilly air. Went to other places (pictures will better describe their beauty) then had a fantastic breakfast at Room Six. Started to rain, so headed back to Melbourne. Ordered pizza, my favorite was one with anchovies and olives. Salty deliciousness. Tried to make plans for the rest of the long weekend, finding that lots of places were close due to snow or wildfire earlier this year.
• Slept in, went to the mall. I ate a ton again, proclaiming my love for passionfruit yogurt and tiramisu and salad and coffee all while eating. Bought a couple of things, including burgundy hair extensions and some souveniers for my brothers. Went to the grocery store, where I found a custard apple. (When I was younger I planted some seeds for this plant, anticipating the creamy apple taste of the rainforest fruit. I killed the plants, and haven’t found a custard apple since.) Ash made lamb curry, super delicious. Also, I am beginning to run out of adjectives for food. Watched more How I Met Your Mother followed by Stardust.
• Returned the rental car, and had a double adventure looking for a gas station and having the GPS system take us to an adjacent town instead of back to the Budget car rental place. Starving. Went to Stalactites for greek food, again ate a ton. Pigged out on a lamb and chicken giro plate with fries and salad, for dessert had baklava with ice cream and some creme caramel. Went next door (oh yes) for more dessert. Sparrows snuck in and were eating off some of the plates. Went to the Metropolitan hotel for a drink (but wait, there’s more) and had a good ginger ale + vanilla vodka + lime drink. A new favorite. On the way walking home, saw a possum in the dark. It approached me, but Ash said it was looking for food. Tom snapped a few photos of it. Also saw a rat in the park, ew.

As suspected, I don’t fly very well. After the first flight from YYC to LAX I felt ill (complete with chills and nausea) and needed to get motion sickness medication. I popped a few and waited to board our flight to Sydney. 11:50 local time, past my bed time at home time.

Tom and I couldn’t sit together for the 14 hour flight, and instead I sat between two friendly Aussies, one of which was a military surgeon who specialized in the bowel and was very nice to talk to. Dr. John Payne and I talked about the flight, yogurt, things to see in Australia, human physiology, our respective theories about sleep, and he told stories about his work and what he had done with his life. We had an extended opportunity to chat as our plane had to land in Brisbane for an hour to refuel, extending travel and requiring a reschedule of our last flight from Sydney to Melbourne. The other gentleman I sat beside had arrived from Calgary and the Rockies and mentioned some observances about taxes and service in the hospitality industry. It was interesting that some of the things I had taken for granted (added hospitality taxes, slight inconveniences when booking a hotel) were foreign to him, and when we were able to effortlessly and cheerfully rebook our flight to Melbourne I understood why he felt this way.

We flew for one hour more via Virgin Blue, landing in Melbourne, taking a shuttle to Southern Cross, and then we were home. Temporary home, but when you stay with a good friend it feels like home already.

Dinner that night was poached eggs on toasted turkish bread and proscuitto, garnished with roquette and balsamic from The Poppy Café. That meal featured an introduction to my current favorite, “strong flat white” which is a latté with less milk and more coffee. The evening was finished off with a refreshing shower, a few episodes of Buffy and a couple of movies and glasses of gin.

—

Day 2: May 31, 2009

As I was first to wake up, I quietly did some yoga stretches by the morning light to start, then curled up on the couch to read more of Choke. Six chimes from the nearby church was a pleasant mark for my Sunday morning. Thirty minutes of continuous chiming from the same church in short intervals started to get annoying and I retreated back into the bedroom.

We had breakfast and coffee at The Poppy Café again (strong flat white and Europa for me: two poached eggs, tomato topped with fresh pesto, toasted turkish bread, some kind of lamb or beef patties and a saucy salad whose name evades me currently.

After that we were off to the Queen Victoria Market which Ash is very fortunate to be living near. The energy of the market and the fresh produce, meats and seafood were inspiring, and we returned home with a few bags of each. Oysters for $9.50/dozen? Yes please!

I devoured my fresh pain du chocolat for a snack, layed around for a bit, then ventured off to St. Kilda beach. Stepping off the tram I was greeted with the fresh smell of the ocean, and walked along the promenade with Ash and Tom. There was a rocky section where I was fortunate enough to see a couple of little penguins (charming) and Australia’s endangered water rat (alarming, but I was honored to see it). On the walk back we were fortunate to also see a seal swimming away. A stop at a local pub for beer for the boys and local wine for me was in order before heading home again. Dinner that night was all of the delights of the market: fresh raw oysters with a chili lime sauce, broiled herbed lamb chops, and roasted vegetables.

—

Day 3: June 1, 2009

Ash was off to work and Tom and I spent the day wandering around the neighborhood. We are so fortunate to be near Flagstaff park and the downtown area. We meandered through the commercial areas and visited the grocery store to purchase more items for dinner. It’s strange, we were looking for whipping cream for butter chicken but could only find thickened cream of the same milk fat percentage, but thickened with gelatine. Tomato sauce is usually a key ingredient, but we opted for diced tomatoes as we thought their version of tomato sauce was more like ketchup. Eggs are sold on shelves and not refrigerated (some things are backwards down under) but plastic bags are very rare to see as everyone carries resuable bags (un-backwards; forward thinking in fact).

The evening ended with garlic butter chicken on penne and marscapone stuffed figs and apricots for dessert. With more gin. Delicious.

I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks since I started at Comrade. It’s been a whirlwind, but the busy-ness and energy and focus at the company is invigorating. In my first week I pushed out a website, a push page (HTML email template), did some Flash updates, and a couple of estimates. Adding to that list, since I started:

• Two more push pages for different clients
• Half a website (functionality client demo, next week is making it look sexy)
• Another half-website for a different client (lots of multitasking here)
• Plans for our company site redesign (no, it’s not a common thing, but I’ve had involvement in redesigns for Critical Mass, Applied Communications, and now Comrade as well)

Culture-wise, I’ve discovered several other areas of a good fit:

• Communal oatmeal (I love oatmeal)
• During my tour I noticed a couple of bottles of unopened gin. Today while looking for peanut butter I found some vodka, and this afternoon I was shown the beer fridge.
• There is a Dreamcast, Wii, and Neo Geo in our lounge. We have DDR dance pads and Rock Band guitars and drums downstairs.
• The company summer event includes an overnight stay at Kicking Horse, BBQ and rafting, but the part that makes me the most proud is a day’s worth of volunteering at the Mustard Seed.
• Shared Japanese snacks!
• Fun with action figures (I’ve been reassured that HR policies are pretty lenient and I can be my usual NSFW self. Won’t do it right away though.)
• Everyone’s friendliness, honesty, willingness to collaborate, and drive to push out great work. We had a brainstorming session and it was inspiring and good-kind-challenging to hear aspirations of getting a Webby.

I’m even getting used to the tiny spoons that make me feel like an ogre whenever I use them!

Some vice triggers that I’m making a list right here to avoid overdoing include:

• Starbucks everywhere! When they open a DeVille across the street I’m going to have to exercise my strongest discipline.
• Manuel Latruwe and Bernard Callebaut also in walking distance.
• Aforementioned bottles of my preferred spirits.
• Sushi a block away too! They have amazing lunch specials for $9.50 or $10.50 and the food is really fresh and artfully prepared.

All in all, I really feel at home in my new position already. With our lunches out, outing to see Star Trek, and close-quartered collaborative work style it sometimes surprises me that it hasn’t even been a full month yet. Here’s to another two weeks of great work before I go to Australia to visit Ash and come back forgetting how to do simple tasks such as remembering my name.

I couldn’t help but snicker when I saw the word “bottom” in the code. Maybe our worlds aren’t too different.

Yup, I was kind of cranky in my last post because I felt obligated to write a post about my job transition. When I got the offer I wanted to tell everyone of course, but I hadn’t given my notice in yet. On my last day I was in no condition to blog, and I enjoyed most of my weekend computer-free. I’m going to be easier on myself this time and I’ll do point form notes, whee!

• Super excited to start my day, wore my spirit on a shirt given as a gift from a friend.
• So excited, I was at the train station 20 minutes early.
• Train trouble getting downtown meant lots of delays, and after it cleared up there was a passenger medical emergency on the train ahead of me so I had to wait longer. I had to run down 1st St and was 8 minutes late on my first day. (My 20 minute train ride got bloated to an hour long one.)
• Was ready to get busy into work, but was surprised there wasn’t a computer at my desk when I got there.
• I love tearing perforations/peeling stickers/opening things +  I love getting new computers = Highlight: unpacking my new iMac.
• Sushi lunch with the team followed by Starbucks. I could make a habit of this (oh wait, it already is among the other Commies). :)
• Looking forward to pushing out a redesigned site at the end of the week, but enjoying the slower-paced transition period in the meantime.
• Bringing in my DS tomorrow so I can get schooled by Weslie and Debbie. Heh.

I bugged Weslie that he owes me one more job since I got him in at the Learning Commons and Critical Mass and he was one of my references for this job. He pointed out, “But that would mean we’d have to leave Comrade.”

I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon.

I dug up an old recipe from grade eight for a german fruit flan, knowing that even though the procedure was simple (airy cake base, cream cheese filling), I could really have some fun with the fresh fruit topping.

I have three regrets about making this. One, I wish I searched for blueberries, as the color would have really taken the presentation to another level (I currently have peach, mango, strawberry and kiwi on it). Two, I should have remembered my grade eight science classes where we discussed that gelatin plus kiwi equals unset gelatin because of enzymes in the kiwi. Regret number three is a selfish one. I should have filled a ramekin with the batter and made myself a mini flan. Waiting until tomorrow’s dinner is going to be torture.

—

Edit: April 6, 1:14pm

Overnight, the quinoa was able to soak up the rest of the tomato juice and the roasted garlic and onions made the sour taste of the tomatoes mellow out. I tossed in some chopped deli turkey breast into the mix and the saltiness provided a nice contrast in flavor. So this wasn’t a disaster after all.