Home Cooking Class

While Heidi has been visiting we have really expanded our food repertoire - including vegan (i.e. LOTS of tofu), fresh trout, and a large helping of Asian foods courtesy of Kristi's work colleagues. One of Kristi's friends has decided to provide us with an almost weekly taste of Hong Kong via various breads, noodles, and recipes that Kristi brings home from work. Another of her colleagues offered to teach us how to make Chinese Dumplings, a treat both to eat and to know how to make!

Lin and her partner, Niel, came over this week to begin our dumpling education. She and Kristi had already done all the shopping for ingredients and had decided that we would start with the basics of pork, carrot, and cabbage dumplings. Lin's partner happens to be a commercial chef in training so he kept a close eye on the operation and provided guidance on dicing, mixing, and shaping of dumplings as the night went along. Some of the interesting things we learned over the evening:

- Pork is the key ingredient in dumplings. Even in a seafood dumpling there is still likely some pork to add flavor and texture
- Dumplings are done cooking when they float in the pan of boiling water. If they don't float, they are probably stuck to the bottom.
- In China, dumplings are said to bring happiness to a family. They are very popular around Chinese New Years to help increase happiness for the family in the new year.
- It takes the making of many many dumplings before you get into a good rhythm and they start to look professional. Sometimes it may not be until the very last dumpling of the night.
- One kilo of pork goes a LONG way. Don't underestimate how many dumplings you might eat (we were told a typical man eats 40 and woman around 20), but we quickly learned that after 15-20 dumplings the untrained stomach gets to feeling quite full.

We took a few pictures of the progress, but with how fast everything progressed we didn't get nearly enough photographic documentation. I guess we'll just have to invite Lin and Neil over for another lesson!

On the Run

Time seems to go faster each week, already the Melbourne Marathon has been and gone again. You may remember last year that Josh was into Ironman training by now and Kristi had been running all through the winter in prep for the big race. This year, things have been a bit different but we also had different goals. Rather than run the full marathon, this year we opted for the Asics Half Marathon. Also, Heidi is still in town with us so our preparation has been a bit more varied than last years steady build-up. (Being in a different state each weekend has that affect on training I think). Pre-race we just relaxed and actually drove down to Torquay to soak up some sun and get away from the city for a bit - highly recommend sitting on a beach as a positive race preparation activity. We don't have heaps of pictures of the event, but it was all smiles at the finish in the MCG as you can see below. Overall the race went really well with everyone improving on their times compared to Sydney and both Heidi and Josh setting new Personal Best times for the distance (1:42 and 1:54 respectively). A great part of this year was post-race when the sun came out and we got to enjoy some time along Southbank for dinner and a gold class movie. Now we have to pick our next race - anyone up for a New Zealand marathon in the autumn?

Gone Fishin'

On our first trip to Tasmania last Easter we got a few recommendations to come back and try some fly fishing as Tassie has some of the best trout waters in the world. With that in mind, and Heidi's recent demonstration of fishing prowess in Alaska, we thought it would be a great weekend excursion. We were definitely right as it was a blast spending the weekend on the island.

Saturday was spent with Trout Territory Tasmania on Four Springs Lake just outside of Launceston. Josh and Heidi hadn't really fly-fished before and Kristi hadn't fished since university so we didn't have high expectations for the day. Our guide Gary took great care of us and with a few pointers we were off and casting. We were early in the insect-hatching season so not tons of active fish, but as expected Heidi hooked into the first fish of the day and it was a keeper brown! Soon after Josh got a good bite but couldn't hold onto him long enough to get into the boat. Grabbing lunch between drifts with some excellent sandwiches and snacks kept us energized through the afternoon. It was then time for Kristi to hook her fish, but again couldn't hold onto it long enough to get into the boat. We all had a great day and are really excited to try fly fishing more when we get back to Colorado.
Sunday was spent on the road through the Tamar Valley around Launceston for some wine tasting. Well known for Pinot Noir, we did find a couple Cabernets and even a fantastic Riesling through the day. On our way to the first winery was the biggest adventure of the weekend - Heidi and Kristi behind the wheel on the 'other' side of the road. No serious damages resulted and Josh was able to maintain composure throughout and be generally supportive of the experiment. Actually, both of them did really well and we ended up with a very clean windscreen ;)

Traveling with Heidi

Last weekend we took a bit of a break from the interstate traveling and instead spent some time around Melbourne, which rewarded us with a warm sunny Grand Final Saturday. We decided to forgo the footy action and instead made our way up to the Dandenongs and Yarra Valley. After brunch and denvonshire tea at Ms Marples, we enjoyed the beautiful forest scenery on our drive out to the Yarra Valley. While tasting some spectacular reds we played with Toby, a black lab puppy at Morgan Vineyards, and then we managed to catch a bit of the footy on the television while tasting the large spread at Seville Estate. We made one more stop at Boat O'Craigo before finding a yummy al fresco dinner (and more amazing wines) at Giant Steps and Innocent Bystandar. It was the end to a wonderful day around Melbourne!

Participation in Government

Today in Australia marks the Senate vote for the emergency 'Economic Stimulus' bill (aka The Wall Street Bailout). I thought I would share that this occasion marks the first time in my life that I have actually felt strongly enough about something to write to the congressmen (and women) of Colorado to voice my opinion. The interesting part is that it takes moving half-way around the world to get me involved in politics back home.

Surprisingly it is really easy to locate the websites for the various elected officials and even easier to write a quick e-mail using their own webforms. I'm proud to say that I was one of the people that was 'traffic lighted' on trying to access the webpage to send e-mail and am now one of the millions of e-mails waiting to be read. In all honesty I don't expect to influence my elected officials at all, but at least I gave it a go and can now say that at least I told them my opinion so that if I vote against them in the next election they'll know why.

Blackmore's Half Marathon

Although we knew we wouldn't be in peak shape, we decided we had to do the Blackmore's Half Marathon in Sydney so we could experience running across the Harbour Bridge! We waited so long to purchase plane tickets that we ended up making a very short trip of it - flying up early Saturday morning and flying back late Sunday night - but it turned out to be an absolutely lovely weekend. There was a little concern when Kristi took a nasty fall Tuesday prior to the race, scraping up hands and knees and experiencing foot pain, but she took it easy and is happy to report all went well during the run.

We were up at 4:45am Saturday to make our 6:30am flight and were in the Sydney CBD by 8:30am. Let's just say there's no real reason to have arrived so early since nothing was open and packet pick-up didn't start until 10, but fortunately we were able to chill at The Rocks Market for a while. 'Chill' is probably not the right word as it was a steamy day - a high of 34!

Fortunately Heidi had arranged for family friends Mark and Malika, with daughters Lana and Selena, to meet with us on Saturday. They took us out of town to Palm Beach, which was a wonderful way to escape the heat of the city and have a pre-race relax. We had a great time watching the girls play in the water and the sand, and we even had time to take a little cat-nap. Then we headed to Ms Maquarie's Chair in the city to watch the sun set and have a bit of a snack before heading to the hotel and hitting the hay.

Sunday morning we were up very early for the 6:20am race start...but apparently not early enough. One of the trains was cancelled so we ended up at the start line right as the whistle blew. Fortunately there were thousands of people running and we had time to make our way into the starting chute. The day was great and the run was nice - rolling hills and sun, starting by running over the bridge and ending by the Opera House. Nothing to complain about (except the terrible Aussie race directing - yet again they ran out of all sports drink and were having trouble keeping up with water, and keeping the dirt out of it!)

Heidi waited at the finish - she finished in 1:50 and we came in with a respectable 2:11 - and then we spent a while trying to figure out how much free stuff we could get at the Recovery Village. Back at our hotel we were able to watch the marathoners from our 6th floor window as we got ready for the day and they headed out on the last half of their race. We spent the rest of the day eating, shopping (Heidi got a cool new convertable shirt/skirt/top and Josh found Kristi the perfect RipCurl jumper), and walking all over Sydney. The day ended with dinner at a cafe on Darling Harbour and were able to spend a bit of time catching up with Kristi's colleague Cecilia and her sister Carolina.

When we got to the airport we found our late flight had been delayed even further (gotta love Qantas), but Kristi and Heidi were able to get quite a bit of homework done before enjoying a good sleep on the flight home. Another great weekend!

Canberra

While Heidi has been in town we have been trying to make the most out of our weekends. A couple of weeks ago we headed to Canberra to check out the the Nation's Capital City. We were meant to stay with some family friends, but unfortunately most of their family came down with the flu shortly before our arrival. Nonetheless, we were able to meet up with Brian (the dad) who took us on a bit of a tour around the city and joined us for a very enjoyable Vietnamese dining experience on Friday evening - there's nothing like vegetarian chicken, fish, and beef!

Saturday we started the day early with a beautiful 11-mile run around Lake Burley-Griffin then, after failed attempts at finding a proper vegan breakfast, we hit the supermarket for bagels, peanut butter and bananas, and enjoyed a lovely breakfast on Mt Ainslie overlooking the city. We spent the day in the sun walking around the city and checking out the Australian War Memorial, the Old Parliament House, Parliament House, and the National Gallery of Australia. We made it to the top of Black Mountain for sunset and then met up with Brian and (a somewhat recovered) Helen for a Thai dinner.

Sunday we took advantage of the morning sun to visit Floriade, which is a flower festival in the center of Canberra. Each year they have a theme for the flower beds, and this year the theme was 'Films That Shaped Our Nation' - our favorite was Crocodile Dundee! By the time the sky opened and the rains came, fortunately we were ready for a hot drink and a dry seat in the cafe. Then we learned about the history of Canberra at the National Capital Exhibition and took a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport where we got to see the training grounds for development of many of Australia's elite athletes.

The day wasn't long enough as we were only able to take a quick peek at Canberra Glassworks before heading to the airport. If we ever make it back to Canberra, it will be a must do on our list. Although everyone says there's nothing to see or do in Canberra, we had a wonderful weekend and are proud to say we have now visited all states and territories in Australia!