Spending some time in the kitchen: Tapas!

When Martin and I were in Australia our friend, Katie, took us to a Tapas restaurant. Tapas is a form of Spanish cuisine, that focuses on appetizer type or finger food dishes, instead of a main course and sides. So the point is to order a whole bunch of these smaller dishes and you share with your table, so you end up with a lot of different flavors. Well I absolutely loved the idea and all the dishes that we ordered, and ever since, I have been meaning to come up with a few of my own "tapas" recipes. Instead of aiming my cooking in the Spanish directions, I figured I could do any style, but just keep it in smaller portions and easier to eat; so either with toothpicks or your fingers. I know Martin is pretty excited about this (since he just loves all appetizers) and I hope you will be too. If you have any ideas, or suggestions, feel free to send them my way!

with love

Kristin Ann :)

Yes, we are home!!

I have taken a few weeks to get this post up, but I wanted to let you know that yes, we are home! We are happy to be back and getting back to regular life, which we love so much. So here's what we've been doing for the last few weeks, and a few pictures to give you an idea of what we got to see and experience.

• April 4th - left the wonderful bay area of California and flew into Sydney Australia..stayed at The Menzies, right in the heart of the downtown harbour ..visited the Sydney Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Sydney Wildlife World, the Sydney Aquarium, several restaurants in the Harbour, and several ferries around the area..took a ferry over to Manly (about 30 minutes from Sydney) where an old friend of Martin's lives (Katie) spent a few days at her place and visiting the amazing beaches in the area
• 
  
  
  
  
  April 11th - flew into Brisbane where my fabulous friend Patty and her man picked us up from the airport and let us stay at their place for a few days..enjoyed some amazing bbq (including Kangaroo) that they prepared for us, and enjoyed the company of their close friends which was ideal, we felt at home again..thanks to Patty, we were able to ride bikes around the city and get a feel for the area, went to a few street markets and took the ferry around their city
  
  
• April 13th - flew up to Cairns, where we met up with Daniel (Martin's brother) and Jeremy (our roommate and Martin's bandmate), dove the Great Barrier Reef and so lots of amazing things, took a tour through the Australia Rainforest, swam through the Milla Milla waterfall, jumped into a few lakes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• April 16th - flew back to sydney, stayed in the Manly area again, because we loved their beaches so much, visited Katie at her restaurant to say bye
• April 18th - flew to New Zealand, drove on the opposite side of the rode, found somewhat affordable food for the first time in weeks, and had to wear a jacket for the first time in weeks.. drove all around the South Island of New Zealand, saw the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josep Glacier, the Milford Sound, the Fiordland National Park, Mt. Cook, the Moeraki Boulders, hundreds of waterfalls and lakes, probably millions of sheep, gorgeous country side, New Zealand wine country (so pretty to drive through).. ate at Fleur's Place, an amazing and fresh seafood restaurant
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• April 25th - flew home to San Francisco, and so ready to be home

To be honest, we didn't feel that far from home. The food, the people, the landscape, even the beaches, all felt like different parts of California. Sydney was almost identical to San Francisco, with a lot of asian culture and food mixed in with port/harbour culture here and there. A few things that were new to us...

• beets on hamburgers (and egg and pineapple also)
• 3 dollar cans of soda, crazy.. and no refills anywhere, fast food and restaurants
• not big into ranch or bbq; they use a lot of chili sauce (hot or sweet)
• fries are called chips
• pancakes are always served with icecream
• icecreams shops everywhere
• tipping is not as standard as here, also, tax is included in everything already, which is one reason why things seem much more expensive.. minimum wage is around 15 or 16 $.. so servers don't make as much in tips, but they get paid more, have covered health insurance, get vacation time, which no servers get here in the states, get time and a half for working sundays, and you get 4-6 weeks paid vacation a year at almost any job, as opposed to 1 in the states, and that's only if you have a fulltime office type job
• driving on the other side of the road
• not pronouncing things the way they are spelled (Cairns is Cans, Brisbane is Brisbin, Melbourne is Melbin.. just to name a few)
• a few words different here or there, nothing we couldn't figure out
• no toilet seat covers anywhere (I hated that)
• no dollar menus at fast food (everything was a little pricier than we're used to)
• no free wifi anywhere, everywhere charged a lot, anywhere from 5-10 an hour
• lots of travelling students all over.. it seems as though in other countries travelling is a huge part of life and education, which I think is wonderful.. a more travelled and experienced person is a more knowledgeable and less ignorant person.. learning about how other's communicate and cooperate and live and think is a great thing, I think.. We met people from all over, working or just travelling, as either part of their actual college education or a start to
• universal health care (or just about) most people approve of it and have close to no complaints, definitely not as many as I have with my insurance
• recycling and being green is HUGE in Australia and New Zealand.. almost everywhere you go there are separate recycling bins and even food waste bins.. it seems as though most people there are very aware that you need to be more responsible with your waste.. you have to know that everything you throw away goes somewhere, and doesn't just disappear, which probably is why everything was so clean and well kept and nowhere smelled like our Milpitas (which just smells like you're standing in a garbage)

We missed our friends and family so much and want you to know how much we love and appreciate all the time we get to spend with you... we love being home!!

we made it safely to New Zealand!

So the last week has been amazing and busy. We have made our way up and down the East coast of Australia; we started in Sydney and went around that area staying in a few different places, then up to Brisbane (about a 12 hours drive, we flew though) stayed with my friend from high school, Patty, went all around the Brisbane area (not to surfer's paradise unfortunately). Then from Brisbane we flew up to Cairns (which would be like an 18 hour drive) we stayed there a few days, which is around the area that we dove the Great Barrier Reef and made our way through the rainforest, then bake down to Brisbane, and back down to Sydney, a few more days on the beach in the Manly area, and now in New Zealand. I try to stay low maintenance, but I'm still a girl. It would still be nice to have my own bathroom and not constantly be travelling, just so that I can pull myself together once in a while, but other than that, the trip is amazing. We have somehow managed to plan all the days when sunshine is needed on days with sunshine, and days where it's not needed, there has been rain. According to the weather and just our first first hours here, the New Zealand air is much colder, but I'm very much looking forward to making our way around the country. We rented a car (the four of us, Martin, Myself, Daniel and Jeremy) and are planning on driving around a majority of the South Island (which is where most of the sites are). Driving on the opposite side of the road will be interesting, luckily Martin is the designated driver of the trip, so I don't have much to worry about.

Well, I've been trying for about an hour to upload a few pictures and it's just not gonna happen. They haven't really hopped on the fast and free internet train out here, or anywhere we've been. So uploading pictures to the blog is a little difficult, but I did put lots of pictures on facebook. We love and miss everybody. Congrats again to Ry and Mel!! (they had baby boy #4 yesterday).

lovin the beaches!!

So we left the Sydney area and have been staying in Manly with Katie Hay (a friend of Martin's from way back when) and we are having a great time! Today was our third day at the beach and we couldn't love it more. The water is warmer than the bay area for sure, and crystal clear and the beaches are clean and gorgeous. Last night we went to an amazing Tapas restaurant, I can't wait to get home and recreate some of the recipes, and then went to ben and jerry's, which is new to the area. A pint of icecream, which we normally buy for about 2 50 or 3$ at safeway cost 12 dollars!! Prices are a little crazy here, it might just be close to Sydney, we'll see if it's all over. But a soda can is 3$, a candy bar is 2$, and you can't get refills anywhere!! Tax is included in almost everything too. So anytime we order something to eat it seems a little more expensive than it really is, because the bill doesn't change with tax, but we can't wait to get up to Brisbane. My friend Patty (from highschool) lives up there and she's picking us up from the airport and we're staying with her for 2 nights and hopefully will get a good feel for the area, then we fly up to Cairns, where we will hopefully dive the Great Barrier Reef!! More details and pictures to come!! We love and miss you!!