Soul Mates

So, I just finished an episode of The Bachelor.  Please avert your judgmental eyes, as this is a hate-free zone, thank you very much.  But, as I was saying, I just finished an episode, and it was actually the season finale, so the bachelor found his bachelorette!  Yippee!  And you know what?  As prepared as I was to bash on the inauthenticity of it all, I was genuinely surprised at how believable it all was.  I genuinely believe that Mr. Bachelor loves his future Mrs. Bachelor.  Well, at least I’d sure hope so, seeing as they’re kind of getting married… but the concept behind the Bachelor has always been a bit confusing to me.  Actually, not so much confusing, as interesting.  

You see, growing up, I was a huge believer in fairy tales.  I believed in happily ever afters and all things Disney, including soul mates and Prince Charmings.  But watching the Bachelor really makes you wonder, how much of all relationships are based on proximity?  If you take a guy and force him to interact with fifteen girls and fifteen girls only, what are the chances that he’ll fall madly in love with one of them?  According to the bachelor, the probability is one—meaning he has a one hundred percent chance of marrying a lucky girl.  And what about the girls?  Fifteen girls and one guy—are they going to inevitably fall in love with the bachelor?  Would that mean that they all shared the same soul mate?  Or did he become all of their soul mates?  Can two people have the same soul mate?  Can one person have two?

As I’ve gotten older, my once clear and certain definition of soul mates has gotten a lot more convoluted and hazy, but I can say one thing for sure, I still definitely believe in them, whatever they are.  In fact, I think I may have possibly found mine.  That is if my soul mate came in the form of a sandwich.

Mom, dad, I’d like you to meet my soul mate.  We met at the entrance of the Marrickville markets (142 Addison Rd, Marrickville New South Wales 2204) on an incredibly rainy Sunday, and in all honesty, it was true love at first sight.  Or, I guess you could say bite.

If you tell the kind lady that you're a gravy lover, you're in for a real treat.  Not only will she drown the lamb in gravy after placing it in the roll, but she'll also give you an extra dose of gravy before stuffing the roll!  I know it may sound like gravy overload, and a stained shirt waiting to happen, but she guaranteed it to be mess-free!  I don't know how she did it, but it was...the bun wasn't the slightest bit soggy, and the gravy wasn't overly runny and ended up exactly where it needed to be, in my mouth!  If I learned anything at the markets on Sunday it's this: if you meet someone that makes you feel as good as a spit roast lamb and gravy roll--excited, giddy, warm, toasty, satisfied, and desperate for more--it may just be true love.  Three cheers for soul mates!  Hip hip hooray for beautiful lamb and gravy sandwiches!

Cheers, 

Kimmy

Life Just Happens

If someone were to ask me to choose the best thing about life, my absolute favorite thing, it’d definitely have to be this semester I’ve had abroad in Aussieland.  I’m only kidding.  That’s probably what my global advisors at school are wishing I’d say, but I’m not that sappy.  In all honesty though, my favorite thing about life would probably have to be its unpredictability.  I love the randomness of it all.  I love that you could make plans a week, or even a year in advance for something, and have them completely fall apart and fall through the day before.  I’m not going to lie though, it always sucked when I was deciding whether to pack my Mickey or Minnie ears, only to find out that I would no longer be the happiest person at the happiest place on earth the following morning.  But that’s life.  I’m not exactly sure if it’s always going to be as sweet as a box of chocolates, but one thing’s for sure, you really never know what you’re going to get.  And that’s the beauty of it. 

But you have to learn to love it—I certainly have.  I love not knowing—not knowing what I’m going to be doing tomorrow at three o’clock pm, or heck, let’s get wild and say am, because who knows?  I love not knowing what or where I’m going to be a year from today, because it simply means that anything goes.  The unpredictability of it all—the absence of a coherent and detailed plan—leaves so much room for…I guess, for life to happen.

And it always does.  Life just happens, and I guess it’s just our job to let it.

A year ago from today, I never would have imagined myself in Aussieland.  During my freshman year in college, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be doing a semester abroad, but look at me now!  I’m not making paper, but I’m definitely making memories, and word on the street is that those are pretty invaluable.  I’d say they were priceless, but this isn’t a Mastercard commercial.  I’m seeing things I’ve never even dreamed of seeing, and meeting people that I never knew existed prior to this trip.

That gets me every time.  There are seven plus billion people in this world and seven plus billion other places I could be, and yet here I am--in Sydney.   I’m about four months in, and the thought of it all is still just about as mind-blowing as it was on day one.  The experiences, the people you meet, the encounters, and the relationships you form—you had a one in seven plus billion chance to meet and experience who and what you have.  You had a one in seven plus billion chance to build that relationship, to sculpt that companionship, and to mold that lifelong friendship.  How is that not mind-blowing?  Every experience, every encounter, and every friendship is truly special, purely based on the fact that it happened, when it had every reason, and every probability and possibility not to.  And on that note, I just have to say thank you.  Thank you to everyone who’s made my experience in life, and in this particular situation, here down under, the spectacular-ness that it is and was.  Thank you for all the market mornings, the Tim Tam slams, the Mackas at midnight, the classy turned trashy Thursdays, the burgers with beetroot, and the list could go on and on.  But thank you all for the fun, and thank you Aussieland for the food, friends, and memories.  I just needed to get this out there a few days before I depart for the homeland to avoid staining my keyboard with tears. 

Here’s to five more days in Aussieland.  Five more days of randomness, and five more days of life, just happening.

Cheers,

Kimmy

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

If I were to take all the good and happy things in life--the sugar, the spice, the everything nice--and mix it all up in a cauldron, according to Cartoon Network, I'd end up with the Powderpuff Girls.  The animal equivalent would probably be the unicorn, and the movie equivalent would be The Lord of the Rings.  The season equivalent would be summer, and the holiday, Christmas.  The dessert equivalent, a maple pumpkin pecan cake...oooh...or maybe a German chocolate cupcake...and the breakfast equivalent, a nice generous stack of banana pancakes, smothered with butter, and drowned in maple syrup.  Actually, lately, the breakfast equivalent would probably have to be a huge bowl of plain yogurt drizzled with honey and sprinkled with trail mix--but the good kind, the ones with the yogurt and chocolate chips!  I'm salivating...but back on track! These are the little wonders in life-- the things that are just so full of goodness, it's absolutely unbearable! 

Today, I think I may have found the restaurant equivalent.

Cue the trumpets.  The Grounds of Alexandria, located in Building 7A/2 on Huntley St, Alexandria NSW 2015, is opened Monday-Friday, from 7am-4pm, and 7:30am-4pm on the weekends!

This place is just so full of sugar, spice and everything nice, it's practically radiating goodness and charm. 

They had little wagon carts outside filled with jars of jams that are made at a farm owned by The Grounds.  This cart also featured a large assortment of absolutely stunning desserts, and some delicious loaves of bread!  A word to the wise, definitely save some room in the belly for some dessert because you won't want to miss out on this...Or, I guess you could always just utilize that extra dessert pocket! Better yet, do both!

Another stall featured some yummy nuts!  If you know me, you probably know how excited this made me...

They were all roasted and beautifully flavored!  The flavors ranged from Madagascar cinnamon to Thai Lime and Chili!  I believe it was $5 for a small tub and $7 for a larger one that you could fill as you'd like!  You really can't go wrong with any of the flavors!

This stall featured fresh berries, fresh squeezed lemonade, and caramel apples.  It was a beautiful combination of fall and summer.

After spending a good amount of time perusing, we finally decided to head inside to order. Unfortunately, The Grounds of Alexandria gets extremely crowded during the lunch time rush, so my friend and I actually had no idea what was going on, nor did we ever really find out.  We ended up in a long line, and it wasn't until after we ordered did we realize that we had ordered a sandwich, but for takeout. Apparently, there's a separate line, and a list, that you have to get on to secure a table; nevertheless, the food was still good!  

I ordered a spiced chicken wrap with spicy mustard, arugula (which they call rockets here), tomatoes, and I can't quite remember what else was in it!  I do wish that there was more arugula and spicy mustard to balance out the fried chicken, but it was still really good!  And the takeout counter was bustling, so I'm sure that the quality of the meal would have been much better had we sat down!  Please don't judge my wrap for not being more put-together!  He just wanted me to hold him...I tend to have that effect on people.

After ordering and grabbing our sandwiches, we headed outdoors to seat ourselves!  Despite the crowd, seating is plentiful!  Overall, the chicken wrap wasn't anything amazing or out of the ordinary, but it was a rather large portion and very satisfying!  I'd have to say, the environment definitely made up for anything my chicken wrap was lacking!

After lunch, we paid Kevin Bacon a visit at his house.

Kevin Bacon is a pig, by the way.  And he's actually a pig that went missing a few days back!!

Kevin and Bradley, a goat, were actually kidnapped from The Grounds the other day!  Thankfully though, they were found in a nearby suburb!  I'm cracking up.

We then headed into the garden to look around the toolshed. 

They would have shelves filled with mason jars...

Apparently, The Grounds of Alexandria also has some amazing coffee that is roasted on location. Unfortunately, my taste buds have not matured enough to truly appreciate coffee and I therefore cannot vouch for that, but if the coffee is full of even half of the goodness The Grounds of Alexandria is, it's probably great.

Pay this place a visit!  If not for the food, do it for the environment, the mason jars, the wagons filled with nuts and jams.  If anything, do it for Kevin Bacon and his billy goat friend, Bradley!

Cheers,

Kimmy

Vegemite With My Buddy, Darth

I don’t know about you, but I have yet to meet someone who kind of likes or dislikes durian.  The same can be said about Justin Bieber, because that just happens to be the way life works sometimes.  Sometimes, there really is no grey; there’s no in between, and there’s no indifferent “meh” about it.  Sometimes, you just really love something, or you absolutely hate it, and instead of standing in the middle, you’re forced to pick a side.  So, which is it going to be?  Are you going to stand with your buddy Darth over there?  Or would you prefer Lukey Luke?  Good, bad, light, dark, like, dislike, love, hate—what’s it going to be?

I'm not exactly sure where I went wrong, but I've joined the Dark Side.  I can officially say that I like Vegemite.  

After spending a few months here in Aussieland, I figured that it was about time that I gave the infamous Australian spread a try, and so this morning, I did. Following the words of advice that I've been given time and time again from a few self-proclaimed Vegemite connoisseurs, I made sure to load the butter on thick, and to spread the Vegemite on thin--very, very, very, thin.  And then thicker, and thicker, and thicker.  I guess that's when I realized that I liked it.

To be honest, it kind of tastes like really salty soy sauce, and when used sparingly, it can actually be quite nice!  I've yet to try the spread with anything other than butter though, but I've heard that Vegemite and Cheese is a fairly popular combination.  They even have Vegemite and Cheese flavored chips here...I suppose it's the Australian equivalent of the classic American peanut butter and jelly? Speaking of peanut butter and jelly...a lot of Australians are actually living rather incomplete and unfulfilled lives... I've met more people here who haven't had a PB&J than people who have had one. It's mind blowing really, especially since a PB&J sandwich isn't one of those foods that you either love or hate.  You either love a PB&J, or you love a PB&J.  And that's that.

On that note, I have one more thing to say.  Come join the dark side, we have Vegemite.  I'm sorry, I just had to!

Cheers,

Kimmy

Lovely

Yesterday I was invited by a lovely friend to join her at her lovely house for some lovely Thai inspired cuisine.

Fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic, bird's eye chili, ginger, and coconut--please go and make beautiful babies together because you're all matches made in heaven.  Speaking of babies, I probably ate enough last night to feed myself along with my four food babies.  It was the real deal.  I mean, I probably never had more in common with a bowling ball than I did last night.  How so?  Well, after two main courses and a few successful attempts at filling the dessert pouch with meringue, cake, and ice cream, I, like a bowling bowl, was not only feeling very round, but I also couldn't walk.  I swear I'm not exaggerating.

I also never wanted to pay Thailand a visit any more than I did last night.  It's definitely hit the number one spot on my future foodie destination list.  Now, to find a generous donor to fund this shamelessly indulgent trip.

Yours,

Kimmy

T-Swizzle

I learned at an early age that when you pair certain words together, they become kind of magical.  They’re more powerful as a pair than as individuals—kind of like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and peanut butter and jelly.  Some things are just better together.  If you won’t take my word for it, take Jack Johnson’s.  Not all word combinations, however, yielded the same results, and it took some trial and error to figure out what type of magic each word pair would and could produce.

Take “open sesame”, for example.  This proved to be really useful around lunchtime, when it would release any dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets that were spending some undeserved jail time in my cousin’s clasped hands.  The right amount of “pretty pleases” would score me half-baked chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven at the expense of slightly burnt fingers, and extra time.  Yes, extra time.  You see, with the proper placement and usage of pretty please, time, or rather, the shortage of it, was no longer an issue.  That extra hour I spent playing laser tag at Andy’s birthday party, the extra episode of Simpson’s I got to watch before cracking open my math textbook, that extra ten minutes of sleep I got to treasure—all thanks to the strategic use of pretty please.

Unfortunately, as I’ve grown older, many word pairs have either lost their magic, or were not blessed with any to begin with.  Fire-truck you, for example—no magic there.  Every now and then, however, a new word pair will come up, with the potential to be better together, the potential to be the next Brangelina—the potential to be magical.  When that happens, it’s my duty as a responsible blogger, to let you know.  And so, I have two words for you, Taylor Swift.

No, thankfully, those are not the magic words.  Taylor Swift is just where the story begins.  You see, I woke up yesterday morning with Taylor Swift on the brain.  In fact, her songs were swimming in my head and through my bloodstream all day, and the day before that.  It was so extreme that if I got a cut, I probably would have bled some mighty classy lyrics about a former T-Swizzle ex.  So, naturally, I woke up, made my way to my laptop, scrolled through iTunes, double-clicked “Everything Has Changed (ft. Ed Sheeran)”, and turned down the volume.  Why did I turn down the volume?  Easy.  Taylor Swift is my guilty pleasure.  And there goes all the judgment.

You see, those are the magic words: guilty pleasure.  What I’ve come to realize is that once you label something as a guilty pleasure, as your guilty pleasure, all the judgment and hate that was once oh so mercilessly and relentlessly aimed your way just seems to dissipate into thin air—it just disappears!  It’s kind of like the world cutting you some slack.  We know you hate yourself enough for liking Taylor Swift, so we won’t shame you any more than you’re already shaming yourself.  But after some thought, I realized what’s more shameful than having a guilty pleasure, is not sharing your guilty pleasure, because your guilty pleasure could just simply be or become someone else’s simple pleasure.  Are you still with me there?  Hello?

Being ashamed of a guilty pleasure is only natural, and naturally, being ashamed means you’re less likely to share your guilty pleasure with the world.  Or if you do, the world would consist of your Samanthas, Charlottes, and Mirandas.  But if it were up to me, I’d leave Miranda out.  To be honest, I’ve never been too keen on her. 

So there I was the other day, telling my Samantha that I was listening to Taylor Swift, justifying the act by labeling it as a guilty pleasure, when she responded with “Why?  I love Taylor Swift!” Mind blowing.  Nevertheless, I proceeded to play “All Too Well”, turning the volume up all the way.  Why?  Because I realized something.   Feeling guilty about a guilty pleasure prevents you from sharing it with the people around you that aren’t Samantha, Charlotte, and occasionally, Miranda.  But if you find that guilty pleasure, pleasurable, who’s to say that someone else won’t?  So take off the “guilty”, turn up the volume, share your pleasures, and blast the T-Swizzle.

While we’re on the topic of guilty pleasures, here’s another one.  You probably guessed it before I even started the post…IT’S ANOTHER MARKET!

This is the Eveleigh Market, held every Saturday, from 8am to 1pm at Carriage Works in Darlington. 

Specifically, 243 Wilson St, Darlington NSW 2008.

I honestly cannot believe it's taken me this long to share the beauty that is this market with you all because it's actually one of my favorite markets in Sydney and the one I frequent the most often.

You can find it all here, from ewes milk yogurt, to cupcakes, to panforte, produce, eggs, goat, brownies, and freshly made pasta!  

They even have a stand featuring the celebrity Australian Chef, Kylie Kwong!  If you try one thing, you must try the spicy pork bun from her stall!  It's nothing short of amazing!

Many of the stall holders actually sample quite generously so you'll definitely know what you're getting when you decide to buy that jar of blackberry, raspberry, and mountain berry jam, along with that beautiful jar of guava balsamic vinegar.  Be sure to check out the Macadamia stand while you're there too!  I'm obsessed, and that might actually be an understatement.

They were holding cooking demonstrations that day, and handing out plates of oatmeal pancakes topped generously with berries and yogurt, to promote Love to Cook, an Australian cookbook. 

We shared an intimate moment together before I stuffed the beautiful thing into my belly.  

It was a guilty pleasure, but you see, maybe if I'd realized sooner, I could and would have shared this pleasure, and we all could have had beautiful pancakes together!

Thank goodness that there is and will always be a next time!

Cheers,

Kimmy