Vegemite Musings

Jesse came over to play with Ellary after school today. She is in Ellary’s class, she’s tiny, strawberry blond, very energetic and gave us a lesson on Vegemite. I had decided that quesadillas would be a good snack for after school. Even if Jesse had never had one, it’s basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a tortilla instead, and I know they eat grilled cheese sandwiches here, but, not Jesse. She informed me she didn’t like melted cheese, only triangle cheese, which she couldn't explain in any greater detail so we had to leave it at that. She did offer an alternative, “I like Vegemite sandwiches,” she cheerfully said. So I pulled out the little single serve packets of Vegemite the hospital had initially stocked for us and pulled out the bread. She looked at the bread and said, “I think your different type of people, I don’t like that kind of bread.” The whole grain bread with seeds wasn’t going to work. So we came to a compromise. She would have butter and Vegemite on a tortilla. I told the girls this was true fusion cuisine, perhaps the first Vegemite quesadilla in the history of Tasmania. She helped me put the proper amount of Vegemite on, quite liberal I must say, compared to the other Aussie who had us try it on toast in Melbourne. Jesse makes a kind of yummy slurpy sound when she talked about Vegemite, she really seems to love the stuff. Her Mom later told me she even eats it on pancakes.

She tasted it, liked it and enthusiastically encouraged me to have some. I did, and I couldn’t let her down so I made a face like I liked it. But, it was way too much Vegemite for me. Bill tried it too, but I think he felt the same way. [No, I actually thought it was OK - just in small amounts]. She ended up only eating ¼ of her vegemite quesadilla, which I thought signified our failure in our cross-cultural food experiment. But, at dinner she only ate the very tip of her pizza (again, with the melted cheese) and ½ her ice cream cone. How many children don’t finish an ice cream cone? I had to ask her if she would have preferred Vegemite on her pizza. She thought that was just silly. So, she’s really is just a tiny eater and maybe our experiment worked, despite us being a “different type of people.”

As an aside, after much campaigning on the kids' part, we obtained a new pet bunny (from friends who have several). This one is about two months old. In the week run up to us actually getting the rabbit and purchasing the necessary stuff, we asked Ellary and Risa numerous times what they thought the name should be and Ellary always said "Fiona." Risa never had a suggestion. Just as we were picking up Fiona, Risa decided the name should be "Chimzey," (?!?) and was quite distraught when anyone suggested otherwise. Hence, the bunny's name is Fiona Chimzey Lockwood.

We've only had her two days and she already seems to be enjoying herself and the kids attentions and seemed to like being on the leash today, for the first time. The girls had a snack of celery at 9:30 am while watching the bunny eat her celery breakfast. This could be good for their overall vegetable consumption.

Tasmania's Beautiful East Coast Beaches

Hello All,

We took a 4 day, 3 night trip (with Bill's "study" time off) to explore the East Coast of Tasmania.

The itinerary was loosely based on an article Nikki's friend gave her from a Tasmanian magazine called "Delicious" where the author took a similar trip eating his way down the coast.

The drive out of Launceston was twistier than a ski hill road but took us up through rain forests with ferns as big as a truck. Then it was down into a beautiful fertile valley for some locally produced homemade ice cream in Pyengana (the cows were about 50 meters away being milked while we ate). Bill and I had pepper berry, a local and/or native plant, flavored icecream. It was subtle and good.

Our first night was in a standard tired hotel in St Helens but things improved considerably the next morning when we took a short jaunt north to Binalong Bay and ate at Angasi's - a European style breakfast place with a view of arguably the prettiest beach I've ever seen. The ladies had porridge which was full of big chunks of figs, apples and pistachios, yum. We all took a long walk after breakfast - some of the pics above. Ellary and Nikki walked/jogged to the far end of the beach with big rocks. They thought one of the rock pictures included looked liked giant's toes. Risa had more fun playing in the waves and sand and hanging out with Papa.

We then traveled down along the East Coast to Cole's Bay - a slightly touristy (although not this time of year) little resort town with a fantastic view of the Hazard Mountain Range across the bay. We were only going to stay one night, but liked it so much we stayed two. We were in a nice little rental home with awesome views fr0m the deck and a short walk to a secluded beach with lots of shells.

The second night we had our best meal so far in Tasmania at a place called Madge Malloy's. Owned by a husband (the fisherman and chef) and wife - the server and pastry chef. They were closed our first night there because he was out catching the fish in near gale force winds. He has been involved with fishing or undersea research his whole life and it was slow enough that she spent lots of time talking to us and even showing us pictures of the different fish on the menu. I(Nikki) had a fish called wah-hoo, although it wasn't spelled that way, but it was pronounced that way. It was delicate and delicious. Bill had wrasse, or something like that. We had to go for the fish we had never heard of as we may never pass this way again, so the song goes. Also Bill ordered oysters and it was the first time I liked them, they were mild, sweet and salty, not at all like a loogie.

Just as our meals came, the hostess distracted the kids into an adjoining room with some coloring books. We had our best Tasmanian white wine - Spring Vale pinot gris (2005) - altogether an amazing and memorable dining experience. The second day there we hiked up to a viewpoint of the famous "Wineglass Bay" - named after the way the water looked in the days of whaling when whale blood would stain the whole bay red. As we left the Coast, we stopped at the Spring Vale winery for a case of wine.

Now Bill's back to work for most of the rest of the month. The medicine politics are heating up as the Tasmanian government's minister of health will be releasing a paper outlining in great detail which services are to be continued and which are to be cut at various hospitals - due out on May 25. we'll see.....:)

Easter In Tasmania

Well, Easter has come and gone and I'm just getting around to talking about it. I'm still very busy at work; kids are still liking school (Ellary's spelling up a storm); Nikki's still good-naturedly enduring the lack of usual support systems, not the least of which is me working all the time.

Although it seemed like the weekend festivals had come to an end, shortly after Easter, there was a Thomas the Tank Engine festival at a nearby railroad yard museum with a life size Thomas, train rides, etc and a good time was had by all.

On Easter (I had a day off!), after an exciting Easter egg hunt in our modest yard, we all went to a nearby National Park with spectacular beaches. It was a beautiful sunny day, slightly windy, and about 20C (70F). We all had a relaxing day lounging in the sun and watching the waves, with very few other people. Ellary and Nikki ran along the beach for awhile, following horses hoove prints. Risa prefers to do a variety of yoga moves right in the waves, thus being soaked by the end of any beach outing. Evening was a treat as all the wallabies came out - they were as thick as flies. There were two shy wombats, also. Up until then, most of the wallabies we'd seen were in the zoo or dead at the side of the road and wombats are very elusive, so we all loved it.

About our Easter egg hunt. We went with the traditional American custom of coloring eggs, (my mom in Boise sent some color tablets with some Easter treat.) They really only have brown eggs here so it's not the custom to color eggs. I saw a Better Homes and Gardens, Australian version, that encouraged people to paint the eggs white with acrylic paint the then decorate them. Our eggs turned out okay, the girls had fun coloring them. So, as I was figuring out they didn't color Easter eggs I wondered if they even had Easter egg hunts and if so what do they hide?

Easter is really big down here. They just use chocolate eggs wrapped in foil. They come in all colors and sizes, mostly chicken egg size to ostrich size. One Dad I know makes it a custom to buy a dozen huge chocolate bunnies during Easter, the Cadbury Elegan Rabbit, and works on them himself, not including what the Easter Bunny brings. They eat more of those Cadbury eggs (you know the ones that are chocolate on the outside and some kind of runny sugary stuff that looks like a raw egg on the insisde) than any where else in the world. Needless to say, we fit right in. We took no chocolate with us to the beach as the girls had already eaten in one morning what they would normally get in 2 weeks.

The weather here has been gorgeous all through April - the driest April on record - but it's now turned to Fall and there's been some rain with a little cooler temperatures, but still frequently sunny afternoons with highs in the 60's F. As it's now officially "Autumn," the kids have switched to their new, warmer winter uniforms (see picture above). The feijoas in the backyard are ripe and falling off the bush. We are trying to figure out what to do with this fruit also called pineapple guava. They are a bit tart with a perfumey smell, similar size to a kiwi but harder and a good source of vitamin C.

Ellary and I(Nikki) have been closely following Dancing with the Stars, Australia's version. The female host and one of the judges were in Strictly Ballroom, which makes me want to watch that movie again. Ellary loves the dancing and suspense but has no desire to try out for the show. She probably loves staying up late and watching TV on a school night more than anything.

This Sunday we're leaving for three days to explore the Freycinet Peninsula and see Wineglass Bay in the South Eastern part of Tasmania. The pictures we've seen of the area are spectacular.

More later.

Love,

BNER