This Week I'm Eating...

As we get deeper and deeper into the New England Winter, less of my fruit and veg box is locally grown.  In a small way I'm grateful, there is more variety this week.  Two limes and a mangoe from Mexico has given me fridget a slightly "tropical" feel.  Plus yellow zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, beansprouts and bananas.  And more oranges - of course!

This Week I'm eating...

A little early but I've had a big weekend of 'holiday' cheer.

On Saturday afternoon I decorated gingerbread houses with my 'Boston Family'.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos until we'd demolished one side of the roof.  But lots of mint leaves (my favourites!), smarties, gumballs.  The gingerbread is also delicious - just the right amount of spice, hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Mmm...

Then lastnight I went to a friends house for the first day of Hannukah and the lighting of the candles.  Sarah had made the most wonderful feast - freshly made latkes with parsley and a wonderful Morrocan spice Hummus with Garam Masala were the highlights.  The hummus was so good that I now have the recipe to try for myself - lemon, garlic, garam masala, chickpeas and paprika.  I think it's the paprika that makes it so good, it adds a slightly smokey flavour to the dip.

And to finish off, these delicious chocolate-mint chip cookies.  We even got our own take-home goodies bag filled with more cookies and a few extra treats for the rest of the holiday season.

This week I'm eating...

New England doesn't offer a lot in terms of local produce in the winter, so my trusty fortnightly box is sourced mostly from the southern states.  Apples, Tangerines, Bananas, a Mango (?), Cauliflower, green beans and my "favourite" lettuce.  I STILL have so many oranges and lettuce leaves.  My cooking skills have also taken a beating.  With exams all next week I have become a lazy cook and steamed or roasted vegies have been the flavour of the week.  If anyone has any suggestions about quick, easy vegie meals I'm all open to suggestions.

Harvard-Yale Game

The 125th Harvard-Yale Game seems a little while ago now, but I thought I should post a few shots of the momentus occasion.  Prior to the game my knowledge of the game consisted of watching movies where people were watching the game.  Limited, yes, but in hindsight probably sufficient.

Here are a few things I learnt:

• Tail-gating parties are a little like the Melbourne Cup Carpark, only with more beer and less champagne.  And people start drinking at 8am.
  
• Watching sport in -3 degree weather is not fun
  
• Drinking beer in -3 is not fun
  
• Actually, -3 is not fun

• It's important to be loyal to your team 
  
• American football is a little like Rugby, only you can throw the ball forwards
  
• The scrum is played four times, at which point you measure whether the attacking team has advanced 10feet.  If they have, they keep the ball.  If they haven't the defenders get the ball.
  
• The game moves slowly
  
• If it's -3 no one can catch the ball
  
• There are different teams for attacking and defending, and for kicking.  Time-outs allow the different teams to run on/off the field
  
• To keep warm, the teams that are "off" use exercise bikes
  
• There are no exercise bikes in the stands for spectators
  
• In -3 degrees you stop feeling your feet at quarter time
  
• In -3 you stop feeling your legs at 1/2 time
  

• Hot Apple Cider will not warm your feet

I can't tell you who won.  We called it a day at 1/2 time.  I went home, took a bath and started feeling my toes an hour later.

Home

I haven't blogged in a while. I've been busy perfecting the art of international travel. A quick trip back to Australia has meant that when I eventually get back to Boston I'll have spent 80 hours travelling in the last week. Not all of this has been on planes, in fact the flight from Boston - Melbourne was suprisingly stress-free. I was expecting mayhem. Afterall, I was flying on Thanksgiving Eve. But perfect connections and an empty seat beside me between LA and Sydney made for a pleasant flight home.

Being home has been full of emotions. Happy to be back in Australia. Loving the warmth and the sun. But also sad for the circumstances that precipitated my return. Excited to be seeing three very pregnant bellies and yet melancholic that I'll miss the arrival of three friends babies this summer. The list goes on. And a hectic schedule of drving around Victoria has meant little sleep compounding jet-lag.

But through all of this - the joy of a good coffee. And the loveliness of a glass of sparkling Merlot shared with my parents whilst overlooking the vines at the farm.

Pillars of Strength

Almost four months ago now I left Australia for an amazing adventure full of wonderful learning at Harvard. I was able to do this, in no small part, because the women in my family have done so before. We are a family of great adventurers.

My Nana Bennett left her home in Scotland on a 'nursing' holiday that would end with a life of love and family in Melbourne. My Nana Barnett never really left her home town of Myrtleford, Victoria, but she embarked on a life of great learning. As a teenager she boarded at Fintona Girls School and then went onto pharmacy college, when most women's careers were limited to teaching, typing and nursing. At college she met my grandfather and they returned to Myrtleford to run the Barnett Pharmacy for close to forty years. She raised four children whilst working full-time when the phrase "career women" was shameful and the concept of work-life balance unheard of. She was still working full-time when I was small and I remember her shop and her now old-fashioned white coat and pharmacists name-tag. I also remember that there were always Anzac Biscuits in the tin and she was never, ever too tired to read me a bed-time story. In the last few weeks she had been living in Melbourne, with my parents and had been passing her love of learning and books onto yet another generation - my nephew, Rowan.

These two strong women were the matriarchs of their families. Their love of learning and pursuing adventures away from home allowed me to dream of Harvard. For that, I am eternally grateful.

This week I'm eating...

I've gone fortnightly on the Boston Organics box - I just wasn't getting through all the yummy fruit and veg quickly enough.  So this fortnight it's broccoli, sweet potato, spring onions, lettuce, brussel sprouts and butternut pumpkin.  For fruit I have apples, banana, kiwi (not local) and oranges.  

I'm also asking for help.  I am hopeless at eating lettuce.  I still have 1.5 lettuce heads in my fridge.  I'm asking for creative ways so introduce lettuce into my diet.  I looked in Stephanie and she had a suggestion for soup, but frankly I wasn't sold.  Ditto for oranges.  They are slowly collecting in my fridge door.  No points for telling me to juice the oranges, that's too easy and you don't get the goodness of the pulp!  I might hand out bonus points for combining the two ingredients in the same recipe.