A Super Supermarket.

Have you ever wanted to see what an American supermarket looks like? Come on then, I’ll take you on a tour. I should tell you first off, that this is not my everyday supermarket. I am going to show you the fancy one. It’s larger than my local, (think bunnings size) and twice as expensive. But there is a reason for me coming here today. I’ll get to that in a minute. The feel of this place is like coming to an olde ye world style market place with all the trimmings included. Perhaps it would look like that if it had horse and carts in the carpark.

It has a coffee shop and a cafe in it. It also has a separate juice bar, bakery, sushi, pizza and salad stands where they have people chopping everything as you order on the spot. (My pic came out blurry so you have a professional pic from internet).

Pretty food displays.

There is a big fresh meat section, the closest I’ve seen to a butcher, as well as fish stalls and delicatessen style cold meats and European cheeses.

There’s a whole aisle for yogurt. Who knew Americans liked yogurt that much!

There is a brilliant “international” grocery section. I’ve come here in search of golden syrup. I found it in the UK section. I want to make more Anzac biscuits now just so I can use it. It will probably sit in the pantry until this time next year.
More Cadbury’s chocolate – yay!

Today brings no words, just the standard farewell – thank you for shopping with us today Ms. Fletcher. (The loyalty card is in my husbands name.) Did you find everything ok? Any coupons today? Do you need any help out to your car? How’s that for customer service.

The Fraudulent Anzac Biscuits.

I made Anzac biscuits today. They look lovely. They taste like an Anzac bikkie. But I have a confession to make. I used a Martha Stewart recipe. There. I’ve confessed. I could no longer bear the guilty conscience.

You see, I did a little research. I looked on the Australian War Memorial website which had a recipe and a few other Aussie cooking websites. But my burden is this – a.) American measurements are a little different b.) I cannot for the life of me find golden syrup and c.) when I convert oven temperature it is at something I don’t have marked on my oven. If I use an American recipe all the measurements and conversions are done. d.) the method of preparation for the bikkies is still the same, so I can mix it in true Aussie style – listening to the Whitlams of course.

The recipe makes three dozen – what??? Yes, but i didn’t make that many, although I am sure the boys would not complain. Before I’d even got them in the oven they were asking me to coughup the goods. I even forgot to add the desiccated coconut as I was too distracted by their constant nagging.

I used Maple syrup as it is the closest thing I can find as a substitute. I don’t really know the point of golden syrup – if it’s just to give it that brown colour than maple syrup does the trick fine. It can’t be for the sweet – there’s enough sugar to do that.

That is my only criticism. They are extremely sweet and I would probably make them with less sugar next time. But it doesn’t really surprise me. An American adaption for American tastebuds. It is something that we noticed when we first arrived – that American foods are often overly sweetened.

I’ve notice that my tastebuds are changing too. I am definitely developing a sweet tooth and have to try and curb those afternoon sweet cravings. I am determined to return back to Australia and not have stepped foot in a Dunkin Donut! I have stopped drinking the little bottles of water flavourers (like make up cordial in Australia). I am convinced they dry your mouth out, making you want to constantly drink more. I must admit that I am a bit sad that I went to Target today and forgot to pick up my newest discovery – Cadbury almond chocolate bars. (Cadbury’s is really hard to find here). Small steps in the weaning process.

So my confession has been heard, sins are purged. Is there a penance for this great Australian bikkie calamity? Let me see – Crunch Crunch Crunch – tastes good, all is forgiven!

Today brings no words and maybe a second trip back to target to pick up just one block of chocolate.

Batter up!

I’ve written about our first baseball game when we saw the Washington Nationals play. They are the team that we follow, but a close second favourite is the local team, the Baltimore Orioles (or the Oreos as Dylan used to say). So off we trot to watch our second baseball game.

We have great seats which are very close to the action. My Husband promises me that if a ball comes near us he’ll catch it and gives me permission to duck for cover.

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This is a few highlights which can be broken down by innings.

1st inning – Hamish is hungry (what’s new). I made them spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, something to fill them up, which we had only eaten an hour ago! Being an orange/red colour I called it oriole pasta.
2nd inning – Hamish finishes a bag of chips and falls asleep on Fletches lap.
3rd inning – Dylan has a “Toilet explosion” a Dylanism for needing to go to the bathroom. I do the bathroom run. Not really a highlight but important to the story a couple of innings later.
4th inning – Kudos to fletch who manages to pay for and eat two hotdogs with sleeping child on lap, all done without leaving his chair! Fletch is wearing his Sydney Olympic hat and Hot Dog Man is a fan of Ian Thorpe apparently.
5th inning – Hamish wakes up. Spies Dylan eating a lollypop and first words out of his mouth? – you guessed it “I’m hungry.”
6th inning – Toilet break for Hamish. Fletch’s turn as i’ve already done duty with other child. While he is gone a ball is hit directly into the area we are sitting. It goes up high, and comes down in my direction and I think i’m going to have to catch a ball. Dylan cowers with his hand over his head and all I am thinking is “oh sh*t – I can do this”. I even stand up, put my hands out ready to catch. It lands two rows in front of me and I can literally reach out and touch the seat where it landed. Thank goodness for all those family backyard cricket games we played as kids. Fletch gets back with a beer and hotdog. “Did I miss anything?” he asks.
7th inning – Streaker, not naked. But I think you’d get more mileage if you were naked, just because if you are a security guard you’re always going to think twice about where you are grabbing when there’s nakedness involved. Plus in this day and age you aren’t exactly going to just get a slap on the wrist for doing something like that, might as well make it worth the effort. Hammie has a picture taken with the mascot bird thing. I’m sure it has a name, but i’m half a margarita down and I’m not stopping.
8th inning – Dylan and Hamish are getting restless. I feed them leftover chocolate easter eggs. Anything to watch the end of the game in peace. It’s close, O’s are losing but they could turn it around.
9th inning – I give Hamish my Iphone to play games. Game over!

So did I regret feeding the boys all that chocolate right at the end of the game? No! The extra sugar had Hamish and Dylan sprinting and pacoring over all the apartment block steps on the way back to where we’d parked the car – it’s a good amount of walking for little people who’ve been sitting all afternoon.

Today brings no words, and no thanks to my husband who was supposed to be shielding me from any incoming baseballs!

Festival of Mum.

It was my late mum’s birthday this week and it had me thinking about all the fun things that we used to do together when we were little. Shopping, lunches, afternoon teas, movies, beaches, pools, play days… things that as a kid you take for granted as things that you just get up, go out and do. But as an adult you realise these “carefree” activities actually take planning, preparation and thought. This revelation dawned on me this week when I attempted to spend some quality bonding time with Hamish.

We start our day off by dropping Dylan at school. I’ve booked Hamish into a kiddies gym class which is meant to start at 11.15am but we come home and on the answering machine there’s a message that we are the only people who have signed up for the class. Class cancelled. Hamish is gutted when I tell him. We are rebooked for the next week on a different day, but what to do now?

He decides he wants to go to the pool, which has all these fountains and sprinklers in it. I thought we’d go down early, get in and have the place to ourselves. I try to read the convoluted website and it looks like it’s open. But we get there only to be told there’s an hour wait before the waterpark opens. The other hours were for the general pool. The look on Hamish’s face when he gets told a second time in the day that fun thing is not happening is almost too much to bear.

So I take pity on him and drive him over to Toys R Us. Apart from our visit to New York, the kids have only been into the local store once. I pull up and his face lights up. “Are we going in there?” Big grins. An hour passes by with ease. But then he gets hungry. Morning tea or swim? You see I did not bring snacks, thinking we’d be back home by now. And I don’t want to leave a pool visit too late because if we run into lunch time he’ll be overtired and won’t take a proper nap. I know this kid well! So I bribe him. (I had forgotten to shave my legs so believe me, I was doing everybody a favor).

But I make it his decision. “Okay Hamish, we can buy a toy and go have an early lunch or we can go for a swim.” In the back of my mind, for the sake of us all, I’m thinking please choose option 1. And he does. What 3 year old would turn down a new toy and lunch out? Beats a boring old sandwich!

That night for dinner I decide to throw together a special dessert for the boys. Strawberries, cake and Cool Whip gets a big thumbs up. Cool Whip is this ultra sweet whipped cream that you buy in a tub ready to use. A little tub of EVIL! But it has the boys declaring that I make “the most awesome desserts ever!” And I guess that’s what being a mum is all about – wowing your kids with a bit of whip cream and cake in a cup.

Today brings no words, and a gold star for every other time I turned a blind eye to the tricks, tears and tantrums this week. Nice one Mum!

The Art of the American Birthday Party.

This weekend there is another birthday party to attend. We’ve been to some interesting birthday parties to say the least! This one is in a Lego shop. I should explain, we live close to a big factory outlet mall and in it is a lego store. On the side of it is an activity room where they often have building classes and activities for kids who sign up as VIP members. Lego is amazingly cheap here. There’s alot of variety and they seem to constantly be bringing out new sets to keep the kids coming back. A Lego party for 7 year old boys. Can you imagine? Heaven!

Birthdays here are celebrated in style. I have not been to any at people’s houses. They are usually held in venues which I think is rather smart! So far we’ve been to a laser tag party and an indoor waterpark party. On our calendar we also have a roller skating party coming up.

Even Hamish has had some interesting parties. He’s had one in a train museum, where the kids sit in an old train carriage for the party. And one at a little kids tumble gym where he even got to go on one of those kids ziplines. He dropped fearlessy into a foam pit, got out and self-declared “I can go again because I’m expert at this!”

Does it make weekends busy? Well here’s the thing. They are often held during the week. They are also at what I consider to be quite late for little kids. A swimming party from 5-7pm? My kids bedtime is 7.30pm, so a 2 hour swimming party has him almost sleep in the car. It has me wondering whether the other kids are tired out too. I’d love to have a hidden camera in the front of the classroom the next day, just to see what 20 tired little faces must look like.

Today brings no words, just some thoughts on whether week night birthday parties make it harder or easier for the teacher the day after. Sugary breakfast cereals might actually come in handy after all, and believe me there are plenty of those around!