PattyCakes

Welcome to my first official food blog - PattyCakes! Throughout my time in Australia, I'm making it my own personal goal to discover and explore as much about Australian cuisine and culture as I can.

As both a dietitian and a member of the Duffey family, I have a mini obsession with food :) I may have been a little frustrating to Emily these past few weeks - from my 30 minute sessions in grocery stores while I examine labels such a SkinnyMilk and Chicken flavored chips, to my constant indecisiveness on which cafe to try next, and finally to my determination to always convert KJ to kcals when reading nutrition labels. Hopefully, our fun experiences at cafes and sometimes almost laughable failures with our food choices will make my annoying habits permitable.

For my first food blog, I'm simply going to list some of the major differences we have stumbled across. The first few weeks of moving to any country can be a little crazy. I'm estatic to try absolutely everything and go everywhere. However, there are also those times of homesickness and hunger (being on a budget can be a little restricting) that I'm just craving the goodness of a home cooked meal from my mom....haha okay, and even the occasional Subway. I've had 3 weeks full of delicious foods. On the other hand, I've also made way too many peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, had occasions that I simply could not understand what I just ordered, and definitely have experienced a major stomach ache or two. Here's a list of standard differences that I found interesting about the cuisine these first few weeks in Melbourne:

1. Pizza. Pizza is NOT the same as American pizza unless you go to a high end restaurant. They LOVE toppings here. Emily and I had the unfortunate incidence of eating "Greek pizza", aka 3 inches of spam on toast. On the other hand, I discovered an adorable cafe called Banff that has a thin crust vegetable pizza with roasted pumpkin and pesto - actually a really tasty combination!
2. Bacon is the equivalent to virginia ham....and it's everywhere! Warning to all BLT lovers - if you don't enjoy the traditional ham at Thanksgiving, then do not order something with bacon.
3. Coffee. Tall, short, white, black. I'm still getting the hang of the difference in ordering, so for now I'm sticking with cappuccinos. Melbourne is known for their great coffee and the cafes take pride in making their product look absolutely decadent; I love getting cappuccinos simply to see the design made from chocolate shavings in the foam :)
4. Gluten-free products are available at almost every cafe! I was so surprised and happy to see how much Gluten-free products are marketed and readily available to try! Vegetarian restaurants are also very popular and I've already scoped out a few places I'd like to try.
5. For all my Irish family members, beer is expensive. If you're on a budget, young people tend to drink Goon - a cheap boxed wine that has fish eggs as one of the ingredients. However, if any family member does decide to visit, I am more then willing to go tour some of the supposedly fabulous vineyards of Victoria with you :)

"Life offers you a thousand chances…all you have to do is take one."

I cannot believe that 3 weeks from yesterday, Em and I were just arriving in Melbourne. These past few weeks have been full of ups and downs, unexpected turns and events that I don't think I will EVER forget. I apologize for the lack of updates. When I decided to pack a 50 pound suitcase and stuff my hiking backpack until the seems almost burst, I didn't think about the consequences of stuffing my computer cord last minute in the top of the bag....well it broke and left me with no laptop for a week. It's sad how much I realized we depend on technology, but this really was a blessing in disguise as I couldn't spend my all my time skyping back home and being homesick. Instead, I explored the city and spent has much time as possible outside of our smokey apartment!

Emily and I came across this sign when we spent about 6 hours walking around the central city of Melbourne. Granted we didn't mean to spend that much time walking, but not quite knowing how to work the trams can make someone wander much longer than planned. At this point, Emily and I had been staying at our place called Jessica House for little over than a week. Each morning we woke up thinking "okay we NEED to get jobs, HOW do we get out of here, WHAT can we eat other than peanut butter and jelly's for less than 10 bucks?"...and it was beginning to become a little overwhelming. But here we were, walking through the beautiful Botanic Gardens of Melbourne and this sign was right in front of us! STOP WORRYING. Everything will eventually work itself out, and in the meantime...laugh about the situation and live in the moment.

On one of our last mornings at Jessica House, I woke up to descover that Emily and I got painted into our room. No literally, our neighbors decided to paint the entire patio and wouldn't let us step onto the wet pavement. We had looked into a good amount of apartments at this point, which was really an eye opener for us to see the various types of situations that people choose to live. At this point, I think the painted-in patio led us to make the rushed decision to move into our current duplex on Carlisle St. I'm beginning to think that Em and I rush into things, hahah but we're going to make the best of our new home! And at least we won't be trapped inside or have the dog, Tobey, leave us "presents" on our front door each morning.

Our new place, and hopefully more permanent, home is definitely a fixer-uper. We moved in to find out that Emily and I had to get our own furniture from a shed (think of "secret life of a hoarder")...it was a nightmare. We then had to PHYSICALLY put the pieces of our bunk beds together, find out that our room slants downward, and kill an innocent mouse. This day was sooo incredibly bizarre that I seriously, could.not.stop.laughing. The image of Emily with rubber gloves and a face mask scrubbing the bathroom tile will forever be burned in my memory. Hahah I think we were two modern day Cinderellas :) After the few days of cleaning and decorating, I now feel so much more at home!! I can't describe how happy I am to see my colorful clothes hung up nicely in our closet and know that I don't have to dig viciously through my suitcase for a pair of socks tonight.

We live on the top floor of the house with two other girls from Germay and Finland. We share the kitchen, common room and bathroom. Our walls our lime green, the kitchen is spacious and we have a girl's bathroom - what more could I ask for!! We've also hung out with the 4 guys who live in the first floor apartment...haha yes, more Irishmen, but they seem really laid back and nice as well. I'm currently a new member of St. Kilda Library and the owner of the cafe around the corner already knows my order (small cappuccino, skinny, extra chocolate shavings). I'm also in the middle of job searching and met a wonderful dietitian last week! More updates on dietetics soon to come :)

Emily and I are now getting ready to head to Portsea with our friend Ali Restko for the weekend! I'm so excited to travel outside the city for a few days and meet more people. Ali's boss offered her his cottage on the beach for the weekend, so a bunch of us are going to go 'bbq' ( or tailgate as we'd call it) for the Final AFL game - footy game, comparable to the Superbowl - and go surfing on Sunday! Summer is finally on it's way and things are looking up!

4 flights, 3 bags and 2 days later...

“You have to forget about what other people say. When you're supposed to die and when you're supposed to be living. You have to forget all of these things and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

Emily and I met people from our hostel right away in the shuttle from the airport, two really nice girls from Germany and a very loud, outgoing Irish guy from Dublin. Little did Em and I know that over half of Ireland was taking over Melbourne. We met a lot of really nice people over the next few days, all from Ireland, Scotland or England. We’re now playing a game called “spot the Aussie” and it’s proving itself to be a difficult game!

Melbourne is enormous, driving into the city at night felt like driving into NYC….well even though I’ve been there just once. I felt like the stereotypical Midwest girl, staring wide-eyed in my jeans and tennis shoes, completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. Of course, in my head I always had that great image that everything would work out right away…warm weather, great house, friendly people and a cool job...well here was our first reality check: COLD weather, a blank white room in a hostel, cold showers, a MASSIVE city and people with unrecognizable accents. The first two weeks have proved to be a whirlwind, but what did I expect when I packed 3 bags to move myself to a completely different country?? I'm not living at the Ritz and I’m no longer spoiled by my mom’s brilliant cooking and warm home. On the other hand, these past two weeks have been such an eye opener to me and so far its been an incredible time!! Em and I have both laughed until we cried about our subpar housing, but we’ve also had a great time finding our way aroundthis amazing city. And yes, we’ve already been made fun of about our outfits and American accents…but we’ve explored, seen penguins, walked along breathtaking piers, viewed the most gorgeous sites and met really great people. The friends we’ve made so far are really nice and always fun for a good laugh; and not just because they say “jumper” instead of sweater, call us “sweetheart” or “m8” (mate) every other second, and that once we start drinking the Irish and northern England accent is COMPLETELY unrecognizable.

All of you know me as the Type A, clean, organized, “I like things my way” personality…and you love me for it :) Well, these past few weeks have pushed me to go the Type C, crazy, laidback lifestyle and I think I’ll be better for it! I currently live in a share house called “Jessica House” with Emily, which is easier described as a frat house. Other than a cute Teddy Bear dog, we live in a smoky room next to what our friends call “the reckless drunk Irishmen”. However, I also live two blocks from a gorgeous beach, I’m down the street from the famous Luna Park (shout out Grand-dude), and a tram ride away from a city full of music festivals, markets, outdoor cafes, Aussie Football and beautiful gardens. People are also as nice and friendly as everyone had described. I know there is a reason everyone tells me to give this city a chance, because you’re bound to fall in love with it. I’m sitting right now at a café on the beach, drinking an Irish coffee and looking at the Tasmania cruise ship in the harbor. Things could be worse! I’ll write soon with some of our actual stories of this past week and updates on hopefully better housing and jobs soon to come!!

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we never shall begin."

We grow up learning that we should always “live in the moment”, but I found myself spending the beginning of my summer wanting everything to speed up. Studying for dietetics, following the same old routine, wanting and wishing for August 31^st to come….when Em and I would finally begin our trip to Australia. Then July and August rolled around and everything all of a sudden seemed to be going by too fast. I needed to go to all of my favorite restaurants, bars and places for the last time. I wanted to see all of my family and friends for the last time. It all seems a little dramatic considering I don’t even know how long I’ll be gone, but moving halfway across the world has proved itself to be as crazy as I imagined.

After a few dilemmas of overstuffed (and overweight) luggage I was looking down over the bright lights of LA. I have to say, the trip from Ohio to LA proved itself to be much harder than the actual flight that took us halfway across the world. I met Emily at the LA airport; we laughed about our matching luggage and bruises already forming from carrying our bags, had a few drinks and were off. We sat next to a stereotypical Aussie surfer from the Gold Coast who had endless drinks and talked with us until we finally ignored him so we could fall asleep. Next thing I knew, we were flying over Auckland New Zealand. It was absolutely gorgeous, but it was also the first time that I had that anxious feeling of just being SO FAR AWAY. I had mix emotions of excitement and fear, wishing the summer had gone by slower, scared that my decision to leave had actually come true, yet also extremely excited for what was to come.

Auckland seemed both very different and similar at the same time. People literally jaywalk EVERYWHERE. I don’t understand how people aren’t hit by trams. Everyone wears black. I swear people don’t go to work since it’s the middle of the day and everyone’s walking around the city. However, as soon as Emily and I felt like outcasts, we ran into a Pita Pit around the corner (don’t worry we didn’t go in). After our afternoon in Auckland and buying some duty free Jameson whiskey, we finally boarded our last flight to Australia. We had been traveling for 30 hours now…so of course our last flight had to consist of an old Vietnamese man named Clark badgering and spitting on me the whole time. (Read Em’s blog for more details). It’s pretty hilarious to look back on, but when he slapped my hand for not eating I think I almost snapped. Flying over Australia looked a little like Ohio! Green farm lands everywhere. I couldn’t believe that we actually arrived. Down Unda, whether I am ready or not, we’ve made it!!!