Airplane Food Sucks

I'm sitting at the Beijing international airport with a belly full of hurt. Damn that airplane food that looks like slop from a Dickens novel. Having travelled around the world, I can forgive the appearance of food because sometimes you can be surprised to find ugly food can pack in huge flavour. This was not the case.

I left Sydney on a Thursday. Pretty smart move to get the weekend started right? Even better, I scheduled my 6 month appraisal today as well. Good or bad, I was going on vacay. Needless to say, it went well and I'll be coming back to a new title and higher salary. Take that Chungdahm!

Rushing around, Dave and I ate leftovers for lunch; lemongrass chilli tofu - my favourite. We left work at 3:30pm to go home and do some last minute packing and ate the leftover truffle oil pasta and the last crumpet because you can't waste crumpets-they're delicious!

Off to the Sydney international airport, we we're craving something western and dirty - Hungry Jacks double cheeseburger for Dave and a lamb kebab for me. Hurting, we waddled off the food through the duty free where I picked up a bag of KitKat bites. Gotta have the salty with the sweet.

Preparing for a flight over 11 hours long, we knew we would get dinner and breakfast. What we got was worst than cafeteria, hospital, prison, or your mom who thinks she can cook, but can't food.

*My mom's food is awesome. Period.

I ate the fruit and salad, whereas Dave, who had eaten all of his Hungry Jacks and most of my kebab, ate both meals without hesitation. This includes a hot meal with rice, meat and veg. Then a salad, bread roll, and yogurt. He slept with a small Air China baby in his belly. I feel sorry for the porcelain bank we've had to make deposits into.

Word of advice; eat western food on a western carrier, eat eastern food on an eastern carrier.

So now I'm sitting here at 8am eating KitKat bites-the best thing I've had since the lemongrass chilli tofu lunch yesterday. My connecting flight to Seoul is boarding any minute, and I can't stop thinking about seeing all the people from my 2 years as an ESL teacher in South Korea.

Dave and I decided to back for a visit to:

Stock up on supplies eg. Contacts
Eat delicious cheap Korean food
Shop in our favourite stores because shopping in Australia is over priced and poorly made
See all of our friends who haven't quite left yet.

Seeing all our old friends is going to feel so good and familiar. For two years we set up lives in Seoul, where we had jobs, healthy bank accounts and strong friendships. Two out of three have been accomplished in Sydney. It's been nearly a year since we left and I know it will feel like yesterday where we were staying up drinking because we didn't start work till 4pm the next day and sharing laughs and complaints because we all had the same job at the same school. There is also a bit of mixed emotion too because Dave and I moved on, whereas our friends haven't. It won't matter though. We are seeing friends who knew us beyond our job title and loved us for us. Raise your shot glass of soju!

Two hour flight to go till I'm back to Kimbap Heaven. Bring on the kimchi!

Fairytale Half-Day

Once upon a time, a CEO was struck with an idea. She saw her PR princesses hard at work creating WIPs, making calls, and drafting articles. She thought to herself, "Wow, my team work so hard for me. The deserve a reward." She approached her most trusted advisor for ideas.

This advisor was very clever and knew she deserved a reward too, as the head princess. On the following Monday morning where the CEO and advisor discussed the week's agenda, the advisor proposed the idea of giving the 4 princesses of the PR team a half day each off every Friday in a rotation. So each month, someone got to leave the kingdom at 1pm to go to a doctor's appointment, go shopping, or just relax. So in a decree, the CEO announced the new law of the land and all rejoiced and lived happily every Friday.

Today, this princess gets her first half-day Friday. She's spending her royal time off by glamming up for her prince. Hopefully he doesn't turn into a frog when he sees her new hair colour or the CEO turns into the evil step-mother ending this fairytale.

Great place to get your hair highlighted and cut: Sydney Hair Solutions in the Grace Hotel on 77 York Street. http://www.sydneyhairsolutions.com.au/

Nintendo 3DS Party

Back in March Dave made a purchase behind my back - the just released Nintendo 3DS. He found out Myer the department store was having an exclusive play day before the release. He went, played, and was hooked. I was against this because he already had a Nintendo DS. Dave is not one to shop like me spending $20 here and there for tops made in China. So when he spent $350 on this one time purchase I couldn't argue. By the way it costs only $250 in the US and our dollars are at parity! His main point was that he had had every Nintendo console growing up - including the ones you had to blow into the cartridge when the game froze. He did however push me to get my first smartphone, so we would be equal with gadgets of our own.

For weeks since I would find Dave playing games rather than read, my preferred way to wind down after a long day and an activity I've been pushing Dave to take up. I've been guilty too. At times I pushed my novels aside to smash those ugly pigs with the Angry Birds. Too excited finding about the 3DS' capabilities, Dave would show me the magic-like tricks the 3DS could do with the fervor of a boy waking up on Christmas morning.

Although looking at the 3D screen gives me a headache, I've found one certain capability very interesting. You can take a photo of yourself and make a Mii or an avatar. When you pass another 3DS holder, your console will swap your information for theirs. With a green light signal on the top corner of the console, you know you have meet another player on Street Pass. You open up your 3DS and their avatar is revealed to you. You find about their name, where they are from, what game they have been playing and most importantly the puzzle pieces they have acquired. You can take one of their puzzle pieces to fit into your puzzle, which unlocks a scenario where a ghost has captured you and the person you just passed gets to fight the ghost off. If you win, you will find a treasure chest giving you access to collector hats eg Mario, Zelda etc. Sounds like Dave is increasing his wardrobe too. As I type this I am feeling a little like the characters from Big Bang Theory - check this TV show out if you haven't already. Geek humor at its finest!

So today, I'm blogging sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House because it is a big day for Sydney 3DS holders. Myer displayed a poster saying there would be a 1 hour Street Pass get together from 1-2pm on Saturday the 7th of May. I left Dave 5 minutes into it and started taking photos with my HTC Legend and started blogging.

Although I'm not a gamer or Nintendo junkie (but I'm pretty awesome at Donkey Kong), this is a unique idea. Living in a big city, it is tough to meet people and Nintendo did it. You don't even have to say a word because the 3DS will swap the information, but there is lots of conversation and smiles going around. There is also much concentration going on too because this is totally cheating, but who cares - 3DS has brought the gaming obscure together. Hope this post doesn't pin me down as a game nerd now :)

When is Cinco de Mayo?

As a Texan in Australia, I couldn't miss out on the one holiday in America celebrated with tequila - Cinco de Mayo. Hearing my excitement and love for this holiday, one of the most common questions I get is, "When is Cinco de Mayo?" Come on people! Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world!


To commemorate one of the most celebrated holidays not our own (think of St. Paddys - an excuse to drink like an Irishman), I convinced my workplace Taurus Marketing to have their own Mexican celebration of food and drink.


Pulling together what we liked best in our knowledge of Mexican cuisine and what is available in Australia, we set up a table including tortillas, chicken fajitas, tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and Coronas with lime. Additionally, I brought a sombrero luckily found at the best dollar store at Wynyard Station and some fake mustaches.

The Mexican Spread

Reppin' our 'staches Chicano style

Most think Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, but it isn't. It is actually commemorating when Mexico defeated France. This was during a time Mexico owed money to a few European countries and stopped paying on their loan in 1861. France, who hadn't been defeated in over 50 years, would try to force them to pay and take Mexico over. In 1862, Mexicans armed themselves with pitchforks and few weapons and won the The Battle of Puebla driving the French off. However, the French came back a year later to take over after all. Although Mexico lost out in the end, they gained a great holiday to commemorate that battle and the resilient spirit of the Mexican people.

To find out more about the myths of Cinco de Mayo click here.

Although none of my colleagues or myself is of Mexican descent, we are grateful for what Mexico has given us: delicious spicy and cheesy food, Coronas and tequila!


Next year, I'll have to get everyone to take tequila shots in the office!


A big shout out to my girls Caitlin, Chelsea, Teresa, Lauren and Amy! My Fordham girls who knew how to celebrate Cinco de Mayo Mama Mexico style!