Category: Highlights

A Swedish Midsummer.

A Swedish Midsummer.

After a weekend in Stockholm, Stina and I jumped in the car to drive out to the countryside. We were headed for Örebro, Stina’s university town, and the countryside surrounding it. We were to spend the week by Lake Hjälmaren, Sweden’s fourth largest lake, with her friends at their countryhouses and – yep – potato farms.

Our first stop: Sigtuna. Sweden’s oldest town, it was founded in 980. We stopped in for chokladtårta and coffee (oh boy, do they love coffee over there. Upwards of 5 cups a day seems fairly normal) at the self-proclaimed oldest house in town, from the 1600’s – Tant Brun.
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Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.

THE BIG DAY HAS ARRIVED!!

One of my top bucket list items, it’s time for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We woke up super early to have breakfast with Anthony’s housemate Lee and his friends – sausage and eggs to fuel us for a long day of drinking, dancing, and jumping for beads.

The house is right on the parade route on St Charles, so we sat inside in the warm until the parade tracker told us it was time to head out. As the parade drew closer, more and more of Lee’s friends turned up until we had about 12 people waiting. Finally, we heard the bands marching down the street so there was a mad scramble to head outside to catch the beginning of the first (and best) parade of the day, Zulu.

It was my favourite parade of the week – awesome things were being tossed out of the floats, footballs, parasols, coconuts – there was such an excited vibe in the crowd. They had the best marching bands too – you couldn’t help but just all dance in the street.
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A day on a Wisconsin Maple Farm.

A day on a Wisconsin Maple Farm.

I met an awesome couple on my birthday – Dan and Larkin are Edward’s friends, and they are currently working on Larkin’s sisters Maple Farm. The invited us up to Westby for a day to play around on the farm, learn about maple syrup production and head out for a day of work tapping trees.

We started on the 2.5 hour drive from Madison super early this morning. On the way we saw some interesting things – there were lots of Amish families out and about, and we came across this wagon dropping some kids at home, and another group of kids playing around on a sled with a little pony. I was intrigued!
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A trip to Jerome, Arizona.

A trip to Jerome, Arizona.

Jerome is a little town in Arizona, about two hours from Phoenix that is based above what was the largest copper mine in the United States. The mine produced 3 million pounds of copper per month, and in its heyday the town was home to over 10,000. The current population is said to be 444 – leading Jerome to be called the largest ghost town in the USA.

On the way up we visited Montezuma’s Castle, one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. Built by the Sinagua people over 800 years ago, it is a 20 room ‘apartment’ carved out of the limestone cliffs in Northern Arizona.
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Francisca’s Empanadas + stories of the early Berkeley Food Collective.

Francisca’s Empanadas + stories of the early Berkeley Food Collective.

I left the comfort and safety of my home, left behind all the friends that I had forged into family, left behind the town I loved from rooftop to gutter. There is so much for me in Melbourne, but I left because I wanted to see what (and who) else the world had to offer.

I left to meet new people, cook, hear stories, share food, laughter, wine.

I flew in to the USA late sunday afternoon, my first stop on my new life of adventure, and on Monday I was fortunate enough to go to Davis, California, to stay with Francisca Rodriguez. She is an inspiring woman, full of stories of the old days when she worked at the Berkeley Food Collective with her Chilean husband. Francisca is from Mexican descent, and together, along with the other Latin American workers, they contributed one Latin American recipe each to the menu. Francisca learnt how to make empanadas there, both in the Chilean way and the Argentinian way, and I was blessed to have her spend the day showing me how to make them. My first day away from home, and I was launched straight into my new life with a bang – what better way than to be taught empanadas in California from such an interesting, amazing woman.
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