Ooops...

I'm such an embarrassment.

Came home from the gym today, sweaty and exhausted. As is my habit, I walked through the apartment shedding clothing, dropping it into the laundry for washing, and desperately trying to get cool.

I wandered around, stripping down until I was just in my undies, distractedly thinking about my afternoon plans and preoccupied with getting into the shower as quickly as possible.

So it was in this state of distraction and undress that I walked into our bedroom to find myself face to face with two very surprised Filipino window cleaners.

In my defence I did remember that our building was scheduled for cleaning today, but of course they had to be cleaning my apartment window at that exact moment.

Luckily I'm out of the house all day tomorrow. I don't think I could face them when they come back to do the windows in the living room.

Anyone have any embarrassing moments they want to share?

Back from the wilderness...

Picking leaves and dirt from my hair I have stumbled back into civilisation with the decree that I am most certainly NOT a hiker.

The occasional mountain stroll is fine and dandy, and I won't even shy away from a bit of hill climbing or caving...but an entire holiday dedicated to outdoorsy pursuits...what was I thinking?

I'll post more detailed stories about my trip soon, still editing photos and trying to find ones of me not looking hideous in hiking clothes.

Right now, I'm dealing with a wedding issue...something I thought I was done with.

The lady who designed our invitations did an amazing job, however, she was incredibly slack with communication.

I have been chasing her regarding the design for our thank you cards and she has completely gone to ground. The most irritating thing is that we already paid her for the design...stupid I know.

There's nothing for it, she's clearly not going to come up with the goods, so I'm currently sourcing alternatives. Which is an interesting thing to do in Manila. And is taking up a little of my time.

So in short, I'm here, just not as prolifically as I thought I would be.

So, somewhere along the line I became a hiker

I think I became a hiker when I was trying to regain my sense of adventure, which has unfortunately been misplaced of late.

And when I say hiker...I haven't actually been on any hikes yet...but I plan to.

My dad arrives tonight and we are heading away to check out the rice terraces and mummies of Northern Luzon. We are even going to do some caving - so of course I needed some new shoes!

They are unattractive and practical and I love them.

But more importantly I love what they represent.

A newfound sense of adventure and willingness to try anything.

I'll be offline until Monday next week (some places don't even have power, let alone WiFi).

Don't miss me too much.

Calling my Australian readers...

Sometime down the track we will move back to Australia (some days we feel like we could be away for forever and some days I cannot wait to get back fast enough), and I don't want to have missed anything.

I'm pretty on top of news thanks to smh.com.au and news.com.au but the one thing I am missing is MUSIC.

So I need your help - what are you listening to at the moment?

What is popular in Australia at the moment...what is being played on the radio over and over again?

Summer is coming to a close - what was your summer soundtrack?

I have pretty diverse music tastes so feel free to suggest anything.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

xx

It's like I'm growing as a person right in front of your eyes

Sumo Sam - the restaurant where I gave the slightly bad review on the customer feedback card - has become one of our favourite restaurants.

I always order the beef teppan with a side of teriyaki sauce and a coke zero. I know, I know, my creativity astounds even myself. So our waitress (yes we have a waitress) pretty much knows what I am going to order.

Reece on the other hand is a wild card, ordering all sorts of crazy things off the menu, which inevitably never work out and leave him eyeing off my juicy beef teppan with envy. And without fail I always mock him for his choices and tell him to just order the same thing as me.

So when we went for dinner last night, I could happily descibe our waitress as cocky. Which is not a typical trait in a Filipino.

She didn't listen because she was so busy showing off that she knew my order and she completely fucked up Reece's order. Poor Reece, after weeks of me berating him for not ordering the delicious beef teppan he ordered it, but didn't get to eat it, because she only brought him his entree.

The most amazing part is that I remained calm throughout the whole meal, didn't lose my shit once and remembered where I was.

I'm growing.

Heaven is...

...512 illustrated pages of pastry goodness.

Can I get a Fuck and a Yeah.

What's your idea of heaven?

Filipino Moment 3

Spotted at karaoke last Friday night...

Ummm...last time I checked, the song wasn't specifically dedicated to a white boy.

This country is so obsessed with whiteness!

It just wasn't meant to be

"OMG...Hamish Blake is single!!!" I exclaimed this morning.

"Yeah, I thought you already knew that," replied Reece.

"No I didn't," I replied indignantly, "And clearly you kept this information to yourself to stop me from getting on a plane and flying to his side."

*Sigh* My husband will do anything to prevent me from fulfilling my destiny of being with Hamish.

Sorry Hamish...clearly it wasn't meant to be. We are now literally oceans apart.

I want candy

More specifically, I want Shuna Fish Lydon's butterscotch whatever. Shuna writes the terribly fabulous Eggbeater blog and I am always enamoured with her writing style and immediately want to eat whatever it is she is describing.

Lately she wrote about butterscotch and how to make a Pot de Creme

"I worked for a pastry chef once who, after I asked nervously, "How do you know when they're done, when they're just set?" said, "You'll come to have a pot de creme sense. You'll know before the timer goes off. The oven will talk to you. Listen. The custards, and their corresponding ramekins, will teach you. You'll see.

And she was right.

But not everyone has it.

You have to be a student of the egg. You have to understand coagulation. You have to understand why. You have to be a Why Asker. You have to get quiet. Really quiet. Because when eggs talk, when eggs school, they do so quietly. Eggs are great whisperers.

All that warning aside. A pot de creme is worth it. Worth every worry, worth every every ramekin of wobbly, custardy joy, worth every pot de creme you have to dump immediately in the garbage bin because you waited 

1 minute too long.

Pot de creme is not forgiving. Overcooked pot de creme? Scrambled eggs. Literally. Not smooth texture. 

Overcooked pot de creme feeds the garbage gods, who laugh in your face. But you have to stare them down, even with tears streaming into their hungry, mean mouths, and get back on the pot de creme pony.

A perfect pot de creme will evaporate in your mouth faster than cotton candy. A perfect pot de creme will keep you from sharing. A perfect pot de creme will leave you wordless. Will humble you."

Damn I want butterscotch and I definitely want a Pot de Creme.

And most of all...just once in my life I would like to write about something with the passion that Shuna showed these Pot de Cremes...inspiring!

Welcome to the 1700s James Packer

I think you'll find it lovely here. There's no mod cons, like electricity, the internet or automated gambling, but you and your draconian ideals should fit in well.

James Packer, you are a fucking joke.

As you can possibly tell I was incredibly bothered by a story I read in SMH online today. You can find it here.

Among the congratulations that must be rolling in on the birth of their new baby boy Jackson, should be the congratulations that James' hardy male sperm found their way to Erica's fertile eggs, and happened to carry the XY chromosome.

So now we can all breathe easy because the Packer empire has a son and heir. Only...wait a minute...what about their FIRST child, that pesky girl-child Indigo.

 The idea that the Packer dynasty will only live on now that they have a son is appalling and unspeakably sexist in this day and age. Because, you know, god forbid that a WOMAN be entrusted with the reins of a multi-billion dollar empire. I mean, clearly, we shouldn't even be driving, let alone VOTING or WORKING.

I sincerely hope this is another example of shoddy reporting on the part of SMH.com.au and not an indication of the true situation...otherwise I think the Packers have a little explaining to do to Indigo.

Le sigh

It goes without saying that I miss things about home. My family and friends would be at the top of the list...but a very close second is a dishwand, you know one of those brilliant sponges with handles that you put dishwashing detergent in.

Like this:

Oh how I miss my dishwand...in fact I miss it so much that I googled it today to find out that it has a proper name, and that name is a dishwand.

I also miss Crunchies, Marie Claire, Delicious and GladBake. How do I know that I miss these things? Because they are what I asked Reece to bring back for me from his trip home this weekend.

Like anyone, I have days when I feel like its all too hard and I want to run back to Australia. I'm having an extended one of these moments right now, and am craving the comfort of home. My work is what is causing this, and I'm probably not ready yet to treat the subject with enough tact, so I'm going to refrain while I feel like this.

Suffice to say the thing I miss most, right now, is directness. I miss the straightforwardness of adults back home, I definitely miss adults acting like adults.

So anyway, that is my whinge.

When you are away for an extended period of time, what is it that you miss the most? I'd love to hear from anyone who has spent time in a very different culture...how did you handle it?