Meet Mac. He has a strange addiction. He likes to lick the water from freshly used showers…
His addiction is so bad that he was recently on the tv show “My Strange Addiction.” If you are unfamiliar with the show, you can watch a clip here.
The recent episode with Mac can be viewed below. Enjoy:
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Here are some more delicious food that we’ve made and eaten!
This group had some really amazing standouts that Chiz made, like her CFC (Chiz fried chicken) and some experimental dishes she made with sardines that were amazing! I also had some time off from school, so I did some experimenting as well. I learned from a friend how to make pizza dough, so we made pizzas and calzones as well! The dough makes a big difference in how it tastes! I also tried my hand at making some ice cream and chicken pot pie!
This past weekend Chiz and I met up with our friends, Josh and Valerie to do something we hadn’t done in a long-time – indoor rock climbing. There is a really nice place in the city where they let you climb all day – but we didn’t make it that long! While it might look easy – it’s not! You have to cling to the wall with just the tips of your fingers and toes, using muscles you didn’t even know existed! You also work in a team, belaying your partner, making sure they don’t fall! This is also just indoor climbing – we can’t even imagine how much more difficult it must be to really climb rocks! It was lots of fun though and a great way to get active! Hopefully we will go again soon!
While we’re not really fast food people, we do enjoy swinging into McDonalds from time to time to see how they market their food differently around the globe. The other day we noticed that the McRib was in Melbourne… but here, they call it the Atlanta Pork McRib! We thought that was pretty interesting! This sandwich is part of a “flavors of the games” promotion that McDonalds is doing for the Olympics.
They have sandwiches from Barcelona to Beijing, but it honestly seems like they just took their existing menu items and tried to say they are from different parts of the world. For example… the Paris Choc Delight. This is a blob of soft serve ice cream with marshmallows and hot fudge… just like they serve in Paris!? There is the Beijing Chicken… you’d think it would be duck instead! Basically it is their chicken patty with sweet chili sauce… um… isn’t sweet chili sauce from Thailand? They even have a Sydney Stack burger. Have a guess what’s that one??? It comes with Aussie beef (of course), bacon, pineapple, beetroot and bbq sauce! I’ll bet you didn’t guess that! Is Australia known for those ingredients? Check out their other strange menu items as well.
Australians are really into their sports! Popular sports here include Aussie rules football, cricket, and rugby. While I have seen these sports played on TV, I have never been to a game. I also don’t understand the rules either! Since we are living down under, I have wanted to go and see at least one of these sports, and luckily my friend Richard was nice enough to take me to a rugby union game.
There are two different leagues of rugby in Australia, rugby league and rugby union. The rules vary slightly between the two, but don’t ask me what the difference is between them. Richard was nice enough to explain the rules of rugby union, his favorite sport. I think I have the basics, but it’s a bit confusing. Basically, you can’t throw the ball forward, you are allowed to kick it, and everyone ends up in big piles! It’s a tough sport and these guys are industrial-strength athletes! I can’t believe how much punishment they take and keep going back for more – all without protective equipment! The game we saw was the Melbourne Rebels vs. the Queensland Reds. Richard supported the Reds, since he is originally from Queensland, so we both rooted against the home crowd. It was lots of fun, and the Reds solidly defeated the Rebels 32-17.
Hopefully before Chiz and I leave Australia we might have the chance to see an Aussie rules game… I’m not sure I could sit through 5 days of a cricket match!
The Applebaums went from up over to down under! Chiz and I took them all around town to see all the sights and eat some amazing meals! We headed to Sydney where we saw the sights there and also visited the insides of many restaurants! It was really great to see them, and fun to spend time with them. We hope to see them again soon! Check out the picts:
In Japan it was quite difficult to get the ingredients I needed to make matzo ball soup, so I never made it there. Now, living in Australia, I figured it would be easy. Surprisingly though, my neighborhood supermarket doesn’t have a kosher section, even during Passover. As a result, it was not easy to find the ingredients. Chiz and I had to travel to a different neighborhood, which has a larger Jewish population, to find the products we needed. It was my first time making matzo ball soup, and it came out pretty good.
Chiz and I came across this strange ad near our house. We can’t believe that it’s real… but it is…
Since we are not living in Australia permanently, it’s wrong to adopt an animal. Instead, we decided to be foster carer for a cat. We applied months ago, but nothing was available. Just last week we got a call that there was a cat named Mac who needed a home. He is a 12-year-old Cornish Rex.
He was first sent to another foster carer sometime last year with his sister. However, because of his age, he could not get along with any other cats anymore. It is understandable because when we googled Cornish Rex, it was described as ‘needy’ in a nice way. Yes, he needs all our attention when he is awake. When he is asleep, he does not care…. Unfortunately, we cannot say that he is a pretty cat. He is rather ugly…. but, he has got his charm and we like him a lot. He cannot open his eyes wide because his eyelids are too large. It should have been corrected by surgery when he was young. Now he is too old so that it is not so recommended to undergo the surgery. So, he has squinty eyes that are also cute and remind us of an old man.
Some days, we struggled with him because he woke us up a couple of times in the night. We are trying to have him awake during the day and sleep with us through the night. It is getting better but we are still trying. Hopefully, we will have a similar routine soon.
Welcome to our home, Mac!!
New Zealand is not really known for its major city, Auckland, but rather known for it’s amazing nature. In order to experience all that this country had to offer, we decided to spend some time driving around in the countryside, and end our trip in Auckland.
On our first day, we rented a car at Auckland Airport and drove to Hahei. This is close to Hot Water Beach where we could dig out and make our own hot water pond to soak in. What an amazing experience! On the way to Hahei, we stopped at a cafe and had our first meal in NZ, which was ok… Jay’s banana pancake was great though. In Hahei, we stayed at Hahei B&B hosted by Mark. It was a beautiful B&B house with a nice swimming pool. After dropping off our baggage, we headed to a place called Cathedral Cove recommended by Mark. It is a really cool arch that was formed by nature over many many years…
On our second day, we drove to Hot Water Beach and rented a spade and looked for a good spot to dig. A lady suggested to us that we look for a place where we could see a bubble. When we got to the beach, we found a few spots where we felt heat underneath but it was not low tide yet. So, we waited for about 1 hour to find the best spot. And, yes – we did it. It was such a great experience. We spent the whole time in our pond we made until the ocean tide became high again. Then, we went to a cafe close to the beach and had nice nibbles. In the evening, we went to a winery and pizza place recommended by a person who owned a mobile cafe at Cathedral Cove. It was such a unique place where a guy owns and makes his own wines. The pizza was good too. We stayed until late, even after their closing time and hung out with some locals there.
On our third day, we drove to Raglan, which is located on the opposite side of the island. The Raglan beach was such a gorgeous beach with black sand. The water was so clear that we could see through everything. The sun was really strong though, so we could not stay out for long hours. In the evening, we had a nice Indian/Nepali restaurant and drove to Waitomo Caves.
On our fourth day, we did a bit of adventure! We joined the Black Labyrinth tour for three hours in a glowworm cave. It was also an interesting experience and quite surreal in the cave. Glowworms were very beautiful in the dark. They seemed like stars in the sky. Our guides were pretty great. They made our experience even better. After the adventure, we unfortunately had to say good bye to beautiful sceneries. We headed to the city, Auckland. Jay got us free nights at the Hilton! It was a nice stay and we enjoyed it tremendously. The city was not so big and we could walk around it within a day or two easily. It was very different from Melbourne, but both cities are quite relaxed and easy environments. We walked around the city in the night and had a nice meal at a South Korean restaurant where a Korean waitress recommended us to go to Christchurch, which is located on the South Island. If we come back to New Zealand, I think we will explore the southern Island!
On our fifth day, we went to the Auckland Museum and War Museum. It was a bit of a walk from the city because the museum was located in the middle of nowhere… But, it was a great museum. They display a lot of Maori cultural and other Polynesian information. Also, they have a nature museum and a specialised room for kids too. We also watched a Maori cultural performance. The Maori people showed us a bit of their culture. They sang songs, danced and showed us how they used to fight (Maori culture is pretty much a fight culture).
On our last day, we once again did an adventure, bungee jumping from the Auckland Harbour Bridge! It was a very scary experience but we all loved it!
It was a really great trip! As a matter of fact, our experience in the Hahei Bed and Breakfast made Chiz and I decide that we want to open our own B&B! Not now, but more like a retirement plan. Now all we need to do is find the right place to have one! I guess we have some more traveling to do… oh well!
Here are some picts from our trip – lots of them! Enjoy:
Also, here is a video I took from the Maori Experience from the Auckland Museum:
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