I bought these tacky magnets when I was in Las Vegas. Las Vegas as a whole was just incredibly tacky, so I thought I needed to honor that by buying tacky souvenirs. Never forget.
These magnets now adorn my fridge in Canberra.
But the man one is my favourite. He seems to have made all sorts of bad tattooing decisions while in Vegas (not to mention crimes against fashion). Either he is a successful stripper whose g-string is so overburdened with dollar bills they are dropping out everywhere as he gyrates, or he is crapping out money. An apt euphemism for gambling, no? The poor guy can’t even afford shoes.
It’s already getting coldish here in Canberra… I’ve had such a weird experience of weather over the past couple of years… a couple of years in the tropics, then a couple of weeks of an Australian winter, then a third of a US summer, Fall and a third of winter (with snow and ice!), then about half a summer and now Fall/Autumn is well and truly started. I think this winter will seem really long for me, because it is the first full length winter I have gone through since 2008! And it is a Canberra winter, so that will be much colder than a Sydney winter, but not quite as cold as DC.
Anyway, what is the point of all this? Some iceskating photos from New York City at Thanksgiving last year, that’s what…
Bryant Park, NYC
Rockefeller Plaza
Some photos from my trip up to New York last year… post is belated as usual.
Very belated New Orleans linked post.
Over Christmas, when I was in New Orleans, I joined the long line outside Preservation Hall on St Peter Street in the French Quarter to see a show. The Tornado Brass Band was playing that night and I wanted to see some real New Orleans jazz in one of the city’s best known venues. Preservation Hall was founded in the 1960s for the very purpose of preserving and honoring the local jazz music culture and boy, has it got charm. An intimate space, a few hard benches then standing room only, rustic wood, old posters and a resident cat that will curl up on anyone’s lap mid-gig. Dark (and back in the days before smoking bans, probably smoky).
I’m not some pretentious jazz head or anything, but crammed into that venue with those big brass instruments, booming voices and history shoving you in the ribcage, you couldn’t help but feel it. Just like you couldn’t help but feel the grandeur when you walked down the streets lined with Louisiana mansions, even though some of them had seen better days. I could understand why New Orleans was a creative place.
Bluegrass street musicians in New Orleans.
I love cities that make me feel something. In Washington DC, the drive and dreams of people was so palpable, mixed in with history and soul and intrigue and the hustle bustle of one-upping each other to try and fix the country and the world. It was contagious and compelling and a little daunting all at the same time. In Jakarta, things were always happening, night and day. You couldn’t ever drive down the same street and see the same scene. Buildings went up fast, shops were on wheels and even when you were stuck in one of the notorious traffic jams, in some strange cosmic way, everything around you was moving and pushing even when it didn’t look like anything was moving at all.
Sydney (at least when I moved there, maybe not toward the end of my stint) was glamorous, with the sparkling harbour and beaches brimming with possibilities. The kind of city where you could sink into anonymity in some parts, but run into everyone you knew in others. Where you could drive for 30 minutes or an hour and take a mini beach or nature holiday just for a few hours.
In London, history was a living, breathing part of the city but the Britpop-indie-pop gigs were plentiful.
In Canberra, I really feel nothing (yet, or so far… I’m not so pessimistic as to reject finding some sort of buried Canberra). It’s vaguely pleasant. It’s attractive in parts. There are lots of trees. There is good fruit and veg and international food. It’s “a good place to raise your kids.” Especially if you work for the government and have flex time. But I feel like there is no… oomph. You can’t feel the drive, even though I know it is there… I know there are people here who want to change things. It barely has any history. People seem to mostly be coupled up living some sort of suburban dream life. Things move too slowly. It’s where status quo meets Ramsey St meets the West Wing on sedatives meets Kath and Kim meets “why the hell do you need to wear spandex to cycle from Dickson to Civic? It’s only a few kilometres.” I know compared to these other cities, Canberra has a tiny population… I know for a place with a relatively tiny population, it really isn’t too bad in what it offers. But it still doesn’t make me feel anything. Unoffensively pleasant just doesn’t really cut it right now…
When I come back from travels, I always want to make something for my family from the place where I have been. Given that I couldn’t source the ingredients for a DC chili half smoke in Albury, and given that it is hot and summery here, I decided to make them a California style fish taco, cooked on the great Australian barbeque! And I reckon they turned out pretty tasty, considering I had to improvise a little. The biggest problem was that the limes were super expensive… apparently limes were one of the crops affected by the weird weather we have had in Australia this year, so to make enough of all of this to feed the hungry hoardes (seven people), it cost me about $8 just for limes! But oh well.
So the components are as follows…
Green leafy salad with shredded cabbage (I was lazy and bought the pre-cut stuff from Safeway/Woolworths)
Corn tortillas… you need to cook/warm these. Woolworths Select actually makes a generic brand of corn tortillas, and they were the only ones I could find in Albury, but they were fine. There’s a lot of different ways heat them and a heap of methods online. We put some on the barbeque and then microwaved some under a damp cloth. Both methods worked just fine.
Salsa… pico de gallo, to be exact. I made this up by just finely chopping onions, tomatoes, cilantro/corriander, some green pepper (aka green capsicum) and only a tiny bit of chili. Then it was dressed with lime juice. Just do the measurements of the various ingredients to taste. This is also great to eat on its own with corn chips!
White sauce… I have to say, this sauce was unexpectedly awesome. I made it up by mashing together a few different recipes and playing. While this isn’t the same as the genuine “crema Mexicano,” it was really yummy on the tacos. So basically, I took about 300mL of plain yoghurt, 400mL light sour cream, a tablespoon of mayonnaise (I know this sounds wrong, but it worked! PS. All the measurements are pretty rough), a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro/coriander and chopped fresh dill… then add a pinch of ground cumin and a fair whack of cayenne pepper (to taste) and lime juice to taste and to get it to a good consistancy (not too runny). Yum. I caught my brother eating the leftovers of this sauce on corn chips for breakfast haha.
And then, there’s the fish. As for the type of fish, I didn’t have any options except for the basic cheap fish in the deli at Coles (we do live 600km inland… and there has been a drought up until now, so river fish haven’t been that plentiful). I marinated it in lime juice, cayenne pepper, a pinch of cumin and finely chopped corriander and let sit for several hours, then grilled it up on the barbeque.
Then all you have to do it construct your tacos. It’s a super tasty, fresh and zingy meal option, especially great for summer… and a lot of the prep can be done in advance, all you have to cook is the fish and heat the tortillas.
Enjoy!
Circus Circus looks like it is about to fall down during the day, but looks like it might accidentally burn down at night.
Shock! Horror! Surprise! Las Vegas is really tacky! During the night, it is lovably tacky… during the day, honestly, it’s a bit of a craphole when you are walking around the streets. But inside a casino, who even knows what time of day it is anyway?
Fake and constant dusk at the Venetian.
Real night time. I think.
Fake New York.
Stranded on the Barton Highway. Sure, Hipstamatic is fun. For a while. But the stress of the stranded on highway/in Yass situation was compounded by not having an SLR camera with me.
I know it sounds petty and childish to have not gotten over the loss of a material possession that got stolen a month ago when I lived in a different country. Especially in the light of the suffering of those in the Queensland and Victorian floods where people have lost everything, with some even losing their lives.
But I can’t shake this feeling, even if it seems petty or irrational.
I JUST WANT MY REAL CAMERA BACK.
I don’t care about the other stuff that got stolen from my house in DC. But I miss my camera SO MUCH.
I’ve tried so many photo apps on the iPhone. But nothing can replace my Canon 50D and Sigma 17-70mm lens that I took nearly all of the photos on this blog on prior to December 2010. I really, really miss it. It’s especially tough because I can’t just go out and replace it… being primarily a graduate student now, who blew a lot of her savings on going to the US, I just can’t afford it.
Sure, hipstamatic on the iPhone is fun for a while. And I have jazzed up some of the photos I took in New Orleans on my battered up old point-and-shoot using the ToyCameraAnalogColor computer app, or Poladroid. But it isn’t the same. When I was bored or feeling hemmed in creatively, I would just take out my SLR and go for a wander and I was able to see the world a bit differently, or just play around. Some of the photos were absolute crap, and yes, I have also taken some photos I like on the point-and-shoot, but I never minded lugging around my bulky SLR. When travelling, I’d leave my laptop at home before I’d leave the camera.
Maybe I developed some sort of unnatural attachment to my SLR… it was basically my sole travel companion for several months in 2010, so we spent a lot of time together. But I really miss it. And it sucks that it is gone. And the worst part is, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Sure, this photo of the glass ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas is just FINE taken on a point and shoot. But it’s not AMAZING. And the ceiling was AMAZING.
View from the trolley car.
Down an alley
View of Jackson Square
On my recent visit to New Orleans, I ended up stumbling upon the Ruby Slippers Cafe on Magazine Street while searching for breakfast.
It was love at first sight. The hardwood tables, high ceilings and gorgeous decor reminded me of some of my favorite tranquil cafes in Melbourne, Sydney and DC.
Then it was eternal love at first bite. I ordered the shrimp and grits breakfast… the gulf shrimp prepared in an Abita Amber BBQ sauce served over creamy slow-cooked grits, with a buttermilk biscuit on the side. Oh wow. It was super good.
The barbecue sauce was not overpowering, just giving some flavor to the grits, and the shrimp were super fresh.
So, I ended up coming back to Ruby Slippers another day. This time I ordered the Bananas Forster Pain Perdu… according to the menu, ”Pain Perdu”, or lost bread, is a french bread-based French toast served with applewood smoked bacon and topped with Bananas Foster topping. Bananas Forster is a famous New Orleans dessert of bananas flambeed in rum and sugar. OMG amazing. Super sweet, but amazing.
And one of the best things about the Ruby Slippers… they serve these delicious breakfasts all day, as well as breakfast mimosas. Hells yeah!
See the website for more information. I highly recommend!
The Ruby Slippers Cafe
200 Magazine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
