American TV and Mexican Food - 28 May 2009

Well I’ve managed to get sick already. I actually think I have a sinus infection from the dust that was about when I cleaned the other day. There’s a lot to be said for our ceiling fans in Texas. At least we keep things moving around. Jeff and I definitely think we’ll get a couple of air purifiers. I feel a little better this afternoon but was miserable last night.

Yesterday we went to the bank in Stonehaven, which is probably about 10 miles from our house. It’s right on the ocean and we found a little tea room that serves breakfast and lunch. They had this patio and on the patio you can see the truly blue ocean and it’s really quite a view! There was a ship anchored out that looked like a relic, really like the ships you would have seen in the 1800’s. It was really neat. We had lunch on the patio, that is until the rain came. But we did enjoy it and while it was a bit chilly, it was really nice prior to the rain. Rain comes in waves here and one minute it will be cool and breezy, sunny and the next it will get overcast and rain and cool down a bit more. Then 20 minutes later, it’s passed and the sun is shining again. As we say in Texas, if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes, it’ll change. ;) Anyway, we both had an “American burger” and fries. There are a lot of fish and chips around, much like Mexican food or hamburger places in Texas. It’s typically fish and chips, Indian food or pizza. At least that’s what I’ve seen so far. The other big thing is toastiest (basically a grilled sandwich of some sort) and soup. Lentil soup is very popular around here. The burger was good and the fries are real home cut fries, not the frozen ones you see at your typical fast food place. There is Pizza Hut, Burger King and McDonalds here. I’ve not had any of it yet but I have seen them.

The Tea Room where we seen the relic ship

Today, after I started feeling better I tried my hand at baking a small cake. We don’t have a traditional oven like I am use to in the States and everything in is Celsius. So I am learning still and basically we have a confection oven. And everything is measured in pints and milliliters. So I figured a cake was an inexpensive way to try out the oven, figure out how it works and then go from there. I used the “fan oven” and it worked okay. I think it will take a lot of practice to get something to turn out the way I think it should. And tonight for dinner I am making tacos. I made homemade pica de gallo. Which you know, they don’t have cilantro here, so it’s minus the cilantro and so it’s not near as good as I think it should be, but in a pinch, it works. I did find flour tortillas and corn tortillas, go figure and they actually have Old El Paso products here, so I got refried beans and taco seasons. Jeff hasn’t had anything close to Mexican food since he got here, so I figured that would be a bit of comfort food before he goes offshore again.

We don’t have Sky TV yet, which is their satellite and has the most American channels on it. But we have cable right now and Sky will be hooked up next week. Today I flipped through the channels and have found some American shows. They have The Simpsons, and they play re-runs of Smallville, One Tree Hill, CSI and a few older shows that aren’t even on the air anymore like Gilmore Girls. And the other night when we were channel surfing we found Desperate Housewives and it was the episode from the season finale. They are a few weeks behind us on their shows. Sorry this isn’t more exciting today. I’m really not up to snuff today. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow!