Kisholi’s posterous

Have managed to hit the apartment gym once since Monday which is pathetic. Frankly the gym is a bit useless - no free weights, not even a single pink dumbell so have been forced to make do with the stupid machines and yoga. Of course I have not used any kind of transport since getting off the taxi from the airport on the second of this month, so that adds up to a lot of fast (cold with occasional rain) walking.

Cooked dinner for three nights running now and am feeling quite accomplished. It's easy when all the equipment is at arms length and easy to use (did I mention the fully furnished apartment?) and the ingredients are simple (meat, vegetables, lard and few seasonings). Dinner tonight: beef, pork, garlic, onion, snow peas, purple cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper and salt/pepper/paprika/chillie. I've been trying to stick to stuff I don't usually get to eat at home because they are either expensive or plain unavailable.

Work is still crazy. My phone card has run out and I don't even have time to go looking for a post office. Overslept today and had to run to make it to office at a respectable time. Have permanent dark circles under my eyes. I have never looked forward to a weekend this much.

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As promised, a picture of the grilled Emu sausages on a bed of roast pumpkin mash, rocket and sticky balsamic that I had for Sunday lunch with a glass of red wine at the Ambassador on King William. Awesomeness.

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Starting to feel a bit miserable now. I think a warm and possibly spicy meal would help - been eating everything cold/bland recently and it's not doing much for my general grumpiness. Might be switching to an apartment starting Monday which I'm really looking forward to because it means I can cook, which in turn means hot food. Yay! Also, the close confines of this hotel room is really starting to get to me.

Thursday night's meal was 1/2 a supermarket roast chicken (read: cold) with salad comprising both baby spinach and baby rocket leaves plus sticks of carrot, celery and cucumber smothered in, yes, you guessed it, winsauce. Am starting to get a bit sick of that winsauce now too.


Had more strawberries with the last of the coconut cream and a nice big decaf just for warmth sake.

Woke up feeling even more miserable, although a hot coffee does do wonders. The coffee culture here is a sight to behold. Every other shop seems to be a coffee shop and there are hardly any big chains. Lot's of little places and every coffee tastes different. Good but different. If I keep this up I'll have to start taking laxatives because we all know what havoc a coffee overdose wreaks on my system.

Found a little "health food" place and bought a salad for lunch with some trepidation because, well, the name did not inspire much confidence in their ability to satisfy MY appetite. However, was pleasantly surprised to find a very hearty salad comprising quite a bit of chicken (white meat though - gah), roast pumpkin, rocket, feta and red bell pepper. I got them to dump a hefty dose of avocado on top as an extra which made it that much better, heh. Who said health food had to be rabbit food? This was awesome. It was something like 12 degrees out but I sat on a park bench and ate my cold salad with just a light jacket on and my hair warming my ears. Have I mentioned how much I thrive in this weather? Even my skin looks awesome. I was SO born in the wrong country.

Had a drink with some work folk last night and went to Borders afterwards. The selection obviously rocks but the prices are ridiculous. Adelaide booksellers (a really nice second hand place) is possibly where I'll be spending most of my money. Again I have to be careful not to go hogwild because, although they are cheap by local standards, they work out to almost the same price as SL. Only books which I can't find back home or on Bookmooch will be purchased, she stated with absolute confidence in her self-control, NOT.

Dinner tonight was steak, sausage, fried egg and salad coupled with leftover rocket/spinach. Strawberries, nuts and dark chocolate for dessert. Read late into the night and plan to oversleep in thoroughly indecent fashion tomorrow.

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Was up most of the night thanks to jetlag and then proceeded to oversleep which nearly resulted in a gigantic disaster re the first day. I made it just in time though and managed to look reasonably spazzy in one of my new shirts.

Am adjusting very well to the climate; while my brain registers that it is indeed quite cold and I can see my skin getting really dry unless moisturised multiple times a day, my overall system seems to love it. I wear several layers to bed but wear normal clothes in office. I do wear a jacket when walking between destinations although that is merely insurance. I love how the cold makes it that much more fun to walk faster without breaking a sweat.

Today's dinner was a special ensemble put together by the chef extraordinaire yours truly. Hit the supermarket again for several tins of goodies (the ones you don't need a can opener for) - namely, pink salmon, champignons and coconut cream. Also bought a squeeze tube of garlic and roasted onion tomato paste and a box of fresh strawberries.

First I layered the leftovers from yesterday's bag of pre-cut salad, threw on some champignons and salmon and squirted the tomato paste on top. The tomato paste in particular is stunning and can be eaten by itself. I probably will end up doing that because it won't keep more than a week.

For dessert, a glass of strawberries smothered in coconut cream followed by a mug of hot tea and leftover mixed nuts while I listened to the last chapter of Nietzsche's Good and Evil on my ipod.

Bliss.

Edit: Apologies for the poor quality of photographs but I took them from the phone because I couldn't be arsed to mess with the camera.

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So I checked in around 8am, half dead with fatigue and within the first five minutes managed to lock myself out of my room. Had to go down to the reception again for a spare key. Embarassment thy name is...

Anyway, the room is a nice one on the fifth floor which means, yes, I will be trying to best my curent record for racing up five flights of stairs once I've fully recovered from the jet-lag. Heh.

A shower and much-needed nap later I roused myself because some folks from office were turning up around 2pm to check if I was alive. Got shown around town a little bit, both on foot and by car and was told my English was very good. I never know how to respond to that expect to mutter irritably under my breath.

That is the view from a look-out called Light's Vision and here below is Colonel Light himself, who has apparently "founded" Adelaide and seems to have done a pretty good job. He's responsible for the gridlike layout of the city which makes getting anywhere very easy.

A little market square near my hotel features statues of the cutest little piggies. They all have names. This here is Horatio. I am in love.


So I really *am* staying in the most happening part of town - old ladies were heard complaining to the reception that they havn't been able to sleep from Thursday onwards because of the drunken revelries on the streets. Apparently the drinking begins on Thursdays. I've already made plans for a pub crawl followed by karaoke (shudder), visit to a local vineyard, a national league football match, the usual churches/museums etc. and a production of Phantom of the Opera. At this rate, getting any work done is going to be very, very difficult.

In other news, my room is still an awful mess but I have managed to get my nightstand presentable so here's a picture.

Considering that the last time I ate was at around 4:30am on board a Qantas flight and that the meal comprised tea/coffee, fruit, a sugary raisin pastry and a cinnamon butter biscuit, I decided to treat myself to a substantial dinner, read: a whole chicken from Nando's (extra hot), half a bag of pre-cut salad from the supermarket, cup of Austalian tea and a few mixed nuts.

Don't believe me?

Ideally, I would have taken the picture before I started eating but hey... next time.

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