Nature is Cool

So, I was very excited last night when I saw these pics of an absolutely GIGANTIC sting ray. I just thought it was very cool, and reminded me of the huge spotted eagle ray that we saw in Mexico. While that one was not nearly this big, at the time it was the largest creature I ever snorkeled with. By the way, don't worry, she was released back into the water.

Today, as I watched the cheesy morning show that pretends to be part news, I saw these images! The huge migration of the golden ray, off the coast of Mexico.

Bluegrass and Tropfest

This was a pretty fun weekend. On Friday I convinced Gavin to go see some Bluegrass at the Lark Distillery (it wasn't too difficult to persuade). We saw the Back Porch Boys, and they were great. They played a mix of original songs and covers. I have to say, the whole evening made me miss Ballard even more- I really wanted to be at Conor Byrne on a Monday night for the bluegrass jam. We drank Moo Brew (a local microbrew), sat in comfy leather club chairs, and tapped our feet to some music. On a side note, beer is not as scary here as I thought it might be. It is NOT as diverse as Seattle, but I have found a few palatable brews. All in all, Friday evening was very satisfying. The rain gods even played to our Seattle style, and dumped a few buckets towards the end of the night. We ended the night with some yummy pizza from our South Hobart Pizzeria, Mondos.

Saturday was not as entertaining, filled with more practical errands and low key activities. We had breakfast at one of my favorite cafes - Zest, the library cafe. After scanning the classifieds, we walked to a few car dealerships in order to test drive a few possibilities. I don't really want to go into the car thing, as we did not settle on one yet. After the car stuff, we stopped off for a smoothie before heading to the market to get picnic fare to take to the botanical gardens for the outdoor showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Unfortunately the rain gods turned up again, and squashed the plans of sitting out in the grass for lovely theatre entertainment. So...we opted for some indoor movie joys, and watched Burn After Reading.



Sunday started as a housecleaning, laundry doing sort of morning. We decided to use our picnic goodies and head off to Tropfest, the largest short film festival in the world. Gavin and I snagged a spot on the grass at Salamanca and cozied up for a night of movie fun. Unfortunatley, no Tasmanian films made it to the short-list of finalists for Tropfest, but they did show us two at intermission that were very good. As for the finalist of Tropfest, my favorites of the night were: The News, Be My Brother, and One in a Million. Gavin liked: One in a Million, The News, and Furry Cheque Book. The winner of the night was Be My Brother.

Ok, now it's Monday and I am back to rescuing lizards from the cats, applying for jobs, being crafty, and reading. And Gavin is back to work.

Running...no reallly

Gavin and I started a running routine last week. Well, I started it a couple weeks ago but I quickly learned that I needed some external motivation. I took the advice of a friend and checked out the book Running Made Easy from my library (random side note, but I looooove the library). The plan seems easy enough so far. I had a pretty crappy day yesterday, so I had a hard time completing the run - that, and I did not stretch properly so my calves burned (and not in the good way). I think Gavin will keep me on the program! Updates on the progress to come.

Cooking Adventures

I decided that I love love love Jamie Oliver's At Home cook book. I usually have trouble following recipes exactly, maybe my dislike for being told what to do, but I found these recipes awesome and super tasty! I tried two recipes, and one of them has definitely made its way to our permanent dinner list.

Crispy and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed New Potatoes and Tomatoes. This truly was a two pot dish, one to brown the chicken, and the other to throw everything else in, mix it up, and stick in the oven.


The other dish I made was a Cheese and Onion Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing. This was a rich, and probably not-so-healthy salad, given all the cheese. But mmmmmmmm, this was so good.

.