3rd week

In the process of settling in at Coffs and this is the first week I have spent the weekend alone. Suddenly, the reality of living at Coffs alone REALLY dawned on me!

Coffs is quite a small place, and without a car, my living circle is even smaller. Being restricted to about 1 km radius to where I live and only venturing away from home - 3.2 km to be exact (love google maps) - everyday to the hospital for work via the extremely expensive bus!

Coffs is a great place to live, I am 1.2km (again google) away from the beach (if only I had a car, I would've travel there often with my laptop/book and a pot of tea and spend a whole afternoon there)

The place reminds me of New Zealand, or what memories I have of kiwi-land. Kids running around the street bare-footed, people saying Good morning to you on the street, and lastly no asians in sight.

Quite a confronting experience really, I have always had a tiny little - ok probably isn't tiny - problem relating to non-asians. Even if I have spent nearly all my life in either kiwi or kangaroo land! It has always been something I wanted to get rid of/overcome, and I guess this environment is really giving me the chance/forcing me to improve that about myself.

Moving out also means paying the bills, cleaning the house, laundry and of course COOKING - which I have really never done when I still lived with my parents! I have always loved making desserts/baking etc, but not cooking.

It is weird eh!? a Dietitian/Nutritionist who doesn't cook! I sometimes am embarrassed about this, when people respond to my chosen profession:-

"Ah! So you MUST be a GREAT COOK!"
 Me ashamed/defensive/mixed emotion response:- "Er... I like baking!"

Our 4 year course did incorporate a commercial cookery component - 6 lessons x 6 hours, but who doesn't know how to dice up onions and shred cabbages - the right way, make short crust pastry - from scratch and pip little towers of mashed potatoes?! Ok heavy sarcasm there.

In my defence, I just never had the opportunity/never needed to cook. Full stop.

Now that I need to/have the opportunity, I guess I will be more qualified - in my opinion - to tell people how to eat?

Enough rambling, back to the food! Since I need to find something to do in my days off instead of sitting flat on my bum youtubing, I will be resuming food posts (woot?!) Probably less of the eating out (Have no one to eat with unless I pluck up the courage to ask for a table for 1) and more of the home made mess goodness.

Lets see what is on the menu for tomorrow?

1. Chinese dish called "lion's head" - meat balls with chinese vermicelli and tofu (if i can find it) slow cooked with chinese cabbage
2. Pumpkin soup
3. thinking of making a sour cream carrot cake - if i have time

One thing bad about living alone, cooking for 1 otherwise I'll end up eating the same stuff for aaages!

Toodles for now and hopefully I'll be able to take pictures without getting my camera dirty in the kitchen!