TR May 2010-An Aussie's Journey - California Here we Come

[cdotla]

Congrats on the weight loss! Wish I had gotten on the ball with that one!

Packing is always a challenge, isn't it?

Glad I am not the only one with a mile-long to-do list!

Not long now, is it?!! Good luck with the freezer clear-out!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! You are quite diligent with your freezer clear out. You wouldn't believe what I have in mine. Three weeks before we left I made a turkey (still have 3 more), two weeks before a Ham (2 of those left). one week before I wanted to make a Prime Rib, but no dice I forgot to thaw it out! I still have 4 maybe 5 of those, and now that F&W Festival has started we're eating a gourmet meal every week! Maybe I can slip that Prime Rib in on a Sunday after a Friday night winemaker dinner. Ahhh the dilemmas.

That doesn't even cover the spaghetti sauce that I have from a year ago, there are still at least 5-6 bags (2 cups each, not sure in metric). Also I have Rib Eyes, 2 whole chickens, boneless thighs, Top Sirloin steaks, a few Tri Tips a 7-bone roast and a skirt steak, and that's just the meats. I've got loads of frozen dinners and appetizers too...wow, you've just made me realize I need to step up my cooking game!

Oooooh, we learned a whole chicken recipe at the Napa Rose Cooking School this morning, I know what I can do with those!

 

[kangaand2roos]

Oy, I'm so behind on reading my TR's. Trying to catch up! I haven't read in such a long time. Is the Cinco de Mayo meet still on?

 

[TokyoDina]

12 days to go!

We're still not officially counting down at home yet and it feels like there is still so much to do before we head off on holiday.

What is it about going on holiday that makes you think about checking perishable items? I don't have ANY issue with the stuff in my pantry....

This weekend, I checked the frozen food situation in my freezer . I have a LOT of food in that freezer and I'm going to have to cook a lot of meals over the next 12 days if I'm to put a dent into this black hole.

So, yesterday I defrosted some prawns and cooked stir fried noodles. I still have 3 more bundles of prawns...I'll use one more bundle next week.

Today, I've made a bolognaise sauce for tonight's dinner. I ended up mixing the mince beef, mince chicken and mince pork together. I made some meatballs so that there wasn't an overload of meat in the sauce but there's still a lot of sauce....and I suspect that I'm going to be freezing half of it for another night's dinner next week.

I have at least 5 x 1 lb bundles of flathead fish. Looks like Monday and Thursday night's dinner this week is going to be home made fish and chips. Oh - in keeping with my compulsive obsessiveness for being tidy, I label everything in my freezer with a purchase date and everything is stored in freezer containers. So, I'll have to check the dates and pick the oldest bundles to use.

We normally have a baked potato, cheese and coleslaw meal on Tuesday nights. DS loves this combination and I won't deviate from the routine.

Wednesday night is dinner at mum's....but she'll also be looking to empty out the freezer.

I have a fortune in chicken tenderloins as well....might have to use these for lunch next weekend.

Thankfully I cleared out some of the red meat last week, with the roast dinner. But there is still about 2 kg (4 lbs) of diced beef!

But what am I going to do with the whole frozen snapper and the 3 whole calamari? And when am I going to eat these....?

Oh well, it looks like there will be some food in the freezer when I get back from holiday.

What use some of the food. You can make fish pie with your snapper. Beef stew with the diced beef or even chunky chili. You can make chicken and rice with your tenderloins just chop them up. So let's say starting Thrusday it goes

Thrus -Fish Pie

Fri Beef Stew

Sat Chicken and Rice

Sun Chicken stir fry

Mon Baked snapper with aparagus and rice

Tues DS's favorite meal

Wed Dinner at Mom's

Thrusday Sheppard's Pie just dice the beef up really well

Fri Coffee braised Chicken

Sat Red Beans and Rice

Sun Snapper with pasta


Maybe haha your talking to a chef in the making. I know you'll do what you will with your food but just some suggestions.

Your so close to leaving!!!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

AWESOME ! ! ! ! ! ! ! .....

....I so excited that we'll be back here 3 more times in the next six weeks!

I so hate you!! I hope every trip is better than the previous one! And I'm soooo enjoying your F&W report.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congrats on the weight loss! Wish I had gotten on the ball with that one!

Packing is always a challenge, isn't it?

Glad I am not the only one with a mile-long to-do list!

Not long now, is it?!! Good luck with the freezer clear-out!

Thanks. No not long now.

Wow! You are quite diligent with your freezer clear out. You wouldn't believe what I have in mine. Three weeks before we left I made a turkey (still have 3 more), two weeks before a Ham (2 of those left). one week before I wanted to make a Prime Rib, but no dice I forgot to thaw it out! I still have 4 maybe 5 of those, and now that F&W Festival has started we're eating a gourmet meal every week! Maybe I can slip that Prime Rib in on a Sunday after a Friday night winemaker dinner. Ahhh the dilemmas.

That doesn't even cover the spaghetti sauce that I have from a year ago, there are still at least 5-6 bags (2 cups each, not sure in metric). Also I have Rib Eyes, 2 whole chickens, boneless thighs, Top Sirloin steaks, a few Tri Tips a 7-bone roast and a skirt steak, and that's just the meats. I've got loads of frozen dinners and appetizers too...wow, you've just made me realize I need to step up my cooking game!

Oooooh, we learned a whole chicken recipe at the Napa Rose Cooking School this morning, I know what I can do with those!

Yes, I saw the chicken. I wish I could eat it...but alas, 2D photos don't fill me up at all.

Oy, I'm so behind on reading my TR's. Trying to catch up! I haven't read in such a long time. Is the Cinco de Mayo meet still on?

Welcome back!! Nice to see you back on the boards. Yes, Cinco meet still on. Hope to see you there in person.

What use some of the food. You can make fish pie with your snapper. Beef stew with the diced beef or even chunky chili. You can make chicken and rice with your tenderloins just chop them up. So let's say starting Thrusday it goes

Thrus -Fish Pie

Fri Beef Stew

Sat Chicken and Rice

Sun Chicken stir fry

Mon Baked snapper with aparagus and rice

Tues DS's favorite meal

Wed Dinner at Mom's

Thrusday Sheppard's Pie just dice the beef up really well

Fri Coffee braised Chicken

Sat Red Beans and Rice

Sun Snapper with pasta


Maybe haha your talking to a chef in the making. I know you'll do what you will with your food but just some suggestions.

Your so close to leaving!!!!!

Yes....MASTERchef in the making. I like the baked snapper with rice and asparagus idea. And I won't be cooking the last 3 day's suggested menu plan....I'm on holiday!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

11 days to go!!

Officially weighed in at 0.4 kilos less than last week. I've lost another 1 lb this week . So, I'm up to 1.5 kg lighter than when I started 3 weeks ago. I still have another 11 days to go; but no more weigh in's. Next Monday is a public holiday in Oz...Anzac Day. It's our equivalent of your Memorial Day.

So, more vigilance on the quantity of food I eat and keeping up the exercising. With luck, I'll have lost another 0.5 kilos before I get on that plane in 11 days time....

 

[TokyoDina]

Thanks for the thread! I will have to check it out for sure!!

Whee your doing so well! I know you will reach your goal and I know your on vacation but this no shame in getting up early one day to work out. I'm sure your hotel has a running path at the very least or going for a swim before all the kiddes get there would be a great work out too! Because then your not really "working out" per-say your just swimming.

I think my DH is going to hate me for wanting to work out at least three days. But there is a gym at my hotel so I'm at the very least going to get up very early to get a run and some weights in. I can't just not work out. I've learned a very hard lesson from that!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Congratulations on your weight loss!!

 

[franandaj]

I so hate you!! I hope every trip is better than the previous one! And I'm soooo enjoying your F&W report.

Ha! and I'll be thinking the same thing when you are on your cruise! Was it Wishes or Illuminations? I forget, I would love to do that someday!

Congrats on the weight loss!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the thread! I will have to check it out for sure!!

Whee your doing so well! I know you will reach your goal and I know your on vacation but this no shame in getting up early one day to work out. I'm sure your hotel has a running path at the very least or going for a swim before all the kiddes get there would be a great work out too! Because then your not really "working out" per-say your just swimming.

I think my DH is going to hate me for wanting to work out at least three days. But there is a gym at my hotel so I'm at the very least going to get up very early to get a run and some weights in. I can't just not work out. I've learned a very hard lesson from that!

Definitely will be working out....I'll be doing heaps of WALKING at the World

Congratulations on your weight loss!!

Thanks!

Ha! and I'll be thinking the same thing when you are on your cruise! Was it Wishes or Illuminations? I forget, I would love to do that someday!

Congrats on the weight loss!

We're doing Illuminations.
I had read about the Wishes Dessert Party and booked Illuminations Cruise in the hope that the WDP would start up.
And then the magic happened .
So, I'm being really diligent on losing weight so that I can put it all back on in just one night at the WDP

 

[PrincessInOz]

10 days to go!

We get on a plane in 10 days time and luckily for us, we're flying over a different ocean and an opposite flight path to where the Icelandic Volcano is erupting.

It's a bitter sweet feeling for me. I'm starting to get excited about this trip but yet have a few friends around me at work that have their European holiday vacation up in the air. I know I'm not to blame; but it just doesn't seem fair that I get to travel and they don't know if they are coming or going.

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. It seems like the last 2 weeks have just flown by and now this countdown is nearly in single digits.
I am just going to enjoy each day. For me, the best part of a holiday is the planning - and having the planning completed early so that I can savour the last 2 - 3 weeks before the start of the holiday. It's like I just want to slow time down for a little bit (not too much) because once the holiday starts, the end is usually far too close .

 

[jenniferkeala808]

Happy 10 days!! I would hate to be one of those travelers coming into or going out of the volcanic area! But safety first right?! Can you believe we're almost there?! I sure can't! I'm in the same boat as you as far as planning goes. I feel like now, all I have to do is pack and just reconfirm everything. I love planning early and relaxing the last few weeks! LOL! It'll be here before you know it!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Happy 10 days!! I would hate to be one of those travelers coming into or going out of the volcanic area! But safety first right?! Can you believe we're almost there?! I sure can't! I'm in the same boat as you as far as planning goes. I feel like now, all I have to do is pack and just reconfirm everything. I love planning early and relaxing the last few weeks! LOL! It'll be here before you know it!!

I agree. Safety FIRST! It's definitely feeling like it's right round the corner now.

 

[PrincessInOz]

9 days to go!

Today, the Australian to US dollar foreign exchange rate hit 93.3 cents. Not quite at parity, as it seems to be with the Canadian dollar exchange but for us Aussies...this is a really good rate.

I went to the bank and completed another round of $$ exchange today and I think we finally have enough currency/Travellers Cheques/Cash Cards now....well at least to cover living expenses. Shopping money will be funded from a different bucket

Strangely, when I completed the forex transaction, I started to feel really excited. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that my countdown is now in SINGLE DIGITS??!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I won't be single digit dancing until tomorrow, but today, I will dance with you!!

 

[TokyoDina]

No single digits for me either but I'm dancing with you none the less!! Almost there!!!!!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

8 days to go!!



What is it with the male species?? I just don't get it .

I've been living the holiday planning since the start of 2010, which by my calendar means that I've devoted the better part of 4 months in planning, dreaming and scheming. I know some of you reading this spend twice, three times as long with your plans...so you know that going to WDW and having an enjoyable holiday means having to put in some effort in planning.

Okay ... I admit that perhaps I'm a little bit obsessive compulsive and a control freak ... but once I have a game plan, I'm not completely married to it and will be more than happy to go with the flow and not achieve EVERYTHING on my game plan. And if this board is anything to go by, I'm pretty normal by Dis standards

So, today DH and DS decided that they needed to get in on the preparation for the holiday. Are you ready for this?















Get ready....

















What do you think their idea of preparing for this holiday is?


















Guess.....go on........























We need a hair cut before we go....


So, tonight (it's 8.10 pm in Oz) we went to the nearest mall where both DS and DH got their hair cuts. I guess this means that both DS and DH are ready to go.

 

[TokyoDina]

buahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahah

 

[kschafer]