Woes, Weirds,etc.

September 21, 2001-Fame

Fame is fleeting. The Brisbane Courier didn’t carry very much on the interfaith service. They mentioned the denominations represented and quoted the Buddhist and Muslim. The photo they ran was of a woman placing flowers at the wall.

Woes

We’ve been having a problem getting on line. Our ISP has been hit by a virus. Thinking that was the problem again this morning, David kept trying to send our email. This time, there was a different wrinkle. He got thrown off AOL and they said that we had an invalid password. After several phone calls to our ISP here and to AOL in the U.S., he was told that we’d been tossed out of AOL for sending “spam.” If I was talking to AOL, I’d have assured them that we not only don’t eat Spam, but we wouldn’t send it either. It seems that their automated screening systems are set up to detect an inordinate number of the same emails being sent to an extraordinary number of people. Vigilance has been heightened since the terrorist attacks. David tried to tell them that he didn’t think terrorists did blanket emailing. I would have added that, being Muslims, they wouldn’t send “spam” either. The fix wasn’t hard and we’re back in business. I guess I’ll have to curtail any mass mailings and send them out a few at a time. You’ll be happy to know the AOL police are keeping the world safe.

Weirds

Now for another “only in Australia” or maybe I should call it “not in the U.S.A.” Paul Kelley, a pop singer/song writer, was being interviewed about his new album, “Nothing But a Dream.” In giving the background on the inspiration for a song, he said that it was about Jesus and friendship. As a child he learned that “No matter how much you f----d up, Jesus was still your friend.” I do not lie.

I haven’t mentioned one of the minor problems we’ve had while driving. Our car horn honks very easily. We’ve both inadvertently sounded it while turning on the directional signal. The good news is that we’re no longer turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. When the horn beeps it sounds like it’s coming from another car. We jump and look around wildly to see what we’re doing wrong. We’re still having some trouble distinguishing between the cell phone ring, cell phone message beep, dishwasher, oven timer, dryer, phone, and door bell. The other day we heard what sounded like a truck beeping as it backed up. We looked around and started to move aside, but David’s cell phone had a voice message.

Remember I told you about the dry cleaner’s daughter who would probably be working at Mustard Seed? Well, we’re now getting special perks there. David needed some mending done on a shirt that was to be laundered and the repair was gratis. I hope she gets the job. Her boyfriend already picked up a Mustard Seed t-shirt for her.

Eats & Other Quests

We found a new food. Pinjam is indigenously Australian. It was made by early settlers and is a little like a thin crust pizza or matzo. The version David had was made with pistachio nuts in the crust and a topping of turkey, cranberries, and cheddar. Food combinations are unusual here. Mango and roasted pumpkin are big in sandwiches and salads. Cranberry sauce turns up in unexpected places. We had dinner at a Mexican place last night. There was actually a Mexican staff in the kitchen. It was very good, but again, different. I had tamale pie made with chunky beef, corn, black olives, and sultanas (raisins). It was covered with cheddar and served in a very hot crock. It was delicious, and flavorful, but not spicy. David ordered a chicken burrito topped with almond slivers and stuffed with sour cream, potatoes, and tomatillo sauce. It was a bit bland so he added hot salsa. We washed it down with a ½ litre of sangria. They had an interesting set-up for drink orders at this restaurant. The server doesn’t take the order. You have to go up to the bar even for soft drinks, and order there. It’s cash only at the bar and can’t be put on your food tab. Another difference is that you actually get to sit in your chair at the table in a restaurant before the server pops in to introduce herself and ask, “What would you like to drink?” Servers here tend to work anonymously. There’s no tipping because servers get paid from $A11-18/ hour so they pool tables. They get double time for nights, weekends, and holidays.

I know this is going to sound pathetic, but we’ve had one of our best laughs in the grocery store trying to buy a light bulb. First of all, they are listed as “globes” on the aisle. Secondly, they only had boxes marked “bayonet lamps.” Never having been in the military, David was unsure if our light fixtures at the apartment were in need of military issue globes. Given world conditions, it couldn’t hurt to have one on hand, so we bought it. Blessedly, they use wattage as a measure of illumination as do we. Sadly, when we got home, we found that a “bayonet-globe/lamp/bulb” was not what we needed. We had ordinary screw-in “bulbs/lamps/globes.” The bayonet issue pops into a socket. You push it in and give it one turn. The little protrusion on the base (the bayonet, I presume) locks it into place. Enough illumination on that subject. We returned it to the store and are now on “bulb/globe quest.”

That brings me to “brisket quest.” I found a butcher who had them and I watched as he meticulously cut it from the side of beef and trimmed it to perfection. Some of the old fashioned things about this place are a bonus. The brisket is now happily roasting in my electric fry pan. Hey, that’s what came with the apartment. It smells great and seems to be as good as the oven method. For those of you who weren’t at Daniel and Vikki’s wedding, brisket is a very important part of the Horowitz family. To quote from the speech I gave at their wedding:
“Brisket was a staple in our diet. This was before ‘fat free’ was even a part of our vocabulary. Brisket was easy to make in quantity and generally yielded enough portions to be packaged, frozen, and served up for future meals. I hadn’t realized that Daniel was not only eating the brisket, but that he was also creating a philosophy around it. One day he verbalized his doctrine of marriage in relation to brisket. He had determined that since we were never without leftover brisket, it must be multiplying on its own in the freezer. Given that premise, he decided we had only ever bought one brisket in the entire time we had been married. He therefore declared that a marriage would last as long as the brisket did.”
I’m happy to report that our marriage is once again intact. I’m also happy to report that the brisket is quite large and will provide much “old food” (leftovers) to freeze and for future meals.

Stats

I’ve noticed that police here are at least 6’2” or more. In fact, Australians tend to be large. I had a theory that I’d be able to buy pants that were long enough for me here because I pictured Aussies being tall. But people told me that they were from British stock, so they most likely would be short. I guess that stock has bred with some Nordic neighbors or else the outdoor living and sunshine agrees with them.

Here’s a statistic to make you weep. There are on average 300 days of sunshine on Gold Coast each year.

Toby