Not the prettiest things in the world ...

I can't explain the logic behind the thought, but for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make sausage rolls. For the past few Thanksgivings, I've been going for easy recipes, with an emphasis on the recipe making just enough and not too much. Sausage rolls, however, have little to do with American cuisine and almost nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

I first sampled a sausage roll in England, at the school café/bakery, where I'd grab a quick bite to eat between classes. Having tired of the cheese-and-onion white bread sandwiches, I decided to try one of these frankly unappealing-looking rolls. It wasn't life-changing, but it certainly tasted a lot better than I'd expected. Fast forward a handful of years to Sydney, Australia, and the omnipresence of Pie Face and sausage rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maxine meets Sausage Roll again.

The sausage roll, made properly, is a greasy, artery-clogging thing. But tasty, oh-so-tasty. I decided to make my own, slightly healthier and definitely less greasy version, adapted from this Epicurious recipe.

Sausage Rolls
Yields about 24 rolls (long), or 48 bite-sized rolls

Ingredients
1 pound of minced pork
1 package (17 ounces) of frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil, rosemary, or any herb you like
1/2 a carrot, shredded
1/2 a white onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
Salt and ground pepper
Ketchup or barbecue sauce, if desired

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and mix the pork, dried herbs, onion, carrot and salt and pepper until well-distributed.

Roll out the puff pastry into one large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Place the sheet so the wide side of the rectangle is to the left. Form the meat into a log about 1 inch thick and long enough to fit the width of the pastry. Lay the log along the entire edge and spread a little bit of ketchup or barbecue sauce if you'd like extra flavor (I think this is how the Aussies do it). Roll the pastry around the sausage, brush with beaten eggs where the edges meet, and cut so the pastry slightly overlaps. Repeat the process with the remaining sausage meat and pastry.

Line up all the sausage rolls making sure the seam on each is at the bottom and not showing. Brush the tops with the eggs and cut the sausage rolls into either 1 1/2-or 3-inch logs. Spread the logs about one inch apart on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and the meat is cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes.


These make a really nice snack (or breakfast, lunch, or dinner), and can be frozen and reheated to eat later. Happy Thanksgiving!

source: Tamarama's Facebook page

Before the summer's officially through, I need to squeeze the band Tamarama into this Music Monday thang. Because to me, Tamarama is the only soundtrack you'd need for a beach vacation, or the type of summer spent surfing in Malibu. It has an incredibly laidback feel -- not Jack Johnson laidback, but a happy-go-lucky, energetic, youthful laidback.

Tamarama is a band from Australia, as its name reflects. Its members, Jay Lyon (real name: Brent Tuhtan, in case you were into reality show "The City" conspiracies) and Nicolas "Pottsy" Potts, named their band after Tamarama Beach in Sydney, Australia, stating:

Tamarama is Australia's best kept secret ... a small pristine beach that is a perfect mix of serenity, danger, glamour and good times. Growing up in this magical place has fed the visual aspect of their music, mixed with their life experience of living all over the world finding love, losing love and still having hope.

Contrary to what Tamarama's music might have you feeling or thinking, Tamarama Beach is actually known as the most dangerous patrolled beach in all of New South Wales. Its water is incredibly deep, its size incredibly narrow and it's constantly swelling with one to two rip currents. Nevertheless, the beach is nicknamed "Glamarama" for its "seen and be seen"-ness.

Here's a photo from when I visited last year ... Tamarama Beach, from a safe distance. Not too many sunbathers, as it was the dead of "winter" (Sydney's winters are hardly what a New Yorker like me would call winter, but what the hell):


As for the band, the two guys haven't released any new music since 2010, but seem to be working on something new. Whatever they're working on, I hope it has the same happy, carefree feeling their previous endeavors have had. Their music is the way I feel life should always be.

Most of their songs are NOT on YouTube, so if you like their sound, I highly recommend checking them out on Spotify.

Is 2013 speeding along or what? May has definitely gone by faster for me than any other month so far this year.

"Nashville"
So this television show is really a glorified soap opera -- not quite as bad as "The O.C." but it's definitely no "Friday Night Lights" ... still, Connie Britton always manages to bring her characters back down to earth, even when Hayden Panettiere is giving an incredibly convincing performance of the most hellish country pop star diva that could ever be. The story just keeps getting better and better. Except why are practically all the men on this show villains? Hmm. Still, can't wait until next season.

Pie Face
While I was in away in Taiwan, Australia's Pie Face opened up in New York City. I had Pie Face more than a few times when I was in Australia, but I definitely didn't have the opportunity to try every flavor I'd wanted to. The flavors here in NYC are understandably a little different from the ones offered in Australia, but they were all INCREDIBLE. My friend and I shared 6 mini pies (chunky steak, chicken and mushroom, Thai coconut curry, Tandoori vegetable, steak and pepper, BBQ pulled pork) and a dessert mini pie (lemon). The pies are not cheap, but they are worth it. The chunky steak was my clear favorite because it had such depth of flavor ... it tasted like winter in a bite: butter, onion, wine, steak. So, so delicious. I can't wait to return for a full-sized pie.


Revlon Impulsive nail polish
I haven't indulged in any new nail polishes lately, since they are a luxury rather than a necessity. But this was on sale and I've been wanting a blurple (blue-purple) nail polish for some time now. I got it for less than $4 and I love it. The formula's a little watery but opaque in two coats, and I've washed dishes (gently) and the polish has barely chipped. Purple's not exactly a spring-summer color, but honey badger don't care!

Indoors

Sunlight

Spotify Tunigo
This is definitely my favorite discovery from the past month. Tunigo is a playlist app that I believe Spotify bought. They have an incredible array of playlists, with even more incredible names. Here's just a taste: "Transatlantic Lullaby," "Dubai Vacation," "Beards & Flannel," "Save The Trees," "Sightseeing in France" and "Powder Swag." There are also a ton of user-generated playlists to peruse. A playlist for every mood is all I can ask for.

Mossimo Kaelyn ankle booties from Target
So I ordered a pair of these just before I returned to the United States, but I ultimately ended up returning them. The pair I ordered was a half-size too large and I thought they were too round. The shoes were so popular that Target released them in a bunch of other colors ... and other materials. The original pair I bought were real suede and were on sale for about $22 or $24 when I purchased them. I saw the pair I now own on clearance for about $15 and in faux suede. For $15, I decided to give them another shot, and this time, I was not at all disappointed. It seems they've changed the toe box shape slightly since the original release, because I didn't feel like Minnie Mouse in these. After spending half a day walking around Manhattan in these, I can attest to the fact that they are very, very easy to walk in (they have an approximately 2-inch heel) and quite comfortable. I'll have to add pads to the ball area, and my shins are a little sore, but other than that, a great, great buy and I'm very pleased. Kudos again to Target!

Happy ANZAC Day! ANZAC Day is celebrated on April 25th, but since it's now April 26 in Australia and New Zealand, where ANZAC Day is celebrated, I guess it's no longer ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and it's basically the equivalent of Veterans Day in the United States.

The nice thing about the United States, though, is that you'll find that it celebrates just about every holiday in the world because chances are, there's at least a small population of just about every culture here. According to Wikipedia, ANZAC Day is commemorated at the Los Angeles National Cemetery, at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, in Santa Barbara in California, at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. Phew.

Legend has it that ANZAC biscuits (or cookies, as Americans would call them) came about because military wives wanted to send their soldiers something that would not spoil easily, and these ANZAC biscuits are typically the crunchy type so there's no need to worry about that. Eggs are also omitted because eggs were scarce during World War I. Today, ANZAC biscuits are sold commercially and are often used to raise funds.

I can't remember exactly where I first heard about ANZAC biscuits, but I know it was while I was in the England and was going through my "Australia phase." I think I tried to bake the biscuits while I was in England and I failed somewhat miserably. I think I failed at a lot of my baking endeavors while in England, and now that I think about it, I probably just couldn't figure out how to properly use the ancient oven I was supplied with.

I did buy myself a package of ANZAC biscuits very shortly after arriving in Australia last year, and I was surprised at just how hard/crunchy they were. But they have an undeniably addictive flavor. The original recipe requires golden syrup, which is a supermarket staple in England, so I made sure to buy a bottle to bring home with me when I left England. Golden syrup is hard for me to describe ... I'd say it's a mix of corn syrup and molasses. It has a distinctive, but pleasant, flavor (not as "distinctive" or intense as molasses) and is sweet. If you don't live in a Commonwealth nation or have access to a British grocery store, corn syrup will work just as well (according to my research, the baking time will be slightly shorter if made with corn syrup, and slightly longer if made with maple syrup, so watch your cookies!). My particular bottle of Lyle's Golden Syrup has been sitting around for YEARS, waiting to be made into ANZAC biscuits. Its time to shine has finally come ...


ANZAC Biscuits (adapted from this recipe)
Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1 cup of quick cooking oats
1 cup of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of coconut flakes
1 cup of white sugar (I used 3/4 cups, fearing it'd be too sweet, but it wasn't)
1 stick of butter (or 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon of golden syrup (or corn/maple syrup ... may alter baking time)
2 tablespoons of boiling water
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix oats, flour, coconut and sugar together. Over low heat, melt the butter and golden syrup together. In a separate container, mix the boiling water and baking soda together, then add to the melted butter and syrup mixture.

Add the butter mixture to the oats mixture, and scoop out teaspoon-sized balls. On a greased cookie sheet, place the balls about an inch apart and lightly flatten the balls. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes for slightly chewy cookies, and 13-15 minutes for crunchier cookies. Allow to rest on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

source: Atlas Genius Facebook page

Atlas Genius is from Adelaide and lead singer and guitarist Keith Jeffery says that their sound is influenced by Death Cab For Cutie, Beck and The Police, if that gives you an idea of what they might sound like. I'm (thankfully) not getting too much Death Cab from them. To me, they sound more like a synth-y, slightly '80s version of The Killers, with occasional flickers of '70s rock. And like a female counterpart to Haim, almost. Particularly in the song "Back Seat."




My only wish for many of these male lead singers -- emo-ish singers, especially -- is that they would just enunciate. What are they trying to hide? On the bright side, my inability to decipher their lyrics makes me focus more on the music!

Taken last fall

I remember when I was 14, I couldn't pick a favorite season. Every season I associated with some sort of puppy love: autumn with the beginning of the school year and a fresh chance with my crush du jour (or perhaps a new crush?), winter with its snowfall and opportunities for a snowball fight with my crush, spring because spring always brought a little magic and unexpected turns of events. Summer was reprieve from the constant self-consciousness, the wondering of what he was thinking, though the internet meant he was never far. Without the connection to food back then, I was already so tightly bound to nature and the seasons, and I didn't even realize it.

Nowadays, love doesn't come so easily to me, so I have to just grin and bear it through the unpleasant extremes. And autumn has settled into its place as my favorite season -- its reciprocate, spring, is unpredictable in both temperature and precipitation (be it rain or snow). The turn of summer to autumn in New York City is usually dry, usually mild, usually sunny, and always colorful.

Autumn seems to come earlier and earlier every year, but so does summer. Just over a week ago, there was a torrential rainstorm, with a couple dashes of thunder. Afterwards, the humidity lifted from the city and autumn air seemed to rush in to take its place. It's been cool since, the summer no longer unbearable in the way New York City summers are usually remembered.

This year, however, I am met with an unease about the coming of autumn. Perhaps my travels this year have tampered a little with my circadian rhythms ... Taiwan had two seasons (rainy and unbearably hot), I went from spring to winter in Australia and New Zealand, and soon after, I returned to a cooling New York. I don't want summer, but I'm not ready for fall -- stuck in an in-between, as usual!

It's a little bittersweet: as our temperatures cool, Sydney (where I've left part of my heart) is warming up to early summer temperatures, by NYC standards. It's an odd feeling of being left behind, or moving forward without someone, or just missing out. Completely selfish and inexplicable, but it's there.

I'm otherwise jumping headfirst into autumn with my love of all things pumpkin ... after all, colors and crispy air aside, my favorite thing about autumn is the food. And if you have a Dunkin Donuts near you, go get yourself a pumpkin donut, stat!

This is the final note I wrote to remember my travels by ... this was written while I sat on a strip of grass overlooking Cottesloe Beach, just outside of Perth in Western Australia.

Something about the way the sun casts against the skin here -- and the sand and the grass and the cement -- makes everything smell like a barbecue party.

Perth is a disappointment, but Cottesloe is a quiet reward. From yards away, the ocean is a distinct crystal green. A dark green lizard darts through the bush, creating conversation for two strangers. White parrot-like birds congregate on grass and in trees, like the funniest, creepiest freak show you've seen but chosen not to believe.

[Here are my other notes, on New Zealand's South Island, the snow in New Zealand, and autumn in Sydney.]

The first weekend after I arrived in Sydney, my friends and I dropped by The Coffee Club, a chain café in Australia and New Zealand (and apparently Thailand too!), where I spotted three glorious words: chai tea latte. Now, supposedly select Starbucks in Taipei carries the chai tea latte, but I've yet to see it. There's no pumpkin spice latte, no Cinnamon Dolce Latte ... you have your basic coffee concoctions and various tea lattes, including the green tea latte and a rose-flavored one.

So when I was reminded that I was about to be reunited with my cinnamon-y, autumny-but-good-for-all-seasons love, I set out to have as many chais as I could while I was Down Under and rate them.

Hands down, the worst chai I had was also the very first I had, at The Coffee Club in Sydney. It was watery, barely spicy. It was like vanilla sugar water with a dash of cinnamon. And it came in at something like $4.50 AUD, which at the time was probably $4.50 USD, but closer to $5 USD now. And completely not worth it.

Between Australia and New Zealand, here is my list of best chais ... altogether, I probably had 10 or more:

I know this isn't chai, but it came with the chai ... this is a date scone -- very popular in New Zealand

1. The Skyline Café, Wellington, New Zealand

The Skyline Café is set at the top of the Wellington cable car track, across the way from the Wellington Cable Car Museum and just a few more steps from the Wellington Botanic Garden and the Carter Observatory. Unfortunately, I can find just about nothing on the internet confirming this place's existence -- save for a quick mention on the official Botanic Garden site. It's a cozy little glass shop hidden not far from the cable car entrance, with just enough seating and baked goods in glass cases and beneath bell jars on cake stands. But I hopped in here quite late on a Saturday afternoon, just as it was getting ready to close, and the girl at the counter was more than happy to make me a chai tea latte and warm up a date scone for me. She even answered my clueless questions about the weather and wind in Wellington. The chai itself was the perfect ratio of spicy to creamy, and absolutely heartwarming at the top of that windy hill.

2. Esquires Coffee, Auckland, New Zealand
Intersection of Hobson Street and Victoria Street West

New Zealand is definitely leading in this battle. I found Esquires Coffee while heading towards Denny's (which I ended up not being able to get into, literally) on the outskirts of the Central Business District in downtown Auckland. I was tired and hungry and just  looking for a place to sit and cool down and grab lunch while lunch was still being served. While I was in New Zealand traveling alone, I found myself never quite that hungry at lunch, so lunch consisted of soup and a chai tea latte many days. That day was no exception. I'm pretty sure I ordered a tomato soup that day, along with my chai tea latte. Esquires is a chain in New Zealand and in many other parts of the world, including the United Kingdom. I was drawn in by the sign on the door that said "free wi-fi!" (A rare and precious thing in New Zealand and most of Australia.) But apparently you needed a card for it, which I didn't know until now.

The chai was big, if I remember correctly, and served in what seemed more like a soup bowl than a cup. It was served with a little biscuit (also if I remember correctly), which I thought was a sweet touch. I don't remember any other particulars about it, such as price (probably in the $4-$5 NZD zone, or about $3-4 USD) or taste, but I know I made note that it was the second best I'd had!

Chai tea latte from The Goods in Sydney

I first became obsessed with Australia when I was 19 or 20. I don’t think I can pinpoint a time, but I remember being abroad in England and reading as much as I could on Australia, and buying Australian Vogue, and trying to find Australian food in England. That’s when I started doing the Tim Tam Slam with Penguin biscuits, and baking all sorts of random foods (like ANZAC biscuits).

Anyway, during this time, I also became more interested in fashion and supermodels. I think because the girls got so dressed up for college (university) classes, I was a little shocked and felt I had some brushing up to do. Fashion was everywhere, even in little old Manchester. At the time, the “alien” look was in, so Gemma Ward, Jessica Stam (who I’ve seen twice in person, that pretty lady), Lisa Cant, Heather Marks, Devon Aoki and the like were “in.” Gemma Ward hails from Perth, Australia. She was my favorite of them all at the time, and I can’t even remember why.

So to me, Gemma was Australia, and Perth was Australia. I didn’t care much about Sydney or Melbourne, Bondi Beach or whatever … so when I told my Australian friends I wanted to go to Perth, I got a bunch of “why!?”s and “I hate Perth, it’s so hot!”s.

Hot it is not in the late fall, but it’s not the most exciting place on earth … and I had to learn this the hard way. Highlights for me were Cottesloe Beach and Fremantle (much more exciting than downtown Perth, if you ask me), and I tried to kill as much time as possible on a rainy day at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, which was nice … nicer than MCA in Sydney, and larger … and just as free. Other than that, Perth is dull.

One nice tidbit about Perth, though? Apparently it’s the city furthest from New York City in distance (direct opposite side of the globe), so now I can say I’ve been to the other side of the earth. Or something like that.

Some photos …

Fremantle is famous for its prison and its port, and is

about a 30-minute train ride from Perth City

Fremantle town center

E Shed Markets in Fremantle, by the harbor