Thoughts on Food, Food for Thought

Sorry to be so behind on the blog. Wireless internet is not readily plentiful, most places either don't have it or use Zenbu- a system which is wearing thin already. They give you vouchers for a certain amount of megabytes, and then you have to get new vouchers all of the time.

But this post is not about Zenbu, it is about something much more vital to the human condition.

Sustenance.

Having spent this last summer eating a decent amount of Mexican food, I developed quite the taste for Tapatío, and really just spice in general. Let me be the first to tell you, there are 4 bottles of Cholula on this whole island, and they are in Mari McIver's kitchen (to be praised in my next blog post). They've traveled from a US CostCo.

In the grocery stores here, there's Tabasco, which I think we can all agree is NOT a flavorful, wonderful, deliciousful sauce which I want to put on everything.

Speaking of grocery stores, we cannot walk past the Vegemite section without Cameron singing Men At Work. Luckily, we found some vegemite in Mari's kitchen to give the ol' college try.

I'm glad we didn't spend money on it. It's a yeast extract, if that gives you any idea of how not flavorful, wonderful, deliciousful it is. When I had pneumonia as a youth, I had a medicine which I had to use via inhaler every four hours. Vegemite tastes like a salty version of that medicine.


It is not meant to be spread like peanut butter or honey, here is the portion breakdown. A common rookie mistake is to spread it on thick. I had this knowledge and did a light spread on the corner of my bread, even then eating it was to my own dismay.

Peanut Butter, Vegemite and Honey- the recommended dosages.

Mari and Dave, again they will be introduced in the next post as I play catch-up, took us to a Kiwiana themed school benefit lip-sync show. It was AWESOME. Let's just say there was some Monty Python, some Gaga and, to my delight, Islands in the Stream. The platters here contained the authentic kiwi food of meat pies and bland sandwiches on white bread- this is what I've been told was all there was before international cuisine came on the NZ scene.

A woman came dressed as a national dessert, popular here and in Australia. Smother used to make it, I'm not sure where she got the recipe, maybe from an Oprah magazine...

Meet Pavlova.



Perhaps the most riveting food I've found down here is based in a childhood fantasy, one involving White Witches and lamp posts and a fawn named Mr.Tumnus and 2 sons of Adam and 2 daughters of Eve, and a great big Lion and a lot of other stuff. Now if you had any sense as a child, you read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe- it's a great book. And if you had a keen mind like mine, you like to immerse yourself in the story and create it in your mind. So maybe you were with me in my young confusion as to WHAT THE FLIP IS TURKISH DELIGHT? C.S. could have used any other food, and I could read the book with a calm mind. But Turkish Delight? What is it? What color? What texture? Even the movie did little to demonstrate anything about it. Well guess what is surprisingly prevalent down here...



The poor man's meal down here is canned spaghetti on white bread. Haven't gone there yet, but I'm not opposed.

Hanging With Mr.Cooper, or rather, our grandparents

We had the most relaxing stop-off in LA with Grandma and Grandpa Doell. After a summer of endless work (or rather, work and play) it was really great to just have absolutely nothing to do for a few days. The weather was pristine, the pool was a crisp 90 degrees- just how I like it,
and Cameron's chess game was really on point. I wouldn't know, but he went to the local library with Grandpa for Chess Fridays and they stayed for 5 hours. Yes, you read correctly, 5 hours of public library chess, so I should hope his game was on point after that.

Anyone who has ever been to my grandparents house knows that Grandma Doell always greets you with a chocolate cake. Accompanying this cake is usually a rendition of "If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake"- the only other person I've known to tout this song was Lindsey Foat after she'd had a 1/2 shot of Jack Daniels and a few Keystone Lights during the Warpath of SB2k9. (please refer to videos on my facebook page)

This bowl is also a mainstay at the grandparents house, although I assure you, I was not grumpy at all. I slept well, ate well, and lived well.


Billy and Bre also drove all the way from San Francisco to give me a nice sendoff karaoke on my grandparents player piano. Talk about great friends, and also I got to finally meet Bre's parents, a dream I've held for a few years now. A little known fact about the Martins is their love of humming birds, they reckon they have about 75 buzzing around, and I might say this is an under-estimation.

Too Busy Bullying

I'll do a better post in a few days. For now it's pool and sunshine and shooters in LA with Grandma and Grandpa Doell.

...and keeping Cam in line. I set up a self-timer and told him this was a Dinonysus picture.
Poor sap never saw it coming.

Family Send-off Dinner, bro!

The Doell Patrol reconvened in its entirety last night for a good ol' send off barbeque. I can't remember the last time we were all home together, and I think Smom really liked it, except that everytime she laughed it hurt.

I offered Ryan some ICE cream with his brownie.


When he started to chug the Ice, Smother yelled out "Wait! No! He has to drive home!"

The Mollyolithic Era

I am transforming the blog into a photoblog featuring my new friend, Dinonysus. I picked him up at The Phylum Feast, Darwin's 200th birthday party. Ever since, he's been a constant co-pilot in the car. So when it came time to drive 18+ hours by myself, I knew I needed someone else to take pictures with and of.
This is our publicity photo.


Echo Resevoir in Nowhereville, Utah. I ate Tuna Salad while Dino stretched his bones


Ever since the Mormon influence in Prop 8, we have been decidely wary of Utah. This is how unimpressed we are with the 'Great' Salt Lake.

Rushing to cross the boarder to hangout with my Smother.



I was coming down off of some 5 Hour Energy shots so Dino had to pose solo for this one.

Back in Blog

I am the Lord Voldemort of blogging.
I've been laying low.
I've been bidding my time, padding my bank account and planning my next assault on the world. And now, the dark lord shall rise again, this time with an obediant Wormtail along for the ride.

Is this too cryptic? I feel as one of my 8 subscribing blog readers you should already know that in 2 weeks I shall be going south of the equator, and pretty much south of most places, save Antarctica. A little island known to most as New Zealand. And I shall not go Amelia Earheart on this one, this shall not be a solo flight. I have my trustee co-pilot, who has accompanied me on many adventure, including that of being born: Cameron "The Cakes" Doell.






What freaky twin thing?









So an intimate update: what have I been doing with the past 9 months of my life? Curing cancer? Auditing Goldman Sachs? Earning my PHD is underwater basket weaving?

No.

I have been the happiest.

After Costa Rica I returned to a frigid Colorado winter without a clue of what to do with my time, let alone my life. So I did a move motivated by neither logic nor love, jst the desire to not stagnate in my Smother's house. I up and moved to Tahoe City, California, USA. I moved in with 4 Maine-iacs, loaded chairlifts at Squaw Valley USA and snowboarded pretty much everyday. Truly, Tahoe is my people. I've found really great friends, we call ourselves The Filthy Animals and have a great time. The flow of life is just my pace, no one lives here out of obligation. Therefore, everyone is so content with their lives, that it lends itself to a very happy vibe.

I took this photo on my daily commute one day. Yes, I was LTD.








My summer job has been mainly working at Front Street Pizza. Imagine this, me and 7 Mexican men slinging pizzas. Free Spanish lessons, I'm possibly more fluent than when I was in Costa Rica, although I now have a filthy vocabulary. The main one I work with is Omar, a big guy from Durango, Mexico who maintains that we were meant to be together. I deflect his affections by claiming to be a lesbian, or as he says a Tortilliera, a tortilla maker. I've taught him the English word for the tortilliera, scissoring. He recently bought a really nice brand new Dodge ram truck and got asked out by a tortilliera, so he thinks he has the power to change.

I am part of a bitchin gang of girls, we call ourselves the Filthy Animals. It's an exclusive crowd, a wolfpack comprised of 4. There's Lauren Lobes Badbiggs, she's pretty much the toughest vegetarian you'll ever meat. (Intentional spelling, ah c'mon.) She's from Newport, but oddly is nothing like the show Laguna Beach; she reads Vonnegut and drinks Jim Beam and she has a keen fixation on Trader Joes-right down to the shampoo. Kerry's from Southern California too, and same deal, defying the image that MTV spoon fed me during younger impressionable years. Kerry has a big, mean dog (read: adorable and docile) dog named Bear- he likes to dress up for theme parties. She makes some really bomb food, and if we're talking explosives, her mojitos are so good they'd be the equivalent of at least an atom bomb. Karen's nickname is High Life on the softball field and she sews a mean sweatshirt. My favorite thing about Karen is her love of karaoke, no matter the setting or crowd, Karen's bound to be jamming.

So in this mountainous nirvana I have wanted for nothing... except money. But I said it once and I'll say it again, feeling good is good enough for me. In the quest for happiness, I think New Zealand is a clear next step. Cammy and I don't know what to expect, and for all I know it'll fail and I'll be back in a month. But let's be real, I won't let that happen.

On Friday I shall drive the 18 hour shift home to Colorado to see my bruised up Smother. She recently had a rough bike accident, and before you ask, not motorcycle. Bicycling. and then I'll fly to LA to spend some days with Grandma and Grandpa Doell. Ultimately, we'll hop on a loooooooooong flight and touch down in Dunedin. Wish us luck.