Images of America

Frozen fields on the Dopheide family farm

Dopheide cows (fake and real)

Wind turbines in Carroll

Spending quality time with the family

Ever wonder what a cactus looks like on the inside, no? Me either, but when I stumbled up this one I was fascinated. Its made up of a whole lot of tubes running up along the body and arms of the cactus.

BOSTON

Food, food, food

Mini burgers - Beef brisket on left (that's for you Doug) and normal Cheeseburger on right.

"Steamers" - steamed clams, apparently a New England delicacy (below).

Our local sales rep Rob (above) demonstating the preparation process required before eating: remove clam from shell, pinch at white body with left hand and roll brown skin off of the neck with the right hand (like taking off a condom) - see that brown snot-like stuff dangling from his hands. Then eat, delicious? You've got to be kidding me!

Rob made up for the clams by taking us to Mike's in Boston's Italian district for cannoli and marzipan fruits. Can you spot the marzipan hot dogs?

The Great Carmel Roll Bake-off

My Grandma's carmel rolls are famous in our family. She always bakes them for me when I visit and when word gets out Grandma's making rolls everyone comes around. However, this time Grandma was in hospital recovering so I decided to give it a try. No one in my family has been able to reproduce Grandma's rolls and they all looked at me sceptically when I said I wanted to make them. I heard story after story from aunts and cousins, all who had tried but failed. My Uncle Larry, also well known for his culinary creations, thought his recipe was pretty good too and so began the great carmel roll bake-off. The sceptical looks from my aunts changed to looks of horror, no one challenges Larry to a bake-off and wins. After sampling his home-baked ham and twice-baked potatoes I was beginning to realise the mistake I had made. This was an event no one wanted to miss out on and my Aunt Lois and Patty were on the phone in a flash, calling all the other aunts, uncles and cousins, converting my quiet lets-see-if we-can-make-Grandma's-carmel-rolls breakfast into a full on Dopheide family brunch. Larry was out the door without a sound - he wasted no time getting to the grocery store for the fixings needed for his carmel rolls. I started to panic.

According to Grandma its easy to make her rolls, a dash of this and a dash of that, but what exactly is a dash? Also, she doesn't own any measuring cups making it very difficult for the scientist in me to accurately measure out the ingredients. So the engineer in me (a little bit has rubbed off over the past 7 yrs) says near enough is good enough and dived right into the task of assembling the rolls with my Aunt Lois looking on and adding helpful comments such as "I'm not sure thats what Grandma does", "Does that look right?", etc. Set them up, leave overnight to rise, stick them in the oven in the morning, easy, right?

Me preparing the rolls

Rolls before and after rising - so far so good

Larry and I showing off our rolls

End result: 1/3 pans presentable, 3/3 pans edible, 36 carmel rolls consumed in under 2 hrs. I call it a success but were they better than Larry's? Undecided but one thing is definately true, as my cousin Jill says, "Its hard to be Grandma".

Beef Brisket Bonanza

Doug's been raving about Beef Brisket for as long as I can remember - all the rest of us could do is say well show us! After several appointments with his local butcher reviewing American beef cut charts and viewing cow carcasses Doug was finally able to get a cut of meat that was close to the brisket (though according to Doug not exactly right). This weekend he cooked it up with all the fixin's, including biscuits, beans, macaroni cheese and bomb shelter slop (I think thats what its called). Picking Valentines Day for the grand revealing probably wasn't the best idea but the unromantic of us came along for a sampling of southern cooking Doug style.

Doug with his slow cooked brisket (12 hrs on the Weber)

Brisket with all the fixin's (bomb shelter slop at 3 o'clock)


Voula chowing down on some mac cheese (above) and her home made pumpkin pies for desert (below)

Iowans to Oz

The much anticipated visit of my Uncle Gerry, Aunt Mary and cousin Jill from the US finally arrived. Its their first time to Australia and with only 2 weeks here, including a quick trip up to Sydney, there was no time to lose. So far we've managed to fit in:
- Dandenongs to experience the Aussie bush and feed the rosellas
- Healsville Sanctuary to see the Aussie wildlife (koalas, kangaroos, etc)
- Wine tasting at the Yarra Valley
- Great Ocean Road

Mary, Jill, me and Bonnie

Jill enjoying breakfast in Warnambool

Mary, me and Gerry along the Great Ocean Road

Jill: "Is that the way home?"

Jill and Bonnie exploring the tropical waters of Southern Victoria. Ok it was pretty cold but it didn't stop Bonnie from having a dip


Who says sisters can't get along (well most of the time anyway)?

....and the rest of the Apostles

Tomorrow we're venturing into the city to show them the sites before flying up to Sydney on Wed. Phew, I'll be exhausted by the time I go back to work on Monday

Xmas 2008

This year Christmas Day lunch was at our place and fortunately the rain had stopped just in time giving us a beautiful sunny summer day. Once again we had too much food but thats ok, its Christmas


Instead of buying everyone presents we decided to have a Kris Kringle, where each person buys a present for one person only, much easier on the pocket and brain

Mum and John

Bonnie and Luis
Liz and Wal

Daddy-O

Finished off the day with a walk through the Carlton Gardens, a feeble attempt to burn off some of those Christmas calories

Merry Christmas to all

Great Vic Bike Ride

The time had finally arrived for Bonnie and I to take on the Great Victorian Bike Ride. It was our first attempt at the 600 km ride with this years route looping through country Victoria, beginning (and ending) at the old gold mining town of Ballarat. Both of us were really looking forward to it though a little unsure what was in store.......

The beginning. Happy faces, excited to get going.

The Accomodation

4000+ riders crammed into football ovals, racecourses, school grounds, etc. City chicks quickly learn it gets bloody cold at night in the country and the importance of finding a good camp spot (ie not downwind of a chronic farter). Be prepared for rude awakening at 5:30 am as fellow campers wake up at sunrise to start packing up tents and getting ready for the ride ahead. Do not expect nice sleep in and leisurely breakfast, instead its a race to see who can leave camp first.

The Food

Early morning breaky (snoozing riders miss out on goodies at breakfast - choc chip muffins, danishes, bananas, etc)

Lunch on the road

Snacks in the tent

The Countryside

Lots of wheat fields (Grampians in the background)

Rest Day at the Grampians - Pinnacle walk

The effects of the drought:

Lake Corangamite - lack of water + no vegetation + strong winds = erosion

Lake Bolac: what it used to be (sign on left) and what it is now (brown dirt in background)

Sheep shearing display Rokewood

Milestones

Making it to the Grampians - rest day ahead (Day 5)

500 km mark (Day 8)

Finish line (Day 9)