2018: What a great year!

We are finally, fiiiinally on our much-needed Christmas break! As usual, it's been a while, but we actually have some pretty valid excuses for not updating this. To be honest, our lives are so normal and boring I've thought a few times about killing this and maybe starting a different recipe and lifestyle only blog. We don't really have enough going on to warrant a blog people want to read about, haha. Basically we each have two jobs and too many hobbies for the amount of free time we each have :) If you actually read and enjoy this, let me know! Regis said he's too bored with this to continue writing, so it's just gonna be me from now on unless he decides to chime in once in awhile.

Sydney!

We were basically flat out from Oct to all the way up to when both of our jobs shut for Christmas - it was nuts. Regis is juggling hockey, footy and riding his dirtbike (also preparing for some races I think?! I have lost track!) and I have been working my office job, working at a bar and trying to work on their marketing material some, my hoop class, battling a sinus infection about once a month and trying to maintain my sanity haha! It was quite challenging for both of us - but now that we are on break and have ZERO expectations of both of us we are kind of lost. I have honestly overslept so much this past week because I don't have a schedule or structure and I think I need one to keep me in check sometimes. Maybe it will be good for us to try to figure out how to relax, though.

My hoop group, the Hoop Army! Our instructor handmade our costumes!

Stay tuned for the music video in Jan!

Both of our jobs are going really well and we are very happy with where we are at. 100% I could not have found the opportunity I have in Charlotte because there were mostly banking and extremely corporate jobs. I've found that I'm a lot happier working for a small company I have such a large impact on and it's awesome knowing that everyone there knows everyone and people actually care about the well-being of each other there. It's a great environment to be in and it's nice having the flexibility of deciding what I think we should do instead of following a procedure everyone follows and no one questions like all my other jobs have been!

Christmas this year was pretty low key for us - which I have really enjoyed. Back at home, I feel like expectations are too high and it's so hard to keep everyone happy. My parents also got divorced a few years ago now and it's just really depressing for me to try to go back and have enough time to see everyone and stay biased enough to keep a good relationship with people in my family. I end up overwhelmed and exhausted and have honestly just disliked Christmas for a long time anyway, so it's sort of nice for Regis and I to have our own traditions we can just make up for ourselves now. This year, we went to our old neighbors' house in St Kilda for Christmas Eve and had a really great time catching up with everyone. Everyone brought a couple dishes and we just enjoyed each others' company. It's really nice to finally feel at home certain places here and going to theirs always makes me feel like that - they are all really great people! Plus enjoying some pooltime in gorgeous weather definitely beats the snow!

Xmas eve with the neighbors!

Did you know almost every public park here has gas grills anyone can use? It's awesome!

Xmas decorations in the city

For Christmas Day, we didn't really do much at all - we basically relaxed all day at home and made a really nice late lunch, which we ate outside in the sunshine. Regis made us each a calzone and I made some ceviche and a few salsas and dips. That evening, we just skated around for a while - which brings me to the next point!

Regis the baker - we love our new kitchen!

We have never really been into doing gifts, because we don't ever need anything, but back in the US we used to just chip in money for a fun trip. Last year, we were too broke from moving to AU to do anything (haha seriously though), but this year we actually decided to see if we could do the normal people gift thing. Regis is really into cooking and baking, so through listening to a completely unrelated marketing podcast, I found a fancy butcher shop near us that hosts butchery classes - I basically let him pick the one he wants to go to and I think his class will be sometime in March.


Regis got me roller skates! I'm super excited haha, I was actually a great skater as a kid. Ohio has such terrible weather, we went to the roller rink all the time when I was younger (and before Akron got really scary). It will be fun to try to work on something new to improve at - I will just need to get over the fear of falling! So did we end up doing "normal" gifts? :) Probably not, but we tried at least. We have been skating around the neighborhood a few times now (he will just take his longboard when we go); it was intimidating at first as the asphalt feels quite a bit different from the smooth roller rink I remember, but even in the small amount of time I've spent, I have been getting much more comfortable. After checking out Youtube for a while I quickly learned I am never going to be that good, but it's another fun way to get some exercise!

Since this is probably going to be the last post of 2018 and also the last before my birthday, I thought I'd drop a little wisdom, some things I'd like to work on for next year, and also a nifty summer recipe!

Some important knowledge I've gained in my 29 years thus far:

• You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends; so pick some great ones that will stick around for you, not just ones based out of convenience. You really find out who your true friends are once you move, trust me! I'm grateful for the ones that have stuck around. Thanks guys!
• If there are things you want to do, don't wait around for someone else to do them with you - you could be waiting forever. Suck it up and do it alone if you have to! Don't put your life on pause waiting around on other people. I have learned this one the hard way!!
• Stop using "I'm busy" as an excuse. Everyone is busy! You will go crazy if you don't prioritize what is important to you. Make time for what truly matters.
• Your job doesn't define you - build your life outside of your work. Having a great job is fine, but it should not be your only motivation. Work to live, don't live to work.
• Make time and save money to travel!!! In my opinion, it is one of the best things a person can do for themselves. 

shot on my paddleboard - Mt Martha beach, Vic 

Some things I'd like to work on in 2019:

• I need to start making more time for fun hobbies - I have plenty of time, I just waste a lot of it on social media and other crap. Time to drop the phone and pick up my hoop and skates more! 
• 2018 to me was a year where I let the term "balance" slide a bit too much with my fitness - I used to run and exercise a lot more, but I haven't made enough time for it lately. I think the best way I can solve it is by riding my bike to work - I just need to work on getting up earlier and working it into my schedule, even if it starts out as being 1-2 times a week. Anything is better than nothing! 
• I need to start caring less and putting less pressure on myself to be perfect all the time - it's cost me a lot of happiness this year and it's just silly. 
• My work has allowed me to put photoshop training into my office time, and I need to use it! Canva is really cool and easy to use with graphic design stuff, but Photoshop is a more valuable skill to have, plus it would be an awesome creative outlet.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

What are some things you're working on? It's a little cliche, but this is a great time to reflect and put the important things into perspective. Sometimes all you need is a change of mindset. Anyway, that's all I've got! I'll leave you with a good ceviche recipe and some photos. See you on the other side of 2018!

The Sydney Opera House from the water

White Night Geelong

Summer veggie ceviche!

You will need:

Seafood-

A few large handfuls of raw prawns/shrimp - preferably from a market and as fresh as possible*

(optional) A few fresh scallops

For the base-

A shitload of fresh lime juice - basically enough to cover your seafood in a bowl 

About 1/4-1/2 can of light coconut milk

Sea salt, preferably in a grinder (or the kosher stuff is good too!)

Produce-

2 tomatoes

2-3 stalks of green onions 

About 1/2 of a cucumber

A couple handfuls of sugar snap peas

Chilis! Basically whatever you please, but I used 2x birds eye and 1x jalapeno

Basically any other fresh veggie you feel like! (I used radishes and blanched green beans in addition to the ones listed above)

A couple bunches of cilantro (which for some reason is referred to as coriander here)

For serving- 

Corn chips or cut some long slices of cucumbers

Guacamole! (message me for the recipe - I make it the best ;) )

If you are too lazy to make guac, chop up an avocado right before serving and stir it into the ceviche

*see my notes in step 1 of the directions to save yourself some time

Directions:

• This part is gross, but it will be way less gross if you buy deveined and peeled prawn meat. If I had to peel and look at prawn eyeballs, I think I would be too grossed out to eat this by the time I was done cleaning up all that crap. It's up to you, though! Anyway, basically cut the raw meat up into small pieces with a large, very sharp knife and throw it into a shallow, sealable container. If you have scallops, cut those up too and throw them into the same bowl. Take your lime juice and dump it over the meat, throw some salt in, close your container, shake it around a bit and pop it into the fridge. This can hang out in there from about 1.5 hours to a day or so. I usually leave it about three hours to thoroughly "cook" the meat - you'll know once everything is opaque. Yay, science!

My #1 dislike about cooking is handling raw meat - grosssss :(

• While the meat is doing its thing, make everything else! You basically want to chop up all your veggies and chilis and throw them into a bowl. That's basically it, haha. 90% of your efforts for this recipe are how patient you are with chopping up a shitload of produce. Salt everything, give it a nice stir, and throw it into the fridge too.

• When you are all set, check to see that your seafood looks opaque. Once it is, dump the coconut milk into the container then give it a few more shakes. Salt it a bit more, then carefully spoon all of your meat into the produce bowl. It's up to you how much of the soup base to add in - in NC where I used to live, this was served in a martini glass with a few plaintain chips as more of a soup. Here in Australia, this is treated as more of a dip. I like a balance between both - so I just add maybe half of the base back in to the veggies and give it all a few stirs. 

• Your end result is a healthy, fresh, summery starter or meal! I like to scoop a little guac onto a corn chip and then add a bunch of this as well. Enjoy! I certainly have been!

Happy Spring! Almost Two Years In: Thoughts

I'm gonna throw it out there - this blog should definitely be called "Laci and Regis in Oz" since I am the only person who updates this anymore, haha. I think I'm going to make Regis update next time because I want him to brag about his dirtbike adventures and how awesome his homemade pizza is - stay tuned.

Honestly, I feel like we live a pretty normal/boring expat life sometimes - I interact with a lot of backpackers at my bar job and it seems like they travel every few weeks since they have casual jobs and are only here temporarily. We really don't live THAT different of a life here for the most part than we did in the US. Things are getting 1000% better though, since daylight savings fell over the weekend and we have warmer weather plus an hour more of daylight now! I'm pretty happy spring is finally here, because we live a much healthier lifestyle when we can go on runs outside, paddleboard, go to the beach, and grill all of our food. Hello, salad season! :)

So I realized the other day that it has been close to two years since we've moved here, which is pretty nuts considering I feel like I am still adjusting to certain things, and still find some of the cultural changes here weird. So basically I think I'm going to outline a few things for you all since I don't have much for you in terms of updates!

• Things I really love
• Things I find weird
• Things I don't like / miss from home

Things I really love

• People here are pretty non-judgemental. It was actually a pretty huge change coming from Charlotte, where 90% of the people were basically the same. I don't feel like you are expected to be fake at all, and people are friendly because they want to be, not because they want to put up a front. 
• The food in Melbourne is sooooo good. I am actually worried about going back to the US and eating the food there. There are lots of foods I miss, but everything here is a lot more fresh and a lot less processed. There is also a HUGE variety of what you can choose from restaurant-wise- I have tried countless new things here.
• The public transportation here is so efficient you don't need a car.
• The distinctly different neighborhoods and cultures make it feel a lot larger than one city. In one day, I can walk to my tram stop in Little Vietnam, get to the city in 20 mins for work, eat lunch at a gorgeous park next to the Yarra river, take a different tram home and work in an Austrian pub on a street known for outlet stores that is close to a few huge stadiums and a lot of good music venues, and walk home. Other nights, Regis and I can meet in Chinatown at our favorite bar for after work drinks, we can walk to Little Italy and eat homemade pasta, we can go to my favorite fish and chips shop in Port Melbourne by the beach, honestly the options are endless! We also live in walking distance to three breweries now!
• I did not understand it at first - but the coffee!! <3
• You aren't expected to own a house, get married, have kids, etc at a certain age (In Ohio these days, that # is somewhere in the ballpark of 25, which is asinine to me!) People here live their lives the way they want and it seems like there is not as much pressure about things that are your business. 
• To add to to the above, people here seem to enjoy life more - I would imagine because people follow the rule I've always had - work to live, don't live to work! People were pretty career-obsessed in Charlotte, which is fine and all, but at the end of the day, it's your life.
• I feel SO safe here. It is quite normal, even as a female, to walk around the city or go on runs alone. The only time strangers really approach me is to ask for directions, which I'm happy to give. Also, there are no guns here so that's pretty cool too - I've come a long way since playing the game "is that noise gunshots or fireworks?" in Akron!
• My job is realllllly good - I actually pinch myself sometimes now because I don't mind going to work (okay, I did mind today because it was about 80 degrees out, but you know what I mean) - it is so weird to me that I like my job. The people are really laid back and I have a huge impact on my company which is something I have never had working in huge corporations. I've also been tasked with planning all of our social events, which is basically my calling in life apart from bartending and marketing, haha.
• Our new apartment is still amazing - having a huge kitchen is sweet!
• The summer here can't really be topped - and I love having the holidays when it's nice!

Things I find weird

• Most of the Australian people I have met do not seem to appreciate how good they have it here! They really take for granted they have four weeks of paid leave a year, free healthcare and superannuation, which is where your employer pays 9.5% of your salary on top of what you get paid into a retirement account. It's really crazy - they assume every country does that and are shocked to learn people in the US don't get any guaranteed time off the way people here do!
• I honestly have no idea why people eat Vegemite - it is probably one of the more appalling food items I have tried to date. The funny part is, when you tell someone here you don't like it, they insist that it's great, but you're just trying it the wrong way. I have tried it three times now, and each time was gross, so hard pass haha.
• I still struggle with the slang (please watch that linked video, btw - hilarious) sometimes - you can usually understand by the context of what is said in the sentence, but it can really throw you off at times. 
• Not sure if there is crack or something in the chocolate, but I have seriously never seen people eat so much chocolate as they do here, haha. Like, A LOT of chocolate is consumed here!
• A lot of people I have met here have never been to the US or met people from there. Their only exposure would be in movies/TV, so a lot of the times it's assumed that the way NY/LA are depicted is how people grow up. Sometimes I feel like I have to be extra nice to people when I meet them so they don't think everyone from the states is an asshole haha. No pressure, right? I have actually been told by one of my friends that they didn't think they would like anyone from the US until they met me, which was a pretty huge compliment!

Things that are annoying / things I miss about home compared to here

• This is probably due to growing up in a place where the weather is total crap, but people here seem pretty "meh" when it's nice out and almost seem like they avoid being outside. Regis and I were talking about how it is in Ohio - basically you can have a nice day, then it's not guaranteed to be nice again for a few weeks at a time sometimes, so you are almost programmed to make the most of nice days. People here will go to the movies or go shopping on nice days here and it's so weird. You will see me at the beach!
• There seems to be a national shortage of both ketchup and ice here. You have to ask for either item if you go out to eat, and about 50% of the time, you will actually have to pay for ketchup!
• $13 for a pint of beer. No explanation required here.
• I always wondered what people meant when they would say "nanny state" when I was first here, but I totally get it now. There are SO MANY rules here and the fines are pretty steep if you get caught not following them. A great example is I assumed bike helmets were only required on streets, but found out by getting yelled at by a police officer that they are required at all times, even if you are slow and on a pedestrian/bike path. 
• It can be hard to make friends with people that are from here. A ton of people in Melbourne grew up here, so they have friends from childhood and aren't necessarily trying to branch out. The majority of my friends here are other people that have moved here from somewhere else
• The level of customer service here sucks - people don't really care about that at all. A great example is when we got our keys to our new apartment, we were not able to get in the front door. The real estate company would take hours to respond via email and were not apologetic at all. They insisted we must not be opening the door correctly and it took three days for them to even acknowledge it as a problem. It turned out they had not given us the proper key to get in. Were we refunded any money or compensated for being inconvenienced? Did they apologize for us not being able to move for three extra days? Haha, no because that's just how everything is here.
• Stuff in general is pretty pricey - groceries aren't bad, but any clothing/makeup/etc is usually about twice what I am used to paying. Also, hair appts are appalling - I think the norm for a haircut here is about $100. Don't ask how much it was when I bleached my hair and got it colored purple a while back :(
• If I could have two stores from home exist here, hands down they would be Trader Joe's and Express. 
• TURKEY BACON. Luckily a co worker found they sell it at Costco, so looks like we are getting a Costco membership in the near future! 
• It's weird constantly feeling foreign. Like, no matter how long we live here or what we do, we will never not have accents. Just strange/unsettling to think about at times. Sometimes it gets annoying getting asked where I'm from/why I'm here when I'm not feeling super extroverted!

Anyway, I think that's a pretty decent brain dump for today - I am so tired. It's almost 10pm and I haven't relaxed since I got home from work! 

I'll leave you with something insightful I read the other day - "When you move abroad, you are never truly home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place." -Miriam Adeney

Until next time, guys. Here are some photos!

I have business cards!

our awesome back patio!

brekky!

bike ride season! (no helmet again - whoops)

Regis and his "dirt scooter"

Hello, Richmond!

Hopefully it's the last time for the foreseeable future, but we have finally found another apartment and moved! We officially live in Richmond as of a couple of weeks ago.

My dad thought that meant we moved to Virginia, but that is not the case (when I googled to be a smartass, turns out there are a lot more places named Richmond than I was expecting!) We moved a few kilometers north-ish of where we were currently living, which can be a quick drive in the middle of the night, an hour drive in peak hour Melbourne traffic (seriously) or a bus or tram ride away from our old spot in St Kilda:

The blue dot is us!

We are technically a bit closer to the city, but my commute to work is about 10ish mins longer because of the tram being a bit slower - I am so fine with it though because our new place is awesome! It took us about six months to find an apartment we were both happy with, and it was an extremely long, disheartening and drawn out process. I wrote a blog post when we were first here about how it works here - it is so much different than back in the US. I went to several open houses that were during work hours thinking it'd be sneaky and about 20-30 people still showed up to them! We ended up outsmarting the system and going to an open house that only had shitty pictures on realestate.com.au (basically the only way you can find somewhere to live here) - no one else showed up and the place was so nice, so we ended up getting it!

We have a giant kitchen, a garage and a little back courtyard now! It's a really nice layout, we have both been wanting a townhouse for a while and it was pretty hard to find one that was reasonably priced and not super far from the city, but we did it! The real estate process is such a pain in the ass, so hopefully we are here for a while!

We also decided to treat ourselves and buy a new fridge that dispenses ice. I find it hilarious that ice is basically non-existent in Australia - I joke around with Regis that there must be a shortage of it because if you get a drink anywhere, no one puts it in your glass. Now we have endless ice at home!

We haven't been up to much exciting stuff - since you can only take leave here if you accrue it, we haven't had leave in forever and won't till probably Christmas because we both started new jobs. I'm dying to go somewhere - I still haven't been outside if Victoria yet! We're going to Sydney at the end of October for a three day weekend, which I'm super excited about.

I went to a hula hoop retreat about a month and a half ago, which was AMAZING. I had so much fun - I am so used to being the weird friend that hula hoops, so it was super cool to meet other girls that do it too and learn some new stuff. We stayed in a buddhist temple in the mountains, and it was really peaceful. There were tons of cool workshops and we did yoga every morning. I want to start going to more stuff like that - it really put me out of my comfort zone but I got back feeling like I picked up so much and made some new friends out of it too! I met a couple new instructors I really liked too - I had so much fun learning from one of them, I signed up for her course - at the end we are going to be performing, and also filming a music video - stay tuned for the link in November!

We also took a fun little weekend trip with our friends to Torquay - it's a town on the Great Ocean Road. We stayed at a cool Airbnb and played cards and ate way too much good food! On the way home, we went to Little Creatures Brewing and did a tour. It was cool learning about how they make all their stuff - bold statement but I think Regis makes a better pale ale!

brewery touring

Other than that, we have basically just been getting used to our new apartment and neighborhood. I ended up picking up a 2nd job bartending at a cool little pub down the street. They serve Austrian food and beer - I basically just go there Wednesdays after I work at my office job till about 11pm. It's only one day a week, and it's nice to have a reason to get out of the house during the work week. It's also cool to meet new people and I'm definitely not complaining about a little extra cash. This past weekend I filled in for someone though and I am absolutely exhausted - so you are lucky to be getting an update from me! ;) I am going to be helping out with their marketing stuff in the near future, which I'm pretty excited about and they even told me they would be interested in serving our beer once we get the proper licensing and stuff - so good opportunities lie ahead!

My main job is going super well too - I have never had the luxury of having a job I choose till this one - and it feels so good to actually enjoy going to work! The company is really great to work for and the people are really nice. There are a lot of small cultural differences here I find really entertaining - every Friday afternoon we all have beers together in the breakroom, which absolutely would not fly back in the states! There is actually a bell they ring at 4pm on the dot, which is code for "stop your work for the week - it's beer thirty!". I've brought a couple of ours in too, which have gone down really well. Another really great thing my company does is pay for the office-based team to go on a team-building trip for Christmas every year. They pay for flights, accommodation, food and whatever activities the team ends up doing - so unheard of to me! This November, my team and I are going to Daylesford, which is a fancy spa/winery area. It should be pretty fun.

Well, I am half asleep and our new spa tub (it is GLORIOUS) is calling my name - so until next time, here are some photos - happy first week of spring!

-L

Torquay Beach

Torquay Beach

Friends!

New Job(s!) and Some Cold Weather Updates (Plus a Gumbo Recipe!)

Bet you thought I wouldn't have waited over two months to update this thing! I basically turn into a really unmotivated grouchy person when it gets cold, so forgive me. I've had friends from home make fun of me for pretending to be cold (it drops to about 45f here), but if you were living somewhere that's mostly unheated for the entirety of about a 4-5 month season, you'd be pretty pissed off and lazy too! 

Yes, that is frost.

How to survive winter here - Step 1: Eat a lot of pho

I actually have some pretty awesome news from both Regis and myself - we both have new jobs as of about a month ago! Super funny how it worked out, but we ended up receiving job offers within 30 minutes of each other on the exact same Friday. Regis had been looking for a bit, and he finally got what he was looking for. This is his fourth week as a suspension engineer and he is really liking it - if he ever provides an update, he can brief you, but I am 90% sure he is thrilled to be working with cars again!

To be honest, I hadn't been really looking that hard, but I was trying to figure out what my next step in my career would be. All of my jobs since college have kind of just happened by chance. The first real job I had in NC was because someone basically hired me out of the bar I was working at and I just kind of moved around from there! I really loved the job I had when we left, and it had been a really good fit for my skills.

We moved all the way here for better job opportunities, so I decided it was time to get serious and start looking at job descriptions of positions in marketing/advertising that sounded interesting just to start training up on my own. I ended up finding one that sounded REALLY cool, and just applied assuming they would never call me - they did, and I somehow ended up getting it!

Current level of joy about my new job: 10/10

Pretty funny story, but the owner of the company said they were looking for someone easygoing that was open to learning a lot of new stuff and helping with a lot of random projects (it's a pretty small company), plus he was impressed that I brew beer! So long story short, I'm a marketing specialist now, which is the first job I have had in the six years I've been out of school that actually lets me use the stuff I learned. I didn't have to dye my hair a fake color or pretend to be someone I'm not to get hired, and it makes me so happy. This is my third week, and it's been really good so far. I've gotten to get back into using InDesign and Photoshop, which has been awesome. I just went to our end of financial year conference (EOFY is the end of June here), which was at a winery almost two hours out of the city. It was freezing out there, but a great experience. I'm probably going to offend some people, but I really just can't get into wine, guys. An aperol spritz is about the most wine I can get into.

Cleveland Winery - Lancefield, VIC

Anyway, the job stuff is about the only major update I have. We've still been looking for another apartment, but it has kind of been on hold while we adjust to our new jobs and commutes.

I have really been missing the hell out of my friends lately. I'm sure it sounds ridiculously stupid, but I always worry about being forgotten about like the old saying - out of sight, out of mind. A few of them have been messaging me on a regular basis to check up and I have even skyped with a few of them a couple times recently, which has helped SO much. My friend Brianne asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding a couple weeks ago while we were chatting, and I'm pretty excited to say I'll be back in OH next summer (July!) to be there for her! Hoping to squeeze in some other visits too and possibly a music festival! Please shoot through any music festivals worth going to that happen in July, and also let me know if you want to join! I'm going to try to get my siblings to come, since they haven't experienced one yet.

Before I get into my recipe, I want to recommend a good cooking show for literally ANYONE - even if you think it's hard or you can't get into it. These are 20 min episodes and Regis and I have been binging the F out of it because it's both entertaining and the dude is hilarious. It's called "It's Suppertime" - please go to this link and watch an episode ASAP! The program is Canadian, so pretty sure the only place you can find it is online at the moment. I'm making the eggplant parmesan sometime this week and cannot wait!

Anyway, since we are on the topic of unhealthy food, I am going to drop a recipe for gumbo today. I worked at a cajun restaurant as a server/guacamole maker/doodler/pizza maker through a good chunk of college and had never had cajun food before then - I'm proud to say I've been hooked since then (Thanks, Brian!!). In my tradition of not using specific recipes and just winging it after reading a couple blogs on google, here is my variation.

All of you hardcore meat eaters will hate me, but I usually make this with tofu sausage. I don't really eat pork, because it grosses me out - I did, however, suck it up this time around and use chorizo. Traditionally, you're supposed to use andouille, but since this is Australia and not the Southern US, beggars can't be choosers. Another note I'd like to add is gumbo is usually made with shrimp in it - I don't like the leftovers tasting super fishy, so I usually grill it separately with olive oil and cajun seasoning and just use it as a topping. Feel free to do whatever your heart desires or even skip it if it's not your thing.

My last note is that the photo I'm using sucks - our lighting in the apt is horrendous, but I promise it will be delicious and comforting and you will be so proud of yourself once you're done making this.

F Yeah, Gumbo!

Things you'll need:

Soup pot/dutch oven
Whisk
Wooden spoon

For the roux:
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup canola or olive oil

Veggies/etc (chop ahead of time and set aside):
2 red bell peppers
3-4 cloves garlic
1 medium red onion
1 large red jalapeno
4 stalks celery (inc leaves)
a few handfuls of okra (sorry, I suck at measuring things)

Stock:
6 cups water
3 chicken stock cubes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
Cajun seasoning
Tabasco hot sauce (or whatever you like)

Protein (brown ahead of time and set aside):
1.5lbs/700g chicken thighs
12oz/300g of andouille sausage, chorizo or tofu sausage

Base/Toppings:
Steamed Rice (I use brown to feel like I'm making it healthy)
Grilled shrimp
Chopped green onions

Directions:

Please follow my instructions and chop the veggies up first. It's a huge pain in the ass, but you aren't going to have time once you start the roux because you have to be really attentive to what's going on in your pot. If you want to use rice as a base, it's also a good idea to throw that in a rice steamer at this time.

You will also want to quickly brown and chop up the meat before you start. It doesn't have to be fully cooked, because you'll get to that later. Do this in a large soup pot (the same one you will use for the rest of the process). Leave the grease and stuff in there, it will make the gumbo even better. I'd also recommend giving the okra a quick sear just for texture purposes.

The first, and most important step is making the roux. It's the base of this soup, and if you mess this part up, you will basically need to clean out the pan and start it over. My recommendation is to continuously stir this THE WHOLE TIME and ensure the flour/oil mixture doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pot. The first time I made this, I was really impatient and had no idea if I was doing it right, but it just takes about 20 mins for the magic to happen. My attention span is about 45 seconds, so this is one of the most challenging things you can ask me to do. It's worth it.

Start off by putting your soup pot (or dutch oven if you have fancier pans than me) on medium heat. Dump all of the oil in, and then once that is hot, pour in the flour. Whisk the flour, like, A LOT. Keep whisking it until you never want to whisk anything ever again. It really sucks, but it takes about 20 mins to brown to the shade you're looking for. Google told me to look for a color that is "a little darker than peanut butter" - so use that as your baseline. It will start to smell completely different and take on a thick, sticky texture.

When it reaches the color you're looking for, throw in the garlic and all of the other veggies listed except for the okra and switch to your wooden spoon. Cook all of this together for about 5 mins or until the veggies start to soften up a bit. You can then throw in the chicken stock cubes, chopped up meat and canned tomatoes. Make sure to incorporate everything and keep stirring.

At this point, your pot is going to look like a huge, gross mess. Keep stirring! Throw in a bunch of cajun seasoning and maybe 2 -4 tsp of hot sauce. A good rule for this is to start minimally if you're not into hot stuff - you can always add more later, but you can't take it out if you go overboard! I personally use a ton of cajun seasoning - shout out to my friend Jess who picked up some for me on her recent trip to New Orleans! :)

Once you have cooked this mixture for maybe 10 more minutes, add in your water. Add about half of it to begin with, stir it in really evenly, then add the other half. This is the point where your pot will start to resemble what gumbo actually looks like! Once everything looks good (no flour chunks), throw in the okra. Turn the heat up, and wait for the gumbo to come to a boil. Let it boil for maybe 5 minutes uncovered to start thickening everything up, then turn it down to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Once it is done, the base of the gumbo will be almost a thin, gravy-like substance. Serve it in a bowl with a big spoonful of rice as the base, and top with sprinkles of chopped green onion and a few pieces of shrimp.

YUMMM.

Anyway, I should probably head to bed - I always forget how long it takes me to get these posts up.

Since Cheryl Strayed seems to have gone down well with you all a couple posts ago, I will leave you with another quote from her that I love:

"You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch yourself in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love."

Laci's Life Hacks for Not Going Crazy and an Excellent Enchilada Recipe

Every time I post a blog, I promise myself I'm going to a) nag at Regis to give you all a life update (he is too busy gaming) or b) update this myself more, but then every time I go to actually update this, a month or more has always gone by, haha. Figures.

We've recently had Easter, which consisted of us having a four day weekend (we brewed beer and grilled food) and not a whole lot else. 

Our newest batch - Hazelnut Brown Ale

I love the fall here, the weather is still pretty warm but the air just feels different, it's hard to describe. I know I relentlessly complain about Ohio, but autumn here will never beat fall there. I love the crunchy leaves, going to cheesy haunted houses and the halloween thing at Cedar Point, and listening to Alkaline Trio while going on night drives there and I miss it a lot sometimes - yeah, probably not the snow in October part, though!! Charlotte didn't really have a fall - not in the city anyway. I would notice the leaves changing from our very high up balcony, but the weather didn't change much.

Charlotte Balcony Views - 1/2

Charlotte Balcony Views - 2/2

Anyways Luke (my brother) and I had a chat recently and it doesn't matter where you live or what you do, during the work week not much changes, and adult life can be dull-ish. Right now Regis and I are just trying to save up money and time off so we can hopefully escape the hellishly cold and dark winter for a week or so around August. It's pretty nuts - it's actually cheaper to travel outside of Australia for a week than it is to fly somewhere else in Australia for even a few days. It'll also be nice because Regis is like never here because of his job, so spending time together will be nice. He is in BFE Western Australia right now.

Being alone for such long periods of time has allowed me to come up with some nifty things to make life a little easier - I think people call them "life hacks" these days. Anyway, here are mine:

1) Being home alone is not an excuse to eat a bunch of crap and not exercise - keeping a very regular exercise routine will make you feel happier and less lonely

2) Some grocery stores offer online shopping / home delivery - if they do, DO IT. I used to make fun of people that did this in Charlotte and thought it was extremely lazy, but it is so much easier than taking all the time to go alone, dealing with crowds, trying to figure out where stuff is, then lugging it all home (the grocery store is about a 1km walk away) and having to put everything away. Delivery to our apt door is free and all I have to do is put the stuff away. THE BEST! 

3) Adopt the "say yes" mindset. I could be a shut in if I wanted to, but generally if anyone invites me to do something, even if it's not my cup of tea or I don't know them very well, I'll go. It's a great way to make new friends, try new things, etc. I can't believe I used to be an introvert, haha.

4) Minimise TV- seriously. Sometimes when I have really crappy days at work and go home and just sit in front of the TV, I feel 10x worse. Use your time for better things. Cook something fun, read a book, go on a run, go on a bike ride, go get a beer somewhere if its your thing, whatever. Sometimes even if I just blast fun music and clean, I'll still be in a better mood than if I mindlessly watched TV. Try it :)

5) Get a dog. hahahahaha. just kidding, Regis says no. :(

Anyway, enough soapboxing from me, here's a fun recipe. I make it when I don't care about carbs, it's good in cold and warm weather so my US and Australia friends can enjoy it now! I never use recipes, so don't feel like you have to follow this to a T. I usually make these using whatever we happen to have, so shoot for the moon (then obviously tell me how they turned out!) I also used to buy enchilada sauce and started making my own here since it's not as available - best idea ever, highly recommended. Also if you have a couple beers and snack on chips and salsa the whole time you make this recipe, I won't tell ;) 

How to make awesome enchiladas!

Things you'll need:

For Filling:

Protein - I usually use ground beef, ground turkey or beer stir fry strips - feel free to sub out tofu, zucchini, or whatever though!

Steamed brown rice (only if you're feeling super carb-tastic)

Spinach

Bell Peppers

Taco Seasoning

A couple big spoonfuls of below mentioned sauce

For Sauce:

1 can of plain diced tomatoes

1/2 can of black beans

3 cloves garlic (don't worry about chopping!)

1/2 a red onion, chopped into big chunks

2 jalapeno peppers** 

1 habanero pepper**

**PLEASE use your own heat tolerance to decide this. I do not want to be the cause of your death if you are kind of a heat weenie!

Toppings/Other

Low carb whole wheat wraps (These are my favorite in the US, but whatever size/variety works)

Shredded cheese - whatever you prefer (I use mozzarella)

Plain greek yogurt

chopped tomatoes

avocado

Directions

Steam the rice before starting this if you are going to use it!

Start off by chopping up the bell peppers and sautéing them in a large frying pan. Once they are soft, add in the protein. Monitor this while starting on the enchilada sauce - also preheat the oven to about 200C / 400F right about now:

For the sauce, add all ingredients into a saucepan and simmer for about ten minutes. Once the onion looks soft, turn off the heat and let everything cool off for about five minutes.

Sauce Ingredients - Right Before Adding Tomatoes

Get the meat nice and browned, then add the taco seasoning. If you live by a Trader Joes, use the stuff you can buy there, it's the BEST, and if you're feeling super nice, send me a few packs :) Turn the heat to low and go back to your sauce. 

This is the part where I tell you to do something you probably shouldn't do - I use my blender to make soups / sauces while all the ingredients are hot - I recently read somewhere you shouldn't. I recently bought a nice-ish commercial grade blender because of this habit I've adopted and I'm confident with it, but if you have a food processor, probably use that!

Anyway, carefully pour the contents of the pan into your blender, and continually use the pulse setting until everything is a nice, consistent sauce. You will need to taste it and probably add a bunch of salt and maybe a small handful of cilantro if you have it, then blend a bit more! Pour it back into the pan, or into a big measuring cup. Take a few really big spoonfuls and put them into your meat/protein so you have a nice filling. 

Now for the fun part! Line a rectangular baking dish with some olive oil, then start making your enchiladas! Warm your wraps/tortillas, then one at a time:

1) Add your meat filling and rice (if you made it)

2) Fold by either rolling or using the method I learned at my first job which was at Taco Bell (holla!)

3) Set it fold-side down in the pan

Pre-Saucing

Keep doing this until you run out of tortillas, toppings, or space in your pan. Then, take the remainder of the glorious sauce you made and pour it all over the top of the enchiladas. Top with several handfuls of shredded cheese, then bake for around 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce looks nice and bubbly. Make sure the cheese doesn't brown!

Once you take them out, serve with whatever you want. I like a couple spoonfuls of plain greek yogurt, a couple chunks of avocado and some tomatoes. You won't even need hot sauce making your own enchilada sauce! Enjoy :)

YUMMMM.

Regis hates black beans and probably just found out he ate them earlier this week, hahaha - sorry Regis!

Goodnight from the other side of the world, I'll leave you with a photo of my new pink hair that is not awkward at all for working in an office!

-L