Author: lauren

I Come from a Land Down Under

KW and I had planned to go to Australia and New Zealand this December, because we will have enough frequent flyer miles to do so after this coming weekend’s trip to the Bay Area. However, Kenny called Continental this morning, and there is no more availability for flights to Sydney or Auckland — they apparently become available 338 days in advance, and they go fast. Fortunately we can’t really kick ourselves for not being on the ball here, since we didn’t have enough miles in time anyway.

We’re still casually looking into getting tickets without miles, but it turns out they’re a bit spendy. In the meantime, we’ve also started thinking about other vacation spots. The big contenders right now are Thailand and Argentina/Chile/Easter Island. I’m compiling a bit of information about each of these choices, and I’ll post some of it after I get it all formatted and pretty.

Deebra or Zonkey?

I can’t get enough of this stuff:

It’s male. But what is it? A zonkey? A deebra? That’s the debate in Barbados since a zebra gave birth to a foal sired by a donkey.

Alex was born April 21, a milk-chocolate brown creature with the black stripes of a zebra on his ears and legs. His face looks more like a horse, with a distinctive black “V” patch on the forehead.

Deebra or zonkey?

Awesome.

Hummus

I am a fan of this hummus recipe on Epicurious. However, this makes a monstrously huge amount (and, in my opinion, doesn’t call for enough olive oil or garlic), so I like to adjust the proportions:

  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cans TJ’s organic chick-peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/3 cup well stirred tahini
  • 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste
  • 1/3 cup olive oil, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted lightly

This is still rather large, but is easily cut in half if one desires.

Yummy Tahini SauceTonight I discovered an even easier way to make this, using “Tahini Sauce”. This is also found at my favorite store, TJ’s. The sauce already contains tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil (note that the sauce is pretty yummy on its own too, although I prefer hummus). You’ll still need to add a bit more of each of those ingredients yourself to get the taste just right. Here’s what I used tonight:

  • 3 tablespoons Tahini Sauce
  • 1 can TJ’s organic chick-peas
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 2 cloves of garlic

This came out pretty good, and was a reasonable amount for 2 people to actually finish in a few days. :)