Aussie candies

I was writing a few note cards and such this afternoon, and as I was jotting on a postcard for one particular friend, I remembered that she had gifted me with some Australian candies and that they were sitting on the table nearby.  Time to try them, I realized.  I needed to thank her, and I wanted to thank her from a place of actually having tried them.  So, I tried them.

The easy one first.  We have Life Savers over here, but fruit tingles? 

Imagine something a little less sour than a Sweet Tart but similar in texture.  Lightly fizzy, too.  I liked these but I need to try a few more flavours to see whether there is much difference among them.

The challenging one second.  Stephanie warned me that these might be just so, but since she and I both like candies that are chalky in nature, she wanted me to have some.  Musk sticks. 

Start with the colour, which is very pink indeed.  The texture was a little chewier than other chalky candies.  It's the flavour, though, that is, well, wow.  SUPER floral, musky, perfumed.  It's a lot.  And they are sweet.  That said, I can see the appeal.  They're curious enough that I had a second, and I am sure to go back to them again some time.  I can't imagine eating too many at once, though.  Quite a candy!

It's Saturday afternoon, and I need to get ready to head downtown with Van.  I'll do the weekend report late tomorrow or on Monday.  Have a good rest of the weekend there! 

Chicago, quickly

Wednesday morning I did not head to work, no.  It was Burbank Airport for me. 

A flight to Denver, and then a flight from there. 

Final destination:  Chicago.

Look, I love Chicago.  Yes, I was a little tired and kind of peeved

by the transient person smoking on the Blue Line, but I love Chicago.  I always appreciate any chance to visit.  But one day of meeting (that could have been a Zoom!)?  Come on.  Make my long trip worthwhile.

Enough griping, though.  I am in my favourite USian city, far and away.  What even comes close?  Nothing.  And how is this for adding to that feeling:  a welcome bowl of junk food in my hotel room. 

I shan't say how much has been devoured already.

Yesterday morning, after a choppy night of sleep, started out with a good walk with a friend. 

Chicago was kind of socked in, and we had a lot to catch up on, so I didn't grab photos, sorry.  But a welcome walk after a day on a plane.  I put on my official bow tie (insert eye roll emoji),

and headed off for the meeting.  We were done by 3:00.

And then it was a relaxing evening.

I met a former boss of mine for dinner at Purple Pig. 

It was nice to see him, but bittersweet.  We all diminish with age, I know.  I'll leave it there.  The restaurant - his suggestion - was unfortunately loud, but the food was good.  I savoured the confit turkey leg,

and I can only wish that my US Thanksgiving turkey in two weeks will be as tender.  And then back to the hotel with me to grab a boulevardier at the hotel bar and call it a night.

I can't wait to go back to Chicago, for longer.  Please.  But I will be glad to be home as we draw closer to the holidays.

Rockets

No, sorry, my USian friends and family, not Smarties.  Rockets.  A whole big bunch of them to put out in a bowl at the library for the students these early weeks to help themselves to.  They were put out on Tuesday at lunchtime.  I wonder how long until they are all gone....

Enchanted Forest of Light

Hey!  So, I've been out sick this past week.  No, nothing dire.  A cold. A bloody cold.  And I'm still at least somewhat plagued by it, which should make flying overseas in a bit under 24 hours from now a real joy.  Ugh.  Ah well.  I will do my best to stay cheerful and snot-free.

I've mostly laid low this past weekend, missing out on Conrad's office's holiday party on Friday night and then a friends' party last night.  Van and Olive did come over yesterday to provide some company, but mostly it's been reading and listening to Christmas music.

We did get me out of the condo today, though.  A walk to Starbucks this morning - easy enough.  But this evening we headed for an early dinner in La Cañada Flintridge and then on to Descanso Gardens for the Enchanted Forest of Light holiday light show display.  A lovely evening all in all.  I didn't get photos at The Proper, but it was nice to get back there after all these years and bring Van for the first time.  Meanwhile, it was my first time at the gardens, and I know I need to get back there in daylight and when more is in bloom.  For tonight, though, the light show was enough, augmented by a little candy floss!

Some photos from the Enchanted Forest for sharing, then.  I'll try to blog whilst overseas this coming week, even brief postings.  For now, enjoy the photos from tonight!

reasons to love WF

I love my neighbourhood Whole Foods. Oh sure, there must be a ton of reasons to rail against them - they are a big company, I know.

But gosh darn it: soft licorice.



Peter = very happy.

29

Thank you Iowa!

Going by my friend Geoff's rules on what constitutes visiting a state (or province, or country), I am now up to 29.

The rules:

• Must leave the airport
• Must do one of the following:

1. use a lavatory
2. eat a meal
3. sleep overnight

Almost two weeks ago now (!!), I got in the car and hauled myself (and another librarian) across the flaaaaat expanse of Illinois, stopped for a delicious lunch, drove over the Mississippi, and on in to Iowa as far as Iowa City. A small conference, a presentation to be made. Not at the University, mind you, though I got a bit of a look at what seemed to be a handsome campus.
No, I mostly stuck to the small area around the hotel on my one night stay.


I wish I'd seen more.

That said, I will credit Iowa for this: New Zealand soft licorice in the store. I was so very tempted to by up all the bags!

Darth! Heidi! Niles!

First in a cluster of blog postings to appear in the next day or two, most of them related to the recent weekend in Michiana. Ah, glorious Michiana. Home of many strip malls, as we learned. The stretch from South Bend, IN, to Niles, MI, is replete with them.

But never mind, for Niles is also the home of friends: Darth and Heidi.

Yes, you wonder, I know: what sort of name is Darth? A nickname, of course. Darth is better known to our library school classmates and others by his real name, Conrad. But that, as you may guess, gets to be confusing in conversations among the four of us. Whether he approves or not, he is Darth, and Allison will back me up on this one!




Given the schedule of wedding events and things going on with Darth and Heidi, we had to settle for a quick visit with them at the library in Niles, catching up on our personal events, wishing for a future longer visit together. Funny coincidence: Darth is taking part in a community theatre production of Escanaba in da Moonlight, a play of a movie set in Conrad's (my Conrad's) hometown. Yooper jokes popped out for a minute or two.

And then we had to leave Darth to his work (Heidi, by then, was en route to Ann Arbor). At least he gave us a must-see/must-do in Niles recommendation before we left: Veni's Sweet Shop. Conrad and I had a little fun shopping in there, restraining ourselves somewhat. And, as a thank you to Darth, dropped off a little treat box with him from the shop before we drove on out of town.

Second NZ post: arriving in Christchurch

Whatever your deity, may he/she/it/they be praised! Our B&B - the Infinity Eden Lodge - outside of Greymouth not only has dramatic views of the Tasman Sea, but it also has wireless Internet! FREE! Freakin' A, man!

Alright, I'll settle down. And with a bottle of a sparkling white from Nelson opened and being enjoyed, that's not too difficult. Back to the early days in New Zealand, then, shall we?

If I go right back to the start, I'd have to talk about the flights. And then I'd have to moan about the delay in Chicago, the understaffing of the Air NZ desk in LA with the resulting tight connection, and the lengthy wait for bags in Auckland, again resulting in a tight connection. Eh, it happens. And anyway, we made it here, right? So focus on the good. As mentioned, Air New Zealand Business Class was luxurious. Seats that fold out into flat beds with comforters and pillows provided? Dozens of movies and television shows on demand? No brainer. I watched The Queen and Volver, and I have my eye on a few other fun movies for the way back. Oh, and Jeph? I caught up on Heroes, so spoil away in your blog or by e-mail. Ray Ray, if you read this, you will get a kick out of knowing I also got to watch the makeover episode of ANTM from the season with Jade! What a hoot! Tasty food as well, by the way.

We checked in to our hotel in Christchurch late on Friday morning and soon set off walking. The hotel was nice, kind of interesting. Slightly gay. Slightly shopworn. In a modest section of town but within easy walking distance of everything. I kind of liked it, though if I were truly objective, I'd say it wasn't the best. Still, we did benefit from the fragrance of the restaurant dinners wafting up into our bathroom. We had lots of room as well. Points off for being able to hear the snorer in the adjacent room. Points added for the outstanding braised pork belly we both dined on last night. FXK, you would have liked it muchly as well - so tender, and a satisfying portion.

Though it was kind of scattered cloud when we arrived in Christchurch (and Auckland, where we changed planes, was quite sunny), the blue skies disappeared through the afternoon. Happily for us, the daytime temperature was comfortable. We wandered around the Cathedral Plaza, ate a lunch of Moroccan chicken at The Boulevard restaurant on Oxford Terrace, and poked about in the Arts Centre. How fatigued were we? Fatigued - and loopy - enough to go on a tour/demo of fudgemaking.

You know, it was kind of neat. I could have done with a little less jokey selling of the products because I was genuinely interested in the fudge itself. And it was fascinating to see the process through. Also, we got to taste a heck of a lot of fudge. A bit too much fudge. A salt lick was what I needed after that!

On the way home we poked about in the Arts Centre studios and shops some more, and we saw what we think may be one of the best modern buildings we've seen in some time: the Christchurch Art Gallery. Though we went inside, we only wanted to look at the design of the building, not see the exhibits. Impressive and beautiful, especially with the sky reflected in it.

I wish I had a bunch of photos from our evening activity to share. Last summer, a librarian from Lincoln University outside of Christchurch came to visit my library one morning. It was good to make that connection, and nice to run into her again at ALA Annual in New Orleans. I contacted Lyndsay before our trip, and she invited us to dinenr on our first night. Even more fun, what she took us to (and I'm sorry her husband couldn't join us) was the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. There we enjoyed a Maori interpretive show (and Lyndsay got called up to join a line of women for one part of it involving a traditional Maori toy - that was quite funny, really, and I hope she thought so), a buffet dinner, and then a trip into a birdhouse when it was darker so that we could see kiwis. Real live kiwis. The first time I saw one of their ivory bills flash in the dim light, I thought it was a tongue, like on an anteater. Fascinatingly ugly little birds, and I thought it a real treat that we got to see some.

And then it was home and soon to bed. We were tired, and not unreasonably so!