So hungry I could eat a horse!

Cindy's father normally does most of the cooking in their household but he's been unwell so her mother has had to step up to the task. Cindy and I thought it'd me nice for us to contribute by cooking at least one meal so Cindy nominated Pachista, one of her favourites from my repertoire. Google comes up with nothing when I search for it so I guess it must be an Allan family recipe. It's just mince, capsicum, noodles, béchamel sauce and paprika in a casserole. (You dirty a lot of different vessels but if you know how to make white sauce it's not that hard.)

This time was slightly different. As we were buying the ingredients, Cindy said to me, "We always have it with beef mince. Why don't we make a French version this time and make it with horse!?" (Actually, it might not have even been phrased as a question. I was informed that it would be a horse pachista and the next thing I knew Cindy's mum was back from the market with a packet of horse mince.) Actually, horse is not difficult to cook, it looks and smells just like beef. The taste is not much different; less than the difference between beef and kangaroo. So I made the rest as I normally do, mixing the paprika into the white sauce and putting some Parmesan on top.

Cindy tucked in, hoping the horse would make it better than usual; I just pretended it was beef. But Cindy's parents reacted with trepidation. I don't know how I managed to scare French people who I constantly see eating all manner of liver derivatives. But after they realised that it was in fact a good combination they liked it.

Now I can say that not only have I had horse meat served to me, I've also served it to others.

My Amygdales are Killing Me!

When I need to guess a French translation of a technical word, I usually just say the English word with a French accent and change the ending a bit. That doesn't work with "tonsillitis", tonsille is only used by doctors.

They don't have anything like Betadine gargle or butter-menthols (these don't exist in America either, so I had no reason to expect them). Not every home has aspirin, for the same reason that you can't get iodine gargle, it's gone out of fashion. Apparently they're "not allowed" ready access to aspirin any more because of the side effects. I don't know whether this means a prescription or just behind the counter but it strikes me as weird having just come from America where they really do sell it in bottles like in the movies. At least paracetamol is called that here (unlike the US where it's "acetaminophen").

What they do have is pine sap lollies; yes, pine sap. Well, they do have a medicinal taste. They also have a strange lozenge that is made from Vichy water minerals. I dunno, that name just shocks me whenever I see it.

The Haul

Last night we stayed up until after midnight so we could open our Christmas presents ASAP, as Cindy's family always do. I had already picked out for myself a nice Bluetooth mouse and the first two seasons of my new favourite comedy.

But there were also a few surprises that had some cultural significance. Cindy's parents got me, among other things, a napkin ring with my name on it. The French still use cloth napkins more often than we do so they usually have their own named napkin rings and, for anyone who spends any time in the South, it'll be made of olive wood.

Cindy's brother lives in the east of France, not far from the headquarters of Lacoste. They came in laden with very chic crocodile-emblazoned boxes for everyone. I got a nice pair of socks and a cap (which I might need on our trip down to Morocco).

When we were in Belgium earlier this year we had a few meals with a couple of Cindy's cousins. Well apparently they remembered what we were drinking because I also received a boxed set of Belgian lambic beers. I don't normally like beer but this brand, Mort Subite was very good when I tried it in Belgium. As well as a fancy balloon glass, the set has two different cherry beers, a raspberry and a gueuze.

Noël vs Christmas

Some of the things the French do differently at Christmas:

This is the nativity inside Notre Dame cathedral. Look at that surprised look to see no baby in the manger. That's because the French don't put baby Jesus in there until midnight Christmas eve. But that just leaves us asking why Mary would be staring at an empty manger full of hay...

Similarly, the three wise men (always "three kings" in French) are not placed too close to the stable as they don't arrive until 6th January. That date is the Epiphany and the French mark it with a special pastry cake filled with almond paste. There's a trinket baked inside this Galette des Rois, some little ceramic figurine that some people collect. Whoever gets that prize gets to wear a cardboard crown (it's nicer than the paper crowns we get in our crackers).

And, in Cindy's family at least, they don't put the presents under the tree until Christmas eve. For them all the presents are supposed to be from Father Christmas, so there's no reason for them to be there any earlier nor do they put a "from" name on the tag. This is bad news for me because it means I don't get an opportunity to poke, prod, rattle and sniff my presents before the day!

It's not stockings here, it's clogs. Under Cindy's tree there's two pairs of clogs and four boots. The point is the same, that's where the presents were left, traditionally. They do have the occasional stocking, particularly in the touristy shops but Cindy insists that this is an exotic Anglo-Saxonism.

There are no Christmas cards. But there are end of year cards. So you get an extra week before they count as late.

Marché de Noël

This afternoon Cindy and I went into Paris to go to a Marché de Noël. I got to cross a few things off my list.

On the way we stopped to pick up a few things and while Cindy was queuing I saw that that department store that we were in sold Pierre Hermé macarons. I had heard all about this particular chef who puts inspired combinations of flavours into his macarons but was worried when I heard about the crowds at his shop. You've already guessed that they're expensive, so I only bought two: white truffle and hazelnut; and milk chocolate and passionfruit. They were very good but I'm not going out to spend €24 on a dozen.

Then we walked down the Champs Elysée, fighting our way through crazy crowds to get to the Christmas market. Every tree on the Champs Elysée from the Arc de Triomphe down to the Place de la Concorde was lit up with fairy lights and fluorescent tubes with moving lights inside. There was also a ferris wheel in the Place de la Concorde but we didn't go on it.

I was a little surprised that it wasn't just Christmassy stuff. Of course, some stalls specialised in Christmas decorations etc. One was selling just santons. While all these figurines are meant to go into your nativity, only about 10% of the ones on display were Christmas related. I still haven't worked out why you need a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker to fill out the scene; maybe it's because the three wise are arranged somewhere else, they don't arrive until 6th January. I looked for but could find a caganer, which is a shame because Mum's nativity really needs one.

But there was also all sorts of arts and crafts, and regular commercial products from French companies, like art deco bidets!

Of course there was the usual French street food like crêpes and waffles for sale as well as winter foods like mulled wine. While Cindy was pigging out on roasted chestnuts I tried a canelé, something else I'd heard about but never tried. It was pretty good too.

It's going to be a White Christmas

When we arrived in Paris it was snowing a little. Not enough to stop the plane from landing but enough to slow the cars on the highways. Cindy's parents were there before us so we left as soon as we got our bags but it took us about 3 hours to drive back to their place.

The Jet Set

Abstract:
Cindy and I were upgraded to Business Class between Washington and Paris. It was fantastic!

Long version:
Cindy and I have been doing a lot of travelling and were pleased when we earnt Premier status with United earlier this year. This doesn't change much but it means that you get to board the plane sooner and if there's space in Economy Plus, you get upgraded for free. I was a bit excited about this the first time we got it coming back from Australia. Then we realised that Economy Plus just means 2cm extra room. It's imperceptible sitting up but when everyone pushes their seats back that little bit does make a difference.

Then we found out about domestic upgrade credits. Because Cindy had flown enough miles after earning Premier status, she had a number of credits on her account with which she could request an upgrade on a domestic flight. We were kicking ourselves that we hadn't used this last time on the flight from LA to Indy but we figured that we'd try to use one for the Indiana to Washington leg of this flight. There was a bit of mucking around trying to get her to sponsor an upgrade for me (we paid separately so we were on separate itineraries) but it turned out that only she was on the waiting list.

We were even more disappointed when we reserved our seats for the long trans-Atlantic leg and couldn't get any in Economy Plus. I mentioned this when we checked in our bags and she had a look but said that it was full, leaving us at the very back of the plane. There were enough paying First Class passengers on the flight to Washington that Cindy didn't get off the waitlist. But that didn't matter because on a flight of one and a half hours they don't feed you so it makes no real difference.

When we got to Washington we had to rush a bit to find the gate. They were still using those bizarre shuttles to get between terminals. They started boarding just after we got there. We went up but when Cindy handed over her boarding pass there was a negative-sounding beep and a red light. But they didn't stop her, they just handed her a different boarding pass that had already been printed. The same thing happened to me. As we walked down the ramp checking to see if we were still seated together, we realised that they'd put us both in Business!!

The first thing you notice is the size of the chairs. As you can see from the pic, there's a leg-rest. We spent the first 15 min working out what all the buttons did. There was electric lumbar support and under that button another with a cycle symbol. That slowly hardens and softens the back, forcing you to change your position slightly and stopping you from getting bed sores. The only problem is that it's a bit too strong, I could only take it for a few minutes at a time. Every seat has its own screen but on a 777 there's only a 8 or 9 film channels to choose from.

We also got a pencil-case sized pouch with: an eye mask, socks, ear plugs, toothbrush and toothpaste, a pen, tissues and a moisturiser.

Yes, they do bring you a glass of champagne before take off and offer you a choice of newspapers (French and American). Then for the aperitif after take-off, alcohol is free, including things that can't even be bought in Economy, like Glenlivet single malt, which I ordered. Cindy had a Kahlua and milk; when she asked to keep the little bottle, the stewardess replied, 'This one's empty now. Here, have a full one.' The same thing happened later when she ordered a Baileys! Yes, all drinks come in real glass glasses. And instead of little sachets of peanuts, we got little ceramic bowls of warm mixed nuts. They tasted much better warm, or maybe everything just tastes better when you're sitting in Business!

For dinner, it was much better quality and there was more of it. They gave us a big printed menu and took our orders well before; then they laid out white linen tablecloths on every tray and gave us real metal cutlery wrapped in linen napkin. There was salad (Cindy got my cherry tomatoes and olives) and a smallgoods and raw vege entrée. For main I had braised beef and potatoes gratin while Cindy had a spinach lasagne. For dessert we both had tiramisu, which they served with port.

Here's a picture of the breakfast. A raspberry yoghurt came soon after.
Cindy said that it was the best day of our lives. But maybe when we go back to Economy we'll think that it was the worst day of our lives!

More Ice Cream Flavours

And I thought pumpkin scones were bad! Well, the name says pumpkin but the pic suggests that it's actually pumpkin pie flavour. Now that I'm getting used to pumpkin pies I find this a little less shocking. But, still, pumpkin in ice cream!?

Snow

Woke up this morning to see a thin layer of snow outside. We're expecting a high of +4˙C today.

American Ice-Cream

When I was preparing to come to America my friend Lisa, who had lived in New Jersey for a year, told me that one of the things that America does better than Australia is ice-cream. That's partly true; I certainly wasn't disappointed when I came here and discovered such ingredients as chunks of cookie (sic.) dough and mini peanut butter cups. The only flavour I miss is boysenberry (which is ironic, given that boysenberries were first cultivated at Knott's Berry Farm in California).

Then I saw this at the supermarket:

I'm not sure what to think. Americans seem to like crunch in their ice cream. They have a lot of nuts and occasionally chunks of cone mixed in (or even chocolate-coated ice cream cone fragments). But popcorn!?

Crazy American Food -- Thanksgiving Special

Americans eat a lot more Turkey than other countries (it is native to North America, after all). When they cook it themselves, they like to get it right; they always use meat thermometers and have a paranoid fear that stuffing will give them salmonella. This leads them to cook their turkeys for a long time but they hate when it comes out dry so they're big in to basting. Still, there's only so much you can accomplish by taking pan drippings and squirting them over the top of the bird. If only there were a way to make sure the meat inside stayed moist...

Yes, that lump on the side is a syringe. It's a bottle of buttery marinade that comes with a syringe to inject the fat into your turkey. Yum!

In other news, we're having Thanksgiving dinner with some friends from Cindy's department, other international students. Should be an interesting mix: one Chinese, two Columbians and a heap of Serbs, who've been sending us emails in Cyrillic. (So I'm looking for a joke that starts, "A Serb, a Croat and a Bosniak walk into a bar...")

Baconnaise

Not much has been happening for me lately but I'm always learning little things about America. Many of these encounters happen in the supermarket, so I decided to start taking photos. This will be part of an ongoing series.

Episode 1 - Baconnaise:

Actually, this one can't be found in normal supermarkets, we had to get it from Amazon. No, we don't really want to eat it but we've seen it on The Daily Show so many times that it seemed we just had to take some to France to shock those Continental Epicureans. We haven't even tried it but I'm quite disappointed with the description - it's kosher and vegetarian! What's the point?

But I do like the blurb on the jar, the creators used their prize money from America's Funniest Home Video to make "everything taste like bacon".

I've been to cities that never close down...

Cindy and I spent this afternoon with my new friends, the Australasian Association of IU. The international centre here put on a World's Fair and we had a stall. They were still looking for decorations when I went to my first meeting with the group last week so I volunteered Cindy's stuffed toys. We ended up taking a huge number of toy marsupials as well as a full-size didgeridoo and a very classy beach towel with a map of Australia on it. The group president declared proudly that our stall looked like a gift shop and I reiterated that it belonged to Cindy, not me.

Each stall was giving out food from their home country but I shouldn't have got my hopes up on hearing that our group had given the caterers a recipe for sausage rolls. The recipe we gave them was too vague so we ended up with American "Italian" sausage (i.e. pork with lots of fennel or aniseed) cut into discs. It wasn't bad, the Americans liked it. But maybe that was just by comparison with the Vegemite that we were also forcing them to try! So there was a few hours of passing out food and we got to try some food from the other stalls too.

Most of those international student groups are quite big and some gave musical performances. There was an interesting central-Asian drum group and an Afro-Cuban ensemble that gave me bad tinnitus. The highlight was troupe of Indian dancers. They were wearing bright costumes, holding batons, dancing in circles weaving in and out and generally having a fun time. I don't know whether it was the good rhythm of the music or the super-animated dancing but they had us all mesmerised and got fantastic applause at the end.

Talking Bob Dylan Blues #3

Bob Dylan was in town again so Cindy and I went to see him last night, the third time for each of us. This is what he played. (Including five songs from his most recent album, which is about three too many seeing as it's his worst since Under the Red Sky. But I suppose when you tour as often as he does, you have to keep updating the set list.)

What's more, Tom Waits was in town too. Bob invited him on stage to sing a song. Unfortunately Tom sang just one verse by himself, no gravelly duets. Still, it was enough to remind me of this video:

J'aime bien Tarzhé

We changed the clocks back last night so this morning Cindy and I went to Target bright and early to stock up on cheap Halloween lollies. (We also noticed that TIm Tams were on sale, so we ended up buying a ton of chocolate!)

But the best bit was at the check-out when I asked her to put them in a reusable shopping bag and I got a 5c discount! Apparently now Target gives you 5c off the total for every bag you bring yourself. It obviously doesn't cost them that much to give out plastic bags so I'm impressed with a PR exercise that might actually help the environment. I doubt that this carrot will work as quickly as the Australian stick approach but it's less likely to produce a revolt from liberalist Americans.

Cîndy the Activist

One of the things I had to give up when I came to America was political activism. When I was working and had spare time I quite enjoyed talking to pollies: letting the baddies know that they're voting the wrong way and getting the goodies to table petitions in parliament. But I can't get involved in American politics, not being a citizen and not having the time.

However, Cindy has stepped up to the mark and become involved in campus affairs. For a long time we've both been bothered by the fact that the campus's smoking ban is being flouted regularly. After contacting campus police, various deans and the provost (≈vice-chancellor) Cindy was invited to be on the IU Tobacco- and Smoke-Free Campus Committee. She's been going around taking photos of people smoking in front of signs and asked them questions (it turns out that some international students with poor English just haven't read or haven't understood the little "Tobacco Free Campus" signs on every door).

So when she was at the first committee meeting (in a very formal boardroom, with big high-back chairs) it was Cindy who said, "Let's not wait for reports on the state of things. Let's start talking about what we've already seen on campus and plan a course of action." She's very happy that the provost is enthusiastic about the problem too and not likely to dither. E.g. we've been asked to report any professors seen smoking on campus to the provost!

They're Back!

As promised in their countdown, Pepperidge Farms have brought Tim Tams back to America! Cindy and I went to Target today and bought a couple of packets of Original and Caramel but they didn't have any Dark Chocolate in yet. Still, there was a spot on the shelf for the dark ones so we'll have to check back later.

23rd October
I can now confirm that the port-based Tim Tam Slam works best with dark chocolate ones.

Strangely, it's being reported that Pepperidge Farms employees are not allowed to publicly discuss the Tim Tam Slam. We already told our friends about it (including the Brazilian guy who'd already encountered Tim Tams).

More Hayfever

Last week I had another couple of bad hayfever days so today I went to the doctor to get some advice. I'd been to the university Health Center a few times before but this time I noticed something different - most of the people in the waiting room were wearing masks! The weirdest thing is that this didn't surprise me all that much. Indiana has become a bit paranoid about swine flu, to the extent that they're telling students not to go to the doctor and spread the disease if it's a flu and telling teachers not to demand proof of illness when they miss class. But the people wearing masks didn't seem all that sick, some were playing board games while they waited!

It was only then I discovered that they have a full pharmacy (not just prescriptions) which is run not-for-profit so my anti-histamines and decongestants cost me only $3 all up.

21st October
Those anti-histamines don't actually work that well for me, so I guess it's not such good value.

Mooncake Festival

Yesterday was the Chinese Mooncake Festival. I'd heard about it before in Australia (lots of signs up around UNSW every year) but it was only when I moved to the northern hemisphere that I realised that it's an autumn harvest festival.

So one of our Chinese friends invited us to her place for a little get together. (Actually, being poor penurious students we first went to campus and scored a free Chinese feed courtesy of the Chinese Students Association.) We took along a bottle of French cider (sounds autumny) and a packet of TimTams. Before we even got inside a Brazilian guy who was joining us said, "TimTams! I know what those are. I ate tons of them when I was in Sydney and brought back many packets to share with friends." So he was very pleased to hear that they will be coming to Target in the near future.

But the thing that attracted the most attention was the hat I wore. Yes, I wore the Chinese cap Mum and Dad bought in Hong Kong, the one with a queue. When they gave it to me I had no idea how much Chinese people would love it! I got a great reaction last time I brought it out, photos were taken. And this time we got similar enthusiasm from another couple of Chinese and other assorted international students.

Noise

We've been disturbed by our new neighbours' music for a few weeks now. They must have fantastic subwoofers because we can feel the bass through the floor. Sometimes it continues after midnight when we're just going to bed so I've been meaning to have a talk to the landlord, ask what they think is a reasonable hour.

Then last night we were awoken at 2.30 am by bass coming through the floor. It was enough to wake us both up but I really didn't feel like getting out of bed, so I rolled over and eventually managed to get back to sleep. But then it happened again at 3.30! That was enough to get me up. At first I had trouble believing that anyone would have the audacity to try that in an apartment building so I looked out the windows to see if it was coming from one of the party houses, but the bass was clearly coming through the floor of the bedroom. So I put on some clothes and went downstairs.

I rang the doorbell and heard conversation inside, "Hey, did you hear the doorbell?"
"No, there couldn't be anyone calling." I rang again repeatedly. After more discussion a young guy opens the door and asks, "Is the music loud?"
"No, I'm selling magazine subscriptions!" is what I should have said but I was too tired for sarcasm. I explained to him that I didn't want to call the police because I know that they don't give warnings, just fines, and asked him politely to look at the time in future.

I wonder how long the contrition will last.

Unfair Privileges

Remember when school mothers' and fathers' day stalls sold books of vouchers for kids to give their parents? There would be vouchers for "one free car wash" and "one free massage". I think there might have also been things like "one day of no arguing with siblings".

I recently signed up for a rewards program at our favourite restaurant, TGI Friday's. As a welcome gift they sent me a few vouchers. There were normal ones like "free dessert with purchase" but there was one that struck me as a bit strange -- "One time jump the line pass". (Incidentally, although American computers send documents to be printed to a queue on a server, they never use the word "queue" for people, it's always "line".)

It's true that there is often a wait to get a table there on Friday or Saturday nights, so I understand what motivates this. But there's still something about this offer that strikes me as wrong. It's like saying, "one free evening of inconsiderateness." We won't be using that one; I wouldn't want everyone else staring daggers at me while I eat.

Censorship in America

There's something a little strange about America being a bastion of free speech and simultaneously a nation of prudes. Before getting pay TV here I never realised that this irony plays out in the fact that their movies are full of swearing but TV is censored. (I also see a big problem with the fact that depictions of violence are fine any time but swearing and sex are not. But that's not just America, that's the West in general.)

The thing is, you don't notice how much swearing there is in a movie until you watch it on TV and find that half a sentence is hushed out and you can't follow the plot. (Yes, swear words are sometime key-words in action movies.) Unlike Australia, it has nothing to do with the time it's shown, swearing is hushed even after midnight! I looked into this and what I found was even more surprising: 1. Profanity laws only apply before 9 p.m. and 2. They don't apply at all for pay-TV. So why do (almost) all networks stop swearing all the time? Because apparently the advertisers demand it. (I think the only exception is HBO. Maybe some other premium channels.)

Here comes the funny bit - there are certain words that are ok by themselves but not in longer forms; "damn" is ok but "god-damn" has to be censored, "ass" is ok but "asshole" has to be censored. Guess what they do! They don't bleep or hush the whole word, they make it "***damn" and "ass****"! One word they don't bleep but over-dub comes out as "mother-lover"!

And they blur out raised middle fingers. I kid you not.

13th September
Apparently they even cut out foreign swearing. We're watching Matrix Reloaded and they cut out the best bit. Here it is:

I have sampled every language, French is my favourite - fantastic language, especially to curse with. Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperies de connards d'enculés de ta mère. You see, it's like wiping your arse with silk, I love it.

The Rhythm of Life

The days are getting shorter and everyone in Bloomington is gearing up for a new academic year.

About a week ago people started moving back into town. The streets were filled with moving trucks and the dumpsters overflowed with empty boxes and junk. Yesterday there was something called a "freshman induction" ceremony. (I dunno, I guess it's the opposite of a graduation? I'm not sure why they need it when those students just had a high-school "graduation" with full academic regalia.) The town was so full of parents that the police put out a notice saying that we should treat it like snowy weather and only leave the house if absolutely necessary!

I was a bit worried when I saw someone moving into the apartment below us with a pair of guitars and an amp. I think he set up the bass in the room below our study because my desk trembles when he plays.

Allergies

After four years living in Bloomington, my allergies have finally caught up with me.

When I lived in Sydney I used to get debilitating allergies a few times a year. So bad that most antihistamines would barely make a dent in the sneezing, weeping and runny nose. I think it was some sort of pollen allergy because it was worse in the suburbs than in the city and it was seasonal.

Coming to a town called "Bloomington" worried me a little. There are a lot of blossoming trees here but somehow they never bothered me. Not until this year. A few months ago I had a couple of days of sneezing but was able to chase it away with an antihistamine. But today is worse, two antihistamines and I'm still excreting copious amounts of mucus.

I'm not too sure how allergies work but I suppose I've become sensitised to something here that wasn't around in Australia. What I have to wonder is whether I'm still allergic to whatever it was in Australia or if by not being exposed I've been desensitised. I'd be great if I were now only allergic to North American flora and could just go somewhere my new allergies can't find me. But if my old allergies were still waiting for me where ever I had been, I would soon run out of places to run.

Sometimes abuse does get you places

It seems that someone at Pepperidge Farms read my abusive letter, or at least added my email address to a list. I just received an email telling me that they'll be back as soon as October (but for some reason they'll remain seasonal, available Oct-March every year). I guess this means we'll be able to eat the stash we brought back from Australia.

But we'll have to continue rationing the fancy-schmanzy varieties. This year they're going to introduce a dark chocolate variety to the US (as well as the plain and caramel) but I have to assume that Black Forest and honeycomb flavours will remain scarce for a few years yet.

Humidity

It was hot and muggy when I woke up this morning so the "air conditioning" has being going all day.

I'm just about to step outside so I checked the weather. It's currently 29°C - a bit hot - but the "real feel" is 40! That's how it feels when the humidity is 79%. It's going to get up to 32°, at which point it will feel like 42.

There'll surely be a big thunderstorm this arvo, hopefully not when I'm trying to walk home.

(Still, this doesn't mean that I'm looking forward to winter!)

Satellite TV

We now have over 150 channels. (Most of them are rubbish, but there's about 10 good ones. Much more than I had before!)

Since moving to this apartment we haven't had any TV reception because the little indoor area couldn't pick up anything. But then when we renewed our lease the landlord explained that the rent increase would include cable TV. Being economical uni students we asked if we could just opt out of the TV and save a few bucks. She replied that we don't have to use the TV connection if we don't want it but the price is the same. Well, if I'm paying for it!

So we now have a very fancy digital decoder that gives us hundreds of channels. They wouldn't give me a second box for the bedroom but this one has both RCA and coax outlets so I've set it up so I can watch the little TV in the kitchen while I cook.

I was all excited to be getting BBC America; I had seen it advertised in the intro to various DVDs I'd seen here. But now that I have it I see that, apart from BBC World News, there's just hours and hours of Gordon Ramsay. I did enjoy his shows for a while, it made me reminisce about when I worked in a restaurant, but there's only so much you can watch a chef yelling and swearing at people before it gets boring.

Indianapolis

Cindy wanted to see Harry Potter again in 3D, so yesterday we took a drive up to Indianapolis to see it at the IMAX.

Having gone all that way we had to do a few other things while we were there. There was our usual trip to IHOP:

It was a tropical theme this month. We had a choice between pineapple upside-down, banana macadamia or strawberry passionfruit pancakes.

But we also went to a couple of interesting grocery shops. We had been to Trader Joe's before. They have really good quality food for much cheaper than from a normal supermarket.

This was the first time we had been to Cost Plus World Market. They stock a range of foods from other countries including Australia and the UK. There's still plenty of TimTams left from our recent trip to Australia so we only bought one packet. I was looking forward to getting some Bundaberg Ginger Beer but they had run out (apparently it's quite popular and they run out often). I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had Robertson's Golden Shred marmalade - the same sort that was confiscated from me at Glasgow airport! They also had 250g blocks of Cadbury's but were charging $6 each - not worth it.

Car Troubles

The switch for Fenry's brake lights has broken. Instead of the lights not working, they're on all the time. I guess on is safer than off, but it also discharges the battery.

We got a jump start from AAA at about 6 pm last night but when I thought about getting it fixed today I realised that the battery would just go flat again overnight. So I had to drive the car to charge it, turn it off, then unhook the cable from the terminal. It's not very convenient having to carry a spanner everywhere but it makes a decent kill-switch.

But it seems I got off lightly. Only $40 for the repair and I used one of my $10 oil-change vouchers at the same time.

La vie française

One of the ways I've been spending my summer is continuing my French.

I've been getting together with some other students from HPS and Philosophy to read some philosophical texts in the original French. (We had done something similar last summer but it's a bigger group this year and we're sticking to the task at hand much more this time.) Most of the others are beginners who are just learning to read (not write or speak) French. It's good for me to be forced to go through the text properly, where I might have just skimmed it and misunderstood the tricky bits if I were reading it on my own.

Also, the guy who organised our French table has moved overseas and left me the job of sending out the weekly announcements. (Cindy had done it before in his absence but when he critiqued her verbose messages she told him to give the job to someone else - me.) Last summer there were a few weeks when very few people turned up (maybe only one apart from me and Cindy). So this year I've started advertising through the university's online classifieds. It's been pretty successful, there's be a few new people come as well as enough of the regulars to keep things going.

Potter Madness

Yesterday Cindy and I bought our tickets to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We had heard that there would be a midnight session Tuesday so that we could watch it the day of its release (Wednesday) but when we went to buy our tickets there were none left for the 12.01 am, we had to get tickets for 12.13 am. In fact, that one has since sold out and now we see that the first six sessions are already full and they're selling tickets to a seventh midnight showing.

By the way, don't tell Cindy what happens in the movie, she hasn't read the book yet.

Update 1 - 7 pm, Monday night
The seventh screening is now sold out. They haven't added any more; I suppose they don't have any more prints to show.

Update 2 - Wednesday
The movie earnt $22.2 million in midnight sessions alone! That's a new record for midnight screenings, The Dark Knight only took $18.5M.

American Names

No, I don't mean names like Randy, Larry, Grover or all those misspelt Stevens. I mean "How do names work in America?" It seems a silly question as their names would seem to work the same way as ours - they don't have patronymics or surnames first - but by talking to Americans I've come to realise that they think about names differently.

The most common custom, which most people would have noticed:

• Rather than Hillary Clinton née Rodham, Americans prefer Hillary Rodham Clinton

I had assumed that this was a double-barrel surname without a hyphen. But I recently discovered that this is not always the way. Apparently many married women move their maiden name into the middle name field on forms. That's good to know. If that's the case, I guess that means I should put books by Mary Boas Hall next to her husband Rupert Hall in my bibliography. (But where does that leave things she wrote before she was married?) Still, I'm not certain that that's always the case.

Hearing that a friend of mine had two friends have done just that with her name, I started wondering how they can just shift a surname into a given name field. Apparently the distinction is less clear here. I think it might stem from the fact that use of the mother's maiden name as a middle name is more common here. But here's the strange thing, they both gave up their existing middle names in order to make room for her maiden name in the middle name box. I asked why she didn't just keep both but she didn't really understand because:

• Americans don't have given names, they have first name and middle name (and ne'er the twain shall meet)

When I mentioned the given names box on forms, they said they had never seen that. I think most of them have heard of multiple given names but don't really understand it. (Not that I love the idea either; it strikes me as a bit of an affectation but the concept is not foreign to me.)

I think that this is partly the cause of another phenomenon that I noticed early on:

• Americans are rarely interested in the whole middle name but they do want to know your middle initial

It seems a little strange that they don't care about the letters that come after. But this leads to another phenomenon peculiarly American:

• Some Americans have no middle name, just a middle initial

The most famous example being Harry S. Truman; Herman B Wells is another. (This leads to all sorts of debates about whether to use a full stop, as there's nothing to abbreviate. Truman usually added one so the punctuation is considered part of his name.)

Oh, oh and I must say something about ordinals. It's not just Jr and Sr! We've all heard of these Americans with "comma Jr" because they're named after their father. (I don't think I've ever met an Australian who used "Junior" in such a formal way, just one who used it as a nickname. It always seemed to me that most Australians named after their fathers use their middle name, which some Americans do too.) But here's the real difference:

• Junior and Senior can be part of your legal name (will appear on government-issued ID)
• They also use Roman numerals. You can be John Thomas Smith IV in America.

That last one always makes me laugh. "Where are you king of? Or are you a pope?" I'm not sure why they feel the need to give the exact same name or keep a track of how many there have been but forms allow for it so Americans take advantage of the opportunity. (H.L. Mencken already remarked on this but apparently the practice was just starting when he was writing in the '20s.)

Happy 5th of July!

Our plans for an Independence Day BBQ got rained out so we did it today instead.

I've mentioned before that fireworks manufacturers in America try to stir up patriotism for 4th of July celebrations. This results in some of the most ridiculous fireworks, like a tank that rolls (a short distance) and an "Exploding Bin Laden Noggin". Naturally I had to buy these two. My American friends don't buy into the jingoism but seeing me get excited about this made them want to enjoy them ironically. So we used the tank to set off Bin Laden. I didn't capture the moment but here's a video of someone else who bought the exact same sort:

Exploding Bin Laden Noggin Firework - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Minnesota

I spent the last week at a workshop/conference at the University of Minnesota (a Big 10 rival of IU).

All US airlines are charging to check luggage on domestic flights so I travelled light, only taking a cabin bag. That meant I didn't take a camera but here are some photos that I would have taken:
Minneapolis is on the Mississippi River. This is one of the nicer bridges, just for pedestrians and bikes now.

The river was strong enough for mills to be built here. One of the flour companies is still going strong, Pillsbury. This building on campus is named for them:

Folwell Hall is where our sessions were.

Bob Dylan started his musical career in "Dinkytown", the student quarter of Minneapolis before moving to NYC. He lived in this building when the ground floor was a pharmacy and upstairs was flats:

Grand Marnier

Today we went to the Grand Marnier factory. (They don't normally let small groups take the tour but they put the four of us with a bigger group of oldies. So it was enough, and it was free.)

First we heard about their products and the basics of the production process before taking a tour of the factory. We saw the bitter orange rinds they use for the flavour, the machines for processing them and the vats for maceration. They showed us the stills for extracting the orange flavour (and cherry, for their other liqueur) and had us smell the different fractions of the distillation. Apparently the good fraction is 90-92˙C (cooler than that is the orange oil they sell off as cleaning product).

We got to see all the huge oak barrels for first ageing the cognac, then ageing the mixed liqueur. That cellar smelt really good!

And finally they gave us free taste tests! We got to try their Cherry Marnier and vanilla Navarn liqueurs; they were ok but not worth the price. Then they gave us some of the Louis-Alexandre Grand Marnier; it tasted not much different from the standard Cordon Rouge, so not worth the extra money (30€64 /700mL vs 19€21 for Cordon Rouge). But lastly they even let us try the super-expensive Centenaire Grand Marnier (41€41); I could taste the difference with that one but I'm not prepared to pay twice as much for it, I think I'd rather have twice as much of the Cordon Rouge!

The only one we didn't get to try was the hyper-expensive Cent-Cinquantenaire (84€06). Cindy wants to go back next time we're here so maybe they'll offer us one then.

Belgium

We arrived in Brussels Tuesday night where we stayed with Cindy’s aunt.

The next day her cousin took us on a tour of the city. We went first to see the Mannekin Piss, a fountain of a little boy urinating. I had heard about it before but didn’t realise that he’s usually dressed for some occasion. When we saw him he was wearing the uniform of the Barcelona soccer team because of an upcoming match. They must have just dressed him because there was a crowd standing in front, holding a banner, singing something. After lunch Cindy’s other cousin took us to see the lesser-known counterpart to the Mannekin Piss, the Jeannkin Piss -- a more recent fountain of a little girl squatting. Freud would have a field day with Brussels!

We went to the building of the European Parliament but you can’t go into the chamber. There was an info office providing literature on the EU in all its languages so Cindy took a copy of the EU charter of rights in each language.

Cindy insisted on having lunch at Quick, a European version of Maccas, mainly because it’s so famous in France for being Belgian. It was slightly less greasy than Maccas and the burgers came on whole grain buns but it was still fast food. That evening Cindy’s cousin’s boyfriend asked me (in French that sounded like Dutch) if I had tried real Belgian pommes frites yet. He was horrified when I said, “Not really, unless you count Quick,” and proceeded to tell me about his friends who own a friterie and do it all by hand. I asked him about the mayonnaise thing and he replied that you can have ketchup or any number of other sauces and rattled off a list of creamy sauces, “Tartare, andalouse...”

He seemed to know what he was talking about so when he suggested we have dinner in Leuven we let him lead us there. Leuven is a very beautiful city, reminiscent of Florence with its restaurant-filled piazzas connected by cobbled streets.

Polyglot Families

After leaving Germany we went to stay with Cindy’s cousins in Holland, on the Meuse, near Nijmegen. In fact their house is on a flood plain surrounded by dykes. They have a big gate in the middle of the front dyke so they can drive up to the house so, when they hear that a big flood is coming, they install in that gap huge bars of aluminium with rubber in between, which apparently keeps the water out.

Cindy’s cousin is French but married a Dutchman so the whole family is bilingual. And because both of them work jobs that require some English and the kids also learn English at school, so they’re almost trilingual. Then the eldest daughter (20ish) explained -- in perfect English -- that she’d picked up German by having a German room-mate and spending time with her friends. Then I really started to feel that my language skills pale in comparison to people who grow up in northern Europe.

I found it a bit strange to be in this environment with so many choices of language. It was perfectly normal to hear the kids switching between French and English to talk to me (as this is what happens at French table all the time) but I also had an experience that I had heard bilingual people talk about. At one point Cindy’s cousin came up to me and asked, “Did you succeed in getting your computer onto the network?” I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong with this question. It was obvious what she meant because it was not long before we had been talking about it but then I realised that she’d asked me the question in English whereas I had only ever heard her speak French up to that point!

Aix-la-Chapelle

After leaving Luxembourg we crossed (through a little bit of Belgium) into Germany where we stayed in the town that the Krauts call Aachen and the Frogs call Aix-la-Chapelle. I don't know what to call it but it was a nice town.

I thought we were going to see Charlemagne's grave but it turned out to be his relics. They had a stone sarcophagus where he was originally buried but it was empty. Apparently he was canonised a couple of hundred years after he died (news to me) and so they opened up his tomb and pulled his body to bits. That's reverence for you! His arm and his leg were in special boxes with crystal sides so you could see them. Apparently his skull was inside the big gold bust. And it wasn’t just bits of Charlemagne and his personal effects, they had quite a collection of reliquaries. They had a piece of Jesus’ sweat-rag, Mary’s belt and rib bones from famous saints (Peter, Paul, Stephen). I found the whole thing a bit macabre but that's mediaeval Catholicism.

I was a bit worried about travelling in a country where I didn’t speak a word of the language (except what I’ve learnt from Hogan’s Heroes). Cindy took German in high school for a couple of years (but has forgotten almost all of it) so I had her teach me the numbers at least. She was able to read the days of the week on a few signs but apart from that we were without any knowledge of the language. We found that, even though we were very close to the French border, the Germans of Aachen were not very good at French, most of them preferred to speak English.

After an abortive attempt to get an authentic German meal at a pub with a frazzled barmaid, we found a restaurant that had lots of flags in the window. There we were even able to ask questions about the dishes as the waiter knew the words for most things in English if he didn’t know the French word. I had the Nuremburg sausages with saurkraut and it was pretty good (there were caraway seeds in the saurkraut). I’ve realised that cabbage can be edible if it’s cooked in beer or wine or something nice.

Luxembourg

On the 15th we left Paris and drove to Metz (pronounced "mess") in Lorraine, on the Moselle. We had a walk through the park there and saw their canals.

We then moved on to Luxembourg, where we spent the night. There we saw the grand-ducal palace and some old caves where people would hide in war time. I started off thinking that it would be some tiny micro-state because I had only ever heard of it in conjunction with the BeNeLux confederacy and had heard something about there still being a Grand Duke. (It’s anachronistic enough to still have a king or queen but dukes-regnant are far more exotic!) Yet I found that it’s a bit bigger than it sounds: there are actually a few separate cities there with some space in between and it takes a few hours to drive across the whole country (that’s normal; it is Europe, after all!).

We ate a couple of meals at a fête that seemed semi-permanent; it seems they eat quite a lot of sausages and the Luxembourg speciality is potato pancakes with apple sauce, just like those Ashkenazi ones that I forget the name of.

Summer Travel

Cindy and I are in France visiting her parents again this summer. We arrived yesterday morning and will be here until the 29th.

Our trip here went quite smoothly. A friend drove us up to Indianapolis and we stopped at IHOP for a late lunch. This month's special is strawberries, as you can see from the crêpe.

Our short connection time at Cincinnati was no problem. We had an Air France flight number but it was actually a Delta flight. Cindy complained about the French announcements over the PA but I thought they were lucky to get any announcements in French on a Delta flight. Like most US airlines they don't serve alcohol for free any more, even on international flights. Except, I assume because they were carrying Air France passengers, that you could request wine with dinner for free.

We didn't see anyone wearing surgical masks but there was mention of swine flu. When we got on the plane they explained that the French government wouldn't let anyone disembark until everyone on the flight had filled in a certain form. The strange thing was that the form didn't ask where we'd been, just where we were going, so that they could get in touch with us if someone else came down with swine flu. (And at the airport I noticed that the gendarmes were carrying automatic rifles, presumably to shoot anyone they see cough.)

After a siesta we went shopping and picked up all the things on Cindy's list, including huge quantities of dairy products and some cider to try before we commit to buying a case of anything.

This morning we went to the market at Houilles, the neighbouring suburb. Cindy and her mum left before me because I got up late and was still eating breakfast (French style). I wandered over there, not really remembering the best route but seeing familiar landmarks. I promptly stumbled upon the market and started wandering through. Before long I saw Cindy and her mum walking towards me. They seemed slightly relieved because they didn't know where I'd been, telling me that I should have taken a mobile phone. I had told Cindy's dad where I was going and he had called them to tell them to keep a look out. I wasn't worried because I'd left my trail of bread crumbs but they weren't so confident.

Career Change

So for almost a year now I've been enrolled in a master's program through the Philosophy dept at the same time as the PhD though HPS. I had the opportunity to apply for a teaching position with philosophy this semester but I was already booked to teach my own undergrad class in HPS, so I didn't. But then yesterday I got an unsolicited offer to lead the discussion sections for an ethics class in the fall semester (September – December) this year. Again this time I'm already scheduled to teach my HPS class (for the third time) but for some reason the specific offer got me thinking that I should consider it.

I had a meeting with my committee yesterday afternoon and so I asked them, just at the end, what they thought of the idea. They both immediately yelled, "Take it!" I continued speaking, saying how I had already made a commitment to teach in this dept and they said again, "Take it!" Apparently HPS is very happy whenever anyone gets work somewhere else because it means they'll be able to offer my position to someone else who needs it. The only hurdle was that my class has been advertised because it's about Darwin and the university has been running a "Themester" for his bicentennary/sesquicentennary. But I derived no benefit from it being advertised like that and the Director of Graduate Studies was certain that they'd find a replacement.

In one way this other job might seem like a demotion - leading discussion instead of lecturing. But in every other way it'll be better. It will be a good career move to get a little experience teaching something different in another dept, particularly philosophy (I like to teach both philosophical and historical classes but had I done the Darwin class again it would just be more history, when it's philosophy experience I need more of). It will be about the same number of hours work but it'll be less stressful. And it pays about 25% more! In fact, I might even be earning a little more than Cindy next semester!

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

A few months ago Cindy and I were at a used book sale (the annual Monroe County Red Cross book fair) on flat rate per bag day. I noticed a number of textbooks that I recognised from taking French for reading knowledge classes. As it was a flat rate for as many books as I could fit in the bag, I picked up some of these books, thinking it would be worth trying to sell them on to the campus bookstore. They didn't want to buy them a few weeks ago but told me to come back during exam week. When I did they still didn't want one title and another had actually dropped in value. Still, I've managed to sell three to people in my dept. I charged them less than I would other students but I've still made back almost what I paid for all of them. I still have 3 left but I've contacted the instructor for the first half of the summer French class, asking her to tell the students that I'm selling books cheap.

Hopefully the next project will work out even better. Cindy and I were talking about how she loves French cider but not American cider very much. We managed to find some French cider at the international grocers but it was the one she likes less (brut, she prefers doux; I'll drink either) and it was selling for around $12. Cindy's parents found this surprising as there it retails for €1.25 for the cheap brand or €1.40 for the good stuff. So I said something like, "If it's so much cheaper in France, we should bring some back duty free. It's just a shame that we can only bring 2L into the USA between us, which is only two 750mL bottles." But then I started wondering, "What happens if we exceed our duty-free limit? How much would the duty cost?" It's a little complicated because you have to pay a percentage of the value as duty but also federal and state excise taxes on alcohol. But to bring a case of cider back to Indiana should cost less than $5 in duty and taxes. So our plan is to buy a case, check it like a suitcase (with "Fragile" stickers) and pay the duty. If all goes according to plan, we'll get a dozen 750mL bottles of Cindy's favourite cider for about $25. Fingers crossed.

Summer Work

Good news: I've found some work for this summer and next.

June this year I'm going to a workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We'll be developing history of science teaching modules for high school science teachers.

Next summer I'll be going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I've won a fellowship with the Chemical Heritage Foundation and will be working there for two months, using their library and writing a paper (which should also be useful for my thesis).

Update - 7th May
More good news! Along with my Chemical Heritage Fellowship, I've just been offered another fellowship from the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science. In fact, the Chem Heritage Foundation is a member institution, so I'll be spending a little more time as well as visiting libraries at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. They say that this one 'may be held sequentially with fellowships offered separately by PACHS member institutions but may not be held concurrently.' So I guess that means staying in Philadelphia for three months. I've heard that it's a nice city; I hope so.

Serving Sizes

Tonight we had dinner out with a few people from HPS and Philosophy. We took advantage of the nice weather eating outside at a little place without undergrads where the food's not too dear. After dinner someone suggested that we go to an icecream place called the Chocolate Moose, a Bloomington institution. Knowing that it was close, most of us walked and enjoyed the summer evening.

The Chocolate Moose is a small, free-standing kiosk, about 5 meters square with a high pointed roof with a sign with a moose on it. There's always quite a queue because the locals love it. It's not the best ice cream I've ever had but I don't mind going there because it's good value. Because of this I knew I wanted a small but I while waiting looked up at the cups they had on display. I thought that the largest looked like a pretty big soft drink but then I realised that the cup wasn't for soft drinks, it was for sundaes, "blizzards" and milkshakes. I read the sign and it said "32 oz"; that's 950 mL! (For only $4.20 when made with softserve.) And my "small" was 16 oz, 470 mL! I was quite satisfied.

Humble Pie

This week is my week for being told what to do.

Tuesday I had a class inspection for the first time. About a year ago they told the associate instructors that we would have to be observed at some stage. I was proactive and went to the professor who I thought was in charge of the course I was teaching but he said he didn't know anything about it. Then we hear again that we'd have to be inspected before the end of the semester, just two weeks away. I had already passed the fun part of the semester but managed to turn Tuesday's class into a pretty comprehensive lesson. I haven't received the report yet but he seemed happy enough with my performance.

Tomorrow I have to present my qualifying paper in front of the whole department. I've already heard from my two advisors that it has gaps and will need more work before it's accepted; I'm sure I'll get plenty more people wanting to pick holes in it tomorrow. My plan is to go in there describing it as a draft; hopefully that way they'll try to make most of the criticisms constructive.

Taxing Times

I just did my US tax return. Because Australia has a lousy tax treaty with the states I get no special treatment as a student (Cindy, e.g., gets to earn the first $5000 tax free). And worst of all, international students can't claim anything much as deductions (not books, fees or anything; not if you worked for the money).

So I have to send the federal government a cheque for $265.20. (Cindy has to send them 32c!) I'm going to get back $48 from the state of Indiana but that doesn't help much. I suppose it was the US government that paid me in the first place so I can't be too annoyed about having to give some of it back.

Warm Angry Rabbits

You can't get decent hot cross buns in America. They do have a couple of packets at the local supermarket but they've got a strange custard-coloured icing cross on top and they don't look too promising. And they certainly don't have chocolate one like in Australia.

So, last year I found a good recipe and had some success making them myself (having a bread machine helps a lot). Here's the recipe I use:

1 1/3 cups milk
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons yeast
4 tablespoons cocoa
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Put all ingredients except choc chips into bread machine on dough setting. (Add choc chips when machine beeps.) When cycle has finished, shape into buns and allow to rise in warm place. Mix a couple of tablespoons of cornflour with milk. Score buns with serrated knife and drizzle cornflour mix over buns. Bake at 190˙C for 20 min. Serve warm.

That's what I did last year. I'm finding other recipes on line that are telling me to glaze them. I'm not sure that's necessary for chocolate ones but I might try it.

Australia Studies 101

Today I gave a talk to some American student teachers about Australia. They are participating in a Cultural Immersion Project where they travel to another country for eight weeks where they teach in a local school. I knew one of the past participants who got a lot out of it (she wants to go back to Australia eventually) so when I met the coördinator and she asked me I was happy to help.

There were more parents in the audience than students (they're about 21 years old but American university students get babied) and the parents asked at least half of the questions. Maybe the preparatory course the students are taking is working because the only very stupid question I got was from a mother. She asked, "Do you need to get your money exchanged or do they accept US dollars?" As I was picking up my jaw from the floor she continued, "Because they're very happy to accept US dollars in Mexico."

Well, I've got nothing in particular against Mexico but I had thought that Australia was in a better economic relationship with the US than they are.

Bloomington Stinks!

Spring is finally coming to Bloomington. The town does live up to its name - the streets are lined with various flowering trees.

The first to bloom are tall trees covered in little white blossoms. The only problem is that these blossoms stink, really bad! Apparently they're called Bradford pears and they smell putrid, like something between rotting flesh and bodily secretions. If you're ever considering a tree to plant for blossoms, go for a prunus or a cherry, avoid the Bradford pear at all costs!

Success!

I read a review saying that the American ones aren't as good but apparently they're imported from Australia. I won't be able to do proper comparisons because I only have original ones from Australia and caramel ones from America - incommensurable.

At least they are giving Australia full credit for the recipe, which should lend it some cachet with an American audience. (Nevertheless, Cindy and I both strongly disapprove of their use of the word "crème". Yes, accents make words look prettier and more exotic. But if you're going to put the accent there, you can't pronounce it like "cream"; crème is pronounced "crem".)

An Open Letter to Pepperidge Farms

I was so excited to hear that your company had decided to market TIm Tams here in the US that I immediately told everyone I knew who had any connection to Australia, posted news on my Facebook profile for all the world to see and then rushed out to buy some from my nearest Target. But when I arrived there I was greeted with only an empty shelf where Tim Tams had been and apologetic staff. They told me that they had sold out and there would be no more shipments of Tim Tams to replace them. But it's only the 16th March, you're not meant to stop making them until the end of March!

Where are my Tim Tams, you bastards!?

I asked the stockist to ask his distributor again for Tim Tams and he said he would but he didn't sound too hopeful. Now I'm thinking of driving an hour to Indianapolis to buy out the supply of the nearest SuperTarget.

I think your promotion was a bit too focussed. I only heard about them at the end of the promotional period. If only you'd released them to normal supermarkets I would have noticed them (Target is not the first place people think of when they want cookies). A word of mouth campaign will only work if you give people longer than a few months to learn where they are or if you distribute the product more widely. Still, my Target sold out their supply quite early so I guess you could call that a success.

Please keep Tim Tams as a permanent item! Once Australians have realised that there is a steady supply and that they don't have to hoard them, there'll be no more secrets and they'll start telling their American friends to go out and buy Tim Tams too, then you'll see the sales shoot up. I'm sure they'll end up more popular than plenty of your current niche cookies.

Update - 18th March, 2009
Good news! The grocery manager at Target asked the distributor and will be getting me a few packets of "car-mel" TimTams this Friday (there's no plain chocolate ones left). With the double-pack from Xmas that I still haven't opened, this should last me a while. I won't be driving to Indianapolis for biscuits, although Cindy thought it was a good idea.

Better news! The distributor said that TimTams will be coming back to America in November. Mark your calendars!

My present's not present

Cindy thought it would be fun to hide my birthday present. She knows how bad I am at finding things but apparently she doesn't care if I receive it on my actual birthday. Hopefully I'll find it before Easter.

No ear horn for me just yet!

Created by Train Horns

Erin can use this as evidence when she tries to tell Dad to turn off the speakers and he thinks she's hallucinating.

Medicines

Last night at French Table we talked about some of the medicinal products that you can't get here in the US. For example, I stocked up on butter menthols, Irish moss and Betadine gargle, after being frustrated not to have them during my last bout of tonsillitis.

Cindy said she was quite content with Canada Dry brand ginger-ale flavoured lozenges. But one Frenchwoman said that she misses a certain product for sore throats. But you only take this one when it's really bad, deep down in the throat, because it's not a lozenge or a syrup but a suppository!

Krazy Kookie Kapers

I figure it must have been Cindy who bought these biscuits, I can't remember them going in the trolley. I noticed before we opened them the words "double stuffed" on the packet but didn't think much of it until we opened them.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

Today is Darwin's birthday, he'd be 200 years old.

To commemorate the occasion, I went to uni and taught my class on the history of evolution. (Of course I do this every Thursday but it's nice that it fell on this date.) I didn't bake a cake; there's 33 students in my class so I thought it'd be too hard.

Snow Day!

Last night we didn't go to the Runcible Spoon (as we do most Tuesdays) because there had been snow and there was a lot of slush on the roads.

This morning I received this email:

Indiana University's Bloomington campus is closed until noon today (Jan. 28) because of icy roads creating hazardous travel conditions. A decision on whether to reopen after 12:00 p.m. will be made late in the morning based on updated road conditions.

Here's why:That's the view from our bedroom window.


That's the carpark of our building.

And this is Fess Ave facing north, the way I walk to get to campus.

A new record - the most snow I've ever seen in one place.

Addendum - Noon
Classes have been cancelled for the whole day. I just received an automated phone call explaining that the only people expected to turn up are those whose jobs involve moving snow or cooking in the residence halls. Even then, it's only if they're able to make it.

Even more surprising, Monroe county has declared a snow emergency! Only essential emergency and public safety travel is permitted. Luckily we have enough food for a few days.

Bitching about the weather again

A week or so ago we had a record cold snap - the record broken was "the coldest it's been in Bloomington since I moved here": And it's not just that it hits a low overnight, that -21˙ above was after 9 a.m., the lowest temperature recorded that day was -23˙C!

And it wasn't much warmer in the middle of the day, when the wind-chill took it down to -28!

And now I'm having students ask if I'm going to cancel class because there's a winter storm forecast. They're predicting a lot of snow!It's the ice I really hate; you can walk on snow ok but when the asphalt get icy you just slip straight over.