Mini Melt-Down

     We moved into our apartments on Friday, in the rain, and decided to eat our first dinner out.  Little did we know at the time that this was probably one of our best decisions due to the stress we were inevitably going to encounter while cooking our first meal.  The original grocery shopping trip went from bad to worse as we realized that Australians measure everything in kilos, don't use any familiar brands, rope off all entrances to stores with shopping cart blockades, and charge you $3 for a bottle of water.  After purchasing pasta, sauce, a loaf of bread, and a bag of salad, Meadbh and I left Woolworth's frazzled and frustrated, yet confident that dinner prep would be simple.  (With that menu, one could only hope!) 

     Of course, those of you who have ever witnessed my cooking abilities (or lack there of) have probably figured out that meal #1 did not go smoothly.  For all of my judgemental followers, please stop reading at this point and assume that Meadbh and I enjoyed a peaceful meal of pasta and sauce within a reasonable time frame.  As for the rest of you, let me just say that boiling water is not as easy as it looks!  After about 20 minutes of "boiling" water for the pasta, Meadbh and I noticed that the burner was barely even heating up.  (At this point, we broke into the loaf of bread.) So, we moved the pot to another burner and tried again...10 more minutes, no bubbles, more bread.  Now it was time to get Maddy on the phone, who was upstairs in her apartment attempting a similar feat.  Loaf of bread half gone.  This is when we learned that the knobs on the stove work the opposite way that they do at home.  We had been "boiling" water on low heat for 45 minutes.  And no, the markers are not labeled "low" and "high", we're not that dumb.

    

     After the stove was figured out, we were on a roll.  I never expected pasta, microwave sauce, and a bag of salad to take nearly 2 hours to prepare, but we did eat Saturday night...which may constitute a miracle.  Chances were looking pretty slim for awhile.  But, i'm very confident that by the end of this experience Meadbh and I will have our own cooking show...but only if the G-Unit reality show fails.  Also, if anyone has any recipe ideas they would be greatly appreciated, but you have to keep in mind that we do not have an oven =/

*Note to readers: Since this disaster, we have somewhat more successfully eaten grilled cheese and soup, chicken and rice, lasagna, hamburgers....and more sausages than anyone would care to consume in a life-time.  (Sausages are free at the bbq pit and save you from cooking...aka my new favorite food.)