Domesticity, Aussie style

It's a quiet, chilly (50 F), sunny Saturday morning in Brisbane. Jeff's having a ham sandwich for breakfast. I had eggs and toast. Sitting here on our amazing porch.

Last night was our first official House Dinner here. When Jeff and I moved in together, back in '98, a co-worker advised me to make a point of having at least one meal together each week. With our mis-matched schedules and eating habits, it would have been easy to never eat at home together.

I took her advice and we set up Friday nights as House Dinner night. We took turns cooking (this is what inspired Jeff to learn to cook, though I had to eat a lot of Hamburger Helper first). It turned out to be a really good thing. To cook together, to sit and eat together, to talk.

When Tina joined us, we ended up switching it up to Sunday nights since she so frequently works on Friday nights. We also added her to the cooking rotation.

So, it's been 12+ years that we've been making a point to eat a meal at home together. No TV, no books, just eat and re-connect.



Last night was our first House Dinner here in Brisbane. I made an easy spaghetti sauce and we had it over tortellini. Accompanied by green beans and garlic bread. Jeff picked up a bottle of red wine on the way home.

Now we really are home.

side note: beer and wine are very expensive here. An inexpensive bottle of wine is $15. A 6-pack of beer -- not great beer, just beer -- is also $15. Jeff is a little depressed about that.

Later this morning, we'll drive out to Moreton Bay to check out a sailing club Jeff might wnat to get involved with. Sailing season kicks off around here in late August / early September so Jeff would like to figure out his sailing options sooner rather than later.

This sailing club has a weekly "Sausage Sizzle" on Saturdays. Yes, it's a cook-out, sorta like the Sailing Club of Washington's Social Sail. Just a chance to get together and tell lies, er, sailing stories, have a burger/sausage, and drink a beer.

It's the thing sailors are most addicted to, right after sailing.

Along the way, we'll stop at some bigger suburban hardware stores and grocery stores to finish supplying the apartment.

Yep, it's BowTei Domesticity, Aussie-style. :)