Didyah Know

I know its been a while since an update.. so heres a lil blurb until I can find an hr or two to come on and give a proper well rounded update on what we have been doing the past month..

Some of these thoughts are rants.. observations.. and things in general I am starting to miss!

1. Sushi. 
As most of u know, Brad and I are very big fans!  Back when we were in Ottawa, we would hit up Banc Sushi AUCE until they would kick us out at closing hour.  However, I am shocked here when I go into the grocery store and see that their image of 'sushi' is rolled not with fresh raw seafood (crab, shrimp, tuna etc) but with chicken & beef.. if someone would explain this to me, that would be greatly appreciated...and point me in the right direction as to where I can actually find sushi.. I mean, you can buy fresh scallops, prawns (not shrimp.. prawns) crab legs etc.. how does chicken & beef end up in there?  Its a mystery to me...so instead of searching, I guess we will have to put our Sushi making skills to work from Holland, where we learnt how to.

If you guessed that was a rant, you are correct!

2. If you call Prawns 'shrimp' - you will get corrected and feel like a dink, even though it means the same thing to us..(or me at least).. and apparently, unless you are catching them yourself, you can't tell which is which.

Fact of the Day: the difference between prawns & shrimp are:
1. Prawns are 'larger' & have longer legs
2. They have different gill & pincer structures

right! sooo I guess, unless your observing your prawns/shrimp under a scope- tomatoe-tomato!

Which brings me to my next observation of PRONUNCIATION

3. Ozzies are a lot like Palms (which apparently in oz terms, means the English (UK)

*both drive on otherside of road..ok..kiwi's (NZ) also
*the both say ALUMINUM as--> ALUMINIUM (AL-LOU-MIN-NEE-UM)
even though there is no difference in the two, they spell with an extra 'i'- even in the periodic table.. ?

*ozzies say ASSUME --> A-SHRUM  - its quite hilarious
* they also pronounce DEBUT  --> DUH-BOO which makes us laugh ..everytime!
* ozzies & English also pronounce Oregano --> AURA-GAHN-NO

4. Bikers here are hard-core..not motor bikers..road bikes, or as they call it here- push bikes
* They bike in swarms (literally)
* On Saturday mornings you wont be able to sit outside at a local cafe & drink coffee etc - because they are PACKED with bikers - I have even seen them biking on the paths at 530am!
* Bikers here ALL wear tight, logo, typical 'biking gear' - like they are Lance Armstrong or something
* Helmets are manditory
* Bikers are annoying on the bike path..short tempered.. constantly dinging their bells..like comon, we know one 'ding' means your coming up from behind, keep left... you don't need to ding your damn bell continuously 200 m from behind until you pass...sheesh..and you think its bad in Holland!?

5. Its not called 'debit' or 'pin' here.. its called EFTPOS -which stands for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale..a mouthful!

6. Things that are Missed:
- cheap beer!
- cheese curds
-TIMMYS!
- HOT & butter popcorn at the theatre

7. Tried my first 'Chico Babies' - type of candy, brown, with flavours of vanilla & aniseed.