My Bloggable Day

Angus

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Bec

When I was 23, I did 30 hours a week of nannying for a family with three children. Angus was 5, the oldest. He had a three year old sister and a 10 month old brother.

Angus loved to eat. He would sit at the breakfast table for a hour and polish off two pieces of vegemite toast AND a bowl of weetbix.

He loved playing puppets and would toss his head back and laugh when I put on a funny voice for a brightly coloured chameleon.

He loved to be outside and could run around the backyard for hours with the slightly overweight family Labrador.

The first time we went to the park (before his parents told me he was a runner) he zoomed off towards a busy main road and I had to leave the 10-month-old in the pram by the slide and run after him, catching him metres from the passing cars.

Angus wasn’t a mornings person, he would often hide in bed for as long as he could and whine adorably when you made him get up.

One afternoon I turned my back for 5 minutes and Angus had managed to empty the contents of his sister’s chest of drawers. We had just as much fun putting it all back in together.

Sometimes Angus would get frustrated at not being able to communicate. He was, or is I should say, a non-verbal child with Down Syndrome. He’s also on the Autism spectrum.

One day a letter appeared on the bench from a prestigious local private school, apologising that they couldn’t ‘accommodate Angus at this time’. He already had a backpack with their logo in his wardrobe.

Angus was the happiest, most delightful child I ever looked after.

***

Last week when my boyfriend Andrew and I were getting a taxi to Melbourne airport to fly back home we passed the park I took Angus and his brother to that time. I recalled the story and pointed out the park.

We stopped at some traffic lights shortly after and I barely took notice of a tall blonde lady, holding hands with a little girl and boy as they slowly crossed the road together. The girl wore a pink tutu.

It wasn’t until they reached the other side of the road that I realised it was Angus and his now much taller younger sister holding their nanny’s hands. She has overtaken him in height. Angus, dressed all in navy blue, looked back over his shoulder and appeared to look straight into the taxi. He didn’t look like he’d changed a bit.

I hope he’s still happy, still has a ferocious appetite and still loves hand puppets. I hope he says a few words now and then and goes to a school that accommodates him.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Children, Disability, Nanny, Special Needs | 4 Comments

Have a Happy Day

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Bec

I finally updated the blackboard in the kitchen and have thus stopped urging people to have a happy Easter. Now, through the medium of chalk, I’m encouraging people to have a happy day.

Much more generic and timeless. The grass bunnies remain though.

Speaking of happy, it’s hard not to be when you purchase a pair of $200 sandals for $20. Even in winter.

Bargain.

Puppies are possibly the happiest and most happy-inducing creatures on the planet. I got to cuddle my friend Dylan’s new puppy yesterday. His name is Ned.

Hi Ned.

The name Ned doesn’t make me think of Ned Kelly or Ned Flanders. It makes me think of a friend I had when I was very young who undoubtedly had some kind of undiagnosed behavioural disorder. One time he abseiled off the second story balcony at home using an extension cord tied to the leg of his bed. Oh Ned.

This weekend I embraced the mundane. I washed my car, bed sheets and towels. I put away all my clothes. Went for a run. And to the gym. I read my book. Went to the movies (Jersey Boys, not bad) and had a quick dip in my friend’s spa. I had eggs for breakfast at a local cafe. I broke my three day old shopping ban and bought jeans (blue). And a jumper (black and white striped). Both on sale. I drank tea. And ate chocolate.

I’m going to have Deconstructed Rice Paper Roll Salad for dinner, followed by an early night. What was the happiest or most mundane thing you did this weekend?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Puppy, Shopping, The Weekend | 5 Comments

48 hours in Melbourne

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Bec

We had almost exactly 48 hours in Melbourne after arriving at lunchtime last Sunday from Hobart and flying out to Perth again at lunchtime on Tuesday. So I did what I love to do most in Melbourne; eat.

Mum picked my boyfriend Andrew and I up from the airport and we headed straight to the Gold Leaf in Preston for Yum Cha. After stuffing myself with dumplings I was worried I wouldn’t be hungry for an early dinner before the football, but my fears were misguided. I was able to chow down happily on curry at 6pm at Red Pepper on Bourke Street in the city. Phew.

We got to the MCG and I kept an eye out for the hot donut van but sadly, didn’t spot it. We took our freezing seats inside the G and were presented with this sadly optimistic banner from Carlton:

Everything? Except for perhaps, winning this game?

Australian Football League fans will know of the long standing rivalry between Collingwood and my beloved Carlton. This was the one match I will probably see all season due to living in the middle of nowhere and of course we lost. Carlton has been doing a lot of that lately.

Collingwood, who seem to be on some kind of mission to turn average mid-season AFL games into SuperBowl-esque extravaganzas, started with some pre-match fireworks and hip hop dancers gyrating away in hideous Beetlejuice/Robin Thicke style leggings. An assault to the senses, to say the least.

Seriously. WTF?

After losing we went home to defrost and sleep.

The only plan I had for Monday was to eat as much as physically possible. I had a cup of tea and a piece of toast before we headed into the city. We did some walking around, grabbed a coffee and I spotted a store on Swanston Street that sold South Melbourne Market dim sims, which are the best dim sims available in the world. And we didn’t have to traipse all the way to South Melbourne for them. First win of the day.

We did the ‘Melbourne’ thing and checked out some sweet lane ways.

Me without a head.

MUCH ART.

SO LANE WAY.

WOW.

#DUMPSTER

To work up a decent appetite we walked all the way to Phat Brats in Brunswick Street.

Phat Brats

We quickly devoured the Phat Brat (bratwurst sausage, pulled pork, bbq sauce and apple slaw), the Chilli Dog (wagyu beef sausage, spicy beef, cheesy sauce, chilli sauce and spring onions) and the Salsa Fries. It was all delicious except for the wagyu beef sausage which was kind of dry and average.

Yes please.

Fries.

It’s weird, I didn’t feel at all stuffed after eating all that, which probably says a lot about how much I had been eating in general. So we wandered up Brunswick Street in search of a shining beacon that would yield dessert.

And we found it.

Chocolate ganache in syringes

N2 is a fancy gelato place that makes ice cream with all kinds of science that I don’t understand. Liquid Nitrogen etc. Andrew had the cookies and cream cheesecake, I had the Ferrero Rocher one.

Science.

After that I was full. Finally. So we did some more walking.

Trams are way cuter when you don’t have to use them to get anywhere.

We stopped to say hi to a former colleague of mine. And to step inside St Patrick’s Cathedral, which I had never done. We also had a coffee at Melbourne’s iconic Pellegrini’s. Everyone in there spoke in Italian, it was glorious.

We then met one of my all-time favourite people, Tarn, at Chin Chin for dinner. I didn’t photograph dinner because my phone was pretty much dead by then but I managed to snap dessert:

Palm sugar ice cream sundae with honey comb in the foreground and sago behind it.

We then had a few red wines (for warmth mostly) at Bar Ampere before hugging farewell and jumping on our respective trams. The 109 tram didn’t disappoint and transported us along with some of its finest clientele who swore loudly and swapped fun tales of inflicting serious injury onto others. Delightful souls they were. I was most relieved when they alighted in Collingwood… how telling. My utter contempt for using the public transport system remains strong.

The next morning we walked down the road to Mr Hendricks, a delightful new(?) cafe in Balwyn, for the final meal. I had coconut rice porridge and a cup of English Breakfast.

So comforting.

It was just as delicious as the time I had it the weekend before. Andrew had an eggs/avo/feta combination.

After breakfast we jumped in a silver top (taxi) and headed to the airport. When we got to Perth I honestly felt like crying. But I cheered up when we sat in the exact spot in the departures lounge where we had met four months earlier and had a little re-enactment.

“So where are you flying to?”

Such an excellent trip. Need to start planning the next!

Posted in Melbourne, Travel | Tagged AFL, Food, Football, Graffiti Art, Lane Ways, MCG, Melbourne, restaurants | 3 Comments

Hanging around Hobart

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Bec

Last Friday afternoon we drove down south to Hobart. We arrived as the sun was setting, checked into our hotel and then jumped in a taxi to meet a bunch of my boyfriend Andrew’s mates at The Winston Alehouse and Eatery.

The menu is all American style, so I had a chilli dog with fries and almost an entire serve of jalapeno poppers to myself. It was delicious. I immediately embarrassed myself by asking for a non specific “beer” when there are literally hundreds of craft beers on the menu and I was surrounded by connoisseurs. I ended up with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which was really good. Thank god someone else made that decision for me.

The night ended with two party pies and a Magnum Ego at 2am at the 24 hour Salamanca Bakehouse. Sounds irresponsible but we were really just honouring a tradition set by Andrew during his uni years. The next morning we went for a walk past the wharf to the Salamanca Markets.

Pretty

Don’t let the above heavily edited photo fool you, the weather was very average.

Salamanca Square

I insisted we eat breakfast at the Machine Laundry Cafe, having been recommended the place at least 10 times over by various people.

Cawfee

The coffee and breakfast was delicious. But I couldn’t help but laugh at the surly hipster that brought me my flat white, she could have given the wait staff at Collingwood cafes a run for their money. Perhaps she should consider a job outside the service industry.

Scrambled eggs with chorizo, feta, rocket and beetroot.

After eating we braved the rain and had a stroll through the Salamanca Markets. My Mum, a pro shopper on the craft market circuit, had told me it’s a must see. And she was right, it was so great; bursting with food, music, fresh produce, craft, clothes, everything.

We grabbed some more coffees and some breakfast dessert and wandered around.

Hot jam donut anyone?

Mmmm jam.

I made one purchase, a small felt snowman to match with the Frozen theme of the holiday.

CUTE.

We headed back to the hotel to grab the car to take to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) passing through the wharf again.

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Boats

More boats

Ye olde building right near our hotel.

MONA, as everyone told me, was incredible. The location, the underground building and the wacky art I certainly did enjoy. But I often find modern art confusing and have to keep telling myself not to always go looking for meaning where it probably doesn’t exist.

I loved this cool water words fountain that greeted us when we first walked in.

Maybe it rains a lot in Sarajevo?

These black pen swirls were made by a machine holding a pen that was attached to a wind machine outside. It was drawing the wind, so dreamy.

Windy

I had been warned about the smell of the replica human digestion machine… And true to form the room really did stink. ART.

Digestion in action.

I really did want to stick around to see how it worked, but it was just too gross. Moving on…

Fat Ferrari… A comment on the nature of consumer culture?!

A big old pile of magnets.

My favourite piece was a room within a room within a room. That’s the only way I can think to explain it, it was creepy and kind of claustrophobic. After an hour and a half it was nice to see daylight again, especially with such a great view.

Mt Wellington in the background

There were lots of amusing things around the grounds, like the car space reserved for ‘God’ and these signs above the bins:

Heavy

No museum or gallery visit is complete without a stroll through the gift shop. I bought a syringe pen.

Hopefully no one sees it on my desk and gets the wrong idea!

After MONA we headed up Mt Wellington to checkout the views over the city.

Not bad at all Hobart, not bad.

We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the pub. I snapped this last photo of the wharf as the sun set.

We flew out early the next morning. I really wish we’d had more time. Hobart is a very cool city. I loved all the old convict-era style buildings and the hills. I can’t wait to go back on day. Preferably in summer.

Have you been to Tassie?

Posted in Art, Misc, Travel | Tagged Art, Food, Hobart, MONA, Salamanca Markets, Tasmania, Travel | 9 Comments

Tasmania is as beautiful as people say it is

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Bec

This isn’t even the best photo I have.

And just as freezing! Wednesday evening a week ago I flew from Melbourne to Launceston with my boyfriend, Andrew. We stayed for two nights with his parents Robin and Phil in the north for two nights before heading down to Hobart for another two nights. It really is a beautiful place. But it would be remiss of me to talk about Tasmania’s beauty without first giving mention to two of the island’s cutest creatures, Clio:

Eyes half shut, enjoying a pat.

And Sid:

Adorable.

Where was I? The landscape, right. So on Thursday morning, after an evening of delicious pork roast and wine the night before, we headed off to Cradle Mountain, stopping to admire (and photograph) some picturesque scenes along the way.

We reached snowy ground well before the lodge and by the time we got there it was coming down quite heavily. It was so beautiful and crisp and clean. For some reason it hadn’t at all occurred to me that we would get to see snow, so I was very happy.

Just a tad excited.

I asked Andrew how much I would pay him to dive into this water. He said $1. Cheap date!

The thing about snow is, it’s rather wet and cold, so we headed indoors for coffees.

I had hot chocolate because MARSHMALLOWS

I have 3 jackets on.

After that we headed up to look at the iconic view of Cradle Mountain.

Unfortunately the weather was such that we couldn’t actually see the namesake cradle.

The cradle is behind us… somewhere…

BUT, and perhaps more excitingly, we could see the replica Olaf snowman someone had made!

“My name is Olaf and I like warm hugs!”

If you don’t know Olaf from Disney’s Frozen, first remove yourself from under the rock you’ve been living (well it is the fifth highest grossing movie of ALL TIME), and then click here. Whoever built him has done a great job and I love that they obviously thought ahead and brought a carrot nose along in their backpack. Such dedication.

Unfortunately our run-in with Olaf meant I had Let it Go (Frozen’s best and most popular song and no doubt the ire of parents everywhere) stuck in my head until… right now.

‘Conceal don’t feel, don’t let them knowwww, WELL NOW THEY KNOWWWW, LET IT GO! Let it go! Can’t hold me back anymoreeeee”

We saw some locals along the way.

Wallaby!

Snowy scenes.

By this point we were fairly soaked through, so we headed back and out of the National Park and to a toasty tavern. The Moina Tavern, I believe.

We warmed up by standing near an open fire with glasses of port. So wintry.

We moved onto dips, chicken wings and then mains, leaving everyone sufficiently stuffed.

Yum

As we descended the weather got nicer and we were treated to amazing views of Mt Roland.

The view of Mt Roland from Sheffield:

Is this real?

Sheffield is known as the town of murals, which is appropriate seeing as it has over 60 of them.

One of the murals.

Sheffield Main Street.

As the sun set the temperature dropped further, so we headed back to the homestead for local Ashgrove Cheese and far too much local Anvers Chocolate in front of the fire.

What a delicious day. Thanks so much for having me Robin and Phil!

More Tasmania to come…

“The cold never bothered me anyway.”

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Cradle Mountain, Snow, Tasmania, Tourism, Travel | 7 Comments

Melbourne is freezing

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Bec

Not in recent memory, nor in the 22ish years that I called Melbourne home, can I recall such hideous weather.

I guess I’ve been lucky?!

I arrived on Friday evening and got up early on Saturday to go for a run with Dad. After the trauma of running with him as a child and being left for dead it was nice to find I’m fitter and faster than him. Even if he is 60 and I’m 25…

After coconut rice porridge for breakfast at Mr Hendricks I ventured over to Port Melbourne to have lunch with Tarn and Kate at the Salford Lads Club.

We did some shopping at Chadstone and it was busy and horrible. I forgot what malls are like. But I did get some amazing over-the-knee suede boots from Wittner, $100 off.

We celebrated with guacamole and red wine.

Then headed into the city to meet Kate. I don’t remember where we went but we had espresso martinis.

Followed by vodkas and jam donut shots at the Toff?! I don’t think I’ve ever had a jam donut so I have no idea what inspired that order.

By about 2am Tarn and I were done so we stopped by Swanston Street Macdonalds and got home with a car from Uber. It was so convenient, screw taxis.

The next day was, unsurprisingly, a massive struggle. Uggghhhh.

Eventually I managed to drive 2 hours north to Mum’s house and collapse into bed at 5pm. Having not suffered a hangover in about a year it was a huge shock to the system.

I devoured a massive breakfast the next day.

And then Mum and I headed to the art gallery at Benalla to check out the Nudes.

We went out for lunch, did some shopping and we’re just getting warm and toasty back at home when the power went out.
It stayed out for about 2 hours during which time the house started resemble the inside of a Catholic Church. Thankfully mum has a thing for candles.

The following day was when the most hideous weather took place, the Yarra broke its banks in the city, an island bar disappeared and wind whipped around at 100km per hour. It was very Wizard of Oz.

Mum and I stayed indoors at made moussaka for me to take back to Melbourne. It was delicious and if I could figure out how to add the link on my mobile, I would put it here.

The next day I rugged up and headed I to the city to meet Dad for lunch.

We had Japanese at a place called Hanabishi. It was delicious.

I then took the Sky Bus to the airport to meet my boyfriend for the next leg of the trip: Tasmania! A place even more cold and beautiful than Melbourne. More to come.

Posted in Misc | 5 Comments

Happiest of Fridays!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Bec

Happy Friday to you my friend! Today is a particularly happy Friday for me because I am working half a day and by the time you read this I will be hurtling through the sky at 30,000 feet in a metal tube, commonly known as an airplane, bound for Melbourne. (although to be honest, it’s Thursday night and I’m scheduling this post for tomorrow, which is your today just to be confusing…)

As per usual I’ve packed far too much and am dreading that part of air travel when you put your bag on the scales and wait nervously for your weight to appear in angry red numbers on the check-in desk. And then you have to decide if extra outfit options are really worth $50 per kilo… (hint: they aren’t).

This is one outfit I know I won’t regret packing:

Donut. Pajamas. I purchased them for $15 yesterday and ended up in bed at 9pm because I couldn’t wait any longer to put them on. I know you’re meant to wash them first but does anyone in the world (apart from my Mum) actually do that? I doubt it.

So for the next 10 days I’m going to eat, drink and be merry in Melbourne as well as in parts of Tasmania. I’ve never been, so I’m very excited. If you have any recommendations for Hobart do tell.

Plans for the weekend? Enjoy!

Posted in Misc | Tagged Weekend | 8 Comments

30 thoughts I had during yesterday’s run

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Bec

I’m regretting signing up for a 10km and a 12km ‘fun’ run in August…

1. I’m just going to do 10km today, no biggie.
2. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
3. Why is this SO unnatural?
4. My hip muscle hurts.
5. Is there such thing as a hip muscle?
6. Ashanti and Fat Joe! Who made this playlist?!
7. I wonder if Fat Joe is actually fat…?
8. “WHAAAAAAAAAAT’S LUVVVVVV? Got to do, got to do with anything”
9. Oh God there’s a hill…
10. Keep… Run… Ing…
11. What’s that? My phone. Indulge Beauty calling to confirm my appointment… Just take a deep breath and answer.
12. Hel-*coughspluttergasp*-lo? Yep *cough* 5pm? *cough-spit-hack* great.
13. That went well.
14. Oh thank sweet baby Jesus I reached the top of the hill.

I’m going to take a photo so I can enjoy this view later when I can breathe again.

15. I’m not even halfway…

Feeling good. Feeling Great.

16. Now I can get to run down the hill, YES.
17. Weeeeeeee!
18. Someone’s coming, suck in and smile.
19. Does this ever get any easier?
20. If I had to run for my life I would probably die.
21. No really. Die.
22. Cathy Freeman probably knows all about this struggle.
23. What was that rustle?! Better not be a snake…
24. A snake couldn’t run this fast!
25. The GPS woman in my phone just told I’m not running very fast at all… Cruel.
26. I wonder if she’s friends with Siri?! HA!
27. This run means I can eat all the things, right?
28. If I get out of this alive I’m going to do something meaningful with my life.
29. I can see the finish rock! Although at this point the F could stand for anything…
30. Wow, that was my worst 5km time in a month. How heartening!

Fuuuuuuuu…….n.

30 thoughts I had during this morning’s coffee run

30 thoughts I had during yesterday’s trip to Medicare

Posted in Misc | Leave a comment

Jamie’s 15 Minute Mexican Tomato Soup, in 45 minutes

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Bec

I have no idea what kind of kitchen witchcraft Mr Oliver employs, but it clearly eludes me. I couldn’t cook one of his 15 minute meals in 15 minutes if my life depended on it. But this soup is definitely worth it. I was introduced to the soup by my friend Cuttsy, and it was famously dubbed “too flavoursome” by my former housemate Elly. So if you’re into bland food, perhaps skip this one.

The recipe calls for chilli nachos as well, but that seemed like overkill, so I just cut some Lebanese flat bread into triangles and baked them for dunking purposes.

For the soup you will need:

1 small bunch of spring onions
olive oil
1 bunch of fresh coriander
4 cloves of garlic (I just used minced garlic)
100g basmati rice
450g jarred red peppers
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
250ml fat-free natural yoghurt
2 tsp pickled jalapeño chillies
½ a bunch of fresh mint
2 limes
I also added 1 jar of Cannellini beans as per Cuttsy’s recommendation

For the sprinkles on top:

1 handful of cherry tomatoes
1 ripe avocado
30g feta cheese

Start your engines….

Trim and finely slice the spring onions (reserving some for garnish) and put into the pan with 2 tablespoons of oil.

Tear in the coriander stalks (reserving the leaves)

Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher (or throw in the minced garlic) and add the rice, drained jarred peppers, and the tinned tomatoes.

Pour in the drained Cannellini beans as well as 850ml of boiling water, add a pinch of salt and cover with the lid.

Quarter the cherry tomatoes, halve the avocado (discarding the stone) and place on a serving board with the reserved spring onions and coriander leaves, and the feta.

In a bowl, use the stick blender to blitz the yoghurt and jalapeño chillies with a splash of their pickling vinegar and the top leafy half of the mint until nice and smooth.

Next use the stick blender to blitz the soup until smooth, add the juice of ½ a lime, season well to taste, then either enjoy it thick, or add some water to thin it down.

Drizzle the yoghurt over the soup and serve with the nachos or baked flat bread, sprinkles and lime wedges.

These are the baked Lebanese flat bread triangles.

Strangely, I totally forgot about the feta. I never forget about cheese.

The Jalapeno juice yogurt is zingy and delicious.

With sprinkles

I recommend dousing your soup with your favourite hot sauce. Mine comes all the way from Samoa.

As far as healthy and delicious recipes go, this is a winner. Perfect for winter. Perhaps set aside half an hour or more 😉

Posted in Food | Tagged Healthy Recipe, Jamie Oliver, Mexican Soup, Soup | 12 Comments

Camping at Lake Ballard

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Bec

Lake Ballard is located 180km from Kalgoorlie, via Menzies. The massive salt lake is dotted with sculptures based on the traditional owners of the area. Renowned British sculpture artist Antony Gormley created the 51 pieces in 2003 by reducing body scans of people living in Menzies by two thirds and casting them in steel. The result is a collection of slightly eerie characters who kind of appear suddenly in your peripheral vision.

I had been meaning to go and check out Lake Ballard for ages and finally made it there over the weekend. We set off after a measly 3 hour sleep (wedged in between getting home at 3am on Saturday morning and getting up for one of Australia’s dismal World Cup soccer appearances at 6am). First things first; lunch at the Menzies pub.

Frosty.

Schnitzel.

According to Wikipedia, Menzies has a total of 56 residents.

Obviously the Main Street was pumping.

Insert tumble weed here.

We continued on to Lake Ballard, stopping at the delightfully named ‘Snake Hill’ along the way.

Gross.

The whole area is pretty much a geologist’s delight, apparently.

So. Many. Rocks.

There is an entire system of salt lakes in the Goldfields (where i live) but unfortunately it seems the red dirt is so overpowering that I’ve never seen a completely white one. Like in Bolivia. Ours look like this:

A delightful shade of red/brown

According to geology, that big hill in the above photo is called an ‘outcrop’. Because it crops out of the ground. Fancy.

One of the sculptures

More geologising.

We climbed the ~~hill~~ outcrop and had excellent views across the lake from the top.

There are 5 sculptures in this photo, can you spot them all?

So very vast.

The mud has a crispy layer of salt that makes the most delightful crunching noise as you walk along. The salt also pools in the footprints of people long gone.

Crisp.

After some exploring we went back to the car to set up camp before the sun set. It was at this point that I realised I had left the oh-so-important plug for the air mattress on my desk at home. I was completely deflated.

We made a makeshift bed with the airless mattress, a picnic rug and a bunch of towels. Talk about comfort! We grabbed some drinks and headed back out onto the lake to watch the sunset.

#excited

The sunset was kind of obstructed by the faraway hills, but still pretty. The sculptures appeared extra creepy as the light faded.

Pretty.

The temperature also began to drop significantly. Time to light a fire.

We had fire sizzled sausages and burgers, followed by Smores. Smores are a roasted marshmallow sandwiched between two biscuits with a piece of chocolate. The chocolate is meant to melt, but ours was too thick.

This is a Smore.

Delicious.

Despite a slightly lumpy ‘bed’ and temperatures of less than 5 degrees overnight, it wasn’t the worst night’s sleep I’ve ever experienced. That said, I was relieved when it was time to get up and check out the sunrise: