Even though today is Sunday, it has been somewhat of a mixed bag for us! Mum and dad have been in Queensland celebrating their wedding anniversary so it hasn’t been a weekend of Skype calls which feels a little strange!
I didn’t get to sleep until late last night as ESPN 2 were showing the Carlton Vs Hawthorn game live. If only Richo the boundary rider would have realized he was being broadcast to an international market – maybe he would’ve cut down on his slang! It is so strange going straight from US TV to seeing an Australian sporting broadcast – the slang is so strong and I sit there thinking “Oh dear – is that what I sound like?!”. It is harsh!
After our lovely salmon dinner last night, I set about making my favourite meatloaf dish ever – Ina Garten’s Turkey Meatloaf. Fresh Direct had turkey meat on sale this week so I stocked up and knew this would be a perfect way to use it up. We had enough for dinner tonight, dinner tomorrow (it is better the longer it sits!) and as sandwiches in our lunch. I will take as slice with salad to work, Bill likes it in a sandwich and we mix up the vegies we each night. It is just beautiful! The secret is – use dark turkey meat (otherwise it is too dry) and the only thing I always add is a whole bunch of flat leaf parsley. Oh… and I also halve the recipe! This is how it looks (this was when I made one when I lived in Melbourne) –
So I prepared all the meatloaf mixture and let it sit overnight in the fridge so that I could bake it fresh on this afternoon. With all the dishes, Bill and I made like ninjas and he went to town on the kitchen while I scrubbed down the bathroom and tidied the lounge room – it is such a good feeling getting all the work stuff done on a Saturday night!
Though, Sunday has gone way too quickly. We went to 5pm mass and we got to meet some more of our neighbours. Everyone here is so nice! It is the neighbourhood feeling I never got in Chelsea or Sunnyside. All of our neighbours in our building greet each other and hold doors for each other and two ladies we met after church have lived here for over 40 years and were so lovely! It really makes moving a lot easier! Queen of All Saints is having an international food night in a couple of weeks and I am going to be representing Australia with my sausage rolls. I hope they are well liked!! After mass, we had to pick up a Zipcar (they deserve a whole extra blog post!) and head to Flushing for a wake.
Bill’s mum Mary has a lovely close friend, Margaret. The first time I met Mary was when her and Margaret were on a day trip to the city and Bill arranged for us all to meet for lunch at the Pershing Square Cafe. It was one of those storybook New York December days where the air was crisp, the wind chilly and yet the Christmas lights make everything beautiful and automatically make you feel all warm!
Sadly, Margaret’s brother, Rev James Rooney, died this week. He was the priest at St. Mary’s Nativity in Flushing and so we went to pay our respects. There was such a huge amount of people there, which speaks volumes about him. The line went out of the funeral parlour and way down the street and car parking was very difficult as well. From the family photos on display he looked like such a friendly, happy man. I only wish we got to meet him!
Driving back, the Manhattan skyline looked beautiful as the sun was setting but we also have a heavy fog setting which made it look very mystical! As we had dinner at 4pm (we could be living in England!) we stopped at Graziella’s for a snack on our way home and it is a real cute little place that we’ll be going back to for sure! So now it is my favourite time – getting things organized for the week ahead. Goodbye weekend!