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FIJI TIME!! I flew overnight from L.A. to Nadi and arrived at 5:15 AM Fiji time. I actually managed to sleep a fair bit on the plane so I was ok. I caught the bus straight from the airport to Suva (about 5 hours) to see Rosemarie. She was there to meet me at the bus stop with a hot chicken pie in hand! Best sister ever.


Rose with some fresh (??) juice from the market, still tasted like Tang

It was great to see Rose again after so long. I stayed in Suva for 4 days and we crammed it full of yummy food, awesome swimming, and lots of talking.

It was really really hot and humid in the city. Thankfully Rose’s apartment has an outdoor pool. I spent a lot of time in there. Her whole apartment is very nice. This is the view from her balcony:



Fun rope swing, but would have been better if someone else was there to pass us the rope

She also took me to Colo-i-Suva Forest Park which is about 30 minutes out of town by bus. We had to walk 100 km in the heat but it was worth it because the waterfalls and swimming holes were awesome.

She made me my first kokoda. It was a life changing experience. I am now obsessed! (I ate it four times in Fiji hahaha.) Kokoda (pronounced kokonda) is white fish cured in lime juice with chopped up cucumber, tomato, chilli, cilantro, green pepper (etc.) with coconut milk. You can eat it with rice or fries or bread and it is amazing. I will definitely be trying to make this again here in Vancouver soon.

Other things we did together in Suva: drank sangria, had a pool party, learned about mangroves in marine biology, went partying downtown, ate Hunky Dog hot dogs, ate parrot fish, went to the movies.

Then that first weekend a big group of the international students planned a trip to Beachouse, a big backpacker resort on the Coral Coast, about 3 hours from Suva. It is a really nice resort considering it is for backpackers! They had lots of activities but I didn’t do any of them, oops.

Rose and I brought our own food to save a bit of money. Our tuna, cucumber, BBQ sauce and Indian snack sandwiches were pretty disgusting though. Surprising?

We spent the days snorkelling and kayaking, and the nights on the beach and kneeling at picnic tables (inside joke, sorry). You could surf there too but I am scared of reef breaks because if you fall the reef is only like 2 inches below the water surface. AHHH!!! I will stick to nice soft beach breaks.

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Hello future friends. I think this day doesn’t actually exist for me, since I leave Los Angeles on Sunday night and arrive in Fiji on Tuesday morning. Haha. Hoorary for pre-scheduled posts.

I missed a few dinners this time, oops. And my next daily dinners post will most likely be late… But hopefully I have lots of cool Fijian food to show you then.

The funniest meal this time was March 5th, when Scott made a really gross meal consisting of uncooked wet birdseed (millet) and really gross salmon. Maybe I sound really mean right now but he thought is was gross too. We choked down our salmon but everything else went in the trash. Then he made a giant batch of popcorn. Mmmm nutrition.

Favourite Recipe #5: ummm… can I choose the poutine? It was great.

february 24, 2013 – pad thai

feburary 25, 2013 – broccoli soup

february 26, 2013 – cheddar apple bacon bbq quesadilla

more pictures after the jump…

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Rosemarie said I should choose a favourite recipe from each Daily Dinners post and then at the end of the year I will have a great collection of 26 recipes. I think this is a super idea so bear with me while I quickly catch up with the weeks I have missed.

Favourite Recipe #1: Beans and rice, with shrimp. The original recipe is WAY TOO SALTY but other than that it is flipping delicious. And cheap. We add the shrimp and omit all the salt.

Favourite Recipe #2: Shrimp with fried egg and avocado and green onion on rice. There isn’t really much of a recipe for this except cook all that stuff and put it together on a plate. Serve with soy sauce. It takes like 4 minutes to make it excluding the rice.

Favourite Recipe #3: Butternut mac ‘n’ cheese with caramelized onions, bacon, and apple. SO GOOD. Cassia tried it and she liked it too. I roast my own pumpkin because I am anti-canned pumpkin. The recipe is time consuming but so worth it. I may never stop talking about it.

Favourite Recipe #4: Dragon noodles. Scott made it and it was awesome. Leftovers weren’t good though, so just make enough for dinner.

OK back to work for me. I still have 4 midterms, 4 labs, a case study, AND MORE to get through before I can fully relax on the beach/rollercoaster. Ah and I also have skeleton this weekend.

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I’m back with another daily dinners post! I can’t take much credit for these meals… Scott made dinner almost every day. Best husband ever. I’ve linked a couple recipes myself but if there is something else that catches your eye just let me know and I’ll track down the recipe from the chef.

Be sure to check out our Valentines Day meal. We went out to El Inka, a small mom & pop type place tucked into an obscure area of Burnaby. I only heard about it because it’s quite close to the hospital. Anyway it was super delicious and definitely beat out our unpleasant Valentines Day dinner from the year before. I also really like their cheese empanadas.

february 10, 2013 – roast chicken leg, green beans & sweet potato

february 11, 2013 – shrimp and okra gumbo

february 12, 2013 – spinach salad with salmon, walnuts and goat cheese

more dinner pictures after the jump…

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Hmm what have we been up to in the last 11 days? I’ve been a terrible blogger lately. SO BUSY with school stuff, all in preparation for my big vacation that is rapidly approaching (YAY!).

  • Scott made a cool loaf of bread.
  • We went to a friends house to play Ticket To Ride and eat pizza. Panago butter chicken pizza really doesn’t taste like butter chicken at all.
  • Went out for drinks at the pub after school.
  • Lifted lots of weights at the gym.
  • A FREAKING LOT OF HOMEWORK.
  • Went out for a yummy Peruvian Valentines Day dinner of fish ceviche, deep fried pork, and amazing sweet potato chips.
  • Woke up at a painful hour of the morning to make it to work on time for my hotlab rotation.
  • Had much more success putting in IVs.
  • Went to bed at 8:00 PM.
  • Watched Amour, slow but good.
  • Ate a lot of Nerds.
  • Went to the library and got a bunch of books that I won’t have time to read.
  • Chatted with Rosemarie who is now back in Fiji for her second semester.

That is actually a pretty good representation of what I’ve been up to, if you multiply the homework by 50. I just keep reminding myself “it’ll all be worth it soon”.