Word of the week! Rücckkehrunrhe

Rücckkehrunruhe

n. the feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness--to the extent you have to keep reminding yourself that it happened at all, even though it felt so vivid just days ago--which makes you wish you could smoothly cross-dissolve back into everyday life, or just hold the shutter open indefinitely and let one scene become superimposed on the next, so all your days would run together and you'd never have to call cut.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for.

http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/

Thanks Steiny!

Gypsy's muse!

Travel tip 20 !The ziplock bag!

Traveling without ziplock bags is like traveling without a passport. The bag is the perfect travel accessory. With a multitude of uses, it is definitely a must on our packing list.

The following list gives you an idea of just how versatile ziplock bags can be. 

1. Keep your passport, money and other precious documents dry by storing them in sandwich size bags.
2. keep currency separate in bags.
3. A large bag is a great protected for you camera in the rain. Cut a hole just barely big enough for your lens to stick through and put camera with lens inside the bag. Use a rubber band to hold it tight to the end of the lens. Operate camera with your hand inside the bag.
4. Also keeps camera or phone safe when going near water.
5. Prevent jewelery from getting lost by placing in a bag.
6. Double bag make up and liquids to prevent any leakage spreading throughout whole luggage.
7. Use bag for all liquids for carry-on inspection at airport.
8. Use a bag of ice as an ice pack for first aid. (wrap in face cloth to protect skin)
9. A frozen bag of water in a collapsible cooler bag to keep drinks cold.
10. Carry your favourite tea or coffee.
11. Protect a fragile souvenir. Insert a straw into the top of a nearly closed bag and inflate with air. Remove straw and seal bag. Not as good as bubble wrap though.
12. Same deal will make a handy travel pillow. 
13. Makes a great drain plug, just fill with a little water, and it becomes a weight that you can fit into the drain.
14. Keep a large ziplock in your day pack for wet umbrellas and raincoats.
15. Handy for storing left over food.

In the world Kitchen!

The travel bug has hit again! Happy Birthday Jetstar! We managed to snap up some great return flights to Tokyo for the July school holidays. Spontaneous? Hell, Yeah! As it is not our first visit to the land of the Rising Sun, we have decided to just take it easy and relax at a Ryokan in Hakone, where we can soak in an onsen and enjoy the view of the magnificent Mt Fuji. "He who climbs Mount Fuji once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool" (fools, we be not).
Then a few days back in Tokyo will put an end to little mid year sojourn.

One of our favorite parts of travel is "FOOD" and Asian food is especially delicious! Great incentive to exercise and diet hard before we depart so we can partake in our favourites;
Yakitori: skewered grilled chicken pieces seasoned with salt or sauce, Tempura: seafood and vegetables coated in batter and deep fried, okonomiyaki: Japanese pancakes made with your choice of vegetables, meat and seafood mixed into batter and grilled on a hot plate, teppanyaki, Japanese curries, sushi and the list goes on.  Lest we forget the essential asahi, kirin, sapporo and suntory. Kanpai!!


This is a fast and simple recipe for the delicious Japanese korokke – a croquette made of meat and vegetables. They’re great for lunch boxes, as part of bigger dishes such as Japanese curry, and are great for kids.

Japanese korokke

Ingredients

3-4 potatoes
1/2 onion
1/2 carrot
200g pork mince
1tsp fish stock
2tsp sugar
1tbs sake
1tbs mirin
4tbs soya sauce
salt
2 eggs
panko
flour

Method

Boil the potatoes in heavily salted water until soft, then throw away the water and mash them up with a fork. Dice the onion and carrot, then brown the mince and add the diced carrot and onion.

Add 2tbs sugar, 1tsp fish stock, 1 tbs sake, 1 tbs mirin and 4tbs soya sauce and simmer for 5 mins.

Add the mince to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Then roll into oblong shapes, and roll in the flour, then the egg and finally the panko. Then prepare a pan with 2cm deep of vegetable oil at medium/high temperature and shallow fry the croquettes until the outside is golden. Serve with a little salad for garnish and tonkatsu sauce or ketchup.

Travel tip 18! Travel capsule wardrobe!

The time has come to pack our bags again. Just a quick sojourn to Tokyo and Mt Fuji this time.

The sensible way to travel is to travel light. This means ensuring you pack minimal clothing that mix and match well together. The plan is to create a wardrobe that will give you lots of choices, meets the need and will pack into your light weight luggage.

How to plan your capsule.

1. Research your destination. Find out what the temperature range will be, how formal your destination is and what activities you will be participating in.

2. Plan your colours.  Choose two neutral colours (one light and one dark) and add a complimentary colour as your theme.

3. Begin with a basic wardrobe of
-  2 bottoms
-  3 tops (one dressy)
-  1 jumper or cardigan
-  a pair of comfortable walking shoes
-  a pair of dressy shoes


4. Add in extras as needed
example
-  a dress
- another top
-  outdoor , hiking clothes.

5. Lay out items to see how they work together. Mix and match each item to make sure that it will work in the wardrobe.

6.  Be cruel, toss out items. Ask yourself if you will use the item more than 3 times.

7. Other necessities:
-  2 bras
-  3 pairs of underwear
-  3 pairs of socks
-  swimsuit
-  For colder climates; tights, leggings or thermals and warm coat
-  PJ's
-  rain protection

A few things to consider when packing:

-  Select lightweight clothing to layer for a variation in looks.The layers also add warmth when needed.
-  At most, you will take one weeks worth of clothes. Plan to do laundry either sink wash or send clothes to a laundry.
-  Ensure clothes are easy to wash and dry. Wrinkle free, quick dry items are a god send.
-  You can always buy some clothes for that unexpected outing along the way.


Thanks to Rachel Manning (fashion expert)

Happy Birthday Lizzy!

Whether you are a royalist or all for the Republic; you can be sure that most Aussies will sing Happy birthday to our dear Queen Lizzy just to ensure the day off work. Elizabeth was actually born April 21, 1928, but who's splitting hairs?
Back in the olden days at school assembly, we would sing God the Queen at the top of our voices. As we got a little older and a little braver , we would replace the lyrics with a more modern version: God save our biscuit tin, don't let the ants get in, God save our Queen.

A big word up to our English travel pals; Neil Evan, Liz Houghton, James Farrar, Karen Helliwell and Lucy Place. Thanks for the laughs!

To our Aussies mates; have a good one! 

The Way!

Camino de Santiago "the way of St James";  the ancient pilgrimage trek starting at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-port in France follows 800 km to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The entire trek takes around about a month. Beautiful, diverse scenery and many interesting B&Bs and monastries to stay at along the way. Definitely on our bucket list!


The Way!
This inspirational movie is about a father heading overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the "El Camino de Santiago," and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.