CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

April 15, 2023 — Today was another great day!

I got up and had breakfast, changed, and went to the Cairns Aquarium. Probably not the best timing on my part, since it was a Saturday and it was pretty packed with parents and little kids. But it was still a very informative and cool trip since I saw so much marine life. It was an excellent primer for the time that I was going to spend on the Great Barrier Reef in the next week. My favourite part would have to be walking in the tunnel with the sharks and the fish swimming all over you, but then, isn’t that everyone’s favourite part?

I finished up at the aquarium around lunchtime and decided to head to the mall for the bathroom and to get a Boost juice. These were one of my favourite things in Australia and I know you’ve heard me talk about them several times while I’ve been here. I found them in Byron Bay after surfing one day and they’re just an awesome pick-me-up. I’ve had a few different ones, though my favourite is Mango Magic. That served as lunch since I’d had a later breakfast and I didn’t really want to go to the grocery store to buy lunch foods. I walked around the mall a bit while I sipped my drink and then headed back to the hostel.

When I got back, I decided I needed to be horizontal for a little while but I also kind of wanted to be in the fresh air. I sat out on the deck and finished my book, then went inside and laid in the air conditioning and enjoyed a couple episodes of Modern Family.

I eventually got up and went to the market around 3:00pm so that I could get stuff for dinner before they closed. I picked up green pepper, zucchini, and fresh garlic, then, after dropping off my fresh produce, I headed to Woolworths and picked up chicken, spice, and some penne noodles, as well as a nighttime snack. I was going to make my classic one-burner hostel-dorm-kitchen dish. By this time, I was starving.

I waited another hour before starting to cook because I didn’t want to eat too early. I’m going to leave the memory of this recipe here, because I literally practically survived on this most of the time.

Cait’s One-Burner Hostel-Dorm-Kitchen Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a green/red/orange/yellow pepper (called capsicum in Australia)
• 1/2 a zucchini
• A mixed herb Italian spice
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• Butter
• Chicken breast (get pre-cut if the knives suck!)
• Penne noodles

Now, what you want to do is use only one burner because in a hostel kitchen there just isn’t room for more than that. Fill a pot with water (hot if you can) and put it on to boil. Once it’s boiled, dump your desired amount of pasta in. Let it cook. While your pasta is cooking, cut up your vegetables first and then put them onto a plate. Peel the garlic, mince it, and put it onto the plate with the vegetables. Then cut your chicken if you need to.

When your pasta is cooked, pull the pot off the burner and drain the pasta into a strainer. Get out a pan (or just wash and reuse the pot) and add a copious amount of butter. All it to melt, then put the chicken in to cook. Add some of your spice. You may keep the noodles in the strainer or transfer them to a plate while you finish the rest of the meal.

When your chicken is looking mostly cooked, add more butter and add the vegetables and the garlic to the chicken and stir-fry until cooked. Add more spice; measure with your heart. When everything looks cooked and smells good, turn off the heat, add your noodles and stir everything together. Dump it all onto a plate, wash up your pan/pot and whatever spoon you were stirring with (which should be the only two things you have to clean) and then sit and enjoy your meal!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

I watched True Lies while cooking and eating that evening. I had some leftovers of dinner which I looked forward to heating up and eating in the next couple days. I washed my plate and headed back to my room and took a shower.

I laid in bed and decided on a movie for a bit of a movie night. I’d never seen Cool Runnings but had wanted to for a while, so I turned it on and, following the twenty-minute rule, waited until I was invested in the story to get my special snack.

Back home, we buy Helluva Good chip dip (French onion flavour) and ripple-cut chips as a treat. I managed to find a French onion dip in the grocery store that day and also purchased some ripple chips. Time to find out how they compared!

Well, first of all, they weren’t as good as home. But it was a pretty decent substitute and it was definitely something different to enjoy!

When the movie finished, it was finally after nine p.m., so I was able to call home (where it was 7 a.m. on Saturday morning). After I hung up, I headed to bed and went to sleep.

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to leave a like, comment, and share with your friends and family! In fact, tell me what your favourite meal to make in a hostel kitchen is down below. God knows I need some ideas! If you’re looking for more frequent updates, follow me on Instagram @cait_around_the_world.