Hey y'all - people have been saying that I should use this blog more, and I could sure use an outlet, so let's do it. I'm not about to say that this will be good, or interesting; but hey, it's something.

Maybe one day I'll write about what happened between Philadelphia and today, but it'll come when it comes. Today, I want to blog about my Grandmother's hot cross buns.

Every year in the spring, for the last 50 years, my Grandmother has made hot cross buns. The year she got married, her husband asked her whether she could make hot cross buns for Easter and she told him that yes, she could; not telling him that she had never made them before. She went to her mother (my great-grandmother) and got an old recipe, and has made them for her family ever since. Why no one in our family makes these more often than just Easter is beyond me, because they are easily my favourite homemade treat. It is a tradition that I want to pass on to my family - not only to preserve her memory, but so that I can have a reason to make and eat piles of the doughy confections.

I really wish I had a picture to share with you. They're soft cinnamony rolls full of raisins, eggwashed and browned with a piped cross in cream cheese icing across the top. The piping tip used for the cross has never changed. They're best eaten fresh the day they're baked, obviously; but they're also great if you cut them in half and slather the insides with the cream cheese icing from the top - and microwaved for 10 seconds or so. They're the best midnight snack, or the perfect breakfast. When I get the recipe, maybe I'll share it with you.

She dropped off a few of them tonight for me. I'm having the hardest time trying to space them out over the next few days, when I've already ate one and only have 3 left. What can I say, they're fresh!

Every NYE I think of this poem and it fills me with hope and joy and renewal. Let me share it with you.

Happy New Years, everyone. I love you.


you my love are allowed to forget about the christmas you just spent stressed out in your parents house
you my love are allowed to shed the weight of all the years before like bad disco clothes, save them for a night of dancing, stoned with your lover
you my love are allowed to let yourself drown every night in bottomless wild and naked symbolic dreams
you my love in sleep can unlock your youth and your most terrifying magic and dreaming is for the courageous
you my love are allowed to grab my guitar and sing me idiot love songs if you lost your ability to speak,
( keep it down to two minutes )
you my love are allowed to rot and to die and to live again more alive and incandescent than before
you my love are allowed to beat the shit out of your television, choke it's thoughts and corrupt its mind kill kill kill kill the motherfucker before the song of zombiefied pain and panic and malaise and its narrow right winged vision and its cheap commercial gang rate becomes the white noise of the world (turn about is fair play)
you my love are allowed to forgive and love your television
you my love are allowed to speak in kisses to those around you and those up in heaven
you my love are allowed to show your babies how to dance full bodied, starry eyed, audacious, supernatural and glorified
you my love are allowed to suck in every single endeavor
you my love are allowed to be soaked like a lovers blanket in the New York summertime with the wonder of your own special gift
you my love are allowed to receive praise
you my love are allowed to have time
you my love are allowed to understand
you my love are allowed to love
woman disobey
little man believe
you my love are a rebellion

Go North, and Prosper.

Hi kids - unfortunately, this will not be a full NYC update like you have come to expect for a couple reasons.
A) I haven't uploaded pictures from my camera yet, so I couldn't throw them up for looking and I find posts boring without pictures; and
B) I'm in a dorm room surrounded by people, and I doubt they'd appreciate having to listen to me type loudly for the next 45 minutes or so.
So, this is going to be a small reflection post regarding the last 8 weeks of my life. Buckle in - shit's about to get deep.

8 weeks is the longest amount of time I have been outside of Canada - no wait, let me rephrase that. 8 weeks is the longest amount of time I've been away from the southern tip of little ol' Vancouver Island. During this trip, I've: been immersed in a foreign country (I know I'm stretching there, but it's a truth. Thanks, Amurica), been in places where large bodies of water are unheard of, shot a gun, ate an aligator or two, spent 3 days on a train with nothing to do but sit and reflect on the world, been kissed on the bench of a baby-grand piano, promoted myself as being "exotic", actively drank while wandering the streets, froze my ass off for fashion... the list of ridiculousness goes on. I've seen myself be strong, regal, terrible, independent, childish, adult...

Mostly, after all this, what I really feel is tired.

I really don't want to go back to Canada tomorrow. I wish I could stay here, settle down, explore a place, be an outsider - and then, be a local. I'm not sure why I can't apply the same feelings towards any of the cities in my native country; it's probably the lack of sweet tea and patriotism. America, you are a selfish, stubborn, proud-as-balls country and I personally love you for it. I would give my left arm to stay in your country (if by my left arm you mean the left arm of that mexican; I am in America, after all. I'm entitled to everybody's everything - it's probably in the Constitution).

I know what you're all thinking. "Kate, Kate! What will you do now that you're heading home to the Great White North?" Let me tell you - I'm getting the fuck out, as quickly as physically possible. I've got tickets booked back down to Louisiana for New Years, and I'm going to continue my adventures into 2010, and hopefully succeed at becoming an American.

Mom, I think I know what I want to be when I grow up. (God bless the red, white, and blue.)

Yo, Philly!

Hello there, friends - again, I have to apologize for what feels like a belated update. I think this blog would have been much more interesting if I'd updated every day or two, rather than weekly. But oh well, you can't have everything. I left Laura and Russ last saturday in DC by taking a different mode of transportation: the Chinatown bus, a cheap but also infuriating mode of travel between major cities on the east coast. I arrived in Philly a couple hours later, met up with my friend Scott, and we puttered around a bit before heading over to our friend Beth's place for her birthday party.
I've spent my week here alternately making my way into Philadelphia to explore, and staying in at Scott's to do things I've been avoiding over the last few weeks: Making plans, mending clothes, sleeping through the night. I spent a day shopping and cooking with Beth at the italian market, and visited the Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Art Museum with Scott and Nozz, and ate my first philly cheese steak. It's been a nice, relaxing week and I am thankful to have such great people to spend it with.
Tomorrow morning, I'll be getting up, taking the train into the city, and then catching a bus to the last stop on my tour before I re-cross the border: New York City. My darling best friend Tara is flying down from Victoria to meet me there, and I couldn't be happier or more thankful. We've got lost of big plans for exploring the city, some places to eat, some shows and events to go to, and lots of catching up to do. I had a lot of reservations about going to New York on this trip, but I'm feeling much better about it knowing I'll have her there with me.

You know the drill, click here to see Philadelphia pictures!

OR

Click here to see more pictures from Washington, DC!

From BC to DC

Hello Lovies - I know this is update is belated but things, as you can imagine, are always on the go. I arrived into Washington, DC last thursday morning after a relatively quiet night on the train. I checked into my hostel, tossed my bag in my room and set out to explore the nations capitol. I wandered down to the White House, the Washington Memorial, and then down to the Lincoln Memorial. DC is a really spectacular city in that it has a calm hush about it, a gentle murmur of history - and well, most of the really awesome museums are free. I love free. The next day I met up with KATG friend David - EatsPaste to the community - and spent the day exploring the National Aquarium (totally lame) and the museum of Natural History, which I liked much more than the one in NYC. We ate at Hooters, and in the evening went over to the house of another couple of KATG fans, Russ and Laura. We all went out for ethiopian food (I ate both tripe and tongue) and then to a couple bars with their friends, and then they were kind enough to offer me their couch to sleep on! So I canceled the rest of my hostel stay, and have been staying with them for the last week. We have done many really neat things - they took me to Baltimore to see the aquarium there, which was easily the greatest aquarium I've ever been too; also, we've gone to the Arlington cemetery and seen the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; and they invited me over to Russell's parents house for a proper American Thanksgiving. I've been able to visit the museum of American History, the American Art Museums, the portrait museum, the museum of Air and Space, the archives which house the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as a few other important spots I'm sure. We've been to see two concerts in the last two nights, and eaten at some really iconic places around DC like Ben's Chili Bowl, where I ate the same meal as Obama: a half-smoke and a sweet tea. I have had a great time here with them and their ill-tempered cat, being able to go out and see more than just the super-touristy bits of the city, as well as places outside of the city limits.
I have just one more full day here until I move onwards in my journey. Next stop: Philadelphia, PA! To see dear friends Scott, Nozzyl (identities protected?) and Beth! I'm so glad to be seeing them again, as they're some of my favourite people in the whole world, and I do love the feel of Philly as a city.
Some days I feel like I've really come into my own out here, but some days I really feel just as small and scared as the day I left Victoria. I really can look back on the last 7 weeks with such rapture and excitement - I've seen so many amazing things out here on the road, and I can't imagine how much I'd regret had I changed my mind during those toughest days in the preparation. The world is a beautiful place and I'm so glad to be part of it, although I ache sometimes. It will be nice to see warm, familiar faces again in the coming weeks. So, until then - take care, everyone. I miss you.

Many, many more pictures on my Facebook page!

A Simpler Place in Time

I'm so sorry to delay you, dearlings - I've just been so busy. I arrived in Dahlonega, GA on Saturday the 7th and was greeted by my dear friend Sparrow/Sara and her husband Alex. Dahlonega is in northern Georgia, over an hours drive from Atlanta, and 20 minutes from everything else. Sara and Alex have been model hosts, showing me the best of the South: a mixture of sweet tea, hiking, hot-boiled peanuts ( pronounced "ha-bull peanuts"; and totally delicious ), puppetry and local arts, guns, porch sitting, and the Waffle House. We have had many great adventures - petting zebras from the zoo down the way ( a zoo that proved to be the most depressing thing in the whole world ); an encounter with a herd of horses; a trip to Babyland General Hospital, where Cabbage Patch Kids are born from a magic crystal tree; a night of local theatre and a very awkward cast party, and much more. We used Veterans day to go to the Centre for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta with talented artist and good friend Josh Latta where we saw a fantastic show about dinosaurs, and had the ability to meet some of the most important puppets in the world such as Ernie, Big Bird, the Swedish Chef, and a bunch of characters from The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. I shot a gun for the first time, which was a terrifying experience; I also got hassled by a prospector while panning for gold - he was not pleased that I am happy for my Canadian Socialized Health Care, and got rather testy and accused me of trying to take his Freedom. There's a lot of that down here.
I feel like spending time in the south has really opened my eyes to the stubbornness of true Americans - there are many local practices down here that I had imaged were long buried and forgotten. There are dry counties, and you can't buy liquor on Sundays. Everyone preaches Jesus at you and fears for your soul - our boiled peanuts always come with little books of scripture. Booze is sometimes still referred to as "Demon Liquor", and people believe that dinosaur bones were put on Earth by the Devil to confuse us. I find it all very bewildering and very comical. Alex and Sara have made me an honorary American - I have listened to more songs about "the red, white and blue" than I knew existed and received a war medal for taking the life of a terrorist fishing-spider. I have had an absolute blast with my new friends and am so in love with Georgia; I would love to own a little piece of land down here one day.
Tomorrow evening I take off from Gainesville again heading north to Washington, DC. I'm a little nervous about finding my way around there, but I'm very excited to learn about the history of this country I've spent the last 6 weeks in and see some of the monuments in person that I never thought I'd experience. I can feel winter creeping in now, and am looking forward to being able to truly enjoy it this year. As always, I leave you with a link to my photos - as well as the video of my first experience with a handgun (a Springfield XDM 40 caliber, I am told.)

I shot the Sheriff from Kiss Miss Kate on Vimeo.

Click here to see more photos on Facebook!

My Weeks in the Big Easy

Hello lovelies - sorry for keeping away so long. As you can imagine, I've been keeping rather busy. I have to get up early in the morning, so I'm going to try to keep this as concise as possible. Last thursday, we went to Mardi Gras World to tour and look at the floats for this amazing parade. Despite the information on their website/phoneline, the place seemed closed; save for a garage-style door on the side which was open. We were curious and so went in - we wandered all through the warehouse in the near-dark peering at these giant spooky heads and animals and creatures and only saw a couple cleaning staff who could have cared less about our presence. So, we didn't get king cake - but we also weren't charged $20 for the tour. I consider this a win. For lunch I had my first shrimp po' boy: a sub sandwich with deepfried shrimp on it for meat. Delicious, obviously. Afterwards we drove to the west bank and took our airboat/swamp tour - we got to ride around and go really fast and saw lots of gators. It was really awesome.

Friday we went to the Audubon Aquarium which is awesome because I love aquariums. Afterwards we drove to City Park for the VooDoo Experience - a three-day music festival. We only got tickets for the one day which was perfect, because we found we still had a tonne of things to see and do. The festival was fun, except for around 6pm when the temperature dropped 10 degrees in mere moments - followed by 4 hours of cold, driving rain. In order to save my shoes (and my money), I opted to not buy a poncho/sweater and go barefoot which nearly killed me. I was sure I would die, and am now paying for that evening with a terrible cold. Ick.

Saturday was Halloween; we bummed around all morning, put on our costumes, and went to a family party of Barry's step sister. I got to play "adult" for a few minutes this halloween, which means following the little 'uns to the end of the driveway while they ran up begging for candy. However, Louisiana has one perk - it's not illegal to drink in the streets! You haven't done trick-or-treating until it's 15 degrees, and you're wandering door-to-door with a beer in your hand. Lovely. Afterwards we drove down to the Quarter and joined in the madness of Bourbon St. It was absolutely ridiculous; I won a beer chugging contest against catwoman, and met a babillion Waldos, and got preeettyyy drunk off $15 triples. Afterwards we went to Cafe Du Monde for beignets - a delicious deep-fried donut covered in piles of powdered sugar. Came home, passed out, Happy Halloween.

Sunday was a recoup day; we went to the zoo in the afternoon and looked at animals. Very chill.
Monday we went to Oak Alley Plantation - a beautiful spot with about 50 live oaks on the property. We had a lovely lunch there before heading to the Super Dome to watch the New Orleans Saints play against the Atlanta Falcons. I have never experienced noise or people like that before; the madness! The game lasted about 5 hours, but the Saints came out victorious. We decided against going to Bourbon Street and headed home instead.
Tuesday we finished off our Audubon experience with a 3D film at the Imax and a trip to the Insectarium, which was totally lame. Wednesday was a write-off; Barry worked and I slept. Woo!
Since then, we've: walked the riverfront, visited a cemetary, made alligator piquant, went fishing in the bayou, and had more drive-thru daiquiri's than I ever thought I would have. Drive-thru mixed drinks? Yes please.

I'm sick, I'm itchy (the mosquitoes here love me), and I'm absolutely exhausted; BUT I've had a great time here in New Orleans. I will be sad to leave, but I'm excited to carry on in my journey eastward. Next stop - Gainesville, Georgia! I'm looking forward to hiking, baking, and getting artsy in the mountains with my southern sister, Sparrow. Wish me well in my travels, my illness, and my poor poor bug-bitten legs. Miss y'all!

You can see my Halloween pictures here
OR
You can see more New Orleans photos here!

Welcome to Naaawlins

Why hello! Sorry for the delay in posting, but things have been pretty busy. After leaving San Francisco, I took a train up through the Rockies to Chicago, before heading down to New Orleans. The trip through the Rockies was breath-takingly beautiful and exceptionally long; I met a 25 year old guy from Spain named Victor and Claire, a girl from Pennsylvania - we spent most of day 2 of our 3 days together talking about organic living, vaccinations, overcoming illnesses with positive thinking and all of that. I went a little batty on the train that long - mind, I only brought a small thing of trail mix, a loaf of San Francisco Sourdough, and a box of s'more poptarts on with me, and I swore not to spend a cent on that train. Victor had been working on an organic farm somewhere, and shared some lovely sundried peaches, zinfandel raisins, fresh apples and even chocolate-chip-walnut cookies. He was very sweet, english was his 4th language so he wasn't great at it, but we got along very well. I spent 4 hours in a cafe in Chicago before boarding my train headed south, and let me say - after 3 days straight on a train, having to get on another train and then having that train be delayed almost made me cry like a baby. It was not fun. But, either way, I made it to New Orleans just fine.

Barry - a Keith and the Girl friend - picked me up from the train station, whisked me back to his place to drop my stuff and shower, and then took me out for a night on the town southern style. We went to Dragos for a proper southern meal ( grilled oysters slick with garlic butter, and cheese ravioli deep-fried and then smothered in a seafood cream sauce, mmm ) before heading to the French Quarter to party it up. We got drinks and wandered up and down Bourbon Street, popping into bars and dancing the night away. It was a night well spent, Nawlins style.
Saturday we drove back down to the Quarter, walked the Riverwalk, went into Harrah's ( my first casino! ), ate at Jimmy Buffets' Margaritaville (LOLS) and then got in place for the Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade. I got a neck full of beads, and then we called it a night. You can only party so much without dying.
Sunday we went to Barry's fathers house for his sisters birthday party, and to watch the New Orleans Saints play the Miami Dolphins. His father cooked at least 40lbs of shrimp and crabs, and we ate and drank and cheered and the Saints pulled it together and won in the last half! Awesome. We have tickets to watch the Saints at the Dome on monday, and now it will be an absolutely crazy game. I'm really excited.

These last couple days I've been kicking around while Barry's been working; shopping a bit and bumming about. It's nice to have some quiet recoup time. I will likely update again from NoLa, so don't despair - the fun's barely started. There will also be a ton more ( and more interesting ) pictures to come as we go to the aquarium, on a swamp tour, and to The VooDoo Experience. Keep an eye out! <3

As always, more pictures up on Facebook!

Escape to Alcatraz ( and the surrounding areas )

Hello there, darlings. Sorry I've not updated since Portland, but let me tell you - I've been having a grand time in San Francisco. I lucked out on the train ride down here, finding a friend in another young traveler on their way to SF. Spent day one out wandering the piers, then up around Chinatown taking photos and generally exploring. Also went to Golden Gate Park, which is a lovely park in no way attached to the bridge but lovely all the same. That evening we saw Charles Manson's house in Haight-Ashbury, and went to Amoeba Music.
Day two I walked down to AT&T Park, and then up to Coit Tower - which gives you an amazing 360 view of the city and the bay. It was a gorgeous day that day, and I really got a work out huffing my ass up those hills. On Sunday I went out with the girls from my dorm room, before heading out to Treasure Island for the Treasure Island music festival, a ticket for which I bought on a whim saturday morning. What an amazing time! I saw Vetivert, whom I loved; Beirut, who I have always loved; and the Decemberists, who I loved and now love more than ever. They played their entire Hazards of Love CD, front to back, with amazing costumes and a breath-taking video accompaniment. I will never forget that set.
Also saw Grizzly Bear, Y La Tengo, and the Flaming Lips - I say: "meh."
Today me and my roomies went out for indian food, then walked up the famous Lombard St. and caught a streetcar on the way down. THEN it started to rain and I couldn't catch a taxi and I got drenched and so I went to a Starbucks and cried next to a couple of asian girls. But hey - it happens.

On a side note, I'd totally recommend the Green Tortoise as a hostel here (they're other places too, but I've not been to them. I assume they're similarly wonderful?). They're really clever and involved and I've gotten free meals and the beds are soft and there's always something planned to do. For $26 a night? Bargain.

I've absolutely fallen in love with San Francisco - this city feels so good and warm and I love the landscape. It even smells good! As soon as I got off the bus, I smelled salt water and wet cedar and food - delicious baked-salted-fried-something that just wafted through the air. I wish I could stay longer, but at least I know I can always come back. Tomorrow morning I head off to New Orleans - which is to say, tomorrow morning I get on a train and on friday I'll get to New Orleans. I'm totally stoked.

Holy shit, there's someone playing an accordion up the street. Did I mention I love it here?

More pictures on my Facebook!

Leaving the Northwest

Today is my last day in Portland. This week has been very relaxing, and I have spent lots of time eating and being surrounded by cats, all of whom beg for attention. The weather here has been gray and stormy, but that's pretty well what I'm used to so I can't really complain. What have I gotten out of my week in the City of Roses? I have realized that I'm really much more skiddish wandering around new cities alone than I thought I would be. I have a truly new-found appreciation for french-press coffee, comic-book artists ( I have read many a comic this week, my favourites being Monsters, True Porn 1 & 2, and I really liked The Beast Mother ), and cart food. I ate the most delicious pad thai in the world yesterday from a cart on 5th St; it had huge chunks of chicken and lots of lovely noodles and all of this amazing peanut sauce and was only $5, holy balls. After that, the Noodle Box back home can blow me - $14 for pad thai? No thankyou.

I'll say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my stop here in Portland, spending lots of time with my dear Aunt Helen, but I have to be truthful in saying that I'm quite looking forward to spending 15 hours on the train tonight, getting drunk with strangers, and arriving in San Francisco tomorrow morning. My hopes for SF include sushi, street cars, and SOURDOUGH. Omgomgomg, sourdough. Yum!

Also, for my friends and family who are (I'm sure) very worried about me, I bought a Net10 phone yesterday and will email you all the number once it's activated.
Keep safe, stay warm, and wish me luck! <3