Australia Must Be Amazing page 5

[Rasputina]

I think I'm fascinated with Missouri like you're fascinated with Australia...seriously. It's one of the few states I haven't been to yet, so I'm letting the anticipation get a little out of control. How would you describe your experience living there?

My experience in Missouri is twofold- since I lived separately with mom and dad. With mom, we lived mostly in the suburbs with my grandparents (post-divorce, when I was 7), then, our suburb still had woods to explore, plenty of green yard with trees. We shopped at fancy grocery stores, and my grandparents cooked fattening foods: lots of pasta with cream sauce, biscuits and sausage, rice made with sugar and milk, barbecued everything, cassaroles with cream, milkshakes for dessert. We kids ran around from sunup to sundown, building forts, but still got chubby.

Life at my dad's (post-divorce) was in the country on a Morgan horse farm, in the latter years (earlier we lived in an upscale lake/country club private subdivision). In either case, at Dad's we were always out on the lake swimming, or later, at the farm, working horses, tending chickens, bailing hay, cleaning stalls. The land is BEAUTIFUL!! Rolling green hills, plenty of rugged trails for weekly hikes, local wineries within a stone's throw. My grandmother lives in southern Missouri, in Ironton, on a mini-mountain, in a large, multi-storied log home my family built. She lives near Elephant Rocks, a wonderous place to play in the water.

my husband and I live a block away from the St. Louis City limits, in a charming, historic, very walkable town, full of quirky shops. There are about seven parks within walking distance to us. the farmer's market is five blocks away.

Here are some pics of Taum Sauk, Elephant Rocks, and Forest Park:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Taum_Sauk.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5120/...8f78aa5d60.jpg
http://photos.visualjourney.com/img/...43881953-3.jpg
http://darteboard.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/21.jpg

[BestBetter]

Wow, now I really can't wait to explore Missouri. It sounds like a dream. What's the weather/climate like?

Hopefully your attached pics become available soon!

Sorry to distract peeps from Australia, that place seems magical, too. There's just too much beautiful stuff in this world. A good reminder not to waste time on the crap stuff.

[Rasputina]

Wow, now I really can't wait to explore Missouri. It sounds like a dream. What's the weather/climate like?

Hopefully your attached pics become available soon!

Sorry to distract peeps from Australia, that place seems magical, too. There's just too much beautiful stuff in this world. A good reminder not to waste time on the crap stuff.

Oh, geez, sorry my pics didn't come through! Just google image Taum Sauk Mountain, Elephant Rocks Park, and Forest Park, St. Louis. Our weather is usually very cold or very hot and muggy, but this winter was very mild, jacket weather, and this summer has been very humid and hot, 90 degrees farenheit, usually. I'm used to hot weather and I love it!! Most people can't get used to the humidity, though, as it makes it harder to breathe

[zizou]

Yeah, you can kind of tell looking at it. Apparantly 1/3 of Aust beef is grain-fed. Most of the feedlots are in QLD.

"Coles source both grass and grain fed cattle depending on seasonal quality. When rains are good, cattle are fed on grass. Being high in beta carotene, this is transferred to the meat and is why the fat is cream in colour. During drier times, grass is substituted with grain feed, and the fat has a whiter appearance."

Is this a reliable method to use on all beef? Like if i go to a local butcher who mention nothing about organic/free range etc, if i see the meat as red and the fat to be that yellowy colour, is that most likely grass fed?

I buy Kings Island beef from coles which is grass fed QLD beef, not cheap but it's dame good. Safeway veal is grass fed i believe, if you read the back of hte packaging.