Finding a little piece of Australia around the Manhattan corner.

When we moved to America I made my peace with the fact that certain aspects of my life, which I took for granted in Australia, would no longer be available. These farewelled past-times revolved mainly around food.

Flat Whites - Never mind that you can order a "decaf, soy, skim-milk, caramel, upside-down, wet latte", Americans do not know what a Flat White is, let alone how to make one. This was something I was unprepared for, but begrudgingly accepted. I tried to adapt my taste-buds to the drip-filtered variety that American's have grown up on, but alas I do not like coffee that much. We discovered if we ordered double-shots, and asked for a "wet-cappucino" we usually managed something resembling an espresso coffee we would expect in Australia. But nothing was quiet the same as my beloved "Flat White".

Vegemite and cheese sandwiches - Whilst vegemite was easy to bring with us, decent cheddar cheese was a hard staple item to find amongst the orange-rubber which Americans call Cheddar. Not to mention the bread issue - Americans eat bread which is more closely related to cake than the Sunblest, TipTop, or even Helgas varieties we grew up with Down Under. The American varieties emit a sickly sweet caramel smell when toasted, crumble when biten, and do nothing to compliment the salty-savory flavours of vegemite.

Cadbury's Chocolate - Whilst America does indeed have Cadbury's as a brand, it is made by Hershey's, and even the "glass and a half of full cream dairy milk" will not counter-balance the atrocities of using vegetable oil in chocolate.

Crunchie Bars and Flakes - Sadly Americans, for all their Reeses Peanutbutter Cups and Hershey Kisses, are deprived of the wonder of golden honeycomb covered in chocolate or flake away slivers of soft creamy milk chocolate.

Tim Tams - Even stocking up on family-sized variety packs of Tim Tams at Sydney airport was only ever going to last us for so long. Especially with the inevitable impromptu visits by our Aussie friends which followed our return from any trip Down Under.

So to all of these "Australian staples" which I had become accustomed to, and taken for granted for so many years, I had farewelled. That is, until we moved to Manhattan.

When we first arrived in Chelsea, at a quaint coffee shop, Grumpys, we found Flat Whites on the menu "For our Australian Friends". Even better, several mornings a week, I would be magically awakened by the aroma of a flat white drifting through our front door as Nathan and Noah returned from an early morning walk. Now that we are in the Lower East Side, I have again had to farewell Flat Whites, however The Roasting Plant on Ludlow Street offers a pretty close substitute, and who is complaining when your Son and Husband deliver it to your bedside 3-4 mornings a week!? Not to mention the fact that Noah is on a first name basis with the early morning barister, Crimson.

Indeed living on the cusp of China Town has proven very advantageous for us home-sick Aussies. The Golden Carriage Bakery across the road, with its enthusiastic staff who leap over the counter to tug on Noah's chubby cheeks and feet, offers a wonderful white sugar-free alternative to the American cake-type bread. Something that closely resembles the sliced varieties in Australia - no caramelisation when toasted, no crumbling of cake as you eat it, and it compliments vegemite (albeit without decent cheddar) on toast beautifully. Even Noah is enjoying morning toast and vegemite on a daily basis.

Then one night, when I had sent Nathan out in search of ice-cream at 10pm, he returned with an altogether surprising and wonderful discovery - a Crunchie bar for me and a Flake for him! Delicious golden honeycomb covered in chocolate devoid of vegetable oil. Delicious. And available from our local corner store along with some delectable Haagen Daas ice cream flavours.

We also discovered the Sweet Life on Hester and Ludlow. A store reminiscent of "Willy Wonka" with jars of sweets and chocolates, including the deliciously sinful 'Dark chocolate covered orios'. And there on a shelf in the window proudly sits jars of vegemite and packets of Tim Tams. Overpriced? Yes, but when you are almost 10 000 miles from home, a few extra dollars is worth it (and we are going through our vegemite at a rate of knots now with Noah eating it every day).

Yes, we are still in search of the Australian variety of Cadbury's chocolate, and will have to suffice with taxing our international guests with delivering several family blocks of Cadbury's Dairy Milk whenever they visit. But all in all, this Aussie Mum is feeling more at home in New York thanks to the little things around the corner.

Apartment Hunting - A full contact sport!

A friend recently said to me, "From what I hear, apartment hunting in NYC is a full contact sport". After viewing 40 apartments over the last four and a half weeks, we have finally signed a lease! And yes, it is a full contact sport!

And what a broad spectrum of potential abodes we saw. We looked in TriBeCa, the Financial District, NoLIta, the Lower East Side, the West Village, the East Village, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, the Flatiron District, and the Upper West Side.

We looked at the insanely tiny (this is New York after all), and apartments up 5 flights of stairs (which I couldn't be convinced to traverse each day with a baby under one arm and the stroller under the other - not to mention the groceries!).

There were one bedrooms (in which we were supposed to erect additional walls to create a second bedroom aka "cupboard" for the baby to sleep in - because he doesn't take up much room right?).

There was the apartment block I was denied entry to because "babies are not permited on building sites" - a fact which may make living there difficult since the baby is non negotiable.

We saw an "apartment" which was actually a sewing factory (and the fact that the dress Whoopi wore to the Oscars this year was made there will not make me want to live there more - no matter how often you repeat it).

There was the loft with the "6 foot" ceiling in the second bedroom (interesting that I could not stand up being that I am 6 foot and no I am not mistaken I am not 6 foot 2! And no it won't be perfect for the baby because his mother needs to be able to enter his room without risking concussion).

And there was the apartment Nathan didn't even let me see - retreating out shaking his head.

Then there were the brokers! Like used car salesmen but somehow worse. We met no fewer than 5 brokers and, with exception of Lior our final broker, all were useless. Sentences would start as follows:
"Now I know this is above your price range but..."
"This isn't a true 2 bedroom but..."
"This apartment does have some stairs but..."
"That air conditioning unit isn't the correct fit so it is packed in the space with bubble wrap. Not attractive but it works" (don't worry about the choking hazard not to mention risk of small child falling through the gap!)
"There is no washer/dryer but do you know you can send your laundry out to be done?"
"This apartment is a little small but..."

And the list goes on!

Then finally there was the Forward Building in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I literally heard angels begin to hum "Aaaahhhhh" as we entered.

• 24 hour doorman (tick)
• Elevator entry to apartment (tick)
• Washer & dryer (tick tick)
• 1,435 square feet (tick x 1,435 squared)
• 2 complete bedrooms (tick tick)
• View onto a park (tick)
• Children's playground in that park (tick)
• Lovely open kitchen (tick)
• 2 bathrooms & a tub (tick tick tick)
• Bike storage facilities (tick)
• Additional storage space (bonus)
• Roof deck (bonus)
• Built in very large flat screen tv (bonus)
• Famous land lord (cool)
• Famous neighbour (extra bonus and cool)!

Of course, one final note should be, that whislt we looked at a staggering 40 apartments in the flesh, hundreds more were perused and discounted online. All of which was completed on the 11 cm x 6 cm screen of my iPhone (being that our computer is in storage).

We may be left bruised and bloodied, and in need of new glasses, but we have a place to live. Isn't that what this contact sport is all about anyway!?