sf 2 oz

I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to something that we've been spending a lot of time on....watching Masterchef! The show is somewhat of a phenomenon in Australia. The first season last winter was wildly popular. So popular that this season the show airs every night. EVERY night - like the news! The premise is that there's 25 amateur cooks, chosen from thousands no doubt, who go through tons of cooking challenges as teams and individuals. And the expectation for the final product is a restaurant quality dish. It's pretty amazing what some of these amateurs can do.

Australians are obessesed with the show and Mike and I are no different. I've never really watched food shows before, but there's something so likable about the judges and the way it's produced.. Two of the judges are famous chefs - Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris - and the third is Matt Preston, a food critic who is famous for wearing cravats. He even came out with a cookbook called "Cravatalicious." Wow. 

Well, it's almost 7:30 so I better wrap this up. Tonight is a masterclass where the chefs will teach the contestants to make the perfect risotto (I know this because of the teaser on Facebook). Haha, I'm obsessed. 

Since most of our recent blog entries have been about travel, I thought it was about time to drop some Sydney knowledge. Here's a handful of our favorite restaurants, cafes and bars around town. I love personal recommendations, so if you're a Sydneysider please leave a comment with your favorite spot!

Tiger Mottle: This is the best cafe in the 5 Ways are of Paddington. Friendly staff and great blackboard specials. Really airy, yet vintage vibe with old record jackets on the wall and a wooden stag's head above the fireplace. Great coffee, pancakes, salads...it's all fab.

Paddington Grind: It's a block away from our old apartment, but that's not the only reason why we went. The eggs benedict and porridge are delicious and the coffee top notch. For some reason it's a favorite for hardcore cyclists so if you're going early on the weekend, watch out for the hoards of men in lycra!

Eat Thai: This is the restaurant we've frequented the most. The the yellow curry and pad see ew are the bomb. Curry puffs are also good as a starter. It's a lot of food though..always leftovers for lunch, which isn't a bad thing!

Rockpool Bar & Grill: This place is pretty swanky and I'm sure the menu is fabulous, but we've only ever gone to the bar and ordered a burger. It's a $20, but oh so worth it. The onion rings are also yummy. Bring your appetite!

Love Supreme: This place can be easily missed as the front window is full of stacked pizza boxes and crates of veggies..kind of weird, but once you get inside it's a buzzing local gourmet pizza place. The Parma is my favorite! 

Agave: So, good Mexican food in Australia is basically non-existant. We're talking kidney beans in burritos...bad bad bad! Agave is the best, most authentic Mexican food we've found. Our friend Alane does it justice in her review here. Btw, The huevos rancheros are great if you go for brunch.

The Local Taphouse: This place is great, if you love beer. They have an extensive international beer list and serve each beer in a different glass, it seems. They have beer flights and tastings as well. The bar is really cute and cozy with lots of little rooms for hanging with friends (the upstairs has antique bird cages hanging from the ceiling!). My only gripe is that they didn't have Sierra Nevada when I ordered, even though it was on the beer menu.

Speedos Cafe: Right near the beach in North Bondi, this place is always packed with half dressed people getting coffee and grub (hot coffee + beach is so weird, but the Aussies seem to love it). Given it's right down the street from our new apartment, we decided to try it shortly after moving to the area. I had a fabulous bircher muesli and chai latte and Mike had a ham and cheese croissant and flat white. My recommendation would be to get there early or try to go on a weekday. Also, don't make it a habit because it's not cheap!

More to come in the next installment..maybe next I'll review activities next like yoga, hiking, sailing etc. 

Upon arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open we quickly realized that people here don't watch tennis, they watch "the" tennis.

Well, we really enjoyed the tennis. I was actually surprised at how exciting it was to see such a high caliber of players battle it out on the court. The first day we had tickets to Rod Laver arena and watched some highly ranked players like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray...we also got a peek of the Williams sisters playing doubles! The second day we bought grounds passes for $20 each and ended up seeing some great tennis PLUS Roger Federer warming up. It was also a fun atmosphere with beer gardens, live music and sponsor tents everywhere. This whole experience is making me want to see Wimbledon..hmmm.

A lot of our Sydney friends were actually in Melbourne as well - some for tennis and some for other stuff. We had fun during the evenings going to dinner and bars. We even got to celebrate Jess' Dirty 30 at Coda Bar + Grill followed by karaoke in Chinatown (which I think the girls enjoyed more than the guys).

The last day we were in Melbourne was Australia Day, which appears to be a day off from work for people to be patriotic, BBQ, go to the beach and do other Aussie things. Officially it commemorates the first explorers to arrive at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. We didn't really have a typical Australia Day as we were busy exploring a few other parts of Melbourne including St. Kilda and Chapel Street. Oh well, 4th of July is still better!

Last weekend Alane and Mickey hosted a Thanksgiving feast for a group of about 15! They live in the Horizon apartments in Darlinghurst where the view is incredible (we'll be heading there to take in some fireworks on NYE). They cooked a turkey and everyone else brought various holiday specialties. I made a pumpkin pie with filling that Mike smuggled here from the US in October. We also brought green beans and a few bottles of wine. It was a fabulous fabulous feast..just look at the picture of my plate! Yum. Even though we couldn't be with family, we are very thankful to have such wonderful friends in Sydney!

Yesterday we got our real tree delivered from http://sydneychristmastrees.com/, where I ordered it online. Upon delivery I was quite happy to learn it's a Monterey Pine. A little slice of home in Oz! Most people here in Australia seem to do the artificial trees, which I guess makes sense given the heat. But, being the traditionalist I am I was pretty adamant about getting a real tree. We had to cut a decent amount of branches off the bottom to get it standing up in our el cheapo tree stand -- which, by the way, I had to go on quite a mission to find. Can you believe that K-Mart, Target nor Big W (like Walmart) have tree stands? Next step is to find some more ornaments!

Tonight I met up with Monique and Megan at South Restaurant, which serves American soul food like pulled pork, hot wings, hushpuppies, sweet tea and pumpkin pie. We'd been eying the menu online so it was fun to finally go! We all agreed it was not as good as the 'real thing' but it was pretty darn close.

Mike brought back pumpkin pie mix and jet puff marshmellows from the US so I'm looking forward to making some pie and sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving next month :)