sf 2 oz

In honor of the Queen’s birthday, a public holiday here, Mike and I tasted and imbibed our way through the long weekend. This theme wasn’t really planned, we just went with it!

On Friday night we met up with Kevin and some of his friends at Opera Bar, which sits right alongside the Opera House and buzzes with the after work happy hour crowd. It’s quintessential Sydney…sitting right by the water with views all around. It is a bit pricey (as you’d expect), but the champagne was cheap…cheaper than Mike’s Corona!  After the night set in I think we all realized that winter is upon us here. It’s been pretty cold here in Sydney ever since then. This morning it was 5 degrees C.

At drinks we learned about the Sydney Growers Market, which takes place in Pyrmont the first Saturday of every month. We trekked over there in the morning for some breakfast and coffee and to stroll around the stalls, which sit right along the water. Lots of yummy gourmet things for sale, but not as much produce as I expected (being a ’growers’ market and all). I guess we’re spoiled with that coming from California and Washington. We bought some delicious banana bread that we’ve been eating toasted with butter all week. We fought over who got the last piece for almost 2 days!

Saturday night we tried this restaurant in Potts Point called Mere Catherine. It’s a tiny unassuming French restaurant right next to a hostel. I would have walked by it a million times without noticing if we hadn't learned about it from our neighbors. It seats 14 people a night, there’s one chef and one waitress and they only take cash. The table sitting next to us, who we couldn’t help but eavesdrop on, has been coming to this place for 20 years.  The dishes are all very classic, no frills French. We got the onion soup to start, then Mike had the steak with béarnaise sauce and I had the chicken tarragon. Then, chocolate mousse for dessert. It was BYO (like many restaurants here), which means you pay a small corkage ($3 or $4) for bringing your own bottle of wine.  The food was fantastic (but very rich) and the dining experience was surely unique - I’d highly recommend it.

On Sunday we decided to head over to Manly Beach for its annual Food & Wine Festival. Mike hadn’t been to Manly since we were here in March, so it was fun to take the ferry over there on such a beautiful sunny day. But let me tell you, A LOT of other people had the same idea. The festival was pretty packed, but it was fun to walk around the beaches and taste some wine and food.

We spent Monday, another gorgeous day, with our new friends Mitch and Ellaine (who got engaged on Saturday!). We headed to Paddo Bowls for some lawn bowling, which is basically like bocce ball on grass. It’s definitely common here in Australia with the young and old. It was such a great, mellow way to while away the day. Just sitting in the sun, playing a few games, drinking beer and snacking in between.

A moderately gluttonous weekend, but I like to think that we’re just slipping into the Sydney lifestyle

Grocery shopping and cooking has actually been a fun and interesting adjustment. Well, I guess it’s an ‘adjustment’ because I didn’t do a whole lot of it in the US!  Having a nice kitchen with a dishwasher and oven that actually functions correctly also makes cooking more appealing. 

Two things I want to learn and master are cooking seafood and Thai food. Ingredients for both are plentiful here, as you might suspect. For example, lemongrass, curry leaves and paste etc are standard fare at the major grocery stores. Back home these kind of ingredients are usually at a specialty Asian food store. I experimented with a coconut chicken curry dish tonight and it actually turned out great.  Go me! Although, mastering the art of how much hot chili equals ‘mouth on fire’ is still a work in progress. A few nights ago I made a noodle dish with WAY too much kick…for me at least, Mike was loving it!

Using Celsius for baking has been easy to get used to, but ordering up bulk foods (like deli meat) in grams has been a little trickier to get used to. Being an indecisive shopper, I’ve actually found it more enjoyable and efficient to grocery shop here because there’s only a few brands/types of each product to choose from. And, it didn’t take us long to rule out the generic ‘home brand’ products. In the US I bought these all the time, but here the quality is most definitely compromised. 

Well, those are my musings for now. Below is a photo of our fridge after our first trip to the store..$90 later. Pretty comical. The second is of the lovely coconut chicken curry.