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We've been regulars every Tuesday at the Fringe Bar for about a year now. Tuesday evening is when the pub holds trivia hosted by Mike Blades (who moonlights as an 80s DJ on the weekends). We always meet the same crew of friends there, order something from the bar menu (recommend the chicken parm) and have a glass or two of wine. I usually get a select few answers right..normally the pop culture ones like, "what was this name of this Jennifer Lopez song from 2002?" Luckily we have lots of trivia wizzes on the team to take care of the tough/random Qs. I enjoy doing trivia, but more so I enjoy this evening as a constant in my week. It's never a question whether people are going -- we always have a team there and I love that. 

There's lots of pubs that hold trivia nights in Sydney. I know that the Light Brigade, London Hotel, The Royal Hotel and North Bondi RSL have trivia nights. I haven't been though..I'd say we're fiercely loyal The Fringe!

In other news, we went ice skating last weekend..at Bondi Beach! They Sydney Winter Festival has expanded to more locales through out the city this year. After skating while looking down at the beach and ocean, we headed to the 'ski chalet' which served mulled wine, german beer, bratwursts and dutch pancakes. It was some good, Southern Hemisphere winter fun. 

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.