Gracie’s Life Experiment

A Village Christmas December 5, 2010

Decided to take advantage of Family Fun Day on the Sydney trains (basically it’s $2.50 for a ticket where you can go on all public transport in Sydney) and take Evie up into the City. Hubby is off away on school camp so I’m keeping us busy. I finally met up with my sister’s friend too (only 4 months after she arrived out here). We took Evie to look at the David Jones windows and then off to Lindt Cafe in Martin Place for a quick chocolate fix. After that I decided to take Evie down to the Village Christmas at Surry Hills. I’d seen it advertised on the tourist websites and noted duly that the “Playschool Lady” (aka Justine Clarke) was compereing. Evie was most excited about seeing Playschool Lady and her enthusiasm meant that I was motivated to find the place. We walked all the way from Martin Place, thru Hyde Park, down to Central before hanging a left to Surry Hills. I didn’t quite realise it was so far and it ended up taking me about 40 mins to finally find Ward Park (I’m a numnuts and forgot the name of the road I needed, Devonshire St, btw). It was a little sad that everyone else there were in big groups having picnics but I enjoyed just watching and soaking up the atmosphere. Evie was so delighted to hear Playschool Lady singing that she was dancing happily in the middle of the grass. As they were raising funds for doggy rescue there were also lots of puppies around… kinda made me wish Mocha could have come too.

Evie happily jumping and dancing

Being a Tourist Again ;) September 17, 2010

It’s Jane’s last full day in Sydney so I decided to take her out for a little day trip.  After getting my tyres changed (something I’ve been meaning to get done for eons) we headed off down towards Wollongong.  First stop Stanwell Park for a spot of lunch.  We stopped at the Beach Kiosk and grabbed some unhealthy fried items before strolling off onto the beach to eat it (manouevring past the hang gliders landing there).  It was so lovely and warm and sunny (v typically Aussie day).  It felt a bit like being in Home and Away or something (that’s North of Sydney though).  Quick play at the beach then headed to Symbio Wildlife Park for the afternoon.  I’ve been in Symbio about 6 times this year – I really should have bought a season ticket ha ha.  I love this place as it’s quite small compared to Taronga or Fetherdale and hence quieter.  I love how you just stroll around and feed the animals.  We got adopted by a very cute baby joey who kept following us around.  I think the joey and Evie were having some kind of conversation at one point.  Poor Evie got a big shock when she walked past one enclosure and a goose “honk honked” at her, she fell over and cried so hard no noise came out (oh dear).  There’s a lot of construction work going on at Symbio at the moment as they’re building this massive Tiger enclosure and they’ve been redoing the Birds of Prey area too.  Quick trip to Kellys Falls whilst we were out that way before the sun started going down.  Then whizzed back home and got takeaway – yummy yummy (even though I got an unpleasant surprise when I found the rice had some prawns in).

Anniversary Date Night!! July 29, 2010

We don’t often get to go out on a date these days. For our anniversary my brother said he would babysit for the evening so we picked last night as that night. It was so lovely having a wonderful evening out with hubby. First we went up into the City and got off at Circular Quay. Wandered off towards The Rocks area and to a Japanese restaurant called Nakashima (on Cambridge St). I read some great reviews about this place online and just had to go – I love love love Japanese food. It’s in such a remote little backstreet that it would never get any passing trade. We arrived shortly before 6pm so went for a wee stroll up the steps and backstreets near there for 5 mins before becoming the first customers of the night. By 6.15 there were 4 tables of people and by 6.30 there were at least 15 tables full. It’s only a small restaurant and has about 20 tables. I was amazed as this place really is so far off the beaten track noone would accidentally end up here (esp not on a cold and rainy night like last night). The service was quick and we had the Pork Maki, Chicken Tzune (? meatball skewers) followed by a Vinegared Fried Chicken and the Wafuu Steak. The pork maki was scrummy – it was like a spring onion with pork wrapped around it instead of seaweed maki then fried and served with a sweet sauce. I wasn’t so keen on the chicken meatballs (hubby ordered them) but they were edible and surprisingly very juicy, if a wee bit salty for my taste buds. The vinegared fried chicken was yummy – I want to try and make something like that at some point so must look for recipes. You’d think it would be really astringent but it was a sort of mellowed vinegar flavour. The wafuu steak was the tenderest steak I have ever had. Hubby ordered it rare and it was by no means bloody (I guess as it is marinaded so well it’s partially cured). It was so soft it just melted in the mouth and almost had a similar consistency to a bit of salmon sashimi. Also it was fantastic value at only $50 for the two of us for 2 courses. If you turn up between 6 and 7pm you also get a free drink so I had a glass of white wine and hubby got a little urn of warm sake. We came out from the restaurant and walked back across Circular Quay towards the Opera House when there was this almighty BOOM and suddenly the sky erupted into a wonderful fireworks display. Hubby was cute and said “darn, I told them not to set them off for another 5 mins” – cheeky moo pretending he’d planned them ha ha!! Got to the Opera House where I’d booked up tickets to see Tim Rogers in Saligia (a cabaret show about eh 7 deadly sins). I got the tickets through Lasttix last week at 2 for 1 prices! We were one of the first to sit in the Mezzanine area when the usher told us that there were a couple of tables empty on the main floor area and that just before the performance she would call us and we could go down and take a seat. So woohoo – a free upgrade. The performance was so strange – sort of bizarre cabaret set in purgatory. There were a few “in” jokes that I didn’t quite get (some Aussie things and also I had no idea who Tim Rogers is). The band were fantastic. It was quite entertaining and I must admit I did titter at some of the witty lyrics. Melanie Robinson (who I think co-wrote along with Tim Rogers) was fabulous on the cello and she had a solo song where she sounded just like Dido. Heading back out after the performance it was tipping it down (sheets of water) we decided to stop off for a quick night cap at the Guylian Cafe. Ordered a couple of hot chocs and some cookies. We got those plus 2 plates of chocolates extra. I’m not sure whether they just give you chocolates on the side or whether they had some to get rid of before the shop closed – but hey we happily gobbled them down (well we had a few we smuggled home as after the indulgent hot chocs AND the cookies were were rather chocolatted out). Luckily there are some covered walkways around Circular Quay so we hastily huddled under the umbrella and made our way back to the station. Hubby was in such a good mood he decided he was going to do a Singing in the Rain impression with his umbrella. He’s so cute!!

It was a lovely evening out to ourselves and we were both feeling really happy. It was also a strangely good evening as we got so much stuff free!! First the free drinks at Nakashima, then free fireworks over the harbour, then buy one get one free on the tickets to the Opera House, then a free upgrade to better seats, then finally free chocolates!! My kind of evening. So we probably both had a 1st class evening out in Sydney for around $100!!

My brother coped really well babysitting the 2 year old monster. Even coping with a nappy full of toxic fall out (poor guy is probably traumatised now). No complaints on the level of babysitting service (though I did find her nappy and PJs were on back to front in the morning).

Day Out in the Big Smoke July 8, 2010

As it’s the school hols and hubby is at home we decided to do a little day trip up into the City to go do touristy stuff.  On the menu today was Art Gallery NSW followed by Powerhouse Museum in the afternoon.  There’s this Viva Sydney tourist offer at the moment for various things in Sydney on BOGOF  and I had noticed that they were offering it on the Paths to Abstraction exhibit at Art Gallery NSW.  I don’t think many people must have taken advantage of the offer as the ticket clerk wasn’t too sure when he tried to enter it into his system at the purchasing desk.  It was quite interesting actually paying for an exhibit as I’m usually far too pikey and only go round the free galleries (which are brilliant).  I must say that I was just a tad disappointed as with all the “big names” in the abstract world being touted as being at the exhibition there were not the really “famous” abstracts (I know I’m a art wannabe cretin who only knows what she sees in books).  If I had been paying more attention I would have noticed it said “paths to…”  hence it covered the earliest stages of the abstract.  I was really looking forward to seeing the Kandinskys but they were the really early ones that weren’t as far out abstract as his say Compositions and onwards (though there was an actual copy of Der Blaue Reiter Almanac).   I recognised some paintings from my art books and was surprised that in print they look so solid and consistent in texture, when some are so roughly prepped they look like they’re painted on sackcloth rather than canvas.  There were also a hell of a lot of sketches or preliminary studies of paintings.  Overall I still found it interesting and enjoying wandering around (though it was very busy and hard to get into a useful position without having heads/bodies in the way to view some of the small ones).

We had lunch over in Darling Harbour at a place called Pontoon Bar near the top end of Cockle Bay Wharf.  It’s a sort of bar but also sells bar food over the counter really cheaply (sub $10 each) and as we didn’t really feel like eating a big lunch we went for just simple burgers and kebabs.  Though we were thinking about going to Jordon’s Seafood as they have a BOGOF with the Viva card too at the moment but it was over the far side of the harbour and we were too hungry by that stage!!  We got absolutely soaked in the deluge of rain in the afternoon running down the harbour and off past Tumbalong (they’ve ripped it all up at the moment but their plans look really cool).

In the afternoon we headed over to the Powerhouse Museum which is Sydney’s answer to the Science Museum.  I went here in I think 1997 and it seems to be much bigger this time round.  Evie had a ball running around pressing buttons on all the exhibits… I don’t think she was learning anything or even paying attention to what happened, she was just happy with the buttons, levers and dials!!  They had this cool “tiny awards” show in the afternoon with a stage set up and 2 guys entertaining the kids with the science of all things tiny (even though they did have mad Professor mock-Germanic accents).  Evie would have enjoyed that more if she hasn’t been so overtired.  For a 2 year old though the stand out areas are of course The Magic Garden and the Kid’s Music area – loads of things to play and touch and climb on for littluns.

Greek Islands Taverna – Earlwood April 28, 2010

Decided to try out a new suburb for eating We went to Marrickville a couple of weeks ago and on the way there passed through Earlwood. Noticed this little greek taverna nestled away next to the car park. So tonight we paid it a visit. It’s really very unassuming from the outside – in fact we actually thought it might be closed at first as it doesn’t have the huge wall-to-wall windows as seems to be the fashion with other restaurants lately. Outside there are massive posters with the list of what’s on the menu. For a Wednesday night it was fairly packed and seemed to be full of Greek (or at least Mediterranean) groups. We opted for the Set Menu 1 (as we were too crap at deciding) – boy we were in for a stuffing. The entree comprised of calamari, baby octopus, spinach/feta pie, feta/ricotta pie, halloumi, bread and salad (sadly I’m allergic to the seafood so missed out on those but I loved the spinach/feta pasties). After the entree we were pretty stuffed already then came the main course which was just “obscene”. It came out on a silver tea tray (that was the size of a surfboard) balanced on a large perspex table (so that you could fit all the other plates of stuff under it) – gosh double decker eating experience. It was basically a mixed carnivore plate, piled high on a bed of chips. There were lamb chops, pork chops, 2 types of sausage, lamb souvlaki and roasted quails. It was mighty impressive when they brought it out (and my eyes were feeling much bigger than my stomach). Lucky Mocha got a doggy bag full of meaty treats – once I cut it off the bone I was shocked to see that there was more meat there than we would usually eat as a family in one meal. The flavours were really tasty though everything was rather salty. The atmosphere felt a lot like Greece (the only difference I can remember is that people in Greece seemed to eat dinner around 9pm and the restaurants were dead at 7pm – it was buzzing here). Overally I quite enjoyed the experience but next time won’t go for the banquet and will try just one dish (unless maybe I have starved myself for a couple of days beforehand, or perhaps run a marathon first)!!

Made me glad that I had done my run 2 hrs earlier (and we were so stuffed we had to go for a stroll around Earlwood just to walk a bit of the food off).

Scarborough Park January 9, 2010

Decided to go for an explore to an area we haven’t been to yet. Today’s spot is Scarborough Park. It’s stretches more or less from Rockdale to Ramsgate. We started off at Ramsgate end and walked up the path by Tonbridge Creek then out at the sports pitches and Scarborough Ponds. Scarborough Ponds are actually a series of linked ponds that link to the aforementioned creek. Walking along the windy, hedged track felt and looked just like we were still in England. If it hadn’t been 37 deg we’d have thought we were back in the UK. The ponds are beautiful and it’s unusual because it’s the one of the few remaining natural wetlands where the Sydney wildlife lives and breeds. We saw plenty of different types of bird (inc rather peculiarly a Muscovy Duck which might have been someone’s pet as not native to Oz) and the water was teeming with fish that kept jumping out of the water. It’s also pretty massive. We got up to Scarborough South so not even 1/2 the park covered and it took us a good 1.5hr round walk. Although we did get a bit lost when we found ourselves at some deserted baseball pitches and the back of the Darrell Lea Chocolate factory. Was most disappointed to see a man driving a forklift truck – no idea why I was even remotely hoping for it to be an Oompaloompa!!

Connells Point Exploration January 5, 2010

As our budget is a bit tight and we’re going a bit stir crazy stuck at home we’ve decided to go out for walks around our area. Today we picked Connells Point. Quite an easy walk from Allawah (if a little hilly) straight down Connells Point Road (duh). It took us about 45 mins with baby buggy and doggy in tow. It was blazing hot after about 10 mins. We were very good and resisted the temptation of getting an ice cream from the shops along the way. We ended up at Connells Point Reserve. It’s a lovely little spot and there’s a really great playground. Best thing is that the playground was full of littluns and not covered in trash or graffiti so was a pleasure for Evie to play without having to watch out for mouldy coffee cups or chewing gum (as seems to be the current decor of our nearest playground in Meade Park which also sports a rather lovely scorch mark on the flat surfaces where some kids have set fire to something).

NY Eve – Oz Style December 31, 2009

Last year was all a bit of a blur with the whole moving and being jetlagged. This year we’ve had a busy but enjoyable NYE. Went for a spin in the cars to Bundeena and down to Austinmer for a sedate lunch. Had a quick nap in the afternoon and then went to Ramsgate Beach to watch the fireworks. It was a little bit overcast so the fireworks weren’t as clear but we caught the Brighton-le-Sands ones in all their glory with the Sydney CBD ones completing the backdrop. It’s a brilliant spot to catch the whole vista and it had a family orientated feel. Lots of young families with picnics. Busy, but not packed. I made some sushi for our picnic and a chocolate cake for afters. Mmmm who would have thought that one day our NYE would be in Summer, we’d be at the beach and we’d be sat enjoying sushi and fireworks. Life doesn’t get much better Onwards to 2010 now.