Gone on a Lucky Country

There is this great couple that recently moved to Sydney from Atlanta.  Their names are Mollie and Dan and their blog is here.  The reason why I bring them up is due to the fact that we have a date with them tomorrow night - a date I have been looking forward to for a month - A date to eat incredible food...

The idea hatched itself over some glasses of wine (could it have happened in any other setting?) - basically, the four of us love to eat really incredible meals in top restaurants and we are blessed enough in our lives to have the means by which to pay for these meals.  So, we decided to make a list of the top restaurants in Sydney (after all, we are in a foodie's paradise - why not take advantage of it?) and then eat at one every month.  Obviously there are going to be some hiccups in the plan as we will be in New Zealand for a good chunk of December and will need to skip that month; but the four of us are also pretty easy going so no rigid schedule is being adhered to.

This month, November, is our first month in action on this plan.  We chose the restaurant Aria (when I say we, I mean Mollie and myself - the poor guys are just arm candy for this project!) which is located just before the forecourt of the Opera House and has a lovely view of both the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.


The restaurant is owned and run by celebrity chef Matt Moran who is most recently famous for guest-judging on the third season of Masterchef Australia.  Side note, if you don't download and watch this show, you should.... I think it's better than the American version and that's really saying something...

As you might have guessed by now, I'm more than a little excited about our dinner there tomorrow night.  I think we've all agreed to go with the tasting menu (always my favourite way to eat since you get to try lots of things) and with good reason.  Check this baby out:

Hello all you eager blog readers!

First off, I want to congratulate the little town of Manchester, NY for bravely stepping into the breech left by the absence of South Korea - You are the number five city that visits my blog!  Hurray for you!

Secondly, I want to talk about the last leg of our Christmas trip.  Thredbo was gorgeous - the mountains were stunning of course; but what really made the stay there so great was the level of relaxation that we were all able to reach by the end of our stay.

There was plenty of hiking of course (like when Joe started at the bottom and climbed to the top on the most difficult track); but mostly I remember the spa treatments, the monopoly games, the yummy dinners and the evenings spent (in one room or the other) drinking wine and talking.  We decided to extend our stay there by an extra day and it was the best decision that we made the entire trip.  We stayed at The Denman which was staffed by a team of the most friendly and wonderful people I had encountered on the trip.  (So nice, in fact, that they did not charge us for a bottle of wine from the mini-bar that we accidentally broke.)

Joe and I went on a ski-lift for the first time.  I expected him to be a nervous wreck since he has a fear of heights; but he ended up being fairly calm.  The ride up was easy-peasy for me; but I surprised the both of us by being more scared on the ride back down than he was! I think I need to visit Cedar Point the next time I am in the States so I can ride some coasters and get back my usual ambivalence to high, dangerous places!

Anyway, here's some photos...  They don't even begin to do any justice to these incredibly beautiful mountains; but at least they can give you an idea of what it looked like!

I am in the midst of dealing with our first ever "shaped" internet usage!  "Shaped" is a nice Aussie term for "you have used to much internets and now you must be punished!"  So, we have a plan for 100MB a month (yes, I know this is an extreme amount; but we download a lot so don't judge) and it is at lightning fast (I'm not being sarcastic - it really is crazy fast) broad band speed.  Once we go over our 100MB we get throttled back to a "slightly faster then dial-up" speed.

What that means....  Well, for one thing, it means that I downloaded too many movies the other day.  Also, this means that there will be no video-Skyping tomorrow for our Skype date with Joe's parents.  That is a bummer.  The only positive here is that our usage resets in about 24 hours - so, we only have to live with a pre-historic internet connection for another day.

Jennifer - I am dying to watch your You-Tube videos... I can get to "this is the part of the classroom" and then it stops loading and I have to give up.  I swear I will watch them Sunday night.

I suppose I should be grateful for my insomnia tonight - it certainly lends itself to blogging far better than sleeping an a warm comfy bed would...

It's pretty incredible having an actual living room full of furniture - we spent so long with nothing that I had almost forgotten what it was like to invite people over without asking them to bring their own chairs with them!  I was really in a rush to get all of this set-up this past weekend because Monday night I was hosting my ex-pat book club at my place.  I knew it would push me to get more done than I would have otherwise...  Quite honestly, if I hadn't been hosting the book club, I think the armoire would still be unpainted...

Monday morning I had plans to go see "Eat, Pray, Love" with my friend Kim.  I hadn't seen her in a few weeks and I was missing her like crazy...  She had just gotten back from a holiday in Western Australia so we had much to catch up on at our lunch after the movie.  I really wanted to sit around and talk to her all afternoon; but she had to pick her son up from school and I had a ton more to get done before book club.  It was a resounding success, although I hadn't read the book and those that had read it didn't really like it.

(I have to pause here to add that I had ordered the book weeks before but it hadn't arrived yet.  Also, I have to add that I got it several days after the book club meeting, started reading it yesterday, finished it today and I thought it was one of the worst books I have ever spent painful painful hours trying to slog through).

Where did I go?  Well, nowhere really - I was here the whole time... I just wasn't in the mood to write anything.

So, I'll give you the highlights since I've been on hiatus....

We had a long weekend and our first Aussie holiday (it was their labour day) - we had friends over for a dinner/game night that Sunday as it was too rainy for a picnic.  Also, we had Australian Daylight Savings Time go into effect.  So, we used to be 14 hours ahead of the States and now we are only 13?  I think?  These uneven numbers are really screwing with my head.

Also, we went to Ikea and now we are the proud owners of, not one; but two couches!!  It is extremely exciting to sit in something that is not a bed or a bench from a patio set.  We have big plans for this coming Friday evening to go out to Ikea again and buy ourselves two armchairs and a bookcase! Who Hoo!!

This past weekend sucked a bit - our downstairs neighbors smoke and mostly we can't smell it; but Friday night it was really bad and it had Joe and I up all night with allergies etc.... (I do recognize the irony of an ex-smoker complaining about smoke) so Saturday was mostly a bust and rainy to boot.  I think there were like 3 naps that day?  Sunday was better though with blue skies and sunshine.  We decided to walk all the way around Neutral Bay - We made it to the High Street Ferry Wharf and then caught the ferry to Kirribilli.  Then we walked into Kirribilii proper for some brunch.

*Side note - Have I told you about the Orange Juice here?  I didn't think so.....  They don't serve you orange juice from cartons or concentrate here.  They go juice oranges into a glass for you.  Yeah....  The first time I ordered it I thought the place we were eating was extra snooty or something; but no - pretty much wherever you order juice, it will be freshly made.  Yum...

Anyway, after brunch (I swear every time I say brunch I think of "How I Met Your Mother") we walked across the Harbour Bridge into the Rocks/Circular Key.  We had just missed our ferry so we had about an hour to kill.  We got sorbet and sat in the sunshine to people watch - honestly, it was so much fun I didn't even want to go home.

Monday (2 days ago) was our second wedding anniversary.  We both worked (me only half a day though) so it wasn't any huge celebration.  I did make a nice dinner though - pork roast, apple/potato pancakes and green beans.  We got each other cards and little gifts - usually, I am the winner in this department.  I always write long sappy messages in my cards and pick out the perfect presents.  Yea, Joe totally beat me this year - his card (and what he wrote inside of it) was so perfect that I cried and he got me Ugg slippers.  I have needed new slippers for months and I just keep forgetting to buy myself some.  So, he beat me to it and got me like the most incredibly comfortable footwear ever.  I know it's bogan to wear them outside so I won't; but I will be wearing them at every second while I am in my home!

Last night Joe worked late - really really late....  I stayed home all day because I was waiting for the Post to deliver something (which they never did - don't get me started on how annoyed I am with these people) so it was a long hard lonely-ish day.  I did have three Skype dates that morning (thanks Ladies!) so it helped break up the day a bit.

Also - just a quick thanks to Jen for the Birthday care package... Everything made it through quarantine.  I literally walked out of the post office, found the nearest bench, ripped the package open and started laughing.  I LOVE MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME!!!!!!  Thanks also for the great card, candy, stickers, chili powder etc....  You will be happy to know that the M&Ms did not taste like chili powder!

Ok, I am off to get ready for work

I've had some thoughts tumbling around inside this big empty head of mine for the past week.  As most of you will have inferred from my last post, I've been thinking far too much recently.  I feel sufficiently recovered this week thanks to all of the other wonderful ex-pat friends and fellow bloggers that flooded me with support (thanks ladies)....  Ah yes, also shout-outs to my sisters, Meaghan, my fabulously understanding husband and the vast quantities of bourbon that I ingested on Friday night.

So, with my new positive outlook on life, I am going to skip the blog entry that I had planned about how hard it is to be an American in another country and to always feel like you are being judged and looked to as the representative of your entire nation; and I am going to concentrate on something that will continue to build on my positivity.  But, if you are interested in knowing exactly how I (and many other American ex-pats) am feeling about this topic, I strongly suggest you navigate yourself to this post that C. in Oz wrote on her blog this week.  It sums it up perfectly - so perfectly in fact that she deserves beer and chicken salted chips for writing it.

I am going to the world famous Taronga Zoo thanks to Kim and her generously offered guest pass.  Please look for a posting about this in the near future with many pictures of animals!

Other things that I have been doing/thinking about:

I am refinishing the Armoire that Joe and I trash-picked (from this post) and it is nearing end stages.  I decided to take off the polyurethane, give it a light sand and then paint it an slightly antique white.  I'll keep you updated...

We are feeding the neighbors cats this weekend as they are on their last holiday before their baby is born.  The cats are cute; but the experience has definitely cemented for me the idea that all animals should do their business outside.

Joe is calling the moving company this morning with threats of violence and dismemberment (not really, I made the dismemberment part up) if our stuff is not delivered tomorrow.  Sigh....  I am cautiously optimistic...

We went to a place called The Counter which is a U.S burger joint complete with real milkshakes, REAL KETCHUP and some incredible burgers.  This was our second time out with an ex-pat couple that we met last weekend.  They are epic and filled with awesome (the burgers and the couple)...  It is a testament to how good the burgers were that I completely forgot to take a picture of anything while we were there.  Anywho, the way The Counter works is that they give you a menu on which you can build your own perfect burger by checking the appropriate boxes.  So, you choose what type of meat, type of bun or salad, your toppings etc... right down to mayo and pickles. I got a grilled pineapple ring on my burger and it was very reminiscent of Ruby Tuesdays.  I know where we will be going from now on when we are craving a taste of America!

Friday was very eventful - I met a fellow Yankee and blogger Friday morning for coffee and a museum tour which extended past those activities into lunch, a walk and a ferry ride.

I want to write a longer and better post about that later as I have a bunch of gorgeous pictures to share...

So, I never did make it to a cafe with my notebook to make all of my lists yesterday.  I really did have the best of intentions; but it was such a beautiful day that it seemed like such a waste to sit inside writing in a notebook.


Actually, only tell me if they are bird's nests - if they are insect/spider dwellings than I would prefer to remain in the dark about it! Thanks.

I know that lots of women claim to have “the best husband in the world” etc… but; I really believe that mine has them beat. I’ve been stressed and anxious this week and Joe knew it so he took me out for dinner and a movie on Friday night. We tried a Thai place up on Military that Elsa blogged about and it really lived up to its reputation. It reminded me of Mai Thai, which, oddly enough, made me happy and not homesick. It was also such a good price! We had two mains and split some jasmine rice. I also had a glass of wine (and a glass of port if I’m being honest) and our bill was only $50.
Did I mention that they deliver?

We went to the Orpheum Theatre to see “Inception” after and I wasn’t expecting to like the Theatre or the movie nearly as much as I did. The Theatre is really old-fashioned in this fabulous art deco sort of way; but it has a great digital picture/sound etc… Plus they have special showings of old black and white classics and they also do showings of Opera at the Met once a month. I think Joe and I are going to see Carmen next month…

After all that we ended up walking home. I love the walk home (all downhill). It’s just shy of 2 miles and it is on beautiful quiet streets. We talked and held hands the whole way home.

We had already decided that we would spend the weekend in utter relaxation doing whatever we wanted so Saturday started off low-key with a lie in. I made breakfast burritos (whoo hoo! First Mexican food we’ve had since we got here) and then we headed in to town to do a bit of shopping. We looked at some furniture shops, had a coffee and we also headed over to a little shop where I had seen an attaché case/laptop bag/satchel that I thought Joe might like for his birthday. He did like it, so we got it and I was going to wrap it up and put it away till the 31st; but he started using it straight away.

So, the rest of the story needs some background…..

First of all, there is something that I have heard on all the ex-pat blogs and all the ex-pat websites that I am starting to not agree with. There is this whole perception that Americans are sooooo wasteful and throw away perfectly good things while the Aussies recycle everything and only ever buy what they need etc…. It may still be true in theory; but I just have to say – I have never seen such nice trash before in all my life. Every weekend, people pile perfectly nice things on the kerb for the trash men. I am amazed by some of the items that I have seen!

Secondly, Joe and I have no furniture as of yet (our crate still hasn’t arrived) and even when we do get our stuff, we really brought very minimal furniture. In hindsight, I would have upgraded to a full container and brought all of our stuff; but, oh well…. Also, furniture here is crazy expensive and I refuse to overpay for something just to have it. I can’t get rid of my bargain hunter mentality so I might as well embrace it.




Sunday we relaxed as well… We were going to take a walk in the early afternoon; but a crazy freak storm blew in and postponed those plans. The storm brought hail and also very strong winds – strong enough to blow open one of the dining room windows and break the latch so we couldn’t refasten it. Great… So, Joe takes a wire coat hanger, a Swiss army knife and a broom (MacGyver anyone?) and manages to wire the window shut. Say it with me people….. Rock… Star…

The afternoon cleared right back up again and we headed out for our walk. We ended up walking over to the Neutral Bay ferry wharf to check it out. We found a couple little restaurants that looked yummy and delivered (good to know since they are right around the corner) and we also ran into our neighbors from across the hall in our building. It was lovely! We stood on the sidewalk and talked for ages – they are such wonderful people!

On the way home we totally found an organizer for the bathroom, another lamp and also two chairs and a small table. It was heaven to be able to eat dinner in chairs that night and to set my laptop on the table and (very comfortably) watch a movie without having to sit in bed.

Have I mentioned yet that both of the lamps in this story work? No electrical problems no burnt out bulbs…Just perfectly functioning lamps.

Don’t get me wrong, most of the stuff that we have picked up will get replaced when we get our crate or slowly, as we start furnishing the apartment. I don’t relish the idea of relying on Saturday afternoon trash runs for furniture; but it’s nice for now to at least have a couple things. Plus, I will be on the lookout for treasures in the same vein of the wardrobe we found…

I’m just hoping that when I find them, I have Joe with me to help!