Friday, November 30, 2012

A girls night

When the cats are away, the mice will play. Or something like that. I had very big plans with my couch last Friday evening, since S was to be away at a Bucks weekend. Then D (S's sister) came home and declared it was drinking time for the ladies.
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Pretty D
So drink we did. We started off with a Rekorderlig Winter Cider. Have you tried that? It isn't too bad. I prefer mine cold, over the warm option. 

The plans were for a cocktail or two, light dinner and then home time, since D was working the next day. We went to Black Sheep, Newtown and were pleasantly surprised that not only did they have fantastic live music, they also had a quaint little table available. Black Sheep has always looked busy when I have walked past, but when you look past the mass of people watching the live music, tables are usually available at the back. 

First drink was my choice and I chose the Hendricks, Rosewater and Vanilla martini. Decadence at its best.  I am happy to say the cocktail exceeded my expectations; a strong alcohol taste with a beautiful vanilla taste. The floating flower was an added bonus.
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Hendricks, Rosewater, Vanilla martini ($18)
To go with the cocktails, I chose a dip and bread board. Something light, yet substantial for our empty stomachs. We ate the bread before the dips and bits were finished and the wait staff were happy to provide us with more so we could finish the dips.
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Bread and Dips plate ($12)
Next up, was D's choice. She came back with a bottle of red, which went down nicely with the rest of the aforementioned bread and dips.

You would think after a cider, cocktail and half a bottle of red each we would call it a night and go home? No, we went out looking for a dance. And dance we did. The Marly Bar (Malborough Hotel) also has live music, to which D danced up a storm. I watched from the side and awkwardly moved from one foot to the other, as you do.

And then finally, it was bed time. Sweet, sweet bed time.

A baby is born

Ash from Miss Directions was in Sydney last week on business and we had plans on Thursday to meet up for lunch. I was really excited as I have spoken to Ash a few times away from blogging and I was excited to meet my first 'blog friend'. Plus she is really sweet - who wouldn't want to meet her.

Little Nephew was due on November 30th. That is today. I got a text from my Brother (J) last Tuesday to say that Sister in Law's (S) waters broke and she would be being induced the next day, Wednesday. Great timing, Little Nephew...my plans are off!

So, S was induced the next day and spent the day labouring before having an emergency Caesarian at 10:30pm. 

I met him the next day and he is the cutest little boy ever. I may be just a little biased.

Little Nephew, you are so very gorgeous. Welcome to this world! I can't wait to feed you lollies while your parents aren't watching! Haha, just kidding...I wouldn't do that.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012

A bit of a hiatus

I haven't had time to read blogs lately let alone update my own. I have exams next week so I have been spending plenty of time in my little workspace.
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So friends, see you in a week or two. Hopefully with some fun blog content!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Something to be excited about

In Japan, Steve and I will be heading to Hakuba (near Nagano where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held) to go skiing.

On Monday, Steve entered a competition predicting the date the ski slopes would be opened for the season. He said the 24th November, which was about 12 days from when he entered the competition.

I was dubious considering this is what we saw when looking at the snow cams.

Yesterday, a friend we met in Hakuba last year posted on my facebook wall to let me know it was snowing. I thought it would just be a light cover that would melt away. I didn’t have time to check the cameras, so when I got home I had a look.

This is what I saw.
So Steve, perhaps you will win that competition afterall.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Date Night - Pasha's Turkish, Newtown

After a drive one hour away recently for Steve to try on a suit for his best friends wedding, we were less than enthused to cook dinner when we got home. Driving through King Street on a busy Saturday night, we drove past Pasha's Turkish Restaurant. I had wanted to try their food for a long time so I gave them a call, booked a table, went home and parked the car and was back at the restaurant within half an hour.
The atmosphere inside is vibrant. Plenty of chatter, nice music and colourful decor. We were seated at a table near the front of the restaurant and were given 'cushions' to sit on, which are actually low seats with cushions on top.
 We both felt like dips and meat of some sort, so for entree we ordered the Karisik Meze Platter ($26). It consisted of 6 different dips with fresh turkish bread. Apparently enough for 4 people and I would agree.
 For mains we ordered the Lamb Sis which was Char grilled thick carved lamb sirloin skewers marinated with aromatic Turkish spices served with traditional almond rice and garnished with spoon salad ($24)
We also ordered the Turkish Delicate meatball plate - Char grilled grass fed beef mince flavoured with spices and fresh herbs shaped into to oval balls served with traditional almond rice and garnished with spoon salad ($22)
 

Both of the mains were delicious. The meat was perfectly cooked and there was the right amount of vegetables to accompany such a meaty plate. The cost was very reasonable for the amount of food we were given.

I had no complaints about Pasha's at all and will definitely go back in the near future.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Luna Park, Sydney.

Luna Park – Just for fun.

This certainly rings true for me. I went to Luna Park this past weekend with my family and my Brother, Jayden’s girlfriend, Renee and her family (still with me?).
I woke up bright and early and was dropped off at the train station by Steve to meet my family and catch the train to the city who were really excited. Turns out catching a train is the second best thing to Christmas.

Not much had changed from the last time I went to Luna Park, 4 years ago. Except for the fact that I am now 4 years older and I can’t do rides like I used to!
The first ride of the day was the Wild Mouse roller coaster. Whilst lining up, my 16 (almost 17) year old brother Jye insisted we should go in the same carriage. I told him we probably wouldn’t fit, but he insisted so I obliged. It didn’t take long to figure out why. ‘Oh my god, it’s too high’, ‘Argh, it’s going down’, ‘Too fast, I’m going to fall out’. Poor boy, he was scared of the little roller coaster.

Haha, look at his face
It got better though, the rest of the day everyone laughed at Jye and his screams. I would have paid to go to Luna Park just to see his face and hear him scream like a little sissy. To his credit, he did man up and go on his last ride of the day by himself. Of course, it was accompanied by the screams we had heard all day, but at least he tried.
Lunch consisted of the usual funpark type food of chips, burgers etc. The prices weren’t as bad as I was expecting, which is a plus. $9.50 for a ‘Lunabox’ which consisted of chips, 4 nuggets and a fruit popper is not too steep at all.

Luna Park is no Disneyland but it still provides plenty of entertainment.

Have you been before?
What did you think?

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Selective colour

My DSLR has a colour select mode which has been really fun to experiment with lately while I've been staying in more.

Basically, there is a tool for the user to select the colour they want to be picked up in the pictures and everything else is shot in black and white. It is a really interesting effect and can bring something interesting in to an otherwise boring photo.

And so, I leave you with some colour select photography
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Monday, November 5, 2012

Happening

Not much has been happening around here. Between studying for Uni and saving for our holiday, our weekends have been quiet. 

Saturday Steve and I spent most of the day around the house before he went to be fitted for a suit for our friends wedding. Sunday we spent the day cleaning and doing Uni work. Exciting, I know..


 We got our first lot of Japanese Yen. Only 48 days until our trip and we are pumped!

 There is a cool t-shirt shop in Newtown called Monster Threads. Steve had a few drinks at work and after I picked him up he was in a buying mood. So he bought me this shirt
And these shorts.
 Warm weather always sees me wanting to try new cool beverages. This one tasted like Devon. The meat. Eww
 Rekorderlig is perhaps my most favourite cool beverage. Ever.
 I have been trying to embrace my natural curls lately. They look good when in the process of drying and by the end of the day I have a frizzy mane. Sigh.
We love our long weekend walks. Teddy loves the car.
 This afternoon we had a doggy play date with Teddy's BF, Bobby. She is still a pup but towers over Teddy now. It is hilarious to watch!

I am going to try and change up the font around here. I think the one I use most of the time is way too small!

I have a busy couple of months coming up, so I hope that means some more interesting things to blog about because even I am bored of this little blog here!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Baby baby, you are so loved

My Nephew who is due in November was celebrated a few weeks ago with a baby shower. I've always been a little skeptical of baby showers. I wondered what you did apart from look at the presents people buy. I had a lot of fun and it was so nice to see that my Nephew, Sister in law and Brother are so loved by so many people.
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Turns out there are plenty of games to be played and lots of food to be eaten. Who knew? 

At this baby shower, there were no 'smell the nappy' games played. They were more along the lines of guessing the amount of lollies in the bottle jar and pin the sperm on the egg.

Little Nephew, we can't wait to meet you. You are one very lucky boy! Photobucket Photobucket

Have you been to a baby shower?
Did you play any games?