Spotted: Tex Mex Pie

Meat Pie's here in Aussie-land can be fantastic, but this just looks terrible...

From Texas in Australia

The website describes it as "a colorful blend of minced beef, tomatoes, red kidney beans, corn, green capsicum [bell pepper] and spices topped with nacho cheese." I suppose it is no differnt than Taco Bell, but something just isn't right with a Tex-Mex pie.

Melbourne & Australian Open

At the end of January, Jess and I took a trip to Melbourne with Mickey and Alane. This was our first time to Melbourne, so we played tourist as well as going to the Australian Open. We stayed in the heart of the city at the Rendevouz Hotel which was made it easy to get around due to Melbourne's semi-convenient inner city trams.

On Saturday morning, we met Mickey and Alane for a chocoholic walking tour. We learned a bit about the differences in chocolate and of course had to sample some along the way.

After we were fueled with Chocolate, we made our way to the Australian Open Tennis grounds and into the Hisense Arena to watch a few matches. Even with our 'cheap seats', we had a great time and ended up buying tickets for Sunday as well. That night, we split from Mickey and Alane (who were now on their way to Tasmania) and went to dinner at fifteen (Jamie Oliver's restaurant). This was a very cool, underground restaurant that had a great menu, including the best bruschetta (thanks to the tomatoes) I have had. Unknown to us at the time, this was the best meal we had in Melbourne.

On Sunday, we headed back to Tennis and watched a the Williams sisters play doubles before going back to the Heisense Arean to watch Andy Roddick play. Although a bit hot outside, it was a good day for watching tennis. That evening we ventured to Laigon street for some Italian food. Although we didn't have reservations, we did manage to get into Papa Gino's for some 'okay' Italian food. Once we were 'carb-ed up', we walked back to our Hotel (about a 35min walk). Along the way we listened to a very good street performance by the bandMomenta. Finally, we stopped at Walker's Doughnuts so that Jess could indulge in her family heritage. On Monday (Australia Day), we took a Tram to St. Kilda for breakfast and a walk on the beach, before heading to the Airport for our return to Sydney.

Although our experience with food was a disappointment, we really enjoyed Melbourne's European feel compared to Sydney. It was a great first getaway of 2009!

Texas Size

Everything is bigger in Texas...even when it is in Australia. Here is the back of a muffin mix, check out how many muffins it makes.

Kings Cross or Houston?

Over the weekend, we walked through Kings Cross for the first time. Kings Cross is a very 'eclectic' mix of people and characters, but it is known for good shops & outdoor markets on Saturdays. Anyway along our walk we discovered a surprising reminder of home...



For those who don't know, a similar (if not identical) and quite famous fountain is located in Houston along Allan Parkway. See the similarities for yourself...

Houston Fountain

It was refreshing and somehow comforting to find this fountain so far away from home.