First visitors of 2009

My parents made their way across the Pacific to be our first visitors of 2009. Although we didn't have anything planned out, we were able to see a bunch based on Sydney's crazy weather. The first half of their visit, the weather was miserably hot, however on the second half of their trip the weather changed to showers with temps in the mid-70s (and this is summer).

One of the highlights (I believe) was watching Jess swim the North Bondi Ocean Classic 1k Swim. Another highlight was driving out west to Camden airport.

Although it was tough to say goodbye, it was great to see my parents. Thanks again for everything Mom & Dad.

Rockpoolin'

This week, my uncle Ned and aunt Jeanne were in town to visit their daughter (my cousin), Kathryn, who had been in Sydney for six weeks for an internship. On Saturday, we decided to try Australia's second best restaurant, Rockpool. It's second only behind Tetsuya's and still rated as one of the world's 50 best restaurants.

We had lofty expectations for a "world class" restaurant and it didn't disappoint. Expecting good food, ridiculous prices, and a stuffy crowd, we were pleasantly surprised by the whole package. The food was outstanding, the prices reasonable ($100 a head), and it was great service and a relatively laid back crowd.

Mostly a fish/seafood restaurant, all fish is brought in by local resources and fished using sustainable means. Although I couldn't try it, Ned was able to order Abalone, which is no longer legal to serve in the US as it was over fished in 70s/80s.

I was also impressed that head chef and restaurant owner, Neil Perry, was in the kitchen cooking while we were there.

I definitely recommend Rockpool for those looking for an awesome meal and a fun night out in The Rocks.

Thanks also to Ned and Jeanne for coming down for a visit - we had a great time catching up!

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.

Rugby Union - Australia v France

Jess and I went to our first Australian sporting event this weekend...Australia vs. France - a Rugby Union game. There two forms of Rugby played here in Australia, 'Union' and 'League'. The differences between the games are very subtle, so we attended the game with some of my Australian (and non-Australian) co-workers in order to help coach us along. The game was played at ANZ stadium, which has previously hosted such events as the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Jess was not excited only for the game, but also to try 'stadium' food in Australia. All week she has been talking about trying an 'Australian meat pie'. After all the build up however it turns out that Jess is not a fan. Jess thought it tasted a bit like dog food, however I didn't think it was too bad...but then again I have never had dog food.

All food aside, we had fun learning about the game and trying to follow along (apparently they don't believe in announcers at these games). The game is basically like American football but you can only throw the ball behind you. Also the players don't wear any pads and they hit just as hard as the NFL...impressive (or stupid) to say the least. Anyway, by the end we felt we had a better understanding of the game thanks to our Australian seating companions.

Mad Mex

A short-update on the quest for decent Mexican Food: First I should clarify that most probably I am searching for good Tex-Mex not true authentic Mexcan food (although that is good too). Anyway, thanks to our friend Mickey we learned about Mad-Mex, a burrito place near Oxford St. It is about a 20min walk from our place, but it turns out this is the closest thing to Tex-mex found to date. In fact, I would say the is the Australian rip-off of Chipotle.

Needless to say I have been there several times since and even have a frequent burrito card (buy 10 get one free). While we may be a long way from really good tex-mex, this is a suitable substitute for the time being...and they have decent margaritas!

So now there is no excuse for all of our Texas friends to come visit (hint hint).

Lawn Bowling Birthday

First let me say, that I am sorry this post is so late. It has been in progress for awhile, but due to Jess' recent hospital adventure (to be documented soon) this post has been put on hold. And now without further adieu...

For my 29th birthday we decided to have a 'lawn bowling' party. Lawn bowling is a pretty big thing here...they even show it on TV (on Saturday afternoons). Recently the game has appealed to the younger generation due to the easy access to the alcohol and the relatively low athleticism required (a lot like 10 pin bowling in the states). The idea of the game is to bowl the ball closest to the 'jack' (white ball). The bowling balls are not perfectly spherical and are biased to one side so there is some skill and strategy involved.

For this party, we picked the Paddington bowling club due to it close proximity to our place. Several of our friends (some also new Sydney) were able to join the fun. Even Jess (with her crutches) was able to participate (they are usually very strict about the 'green', but Jess was able to convince them that she was no harm). We had 2 lanes which worked out pretty well given the size of our group.

I could see lawn bowling being a big hit back in Houston (or Austin) with the year-round weather capabilities. Anyone interested in starting one with me when I get back? Perhaps 'The Dudes Bowling Ranch'....just a thought.

Back to reality...After bowling we had some deadly delicious cupcakes from The Cupcake Bakery. I used to wonder how a cupcake shop could survive, but these little gourmet cakes are unbelievably tasty and are not that cheap. My celebration continued on through the night at The Centinneal Hotel. I will spare you the details (and poor writing) and just say...

Good friends, great food, and lots of laughs...what more could I ask for my first Aussie birthday.



Mickey's Album

Pun Names

It’s all in the name

I love a good play on words, especially when it comes to eateries. I know it sounds cheesy, but I think it can be quite clever and ambitious of a proprietor to name the business on a pun. I recently ran across this site which lists tons of these type places from all over the world.

One of my personal favorites is Sam & Ella’s Chicken Palace in Talequah, OK (near my parents house). I like this one because it the pun is not obvious until you say it outloud and you have no idea it is a pizza place by the name alone. This is a very daring move by the owner, but the pizza is fantastic and the restaurant has been going strong for years. The owner recently opened another eatery called Ernie Coli’s Chili Pot...also quite amusing.

There are no shortages of "Pun Names" here in Sydney; here are the ones I have seen so far...I am sure there are many more.

Thai-tanic (we actually ate at a similar place in Washington D.C. - surprisingly good)
Thai-riffic
Thai-foon
Thai-nesia
Thai-me-up
Nut-orious

Mexican Food Part 2

As mentioned earlier Mexican food here is almost non-existent…So we have taken to making our own thanks to the help of the Tex Mex cookbook. On Sunday we had a little Mexican Fiesta for one of Jess’ colleague’s birthday. We made the tortillas, spanish rice, and guacamole, while they provided the chicken and beans for fajitas (or as close as you can get to fajitas).

We had attempted to make tortillas once before with mild success, but this time they really turned out well. Making tortillas is a two person operation (for us anyway) – I would roll them out and Jess would heat them in the skillet. We had quite a nice assembly line working. The key this time was rolling them out to be nearly paper thin and heating them just right in the skillet. The Spanish rice turned out to be surprisingly easy to make and tasted fantastic.

The guacamole also turned out well – but homemade guacamole runs in my family – my brother was the winner of the 1st Annual Kingwood Area Sadaam Hussein Memorial Guac-Off. For my recipe I used 5 large avocados, 1 qtr onion diced, 1 half tomato diced, fresh lemon juice, cumin, garlic powder, salt, & pepper to taste. The key here is the perfect avocados – which are readily available in Australia at the moment (for a price - $2.50 each!). Also I used a potato masher to get the perfect consistency – smooth and creamy with medium sized avocado chunks…yum!

Cottage Point via Seaplane

For our 1 year wedding anniversary, Jess reserved a seaplane to take us to a very exclusive part of Sydney known as Cottage Point for lunch. Surrounded by National Park lands, Cottage Point is a small community that was established in the mid-1800’s and cannot be further developed. The easiest way to access Cottage Point is via Boat or Seaplane.

We left out of Rose Bay (about a 10min drive from our apartment) which is located in the middle of Sydney Harbor. Rose Bay has quite a history with regards to Seaplane travel. There is even an old Control Tower at the point of the bay which previously managed the air traffic in the area. Sydney Seaplanes is the main operator out of the Rose Bay and flies DHC-2 de Havilland Beavers on floats.

We arrived at Rose Bay at about 11:15am and were airborne by 11:30am, despite some light drizzle. The floatplane offers great views of the city, opera house, harbor bridge and beaches in all directions. We flew East out of the main headlands of the harbour and then turned North to head to Cottage Point. Along the way the pilot told us a little history and stories about some notable points. For example, we learned that the reason why it is named Manly Beach is because the first settlers saw the aboriginal men on the beach and noted how “Manly” they looked.

We landed at Cottage Point at about noon and probably didn’t go above 1,000ft for the entire trip. While taxiing on the water, we noticed the amazing houses sticking out of the point which have a variety of styles from very plain to very modern. The pilot noted that there were a couple for sale with a price tag in the $5 million range.

Once docked at the Cottage Point Restaurant, we made our way to the table, which had great view of the bay for boat/plane watching. While the day was a little dreary with drizzle and temperatures below 20C (70F), we made the most of it by relaxing and enjoying some great food. The lunch consisted of three-courses (starter, main, and dessert) – all of which were delicious. My personal favourite was the tomato, mozzarella, basil, and prosciutto starter – which was served with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. During the lunch we watched a storm come through and were slightly delayed leaving, but we didn’t mind as it gave us some time to warm up with some hot tea.

We left cottage point at around 3:45pm, and made it back to Sydney harbour without weather problems…in fact the clouds were actually breaking up over Rose Bay to let some blue sky through. The pilot also made a steep turn around the harbour which gave some amazing views, but probably didn’t set too well with all of the passengers.

This was an amazing anniversary gift (thanks Jess) – mostly because of the Flying but also because it was something that Jess and I got to experience together. I can only hope that in the future I can give Jess something this memorable.

Victoria Sponge Cake

On Monday we were invited over to Pip's house to try her attempt at making Victoria Sponge Cake. This is a trial run of the cake she has promised to make her boyfriend Paul, who is moving to Sydney in a couple of weeks. When Jess and I found out about the cake trial, we graciously volunteered to offer our opinions (i.e. eat yummy cake) - keep in mind Jess and I didn't even know what Victoria Sponge cake was before talking to Pip.

Pip lives a great location in Clovelly with hilltop views of the ocean. Being my first time in Clovelly, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights. But enough about the view, lets get back to cake. The other judges were Pip's sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and friend. When we arrived, Pip had just completed putting the final touches on the cake...and it looked spectacular (see pics below)!

We all agreed that the cake tasted great, but could be accompanied by some fresh fruit (maybe strawberry or passion) to really give the taste buds a kick. Notice that at the end there was no cake leftover...I call that very thorough judging.

Australia Day Weekend

Luckily we moved to Australia at a good time as most of the public holidays occur at the first of the year. The first one up was Australia Day. This is basically Australia's version of 4th of July. We started the weekend out strong on Friday night with a fabulous dinner with Pip (Jess' Boss) at the Bentley Hotel celebrating Jess' Birthday. Side note, the restaurants/pubs/bars are called hotels here...don't ask me why, it is just the way it is. What we (Americans) call hotels are also called hotels...very confusing.

Anyway, the Bentley hotel is located in Surry Hills - a short cab ride from our place. We met Pip at the bar a little early for a pre-dinner drink. The drink list is quite exquisite - Jess had a stawberry basil mojito which was very impressive to watch being made. The dinner menu was also quite inviting with tapas or entrees. We opted to have two tapas (chorizo & calamarri) and then individual entrees. Pip selected an excellent white wine that paired well with the meal. The food was superb and went well with the minimalist atmosphere.

On Saturday, we got up early and started our hunt for a car. We know we want a 5dr hatch, but that still leaves a lot of options to choose from. We went to look at the Toyota Corolla hatch, VW golf, Peugeot 207, and Honda Jazz (or Fit as it is know in the U.S.). Our main concern is safety (considering the history), but Jess prefers to get something we can't get in the U.S. and I want something that fits the purpose. Ideally we hope to find something a few years old with a few thousand kms. After several hours of car shopping, we met up with Chad and Whitney Casey at The Glenmore Hotel. Side note: Chad and Whitney both graduated from UT as engineers and got me my job at URS. Suprisingly Jess and I had actually been to the Glenmore hotel once before. The hotel features a rooftop terrace with amazing views of the harbor - we of course forgot to bring the camera. The roof (and entire bar) was packed with people celebrating Australia Day. It was a wild experience, but everyone was nice and we ended up meeting some new people.

On Sunday, Jess and I did some more car shopping. This time looking at the Holden Astra and Mazda 3. The Holden seemed to fit the best balance of cost, safety, and utility for us. Now we are on the lookout for a used one. Afterwards, we took the 30min ferry ride to Manly Beach for dinner. Manly is a beach community on the North side of the harbor. Dinner was good, but nothing spectacular. On the way back on the ferry we had a great view of the city at night.



On Monday, we met up with Pip for Victoria Sponge Cake (see separate post) then we headed over to Watson's Bay (on the ferry again) for Fish and Chips at Doyles. Watson's Bay is right on the edge the Harbor with some amazing Ocean Views. The Fish and Chips were good and we finally felt like we got to enjoy the long weekend.

Mexican Food - Down Under Style

The selection of Mexican food here is nearly non-existent, which is not a surprise given the distance away from Mexico. Anyway, I am kind of on a mission to find a half way decent Mexican restaurant, just to see if one exists. So far we have found a couple of places that have Mexican food on the menu, but I wouldn’t categorize them as Mexican restaurants. Near my office is a placed called Xquisito, which has tacos, nachos and burritos, but apparently they specialize in Mexican crepes. Hmm…don’t seem to remember any Mexican crepes back home…seems like a rare French-Mexican hybrid to me. Jess and I also tried a taco place in Bondi Junction, which was actually pretty good, but the tacos only came with meat and beans…not exactly a full fledged taco if you ask me. I have a crazy idea that a good taco stand/shop would do really well here…still on the lookout at the moment.

At the grocery store, there are usually one or two shelves that have “Mexican Food”, which usually consists of canned chillies, salsa, taco seasonings, and tortillas. The only brand to choose from is Old El Paso. Jess and I have already gone through a jar of salsa, which tastes more like spicy ketchup than actual salsa. The tortillas come with a moisture absorption packet (the same kind that comes in the box with new shoes), but surprisingly it doesn’t affect the taste as much as I thought it would...although they were a bit dry. Once our kitchen stuff is delivered, I am sure will be attempting to make tortillas on our own (any advice John Q?).

Update: I decided to try one of these so-called “Mexican Crepes” for lunch – it was terrible and it cost $9! The Asian behind the counter seemed shocked when I wanted avocado and cheese….um this is a Mexican Crepe right? The crepe itself was too thin to pick up, yet to tough to cut with the plastic fork and knife….hmmm maybe a tortilla would be better? The “spicy meat” filling was interesting, but in no way had any resemblance to “meat”. So I have learned my lesson….if I want Mexican food here I am going to have to make it myself.