#19: Make a “Things we want to do/buy together” list with Andrew.

We finished this a few weeks ago, but this will obviously be an ongoing work in progress.  I won’t type out EVERYTHING we added but here are just a few of the things we want to do and buy together:

• Go to Kangaroo valley
• Go to the Powerhouse museum
• Go to Cairns for the weekend
• Plan a late honeymoon
• Buy a new couch
• Buy a new bed
• Get our African art framed

#57: Go on 3 spontaneous day/weekend trips with Andrew.

This week I had a totally random opportunity to go to the Gold Coast to help out my cousin’s company. I had planned to go for just one night but then it ended up being two nights and by complete chance, Andrew had the two days off. Since I didn’t have to work the entire time I was there, Andrew came with and we were able to enjoy a nice couple of days. We had a really delicious dinner, we went in the jacuzzi and went for a walk on the beach. It was a little random mid-week getaway, even if it did include a bit of work. This trip rounds out the 3 trips for # 57 on the 101 list. First there was Perth, then snowboarding in Threadbo and finally, Surfer’s Paradise.

# 96: Create 3 new goals each in 2009 and 2010.

Done. Check my updated list if you’re interested.

#103: Read 10 more books when I’m finished with the first 10

I have to say… this goal paid off and now reading is a regular part of my life. Prior to this list, I wasn’t a big reader. Now I’ve read over 20 books since I’ve started and I’ll continue to read even without these goals to reach.

To finish of this post I’d just like to point out that this last week I also was able to cross off a few of those nagging wedding tasks that I was dreading. Not too much left to plan now!! How crazy is it to be able to say our wedding is NEXT MONTH!?

Decor: 7.5- 8:  The atmosphere is great. Blackboards with white chalk, wine bottles on display, marble top tables, romantic mood lighting. It definitely is appealing to the eye. The only reason I gave it a bit lower score is because we had so sit on stools with tiny little seats (ok, fine) but there was no foot rest on the stool or under the high marble bar style table that we sat at. I’m not that tall, so I had to sit on the very edge of the stool to allow my feet to sit flat on the floor. It just made it a tad uncomfortable. If I were any shorter, I would have been suffering. They do have regular tables, so I’d like to get one of those next time.

Value: 6-7:  It was pretty pricy but not too bad when we added it all up. Pizzas range from about 22-28 bucks from memory. Pasta and main dishes were $20+. I think the prices were quite comparable to the Fourth Village place I tried a few months ago. Pizzas were a good size for the price (since they are gourmet), but my pasta was pretty small. Honestly, if I was just eating the pasta (which was about $24 bucks) I would not have been full at all. Luckily I shared some pizza as well. With our meals (including pizza and pasta) and including beers and a bottle of wine, we ended up spending about $35 each.

Service: 8.5-9– The girl who took our order didn’t write the orders down which seemed classy; however, she messed up one of the dishes. She immediately came out and apologized and admitted fault right away. She then asked if we wanted to eat the incorrect pizza that she brought out becuase otherwise it would just go to waste. So we got another pizza for free! Luckily for me, it was the exact pizza I wanted to order if I didn’t get my pasta. Sweet!! The correct order was brought out fairly quickly so we didn’t have to sit waiting for too long.  Things we asked for were brought out promptly and our water was refilled (although probably not as often as I needed with all the chili oil I was eating). Definitely up there holding a spot as a place with some of the best service I’ve seen in Sydney.

Taste: 9- My pasta was great!!! I got gnocchi with a basil and tomato sauce with smoked mozzarella. Smoked mozarella has quickly become a favorite ingredient and I find myself wanting to order a dish simply because of that!  The only problem with the pasta is that there wasn’t nearly enough of it!! I wanted more. The pizza I tried was also really good, it was gourmet but not too funky.

I recommend this as a nice date place or for a great night out with friends. It’s probably not somewhere I’d go for a simple Tuesday night dinner. It’s just a little too nice for that. Oh and just FYI- it’s not BYO but it looks like they have a great selection of wines to choose from.

On our way out we spotted another new place called Blue Plate Bar & Grill. I checked out the menu and became very excited when I realized that this was clearly an American style restaurant. I just did a little search and it turns out that the owners of South have opened a new restaurant in Neutral Bay. We definitely want to check that out next!

Okay Neutral Bay… keep the great new restaurants coming!!!

So now I am happy to share my Peachy Sangria recipe with you all.

• 2 bottles of chilled light white wine (trust me, you’ll need at least 2 bottles – I used a Semillon/Sav. Blanc blend)
• 1/4 cup peach vodka
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup tinned/canned peaches (in juice, not syrup)
• 1/2 cup of the peach juice from the can
• 1 pear, peeled and sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1 kiwi sliced
• Sprite or other lemon lime soda to top up

1. Add the fruit, sugar, juice and vodka to a pitcher, stir well
2. Add the wine and stir
3. Let the Sangria chill for awhile. I let mine sit in the fridge for an hour
4. Pour into glasses over ice, top up with sprite
5. Drink way too quickly and wish you had made more

YUM!

Obviously you can mix up the fruit… but don’t forget the peaches- otherwise it wouldn’t be very peachy would it?  I was really surprised that it turned out so well using vodka. The only reason I used vodka was because I ran out of brandy so I was a bit worried that it might be weird- but the peach vodka definitely added to the flavor!

So here it is… my first “non-dinner” review:

Decor: 10- With all of the cute little details I already mentioned, paired with a beautiful view of the harbour- how could it get any nicer? It’s one of the cutest cafes I’ve seen in Sydney. It was a nice change from the typical modern metal and plastic furniture you see in most casual cafes around here. The ambiance of the location, decor and overall atmosphere was very pleasant.

Value: 8- While I will always preface this with “compared to other places in Sydney” – I have to say, this was quite reasonable. I don’t go out for breakfast much since it’s not one of my favorite meals but when we do go for breakfast, we usually head down to Bottom of the Harbour at Balmoral. While Bottom of the Harbour has great views of the ocean, it also has a lot of traffic and pedestrians passing by constantly; plus, the service there isn’t that great. Anyway… my point is that B.O.T.H. charges more for many of the same items we saw at Burnt Orange and Burnt Orange has a great view as well and it’s more quiet and peaceful. With all that said, I didn’t order much at B.O. and the lunch did look at bit more pricey. I’d have to try more food there to see if it’s really as good of a value as I think it is based on my first experience.

Taste: 7- I only ordered a scone, but it was a delicious sun dried tomato and cheese scone with cream cheese on top. Yum. I ordered that with an Earl Grey tea and Andrew got a fruit salad with yogurt and a flat white coffee. For what we ordered, I don’t have too many complaints. I think my scone had great flavor, but could have been a little moister- it was a tad bit hard and dry on the bottom. Andrew liked his fruit but not his coffee. He has since been back and reported that his eggs and toast were good… so we’re pretty much 2 for 2.

Service: 7- They were really nice and didn’t charge Andrew for adding honey to his fruit salad. When I asked for my scone to be heated, they happily obliged.  I wouldn’t say it was the most fantastic service but I personally think it is WAY better than at Bottom of the Harbour.

I definitely look forward to going back. This place actually makes me want to go out for breakfast and I never want to do that! It also makes me want to shop and buy tons of cute things to decorate my house and give as gifts. Oh how I wish I had millions of dollars just lying around to waste.

• This week we leased out our apartment to our first tenant!
• Two of our good friends (who shall remain nameless at this point in time) got engaged. I’m SO happy for them!!
• We got to see Julz and Leighton’s baby last week for the first time. Little Zara is precious!
• I’ve been working a few hours a week at a side job just up the street and I actually like it.
• I bought a recipe keeper/binder thing to help me reach my 101 goal #89 (Start a recipe book and copy all of mom’s recipes that I like). Now I just need to sit down when I’m in the US and copy all the good stuff from mom.
• I’m also working on # 79 (Create a cookbook with at least 20 personally created recipes). I don’t quite think I’ll reach 20 by the end of the year, but maybe I’ll reach 10! I just need to remember to write stuff down when I’m cooking stuff.
• I made not one but two types of delicious homemade pizza this week. I need to write down my recipe for the tandorri chicken one because it is GOOD (and it will help me with goal # 79 as well).
• I finally booked my hairstylist, makeup artist and the transportation for the wedding. Invites are almost complete and we’ll hopefully be able to get one of our personal couriers (aka Qantas pilots) to bring back the Aussie ones for us to save us from having to ship them all across the pacific.
• I finally found a use for the green wine bottles I’ve been saving for 2 years. Yes, 2 years. Andrew has wanted to throw them out numerous times and I always told him that I’d eventually find a purpose for them. Now three of them are sitting in a nice little row on our table acting as vases for 3 single red Gerber daisies. Lovely.

Decor: 2- The tables were fine, but the decor was pretty plain. White walls, sports posters mixed with small art prints. Pretty hideous actually. It was clean though, I’ll give them that much.

Value: 8- Definitely much better value than the last Italian place I reviewed. I think my pasta was about 18 bucks but it was really big- I couldn’t eat it all, which says a lot. The garlic pizza bread was $11 for a large basket but there was plenty for us to each have several pieces. It was a refreshing surprise after usually feeling gypped by most restaurants in the area.

Service: 7.5- While they did forget a few things, they were right on top of it when we asked them again. They checked on us frequently and were very friendly.

Taste: 7- I really liked the food. I got a ricotta ravioli in a pink sauce. The sauce was a LITTLE too creamy for me (I would have liked a little more red and a little less white in the blend) but it was still nice. Andrew got a rocket salad which I had a bite of and it was quite enjoyable as well.

I definitely recommend giving Peter Pan’s a try. It wasn’t my all time favorite Italian in the area (I still think Red Zucchini wins for that one) but it was definitely good value with friendly service.

So here’s what I thought:

Decor: 7- Nothing stood out as exceptionally cute or tacky. I do like the quaint feel of the restaurant matched with the lively atmosphere that the guests bring. It feels like a restaurant in Italy, many of the servers are Italian and  I love that I’m just right out the back of the produce market. Definitely a cute little place.

Value: 7- For Italian, this was definitely more pricey than other places we’ve been; however, it was probably fresher and more authentic. Pizzas were $22-25 which isn’t CRAZY considering the takeaway pizza shop downstairs costs $22. Plus, the pizza was huge by Australian standards. My pasta was $25 though and while it was a decent sized portion, I’m pretty sure I could have gotten a bigger portion at Macaroni Grill for $8.99. Again, this was fresh and authentic and it totally has that homemade feel and quality. Definitely isn’t cheap- but for a special night out- it’s worth it.

Service: 7- For once in my life, I’m going to say the service was a little TOO over the top. I waited about 15 minutes for my friend to get there and while I was waiting they kept coming over to me to ask if I needed anything or wanted to order drinks. I just wanted to say “come back when you see another person sitting here.” Then when Katie was looking at the menu, they must have come over 4-5 times (every 1-2 minutes) to ask if we were ready (and we weren’t). In their defence, it was a different person each time, but it just was a little overbearing. Additionally, I asked for my salad to come out as an entree and then my pasta after that- but all of the food came together. Lastly, the bill came out VERY quickly. Normally I complain that it’s hard to get the staff to bring the bill, but this time we didn’t have to ask. We just felt a bit rushed. Everyone was REALLY nice and overall the service wasn’t bad, it just was a little overbearing. Even with my minor complaints, I’d still pick this service over most service in Australia.

Taste: 7-8- I got a spinach and ricotta ravioli with smoked ricotta on top and it was great! The smoked ricotta was really interesting but really tasty. It was fresh and light I really enjoyed it. I had a bite of Katie’s pizza and it was really good as well. Her pizza had a white base with mozzarella, rocket, fresh tomatoes, parmesan and balsamic. Wow it was yummy. The only reason I’m giving the food a slightly lower score is because of the salad. I got a green salad with a special homemade dressing. Honestly, it just tasted like a$7 bowl full of greens with balsamic vinegar. I didn’t see anything special in the dressing and there was not one vegetable other than the greens. I was not a fan.

I definitely recommend 4th village for a special night out.  It certainly was yummy enough for me to want to go back. I can’t see going there again on a random night though, simply because I typically don’t like spending $35 on dinners for no reason. I’d love to go back one night to see what other options come up on the menu. They do takeaway pizzas as well so maybe one day I’ll just HAVE to get one of those.

Photos with the nice camera

Photos with our camera

Until I find something completely amazing to write about, I’ll fill this space with some updates on my 101 list. I have a fewitems I can check off my list, yay!

#65 – Create a black and white photo album. Ok, so it’s not an ALBUM, but I did make a black and white photo book. The book will act as our guest book for the wedding.

#35- Go on 3 picnics.  Hayley and I had a nice little picnic last week down at Kurraba point, so that rounds out my 3. Now I need to go on many many more.

I guess I’m back to semi-boring posts for now. I do have a new restaurant review to complete so you can keep an eye out for that soon.

Sand dunes.

Let me point out that sand dunes are NOT easy to walk up. For every step you take, you slide back half of a step in the loose sand. Some of these can be REALLY steep as well.  Our first experience with dunes was in Sossusvlei- home of the highest sand dunes in the world. These were amazing. We got up before sunrise (I’d like to point out that we did this 5 out of 7 days in our last week in Africa) and drove to the national park  in Sossusvlei. We had to get there at sunrise in order to experience the amazing shadows and colors that occur in the early morning hours. I’d definitely say this part of the trip (specifically this day) allows me to cross off number 42 on my 101 list… Watch the sunrise.

We headed directly to Dune 45 which is one of the easiest dunes to access from the road. There were tons of people there trying to get a glimpse of this amazing wonder. We all decided to walk up the dune. More hills… I wasn’t thrilled; HOWEVER, this wasn’t a mountain- it was a sand dune. It would be totally different and really amazing at the top. I just knew it. Well, I got about halfway up and thought I was going to die. I’m not afraid of heights by any means but I think the combination of my heart pounding, my breath racing and the 45 degree angle drop to my left sent me into a panic. I pretty much freaked out and couldn’t look anywhere but straight down at my feet. I had to walk back down. I sucked. I did have the chance to get pretty high up, but I didn’t really take the time to enjoy it because I was too busy having a mild panic attack. The rest of the group kept climbing to the very top and once they were up there, they were all brave enough to run down the side of the dune. In my anxious state, I was unable to even contemplate joining them on this adventure but now I am sad I didn’t. I was able to calm down on all other dunes and those were quite fun to run and sandboard down (which I’ll post about later).

Here are some amazing photos of our first day at the Sossusvlei dunes.

What we were about to climb:

See the little tiny person at the tippy top in the photo below? I made it to about there before I freaked out and had to walk down. You can’t really tell, but in the back it curves and gets even higher. That’s where the rest of the group made it to. If you look closely at the top left of the dune, you can see some people running down the side.

These photos give you some perspective of how high up we were (and the slope of the dune):

Here are a few of Andrew running down from the very top of Dune 45. It’s pretty much impossible to fall down the dune. You just sink into the sand so it’s completely safe to run down. I was still too wussy to do it on this big one though.

Up next… sandboarding (down MORE dunes)!

The first winery we went to had AMAZING views and gave us lovely hummus with our wine.

The 2nd winery allowed you to pick the different types of wines you wanted to try- which was quite nice since we could sample many more varieties than we would normally be able to. Next we had a picnic lunch at one of the wineries and they brought out these big baskets of breads, cheeses, salads, pastries, dips and sweets. All the food was delicious and I absolutely stuffed myself.

We headed to one more winery after lunch but I was too full to even try anything. Finally we headed to one last place. It wasn’t exactly a winery, it was more like a really large outdoor restaurant/bar. It had the coolest atmosphere and we got some African face painting done and we each had a cocktail. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to spend here because we only had our drivers until 7, so we packed up our things and headed off to dinner (which I STILL was not hungry for).

I’d definitely say that was one of the best wine tasting experiences I’ve ever had!

I got a new $370 suitcase for free. That probably translates to $100 US in value but who cares. Qantas dropped my bag when I flew back in November and broke one of the wheels. Since no parts were available to fix it, they just handed over a brand new bag. Pretty sweet I suppose although it doesn’t have the chrome rims on the wheels. I’ll miss my chrome wheels. A million people have red bags, but I rarely ever see shiny silver wheels rolling down the luggage belt.

I finished our wedding website. WOOHOO.

We’re going to Africa next week. I guess that’s pretty interesting but since we haven’t been yet I don’t have any stories to share. I’ll get back to you on that topic when we return in April.

I’m not really sick anymore. I still have a tiny bit of a cough but my stubbornness and refusal to go to the doctor paid off… the illness went away on its own without the assistance of antibiotics.

I think I want to try to enjoy green tea as much as I enjoy wine. I seriously doubt that will ever happen, but I do think both beverages might have assisted in the eventual recovery from my nasty bug.

Only 177 days to go until the big day! It still seems so far away but I know it will come quickly.

I crossed off another item from my 101 list!  #2- Get a skin check is now complete. My skin is nice and healthy and evidently not as damaged as the skin of  Australians my age. Sweet.

Yeah- that’s all. I told you my life was pretty boring lately.

#87. Buy a fondue set and use it. Although I did this, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. First of all, the brie in this country doesn’t melt. I don’t know why but the recipes that I made quite easily back in the US just don’t seem to turn out the same here. Secondly, we had to use liquid fuel stuff to light the burner and unfortunately some spilled on my hand and then my hand proceeded to catch on fire. I’m not joking, it was actually up in flames! It also caught the table on fire and now there is a big burn mark on Yorky and Brendan’s table. Luckily my hand is ok. Hurt like hell but no scars! Not surprisingly, I haven’t pulled the fondue pot out since.

#94. Go through my clothes and donate anything I don’t wear. I did this ages ago and I really need to do it again, but since I DID do this at least once, I’m marking it complete.

#9. Go to a yoga class once a month. While I did not go once a month from the beginning of the project, I ended up going to WAY more than the 33 classes I would need to fulfill this goal, so I’m marking it as complete.

#27. Buy cloth grocery bags and decline plastic bags. While I’ve only used them once (I’ve only been shopping once), at least I took the initiative and bought 5 of them. They are much easier to carry as well!

#6. Read 10 books. Not only have I finished this, I’ve almost finished # 103 (Read 10 more books). I won’t go into a full book review on each since  I’ve already blogged about a few but I’ll at least say if  I liked it or not. Here’s a list of the first 10 that I got through.

• Eat, Pray, Love – great- but i think I liked it so much because I hadn’t read ANY other books in years. Looking back I’ve read way better books since this one. I’d still recommend it.
• The Last Lecture- Everyone should read this, it’s really short and easy to read and puts your life into perspective
• Not Without my Sister -Depressing and not too spectacular. Don’t bother.
• Twilight  – xoxoxo
• New Moon- Not as good as twilight but still wonderful
• Eclipse – Even more wonderful
• Breaking Dawn – Fabulous
• Body Surfing – Lame, not worth your time.
• Why we Suck – Super funny and true, I love this kind of humor.
• The Host – Pretty good, but not as good as the twilight books

I’m looking forward to finishing many more items this year. I know quite a few will be checked off due to some of our wedding festivities so that makes things a bit easier. I have to admit though, having only 1 more year to complete this stuff doesn’t seem like nearly enough time!

Fat Monk is a Thai/Asian restaurant in Cremorne. We decided to try it out on Monday with our friends Mike and Hayley and tonight when our other friends felt like Asian food, we suggested that we go back there.

I’ll get straight to the point:

Decor: 10 – Super cool decor. A combination of cow hide ottoman cushions, raw wood walls, funky paintings of Buddha and an awesome wrought iron chandelier with red shades somehowall really goes together. It’s super funky and it has total character. You would think a place like this would be totally overpriced and trendy- but that’s not the case at all! Even the servers wear cute little Asian outfits. Super cool!

Value:  7-8-  It’s not the cheapest Thai we’ve had but it’s not the most expensive either. I’d say the rice is a little overpriced at $3 for a little bowl, but other than that, everything is pretty comparable to other Thai in the area.

Service: 10- I’m going to make a bold statement and say it’s the best service I’ve had in Australia. They don’t put jugs of water on the table, they actually come around and refill your glasses. You never have to ask for more water either! When the glass is getting empty, they magically appear to fill it for you. They even came around to refill our wine glasses and  the food comes out really quickly too.

Taste: 9- While I still think Thai Intra might be my all time favorite Thai food, I would go as far as saying that this is probably my second favorite so far. It’s not oily like some other places we’ve had. The dishes had tons of fresh veggies and the chicken is super delish. It’s great!! We’ve been twice now in one week, I think that says a lot right there.

As an added bonus, we can walk there from our house. It’s a bit of an uphill trek, but it’s close enough to walk so we can at least burn off 1/18th of what we are eating.

I definitely recommend giving it a try if you haven’t already.

We’ve been in the process of buying the apartment since December 08. It was only completed in August and the last few months have been HELL in terms of settling. I’ll spare you the details but I think the words “bank bureaucracy” can sum it up nicely.  I didn’t even tell most of my family about the place until this last month because I was too worried it wouldn’t work out for some reason. But it did!

So time to cross #47- Own a Property- off my 101 list! WOOHOO!

 Oh and while I’m at it, I’ll cross off a few more that I’ve accomplished in the last few weeks:

#68- See another big production musical/play on stage. I saw Wicked last month with some of Andrew’s family and it was great. Honestly, as good as it was- I don’t think it was AS rave worthy as some of my Wicked obsessed friends back home made it out to be. Awesome story line and great music, but Miss Saigon is still my favorite.

#91- Get an Aussie Driver’s license. This one had actually been deleted from my list because I didn’t think it was possible. Technically you need to be on Aussie soil for 6 months (without leaving) in order to legally get one. Or… you can just let your American license expire and then go to the RTA with your fingers crossed and hope they give you one anyways. Luckily, when your overseas license expires, they DO give you one. Too bad the picture sucks ass.

• We’re 95% set on the location- just need to figure out a few logistics, but hopefully we’ll know for sure by Wednesday
• This means we’re also 95% sure on the date… if all goes well it will be 8.28.10
• I decided on a color scheme and hopefully bridesmaids dresses as well
• We’re pretty set on our guest list

Now on to other news…

This weekend was spectacular in terms of weather! Here’s what we did on Sunday:

Andrew, our friend Ben and I went down to Balmoral and had an impromptu picnic. It was such nice weather- we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sit in the sun for a bit. The beach was packed and we didn’t feel like getting sandy so we sat on the grass and ate our little picnic lunch. Sinead met us down there as well and it was great to catch up. Not bad for a winter’s day!!

Lastly I decided to finally update my 101 list seeing as how I haven’t updated it in FOREVER. Here are a few things I’ve accomplished over the last few weeks:

#20- Get engaged… YAY!!

#11- Got 5 people to create a 101 list

Here are a few of them but I apologize that I cannot remember them all – Daisy , Laura, Natasha (no more blog?), Ruthann and there’s one more… someone please remind me who you are

#76- create a signature cocktail… remember my Grapelberry Fizz? That counts, right?

#93- get renter’s insurance- FINALLY! Only took us nearly 2 years of living here!!

I’m well on my way with a few other tasks as well… so hopefully I should have a few more to cross off in the coming months!