Barossa Valley Day 3

SPA DAY!!!!! As my birthday present to myself I had signed my self up at the hotels spa for their package of treatments. Turned out to be a bit less expensive than at home AND when you charge it it changes down to American dollars taking off like $150 bucks, i win!!! The whole thing was going to take 5 hours between a wrap, massage, pedicure, and facial, during which time Csaba had planned to maybe golf or just lay by the pool. However after reading the pamphlet in the hotel room about the spa he decided he too needed some TLC. He opted for a no polish pedicure and massage which came with a mini facial. When he booked they asked if we would like to be in the same room, personally i didn't see the point but about half way through my massage he and his massage therapist showed up for his.
I started my treatments at 10 am. First thing I changed into a robe and was given a little foot bath. From there we moved to the table where she rubbed me down with some lotion then honey and some sort of salt. This formed a sort of exfoliant as she rubbed it on. Smelled like a delicious way to marinate some meat.... After it was sufficiently rubbed on I showered it off in the private shower in the room. After getting the salt and honey rub washed off I was then slathered in a yogurt and herb mix and wrapped up tight. I think the yogurt mix would make a great dip for that meat you marinated in the honey and salt... I'm just saying. I got a really nice head massage while laying wrapped up. I didn't quite understand why they ask you in advance if you are claustrophobic until i choked a little on some spit and felt totally trapped since i was wrapped up tight mummy still in like 3 different layers arms tight by my side. Thankfully i eeked out a little cough and lived. During my head massage the therapist had a bath filling (in the same room as well) after my head massage she unwrapped me and I hopped in the warm tub for a soak to get the yogurt off. I have to say i know baths are supposed to be relaxing but I just get antsy trying to keep my head above water while still relaxing laying down. Plus the warmth sent my heart rate sky rocketing for whatever reason. Finally the half hour soak was over. As i mentioned from here I headed into my massage (as always the therapist recommended I get massages much more frequently because I'm so tense, alright buddy you gonna pay for it? I'd love to get massages more often!) Half way through Csaba showed up and got his massage and mini facial While my massage finished and i got my pedicure ( a nice candy apple red color). Once his stuff was done he left and I got my facial. By the time I was done I was STARVING! I come upstairs only to find Csaba has already eaten (that booger I opted to not have the spa lunch so i could eat with him!). We ended up heading over to Jacob's Creek the biggest winery in the valley, did a tasting and then made dinner plans. Ironically, the lady pouring for us was actually originally from southern california. She was quite a character and we ended up talking to her for quite awhile. During our tasting we also noticed a 14 yr old girl whose grand parents were tasting next to us who seemed to find us quite amusing. Classic little identity crisis 14 year old with bright red lip gloss braided pig tails, black beanie black 3/4 sleeve shirt and big baggy black pants. We saw her later at dinner that night where she was really excited when Csaba waved to her and we are pretty sure she had a big crush on him. Made me remember when I was her age, thinking you are so much older, cooler, and more mature than you are. I'm sure she was secretly hoping I was Csaba's sister.
After leaving Jacob's Creek we made a booking at a restaurant, 1918, that Essi the lady pouring for us at JC suggested. We went back to the hotel and got ready then headed out. 1918 is in a very cute little renovated house. we were sat in the front room which had a cute fireplace original to the building and beautiful molding on the ceiling. With mustard yellow walls it was sunny and inviting. I was excited to see the had Trevor Jones Virgin Chardonnay (virgin implies that it isn't fermented in any oak, only stainless steel) which we used to carry at Pizza Antica. We got a bottle and I decided to get their special entree which included a battered fried artichoke heart, mushrooms stacked with a cheese, and a savory tart (like a little quiche) i'm not quite sure what was in it but it was so yummy!!! For our mains I had the swordfish served over some yummy corn fritters with an asian type dressing some cilantro and peanuts and other flavors. WOW! Probably one of the best dishes I've had here it was sooo good. Csaba ordered the lamb saddle (yet again... it seems to be a favorite). For dessert we had a chocolate brownie type thing with hazelnuts amaretto ice cream and caramel. Over all very tasty but I was REALLY full by the time we headed back to our room. It was around 9 so we decided to rent a movie on pay per view and settled on Soul Men, a pretty funny movie with Samuel L Jackson and Bernie Mac playing former band members reuniting for a tribute concert to the third group member who had recently passed. We both enjoyed it but by the end we were pooped and had a big day of wine tasting ahead of us the next day!!!

The Barossa Valley day 1 and 2

It's hard even know where to begin on our trip to the Barossa there is so much to tell, so I will have to just start at the beginning. For the trip we decided to rent a car. It is a roughly 10 hour drive from Melbourne to Adelaide/ Barossa. Sunday morning we got up around 5 am got the car packed up and headed out for a day on the road. We took our first stop about 3 hours in at Mcdonalds for some breakfast. I was a little disappointed to see their Mickey D's (or Macca's as they call it here) breakfast selection was not as broad as ours. they do however have a ton of pastries and espresso drinks in their McCafe section which every McDonalds has here. After eating we headed back on the road. Our next stop was in Mt. Gambier and the Umpherston Sinkhole. Csaba and I took a ton of pictures as soon as i have them uploaded I'll include a link for ya. It was beautiful! After this stop we pressed on for a few more hours making only one more stop for gas and to grab a quick snack. We did pretty well with directions until we got to the outer edges of the Valley. At this point it got a little rough and my navigating skills were definitely not up to par. But in the end we made it to our hotel safe and sound. We took showers and decided to take it easy and just enjoy dinner in the hotel. We had a big day ahead of us the next day! Through the hotel I had signed us up for a Wine and heritage tour of the valley for Monday. It was a great way to start our trip and see a lot of the area. Our tour guide Werner was incredibly knowledgeable about the area and a lovely friendly man. On the tour with Csaba and I were another younger couple with whom we became buddies with and another older lady. A nice part of the tour was that we not only got to taste at a ton of wineries we also learned about the origins of the valley. It was actually originally settled by Germans who had migrated to South Australia to escape religious persecution, yep you got it, they were LUTHERANS. There are probably upwards of 20 Lutheran churches down there and 1 catholic. If you look it up you will notice it is not a large area. They have Lutheran Churches like we have Starbucks, one on every corner. The first place we visited was Bethany, a more boutique sized winery with nice wines including a yummy white port. We bought a bottle of that and their GR5 a 1997 Cab. This was the beginning of the slippery slop that led to us buying a total of 21 bottles on our trip. From Bethany we headed to Yalumba Winery, Penfolds, then Peter Lehman where we tasted some unique wines and also enjoyed a delicious platter lunch with cheeses, dried fruit, olives, almonds, fruit spreads, dips, salami, prosciutto, and Apex bread which is made fresh in the area. From here we went to Rockford, Charles Melton, and lastly Seppltsfield a dessert wine maker where we took a tour and learned how the family created their own village which included hundreds of Palm trees lining the roads. During the tour they talked about their famous 100 yr old port, $1000 a bottle, made each year from the very best product, set aside not to be released till it is 100 years old. They were pouring the current vintage for $50 a taste. Csaba, being the ridiculous person he is, absolutely had to have a taste. So after the tour they set him up in the special tasting area and for $50 in a souvenir 100 yr dessert wine glass we got a taste. Wow! what a complex flavor! layers and layers of herbs and tobacco aromas and flavors along with molasses and anise. You really couldn't try to taste anything else after that so it was a really good thing it ended our day! By 5:30 we were spent we headed back to the hotel, ordered some room service and made it an early night. We were both excited to enjoy the spa the next day!

Formula 1 race day!

For "our birthdays" Csaba's uncle Cornel bought us tickets to the Melbourne Grand Prix, just one of the stops for the F1 race series. Although the whole event is three days we went on Sunday the main event. The races are held in Albert park where the streets are closed off and set up. We got there early in the day and took a walk around the park to a nice spot on a hill where we set up our chairs. There was a big screen on the opposite side of the track so we could keep an eye on what was going on elsewhere in the race. The F1 wasn't actually till 5:30 so we had about 6 hours of other races before then. Some of my favorites were the mini cars and the V8 super cars. We picked a couple under dogs to follow and it was fun to watch them catch up with and pass other cars. During and in between races there were a number of fly overs including 2 blackhawk helicopters, stunt planes and Quantas Airlines biggest plane.
Lucky for us we had set up shop just up the hill from one of the 4 beer tents so hydration was a non issue throughout the day. We were also a close walk from the food booths where fish and chips and grilled corn on the cob were some obvious favorites. We had a couple bratwurst and an order of chips (thick cut french fries that are EVERYWHERE in this country) and a little later on i had a corn on the cob with salt and pepper and butter...mmmmmm....... By the time the actual F1 races began our hill had really filled up. We made friends with some nice older guys standing behind us, they had been in Australia for 12 or so years but were originally from Malta. Which is now firmly on my list of places to visit, it sounds amazing. The actual F1 cars ended up being really difficult to see due to the fact that everyone stayed standing for that race. Once the race was finished everyone walked down the track toward the stage area where (drum roll please........) THE WHO! were playing a concert!!!! With our entrance to the race Cornel had also gotten us upgraded tickets to the concert portion so were able to see really well. And what a show! #1 i knew a lot more of their songs than i realized, #2 it was all standing room so i was free to rock out and dance around, #3 the lead guitar player and singer talked every couple of songs about different stuff which was great! We had a blast at the concert- i went absolutely nuts for Teenage Wasteland, but we were pretty exhausted by the time it was over. A long day in the sun, lots of beer, fun races, great music very fun but exhausting!

Society and Wicked

I know the title sounds like this is going to be some commentary on the similarities or differences between our society and the musical Wicked, or how it has effected society..... but it isn't. Society was the amazing restaurant Csaba and I had dinner at before we went to see Wicked. Near the house of Parliament in Downtown Melbourne Society has an Italian influenced menu with modern Australian favorites. The decor is sumptuous, antiquated, and eclectic. We had made a booking but since we were having dinner at 6:30 it wasn't really necessary. We had a cozy corner booth to ourselves. It was a pretty warm day so we went with a Sav blanc semillion blend for wine and browsed the menu. For my entree (they call appetizers entrees here and it is very customary for each person to have their own, it isn't like plates of buffalo wings in the states that people would share) i had a lovely carrot ginger soup and Csaba had a rolled up caprese salad (the thinly sliced tomato basil and mozzarella were layered and rolled up). For our mains I enjoyed an amazing lobster scallop and exotic fruit Tortelloni di Aragosta in a butter sauce. Being smart i got the entree size (smaller and less expensive) it had just 3 tortelloni but they were on the larger side and plenty filling. It was also served with three mussels on a half shell and garnished with those little orange fish eggs that you often find on sushi- so yummy. I had a side salad of arugula (they call it rocket) pear and shaved Parmesan with balsamic (this is a very standard side salad). Csaba had the Lamb saddle with some very yummy garlic mashed potatoes and a side garden salad. We couldn't resist when they brought around the dessert menu. Csaba got their specialty the chocolate ravioli's a chocolate pasta filled with vanilla bean custard and drowned in a bitter sweet chocolate sauce. I had the white chocolate Panna Cotta with peppered strawberries and a mint sauce, yummy!!!! After we finished our meal we checked out the rest of the restaurant including the bar upstairs which they call "High Society". It reminded me of the private tables you can find in some very swanky eclectic bars in Vegas it was really uniquely decorated and I could imagine having an excellent evening with friends over cocktails there. I enjoyed one of their signature drinks, a Pear kiss, with sparkling wine pear puree and elderflower liqueur Csaba had his classic Manhattan. After we had finished our cocktails it was time to head out, the show was starting soon!!!
As soon as you entered the theatre you were immediately transported into a storybook land. The curtain was a map of Oz including the Emerald city at the center in twinkling green lights. Over the stage looms a Huge dragon made from many pieces of metal. On each side of the stage there are sets of stairs and balconies twisting around. From the very moment of opening you know your eyes are in for a treat. The costumes are impeccable with intricate details and layers upon layers of sumptuous fabrics. I do had to concede that the sets and costumes did more for me than the actual story. Elphaba ( the wicked witch of the west) was very good but I often found Glinda annoying and one dimensional. Not until the very end did you get anything different out of her. Defying Gravity is far and above most of the other songs in the show, closing out the first act with a bang and giving me chills. Over all the show was very enjoyable and I was very excited to buy a Wicked Australia tee shirt!

Bondi Vet

Tall, blonde mcdreamy style hair, big buff shoulders, Aussie accent, veterinarian. I think all ladies out there should be aware of Chris Brown, Bondi vet, probably the hottest guy ever! His cuddling animals through out the show definitely doesn't hurt his appeal! click here to check him out

For Granny

From the first moment I walked into Gypsys, a restaurant cafe about a 20 minute walk from our house, I thought of Granny. This is the type of place she would love. Small and homey with whitewalls and decorated with a collection of antiques, cultural pieces, fresh flowers, and wood tables. The staff refer to themselves as Gypsys and dress in a casual Gypsy inspired attire. Serving just breakfast and lunch they change their menu frequently dependant on what is fresh and available and what their current theme is. Csaba and I went there for lunch the first time a couple weeks ago. He had a bagel with creme fraiche and smoked salmon with caper and onions. I had figs stuff with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto served on micro greens with a sweet vinaigrette, yummy! Today I went in for breakfast. I sat on their lovely little patio that is built around a large shade tree out front. In one corner they have a great little child size wooden kitchen set for kids to play with while their moms have lunch or coffee. Right now they are going for a Tahitian theme. The ladies in charge were very excited about making their cafe a tropical escape and were quite pleased to hear they had succeeded. Light reggae music played in the background and the inside was decorated with palm fronds and flowers and a fun brightly colored large paper umbrella by the cash register. I ate the coconut pancakes topped with grilled bananas and served with coconut ice cream to be used instead of syrup or butter. The presentation was amazing! The ice cream was served in half a small coconut and the pancakes were served layered with the grilled banana on a deep square light wood plate with fresh banana leaves on the bottom. On a toothpick in the top half a small lime and a tropical flower. Beautiful!!!! And yummy. I enjoyed the pancakes with two cappuccinos and read my book for a little bit. I'm very disappointed i didn't have my camera for this excursion so I could post pictures for you all. I think I'm going to have to give in and buy an inexpensive one to use for the duration of the trip. I will definitely take some pictures of Gypsys to share with everyone before I leave. I'm sure those of you who know my Granny would agree that she would feel right at home there.

Australian Rules Football

A few weeks ago Csaba and I were checking out Docklands, the area where we had had dinner for Valentines, and decided to stop by the AFL arena to see if there was a game that night. Lucky us there was and with tickets only $20 we decided to check it out. What a weird sport. Nothing like American football except that there are goal posts, AFL is played on a round field with players in tank tops and little shorts. The sport semi resembles rugby but the also punt the ball with their hand similar to an underhand volleyball serve. It was fun though confusing. I really liked the HUGE team pom poms at each end of the field. I was a little disappointed with the snacks. No nachos, no churros, no hot dogs. They did have meat pies. Weird. Here are some pictures from the game....

Weather

Seems that I pretty much just only caught the end of summer here, it is officially fall. We got lots of rain this weekend which is great for the area since they have been in serious drought conditions for years. It is very unpredictable however, for instance last Thursday Csaba and I decided we wanted to go downtown for the day, back to the Gallery so Csaba could see some of that and just to walk around have some drinks and dinner. When we left the house at 10:45 am it was drizzling so we got dressed for wet cold weather. By the time we were done eating breakfast and walking around checking things out and going to the camera repair shop (where they gave me the bad news) we were boiling hot and my feet hurt from walking so far in my boots! We ended up taking the train back home changing into shorts and tee shirts and flip flops and heading back out! The rest of the day was really nice out we have a great time at a European Bier pub downtown trying different beers and talking about old music that was playing and movies. Both of us are obsessed with imdb, (the Internet movie database) and so we had to make a list of things we were talking about to check when we got home. I was correct when I thought it was Keanu Reeves in Paula Abdul's Rush Rush video, but wrong that Kelly Preston was in The Saint, Turns out it was Elizabeth Shue. From there we walked down to the Southbank area that has a lot of restaurants for dinner. Something both of us have found very alarming about this country is that restaurants won't let you take your left overs home! We had decided to be decadent and shared some lobster but only got about half way through before we were way too full but had to surrender the remainder to the restaurants garbage. Very sad. We hada good time however and happily headed home.

Devastation...

My camera lens is permanently damaged and can't be fixed! I think it is still under warranty so hopefully when I get home I can get it replaced but with 2 more months to go on the trip, including 3 away trips to Barossa valley wine region, Sydney, and a possible trip to Fiji or Bali, I RRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
need a camera! Csaba has his but it is a much larger professional camera. Quite the dilemma. I may just have to buy a cheaper one to use the rest of the trip.

Shows!!!!

Csaba and I have been fortunate enough to see a number of productions while we have been here in Melbourne. There is the Arts Centre downtown and also a number of arena's in the area. So far we have gone to the stage play Moonlight and Magnolias, a funny period piece about the writing process for the movie "Gone With the Wind". It was really fun to see a play since I haven't gone to the theatre in quite awhile. The play had great humor and we had a really good time. With the unpredictable weather we've been having lately we weren't quite prepared for it to be raining when we came out of the theatre so we had to run back to the train station.
Later that week we went to Complexion contemporary ballet company. I was really excited to see this one. Desmond Richardson, formerly of the Alvin Ailey dance company, is one of the dancers and also founders of the company. The show was in 3 acts, the first was a mock "rehearsal" and then "performance" showing the dancers preparing pieces and then performing the pieces as a whole. The second Act included a number of pieces each one an individual work. One of my favorites was Desmond Richardson's solo performed with a chair and a rose. The third act was a collection of U2 songs. I really enjoyed the last part it was very upbeat with a lot of interesting choreography. We had decided this night to save some time and not go out to dinner before hand. We quickly realized this was a mistake by the end of the first act we were famished. Thankfully there were some concessions in the theatre and we got a sushi roll and a yummy sandwich. After the show was done we went to EQ for dinner. While we were eating we noticed that some of the dancers from the show came in for dinner too! Unfortunately another lady noticed as well and bombarded them with praise. Poor people just wanted to get some dinner after an exhausting show and she wouldn't leave them along for like 10 min! Csaba had what he thought was a hilarious idea and wanted to go over and tell them he thought it was "just alright". I told him i wouldn't speak to him for the next few days if he did it. Thankfully he didn't. Over all it was a great night although i do have to say i was going a little nuts because i wore one of my new dresses and i didn't realize the bra i was wearing was going to be popping out the whole time! I kept pulling on it all night long. I guess I'll have to re-evaluate what undergarments I wear with that one!
Last Tuesday we took a once in a life time chance and saw Eric Clapton live. What a great show he is very good at what he does! the only things I would have changed were the concert being held where people could stand up and dance and secondly I would have liked for him to talk a bit more about himself or the music. Truthfully the only words out of his mouth all night were thank you and the names of his band members. I'm glad we went though.
This weekend we are going to see Wicked at the regent theatre downtown and then Monday we are seeing Firebird and other legends in classical ballet back at the Arts Centre! Very exciting!!!

2 weeks behind!

For those who have been checking I'm sorry I have fallen so behind!!!I've gotten lazy with my time on-line lately and haven't been writing in here. Let's see what I have missed. 2 Sundays ago we went with the family for a day trip out to Phillip island to go see some animals! There is a wildlife park up there where you can feed and pet Wallabies and Kangaroos and also see lots of other animals like Koala's. It was fun although I was a little nervous at first to feed the Kangaroos but I knew I had too so finally by the end i got down there. There were very nice they are quite used to people. Animal pictures After we left the animal park we headed to the area where the penguins live. You don't often see them during the day though because they are out swimming around so that was a bit of a bust. We did go to a very cool beach with big rock formations that you could walk across out into the water. There were a bunch of guys fishing off of them and we found a very cool HUGE tide pool, I'm not even sure it counts as a tide pool since it was the size of a swimming pool and twice as deep. We really wanted to swim in it but didn't have our bathing suits. It was very cool however. It reminded me of where the Little Mermaid kept all of her stuff. After we were done sight seeing we went to a fish and chips shop and got a ridiculous amount of food. Truth be told I had never had Fish and Chips before, it was pretty good. Phillip Island Pictures
The next night I decided I would make dinner. Csaba and I are trying to cook for everyone at least once a week as a thank you for letting us stay with them rent free. The first time we marinated some steak and grilled it and I made a pasta salad with some corn, red peppers, and zucchini that i roasted topped off with feta. This time around I decided I wanted to make a favorite recipe from home called chicken in a diaper. It's a creamy chicken mixture wrapped in Pillsbury cresent dough. Not terribly hard to make and really tasty. This hit a snag however when shopping for ingrediants we realized they don't sell Pillsubry pre-made dough or anything like it. Aftera lot of though i ended up making them with pre made puff pastry dough rolled out which was different but worked well. We also served corn on the cob and a yummy fruit salad (the only thing I would let Csaba do- I don't cook well with others, just ask him about making a pie this last week). The family really liked it which was great. Now I need to figure out what to make this next week......

Decadent Day 2/22

On the morning of the 22nd I had to take the train downtown for an interview. Since I was going down early in the morning I decided I was determined to stay down there as long as I possibly could. I was pretty early for my interview so I walked over to the Art Centre to pick up some ballet tickets I had purchased earlier. I grabbed a coffee and a muffin and sat on a bench by the Yarra River and read for a bit to kill another half hour. The interview only went so so, the GM didn't seem to thrilled with the idea of me being there on work holiday, I still haven't heard back from them. Leaving the interview i was pretty bummed so I meandered around a little bit, checking out some bridges I hadn't been over previously, taking pictures and checking things out. I also checked out the river cruises available. I thought about going on one that day but decided instead to go check out a museum.
Right next door to the Art Centre is the National Gallery of Victoria. This museum is HUGE! Walking in I couldn't really tell if there was an entry fee so I headed toward a sign that read "Tickets". Turns out the tickets are actually just for the special exhibit so I bought one and enjoyed that first. The exhibit was a number of works by Andreas Gursky. He takes photographs on a huge scale of different things. A few of my favorites were of the shelves in a 99 cent store because they were very bright and there were lots of things to look at, a picture of thousands of Chinese dancers forming flowers and patterns, and one of the outside of a large Parisian apartment complex with different things in each window.
After I finished up there I headed upstairs for the European exhibits. It would take volumes to describe everything I saw in there. It began with the 1500's and went exhibit by exhibit all the way to more modern pieces. For the 15 - 1600's almost every piece was religiously based. Lots of beautiful stuff and very interesting to look at. 17-1800's had a lot of pieces that were dignitaries and their families. I wish I could have taken pictures inside. It is quite possible I could have but I always thought it was frowned upon.
They had a number of pieces by Rembrandt and even a Picasso. I can't lie, I was very disappointed in myself that I wasn't more impressed. I think i realized i am much more impressed by pieces that have been painted but look almost real. The Picasso just looked like something I could have painted. Maybe not but it was just not as impressive as i had always thought it would be. After making my way through all the European exhibits and then through some of the Asian art exhibits well I was getting pretty hungry. I decided to sit down in the Tea Room in the NGV. I got a glass of Muscato and an open faced gravlox and creme fraiche sandwich, (basically smoked salmon on toast). It was really tasted and I felt like quite the lady having my little lunch reading my book after walking around the gallery. By this point it was about 3:30 in the afternoon. Csaba and I had decided earlier that we would go out to dinner that night so I decided I would just continue to putz around till then and just have him meet me out rather than taking the train all the way home just to take it back out again. I checked out one last exhibit of fashion pieces then headed out.
From the NGV I decided i would try to find my way to the bar 1806 where Csaba and I are planning to go to a cocktail making class, I was hoping to just sign us up in person. Before trying to find it I stopped in Federation Square at the Melbourne Visitor center to check out what they had. Turns out there is tons of info on different attraction, I probably grabbed 10 different little pamphlets of wine trips and other outings for Csaba and I to do later. I also got a very handy map of the downtown area that I used to find my way to 1806. Unfortunately after quite a few blocks of walking it turned out it was closed. I was kinda bummed because it looks like I'll have to try to sign us up on line. Once I had finished there I really didn't have much else to do downtown so I decided I'd take the train down to the Chapel st area. Csaba and I had decided to meet at FOG for dinner so I figured I could kill a little more time till he got down there. I had to take two trains this time and was very proud of myself that I figured it out all on my own!
Once I got off the train I headed toward FOG. Since it would be about an hour or so before Csaba got down there I decided to stop at a funky little cafe and get a drink an dread some more of my book. It happened to be ladies night so even though I only ordered Orange Juice I also got a glass of champagne (free champagne for ladies 5pm - 7:30pm). I took a seat outside on a funky couch and settled in with my book. A couple of 30 something ladies sat next to me gossipping away and enjoying there champagne. They made sure i got a second free glass when they did and also insisted i share the peanuts that came with the appetizer they ordered. They were a crack up it was quite enjoyable for me to eavesdrop on their conversation. Finally around 6:30 Csaba came down and i met him at the train. We had a great time at dinner, I had a couple yummy "french martini's" - chambord, pinapple juice and vodka. For an appetizer (or as they call them entrees) I had zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese and herbs and Csaba had beef tartar one of his favs. For my main dish i had gnocchi with lobster (OMG ridiculously decadent) and Csaba had a steak. We definitely probably spent more than we should have but we had a good time and headed home on the train. Our waitress who we had been joking and talking with all evening even gave us a logo wine glass to take home which was really nice. Over all quite the decadent day, I wouldn't mind at all if every day could be like that!
Here is a link to my facebook album that includes pictures from this day along with others

Walk to the Beach 2/18

After an incredibly boring Tuesday I decided it was really time for me to take advantage of the fact that we live so close to the beach. So on Wednesday I charted out a course and headed to the beach. I honestly wasn't positive what I would find when I got there since I was going the easiest route possible and was basically just heading for Beach rd which stretches along the coast. Luckily enough after about 20 min of walking, I did get to Beach rd and crossing the street found a pathway down to the shoreline. Turns out it was Mentone beach one of the better known beaches taken care of by the local government. There was a paved path all along the beach so I decided to walk along that till I found a spot I wanted to set up camp. There were a ton of seagulls along the first portion so I kept walking quite a ways till i decided it looked like a good place to stop. There were tons of joggers along the path as I went along with a couple of bike riders, people are pretty into their jogging here, I think it's because as of 2008 the were officially the country with the highest percentage of obese people, shocking right??? could have sworn it was the fat ass Americans. There are a ton of McDonald's here though so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
Once I got to a spot I liked I set up my towel and stuff and decided to head into the water. The amazing thing about the water here is that it's like being in a swimming pool, but with sand on the bottom. The water was cool but not freezing like in the bay area. And it stays shallow way far out so you can swim around quite a bit. I went out a ways and saw a few more of the 8 legged starfish I had been seeing at the other beach but this time just on the ocean floor. Very cool. I swam around a little bit then headed back to lay out and read. Since I had already been out of the house for awhile I didn't lay out too long and instead decided to start heading back. This turned out to be a poor choice since I hadn't totally dried out- one word- chaffing. Ouch. Not ok.
Once I got back near home I headed over to the coffee shop I like and got a wrap and iced coffee (just can't stop drinking them). Then headed home. Overall I felt very productive!
Here is a link to my facebook album of beach pictures

Valentine's Day

While still in the states Csaba had me check out some restaurants online so we could make reservations for valentine's. Although right up my alley, it was a little tricky picking a place since I had no clue where these places actually were. I gave him a few options of places that looked good and he picked Livebait, a seafood restaurant in Docklands by the water. Since we were going out to eat till 8pm we decided to head down to Chapel street and Prahan market to do some shopping.
After taking the train down we were walking from the station to Chapel street and passed a restaurant where a couple was being served breakfast on the patio.... being the foodies we are we couldn't help but stop because their food looked AWESOME! The restaurant was called FOG and the brunch was soooooo yummy, we both got cappuccino's (very well made) Csaba had a yummy dish with smoked salmon scrabbled eggs and mascarpone on a thick slice of french bread. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, sauted spinach and tomato with an english muffin. It was really good and we ended up stopping in on our way back to the train station for a couple drinks and a creme brulee! Can't wait to try it out for dinner one day.
After being out and about in Melbourne I've come to realize that I definitely need some dresses. It took awhile and lots of trying on but I found two cute but more casual going out dresses (pictures to come) and 3 nicer dresses that csaba convinced me I needed since we are planning to go see Wicked, a contemporary Ballet, and maybe an opera, and I really didn't bring anything nice enough. Plus I really wanted something nice to wear out that night. I got a cute pair of heels to wear with them ( because among the 15 pairs of shoes I brought, none really would have looked right!) This is the most shopping I've done in AWHILE so I'm trying hard not to feel guilty about it esp since I've only worked one shift so far.
By the time we had finished shopping it was time to head back and get ready. We ended up taking a cab to the restaurant because I felt a little too dressed up for the train and then the walk from the station. I was a little on edge most of the trip since the cabby seemed to have no clue where he was going and we were stuck in traffic most of the way. He literally asked after we drove down our street whether he was to take a left or right.... how the heck should we know??? Csaba looked up directions for him in the cabs book of maps. Kind of ridiculous. Thankfully we made it there on time.
We had a great time at the restaurant, our server Sam and Maitre D Victor were quite the odd but very enjoyable pair and treated us great. The first course was oysters baked with a Worcester sauce, next came some sushi and tempura, then our choice of a few items I had the scallops and I can't quite recall what Csaba had, after that our main courses I had the prawns- very rich and very tasty, and Csaba had the king fish. Lastly came the dessert course with a little lemon tart a chocolate mousse and a chocolate gelato. All very tasty. We enjoyed a bunch of champagne with it all and were pretty full and happy by the end. Originally we had planned to walk around the Docklands area and maybe get a few more drinks but we were so full and sleepy that we ended up just heading home. Overall it was a great full day!

First Night at Work

Happy to report that my first night at Rembroza went very well! It's much less organized than a lot of the restaurants I've worked at. Working the floor were myself another waitress and one other girl working bar. No Hosts, runners, or bussers. No specific stations. Between the three of us we did it all. It actually went very very well. I did have to run a number of errands down to Safeway and the "bottle shop" to pick up ice, beer, soda, bitters, a bottle of whiskey, and more ice. All individual errands. I was very tempted to ask them if i could take over their ordering. The restaurant hasn't been around very long and a lot of stuff is definitely very lax.
We got quite busy for a bit filling up. I took a number of orders but primarily busied myself with bussing tables and filling water and running food. I was very pleased with how easily i was able to jump right in without too much training. well really - any training. About half an hour or so of being shown around. Eliza and Kelly were very nice and very helpful. It was really interesting to work with cooks who speak fluent English as well.
All i could think of most of the night were those awful i was new and afraid to ask safety ads. So i asked a lot of questions. Then i slipped on my ass when i was making a run out to the recycling.... that was embarrassing. No amount of asking questions was gonna prevent that one, oh well!
In the end everything was great. They tried to see if i could come in and help last night when someone didn't show last minute but csaba and i were already on our way to our dinner res. Monday I have my other interview so we will see how that goes. hopefully they need a lot of day time help because that's when I'm sitting around bored. We will just have to wait and see!!!

Rembroza

After handing out roughly 20 resumes, I may have a job opportunity!! While looking at restaurants in Brighton, about a 15 min drive from our neighborhood, I finally talked to an actual manager! The name of the restaurant is Rembroza. Hip decor with yummy sounding food, very similar in some ways to the menu at pizza antica. I spoke with Danny the manager on duty and he set me up for a trial shift this friday night @5! I am a little nervous because I think they may just be throwing me right in there, but I'm pretty confident in my skills. I brought home a menu so I can study what they have and I'm convincing Csaba that we should go there for dinner Thursday night so I can get a feel for how things run and taste some of the food. I'm pretty excited since from the looks of things it would be a good fit and much more convenient than downtown. Everyone keep your fingers crossed! REMBROZA

Melbourne Fires

Just a note for everyone who has been watching the news and seen the devastating fires, we are no where near any of that. We aren't in any danger, if you look on maps we are in a suburb called Beaumarais which is not at all threatened by any of the bush fires going on since the heat wave!

Aus Iced Coffee

I am addicted. 1 part espresso, 2 parts milk, 1 part ice cream, gelato, or soft serve. sprinkle of cocoa powder. YUM! pretty much every coffee place makes them like that they are so good everywhere!

The Job Hunt begins

Now that I've been here a week decided today was the day, time to begin the job hunt! I decided Federation Square and the area along the Yarra would be the best place to start. there are tons of restaurants and it is a pretty busy area. I printed out about 20 resumes and hit the streets. I've become quite savvy with the train which I take from Sandringham station near our house down to Flinders station downtown. a day pass is $9.90. I probably went between 12-15 places. I could tell there was some apprehension each time they heard my accent because they know I probably won't be around too long. Even though I'll only be here about 3 and a half months I've been telling them all 6 months. Ups my chances of being hired. None of them had applications, they all just take resumes. A few weren't hiring, a few were only looking for long term hires but i did hand out a few so hopefully I'll be hearing from someone soon. Tomorrow I'm going down to the Brighton beach area to check out the restaurants down there. Keep your fingers crossed everyone! I'm not ready to come home yet!

115 in the shade, hottest day in Melbourne History

We had decided early in the week that Saturday we would go out to a popular shopping area called Chapel St. There is this great tented open air market called Prahan market. There are stalls with tons of fresh fruit and veggies, pastry stands, deli type stands, flowers, and lots of other stuff. We walked around there for awhile, got cupcakes (csaba's favorite), i bought some peaches, olives, and we finally found csaba some white truffle oil. It was a really cool place and I'm excited to go back. We are planning to cook dinner for everyone sometime this week so we will hopefully go there to get supplies. After checking that out we walked down the street. It was very windy and felt like being in a furnace. According to the news it was the hottest day in Melbourne history and sparked a number of fires. It has been quite a big deal.
We decided after walking for awhile that we had to stop somewhere and get a drink. There was a nice bar on chapel that we went to that had big windows all along the front that they open when the weather is nice. We sat for awhile trying to recover from the ridiculous heat. We stayed on Chapel street a bit longer then made our way on the train to Federation square.
Back on federation we headed straight to EQ, our new favorite restaurant. We got the Mediterranean dips again and a great bottle of Savignon Blanc from a nearby area. Perfect on a hot day like that one. We didn't want to leave the A/C so we stayed quite awhile, opting to order their cheese plate after we had finished our dips. Also really yummy with a brie type cheese, some type of gorgonzola, and one we thought was similar to parmasean. There was also some apple, a strawberry, and fig paste. It was really good but they gave us big chunks of the cheese so we didn't finish it. We decided it was time to go home and headed back on the train. Later that night we head back downtown to check out some night life. Since it was Saturday it was quite busy. We went a couple places but they were really crowded and we weren't very dressed up so we found a little bar to sit at instead of one of the places the waitress at Seagrass had told us about. It looked like a little cafe and had cool stained glass everywhere.
Getting comfortable with the trains is definitely a good thing. It makes it much much easier to get to different areas particularly downtown. For $15 each we got a pass that gives you 5 days on the weekends. We will for sure be making good use of that.

Health and Safety Ad's

Health and safety are important topics for a country to be concerned about. In the US we have lots of advertising about going green and such, in Australia- Work safety (like the poster next to this that was on the train), lung cancer, skin cancer, pollution, and other health concerns (did you know a 5 min power nap could save you from a car crash? Billboards....EVERYWHERE).
These people take Health and safety to the extreme. Some of the grossest I've seen are the work safety commercials (that air during evening television programs like commercials for cereal). They usually involve some form of dismemberment. Like finger tips getting cut off using a meat slicer (they show the bloody stubs and tips fyi) or spilling a huge pot of boiling liquid on himself.
There area lot of climate concerns as well which include a commercial of a baby and mom in the kitchen with black balloons popping out of anywhere that energy is being wasted and causing the room to fill.
Water conservation is huge as well with lots of commercials showing how easy it is to waste water but also how easy it is to conserve. (You are only allowed a 4 min shower).
Although not all commercials are traumatizing they are all out there constantly in your face. Here are some links if you would like to watch.
Drunk driving Boiling Liquid Bakery Fingers Water Conservation

An evening in Federation Square

Csaba and I took our first evening on the town last night quite successfully. After a little internet research we decided to take the train to
Federation Square in downtown Melbourne, a great area with Restaurants, Bars, Theatre, Museum, and even a las vegas style casino. We decided to make the most of checking out the area by coursing out our meal over a few different restaurants. First stop was EQ a busy hip restaurant and bar with a blend of popular cuisine. We noticed everyone ordering a yummy looking plate of 3 dips with bread so we followed suite. totally yummy there was an eggplant dip, carrot dip (my fav), and a spicy creamy dip each topped with a few kalamata olives. We are totally hooked. Once we had finished that we walked further down along the Yarra River where there are tons of restaurants are until we came to Walter's Wine Bar. I love me some wine so we stopped in, sat at the bar and got a half dozen Tasmanian oysters along with a glass of Verdejo for me and a manhattan for Csaba. We met a really nice guy who had recently moved to Mel from Toronto and had a nice chat with him. Once we finished we were off again to check out some more scenery. We headed down to the casino to see how it stood up to the ones we had seen in good ol' LV. It was quite nice with lots of shops and pricey restaurants inside.


From there we decided it was time to sit down for a real meal. We settled on Seagrass a nice looking restaurant down a bit from the casino. There was a bit of a wait at first so we decided to order a bottle of wine before we were seated. To my delight there was a bottle of Chenin Blanc from Vouvray, France. Apparently we didn't look like we knew what we were talking about because the waiter tried to bring me a different bottle of Chenin first. He also didn't know how to properly open it which disappointed me a little. It was quite a nice bottle a little bit sweeter at first than i expected but definitely very tasty. At dinner Csaba had a few more oysters with a sangria sorbet on them and then a snapper. I had a spatchcock dish which was yummy. We shared an awesome dessert to finish. Espresso gelato on a mocha cookie and a chocolate mouse in a tube that tasted like a chocolate lollipop it was all hardened chocolate sugar. Our waitress was really nice and told us about a number of cool places to hang out and get a drink which we plan to check out tonight. She even drew us a little map! Getting used to tipping in this country is very weird because there is no real answer to what the standard is. You all know me and how crazy it makes me when people visiting from other countries don't know what the custom to tip is so i really want to be sure I'm leaving what is expected. Sounds like nothing is expected some is nice. Totally vague.
Here are a few pictures from along the Yarra river to give you a feel of the area.

My new BFF Chantal

Here is a little taste of my time with chantal so far....

Solo Adventure

Took my first solo adventure today! Thought i would keep it simple so i went somewhere i could walk to in 5 minutes and i knew how to get home from!!! One block to the left and turn right at the cross street and i have a fantastic little block of shops. there is a little grocery store along with individual store front shops with meat, poultry, seafood, a bakery, fresh produce a couple of places with prepared food to take home, a couple little cafes, blockbuster (hahahaha!!!), a chinese restaurant, a couple of salons, and a few other things. Very convenient!!!! I went to Kikko coffee shop and got an iced hazelnut latte, the hazelnut flavor was added by a nice little scoop of hazelnut gelato! Yummy! I also got a turkey Piadina, basically a turkey sandwhich wrap in a flat bread that they grilled real fast so it was crunchy and warm. Sat out on the patio, its about 78 f out with a light breeze- perfect weather! After I ate i walked through the open air produce shop, they had quite aselection which made me very excited! Can't wait to do some cooking with thing i collect just down the way! Fresh! Local! YEA!!!!!

First Week In Melbourne!

Hello All!
So to make it easier to not have to tell the same stories over and over i found a blog site so i can post things about my trip for lots of people to check up on!
After15 hours on a plane i landed in Melbourne! Csaba and his Aunt Germaine came to pick me up at the airport and we headed back to his aunt and uncles house in a south eastern suburb of Melbourne. We'll be living with them for as long as they can stand us!
They live a fantastic 3 min drive/ 20 min walk from the beach which is awesome! there is a lot of coast near by so there is a lot of beach to explore. It is definitely different from the santa cruz beaches i'm used to. Way less sea weed and the water is quite a bit clearer and warmer, not like bath water warm by comfortable. There are tons of seashells on the beach which is really cool. it is much more of a park type atmosphere than an attraction like the beaches in cali, at least around here since it is residential. There were a couple of rock formations on the shoreline with lots of plant life growing on them and also a whole bunch of living starfish! it was so cool to just walk up and touch one! they have 8 legs which i have never seen before and are about the size of the palm of my hand at their largest. most of them were a dark blue color, i'll include a bunch of pictures soon!
I was very excited to discover the Australian: So You Think You Can Dance is just starting!!!! I'll definitly be watching that!
Csaba was bummed to discover that his 3 yr old cousin Chantal took an almost instant liking to me while she hated him the entire first month he was here. He just doesn't know the tricks, i brought a strawberry shortcake coloring book and pack of 64 crayolas with me that i let her use, we have been bffs ever since. her parents love it too cause it gets her out of their hair for awhile. pictures to come of her as well, hopefully some videos i took as well.
Things are not as drastically different as i had imagined. The arcitecture is pretty similar, alough i do find it interesting that almost all of the houses have a 6 foot wall or fence around their front yard. They have Target! which made my day, but it isn't exactly like ours, there is way more emphasis on clothes and it reminds me more of like a Khol's. We checked out both of the nearby malls. One is a westfield. the other is a little nicer. They have some similar stores and others that we don't have. for instance instead of Macy's they have Myer's and instead of Nordestrom, they have David Jones. Very Very similar though. They have Safeway but a much older version.
It has been really interesting to see the way shows and movies are released from the states to here. Some movies like he's just not that into you, are being released the same time, where others like zack and miri make a porno and ghost town, which have been out of theatres in the states for a little while, are just being released here. Shows are almost all behind so i have to download my shows andwatch them on the computer which isn't a big deal. However i can't watch them on the networks website since i'm out of the states.
This weekend we are going to do so more sight seeing so hopefully i will have lots of updates and pictures to post!!!