View of the bay.
A park.
I am fascinated at the parks here, they always look so interesting and all of them are different...
Beautiful blossoming tree!
So pretty!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Weekend - 16 September
Fish and chips was the dinner menu on Friday night - from the Fish and chippery just down the road...
Saturday was a relaxing day. I booked accommodation for us to go away the following weekend - looking forward to that! Sean has taken 2 extra days off.
On Saturday night we went to a 30th Birthday party at one of the "hotels" a few kilometers away from where we stay. A "hotel" is a bar, pub or nightclub here. I think that most of them were boutique hotels a long time ago, so they have kept the name, but not the rooms... It was quite an interesting evening - got to meet new people, had many laughs and lots of 80's music was played! We walked to the venue so obviously had to walk home too - but by the time it was home time my feet were so sore from being in high heels all night! So it was then off with the shoes and I walked home barefoot...
On Sunday we went to the Chadstone shopping centre. It is supposedly the largest shopping sentre in Australia as well as the Southern Hemisphere. And yes it is very LARGE. I don't really like such big shopping centres as it takes to long to get from one place to the next!
We then went to another shopping centre which is a Direct Factory Outlet (DFO), to try and find work shoes for Sean. I have been shopping for shoes for Sean since we got here, and have brought home many pairs and none of them have fitted him! Big sizes are not common here... So after trying on a few pairs at the DFO Sean finally found 2 pairs that fit! Happiness! So now I don't have to be frustrated with returning the shoes all the time...
Saturday was a relaxing day. I booked accommodation for us to go away the following weekend - looking forward to that! Sean has taken 2 extra days off.
On Saturday night we went to a 30th Birthday party at one of the "hotels" a few kilometers away from where we stay. A "hotel" is a bar, pub or nightclub here. I think that most of them were boutique hotels a long time ago, so they have kept the name, but not the rooms... It was quite an interesting evening - got to meet new people, had many laughs and lots of 80's music was played! We walked to the venue so obviously had to walk home too - but by the time it was home time my feet were so sore from being in high heels all night! So it was then off with the shoes and I walked home barefoot...
On Sunday we went to the Chadstone shopping centre. It is supposedly the largest shopping sentre in Australia as well as the Southern Hemisphere. And yes it is very LARGE. I don't really like such big shopping centres as it takes to long to get from one place to the next!
We then went to another shopping centre which is a Direct Factory Outlet (DFO), to try and find work shoes for Sean. I have been shopping for shoes for Sean since we got here, and have brought home many pairs and none of them have fitted him! Big sizes are not common here... So after trying on a few pairs at the DFO Sean finally found 2 pairs that fit! Happiness! So now I don't have to be frustrated with returning the shoes all the time...
Then it was home time and we bottled our beer.
Our beer bottled.
So now we have to wait for 2 weeks for it to be ready for consumption! In the mean time I'm going to look for more bottles so that we can brew another type to compare the 2...
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Weekend Activities - 9 September 2011
On Friday the weather turned cold and windy... We went out for dinner to a restaurant close to our apartment (in the wind!). We had a lovely meal. Some restaurants have degustation meals. Below is a few definitions and meaning of degustation:
de·gust·ed, de·gust·ing, de·gusts
Degustation (French for 'tasting')
Degustation is the art of tasting food. Modern degustation probably comes from the French kitchens of the early 20th century and is different from earlier meals with many courses because these meals were served as full-sized meals at each course.
We had the degustation menu which consisted of 5 courses. It was delicious!
The weather was even worse on Saturday - cold, windy and rainy! So we decided to spend the weekend indoors.
We made pizza dough from scratch and went to buy a pizza stone to use for cooking it in the oven. It was quite an event making the pizzas some they were very yummy!
On Sunday we went off to the shops to buy a home brewing beer kit... And then started the process of brewing our own beer at home... The process takes quite a while - it has to ferment for a few days and then you bottle it and leave it for almost 2 weeks. So we will be bottling our own beer this weekend and then waiting for the end product...
Definition of DEGUSTATION
: the action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions
To taste with relish; savor.
Degustation is the art of tasting food. Modern degustation probably comes from the French kitchens of the early 20th century and is different from earlier meals with many courses because these meals were served as full-sized meals at each course.
We had the degustation menu which consisted of 5 courses. It was delicious!
Belle Zain Restaurant
The weather was even worse on Saturday - cold, windy and rainy! So we decided to spend the weekend indoors.
We made pizza dough from scratch and went to buy a pizza stone to use for cooking it in the oven. It was quite an event making the pizzas some they were very yummy!
On Sunday we went off to the shops to buy a home brewing beer kit... And then started the process of brewing our own beer at home... The process takes quite a while - it has to ferment for a few days and then you bottle it and leave it for almost 2 weeks. So we will be bottling our own beer this weekend and then waiting for the end product...
Our beer brewing...
All in all it was a fun weekend doing new things indoors!
Have you ever had a spider to drink?
I was invited out to a ladies supper club by one of Seans ex-collegues (she is now working for another company). We went to a Japanese restaurant in the city and ordered a whole lot of starters to share and taste. It was a lovely evening and the ladies were very welcoming and friendly towards me. Whilst chatting over dinner, one of the ladies said "Ah when last have I drank a spider? I feel like having one now." I must have looked very confused and disgusted at the same time... How do you drink a spider and why? - was the thought in my mind. The lady quickly turned to me and said - "do you know what a spider is Nadine? Or don't you call them spiders in South Africa?" Um no I had no idea what she was talking about! After some explanation I finally realised that a spider is a soda float... Hmmm now where did they get the name spider from??
And if you don't believe me you can check out the recipe on this link: SPIDER
And if you don't believe me you can check out the recipe on this link: SPIDER
Weekend Activities - 2 September 2011
We had a quiet night on Friday night. On Saturday we spent time unpacking the last few things in the apartment and hung up our art. We then went to a BBQ at ones of Seans collegues place. They were very hospitable and friendly. It takes some time getting used to braaing on gas as opposed to wood - but we'll get there... We had a lovely evening with them - Anthony and Nicky are their names. Nicky made a devine dessert that was delicious! I will try make it one day and post some pictures up.
On Sunday we took a drive out to Healseville where they have an animal sanctuary - it is about 1 hour away from Melbourne. Here we finally got to see Koalas and Kangaroos! We had lunch there too - there are lovely areas where one can have a picnic, or even a bbq, right in the middle of the sanctuary. Not sure whether I like the idea of the bbq being so close to the animals though. We also saw a bird show, with eagles, cockatoos and other birds. Below are some photos:
Koala in a tree.
Koala eating.
Koala sleeping.
Kangaroos.
Birds flying high...
Raptor cracking open an egg.
Pelicans.
Owl.
Cloud with a silver lining taken on the way home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)