Thanksgiving Down Under

Thanksgiving week was a big week in the Speelman household! I started work that Monday and then we hosted a party on Saturday to celebrate. It was strange to start week after all of my time off on Thanksgiving week! I was definitely not planning on drinking until about midnight on Friday with new co-workesrs, grocery shopping at 1 AM and then waking up at 7 AM to cook....but hey you only live once. #YOLO as the kids say.

Of course we celebrated in style. We wanted to really give the Australians a true thanksgiving experience, that meant fancy dress. (Fancy dress is what Australians call costumes, it still gets me a bit confused, fancy dress = cocktail in my head)

The whole family 

The cutest turkey out there!  

We had a mix of American and Australian friends over and one Frenchmen. The food all turned out well, it was my first turkey. Most of the ovens here are fan forced, I am not sure if I like them more or less. It does cook faster. We took the turkey out to baste and discovered it was already done in only 3 hours (it was a 7kg bird). Please also notice the baster - we could not find one anywhere, so we used a tomato sauce bottle, empty of course.

Chef Oscar made an appearance and I forced him to wear this apron.

Our kitchen is soooo small - three of us in there was intense!

The spread - thanks to Hayley for the photo I stole from her blog.

And of course there was a drinking game, it was called chug a beer as fast as you can. This consultants have a way with coming up with creative games.

We had a great day with great friends! My only regrets were not taking a picture of everyone and not saving leftovers for Jules :) This is sure to be an annual event!

Visitors!!!

We were so excited that Cool Mix (one of my college, called uni here, friends) and Topher were flying though Sydney after their 40 day honeymoon in New Zealand. They were only here one night and it could not have been more perfect (well other than the torrential downpour they get stuck in trying to find "the basement"). Seriously people, you have no idea how nice it is to see friends in Sydney!

We went to Mr. Wong's for dinner. It was SOOOO Good, I have been dreaming about the twice cooked pork cubes daily since Wednesday.

If you visit Sydney Mr. Wong's is a great place to go! And you will look cool, cause its in an alley, there are a few restaurants right near it as well if the wait is too long. 

Good Food Month

October was good food month in Sydney. The marquee event is the Noodle Markets. It's the equivalent to Taste of Chicago, except you don't have to look over your shoulder for gang bangers with guns. You do have to look out for camera bandits, like this guy, at a moments notice he might snap a photo of you.

The markets are in Hyde Park, which is right near the CBD (Central Business District). There are tons of people and tons of vendors - all asian inspired. The food was delicious. And you can buy a bottle of wine, awesome.

A converted shipping container into a bar

Some sort of Korean fried potato.

The dumpling machine. So many dumplings.

Interesting desserts.

October has been a good month in Sydney, that's for sure! 

Exploring Sydney - The Grounds

Right after we moved in to our apartment we took the bus to Ikea to get a few little things. We noticed this a few really cool places on the way and tried to remember the names, we didn't. Every weekend we talked about, remember that one place? What was it called? Finally last weekend we decided just to walk along the bus route a see what we found. Two and a half miles later, with a few stops at antique shops, I'm glad we did, we found The Grounds of Alexandria - check out more photos here.

Its a really cool open air outdoor market with a few restaurants, beautiful gardens, a flower shop and a specialty grocery store.

Open seating area if you order food from the market vendors.  

This is a pretty typical bakery spread to see in a coffee shop. I always want everything.  

We snacked on some freshly made donuts from this adorable cart - your choice of filling, jam or chocolate made to order.

My favorite part of the market was the floral shop. The women running this place were also amazing, they made beautiful arrangements. I could have watched them for at least an hour. Is that weird?  

I'm not generally a rose person, but I love the peach and light pink roses here. So pretty.

I also love these larger billy ball looking yellow flowers.

And of course there is a small petting zoo for the kiddos. You can't really see it, but in the back right there is a grayish chicken that has some crazy hair, its like a puff ball. 

Lastly we strolled over to the specialty grocery store. The butchers in Australia are amazing - case in point. This store was awesome, I even found my favorite Herdez salsa!  

They also have 5kg tubs of Nutella - in case you aren't good at the conversion (I am not), that is 11 pounds of Nutella!

The only things that would make The Grounds better is if it were closer to the beach.  

Bourke Street Bakery

Ask any Australian "where should I go in Sydney" and they will all include Bourke Street Bakery (pronounced Burk). Lucky us, it is less than 1k (1.6k = 1 mile) from our apartment in Surry Hills.

The line is out the door and people spill over to sitting in the park across the street (like we did)

I can never decide what to order, it all looked amazing, so I just asked the girl at the counter what she recommended for savory and sweet. I wound up with a sausage roll and mini ginger creme brûlée.

I had no idea what to expect with the sausage roll and if I'm being honest, when I saw it I was a little disappointed/scared/wanted what Chris had. Well, I was wrong, it was AMAZING. So tasty, it was definitely a tad on the heavier side for breakfast, but no different than a egg, ham and cheese sandwich in the states.

This little treat was so good, I saved some for dinner

Chris had a ham and swiss croissant and a mixed berry and chocolate muffin. I know people hate this word, but the muffin was so moist. It was the fluffiest most delicious muffin I have ever had!

On another note, if you know Chris, you know he hates sharing food. I kind of can't believe he has been sharing everything with me here - I know this won't last much longer :) But since I also know he isn't reading this blog, I think my secret is safe for at least a little longer.  

Road Trip - Day 23: On the Drive

In Sapphire we went to George's second favorite BBQ spot, so naturally when he told us his favorite BBQ was on the way to Austin, well kind of on the way we knew we had to make a stop.  Joel’s BBQ it was! IT was seriously tasty! 

Literally a shack on the side of I-10

My Frito Pie, I trusted Melissa and she knew what she was talking about! BBQ Beef, cheese, onions, beans over fritos, so good!  

Don't mess with a man and his ribs....

Road Trip - Day 21 & 22: New Orleans, LA

I have to say that New Orleans has been one of the biggest surprises of the trip yet – Chris and I both seemed to be doing everything to avoid being in NOLA for more than one night, but everyone we talked to basically gushed over NOLA, so we caved and booked 2 nights the day before we arrived. Well, I am glad we didn’t go with our gut, I have a new application and love for this city! 

We focused on doing nothing either of us had done in NOLA before, except late night the first night we went to the patio at Pat O’Briens for a hurricane. As we arrived the table next to us was leaving and left 8 hurricane glasses on the table – unbeknownst to us, each glass can be turned in for $3 cash at the bar. Our server asked me to follow her to the counter, which I thought was weird, but I did, she handed me $24, which paid for our drinks. Off to a great start! I think it will be my last hurricane, holy sugar and cough syrup taste. Thanks Toni and random drunk people!

We had the full day to explore and it was out best food day yet! 

Started with Cafe Du Monde

Then we walked around the Garden district for a few hours and worked up a serious appetite. 

Old cemetary in the middle of the Garden District  

This was one of the really cool old houses in the Garden District. The fence was commissioned by the husband for his wife. She was from Iowa and missed so he put in corn fields for her. Sweet of him, but who did she miss Iowa???

Notice the corn fence

We walked back toward the French Quarter to Cochan, Donald Link's restaurant. It was amazing, go here if you are in NOLA! 

The wood fired oysters and cajun shrimp - seriously amazing!

We walked back to the hotel and passed this little Aussie bar, it was closed otherwise we would have had to have a drink!

That night we had dinner at Jacques Imo’s Cafe. Its a drive and in a pretty dumpy building, but the food is amazing! It sounds strange, but you have to order the Alligator Cheesecake, seriously it was delicious! Our server, Phil, was also awesome. Probably the best service I have had in a while!

If you go to NOLA – replicate our day and you will be sure to have an awesome time! Best food day yet, I don't think we will be topping it!