Fitting end

The first meal I had in Sydney was at Ajisen Raman with my cousin at World Square, having Japanese ramen. It would only be fitting that I end my work period in Sydney with a delicious bowl of ramen from Gumshara Ramen in Dixon Square Haymarket.

Interestingly I didn't think too much of this place before and actually thought I had gone to the wrong place b/c this is in a little stall at the food court in Chinatown. However I finally made it there again and I was not disappointed. The reviews for this restaurant has been raving about how thick their soup is and how tasty the whole meal was. There is two people working the stall, the chef and the front desk lady who also helps with dishing out the meat and filling the bowls. These guys were super busy but super fast. The noodles were perfect texture and the soup was just as thick as the reviews promised. The best part is that there was no salty aftertaste of MSG and if you can read the sign the soup is made from pork bones and water, nothing else. It was definitely a fitting end to my stay in Sydney!

delish bowl of soup for $10!

UGG boots

I am sure most people have heard of or own a pair of UGG boots. These were superbly popular a few years ago and now are still very popular especially in North America. I have always looked at these boots and thought that they were very expensive in Canada and pretty impractical. The boots are suede with sheepskin lining the inside, there is no waterproof mechanism in them and in the snow they look terrible with the salt stains, so I have never bought a pair. However coming to Australia, I see them everywhere and some of them are very cheap so I thought I would check them out.

Reading a little bit about the UGG boots (amazing what wikipedia will tell you), these were made back in the 1920s for the shearers in Australia and New Zealand. They were used by the aviators in World War I to keep their feet warm. So these were worn way before the trend started in 2000. Ugg boots is actually a generic term used since 1970s, but in 1979 it was registered as a tradename by Brian Smith, a surfer. He then sold his company to Deckers and that's the company who makes the Uggs that is sold mostly worldwide. Deckers then told all the Australian companies that they can't use Uggs for their product. The Australian companies fought back and won in Australia, but not in the US / in Netherlands, so it is still a brand name in pretty much anywhere apart from Australia.

I thought I'll definitely be more interested in buying Uggs from an Australian company especially since this is where it started. Then the research into what different companies started and amazingly I was reading that there are now some Ugg boots made in China (What isn't made in China!) which would explain how there's some dirt cheap uggs in Chinatown.

Finally I picked out one pair (after trying a lot on) and it is now my souvenir from Australia, my chestnut long Ugg boots! Hopefully they'll keep me warm for the fall, the salesperson tells me I am supposed to wear them without socks!

Marque

This three hatted Sydney restaurant deserves an entry just by itself. Marque is in Surry Hills, with chefs Mark Best and Pasi Petanen. It received great reviews and I actually managed to find someone else who is as much as a foodie as myself, so Fabia and I tried it the second last day in Sydney. It was a divine experience. It was $95 for three courses which is all I can manage to stuff down. However I am sure that the degustation experience would be well worth the price. Since all the dishes are brilliant there is no clear favourites! Sorry I don't remember the exact ingredients of the dishes and due to the lighting these pictures are a bit dark.

Amuse with soft boiled egg

'Risotto' with calamari and prawns: the covering sheet is a flattened sheet of prawns and the 'risotto' is actually little chopped up bits of calamari.

Roast Muscovy duck with Jerusalem artichoke, Buckwheat, date and coffee: the duck was perfectly cooked and not too tough, the coffee sauce was brilliant, it almost seems like i'm eating a dessert!

A pretty strong palate cleanser, caramel with custard

'lemon tart': so this has all the ingredients of a lemon tart, the base is chocolate biscuit crumbles as the tart base, the lemon portion is a frozen sphere with lemon meringue, mandarin ice-cream and something else. It was an unexpected twist and very tasty

At the end of the meal, we get 4 little candies and good thing the server told us what it is before we tried it. It is supposed to represent the four tastes, bitter, savoury, sour and sweet. By telling us what the candies were, we were able to start at the bitter side and work our way up to the sweet. The bitter is the one on the left and it has licorice in it. The salty is chocolate with peanut in it, Sour is lemon candy with white chocolate and sweet is this gelatin candy with orange in it. Great ending to a great meal.

One of the best things about Sydney

Without a doubt Sydney is a foodie heaven and I definitely took advantage of it these past two weeks. Now I just have to workout twice as hard!

First stop: the Burger joint in Darlinghurst.
Sherri wanted to try an Aussie burger since I have sung high praises of the burgers I have had here, so we went down to burger joint #3 in the Sydney Timeout best burger list. We both had the Aussie burger with beetroot, bacon and egg. It's not a bad burger and it's very reasonably priced with massive portions. Overall, good place for a burger, but I'd still prefer the Wagyu burger from Plan B.
Next we had to try a brownie and Central Baking Depot was on our way from the Sydney harbour to Darling harbour. This was also on Sydney's Timeout top 5 brownie list. I had the orange cheesecake chocolate brownie, nice and moist, and great flavours all throughout. The brownie portion is massive but no worries, I finished every crumb of it. My only excuse was that day we climbed the Sydney bridge
Sherri and I went down to Surry Hills and tried Holy Cow, an Indian restaurant that was highly rated at Eatability. Combined that with no corkage for BYO, it made it an easy choice. We had goat Madras which is interesting since I've never had goat before. It taste like lamb, quite gamey, but the curry definitely masked a lot of it. We also had pistashio chicken which is quite creamy. I personally preferred the goat despite the gamey-ness just because I don't like the creaminess of the other dish.

Goat Madras

Pistachio chicken with naan and rice

The last place I tried with Sherri is Fish on the Rocks. As the name implied it's at the Rocks which means that it had pre-theatre specials. For $45 you can have an entree, a main and a glass of wine. So I picked the tempura prawns with Thai spice sauce and the kingfish fillet with sauteed field mushrooms, English spinach and pureed pumpkin. The fish was very fresh and the prawns were perfect. (sorry about the dark pictures)

Tempura prawns

Fillet with mushrooms, spinach and pumpkin

Australian slang

When I first got to Australia, I thought I had some issues with my English because I had a hard time understanding what people are saying. 6 months later, I still have some difficulties but it's getting easier. This is my Canadian translations to some of their commonly used words, as I understand how they are used.. Thanks to everyone who provided input into the list!!

Mate = friend/buddy/dude

Blokes= guys

Schooner = pint of beer

Nugget = no real translation, just anyone who's fat and short.

Unit = someone who's big, not necessarily fat, just big

Tucker = food

Spewin = angry

Reckon = you bet

Arvo = afternoon

Feral = wild/ nasty

Heaps = lots

Thongs = flipflops

Servos = service stations

no dramas = no probs

Ta = Thanks

No worries = same as no dramas

lollies = jujubes/ candy

Mackers = MacDonalds

ambos = ambulance

tomato sauce = ketchup

Waggin off = call a sickie/ slack off the day (be careful of using that one, it can sound inappropriate)

Ginga = ginger red

ranga = Red, originally came from orangatan

figjam = F***ing I'm good just ask me

footy = Aussie rule football

Roos = kangaroos

and my absolute favourite: Bogan = no exact translation but similar to our rednecks

For my surgical friends

catspaws = sens retractor

diathermy = bovie

hemostat = snap

nibbler = rouguer

plaster trolley = cast cart

So if I are using different terms when I get back to Australia.. this might help a bit..

Funky Australian wildlife

Sherri and I went to the Sydney Aquarium, mostly because it was pouring rain outside. It's not as good as seeing the creatures in the wild, but then it was nice and dry. Plus you are guaranteed to see the creatures, unlike the wild; apart from the platypus, we stood in front of the tank for so long and still didn't spot the creature. Good thing I saw it at the Taronga zoo.

Ribbit..

Dugong: They are part of the Sirenians, same as the manatees. They eat a lot of lettuce and are close to extinction. They live near Moreton Island, Queensland.

Nemo! we also spotted Dory and Gill there as well!

Dah Dum Dah Dum Dah Dum..

Part of the Blue Mountains tour included a visit to Featherdale Wildlife Park. My favourite is still the koala! The Wombat is a close second!

So Soft! I want to be the koala!

Wallaby and its joey!

What are you looking at? Stop before I peak your eyes out!

Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, this one doesn't look friendly!

Oh Feed me!

Bridge climb and Blue Mountains

My friend Sherri came from Toronto to visit me for a week and I had a great time with her. Unfortunately I could not take more time off work but I had both weekends with her, plus a half day during the week. I had a great time with her (hopefully it was the same for her too!). We completed the Bridge Climb and then went to Blue Mountains the next weekend

The BridgeClimb was an expensive adventure but the view was well worth it. We completed the Discovery Climb which went through the lower ring of the bridge but then we walked up the stairs that connected the lower ring with the upper ring so that we still get the view from the top. It was a beautiful day and it was money well worth spent for the experience and the view. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to bring anything including cameras but the guide took some relatively good pictures of us

Sherri and I on the top
Views that you get with the Discovery Climb

For the following weekend, we went to the Blue Mountains. Initially I was going to take the train but then I thought it was going to rain, so hence we decided to go take a tour which included a few extra bonus. You can see from the pictures how terrible a meteorologist I would make, it did rain in the morning but blue skies and sunshine dominated the rest of the day. However the tour did stop by the wildlife park and we got to take pictures with a koala so it's well worth it! (the animal pics will be in the next blog)

Three Sisters, Blue Mountains

Sherri and I

Scenic Railway, the steepest railway in the world, I felt we needed seatbelts!