Party in NYC

Zack's company had its end-of-year party last weekend, and the theme was "New York City." As Americans, it was pretty interesting to see which parts of our culture and food they chose to highlight at the event. When we got off the shuttle bus from the CBD, we walked a red carpet while the "paparazzi" took our pictures and tried to interview us. They acted like we were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie-ha!

The setup was incredibly impressive. There was a jazz band at a cafe-type setting in front, and on the main stage, there was a gal singing songs such as "New York State of Mind" and Broadway show tunes, accompanied by dancers. We were encouraged to dress for the theme (hence my sparkly dress and tights), but some people went all out with NY Giants football jerseys or Statue of Liberty hats and such.

The whole place was decorated with subway signs, flashing pictures of stores and icons of NYC, and other themed items. And the food was fun too...a deli section with sandwiches; a diner section with fancy hot dogs, burgers, and fries; a taco stand; and a dessert stand with cupcakes and chocolate covered pretzels. We kept wondering where the New York style pizza was, but at the end of the night, they brought around slices! All of the caterers were dressed in I Love NY shirts.

Later in the night, a live band came on stage, and the atmosphere became more club-like. There were even club-type dancers performing above the stage; it was kind of crazy!

We talked with various folks throughout the night from Zack's previous and current project and eventually found our friends Klem and Vesna. They were dressed for the theme-Vesna was the Statue of Liberty and Klem looked like one of the Newsies! It was a great party with a fun American theme.

White Wine Party

White wines unocovered post-tasting.

You may remember the red wine party we had a few months ago. If not, you can read about it here. Anyway, last weekend, we had a white wine party at Kristy and Nigel's place. Everyone brought a bottle of white wine, and we did a blind tasting to see how good our palates were. The choices were chardonnay, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, riesling, and semillon. I only got 2/6 correct this time. Kristy and Todd both got 4/6 for the win!

Zack's special meatless pie!

Kristy and Nigel made a traditional roast dinner with all of the fixings for everyone, and it was amazing. Kristy was even nice enough to make a special fake meat pie for Zack the vegetarian. We stuffed ourselves silly and then tried our best to distinguish between the white wine flavors. The chardonnay was everyone's least favorite, but it was an organic wine, so maybe that made for a strange flavor. I had never even heard of a chenin blanc (the one I had to bring), but it ended up being my favorite!

Zack=Dog Whisperer

We also had a good time playing with Kristy and Nigel's tiny doggies. They are kind of crazy little things, but Zack got Flossie and Ralphie to cuddle up to him and even sleep for a bit! It was a fun evening, minus the fact that Zack lost his phone on the taxi ride home. Luckily, he already got a new one from his work. We may not be wine experts, but it was fun pretending we knew what we were tasting!

Christmas in July

Ready for the party!

I know all of you American readers are "suffering" in your 100 degree temperatures right now, but here in Australia, we are cold. It's winter, and it definitely feels like it, especially on the days when it's rainy and gray (which is pretty often in Melbourne). We expats have been feeling a little glum lately, so we decided to celebrate Christmas in July to get our minds off the dreary weather and have something to anticipate.

Lots of planning went into pulling off this fun party. Emily and Adam came over on Friday night to help decorate our place; we put up the tree and cut out paper snowflakes (some better than others). I ordered a whole turkey from the South Melbourne Market for our Christmas dinner, and we all planned different appetizers, side dishes, desserts, and drinks to bring. I made some eggnog (Zack MUST have eggnog on Christmas) and tree-shaped fruit and veggie platters.

Everyone also brought a white elephant gift to share in an exchange game. We had lots of fun getting rid of silly gifts like Spam, but the best item was probably a copy of the book 50 Shades of Grey. We might have had a bit of a read-aloud session for part of the evening entertainment! We played the word/acting game called "Celebrity," stuffed ourselves silly, and even sang Christmas carols at the end of the night (Zack played guitar and I played piano).



If it has to be winter in the middle of July, I'm glad we have good friends to celebrate Christmas with to make it a little better!

Our crazy friends!

Red, Red Wine

Yesterday at an extended brunch with Adam and Emily, we made plans for a fun night of eating fajitas with a guacamole cook-off and a red wine tasting. So last night, Nigel and Kristy joined us in heading over to Adam and Emily's place in Elwood for the evening. Each person brought a different type of red wine, and each couple brought guacamole. Every wine bottle was wrapped in foil and numbered, so we didn't know which was which.

We enjoyed cheese and crackers and chips and three great guacamole recipes while trying each type of wine. We all had paper and wrote down our guesses as to which type of wine we were tasting. Our choices were Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Shiraz, and Sangiovese. Some were easy (Cabernet), but others were impossible (who knows what Sangiovese tastes like?!).

After trying all six and making our best guesses, we revealed each wine and saw if we were right. Out of the six types, Zack and I both guessed three correctly (not the same three), and that was the best score!

Then Adam and Emily introduced us to an entertaining game called "Celebrity." It's kind of a mix between Catch Phrase and Charades, with a twist. In one of the rounds, you act out the word you're trying to get your team to guess while under a sheet. It was hilarious! I think I'm acting out "leg" in the picture to the left.

Later, as we drank more wine and laughed about how many types we didn't know, we enjoyed a delicious dessert made using Emily's now famous chocolate chip cookie recipe. Yum!

It was an awesome night of good food and wine shared with friends, and a great way to kick off the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend.

Australia Day and My 33rd Birthday

Australia Day is on January 26. It's kind of like Australia's version of the 4th of July, celebrated with BBQs on the beach and fireworks. It was on a Thursday this year, and since Zack had the day off of work, we threw together a spontaneous get-together with our friends Emily and Adam. They biked down to the beach right across the street from our place, we carried our portable BBQ downstairs, and we grilled up some sausages and played beach games for a couple of hours. That night, I enjoyed watching the fireworks from our balcony.

Luna Park makes a nice foreground for the fireworks over the city and atop the Eureka Tower.

January 27 is my birthday, so I decided to have some friends over to celebrate the Australian holiday in combination with my turning 33 on Friday night. I made some Australia-themed snacks for the party. I'm especially proud of my Australian flag fruit kebobs; thank you Pinterest for the inspiration based on the US flag.

Australian cheese and crackers, fruit and veggie kebobs, sausage rolls, and chips (and cupcakes!).

We had sort of a small crowd because several of our friends were gone for the holiday weekend, but those who could come were awesome. They even brought me presents, which was totally unexpected! Here's a picture with Kristy and Joy. I think Emily and her friend Andrea were outside on the balcony at this point. Below are the boys (Adam, Nigel, Zack, and Hannes) and a shot of my favorite chocolate cake that Zack gets at a place across from his work. Yum!

It was very strange celebrating my birthday in the summertime. I'm used to wearing sweaters instead of sundresses and planning snowboarding trips instead of beach parties, but I'm not complaining! I'm hoping my 33rd year is the best one yet. It sure started off nicely!

Netball Newbie

This past weekend, a lot of our activities revolved around Zack's work. On Friday night, Accenture had their end of year party at the Crown Towers in the Palladium. It was quite a spectacle. The theme was "Arabian Nights," and there was food, a band, belly dancers, and decorations to match. Some people even dressed up, and while there, I got a sparkly henna tattoo on my arm. Fun stuff.

The crazy netball team doing the Accenture symbol!

The ref explains another rule.

On Saturday, I went and watched Zack play netball in the Corporate Games. Hundreds of companies from all around Victoria competed over the weekend in various sports, including footy, soccer, cricket, squash, etc. Zack joined a netball team with some coworkers. No, he had never played netball before the one practice he attended before the tournament. Neither of us had ever even heard of the game before moving to Australia. But I guess it's pretty popular here, especially among females (yes, a few friends have since made fun of Zack for playing netball). It's easiest to understand if you think of it like basketball combined with ultimate frisbee. There is no backboard, just the net on a ring attached to a pole, and you can't dribble the ball. So there is a lot of passing and other rules I didn't understand. Zack didn't quite know all the rules either, so the referees had to explain things to him sometimes.

Anyway, the Accenture team played three games, and I can say that they improved with each one. Note that I didn't say they won any of them! Oh well, at least there was a nice catered lunch provided in the Accenture tent after the games. Sunday involved Accenture too, but that was just Zack working for several hours from home in the afternoon and evening. And that was pretty much our weekend!