Sunday Brunch and BBQ

Zack and I sort of have a new tradition. We go to brunch on the weekend...sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with friends. We've been trying various places around South Melbourne. St Ali's is one of our favorites. However, this past Sunday, we had to go back to Cafe Sweethearts, because I had seen what looked like American-style bacon on someone's plate last weekend after I had already gotten my pancakes. I know I've mentioned it before, but bacon here is not how bacon should be. It's basically pieces of ham. So I asked the waitress to tell them to cook it extra extra crispy. She described it as, "Make it look like it's been dragged through hell and back?" "Exactly," I agreed. You can see the results below, along with my obligatory chai latte. It was pretty darn good, though still a little too thick. Oh, how I miss good bacon!

Later in the afternoon, we met up with Klem and Vesna near the beach in Elwood for a BBQ. Even though it's supposedly springtime, it was windy and freezing. Not the best weather for a BBQ, but Vesna's delicious chocolate cake made it worth the trip! I like how Australia provides these BBQ areas near beaches and in parks that you can use for free.

Anyway, that's how we spent some of our Sunday. Oh yeah, and Notre Dame is now 7-0. Go Irish!!!

Springtime Saturday with Surfing

I think Zack is imitating a wave here.

On Saturday morning, we went surfing with our friends Klem and Vesna. Zack met Klem when he started working in Australia, and he and his partner Vesna are probably the most active, outdoorsy couple we know! So we tried to keep up with them in the cold water in Torquay. I caught a few small waves, but man, this surfing thing is hard to learn!

After getting back to town, we walked down to South Melbourne Market with them (and the doggies) to eat paella for a late lunch. Yum!

We crashed on the couch and watched a movie before going to bed early, because surfing wore us out. And that was how we spent our springtime Saturday!

Pure Australian...RipCurl sweatsuit and Ugg boots!

Weekend Review From Up Here (Down Under)

On one of our balconies-I love the sunsets!

Hello blog readers!  We recently acquired a desk off of Gumtree, and we put it against the windows in the family room.  As I sit here at my laptop overlooking yet another fabulous sunset from the 11th floor, I figured I would update the blog with what we did over the weekend.

On Friday night, we went to the taping of The 7PM Project show.  It was "live," so it went quickly and was entertaining.  We found it interesting that all of the jokes among the hosts were preplanned, because on the show it comes across as spur-of-the-moment banter.  I guess they had us fooled.  I was bummed that the guy from Glee was actually interviewed via camera from Sydney.  I thought he'd be in the studio.  Anyway, after the show, we used one of our Scoopon deals to get some pizza on Fitzroy Street.  No surprise-it wasn't that good.  Will we ever find decent pizza in this town?

French toast with strawberries-yum!

Zack was up early on Saturday, and he actually worked from home nonstop until 5pm.  Busy boy!  I slept in and then made us a yummy breakfast.  Notice the lovely MasterChef-ish presentation.  Ignore the ugly plate; our kitchen collection (and everything in our apartment for that matter) is a mixture of cheap things we've gathered from various sources.  On Saturday night, we headed over to Emily and Adam's place in Elwood (a suburb next to St. Kilda) for dinner.  They have a beautiful place, and we enjoyed a delicious meal.

Illegal phone picture!

Zack returned the favor and brought me breakfast in bed on Sunday morning before he headed out on a bike ride.  Sunday afternoon was spent at the taping for Australia's Got Talent.  It was the second episode of the Semifinals, so Jack Vidgen came out on stage at the beginning to hear that he's going through to the Finals, but we didn't get to hear him sing.  We saw some good and not-so-good performances; our favorite was a young jazz singer named Liam.  It was a long afternoon waiting to get into the show.  We were at the end of the line and only got in because I nicely asked if there were any single seats left.  So by splitting up for the first bit, we made it in after they had turned several others away.  I know it seems like we are TV show crazy lately (have I mentioned that I'm trying out for Deal or No Deal next Thursday?!), but really this is just a phase where they've been sending me lots of tickets lately, and it's something fun to do in Melbourne when the weather is lousy outside.

We love Luna Park!

Zack left for Sydney this morning and will be there until Wednesday, so I'm on my own again.  Today was spent taking care of random stuff on the computer (bills, banking, insurance, etc.), so it wasn't too exciting.  It rained on and off during the day, so I just stayed in my pajamas, drank some tea, read a book, and got some stuff done!  Schools are back in session, so it's been quiet today.  They've been on holiday the last two weeks, so Luna Park (the amusement park right below us) had been open, and all day long we could hear screams from the people on the rides.  Some people might find that annoying, but we like it.  As Zack says, "it reminds you to be happy," because all day long you get to hear the sounds of unrestrained joy from the people below.  It's dark down there now; I guess it'll be open again once it warms up around here.  Anyway, we had a pretty good weekend, and we hope you did too!