Bye Bye Jo!

Here are a few pics from our friend Jo's goodbye party at her house and taco night at our place. We are sad to see her go, but had a great time sending her off! We miss you Jo!

Steph, Jo and me

Everyone at our place for Taco Night!

My first attempt at carnitas. This is in the middle of the cooking process.

The final step: Ryan shredding the meat

Everyone digging in

My double decker delight

I think Ryan is quite pleased with his taco:)

Il Baretto

Before heading off for Christmas break, Ryan and I went to dinner with Ryan's coworker Darragh and his girlfriend Cassie.  We went to a restaurant right by our house called Il Baretto.  This is actually the very first restaurant in Surry Hills that Ryan and I went to when we first moved here.  My old coworker Karla took us here and we were blown away.  It didn't disappoint, months later.  I had the Spaghetti Carbonara and it was amazing.  The interesting this about this dish is that it's a dry sauce so it's totally unique.  Ryan had the bolognese which is always delicious.  They are know for their Duck Ragu which is pretty darn amazing.  

To top off the meal, we shared a tiramisu which is probably the best that I've had in the city. 

This place has good food and huge portions at really affordable prices so I highly recommend it.  AND, since it doesn't take reservations, there is a wine bar called Fico right down the street where you can wait for a table over a glass of delicious Italian wine.  Perfecto!

Carbonara

Tiramisu

The Book Kitchen

We love getting brunch at The Book Kitchen which is right across the street from the famous Burke Street Bakery.  When my parents came to visit, they literally had brekkie here everyday!  The menu is pretty amazing.  I love the scrambled eggs on sourdough toast with a side of avocado and chorizo.  My mom went strictly for the chorizo.  It's thinly sliced and perfectly cooked every time.  YUM!

If we go here later in the day, I like to get the salmon salad with noodles.  It's fresh, light and really, really good.  I even prefer it over Bill's version!  

Salmon salad.  The salmon fillet is broken into pieces throughout the salad

Isn't this lovely?  Perfectly cooked eggs, fresh avo and crispy chorizo.  That's what I consider an amazing brekkie!

A Saturday in Manly

This past Saturday we caught the ferry to Manly to visit our friends Zac and Anna. Anna works at Google and Zac is going to start working with Ryan at Cloud Sherpas next week. They are both amazing people and best of all, Zac is from Hawaii!

We made it out with the intention of going lawn bowling, but the club in Manly was booked out for the day - mostly by 70+ year olds. No offense Grams and Gramps, but it wasn't our scene;), maybe next time!

So, we grabbed a couple of boards, a growler of beer from 4 Pines Brewery and hit the beach. Ryan was going to try to surf, but once we got to the beach, he much preferred lying in the sand with a beer in hand. Zac on the other hand charged the cold water. The surf wasn't too good, but he managed to eek out a couple of good waves!

We ended the night with dinner at Garfish, one of the premier seafood restaurants in the city. It has a oceanfront view and boy was the food delish. We got the seafood platter for two (this could have really fed all four of us), the snapper pie and the pan roasted whole flounder. My fav was probably the seafood platter AND the great company. What an amazing day!

Lunch at Whitewater Restaurant. Get the steak sando cause it's a whole steak in there!

Ryan getting ready to hit to surf

A beautiful day in Manly

It's growler time!

Anna, Zac and Ryan heading home. Notice that Ryan isn't wet?;)

Zac and Ryan at 4 Pines Brewery

Anna and Ryan

Fruits de mer platter

The second tier of the platter!

That fish didn't stand a chance