Holy Steak!

Monday nights at our local, Trinity, is $10 steak night. A picture is worth a thousand words. Amazing.

Toko

This post pays homage to our favorite Japanese restaurant in the city, Toko.  This is one of the first restaurants that we ate at when we moved here, and will always be one of our favs.  We liken it to NOPA in San Francisco because not only do we eat here a TON, but we can also walk over, put our name in, then head back to the house to have a cocktail while we wait for our table. 

If you don't live in the area, I suggest coming early and having a drink in the front part of the restaurant while they set up the tables.  Anything after 7pm and you'll likely have at least an hour wait.  Oh and since it's an open kitchen with a robata grill, be prepared to come out smelling like the restaurant!

Now on to the food.  Everything on the menu is amazing, but we definitely have a few favs.  

1. The snapper with pork crackling - there's just something about pork crackling!

2. Sashimi - so fresh and served on blocks of ice

3. Scotch fillet - delicious cubes of mouth watering steak

4. Lamb chops with miso paste - pick them up and chomp on the bones

5. Roasted duck noodle soup with soba and quail egg - it's a tiny bowl of soup but is packed with fresh flavors

We usually get wine at dinner but they have an amazing sake and cocktail list as well.  If you do get wine, they have a crisp sauv blanc and our favorite blend, GSM.

Snapper with pork crackling

The sushi chefs (photo courtesy of Viktor Glemme)

The decor and Ryan with the chef's selection of sashimi (photo courtesy of Viktor Glemme)

Sunday night dinner

It not uncommon to find me in the kitchen most Sunday afternoons/evenings whipping up a recipe that I found on the internet.  This Sunday was no exception.  I found this recipe at Jamie Cooks it Up but ended up only making the crispy chicken because our grocery store didn't have the Philly cream cheese ingredient.  I find that happens a lot down unda - it's not easy to find everything that we have in the states.  Boxed rice pilaf?  No where to be found.  

Instead of the creamy pasta, I made a light vegetable pasta (broccoli, mushroom, tomato, garlic and onion) fettucini in tomato sauce.  The chicken was really easy to make, but I suggest using WAY less oil than he recommends.  And covering it after it browns only makes the crust less crispy, so if this happens, finish it off in the oven.  

Overall, it was a delicious meal that was quick and easy and got Ryan's stamp of approval.  He, of course, cleaned up after the cook!

Dinner at Sophie and Viktor's

This past Friday, our friends Sophie and Viktor hosted an insane dinner party for 17 of us.  They live in an amazing apartment in Potts Point, the perfect place for a dinner party.  As soon as we entered their place, we were offered old fashioneds or a fresh passionfruit cocktail.  We had cocktail hour for a couple of hours then headed to the living room for a sit down dinner which consisted of homemade bread, two types of salad and an amazing lasagna.  For dessert we had fresh strawberries with chocolate mousse.  We ended the night with singing and dancing.  Flawless!  Thank you to our favorite Swedes, Viktor and Sophie!

Sophie working it out in the kitchen!

The cheesy lasagna deliciousness!

Summery salad - loved the mozzarella balls!

Palm Beach

Today we went to Palm Beach with our friends Viktor and Sophie.  It's really easy here in Oz to rent a car, similar to ZipCar, and head out of the city.  Palm Beach is about an hour and a half drive from our place and is simply gorgeous.  We camped out on the beach and played in the water all day long.  The water was amazing, and the waves were tons of fun to body surf in.  Ryan was feeling quite burned from the previous day in Manly so covered up really well and even used an umbrella!  

We had a late lunch at the Boat House, a wonderful little restaurant on the water.  Sophie and I split a burger and a bowl of prawns while the boys each had their own burger.  Wow, the food was delicious but the view and company was even better!

We topped off the day with dinner in the city at Missy K, a thai restaurant in Surry Hills.  We started with the pork and chive dumplings, which never disappoint.  Then we ordered every noodle dish on the menu: Drunken Noodles (my fav), Pork Noodles, Pad Thai and Pad See Ew.  As Viktor would say, "yummy"!

What a fantastic day!

Ryan practicing safe sun habits on the shores of Palm Beach

The burger at the Boat House.  Insanely GOOD!

I highly recommend the prawns

Pork and Chive dumplings at Missy K

Drunken Noodles

NYE Sydney Style and welcoming in 2012

After a 10 hour flight from Honolulu to Sydney, Ryan and I quickly got ready to go to our friend Rob's house for NYE. He lives in Potts Point and has an amazing view of the Harbor Bridge from his balcony. There were about 20 of us that celebrated together, ringing in the New Year with the most fantastic fireworks show I've ever seen. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to post videos, so will have to send it through later! A great ending to a great year. Goodbye 2011!

Rob, our host, and Steph

Ryan, me and our friend Mark

The ladies

We celebrated the first day of 2012 with friends in Manly. Given that the sun was shining and it was a weekend, the ferry terminal was a ZOO! There was a queue all the way out to the street and we didn't think we were ever going to make it on. Luckily we did and had an amazing day. Check out how crowded the beach was!!

Manly Beach

Chilling out

Zac, Anna, Brian and his visiting friend, Alex

Ryan muddling raspberries with a plastic spoon for delicious summery cocktails

The boys grilling up a storm on the mini portable grill

The ladies prepping and making side dishes