Olympics, The Coopers Arms and the footy

Things have been a bit up in the air of late.  Well, there's been the Olympics - which for us means late nights or very early mornings to see stuff live, and I like to see it live.  Makes for a weird body clock though.   Still, it only comes around once every four years so might as well get into it!  The thing that gets me is that if one of these world class / Olympic level athletes don't win GOLD, it's like a failure! Gee, I remember winning red (2nd) and green (3rd) ribbons at my school swimming or athletics carnivals and thinking I was a star! By the way, first was a blue ribbon....

In the same vein, our Aussie cyclist Cadel Evans, who won the Tour de France last year, finished seventh this time around.  I was appalled that one of our commercial TV news channels called it his "Tour de Failure"..What?  I'd like to see those guys ride a bike up a mountain and all over the French countryside for days on end.

Mmmm.  Oh well, I'll continue to gripe daily to anyone that listens about this ridiculous obsession with Gold medals and lack of recognition for Silver and Bronze.  Oh yeah, sorry, I only won an Olympic Silver medal....

So, anyway, we had lunch at the Cooper's Arms hotel in Newtown.  Good winter fare.  I liked the quotes in the comic-like wine list (and no, we didn't drink the French champagne)...

I like the one from Will Rogers

This is the a la carte winter menu, but there's also burgers and stuff, and daily specials:

For me it was the prawns on chermoula pesto linguine, a wonderful flavour mix:

Delicious!

The other half went for the sausages and mash special.  This time they were Merguez sausages - I tried them and they were really great, so was the mash and gravy.

The mash was fab as well

And we had a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio as well.  I like the label with the knife - it is called La Vendetta after all:

Cool label

We've also been to the footy lately.  That's football.  Which means many different things depending on what country you're in.  Over here it can be Rugby League, Rugby Union, soccer or AFL.  This time it was the AFL - Aussie Rules - a weird running, jumping, handball and kicking game that we play over here.  It is fast and furious and the guys are lean and mean and fast and well, very fast.  They officially play for 80 minutes in four 20 minute quarters, although the quarters can go over 30 minutes depending on what exactly happens.  It's very exciting. We were backing the Sydney Swans - they were playing St Kilda.  A big rivalry there between the teams, and the supporters.

Our friend Celia of the royal crown knitting fame brought along her Swan's bears.  The larger bear is 24 years old.  Celia knitted their gear.

The bears watching the warm up

The match was played at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and they've been demolishing one of the old stands.  It was a bit curious looking at that end of the field:

Weird

But the rest of the SCG looked just right

Match warm up

The bears were having a great time! Just like a teddy bear's picnic at the footy!

The 24 year old is having a beer

It really is a fun day out, even if you have to share it with 29,000 others

The local crowd

The bears were right into it

Original Swan's supporters

Celia was happy the Swans won, as we all were.  The bears are looking cheeky, a bit like winners!

Momma Bear with the kids

 It was a big day and everyone slept well.

Sleepy and warm

Pastizzi, pet sheep and other doings

So, I haven't been able to blog anything for four days, and prior to that I was busy doing stuff.  We've been to all manner of places the last week and I barely took any photos because I just wasn't in the mood.  It is winter after all and I've been a bit grumpy.

Nevertheless, last week we were out and about a fair bit.  We bought some frozen Pastizzi from the famous Pastizzi Cafe in Newtown, just up the road.  My favourite are the chicken and mushroom, but they do about 12 varieties, both savoury and sweet.  12 snap frozen pastizzi cost $14.

These are delicious

After 25 minutes in the oven, they came out like this:

Awesome winter deliciousness

I spotted New Zealand Natural ice cream on the way home and had to buy a tub, because I know it's the creamiest ice cream in the world, and I've tried a lot of ice cream.

As yet unopened

That wasn't all we've done in the last week.  We also:

• Had Yum Cha at Fisherman's Wharf Seafood restaurant at the Fish Markets.
• Went for dinner at an old school friend's place in Mona Vale, on the northern beaches.  We had oysters, sashimi, fresh tuna and barramundi.
• Went for dinner at a friend's place in Marrickville.  We had slow-cooked beef stroganoff and cous-cous.  It had cooked for 8 hours.
• We had lunch with a friend at his parent's place.  They've been married 50 odd years and had 7 children, 4 boys and three girls, all now grown ups - there are 8 grandchildren.  They've traveled to the four corners of the earth and are fascinating people.  We had roast lamb shoulder.  His mother does the potatoes like this - she par-boils them, sits them under the roast and with the other vegetables in the pan, pours off half a bottle of red wine.  It was fabulous.  We had a great afternoon.  And their house is full of curiosities.
• We also had a brief visit from some friends that live in Collarenebri, about 8 hours drive away.  They have a pet sheep, Bronco, that is now becoming a ram.  Becoming a ram apparently includes ramming people with horns.  Bronco was rescued as a lamb when his mother was killed on the road.  Bronco kind of thinks he's a dog.

Baby Bronco

Bronco hangs out with some dog mates

Bronco by the campfire

Bronco with growing horns and a fleece

Bronco's dog crew

We have had some very pleasant winter sunny days here in Sydney, although the nights are cold.  Even in July, our camelia tree is blooming.

Stunning winter-blooming camelia

Bruce just finds it all very tiring.

Zzzzzzzzzz

In the garden we have loads of skinks.  I've always liked lizards.  Sometimes these little ones fight over territory, but not to the death.  Just until the bigger one wins.

A skink.  We have loads of them hanging about.

I'm not sure why this iPhone photo turned out like this, but it's quite interesting.

Fish the family dish

The Sydney Fish Markets are the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. I've been eating seafood all my life as my mother was born in Townsville, QLD and had a penchant for oysters, mud crab, prawns, and of course fish.  When we were kids, because Mum wanted them, we all had them!  Lucky us. I was given an oyster knife when I was about 8.  That's right, my parents gave me a knife so I could eat the oysters straight from the rocks down the road from where I grew up in Seaforth, on Middle Harbour in Sydney.  I must have eaten thousands in my lifetime.  I also had a tomahawk, which is a small axe, but that was used to kill red-back spiders amongst other things, a different story altogether. Anyway, my partner's cousin was visiting from New Zealand and he wanted to catch up with his friend's son or something, who happened to work at De Costi, just one of the merchants at the markets.  I wasn't planning on taking any photos, but I had my iPhone and I liked the look of the Scampi, which by the way have actually been flown in from New Zealand.

They look good

Believe it or not, a group of crayfish is called a herd.

The herd

Raw and cooked sweet crabs.  You can see why they're called Blue Swimmer crabs on the left.

Someone has been buying up the Blue Swimmers

These are actually rock lobsters.  Don't ask me the difference between these and crayfish.  Google it.

Can you see the odd one out?  To the right is a bunch of Balmain Bugs

Some fish are also on offer.

Could be little Garfish in the foreground

Mmmm, trout. Unreal. See they come from Tasmania? All good cold stuff comes from Tasmania.  I like to cook trout whole wrapped in foil on the BBQ, stuffed with some simple things like onion, tomato, lemon slices or whatever.

The trout

Ocean Perch, Sand Mullet, Latchet and a hacked up swordfish

Not much Swordfish left here

Fish tails make great stock.  I like the heads too, the actual whole thing, done Japanese or Malaysian style. No disconnected heads in this shot though.  I I don't eat the eyes.  I tried one once.  It wasn't for me.  No need to go there really.

Prawns, prawns, prawns.  Peel, dip in white vinegar (that's my Mum's way) and that's it.

A few varieties of Prawn

They were about $10 a kilo cheaper when I bought them in Port Douglas straight from the trawler.  Oh well, I guess there's a middle man or two here.

Lunch at the Courthouse

Actually we didn't have to attend court, thankfully.  I do everything in my power to avoid ever having to attend anything remotely legal (does that make sense? Perhaps I meant illegal).  Nope, I prefer freedom, truth and a fair go for all.  I'll stop now.

The Courthouse Hotel is in Newtown, just 10 minutes walk away from our place.  It's called The Courthouse because it is pretty much next door to the Newtown Local Court and the Newtown Police.  I expect plenty of people have had a cleansing ale there.  Either way, they do lunch specials during the week for $10, which always includes a rump steak.  First off the mark though, a Coopers Ale.

Yep, Coopers Pale Ale from an ice-cold tap

Coopers is brewed in South Australia, a strange place, but they make good beer. And the brewery started in 1862.  Resisting the urge to drink it straight away, I took a photo of my first ale of the day:

Looks enticing

Now, the other thing is the $10 rump steak.  I'm positive that there is no way I could buy a rump steak, make salad, cook up pepper sauce, make chips (fries) etc for anything near $10, so why bother?  I'd rather get it from the Courthouse pub. And they cook it medium-rare for me too.

$10 Rump Steak lunch

In the courtyard of the Courthouse (the pub I mean) there is a  collection of old tin advertising signs around and about.  These ones were directly behind me.

And a groovy koi mural which could be someone's tattoo.

An apple a day

Keeps the doctor away, right?  Do you think that apple that dropped on Isaac Newton's head felt like anything at all?  I was born and live in Sydney, Australia, however I was fortunate to spend quite a lot of time in Orange, NSW growing up as my closest aunt and uncle and cousins lived there.  They had a small acreage with a small orchard of big glossy crisp red Rome Beauty apples, the best apples I ever ate in my entire life.  Sadly the Rome Beauty trees are no more, however last time I was there I did eat loads of apples (Fuji & Sundowner) straight from the picking crates.

Picking Crate - Sundowners

Crispy Sundowner fresh from the tree

An apple contains pretty impressive amounts of antioxidants so should be on everyone's list of things to eat. Buying them at the grocer can be a disappointment, but then not everyone can actually go to the orchard or pick one straight off the tree. I'm just that lucky.

Anyway, the apple cold store is rather big too (and cold, like something minus zero).  My uncle Mike is over 6 feet tall and he stands here to show the scale of a small portion of one storeroom.

Cold Store is rather large, this is one of maybe 8 or so and only half full

Apart from apples they also grow cherries in Orange, and grapes (mmm, to make wine) wool and cattle, but definitely no oranges...what?

The Orchard

The house on the hill

The tractor

 And the frost on a May morning at my uncle's place

Frosty Eucalypt - that's an electric fence in the foreground to keep the horses away from the house paddock

A burger in Honolulu

My partner and I embarked on an easy walk from our hotel in Waikiki to the famous Ala Moana Center.....mmm, we started off quite well albeit a little hungover from our previous evening of over-indulgence (think Mai-Tais, champagne etc).  Um, yes well the route we chose had very little shade (essential if suffering near dehyrdation) and it was extremely HOT. As it can be in Hawaii.  By the time we eventually arrived, sweating, thirsty and getting somewhat irritable, it had to be a search for beer and food.  Beer first, then food.

Thank god for Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks.  Quick, sit, order beer first.

What a godsend after a hungover heat stressed too long walk

Hooray! an ice-cold Kona Longboard Lager, I feel better already..

Kona Longboard Lager - cold as ice

 Food?  We had two of the above and then this for me...the Hawaiian - Pineapple, teriyaki sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, swiss & mayo - I can savour it now....my goodness, forget shopping let's get some Kirin and go back to the hotel!

The Hawaiian saved my life