First weekend back; high winds
We've been pretty tired in the evenings since we got back as we've been gradually working forward from waking up at 4:30am. Still we had some nice mornings playing backgammon on the balcony before Sean went to work.
Friday was no exception, so the weekend really started yesterday for us. I bought the 2007 Sydney Morning Herald Good Eating Guide during our (surprise) stop in Melbourne airport on the way back and we had a look for somewhere to go for breakfast and then gave up and just ate in. We must go out for breakfast more often - it's very Australian.
We started down the path to doing something else Australian; we went to Barbeques Galore and purchased a barbeque (one of the few coal powered ones they had, almost all are gas), an umbrella and a stand. We put the umbrella up when we got back, but unfortunately it acted like a sail and would have taken off, with the 16kg concrete base attached, if we hadn't held on to it. So no umbrella on the balcony then.
In the evening we went for dinner at Pier, one of the 4 restaurants in Sydney that have been awarded the top 3 hats by the SMH Good Eating guide. It was over in the eastern suburb of Rose Bay, north of Bondi. We had a bit of trouble finding the restaurant (navigation errors by me) but got there in the end. Rose Bay is very pretty, with a wide expanse of harbour and lots of boats.
The restaurant is designed like a pier i.e. jutting out into the water and so has good views from every table. Sean had seared scallops with celeriac puree and mushrooms, followed by lobster in a thai sauce. I had raw scallop tortellini with roasted broccoli, followed by bass grouper read thai curry. The tortellini was made using the scallop and was quite interesting, but the curry, although nice, was second to both the fish curry at Jordan's and at Ripples.
I tried Sean's lobster and the sauce, although it may have been good with a bland fish, was completely overpowering for lobster. We were both pretty full and couldn't manage dessert, which is a shame as the pastry chef at Pier had won a special award of her own. Still, I'm sure we'll go back, for the view if nothing else. This leaves Bennelong (the restaurant at the Opera House), another 3 hat winner, still as our favourite restaurant. But we have two more "3 hats" to try, one of which is a French Japanese restaurant. I'm looking forward to that.
Today we enthusiastically decided to try out the barbeque. We bought burgers and some pork sausages (a speciality in Oz - almost all are beef) and went to the fish market and picked up a baby barramundi and a sand whiting.
Unfortunately barbequing did not go all that well. It seems to be even windier today than it was yesterday and it caused us all sorts of problems. Firstly, a glass of orange juice and lemonade was shattered after a large gust. We don't think it actually blew off the table but was jolted off after a chair was sent flying. Secondly, although the barbeque remained upright (a constant worry), hot ash was blown everywhere including into Sean's hat (he has a small burn on his forehead as testimony).
The baby barramundi was still too big to cook all the way through, but the sand whiting was very tasty. I don't think we'll be attempting it again though.
We've been pretty tired in the evenings since we got back as we've been gradually working forward from waking up at 4:30am. Still we had some nice mornings playing backgammon on the balcony before Sean went to work.
Friday was no exception, so the weekend really started yesterday for us. I bought the 2007 Sydney Morning Herald Good Eating Guide during our (surprise) stop in Melbourne airport on the way back and we had a look for somewhere to go for breakfast and then gave up and just ate in. We must go out for breakfast more often - it's very Australian.
We started down the path to doing something else Australian; we went to Barbeques Galore and purchased a barbeque (one of the few coal powered ones they had, almost all are gas), an umbrella and a stand. We put the umbrella up when we got back, but unfortunately it acted like a sail and would have taken off, with the 16kg concrete base attached, if we hadn't held on to it. So no umbrella on the balcony then.
In the evening we went for dinner at Pier, one of the 4 restaurants in Sydney that have been awarded the top 3 hats by the SMH Good Eating guide. It was over in the eastern suburb of Rose Bay, north of Bondi. We had a bit of trouble finding the restaurant (navigation errors by me) but got there in the end. Rose Bay is very pretty, with a wide expanse of harbour and lots of boats.
The restaurant is designed like a pier i.e. jutting out into the water and so has good views from every table. Sean had seared scallops with celeriac puree and mushrooms, followed by lobster in a thai sauce. I had raw scallop tortellini with roasted broccoli, followed by bass grouper read thai curry. The tortellini was made using the scallop and was quite interesting, but the curry, although nice, was second to both the fish curry at Jordan's and at Ripples.
I tried Sean's lobster and the sauce, although it may have been good with a bland fish, was completely overpowering for lobster. We were both pretty full and couldn't manage dessert, which is a shame as the pastry chef at Pier had won a special award of her own. Still, I'm sure we'll go back, for the view if nothing else. This leaves Bennelong (the restaurant at the Opera House), another 3 hat winner, still as our favourite restaurant. But we have two more "3 hats" to try, one of which is a French Japanese restaurant. I'm looking forward to that.
Today we enthusiastically decided to try out the barbeque. We bought burgers and some pork sausages (a speciality in Oz - almost all are beef) and went to the fish market and picked up a baby barramundi and a sand whiting.
Unfortunately barbequing did not go all that well. It seems to be even windier today than it was yesterday and it caused us all sorts of problems. Firstly, a glass of orange juice and lemonade was shattered after a large gust. We don't think it actually blew off the table but was jolted off after a chair was sent flying. Secondly, although the barbeque remained upright (a constant worry), hot ash was blown everywhere including into Sean's hat (he has a small burn on his forehead as testimony).
The baby barramundi was still too big to cook all the way through, but the sand whiting was very tasty. I don't think we'll be attempting it again though.
