Guess who’s stalking?
These colourful rhinos were all over the city. They seem a bit more threatening than the colourful cows that were around years back.
Tag Archives: sydney
Park Study – Part 3
A leaf on the ground means that autumn has arrived.
As you can see, lots of work with depth of field this week.
Park Study – Part 2
This photo by Joan made me wonder about how consumed we’ve become by our phones. This young office worker is a good example. She didn’t seem to notice anyone around her, let alone how nice it was out in the park that lunch time.
Park Study – Part 1
You might not have known it from this blog, but I haven’t been feeling too much love for photography lately. Apart from holidays and day walks, it’s been ages since I took out my camera just for the heck of it. So to rekindle some camera love, I’m taking a short course.
I have taken a basic photography course before, but that must be 10 years ago or so now, and since then I’ve hardly been out of my comfort zone (i.e. scenes, landscapes and the like). So over the next little while, I’ll be posting the photos I’m taking as part of the week’s homework. Forgive me if it’s all a bit random.
To start off with, a study of Hyde Park at lunch time.
Lots of nice highlights and shadows now that it’s March. I really like how everything is so lush after the weekend’s rain.
Inner City Catch-Up Lunch
What a way to catch up with friends than to enjoy a leisurely 3 course lunch! I met up with N and F pre-Christmas at the Devonshire Restaurant in Surry Hills, where their Prix Fixe Friday lunch was too good to be missed. The menu changed weekly, but we weren’t too pertubed about what we got as we knew it was all going to be very good indeed. We weren’t wrong.
For entree was roasted pork belly croustillant, spiced apple relish, shaved fennel and radish. It was a spring roll that had been well and truly pimped, but with the salad and relish was still light and fresh.
The main was the magnificent seared Ora king salmon, fried calamari, squid ink, orange and chive dressing. With a crispy skin, more-ish sauce and dressing, all refreshed by the oranges (a citrus that you don’t often think of when accompanying fish), it tasted as good as it looked.
The sides of broccolini and twice-cooked potatoes were also amazing. How did they get the potatoes so crispy, I wonder?
We really didn’t have any room left after that effort, but still we managed to fit in a delectable sticky pear pudding, toasted coconut milk sorbet and toffee sauce. The pudding was surprisingly light, and the sorbet creamy without being too rich. A perfect end to the meal.
Birthday Dinner – Part 3
We finished dinner with a tiramisu. This is really a dessert for coffee lovers – there was more espresso in there than booze, I think! And the orange zest gave a nice zing to the dessert. It also wasn’t too rich, so a nice way to end our meal.
I must say we were impressed with the service. The wait staff were welcoming and amazingly efficient, even with a full restaurant. We may return to sample more of the mains.
Birthday Dinner – Part 2
We decided to have pasta for main. Hubby predictably chose turbo fusilli arrabiatta, and really enjoyed it as it was hot. Well, it would be with Scotch Bonnet chillis in it.
Meanwhile, I chose mushroom panzerotti. The half-moon raviolis were filled with brown cap and porcini mushrooms and ricotta, making the dish a lovely, rich treat.
Birthday Dinner – Part 1
We went to Jamie’s Italian for my birthday. Having heard that the place gets busy very quickly, we decided to head there straight after work – in our case, we arrived at 5.15pm and was able to be seated straight away.
I like Jamie Oliver’s cooking style, and was curious about the food in his restaurant. If it was anything like his cooking shows, then it would be well-cooked, down-to-earth food.
We started with a few nibblies. The first was Italian-style nachos, which happened to be deep-fried raviolis with a smoky cheese filling, accompanied by an arrabiatta salsa. The salsa certainly made this starter, as it was otherwise chips and dip.
We also had arrancine – breaded and deep-fried balls of risotto, which was oozing with flavour, and topped with parmesan and served with a tomato sauce.
Bread and the arrancine might have come free when the restaurant first opened, but there were no freebies when we visited. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our entrees.
Birthday Dinner – Main
Main course was a steak-fest.
I had an eye fillet medium rare with Bearnaise sauce and steak-frites. That sauce was to die for.
BB had a sirloin medium rare with horseraddish sauce and roasted baby root veg.
We had a side of green beans done Parisian style – with corn, almonds, garlic, and of course, butter.
Birthday Dinner – Entree
We always seem to be visiting French or French inspired restaurants on our birthdays. This time it was my birthday and we went a lot more upmarket, at Bistro Moncur, Woollahra. This restaurant serves classic bistro food, which is fine enough for me.
For entree I had the beetroot, goats cheese fritter, witloof and walnut salad. It’s a classic combination, cooked and seasoned perfectly.
BB on the other hand went all out with the French onion souffle gratin. The cheese sauce made the dish quite rich, but it was the lightness of the souffle that impressed me the most. It was a top bit of cooking.
Static and Silence 