Davis Cup Tennis Tournament Does Sydney: Australia vs. Switzerland

All week my attempts to acquire tickets to the Davis Cup Tennis Match turned up dead ends;  I stalked Ticketek via phone and website, I called people who might know people, I even showed up at the match on Day 1, stood in line for forty-five minutes with some cranky, snotty old guys dressed up like they were going to high tea--- only to be shut out. 

And my sister said, you'll get tickets.  Don't even say that you won't.  And I was thinking that same thing, but was slowly starting to accept that it might not happen.

So I marched on, and with today being Day 2 of the three day tournament, I conceded that sometimes it doesn't all happen-- and that's okay, as Tony Robbins would say, "There are no failures, there are only results."

Then we went to the seven year old's tennis lesson this morning, during my break from ball-boy duty, I received an eBay message that Davis Cup tickets had just been listed.  Upon reaching the seller (a.k.a. "The Ticket Pimp") he says he's at a restaurant a couple minutes away from us, and he has front row seats with our name on them-- for the match that starts in 90 minutes.

Woooo freaking hoooo!  FRONT ROW, BABY!

So I'm all, "We'll be there in five minutes to get the tickets."  And he's all, "First come, first serve-- I'm sittin' here."  And I'm thinking, is this for real?  I had been willing-it to happen JUST. LIKE. THIS. all week long... and it's really going to?  Really?  YES!  That is, unless we pay, the tickets end up being fake, and we walk away sad losers... hmmm, that sure would be unfortunate.  But I am a truster, and I am willing pay the trust tax if necessary to believe this is the real deal, because I KNEW it was going to happen all along... I just knew it.

I jump into action and shout onto the tennis court to my seven year old, whose coach just told him they were going to play a "real match" for the last 15 minutes of their lesson, "Honey, we need to leave-- I got Davis Cup tickets!! I got the Davis Cup tickets!! We need to go get them before he sells them to someone else... let's go!"  And then he whines (or whinges if you're Aussie), "I can't go right now, we are about to play a real match.  Can't we go afterwards???"

At risk of becoming Crazy-Ameri-Mum in public, I think I threatened him with a week of no-ipod if he didn't, "Get in the car NOW!".

Thankfully, he shut his piehole and we rushed down the street.  As we approached the rendezvous point I saw The Ticket Pimp walking anxiously up and down the footpath (that's Aussie for "sidewalk"), he had that I'm-looking-for-someone, but-I-don't-know-what-they-look-like face on... so I was pretty sure it was him.  And.... just like that... BAM!... we had front row seats to the hottest game in town, Davis Cup Australia vs. Switzerland.

After dashing home and wolfing down some Oporto Chicken Rappas, we were on our way.

I pulled into to my favorite carpark (that's Aussie for "parking lot")-- full.  Damn.  Headed back onto the main road and BAM!  Perfect massive spot to parallel park in, directly across the street from the entrance.  Seriously, it seems obvious that our day has come.  We have arrived.

We were late enough that there was no line to enter the Royal Sydney Golf Club, and before we knew it, we were in.  Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Stanislas Wawrinka, and Chris Guccione-- alive and in person-- merely feet from us, or metres if you're all metric and whatnot.

And if all of this goodness wasn't enough, we were lucky enough to be seated on the west side which was almost completely shaded from the searing Aussie sun which was as strong as it comes today.  The little sub-climate at our seats was a cool, breezy 20ish degrees Celsius- that's probably about 65 Fahrenheit?

It was absolutely gorgeous and ah-MAZ-ing day, and here's a taste of it...


The temporary seating we'd seen them put up earlier in the week-- I heard it was three or four thousand seats.


Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy!  (FYI- our colors are green and yellow).


The tennis-fanatic seven year old and Roger Federer, who would clearly be unaware he is taking part in such an important photo.


Federer in deeply focused, as he should be :).


The award winners for "Most Enthusiastic Fans".  They kept the match rockin', literally... those temporary stands are pretty darn flimsy.


This was the first professional tennis match I've been to, and was quite intrigued by the umbrella-holding girls during the quick breaks.  Note:  I am totally in support of as much shade as possible.


It was such an exciting match, and the Aussie took it home!


After the match, there were mini-tennis courts set up, which was incredible considering he was harassing me that he wanted to play tennis "RIGHT. NOW."  After four hours at a tennis match, he seriously wanted me to take him to play.  Could this have been any luckier a find???


He was so hot and schweddy after playing tennis with the other kids that we decided the best way to top it all off would be by pouring the remnants of his water bottle on his head for an instant cool-down.

It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Mary Poppins at the Capitol Theatre Sydney

News Flash: Mary Poppins has landed in Sydney with the help of her highly fashionable, yet mysterious, umbrella... and sporting a harness with strings barely visible to naked-eye of middle-aged mums (moms); one mum specifically (wink, wink), who clearly needs reading glasses (a sad fact made even more evident after attempting to read the $20 Mary Poppins Program book.  Hmm, is it just me, or does the print just keep getting smaller???).    

But apparently, trying to get tickets to see the nanny who puts grown men in their place, isn't easy.  To get "the good seats" at Sydney's incredibly beautiful Capitol Theatre, we had to book months ago, but lemme tell ya-- it was well worth it!

Our six and seven year old boys loved it, and so did their parents :).

And I love going to the Capital Theatre, it's an experience in itself.  We saw Wicked there, and also Tap Dogs, which was really cool since at the time the boys were taking tap dance lessons at the Tap Dogs Dance School.

When you enter the Capitol Theatre it feels as if you've stepped into the glamourous days of yesteryear, where people dressed to the nines to see a show, and said things like, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." 

Anyway, luckily for us, the the proximity of Mary Poppins was within walking distance of our regular Sunday morning church, sorry, I mean Yum Cha restaurant (it's our religious ritual so I sometimes get confused).  So we got ourselves some dumplings, salt and pepper calamari,  and Chinese broccoli, then walked in the beautiful, crisp Sydney weather about a kilometre (that's Aussie for 1/2 a mile) over to the Capitol Theatre.


The kids were hoping they'd have popcorn, they didn't.  But they did have mini-cans of Pringles and blue Mary-Poppins-flavoured (that's Aussie for "flavored" if I lost anyone there) lemonade slurpee style beverages which came in these handy-dandy souvenir cups...




We stopped by the cloak room to claim a couple booster cushions for the boys, though they only "boosted" them a couple of inches higher, which wasn't all that helpful when seated behind seemingly ginormous stranger heads.

Upon entering the theatre, we were shown our seats by a friendly usher who was oh so kind, and gently reminded us to switch off our mobile phones, and that photography was strictly prohibited.  We sat down, briefly checked-out our theatre-mates, and got some time to admire our surrondings.  Enamored once again by the Capitol Theatre's beauty, I reached for my camera-- and then I stopped, and I thought to myself-- surely he meant no photography during the show, right?  Why wouldn't you be allowed to take photos of the inside of the theatre? Duh.

And so-- snap, snap, sna...

And with a look of disappointment and disdain, the friendly usher turned on me.  "There's absolutely no photography allowed in the theatre, jackass."  Okay, well he didn't actually say "jackass", but he didn't need to-- it was implied.

Boy, my kids sure don't have a good rule-following, role-model in me...


There you have it, an illegal photo of the inside of the Capitol Theatre.  I am a very bad girl.

Anyway, each actor in this production was outstanding.  The actress who played Mary Poppins was amazing.  The guy who played "Bert" was really good, and is apparently a judge on one of the innumerable reality talent shows here-- not that that matters.  The kids who were on that day were great, and adorable, and all that good stuff.  And the supporting actors were all extremely engaging and stole many of the scenes they were in.

I also thought the adaptation of the show from screen to theatre was done in a very interesting way,  if I'm not mistaken, I believe some of the songs were in a different order than in the movie, and there were new songs also.

In my professional opinion, I would highly recommend going to see Mary Poppins while she's here.  It was an absolutely Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious show, and it looks like we're not the only ones who think so, as they took home a whole heap of Helpmann Awards last night at the Sydney Opera House, which is not at all surprising news-- because we loved it! 

The end.

Costco Sydney Review, Wooo Hooo Mate

The rain here has been torrential, and I had planned on having a quiet day at home, catching up on the many things neglected during the kids three week winter break.

As I pulled into the house from school drop off (8:45 this morning), my mobile (it's not a "cell phone" here, mate) rang, it was one of my Aussie-MumMates-Down-Under, and this is how it went:

The Convo: 

Her:  You'll never guess where I am?

Me:  Wheeeerrre???

Her:  Costco!!!!!

Me:  Omigod!  Is it packed?? Omigod!

Her:  It's empty.

Me:  Shut up!  I want to come!

So we get off the phone, I call my other girlfriend... and within minutes, me and girlfriend were off to the races!  We bolted, in her mini-van (with ample storage), over to Parramatta Road in Lidcombe, to check out Costco Sydney, yeee- haw.

It was Grand Opening chaos as we pulled up to the massive warehouse; police cars blocked the entrance, as the carpark (that's Aussie for "parking lot") was full.  We were directed to the shopping mall across the street, parked quickly without issue, and then followed the parade of "new Gold-Star Members" through the crosswalk, up the ramps and into the Costco entrance.

By the way, you can stop by for lunch without entering Costco and have a "all pork" Costco hotdog (not the all-beef they are known for in America) or a refreshing beverage, as the snack area is not actually inside the store itself.   It's funny because later in the day an employee was telling us, and she was really giddy with excitement about it, that you can get free refills on your drink from the snack area-- it reminded me, we definitely aren't in Kansas anymore and Australia is still a very different place.

Anywho, let's just say this-- Costco definitely wasn't empty when we got there! haha

So we probably only covered about 30% of the store during our probably 2+ hours there, as it was absolutely beyond jam-packed;  there were staff literally, boxed into a tiny spot on the floor unable to move.  Massive gridlock-- though there were a few aisles we were able to cruise through without issue.

And here's what they had...

American stuff you don't see often in Australia like:

• Bounce Dryer Sheets
• Febreeze
• Poppycock Popcorn Snack
• Lots of Kitchenaid items, though they seemed to be at normal Aussie prices
• Many Kirkland brand (that's Costco's private label) items-- like coffee, baby wipes, lots of other widely-used American Kirkland items
• And...

Downy Fabric Softener, so nice to see you old Ameri-friend, too bad you've been replaced with Epsom Salt.


Australians have no idea what Dr. Pepper is, as proven by the convo (that's Aussie for "conversation") heard next to the Dr. Pepper cases.



Kosher Dill Vlasic Pickles down under, wow.



I never thought I'd be so happy to see Lay's.  I would probably never buy them in the US with all the other choices, but here, just seeing the logo gave me a little smile.


OMG... I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw this-- then I noticed the Kirkland brand Organic Peanut Butter-- it's like the US Smuckers brand style-- all natural, no sugar, needs to be stirred.  That was a real win for my six year old and he doesn't even know it yet.


This makes me feel like I'm at Costco.



Definitely something you don't see in Australia.



Best baby wipes in the world.



Should've, could've, would've.  Damn, why didn't I get the Swiss Miss???



Duh, it would be Costco Australia without insanely large tubs of Vegemite.



Lamb cutlets, you've made my life a lot easier, thank you for converting my vegetarian six year old back to meat.


Passionfruit, something we've learned to love, especially with vodka.



Massive boxes of Weet-bix, it's like the Wheeties of Australia; perhaps you could say it's the national breakfast cereal?

Random list of other things they had:

• Twinning tea massive pack of 3 varieties.
• Beef fillet for $31.99/kilo (which is pronounced in Australia like it rhymes with "skillet" instead of with "ballet")-- that's about half the price than our local butcher.
• Treadmills, TVs, Vacuum Cleaners, Small Appliances of all kinds.
• Walk in refrigerator full of fresh produce like kilo sized bags of asapargus (that's 2.2llbs), ginormous bags of baby spinach and rocket (Aussie for "arugula"), leeks (the new onion in my house), and container of beautiful baby-capsicums (capsicums = bell peppers) that my Fiery Redhead taught me to roast to perfection.  
• Swingsets, they call them "cubbyhouses" here.
• Books.
• Clothes
• Fresh Pizzas-- the boxes say "Take and Bake" $15.99 for a seafood pizza that looked amazing.
• Larger than normal packs of:  milk, eggs, yogurts, all kinds of frozen items,

Disappointed that they didn't have American breakfast cereals.

Disappointed to see the Kitchenaid appliances were the same price as other Aussie stores.

Disappointed the Costco hotdogs were not the all-beef ones from the US, all-pork Aussie-style ones are just not at all the same. 

View from the cashier line chaos.

And after waiting about thirty minutes in line to check out, maybe less-- we put our Costco Rainy Day Escape Plan into action.  My friend was going to get the her car at the mall across the street, while I waited with the two Costco carts at the Tyre Centre (that's Aussie for "Tire Center":)

And if it wasn't already our lucky day-- well guess what, it was about to be.

As it was raining cats and dogs, my friend organizes permission from the police brigade to enter the "full" Costco carpark and pick me up with the goods.  She arrives, backs the mini-van, which makes me miss my American Honda Odyssey (the Aussie one is a stationwagon type vehicle), right under a nice convenient awning at the Tyre station so we can load, when one of the Tyre Centre guys comes out and says something about a flat tire-- and we're thinking he's probably shooing us away from stopping in that area.  Then we realize, he's actually saying we've got a flat tire.

Can you imagine, a flat tire discovered while your car is parked illegally in front of a Tyre Centre?  Haha, it doesn't get much luckier than that :).  



Needless to say, three new tires and three new //Costco-employee-best-friends later... we were on our way home to do school pick up and tell our children how lucky the are to have mums (aka "moms") who buy them Costco-size cases of single-serving Pringles.
 
Costco Sydney/Auburn/ Lidcombe/ or whatever confusing suburb you're in.....
You rock!

Australian Prices vs. American Prices

People living in Australia- natives, expats, whomever... are well aware (or if they're not, they should be) that Aussie prices are OUT. OF. CONTROL.

As painful as this is, I will now prove the point with cold hard comparisons.  Keep in mind, this is not entirely a fair fight as Australia has only about 22,000,000 people available to buy stuff (a.k.a consumers) and America has over 307,000,000.

1.  New Balance "Rock and Tone" sneakers, or "joggers" as they say in Australian.
Model #WW1870


Australia:
New Balance Australia's price:  $170 AUD (equal to $181 US dollar as of today), with free shipping and 10% off through May 25.

America:
Zappos in America price:  Originally $84, currently on sale for $68.  Free shipping within the U.S., as in to my mom who can forward them on to me.

Ouch, that was painful.  I wanted to buy these today, and I probably will... only downside is that there's no instant gratification, and I'll have to pay about $30USD shipping for my mom to send them to Sydney.  Bottom line is, including postage to Australia, I'll still only end up paying only $98USD (which is currently $91AUD).  Yay, for me.

2.  Aqua Sphere Kids Seal Goggles, we love these goggles and would literally have them mailed across the world to have them.

 

Australia:

Rebel Sport's price: (comparable to a Sports Authority store in America) $39.99 + shipping (as of today that is equal to $42USD + shipping).

America:

Amazon.com's price:  (who is normally not necessarily the least expensive but does offer free shipping) $18USD with free shipping, at least for me as I pay for a yearly "Prime" membership, which as you can say is clearly worth it!

If I assume shipping from the US to Australia would be about $10 for this item (it would actually probably be about $5USD when packed with a boatload of other stuff), that would make the total cost including shipping down under about $28AUD.  Probably only worth saving the money if I didn't need them in a hurry and was having a bunch of other things shipped.

Well that wasn't quite as painful as the shoes, but still gives you an idea of the astronomical prices here.

So here's one of my favorite (that's "favourite" for my Aussie friends) comparisons, it actually still shocks me when I see it... Ralph Lauren clothing.

Well I would have loved to compare Ralph Lauren clothing, because the prices in Australia are absolutely out of control.  But since they don't even sell it online down under, I'm not able to provide any solid comparisons here.  I can however compare Ralph Lauren cologne prices... though anyone who actually knows me knows, don't wear it around me or you're likely to have me start on a tangent of complaining about the smell (of any mens cologne that is:).

3.  Ralph Lauren Big Pony Cologne #1

Australia:

Myer.com.au price $125AUD + $8 shipping.  Ouch.  As of today that is equal to $132USD. 

America: 

Amazon.com price $61USD.  Never mind the fact that we could probably find this at Marshalls or TJMaxx for $10.99 or less.  Clearly there are signs I am needing a U.S. shopping trip, and maybe a lap around an American outlet-mall circuit.

4.  KitchenAid Mixer

Australia:

Kitchenwaresuperstore.com.au price is $679AUD, that's currently $720US.  OMG.  Seriously?  Though I will admit, I do love me some Kitchenaid small appliances.

America:
Amazon.com price is $243.  Sorry, but that is an absolutely redonkulous with a capital D.  Unfortunately when it comes to items that must be plugged into a wall, you probably won't be able to use your American 110volt ones in Australia, because even with a transformer, they are likely to eventually stop working... I know this from personal experience.  Dear Kitchenaid hand mixer, I miss you.  Love, Me.

So there you have it... if you are considering a move to Australia and are thinking-- of course it's more expensive-- but how much more could it really be....  well the answer is, a lot more!

Though before I wrap this up, I should mention that there is one area in which Australia's prices kick America's prices ass, and that's in anything related to healthcare-- for example, we had an x-ray here last week (2 images) and it cost $75, with no insurance.  Not sure how much that would cost in the U.S., but I'm guessing somewhere over at least $200. 

Anyway, my advice to anyone moving here would be, if you are already shipping a container with furniture, etc. then load up any and every thing you need and like and may ever imagine you want.  And definitely do NOT leave things in the U.S. and think you'll just buy new ones here-- because new ones here (of whatever) will be potentially double to quadruple the price.

Anyone for an $18 hamburger?

Yum Cha Restaurants in Sydney

Back in Dallas, Texas, when our oldest child was six months old, we forwent the traditional first food of rice cereal, opting for a more exotic "introductory to solids" of steamed dumplings instead.  (exaggeration)  So it's not surprising that while many spend their Sunday mornings at church, our Sunday morning religious experience is referred to as "Yum Cha"-- or "Dim Sum" as they say in America.

Back in 2003 and 2004 We used to go with our friend Auntie Abby to a Dim Sum restaurant in Dallas's Chinatown area, it was one of those massive banquet-style restaurants with over the top crystal chandeliers and seating for probably upwards of 1000 people.

Luckily for us, Sydney has no shortage of great Liberace-motif-esque Yum Cha restaurants.  And at this point, I'd say we've officially done the Yum Cha circuit in Sydney, and I'm prepared to share our findings...

So here are some Sydney Yum Cha restaurant reviews which I hope will be helpful to others in their quest for the perfect shu-mai.

I'll start with our favourite...

1.  At The Palace in the Sydney CBD's Picadilly Tower, they call our six year old "The Dumpling King."  No seriously, when we walk in-- they say, "Why helloooo Dumpling King".  And then, the child who declared himself a vegetarian about six months ago, and adamantly refused to consume any type meat, proceeds to sit down and eat at least eight-ten dumplings (some of which contain pork)-- every single weekend-- he stocks up, like a chipmunk-- fur real, haha.

We highly recommend their prawn and snow pea dumplings, shumai, and seafood shumai.  Any of the BBQ pork buns varieties are excellent; steamed, donut style, and pastry triangles.  Yum.  The kids beg us to get them chocolate mousse from the dessert cart, and if they've behaved really well, we oblige.


I'll safely assume we can call this the "fried food cart".  The fried scallops are excellent, the hubby and kids love the fried prawn dumplings.

And here is a photo of "The Dumpling King" with our most-favourite (favorite) waiter.





Did I mention we bring our own training chopsticks for the kids?  The waiters must think we are total wackos.  (Note the chandelier in background).

2.  Another Yum Cha we go to, especially when we're looking for somewhere interesting to take out-of-town visitors, is the Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant at The Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont.  It's basically a massive, brand new, sparkley clean restaurant, upstairs at the back of the fish market, with gorgeous water views over what I believe is Black Wattle Bay.

One of the maitre-d's here is extremely friendly and helpful.  And he and/ or a few others will often go out of their way to find the specific dumpling or item you are looking for if it hasn't come around yet.   The dumplings here are good, the dessert buns are possibly better, and the views and atmosphere (as Yum Cha restaurants go) is second to none.

 
The boys and BooBoo the Bunny waiting for the dumpling cart to come, at the gorgeous sun-filled Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant Yum Cha at Sydney Fish Market.

3.  Sky Phoenix, located in Sydney CBD's Pitt St. Mall, is definitely a delicious Yum Cha choice.  And if we were going solely based on food quality, this could possibly be our number one choice.  But for us, it seems less convenient to get to, and not as child-friendly as the other places.  Sky Phoenix's food and service has been excellent, but we have found this to be a smaller feeling, and more formal atmosphere.  My husband and I have also dined at Sky Phoenix for dinner-- and that was absolutely yum-tastic. Sky Phoenix also has a massive restaurant in the Rhodes Shopping Centre (or known in our house as "the IKEA mall"), would say it's still good eats, but not the same as the CBD location.

4.  Marigold Restaurant on George Street in Sydney's Chinatown is another Yum Cha we'd recommend.  In our experience, the food is good, but the service is quite lacking.  It was somewhat difficult to get the items we wanted, and with two impatient little boys, and a language barrier that seemingly could not be broken, for us, there were issues here.

Regal Restaurant on Sussex was also supposed to be on this list, but after finding that they have "merged with Marigold", it looks like they've basically shut the Regal Restaurant down.

5.  Bodhi Yum Cha in Sydney directly outside the entrance to the Cook & Phillip Pool complex is a cute little vegan Yum Cha spot.  Most of the seating is outside, with a friendly staff and good selection of obviously solely vegetarian pickings--  I'm guessing it's likely the only vegetarian/ vegan Yum Cha in town.  So if you're not a vegetarian, but hungry nonetheless and it the neighborhood, it's worth giving a try. However, if you're craving a traditional porky and prawny Yum Cha, this is probably not going to scratch that itch.

6.  And in this case we will not say "last but not least", because Kam Fook, the Yum Cha at Bondi Junction mall would definitely come in a far last in my little black Yum Cha book.  Kam Fook belongs in a mall-- at the food court.  Sorry.  This has been a restaurant often used for school-mum (that's "mom" for all y'all yanks) meetups.  And the food, combined with the dodgy service, and sweat-box area in the back under the un-tinted windows makes for a big loser in my one-woman Sydney Yum Cha competition.  But if you're in the beautiful Bondi Junction Mall and need Yum Cha-- give it a try, it's okay.  Though in the food court on level 5 there is a tiny dumpling place directly next door to Yumba (the fallafel shop)that recently opened, where they make the dumplings in front of you that is probably more delicious.

So there you have it-- we love dumplings, shumai, steamed pork buns, Chinese broccoli, soya noodles, spring rolls, fried prawn dumplings, custard buns, Chinese donuts and chopsticks.

Puppy Love

She was older, wiser-- she'd been around the block... many, many times I might add.
He was young.  Innocent.  In an unfamiliar, new place.

For several days, the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife.  They gingerly danced around each other, neither wanting to make the first move.

He tried to get close to her; she turned away, pretending not to notice him.

When he wasn't looking, she'd watch him longingly from across the room.

And in a moment of weakness, as she lightly dozed off on the lounge (that's Aussie for couch), her gorgeous blonde curls shining in the light...



he could resist her no more.  And she could feel his eyes piercing her, like the intense Australian sun on summer day.



And he couldn't stop staring, and he knew what he needed to do.



So he played hard to get, because he didn't want to seem too eager...



And he spent some time with the guys, trying to play it cool, ya know-- like it's all about bromance and stuff.








But in the end, a surprise visit (from the gardener, to re-sod the hole someone dug) brought them together-- at the window to gawk.



And that night the deal was sealed...



And so began a love that will last them their lifetimes.

Welcome to the family Baby Sam, we are so happy to have you here you little hunk of chocolate Labradoodle love.

Australian Food and Lingo, and other Amusing Australian Expat Things

My refrigerator and pantry is absolutely, inexplicably Aussified... so there you have it, MATE. 

• I know that "Tasty" cheese is actually Cheddar-- even if no one will admit it.

• Bi-Carb Soda = baking soda.   I still have not adjusted my personal vocabulary on this one.

• American Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, and Cheerios =

• Sultanas = raisins.  Though I do occasionally see "raisins" here, so that may be considered a variety, I'm still not sure about the whole thing.  

• Grain Waves = Sun Chips, only thicker and not quite as good-- but close enough when you're without all your favorite snack items.

And though I'm not a huge fan of yellow mustard, I am always amused when I see this at the grocery store-- which of course is Woolworths (as in the 1960's five and dime store).

And besides American-style food items disguised in Australian packaging, there are some items I've been introduced to in Australia which now I will always appreciate and eat, and will definitely miss, if and when we leave Australia:

• In the last year I've made lamb shanks, cutlets, and lamb backstraps; and tonight I made some mystery lamb cut-- fried those bad boys up in a pan alongside some "chips".  And to give credit where credit is due, the fries were made in my shiny, brand new Actifry by Tefal.  And OMG!  I cannot believe how damn good they came out.  About ten years ago or more, I attempted to make  homemade french fries by simply cutting up potatoes and baking them on a tray-- and I've got two words for the outcome on that, NOT DELICIOUS.  But recently my friend told me about this contraption that, with only one spoon of oil, and an air-blowing, slow-twirling, swirling whirling, hunk of metal-love-- it makes "chips" that will blow your mind.   Thanks Blondie.  

• No wait, just one one thing on tonight's Actifry-chips-- did I mention they were crispy, and delicious, and I'll go as far as to say they tasted like they were from McDonalds (a.k.a "Maccas" in Australia)?   How could I have not known about this sooner?  Is this miracle machine selling in America?   To think of all the meals we've wasted without low fat french fries, what a shame. :) ha.

My chips in my brand-new, shiny Actifry space ship.

• Another thing I've picked up here is a love for ricotta cheese and jam on toast-- and/or ricotta and avocado on toast with tomahto.   Sorry, I just let some of my new found Aussie accent slip out.

• My six year old eats a butter, Vegemite, and Tasty Cheese sandwich for lunch every day... it's the only thing he wants.  It's shocking. 

• Finally, I've tasted the almost official national dessert, pavlova.  Yum!  Who knew meringue topped with whipped cream and fruit would be so light and delicious-- and pretty?

(This photo belongs to vickaaaay on flickr, as the photo of the pavlova we made was not a good representation of pavlova).

• And what better to top pavlova with, than passionfruit.  Passionfruits are eaten by slicing the little oval-shaped fruit in half, then scooping out the pulp and tasty little black crunchy seeds.  It's tart and sweet and fun to eat.  We put it over sliced bananas or ice cream or pavlova.  It's like we're practically Australian right?  And when necessary, you don't even have to mess with the real fruit, which is especially nice when you're making passionfruit cocktails, because in Australia we've got this...

• Lastly--- sausages.  Sausages, sausages, sausages everywhere.  Dude-- I said SAUSAGES.  Nuff said.

• Moving onto Aussie beverages, there's a lovely variety of juice in Australia called Apple Blackcurrant, I'd compare it's popularity here to CranApple in the U.S.  I can't say I'll actually miss this one if we left Sydney, as I'd prefer me some CranApple or CranGrape or CranWhatever anyday... but for now Apple Blackcurrent is fine.

• Another popular drink in Australia is Yakult.  It's a fermented milk drink.  Wow, that makes it sound really appetizing.  Not.  But it is a tiny little bottle filled with pro-biotic goodness.  It's helped with the eczema in our family and my kids love it.  Very popular in the school lunchbox crowd.  Thank you for introducing us to Yakult, Skye!  or should I say, wild dinner party hostess?

Some potentially entertaining Aussie Lingo: 

• Rubber = eraser.  You should have seen my mom's face when one of the kids said he "needed a rubber".  She may still be in shock over it.  Priceless memories :).  

• Chucking a sickie = playing hookey.  And if you don't know what either of those mean, then you don't need to know. 

• I know what "ta" means, but I have yet to say it.  It's Aussie for "thanks", but it just feels too awkward for me to actually use.  Maybe next year?

• I just told a mum (mom) from school that her child left his "runners" at our house.  Runners = sneakers. 

• I tell friends to bring their "swimmers" when they come over.  They reply that they'll grab their "cozzies" and come over.  Swimmer & cozzies = bathing suits. 

• Arvo = afternoon.

• My children colour (color) with textas.  Textas = markers (as in magic markers).

• I've recently found out that they do have tater tots here-- they're just called "potato gems".  I think that's really cute.

• Sunnies = sunglasses.

• Prezzies = presents.

And I just have a few other things to say today about being an expat life in Sydney:

• The "no hat, no play" playground rule is really, really good; children are not allowed outside at school without a sunhat.  Personally, I think it should be international law-- and as long as we're changing international law, let's institute the Aussie school calender year internationally as well.  It begins the end of January, and ends the beginning of December.  There are four terms of approximately nine weeks each and four long breaks.  It's smartly structured so that, just as you are getting really damn sick of the whole school routine-- you get a couple of weeks off to just hang out.  It's mo' balanced.  What's not to like?

• And the last thing I've got to say is... I'm not sure how it's possible that after nearly four years in Australia I've almost forgotten how convenient it is to "pay at the pump" for gas (that's American for "petrol") .   I thought the day would never come that I would pull into the petrol station and not yearn to swipe my card before I pump.  But somehow... someway... paying at the pump has become a long distant memory-- in the scheme of things.  But come on Australia-- you've gotta get on that horse!

One last photo here-- Sting at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony as part of his Symphonicity Tour.  AWESOME.  Though I have to admit, I think the Sydney Symphony stole the show.




So what, we had a view of the back of his head, you wanna make something of it?  We did however, have the perfect view of the symphony.



Oh yeah, who's your daddy?