Sydney Night Noodle Market 2010 With My In-Laws!

After an almost thirty-hour long trip from Florida, my in-laws arrived in Sydney looking unaffected and ready to rock like teenagers on Red Bull.   

The first surprise we had lined up for them, was that instead of going to our house we were bringing them to a hotel for a few nights so we could properly disinfect and eradicate the Swine Flu from every surface in that germ factory we call a house.   Luckily Grandma and Grandpa had had the flu vaccine, and by the time they had arrived in Sydney we had recovered the week prior-- but better safe than sorry.  So I guess you could say they got the bonus package, a few days at a nice hotel with Opera House and Bridge views, and a little extra time to mentally prepare for a week of living with two energetic 5 and 6 year old boys.


The view from the hotel room...  I'm still surprised they agreed to check out.
 
Unfortunately, the weather in Sydney has been very temperamental the last few weeks, the second day they were here record wind gusts were raging through the city.  And for some reason we thought this would be a good time to take the in-laws to the famous Icebergs at Bondi Beach for lunch; the good news is, the surfers were out in full-force and it was a real taste of the Aussie spirit and love for surf.
 
This video doesn't exactly do the treacherous winds justice, but trust me they were insane.  What also didn't come through on the video was the cute, old-married-couple-argument my in-laws were having-- hence the cheeky commentary from yours truly.

So, wintery weather and sporadic blistering sun didn't stop us from showing Grandma and Grandpa the best of Sydney.  And the Sydney Night Noodle Market was calling our name.

Note:  No people at the Night Noodle Markets were harmed by the tiger shown in the photos below; though it is a very realistic looking tiger, he is not real...  he is in fact, my five year old child who wears a tiger costume when and wherever possible.



The 2010 Night Noodle Market, tucked away in the middle of Hyde Park.


I wish I had these paper lanterns in my house.


OMG.  Grandpa and mini-Grandpa.


A little entertainment amongst the food stalls.


I sometimes get comments from readers who think they have seen us out around town but aren't sure... so, if you see a little tiger with big blue eyes--- it probably is us!



Maybe next year they'll hire my tiger as the Chinese dragon's sidekick?


Sydney Night Noodle Markets-- I highly recommend going... and eating many dumplings, and noodles, and some Serendipity Ice Cream!!

Oprah Oprahfies Australia Woooo-Hoooo!

Have you heard?  Oprah is coming to Sydney, Australia!  Sydney is about to be Oprahfied, and I am so excited.  And I am so, so on it.   I must get tickets to Oprah at The Sydney Opera House, do you know anyone who can help???  Because if this does not happen, I will be devastated.  I was already not chosen by lottery for Breakfast on the Bridge 2009; and that was a major blow to our mission here at Florida Girl in Sydney.

And now, only 24 hours after hearing the big Oprah-does-Sydney news, the Sydney-Mania begins!

Tonight, TLC's "1000 Places to See Before You Die" is featuring-- guess where??... Sydney, Australia!  And the surreal, reality of the situation, once again, is that I cannot believe we really live here.  This TLC made-for-TV-infomercial-documentary is our reality.  Not to mention that it's very entertaining watching two Americans star on a show about Sydney.

Within driving distance from Sydney you can see cliffs, beaches, mountains, sand dunes, and wine country... it's incredible.  And I can take photos of my kids under the Sydney Harbour Bridge any time I want, does it get much better than that?  Oh yeah it does,  Oprah's coming!!!




Quote of the week:
(Said by my friend's son, then relayed to me in a text message with commentary)

"They had the American accent again."-- as if it's the flu.  

That's seriously hilarious, I love it.  

Winter Festival at Bondi Beach & Good Food and Wine Show

As we pulled up to our house I spotted an industrial, classroom-style whiteboard across the street on the curb; it was a double-sided monstrosity on wheels, complete with a bag full of markers and accessories hanging from its side.  We rang the neighbors' doorbell, and they happily told us to take it-- which we did.  Wooo-hooo-- SCORE!   It was perfect timing,  my boys then spent most of their three and a half week school break playing school with the whiteboard.  BEST. GIFT. EVER!  I would have gladly paid the whiteboard $20/hour (going babysitting rate in Sydney) for all the entertainment it's provided, it was THAT good!  

And we did actually leave the house a few times during winter school break because there were some great things on in July around Sydney and we needed some action.

This past weekend the Winter Festival at Bondi Beach, called Bondi Bergstation began.  They've built an ice skating rink on at the beach along with an entire mini-village including a Max Brenners (famous for their hot chocolates), snacks, skate rentals, and snow, it was actually suds, but I won't tell those poor kids who've never seen snow before and now think it's foamy and smells like soap:. 

People who've never skated (I'm just assuming this by watching them) and people who clearly aspire for skating greatness, joined each other on the ice for 45 minutes sessions in which it was wall-to-wall skaters -- and lots of wiping out on the ice.

Here are some moments captured from this past weekend at the Bondi Beach Winter Festival:



The sea o' skaters.



The "snow". 



The snacks.  $6 for a stick with some spiraled potato cut into thin chips-- I think we went through six of these, probably the single most expensive one potato ever sold.




The rink at the beginning of a new skate session, before it got completely packed.  Note the aspiring skater in the pink tutu.




Hmmm, the Bondi Beach paramedic mobile?  How do they carry the stretcher on that?



Back view of the village perched up on the grassy area at Bondi Beach.

We also went to The Good Food & Wine Show at the Sydney Convention Center.  Normally we would have gotten a babysitter and left the kids at home for something like this, but the four of us are obsessed with a little television show called Masterchef Australia, it's similar to Top Chef in the U.S. (but better), and two of the Masterchef judges (Gary and George) were doing a gig at the Good Food & Wine Show. 

Unfortunately we had seats on the floor and couldn't see much.   There was a ginormous television screen above the stage so at least we had that view, but whatever, I could have stayed home for that-- especially considering that what they made was virtually identical to what they made on the TV show the same evening.    Though we couldn't see the cooking demonstration, we did however have an amazing view of a guy two rows in front of us who was plastered drunk.  He kept turning around like he was going to start acting even more belligerent, but luckily his drunk girlfriend kept him entertained by making out with him.  Family fun at its best.

So all in all, being that we were with our 5 & 6 year old boys and weren't planning on drinking an excessive amount of wine samples, the Good Food and Wine Show was a disappointment.  There were really no places to actually eat any actual Good Food, except for one small restaurant type area featuring five chefs (two of them were the Masterchef judges).  In all there were five dishes you could buy, and five starters-- it was pretty pathetic for a freaking food show.

Well I've just caught myself in a lie, there was one more place to eat, and it was packed (as there were no other options)-- the Sydney Convention Center cafe, hahaha!  It was basically hospital food-- and it was where everyone was eating!  Sorry, but that's sad- really, really sad.

So the Good Food & Wine show was a disappointment for us, and I don't think I've ever said that about any festival or event we've ever gone to in Sydney.  Maybe next time we get the babysitter and go there only for the wine tastings, I am absolutely certain that getting sloshed would have improved my experience.

Here are some of the things we saw at the Good Food and Wine Show 2010:




Welcome.




Photo from our floor seats taken with the camera hoisted in the air, our actual view wasn't this good.



Clearly I needed some of this.








Looks like my six year old thought the show would be better after a stiff drink.  We love limoncello!




The best part for us was the rides we went on in Darling Harbour after the show :).

Sculpture by the Sea 2009

Legend says there's this "Caveman" who lives at Bondi Beach, his home nestled into the cliff is complete with dominoes on a table ready to be played and Winnie the Pooh perched atop a pedestal admiring the views.  During our walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama we passed by his place.


The Caveman's home as seen from the cliffs above.

Yesterday The Caveman was all over the Sydney news, he's been charged with the sexual assault of a woman he "invited back to his place" after meeting her at Sculpture by the Seas.

Here's the rest of what we saw at Sculpture by the Seas 2009:




















I believe this is a beach house owner's backyard artistic expression.

Here's a look at my trip to Sculpture by the Sea 2008 if you just can't get enough.

Sydney Night Noodle Markets and The Blue Mountains in Photos

Our four and five year old boys use chopsticks pretty proficiently and are pros at the yum cha (dim sum) scene, needless to say, we are basically Asian food fanatics.

Going to the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park, part of the annual Sydney International Food Festival was high on our list of priorities for this week, and I'm proud to say, mission accomplished!

Dumplings, noodles, and various other delicious edibles were aplenty. We sampled our usual dim sum favorites and closed the night out at the Serendipity Ice Cream stall. It was all good.


The Night Noodle Markets in Sydney's Hyde Park 2009.





My boys with some of their usual yum cha favorites.


Serendipity Ice Cream at the Sydney Noodle Night Markets 2009. The four year old had chocolate, I had Chili Passionfruit sorbet.


This was the walk back to the car-- right after my four year old nailed my husband in the balls. If you look closely you can see his hand strategically placed in the post-balls-injury-position.

If you're still reading after all that testicle drama, here are some outtakes from our weekend in the Blue Mountains with our friends, including My Favorite Australian.

We locked the kids in there and went for lunch. Just kidding people.


Love on the ZigZag Railway.


Anytime is the right time for bubbles yo.


A ginormous green-eyed fly sitting on my leg, not fun.


We went on the Cableway at Scenic World, where you can get your jollies standing on a glass-bottom floor while crossing the valley.


The Three Sisters as seen from the Cableway.

I used to marvel at how we could live in such a beautiful city and have these gorgeous mountains only ninety minutes away. But after the spew-fest clinic my carsick five year old put on during our return car ride home, I realize now-- it's about seventy five minutes further than we're comfortable with.

The good news is, we totally avoided the Blue Mountains Nazi Shrine, cause that's was a real buzz kill on our last trip there.

A new calendar of annual events in Sydney should be up on my sidebar soon-- if you have blog posts about past festivals or events in Sydney that you've written about and/or photographed and want me to link to please let me know. Cheers y'all.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas

Warning: If you are easily offended by controversial topics and/or worried that you may burn in hell if you don't love Jesus, you may want to stop reading and check out something a little lighter, like this.

For the rest of you...

The Sydney Opera held its inaugural Festival of Dangerous Ideas this past weekend. The two-day festival of provocative speakers and controversial topics was kicked off Saturday with the Soapbox Public Speaking Competition, a free event in the Opera House Forecourt (the outdoor area below The Opera House steps).

Any person who wished to was given two minutes on an actual soapbox to say whatever they like. Ten ranters went to a final round, and a winner was chosen.

Later that evening the official "Opening Session" began with the CEO of The Opera House Richard Evans, introducing the festival as the inaugural of a new annual event. His introduction concluded with welcoming the winner of the Soapbox Competition to the stage. A thin, older woman dressed in jeans entered the stage and stepped up upon the soapbox. She began with the declaration, "I want the right to die." And though she was not dying, and had no desire to die today, her poignant and eloquent rant made it clear why she had won the competition; it also made me wish I had gone to hear the others earlier that afternoon.

The speaker for this evening's session was Christopher Hitchens, the program titled Religion Poisons Everything.

Often, I refer to myself as a "bad Jew". Jewish law dictates that if you're mother is Jewish you are too-- automatically. But for me, for years, I've believed that organized religion could, and should, be compared to a cult, a cult that got out of control.

If there is a God, would he or she really want you to pray to him every day? Would he or she really send you to the "fiery gates of hell" for sinning? Would a great, mighty God want people to be scared of him or her? Does baptizing children really "save" anyone? Save us from what? And as Hitchens said during his session, if a man on public transport was proclaiming himself as a prophet, would you choose to sit closer to him... or further away?

One thing was certain, Christopher Hitchens was "preaching to the choir". He is an incredible speaker and it was very validating for someone who's always felt like I "didn't believe".

On Sunday, the second day of the festival, Cardinal George Pell presented a session called Without God We Are Nothing. I consider organized religion safe, so I'm not sure how that fit into The Opera House's program besides allowing religious zealots to defend their stance. It seems the only dangerous part of a Without-God-We-Are-Nothing attitude, would be breaking away from it.

A few of the other topics at The Festival of Dangerous Minds included:

• Freedom: The Most Dangerous Idea of All with Germaine Greer
• People With Flat Screen TVs Should Stop Whinging About Capitalism
• Make All Drug Use Legal
• Does Online Networking Harm Children's Brains?
• By 2075 The Aboriginal Genocide Will Be Complete
• Australian Stereotypes Betray Our Cultural Identity
• The Old Should Pay For Themselves
• Polygamy and Other Islamic Values Are Good for Australia
• No Human Cure Justifies Animal Experimentation
• Yes to Child Labor, No to The Minimum Wage
• Policing Our Minds is the Future

As you can see, the topics alone could make almost anyone start feeling a little uncomfortable and anxious. Needless to say, I will be looking forward to see what they line up in 2010.

You can click here for a link to ABC's clips from the festival.

Festival of the Winds

Every year Festival of the Winds, a kite flying event, is held at Bondi Beach.

Ironically for a country with such drought issues, Festival of the Winds was rained out in 2007 and 2008. This year, our third attempt, it was finally a go... and hell yes sista, we went-- and we kited gosh darnit.

And it was awesome.

This is what it looked like:























Our kitty kite.


Our friend Dana taking it all in.


Kite Man?