Random Aussie Stuph

Took us a while to catch on with the accent, but the Aussies kept telling us about beetroot -- which they pronounce pretty quickly like... bitruit. Not entirely sure how that's different from regular beets, but they love it in everything, especially burgers!

Red Bull - I guess it comes in bottles here!

Taronga Zoo

KANGAROO. Apparently they sit on their tail when they are resting.
WOMBAT. Love.
TASSIE DEVIL. Nothing like the Looney Tunes character!
BLUE PENGUIN. Smallest penguin in the world and only found in Oz. So small in fact, I couldn't get a decent picture. Just kidding these guys were pretty shy and I managed to get a semi decent photo of one swimming in the tank

The Argyle

Went to a swanky bar with the Carat team out here called the Argyle with a shared bathroom. These nifty pod things are actually urinals, pronounced with an Aussie-Brit accent as you-RIGH-nal. Also - in case you thought Japan had all the weird stuff in vending machines - they've got a machine with ballet slipper flats in case you're wearing crappy heels that make your feet hurt.

Ute & Vegemite

Ute (Left)
Short for utility vehicle - is a pretty popular car out here. I'm told that all the "tradesmen" have them and people do all sorts of stuff to fix 'em up like rice rockets
Vegemite (Right)
I have to hand it to the Aussies for being resourceful. All that leftover yeast at the bottom of the barrel from making beer gets recycled into this local fave. With a little onion, salt, and celery - vegemite is supposedly the best hangover cure. Taste-wise it's got a punch to it you wouldn't really expect and kind of reminds me of olives..

Did you pack the surfboard?

Only in Australia... would booking an airport shuttle ask you if you're bringing along any surfboards...

Gmail = Smart

Forgetting to include an attachment on an email. Happens to the best of us. Luckily Google has devised a solution for this! I stumbled across this error message on one of my emails and saved myself the embarrassing follow-up email. Thanks Gmail!

Knife Shaved Beef Noodles

Memories of Taiwan... delicious knife-shaved noodles into Taiwanese Beef Soup. Kudos to Lotus Restaurant for this one. In case you were wondering, the noodles are peeled into the soup and since it has an uneven texture you get a mixture of soft/chewy noodle texture. Mmm..

Marco...

Polo! First polo match today was everything I could have expected... and more! Nacho Figueras of Ralph Lauren's Black Watch team stole the show and scored 5 goals. The game was exciting and interesting and definitely had its moments of suspense.

My favorite part, as a newcomer to the sport, was the halftime ritual of stomping the dirt clods. The horses chalked up the field with all their running back and forth, so just as the third chukker ended, the crowd got up and spent the 15-minute halftime stomping the field of clods back into the grass - all of course, in their Sunday best and big floppy hats.

Singanei... Brunpore...

A few years ago when I visited Brunei and Singapore, I learned that their currencies are interchangeable. So a twenty dollar Brunei bill could be used in Singapore as if it were a twenty dollar Singapore bill. This has been going on since the 60's. But... how cool is this? A limited edition twenty dollar bill that is Singapore on one side.. and Brunei on the other! (Thanks Dad!)

Sliders & Cotton Candy

Trying to avoid making this a mega-foodie blog, but somehow food keeps coming up. So I'm combining two fun food things I found into one upload:

1. Vizzi Food Truck: Call it their hidden menu, but you can order a sampler of their sliders for $8. Organic chickpea, Chicken, and Wagyu-braised Beef - all topped with chimichurri-creme fraiche sauce, cilantro and green onions. Served on a bed of seasoned popcorn.

2. Cotton Candy. Boa (Steakhouse.) Picture tells it all...