Sweet Potato, Yam, Kumara

We recently went to a burger place that had kumara fries, which we were told are sweet potato fries. They were really good! The flesh was yellowish - not regular potato white, but not quite as orange as the sweet potato I'd gotten from the grocery store a few weeks ago.

Apparently what’s a sweet potato vs. what’s a kumara in Australia is just as confusing as what’s a sweet potato vs. what’s a yam in the United States!

Kumara is the Maori and Polynesian word for sweet potato. According to Taste.com.au, kumara is a variety of orange sweet potato grown in New Zealand. However, in Australia one may see any orange sweet potato labeled as kumara, sweet potato or orange sweet potato. That’s not confusing at all! ;)

Ziggy Show

Last night we went to Ziggy, a David Bowie tribute show with a live band and four different performers singing Bowie songs. It was a lot of fun! Their renditions of Under Pressure and Fame were especially good. I can't decide which was my favorite Bowie - they all put a different spin on it.

The State Theatre, which was very pretty inside, were serious about no photos allowed, so I don't have any pics from the show. However, I got dressed up for the event, so here's a pic of my outfit!

Biking at Centennial Park

Yesterday we rode our bikes to Centennial Park, a huge (189 hectares/467 acres) park in Sydney. We biked the Grand Drive loop, which is 3.8 km. It was very pretty - some parts of the ride are in the full sun, but other parts of the road have trees on both sides that grow together in a shady canopy covering the road, which is really nice. We stopped at the pond to check out the huge black swans; some had come up on the grass to look for food.

It's a really pretty park, and it was a fun ride; I'm glad we made our way over there. I'm looking forward to this year's Moonlight Cinema starting up, where they screen movies outdoors at Centennial Park.

Afterwards, we stopped at The Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst, and had some good beer, the Bridge Road Brewers Galaxy IPA (Victoria, Australia) and the BrewDog 5 A.M. Saint amber ale (Scotland). 

They have 20 beers on tap, and a good selection of bottled beers, too. There were empty bottles decorating their picture rail, and we spotted at least two Rogue bottles from Oregon. The friendly bartender asked us where we're from, and when we said Portland, Oregon, he said, "Oh Oregon, Beervana!"

Note on pricing, just because I'm still getting used to how expensive beer is here (even domestic): the half-pints were $6.50 and $7.50 each; if we'd wanted pints, they would have been $11.60 and $13.30 each!

Book Hunting

Today we stopped in Gould's Book Arcade, a huge second-hand book shop nearby, which has tons of used books stacked up everywhere.

Photo from planbooktravel.com.au

We're on a bit of a classic cocktails kick, so we dug through the cookbooks, and actually managed to find a copy of the Savoy Cocktail Book, in good condition, for $14! We felt sneezy and dusty digging through the books, but it's fun if you have time, and can wash your hands pretty soon afterwards!

Movember - Day 18

Movember update - here's the moustache on day 18:

Winos

We are winos. Here's our new liquor cabinet, with recent wine shop purchases, and the wines we brought back from the Hunter Valley:

Movember - Day 7

Movember update - here's the moustache on day 7:

Photos from 3-4 November Wine Tasting in the Hunter Valley

On 3 November, we rented a car with Kate and Stephane and drove to the Hunter Valley to do some wine tasting. Located in New South Wales, the drive was about 2.5 hours. On Wednesday, we went to Keith Tulloch Wine, Brokenwood Wines, McLeish Estate and Tamburlaine Organic Wines.

We checked into our motel, which was right on the Thalgara Estate vineyard in Polkobin, where we ended the lovely afternoon by sitting on the back porch and sharing a bottle of wine while we watched the birds - and a family of kangaroos in the distance. We met up with Stephane's friend, Tracy-Ann, who lives in Sydney, but they met years ago in Liege, Belgium. Then we all went out and had a really nice dinner at Muse Restaurant.

When we woke up the next morning, the kangaroos were closer to our hotel room, and Kate got a great photo.

On Thursday, we went to Mistletoe Wines, Arrowfield Estate and Hungerford Hill before we headed back home. In all, it was a great trip. I think Matthew and I ended up buying three reds (a Shiraz, a sparkling Shiraz and a Pinot Noir), a sparkling rosé, and two dessert wines (a Botrytis Semillon and a Muscat).

Here's the link to the rest of our photos from the wine tasting trip.

Photos from 2 November Visit to Taronga Zoo

On 2 November, M, Kate, Stephane and I went to the Taronga Zoo. My favorites were the giraffes having lunch and the free flight bird show.

Here's a link to the rest of our photos.

Movember Begins

Matthew and his co-workers are taking part in Movember, a charity event where men grown moustaches during the month of November to raise funds and awareness for men’s health.

Here's Matthew's moustache on Day One:

Photos from the Beginning of Kate and Stephane's Visit

Here are some photos from the beginning of Kate and Stephane's visit to Sydney - a trip to the Opera House, and to the Lord Nelson Pub and the Belgian Beer Cafe.