Our First Christmas Down Under

Yesterday we had a lovely first Christmas Down Under. We went to our friends the Swartzes' house for brunch, then took a car-share van to the beach at Nielsen Park, where we went swimming and had a picnic.

The weather cooperated by not raining that day! It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. The water was still a bit chilly - apparently it will be a few more months until it really warms up - but the beach here is quite pretty and the water is really clear.

Afterwards, we went back to Chez Swartz for home-made egg nog and Boggle. What a great day.

Here's the link to the rest of the photos from the day.

Happy Holidays!

Photo: Paris Victory Ball at the Opéra de Paris in 1946, celebrating the first anniversary of V-E Day; LIFE Magazine.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas trees, both real and artificial, are expensive here. So, the other night we decorated the potted plant our friends the Swartzes gave us for our housewarming.

Luckily we had a power adapter, or we wouldn't have been able to use our American Christmas lights. To be honest, our Xmas plant looks a little funny, but hey, at least it's something!

On Christmas Day, we're going to our friends' house, so I started baking some of the goodies we'll take over: applesauce and cinnamon muffins and lemon yogurt cake.

I think they turned out okay, despite the fact that the oven in our rental apartment is a little wonky, and I had to think in grams/Celsius!

Night at the Races

Last night we went with Jon to the final races at Harold Park in Glebe (Sydney). Harness racing started at the track in 1902, but the sport has been in decline, so the NSW Harness Racing Club sold Harold Park to a developer, who will redevelop the site into a residential area. It was an amusing evening, with great people-watching. However, not sure I'd need to go again to to the races at their new venue...

Christmas Party

Last week we went to the Google Sydney Christmas party. The theme was "Fab 50s," so we dressed up 50s-ish. When we arrived, the waiters were all wearing white t-shirts and blue jeans, there was big illustration of a diner behind the bar, the DJ was playing 50s American music, and they served deviled eggs, hot dogs, mini hamburgers and "smokey" ribs. It was slightly surreal that it was almost all American; it felt like we were in "America Land" at Epcot or something!

Jennifer as a beatnik and Mark as Joe McCarthy, complete with his Blacklist.

Random party scene.

Here's the link to the rest of the photos from the evening.

Happy Date-iversary!

Happy "date-iversary" to my wonderful husband - I love you very much! We started "dating" 15 years ago today. Here's a photo from that era.

Sometimes when I can't believe how long it's been, I feel a little like Jeremy Piven in "Grosse Pointe Blank" when he's in the car screaming "ten years, ten years, TEN...YEARS!" -- minus the professional killing, of course. ;)

Venn Diagram

Haha, sad, but true, over at Indexed. We're having a housewarming party this weekend. I'm going to try not to [INTERSECTION] about it.

First Day of Summer - Time to Put Up Some Christmas Decorations!

Yesterday, 1 December, was the first day of summer here in Australia! It didn't feel like it, though - a storm came in and it was very rainy.

The seasons here are are so wacky, it really doesn't feel like it will be Christmas soon. So, I put up our first Christmas decoration to help me feel festive. Behold, the beautiful felt wreath sewn by my late Grandma Lucile. I love this wreath along with the tree skirt and all the other felt ornaments she made.

And here's a photo of Grandma Lucile, just because.

Cooking Lamb with Jamie

Matthew and I made baked lamb shanks using a Jamie Oliver recipe, and it was pretty easy! Just mix up some sage, rosemary and thyme with butter, cut slits in lamb shanks and stuff in the flavoured butter. Create little foil packets, add carrots, onions and garlic on the bottom and one lamb shank in each packet, pour in some white wine and seal the packets. Bake for 2.5 hours!

Our butcher didn't give us shanks cut quite as pretty as Jamie's photos, but oh well. It tasted good, and wasn't very difficult!

Last Movember Update

Here's the last photo from Movember. M reports it was getting really itchy, and he's glad to shave it off!