Weekend Update

Last Friday we went out for drinks and dinner with Matthew’s supervisor, Jon, his partner Allison, and her friend Dave. Afterwards, we went to a karaoke place, Ding Dong Dang, which is similar to the ones in Japan, where you rent a private karaoke room and only have to embarrass yourself in front of your friends, not the whole bar! Originally we’d signed up for only 2 hours, but then Jon kept extending the room rental, so we ended up staying out doing karaoke until 3 am! It was a lot of fun. Some of the biggest hits for everyone to sing along to were a little surprising – who knew 4 Non Blondes and Foreigner were such crowd-pleasers? Of course, maybe that had to do with the red wine…

On Saturday, poor Matthew had to go work (he’s started his Wednesday to Saturday work schedule), but he said he enjoyed working on Saturday, as it’s quiet in the office, and he can get a lot of work done. Saturday night, we went with our friends the Swartzes to see a Japanese band called Zeni Geva. I don’t even know how to describe them, sort of noise metal band, but that isn’t even right. Even if metal isn’t my thing, I could appreciate what good musicians they are, and seeing them live was amazing. BTW, the drummer looked like he could be a science teacher - just a regular guy with a mustache, gold-wire rim glasses, a tshirt and Dad jeans. But then he started wailing on the drums and doing this lady-yodel, it was fascinating.

Yesterday (Sunday), we had a lazy day, did a little shopping and then went out to dinner at Mu Mu Grill in Crows Nest, a suburb north of Sydney. Getting there was a bit of a challenge (Sydney Bus System - curse you for being confusing!), but once we were there, it was a nice dinner. Their thing is all grass-fed beef, buying direct from the farmers, etc. We both enjoyed our steaks, and the nice red wine we’d brought, 2008 Henschke Henry’s Seven (yay, BYO).

Oh, by the way, most of the wine here is screw cap, even nice $40 bottles. I heard from a friend that something like 80% of wine in Australia is drunk within 24 hours of purchase. No idea if that's true, but apparently there isn't a lot of cellaring here.

Today (Monday), we had breakfast at café called Citrus, where I got French toast with berries and peaches and a scoop of ice cream on top – delicious! Tonight we’re going out to dinner with some new friends to a local place which has a nice back patio. The weather is warming up; it's really starting to feel like Spring here.