Lunch with a famous cricketer

At the Australian High Commission today, we had the launch of the “Australia Unlimited” app.

The guest helping to launch the app was Adam Gilchrist. The locals loved him & mobbed him after the main speeches were done.

Adam was a lovely bloke: he didn’t mind signed autographs or posing for photos with people at the lunch or even those helping out.

Here’s a selection of photos from the lunch:

 

  

Japanese Dinner

Tania & I hosted our first dinner for the year. The theme this night was Japanese.

Why Japanese ?? Well...Tania & I finally went to this great Japanese grocery store in Safdajung Enclave. We were like kids in a candy store with all the great ingredients.

Our dinner started off with a serving of Yakitori – a grilled chicken kebab & a serve of bacon-wrapped asparagus.

We then went to a serving of freshly-made Tempura – eggplant, capsicum, prawns, mushroom & baby corn battered & then deep fried (served with a yummy dipping sauce)

The main meal was Sukiyaki – thin-sliced beef & veges cooked in a sukiyaki sauce & served with rice & a bowl of fresh-made Miso soup.

That’s the thing about Japanese, it’s best when it’s fresh-made.

We rounded the evening off with a Green Tea Tiramisu & cupcakes (thank you Caitlin for bringing those).

Here are some photos from the evening:

Getting ready for the night

The Yakitori

The yummy Tempura

I don't the egg thing either !!

The Sukiyaki

Veges & beef cooking in the Sukiyaki sauce

Tania's great Green-tea Tiramisu (Yum !!)

Can you guess the government department ??

See if you can guess which Indian Government Department this building belongs to:

Great Foods to tick off the list

Before heading to Australia for Christmas, I made a list of foods that I missed & wanted to make sure I’d get around to eating.

Here’s the list & whether I managed to eat it:

Schnitzel (chicken or veal) – tick

Sacred cow (pan-fried or BBQ’d I didn’t care) – tick, tick, tick, tick, tick

Hamburger with the lot (including pineapple, egg, cheese & beetroot) – tick

Crumbed fish & chips (don’t like battered fish – it’s got to be crumbed) – tick

Decent chips - tick, tick, tick, tick

Kebab (with humus, chilli & garlic sauce) – tick

Roast lamb (with roasted veges) – tick

Cold Rock ice cream – tick

Fresh fruit (straight off the shelves, no soaking in solution) – tick

Decent coffee – tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick

This may seem a strange list, but when you don't have easy access to such foods, you kinda spend your time reminiscing about when you had these sort of things.  

New Years in Perth

After two weeks on the Gold Coast, Tania & I headed off to Perth to catch up with Lisa & Andrew.

Lisa & Andrew live on a 100 acre farm in the Swan Valley.

They share the farm with three dogs (“Jara” the kelpie, “TJ” the Labrador & “Trixie” the cocker spaniel), three horses, about 30 cows, ten sheep, an alpaca (called “Macca”) & numerous ducks & geese.

It was interesting to wake up & wonder what animal would be staring back at you on the front veranda.

The Swan Valley is full of wineries & restaurants – we did not know that before coming over.

There are only so many wineries you could visit in the short time we were there – we gave it a red hot go!!

A day trip to New Norcia - this is the pub

Day trip to New Norcia - the church

New Norcia - scenes from the cemetary

New Norcia - scenes from the cemetary (2)

This is "Jarra" - that's "TJ" in the background

Some of the geese that wandered the farm

Scenes from our apartment

As part of Christmas, Tania & I booked an apartment on the Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads.

The location could not have been better – the beach was only 100m away & we were right next to the Burleigh Heads Bowls Club (so Tania’s dad was happy).

The views from the apartment were spectacular – we could look right up the coast all the way to Surfers Paradise. The weather was pretty good too !!

Here are some photos of the views:

Moonlight from the apartment

Closeup of the full moon

Looking up the beach to Surfers Paradise

Christmas with my family (2)

Just before we left for Perth, my family & Tania’s parents caught up for a lovely lunch at “BreakPoint Bar & Grill” in Burleigh Heads:

Tania with her parents

Tania & Emelia

My dad

Christmas with Tania's family (2)

A few days after Christmas, we caught up with Tania’s Aunt, Uncle & cousins.

Christmas day was spent at Tania’s sister’s place with her brother-in-law’s family.

We continued the theme for Christmas – turbans for the men & dupattas for the women:

Loving the turbans !!

We even got a turban the baby