Saying goodbye to Joe/Italian Pantry

While working at the Italian Pantry I became pretty close to my co-worker Joe.  Him and I worked pretty much everyday together so needless to say he found out a lot about me and became my bestie down here. 

Joe was leaving for Turkey and Germany for a 6 week holiday so on a Sunday we went out for some drinks and had a farewell day.   Here are a few pictures of Joe and I.

Now a few weeks later it was my last week of working at the Italian Pantry.  I worked here for about 4 months and I loved it.  The people here were incredibly kind and generous and I will miss working in such a great environment.  I hated saying goodbye to them but I know that I will make it back down here someday and visit them. And hopefully they will get the chance to come visit me.  Here is a picture of Sara and I and then a picture of a few other people that work there.  Thanks for everything guys! You are all amazing and I can’t thank you enough for everything you all did for me!

For those of you that live here or those who want to see where I worked, please check out their website.  They are starting to do some really cool things like cooking classes and every Friday night they put on this AMAZING dinner that I have been to and the food is incredible.  Website: www.italianpantry.com.au

Girls last regular season game/Cousins day

So the first weekend of August the girls had their last regular season game.  They needed to win this game in order to make it to playoffs and they were playing Frankston.  Walking in the girls felt good about it and were pretty sure that they were going to win.  And win they did.  Here are a few photos of the star Lindsay playing. 

By the way if you haven’t heard, Lindsay is going on to play for the Logan Thunder up in Brisbane for a season and then just signed a contract to play with Hobart again.  She had an AMAZING season and is moving forward with her basketball career.  Very proud of her!  Here we are after her game. 

The boys played next and they also needed to win in order to go into playoffs.  They did end up beating Frankston too but this wasn’t their last game and had to win the following weekend and wait for other teams in the conference to play before they found out if they made it or not.  Thankfully they did, but here are a few pictures Jordan before and after the game.

This is Cherie, Lindsay and I.  Cherie has been a wonderful person and has become another mother to us. 

The next day Lindsay and I decided to have a cousin day because it had been awhile and we weren’t sure if we were going have another chance before she left.  We started our day off in Salamanca to do some shopping for us and presents for those we love at home.  But after that got down to business and went wine tasting in Richmond which is a few towns over from Hobart.

We started at Puddleduck and were able to try about 7 different wines.  We didn’t buy anything but got to talking to the owner about where we were from and such and he told us that he was restoring a car from the states.  Anyone guess what it was??…..well if you were on the same mind track as me it was a ’67 Mustang convertible.  How he acquired it is a awesome story but to keep it short he got it from a gentleman that kept it in his garage who originally bought it from and American general.  When I get home I will tell the story to anyone who asks but it gets a bit complicated to write on here.  Here are a few images of Puddleduck.

We went to Moorilla winery next that gave us about 15 tastings.  We enjoyed those but mainly enjoyed the men we were talking to.  There were four of them from Melbourne and were having a weekend down in Hobart.  They wanted us to come to Flamingos with them that night which is the gay bar that is here in Hobart.  We never made it but I wish we did because one of them was meant to be my friend’s future husband.  But I think if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be.  Here are a few pictures of their vines.

Since we didn’t have enough drinking yet we went to get a pitcher of beer and then went to get dinner.  Look at us!

After dinner we went back to our house and took a nap, just because we were up early not because we spent an afternoon drinking.  Ha!  Now we did plan on going out that night but instead had a girl’s night in with some of the basketball players and watched the Olympics instead.  It was a wonderful day and I am glad that I got one last cousin day in!

Melbourne

The weekend after Jordan’s birthday I ended up going to Melbourne with Pamela and her daughter Zoe.  At first I was not going to go at all but Pamela convinced me that we should go together because if I didn’t go I would be upset later on for not making it there.  So Zoe and I left on a Friday night and were meeting Pamela there.  Of course our flight was delayed and we didn’t arrive there until 10:30 or so.  Melbourne is a bit more scattered and by that I mean that it is a large city that seems to go on for a long ways but is condensed with lots of stores, malls, restaurants and much more. 

So we finally made it to the hotel and Zoe and I collapsed on the couch and decided to eat some ice cream since it took us so long to get there and all the troubles it took to get a taxi to the hotel.  Let’s just say we never did get the taxi and just made our way to the hotel by foot and train.  We went off to bed for the long day of shopping that we had planned for the next day.

I don’t have many pictures from this day because we spent a lot of time shopping and it seems somewhat boring to take pictures of the shops.  We started off by going to a market in Prahan.  It was a food market and was a lot different then the market that we have in Tasmania.  It was inside to begin with and just seemed to have a lot more produce than we would have found at our markets.  There were also people selling chocolate, cookies, bread and other random foods.  We didn’t stay long and made our way down the street to go into some shops.

A lot of the shops we went into were vintage shops, which is really not my style and the clothing was quite expensive.  The clothing is expensive to begin with here but I just couldn’t fathom spending $150 on a pair of jeans that may or may not be in style in the next 6 months.  So I tagged along and just did mostly window shopping because I didn’t want to break the bank.  We stopped for lunch along the way and then back to more shopping.  Zoe can keep going and going and I suppose I was the same way when I was young.  I hate to say it but I think I have become someone who just goes shopping for the thing I need rather than just to shop.  It is sad…I know. 

After several hours of shopping we headed back to relax and get ready for dinner.  We ended up going to a place called Lucattinis.  It was an Italian restaurant that was in the middle of Chinatown.  Yes weird that it would be there but it was amazing food!  I had homemade pasta with a ragu sauce and it was just delicious.  Here is Zoe outside the restaurant. 

After dinner we were going to go see a movie but decided on going to get some gelato instead and head back to the hotel.  We were all exhausted from the day and hanging out on the couch at the hotel with some fan tails (candy) and watching a movie in out p.j.’s sounded so much better.  Well we went to get gelato at this place called Trampoline.  It is suppose to be the best gelato in Melbourne and I must say that it is excellent!  Here is a picture of the place and our gelato.

I took some pictures of the Melbourne “skyline” at night too.  I am not sure if this is the true skyline but I don’t really know what else to call it.  It is really pretty at night and pretty during the day too.  After our gelato we headed back to the hotel and relaxed until we went to bed.

The next day we went shopping some more. I know how could we have not reached every shop already?  I did end up buying a shirt and a scarf so at least this time I wasn’t going home empty handed.  I was getting quite thirsty and when we were walking to the restaurant the night before I found something else exciting in Chinatown and that was a German beer hall.  So while Zoe and Pamela finished up shopping I made my way over to the beer hall and grabbed a drink and waited for them to meet me there.   It was a perfect way to end the shopping day. 

After I finished my beer we headed out to lunch and because Lindsay and Jordan were playing in Melbourne that weekend they met us out for lunch as well.  It was good to see them and I was jealous because they ended up going to AFL game after lunch.  I still haven’t made it to one yet but maybe next time I come to visit I will be able to. 

After lunch we said our see ya laters and headed off to the airport.  It was a long weekend of walking and shopping so by the time I got home I was completely wiped.  I enjoyed Melbourne but I still feel like Sydney is my favorite place on the mainland.

Jordan's Birthday

I know I am a bit behind but I’m going to play some catch up.  We had a party for Jordan’s birthday a few weekends back and it was a themed party.  The theme was J for Jordan so you had to come dressed up as something that started with the letter J.  Now before you all think that I am pregnant, I went as JUNO from the movie Juno.  I gave my mother a bit of a scare on facebook, so I don’t want to do that to any of you.

I decided to make Jordan a cake for his birthday and I got the idea for the cake on Pinterest.  If you haven’t heard of Pinterest yet, you better go to the website and give it a look.  It is one of the best websites out there and it can satisfy anyone because of all the different categories to look at.  Anyways I found this recipe for a cake that was called Chocolate Wasted Cake.  There was a whole recipe for the cake and frosting but I decided to do a box cake and Betty Crocker frosting to save time.  Anyways I baked two round cakes and layered them on top of each other.  Then I poured frangelica on top of it and let it soak in.  I then frosted it and pushed chocolate chips onto the side.  Now for the top I took Mars bar, Snickers and Rocky Road Cadbury chocolate (Jordan’s three favorite chocolate bars) and crushed them up and put them on top of the cake.  And just because there isn’t enough chocolate on here I drizzled melted chocolate on top and down the sides.  It was fantastic and totally lived up to it’s name.  I don’t think we touched chocolate for the next week.  Anyways here are a few pictures of the cake.

Finally around 9 the party got under way and people started to show up.  There were about 6 of us to begin with and we played a drinking game.  Here is a picture of Jack, who came as Johnny Bravo, with his head down on the table because the rule was if you said someone’s name you had to put your head on the table until someone else said someones name.  Just makes me laugh thinking about it! 

Here are Lindsay and Jordan going as Jamaicans.  At least the hats fit but I don’t know about the rest of the outfit.  Ha!

And here are the three of us and them being excited about the “baby”.

As more people showed up the party got even better and the liquor started to flow a bit more.  Let’s just keep in mind that we were celebrating, and we don’t drink like this on a normal basis.  So the jello shots that I made the night before with Lindsay came out and that is when the fun really started.  These jello shots really brought out the best in us and it just started to become really, really fun.  Here is a picture of them and of us taking some.

Aww fake baby love!

I will sum this post up with pictures.  I am pretty sure you can figure out for yourself that we had an amazing time and that we just didn’t want this party to end.  Happy Birthday Jordan!!!