Headed to Jay and Amy’s for Australia Day and boy was it a scorcher. Even just sitting there conjured rolling pellets of sweat (charming, I know). It was so hot the electricity couldn’t even hack it, yup we had a blackout. Luckily, Maree could stream Triple J on her phone so we were still able to tune into the Hottest 100 (Yay for Angus and Julia Stone!)

The only thing you could do to combat the heat was drink, and that we did.

It’s been a while since G took out the cocktail set but I guess it’s like riding a bike – you never forget.

Lily wanted to join in on the action too.

Don’t worry, hers was a mocktail.

You’d think Kobie picked up the wrong drink but he didn’t, he just had a little to much fun in the sun and spent most of the afternoon snoozing in the hammock. Almost forgot he was there.

Lily on her cow bed. Aww…

We had everything we needed for a great day in the sun: blow-up pool, water guns, heat wave, blackout, BBQ, drinks, good music and good mates. Gotta love Australia Day!

Three dollars, two toys, one skill-tester hook. I like those numbers.

We’ve been going to Fig Tree Restaurant for my birthday for the past two years, I’m secretly hoping to make it a tradition so we always get to spend summer in Byron.

After spending the day wedding dress shopping (for Esta) we were absolutely starving when we got there so we opted for the six course tasting menu and got all the sides. Bad idea – there was way too much food!

Because there were four of us, we were able to try every option on the menu so it was more like a 11 course menu. It took just over 3 hours to eat everything but we got there eventually.

Entree option 1: Yamba prawn and sweet potato soup
A bit prawny but really good. It tasted like two of my favourite dishes combined: Prawn noodle soup (Har Mee) and pumpkin soup. Odd but interesting.

Entree option 2: Roasted pumpkin panna cotta, walnut crumble and blue cheese.
A bit weird. Felt like I was eating an airy savoury cheesecake.

Starter option 1: Slow roasted pork belly, celeriac puree, apple and cress salad, grape sauce.
Pork belly is always a winner, and to make it even more of a winner just add grape sauce. YUM! Anyone know how to make grape sauce or where I can buy some from?

Starter option 2: Mediterranean vegetables and goats cheese roulade, olive tapanade
Strange.

Starter option 3: Ceviche of snapper, avocado puree, mango and chilli salsa.
Absolutely divine! Could have eaten a plateful of this.

Starter option 4: Duck and pork terrine, confit beets, cornichon pickles.
First time eating terrine, didn’t really like it. The pickled cauliflower was really nice.

Main option 1: Roasted Mediterranean vegetable plate with grilled haloumi and babagnoush.
Anything with haloumi is a winner in my books.

Main option 2: Breast and leg of duck, carrot and saffron cream, braised cabbage, anise jus.
It was an odd combination but it all went really well together. The braised cabbage tasted like Sauerkraut and went really well with the duck.

Main option 3: Dry aged Sirloin, beetroot puree, mushrooms and caramelised onion, Shiraz jus.
Mmm caramelised mushrooms and onions. The great thing about sharing food with Esta is that she doesn’t like mushrooms. Score!

Main option 4: Snapper, pea puree, sweet potato fondant, caper butter.
By this stage I was so full I honestly don’t remember eating this.

Dessert: Summer fruit pavlova, coffee panna cotta, lemon curd, Black Sambucca jelly.
Black Sambucca jelly – yes you read right! And it really did taste like sambucca.

We also got a cheese plate at the end, but we were soooo full we had to get a doggy bag.

Just after New Years we headed up to Byron for the week. It pretty much rained the whole time we were there, but that just meant we had more time to eat, eat and eat some more.

On the few sunny days we quickly grabbed our rods and headed to the wharf. G was on a lucky streak, pulling in these 2 beautiful bream.

The weather was perfect for Maree’s chicken and corn dish. Mmm chickorn goodness.

She cooked it in the slow cooker which meant less time in the kitchen and more time to take photos of Lily.

I’d been craving pancakes for a while but always felt ripped off paying for them, so on my birthday my favourite people in the world cooked the best breakfast: Pancakes with bacon, bananas, maple syrup and a hash brown.

We spent the rest of the day eating, watching chick-flicks (3 in total) and taking more photos of Lily.

Lily eating Bella’s ear. Yum, tastes like dog.

It’s a great birthday when you satisfy 2 cravings in one day, craving number 2: apple and rhubarb crumble. Yum!

We organised a little party at my office for NYE. It was a bit of a last minute thing but we ended up with a pretty big turn out, about 30 people all up. Hope you all had a great time!

Wish I’d gotten more shots of the fireworks but it was a bit hard with a drunk friend hanging off my shoulder. Oh well, at least I remember seeing the fireworks, unlike some people. hehe..

Check out the smog after the fireworks.

It was a pretty good night all up but honestly, I was just glad when it was all over. After organising numbers, wristbands, drop offs, eskies, ice and drinks, there was still the horrible thought of the clean up. Big thanks to everyone who helped!

A lot of the cleaning was done on the night but there was still a lot to do the next day. Unfortunately G and I spent most of New Years Day cleaning up and emptying eskies.

We tried to clean the outside balcony but some stains just don’t come out. There’s now a nice little spew stain on the balcony that will forever remind me of NYE 2010/2011.

Christmas is always a crazy time of the year; the shopping, battling crowds, rushing around, wrapping presents, and of course the big family dinner.

As usual, there was too much food. We all sat down to eat and when we finished the table was still full of food.

Here’s my contribution to the table.

It took 3 failed attempts but I finally managed to make a successful(ish) pavlova.

Rambo chillin’ at the office Christmas party.

We went to Rubyos in Newtown for Anna’s birthday and boy was there a lot of food! We went with the Banquet menu and it just did not stop. Highlights of the night were the pork belly salad and the peking duck. Yum! I was really impressed by the pancake that went with the duck, it was so soft and silky.

Sorry I didn’t really get good photos of the food, I felt slack making everyone wait for me to take a photo so I just took one photo and let everyone dive in.

All up, great night. Good food, good drinks and great company to share it with.

Happy Birthday Anna! Hope you have a great night and like your pressie!

I can finally tick U2 off my “Bands to see before I die” list. Yay! Here’s a few pic from the night.

Jay-Z opened for U2, which I thought was really strange, but man he went off! We got there just in time for Empire State of Mind and everyone was bopping to the music. Wasn’t expecting him to be that good but boy did he lift the crowd.

We had floor tickets (because they were the cheapest) so we got pretty close to the stage at times.

Funny bopping heads.

Now for the stage… the freaken amazing spaceship stage. The thing was giant!

And the screen moved up, down and expanded like an accordion. It was worth going just to see the stage set up.

Crazy!

The only annoying thing about the night was not being about to sit down. That and a bunch of punks jumping the fence to get into the floor section. This one guy jumped the fence and fully landed on me, idiot nearly knocked me over. Gr… But besides that it was great to see U2 live.

My new favourite thing to BBQ.