And then we run into the next bit of my Sydney travelogue…(Part 1 is here)
The next couple of days were ours alone as the DH had to fly to HKG for his annual meeting (which had been originally scheduled for Sydney, which is why we planned the visit in the first place!). So we made merry…first we stopped by to see a cricket match. Uliana’s son is the Captain of his team, & this was almost the last of the season’s matches. Cricket being my fave sport, it was great to watch a live match! From there we dropped by Parklea Markets, wholesale markets under a HUGE roof, much to the daughters chagrin! The Biggest Market Place in the Southern Hemisphere…
Parklea Markets boast the biggest, most vibrant and colourful market place in the Southern Hemisphere. Parklea Markets is a treasure trove of international food, fashion and flair displaying all the best Australia has to offer all under one roof with thousands of bargains. There are toys, tools, kitchenware, camping / fishing goods, cosmetics, jewellery, fresh flowers, computer software, souvenirs, car accessories, plants, gardening goods and much, much more.
How did I know the daughter wasn’t feeling too good? I just thought she was giving me her general tween attitude by not letting me stop at every single shop there. Anyway, we achieved the little we could…a half an hour at the souvenir shop & not much more. SHE wanted highlights in her hair…BLUE. Providentially we came across this ‘hair accessory shop’ which did hair extensions, wigs & much more. By some stroke of good luck, the very sweet Nepalese sales girl came up with BLUE highlights for the dear daughter, who was quite over the moon. Uliana in the meantime decided to humour the thoroughly bored boy…& gave him a wig to try. Little did she know what was to happen next. It was his turn to be over the moon…& he begged me to buy the blessed ORANGE wig. After much bargaining, for hair extensions in blue that I thought we would probably never use, & an orange wig that I knew would be just sit & stare at me for the rest of my life, we closed the deal & left in multicoloured spirits. I must tell you though, the daughter has done more than full justice to those blessed blue thingies & wears them all the time, except to school, where they would be confiscated! Thank God for small mercies!!
Back home we ran into the ‘Chef at Work’. DHs friend is a passionate cook & a through & through foodie. The day we landed, which incidentally was my birthday too, he fired up the BBQ & made the most scrumptious chicken tikkas & lamb seekh kebabs, everything from scratch. The kind folks got me a tiramisu cake for my birthday…aaaaaaaah BLISS!! I had forgotten the luxury of cutting a cake I hadn’t baked…add coffee to it, & I was on cloud 9!
That evening, back home the good chef stirred up the most delicious garlic prawns. I scribbled down the recipe, & clicked away merrily as he stir-fried! GARLIC PRAWNS…recipe courtesyChef A Sharma Ingredients: Prawns – 500gms (deveined, leave tails on) Garlic – 8 cloves; pressed through a garlic press Whole dry red chillies – 8 (despite the number, the dish isn’t too HOT)
Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic & red chillies & saute till the garlic is light brown.
Add prawns & salt to taste, Saute on high heat till prawns are golden brown & cooked through.
Eat immediately…
These were the yummiest I’ve eaten ever, & some of you do know that I’m not much of a sea-foodie! They were delicious!
The only shopping I actually got done was the evening after getting the kids back from Sydney park. They left for a bush-walk, the chef settled down to watch a cricket match & we dashed off to an astonishingly beautiful store called Victoria’s Basement. I don’t know how famous or well-known the place is, but the merchandise, the array & the variety was fabulous. In the hour that we had, we didn’t even manage to cover a quarter of the store, but we picked up a few bits & bobs at break-neck speed & rushed home. Here’s a bit of what I grabbed…
From its humble beginnings as one of the smallest stores (13sq mtrs), this iconic store today occupies the entire south end of Queen Victoria’s Basement and it is a treasure trove of the world’s most famous brands on homewares and giftware. Famous dinnerware, cutlery & crystal brands like Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Villeroy & Boch, Waterford, Royal Albert, Riedel, William James, Whitehill, Salt & Pepper, Benzer, Portmeirion & more…Famous cookware & kitchenware brands like Jamie Oliver, Tefal, Scanpan, Fissler, Nigela Lawson, Circulon, Anolon, Raco, Kinox, Mauvial, Mundial, Furi, Global, Avanti, Zyliss, Peugeot, Brabantia, Victorinox & More …
The next day we took the kids for a day out to the Sydney Olympic Park where they had a whale of a time at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. It’s a beautiful facility & offers a variety of recreational facilities including ‘a leisure pool area which includes five spas, sauna, steam room, river rapid ride, spray jets, spurting volcanoes, water slide and bubble beach, surrounded by lush palm trees and colourful mosaics.’ Obviously we had to eventually drag them home!!
This wraps up Part 2 of our trip to Sydney…& hopefully more will follow if I can catch up with life. (You can find Part 1 here). Thanks for being here!!!
On a different note, please do take time to check out my dear friend Cynthia’s book on Amazon which is due to be released on Nov 30th. She blogs at Tastes Like Home & is an immensely talented foodie & writer. All the best Cynthia…
