I do, I do, I do, I do – Day Two

Hubby says I’m having too much fun at his expense in these blogs and he’s probably right, but he has the option to risk his own life and create his own blog where he talks about the strange things I do if he likes.

So he got me “hard at work” as he puts it, at 5.30am and on my computer, writing. Morning face. Don’t ask me why I was writing at that time, I have no idea. My sleep schedule is all messed up.

Whenever we travel, no matter if it’s for one or two days or one or two weeks, when we arrive at our accommodation, he will take everything out of his suitcase and put it away in the drawers and cupboards
I prefer to leave everything in the suitcase so that I know I won’t forget anything when it’s time to leave.
Just another one of our maddening cute differences.

We had breakfast at this cute place on the water. I think it was called Cargo. Just about every place we’ve been to in Melbourne has had wait staff from other countries.
And mostly they’ve all been so nice and eager to help.

I really felt like scrambled eggs on toast and hubby was getting a full breakfast, but he got me to order some bacon on the side because he wanted more but didn’t want the staff to think he was a gutz. Ha ha. I say, embrace the gutz! But I ordered it for him.

The food was so good!!!

I love walking through this area. The water makes things so peaceful and compared to the rest of the CBD, there’s not a lot of people around.

What do you think of the colour on these buildings? I’m still not sure if I like it or not.

We walked to DFO and you would not believe the amount of things we bought!!! I mean talk about efficient shopping!! Hubby is 6’7″ and finds it hard finding pants that are long enough but we found some nice ones for him at a good price and I got some Kayano’s for a fantastic price; not to mention the rest.

It was starting to warm up and we decided to walk along the river knowing we’d eventually get to Federation Square where ACMI (The Australian Centre for the Moving Image) is.

I noticed that just about every restaurant/bar along there is offering some sort of Aperol cocktail!!

How could we not give into temptation. We stopped for a drink and a rest and enjoyed the view from our table.

Caught a glimpse of the MCG on the way to ACMI

We also saw the horse drawn carts and carriages. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
Also noticed the signs (there were many around the place) that some people had left

The ACMI was just as amazing as I remembered!!!

Oh look there’s me! (above)

 I was trying not to hurry hubby along. All I really wanted to see again was the Matrix thing.

Hubby and I had fun creating some videos.

Apparently they are getting rid of this so if you want to try it, you have to get there before April 19!

Check out our clips below..

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to walk to the MCG to see if there was the off chance that we might be in time for a tour. I’ve always wanted to do that.

Turns out the tours go for three hours and it just wasn’t right for us today.
The photos above are some I took along the way (it’s about a kilometre walk from Federation Square)
Love the Dennis Lillee statue. There were more but he was the only one I took a pic of.

We walked back into the CBD and down some cute lane ways. So much to see here.

We stopped at a place, I think it was called Schnit, on Elizabeth street. Hubby was a bit nervous I think but you know what, the food was sooooo good!!

In fact, after we sat down, I heard another customer telling the girl behind the counter how good the food was. It was such good value too. Very good pricing.

The pic on the left is my schnitzel which was actually a veggie one. It was so delicious and the fries were seasoned so well

Oh, and check out this little guy who decided to join us for a little while.

I’m not normally a bird lover but look at this cuteness!

We walked around some more, did a bit more shopping and made our way back to the apartment. I won’t bore you with pics of our purchases but we were both very happy!

It might be shocking to some, but we still hadn’t used the gym so we decided to go down there. Unfortunately it was full! There was one treadmill left so I got on it but hubby felt a bit out of sorts as the people who were in there seemed to all know each other and “held” their equipment by leaving clothes and water bottles by them.
It wasn’t comfortable so we didn’t stay long.

We were going to use the pool but that was full of people too. And later on, when we were walking outside, I realised that the pool which is on the ground floor, is totally visible from the outside! Not that it matters that much but it’s the kind of thing you’d want to know before disrobing.

We ended up at the same place as last night for dinner. I didn’t take pictures but I ordered the same salad and this time it was double the size!!!
We both ordered the same food but last night, we had to get some fries on the way home as we were still hungry, this time, we ordered a bit more food and it was just way too much.
Nice place.

Tomorrow we’ll be back home. We have an early flight tomorrow so I won’t be blogging.
Thanks for sharing this journey with us!

Until next time….

Greece is the Word – Day Seven

Every evening I tell myself “I’m going to sleep in tomorrow” yet every morning I’m up as soon as the sun starts to come up. I can’t help it. I can hear movement outside, I knew the day is fresh and new and I just want to be a part of it.

It is no different here in Nafpaktos. We’re so close to the water we can smell that salty air and it’s so enticing.

We walked straight to the waters edge and continued along the coast to the area where the restaurants face the water. Even though it was early there were still people in the water or enjoying a cup of coffee at the tables.

I took a photo of the pebbles we were walking on. It looks so pretty and is so different to anything we have in Australia.

As part of our walk, we discovered this cute little bakery that made the BEST spanokopita.

That spinach filling was just so full of flavour and cheesy creamy. It was just delicious. We tried to go back for me to take on our journey today but she’d sold out. I almost cried real tears.

We took our spanokopita back to the beach area and found a bench to sit on while we waited for the rest of our group. As we sat there, a couple of cats started to gather round. Normally, when you’re at the beach with food it’s seagulls that start to circle you! Here it’s cats.

And if you’re wondering, yes we did share with them. When they meow so tragically you really have no choice!

After a Greek Coffee or two, we did a bit of last minute Nafpaktos Tourist shopping before heading up to the castle once again. This time it was open!

It’s such an interesting place.
There’s tons of information on the internet if you’re interested but for us it was just something to think about the people who had walked the same steps we had walked in history. Thinking about when this was a working castle and the jobs people were doing.
There are also amazing views of the coast from up there and yes, it does seem as high up as it looks!

We left Nafpaktos and headed for a village where there was more family waiting to see us. The drive was going to take us through windy hilly roads again. I’m not a fan.

It’s gorgeous scenery though and the hills and mountains are dotted with wind turbines.

It’s also not uncommon to be stopped by cattle… This happened to us more than once on our journey today!

We didn’t get to the mountain village until well after 4pm. Hubby hadn’t met his relatives before and it was all very special and emotional. We don’t speak Greek and only one of their party spoke English so the translating took a little while but it didn’t matter. It was lovely to spend the time together.
I took some photos from their balcony as the views they have are just breath taking.

They wanted us to share a meal with them so we stayed and talked about old times while eating what they had prepared. Most of what we were having had been grown on their land/property. Even the goat (I’m almost sad to say? Just quietly, it was soooo tasty!)

This is by no means everything but there was Greek salad with home produce (the tomatoes were just so sweet!) potatoes, zucchini and feta cheese made from the milk of their own goats.

Everything was just too delicious! I ate way more than I should have just because I needed to taste more!

You may also notice the wine on the table, that was made by them as well.

Time was really moving on now and we were conscious of the long drive back to Athens, but they asked us if we wanted to see their farm. They had to go there to feed the animals.
How could we say no?

We drove down a treacherous dirt path to get to it. I don’t know how these people use these roads every day…

Everything we saw at the farm was interesting and new.
From the goats to the cows with their baby calf.

We watched the cows feeding. I tried to take some photos but they moved back as we got close.

Unfortunately hubby is allergic so we had to go and wait in the car but the kids in our group were able to watch the goats being milked and had a go at doing it themselves too! Now that’s an experience they wouldn’t get at school.

Again, the views from the farm are just breathtaking. I seem to be saying that a lot!

Everything took much longer than anticipated and we didn’t get back to their house until well after 10.30pm. They begged for us to stay rather than drive back down that awful road with minimum light but we just wanted our own beds and clean clothes so we left.

We didn’t get back to Athens until after 2.30am.

For the record, I have had my life time share of treacherous road driving.

And now, it’s definitely time for bed.
Kalinychta until tomorrow when hopefully, I will be sleeping in…

Café Settebello

Today on the Dining Diaries…

Gorgeous smells tease our taste buds,
Music from Italy transports us away and…
This is the place to come to if you want to get stuffed.

Diners today we finally made it to Cafe Settebello  Newton Rd, Newton.
They haven’t been in this location very long but it’s been recommended to me so many times that I had to go down and see what all the fuss is about.

It seems to me that every time I enter a decent Italian restaurant the first thing I notice is the beautiful aromas!!! It just makes me so hungry!!
I’m sure what I was smelling was the pizza that was cooking in their famous wood oven and it was just so tantalising.

The dining room is spacious and modern but definitely has a touch of Italy.

No red and white table cloths but nice pictures of Italy on the walls and modern Italian music playing in the background.
The only thing that spoilt the illusion of being transported across the sea was the view. Unfortunately the restaurant is situated on a busy main road and it was just wall to wall traffic.
In their defense, I did forget about it once that food came and there’s not much that they can do about the outside world I guess but it did spoil that Italian fantasy a little in the beginning.

The picture on the left is the view from our table and the one on the right is from the main window.

However that was only a small complaint… We were greeted warmly and were soon looking through an extensive menu with lots of Italian favourites.
The menu states that they have a One Metre Pizza challenge. Finish the pizza in 45 minutes and you will get a VIP card entitling you to free dining for six months! I think hubby was thinking about giving this a go but couldn’t justify all those calories. I have no doubt he could have done it. In fact I think I would have been able to do it as well!!

Instead I went for the Osso Bucco and hubby went for the Arrosto Misto.
After we ordered the server brought some bread and a couple of slices of focaccia to table.

We also got some oil and balsamic vinegar and butter. Not only was this complimentary, but after I got my main, I asked for a slice of bread (because the sauce in it was just too good to not be mopped up) and the server brought out ANOTHER plate of bread, focaccia AND some zeppole!! Along with the oil and balsamic vinegar dish and more butter.  This was all complimentary! Who does that anymore? It was a really nice touch.

So on to our mains.
Hubby ordered Arrosto Misto. Mixed grill of Italian sausage, Meatball pattie, Scotch Fillet Steak, Pork Belly wrapped asparagus served with peppers and potatoes and Italian Salad.

What a lovely vision this plate was as it was put down in front of hubby!! So many meats. Beautiful smells, beautiful colours… it was almost too good to eat!
Hubby was a little worried though because when the server took his order, she didn’t ask him how he wanted his steak cooked. Hubby always asks for it medium rare and this one was medium however it still was very tasty. In fact I think it was his favourite of all the meats on the dish.

I had Osso Bucco. Sicilian style Osso Bucco served with Garlic Mash

It’s a little hard to make this kind of dish look attractive in a picture but I could smell it before it was even put down in front of me and I just knew I’d have to have more bread when I saw all that sauce!!!
Nothing about this dish disappointed. It was exactly all I hoped it was going to be.  The meat was just so beautifully tender. The sauce was sweet and flavourful and was begging to be mopped up with the wonderful bread they’d brought out.
This is my idea of comfort food!! There’d be nothing better to eat on a cold Winter’s day accompanied by a full bodied red.

Like I mentioned, I soon forgot we were situated so close to the main road and just enjoyed my surroundings and the wonderful tastes of my dinner.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Cafe Settebello.

Have you been to Cafe Settebello?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

Till next we chow…

BarZaar

Today on the Dining Diaries…

A Lamb Shank creates food envy,
A wonderful server makes us feel right at home and
Good food at a reasonable price right in Unley!

Diners today we were at BarZaar on Unley Rd and what a good little place this turned out to be!

We had seen this place popping up on our Facebook news feed and were actually thinking it was referring to another establishment. I’m so glad we looked into it a little further today.

The first thing you notice as you walk in is that it’s like an older type dining room with a modern feel. There’s lots of orange and brown colours. I was still trying to work out if I liked it or not when a nice young server came and spoke with us.

He gave us some menus and said he’d be back to take our order. He was super attentive, informative and helpful and made us feel welcome and comfortable.

From our table we could see the outdoor area and noticed this cute little herb garden. There was a sign there saying the chef grows his herbs there but anyone is welcome to take what they need as well. How cool is that!!

It was way too cold to consider eating in that outdoor area today but I bet it would be a great place to sit in the Summer time… if you don’t mind traffic noise that is.

There is some association with the SANFL Sturt Football Club but we didn’t really find out anymore about that. If you’re supporter, you probably already know about this place!

I was happy when they brought bread to our table.
It seems fewer and fewer places are doing that.
Not only did they bring bread, but it was crunchy and had those delicious sesame seeds on top.
Yum!

We decided to share a starter. Hubby chose the Lamb Kofta. I must admit, I was too busy faffing about to see it on the menu so I wasn’t really sure what he’d ordered but I thought it would probably be yummy.

And they really were yummy!!! They brought out a sauce to have with them. I thought it was like a tzatziki but hubby thought it was more like sour cream and chives. I think I was right. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a menu online so I can’t confirm it.
Either way, these were really delicious. They were flavourful, held their shape and just glorious when dipped in that refreshing sauce!

For main I thought I’d try the Lamb Shank! It’s been ages since I’ve had one but what sold it to me was that it was served with couscous.

It looked soooooo good when it came out! As soon as I put my fork to it, morsels of lamb fell away from the bone. It was exquisite! I could see hubby was getting jealous… I’ll get to that in a moment. Not only was the shank really well cooked, but the couscous was just so delicious! It had bits of eggplant, capsicum, onion and I think there were sultanas in there too? Such a beautiful combination of flavours. I could have had a plate full of only that!

Hubby was pretty food conservative today and went for a chicken parmigiana.

Even though he had this pretty and colourful plate in front of him, he kept looking over at mine. I pinched one of his chips and thought they were really seasoned well!! Nice, crispy and were just tasty.
He said the meat was well cooked and there was certainly a generous amount of cheese on there! The salad was also really well dressed. I just can’t eat bits of lettuce and tomato if there’s no dressing on them but so many cafe’s do that!

Even though he was eating his meal, he was still eyeing off mine and jealousy can be a cruel master so I let him clean my shank bone. What a good wifey am I.
He eagerly took it and got the remaining bits of meat off.

BarZaar is not some fancy place, it’s an every day bistro on Unley rd and if you’re looking for a good honest meal, you just can’t go past it!

Have you been to BarZaar?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

Till next we chow…

 

The Glynde Hotel

Today on the Dining Diaries…

Good “what you’d expect” pub menu
Great family atmosphere and
Fifty cent Wings!!!

Diners today we were at the Glynde Hotel which is on the corner of Payneham/Glynburn and Lower North East rd.

I don’t know if we could have had a more “typical” local pub experience! We walked in and the staff were super friendly. It had a fantastic relaxed atmosphere. While there weren’t a lot of people in the bistro,  (we were there about 2.30pm) they have all day dining which I just LOVE as my own hours can be quite erratic.

Like any good local pub they have different specials on different days of the week enticing newbies to come along. You can get all those details from their website www.glyndehotel.com.au

Hubby and I chose a table  that had a bit of sun coming in from the windows. It also gave us a view of the busy intersection which was a little interesting.

The dining room itself was clean and reasonable enough. This would be a great place for families because of the relaxed atmosphere and the reasonable menu prices.

We grabbed a couple of menus and honestly I had a hard time choosing what I wanted. I felt like something “naughty” today so against my better judgement, chose the Beef Schnitzel with a Mexicana topping! Honestly I probably was enticed by the word “corn chips” in the Mexicana topping description.

Following my lead, hubby went for a couple of the entree’s. First the nachos – Corn chips topped with melted mozzarella, spicy tomato sauce, jalapeños, Mexican salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Secondly, as were in a place that heavily advertises wings, we had to try some of them right? So hubby ordered twenty wings as well.

We were indulging ourselves today in every variety of fat that there was!

I was a bit relieved that my Beef Schnitzel didn’t look as big as it could have when it came out.

Oh and look, there’s a salad there as well!
The salad was dressed nicely and if I had a bit in between the schnitzel and chips, I didn’t feel like I was eating so badly (that’s called denial)

I’ve got to say I enjoyed this meal. The beef was cooked well and there was just such a generous amount of topping on there!!! Sour cream, guacamole and those wonderful corn chips!
I tried to estimate the amount of calories that was in the dish but soon thought better of it.
It’s kind of hard to rate a schnitzel. I mean how bad can a bad one be? The cut of meat was good, and that’s the main thing and I just loved everything else about it. It was a decent meal at a decent price. Nothing stood out as amazingly good or terribly bad. It was just good honest pub fare.

Hubby’s meals looked equally good when they came out.
The wings were first.

I normally don’t eat wings because the thought of eating chicken skin makes me want to gag but I did actually try one. It was surprisingly good! I tried the sauces too. I don’t have a high tolerance for hot spicy foods so the red sauce wasn’t for me but hubby just LOVED it and said that’s exactly how he makes his hot sauce!
I was glad for him.
I think he said the white sauce was a blue cheese sauce. It was pretty tasty! I had some of them with my chips.

His nachos looked equally good.

Lots of cream toppings on a great sized plate. You just can’t go wrong!

The Glynde Hotel had easy listening soft pop rock playing in the background while we ate and it seemed to suit. After a while “Hungry Eyes” came on and and I told hubby that Patrick Swayze was singing it.
Turns out I was wrong, it was Eric Carmen BUT  it was featured in the classic movie “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze sang “She’s like that Wind” which is also from that movie…
Just a little fun fact for you!!

All in all, I would have no hesitation in returning to the Glynde Hotel. It really had a nice friendly atmosphere and the food was generous and not bad!

Have you been to the Glynde Hotel?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!!

Till next we chow…