Ibyang
Ibyang

Aussie Life

Weekend Snapshot: Friday Dinner Date with the Husband

Husband and I met up after work on Friday to do a little bit of grocery shopping. Hungry and tired after the task, we decided to have dinner before going home.

Usually we’d eat at a food court but last Friday, I was craving for two things: (1) Caesar Salad (which I always crave for during Summer season–I don’t know why!) and (2) a place where we can have a quiet meal, away from crowds. So from Town Hall station, we walked a bit and saw this cute and cozy cafe, Caffe Di Gabriel.

The cafe is a bit new. They have these beautiful chandeliers and I find it cute.

This was my fave chandelier in the cafe.

Now for the food. Husband and I both shared their Fettucini Amantriano (can’t exactly remember the name) and Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad.

The Fettucini Amantriano was good. I loved it. It’s similar to Arrabiata.

The Caesar Salad’s also good. A bit different from the Caesar Salads’ I’ve tried, no bacon strips or bits but instead it has this big bacon on top of the salad. Toasted bread was oily, methinks it’s been fried(?) but that’s just me. And it didn’t have croutons–so I love it!!!

The Husband loved the food too and was elated to know that the cafe has free Wi-Fi. Yay!
We enjoyed the dinner immensely not only because of the food. It’s only been a week after the New Year but we’re full on working on a lot of stuff (work-wise and household-wise) so sometimes even if at home, we talk “business” most times these days. There are several things that we hope to happen on the first half of this year, so we’re working things out now so it does happen (fingers crossed!). So the dinner did us good. Husband and I were so busy during the week, it was good to catch up, sit back and just talk.

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New Year 2009

A 5-million show. With a theme of Creation. 12-minute never-before-seen fireworks. 15 months of planning to showcase the world’s greatest pyrotechnique display. 1.5 million Sydneysiders and tourists from all over the world. Nobody does the New Year’s celebration the way Sydney does!

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The first time I’ve witnessed Sydney’s New Year Fireworks was in 2002. At that time, I was with my cousins, at a certain bridge in the City, far away from where the fireworks was but we can still see the fireworks nonetheless, and feel the spirit of the new year coming in. At that time, it was just us cousins with bottles at hand, laughing and drinking while watching the spectacle above us…no cameras, no mobile phones, no hi-tech gadgets…our eyes solely watching, our minds capturing every sparkle and putting each “photograph” into our memory. It was one of my most cherished experiences when I visited Australia for the second time. It was remarkably beautiful.

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This year, as much as I’d like to spend New Year’s at home (like I always do), I decided to take the Husband to the City to see the 2009 Fireworks. Since I have cherished memories of how Sydney celebrates New Year, I’d like for him to experience it too. So on new year’s eve, off we went to Mrs. Macquaries Point, hopeful to get a good spot.

Before leaving home, I prepared at little something on our dining table so the house “can welcome” the new year too. I got this tradition from my mom–gathering up 13 fruits for prosperity. She also told me to have a bowl of rice with coins and another bowl with garlic cloves in it. According to her those are all symbols of prosperity and money.

We arrived at Mrs. Macquaries Point, a little before 3pm. Thank goodness for our friend Jon for being early or else, it would took us ages to get inside. By the time we got in, the good vantage points were all taken. If not for Jon patiently roaming around the place, we wouldn’t be able to get a spot that has a little bit of view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

For the next eight hours, we hung out there and waited. The sun shone brightly, most people sunbathe. Us? We setted up our umbrellas and tripods to shield us away from the sun. The waiting was long but playing with our cameras and watching Big Bang Theory on my iPod helped to pass the time.

We also made friends with some of our “neighbors”. We were surrounded mostly by tourists (I kinda find it funny to say “tourists” when I myself feel like a tourist here sometimes) from Germany and UK. When they asked us where we’re from, they actually thought we were tourists too and that we’re visiting Sydney just to spend new year’s here.

We brought sandwiches, chips and bottles of water. Chris bought beer. We drank water and beer, ate a bit. But we were never really hungry. For some reason, we somehow lost the appetite to eat. Maybe it was because of the heat, and we’re a bit tired from carrying our gears. Or maybe we’re just anxious to see the fireworks.

At 9pm, the Family Fireworks lit up the sky for about 7 minutes. It was followed by the Harbour of Light Parade wherein 55 vessels made their way around Sydney Harbour. The ships illuminated emblems which represented this years theme: CREATION.

Quarter to midnight, we got ourselves and our gears ready for the nth time. Cameras and lenses, check. Tripods, check. Handycam, check. Excitement and antipation, check!

Note: Chris and I never really used our tripods though. Initially, Chris was to use a tripod but he gave it up and stood up with me and moved around. Hence, all our fireworks photos were handheld. Maybe if we had a more comfortable vantage point, we could’ve maximized our resources but we had to do with whatever space we had that time.

Ten…nine…eight..seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…(an additional second)…and the fireworks began!!!!!!!!!

This year’s theme was CREATION which was designed to encourage everyone to think of where they came from, where they are now, and where they are going, as individuals and as a community.

The best part of the fireworks is always the finale where the Harbour Bridge is enveloped with a myriad of colors and sparkles.

And by the end of the fireworks production, the CREATION symbol was finally revealed: A SHINING SUN.

As I watched the finale unveiled before me, it reminded me of this bible verse:

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. – Genesis 1:3

I have initially compared the New Year 2008 fireworks to this year’s celebration and thought that last year’s was more grand (because last year was Sydney’s 75th anniversary, so why not?) but as the last bit of the New Year 2009 Fireworks unfolded before my very eyes, I realized that no matter how many times I’ve seen Sydney’s New Year Fireworks, each experience will always leave me in awe, because Sydney makes sure that each celebration is beautiful and spectacular in its own way.

We left for home at nearly 2am. As we were at Hyde Park, we saw a Kebabs Station still open and finally we felt really hungry and so our first meal for the New Year was a Beef Shawarma. Our train ride home was crazy! There was so many people going home and there were delays but we were all in high spirits so it wasn’t so bad. At exactly 4am, we were home.

For more fireworks photos, click:

Chris and Ivy Sanchez’s New Year 2009 Fireworks Collection

Playing with Shutter Photoblog

Jon Dael’s awesome photos

Jon Dael’s New Year’s Eve Countdown

Some tips to enjoy the New Year’s Eve celebration in Sydney, Australia:

  • New Year’s in Australia is Summer season, so wear lightweight clothes. To be more sure of what the weather will be on the day of the fireworks, check http://www.weather.com.au/
  • Wear shoes if you will be hanging out at the park to protect you from dirt, drink spills and broken glasses
  • Plan well by checking websites concerning the celebration.
  • If you plan to hang out at no-entrance-fee vantage points, be early. Some venues open at 10am.
  • Bring food and beverages. Alcoholic drinks in some parks are not allowed.
  • Bring something that will entertain you while waiting (i.e. playing cards).
  • Be ready for big crowds in the City at this time. Even train stations are congested.

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First Christmas TOGETHER.

Gone are the long distance phone calls during holidays. Gone are the phone cards that seem to not work especially during Christmas and New Year (or probably because phone lines are quite dysfunctional during holidays due to so many people calling overseas). Gone are the “I-miss-you” and “Wish-you-were-here” dialogues we say to each other, hoping to ease the sadness we feel. All gone, thank God…because we celebrated Christmas together! 🙂

The month of December will always be special to us because it was the month we became a couple in 2002…and it was the month we got engaged in 2004. We have so many fond memories during this time of the year.

This year, we celebrated Christmas as a married couple (physically together), here in Sydney, in our first “munting tahanan”. Triple wow! 🙂

So how did we celebrate Christmas this year?

We celebrated early. The husband’s gift arrived on Monday morning. Since I gave Pink away, he got me a 8gb iPod Touch. I thought he won’t be buying me a new MP3 player because he lent me his Creative Zen already…but it was all camouflage.

He could’ve bought the gift in store but he wanted my gift engraved and the only way to have it done is to buy online.

His gift came with a clear case and screen protector–these ones he bought from the Apple Store, so I also got a bag which I can use as a lunchbag hehe.

And because I’m clumsy, the Husband had to put everything together for me.

Since he gave his gift early, I gave mine early too.

Monday night palang puyat na kami…sa kaka-set-up at kakalaro ng mga bago naming toys hehehe.

On Christmas Eve, I took a half-day off and had lunch with the Husband (he left work at 2pm). Before he went back to the office, we went shopping for clothes at French Connection (they were on 50-70% off). I went home after buying a pair of shoes at Novo, so I can get noche buena ready. I just prepared lasagna and fruit salad. I bought ham and chocolates to complete the menu. We had dinner at my kapamilya’s place to celebrate our Tita Bess’ birthday. At 11 o’clock, we were back home talking to our parents in the Philippines. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law spent Christmas at my parents’ home. Chris and I are very lucky to have parents who became friends, a dream come true for us since from the start we wanted our families to be one. At 12 midnight, we ate Noche Buena and opened gifts. We love all the gifts we received, mostly for the home, so everything will definitely be used.

We woke up early on Christmas morning to attend mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is the most photographed church in Sydney because it’s really beautful.

After mass, we walked to Darling Harbour and had lunch of Fish ‘n Chips while watching seagulls fly infront of us.

This was a dream come true. 🙂 I’ve waited so long to do something like this with the Husband–just having a lazy day, hanging out by the harbour, eating fish ‘n chips–very Aussie, very laidback. We took our time eating lunch and talked and talked and talked. I love it!!! Christmas spent with the Husband was the best present I have ever received. 🙂

And if that wasn’t enough, we ended our day having coffee at Starbucks. Just perfect.

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Wii Party

Spent Sunday at Louie and Teena’s place for a Wii Party!!!!
Endless games of Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Mario Kart. It was so fun and noisy!

We also had a relaxing time catching up with everyone over great food, wine and ice cream, and playing with our godson, little Caleb.

Palabok, Salpicao, Adobo, Baked Potato
Magnolia’s Ube Ice Cream (bought from the Filipino Store)
Wii and Wine 🙂

It was a good day-out for everyone, spent indoors, that is. At least all of us were able to de-stress before plunging into the busy Christmas celebrations.

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