A Great Night Out, Followed By A Glorious Day Off!

First up, here is a shot of my noble steed. This is the bike that I have written so much about on this blog. I thought that perhaps you might like to check it out, given that you have heard so much about it. It is a good bike, and it has handled being asked to ferry around possibly a bit more weight than it was designed for! No complaints from it so far! It does do the job well, and I do like having it. It gets me from A to B much faster than the old feet can!

Well, last night's events were a real Sydney special! I left home at about 4:00 to meet my partner and her friends at the opera house at 5:00. I made it pretty much right on time, just when the sun was setting and there was a magnificent pinkish hue in the sky as we looked over to the harbour bridge. It was a spectacular evening and so we decided to stay at the rocks and have a couple of drinks at the Opera Bar which is on the concourse on the way to the Opera House. We sat overlooking the water, with the Harbour Bridge as the main feature. It looked like you could reach out and touch it. The view was stunning, a really special scene.

We were there for about an hour catching up. I had one glass of a Hunter Valley Shiraz, which was superb for a house wine. I will be sure to have it again the next time I am in that neck of the woods. We're thinking that anyone who comes to visit us will be taken to the Opera Bar for the vista and the atmosphere, it was great!

Next up we went out for dinner and I was dreading that thinking that I might have difficulty finding something on the menu that wouldn't set me back too far. There was a slight hitch with the venue, which was supposed to be a Vietnamese restaurant as one of the visitors wanted to have Pho while she was in Sydney. Unfortunately the restaurant (chosen by one of their other friends who lives in Sydney) did not serve Pho so we had to take a walk around Darlinghurst to find somewhere that did. This is one of the more interesting areas of central Sydney.

After trapsing around the place (my blister was killing me during the walk) we eventually decided to eat at a restaurant called "Fish Face". Initially we were non-plussed about having to sit outside and eat on the footpath in rickety outdoor chairs, however once we were settled in under the heater it turned into an excellent al fresco dining experience. The waiter advised us of the specials and I was greatly heartened to hear that one was a Prawn Omelette in Oyster sauce. As luck would have it, this was on my diet so I chose that. Download Phatfighter's diet.

One of our party had carried a bottle of red with him to dinner and we all shared that with our meals. It was a delicious Mt Pleasant Shiraz, 2000 vintage. It was superb, and while I wouldn't normally think to have red with fish, it was an excellent accompanyment to my meal when it arrived. I can say, without any shadow of a doubt, that the omelette I had that night was the most delicious omelette I have ever had in my 35 years of living. The oyster sauce was superb, the prawns were fresh, not farmed, and had the right texture to blend with the egg and vegetables that surrounded them. Quite simply, it was one of the best meals I have ever had. The proportion was exactly right, not too much, and I am sure that even my trainer would've been proud of me for sticking within the intent of diet, of not to exact letter!

After the meal we then went to a bar around the corner from the restaurant. It was called the Victoria Room. I have never been to a bar that had so many cocktails, or so many of the "beautiful people" we all hear about! It was quite a shock when my partner and I walked in. Firstly it looked like we had accidentally arrived at a models convention, and secondly there were about 5 women to every man. The single guys that we were with could scarcely contain their joy at having arrived at what seemed to be precisely the right time. They spoke to each other in furtive tones, suggesting to each other that perhaps they ought to put in a bid for a regular table!

My partner and I were both a bit jaded by this time (remember she had been working all day, and I had gone pretty hard at the gym) and so we left to go home at about 10:00. I only had a diet coke at the Victoria Room, which I thought was pretty well behaved of me. We headed for Kogarah and our little slice of suburbia, having seen another side of the city that we both quite liked. I think that we may end up trying to move over to that side of the city when our lease here is up in six months time.

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning, and had breakfast out on the front porch officially breaking in our new outdoor furniture. It was beautiful outside, a balmy 21 degrees. Perfect for relaxing with a latte, toast and the paper. I decided that I would have the day off from the gym in an attempt to allow my blister some time to heal. It was really sore from the wandering the night before, and my partner and I needed some time together, as well as some time to get the house sorted out for the coming week. We have done our weekly shop and are ready for the diet week this week. It should be interesting to see how I go. I think I will be fine, however I wont be eating the cottage cheese. I hate it, and will substitute more yoghurt for the cheese. Wish me luck, this will be the first big change for a while, and I need all the luck I can get to overcome this blister it seems!