Trouble with Tim Tams, The Pyrmont Wine Festival, and Sushi Train..Wrecks

I am starting off my blog post thisย week with aย video demonstration of my new favorite obsession ๐Ÿ™‚

TIM TAMS!!!!

After being told there was a way to eat these like anย Aussie, I felt obligated to share this with everyone back home. I am hoping my Tim Tam problem will disappearย soon, as its already going on two weeks and that is typicallyย about as long as my guy, food, and randomย interests last. ย If still interested after that two week hump, real problems could beย ahead. I might not be able ย be able to drink coffee and tea the same ever again!!!! I have fallenย in a deep romance with Tim Tams, in which I have still not returned from yet. Here is a 4 minute video of my ย Tim Tam demo (I am sure you will waste more time today randomly clicking on strangers Facebook pages, so just check out the Tim Tams, yea?)

YES, ย I had just woke up before recording this. YES, you view me drinking my first sip of coffee of the morning (very vital for any cognitive functioning over here). ย YES, I still have last night make up on. NO, I ย did not comb my hair. ย So just enjoy me in my morning rambling raw!! ๐Ÿ™‚

 

Pyrmont Festival

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One day while I was bored wasting countless hours Google searching the dumbest things possible, I came across aย wine, food, and art event happening in the city. This is right up my alley and knew I had toย make sure to be there Saturday afternoon to make an appearance. ย After being a responsible adult (or grandma) and staying in Friday night working on a paper, I was up first thing Saturday to get this festival started. I walked on down the street to the bus stop and waited for he bus to be super late, like usual.So I just kept taking pictures of guysย withย horrible shoe choices, like usual.

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Once finally on the bus it was extremely hot and sticky and the Asian kid (the owner of that shoe above) next to me kept insisting on moving closer to me. Ehhhh puke. Then the girl in front of me ย kept taking selfies the entire time during the ride. If you cant get a good selfie after 20ย minutes of trying, just stop, put the Iphone down, it happens to the best of us, it is not your day dear. So, ย double puke. Finally I arrived to Darling Harbour where I saw the bridge open up for the first time. I DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT COULD DO THAT!! MIND BLOWN!

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After another 20 minutes of walking around the streets, using only Google Maps and my natural horrible direction skills to guide me, I arrived!

Nothing like it taking 2 hours to get some where that should only take 20 minutes!

The place was crowded as it appeared to be a very good turn out of this lovely Saturday afternoon.Theย Pyrmont Festival ย was showcasing the very best of the Pyrmont Precinct and Mudgee Region. They advertised having more than 50 restaurants, wine bars, hotels, winemakers and artists featured. The overall atmosphere was vibrant, probably from the plethora of wineries and places for people to get their little buzzes on. It was very kid and family friendly with a petting zoo and dogs running around everywhere. Oh, and in case you didnt know, you will get a lot ofย weird looks going into a petting zoo without a kid.

I knew I should of just borrowed one off of Craigslists for the day!

As I walked through the festival there were exhibits on ย every side of displaying some of the local art. Some where outstanding, but sadly my wallet did not agree – so they stayed put:( The biggest emphasis appeared to be on all the wineries that were from the local area. I, not being familiar with any of the wineries, frankly had no where particular to go, soย just did what any normal single girl alone wine tasting would do.

Just went to all the wineries with theย hottest looking guys to talk with.

IT’S JUSTย SCIENCE ๐Ÿ™‚

Too bad all the guys were in their late 40’s and not much to look at, even after my 10th tasting I still found theย LJ Hooker Bear more attractive. ย 

Overall, with live music performances, plenty of wined up winos, and delicious food trucks and stands to grub from, it was a very very nice time. ย 

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If you would like more information on this festival which is still going till the 25th of May, please click here

 

Sushi Trains, Choo Choo Away!

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I am re-bringing up the topic of sushi here in Australia with this post, but with a bit more detail now as my opinion is just getting worse:/ Like I have mentioned before, sushi here is treated more on the lines ofย ย fast food. I am sure there are plenty nice sit down places, but I have still yet to come across one. Besides having “little whole in the wall” places, serving pre-made sushi like they do at 711, what seems to be the most common are sushi train restaurants. At these places, everyone sits around the the oval or rectangles shape sushi bar and grabs the pre-made sushi off the track of moving food . Each plate is color coordinated with a price for whatever lies on the plate, with anywhere from 2 to 4 pieces on each plate. ย I have seen everythingย from chicken schnitzel sushi to red plum sushi, to barbie soda and pudding floating around. Our “norm” back at home are not so much the norms here. This makesย these places to become veryย frustrating for me.

I am sitting there, just watching the food go by over and over again, not knowing what to grab because I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS. Yes, I can keep referring back to the menu with tiny pictures and labels, but each time I look down to see whatever that is, it has already past by me and now I got to wait another 5 minutes to see that “whatever it is” thing again. Sushi is too expensive to just grab something and hope for the best. I am sorry my friends, but that is not a risk my hungry tummy or bank account wants to take! Furthermore (here lies the biggest issue), the quality of the sushi suffers tremendouslyย with this style of service. The fish –ย just going around and around in the warm air – and sits there for god who knows how long! By the time I get it in my mouth, its warm and chewy and just not as appetizing as it is when its nice and fresh. Sushi trains as a whole areย just not my thing. As someone who has included sushi as a major stable in her diet for over 10 years, ย it appears I will need to be putting down a good amount of moneyย to find the good sushi here. ย This will have to wait till I get a job or win the lottery (annnnny day now for either of these:) )

ย Closing Thoughts

Another week and a half as passed by, and I really do not have too much new to report. ย Oh, vacation weight is gone! Woot woot, 2 hours a day of cardio and a bunch of salad and chicken later, one more week ย and I’ll look better than I did when I arrived (This is if the Tim Tams do not attack!) This whole ย being unemployed gigย is getting really old. I am in saving mode till I have an income, which also means I do not have the money to spend to do cool things I want to! I do plan on going to the zoo and races this week, so that should be something fun to tickle your curiosities with. School is taking up a lot of time like I anticipated, and kinda of… ummm…SUCKING THE CREATIVE JUICES RIGHT OUT OF ME???! But hey, its giving me another challenge to conquer, and the CHALLENGE IS ACCEPTED!

I am still very much lonely here down under. I honestly never thought it would take this long to make a stable group of friends. ย I have a friend here… and a friend there… and a friend here… and a friend there, but no two friends who actually know each other :/ Starting over socially gets harder the older Iย get, as I find myself being veryย picky with who I want to invest my time in and on.ย But I guess when you are just meeting people in ย the most random ways, its hard form a bond easily. Plus. ย trying to get to know someone from scratch takes a lot of interest and time before genuine “care” evolves. Meeting 60 people in 6 weeks hasn’t allowed for much dedication to anyone other than a text here and there. ย Even with the zillion matches on Tinder, meet up group hang outs, and random run ins, ย no concrete relationships are really coming from any of it. ย I suppose this isย the problem when you are trying to meet people, with the intentions of forming allย types of relationship –everything just gets all muddled together and in return,ย no relationships actually form.

Lastly, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all my readers and a shout out to Roger Arden ๐Ÿ™‚ With only 12 posts and a few months time, I have over 5,000 views, 500 unknown readersย subscribed to my blog, over 30 shares and countless new friends ย made in the process. I genuinely love reading everyone’s comments, and receiving follow up emails from readers telling me your thoughts and asking questions (Minus the one guy who told me to drop dead, how rude!) I enjoy writingย papers in school, usuallyย between 6 to 20 pages a week in assignments, but none compare to enjoyment I get from writing on here.

Startingย this blog was one of the best decisions I could have made, well, along side moving to Australia of course ๐Ÿ™‚

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Awwww bed time now, where sleep still doesn’t come easy. I ย just want to laugh, love, dance, travel and learn all the time!!! I feel I am doing the best with what I have to work with so far, but man oh man, I ย just keep getting overwhelmed andย impatient withย excitement of unknowing of what the rest of this journey has awaiting for me…

Truly excited for life ๐Ÿ™‚

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FACT: Life will always ย just makes more sense with flowers in my hair.

<3 Michelle

15 Comments

  1. I’ve only had them once but they are pretty awesome

    1. You cannot hate Tim Tams right? I want to met anyone who doesn’t haha ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. I loved the fast food sushi in Melbourne, where you just get a stick of sushi and a little container of soy sauce… For fast food pretty healthy. But I agree, I didn’t find any nice sushi restaurants either…
    Give it a little time and the friends will come along… OR people you already know will turn out to become great friends. Pretty confident, as you seem to be so honest and funny. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you so much ๐Ÿ™‚ Yes, I agree, time will help… well, it better!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Love your Tim Tam video! I developed a similar addiction to a brand of biscuits when living abroad in Ireland. Sweets just don’t seem as tasty in America after living elsewhere. Spoiled for good!!! Enjoy!

    1. hahah Thank you!! I am just waiting for the addiction to calm down ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Great post and blog! I was obsessed with Tim Tams after a year in Australia that I hunted out a store in Dublin who stocked them when I moved there! Three times as expensive but oh so good! They will definitely be on the top of my shopping list when I emigrate to Australia in October, I’m sure my daughters will join in my addiction too! xx

  5. I haven’t had a chance to comment before now, so…”Welcome to Australia!”
    Tim Tams are one of the few highlights on our culinary menu, glad you’re enjoying them.
    I don’t envy you spending time unemployed in Sydney, too expensive but hope you are enjoying yourself.
    Cheers, Glenn

    1. Thank you! and yes, wrong city to live in to be unemployed, but ill figure it out soon I am sure ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you! and yes OMG, someone really needs to lock them up ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Oh my God this is too amazing… Need to go to Australia just for these!



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