Fish Wings

The other night we had a BBQ with fish wings. You can get them really cheap at the local fish shop as they are usually thrown out. So this a good way to enjoy premium fish for a low price - if you don't mind pick the meat off the wings. We had Red Emperor who has these beautiful red wings. The meat tasted really good as well but they are not ideal for a BBQ as they take a long time to cook, so boiling them would probably be better.

a warm summers night
a light breeze
a delicious meal
watching the sun set over the ocean
a glass of wine
creme brulée for desert
live is great!

Somerville

One of our favourite things to do in summer is having a picnic and watch a movie in the Somerville outdoor cinema. It is such a great location, surrounded by tall pine trees the sun sets behind the large movie screen. People bring picnic blankets and have dinner on the lawn beforehand and then lay back on the deck chairs to enjoy the movie.
As part of the Perth International Arts Festival we watched The Band's Visit last night. We laughed a lot even though the movie was rather sad.

Chinese New Year - Year of the Rat

We've been invited to a Chinese New Year dinner function to celebrate the Year of the Rat. And it had everything - Chinese banquet, lion dance, raffles, auctions, traditional Chinese music. It was really good fun!
The banquet started with Yusheng, a salad of raw salmon and veggies. We had to toss the salad, throwing the ingredients as high as possible without dropping something off the plate. Apparently the higher you throw the more luck you will have in the New Year.
The group of lion dancers came into the restaurant after dinner and performed their dance. We put money into red envelopes and the lions had to get them. And to make it harder for them we stood up on our chairs waving the envelope high in the air. The person in the front of the lion costume had then climb on the thighs of the second person. The dance really is quite artistic.

Rottnest Channel Swim 2008

After the swim was cancelled last year everyone hoped that this wouldn't happen again this year even thought the weather forecast wasn't ideal. But the conditions turned out to be alright and the boys finished the 20km in 7h49min. And since they've done this already together twice they looked surprisingly fit when they came out of the water. We all stayed on the boat that night and celebrated with a BBQ.

It was really amazing to see the number of boats anchored at the bay that night! And since we stayed on the boat we could see the queue of boats all lined up coming over from Cottesloe accompanying the 1700 swimmers (solo, due and team of fours) in the morning.
This years team name was 'The Eight Balls' - just like the black ball for playing pool and because it is 2008 and because they are a team of 4 guys with 8.... ;-)

Girls Only Night

Two weekends in a row over at Rottnest - I am really lucky :-) This Friday we went there on friend's boat in preparation for the Rottnest Channel Swim. We, the wives / girlfriends of the swimmers, had to get ready for their arrival the next day :-)
So we snacked at the bakery and went for a nice dinner at the Tearooms. We stayed the night on the boat in Thomson Bay, gazing at the stars and listening to the mumble of the waves. This sounds very romantic but the reality was that I woke up in the morning and was very glad to get off the boat for breakfast. And even while sitting in the cafe it still felt like being on the boat ;-)

Valentine's Dinner

We've been to the New Bridges and had a lovely Valentine's dinner yesterday. The first time we've been there the service was really disappointing but we thought we should give it another go, which was good because the service was excellent this time. The restaurant also wasn't that busy since it was the day before Valentine's. So I can really recommend this date!

Valentine's Day

Yes, I know, Valentine's Day is not until tomorrow but...
We wanted to go out for a romantic dinner in a nice restaurant, just the two of us. So we phoned a couple of restaurants some weeks ago in order to book in advanced. But every single restaurant we tried said the same - Valentine's Day is 3 course set menu only.
This means that you pay a fixed (ridiculously high) price for a meal that you can't choose! We want to choose from the whole menu not just between chicken or beef like in the air plane! So we decided to go out for our Valentine's dinner tonight! I think this day is anyway just made popular by florists or greeting card producers ;)

Girls Only Weekend

I just came back from a long weekend over at Rottnest Island - for girls only :-) And we had so much fun!! Me and 5 other girls from uni spent the weekend in one of the units at Thompsons Bay directly next to the beach - what a great spot! We rode around the island, went swimming, snorkelling, sun bathing, 'analysing' trashy girls magazines and basically just had a whole lot of fun!





When we rode to West End we saw a big group of dolphins swimming along the beach. We followed them and spotted another group of dolphins swimming behind them. Altogether there were at least 10-15 dolphins. Both groups then joined up to a circle trying to catch fish. It was really great to watch them jumping out of the water and swimming with the waves. And as we followed them along the coast we spotted a couple of sea lions playing around or laying lazy in the water. On that same day we saw a big pelican just in front of our unit and two sting rays coming really close our feet :-) We were really lucky with spotting so many different animals in one day!

Rain and cold weather

Finally!! After nearly a week of hot and humid weather we finally got some rain! So the temperature in our bedroom finally dropped from 30C down to 22C which means a good nights sleep finally :-) I even think we had the average monthly rain in only one day since it rained nearly continuously for more than 12h. And I love the smell! There is always this scent of eucalyptus in the air after it rained - wonderful :-)

Web Cam Connection

A gave my parents a web cam for Christmas last year. I thought this way we are a bit more connected since they can also see what I am doing and I can see what they are up to. Much more personal or intimate than just talking on the phone.
So it was my Mum's birthday this week and my Dad was soo cute :-) He set up the birthday table with a candle, a big bunch of flowers and lots of presents directly next to his computer, ie. the web cam. So I was there with them when my Mum unwrapped her presents and could see her face when she opened the package that I sent her. It was really really nice and I enjoyed it so much! Much better than just giving her a call.
But since we got the web cam working I am called nearly every day now - I just hope this initial enthusiasm will die off a bit ;-)

Catching Crabs

After such a hard days work on Saturday we relaxed on board of a friends boat on Sunday afternoon. It was a perfect day to sit on boat with a glass of wine, jumping into the water from time to time to cool down and just watch the day go by.
They guys also went looking for crabs and Ian actually caught 3 big ones! So we took them with us, cooked them and had them as an entry before fish and ships for dinner *yum* It can't get any fresher then this! They were so delicious!

Backyard Blitz

Blitz is actually the German word for lightning. But since the second world war it is used in the English language in Blitzkrieg or the Blitz (German aerial attacks on Britain). And the Backyard Blitz is also a garden makeover show on Australian TV.
Anyway, amongst Ian's friends backyard blitzes are for helping each other renovating a house or garden. A couple of friends come together to help someone painting, paving, demolishing :-) ... which I think is a really great idea and saves lots of money too!
So eight of us went over to a friends place yesterday to help him paving the backyard of his new house. I actually enjoyed doing physical work because I am usually sitting in front of a computer the whole day, so this was a good change. But this first enjoyment held only for the first 4h or so.
It was a bloody hot day (37C)! There was hardly any wind and by 9pm it was still above 30C! I also can"t remember the last time I"ve been that dirty and sweaty :)
Probably the best tool / toy that we could play with that day was the little dingo (excavator) they hired. It was so much fun driving this around! But the best thing was that by the end of the day the whole backyard was paved! It was really good to see what we had achieved during the last 9h or so. And waking up the next morning our sore muscles still reminded us of that ;)

A Happy Blog

When friends from Germany read my blog they sometimes ask me whether everything here in Perth is really soo happy and whether my live is really so great :) well...
Of course my live here can't always be that happy. Like the other day when we went to the concert. Ian came home at 6pm - shower, change... we grabbed a few things for our picnic and rushed to the concert. We arrived 6.30pm, just in time for the first song. But we were still stressed, hungry, there wasn't much room for the picnic, we spilt wine, I blotted my new trousers,... so I didn't really enjoy the first half an hour or so.
But I don't like writing about how stressed we are or about all the little bad things that happened to us. Just like I don't want to remember them! The concert was great, we had a really lovely time - watching the sun set behind the stage and listening to great musicians! That's what I would like to remember!
So yes, live here in Perth, as far as I remember, is pretty happy :)