Jazz time in Chatswood

I can't really complain about the winter days here. It's cool in the mornings and night, but unless it's rainy, the days almost always warm up to be really pleasant. This weekend was a great example - there was a Roaring Twenties afternoon in Chatswood, so T and I caught the train up to get lunch and listen to the live music. It was cool, but perfect for sitting and letting the sun hit your back!

We grabbed some veggie burgers and had a good little picnic listening to the bass and keyboard players.

Later in the afternoon they were showing a 1920s film on a big outdoor screen, but we didn't stay for that. Our two hours in the sun made for a perfect Sunday!

 

 

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Game of Codes

Since I work with a lot of geeks, I should not have been surprised that our end of financial year party was a little nerdy. Or maybe a lot nerdy. But really, really fun!

The theme of the party was a take on Game of Thrones: the Game of Codes. We were all sorted into houses of 6 or 7 people. And then we were bussed off to Manly for an afternoon of Game of Thrones-themed activities!

The activities were on the grounds of a hospitality school, which was originally constructed as a seminary in the 1800s. So it had a good castle-y feel to it.

The grounds were organized like a village. Our teams could walk around and participate in as many activities across the village as we wanted.

The goal was to compete in activities and get gold coins. And then once a team got a certain number of coins, they could advance to the next level of social standing. The winning team was the one who made it to be nobles.

Our first activity was violin lessons. We had to learn a simple song and then play it for the Queen. This activity actually turned out to be one of my favorites of the day!

Then there were tons of other cool things, like a log throw:

Cardboard chariot-building and then racing:

Barrel racing:

Potion-making:

And sword-fighting:

One of the coolest things about the afternoon was the number of people that were there to add to the ambiance. All the people at the booths were in costume and character. And there were characters that wandered around to interact with all of the teams. There were even knights on horses that greeted us when we arrived and patrolled the grounds while we did our activities!

Unfortunately, my team didn't win. Or do that well in any activity, to be honest. But it was still a super fun day! I had a really good time with my co-workers and I feel really lucky to work for a place that puts on such amazing parties!

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Pyrmont Growers Market

The first Saturday of every month, there is a big farmers market in Pyrmont Bay Park. I've been wanting to check it out for a long time, but something always seemed to be going on. So this Saturday, I decided nothing was going to stop me!

The market was at a park right along the bay. It was a beautiful place for it!

I met a co-worker's wife there, and we walked through all the stalls together. There was so much good-looking produce - mainly winter veggies like root veggies, squash and citrus. But there were also some apples and greens that have just started coming in.

In addition to all the produce, there were also plenty of dairy and meat vendors too. And a few tents cooking up breakky sausages.

I bought a package of exotic-looking mushrooms from the mushroom tent.

We also watched a food demonstration from a local celebrity chef.

I didn't buy much besides a fresh peach and mango juice and my mushrooms. But it was so inspiring to see all the lovely (and giant!) produce - next time I'll go back with more cash. And I'll drag Toby along so we can be inspired by all the ingredients and make something fabulous!

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Aroma Festival

Last weekend was another beautiful winter's day. And on Sunday, we had a reason to go down to Circular Quay: the Aroma Festival! The Aroma Festival is mainly focused on coffee, but really anything that could show up in a morning tea break gets a showing. I went last year with from friends from work, and this year I dragged T along with me!

We headed over in the late morning after our Sunday Skyping was done. By the time we got there, it was pretty crowded!

And it was warming up nicely, which meant that one of us made for the shade anytime he saw a chance.

There were tons of fun booths to check out. Lots of them were selling coffee and tea. And a fair few were selling tasty-looking treats.

There were also plenty of food trucks, like this cute one that had a bandstand on top.

We opted for some nachos. And a seat in the shade of course. =)

We wandered through all the booths, checked out $1,000 espresso machines, and watched some performers. It was a lovely way to spend part of our day!

 

 

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