Craving

A burger. Most especially a cheese burger with bacon from GBK, a hamburger chain in the UK. An order of their chips with smoked chilli mayo and an Oreo shake. Why do I torture myself like this?

Moving

I received my visa the other day without any complications. We heard many horror stories from others but things have worked out well for us. Up till now anyway. We are hoping to be in Riyadh by the beginning of next month, wish us luck! I'm glad that Husband isn't here at the moment, he loves to hoard and I love to throw. I can leisurely sort through stuff without him yelling, 'No!' every time something goes into a garbage bag. Let the packing begin!

Eat, eat, eat

I am back in Ulm after almost a month in Sydney. How hard it was to tear myself away from the blue skies and ocean and come back to the snowy whiteness of Ulm. It is pretty here though, just freezing and a high risk of slipping when you venture outside for a walk but lovely nevertheless. Christmas in Sydney was warm and full of food. In fact eating is pretty much all we did and I am not sad about that. Food is such an important part of holidays for me and there were so many Sydney specialities that I had been craving, I didn't even attempt self control. It was an eatathon without exaggeration, the type of eat fest that leaves you quite satisfied that no stone was left unturned, no craving unmet, for after all, who knows when I will visit again? It was with this mindset that we began our break and with lobster in XO sauce that we ended. Yum.

If I cast my mind back, I can offer you an overview of all this consumption. We started the trip with a family gathering where very delicious smoked salmon was served, that was a highlight. We went out for fancy Indian food. Then there was Hong Kong style crab in Ashfield. There was a sushi train making the rounds somewhere in there, the food I miss most in Ulm. An amazing meal and I am talking great here, at Restaurant Balzac. Prawns kept popping up everywhere, which isn't unusual during summer in Sydney. Mangoes. Avocados. Asparagus on the BBQ. Pink MOET on my birthday. Ho mok, ho mok, ho mok! I only ate it once but trust me, it deserves three mentions.

But it wasn't all just thoughtless gorging, there were some more meaningful moments too. Meaningful eating moments that is. My sister treated our family to lunch at the restaurant where Husband and I were married. The food didn't let us down and we were equally impressed by the service, the waiter remembered our event and we were able to reminisce on a few of the more interesting moments. Even better than that, was the panna cotta I ordered for dessert. Oh my, if only words could describe! We tend to share dessert in my family as we are all usually stuffed from the previous courses but I tried my very best not to share the panna cotta and they were, bless 'em, very understanding about it.

Then there was the icing on the cake moment, which actually was a cake. Not just any cake, but the very same raspberry and hazelnut cake that was the middle tier of our wedding cake. Baked as a gift by the very same friend just so we could enjoy a trip down memory lane. It was sliced at the thinnest and eaten like gold by my very, very appreciative family.

Are you getting hungry yet? I am.

Christmas was a time when I realised how lucky we really are to be able to indulge ourselves the way we do, flying to Sydney to be with family is in itself a luxury and I have to say that just vegemite on toast or crumpets and honey are enough to make me feel like I am in Sydney. And my wok frozen to the balcony is enough to make me feel like I am in Ulm. Welcome back. Take a look.