A LUNAR new YEAR FOOD TOUR, much more DUMPLINGS as well as HYDRAFACIAL: THE supreme SKIN treatment

Whenever Christina as well as I look for stories, we typically always try to produce that mix of travel, food, culture, venues as well as lifestyle.

I believe we’ve hit the bullseye with this one.

This edition likewise has a great deal of firsts for us. Our very first (extended) go to to Wollongong, our very first vegan yum cha, our very first time to Hurstville as well as my very first cosmetic facial treatment. 

We hope you delight in this regular Edition.

Cheers  – Jim & Christina xx

We’re quite thrilled today – we’ve got a lunch date! This is Bodhi, a yum cha restaurant in the park behind the St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

It’s a gorgeous area best in cook as well as Philip Park, as well as truly distinct – not just since there aren’t numerous (or any?) other yum cha al fresco locations in Sydney.

Everything they serve right here is vegan!

And here’s our lunch date: on the left is Jarrod as well as Brooke from the fantastic Nip of guts – a business championing the art of Australian craft spirits.

Behind the video camera is Kathleen, founder, designer as well as general brilliant of the brand.

Next to me is the outstanding Josh walker from Timboon Distillery in Victoria. His craft whisky is absolutely delicious. You can checked out much more about his Port Expression single Malt in our evaluation on the Nip of guts site here. 

Josh likewise has a cask-strength whisky – the Christie’s Cut, which is acquiring a genuine cult following, as well as has just recently released a peated whisky – the Timboon Smoky 1881 – a smooth, delightful whisky.

In truth Bodhi has a bottle behind the bar if you want to try some.

It’s fantastic to see everyone, however the food at Bodhi truly has distracted us all from our reunion. 

We work out in for a sustained eating frenzy, sampling so numerous of the dishes brought round to us by the beautiful personnel here.

This is radish cake, likewise called daikon cake, turnip cake as well as – in Singapore – carrot cake.

As we’ll discover later in the week, this is a conventional meal for the Lunar new Year, however I’ll seriously eat this any type of time of day, month or season. It’s delicious. None of the names it’s understood by truly do it justice.

Many of the dishes right here you’d expect to discover on the vegetarian menu of a yum cha restaurant, however these prawn gao ji are a genuine surprise.

We’re truly not sure these aren’t vegan, however the personnel all guarantee us they are. They truly do have the taste as well as structure of actual seafood, as well as they’re tasty too.

Before all of us depart, Kathleen orders a quick dram of Josh’s newest addition to Timboon Distillery’s armoury: the Timboon Smoky 1881. 

Josh has cleverly layered a level of peat to his whisky that adds a gorgeous savoury character as well as lengthens the flavour.

I believe our seperate expressions speak volumes: ever modest, Josh is quietly pleased, as well as I’m just in heaven.

Today, I’m being pampered by the great people of HydraFacial. It’s a therapeutic system that hydrates, nourishes as well as resurfaces the skin on your face, temporarily opening as well as irrigating pores . 

Because it does so much at once, a full HydraFacial treatment only takes half an hour! 

I’m laid out in my treatment chair while my therapist Peter applies the HydraFacial tool with its patented Vortex-Fusion action as well as MD HydroPeel suggestion to my face.

This ‘pen’ has three aspects to it. 

At its tip, there are holes within a spiral channel which pump serums, acids as well as nutrients into the skin. There’s likewise a vacuum that sucks whatever – including dead skin as well as impurities – away from the dermis.

Finally, the edges of the suggestion are graded to carefully exfoliate your skin as the pen moves over your face.

Those four bottles in the device represent the different stages of the treatment, which delivers things like glycolic, hyaluronic as well as salicylic acids, peptides, antioxidants as well as exfoliants deep into the skin. 

You can see the system explained as well as at work right here in HydraFacial’s video.

It’s not necessarily a comfortable experience, however it’s in no method traumatic either. I leave feeling totally rejuvenated. My skin looks as well as feels smooth, clean as well as so nourished, as well as the very best thing about it is it’s so quick.

The only problem: my deal with now feels a number of years younger than the rest of me!

Find the nearest center to you for your HydraFacial treatment here.

This evening, we’re extremely thrilled to be going to a pre-screening of a new Aussie movie.

Long story short is a charming comedy set by the beaches of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. 

Taking motivation from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Teddy (Rafe Spall) has a curse thrust upon him the morning after his wedding event that triggers him to leap ahead a year every few minutes.

As he speeds with his life, Teddy peeks the destroy triggered by his stuttering practice of wasting time as well as opportunities.

I’m not typically a fan of the romcom, however this – a tale of failure, epiphany as well as redemption (and of program love) – is clever, entertaining as well as truly well-performed. 

Don’t miss this one. as well as keep in mind to bring a tissue. Not numerous dry eyes leaving the cinema as the credit scores roll here.

Inspired by our buddy Lorraine from Not rather Nigella, I’ve taken myself to Rozelle to inspect out the work of Sir Reuben. You can see Lorraine’s Instagram publish that set me on this objective here.

I’ve got to say, I’m extremely pleased with this sandwich. It’s been as well long because my last reuben as well as this poor young boy is certainly the method I wished to get back on the horse!

This is just their traditional reuben sandwich however the menu has tons of other options, including a great looking schnitzel sandwich as well as a pork roll on Turkish bread too. inspect out the Not rather Nigella evaluation of Mr Reuben to see what I’m speaking about.

Their coffee is fantastic as well by the way.

We’re in Wollongong this weekend! Amazingly, this is the very first time we’ve been right here for any type of length of time as well as you understand what? We’re pleasantly surprised.

Our buddies have just moved up right here from Melbourne as well as they’re having a birthday celebration for their sons. It’s the ideal reason for us to find down as well as have a look around.

First stop: our buddies take us to a new brewery that’s just opened nearby. In fact, this location is so new, it hasn’t got any type of beer yet… well, not its own beer.

The menu of the dirty Lizard Brewing Co is still replete with some great Aussie brews worth trying. 

The brewery’s namesake – a spectacular bit bearded dragon called Dustin – comes out every now as well as once again too. The owner had to get a little zoo licence to be able to have him here!

The licence is for 1-30 animals. question what the other 29 will be.

Anyway, I’m truly looking ahead to them getting their own beers on tap though. view this area closely. I reckon it’s going to be brilliant.

We make our method down to the water (it’s awful however I didn’t even realise that Wollongong’s city centre was so close to the beach!) as well as are welcomed to this scene.

Wollongong’s harbour beach feels much more like somewhere in Cornwall to me – the rocky harbour wall, the quite bit lighthouse as well as the calm seas. Lovely.

Even much more beautiful is the accomplishment that our friend’s mum, who’s Lebanese, brings along. She’s made my favourites (which is essential since today is truly all about me!): sfeeha – Lebanese empanadas, kibbeh (Lebanese meatloaf) as well as her special omelette. 

She’s likewise fried up some Lebanese breads into a type of bark, which is fantastic as well as worryingly moreish.

Love these bit cupcakes for the youngsters too. I’m not enabled any type of though.  however that’s ok. There’s lots of kibbeh. 

The park in front of the harbour beach is the ideal bit area for our birthday party. It’s great to hang out with these men as well as celebrate with them. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be in Wollongong a great deal more.

Today we’re joining a walking food trip of Hurstville to check out the riches of east Oriental food offered in this southern Sydney suburb.

The trip is with taste cultural Food Tours, a charity as well as social business recognized to develop connections across cultures with food.

All income is invested into the neighborhood you go to or the taste excursions guide training Program, aimed at young people, new migrants, refugees as well as asylum seekers.

Taste cultural Food excursions has a number of suburbs around Sydney to check out with food.

Check them out as well as book your trip here.

Our trip corresponds with the Lunar new Year, so our guide Patrick has tailored the trip to show us much more of the culture of behind this essential date in the calendar.

We won’t be disclosing any type of venues of the trip here, as that’s the task (and surprise) of taste cultural Food Tours. however right here are a few of the things we try on our route. 

These tasty dumplings are a northern Chinese style, denoted by the much thicker skins as well as utilize of lamb for the filling. These dumplings are generally part of the new year events as well as are a essential on the table. 

They represent an historic moment when a lord of a northern Chinese village prescribed dumplings secretly full of special herbs to remedy villagers’ frostbite.

It magically worked, so now dumplings look like ears – as well as silver ingots for a great determine of prosperity.

Also conventional for the Lunar new Year is radish cake (which we likewise ate at Bodhi I pointed out earlier). This dense, chewy crispy-edged cake is made of daikon radishas well as served with a tasty chilli soy sauce.

I might eat this all day.

Our outstanding guide Patrick brings us these exquisite egg custard tarts, likewise a conventional wonderful at the Lunar new Year feast.

These sumptuous snacks are made with layer upon layer of thin-rolled flaky pastry as well as full of eggy custard – you can only truly eat one of these, however you want to munch on more.

I provide poultry feet a opt for the extremely very first time and am pleasantly surprised. much less bony as well as cartilaginous than I was expecting, as well as the sauce is excellent. 

In the Lunar new Year traditions, it’s prominent to eat the whole poultry with an emphasis on the head as well as feet, which symbolises unity. 

In the exact same restaurant, we’re provided with this strange-looking thing. It’s a walnut bao – distinct to this restaurant as well as specially produced Lunar new Year. 

Boa are available in numerous shapes as well as forms, in some cases rather ordinary as well as boring. however this one, shaped like a walnut as well as coloured with ground walnut too, is rather the opposite.

As you bite into the soft squishy dumpling, you find a rich, gooey wonderful filling – it’s creamy walnut syrup. This is like eating the very best Ferrero Rocher you’ve ever had!

It’s been a interesting trip that’s showcased some genuine food gems hiding in ordinary sight. We’ve tried food we’d never typically even believe about ordering, as well as have grown a deeper comprehending of what occurs in as well as around Lunar new Year.

Thank you Patrick as well as the taste team!

We hope you’ve delighted in this regular Edition. See you once again soon.

Jim & Christina xx