19 August 2009

Aqua Dining!

Wednesday evening 12 August 2009

Since I practically fell asleep on the drive home from Watson’s Bay (how did Shelley know? Maybe because I stopped talking!) we decided to take a little rest before dinner. I set my phone for about 20 minutes, fell sound asleep, woke up when the phone rang, turned it off, and rolled right back over! Then I woke up about five minutes after we were supposed to leave… Thankfully, Shelley had also gone straight to sleep (even though she was ready on time…) and we left only about 15 minutes after we planned.

I was really excited about our dinner plans – we were dining at an especially nice restaurant called Aqua, which overlooks the North Sydney Olympic Pool and has a stunning view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, AND we were meeting some of the Digital Divas – Jenny MacKay and Jan Vanderkop!! Also joining us were Jenny’s downline, Kerry Driscoll, and Shelley’s friend (and CMC) Ann Blythe. The restaurant was also adjacent to Luna Park, which is a waterfront (I’m talking PRIME real estate!) amusement park with some incredible lights! We met the other girls in the shadow of the grinning Luna Park sign and then walked upstairs to Aqua.

The joint was jumping! There were several large parties and the views were just amazing! Jan, Jenny, and I got the best seats (thanks, y’all!) and we had a blast there. The food was incredible!! In Australia, when it says ‘entrée’ on the menu, that would be appetizers, and then main courses are called ‘mains’. Dessert is dessert and that’s what I chose first! But back to our entrees… Shelley had a delicious warm salad of King Oyster Mushrooms and Girolles with asparagus, soft egg, parmesan, and truffle dressing; several people had pan-fried Yamba prawns with creamed leek, Persian feta, and salsa verde, and I had pan-fried, pancetta-wrapped Canadian scallops with pea puree and aged goat cheese sauce (YUM!) Of course, we had to have some champers (champagne), courtesy of Ann, and Jenny had brought a bottle of wine to share. For our mains, several of us had smoked King Island beef tenderloin on creamed spinach with celeriac puree and a porcini cream sauce, Shelley had grilled barramundi on braised baby lentils with winter vegetables and a shiraz jus, and Jan (I think!) had a prosciutto wrapped veal shank on Paris mash, winter broadbeans, and braising jus. Dessert was really tasty, too! Jenny and Jan had sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce, crème fraiche, and caramelised banana; Kerry and I had soft-centred dark chocolate and hazelnut pudding with rum and raisin ice cream, and Shelley and Ann had lime Baked Alaska with warm roast strawberries and orange zest. Is your mouth watering yet??? And then we even got Scott, the very tall, very good-looking server to come pose for a photo with me (you know, the crazy American). I told him I had a lovely tall daughter in Texas – he said that might be a bit far, but he was intrigued by her height! Sorry, Kim, I didn’t get his digits!

Once again, the ride home was very quiet as I was almost asleep – it had been a long, wonderful day, and I still can’t quite believe I’m really Down Under! I don’t remember getting into bed, but I remember it felt good to get a night’s sleep in a real bed!

Sated and satisfied,

Jan

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