Food Friday 15 – Not your Maurchan Ramen, Red Bean Fish Ice Cream, and Food Court Finds

A good Sunday night dinner seemed like the perfect way to ease into the work week so Ethan and I headed to Chijmes in search of a good restaurant.  Yes, that’s Chijmes with a “j”, it seems silly but let me explain.  It is a former Catholic convent that was known as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ).  The building has gone through renovations throughout its 100+ years of existence and all the while housed orphans, school girls, and acted as a refuge for women.  It’s last religious service was held in 1983 and has since been deconsecrated and the convent was closed.  Since then it has become a plaza with restaurants, retail outlets and courtyards.  It is also an event space that holds weddings too. 

Have I bored you with the history lesson?  Basically it used to be a Catholic Church/Convent/School and is now a place to go for great restaurants.  (And you architecture junkies can enjoy the beautiful architecture of the once church while you're there too).  And so the whole thing with the j in Chijmes is because it used to be the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus and so when they called it Chijmes they kept the j in there for historical reference. 

Australia Part 4 - Coastal Walk and Farewell

Surfing at 630am meant that the rest of the day could be spent chillin on the beach.  Lucky for us, the rain and cloudy weather during our surf lesson passed through and we had some nice sun for the rest of the day. 

Looks just like my surf pictures...hah!

Australia Part 3 - Catching my first wave

As a beach girl at heart it didn’t take me too long to drop my bags and head out for Bondi Beach after we arrived at our Airbnb stay.  Though it was overcast and kind of chilly, I still enjoyed sitting by the ocean, listening to the waves, digging my toes into the sand, and reading a book. 

                 

Australia Part 2 - St. Marys, The Rocks, and Airbnb

Alright back to the recap of my trip to Sydney, here comes part two.

The day after Christmas was beautiful and sunny!  It was the last day we’d spend in downtown Sydney so Ethan and I decided to go for a longer walk around.  Of course no one told me that the day after Christmas in Australia is like Black Friday in the US!  As we first headed towards Martin Place, it was a quick greeting to the shopping madness going on.  There were lines for days going every which way.  Luckily we made it out of the crazy shopping area and then headed towards Hyde Park and St Mary’s Cathedral.  St Mary’s was beautiful and had a lovely manger scene outside as well.  It brought me back to the lovely cathedrals I’d seen on my trips to England and Italy. 

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve started with a half day of work that was crazy busy due to the year end closing (life of a finance person).  While it was nice having so much to do that made the 5 hours in the office fly by, I probably could have used the other half of the day to really get some things done.  But in the end, I gladly welcomed the extra time to chill out in the afternoon before the nights festivities.