What's this?

9.30am this morning.

This is what I love about my city.

You just don't know what's around the corner.

When eating seafood - fresh is best

The Sydney Fish Market is a feast for all of the senses.

Its bountiful displays are amazing to look at, the happy sounds of people chattering and birds squawking as they choose their meal, and although the smell of briny seafood can sometimes be confronting (it is a working fish market after all), the taste of the freshest fish and shellfish you can imagine more than makes up for that.

The fresh catch is brought in daily - and sold to the wholesale and retail market via a dutch auction very early in the morning. I've been once - it's worth a look.

This seafood is then sent all over Sydney and the rest of the state- everyday of the week.

  

But the freshest you can get, unless you catch it your self-  is sold at the Sydney Fish Market.

Located close to the city centre, we like to go there regularly to buy fresh prawns (shrimp) and fish.  Not just for special occasions,  it's worth the trip to buy enough for a couple of meals.

Prawns and spaghetti one night. Crumbed flathead, gently pan fried and served with salad the next. 

Look at these shiny fillets - we like snapper, flathead, salmon and tuna (sometimes).

An array of wholefish with their clear and glistening eyes a sign of freshness

M once brought home a coral trout big enough to feed ten and there was just the 2 of us that night. 

He's not allowed to go on his own anymore.

Octopi tentacles are everywhere- if you like that sort of thing...

Oysters are shucked on the spot

To be enjoyed with lemon or a variety of tasty toppings

It's a popular place for lunch - people buy takeway from one of the 8 or so fishmongers and eat down by the waters edge.  

But be careful of the seagulls- they will take the food from your hands!

Farmers' Market city style.

Straight off the plane and the first thing M wanted to do was drop in to the Eveleigh Farmers' Market   on the way home.  

This very successful market with over 70 stallholders is held every Saturday morning in an old Blacksmith's workshop in Darlington (between Newtown and Redfern).

 A great use of space that would have otherwise been left empty and derelict.

Organic cheese, milk and yoghurt to sample.

Even the purple sausages are made with natural produce - in this case beets. Very tasty.

Lots of fresh produce, grown and sold by small scale family producers. 

We bought cavalo nero, dutch carrots, zucchini flowers, organic lemons, honey from the mid north coast, some thyme and mint, spelt bread and a fruit and almond loaf for breakfast.   

Having worked for a time trying to get a Farmers' Market established I know their challenges. 

In this case, with lots of  urban dwellers living nearby and in walking distance it provides fresh produce, small dairy cheeses, olive oils, meat and seafood along with some very tasty food to eat on the spot.  

If this was closer to us I know we would be there every Saturday.

My puberty blues

I grew up in Sydney's south, a short train ride to Cronulla Beach and the scene of 

my own Puberty Blues.

The only blues this morning were the sky and the water as I took a walk along the headland with my nephews N and L.

South Cronulla beach,  with  North Cronulla,  Elouera and Wanda in the distance

As they whipped along on their skateboards, I was able to take in the view and remember with mixed emotions the days I spent there in my teens, with the ocean a constant backdrop to my happiness and my agnst.

 Elouera Beach and the Wanda sand dunes, the surf, my first bikini, chocolate paddlepops, laughing with my girlfriends,  the Wall, the smell of coconut oil and coppertone, the slow trawl through the boutiques in the main street on our way home.

Just near here was where I had my first (and only) puff of a cigarette and a sip of beer and where my friends and I hung out - waiting to meet some of those surfer boys as they came off the beach.  The smell of marijuana in the air mixed with the salt of the surf.  California jeans, pale blue sloppy joes and hightop sneakers. That's what us girls wore.... no bare midriffs in the 70's!

This morning those  memories all came crashing back, as if it was yesterday not 4 decades ago.

My nephew asked me if I had ever done anything wrong when I was growing up.  

I said, "not really".

Up early

Woke at 4am for some reason -  read  in bed for a while (luxury) and after a cup of coffee and a bit of toast with honey to get me going I headed out for my morning walk. 

This intense grey, almost indigo, sunrise lit the sky and shimmered across the bay

From the top of the ridge.

A short walk down the hill and the beach was mine

The black bay of harbour water wasn't tempting me this morning - 

although the temperature was measured at 20C/70F.

Won't be long before I'm swimming in the mornings.

By the time I got home the sky was blue - it looks like being a beautiful day.

Quintessential Sydney

The Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House is one of those places that to me represents the best of Sydney tourism and hospitality.
On the forecourt of the Opera House - it is truly a place that is relaxed, welcoming and festive- where locals and visitors can mingle.

Whenever I used to walk past on my longer walk down to the ferry from the office in the late afternoon it always reconfirmed my feeling that if that if there was one place I would send a visitor to Sydney for a relaxed sunset drinks - it would be the place.
Overlooking the harbour with a direct and closeup view of the bridge - it doesn't get better than this.

Sunday lunch there today with my cousins K and P was everything I had anticipated

We shared a few plates and a few glasses of cold white wine and enjoyed the great atmosphere.

Prosciutto thin crust piza

Popcorn shrimp/prawn

Chorizo and white beans with salsa verde

Our conversation covered our lives, shared memories and family stories.

The sun was gentle, the breeze soft and the air full of laughter.

A trip home on the ferry reminded me to take the time to look around and appreciate the beautiful city I live in

Beautiful Sydney.

Mango season has arrived

It's mango season!

Mangos are not local to the Sydney region- but are grown further north

These are from the Northern Territory

At the moment they are in supermarkets and fruit shops everywhere.

Yesterday I bought 4 for $5 at the fruit stand near Wynyard Station in the city.

I have cut this one for breakfast- and the juice is running all over my hands and down my chin.

Summer is on its way!