My favourite Sydney pubs, in watercolour form - Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the things we've missed most about Australia is being able to go to the pub for a good meal and some relaxed drinks. I've always loved the look of Sydney's older pubs and decided to paint some of my favourites. I'm going to make this a two part series (or maybe more) because it takes a long time to paint these and I keep thinking of more pubs I like. 

Cooper's Hotel, King St Newtown

 I have to admit I've never been to the downstairs area at Coopers, we always head straight upstairs to the beautifully re-done bistro area. They basically demolished half the upstairs area but left the facade, so it's created a great walled-in courtyard above King St. They have nice pizzas here and a delicious Angus steak. I don't think the pub name has anything to do with Cooper's beer, but they do serve it so it seems like a good place to enjoy it. Also, Tranny Bingo on Monday nights! (I'm yet to experience that one).

The Courthouse Hotel, corner of Australia St & Lennox St, Newtown

Extremely popular for a good reason. The beer garden with its long tables and big frangipani trees is perfect on a summer afternoon and pretty good in winter too. Although the Courthouse always seems crowded, you can almost always find a table because there are so many different areas to sit. Food is good and the Courty burger is very popular.

The Erko (Erskineville Hotel), Erskineville Rd, Erskineville.

This was a 'new' discovery on this last trip and I'm putting it straight up into the top five. I don't like a lot of fanciness in a pub and the Erko is just the right kind of relaxed environment where it looks like they've made an effort, but you'd never feel underdressed or not cool enough to be there. We also met one of the nicest bouncers I've ever met, who did everything he could to make sure our group got a good place to sit. I haven't tried the food here yet but I've heard good reports.

The Hampshire, Parramatta Rd, Camperdown

I've ended up frequenting the Hampshire because it's a good midway point between our place and my friend's place in Annandale. It's also close to RPA where a couple of our friends work so it's a convenient meeting spot. There's not really anything fancy about the Hampshire but, as you can probably tell by now, that's the kind of place I like. The bartenders are always friendly and it's always quiet enough that you're pretty much guaranteed to win the meat raffle on a Friday night. They also now have a beer trio taster thing where you choose three beers to try and get a pony (a little baby beer glass) of each for $7 - good way to try some of the local beers they have.

Kelly's on King, King St, Newtown

Kelly's is yet another pub that has become a favourite purely by convenience. For three years it was the closest pub to our house so we went there a lot, and still do out of habit. I can't think of any unique redeeming feature apart from the fact that it's open very late and you're quite likely to be the coolest person there.

La Cocina de Tita Moning

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a walking tour of Intramuros, the historical heart of Manila. At the end of the tour, the guide told us about a special restaurant that served delicious home made Spanish food in an old historic mansion. We were told that they don't take walk-ins, you have to make a special booking - unless of course, we wanted to go that night. We thought it sounded interesting, so along with two other girls, we followed the lady dressed in a black & white maid's uniform to a van that would take us to the restaurant.

We figured, after doing the Intramuros tour, that the restaurant would also be in Intramuros, probably just around the corner. After driving for about ten minutes it became clear that we were leaving the walled city and headed across town. This was about the point we all started to question whether it was a good idea to get in a strange van without any idea of where it was going...

The streets started to get quieter and quieter until we ended up driving past a lot of big walls and gates with mansions behind. We even passed the Presidential Palace. We eventually pulled into a long driveway and drove behind the house to a beautiful outdoor dining area.

This wasn't even the actual restaurant - we were served drinks and hors d'ouvres and told to order our meal from the menu while they prepared the house for us - every group dining at La Cocina de Tita Moning gets a tour of the house!

The house was built in 1937 for the Legarda family.

Dr. Legarda's library

I loved all the old furniture in the house and it has been preserved very well by the later generations of the family, who still own the house.

Dr. Legarda's home clinic. The big black thing is an antique x-ray machine, and the skeleton is real, from the cadaver used by Dr. Legarda in medical school. Apparently in the old days, cadavers weren't provided to medical students by the university, students had to 'find their own'. I hate to think how that worked!

My favourite room was the girls' dressing room. Dr. Legarda's daughters were ballerinas and this room has been set up to display some of their costumes. I fell in love with this beautiful dressing table!

I love this lamp base decoupaged with old liquor bottle labels

This photo was taken looking from the living room to the dining room. We were asked to wait in the living room until our dinner was ready, and entertained ourselves looking at the family photo albums on the coffee table. I didn't take any photos during dinner because I never think to do that - the food was too good and we were loving the experience of being served delicious food in a formal dining room on family heirloom china and silverware. It was all so fancy!

It was a very surreal night. Not at all what we had expected to do for dinner that night, but everything was... delightful. Not a word I use often, but I think it perfectly describes our evening at La Cocina de Tita Moning. Delightful.

Ten Photos - June

Another post where I share ten random photos I've taken lately.

This is the river near my house. There are walking/cycle paths along both sides and I love going there in the late afternoon when everyone is out walking their dogs. It's a nice way to forget you live in a city.

I have so many photos of the opera house because I go past it on the ferry on the way to the zoo. Seems rude not to take a photo of some sort, everyone else is doing it!

Another ferry photo.

On the weekend we had a Queen's Birthday party. I love the Union Jack so I was a bit enthusiastic about the decorations! note my very special Royal Wedding tea towel hanging in the window!

Had a big sewing day yesterday working on Window Shopper bags. See the new blue colour? It has a bright orange print.

I love the look of my Bell Street labels all together and decided to store them in a glass jar so I can look at them more often. I think it looks nice!

I said in my last post that I don't usually photograph my food, but this salad was so amazing I had to take a photo to remind myself to make it again! It was grilled apples with lemon juice, bacon, blue cheese and chopped walnuts drizzled with honey. Yum!

Remember Steven Bradbury from the 2002 Winter Olympics? He won a gold medal in the speed skating when everyone in front of him fell over. Last weekend we discovered him at Perisher trying out the new ice rink at Smiggins with all the kiddies.

I recently started making popcorn the old-fashioned way (on the stove) and I'm immensely proud of myself! Have you ever mastered something really simple and felt like you're some kind of genius? just me? Popcorn makes a great sewing snack. I clearly made too much in this photo though, I have since gotten better at working out how much to make.

Vivid Sydney Festival

On Thursday night my boyfriend and I headed down to Circular Quay to check out the Vivid Sydney festival. I'd already seen a bit of it with my parents the week before but I wanted to return with my camera and show James. Of course it was all ridiculously hard to photograph, but that didn't stop everyone from trying! I felt like everyone there had a camera, and we were constantly walking into people's photos! It was kind of funny.

The projections on Customs House were absolutely amazing to watch but all look pretty boring in photos. I guess it's because the amazing part was the way it all moved and changed - if you watched it long enough, it looked like the actual building was breathing in and out, transforming itself, crumbling down and building back up again. Had to be there, sorry!

I'm surprised the Bridge didn't put up any party lights. Try harder next year, bridge (but don't worry, I still love you).

The projections on the Opera House were my favourite part. They kept changing and there were lots of different styles - I liked this psychedelic one best though. There was also a good one where the sails looked like rainbow fans, opening and shutting. I could have watched them all for hours!

There was a fire show set to Katy Perry's 'Firework' and Stravinsky's Firebird suite. It was basically just lots of fireballs. Kept us warm though.

We headed to the Australian Hotel for pizza. I didn't take any photos - I know photographing your food is some kind of blogger cliche but it never occurs to me. I just want to eat it! So you'll have to just trust me that the Peking Duck pizza is delicious.

Testing night photography skills while waiting for the train.

Vivid Sydney is on until Monday 13th June. If you go on the weekend, the Rocks Night Markets are on too. Check it out if you haven't already!

Ten photos

I take a lot of random photos that don't really fit in to any of my iPhoto events or blog posts - you know those photos you take when you're bored, or playing with your camera, the ones that just sort of sit by themselves in a lonely little folder and get forgotten about? I have so many of these that I decided I'm going to start putting them all in a folder together, and every time that folder gets to ten photos, I'll post them here. Ok? Let's do this.

My boss recently got back from Bali and gave me this cute beaded basket/box. When I was little I had a pair of shoes covered in sequins and beads like this!


I made meringues to eat while watching the Royal Wedding. Did you watch it? We were lucky in Australia that it ended up being on in the evening so we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night or miss it while we were at work. My mum and I were on skype the whole time so we could have a kind of long-distance wedding party!


This pink VW is parked in our street all the time, I'm not sure if anyone ever drives it. Perfect subject for the 'select colour' function on my camera!


I took a photo of this outfit as a kind of 'note to self' to wear more colour, more often. I love working with bright colours but as soon as the weather cools down I tend to go for navy, khaki or grey! Bright colours are so much more fun.


Whenever I remember I like to get a $5 bunch of flowers to have in the house. I think my big vase broke so these had to live in my red jug, but I think they suit it.


When Dad and I were in Japan we were shocked at the price of these Hina dolls we kept seeing in department stores. Mainly because we knew that I had a set at home! My 'Japanese Grandparents' sent them to me when I was two and thankfully my Mum recognised that they were special and didn't let me play with them! There is a bride and groom, little furniture for them to sit on, flower vases, lamps, a screen and a music box. They are given to little girls as part of Hinamatsuri or Girl's Day.


There is a new installation thingy at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. From the outside it kind of looks like a mound of dirt with some grass growing on it, but inside it is really light and tranquil and... hard to describe.


Right in the middle of the installation.


My dad loves to cook Japanese food and this time he really outdid himself! Edamame, yakitori, gyoza, Japanese pickles, miso and cabbage with tongkatsu sauce. Yum!


This little elephant had his first birthday in March and the zookeepers put on a little party for him. He got lots of boxes of bananas, big ice blocks filled with treats and a big shiny blue ball (inside the cardboard box). After about five minutes he was completely overwhelmed and stood next to the keepers while the rest of the heard enjoyed his presents. It was all very cute!