WORLD COCKTAIL WEEK

My love of all things Merivale continues.
May 5 - May 13 www.merivale.com will be hosting various master cocktail classes at a range of their venues. Over 10 events and counting....

Magnificent 7 'Live' (above): is a 12 month search for the most talented bartender in the country. 7 competitors will battle it out in front of a live audience. Where: Ivy Main Bar Cost: Free When: Thursday 12 May 7pm


Cocktail Express! All aboard... Meet at the Cocktail Express Host at the Ivy Lawn pick up your tokens then enjoy canapes and cocktails at four selected city venues. Where: Starts from Ivy Lawn Cost: $65pp includes 4 cocktails & canapes When: Thurs 5 May and Tues 10 May 6-8pm


Cuban Rum Masterclass: Mixologist Mikey Enright and Havana Club Ben Davidson conduct run tastings before showing you the art of making Cuba's most famous cocktails like the Daiquiri and Mojito. Where: Pool Club L4 Cost: $65pp including 3 cocktails, Rum tastings and canapes When: Thurs 5 May 6pm - 730pm


Gin Masterclass: Learn more about the obscure juniper berries with expert mixologists. Where: Gin Garden Establishment Cost: $65pp includes 3 cocktails, gin tastings and cucumber sandwiches When: Wed 11 May 6pm - 730pm


My favourite ;) Tequila Masterclass: Tequila maestro Phil Bayly and Mikey Enright take you through the history of Tequila and cocktail making techniques. Where: Ms Gs Cost: $65pp includes 3 cocktails, tequila tastings and canapes by Dan Hong When: Mon 9 May 6pm - 730pm


Tiki Cocktail Class: Learn the art of making Pina Colada, Mai Tai and the ever deadly Zombie. Each student will make a classic Tiki cocktail with the best winning a Tiki drink set. Where: Lotus Potts Point Cost: $65pp includes 3 cocktails and canapes by Dan Hong When: Sat 7 May 6pm - 730pm


Russian Standard Vodka Masterclass: Learn about Russia's favourite spirit. Make Caipiroskas with seasonal berries and Asian fruits. Where: Ivy Terrace Cost: $65pp includes 3 cocktails and canapes When: Fri 6 May 4pm - 530pm


Whiskies of the world: What's the difference between whisky and whiskey? Chivas brand ambassador and Den's resident mixologist guide you through a tasting history from Scotland to Japan. Where: The Den Ivy Cost: $65pp includes whisky tasting, 3 cocktails and canapes When: Fri 6 May 4pm - 530pm

There are many more events, visit http://www.merivale.com/ for more information and join the fun! ;)

SUSHI CHOO @ THE IVY

The Ivy complex on George Street has some amazing restaurants, and has really come of age in the last 6 months. I was a hater for a while, but the love is there in full force! The quality of food has increased, the level of service and friendliness has also stepped up a notch. We visited Sushi Choo to try their $20 all you can eat Sushi Train. Available for Lunch 12 - 1pm and Dinners most nights from 530 - 7pm (not bad!). The food was SO fresh and so tasty, and I definately made a substantial effort in consuming as much sushi as possible within the hour period ;) $20 my verdict this is fantastic and I will be supporting this ongoing!

FINDERS KEEPERS MARKET AUTUMN/WINTER 2011

The next Sydney markets will be Autumn/Winter 2011 from Friday 20th to Saturday 21st May ;) I missed out on the last markets so there is no way I will miss out this time!!!

They are held again at the grand CarriageWorks in Sydney's inner west. Showcasing over 60 up and coming designers and artists.

Details: Friday 20 May 6pm - 10pm. Saturday 21 May 10am - 5pm. CarriageWorks 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015. Entry is free with limited capacity. For more info visit http://www.thefinderskeepers.com/sydney_markets.php

MELBOURNE IN 36HRS!

We had the most magical 36 hours in Melbourne. Limited cash and time definitely does not equal limited experience. Hubby and I set the standard for future Melbourne travels! We arrived mid morning about 11am and headed straight to our hotel. The Park Hyatt is divine, from the rooms to service, everything about it was perfect, normally expensive but if you visit http://www.lastminute.com.au/ you can grab some great deals. I believe it’s the best hotel in Melbourne other than the Crown Towers http://www.crowntowers.com.au/ and Langham http://melbourne.langhamhotels.com.au/ , our priority is always a great pool and the Park Hyatt http://www.melbourne.park.hyatt.com/ has the best pool of any hotel I’ve seen (with exception the enormous pool at Crown Towers).

After checking in and relaxing for a minute, we walked 10 mins down the road to Federation Square http://www.fedsquare.com/ and headed for the “Disney - Dreams Come True” Exhibition at ACMI http://www.acmi.net.au , I’m a massive Disney fan, and this certainly didn’t disappoint, and in fact small glances to hubby’s face indicated he wasn’t hating it as much as I thought, so must have been good ;)

After the exhibition it’s now about 1230pm and we are starving!! We were going to go to Movida Next Door (directly across the road) http://www.movida.com.au/next_door.html

but decided to head around the corner to CODA http://www.codarestaurant.com.au/ , the food here was so delicious. The combination of Asian and Mediterranean was a bit confusing for my brain and taste buds but we managed, the excellent margaritas certainly helped. The Sugar Cane Prawns sticks below were awesome!

Lunch lasted a good couple of hours, and we decided to head back to Federation Square and pick up some of the Melbourne’s new innovation the free/public shared bikes http://www.melbournebikeshare.com.au/ what a great concept, if you only use them for 30 mins it’s free, so you can ride from one station to another and as long it’s within 30 min timeframe it’s FREE. Otherwise you are charged $2 p/hr which is pretty great value. There are bike stations through out the city and plenty of cycle tracks, we decided to cycle around the botanical gardens and head all the way back up to our hotel near Parliament Square.

for a swim and a rest… big night ahead of us! About 6pm we booked ourselves into Der Raum in Richmond (about 15 mins by Taxi from CBD) http://www.derraum.com.au/ strongly recommend booking, the owner has I believe worked under Hester at Fat Duck in London, knowing that we were prepared for a mad scientist kind of vibe. It was definitely an experience, with flames, foam and flavours you can’t explain it was amazing but the prices of cocktails were pretty steep at $25 per glass. Recommend to experience at least once, maybe as a first stop then head off.

We caught a cab back to the CBD and headed to my favourite place COOKIE http://www.cookie.net.au/ , what a FUN place!!! Three levels of bar, eatery and clubbing options - It was full on, so busy, we arrived about 830pm and lucky for us I booked in advance otherwise forget about getting a table to eat for at least 3 hours. The food is sensational we had Lotus Root salad, some Pad Thai and some Taro dumplings, plus of course a hundred cocktails YUM!!! But the mission is to keep going so we ate, drank and left.

Next stop - The Emerald Peacock http://www.theemeraldpeacock.com/ we decided to only stick our nose in the door to check out venue then move on, beautiful and great vibe but we had so many more places to visit. We ended up at SWEAT SHOP http://www.sweatshopbar.com.au/, actually we were looking for Seamstress http://www.seamstress.com.au (which we find out is upstairs, but the bouncer suggested we’d probably like Sweat Shop more which is down stairs). He was right, best cocktail of the night PORNSTAR SPIDER vanilla vodka, passionfruit, lemon, with ice cream topped with creaming soda and just to mix it up, a GLOW STICK… naturally the glow stick travelled with me for the remainder of the evening prompting questions like “What rave did you go to ;P” Great place, great music, great cocktails, well priced, awesome vibe – we’ll be back!

OK so we are pretty ‘happy’ at this point, and want to visit SO many more places, on the list include Longrain http://www.longrain.com.au , 1806 http://www.1806.com.au/ & The Croft Institute http://thecroftinstitute.net/

but we end up at GINGER BOY http://www.gingerboy.com.au/ WOW, so sad we don’t have more time in Melbourne to eat here constantly what a highlight, at this point we order a couple of cocktails that blew our minds and a few dishes to compliment. We order the smashed papaya salad, the coconut rice and a few others. The cocktail was amazing but a killer you better love your chilli – THAI MOON smashed coriander & ginger, fresh lime juice, gula Melaka, chilli vodka lots of it, liquor 43 and lots of ginger ale – AMAZING!!!

So the night is still young at about 2am – we head for SIGLO, open roof top bar of the Melbourne Supper Club. This one is tricky to fine, on Spring Street. The bottom floor is The European http://www.theeuropean.com.au/ enter the bar via the hidden door on the left, which takes you to level 2 which is Melbourne Supper Club. Wait there until you are allowed to head up to the roof top which is SIGLO – glorious view, paris like atmosphere with eclectic crowd, great wine list and for me Croque Monsieur (minus the ham)!!! This ends the first day in Melbourne ;)

Second day (can you believe it) after a big sleep in, we head to 65 Degrees café http://www.65degreescafe.blogspot.com/ for the best coffee in Melbourne, numerous awards, and I love my smashed avocado, lemon and fetta breaky!

After breaky, we meet up with our gorgeous friends Drew and Mad and head down to Degraves Street, a funky little alley way with cafes, wine bars and great shops http://www.degravesstreetonline.com/ sat ate, drank…. After a sad farewell, we head up to meet another friend at her café called Self Preservation http://www.selfpreservation.com.au/ , a beautiful café combining jewellery, art and coffee – I had a beautiful beetroot and goat cheese salad… highly recommend.

Now it’s about 445pm, our flight leaves at 8pm and we desperately want to check out one last place MAMASITA http://www.mamasita.com.au/ and you know what, we are SO glad we didn’t miss this place. The best Mexican we have had outside of America. Of course we drank many margaritas, then for the main meals we ordered: Ceviche de Yucatan (Market fish with green tomato, chilli, mint, lime & coconut milk), Tostaditas (de Cangrejo - Crab meat, avocado, cucumber, tamarind mayonnaise & habanero), 3 Tacos (grilled fish, marintated prawns and black bean) and lastly Ensalada de Quinoa (Quinoa, corn, spinach, coriander, chilli & ‘pico de gallo’)

If there are only two places you go to eat/drink - don't miss Ginger Boy and Mamasita!! Clear highlights of the trip... til next time Melbourne!