Sunset Sessions: Fort Denison!

Although I have been living in Sydney 6 months, I am constantly being a tourist in my own city. Looking for any opportunity to do something crazy or different. And Fort Denison is a great example of this.

On the train ride home, I was reading the Newspaper about Sunset Sessions at Fort Denison: every Friday and Sunday until the rest of the summer, Fort Denison would hold Sunset Sessions where you could Water Taxi out to the Fort and sit around enjoying cocktails and food while watching the sunset over the Harbour and listening to a Jazz band play. How could I resist?!

So I got 3 of my girlfriends together, put our sundresses on and had a great time!

Fort Denison was used in the early days of settlement in Sydney as jail for the convict population. During the mid 19th century a Fort was built on the island to protect Sydney Harbour. There is so much history on the Fort, and the best part was that we got to walk around and read all about - with wine in hand!

Stockton: Tin City, Sand Dunes and Shipwrecks!

Miles (or Kilometers!) of Sand Dunes, as far as the eye can see...

The closest to what I imagine a dessert to look like with hills of sand but then all of the sudden beautiful beach (a mirage?! nope just ocean).

This place seemed like it would only exist in a movie. But instead it is real, Stockton is a great beach town with amazing sand dunes and much history. Some friends and I went out to the sand dunes to do a bit of 4-wheel driving as well as a bit of sun baking and swimming off Port Stephens.

But the added reason for the adventure was the Signa, an amazing shipwreck that is only accessible from the sand. The Signa was a 53,000 ton Norwegian coal ship that was beached during a major storm in 1974 and the wreck has become an icon and landmark for the local area. It has completely rusted over, but still has this majestic look.

The other amazing thing about the sand dunes is Tin City, a virtual city in the middle of the dunes of 10 or so tin houses.These tin houses were actually built during the great depression of the 1930s. During World War II the houses were torn down so the land could be used for an Army camp, but were again rebuilt after the war was over. Just in case it looks familiar.... Tin City was used for several scenes in the 1979 movie Mad Max. Being a child of the 80s I seem to have missed this gem, but apparently it is the claim to fame!

Such a cool place so neatly tucked away among the dunes.

Hunter Valley Day 1: The begining

I realized that I just have way too much to say about the Hunter this trip to keep it to one post.

So please get comfortable because you are going to be here for a while (I'm talking to all two if you who read this--hi mom!)

In all of my previous trips to the Hunter, I have for many reasons kept it to one day. This time because I had the luxury of the weekend, Alex and I decided to head up for a two day adventure.

Upon arriving in the Hunter we were hit with our first major dilemma: check into the hotel or hit Peterson House winery?--Thankfully not all problems in life are hard to solve and we quickly hit Peterson House for Oysters and sparking wines!

From Peterson House we made our way to the Hunter Valley Cheese Shop (a bit of food in the tummy), Tamburlaine (an organic winery), Tulloch, and Peterson's where we finally came to a halt at closing time-- around 5pm.

We figured we did as much damage as we could without missing our dinner later-on that night and because Alex was the driver, I had the job of making sure his glass was empty as well so I was a bit tuckered out by 5!

Upon checking into our Hotel (The Leisure Inn) the ladies at the front desk mentioned something about Christmas Lights. Now, being that we are just starting summer here and the day sat somewhere around 93 degrees. It was hard to think about Christmas even if it was Novemeber--but the idea of half a million Christmas Lights spanning the Hunter Valley Gardens did have us a bit intruiged.

So after a wonderful dinner, two martinis and more wine later... we deciede to WALK to the Gardens before it shut down for the night. Not knowing what to expect, we thought there may be a few strings of white lights over some shrubs and perhaps some Christmas carols to go along with it.

I have never been more wrong in my life (well maybe a few times, but for context in this story lets just say "never in my life")

There were thousands upons thousands of lights covering the entire Gardens, each area of the Garden having a different theme and music, from Storybook land, to Aussie land, each area's lights and displays worked in harmony to make a spectacular display. We even got to take our picture with Santa! There were even dolphins and a fishing Santa in the lake sitting just below the waterfall and a light-created Harbour Bridge! (see video)

It will be my first hot Christmas season here in Sydney and this was definitely a way to kick it off--wine all day, Christmas all night!

Hunter Valley Day 2: The Conclusion

After passing out at 10:00pm from a long day of arduous wine drinking. I was ready to get back in the saddle for day two!

After breakfast, we decided we should perhaps drive down to the information center and get a map! Novel idea one day later. After getting our map we headed to Pigs Peake. This had been a recommendation from a "mate" of Alex's and as it turned out, one of the wine makers there was actually someone we had run into the day before! It was meant to be. And to top it off, they had an amazing Zin! (Zinfandel is few and FAR between here in Australia, so it is very rare to find it, and when you do its even rarer to find a good one.) Our day was off to a good start!

After Pigs Peake, we headed to Binnorie cheese shop, to meet up with Alex's Dad and Stepmom, Lavinia. We did a bit of tasting then headed off to lunch at Amanda's on the Edge. More wine with our amazing lunch, and a quick look around the grounds on another 95 degree day!

We then headed just up the road to Windsons Edge in search of a wine we had a lunch. (A sparking Verdelho) Although they didnt have the one from lunch they did have an amazing Port, which when we arrived, they were just waxing (adding the wax over the cork)

Of course, I asked if I could give it a go, and she said yes! So I ended up getting to wax a few bottles of Port! (If you go, you can probably find the one I did, it isn't quite perfect...I think I need a bit more practice...) But Lavinia thought it would only be fitting for me to keep my first bottle, and got it for me as a gift! Once I had done a bit of wine bottling, we ended our trek with Sandalyn in Lovedale, where we were able to find the Sparkling Verdelho from lunch and a couple of amazing olive oils to boot!

Leaving the Hunter after two days of wine and food was rough, but I know I am going to sleep very well tonight with a sparking Rose and a Port tucked nicely under each arm.

Melbourne Cup, a day of races!

Melbourne Cup is unlike any other Horse Race. Kentucky Derby has nothing on it. When the horse race is on, the nation stops. Our agency along with the rest of Australia stopped work and started partying around 1pm, 2 hours before the big race. In Melbourne, the Cup is a recognized holiday; all establishments close down for the day in anticipation of the race and ensuing party.

I made the mistake of trying to go to the post office this morning before work, only to be turned away by a sign that read, "Closed for Melbourne Cup."

At 1pm, our agency stopped all work and had a BBQ in our upstairs bar, along with endless rows of Champagne, shots, and liquor. A bit after 1pm, the CEO who had just gotten back to the office from the client meeting, exclaimed, "I just get back to the office, and there are still shots on the table, what kind of agency is this?!" Shortly before throwing the neatly packaged shots into the crowd. Although the horse race itself is all of 5 minutes long, the party lasts all day and into the night. A good excuse to end work early and enjoy a day of fun.

The weather outside today was well into the 90s, making it a perfect day to be on the roof top of Ogilvy enjoying the sun and fun.

I had never experienced anything like this, and was so glad to be in Australia for the big race! An experience unlike any other.

An Aussie Halloween: A little bit of America

Halloween is not very popular in Australia. Too American for most people's tastes. Which when you get to know Aussie culture, this fact is quite a crack-up. Australians are very happy to have "fancy dress" parties for pretty much any other occasion, like a Wednesday for instance, however, when it comes to Halloween most cant be bothered. Because of this, I was only hours away from sitting at home in costume, sulking. Lucky for me, I invited myself to a fancy dress (costume) Halloween party and my costume got to see the outside of my apartment after all.

As many of the people at the party had never dressed up for Halloween, there were a lot of dark and bloody costumes, a few devils, and of course witches (pretty much the stereo type of Halloween attire) and then me.... the maid. The people at the party embraced the holiday and I almost forgot I was in Australia.

The funniest part of the night though, had to be when the mayor of the suburb we were in, showed up with his wife, and 7 month old daughter (all not in costume). After offering to hold the sleeping baby, I proceeded to try to have a normal conversation with him about everything from work to America. Only later realizing how ridiculous I must have looked standing there talking politics all while dressed as a french maid. I am sure he took me seriously!

But when all was said in done, I had a fantastic Aussie Halloween and was very lucky to be among some Australian's willing to give Halloween a go!

Night Noodle Markets!

As good as it sounds.

During the month of October Sydney holds it's fine foods festival, otherwise known as Crave Festival-- where almost every night/weekend there is some amazing food event happening. From Breakfast (Brekkie)on the bridge to special menus at restaurants, to fiestas and beer festivals.

This week and last have been focused on the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park (right in the main business district in Sydney) from 6-9:30pm the park is filled with food booths focused on Asia/Pacific cuisine along with matching entertainment and decor. Hundreds of tables sat below strings of "fairy lights" (white Christmas lights) and strings of red and multi-colored lanterns.

The group I went with decided the best way to attack the noodle markets was everyone go to a different booth and order 2 or 3 things and we would reconvene and share at our table (along with a few Aussie beers of course) So from calamari to garlic prawns, pad thai, chicken satay, red and yellow curries, dim sum, and turkish gozleme, we touched several parts of the world through our stomachs.

After dinner we walked through the park where listened to a guitarist play everything from Metallica to flamanco-style music as we walked through the open air art exhibition--where local photographs were displayed amongst the trees on huge canvases.

From the food to the art, I cant think of a better Tuesday night in Sydney.

Labour (yup with a 'u') Day Weekend: Hawkesbury River

Although I missed out on Labor Day weekend at home, I more than made up for it with Australia's Labour day weekend! (yup the Aussies spell it with a 'u')

I was invited to go houseboating on the Hawkesbury River, which is about an hour and a half north-west of Sydney city. The theme would be Woodstock anniversary, 10 girls, and lots of food and booze. Nothing better than hot weather and houseboating with a group of girlfriends, right?....Enter RAIN...and LOTS OF IT! The weekend forecast was decidedly a wet one.

We decided not to let a little rain get in the way of a great weekend. And because of the crappy weather most of the houseboats sat unrented, which allowed us to upgrade for quite a cheap fee! Now with our new huge boat we set sail along the river. Although it was storming, we spent a lot of time dancing outside on the deck doing what anyone else would do, rain dances. Days were lazy and filled with celebrity mags, girl talk, boy talk, board games, booze, bbq, and lots of dancing and laughing. Nights were filled with pretty much the same, lots of beer, wine and pre-teen girl games (hilarious to play now)

Our final day, the rain dances seemed to pay off and we had a beautiful sunny day, we bbq'd--finished the rest of the wine, and ate our lunch together on the top deck of our boat in the hot spring sun. Couldn't have asked for a better finish to the trip.

Toronga Zoo! And a Baby Elephant too!

Toronga Zoo!

Honestly, I didn't think I could be so excited to go to a Zoo, but guess what? I was. Toronga Zoo is one of Ogilvy's clients so being an employee we get free passes to go to the Zoo, and I was more than happy to use them. Just a short ferry ride out of Sydney Harbour, I was on a whole other plant. At moments, you can almost forget that you are in Sydney esp when you see all of the amazing animals, then you look up and see the Sydney skyline just above the Giraffes enclosure.

We started the day with the Giraffe's (my favorites!) where we got to listen to the trainer talk about the animals as they fed on carrots and eucalyptus leaves (see video) then we watched the Seal Show (awesome) then moved on to the Gorilla feeding, then to the baby elephant, the Bird Show, and then the sky-tram overlooking Sydney and the whole zoo. Go zoo big or go home.

The baby elephant was pretty special however, as it is actually Australia's first elephant born in captivity. His name is Puk Chai, which after looking up the meaning was quite dissapointed in the name... it means quite litterally 'Son'. Horrah Toronga for your baby elephant, but p.s. your naming conventions suck.

Festival of the Winds: Lets go fly a kite

Festival of the winds, hehe.

You can't tell me that you didn't laugh a little when you saw the title?!

Festival of the winds is not what every 10 year old thinks it is, it is a festival of kites as it is the most windy season here in Sydney. And by windy I don't mean cold, it was 30 degrees on Sat and Sunday this weekend, which is about 86 Fahrenheit or so. Not bad for the beginning of spring!

After heading down to Bondi beach, just a short walk down the road at an early 10am (it was already hot, so I had to get my sun-baking on early!) I was sad to see that the kites were not as plentiful as I had imagined (again like a 10 year old, when they say kite festival I immediately think A MILLION kites will be there) but luckily as the day progressed more and more kites came out.

The theme of the festival was "International" besides the hundreds of kites being flown (some professional some civilian) they had an international kite exhibit displaying kites from around the world, plus entertainment which included some folk dancing, Bolivian story telling dancers, and so much more. Plus, my personal favorite food stalls from around the world! yum!

After a day out in the sun, I spent the evening at Icebergs drinking and dancing. There was a great cover-band, and a 40 birthday going on, so it was my crowd! Lots of drunk crazy people, I even met my first Aussie celeb there, Dave Faulkner from the the Aussie Band Hoodoo Gurus, an 80's rock band! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kk3_FsqH3w (Please note, he no longer has the long flowing hair, it was short and balding...ahh would have loved to have met him 20 years ago!) so funny!

After the festival of the winds, I was quite winded, but well worth it!

Tea Party, Aussie Style...without Tea.

This was the first time I had been invited to a tea party since Kindergarten. Back then the tea was freshly steeped air, and cookies molded plastic that I may or may not have put in my mouth regardless of taste--just for effect. This time around, things were much different. Amen.

50's housewives was the attire, but besides jello there was nothing 50s about it. Ladies afternoon get-together filled with cakes, cheese, candies, brownies, tarts, and lots and lots of booze. I am starting to think that these Aussies have it all right.

I was invited to this little get-together by a co-worker who decided it would be fun to get some girls together for an afternoon of gab, snacking, and of course some libation. The setting was Rebbecca's backyard which was decorated with sweets, and doilies strung across the yard. The perfect setting for a tea party. After the wine, mojitos, sangria, and jello shots the chat flowed almost as easy as the drinks!

A perfect way to spend my Saturday afternoon on one of the first days of spring!

Jason lands in Sydey

Timing....it can certainly be a b*tch some times!

After weeks of interviewing and waiting another few weeks for each response, I didn't really give much thought to my interview with Ogilvy the day before Jason arrived (especially because they weren't even sure if they needed someone yet....) So the next day after I picked Jason up from the airport, I didn't know what to expect when my recruiter called, but as Murphy's law would have it, Ogilvy wanted me to start on Monday. Go figure.

So many of the things that I wanted to show Jason had to be squeezed into two weekends, the weeks he would get to explore the city himself, or lounge at the beach as he pleased. (Let me tell you it is very hard to work when you know your boyfriend is lounging at the beach and getting a massage while you toil away!)

But we made the most of it, and I am pretty sure I wore him out! From Bondi, Icebergs, to Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Botanical Gardens, Queen Victoria Building, Koala Park, Hunter Valley Wine Country, to the Rocks we saw Sydney at a ridiculous pace but still getting to enjoy each others company all the while. I am sure after the whirl-wind tours from me on the weekend he probably welcomed the break from me during working hours ;)

Although it was hard to see him go again, it was a great trip and I think now he has a better understanding of why I am here, and why I love Sydney so much. Hopefully the next time he comes back though we can just relax!

Employed! (Changes my whole blog profile doesnt it?!)

I guess the key question you are all asking: will I still be able to entertain you now that I am working?! Will all of the craziness come to a halt? No, don't you worry,after all I am still in Australia and as I am finding after completing my first week of work, these Aussies party both in and outside the office.

Case-in-point: Two main perks of my job, endless supply of Vegemite & booze. "Beerthirty" begins well, usually somewhere around 5:30pm at your desk when someone makes a run to our free bar upstairs and brings down bottles of wine and beer, but if its Friday, beerthirty is a bit closer to say, 1pm!

Also, another added perk: the bar upstairs on Fridays is catered by their client: KFC! Sure makes you feel at home when the Colonel arrives every Friday promptly at 5:30pm!

The work is very similar to what I was doing at home, and the people are great. I have a new nickname dubbed by the studio guys, "Shieldsy" though I am finding it sad that I cant even say my own nickname--it doesnt sounds as good with my American accent. But I am doing my best to educate our office on all things American, while they are doing their best to teach me some cool Aussie things, namely as of late, they are trying to instill in me that no one (except me) in Australia uses the word "super" I am trying to work on that one, but it comes so easily!

Hope I have a "super" second week....

The Perfect Sydney Day: Boats and Footy

I can't imagine what would be better than cruising around Sydney Harbour in the middle of winter with my bikini on and a beer in my hand?! It's a rough life I lead.

Saturday morning I met up with my Aussie mate Grant and some of his friends (his buddy just married an American so the bridal party was still in town) to hit the Sydney Harbour in his boat and just relax and cruise around the bay. We spent a good chunk of the morning just cruising around seeing the Opera House, Bridge and the city from some amazing water views, then for lunch we hit the Sydney Fish Markets (you can basically just park your boat and venture inside) Inside you can get raw fresh sushi, huge shrimp, oysters, and pretty much any other fresh seafood you can imagine and of course where there is fresh there is fried, so fish and chips and fried calamari abounded as well. We all ducked in, got a veriety of food and shared on the boat ...AMAZING... Some of the biggest freshest oysters I have ever had and most amazing peel and eat shrimp, all washed down with another good Aussie beer.

After a bit more cruising we docked and cleaned the boat, then Grant and I decided that it was a must to hit the Footy as there are only a few games left for the season. The stadium is in the old Olympic dome where the Sydney Olympics were held, and the match was Sydney Swans (super masculine name) vs. the Geelong Cats (I am thinking for such a manly sport they should really work on the naming) The game semi resembles soccer, football, and maybe water polo all combined. It was a super close game which I watched intently, and only partially because of the super short shorts.

After the game we hit the pub in the Olympic park to comisterate with the other Sydney fans over our loss. From Boats to Footy in one day... Fantastic!

Monet, and her white trash easel...

So, I have taken up painting. I have always wanted to do it and being that I have plenty of free time in the land down under, I decided that now was the right time to start. Plus if it turned out terrible I could trash it here, and no one in America would know any better. But really who knows, I could get good at this....?

So what did I need? A canvas, paints, paintbrushes, and an easel. After purchasing my small supplies I returned home. Where would I find an easel that I could afford, or at least cheap enough that I didn't feel bad leaving it in OZ? After much searching and thinking, I came up with a brilliant plan. I would use the ladder that has been in our living room for the last few days. Genius, yes. Slightly white trash, very.

The sad thing is that the ladder itself was not the most white trash part of this scenario. The trailer park part was that I couldn't figure out how to get the canvas to stay on the new easel. I needed something to tie it to the ladder, but with what? I had no string, no yarn, no pull- ties... but I did have a plastic bag. So I rolled that up and used it to tie my canvas to the ladder.

Oh yes, my white trash easel was now complete and I could begin. I didnt know exactly what I was going to paint, I had the colors I wanted to use and an idea, but as the painting progressed what I had in mind slowly evolved. I am calling it "Outback" (very original) but it does have hints of dessert and sand with a red sky. Take a look and maybe you'll see something different.

City to Surf

Good Morning Sydney! City to Surf runs from Sydney city (Hyde Park) to Bondi Beach (Home!) and is 14km long, or as you know it at home 8.7 miles. It is longer than Bay to Breakers, but much calmer! I only saw 6 racers drinking! It is far more serious, but still good fun! From rock and roll bands playing on the rooftops to a brass band playing in the bus shed, it was a a great way to see and hear Sydney. And don't worry the drinking comes after, and lasts late into the night!

I walked with my new flatmate Viola (from Germany) and our old flatmate (who is traveling to South America for a few months) Karen. We had a great time watching the people and getting to see Sydney from the streets. And as you can tell from the video above, there were quite a few people walking and running with us, about 100,000 to be exact!

After 3 hours and 8.7 miles of walking, we treated ourselves to sausages outside the North Bondi Surf Club. Although it was a delicious "snag" the best part was that there were two young gentlemen (one wihtout a shirt) whos sole job it was to put sauces on your sausage. HA! So I played the, "oh I am here from California can I take my picture with you?!" And they obliged. I am thinking that this would do very well in the states!

The rest of the afternoon involved beer, and lots of Aussie pub fun! Great day in Sydney.

Although there weren't very many costumes, the winners were hands down the "City to Smurfs!"

Homeward Bound: Bondi Beach

After about two weeks of searching, I finally found an apartment near the beach!

In just three days I will be moving into a 3 bedroom flat in Bondi with an Aussie girl and a German girl. We have already nicknamed our apartment the "flat of lonely souls" as all three of our boyfriends live in different countries. Lets just say there will be heaps of Skyping in this apartment!

It is about a 20 minute walk from Bondi Junction train station, but only about an 8 minute walk to the beach. The flat is eclectically designed (the couple whos room I am taking over are artists, one in photography the other does video production) from the moment I walked in it instantly felt like home, perhaps in part because of the resemblance to the wall color selection at la casa de John McEachron. Dad would love this place as not only do they share his love of bold color, but they also share his love of odd antique furniture (you know the type, the things that most of us dont see the beauty in until they are restored, but they recognize right away)

Once I saw the old restored china cabinet and the dark maroon bathroom I knew this was home.

Plus look at what is just down the road!? The beautiful Bondi Beach!

Blue Mountains in search of Christmas in July!

Dreaming of a White Christmas?! Well, sort of.

I went in search of "Yulefest" which is Australia's celebration of all things Christmas in winter (their July and August). Because their Christmases are anything but white, (its usually 100 degrees out when the holiday rolls around) they like to celebrate when its cold--enter Christmas in July.

The Blue Mountains are known for far more than just Yulefest, although admittedly that is what I was most excited about. Blue Mountains are probably best known for well, the "Blue Mountains", a range of mountains covered in slightly blue eucalyptus trees, and the Three Sisters at Echo Point. These "sisters" are three stone peaks (about 900 meters high each) and are thought to have been turned to stone by their witch-doctor father to protect them from an evil beast! And Katoomba (the city where the peaks are), previously a mining town, is also a Guinness World Record holder for the steepest railway at 52 degrees (doesn't sound like much but when you are 415 meters up in a rail car you would think otherwise).

Before we could hunt for our traditional Yulefest lunch, we went to see the Sisters and took the ever so steep ride down the canyon on the railway and gratefully came back up in a monorail overlooking the Mountains and the Sisters. Excited from all the site-seeing, I was eager to find my traditional Christmas lunch (pretty much what you think it would be: turkey with cranberry, roasted veggies, and some sort of bread pudding type dessert!)

But after finding out that the traditional menu is only served for dinner at all the restaurants I was a bit bah-hum-bug about this whole Christmas in July thing. Luckily, I was easily momentarily distracted by a pub lunch of Guinness Beef Pie! Then just when I thought I had lost all of my holiday spirit, Alex surprised me with ice skating! How festive! Although we were shown up by an 8-year-old with pink skates, we still gave that rink the best 10 minutes of our day.

I left Katoomba happy that I got to experience so much but also with the knowledge that I will return in search of my traditional Yulefest dinner....Bah-Hum-Bug!

Balls Head: Enough Said.

"Alight Here for Beautiful Balls Head" How can you look at a sign like that without giggling?!

Every day on the train I have passed this sign at Waverton Station, and although intrigued on my previous trip, I never ventured to the illusive Balls Head. This time I just had to see what Balls Head really was. Apparently Balls Head is actually named after a man, Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, Commander of the ship 'Supply' in the First Fleet of 1788. Balls Head was the original foreshore land included in the large Wollstonecraft Estate, which remained largely undeveloped at the beginning of the 20th century. It is now a reserve which contains many Aboriginal sites including archaeological deposits, art sites and rock engravings. (I saw none of these).

The Aboriginal name for Balls Head is "Yerroulbine,"definitely not as fun as Balls Head, but had to let you know for the sake of my historical documentation in this blog.

The reserve is now a lookout over looking the Harbour Bridge, pretty but definitely not as spectacular as the name itself. But none-the-less, please enjoy the view of Beautiful Balls Head.

Aroma (coffee) Festival at the Rocks: Thats a HUGE Schnitzel

Guess the title of this blog really doesn't flow but just trust me on this one, it'll all make sense....

But before I get into the blog, I must use some coffee jokes because well, because its my blog.

Like my men like I like my coffee, tall dark and hot!
What do you call a cow that just gave birth? De-CALF-inated! ha!

Okay, now that I've gotten those out of my system.... I had been looking forward to the Aroma Festival since I arrived in Sydney. It was an all day coffee festival that ran along The Rocks to Darling Harbour. Just the smell of the festival is enough to get you moving. The coffees were from all over the world, not to mention there was a selection of teas and chocolates to try as well. Ahh if there is a heaven on earth it is the aroma festival.

And what a better way to end the day than with a giant Schnitzel? Following the festival, we hit the Lowenbrau Keller (Bavarian restaurant) for some Polka and German eats (makes perfect sense to follow a day of coffee with Lederhosen doesn't it?! I told you the title would make sense!). I kid you not when I say that this was the biggest Schnitzel I have ever seen. Pounded flat and breaded-- I am pretty sure that it was an entire pig.... there are no jokes that would do this justice I'll just let the picture speak for itself. The jokes can follow later.

After eating this, well you are pretty much Schnitzeled(TM)
I am trying to bring the term "Schitzeled" to the states; for instance after a night on the town: "Man, that was a long night, I'm schnitzeled"

Use it, love it :)