Week 6 - Meals with Friends

It's funny how once you know exactly when you're leaving, every day until then suddenly becomes so much more precious. So both because I only had two weeks left in the office and because I'd hung out with my coworkers enough times to call them friends, I got to enjoy some seriously great meals this week.

For lunch one day, Compliance and HR joined forces to explore Bar Cycle an Austin-esque bike shop/Italian restaurant right on the harbor.

Spaghetti lunch

cafe in a bike shop

pedal while you drink at the bar

my lunch

Later that week, I met up with my American friends, who recently returned from a trip to Portugal, for a very belated Oktoberfest. Finding German themed snacks at the grocery store was far too challenging, so we drank German beer and wine and dined on authentic Australian snacks. Wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce, meat pies, and sausage rolls. But we had good German mustard and Bavarian cheese!

our feast

New friends! Who knows where we will meet again!

the view from Nina's rooftop

loving the rooftop views

One huge difference between America and Australia is the style of coffee. Australians take their coffee very seriously. More than Portland, Austin, Seattle, or any coffee-loving town. Even after six weeks, I haven't fully figured the menu out. But here's what I do know:

• Long Black = as close to American black drip coffee as you'll get, except it's far stronger, richer, and bolder. This is usually what I order from coffee shops first thing in the morning.
• Flat White = a shot or two of xoffee with warm, frothed, milk. Sort of like a latte in the US but in a smaller cup. I'll order a skim flat white around 9 or 10am, after I've already had my first cup of the day.
• Cappuccino = similar to that in the US except here they will only put foam in it and dust the top with cocoa powder. And it's in a smaller cup. This is my afternoon goto and I will really miss it. Beautiful latte art below from the coffee shop in our building, Espresso Room.