Vivid Sydney 2010 - Macquarie Visions

This entry had been in my drafts section for two months but I haven't had time to properly post it until now.  I almost didn't post this but these photos were a result of a few winter nights of my Husband and I's adventure during the Vivid Sydney held this year.

For this year's Vivid Sydney, the stoic Macquarie Street of Sydney lit up into an art gallery from 5:30pm onwards. 

One Thursday evening of June, we trooped down to Hyde Park and started off taking photographs of the Hyde Park fountain enveloped in blue lights.

The Macquarie Visions is a celebration of 200th anniversary and story of two visionary leaders, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth.

The story started at St. Mary's Cathedral - "Designing the Nation" - which depicted the arrival of the Macquaries in 1810. 

 

 We only had one tripod with us so all my shots were hand held. 

I had to lie on the ground (boy was it cold!) in order to get decent shots such as these.

 
First time that we saw the St. Mary's Cathedral all lit up so we had a souvenir shot before we left.

Second stop was at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum - which depicted the Australian tradition of a "Fair Go" originated from Governor Macquarie's practices.

Tried to be creative with The Downer Macquarie Arch by playing with my camera's shutter before taking photos of the light show of the Barracks Museum.

The Downer Macquarie Arch symbolises the greatest achievement of Governor Macquarie--the building of roads to Blue Mountains.

Even the gate of the Barracks Museum were lit up.  It was a cloudy night which added more character to our photographs.

This was the Barracks Museum.

Third stop was the Sydney Mint - "Common Wealth" -  Governor Macqaurie introduced coinage to Australia, forever changing the life of its inhabitants.

The Parliament House - "Advance Australia" - in this light show, interviews and images described inspirational projects that have advanced Australia on the world stage.

The State Library of New South Wales - "Words on the Street" - this is to honor Elizabeth Macquarie in highlighting the importance of literature in the early colony.

It was a bit difficult to take photographs of this building due to the big old trees in front of it. 

On the way to the Palace Garden, we saw this lighted fountain...the Morshead Fountain.

Palace Garden Gate - "Giving Gardens" - in honor of Elizabeth Macquarie for designing and developing the Royal Botanic Gardens

This was just a small space outside the Royal Botanical Garden.

Last stop of the Macquarie Visions, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music - " Pastimes" - Lachlan and Elizabeth created a social life for Sydney such as annual fairs, balls and public holidays.

Another difficult structure to take photographs of.  There were cars parked in front of the building and there weren't strategic places for photographers to take photos.

After taking a few shots of the building, the Husband and I went inside the Conservatorium of Music to warm up, rest and watch a recital concert for free.   A great way to end the night.

The Macquarie Visions adventure took us about two and a half hours of walking, exploring and taking photographs.  This avenue of lighted art gallery leads to Circular Quay which is the home of Sydney's beloved Opera House which was also lighted beautifully for the Vivid Sydney event.  I will share photos of the lighted sails of the Sydney Opera House next!

Photos by Chris & Ivy Sanchez

Copyright 2010

Related Post : Vivid Sydney Experience with Friends 

Recipe: Crumbed Fish Fillets

An easy and healthy fish recipe...5 ingredients, 5 steps. 

What you need:

1/2 kilo fish fillets (your choice of Basa, Dory or Barramundi)
2 eggs
1 cup of Multigrain Bread Crumbs
1 cup of organic flour (plain flour will also do)
Oil for deep frying

What you need to do:

1.  Cut fish fillets into small pieces (cutlets).
2.  Beat eggs
3.  Lightly coat fish cutlets in flour
4.  Dip in egg and coat evenly with multigrain bread crumbs
5.  Deep fry in oil for 6 minutes then drain on absorbent paper.
 

Serve with salad or chips (or both).  A good partner for vegetable dishes if you are having rice with it.  Dip in tartar sauce or sweet chili sauce to enhance flavour.

Being More Prepared For Monday

Does this ever happen to you?  You sleep late on Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday night, you find it hard to sleep early?  This is a usual scenario for me.  What makes it more difficult for me to sleep early on Sundays is because I sometimes nap in the afternoon.  Come Monday morning, it's so hard to wake up, I feel sleepy most of the day, I find it hard to focus sometimes and my energy at work can't seem to last til 4pm.

Nowadays, I cannot afford to be not on top of my demanding work.  I'm currently having long days at the office and I really need to focus.  Lately too, I haven't been taking day-offs.  For the past two weeks, I've been working five days a week.  If you notice, I haven't been blogging much too.  Some days, I arrive home late.  When I get home, I still cook (when there's no more leftovers), have dinner and prepare lunch boxes for the following day.  Some days when I'm feeling exhausted, I just lie down on the couch, drink tea and watch TV until I fall asleep (the Husband needed to carry me to bed). 

So yesterday (Sunday), I made a plan and followed thru it.  Because I wanted to be more alert at work today and I want my energy to last the whole week (yes, another five-day work week for me--still no day-off) I did the following:

(1) Didn't take a nap in the afternoon
(2) Finished all my chores by 6:00pm
(3) Early dinner at 6:30pm
(4) Took a hot shower
(5) Turned off the computer at 8:00pm
(6) From 8:00-8-:30pm, I just watched TV while I drank my usual chamomile tea
(7) Read my "book of the moment" in bed by 8:30pm

My goal was to be asleep by 9:00pm.  And it worked!  I was asleep by 9pm!!!! I had a total of nine hours of sleep. 

The effect on me was tremendous.  I had more focus at work, I didn't feel sleepy and I don't feel tired even if I worked til 5:00pm.  And here I am, able to blog before I go to bed.  I feel great! 
Next Sunday, I'm definitely going to do my plan again because it worked for me.

Have a productive week, everyone! Smile!

Australian Election Experience

It was a great day for an election on a Saturday (in Sydney area that is).  Sun, blue skies and wind to balance everything out. 

It's my first time to vote as an Australian yesterday and I was excited and anxious at the same time.  Excited because I got to fulfill my duty as a citizen of this country and be part of history; anxious because a part of me had this thought, "What if my name's not on the list?"  I guess I got that from being a Filipino as I remember in the Philippines the grueling task of finding one's name in the electoral list even if one registered to vote.  It has never happened to me when I was there (according to my mom, my name is still on the list during the previous elections in the Phils) but still, hearing stories of people not finding their name can be traumatizing enough.

A few days leading to the election, I always ask the Husband, "I registered, right? So my name will be there."  I know, paranoid! Hehe.  But can you blame me?

All polling places were open from 8:00am-6:00pm.  Husband and I are lucky to be near a public school a block away from our place (less than 50 steps away).  Upon entrance to the school, there were posters infront of the gate and several people handing out flyers to voters.  There was no crowd nor traffic. 

We got there by 10:55am and there was a queue waiting for us in the main hall of the school.  The wait took about 15 minutes with only one queue. 

Near the door, there was this big sample of the white ballot which you need in order to vote for the party or group of your choice.  Another poster showed a sample of the green ballot in order to vote for your choice of House of Representatives.

Inside the main hall, you'll immediately find how the voting procedure works.  You have to wait on queue until a Polling Official directs you to an issuing table.  A Ballot Paper Issuing Officer will ask for your name and looks on this book that seemed like a directory.  Upon finding your name, he/she will verify where you live and may also verify if you have voted already. There are officers that don't ask for an I.D. but it's always better to be ready with one.  The officer slashes your name off the list and gives the green and white ballot papers, then off you go to one of the polling booths to cast your vote.  After casting your vote, you need to fold your ballots then drop them into the Green and White Ballot Boxes.  If you already know your choice of candidates, the voting process will only take less than 5 minutes.

I smiled in relief when the Issuing Officer found my name.  She just asked where we lived and then slashed my name of the list.  She didn't even asked me if I voted already.  It was all about honesty.  No indelible ink needed.

This was how long the white ballot was.

The green ballot looked like this.  There were a few Filipino candidates in our area as we lived in one of the suburbs that has many Filipinos living in it.

You can bring your family with you.  Even if my Husband wasn't a voter yet, he came with me and took photos.  There wasn't much privacy in the polling booth area but people don't sneak around looking at your ballots.

After filling in my ballots, I dropped them into the Green and White Boxes upon exit. 

I voted!  And I voted as an Australian.  It felt great to be able to be a part of a peaceful, super non-violent elections.  There were no long hours of waiting on queues just to vote, no getting lost in classrooms of public schools. I hate to compare but it is such a big difference on how we do things in my homeland and I'm wishing one day my mother country would have a system as orderly as this one.

Other things that amazed me:

No posters on walls, only flyers being handed out to people.  The campaign period was literally clean.  For the flyers, there are trash bins nearby for people who would like to throw away the flyers.

Use of media and technology for campaign.  Aggressive and straightforward TV commercials of candidates and computer activated phone messaging.  They also send campaign ads via post.

Early voting system.  In some cases when one cannot vote on the day of the election, one can vote early in person thru early voting centres or thru postal vote application.

There is penalty for not voting. Voting is compulsory and one does not vote, he/she will be advised to pay a fine.

For first time voters, the Australian Electoral Commission has a link in the website called "Practice voting".  The link will help first time voters to experience voting via online.

Results will be known on the night of the election day.  Normally, the whole country will have declared the new leaders of Australia.

It was a bit of a disappointment though that we are on a "hung government" at the moment as voters apparently failed to deliver a clear majority to either the governing center-left Labor Party or a conservative opposition coalition in the tightest race seen here in decades {read more here}.  According to reports, it may take days before we know who our final Prime Minister will be.

We Have Enough

It's so easy to get lost in the the business of our everyday...
work
laundry
the dishes
photography
groceries
deadlines
the internet
catching trains
breakfast
dilemmas
bills
de-cluttering
meetings
sleeping...and so many trivial and not-so trivial things.

But YOU... you always find time to make me laugh. 

They say God will always give you what you need and I agree.  We may not have achieved some of our dreams yet.  We know there are a lot of things we want to do.  We have our whole lives ahead of us.  But for now, we have our home, loved ones, career, values and most of all, each other.   We have each other.  We have enough. 

To my dearest Husband and bestfriend, happy 43rd monthsary.

Photography by Jon Dael

Ensaladang Mangga (Green Mango Salad)

Green Mangoes are back!  A sign that spring is nearly here.   Yes, I'm counting the days til the weather is warm and one can do away with heavy coats or jackets.

Whenever green mangoes are available here in Australia, I make the most of it by buying at least two green mangoes once every fortnight. 

I usually make "Ensaladang Mangga" (Green Mango Salad) to go with any dish we have for lunch or dinner.  I enjoy eating this with fish dishes the most.  Tonight, we are having this Ensaladang Mangga with Fried Tilapia.  Yum!

This is probably one of the easiest salads to make.  Just chop your green mangoes, tomato, onion, then add a teaspoon or two of "bagoong" or shrimp paste (I use Barrio Fieta's bagoong).  Mix them all together and voila!  You now have Ensaladang Mangga to enjoy.  If you want your salad to have that spicy kick, just add chili.

Do you like Ensaladang Mangga too?

Organic Expo & Green Show

For organic lovers and food enthusiasts, here's another event in Sydney for you!

The Organic Expo and Green Show
20-22 August 2010
Hall 1, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour

Indulge Your Senses with a Natural Feast of:

• Food and beverage
• Wine, beer and spirits
• Mother, baby, kids
• Building, house and garden
• Health, personal care and beauty
• Professional services
• Fashion & manchester
• and much more...

Sample, Taste, Buy, Shop, Learn, Watch - you will definitely be impressed by what's on offer at the Organic Expo and Green Show.

Who's going?  Blog about your experience and share your story and photos with me.  Just leave the link on the comments section of this blog and I would love to read about your Organic Expo adventure.

To purchase tickets, click HERE.

Back To Our Normal

It's been a week and a day since my mom went back to Manila and things have gone back to normal in the home.  Back to our normal means:

(1) Not doing any touristy stuff
(2) Eating out is a once a week reward and a break from all the cooking we do at home throughout the week
(3) We are back to our weekly schedule of cleaning and de-cluttering the home
(4) Staying in is the first option during the weekend not unless we need to go somewhere
(5) Going back to our regular eating habits in the home: more fish, veggies and fruits; less meat and sweets.
(6)  Being wrapped up with work during weekdays

So there.  That is exactly the kind of lifestyle we have sans special visits from family and friends from overseas.  Not many know and it is not obvious (because I always blog about our gimiks--but then why would I always blog about what we do at home, right?) that we love spending our free time at home.  The only reason why we have a social life is because we have relatives and friends that we love to spend time with once in a while.  However, if there are no invitations from loved ones, we do spend our free time just hanging out at home, cooking or baking, doing TV series/movie marathons or playing games.

My mom's vacation was one of the most relaxed vacations ever.  She came here not to do touristy stuff but just to spend time with her family.  Before she came to visit, she told me that she didn't want to go anywhere much.  With that in mind, I told her I'll share my love for food, leisure and theatre with her when she visits.  And that's what we did.

We took her to the Good Food and Wine Show and watched a cooking demo of two of the most famous Australian chefs.  We took her to restaurants that served great food.  I took her to Yum Cha so she can have a taste of the most delicious roast duck I've ever tasted.  We took her to a farmer's market and together we got to know the local producers in our area.

I took her to the Capitol Theatre to see one of my favorite musicals, "Wicked".  She enjoyed it immensely.

For the first time, my mom met up with a friend here, my Tita Beth.  My mom and I enjoyed the company of Tita Beth as we played tourist guides for a day.

Best of all, my mom celebrated her birthday here. 

She was here for seven weeks and time passed by so quickly.  Now, we just look forward to seeing each other again in a few months (we hope).