Friday, December 30, 2022

30 December 2022 Sydney: Din Tai Fung and Some Shopping

 


This is our third Din Tai Fung dumpling restaurant.  Our first was in Taipei Taiwan, the second was in Seattle Washington and the third is here in Sydney Australia.  They are generally known to serve the world's tastiest dumplings.  We love dumplings, so that is why we love to go to this restaurant whenever we can.  Our selections today were superb.  The scallop and shrimp dumplings were densely packed with big pieces of shrimp and scallops, no filler and no loose chopped up by product.  We could take the freshness.  The  soup dumplings, mala pork dumplings, were delightful.  Soup dumplings are loaded with a filling that includes the gelatin from a cooled stock.  When they are cooked the stock melts and becomes a tasty broth that the cooks the fillings.  Its so tasty and fun to eat as well.  The spicy seafood dumplings were as good as the shrimp and scallop dumplings and similar in density.  I do like my spicy stuff.  Lastly, Leslie ordered the chicken mushroom wonton soup which was more than she could finish.  I wonder if she would notice if I had an unauthorized midnight snack.  It was a easy 7 minute walk to the restaurant and we sat down right away.  There were robots delivering food to the tables around us.  The robot would say "Table three five, your order has arrived.  Please be careful as it is hot."  and after you take your food it says "Thank you, bye bye" an a smiling cat face would show up on the robot's "face" screen.  A waitress took our dumplings off of the robot and brought them to us.  That was a bit of a disappointment.  Since our table was at the end of the row we figured that the robot did not want to block the walkway and come directly to our table.  Great fun a d tasty food too.  We did some shopping and walked around a new area of Sydney.  We shopped for more food just in case New Year's Day is a holiday.  


The Masons have a fine new building


Some of the smallest buildings have survived the development that towers around them


I don't know is the Masons own this building or if it is the worlds biggest masonic lodge


The décor at the world's square shopping center


I thought it might  be a roller coaster but is art


Lanterns announce our arrival to Din Tai Fung


It looked deserted but in fact it was hopping inside


Is  there some sort of puppet show?


Steam rises from the dumplings cooking


Full house inside


The robotic food delivery system


The size of my original order until cooler heads prevailed


Spicy seafood dumplings, you can see hot tightly packed they are with goodness


A couple of cute nascots


A big smile and a big bowl of soup


See the soup seeping from the left side of the dumpling?


The shrimp is visible in these shrimp and scallop dumplings


Warning!


Steamer trays


Downtown Sydney awaits


A goofy logo for the Sydney Cidery


Just a couple of dudes hanging out


AKA don't get run over!


Many of the elegant buildings of the turn of the century are sill here


Wow how did it get to be W to F o'clock?


Decked out in deco


Right next to ultra modern


The pedestrian mall outside is by the Sydney Tower and it is packed


Post boxing day shopping


Peace mural


Not the Edinburgh Castle I remember


The other side to the Wyndham club





It has been 208 days since we began out Migration

Thursday, December 29, 2022

29 December 2022 Sydney: Low Tea at Gunners Barracks and a Visit to the New Art Museum Building

 


We had booked tea at the Gunners Barracks Tea House months ago when we were in Melbourne.  Somewhere we saw a list of the best places for tea this was listed in the top ten.  It was a bit out of the way and so we ended up taking an Uber rather than a public transport with multiple transfers.  The tea room is built on top of old fortifications and it overlooks the harbor.  We were early, as we tend to be, and they seated us harbor side.  There was a plastic partition that kept the wind blocked but allowed for an unobstructed panoramic view.  The tea was delightful and soon the teahouse was completely filled with patrons. We had sweets and savory goodies as well as our teas.  Leslie got Yin Long white tea and I got a Premium Gyokuro, we really love our tea.  We took a stroll around the barracks area after tea. The fortifications were pretty small with only a half dozen  circular areas dug out for the cannons.  But what was not visible was a system that controlled submerged mines.  An array of mines were laid out on the bottom of the harbor and when an enemy ship entered the area the "submarine miner" would flip a switch for the appropriate mine and it would be released and explode.  It was tricky business and in 1891 there was an accident that killed a few of the miners.  We saw seven different kinds of birds, three new to us.  The kookaburra was very inquisitive and I was able to get close to him for a few good pictures.  After a difficult time with the Uber App we finally got a ride to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  We went into the new building that has been open for only a few days.  The first floor was dedicated to Aboriginal Art both new and old.  The museum was simply immense and we got to see most of the pieces.  The lower floors offered many different pieces made from a huge variety of materials.  From cardboard to ceramics to video, this was another delightful experience.  As we were leaving Leslie saw a cute dog.  His name was Bruno and it was his birthday!  His birthday gift was a petting from Leslie.  We saw many more dogs on our way through Hyde Park.  We got to say hello to three of them.


Downtown Mosman was pretty small


But the buildings were still pretty quaint


A good place to be able to see any threats


A path to the fortifications


Tea time!


The building matches the stone of the fortifications


A fine marble sculpture to set a tome of elegance


A sample of the tea service


Relativity empty now...


Our view from the table


So much nicer in the outside sitting area


Our tea service waiting for some tea


The tea man arrives!


The warm savories, scones, spinach in a puff pastry and a duck wonton


The sweets!  Carrot Cake, rose macaroons, and a chocolate mousse


Roast beef, egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches


Straining hard to get the last of the tea


The sweetest thing at the table


More tea M'Lady?


Sydney in the background


The stonework


Not too windy but enough to mess up my hair


Sydney is in the background


It was hard to get a good photo but there are two new "life" birds for my list in this undergrowth.  I took many more pictures but this was the clearest of the shots!


It is always busy on Sydney Harbor


The fortifications allowed defenders to fire upon incoming ships long before they could get to Sydney


Grates protect the hapless birdwatcher from falling in


200 degrees of harbor view 


A red wattle bird with a spash of yellow on its belly


This single sailboat was up on the foils


Laughing Kookaburra 


The Brush Turkey thought we might be providing some lunch


A bunny!


Mossman has some history to the center of town


We visited a town named Lacock in England in 2019


The tunnel seemed to be the choice of our drivers


I really liked the looks of this building


Striking red art


Bark bark bark


Growl and  bark bark


A more contemporary piece



Fruit bats hanging with fancy blankets


the shadow shows how many bats were hanging


Three dudes hanging out


Lots of glass hanging from the ceiling, it hung so low I would have run into it if I tried to walk there


The shadows of the hanging glass


Traditional woven backets woven in non-traditional patterns 


Back in the day the art was made with material available in the bush



The new art is made on materials that were available in the bush, in this case an old sign and the other one two pictures above on corrugated tin roofing material



Everything is just Ducky


The space is big


Really big!


All weather flower garden


Big and bright


Still in our fancys


An important constellation in the Torres straights


Rolling balls of clay


lots of balls


An out of place Chinese artifact from the 13th century


A huge piece of woven art connected with cables and containing speakers and circuit boards


Dichroic reflections


Siebterjulizweitausendundnull is the name of this piece of art.  It was created on 7 July 2000


hanging from the ceiling and made of cardboard


Four different spaces with items on the top and bottom of each space and then mirrors placed above and below allowing for multiple reflections


It is all done with mirrors


Bugging out


It is Bruno's birthday


So cute


Marigolds


NYE is in Sydney's name... almost



It has been 207 days since we began our Migration