Australia Bound

I have offically left sunny Cali to come down under to my home away from home,Sydney to visit my boyfriend : ) As my friends know I am completely obsessed w/ Australia, and this is my 4th time back over the past two years. Long distance is difficult but a great excuse to travel frequently.

Before heading to Sydney I had to indulge in a big burrito, because while Sydney may have lots of great international cuisine Mexican food is not their forte. My sisters and I when to la Sirena and I got a big veggie burritoSadly this burrito was a bit of a let down, partially this was my fault because I did not look at the menu. The only veggies were bell peppers and mushrooms, both of which i'm not a fan of. Plus there were no beans at all!! I quickly got a side of beans to add to it as well as tons of salsa, I took a couple of close up shots but they were a bit intense trust me you don't want to see them.

For the long flight to Australia I flew United. United really is not my first choice for flying internationally, but I'm trying to build up my miles w/ them. United is like the Best Western of flights to Sydney, they don't fuss around w/ any of the niceties. Quantas is like the Ritz Carlton, expensive but luxurious (they have great snack packs for the flight & serve tea and hot coco before you go to sleep). My favorite though is V Australia I would say it is the equivalent to the W hotel if I really want to keep this airline/hotel comparison going. When you walk onto the plane it feels like you are entering a club, they have funky lighting & good music, individual tv screens w/ tons of new movies & games, and great food.
I was impressed though w/ United's vegan in flight dinner that I requested before the flight online.
Couscous w/ chickpeas and grilled eggplant and onion, a side salad, pumpernickle bread, and raisins. I didn't manage to get a photo of breakfast, but it was pretty delicious too. I had cooked fruit w/ sometype of corn meal thingy, it sounds weird but I swear it was good.
I slept almost the entire flight, and attempted to watch a movie but they stopped it half way through because first class's screens weren't working : ( I don't really understand why this meant that they had to turn of the video in economy though... errr
14 hours later I landed in Sydney at 6 AM, and couldn't have been more happy to see James waiting there to pick me up, It has been 3 months since I last saw him.We were those obnoxious couples you see in airports- you know the kind, kissing & hugging and running into eachother's arms.
Later on for lunch we stopped by Charcoal Charlie's and I had 3 types of salad put together-Avocado vinaigrette, tabouli, and grilled vegetable.
Look at the size of this tomato!I'll be honest here Australian food is really far better than American food.Trust me the first time I visited I put on 15 lbs no joke & it was worth every single bite. This was mostly because I had chips (french fries) w/ every single meal , not because Australian food doesn't have healthy options because trust me they do. The general quality of their food is at a much higher standard than in America; everything is super fresh & you can really taste the difference in their produce as well as their eggs & dairy (I was not vegan the first time I visited). You really do pay for the quality though, everything is SUPER expensive and the portion sizes are a lot smaller.

For dinner we went to James' parents house & his mom was nice enough to make me a super yummy vegan meal.
Grilled tofu & veggiesYellow curry veggies
Grilled garlic eggplant
Least to say I was super stuffed after this meal. I left my camera at his parent's house so I was only able to capture a few pics of my next meals w/ James' Iphone. Sorry for the poor quality.
For lunch the following day we got some thai food & I had some spicy Tom Yum soup w/ Tofu & veggies.
That night we went to the Courthouse Hotel in Newtown to celebrate James' brother Damien's 23rd Bday. I had the coucous & spinach salad, which was far better than I expected considering it was pub food.
It was a really great night but towards 11:30 pm I was almost falling asleep on the table. My jetlag has not been that bad, but it was 6 AM for me at that time.

This morning I woke up and my voice is offically gone, I think it is because of the climate change. It has been pouring rain since I've arrived. James and I went to my favorite Cafe right across the street from us in Paddington; Micky's. James' brother is the barista here so he hooked us up w/ some coffee & juice...
Large soy latte for me. FYI in Australia there is no such thing as regular drip coffee, there is only espressso and there sizes are much smaller. The one time that I attempted to order an ice coffee I ended up with a vanilla ice cream milkshake w/ espresso on top.
James had the above juice made w/ fresh pineapple, apple, & oranges.
For brekkie I had the toasted muesli (granola) w/ strawberries, bananas, honey, and soy milk on top. The muesli was so good it had macademia nuts, raisins, and glazed orange rinds.
Now we're in the library studying it up. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy for studying while I'm on vacay but I've already done the tourist thing & I really need to study for the GRE plus James has finals coming up. So long for now ; )