the hunter valley

I think you dedicated blog readers might already know that Stefan and I have a very big thing for wine.  So much so that it has been almost an obligation for us to schedule in a full day of wine tasting on any international vacation.  
When we were in Argentina, we had to do Mendoza.  
When we were in Germany, we had do Alsace.  
When we were in Italy, we had to Campania.  
So when we were in Australia, we had to the Hunter Valley.

Stefan (like on every trip to date) bought himself a book on the region and its wine, reading the entire thing on his flight down from Hong Kong.  Upon arrival, he emailed all his top spots to set up tastings.

First up was Brokenwood, home to the world famous Graveyard Shiraz.  While we went to taste their specialty, they were completely sold out forcing us to settle for the region's other best known grape: Semillon - a dry white table wine.

I hate to say it: but it didn't tickle my fancy.  
We were doing mostly spitting around these parts.  
(Which - by the way - is very refined in the wine tasting world.)

Next up was Tyrrell's - one of the oldest family-owned wineries in the valley.  Upon arrival, we showed ourselves into their barrel room to check it out and take shelter from the never-ending rain.

Their original barrel room had been left unchanged since it was built back in 1858 with its cellar dirt floors still intact.

Their tasting room staff was extremely welcoming and friendly and spent over an hour answering Stefan's questions about the wine and its history.

The whole property oozed old world charm.

Next on the list was Mount Pleasant - a must-taste recommendation from our fabulous Tyrrell's pourer.

Thanks to Stefan's very knowledgeable and poignant questions about their wine right off the bat, I think they (mis)took us for very big wine snobs with a propensity to purchase very large sums of wine.  While all the other tasters in the room drank from small tasting glasses (like the one you see pictured below with our water in it), we were given a separate Reidel glass for each wine we tasted.  
Stefan was in heaven.

After bidding farewell to Mount Pleasant (without a single purchase I hate to admit - we had carry-ons!), we headed to our last stop of the day: Pepper Tree.  The wines were delicious, the staff superb, and the setting perfection.

Because we had some time to kill in between our last taste and dinner, Stefan took us on a kangaroo hunt.  And while I couldn't spot a single jumper, he had a sixth sense for wallabies.  He found them all over the place!  

For dinner, we headed to another recommendation from our friend at Tyrrell's: The Cellar Door.  With a table right next to the fire and delicious wholesome grilled chicken and steak, it was the perfect spot for a cozy dinner on a rain-filled evening.

While the Hunter's wines weren't our favorites of all time (we'll always love our California Cabs), the day was perfection.

xoxo

KK

manly + bondi

While the rain didn't stop come Sunday, that didn't stop us from heading to a must-see site in Sydney: 
the beaches!  

We opted to take the 30-minute ferry from Circular Quay to Manly to see the famous beach there.  When we arrived, however, we were caught in a complete and utter downpour.  To shield ourselves from the wet, we headed inside to Hugos - a famous waterside bar and restaurant that even on this dreary Sunday was jam-packed with Australians.

the spot on a sunny day

from here  

We ordered some of their award-winning pizza (with some wine of course) and watched the rain come down on the harbor.

note amused girls making peace sign in back

Post filling up, we braved the rain to check out the beach, which was still dotted with surfers despite the cold and clouds.

It didn't take us long to decide to head back.  We hopped on the ferry to man the very (!!) rough seas that had me convinced the boat was going to flip.  
Stefan was in heaven.
I was not.

But soon we were back in the smooth waters of Sydney Harbor and we could take some obligatory shots of us in front of the Opera House.

Besides Manly, Sydney's other perhaps even more famous beach is Bondi.  Because Stefan had checked it out on a previous trip, I opted to visit this one on the day he had to attend meetings, which fortunately for me (but not so fortunately for Stefan) was one of the most gorgeous days of our trip. 

Bondi is also home to a gorgeous path that allows you to walk along the cliffs and sea to a neighboring beach. 

Pretty unreal.

After my walk, I treated myself to a drink at Iceberg's - a famous seaside pool club that was founded in 1929 by a group of local lifesavers who wanted to stay in shape in the winter.  Included in the constitution of the club is a rule that it is mandatory for members to compete three out of four Sundays each winter for a period of five years to guarantee membership.  Luckily for me, the rule only applies to locals - out-of-town visitors are given a free one-day pass.

Regardless of the weather, Australian beaches are stunning.  It's no wonder everybody surfs.

xoxo

KK

sydney!

Well, I've gone and done it again - went radio silent for months at a time without a peep or picture of my daily happenings.  My apologies.

To be fair though, you haven't really missed much.  After starting the new job, the last two months have been a whirlwind of work, sleep, work, and dinner & movie nights at home recuperating from the week - not exactly the makings of exciting blog posts.  

That being said, this past weekend was a tad bit more exciting than most as Stefan and I happened to be in Australia.  

Yes - you read that right.  We flew 15+ hours straight each way to spend 4 days in Australia.

But before you go judge us for being beyond extravagant (because I would say this trip appears to fall into that category), you need the full scoop: 

Since Stefan had to be in Hong Kong one week and then Sydney the next for work, his firm asked if he would stay the weekend in one of the two spots to avoid on a business-class flight home.  Said firm would put him up in the Four Seasons and he'd get a little mini-vaca.  Since Stefan travels a lot for work (we're talking an average of 2 weeks a month, often internationally!), he's amassed quite a tally of miles so we decided to see if we could get me a ticket to come out and join him as well.  Luckily for us, we were able to get me a business class flight (!!) for a mere 40,000 miles.  Seemed like a no brainer.

I hopped onto a plane Thursday night and arrived into Sydney at 7:30am Saturday morning.  Stefan also flew in from Hong Kong that morning, so we headed to our hotel together to drop off our bags.

I was already in heaven when I saw the view from our window:

While the weather wasn't fabulous (it was overcast and rained off and on Saturday to Monday), we made the most of it and had a wonderful time.  Saturday we walked the entire city - seeing all the must-see sites.

We went up the highest tower in the city to get a lay of the land.

And then when the rain started to really pick up, we headed inside to a cozy restaurant to enjoy some ribs + Australian Shiraz for lunch.

at the wine and meat company

love that they gave him a bib :)

One of the best things about our hotel was that they gave us access to their executive club floor which had delicious breakfasts with made-to-order eggs as well as free drinks and canapés each evening. 

We obviously took full advantage.  Every single night.

For dinner, we headed to Monopole - a wine bar with excellent food in a trendy part of town.

from here

We sat at the bar and watched as they prepped their small plates in front of us, allowing us to choose what we wanted based on what looked the best (all of it!).  The staff was super friendly - so much so that when we ordered a bottle of wine that happened to be out of stock, they offered to open both of the bottles we were debating between and let us have whichever we liked best.  Highly, highly recommend it when you're in Sydney next!

Determined to take full advantage of our limited time in the city, we then went out to scope out the bar scene.  

Our fav spot of the night was Eau de Vie, a secret little cocktail bar tucked in a secret room behind the real bar of a trendy Sydney boutique hotel.  Finding the place required special instructions from our waitress:

from here

We stayed out until 3am (!!) before retiring home to get some rest for another day of exploring.  More details to come.

xoxo

KK

honesty

So this past Tuesday was my mom's birthday.

Since she has everything she could possibly want (and my dad always manages to take the cake in terms of presents - this year, he surprised her with a new BMW), us kids usually opt to send her a bottle of good champagne (her fav) to wherever she is dining that night or a nice bunch of flowers (who doesn't love fresh blooms?) to brighten up her desk.

from here

 

from here

This year, however, she happened to be down at their place in Florida, and unfortunately 
1. their go-to restaurant for dinner out (the Pink!) was closed (so they'd be dining at home), and
2. our go-to Gasparilla Island florist wasn't open until the end of the month.

Not wanting to stray from our original idea, we decided to just try out another florist.  The woman assured me they had a beautiful arrangement of Gerber Daisies (my mom's fav) in a lovely basket that would do the trick.  How bad could it be?

The answer to that question is:
very, very bad.

As soon as the flowers were delivered, she sent us kids a text:
"Thanks so much for the flowers! xxoo"

Curious as to whether our trial florist fit the bill, I responded:
"You're so welcome!  Are they cute?"

To which she replied:
"No not cute sorry!! I will send you a picture.  They are awful!!!!"

Gotta love her honesty.
Live and learn: don't use a florist you don't know.

Perhaps, we'll get our act together to pull this off for next year:

from here

Happy weekend!

xoxo

KK

oops.

So another reason for my silence of late has been due to the fact that my new job happens to be down in Palo Alto,
and I live up in San Francisco,
which means I've got a 1-hour commute on each end.
(Which doesn't leave me with oodles of time to be posting musings on my ho-hum life.)

But yesterday something happened that I felt I had no choice but to come out of my no-posting cocoon and share.

I joined a gym down in PA so that I could beat traffic and drive down in the wee morning hours (read: 5am), work out, and then be into the office by 7:15am.  This plan has been flawless to date and I've loved sipping my coffee (while chatting with my mom), buzzing down an empty freeway as the sun begins to peak its way out behind the hills.

I'm all about easy-to-wear work clothes so most of the time I can just stick my wardrobe in my gym bag the night before and be good to go.  Yesterday, however, I was planning on wearing my favorite new suit dress:

Peplum Dress in Stretch Wool

from jcrew

But because it's best when perfectly pressed, I needed to bring it down on a hanger as opposed to stuffed into a bag.  The night before, I packed my gym bag with all the goods except the dress and left a note on the mirror that read: 

Yesterday morning when I got up, I tip-toed out of the bedroom, hit go on our Nespresso machine, popped on my gym clothes, grabbed my bags and coffee, and headed out of the apartment, all within 5 minutes flat.  I love efficiency.

I drove down to PA, happily chatting with my mom the whole 1-hour way (hands-free of course) and pulled into my parking spot.  As I got out of the car and grabbed my things, I realized I had forgotten something at home:

So what do I do?

Driving back to get it is a solid 2.5+ hour ordeal taking into account the traffic that is rapidly building up by the minute.
It's 6am and therefore no stores are open (and clothing stores won't open shop until at least 10am).
The only clothes I have on my person are my raggedy work-out clothes, a trench coat, and a bra + underwear.
AND I have a 9am meeting.

Unwilling to show up to my meeting naked underneath a trench coat, I resign myself to driving the torturous route back home to secure some proper over-garments.

Five minutes into my journey and it hits me - the answer to ALL prayers:

TARGET opens at 8am!

And they sell clothes!

And those clothes are reasonably priced!

I camped out at a nearby Starbucks to do some work until they opened shop and then stormed in to try anything and everything vaguely work appropriate:

pencil skirt + maroon blouse =

TOO STUFFY.

stretchy grey sweater dress =

TOO CAJ.

black dress with cap sleeves =

JJJJJJUST RIGHT.

I opted for choice #3 (for the bargain price of $27.99), paired it with my Tory Burch wedges (waiting underneath my desk at the office), Kate Spade studs (waiting in my purse), and Anne Fontaine black sweater (waiting in my gym bag), and my office-mates were none the wiser. 

(Or at least they didn't say anything.)

What would you have done?

xoxo

KK

happy birthday mom!

Apologies for the radio silence of late - I just started a very exciting new job (which I am absolutely LOVING) and it's been a busy month getting into the swing of things and learning the ropes.

BUT today was worthy of reappearance because TODAY marks the grand old day of birth for my fabulous mother:

There aren't too many moms you want to be twins with.
It just so happens that MY mom is extremely twin-worthy.
(And often her, Gretch, and I pull the whole triplet thing, and we LOVE it.  Pretty awesome.)

To celebrate her special day, I figured I'd share some of my fav mom posts to date:

favs from mom - 
this post has been THE MOST popular post on this site since the day I started posting a list of the most popular posts (see right-hand side) - guess everybody knows Mom's got good taste

more thanksgiving goodness -
did you know this power woman is so beloved, she has a field hockey field named after her?  pretty awesome.  the Krieg-Gallun clan had some serious competition on that baby last Thanksgiving...

a belated birthday -
her lovely birthday celebration in Maine with Nana and Pops last year

the morning of -
the unbelievably sweet women-only brunch she planned for me the morning of Stefan and my wedding

getting ready -
and all the work she did for the wedding in the few days prior

words and writers -
this super sweet game + book she put together when Stefan and I got engaged

an extra special engagement -
the story of how SHE got engaged just two Christmases ago :)

She's not only my fabulous, knock-em-dead mother, 
she's my fashion consultant, crisis-solver, cheerer-upper, and - most of all - friend.  

Mom - thanks for being the best.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

xoxo
KK

a win in wetzikon

While I spent most of the month of August going to German classes and doing German homework and taking German exams, the real test came when I spent an afternoon, evening and night with Stefan's dad and his wife.

Talking only German.

We started with a light summer lunch of gazpacho, prosciutto with melon, and mountain cheese with fresh apricots.
(Demonstration of kitchen cutlery and foodstuffs vocabulary - check!)

We then went for a long walk along a nearby lake, stopping by the oldest tree in the village.

Did you know that the church is the highest building in every Swiss village

(Demonstration of basic chit-chat phrases and past tense to tell all about what I've been up to month-to-date - check!)
We then made our way up to an adorable little family farm that is open to visitors to explore.

a hand-painted sign gives you the lay of the land

like any good farm, this one included an adorable little shop 

with all-organic, homegrown or homemade products 

that I obviously had to check out

the Swiss love to buy local and will pay double the price 

for a product grown in their home country

the shop's labels were simple, clean, efficient perfection

just with the family's name (Jucker) and Hof for farm

even the toilets in this place were gorgeous

After a quick tour of the animals,
(Demonstration of farm animal and equipment vocabulary - check!)

and then a leisurely coffee overlooking the lake, 
we headed to our evening activity: the Chilpi! 

(Wetzikon's equivalent to a state fair.)

Switzerland's XXL Pommes (French Fries) - see upper left corner

equates to an American size small and costs five times the price

Since Urs is mayor of the town, it seemed as though the crowds parted for us - everyone knew him and Edith and wanted to say hello.  Wherever we walked, someone wanted to hear how they were doing or treat us to a beer.
(Demonstration of get-to-know-you questions and phrases - check!)

After quite a bit of socializing, Edith and I headed up in the Ferris wheel to get a look at the idyllic surroundings.

(Demonstration of city vocabulary as I asked where the Krankenhaus/Hospital, Schule/School und Kirche/Church were - check!)

We enjoyed some bratwursts and cervelats (traditional Swiss sausages) before retiring home early. (I did have class the next morning.)

And at the end of evening, after we had all finished a pot of tea, Stefan's father said the sweetest three words I could have imagined:

"Ich habe verloren."
"I have lost."

As you might guess, I slept quite well that night. :)

xoxo

KK