Toy Story 3, Casa Asturiana, Pasticceria Papa, Colefax Chocolates - Celebrating 10 years (9th July)

        So we're now over the huge milestone of 10 years together, it really does feel like a lifetime. To celebrate our milestone (4 months ago now), I took the Friday off work and we headed into the city to spend some quality time together. You may remember the strawberry muffin above which I baked for Ryan.

        We caught the train into the city and were super early for our 10:30am session of Toy Story 3 so headed next door where Ryan grabbed a quick bite to eat as he was famished. We also spotted that they had green tea lattes and had to order one to share. Ryan has had green tea lattes when he went to Japan however this was my first (thanks to Maria and her slight obsession of matcha which I caught too a while ago).

        I hadn't actually properly watched Toy Story 1 and 2 but Ryan wanted to watch 3 so I happily agreed for us to go see it. I loved it, would have helped if I had seen the previous ones but the little that I had seen was enough for me to not be totally lost. And yes, Ryan did shed a tear or two at the end, me being a sucker for emotional stuff had to get my tissues out.

        After the movie we were pretty hungry. Didn't have any particular place in mind but walking up and down Liverpool Street south had us ending up at Casa Asturiana for their lunchtime tapas deal. All tapas were $9 each.

        It was cosy inside, kind of did make you feel like you were in spain. Our waitress was courteous and friendly and ultra sufficient. We were one of the first diners at 12pm but it didn't take long for more people to fill the restaurant.

        I couldn't help but order myself a glass of Sangria. Ryan wasn't in the mood and his excuse was he was driving - not for a while! It was quite strong and didn't take much for me to get very giggly.

        I can't remember if we ordered the bread or if they offered to us complimentary. Just standard run off the mill mass produced white bread rolls.

        After perusing the menu we both realised neither of us had really had sardines before (I don't count the tinned variaty in the tomato sauce our parents exposed us to when we were young). The SARDINAS ESCABECHADAS was wonderful. The delicate flesh of the fish was simply marinated in some olive oil, vinegar and garlic and I'm not an olive fan (they are growing on me though) but the olives complimented the sardines beautifully.

        Ryan is a mushroom head (his nickname in high school was mushie too =D ) so I had to make sure we had the CHAMPINONES A LA  PLANCHA. Simply BBQ'd with white wine, garlic and parsley, they were nice and juicey.

        You can't have Spanish food and not have Chorizo. We had the CHORIZO A LA SIDRA which was cooked in cider. The taste of the cider came through strongly and was a great contrast to the saltiness of the chorizo. We only had 3 small dishes between us but were absolutely stuffed and walked out with satisfied bellies.

        When we walked out of the restaurant it was aboslutely bucketing down rain so not wanting to walk too far we wondered down to Capitol Square. Ryan starts reminiscing about his days in Japan when he spots this machine and pops in a few gold coins to play. He informs me that because gambling is illegal in Japan, this is what they usually do.

        For old times sake I convince Ryan to pop into one of the many photo machines upstairs. It took us a while to figure it all out but we finally managed to leave with a set of for mini card photos. It has been absolutely years and they started out as sticker photo machines for me, and the machines were not as highly technologically advanced (nor were they all in Japanese which made it hard to navigate).

        Upon leaving Capital Square I spot this little store opposite the entrance. They do alot of gourmet food products and alot of imported stuff too. Was very overwhelmed yet mesmerised by everything on the shelves, so overwhelmed that I left empty handed because I just had absolutely no idea where to start.

        As we were full from lunch and didn't have any stomach space for a dessert stop we come to an agreement that we will stop by Pasticceria Papa at Haberfield for some cheesecake. This was our second visit because we simply cannot resist the fluffy creamy cheesecake. Ryan bought us a whole (small) cake which I wasn't really expecting but yay! While we were in the area I had to also pop by Colifax Chocolates to grab a few samples to take home.

        I know that Ryan puts up with so much sharing so this time I bought us one each so that he didn't have to share with me (meant that I could only sample 2 different types instead of 4, but the things we do for love). The white cups were 'Acacia' which had a wattleseed ganache and the spirals were 'Urchin' which were a peppermint buttercream. They were both smooth and creamy and just utterly decadent. We both loved the mint sugar on the 'Urchins'. 

        The moment I had been looking forward too. What I love about this cheesecake is that the ricotta filling is just so ultra soft and fluffy and then there is a nice thin layer of biscuit type crust covering the filling. It's no ordinary cheesecake.

        Had some strawberries in the fridge so decided to throw some on top. So that's how we ended a day of celebration of our 10 years together. No fancy dinners, no dressing up, no bling or anything over the top. Just plain old good fun times together. And I love him even more today than I did yesterday =) Hehe okay that's enough slop for one blog post.