Mother's Birthday // The Rocks Markets, Chef's Gallery, and Goodbye (for now)

For my mother's birthday a few days ago, I decided we'd go out to The Rocks markets and then head off to Chef's Gallery.

Much street photography was attempted

It was a nice day out. My mother had to do some work in the morning though, and so we weren't able to leave till early afternoon. This meant that we only had about an hour to browse the stores, which was a bit short of time, but it was still alright.

That middle one. So true. For me.

The stores are very interesting.

In that I mean that they sell things that you don't usually see around. And it's just such a nice refresher to walk around and have all these peculiar things being sold here and there. The atmosphere is great; there's music, laughter, chatter, and really nice aromas in the air.

These smelled really, really good.

Just so many peculiar things that you don't often know where to find. It makes for a great opportunity to go gift shopping.

To be honest, there were a fair few things that caught my fancy, but I was lacking funds and I figured that I probably didn't need half the stuff.

E.g., this insect display (it tingled my biosystematic senses)

They even had the scientific name!!

Also a lot of Christmas stores around. Unfortunately I won't be here in Sydney for Christmas.

Anyway, as the markets closed at 5pm, the trio of us decided to head off to Town Hall.

We went to Kinokuniya (yessss) to kill some time before our designated arrival time to the restaurant. I couldn't resist. I purchased another book (and my brother? Three). To give myself an excuse, I recently renewed my Kinokuniya membership card, so that meant 10% off every purchase. Taking advantage of that, I purchased $55 worth of books (combined with my brother), and thus walked home with Oliver Sack's book 'The Mind's Eye'

"In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world."

Later on, when the time came, we headed off to Chef's Gallery. My mother and brother had never been, though I had.

We ordered noodles (didn't take a photo), which I thought was the best dish of them all. Man, I love their noodles. That's basically the only thing I love there, and I have a feeling that each time I go, I'll be eating them.

We also tried out the famous piggies (Buns shaped like pigs, which are filled with a black sesame paste)

$8.90 for two. Yes, a very pricey desert.

To be honest, I don't think they were worth the $8.90 we paid, and it's unlikely I'll be having them again. This was just a first time 'might-as-well-try-it' thing. And they also are great for photos lol so.

Also tried another new dish which consisted of crispy barramundi and pork-belly. I liked the pork-belly better, but the dish still wasn't that fantastic.

It was also like, $20. Ahhh.

Overall though, it's still a nice restaurant. I just liked the noodles most of all (ahhh yummm).

Anyway, afterwards we just headed home. It was just a nice day out with the three of us, for a small celebration. My father is overseas, so unfortunately we couldn't celebrate together, but that's alright.

Stay safe. No more posts until I come back from overseas (much travel photography will be conducted, and comments on the new culture), so stay safe till then. Have an absolutely lovely Christmas and Happy New Year. Take care of yourself, spend time with the people that mean something to you, and do the things you want to do.

I'll be back soon.

Much love. A la prochaine!

Man xx