Living it Up.

I fully admit I'm a hermit. I go to work and respond to people all day , every day so when I'm not at work I do tend to hibernate and avoid social activities. My modus operandi for relaxing is to avoid any activity that requires clothes fancier than trackies or pyjamas on weekends. I never leave the house in trackies, I just look tacky. And if you leave the house in pyjamas people think you're either homeless or mentally ill.

Mr. P on the other hand, is a social butterfly. If I was willing, I'm sure we'd be out dancing on tables 6 nights a week. We've reached an agreement about a happy medium. We do what I want to do because that's the way for my husband to have a calm and happy life and a wife who isn't a complete basket case.  

Several weeks ago I was thinking about what to get Mr. P for his birthday. My husband is incredibly difficult to buy for because the very few things he does want are completely outside of our financial realm. I am not buying a Harley for a birthday present when my bathroom needs renovation. Although if we leave that much longer 70's tile and retro bathroom fittings are going to be trendy again so we may not have to bother. 

Inspiration strikes in the most unexpected of places. I was cruising around Pinterest when I saw this idea.  I decided that it was the perfect gift for Mr. P for his birthday. What do you give a man who is the most social person on the planet when he has a completely anti social wife. You give him the guaranteed opportunity to do something special (and social) once a month for a year. 

On the 1st day of every month Mr. P gets to open one of these bags and in the envelope inside I've arranged something for us to do together for that month. 

Our adventure for August was playing tourists in our hometown. I made a reservation for dinner at restaurant we hadn't tried before in the city and booked a hotel room for the night too.

So yesterday we headed off for 24 hours of leaving our usual lives behind, which meant I had to get dressed and leave the house. If that isn't love- I don't know what is. 

First stop: Central Markets in the city to get some goodies.

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We were specifically after some artisan and unusual cheeses so what better place to head than The Smelly Cheese shop. 

We were assisted by a lady who was knowledgeable and helpful and she gave some great recommendations. Then we headed off to book into our temporary home for the night in the heart of the city.

We booked in to find we had been upgraded to an apartment from a studio room free of charge  ...I love complimentary upgrades. 

We indulged in a mid afternoon snack to fortify ourselves because we were booked for a fashionably late dinner. 

That weird looking black topped cheese was actually a raspberry infused washed rind cheese. Interesting! And the orange one is sheep's milk cheese. Accompanied by a Parmesan type cheese but with loads of strong flavour and my favourite creamy cheese. (Damn you little Miss Sunshine for every introducing me to that cheese - I eat it far too often) 

Washed the cheese down with a decent white wine , some Serrano ham and Hungarian Salami. I was feeling very mellow by the time we'd finished. 

We decided to talk a little walk down to the Mall because no trip to the city is complete without a visit to the Haighs shop at the Beehive Corner. 

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The Haul

Later that night we went to Sosta which was truly one of the best meals of my life. Everything was absolutely perfect from the ambience to the service and the food was amazing. I highly recommend you try it if you're ever in Adelaide. It's Argentinian so not suitable for vegetarians. If this is how gauchos eat - sign me up!

Calamari , Chorizo and something that looks suspiciously like a vegetable.

Chargrilled T-Bone Steak with some awesome glaze

Add three tequila slammers to the meal and a couple of cocktails too and we were feeling very happy by the time we left to walk back to our hotel.

We stopped to listen to a guitar playing street busker on the way and he started playing a song just for us so Mr. P and I had a romantic dance on the footpath in King William Street before we headed on up to the Hilton Bar for a nightcap.

You can't see it in this photo but my drink was brought over to me with flames dancing round in that half kiwi fruit on top of the cocktail. Another first because I've never had a drink on fire before. All in all a perfect evening and a very different way to spend some of our weekend. Stay tuned for September's adventure since this one didn't appear to kill me. (Although I did come home and sleep for three hours this afternoon - but that might have been due to all the alcohol I'd drunk in the preceding 24 hours !)