Sunday, June 12, 2011

Last day of Vivid Sydney 2011

Lighting the Sails, Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney 2011
Three layers, scarf, beanie and gloves tell me it's winter - and the bright lights colouring Circular Quay and The Rocks in Sydney tell me that Vivid Sydney is on show once again.

Ending on Monday 13 June, in its third year Vivid Sydney has quickly become an annual festival that Sydney-siders look forward to, regardless of freezing night time temperatures.

Lighting the Sails, Sydney Opera House by Superbien (France)

Lighting the Sails, Sydney Opera House by Superbien (France)

Lighting the Sails, Sydney Opera House by Superbien (France)
Until Monday night, Sake Restaurant & Bar and The Cut Bar & Grill at The Rocks each have a cocktail special dedicated to this year's Vivid Sydney - just the thing for pre or post light installation viewing.

Fire Dance cocktail at The Cut Bar & Grill, The Rocks, Sydney
The cosy inside of The Cut Bar & Grill is the perfect antidote for a cold night out light watching, and their Vivid Sydney cocktail special is a pleaser.

Featuring Belvedere Citrus, a dash of Aperol, elderflower syrup and maraschino cherry juice muddled with orange, this fiery-hued sweetie goes down a treat with its sweet citrus tones.

Warm marinated Kalamata, Ligurian and Sicilian olives with peppered grissini
from The Cut Bar & Grill
We were also treated to some seriously awesome brown and green olives; marinated in cardamom, coriander seeds and other spices, their warm service improving the already high quality produce. The very thin, very crunchy grissini also added flavour to each bite.

Glow On cocktail from Sake Restaurant & Bar, The Rocks, Sydney
The cocktail special at one-hatted Japanese Sake Restaurant & Bar had a distinctly wintery and German influence. The Glow On cocktail is a twist on gluhwein, or mulled wine, as is popular in some of the colder parts of Europe.

The twist is the use of Kokuto brown sugar umeshu, or plum wine with cinnamon syrup and the Montenegro digestive liquor, warmed and finished off with Kozaemon Honjozo Yamahai sake.

Glow On cocktail
The warm drink is so perfect for winter, it's a wonder we haven't been drinking it for years. Garnished with an orange twist and half a vanilla bean on a pick, we're advised to stir the garnishes to release those flavours.

And when going in for the sip, beware the warmed alcoholic fumes from the sake. That's the first big flavour hit, followed by rich and warming cinnamon and finished off with the smooth taste of vanilla. A gorgeously warming drink which I hope stays on the winter drinks menu at Sake.

Edamame at Sake Restaurant & Bar
Here we were treated to salted edamame; the ultimate Japanese drinking snack. Well, the healthiest one anyway.

And here follows a picture post of what Vivid Sydney 2011 offers. Monday evening is your last chance to check it out.

The Light Wheel by Mark Hammer and Andre Kecskes
(New Zealand and Slovak Republic)

Ember by Joe Snell (Australia)

Cloud and blue sky suited performers

Illuminate by Daniel Mercer and Richard Neville of Many Lights (Australia)

Web of Light by Ben Baxter and Ruth McDermott (Australia)

Argyle Cut by Mark Dyson, 32 Hundred Lighting (Australia)

The Garrison by Kam Dahtt and Steve Furzey for
Sylvania Lighting Australasia (Australia)

Eye See You by Zymrite Hoxjaj (Germany)

Carnivalux by Andrew Daly and Katharine Fife (Australia)

Nothing Like the Sun by Hannah Groff and Jason Glenwright (Australia) 

Skyscraper Illuminati by Iain Reed, 32 Hundred Lighting (Australia)

Re-CYCLE! by CLOUSTON Associates (Australia)

Interactive Paint Projection by Spinifex Group (Australia)

Social Firefly by Jason McDermott, Liam Ryan and Frank Maguire, ARUP (Australia)

Fire Dance by Howard & Sons (Australia)

Fire Dance by Howard & Sons (Australia)

Fire Dance by Howard & Sons (Australia)

SpanThai
Mini Monet Cupcakes

Super size pan of meatballs by Wine Odyssey

Two very large pork gyoza
For more photos, go to my Facebook page album (and don't forget to Like me while you're there). Congrats to the organisers for another great year of Vivid Sydney. And get thee there tomorrow night if you haven't checked it out yet - you won't regret it.

Food, booze and shoes sampled the Vivid Sydney cocktail specials and nibbles courtesy of The Cut Bar & Grill and Sake Restaurant & Bar, with thanks to Lindy Thompson PR.

The Cut Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon

Sake Restaurant & Bar on Urbanspoon

10 comments:

chocolatesuze said...

yep definitely beanie and scarf weather! beautiful pics of the opera house!

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

Great post and pics! Vivid is getting better every year and it's a shame the weather hasn't been great the last few days.

Anonymous said...

so good of you to have braved this horrible weather to take some great shots!

Jasmin said...

Great pictures of the lights, the night we went it absolutely poured down and we couldn't get out to take any pictures as we didn't have an umbrella.

We stayed on the Opera House side and stuck with Opera Kitchen although looking at those giant gyoza I wish we hadn't.

Great pics.

Laura said...

oh what brilliant pictures.

Unknown said...

I remember those cloud suit people!! They were also at the Chinese New Year celebrations at the park that sits on Eddy Ave.

Also love the gargantuan pans that SpanThai had - those are the things that dreams are made of!

Jenn Brigole said...

Beautiful photos. I sure did miss on those meatballs. Oh well. We can't always have everything. :) Thanks for sharing.

Tina said...

Hi suze - Thanks!

Hi joey - Totally agree that this had been the best year yet...!

Hi minibites - Yes, there were some freezing hands and wet feet involved.... :)

Hi Jasmin - What a shame the weather wasn't a little better for you. Good on you for making the effort too - along with thousands of Sydneysiders!

Hi Laura - Thanks!

Hi Tambourine - Really? It's my first cloud people sighting - so cool!

Hi Jen - I missed the meatballs too... At least we know where Wine Odyssey is :)

Anonymous said...

It's a good thing I haven't yet learnt how to make gyoza! It's all i'd eat! I love it!

Great blog!

Tina said...

Hi wholelarderlove - I quite like making dumplings... then scoffing them all! I seem to have an amazing capacity for eating dumplings.... :S

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