June 23-24 Goodbye Dinner With Roomies

Today was super exciting because it was the big goodbye dinner with the roomies. It is our last night together before I move into the airbnb to meet up with my family, so we wanted to go out with a bang. In the late morning I went grocery shopping with Emma and got all the things we needed. Once we got back, I worked on packing up the tons of stuff I had (and literally it felt like tons), then made the fruit salad that I was contributing to our potluck dinner.

Since we are from all over the world, we decided that each person would contribute a family recipe or traditional dish from our home countries. I included some of the cooking pictures in the blog- yes, it was as much of a blast as it looked! (Countries include: Japan, Colombia, Turkey, Iran, China and USA, special guest from Italy as well!)

(homemade dumplings)

I chose fruit salad (well one, because we needed some fruit in the dinner), and secondly because my grandma and mom always make it back home. It adds the perfect taste to any breakfast, lunch or dinner, and is SO easy to make. It is essentially cut up banana, pear, apple, and orange, that goes in a bath of orange juice, topped off with marshmallows and usually maraschino cherries. I was astounded that after going into 3 grocery stores in Melbourne, I learned that Maraschino cherries are not regularly carried. I still am on the hunt for them in Australia! Probably will have to try a bottle shop soon.

(some of the crew!)

(a show-stopping dessert- fruit salad, ice cream, berries, homemade mochi)

Dinner was delectable. Not only did we have a bounty of food, but we spoiled ourselves with wine, champagne, dinner music and candles. This was one of the best nights of being in Australia (getting choked up writing about it)- surrounded by roommates who have become family and celebrating our cultures at the same time. After 3.5+ hours of eating and sitting at the long makeshift dinner table, we got ourselves out of the house to enjoy some nightlife. We ended up at Eden, which was a place playing Reggaeton. We drank coronas, danced, laughed and even saw some of the world cup on the big screen! Our group was pretty large because the twin brothers from Colombia had just moved into a new apartment and they brought some of their new roommates to meet us!

Sunday was a bit of a hangover day, but I still managed to move all my things out to an airbnb in St. Kilda (about an 8 minute drive away from my old apartment), where I'll be living with my family for one week. Later in the night I went to Pawn & Co for my last day spa, and it was fantastic to see my friend Scott Freedman perform. He absolutely tears it up when he's on stage. I'll miss this place so much.