Hateful 8, The Grounds, etc.

I keep seeing photos off all the snow from everyone back on the East Coast of the states. While I normally love snow, I'm quite happy that it doesn't affect my daily life right now. Hopefully most of the mess will be cleaned up before we visit; particularly the roads.

This weekend we saw Hateful 8 in 70mm. It kept us watching the whole time, except the moments we had to turn away because they were too gross/painful to watch. It was certainly not my favorite Tarantino movie. While the Kill Bills, Django Unchained, and Inglorious Basterds had satisfying moments where characters attained well-deserved revenge, Hateful 8 didn't seem to have much meaning beyond not knowing which characters are lying at first, and then some over-the-top violence. While I'd watch some of Tarantino's other films again, I see no reason to watch this one again.

Today we went to explore Sydney Park, a park we have passed by several times, but never entered. It had a nice (but artificial) wetlands, lots of dogs running around, and lots of birds. The unusual thing about this park is the cycling centre. They teach classes about bike maintenance and have a cycling area just for kids that has its own little paths painted to look like roads, with real working traffic lights. 

After walking around we went to The Grounds of Alexandria for the first time. I had seen it in passing and never had the chance to stop in until now. It's hard to explain what it is. According to the website this is what it is:

Located in a former industrial precinct from the 1920s, The Grounds of Alexandria is a landmark coffee roastery, café and sustainable garden known for its abundance of fresh produce and hands-on experiences.

It's really more like 4 or 5 cafes in one location. It's not like an "eatery" in that the food is locally sourced and high quality, and the seating is a pretty garden. The food was delicious and I definitely want to go back and try more stuff. They even have some resident animals you can visit when you're not stuffing indulging in their decadent pastries, including a big pig named Kevin Bacon. 

Right next door there was this amazing deli/groumet food store called Salt Meats Cheese. They had this delicious assortment of olives, handmade pastas, etc. All this fancy stuff, and then there was an American shelf that had Cap'n Crunch and Cheez-Its on it. 

We finished off the weekend with some frisbee in the sunshine. Going back to the snow, when we haven't seen snow in over two years, is going to be a shock to our systems.