burning koala

Last Sunday evening we had fun little excursion up to a north-of-the-harbour neighbhorhood called Balmain, which is only reachable by car or ferry from where we live. My coworker, Lauren, and her boyfriend, Geoff, have an Asian restaurant that they frequent there called Satasia. Kind of a pan-Asian mixture of cuisines. Geoff knows the owners, so he asked the kitchen to send out whatever dishes they recommended. We ended up with some tantalizing appetizers (called “entrees” here) of thai-flavored minced pork-filled purses with a tamarind sauce , spring rolls and a chicken satay. The “mains” followed with a gorgeous, velvety thai/malay-flavored curry covered fish, some absolutely luscious and caramelized barbequed duck, and spicy green beans (and I mean spicy!). We followed it all up with some desserts, including coconut sticky rice with mango (a personal favorite).

Lauren and Geoff

It was one of those enjoyable meals with good conversation, warm ambiance, and wonderful flavors. It was our first chance to meet Geoff and we were delighted, as he turned out to be just as lovely as Lauren. Lauren is a University of Technology grad with an undergrad in design and a masters in business, who recently started working with me at 2nd Road. She found Tony (my boss) via her interest as a student in forging a stronger connection between her interests and thesis research in design and business. She is a passionate designer with a real calling for strategic thinking and problem-solving. If only I’d had her brains and talents when I was in my 20′s. Girl’s got it going on. On top of it all, she’s just as nice as can be.

Back to the car (Geoff, Lauren, and Angela)