Chasing the dream

It’s that time of year again. No, not Christmas … the annual real estate shutdown.

Auctions are winding down and only the last stragglers that didn’t sell are lingering on the market.

What will I do with myself until Domain.com.au boots back up again in late January?

I dragged DD along to five unsuitable properties on Saturday that I was hopeful would be my next dream home. One in Avalon, two in Newport and two in Mona Vale.

The Avalon one had waaaay too many stairs.

The Newport one was very expensive, overlooked a carpark and needed a new kitchen and two new bathrooms.

I also initially took DD to the wrong address. First we buzzed the wrong unit, then we knocked on the right door of the place that was open for inspection, but we were 45 minutes early.

DD looked about as cranky as I’ve ever seen him. His eyes went ever so slightly wild and there was even an annoyed arm wave, which is very unlike him.

He’s a bit knackered from doing business calls at 1am.

I absolutely loooooved the tropical courtyard in the first Mona Vale place we visited, but the apartment was over three levels and sandwiched between two busy roads.

And the final place, also on a busy road, was eye-wateringly expensive, only had two bedrooms and had a weird little fake grass courtyard down four steps.

I despair of ever following my dream of living on the Northern Beaches.

But it’s made me appreciate that I actually live in a nice unit and maybe I should make my peace with that … at least until the real estate market reboots next year.

Anyways, I must rewind to tell you about Friday night.

We were supposed to be double dating, but one of our dining companions developed a rash, so DD and I had a green banquette to ourselves at the Basin Dining Room in Mona Vale.

The Basin has the most deadset amazing views, even on a drizzly evening. Gun-barrel ocean bliss.

DD ordered a strawberry negroni, while I had a glass of pink wine. We kicked off by feasting on the most delicious prawn croquette sliders with zuni pickles and chilli aioli. Soooo good. Then I had the scallop & prawn ravioli with spicy XO sauce, confit eggplant & charred corn; and DD had barramundi with curry and brown butter dressing , cauliflower puree and crisp curry leaves.

We don’t normally order dessert, but we’d been told the individual baked basque cheesecake with locally made marmalade was heaven.

Yep. Divine. Light and fluffy and not too sweet.

Before our meal even ended we asked the maitre de to rebook the banquette for us, so we could enjoy a Christmas celebration with friends who are visiting in a month’s time.

On Saturday night we decided to have a quiet dinner at home. After getting my roots done, I wandered up to the butcher in Avalon to get a couple of steaks for the barbie.

I much prefer going to the supermarket where everything is packaged up with a price on it so you can recoil in horror at the cost of eye fillet and put it back on the shelf.

But DD had raved about the quality of the local butcher, so I resolved to give it a go.

I asked for two steaks to barbecue, the butcher recommended the sirloin and next thing I knew I was being charged $38 for two reasonably small pieces of meat.

Far out!