Margaritas, martinis, rainbows and puppies… seriously? Give me a break!

You might be saddened to hear Mrs Romance and I have been quite sick since the start of the year… then again, you might not be! Anyway, we’ve battled on and it looks like we’re out of the worst of it.

As a reward, the universe gifted us with a pretty awesome week. The title of our latest IG Edition might sound like some acid trip sickly sweet dreamscape, but all of these things – plus delicious burgers and things like that – really did happen.

Don’t worry, I promise not to make you dry-wretch with any over-sugared hyperbole this week, even though it’s been a pretty awesome past 7 days.

Here’s our latest IG Edition. We hope you enjoy it!

Jim & Christina xx

It looks like the summer really has come to Sydney at last… though I’m sure in a few days I’ll be regretting saying that.

Mrs Romance and I have decided to explore more of Sydney’s foreshore while the sky’s this colour. Balmain really is a beautiful part of the city – and because it’s a peninsular there are literally hundreds of places where you can get water views like this.

Mind you if you’re from Sydney, this view will probably be a bit confusing to you. That’s the city in the background, so how is there more land in front of it? Where could we possibly have taken this photo from?

It’s lunchtime and Mrs Romance and I have managed to book in with our friend Lorraine from NotQuiteNigella.com. For some reason, it’s taken ages for all of us to be in the same place long enough to meet up, but now it’s happened.

Lorraine’s taken us to Macellaria in Newtown – the younger sister store to the original in Bondi. I can see why she likes it. Not only does it serve burgers like this (my Bostino, which means bacon, pastrami, cheese pickles etc) they have good beer in the fridge too!

Mrs Romance has gone for the Classico, which is as it sounds. Lorraine has been much more reserved and has ordered a healthy looking salad, a sausage and a skewer.

But she’s been here before, so she knows what’s going on inside these buns!

The great thing about Macelleria is that it’s both a top quality butcher’s and a restaurant in one. You can buy your meat here and take it home or buy your steak and they’ll cook it for you to eat on the premises. And at no extra cost! How brilliant is that?

Check out Lorraine’s full write-up of Macelleria here.

I’m out with my mate Anton tonight squeezing in a couple of cheeky beers at the end of a hard day. We’ve scored a balcony spot in the Town Hall Hotel in Balmain but the weather’s turned on us.

Thankfully it doesn’t last long though and instead of rain, we’re left with this: a double rainbow!

Meanwhile, the other half – meaning Mrs Romance – is looking at the other half… meaning the rainbow. The sun is just about to set, so it’s bright and low enough to show us a full double rainbow. Not often you see that.

While we’re still on the Town Hall balcony, Anton and I get another surprise: this ridiculous sunset. How romantic.

After all the excitement, Anton and I decide it’s time to move on, just in case some random skywriting starts spelling out our names. #awkward

We’ve relocated to a venue with much more grr: Cantina Bar. This little Mexican speakeasy/diner has a great vibe to it and the staff are awesome too.

These margaritas are actually amazing. I’ll definitely be bringing Mrs R here for one. She’s probably the harshest judge of margaritas this side of Tijuana.

I promised myself I wasn’t going to eat anything tonight. I had a big lunch. But when Anton orders a Torta Cubana, I feel obliged to join in the fun. It’s a good job or I’d have had serious food regret. My Encheladas Rojas is excellent.

Still, I think I’ll be ordering Anton’s Torta Cubano next time I eat here. Looks good, doesn’t it?

This afternoon, I’ve decided to take a minute away from blogging and do some baking instead. Mrs Romance has been asking me to make these cookies for ages – ever since she saw our friend Sammie post them on her blog The Annoyed Thyroid.

These are sticky date cookies – but a gluten free version. Plus I haven’t had chance to dust them in icing sugar yet; these are fresh out of the oven.

If you’re looking for a biscuit recipe that is not only absolutely delicious but also fool-proof (I made them) and gluten free-able, check out Sammie’s recipe here.

Mrs Romance and I have decided to go to the shops. In our weird language, this means ‘have a cocktail’.

We’re in Wilhelmina’s – an excellent bar in the heart of Balmain – to help celebrate ‘Gin-uary’.

Isn’t that the best idea? Gin-uary. Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Forget Feb-Fast. This is a much better idea.

And the martinis they serve here at Wilhelmina’s ($15 during Gin-uary) are absolutely beautiful.

Mrs Romance has travelled all the way across the other side of the city today. She said it’s because she wants to catch up with her friend, but I think the real reason is this little creature. This is Lexi and I think she’s broken my heart.

Mrs Romance’s friend is only puppy-sitting Lexi (otherwise I think Mrs Romance might just move to Coogee), but this cute little creature has already grown on her. And how couldn’t she?

If you’re having a bad day, all you have to do is stare into her gooey little eyes for a while. Instant pick-me-up.

As promised, I have brought Mrs Romance – judge of all things margarita (yes, that includes pizza) – to try out Cantina Bar’s handiwork. Plus between 12-5pm on the weekend, margaritas are only $10!

I think Mrs R is the harshest judge of the margarita because she doesn’t really like tequila that much! If the rest of the cocktail tastes good enough, it’ll get her seal of approval.

Does this one pass muster? Oh most certainly yes!

This week’s Travel Recap

Each week we go back in time over some of our favourite travel destinations using never-before-seen photos of our travels. Here’s where we’ve been looking back on this week.

Can you believe this is so close to the city in Sydney? Coogee is a great beach to visit as the waves are smaller and it’s easier for swimming. Mind you, we both love swimming in big waves too.

Check out our post on what else you can do in Coogee – even in the winter.

A little walk out of Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, you’ll find La Punta, a cute little restaurant with one of the best views of the lake. It’s a beautiful spot to escape the crowds and enjoy a spritz.

Here are some of our other posts on Lake Como. What a beautiful place.

This is why Mrs R love helicopters so much – how’s this view over the Willie Creek Pearl Farm in Broome, Western Australia? This is one of the most southern points of a region known as the Kimberley – wait till you see what we saw when we were further into the region!

Here are our write-ups on Broome with plenty of food, drink and travel tips.

More Italian dreaming as we plan our next trip. This was back in Bellagio on Lake Como. What a magical place this is – no wonder George Clooney’s happy here!

Can you see that couple on the cliffs? Love the San Diego coastline and hope to get back there very soon. This is at Sunset Cliffs – such a beautiful, dramatic coastline.

Here are some of our tips for San Diego – if you’re heading there soon, these will give you some great pointers.

Don’t worry by the way – that’s not us on the cliff side. We’re not that crazy!

Laneway restaurants in the backstreets of St Tropez are so romantic. We thought this town would be too exclusive but it’s really lovely and there’s a great local community there.

Check out Mrs Romance’s postcard series on this beautiful little harbour town.

Remember what I said about the Kimberley? Here’s just one of the amazing things we saw: a snake swimming in crocodile-infested waters of the Hunter River Estuary in the Kimberley. This was definitely a highlight moment of our trip – but there were many more.

Here’s our full story of when we went on a National Geographic expedition by sea around Australia’s wild northwest.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s IG Edition. We can’t wait to give you the next one next Monday!

Now it’s your turn – how was your week and weekend? Tell us in the comments!