Things you've never dreamed of

February 17th, 2014

Salamanca Market, Tasmania

So after I posted that last bit of 3pm coffee stream of consciousness I realised I haven’t posted since October last year. Bad Rose, no biscuit. I’ve done stuff and eaten things since then – here’s a really short one just to keep all three of you happy.

I went to Tasmania with Mr Gif in January to attend a wedding. It was a last minute invite (read: mid December) but we were like fuck it, we haven’t been in Tassie yet so we’ll do this thing. Everyone told us to go to Salamanca Market so we did.

Whisky tasting

We started the morning with a bit of whisky tasting cos we’re classy like that. On display here is the Three Capes Whisky and McHenry London Gin from the William McHenry & Sons Distillery. I’ve become a bit of whisky fan over the last year – I like this a lot, but for Tassie whiskies I prefer Nant.

Raspberry danish

“Wtf”, I hear you say. “Did you really just post a half eaten Danish on your blog?”

Well, yeah. Haters gonna hate.

(It was delicious. Look for the Summer Kitchen Bakery)

Tempura mushrooms

This was the highlight of the food there for me – tempura mushrooms. Giant plate for $7. Mr Gif doesn’t eat mushrooms so I got to eat the entire lot. Awww yisss

OK so I did feel a bit sick afterwards.

Wallaby burrito

OF COURSE I HAD TO STOP WHEN I SAW WALLABY BURRITO. This was the Pacha Mama Mexican stall.

Wallaby burrito

I was expecting something quite gamey, but the wallaby meat was tender and quite delicate. Tastes kinda like lamb. I like it. I reckon it’s a good one for people who aren’t too much into (or are new to) game meat.

I’ll eventually write more about Tasmania. Stay tuned for stories of our wild nights out in empty towns.

October 22nd, 2013

Melbourne and stuff

I turned 32 last month. I like to think that I’ve come a long way from last year. With the help of good friends I’ve got my shit (almost) in order, I have a cute little apartment (with a particular emphasis on “little”), and I’m dating someone who’s pretty freaking great.

To congratulate myself on a job well done I booked a weekend away in Melbourne with Mr Gif in tow. We stayed at Hotel Lindrum (which I will recommend forever) where cake and flowers from friends await. The weekend was off to an awesome start, aside from the hangover from the birthday party the night before.

I didn’t take too many photos of the food but here are some I took when I’m not otherwise drunk or feeling too self-conscious.

Mamasita
1/11 Collins St, Melbourne
Chicken tostaditas

Chicken tostaditas with avocado, chipotle mayo and queso fresco. Delicious, crispy, more-ish.

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Eat ALL the food – pancita de cerdo (braised pork belly), plaintain crisps, beans and tortillas.

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A closeup of the braised pork belly cos I love youse all. The green bits are deep fried parsley, genius. It tastes as good as it looks FYI.

Mr Gif and I went to Mamasita very early on a Saturday – about 12pm – so we didn’t run into the infamous Mamasita queue. Service was great and food was even better. I don’t queue for restaurants anymore cos I hardly find any worth the wait, but I’d line up for Mamasita. Only for maybe 15 minutes, though.

Papa Goose
91-93 Flinders Ln

This was a bit of a weird one. The restaurant was completely empty when we went (admittedly it was at 12pm on the dot since we had a plane to catch), and the only other people to show up were a couple maybe an hour or so after we arrived. The food was great, so could just be a city on a weekend emptiness, idk.

This was our last meal of the trip after a LOT of eating, so we were pretty defeated at this point. Foolishly we still ordered the Sunday roast which was good value at the price of $50 p.p. for two courses (you’ll see why in a minute).

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Entree of charcuterie board with pickles and croquettes.

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MASSIVE roast lamb with Yorkshire pudding and roasted vegetables. Seriously this would’ve fed about four people it was so big. I almost wish I’d gone to the gym that morning so I’d have more space but, y’know, on holiday and all that.

We also went to MoVida on our first night and The European for my birthday dinner. Both incredible as always.

Mr Gif asked me last night if I’m happy. In short, yes. I’m still stressed out and anxious about a lot of things but really, they’re no big deal now compared to the ball of tightly wound rubber band I was a year ago. It’s amazing what difference 12 months make – here’s to another year of kicking ass.

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May 22nd, 2013

Ch-ch-changes

Hey guys, what’s happening?

It’s obviously way too late and I’m incredibly tired, but have finally finished doing stuff behind the scenes to get this thing going again. Yeah, how many times have you heard that right?

So, update: separated; living on my own; still quite into pork belly. Learning to do that thing where I try to relate to complete strangers which is all at once terrifying, exhilarating and surprising in a lot of ways.

I’m starting up a fun side project with the gorgeous Sarah from Life Glutton, so watch this space.

Also to watch: a cafe bucket list with Sara (shameless plug: buy her cakes, peeps).

That’s quite a lot of feelings in one post, so will leave you with the current theme song of my life:

October 22nd, 2011

Sydney Craft Beer Week, 22 – 29 Oct

Sydney Craft Beer Week starts today for all you beer snobs (me included) – you can go to the website to check out events and sign up for whatever catches your fancy. There’s craploads on so I’m sure you’ll find something you like. I’ll be going to the Beer Lover’s Guide to EXTREME BEER event, so do say hello if you see me (I’m the one who looks like this).

Full disclosure: I work with one of the BeermenTV guys who coordinated the Sydney Craft Beer Week, but think this is a v worthwhile event hence the writeup. Also he said he’ll buy me booze if I tell all of my three blog followers about it.

October 31st, 2010

MoVida Aqui, Melbourne

I squandered the afternoon watching Mame on the Nine Go! channel. These are five things that would have been a better use of my time:

1. Look for split ends in my hair

2. Watch Franz Ferdinand clips on YouTube and wonder how Alex Kapranos fit in those pants

3. Make origami cranes out of credit card bills

4. Update long-forgotten blog

5. Throw origami cranes at passing neighbourhood children

I’ve got a backlog of entries that I need to go through, but let’s start with a familiar thumb:

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March 16th, 2010

Taste of Sydney, Centennial Park

I’ll be honest – I didn’t even know this was happening until Legoman offered my partner and I free tickets to Taste of Sydney. A quick Internet search later, I found out that Taste is a festival that showcases dishes, drinks and food products from Sydney’s top restaurants and various food producers (boutique and otherwise). For myself, the biggest lure of the event was the opportunity to sample the tasting menu of various fine restaurants I can’t afford. This year it was held from March 11th to March 14th at Centennial Park. My partner and I went to the Friday afternoon session to avoid big crowds. We were running late so we just grabbed a cab to get there. We had a nice conversation with the cabbie until he turned out to be racist. Awesome.

The event uses books of vouchers called “Crowns” as its currency, with the price being 1 Crown = $1. Dishes on the tasting menu costs 8, 10 or 12 Crowns.

Our first dish was Assiette‘s Sydney rock oysters with “Vietnamese dressing”, crispy deep fried shallots and baby coriander. Ohhhh man our tasting went off to a great start. The textures in this were absolutely divine. I like my oysters naked, so I was happy to find that the dressing complemented the flavour of the oysters instead of overpowering them, which I tend to find with most oyster dressings.

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January 3rd, 2010

Perth 2009: Westward Bound

I’m back – sporting a tan and a slightly fatter belly.

For Christmas this year my partner and I decided to go on a holiday to Perth. I studied in Perth for 4 years and my bff BusinessClass (who I will refer to often in my Perth entries) still lives there. I haven’t been back for about 5 years so I was pretty excited.

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The holiday started with our traditional airport food: Hungry Jack’s. Sure, it was 7 in the morning and starting the day with a slightly suspicious cheeseburger is normally a Bad Idea but these sorts of rules don’t apply when you’re travelling. Also, a $2.50 cheeseburger > $8 cheese and tomato croissant. The burger was fucking delicious.

I was terribly restless throughout the flight – we were on one of the older planes that don’t have individual TVs on the back of seats so I resorted to poking my SO and demanding to be entertained, which earned me the title of Worst Flight Companion Ever. We did a cryptic crossword and solved two clues, then a normal crossword and solved about 6. I heard that cryptic crosswords help prevent Alzheimers, so looking at how we’re going I guess I’ll just need to save up to go to Mexico for barbiturates before it sets in.

I skipped the flight breakfast. My SO got the scrambled eggs, the fool! We landed without incident and my SO managed to get through the 5 hours without strangling me.

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September 16th, 2009

Europe – September 2008

Rob and I took a trip to Switzerland, Rome and London in September last year. While the trip itself was amazing, the food leaves little to be desired. Some of the more memorable food-related stuff:

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Interior of the Giger Bar

Interior of the Giger Bar

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