Rediscovering Thainatown

Thainatown, on Goulbourn Street near the Masonic Centre has a lunchtime loyalty card!

I went there a twice last week because it was close to where I was. Good food, and not too pricey. always a table or a spot free for a loner. Loved their Duck noodle soup with blood jelly (mmm, offal), and their iced red tea with milk always seems to hit the spot.

Speaking of offal, Suan-i-san, around the corner, sells bbq-style roast liver on a stick. Yummo, iron hit.!

Portliness

My recent Melbourne visit (and related food extravaganza) has left me a little portly. My mum has described me as being a little bit more 'juicy'.

You know that stereotypical scenario: Girl goes shopping, drags boyfriend along to carry shopping, boyfriend is in catatonic state as girlfriend tries on endless item of clothing after another, prances out of change room and asks: "Do I look fat in this?"

Apparently the bit that we *don't* hear after the "Yes", and then slapping said-boyfriend is....

"Wow, you look fantastic, Yes please buy it, *drool*, in fact let me buy that for you, even better - here, use my credit card..."

So what am I *supposed* to do with it?

A little bit shirty, because I got locked out of my gmail account for 24hours. The reason had been "oh, there's been way too much activity on your account, so we've locked it."

Grr - so if you enable to email auto-forward on your account, and then some emails come in, and get forwarded elsewhere, "normal" activity suddenly becomes "abnormal", and you get locked out. ARGH!

Review: Chat thai

Visited Chat Thai on Campbell Street for lunch today. Good crowd - mix of mostly Asian, some westerners, quite a few thai. Excellent vibes. Seems authentic, but it has a bit of a french influence - e.g. the use of 'consomme' and 'jus' in the menu descriptions

Service staff were lacking, and seemed more interested in taking names for people queueing for tables, and not in actual service. E.g. mains arrived before entrees; mains were dumped on table with no explanation of what dish it was; and mains were delivered without cutlery or serviettes!! Use of wireless pda-style order takers. Design - although it looks pretty, the waitstaff have to push past the queue of people waiting for tables or paying in order to deliver it to the table. Precarious when carrying three or four dishes.

Food good. The Som tum (papaya green salad) was plenty hot and sweet: but lacking in the sour taste. The little dish of chilli sauce that came with the pork skewers - fresh and panfried chillies, coriander, ground rice was a lot better balanced. The snacks - chicken skewers with satay sauce and the bbq pork were disappointing.

Eating Well, in contradiction

Flying 800kmSydney-Melbourne to do "the slow food thing" seems a bit of an enormous contrdiction.

I had a fantastic time, with three going-out-meals in three days. Sitting for 3 hours on a plane (and filling in the other hours with shopping) don't seem to have balanced out the amount of eating that I achieved. I have most decidedly put on weight, and he had to yield an extra hole on his belt!

Saturday night: "A taste of slow" dinner at Tjanabi restaurant in Federation Square*.
Sunday night was yummo vegetarian banquet at the Morroccan Soup Bar. (Shares joint 'fave melbourne places' with the Vegie Bar in Fitzroy)
Monday lunch was risotto at Piadina Slow Food in Punch Lane. (In retrospect, I should have gone for the Japanese mushroom, green pea lentil curry)
Finally, a double pot of rainbow chai at Well-Connected cafe to settle the stomach on Monday night.

*slow food incorporating food/fish/microherbs flown in from NT, and cooked by two chefs from restaurants in Alice Springs seems to contradict the *other* slow food tennant, that of sourcing food locally.

Impulse Purchase

Honestly went to birkenhead point 'just to look for some work shirts'. Should not have walked into Laura Ashley, where the fare is usually too fluffy, too girly for me. Then I walked outed with two new sheet sets - white with red polka dots, and a green with white stripes. Oh me, oh my, ever so pretty.

One sauce, many dishes

Lots of chilli based cooking from me this week. very easy to do so: just bought a small bag of the birds eye chillies (scuds), and put them into everything.

Tried Volum Tom Yum soup in a can. Awful. Flat. My 'substitute everything for every other ingredient' version tasted better.

What I'm really loving is the salad sauce that you pound up in a mortar and pestle. Clove of garlic, pinch of salt, one chilli, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. It tastes different depending what you add it to. Yum!

I made a recreate-a-dish-from-the-plane vermicilli noodle and cucumber salad (accidently forgot the cherry tomato); And I also added the sauce to a fried rice that made it tasty and spicy, and ever so moreish.

Tonight I used the chillies, and rubbed them on some t-bone steaks before cooking. Mmm.

Too many things to do, too little time

I have been one stressed out little bunny recently. A combination of impending deadlines and a "well Mr X. did it, so why can't you?", have meant that I have not been a happy camper! Over summer I have had the assistance of a uni student doing a work experience stint with us: and it has been enormously helpful being able to hand over the responsibility of those tasks that you really have to do, but just can't fit in, because there is so much other stuff that are even more important. *sigh* I'll miss him when he has head to back to uni.

Flood!

It rained again today, torrentially, after lunch. Feels like I'm living in monsoonal country. Anyway, the little drainage ditch was flowing, the duckpond had overfilled, and the walking track was flooded. I've never seen that much water there.

Pizza Night

Made pizza from scratch, on one of the hotter days we've had this year. I think it was 33 degrees during the day.
The dough refused to rise (I was using Stephanie Alexander proportions; not Donna Hay ones, which I am used to), The oven was either too cold or smoking and threatening to set off the smoke alarm. They were very tasty pizzas though. Next tme, I think I'll wait for winter to satisfy the homemade pizza craving.

NY Road Trip Part 2

After leaving the Honeysuckle Camping ground in Namadgi National Park, we drove down the dirt road to Adaminaby. The road was twisty and hilly, with the added fun of dirt and thus less traction. It was fun to do once - but really the signboards and scenery along the way didn't really encourage a re-visit. The only thing possibly worthwhile - the Orroral Valley.

Stopped in at Buckenderra holiday park on the shores of Lake Eucembene for New Years Eve. Last year, the lake level was so low that you could see the foundations and remanents of Old Adaminaby town. Today - the level was 20%. Certainly very refreshing, and enough to have a swim in.

Finally: the main attraction. Drove up to Charlotte Pass and set off for the Blue Lake Walk, with plans for the return via Hedley Tarn. The weather was good, with a predicted afternooon thunderstorm and shower. Hiked up to the saddle of Mount Twyman. Whilst resting from the 250m climb over 2km distance, we got lured by the prospect of Mount Carruthers so nearby.

2km deviation later, and the view over the valley and Northcott canyon to the north was beautiful and worth it. Stopped at Blue Lake on the way back - lots of patches of snow still remaining. Tried to spot where the ice climbs would be in winter. All the alpine wildflowers were out flowering and looking fabulous.

The final part of the walk - from the northern shore of Hedley tarn was a bit hardgoing. There were some cairns marking the trail, but not many, and they were a bit irregular. A bit of bushbashing through the heath! Reaching the showgrass section and downhill to the paved walkway was a relief, as was eating lunch with my feet dangling in the Snowy river afterwards.

NY Road Trip Part 1

Left Sydney for Canberra, stopped at Bungonia Gorge for a night. Looks like the NPWS had closed half the campsites in their wisdom. The two main lookouts looked over the canyon - and the wonderful scar opposite that is the quarry. So easily can our government be bought.

Walked from the main lookout over to Adams lookout. At least from here you couldn't see the quarry, and could just appreciate Slot Canyon. Very hot. The showers were very nice though.

Continued on to the main attraction: Boroomba Rocks. Since the weather had been very hot, we awoke at the crack of pre-dawn, and frogmarched from the carpark at 7am up the slope to South Buttress. Integral Crack was calling!

We enjoyed the shade up till about 1130. Definitely the way to go in future. And not only that: I managed to second integral crack clean, and crank off a finger lock. Yowie!!

Completed the day with a cooling dip in the Murrumbidgee river near Point Hut crossing. Is this how the natives cool down?

Various Nibbles

Broke a window trying to get a fly with a thong. It's worked in the past, I don't see why the window had to shatter on purpose.

Blind baked a pre-made pie crust, and burnt the edges.

Trying to make pumpkin pie for a pushing daisies movie marathon.

the oaks, backwards

Almost did the oaks fire trail twice in one week. Record for me. :-)

Took Monday off, did it the traditional direction 'downhill' from woodford to glenbrook. Lots of fun, although I bailed on the really hard bit of single track right near the end. I have to admit though, a weekday is *the* day to do it, because you are not at risk of super collision or 8-bike pile up if you decide to take your own sweet time about it.

Went back on Sunday. Surprisingly, the road down to the causeway at Glenbrook was closed, and had been since Friday. There was half a tree and a boulder right in the middle of the causeway. It doesn't take long for the rivers to fill up from rain!

So the backwards bit means I rode a bit of it 'uphill', from glenbrook to woodford. I was really surprised how much of a difference it made. You don't notice the slope much from the Oaks picnic area, but I think I climbed 50m in elevation over 2km. And then, once I reached the '10km from glenbrook' mark, I chucked a u-turn, and did my favourite bit really fast. Wheeeeeee!

Working towards the Urban Polaris

Have a dream to do the final urban polaris this year in canberra. 7 hours on a bike - ouch, even more ouch if I haven't been on a bike since August.

So I went on a ride on Sunday, bush track in the Wollemi National Park. It was very pretty, highly enjoyable. I totally rode it wrong, riding too hard on the brake doing the downhill, too far forward in the saddle, and skidding my way down. Fun though - didn't come off once. Nearly ran over a snake too. It was bright green, with a white/cream underbelly and yellow markings on its back. That's enough to make me think it was a diamond python (non-poisonous, yay!). However, it was coiled and ready to strike - and that's not typical behaviour. Possibly it could have been the several rocks and branches that Luke threw at it to try and convince it to move that did it. Hmm.

Sculpture by the Sea

On its 10 year anniversary, I finally made it to Sculpture by the Sea. It was hot. It was also the last weekend, so it was crowded. Fun.

The rusted metal sculptures at Tamarama looked like they had been there for years, they really blended in. The rolled up balls of "united nations policy on climate change" were funny, and oh so true. The sea lady perched on the rockshelf worked so well, there were many young lasses who sat next to her and adopted the same pose.

I wonder which of the sculptures was that of my neighbour?

I'd left my wallet at home, and a gelato at pompeii was the one neccessity, so I couldn't afford a catalog. Hazelnut & blood orange - well worth it!

It was good fun at Marks Park, with the families out and about and exploring the art. Quite a few made it through the bars imprisoning the tree on the headland.

I made it into the water too, twice at Tamarama. The water was very cold, and rough towards the end of the day. I may be a little sunburnt.

Ironic Ad

Heard an ad on the radio whilst on the commute. It was one of those "help I'm drowning in debt" type ads, and the company promises to help you out. "If we can't help you, no one can!". The rep's name was "Jacque".

Danks St Festival 2007

Went to the Dank St Festival today, probably my first 'real' good food month attended. I mean I went to the markets - but it's a thing i do quite a bit. Hot day, in street with two PAs blaring away just way too loud, make my head hurt. Gah, I'm turning into a little granny.

Apart from that, lots of fun! Bought a round loaf of olive bread from Sonoma - just missed out on the soy linseed. :-(. [Tasted the bread after dinner - Yummo!]Although I wasn't hungry when heading there, I was pretty soon after landing and smelling all the yummy smells. Sampled:
- Creole sausage & rocket on a roll with smokey bbq sauce from Eumundi Smokehouse. Good & chewy texture. well matched. I like the sauce!
- Garlic Prawns from the Spanish Place, up at the Moore Park end. The prawns were a bit salty, and the texture tough. Uh - were they frozen? But the accompanying picante and verde sauces were lovely.
- Tasting Plate (arancini rice ball; pumpkin pinenut and yoghurt tartlet) and duck pancake. Liked the pancake. Was it wholemeal? I'm sure there was more stuff with the tasting plate, but I can't remember. The sharpness of the yoghurt contrasted nicely with the richness of the pine nuts. I love pine-nuts, so moreish.
-Serendipity gelato flavours of fig, honey & pistachio; and kaffir lime and coconut. I've been a fan of the vanilla bean for aaages, when they were stocked in little takaway containers for $10 a block. I had heard rave reviews of the fig ice cream: it was lovely, but a little two sweet. You got the crunchiness of the fig seeds, nutty/creamy pistachio nuts and then sweet honey. The kaffir lime & coconut was so white, it looked bleached. Non-dairy? I guess if you use coconut cream/milk. Then you get this little tantalising hit of 'ooh, slightly limey',and cruncy bits of shredded coconut. Make that toasted, and it would totally win me over.

I couldn't quite do the whole two scoops, I think next time I try for a 1.5 scoop deal. I was very full and satisfied after that final effort!

Sad that I'm going to be missing out on the food & wine fair next weekend.

Spring Clean

Steamcleaned the carpets today, and went through 7 refills of 8.5 litre tank. Hmm - not exactly environmentally friendly, but the carpets smell much better. Also used a lot of elbow grease in cleaning out the bathtub of soap scum - used the vinegar & bicarb trick. The worst bit is kneeling on the tiles!

USA Round up

I spent lots of time in State Parks and National Parks. If the weather is fine, don't even think about trying to get a camp spot along the coast. The smells are so much more 'moreish' - like the super Sugar Pine smell, or the smell of the redwoods or the grandeur of the Giant Sequoias. Loved Yosemite National Park ($20 for 7 day entry is so cheap compared to the $8 day entry in the state parks). Saw lots and lots of bears.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is in *everything*. Chocolate bars in the USA are so much more bad for you than they are in Australia; You read the ingredients, and there is not only Coconut Oil and Palm Oil (the worst two oils in existence), but then they've gone and *hydrogenated* it, which makes is superbad!!

Funny too - I think there are two production lines. i bought some 'endangered species' chocolate. The one that I got from the Yosemite general store had "beet sugar". The one that I saw in Australia had "normal" sugar in it. Eh?

Yay for the existence of the BART in SF; What doesn't make sense is making the consumer work out to the cent, how much to put in the machine. You should be able to press which station you want to go to, and then the machine tells you how much to put in. Not: consult table, then put in money.

Supertired Skibunny

Made a last minute dash to the snow this year: it was a trip that I had all but given up despite the "best snow in 20 years" tag. Suddenly on the Tuesday I found out that a friend of a friend was going: and then there was hope! Booked last minute accomodation on the Thursday, drove down to weather reports of gale force winds at altitudes above 1200m. Sounds like the makings of an epic, doesn't it?

Anyway, first day at Thredbo was miserable. Instead of wind (and shut lifts), it was constant rain. The actual skiing part was ok-ay: it was slushy and hard work. What sucked was the staying still on the chairlift and getting soaked and cold. Oh-so-cold. We made an executive schnapp decision to head into the warm after two runs, and we had to wring the gloves out because the water had soaked right through to the inner liner.

Chose to do a lazy dinner, and instead of driving into Jindy; walk up the hill from the tent to visit the thai place. Instead of (as I was expecting), a rather ordinary suburban thai restaurant, this place was fantastic! Ordered the nahm dtok [grilled beef salad] (spelling from thai food) off the Specials menu, and it was oh-so tasty. I had to restrain myself from licking the plate, the sauce were that good. It was very popular as well: I saw at least four other tables ordering the same dish. I really wanted to come back again the next night, and just hang out there in front of the fire. Dang having to go to work the next day!

Supreeya's Thai Restaurant - well worth it.

Water in..

So. The toilets are now on yellowish tanked rain water. And you're supposed to tell if you're dehydrated by checking the colour of your urine. How am I supposed to tell ? Counting the number of glasses per day is so old school.

Macadamia Nuts

The thumbprints on my fingers feel raw.

I visited a Macadamia farm over the weekend, and having enjoyed the pumpkin and macadamia nut scones fresh from the oven with a bit of cream and jam, proceeded to scour the ground underneath the trees in the grove for some fruit. Apparently they're not ripe until they drop off the tree, and you need 12 weeks to dry them in the shell before you can crack the nut from within.

But to dry the shell, I had to remove it from the casing. First attempt was with a knife to top & tail it, and then peel the green skin off. Have you tried skinning a golfball? Yeah, it was just as successful as that.

A nut cracker (or lobster shell cracker...?) came to the rescue, but the trick was to crack the edge of the skin, and not the central bit that instinctively you go for ~ after all, these are the hardest nutshells in the world.

Plan B's Wagyu Beef Burger

Get one hunk of expensive wagyu beef. Mince it. Turn it into a burger. Yum.

Plan B is the side project for Julian North of Becasse & (Sous Chef) Banc fame.

Lack of time, so a short post

Gak! Now being a car-commuter instead of a public transport commuter, I am finding that I'm having much less spare time than I used to, and the backlog of things to read is getting longer.
So little time!

Loving: A proper winter, snuggling up in front of the heater. Sleeping in (but I've always loved that). Rise Omakase menu. The freshness of the sushi at Makato. Coffee. Need more.

Inspired by: Lamb & Tomato Soup from The Gardners Inn Blackheath; Sticky Toffee Pudding (Steph Alexander Version), hastily converted from metric weights to -erh- I think 170g sugar is a three quarters cup?

Me = Commuter Squared

Took delivery of a new car at the end of last month. All of 13km on the clock, just enough to have assembled it it, driven it onto the ship, and driven it off the ship.

Instead of being a public transport person - I am now an evil commuter. One of those single people, in a single car, travelling to work. At the moment I am doing the reverse commute, travelling from the inner suburbs of sydney to the western suburbs. And generally, I like driving. But I don't like driving during the peak hour rush when everyone is aggro and less forgiving.

My compensation for doing this daily commute has been to start up a bokashi box, a sort of indoor pre-compost fermentation system that originated in Japan. I have tried and failed with the worm farm (killing the poor babies twice, so-much-so that the last lot of worms upped and packed themselves to the compost bin next door). Lets see how this one goes.

Degustation at Post, GPO Martin Place

The parentals went to Tetsuya's yesterday with some friends to celebrate a significant birthday.

Jealous as.

By happenstance though, as I was clearing out my boxes from my perpetual-move; I found a menu that I had squirrelled away from two years ago. During good food month 2005, I had a choice between visiting Carribean experimental in Pyrmont; or French degustation. I, predictably, chose the French, although now I wish I had been a little daring.

Anyway, I can't remember much about the actual meal. I think I managed to resist taking photos of every dish. But here is the menu & my scribblings for posterity:

It's Time!

So finally - it was time for me to ride the dirtworks 50km race.

Months of non-preparation, and on-again-off-again riding had brought me to this moment.

The killer hill at the beginning - around 12km was just as bad as it was last year. I had to pause and roll around on the ground for a bit to stretch my lower back out. It was just *so* tiring from pushing the bike up the hill at a 65 degree angle. Urk. I started off the ride with sneakers on, to reduce the number of transitions by one, and also so I didn't have to hike up the hill in bike shoes. I'm really not sure how much time I saved!

For the 50km, they had graded the fast downhill track from rocky, sandy and technical to smooth with a combo of water bars & sand traps to slow you down. I was trying so hard to slow down on this downhill bit that I could smell burning rubber - probably my rim brakes. Top speed for me: 41.5km*, and I was a slowpoke!

The water station at the 28km mark (where the 100kmers split off from the 50kmers) was very good with watermelon, orange slices, 'gu' water. Very good, especially since so many people ran out of water last year. I probably stayed a little too long at this rest point.

Apparently a 100kmer broke their collarbone just past the water station. The hike-a-bike bit got removed, but there was a plank/bridge ride over a creek that a few people got wet in when they tried to change direction when already on the bridge.

Timing chips/legstraps got provided too. Ah - technology!

My time was worse than last year (1min), but my placing was one better.

*Courtesy of my handy GPS unit. If I'm speeding downhill, all hands on brakes, even though I'm the kind of person to scream "go-faster", do you *really* think I'd take my eyes off the trail to see the kind of speed I'm clocking up. Nuh-uh.

On the road again

I have been packing my stuff (again!) in preparation for a move. This isn't a moving-house type move (which in a way I am still in the midst of - beware the way of the procrastinator), but a move of office.

When I last moved office, about this time last year, I had three boxes of stuff, and was accused of moving too much stuff. So this time I am restricting myself to the same three boxes. Of course in a year I have accumulated lots more 'stuff' - thus it is time to cull.

Someone else in another organisation I have dealings with is also under this blight of time-to-move-office.

They hired movers. The movers picked up the boxes, but decided to have a long lunch along the way.
They had a few lunchtime beverages. They indulged in some illegal substances. They decided to scatter the contents boxes to the four winds, and feeling the pressure from the extra liquid consumed at lunchtime, relieved themselves on the paperwork.

So *that* is why we're moving our office stuff ourselves.

Oaks

Way-hey, I can ride a bike again. Sort of. My training for the Dirtworks 50km so far has involved on again off again rides mainly in the royal national park, and a whole lot of sleeping.

But not last weekend! I was determined. I emailed the gang, nominated the 9.20 train from glenbrook and what time it was due to arrive at woodford. I was determined to ride no matter what.

As I was driving up to Glenbrook (borderline late for the train), I remembered that the last ride I had done in RNP, B1 had had two flats, borrowed my spare tube, and left me with the super-busted-cannot-be-repaired one. *grrr*.

I lurked around glenbrook for a while, hoping for the old-bike-shop-now-outdoor-stuff shop to open. The clock ticked ominously. Decided to run the risk & ride without a spare and went off to meet Robin & Darren at the station. Turns out the train was already crowded (with bikes), and there were at least thirty more wanting to join the train. Uh oh. Donated our tickets to some likely riders, and ended up driving to the start of the trail.

We had two spare tubes between three bikes. I had had another sort of brain malfunction, and forgotten my bike shoes as well. Duh, doofus! Luckily, Robin had just changed his flat pedals to eggbeaters (ooh, hardcore!), so I could use those instead of sneakers of spd pedals.

And it was fun! I rode most of the downhill sections, except for the really really big one. I even made it up the enormous hill at the end. I'm not sure what the gradient was, but *wow* I'm so impressed. I've never made it past the first switchback before. It got to the point, as I was riding up, that I couldn't even look at the road ahead; all I could focus on was bit of bitumen just in front of my front wheel.

Total kudos to Darren - this was only the second time off road; he rode most of the downhill sections, but on a rigid frame, no suspension bike that was a little small for him.

Milkshakes were well deserved.

Haigh's Chocolate Indulgence

Morning coffee break with coffee buddy, in a week that I had decided to come off the coffee again "for as long as it took", so that it would become effective again*.

The Grace hotel had teamed with Haigh's Chocolates to present a chocaholics dream of brownies, biscuits and hot chocolate. So being a fan of the Lindt dark hot chocolate, we went to sample the fare at theGrace.

Choice: 'Normal' hot chocolate, Hot Chocolate Haigh's style, White hot chocolate.

Hot Chocolate Haigh's style came with two marshmallows and a small chocolate and macademia nut biscuit. There was no choice of dark or milk chocolate. Shaved chocolate on top, which melted in the time it took me to take a photo.

The hot chocolate was very sweet, and I think I prefer the Lindt version with the dark chocolate. The 10% discount voucher was put to immediate use - a packet of dark peppermint chocolate frogs, dark choc coated almonds, and milk choc coated macadamias. The nuts are having ashorter lifespan than the frogs, just so moreish.

* That said, when I walked into the coffeeshop this morning; The guy knew me immediately as 'flat white, no sugar", so I haven't been offthe stuff for long enough.

Ooh, I can do Arty Farty Again

Coffee Buddy alerted me to the fact that the art gallery is open on Wednesday evenings for the 'art after hours' event during the month of April. He went on 28 March to hear a comedian talk about the Archibald. So this Wednesday I went. Not to hear Margaret Throsby interview two finalists, but just for a chance to visit the art gallery not-on-a-weekend. Hmm. Those are usually called weekdays, yes? It's a bit too 'familiarity breeds contempt', because the last time I went to the art gallery was during primary school; and despite 'meaning' to see The Archibald Prize, or see artexpress every year, I never quite get off my backside to go.

There was a huge crowd there for the Margaret Throsby talk. Funny how I never really did art in Aus beforenow, and yet I went & visited quite a few art galleries whilst in Europe. I sidestepped the seating, and went 'round the back to artexpress.

I liked the 'minature thoughts' on postage stamps one (For where your Treasure is...., by Aimee Shao-Yi Yeo). Brown ink on a cream cardboard, grouped into three sets with different background colours. Did she handwrite each miniscule thought? Or was it printed in sepia ink, and shrunk down?

I also liked the wirework tableau (A Political Circus, by Madeleine Plocki), of Downer and Iemma playing Texas Hold 'Em Poker; Howard as a circus ringleader with Costello peeking hopefully through a curtain.

There were quite a few entries from International Grammar School. Why does that sitck in my mind? Because it is local, and I can relate to it, despite not having gone to school there.

Then it was downstairs, and into the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne prizes. Um, yeah. I can see why the painting of Take Two: Jack Thompson by Danelle Bergstrom won the packing room prize, I thought that was pretty cool. I guess I liked the stories behind the pictures more, because nothing here kind of grabbed me and made me go "oh, wow".

So what I liked (art critic that I'm not):
- The Hon. Bob Carr (Jasper Knight), because Knight was a finalist in artexpress a few years ago, Carr bought his artwork, and that they meet up every year to "catchup".
-Fink on the Phone (Paul Ryan), because it took Ryan two intense periods, and at least $800 worth of paint to get it to a stage he liked. Very textured.
-Tim (Esther Elridge). She tacked on an extra bit of canvas at the bottom of her portrait to emphasis Tim Rogers' lanky figure, and then 'spent a lot of time up a ladder'!

Ooh, Arty Farty Me

Saw Keating! earlier in March, and it was a hoot. I think it started at a Melbourne Comedy festival a few years ago (google says 2005), sold out, and came to Sydney fo two weeks at the opera house. Of course, it sold out again for that season. Hadn't heard anything about it until January this year when I think I saw a poster in passing. Grabbed the tickets when the box office opened, so finally after a year and a half of waiting, I got to go.

Fortified after work with a large mocha and a small bar of chocolate. The band was playing something upbeat to get the audience in the mood. Almost a full house and ~uh~ the clientele was a little bit older than I expected. I really only remember Keating as PM prior to Howard, but I was surprised that the majority of the audience that night were ofgrey-haired granny ilk.

And it was a lot of fun! It took me a while to get into it, and I'm not sure if it was because I didn't remember much of the references to the early part of his tenure, or if it was because I wasn't in the mood. Anyway, from about the Hewson 'fightback!' rap I was cheeringalong and grooving with everyone else.

Random Stuff

Coffee
How can I tell Uni has started again?

I can't get my coffee instantly, when I want it from the cheap place up the road, because all the uni students have discovered it.

General Posting
Finding it very hard to keep this thing updated. I can't email posts from work because of the stupid disclaimer messages that get tacked onto the end of emails. I am spendng disgusting amounts of time on flickr at work at the moment, probably more as a distraction from horrible work happenings. I think I will curl up into a little ball and die when the helpless desk work out that flickr isn't work related, and block it from the list of allowable sites.

MTB
For some reason life keeps interfering with the things I want to do. Like mountainbike ride - I signed up for the
dirtworks 50km bike race. I thoroughly enjoyed this one last year, and am keen on doing it again. Except that last time I went riding - RNP no less, a trail that I usually consider "easy", I found it far from easy. It was tough! Downhills that I had blithely zoomed down at speed in the
past (& yelled out 'go faster!' to my compatriots) I baulked at. *sigh*. I am getting *sensible*, how can that be?

And then this weekend - I had organised a trip to ride the Oaks Fire trail. Unlike RNP, where I can bail after 10km, this one forces you to ride 25km or so. Even if it is mostly downhill, it's going bush, right? Of course shittyrail organised some last minute trackwork, which wasn't advertised on their website, that I only noticed when driving up the day before I had planned to go riding. So friends couldn't join me, and it would involve a bit of extra logistical to-ing and fro-ing to do the trail. L, bless his cotton socks, was all worried about me going riding on my own along 25km of no-reception, and lent me his EPIRB. I didn't go in the end, and wentclimbing instead. I'm sure that was part of his cunning evil plan.

Adventurous Paddle

So! Yesterday I competed in the inaugural Adventure Paddle; down on the Georges River in the 'shire.

I actually wasn't much looking forward to the event beforehand. I had done all of one "training" session, a 3 hour stint on middle harbour. I haven't done anything really tp get fit apart from on & off turn ups at the Sydney Summer Series (which I then mainly walked). And lots and lots of PS2 guitar hero. I signed up mainly to do something with Sarah, which I know that she would be interested in, and I thoughy that some of my mad adventure racing pals would have signed up too. "No, I can't be bothered."

Bah, bollocks to them.

So having slept like a log for 6hours, the alarm went off at 5am. Dozy brekky of museli & fruitibix, then an iced coffee up & go in the car. Disadvantage of travelling across town on the motorways is that there is no convenient cafe with nice coffees en-route, or even a dodgy fast food place with caffienated sort-of-beverages when you're desperate. We ended up pulling into a servo & getting a milky hot water thing with a splash of brown stuff from a vending machine, and a can of Vfrom me.

The Georges River National Park was filled with seriously buff looking people in sponsered swift looking kayaks, matching uniforms for the pairs. Maybe about 100 people all up? A bit of fluffing about, since I hadn't done one of these things in over a year, what with contacting the map, the checkpoint list, working out our route & times with thetides.

0800 -bang, and we're off! Run to launch the kayak into the water, and paddle around the corner, to pick up the 'checkpoint value' list. Of course we just follow the crowd, and head up the bush track to checkpoint 19. When we come down, it was like 'oh, that checkpoint value thing'. We picked it up anyway, ignored it and kept going. The next closest checkpoint already had a flotilla of 10 or so kayak parters waiting in the kayaks whilst the faster runners headed up thecliffline & got their stamp off the leg of a transmission tower. We opted to head upstream & keep going.

So. All in all, we had a pretty fun time. We got all the checkpoints that we wanted to, and one extra, number '9', which supposedly was accessible only around high tide, but we managed to get it about 90mins after the high tide mark, and it was still really easy to get there. We dodged some idiot waterskiiers, and jetskis; had to cross the main channel of the Georges river a couple of times. The bit closest to Mickey's point & Alfords Point bridge was the hairiest - we pretty much just looked both ways, and then paddled like crazy to getacross the channel before being run over.

5 hours, 260points, 16km of paddling. Pretty good effort!

The best bit was stopping at a picnic area on the northern side of the river, eating a snack, and then having tiny transparent prawns swim over and around our dangling feet as they spawned downstream.

I am so sore today though! We stretched out afterwards, mainly upper body and arm stretches, and ate a 'healing' sausage sandwich. Pretty much the top 3/4 of my back is just sore (not helped by the fact that I also went climbing thursday night), and so are the bony bits of mysitting down muscles!

All Shopped out

I can't believe it. I'm all shopped out.

Had the car for a few more days, thought I might as well go shopping somewhere not easily public transportable. Wandered around DFO at homebush with little enthusiasm. It's not that big, and the stock really isn't that good. The range of CR skirts available in sizes 6 & 8 was about 5, all ugly. Could I really have over-shopped myself whilst travelling overseas, and my lightning cheer-myself-up-shoppingtrip to Melbourne when I returned?

Then I went IK-eaing, and there was a lot more enthusiasm for that. How on earth can I get excited by browsing at Ikea? The majority of hostel/backpacker places that I stayed at during my big europe trip were decorated top-to-toe in ikea, which I couldn't understand. The funkiest place had a blue plastic watering can turned into a lightshade. Very stylish! I think it's more the convenience of aone-stop-shop, because really, it ain't that cheap!

On the hunt for under-the-bed storage type ideas, despite me not liking plastic crates, I came *this close* to buying a set of Children's style crates. The adult versions were terribly ho-hum.
Funnily enough, although I really hated to white/beige options in offer in the home-storage section, and got excited by all the pretty colours you could get the children's shelving/crate/storage boxes in, it was the white ones that I had picked out!

How not to travel in Melbourne in Style

I started from Sydney's eastern suburbs, and hopped on a bus thinking that it would take me to the airport. The 400 goes to the airport -the 410 should as well, shouldn't it?

I ended up in Rockdale, on the *other* side of the airport. It was peak hour. My 10min float time of check-in time was rapidly disappearing. I stood on the Princes Highway, a main arterial route from the southern suburbs into the city/airport and could *not* see a single taxi. I guess because it is a main arterial route, the taxisdon't see much point in travelling it looking for fares.

After 5 traffic light cycles (and 15 minutes of panic), I finally got one. The fare cost me $20. At least my ticket was still valid, andthey hadn't sold it to a standby passenger. Phew!

10 ways to piss off your cousin

1. Decide at the last minute that you want to visit Hong Kong, but you are too cheap to pay for your accomodation.
2. Decide that you want to stay with your relatives.
3. This results in cousin being kicked out of his own room, and being relegated to the storage room to sleep in instead.
4. Be unable to speak coherently in Cantonese, at least not enough to hold a decent conversation with cousin. So not only have you kicked him out of his room, you don't even speak to him.
5. Monopolise the family dog.
6. Make an incredible amount of noise on your first night, so that he can't get to sleep before heading to work the next day.
7. Have his parents send him out to buy computer related things for you.
8. Complain that his computer is riddled with viruses, and that the Internet connection is too slow, despite being on broadbad.
9. Despite the computer being riddled with viruses already, somehow break it even more. The damn thing has a Trojan horse and has corrupted IE so that the net won't load because it gets blocked by antivirus software.
10. Break the back up computer.

Speaking Spanish badly helped my Chinese

I wouldn't have thought so, but travelling around Europe, and only knowing a few choices words of the country that I was (and usually getting confused with the one that I had just been in), has helped myChinese.

The following conversation took place yesterday. I was looking for some huge mosaic statues nearby.

Me: Uncle - what are those things called in a bathroom that are on the floor?
Uncle: Tiles.
Me: Ah okay. Tiles. Do you know a place where they got the -uhm- those things on the ground, and then they hit it so it broke into little bits, but has lots of colours?

Update 25/12/06: Went through the convo with my mum, in Chinese. Perhaps I wasn't as successful in communicating as I thought I was; she had *no* idea what I was talking about!

Paris - my food side

Paris, eh? I went a little overboard in 'a few of my favourite things'.

I tried my first raw mussel. My first raw scallop.

Surprisingly, the mussel tasted like a raw oyster.

Midway during my visit to the Lourve, I needed to take a break from so much religious art & culture, that we went to Angelina's, a patissierie on Rue de Rivoli. Angelinas is famed for their hot chocolates and for their 'Mont Blanc' cake, a 7cm high creation of meringue, whipped cream and 'chestnut cream. The recipe, the menuboasts, has remained a secret for over 100 years.

I broke my gelato rule of ordering one thing creamy & one thing not. We ordered two hot chocolates - one white, one milk; one Mont Blanc - because I can never resist when something is a house specialty, and a strawberry tart which looked yummy when we were standing in the queueby the door.

The hot chocolates came in two milk jugs, with a side of whiped cream. White chocolate whipped cream for the hot milk chocolate; and milk chocolate whipped cream for the hot white chocolate. The hot chocolates were incredibly rich - they tasted like they were made of half chocolate, half cream; a bit more diluted than how I would make a chocolate ganache. All I could taste in the white hot chocolate was sugar; and all I could taste in the milk hot chocolate was the cream.
This leaves the Lindt and Max Bremnar hot chocolates dead in terms of over-the-top richness.

Funnily enough, the strawberry tarte and the Mont Blanc reminded me a lot of cakes you can get in Chinese bakeries in Sydney. I'm sure I've tasted chestnut cream elsewhere. The strawberry tart had the clear glaze, and the shortcrust-y type pastry plus the custard. Very muchlike the 'fruit flan' type tarts you can buy too.

The only thing that got finished was the strawberry tart. Only a few spoonfuls of the Mont Blanc had been touched - just to try the different elements. I don't think that it was really my kind of thing.

I cannot believe that I got defeated by some hot chocolate.

So a few days later, whilst wandering around the St Paul/Marais area, when I eyespyed a 'Cocoa et Chocolate' shop, I decided to check if I really had had too much hot chocolate. I got a cup of spicy hot chocolate (with chilli, pepper, cardamon & something mysterious). Igot about 2/3 through when I had had *gasp* too-much-hot-chocolate.

I don't think that I had 'too much' bread. I didn't really reach the 'Oh my, I'm going to throw up' stage at any point. Bread is the carbohydrate staple of France, much like cous cous in Morocco, or potatoes in Ireland. I think though I tried to combine being healthy & the quest for the perfect baguette in one, and it didn't really work. Brown bread or multigrain flavour doesn't have a high turnover, so I was never going to get the just-baked crispy outside & the soft
inside. Unless I got up terribly early, and even then, my chances were slim.

I folded on my second last night as I revisited a bakery in St Paul. "Un baguette, s'il vous plait". 80 euro cents. I got it. It was warm to the touch. Somehow on my metro ride between St Paul and Montemarte,half the baguette went missing. It was delicious.

I haven't eaten mussels for about 5 years. Even since I went to the Belgium Beer Cafe in Cremorne with someone, and we ordered two pots of mussels. After that, I felt as though I would throw up if I even hadjust a taste of one. I think that I had reached mussel overload.

I thought that after this period of time, the gag reflex should have worn off by now. The steak of the guy next to me looked pretty woeful. So I got a pot of mussels, and managed to eat 3/4 of the plate. I stopped just short of repeating the effect from last time though. I think I'm not quite game enough to order another pot for awhile.

One person. 4 kinds of cheese. That's not too much for one week is it?

I went for the stock standard President brand camerbert from the supermarket (shhh!). If the guy next to you rolls up, checks them for ripeness and then walks off with 8 rounds of the stuff, there has to be a reason behind it, right? I also bought some chevre at the same supermarket to regain some of my street cred for wimping out on buyinga washed rind.

I chickened out several times at a fromagerie. The first time, I was hungry and tired from too much walking. If I had started sampling cheeses then, before you knew it, I would have eaten my weight in cheese and still not know what I had wanted to buy. The second time I just sort of squawked and ran away. Finally I couraged up and pointed out some likely contenders that I liked the look of, and they wereyummy!

A sheep's milk brie type thingy which was oozy round the outside near the rind, and almost curd like in the centre. A goat's milk other thingy which was very goaty & sort of stuck on the back of the tongue.Yum!

Paris - visiting the usual suspects

Luckily, whilst I had thought that we would be spending every day inParis in a mad rush, we haven't, so we have had time to savoureverything that we have done here.

Visited the Eiffel Tower just before sunset on Tuesday. The queue forthe lift was enormous, about a 90min wait, whilst the queue for taking the stairs up was nonexistant. So we took the stairs up to the firstplatform, did a quick walk through, and then went up hem two at a timeto reach the second level in time for sunset. I don't think I managedto grab any piccies of the tower itself before the tower was lit an eerie orange colour. The sunset was beautiful, although as the sunwent, a haze descended, and it was harder to see all the buildings indetail. If you want to make it to the top level (although the view from the second level is better), it is actually cheaper to take the stairs to the second level, and then get an additional lift pass from there upwards.

Received my first taste of waiter rudeness at a seafood restaurant inMontemarte. We saw another table ask about the composition of a dish, in English, and he didn't bother answering, just pulled out the English menu (they had only one), and chucked it at them. I'm sure that that there was heaps of stuff that was available that wasn'twritten down. The French table next to us each got a serve of fish, I think with just butter and lemon juice. The woman on the other sideordered a dozen oysters - and I swear they weren't on the menu either!

Wednesday was reserved for shopping. First up I visited a mainly freshfood market under a railway underpass at Barbes Rochechourt. At one end, we stopped to take a picture of the length of the markets, all the way up to the metro station. Some stallholders thought it would behighly amusing then to come up and demand that we take a picture ofthem, and then as we started walking back down along the market, started chanting out 'tourist! tourist!' along the way. Like that is in anyway going to endear you to people. I bought some pears, some ashis and some mandarins. Perhaps the reason for the currenttiredness was the lack of fruit.

Walked the Champs Elysees from the Concorde end up to the Arc deTriomphe. The original plan, when we flew in on the Sunday, was to head straight there & get a good view of the city, since entry is freeon the Sunday of the month. Of course, it had been really cold (and foggy) when we landed, so we had decided then not to go. The Avenue is really wide, and it would be really impressive, if it wasn't filledwith 8 smelly lanes of traffic. I think we chose the wrong side to walk up, we saw the cheap ready-to-wear shops, not the pricey hautecoutour names. Took piccies of the Arc. Saw that there was a modern day version, all reflective glass further down Avenue Charles DeGaulle. I think it was at La Defense, the CBD district of Paris.

Caught the metro down to the Petit Palais & visited the cafe. Entry to the Palais is free, but for headcount reasons, we still had to collect a ticket.

Then it was time for more shopping! We headed to the St Paul/Marais district for some homewares shopping. Despite not actually living in this country, or even on the same continent, we go homewares shopping. Found some reproductions of the old style biscuit tins, so we bought a few.

Visited the Lourve! We knew that we couldn't appreciate all of theLourve in one hit, so we tried to plan. A few days before going, we got the completely *useless* map, which didn't tell you much. In the end, having paid for our entry, we went to the souvenir bookshop,hunted through until we found a guidebook with 'The Lourve tour for those in a hurry', and copied their suggested route down. Afterstarting on the 2nd floor, we ended up backtracking and getting the audio guide.

Midway during our visit, decided that we needed a refreshing break. So we headed out to Angelina's, a patissierie shop on Rue de Rivoli. Just outside, I switched from thongs to ballet flats, just to look presentable enough to enter. You could tell where the locals were -all in the smoking section. The non-smoking section had all the tourists.

The order was for two hot chocolates (one white, one milk), a montblanc (they are famed for the last two), and a strawberry tart.

Having read the easyjet magazine on the flight over, we headed to DesCrepes et des Calles in the 13th arrondisement. After leaving themetro, we found a nicer set of markets than the ones in BarbesRochouart. There were less people, it was less pushy, it was a whole lot calmer. It was very nice!

The crepes were really nice too - we got dessert ones for starters, because dessert is the most important meal of the day. Lemon and honey, and banana and butter. Yummo! I was then game enough to try a gallete, a buckwheat crepe with filling. I triedegg & cheese. It filled in the bits between the crepe & didn't taste like Soba at all.

Walked up the hill to the Sacre Coeur, an enjoyed the view of Paris.This hill behind Montemarte (or perhaps it is what defines Montemarte)is the highest point within Paris. Unfortunately, couldn't see theeiffel tower from the hill,as it was just around the corner to theright.

Saturday - I went shopping again! I visited the horror that is the LesHalles area (bleurgh); found a fantastic second hand shop on RueEtienne Marcel. They had an enormous range of boots, but everytime I found one that I liked (cherry or mahogony red), it had been separatedfrom its brother.

Sunday - last full day in Paris. I went to the Flea Market at Porte deClingancourt. It was crap! Once you left the train station, and youwalked along the side where the markets where, you had a whole lot oftouts offering you handfuls of fake belts, bags, wallets. And what is more, they didn't get the message when you ignored one of them, orsidestepped them, they just kept coming up at you. Ugh. And then themarkets themselves were crap! The antique section I had a quick browse through, but I obviously couldn't buy anything or ship it back home.

So instead, I went to the Musee d'Orsay, which had been installed in an old train station. After queuing up for 40minutes on the reduced-rate Sunday, I finally got inside. I spent a lot of time inthere, a lot more than in the Lourve, it must've been because it wasmy last museum hurrah before leaving Europe.

The highlight for me in the Musee d'Orsay was definitely the Art Nouveau section. There was a lot of stuff by Hector Guinard here, the guy who designed the curly iconic patris metro signs and railings. I spent ages in here taking piccies of Guinard's stuff, as well as the other French Nouveau artists and architects of the time.

Finally, way after sunset, I wandered around the outside of George Pompidou Centre, but was a bit museumed out from the Musee d'Orsay to go in.

Museum-ed out in Madrid.

It has been raining for the past 4 days, ever since we visited Toledo. Despite me buying a whole shoe store worth of shoes, I don´t actually have any sensible shoes for wet weather, or snow (not that it has been snowing). So I have been walking around Madrid with my jeans rolled
up, and thongs on. When it is raining and the temp is 11 degrees, that is mighty, #mighty# cold!!!

The Madrid visit has been very ´cultural´, compared to everything else that we have done in Spain!

Thursday we were in Madrid, and it was bucketing down with rain. So we went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum. Apparently it is the largest collection of European Art in private hands. Thats where I first went walking in the rain with thongs on, and it was f-f-freezing! We spent
about 3 hours there. It got really tiring as well, I like art, but sometimes you need a break in the middle! Unfortunately you had to complete the visit in one go, or else buy another ticket if you wanted to re-enter the museum. At 6euros a go, it would be expensive as well.

Friday, was scheduled to visit the Palacio Real, this huge 2800 monstrosity that a king wanted to build to beat all the other palaces in Europe. We had until 130pm to visit, and apparently I am a slow poke, because my sister kept cracking the whip and saying that I would have to move faster to remain on schedule.

Some of the rooms were pretty cool - like the porcelain room, where the entire room was made of porcelain - the walls, ceiling, everything. And they had designed it such that the seams or joins were hidden behind leaves or features in the porcelain. It was a really ugly room, but just amazing in the detail. A lot of the rooms were incredibly ugly or over the top, but I suppose that when they were built, it was what was in fashion at the time. Similar to how shiny stainless steel appliances and glass backed kitchens are all the rage now.

Anyway, I felt as though it was a lightening fast visit, and I didn´t get to really look at the rooms (or appreciate their ugliness). It was almost as though it was a chore that I had to complete. I´d walk in, take a picture of the sign explaining about the room (not even read it), then take a picture of the room, maybe an element that the sign had just highlighted, and then walk back out again.

After lunch (reheated pasta leftover from last night), went down the road to visit the Museum de Sofia Reina, which has the largest collection of modern art in Spain. That was quite a large museum as well, but I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I enjoyed the Thyssen musem on Thursday. I think I like #some# modern art, with a bit of a tendency towards sculpture
(Classical sculpture I can take it or leave it).

I saw Picasso´s ¨´Guernica¨ artwork though, a huge 3.5 by 7m wide thing that he got commissioned to paint for some expo or exhibition in Paris in 1936, about the time that the Spanish Civil war broke out. That was #the# artwork that a lot of people had come to see, and there was a crowd about 5 deep around it. I have yet to see the Mona Lisa, but I think it will be worse!

What was even more interesting though, was a set of photos that someone had taken as he actually painted, and you could see the development of the painting, and how he had changed objects and people in it around, and how it suddenly meant a whole something else.

Finally on Sunday, I took advantage of the free day to visit the Prado Museum. This time we prioritised & noted down the artists that we wanted to see, and only went in to see those rooms. They had a fantastic temporary exhibition that ended that day, that used IR and reflectometry to work out how the artists had constructed the painted, underneath all those layers of paint. So some had used charcoal, and some had used a metal tipped object to score the wood underneath,
before painting 'within the lines'. Others must have drawn a sketch up beforehand, and then enlarged it using a grid system. You could also see the way they had originally planned the painting, and maybe even changed the direction that the subject was looking in, or hadn't
painted the dog in, in the end. Fascinating!

I am in Paris now, but will need a few days of non-museums to recover, before heading to the Lourve.

The Barcelona Experience?

Am writing this a while after my time in Barcelona, so a lot of it is from memory...

Arrived in Barcelona on the Monday, having taken a very nice fast train in from Valencia. Had an absolute panic attack when buying the train tickets in Valencia - I had said in my very best Spanish "Quisera dos bihlettes para Madrid de Manana, por favor". Then when he pointed at the screen and said "ferchardo, ferchado!", I panicked.

What? You mean the trains are closed tomorrow? After a few minutes of panicking, and trying to work out what was going on, he had someone wander over & tell us that it was actually the ticket booking system that was a bit broken at the moment. Phew.

Las Ramblas was long. We never had a chance to walk the entire length. It was oh so crowded! We walked from Catalunya Plaza to Placa Real. There were lots of street performers alongside, almost one every 10metres or so. There were two guys on stationary bikes all painted up in black and grey with two skeletons 'riding' sidecar. Once you dropped your money in the tin, they would start cycling, and so too would the two skeletons. There was another street performer that had a jumble of cloth and an upside down table as part of his act. It looked as though his two feet were sticking out from the underside of the upsidedown table. I didn't stay around long enough to witness his performance.

After checking in, we were taken via the metro to our shared apartment near Avenue de Parallel. We met some dirty dishes in the sink. Whilst finding our way back to Las Ramblas and the supermarket, we met the seedy red light district.

All the places we ate at in Barcelona were fantastic. Went to Candela Raval on L'Hospital twice, and liked the beef sirloin with a red wine reduced sauce so much, that I got it again the second time. Tried the degustation menu at Regina Raval as well. The food was good, and we
got to watch the makings of Howl's Moving Castle at the same time.

Went out and sampled the night life in Barca. Went to a club on their Erasamus night (international students night). I know that nightlife in Barca *doesn't* really start until after 1am, but this was pretty dead. It was free entry with a flyer, and I got a free drink out of it, so I won't complain too much. Some people in Barca dance in a way that suggests that they are on show, and hey, look at me.

Did lots and lots of Gaudi related visits.

Saw the outside of Casa Batlo, on the Block (Manzana) of Discord. The roof apparently represents the back of the slain dragon, and the chimney pot represents the victorious St George. I couldn't quite stomach the hour long wait or the 16.50 euro entry fee, so I bought my
own cardboard cut out copy, and have grand plans (amongst all my other projects), to build it when I get back.

Visited Parc Guell - which was amazing. Gaudi was commissioned to design this residential estate for the wealthy, but the project got pulled a few years down he track. What he did manage to build in that time was pretty specatular. The gatehouses, at the entrance to the Park look like fairy gingerbread cottages, the kind that got Hansel and Gretel into so much trouble. Unfortunately, didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked.

Visited Temple of La Sagrada Familia. Can't believe that this place is still under construction, but it is amazing. It would have to be some pretty open minded sort of priesty person who gets to run this place. We queued up for 40mins to get access to one of the towers on the passion facade, the newer side. The nativity facade is the one that Gaudi built, and is very ornate. Almost too much for me. I like the Passion Facade a lot better, which was designed by Josep Subirachs.

Walked past Palau Guell, but i was under renovation, so all I saw were some chimney pots that looked a bit like christmas trees. Went and had a look at the exterior of La Pedera (The Quarry), but didn't want to pay to enter. That one was 8euro, and also had an hour-long queue that went around the corner. Snuck a look in through the shop, there building wasn't solid as such, it had two lobbies with 'airwells' leading to the roof. Inside each airway was a winding staircase.

Went to my first proper 'football' game. It was FC Barcelona versus Huvela Recreativo. We were in side bits just off the goal (here I show my igorance), in the cheapest set of seats that we could get. There were soooo many people, and of course we were sitting in the local stand.

It was lots of fun. I can't believe how many people were there, they all stood up to sing the team song before the match. I haven't been to a Sydney FC match, so I don't know how it compares, but I don't think the SFS or the SCG have the capacity for 98 thousand.

Granada, Spain

Started our tour of Spain by catching a bus in from Faro, Southern
Portugal to Granada.

Except that you couldn´t catch a direct bus from Faro to Granada, and
we had to catch the bus to Sevilla first. Once we arrived in Sevilla,
we found that in order to get to Granada, we would have to head to
another smaller bus station before being able to catch a bus there.
Not having any guarantees of when, or if there even would a be a bus
available to go, we ended up catching the train to Grenada.

Dramas didn´t end there, also ended up walking 1.8km or so to the
backpackers hostel that we were staying it. It was raining. I wasn´t
particularily happy.

The backpackers hostel was situated in Albacyin, the muslim quarter of
Granada. Our walk into town involved walking down a twisting little
alleyway filled with brightly coloured morroccon inspired shops. Lots
of nepalese shoes, brightly coloured scarves and hookahs for smoking
the flavoured tobacco.

We booked to head to Alhambra (the red fortress) on the hill twice.
Didn´t realise that the tickets there would sell out so quickly. I
originally wanted an afternoon visit on the Friday. We ended up with a
night visit to the Palace Nazrid´s on the Friday night, and a late
afternoon visit on the Sunday afternoon. All tickets for Saturday for
purchasing over the internet had sold out completely.

I would definitely recommend the night visit. Even though it does cost
the same amount as a half day visit to the entire complex, the fact
that you don´t have enormous tour groups trooping throughout the place
behind and in front of you helps with th enjoyment of the place. I
wouldn´t call the night visit ´magical´as the Lonely Planet does.. but
it was way up there.

Evora, Spain

1 hour 45 minutes from Lisbon is Evora, a Unesco world heritage listed medieval walled city.

Skofia Loka is apparently Slovenia's 'best preserved' medieval city, so I was keen to seen how different it would be.

Evora was a lot larger than Skofia Loka, and because we weren't visiting on a Sunday, everything was open! We arrived around midday, and after visiting the tourist office where the person just circled the sites she thought would be worth visiting rather perfunctorily.

First stop, just before Siesta, was Capela dos Ossos at St Francis Church. Oh boy. Also known as the chapel of bones. Its a small 3 nave chapel, built entirely out of the bones of soldiers who have died fighting in wars. Not by anarchists, or someone who wanted to rebel against society, but by Franciscan monks. Not only that, they built it in secret to show that all men are equal in death. Of course when the general public found out about it, there was a huge outcry because they didn't know who was in there, or which bones belonged to which
body.

The windows and domed ceiling have archways of skulls, and the window boxes have smashed bits of skull set into the wall. The archways around the doorways are built from stacked up femurs. It is really bizzare, imagining these monks heading & robbing graveyards of their inhabitants.

Visited the temple of Diana. Passed on the Evora Cathedral, despite it being recommended by the blase tourist office and the Lonley Planet. Revisted the interior of St Francis Church (the non bony bit) after Siesta, and then it was time to head back to Lisbon and try on more shoes...

Milan in 1.5 days

I had meant to spend more of my time in Italy. Didn't quite pan out that way, and instead it turned into a transit stop.

So, arrive into Milano Centrale S about 1700. Switch using the confusing metro to Line 3, and get into Missori station. When we went out to actually eat though, we found that all the Metro stations had shut down - they had been on strike earlier in the day, and it looks like that they went back just for peak hour, so it was lucky for us that we arrived in peak hour.

So, I got to experience the Italian metro on strike.

Eat some okay pizza a few streets from the Duomo, just to avoid the Duomo-tourist-hiked prices. Gelato for dessert, Pistachio and Limone. Yummo, that was the good stuff, 2 euro.

On Saturday, visited the roof of the Duomo. Pretty amazing - cannot believe that it took 600 years to build. I mean it is enormous, so I can believe that it took a long time, rather I can't believe that the project didn't stall somewhere along the way during those years. If your family was a family of stone masons, or sculpturers, it would take 8 generations or so over those 600 years. Wow.

Walked up the road to Il Castello. The little v-shaped battlements meant that the family that owned the castle was loyal to the emperor, rather than the church. Saw the slightly inclined shallow steps that were built purposefully so that the King didn't have to get out of his horse and carriage to go upstairs. Now I thought *I* was lazy!

Having run out of sights to do, we then went shopping. After all Milan is supposed to be the shopping capital of Italy. Went all around the Duomo area, and down Vittorie Emmanual Street. Sister bought a pair of Diesel jeans, about half of the retail price in Australia. I got some bronze ballet flats from Zara.

Because everyone in Italy eats so late, you get hungry around 7pm, which is the time I would idealy eat dinner. So to solve this, you head out to get apertivo, before actually eating your main meal. Milan is the capital of apertivo, and based on several recommendations, we headed to the other side of the park from the castle, to Banghre Bar.

6pm-9pm is happy hour, where if you buy a drink for 6euro, you get an all you can eat buffet of pasta, rice and cous couse salads. Also pappadums, and some rich omlette kinds of things. I got an 'indian passion'. Can't remember all the ingredients, but passionfruit alcohol, passionfrut pulp, grapefruit juice and tonic water are what I can remember. Delicious!

Got Gelato. I like Pistachio. Browsed a set of aerial photos of Italy displayed along Via Dante. I think that was really my tour of Italy.

On our last day, got more gelato just before we left for the airport. Didn't get pistachio this time, although I think Pistachio & Chocolate Brasiliano would be a winning combo.

Spent 2 hours waiting at Malpensa Airport because the flight was delayed due to high winds at Naples.

Yay, Slovenia!

World-wide traveller of the well-worn Lonely Planet path in Slovenia
(TM), I have decided that Slovenia is my favourite country so far.

I *like* Slovenia. I like Ljubljana, with its flat and even
cobblestone streets based around the river. I like the river that runs
through Ljubljana. I like the fruit and vegetable markets that run
every Monday to Saturday, and I like the underground (well, mostly)
delis and butchers, fromagieres, bakers and olive sellers that lurk
nearby. I like the organic fruit and vegetable market that also turns
up nearby, and the guy who bakes fresh rolls in an oven on a trailer
in the square outside.

Bled, which I wasn't too sure about originally because of the ugliness
of its toursit hotels on the lake, I don't mind. Despite the
unfortunate name of its 5 star hotel on the water - Hotel Toplice.
When the mountain decide to unveil itself on our last day, I think
Bled won me over.

Bohinj Valley, the view was spectacular. It is the base area for all
those high adrenaline kind of activites that I like. It was incredibly
annoying then, that I had slammed my finger in the door of the
Ljblijana hostel, and I couldn't go mtb-ing, or canyoning or climbing.
ARGH.

I did have a bit of a clamber (soloing) on a bit of rock whilst
walking around Lake Bohinj, long fingernails, crushed finger and all.
But it wasn't quite the same.

Slovenia Rocks!

Bled, Bohinj Valley and the Julian Alps

I have been staying in Bled, which is about 30mins outside of Ljubljana. This is the area where the locals leave the city in droves every weekend, and come out to climb, canyon, paraglide, or adventure sport of some kind. I have to say - I like the Bohinj and Julian Alps area a lot more than I like Bled! I suppose Bled has more infrastructure, but the Alps *wow*.

(Of course, this morning, when I was about to leave Bled, the weather cleared, and the mountain behind the castle, which I have only ever been able to make out a faint bit of the slope turned on all its glory. I could actually see the summit. I like Bled now. I'm shallow like that.)

Went to Bohinj yesterday by bus, one of the accessways into the Julian Alps, and it was amazing. We were following the Lonely Planet guidebook, so from when the bus dropped us off, we walked up a local hill 'Peč', for what the book called a picture postcard view.

And the view was amazing, it was so beautiful; even the walk through a rainy damp forest was beautiful. Lots of limestone around, and little sinkholes in the ground. I think that kind of terrain is called 'Karst'?

So yesterday and the day before, I spent walking around lakes. Lake Bled two mornings ago, followed by a local speciality, a cream and custard slice - then to walk that one off, I walked up to the castle. There was a bit of a pergola there, so had lunch, then sat like a little old granny, with my pashmina wrapped around me and admired the view whilst listening to music.

So yesterday, I walked up Peč hill (about 2.5 hrs return), then around Lake Bohinj, with a pause to ride the cable car to the top, have lunch, and walk around. It cost 10 euro return, but the view up there was so amazing, I think it was worth it. Walked the pretty side of the lake after we came back down, and were walking really really fast near the end, because we were trying to make to 18.50 bus back to Bled. If we had missed that one, it would've meant an hour wait in the dark, and that would have sucked.

I want to come back to Vogel in the wintertime to ski! (I know, Japan is closer to Australia, and less of a time difference, but Japan doesn't have the Julian Alps!)

Of course, we ate off all the hard work of walking around the lakes, by having a big dinner at the end of it. I got the grilled trout 'trieste style' two nights ago, and it was so good, that I had it again last night. Plus a side dish of roast potatoes (so crunchy, I'm sure that there was some frying involved). Fantastic!

Dark Chocolate with Orange Pieces Index

I'm sure you've heard of The Economist's 'Big Mac index', where the cost of living between countries is compared by comparing the price of a homogenous product, that is pretty much prevalent everywhere.

So! I have a serious addiction to Lindt's 'intense orange' dark chocolate (100g), with crystalline orange bits, and almond slivers. About 55% Cocoa solids of heaven. Here is my chocolate tour of Europe...

Australia:
Lindt's 'intense orange' dark chocolate (100g), approx 4AUD. The bar has been set!

Norway:
Freia (made by Kraft), Dark Chocolate with Raspberry
(withdrawal symptoms hadn't set in yet, obviously). About 16 Kroner, I think the Orange version was 18 kroner. Div by 4, so equivalent to 4AUD. Chocolate was drier, less sugar (and less proper cacao?). Raspberry was so-so. Can't vouch for the orange one. Didn't seem to really melt in the hand.

Germany:
Lindt Espresso dark chocolate. I was dying for caffiene. Very melty with instant coffee granules. Dare I say, 'yum'?

Croatia:
1. Kras brand (Croatian), Dark Chocolate with Orange. The orange bits weren't crystalline, and there was no almond. Disappointing. 17 Kuna.
2. Lindt has been spotted! Admittedly in Rovinj, in a small supermarket near the bus station. 26 Kuna, so 6.50AUD. Ouch.
3. Swiss Delice, Limon with black pepper. Has the low body temp melting point (Cocoa solids of 50%). Tastes like dark chocolate with lemon wizz fizz, with a sometimes mild pepper aftertaste. 23 kuna, just short of 6AUD.

Slovenia:
1. Villars (Swiss) dark chocolate with coffee. Minimum 50% cocoa solids, with 8% coffee 'crispies', 14% of which is instant coffee. I'm awaiting the demise of the lemon wizz fizz before I start this one. (Later note: Chocolate isn't too bad. Reminds me of the Haigh's coffee block. Will be splurging the last of our tolar on a second block).
2. Lindt Intense Orange spotted in the largest supermarket in Ljubljana old town for 1.73 euro, 3.46AUD.

Italy (Milan):
Spotted some 70% dark chocolate for 1.37euro in the tiny supermarket near Missori.

Portugal:
1. Some dark chocolate in a Mini Preco near Caise Sodre, Lisbon, cocoa content unknown, spotted for 59 euro cents.
2. Dark chocolate, 76% cocoa fat, 1.49euro. Can't remember the brand. Me picking it up & putting it back on the shelf prompted someone to buy it. Oooh!

Spending the last of our Kuna

Had a bit of a slow start to the last full day in Croatia. Slept in, caught tram to city. Tried to find a post office to send a painting (0.5 x 0.4m) back to Australia. First post office said that we would need a permit from the Minister of Cultural Affairs to export art. If so, why on earth didn't the art gallery say so when we were buying the damn thing?

Next post office didn't do packages that size.

Third post office said you have to go to the parcel section of the post office, around that corner and into the next dooway.

Next doorway said, no, that bit is further down the road.

Went to visit the parcel section. By this time, ready to punch the living daylights out of these people for giving us the runaround.

When the guy behind the counter said No, we would need a permit from the Minister of Cultural Affairs, and it takes about a day to get; I *think* by my sigh of exasperation & pulling ou of the map of Zabreb to ask, 'well is it on this bloody thing?', he took pity on us. It cost 350kn to send back. So that was the last of my sisters' kuna.

But I still had a bit of money to burn.

I had about $175 in AUD on me, which was a bit much to fritter away on useless things like souveniers. So after our tour of Mount Medvednica (via cable car), and our tour of the Mirgoj cemetery (most beautiful cemetery in Eu) we were about to go eat in a restaurant that served up good Zagrebian typical dishes, about 50-70kn per main course. But first we went shoe shopping... and I bought 2 pairs of shoes, but one pair I couldn't resist, they were so beautiful... they're bright red clogs (birkinstocks) and they've got a picture of a sheep on them!!!

And then we had no more money left for a typical Zagrebian dinner, and we had to go eat in a cheap fish diner instead (highly recommended by lonely planet, but still), and then when it came to actually pay, we were standing at the counter counting out the lipa to make 11 kuna.

Luckily we had already bought our train ticket to Slovenia, and our day ticket to get to the train station today. Hopefully there is no baggage charge for our packs, because we won't have anything to pay with!

Pula on Istrian Coast, Croatia

I have stayed in Pula and Rovinj on the Istrian Coast in Croatia. If you imagine the 'leg' of italy, it's kind of the bit facing the leg, up where it would join an imaginary body. It has been very beautiful.

Pula is a very small tourist town, reliant entirely upon the tourist dollar. Found this out because we were visiting out of season, and thus everything had closed. Our landlady told us abouta ferry 'Danica' that went out to an island about 5km away, we thought that would be a nice thing to do.

The day before we had visited the closest beach (possibly a YHA only beach) and had enjoyed its rocky sunniness for a total of 5 minutes before the heavens opened, and the torrential rain started. Lucky then, that we were at a YHA beach, because we then took shelter under the roof of its outdoor seating area as the gutters overflowed and cascaded across the paved floor.

When we got to the Marina, Danica was no longer running ferry services to this island, and the owner had left for the season. There were no other "excursions" leaving from Pula until nextyear.

Visiting the Roman amphitheatre in the centre of Pula was *about* the only attraction. It was almost wholy intact,and there was a museum about amphoras and olive oil production, in the basement where the gladiators used to hang out.

Oktoberfest

So! Oktoberfest. Started on the weekend of 16 September. I arrived in
Munich on the Sunday, when the only thing to do was Oktoberfest.

Wandered down after unpacking at the youth hostel, catching an
underground train to the main station, and then catching an S-line
train to the recommended less-crowded station.

Wiesn, means 'fields', but this really was an asphalted fairground area.

There were a lot of people dressed up in their Lederhosen and
colourful Drindls, even little toddlers, and newly-borns.

It was so loud! I visited a couple of beer halls, and had my backpack
felt up by bouncers (for what, I can't imagine). It was pretty
in-your-face. I saw trays of charcoal-smoked fish being carried past,
so I went and had a look at the smoking pit. Rows and rows of fish
over charcoal pits, and being rotisserated over stands. The cheapest
fish was mackeral at 3.50 euro per 100g.

The fairground rides were extensive. Like the easter show but 1000's
of times louder. I couldn't understand the German, but it sounded a
lot like "40hours of non-stop rocking ROCK!!", again and again and
again.

I got quite weary with the sun, and the walking around, so I had a bit
of a granny sit down on the steps of the spinning teacup ride. There
was a distinct lack of places to sit, because in the beer-halls, you
had to have reserved your table ages in advance. Everyone was chowing
down on sugar coated almonds, foot-long bratwurst, brezen, and fish
and chips.

I was so mesmorised by the action of the person making crepes: With
one hand behind your back, spread mixture on hotplate, spread around
with little mallet-like implement. Ask what flavour the person wants.
Flip with a knife onto the hotplate next door. Sprinkle flavour stuff
on. Half it with the knife, fold over; quarter it with the knife, flip
over. Somehow pick up with a knife that it folds into 8ths, place into
serviette & hand to customer, watch them burn their fingers.

I had a refreshing lemon & sugar crepe and then wandered on home to
have an adventure at the Bavarian Beer place down the road. A waitress
who offered me a shandy as an alternative to not *really* being a beer
drinker (I had 1/2 a litre of Augustiner Edelstoff instead), and a
nice half-portion of roast suckling pig & homemade potato dumpling.
Potatoes count as 'greens', right?

Oslo to Munich

I couldn't get a direct flight from Oslo to Rijeka (or Pula) on the day that I wanted, so I had to settle for a flight from Oslo to Munich, and then Munich to Rijeka the next day. I didn't realise this, but it was a total score - because I arrived in Munich the weekend that Oktoberfest or Wiesn started.

Meant to get the first tram from the youth hostel to the main train station, Oslo S, because I'm a cheapskate, and I had 23 minutes or so of internet time that I had already paid for (that's 10 kroner, dammit), but getting up early in the morning was soo hard, and I had to drag my enormous pack out into the hallway cause I'm way too nice and considerate to wake the others up in my dorm room at 545 in the morning whilst packing. Brain hadn't even made it to auto pilot stage, so I had trouble folding up the sleeping liner.

So no early tram for me, and no more internetz in Norway. Instead, I finished off my dinner of Chaterelle (50kroner for 0.5kg) pasta, and then the normal cereal and yoghurt. Spent my last 13kroner on chocolate (the Norweigan equivalent of an Aero bar), and then gave the
remaining 50c to the Salvos.

Flight was okay, got a window seat, but on the wrong, *sunny* side, so I couldn't actually see that much. Don't sit on the LHS of plane if flying south in the morning.

Ticket machines at Munich airport for the train lines only take 10€ notes.

Caught S1 line to Hauptptbahnhof, then went to change trains for the U1 line to Rotkreuplatz. Of course I caught the train in the wrong direction, but it only took me 3 stations to work it out. Saw a lot of people wandering around in their drindls and lederhosen. They really do get dressed up here to celebrate, it's not just a con put on by the Lowenbrau!

I was so used to the nice signs around Norway, that I was totally pissed off by the lack of signage (and the terrible map from the hostel website). In Oslo, Harldsheim had a nice sign from the tram stop showing the path to the hostel. I walked in about 5 different directions before I actually found the correct street for the place.

As I checked in and got my bed linen, I was told that everything was closed, not because of Oktoberfest, but because it was Sunday. And really, the only thing to do today was head to Oktoberfest ...

Norway Trip Summary

Hideously overdue with this bloggy thing, so all of Norway will have to wrapped up in this one post.

Lets see...

- Everyone in Norway smokes, all outdoor areas are really for smokers, not for people who enjoy the outdoors
- Everything runs on time! Trams are good because they annouce the next stop as well as displaying it. Ahhh, organisation.
- Don't buy City tickets, e.g. the Bergen card without checking if all the attractions are open
- food, coffee (avg 30kroner for something with milk) is expensive
- clothes are cheap!
- a 1 bedroom apartment in Oslo would cost 6000 kroner per month
- Buying the Norway in a nutshell ticket or Triangle tour ticket on the net is cheaper, but is less flexible. I think you can change your tickets around up to the day before you travel.
- If you're an active person, spending at least one day in Flam *as part of the Norway in a nutshell tour) would be worthwhile. There were things like kayaking along the fjord, or riding down from Mrydal to Flam that I would have adored to do. Dangnamit! Next time.

Stavanger
- The streets around Skagen are good to wander around at random.
- The old town (gamle stavanger) is beautiful, with whitewashed houses and flower pots and gorgeous roses everywhere. Each house has a little bench seat to sit on. It gives good views across to the Skagen area.
- it is worthwhile paying for coffee on a really hot Indian summer day, just to get the nice cool courtyard and the tall glass of water
- 'books, bar and caffe' on Orreholmegate has a fantastic courtyard
- If accomodation is all booked up in Stavanger, try Haugesaund, or the Mossvagen Campground.

Bergen
- Most of the attractions listed on the Bergen card are closed in the off season (September onwards)
- Heading up the Floibanen Funicular just before sunset, and watching sunset from the top of Mount Floyen is unbelievable and well worth it
- It gets cold on top of the mountain after dark!
- If you have time, walk down from the mountain
- I got off at Proms Gate (2nd last stop), and wandered down through the cobblestone streets above the Furnicular station, and it was very nice
- Wander through the wooden Bryggen area at random

Oslo
- The 'Use-it' place, at 3 Mollergata has free internet!
- They also publish a good mag, 'Streetwise', with tips on doing Oslo on the cheap
- H&M, a department store, is everywhere.
- Cheaper to buy train (and tram) tickets at a machine (Automat)
- A good spot is to catch Line 3 (?) to the end station - Frognersternum, the view from the moutain is beautiful, and you get to hang out with the downhill mtbers.
- Karl Johans gate is a hole. Head up and around all the other streets instead.
- I didn't find the Viking Museum that interesting... wish i had gone to the Folk Museum instead... the ferry ride over was nice though (I like boats!)

Stavanger, Norway

It is amazing how much a mood can affect your perception of a town.

I arrived in Stavanger, Norway on Tuesday evening, not having booked
any accomodation. I had tried to call two places the night before, one
mob had gone on holiday, one place was fully booked up. I thought that
I would have no trouble finding somewhere to stay, and was willing to
spend a couple of extra Kr to get it. Except that I hadn't counted on
there being two major events on in town when i got there. One was a
tourism conference, and the second event, I found out later was a big
bank robberz trial. This is a place that gets fully booked out durning
summer, and this was the case now. I called two more places - and they
were gone. Changing more money into 5Kr pieces (each phone call costs
5Kr minimum - so 1AUD), i had visions of having to dump all my worldly
possessions in a locker, and finding a park bench somewhere.

Finally, I had a flash of inspiration. All the rich oil execs surely
wouldn't be slumming it would they? The yha had already closed for the
season (university accom i think), so when after several ring-outs the
Mossvagen campground answered and said that they had a room available,
i could've leapt down the phone and kissed the girl. Suddenly
Stavanger seemed a much nicer town.

Challenges to make the journey more interesting

1. arrive in stavanger with 2 big events on and no accomodation booked
2. find a sunhat in norway, heading into dark winter

Travelling Light

My pack weighed 15kg when checking in at Sydney Airport. It is now a
little lighter.

When packing, I had debated whether or not to take a cream pair of
pants ('carpenter' pants), one of those ones that are like cargos. I
haven't worn them for a while, and now I know why. When I was fending
off the lynch mob at the kuala lumpor internet terminal (free net
access!), I could feel something kind of cold on my backside, and I
thought that I had sat in
something wet.

And then I boarded the plane to Amsterdam, and after a
fitfull night of sleeplessness, got up to go to the bathroom. I found
out that I had torn a hole in the back of my pants! The material was
so thin (because I used to wear them all the time), a section had
ripped from underneath the pocket towards the centre, and my
uncomfortableness during the night had only worsened the matter!

I ran off with one of the 'free' blankies on the aeroplane to hide the fact
that I now had half my backside exposed, but it was so unweildy
wrapped around the top of my pants, i decided to 'pretend' that I
didn't know about it, and #ahem# had a nice cool breeze whilst in
transit in amsterdam, and then to Oslo until I could get my main
backpack off the conveyor.

I chucked the pants out when I got to the YHA in Oslo. My pack is
lighter one pair of pants, but heavier by one airline blanket...

Last minute panic

I am supposed to be flying out of the country in under 12 hours. Heading off to do 'the big Europe trip' (3 months), I'm not doing *quite* what I had originally planned, which was head over to the UK and work for a bit, like several of my friends have already done, or about to do. Jealous as.

I am so hideously disorganised. I have decided that when I get back, I will stop leaving everything to the last minute like I have this time. Its all very well to do when you leave only one thing to the last minute. It doesn't work so well with multiple last minutes. Cascading issues with work and personal life have meant that apart from my first week in Norway, I still don't know what exactly I am doing once I get over there. I am just relying on the fact that I will meet my sister, and everything will be okay again. A faint hope.

I'd booked my leave so that I would fly out just as my supervisor flies in. I still haven't written up the notes for the handover of the projects I've been responsible for. I don't want to do anymore work related stuff, and I don't want to pack.

*gulp*

Balzac Degustation

Went to Balzac, because I was tired as all heck, and couldn't be bothered cooking.

Menu:
Veloute of Shallots with Thyme Roasted Yabby Tails
Yellowfin Tuna and Spanner Crab Sandwich
2005 Paradigm Hill Riesling - Mornington Peninsula
Sauteed Spring Bay Scallops with Chanterelles, Peas and Truffles
2000 Elysium Verdelho - Hunter Valley
Redgate Garm Quail Breast, Pig Cheek Sausage, Parmesan Gnocchi and Fried Eggs
2004 Bass Phillip Gamay - South Gippsland VIC
Cervena Venison Osso Bucco with Horseradish Mash, Parsnip and Broad Beans
2004 Peter Howland 'Langley Vineyard' Shiraz - Donnybrook WA
A Selection of Stinkies (Cheeses!)
Duche de Longueville - Muscadet de Dieppe - Normany France
Quince and Strawberry Trifle with Ginger Bread
Blood Orange Jelly with Rhubarb Sorbet
2002 Sainte-Croix Du Mont, Chateau Du Pavillon - Bordeaux, France
Griotte Truffles and Fresh Cherries dusted with icing sugar.