Oh, the disappointment

There's a new waffle (gaufres heh) and crepe place in the city that we were going to try out tonight.

But we decided to try and get some *real* food before eating dessert.

Wrong choice.

When we finished eating our mediocre dinner, the shop was closed *sniff*.

But when I do eat there, I hope it's good! Because if there's one thing this city needs, its more dessert places!!! YAY!!!!


P.S. I edited the Lemon Cake recipe to include poppyseeds. It makes the cake more textural and opiate-full. What's not to love about that? ;)

Lemon Cake with Crunchy Topping

Well here's the recipe for the weekend's cake! Except that I decided to make the sole cake into muffin/cupcakes for easier transportation and eatability.

Ingredients:

• 250 g unsalted softened butter
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon rind
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 cups SR flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• EDIT (31/10) - I also put in some poppyseeds. I think 1.5-2tbs work best for textural and opiate content!
  

Topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Method
Preheat oven 170 deg. Grease baking tray or line cupcake tin
Cream butter & sugar with electric beaters until fluffy (I did the initial creaming by hand to make sure it was well mixed, then moved onto the beaters).
Add lemon rind, then egg gradually. Beating thoroughly after each addition.
Fold in sifted flour/baking powder/lemon juice. Combine until mixture is smooth.
Spoon mixture into tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for 45 min if making a cake, 25 minutes for cupcakes

For topping, mix together sugar and lemon but don't dissolve sugar and quickly brush over the warm cake. Sugar will form a crunchy topping.
Leave to cool if you are patient or just dig in and eat!!

This recipe makes either 1 cake (20cm springform is my usual type) or 12 cupcakes.

How could I let this pass?

About a two months or so ago, dancinghula and I were walking around the city when we came across this.

BURGER PERSON!!!

Naturally, I had to take this photo.

NOM NOM NOM!!!

Yes, that was fun

Blog Challenge #2 (Halloween Special) - Skeletons

Here are some random facts about skeletons

• A human skeleton at birth has approximately 270 bones. An adult human has approximately 206.
• The human skeleton has several functions. Some of these include:
  
• To give the body it's shape - male/female shape differences can be seen in skeletons!
  
• Protecting vital organs, for example the skull to the brain, ribcage to protect lungs and heart
• Movement. Although the skeleton (bones) themselves does not enable movement, the skeletal muscles are attached via tendons to bones give leverage. (In theory, without bones we'd still be able to move, albeit in a restricted way.)
  
• Blood cells are produced in the large bones of the skeleton.
  
• Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a genetic condition whereby soft tissue is ossified - turned into bone - after an injury. The Pathology Museum at my work has two skeletons with this condition in a glass cabinet.
  

This is not it - no photos are allowed at my work museum. (Source)

• The use of skeletons in Western Art is iconographically linked to death (the occurrence) or Death (the entity). Death the entity (a.k.a. The Grim Reaper) is often shown with an hourglass or scythe.
  

An example is the tomb of Pope Alexander VII by Bernini in the St. Peters (Vatican City).

• The philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham's skeleton was preserved and put in a glass case as per his wishes. He was acquired by University College London and you can still see him in his glass case today. However, you can't see his skeleton because it is dressed in period clothing.
• Skeletor was a He-Man character who despite having only a skull for a head, had massive guns and a six-pack. How that worked, I don't understand.
• As far as I can tell, there is no sex fetish involving skeletons. Admittedly I have not done much research on this because I'm too scared at what google might throw up at me.
  

Weekend roundup!

After the exhaustion of the past week, I am happy to say that I did no work at all during this weekend. Yes, I got to sleep in (yay), lounge around the house (double yay), and then meet up with Rachie Poo for lunch, shopping, and cake (triple YAY!!!). Given that I'm guessing you don't want to read about my sleeping in (although it was pretty damn fantastic), I will talk about the cake.

First off, Rachie started off the day by telling me I'd lost weight. Later, after a hard day's shopping, we decided to get cake to make up for the precious calories that I'd burnt off. We went to Little Cupcakes (#7, 250 Flinders Street, down from Degraves St, next to Smitten Kitten). Their washing machine was broken so they could only serve us on serviettes, but that's okay because I forgot to bring my camera so you can't see the presentation anyway.

(Source)

Rachie had the coffee flavoured normal-sized, while I had red velvet normal plus the strawberry mini-sized. I've heard of red velvet but never had one before (I think it's an American thing?). The waiter told me it was 70% vanilla/30% cocoa - the decreased cocoa part give the cake it's reddish rather than brown colouring. The cake was crumbly, perhaps slightly on the dry side but this was compensated by the rich cream cheese frosting. When my bites encompassed both elements of the cupcake it was extremely pleasing. The mini cupcakes really are one bite sized.

Anyway, while we were eating our cakes, Rachie and I started discussing the art of baking. Rachie had always believed herself a poor baker - turns out her cakes never worked because she was trying to cut out things like sugar and butter, much to my amazement. After I explained the fat/sugar/creaming thing, we decided to go back to her place and BAKE another cake :D.

We made an eggy lemon cake with sugar crust top. It was delish but again, we forgot to take a photo. Actually, that was probably for the best because it sank a little bit in the middle. There was plenty leftover so I took it in for this morning tea where it went down a right treat. The recipe was actually incredibly easy and when Rachie emails me the recipe, I will post it here so that you may all make it and try it out!

Painting of the Week - The Bridge of Sighs by John Singer Sargent

JS Sargent, The Bridge of Sighs, 1904, Brooklyn Museum, NYC
(Image source)

A friend once asked me who was my favourite artist. After a lot of thought and much to both of our surprise, I said John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1923). Why? Put simply, I've never seen a Sargent I didn't like despite his wide-ranging oeuvre. On a more complex level, I am fascinated by his flawless draughtsmanship, his deceptively difficult technique, the way his portraits reflect the sitters' personalities, and the way his paintings never fail to elicit some kind of response from me.

Born in Florence to American parents, Sargent was trained in Paris and spent the bulk of his career travelling the world. Primarily known for his 'society' portraits of women, Sargent also produced thousands of watercolours and sketches. Considering that his career covered the late 19th-early 20th century, his work has been criticised for not reflecting the contemporary Modern movements such as Fauvism and Cubism, although he did paint en plein air.

I was lucky enough to see The Bridge of Sighs in Venice at the Sargent and Venice exhibition in Sept 2007. I remember standing in the dark room staring at the watercolours, utterly amazed that with a few scribbles Sargent had managed to (very) accurately recreate the Venetian light and shadows. They made me want to go outside and buy some of the kitschy watercolours for sale from the many vendors looking to prey on gullible tourists. Or worse, it made me want to pick up my own paints again and get cracking!

When I first went to Venice, a lecturer told me I would love it and that Venice would look like every picture I had ever seen of it. She was right. Although this photo was taken in winter 2004, you can tell everything is pretty much the same - from the dark shadows in the narrow canal to the way light reflects off the greenish tint of the water. I never managed to get a photo of this view in Summer/Autumn light - the crush of tourists on the San Zaccaria bridge was something I didn't want to battle.

Happy Birthday, Grand Empress!

There was much merry-making as we celebrated not only the Grand Empress' passing of another year but also the reception of her visa so that she may now return to Old Blighty.

The night kicked off with drinks at Martini Bar. I myself did not have a martini - I had something called Glinda the Good Witch, named in honour of Wicked which was playing at the theatre next door.

Two happy drinkers

For dins and entertainment, we went to Manchester Lane Jazz Club. While the service was a little bit slow, the food and band more than made up for it!

Our pot of bread. It was still warm!

My entree of flame grilled scallops. That fennel salad was really nice too :D

Searnsy's entree of fried calamari salad. I ate a bit of it - we think he's on a diet.

My main of gnocchi served with wild mushroom fricassee and truffle oil. Mmmmm, truffles...

Despite being absolutely stuffed (I ate some of Searnsy's main as well), I made the surpreme effort to eat dessert - Saffron raspberry mousse. That mint ice-cream was mighty tasty too!

The Grand Empress with her mousse complete with celebratory sparklers!

The Grand Empress eats her other birthday cake - a mud cupcake

The band - they did RnB and motown classics!!! It was awesome-a-power.

Alas, I was feeling burnt out from a variety of things and I couldn't kick on afterwards. :'(
You know that warm feeling you have when you're really tired but you're forcing yourself to stay awake? I had that :( But Happy Birthday Grand Empress and have a good trip and another awesome party back in London!

Hat Season :D

There are things I don't miss from the fashion of ye olden days. Corsets are one. Sure, it looks elegant but I don't like the idea of squishing my internal organs given that I know what they do. And since I'm of that background, I don't miss the idea of foot-binding. Using lead makeup is another. Putting atropine/belladonna in my eyes...the list goes on. One thing I do miss is the wearing of hats.

I love me a good hat and I love it when horseracing season descends upon the city every year when I can indulge in getting myself a new one. One that I'll probably wear only once, maybe twice, but one I get to wear nonetheless!

I haven't bought this year's hat yet, but I did find one that I really LOVED. Dancinghula loved it too and took a pic of me in it.

Oooh, isn't it so My Fair Lady-ish?

So what's my objection to purchasing this hat? Well, perhaps the fact it comes in $AUD700 (approx $US469, 366 euros, or 290 quid). That's like my fortnightly income. And while I know I can chuck it on the credit card....I will resist. I really am crying on the inside.

Seriously peeps, watch out mmmkay?

So I'm back at work today. There's a lot of tradies around because the building is undergoing a variety of system works; pipe replacement, putting in new network cables etc., so there is a degree of ladder dodging and the occasional safety bollards and orange danger signs. But today took it to another level.

In the hallway of my office to the internal stairs, I saw these bollards. Nothing particularly special about them.

Until you get closer and you get to see what the danger is.
What the...?! Putting men in confined spaces?! Damn straight we'd better be careful because forcing those guys into small workplaces makes them angry!
And you won't like them when they're angry...

(Thanks to dancinghula who took the pics for me)

Randoms

There's not really much to write about today. I was totally wrecked as a result of spending all weekend not sleeping (much) and then having rendezvous with Pascal, so I spent today at home and did three loads of laundry. So this is going to be about random things that occur to me today.

Watching music videos, maybe it's the wet shirtless man-fighting, but I find the clip for The Presets' This Boy's In Love strangely hypnotic.

I'm also really lovin' Kanye's new song Love Lockdown


I'm really craving some blue cheese right now. An oozing blue, maybe a gorgonzola with pears. Nums. I also want some pate to go with my cheese. Luckily it is raining outside and I don't want to waste petrol.

I found this opinion piece about laughter as a child versus laughter as an adult quite nice. I always thought it's better to find happiness in simple things versus gadgets and toys.

Watching Jules et Jim...I still have no idea how anyone could mistake Jeanne Moreau as a male.

Vanillabear? I've found (one of my) dates for your wedding. I'll try to make him wear shoes.

Oh, Mr Darcy!!!

Well to follow up The Bender, Lydia was holding a 'Girls' Night In' party to raise money for charity, but mostly so we could watch all SIX HOURS of the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle as Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Lizzie to her friends) and Colin Firth as Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy.

That room was just so full of love for those six hours. We sat enraptured and marvelled at the civility of 19th century mating rituals - when Mr Bingley asked if he could reserve the first two dances with Jane Bennet, why didn't he just ask for her hand right then and there!!! We'd also try to translate the regency-speak into modern jargon. For example:

• My friend requested and introduction = My mate thinks you're hot
• Obstinate, selfish girl! = You bitch!
  

One of the girls declared that she could in no way have put up with all the formality of the Regency world and if she were in the 19th century, she would have been a drunkard or a prostitute or a drunk prostitute.

Can I just say, the casting in that production is just PERFECT. I don't need to talk about how Jennifer is Lizzie or that Colin Firth has been cast as Darcy ever since (but it's a good living!). Okay, Julia Sawalha was probably too old to play Lydia Bennet (she was 25 playing a 15 year old) but she was suitably annoying and frustrating as the silly girl. We all agreed that the real centrepiece of P&P is David Bamber as Mr. Collins. Seriously. He is just as smarmy and disgusting and repulsive and crawling and blerk that we just sat there screaming whenever he came on screen.

It was also amusing to dissect the make up and costuming - how breeches are so unflattering on the men. The way empire line dresses made them look like the girls were wearing nightgowns or curtains depending on the fabric. How could the men breathe with those tall collars and cravats. The way all the girls could not show their legs but so long as nipples weren't visible, the neckline could be as low as you wanted...unless you were supposed to be unattractive (i.e. Mary Bennet or Charlotte Lucas) and then they were covered up. And the way make up put bags and pimples on Mary.

It's been about 3 years since I last watched it. I didn't remember all the cheesy intercuts, the replay of scenes or voiceovers of key parts of the story, the soft focuses....hehehehehe. The stray hair at the top of the camera during the Netherfield Ball scene. The fake snow. The way Darcy never cracks a smile until the end. The way Darcy just got up and walked away whenever conversation didn't suit him. Hilarious.

Yes, it was highly enjoyable watching as we lay there eating M&Ms, marshmallows, shortbread and cupcakes watching Lizze reject offer after offer and then end up with a man with one of the greatest estates in Derbyshire.

You didn't really thin I'd leave without mentioning The Wet Shirt Scene, did you? We actually sat up straight for that part.

*grrl!*

Return to form

Wow, I really did have a big blogging week, didn't I? The return to form to which I refer however, is actually the return of The Bender. Lydia has mentioned many times that 2007 (a.k.a The Year I Gave Up Excessive Alcohol Consumption) was pretty boring. So anyway, the Bender - the practice of stumbling around various alleyway bars of Melbourne and excessive alcohol consumption was resurrected last night.

Apart from the two glasses of red I had at after-works drinks, the night was kicked off at Cafe Vue's weekly cocktail party. Five cocktails paired up with 5 different types of fingerfood.

Menu of the night (actually changed monthly)

Cocktail #1 - Bellini with scallop papaya and spherified papaya balls.

Oooh, Bellini made with Moet? How swish :P

Cocktail #2 - Mojito served with beef tacos.

That mint foam (in place of actual mint) on top was like awesome, and I'm not a lover of foam foods.

But this is serious the best taco. Ever. I can't remember what they did to make it so special other than deep fry almost everything in it. It just was.

Cocktail #3 - Cosmpolitan paired with...

Cauliflower couscous with veal shin roulade and osso bucco sauce

Cocktail #4 - Bramble with roquefort pannacotta and pear puree.

The Grand Empress hates tequila so I got to have hers. Turns out she also hates blue cheese so I got to have that as well!!

Cocktail #5 - Espresso Martini with tiramisu

Now, I don't drink coffee at all so I happily handed it over to the Grand Empress. It turned out however that Lydia had told them there was a member of the party who didn't take coffee and they made me a coffee-free tiramisu and another cocktail (below).
I don't remember what was in it, but it was nice. Fruity.

Later in the night, some revellers started throwing tiles off the building next door, forcing the closure of the pathway to get to the toilets. So the restaurant instead opened up their doors to the (private) Dom Perignon room which had it's own bathroom. Faced with such opulence, we naturally had to take some uber-posed photos.

The Grand Empress also tried to get into the cabinet that held the Dom Perignon.

Despite the 5 cocktails + 1 white that she'd downed, The Grand Empress was *I'm not drunk. This doesn't feel like 'A Bender' to me!!!*, so we went to PennyBlue, MOO's more mature sibling.

The view of the bar from my bench.

Formerly loved bottles of booze that line the walls.

I remember the first time I went here with someone who shall remain nameless and we didn't spend a lot of time there because my companion was put off by the crowd who they found 'old'. When I pointed out that we ourselves were no longer lambs in the meadow, they got offended.

'Old' crowd visible in background

But last night was the triumphant return and it was very comfortable and completely pleasant. I like Pennyblue.

We slowly crawled our way up Lt. Bourke St. and went to Manchuria. Alas, since I somewhat consider Manchuria my *home* bar, I took no photos. Following Manchuria, we attempted to get into Seamstress, only to be told that it was closing!!! What?! At 1am on a Friday night/Saturday morning? Can I just say *FAIL*?!?! So instead we hied it down to somewhere that's close to becoming my new favourite place 1806, with my new favourite sitting area, the Red Alcove.

Yes, I arranged this photo so you can see the coolness of my Red Alcove.
(Plus advertising)

Snuggled in the comfy red velvet chair. (Ignore the blurriness)

Lydia at her regal best.

The Grand Empress demonstrates why I love the Red Alcove so much. That's right, the colour looks good with our colouring and it's really comfy.

Yessum, the Red Alcove rocks. All I ask now is that no one sit in it so it remains MY area. Okay? Good.

And no bender is complete without Stalactites, which did not live up to its other nickname of Fight Club. It did however deliver the souvlakis at 2:30am and it remains the one place of 'good' (read: mediocre but full of memories) food that hasn't disappointed the Grand Empress on her return home.

Sculpture of the Week (Blog Challenge #1: Robots)

Android from Laputa: Castle in the Sky,
Studio Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
(source)

For lovers of movies by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli, there's a museum in Tokyo. AND you can get there by riding the catbus!!! But I decided to be lazy this week and use the sculpture of the robot from Laputa to be my sculpture of the week. I couldn't be bothered finding anything better.

Talk about giving me the shits...

Yesterday I donated some of my claret to the Blood Bank during which they totally butchered my elbow. But that's not what gave me the shits.

I don't know how many of my readers remember the TV sitcom Roseanne. I figure an even smaller number remember the episode where Roseanne forces her son DJ to become friends with guest star Florence Henderson's son, Elijah. DJ refuses to do so because Elijah is *weird*. When asked to explain why he's *weird*, DJ says (and we see) that Elijah sings to himself in public. Not loudly, but audibly enough for people to hear it.

There was a *singer* sitting behind me while I waited to give blood yesterday. Sure, it was under her breath, but audibly enough for me to hear her doing the looping *woooaaaahhh-oooahh-oooaahhs!!!* from Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Out of tune, mind you. Oh how I resisted the temptation to turn around and sing along with her to make her shut up. Or just to turn around to tell her to shut up. I resisted. I was serious good yesterday.

And here's a (bad) photo of my butchered vein for those who are curious.
The flash deleted most of it but you can see the puncture and surrounding bruise (blue arrow & red circle) which was still bleeding 10 hours later when I tried to take off the dressing and but what really surprised me was another bruise about a centimetre down my elbow! Don't worry about the yellow tinge, that's just the iodine - the area was a bit too tender to scrub it off.

Crimes against Fashion

Number 100 - Never slavishly follow trends.
Number 101 - If you feel you must follow a trend, choose your style carefully!!!

Heroin chic is not my favourite trend - for one, I don't see the appeal of looking like a druggie. Euw. But if you feel that's all you can pull off, Kate Moss will do as someone who may be addicted to drugs but outwardly seems fine. Amy Winehouse is another story altogether.

L - Amy's beehive in all its glory (source)
R - Sometimes she keeps it up by tying a cloth around it (source)

I don't know what's horrified me more - the fact that this girl has chosen to emulate someone who's so obviously self-destructing (although I suppose beehives have a late 50s-early 60s kind of cool to them) or that her hair was actually in such a condition to recreate that scraggy-held-up-with-a-cloth look.