Student class dining reviews

I went to dinner at this old favourite on Wednesday night. As we enjoyed their moules aux champagne and various other courses, we reflected that while there are many in the blogosphere who review dining on the high end of the scale, there are few that review the middle ground or even the student class eateries.

This is not to say that Paris Go is student class - oh no, I still paid $55 at which some might baulk (hai Pooey!), and the service and decor are comfortable rather than snooty, or what one might call down right rude at high-end places, but its these shop front places of quiet repute that the population need to know about! The places of hype receive enough press as is.

What is the difference in quality and cost of various dumpling shops of Chinatown. Who has the best 3am souvlaki? Which of the small Japanese hole in the walls have the best lunch time deals? Where can I get a reasonable plate of dirty pasta for under $15? These are questions for which we need to know the answers! And I shall (maybe) endeavour to find those answers!

Who's with me on this challenge?!?!

Bieber Fever, or why I have never been happier to be considered a strange girl

It's moderately late at night and I have my usual late night TV on - music channel for some background sounds while I do my computery things - and they've just gone and played this song:

(I used this other than an actual clip so you could all see the lyrics - baby, baby, baby nooooo!)

Now apart from the fact that this song is kinda horrendous, apparently this fellow was in Australia over the weekend (the below clip was filmed in Sydney). I had a bit of a full weekend and wasn't paying much attention to what was going on, but these these kinds of things happened:

And I'm guessing it wasn't the crap music that drove them to these heights of insanity. But this entry is not about a kid who is 16 but looks and sounds like he's 12 and has the hair flick down pat, no. It's about teen female hysteria.

This was partially discussed in the lab today between Laulita, Colleen and myself where we discussed who were the *It Boys* that we squealed over.

For C, it was Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
(Source)


Laulita 'fessed up to pretty much chasing Billy Zane out of a shop in Melbourne
(but that's understandable - he's a cool dude.)

But speaking for myself, I could not think of a single one whose pictures I used to paper my walls, bothered to go see in person, or who could drive me to tears and fainting spells. I remember Auntie had an entire wall of her room covered in posters of New Kids on the Block, not to mention many other pieces of fan paraphernalia around her room. And then there were the scenes of hysteria when Boyz II Men visited Melbourne Central but it got overcrowded and so was shut down, Bieber style. I could not for the life of me think of some heartthrob celebrity of my teen life who could have made me scream out their name, wave my arms in the air, and just...I don't know...act like a teenage girl. It's like there was/is something wrong with me. But if not acting like a deranged, squealing, obsessive stalker results in being labelled *abnormal*, I will wear that tag with pride.

Of course, when I hit the ripe of old of 27, I made this photoshop:

So maybe it was just a case of delayed development :P

Totally looks like

This hairdresser

Totally looks like

The Crow Demon from Monkey
(Image source)

Song of the week - Enjoy the Silence 04 by Depeche Mode/Linkin Park

This week's song will forever remind me of Venice leg of the Great European Adventure 2004. On a moderately busy street, I sought refuge from the crowds by entering one of a myriad of glassware stores. Behind the counter, a middle aged man used an acetylene torch on a stick of glass. While I watched him do his thing, this song kicked in and when the guitars started riffing, he started bopping his head along while twisting the glass into a little gondola.

I didn't purchase that gondola which he offered it to me for a value I couldn't justify on my student income but I remembered the song and it takes me back to those times.
This makes me want to leave the country. Again.

Red lipstick

For a while, I have been looking for a F#@$ you red lipstick. Why? Well I figure it's a classic statement that makes one look made up with relatively little effort. I also think the combination of black hair, dark eyes, and red lippie looks hot. Just check out Monica Bellucci!

Today, Dr I-K (aka, The Informed Makeup Maven) and I went shopping for some red lipstick. We first hit one of our favourite brands - Chanel. Believe it or not, I own only two lipsticks, both of which come form the Chanel Aqualumiere range (Montego 70 and Java 49). We went straight to Chanel's Rouge Allure and Hydrabase racks and went nuts. We tried Lover (09), Passion, Audace...I can't remember the numbers or the other names...and I will say it looked as though I was a child who had been drinking red cordial and quickly rubbed my mouth to get rid of the evidence. Okay, that was probably more likely due to my application method. Slightly disheartened, I was pushed onto the Dior section.

Here, I was handed the Rouge Dior Replenishing Lip Colour in Red Premiere (752), the same shade worn by the lovely Monica up there. I put it on using my own substandard technique and figured I looked like The Joker. Dr. I-K begged to disagree, as did the saleswoman who then applied it much more thickly (and better). My mouth all waxy and covered, I said I would continue wearing it for the day to see how I felt with it.

Because my camera is broken (dammit!), this photo comes courtesy of Dr. I-K.

Okay, I'm not Monica (dammit). Thoughts?

Update: It's now about 4 hours after I put it on. I haven't eaten drunken anything since then and despite a little bit of bleeding, it seems to have held up alright. Hmmmm...

Job hunters

This one goes out to all the my friends out there who have/are helping me try to find a full-time post-PhuD job. Things aren't too bad for me job-wise right now - well, it could be A LOT worse. I'm working casually or the equivalent of half-time (2.5 full days a week) doing a combination of technician/managerial work. But it's not a post-doc and it sure isn't in a place other than Melbourne.

And so I'd like to credit the following people:
RachiePoo - for looking for state govt. jobs
Miss Pooky - Sydney research institute advice
Female Lymbo - defence jobs advice!
Pierrot - making sure all my French coverletters are grammatically correct
Gnoudesavanes - looking for jobs for me in France!
The Pom - reading and giving feedback on covering letters and putting a good word in
Dr. I-K - CV checking
Laulita - jobs at the uni!

Despite this long list, I have a feeling there are people I've missed out. If I have missed you, feel free to add your name/s in the comments!

The irrits!

Because I'm a masochist, I like to think about things that give me the shits from time to time. Lately it has occurred to me that I hate digital SLR cameras. Not the cameras themselves, but I seeing lots of amateur photographers wielding around these huge black cameras and then see lots of photos which are pretty much just point and clicks.

By all means, if you're interested in photography and interested in how to take different types of photograph, investing in an DSLR is good stuff. But having an DSLR doesn't make you an 'artistic' photographer, it just means you have a camera with a fast frame rate and shorter time interval between when you press that button and the image being captured resulting in a certain clarity of image. Stuff that can be used to affect the image taken, e.g. framing, depth of field, or exposure time are all up to the photographer and rarely have I ever seen photographers alter the settings on their cameras. And no, holding the camera at an angle or having the object in an asymmetric composition does not equate to being 'artistic'.

This annoyance is probably due to being taught about various things like maximum white and black, usage of filters etc., and then encountering a blank look when asking a DSLR owner how to widen the aperture and increase the shutter speed.

Painting of the week - Boatmen Moored on the Shore of a Lake by Adam Pynacker, and Proposal for Landscaped Cosmos by Sam Leach.

Left: Adam Pynacker, Boatmen Moored on the Shore of a Lake, c. 1660
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Right: Sam Leach, Proposal for Landscaped Cosmos, 2009-10
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
(Image source)

This week's paintings of the week comes from a controversy that's happened recently in Australian Art. The painting by Sam Leach won the Wynne Prize - a competition for best Australian landscape. It has since come to light how closely the winning entry resembled the painting on the left, a Dutch landscape based on an Italian scene. The question arising therefore is whether Proposal should have won?

The arguments for *Yes* are that this work clearly references Dutch-style landscapes and Leach has a history of using 'appropriating' other artists' work. The arguments for *No* are that it's basically a copy of the Pynacker and therefore not an 'Australian' landscape. I'm in two minds about this. My initial gut feeling is that it IS a copy of the older painting, but on the other hand early painters of Australian landscapes did sometimes present the bush with the the dark greens and dense foliage of Europe. It's difficult because when I see the two compared in the image above, I am filled with a slight feeling of revulsion at how similar they are (god, that statement sounds like wankery) but would I feel that way if I never saw the comparison?

Hollywood Hair - Redux

I've had long hair....pretty much all my life. I prefer it, it makes me feel nice and girly. But I do get tired of the effort I put in washing, blow drying, curling...not to mention all the hair balls when it falls out during those those events. So I've been thinking of cutting it short.

You know that that means. A trip back to the InStyle Hollywood Makeover site!!!

After a few goes doing a few styles that I'd never EVER wear...

Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks (Why do I look like a man? Don't answer)

Rihanna!!! Whitney!!!

I then moved on to trying other things out.

Mmmmm, I don't think a heavy fringe is me (Vanessa Hudgens)

Katie Holmes Aunty Hair

Camilla Belle Aunty Hair (with perm!)

Ashley someone bob

Jennifer Hudson bob with swept fringe.

I kinda think this might be poll-worthy!

Classic movie review - The Godfather, Parts I and II

About a week ago, I was flipping channels when I came across this classic scene being played on Showcase or something like that.

I then settled in to watch Michael Corleone's descent into the world of crime. And then I watched it immediately afterwards because Showcase 2 was showing The Godfather I on a two hour delay. They haven't showed The Godfather II yet, but I'm sure I could also watch it back to back!

Few 173 or 200 minute movies are good enough for me to watch back to back but these are absolutely two of them! It's no mistake that The Godfather I and II are usually fighting with The Shawshank Redemption for places 1-3 on IMDB's Top 250 films list, popularly voted by members of IMDB. There's so many great things about the two - the story, the acting, the music, the direction! And it goes to show that there's no politics quite like family politics.

I won't go into the usual plot, acting analysis stuff that I do for other movie reviews. Just that it as a given that since I have designated it a *classic movie* that there's something in it worth watching. All those movie reviewers who've given it a 100% *fresh* rating on rottentomatoes can't be wrong!

On that note however, I wouldn't say The Godfather III is up there with the others. The movie kinda hinges on the acting of Sofia Coppola and while I won't say she ruined the movie...it probably wasn't up to scratch. But watch it for completion value!

My shameful celebrity crush - Stephen Colbert.

Or perhaps not! (Sorry, I'm watching The Colbert Report instead of doing work).

From his 2008 Presidential bid,

to being knighted by Queen Noor of Jordan in 2009 (Source),

the 2006 White House dinner speech

and making truthiness a real word, is there a better comedy crush out there?

Even he says no. Think about it - he even looks like an older version of some members of my Box of Hotties!

Verbal diarrhoea...over?

Regular readers of my blog (Hai Pooey! And...er....) may have become used to me prattling on various topics several times a week.

Lately I haven't been able to think of things to write about. This concerns me greatly as it either means that
a) I'm not doing anything interesting/worth talking about, or
b) I no longer have verbal diarrhoea.
The first one is unlikely given that I'm involved in a mega-wedding throughout the duration of this month (no, it's not mine). But who would I be if I'm not prattling away on some random topic?! I would not be Mallymoodle, that's for sure :'(

Some of you may see the irony in this entry. All I can say is that usually whenever I write an entry similar to this, I get struck with inspiration for another entry soon, and thus, re-infect myself with the virus. Muhahahah!

Song of the week - Love Lost by The Temper Trap

I was going to use this clip a few weeks ago but found too much art to use.

Also, I've chosen this clip because Caramelbear loves an aussie accent :P

Ho Hum

The long weekend is over, anyone else feeling not particularly inspired? Maybe I'll finally start learning Spanish given that I've missed the semester cut off date for renewed French lessons (missed it by quite a bit too!) and I saw a postcard advertising Spanish lessons by the hour. Don't know how that guy will like teaching from scratch though - might be a challenge for all!

In other news, I've finished reading the Harry Potter Series, so now I need something else to occupy my waking, non-work hours.

Shoes!

Bridesmaid shoes to go with the bridesmaid dress - acquired!!!

So cute, so pretty

Croissants - Day 3

So today was the final day for making croissants. The day when I'd find out if it was a waste of time and unsalted butter, or if my toil was worth it. And so, here's the progression of what happened today.

I had a bit of trouble doing the rolling into a vague croissant shape because I wasn't able to roll the dough into a perfect 40cm circle.

Then I was really kinda worried when they came out of the oven looking partly unrolled and really...kinda ugly.

However, I took some to the Vanderpoons where the croissants where Rachie and Clinty taste tested them. They both gave them the thumbs up for having the right texture and being buttery while not as sweet as commercial croissants. *thumbs up*

And here are some close ups showing the fluffy texture of the croissants.

Layers, layers, layers!

So now that I'm done and they're not a failure, I will do as any good scientist does - try to optimise the protocol to improve it! Muhahahahahah! My aim being to make it not take 3 days.

But for those who are purists and want the original, here it is:
Croissants (from French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano)

Ingredients

• 260ml milk + 2 tablespoons for brushing over pastry
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 250g plain flour + 3 tablespoons (kept separate)
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 180g unsalted butter
  

Day 1

1. Heat 65ml of milk to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in milk, stir in 6tbs of flour from the 250g, and whisk until lump-free. Cover with clingwrap and and let stand at room temp until doubled in volume (about 20mins).
2. Mix sugar and salt into remaining flour.
3. Heat remaining 195ml of milk to lukewarm. Transfer raised dough to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with dough hooks. Add milk, and with mixer at high speed, add sugar, salt & flour mixture, a little at a time. Lower the speed to slow-medium until dough is sticky-soft.
   
4. Cover with clingwrap and refrigerate overnight.
   

Day 2

1. Bring butter to room temp and incorporate the 3 tbs of flour until smooth.
2. Flour the working surface, shape the cold dough into a 38 x 15cm rectangle (portrait, not landscape), and spread butter on the upper 2/3 of the rectangle. Leave a 1cm border between the sides and the butter.
3. Fold the dough into thirds like a letter, folding the bottom (butterless) third first. Turn the dough anticlockwise, roll out into a 38 x 15cm rectangle, and fold again.
   
4. Transfer the dough into a baking pan, cover with clingwrap, and refrigerate for 6 hours.
5. (THIS IS IN THE AFTERNOON) Roll out the dough two more times, wrap and refrigerate overnight.
   

Day 3

1. About 1.5 hours before baking, remove dough from fridge, and flour working surface. Roll dough into a 40cm diameter circle. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into three triangles.
2. Roll the base of the triangle towards the remaining point. Do not curl the pastry into a croissant shape. Transfer to a baking sheet and brush with 2 tbs of milk. Let stand at room temp for about 45mins or until the croissants have doubled in volume.
3. Preheat oven to 200C. Brush croissants with glaze (egg yolk + 1 tbs milk), and bake for 15-20mins. If they brown too fast, cover loosely with foil.
4. Cool for 20 mins before serving/eating!!!
   

Happy baking!

Croissants - Day 2

Day 2 of croissant making.
The dough, post butter insertion, post folding.
Awaiting baking (Day 3)

Sculpture of the week - Pietà by Michelangelo

Michelangelo, Pietà, 1499

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Happy Easter, Bishes!!! Keeping with the Easter theme, this is one of the world's most famous sculptures based on the subject. The Pietà (Pity) depicts the body of Christ being cradled by his mother after it was removed from the cross (Deposition). Michelangelo sculpted this theme three times over the course of his career. This was the first version, completed when he was 25 (!!!) and the only sculpture to bear his autograph (of sorts).

Commissioned by a French Cardinal, the subject matter was not common in Rome at the time and caused a storm of wonder when it was unveiled. According to Vasari, when the sculpture was first displayed in the Chapel of the Madonna della Febbre, Michelangelo overheard some visitors from Lombardy attributing the work to Cristoforo Solari, a sculptor from Milan. He then locked himself in the chapel overnight and proceeded to carve his name on the band across the Virgin's chest. Get your facts right, incorrect tourists!

In 1972, the Pietà was attacked by a deranged geologist with a hammer, damaging Mary's face and particularly the nose which was never recovered. Some opportunistic tourist probably has it somewhere on their bookshelf or in their attic. Anyway, the work is now kept behind bulletproof glass, resulting in many blurry tourist photos (including my own).

Croissants - Day 1

Many, many moons ago, Miss Amandine sent me a book as a present. This book was the lifestyle guide, diet book, and NYT #1 best-seller extravaganza French Women Don't Get Fat. When I opened it, I did not take offense at the idea of someone sending me a diet book as a gift - I perused it for its lifestyle tips and ooohed over the recipes inside. One of the recipes was one for croissants that Mireille Guiliano (the author) claimed was *easy*. The catch? It takes three days. Hah! Needless to say, I never made them because I never had three days in row without work during the PhuD and Ma would probably have a heart attack watching me throw flour around the kitchen.

BUT NOW the PhuD is over (until the corrections get back). AND the Parental Units decided they were going to Sydney for the weekend. This means that I have the kitchen pretty much TO MYSELF!!! (Okay, I'm sharing it with the bros but I will cook and they will be happy.) And so this Easter, I will make CROISSANTS!!!

Alas, I will not post the recipe -I will post it if I think they worked, deliciously so. I will hopefully be testing them on RachiePoo at Sunday lunchtime, and I'm sure she'll happily tell me if they were a waste of time and unsalted butter. Also, this is my first time ever cooking with yeast and I've heard many stories of it being fiddly so wish me luck!

Reliving the classics - The Harry Potter series

One of the things I said I would do post-PhD submission was re-read the Harry Potter series, and I am doing so with a vengeance!

Right now, I'm up to book 6 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I've gotta say, I'm developing a new appreciation for the plotting and planning ability of JK Rowling. Now that we know the events of the later books and the motivations and relationships between various characters, this hindsight makes the little clues dropped throughout the series to be incredibly obvious!

But these are just children's books - surely I'm jesting about the existence of a complex multi-book plot clues? Well here are some examples! In Philosophers' Stone, Hagrid delivers baby Harry to Dumbledore saying someone gave him the flying motorcycle; the person who gave it to him claimed they wouldn't need it anymore - and we find out why in Prisoner of Azkaban! Who is Tom Riddle and why his diary is so weird (Chamber of Secrets, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows), the identity of the REAL villain and the way they manipulate events in Goblet of Fire, and the true meaning of Snape's worst memory (Order of the Phoenix) is revealed in Deathly Hallows. And of course, we learn that good and bad are not always as obvious as black and white.

I also like how she refers to previous events in later books, such as the question during the OWL exam - what is the spell to make something fly (wingardium leviosa) and the wand motion to make it occur (swish and flick!). Or I could just be a nerd with super-random-recall powers.

In any case, I fully recommend that people re-read this series from scratch and relive the...er...magic...again! Still undecided as to whether I will likewise watch the movies end-to-end. This will probably be dependent on how the last movie (parts 1 & 2) go!
(Image source)