Pardonna Me!!

OK ... Just re-reading some of me old posts .. I'm NOT a bad speller ... okay!! Just a lazy typist!

Sick as a DAWG!!!

Ok ... I was sick as a dog and had a bit of a mini-meltdown ... but I am on the mend folks and will back to full vacuos swing very shortly ... but here are some random thoughts:

(i) Aus Idol ... no favourites yet ... but I am enjoying!!
(ii) SYTYCD ... it starting to feel so rushed and compressed ... but you know what ... I'm really not surprised about the elimination choices so far ... apparently Americans can see through the outward sheen and gloss *nods head in sidelong cryptic glance*
(iii) Duck Eggs at Bistro Vue ... much much much much more of that later
(iv) God I love Penicillin
(v) God I'm so sick of soup!
(vi) And as soon as the back of my throat stops looking like Hooch, I will be devouring a side of sheep ... hooves and all I tell you!!!
(vii) I "trully madly deeply" love M ... oh did that make you all a little sick ... little bit??
(viii) The new Leila album definitively rocks!!!
(ix) Some writers should not be published!
(x) Toni Basil on SYTYCD???!!! Ex-cue me!! Where has this cheerslut been since "guys like you Mic-KEY!"? Under the surgeon's knife time and time again .. looks like. But u know what ... she was makin a whole lotta sense!! Does that say more about me than anything else??? Hhmmm ... I do love that song Mickey *blush* I know all the words ... but thankfully not the cheermoves!!
(xi) If you ever have a sorethroat ... get a bottle of Chrysanthemum with Honey drink into you ... brandname - Hung FookTong ... in singers some of the chinese medicine shops have a stand that sells hot chrysanthemum tea ... in individual glasses with their own little lids .. you pay your 80cents or whatever and drink it down then and there ... comes in 2 varieties ... light and sweet in that golden apple juicy colour and also a really intense dark bitter version which is absolutely the shizz!!! I don't care whether you think its pyschological or somekind of fool's panacea .. but when that throat starts scratchin like a whore's after too many $5 tricks ... one mug of this oldskool brew and you'll be singing Wagnerian!!

Ooh Led Zeppa just came on the ipod .. gotta scoot .. a few more librarians to sort out before the clock strikes 5.

Wie Alt bis' Du?

Ok ... so go here and try this ... it is in japanese but you should be able to make out the START button.

http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html

Here are the instructions:

Click on the link of the Flash Fabrica Game above ---- then follow these instructions

1. Click on 'start'
2. Wait for the countdown 3, 2, 1. Numbers will flash on the screen
3. Memorize the position of each of the numbers on the screen .
4. The numbers will be replaced with empty circles. Click the c ircles in the order of values of the numbers from the smallest number to the biggest number. For example if the numbers that flashed on the screen were 3, 8, 1 then click on the circle representing 1, then 3 and last of all 8.
5. At the end of game, the computer will tell you how old your brain is.

Good luck !!

Wierd thing is ... I am the age that I pretend to be ... how cool is that!! Oh wait .. maybe not ... not telling ... its a secret!

Chemical Heart

OK ... I'm cutting up my afternoon apple in the tea room ... and this random thought came into my head ... when I was growing up, there was always a danger of chomping into a worm when eating an apple ... even store-bought ones ... our world is too sterile!!!

Suspended in Gaffa!

Ok .. we finally made it to the ACCA (Australian Centre of Contemoprary Art) - that rusted geometrical blob near the freeway vent and currently housing the Vault!\

Been meaning to go there for ever so long and I'm very glad we did as we managed to catch Jim Lambie's "Eight Mile High" exhibit.

This basically consisted of reams of multi-coloured gaffa tape stuck on the floor in patterns that echo the architecture of the space ... look its a touch wanky on paper but so effective in the execution. Everywhere I pointed my mobile camera I caught a different pattern, and by extension a different feel to the piece.

At the end of the room there was a series of mirrors suspended from the ceiling reflecting the riot of colour below:

And suspended on one wall was what looked like an ink soaked mattress bleeding down onto the floor:

I'm not going to even attempt to read anything whatsoever into all of this ... M calls it psychobabble .. slightly incorrect use of the term .. but you get the gist ...

But visually I was tickled pink by the concrete boxes of actual vinyl ... the chick manning the exhibit talked about it being a dying medium .. what ... vinyl??? Dying my arse!! ... but i wasn't going to argue the point ... I was killing it in my crushed leather bomber ... that was enough for me ...

Thoroughly recommended ... ends mid September ... then they're going to have to pull all that gaffa tape off .. hehehe.

While you're there check out Rosslynd Piggott's Extract: in 3 parts

You'll get to see a diamond ... rolling waves projected onto a massive wall in the gallery ... AND this amazing sound shell that you have to play around with ... its hard to describe ... but the echoes and vibrations are so much fun!! Go go Go!

BTW, for a long time I never really knew what gaffa was. The first time I came across this word was when Kate Bush's The Dreaming came out ... with the song Suspended in Gaffa ... crazy huh??

PS: Peter Gabriel's 4 is amaaaazzziing!!

PPS: CONGRATS TO T & K on the birth of their Baby Boy ... so pink ribbons, ballet slippers and tutus??

Pixi-anne bean paste

Ok .. I'm in love with Pixian Bean Paste:

Shit you really need to try this .. go to the most dodgy asian food store you can find ... with loads of asian punters of course ... ask them where the pixian (pronouced - pi - shian ... but true to form I have been calling it Pixi-anne) bean paste is. Get yourself a packet, swing past the tofu section and score a tub of soft tofu, then grab some minced pork and hurry home for a culinary feast.

All you have to do is:

Chop and onion
Minced a couple of cloves of garlic and also about a thumbsworth of ginger
Perhaps a chilli or two if you like things spicy - sliced
Gently fry of all the above in some oil ... don't let the garlic burn or the onions brown
Add your minced pork ... and then 3 hefty tablespoons of Pixian Bean paste
Add a bit of water so that it doesn't stick to the pan
Fry this until the meat is cooked, then add your soft tofu into the mix .. this should break down completely and also help thicken the sauce.
Add spring onions before you serve
eat with rice.

How easy is that ... and oh so yummy!!

ART DECO

Ok .. the blockbuster that is the Art Deco exhibition at the NGV courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum ... Deco Heaven!!

Bearing in mind that the Art deco movement was partially fueled by capitalism and its inherent consumerist tendencies ... so its kind of perfect for the times ... since its the 80s all over again .. teetering on the edge of a recession fueled by greed.

Anyways, its testament to the creativity on display that punters were filled with an instinctive consumerist joy so much so that many a stranger struck up conversations with each other with seemingly consummate ease ... me included ... the one who usually has a furtive smile and resolutely pursed lips ... anyhoo!!!

There was alot to take in and we both had our favourites ... mine were the exquisite leather tooled book bindings ... there were about 4 to 5 different ones on diplay ... absoultely stunning ...

M was so frantically envious of the Polar bear sculpture that he ran around the shop trying to see if there was a replica for sale ... I swear he would have paid $500 if that was what it cost. Thankfully this is owned by the NGV so we will always have access to it at some point in time .. just not in the comfort of our own home:

Paintings, jewellery, scuplture, objet d'arts ... so much to take in.

Even M was fascinated by the clothes on display .. Chanel of course .. but also this lanvin dress that was easily my favourite:

And of course being boys, depsite inherent proclivities, we also like our toys:

And the most fascnating of all was the salvaged facade of the Palace Strand Hotel!!

I think this has to be my favourite blockbuster so far ... next year ... its Dali!!

Oh and M reckons that when he was in San Fran they were selling original Dali's for 300 - 500 USD a pop ... small ones but he assures me they were the genuine article ... HELLO!!! I think senility has set in ... more like original Darlies!!!

Which reminds me about seeing this Sth African guy on Collectors who collects tubes of toothpaste!!! Hhmmm!!! Anyhoo ... I was looking out to see if he had in his collection a pre-PC-esque tube of Darkie toothpaste (with the close up of a black and white minstrel) but sadly No. ONly 2 tubes of darlie.

PS - rediscovering the joys of Peter gabriel ... the remasters were all on sale for $9.99 at JB!! "Shock the Monkey" y'all!!

You must be my Lucky Star!!

Ok ... so everyone has their favourite "Friday Night Can't Be Arsed Cooking" joint that they go to ... ours chops and changes with the seasons ... but we have been going to Lucky Star on Barkly St Footscray on quite a few of these nights. Its one of those unassuming places ... looks like every other damn chinese/vietnamese restaurant with the fishtanks ... but one thing that caught our fancy was that there was scarcely a white face to be seen amongst the punters ... Good Sign!!! And as testament to the quality of this place, when we went there for the very first time ... we had a massive row and barely spoke to each other over our plate of Salt Fish Chicken Fried Rice. But there chilli oil sauce came with ikan billis (cripsy fried anchovies) ... TDF!!! That sealed the deal as far as we're concerned and since then we have not had a single dish that we could find fault with, nor did we think we would ever discover something completely new .. but we did this last friday night just gone.

Goat's Brisket Hot Pot!!

Well we noticed another table having the same dish so I asked our friendly waitress (is this still PC??) what it was. She couldn't quite remember how to say it in English so she went to get the menu and pointed at the listing. And considering we were up to trying something new and that it was a cold night ... we decided what the hey ...

So the goats brisket stew comes in one of those claypot shaped metal containers that sits on top of a portable gas stove. The stew itself is flavoured mainly by aniseed and 5 spice and ginger, with a couple of varieties of beancurd, chestnuts and lotus root. The dish is served with a egg noodles and a massive pile of spinach which you dip into the sauce to blanch. Brilliant!!

I wish I had pics to show you, but you really need to check it out. We noticed that 3 other tables after us ordered the same thing ... so we were inspired and in turn inspired others ... !!

PS ... listening to the fretless bass wonder that is Peter Gabriel's 3rd solo album while I write this - ok everybody sing "Jeux sans frontieres"

Tickets!!

Ok from the William Boyd book I'm reading at the moment called "Any Human Heart":

"So where would you like to go for dinner?"
"Anywhere you're not, you bastard-cunt!"

Maybe its the schoolboy in me but when I read this on the train .. I couldn't stop laughing much to the consternation of most of my fellow passengers ... but also to the delight of the pedo-like middle aged suit near the door ... euww! Hello I'm pushing 40!!

By the way, this book is curiously engaging. Its sort of a fictional journal of this English sloane ranger type and his life through the war years and beyond. Some real figures of histroy are written into the story like:

Edward and Mrs Simpson
Hemingway
Picasso
Pollock

AND Ian Fleming .. and there's a small hint that the protagonist may have in some small way inspired the James Bond .. and whats worse Boyd actually footnotes his own book, also based on a fictional painter ... Tickets!!!

But you know what ... its an absolute romp .. I actually look forward to the train ride in the morning just so I can read a few more pages on my way to work ...!!

If you dream of the girl for you, then call me and get 2 for the Price of One ... well almost!

Ok ... so I must have been feeling the need for some retail therapy which I'm now kinda regretting. These 2 months were supposed to be reserved for catching up on the ole savings account ... unfortch after doing so well I've fallen hard and fast ... and have stooped to actually purchasing a garment from the Basement at Myer ... oh the shame ... jeez .. I'm just kidding ... I am a snob ... but not that much of a snob!!!

However, as much as I have gussied this all up, the fact remains ("I'm the only who can hold your reigns" only tragic 80s freaks and R will get what I mean) that I have spent more money than I "should-of" on things that I "could-of" done without .. i.e. CLOTHES!!!

Admittedly, there was a buy 2 and get 60% off at the Chinese clothing store in mid-city plaza ... so that's a pretty good bargain ... and I tend to find a better fit in these stores .. but the sales chicks always try to put me in larger sizes coz they don't see me as asian .. anyhoo, there was a great "Rhythm Nation" coat that i would have got if they had a small ... it felt cosy and warm too ... so I'm spewing that I hadn't gotten there sooner ... but I was deliberatly not climbing those pokemon stickered stairs for the last few weeks ... knowing fully that I would have succumbed to the almighty pleasures of the Discount!! And didn't I just prove it today!!

At said Asian men's Boutique - I got a cardie and this pseudo crushed leather jacket ... which I love ... but errs a little on the Politix (circa 2000) side!!!

I then made the mistake of swinging by Myer to try on AGAIN the 40% off trench that I already tried on yesterday ... I wasn't sure of the length, but at 40% I was determined to make it work .. I try it on again ... and then hand it back to myer chick and say I'll think about it .... I am literally standing at the lights on Londsdale fully intending to cross and head back to work .. but the "kia-su" (ask your singaporean friends what this means) devil in me spins my feet around involuntarily and before you know it .. myer chick is swiping my credit card and I am doomed to interest rate purgatory!!!

But I came away with this ... does look on the el cheapo side in comparison with some of the coats these cool boys have been rocking ... and let me tell you this ... there are soo many cool dudes out there all of a sudden ... I think this slim silhouette has somehow touched a cord ... perhaps its the inner bogan in all of us ... becoz lets face it ... there was a time that the only ones rocking those skinny black levis were the very same with the "business up front, party at the back" hairstyles.

Bottom line is I like it ... I'll wear it ... and really thats all that should matter!!

PS - how great is this season of SYTYCD ... I've seriously been feeling the cabin pressure so many times!!! I have too many favourites .. but the ones I hang out for are Twitchington (me and the rest of the world seems like), Mark and ooh forgot her name .. blonde cheerleader type ... and Joshua and Katee!!!

PPS - HEROES is back and Milo's mouth is seriously twisted!! Creeped me out ... but I'd still (in the manner of Dlisted) hit it!!!

PPPS - 24th August 2008 - hope you have this marked on your diary and programmed into you PVR - IDOL of course ... duh!! I've already picked my favs from the ad ... haha ... how pathetic this is.

PPPPS (nearly finished with the pleeeaaaaazzzeeee sees) - perhaps its the clothes .. the media images ... the obsession with status and money .. I dunno ... but I'm truly feeling the 80s vibe ... so this is what has been rocking the Ipod of late .... and this is just the beginning I'm afraid:

Communication - Spandau Ballet
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
Harden your Heart - Quarterflash
Vienna - Ultravox
Metal Dance - SPK
A little bit of Echo (erm and the Bunnymen .. not Pseudo!!)
Some Hall and Oates form the drum machine period (i.e. Private Eyes, I can't go for that, Maneater)
Sheena Easton - Machinery (huh .. djyeah!! of course)
Life in a Northern Town - Dream Academy
Yazoo, Depeche, Duran, Wham .. the usual

Trouble is ... I no longer have the fringe ... hhmmm maybe its time to have those hair extensions again!!

Come to the Supermarket in old Peking

Ok .. my contribution to Olympic Fever is that I suddenly have cravings for Shanghainese food ... ok ... Beijing, Shanghai whatevs they're all the same aren't they? (I am quarter chinese ... I have a right)

Anyhoos .. I've been buying up sauce packets and seeking out dumplings and wierd-arse stews and recently had the pleasure of dining at the Footscray branch of Ba Guo Bu Yi - the original being Tooraking in surprisingly enough Toorak.

I'm not sure whether it was the cool weather (Melbourne = Ice at the moment) and thus the need for any source of warmth possible, but when they delivered this massive steaming bowl of Sour Hot Fish Soup to the table and we took our first mouthfuls ... it felt so comforting and wonderful (I know ... it is a nanna word ... but perfect in this case). I'm sure they sodium bi-carbed the fish beforehand as it had that smooth consistency almost slimy but oh so fresh ... there was also loads of white pepper ... preserved vegetables including these wonderfully pungent and piquant pickled green chillies. The only really small drawback (miniscule!!) for me was the preponderance of those glass noodles (transparent vermicelli or Tang hoon) which I always find a bit on the slimy side ... when we placed out order, the waiter said "er its quite spicy" TYPICAL ... Bring it on Bitches .. you have no idea!!! Although M did start choking on his first mouthful and I was going "M!!! You're letting the side down!!"

For entree we had a plate of special shanghainese bacon ... TDF peops TDF!!! Although next time I'm going for a bowl of vinegared noodles ... or possibly the crispy sliced chicken salad (misnomer ... unless of course meat, salad and three veg are all exactly the same for you) As a side ... you guessed it ... chinese broccoli ... this time in garlic sauce ... oyster sauce would have been too rich ... This year has turned out to be more than satisfactory food-wise .. our annus culinarus ... you could say!!!

Sorry about lack of pics ... was too busy orgasming over the flavours to interrupt the experience ...

Footscray 火锅城
Food Crazy Chinese Restaurant
Shop 2 & 3, 250 Barkly St, Footscray 3011
03 9687 3126

巴国布衣 精品川菜馆
Ba Guo Bu Yi Tooraking Fine Chinese Cuisine
Level 1, Trak Centre, 443 -445 Toorak Rd Toorak 3142
(03) 9826 1386

(details off avlxyz flickr page)

Alright some random pics off google image to get you in the mood:

sliced belly pork with garlic sauce .. check out the layer of oil ... YUMM!!

this kinda looks like the fish soup we had ... it had that slightly greasy yellow colour

szechuan chicken ... when I think szechuan - this is what comes to mind - loads of dried red chillis

PS - i have my fingers crossed for T & K - we may hear the pitter patter of tiny feet very very shortly

PPS - we recently had peops over for drinks ... what with the babies and everything it felt so domestic ... quick I need something silver and geometrical to remind me that I am clutching at the fading straws of youth!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!

Kebabs on Rice

Ok .. I'm just going to put this question out there .. hopefully someone will be game enough to leave a reply.

I was speaking to PS at work and he mentioned that since moving here from NZ, one thing he misses its going to the local Kebab joint and having Kebab on rice.

Basically its whatever is in the kebab, you know chicken/lamb, lettuce, humus, garlic sauce etc ... but instead of wrapping this all up in Pita, its dished up on a plate on top of a mound of rice.

Brilliant!!

So all you Melbournites out there ... tell me where can I go to have Kebabs on Rice??

Shopping Cart? NO Winkelwagen

Ok ... did you know that Shopping trolley in dutch is Winklewagen ... haha ... that is too much ... and I sooo needed a laugh ... come up and make me smile!!

A Weekend of Art - Final

Ok ... so pretty much the entire floorspace of the Exhibition building and the second level ... no mean feat ... and no mean feet .. if you know what I mean ... we were both glad to be sitting back in the car ... it was like the re-enactment of cocoon I tell you what ... but I think it was well worth the effort ... will definitely consider going again in 2009 ... there are too many to mention and alot of wasted photo-ops ... so here's just a very small sample ...

The absolute first thing that grabbed our attention was the plexi-glass sculptures of Roh Singh at the Dianne Tanzer Gallery stand:

Roh builds his 3-dimensional pictures by placing holes at various points on perspex sheets and slowly builds this up ... its amazing stuff ... you sit there and go "now why didn't I think of that" ... it just seems so obvious but the results are magical ... unfortunately I didn't take any photos ... so the images above are sourced off google images ... but you get the drift ... this gallery stand also had these plywood cockies in plain and black .... good stuff.

The other gallery that really caught our eye was Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art. In fact I overheard one of the stand members say that they had sold every single piece that they exhibited this time round ... no mean feat ... but whoever does the buying here truly understands diversity and eclecticism ... I would certainly love to pick their creative brains ... the minute I saw this sequined chihuahua amongst the heavily satirical china figurines I knew we were in good hands ...

Penny Byrne's wildly satirical figurines ...

Juan Ford's hand of God reaching out of a branch of eucalyptus leaves ... VR Morrison's take on fashion copy ...

Sam Leach's highly Varnished paintings of animals ...

all here and all welcome in my home if I had the cash.

Some of our other highlights ...

HK gallery - 10 Chancery Lane Gallery
especially the photos of old chinese theatres by Muchen and Shao Yinong:

and the action shots of Li Wei - stunning!!

M was taken by the noir-ish set pieces by Peter Neilson at the Australian Galleries stand:

We liked the bone pictures at the Despard Gallery by Patrick Hall:

I loved the floating figures in Denis Darzacq's work at Goddard de Fiddes:

We laughed at the marble statues of ordinary objects covered in dust shrouds ... Jan Murphy gallery had a number of these Kirra Jamison works:

In terms of painting .. this was a new discovery for me ... and one artist I will be keeping an eye on ... Joanna Lamb ... part of the Johnston Gallery stand:

Chuckles galore and memories of Shibuya at MEM with some great photos that provided much needed respite from all the po-faced symbolism going round:

Sophie Gannon had some luminescent miniatures by Michael Zavros who also painted some wonderfully chic centaurs:

Always a sucker for animals particularly dogs Petrina Hick's photos were a revelation at Stills Gallery:

I'm officially in love with paul davies' cool retro housescapes represented at the Tim Olsen gallery stand .. most of these were sold ... round about the $10000 - $25000 mark ... small change babe!!!

As far as prints and block paintings were concerned .. I'm not sure why this one appealed to me so much .. maybe it was the naive quality to it, the muted colours, the japanese lines and paper .. who knows ... but I dug Wilson Shieh's work especially the swimmer series which hung at L.A. Galerie Lothar Albrecht:

LA galerie also had some amazing photoworks by Peter Bialobrzeski ... large panoramic naturescapes ...

Still on the photoart tip, the John Buckley Gallery was showing Simon Strong:

Finally, the best stand ever was Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay - woodchip on the floor ... trees and wallpapered scenery ... shiny gnomes and mirrored structures ... the pics don't do it justice:

And craziest artwork - hands down it was Ian Burns ...

I'm not quite sure how to describe this ... installation pieces with cameras and household items ... bolted together to give an illusion of something other that is displayed on the screen .. for example .. an ordinary plastic chopping board .. shaved and chiselled to look like Uluru .... its visual ... its installation ... apart from the 2 second wow factor at having a piece of tarp turned into the ocean ... the contraptions themselves are ugly ... BUT ... its oddly appealing and it made us smile ...



What I can't remember ...

Random snaps ... and if I figure out who where and what I will append ...Ok Art lesson is over .. you can wake up now.