Mondrian - Fin

Ok ... so we've done it.

The Waffle to end all Waffles?

Ok ... as our good friends find enforced distraction (thanks H. Irene!) in a West Hollywood gay club dancing next to Adele!, I ponder our last meal together before they left for NYC, in celebration of the lovely DV's birthday. I have blogged about the hotpots of Little Lamb in Box Hill previously, so I will politely decline a reprise at this stage, but will write about the Waffle to end all Waffles (perhaps) that we shoved down our gullets post red bean cake dessert (I might add) over at the ever popular Monga Dessert Lounge - the Hong Kong temple to homestyle delights right in the Overseas Student heartland of Box Hill. Apart from all the red bean, sago, pomelo, mango, chestnut etc delights on offer, it was pretty much a fait accompli that we would have one serving of Hong Kong Style Waffle - as it turned out we had 4, and had to "Ta Pao" (take-away) one home. So exactly what is a Hong Kong Style Waffle ... well ladies and germs ... here you go:

Its your plain style waffle (roughly 8-9"s), but absolutely flooded with Condensed Milk and wonderfully clogged with Peanut Butter!! It should come with its very own health warning - cardiac arrest imminent!!!

To borrow a Makansutra phrase, "die die must try" ... or rather "die trying"!!

PS - happy B'day DV ... we had a great time and I'm so glad that S still fits ... you lucky bastard!!!

Projects!!!

Ok ... our Mondrian cabinet is finally finished!!! Well, not quite, we still have to drill holes for the cables at the back ... but the paint job is done and the pieces assembled. (pics in a separate post soon!!) Which means that we can finally readjust the position of my speakers!! Yay! (I'll be absolutely devo if it doesn't make a jot of difference to the sound in the room!) It is wierd though that with our recent purchase of a brand spanking cd player, I'm listening to my music in digital format more so than ever! Hhmm ...

Anyhoo, you can almost taste spring in the air can't you? I can almost smell summer myself. Which means longer days and increased energy levels, which also means its time to pull out all those pending projects from the shelf.

It feels like Bunnings is now our second home, and I think I've had enough of the old sausage sizzle ... why can't we have a charity vietnamese roll instead?? C'mon rotary!! Actually scrap that. I could afford to shed some kilos ... my clothes are about to go on strike and will quit this bitch soon!!!

But Projects *clap hands* ... means transformation of the old ...

a new splash of colour

a hint of excitement



and revitalisation

just around the corner ...

"the weather warmer, he is colder"

Ok ... here's a random, random thought

Our Magnolia in bloom

A carpet of white is the promise hint of Spring
"nothing's worth remembering" someone
Sings in the distance and amidst the holler of the crowd
I hear french ... that was French wasn't it?
And somewhere in the corner a shapeless whisper - "sorry"
                                                                               DC - Aug 2011

The Duchess of ... all things yummy actually!

Ok .. inspired by Claire's recent post on the Duchess of Spotswood and a particularly beautiful winter's day, we decided to revisit the Duchess for erm .., a spot of lunch! I've written about our first visit to this establishment in a previous blog entry (which incidentally was similarly inspired by Claire's recommendation) and the sentiment then still holds fast now ...

So lets shorthand this for you:

Spotswood: up and coming suburb - get in before housing prices go through the roof (seddon now has a million dollar property on its books - footscray has more than 2)
Hudsons Road: pretty! Also has lebanese pizza shop ... so not only pretty but essential!
Duchess: ambience - tick, staff - tick, menu - tick tick tick

M had the cauliflower soup with black truffle oil and a grilled scallop:

I had the Royal Fanfare which is salt cured trumpeter (a kind of fish) with spicy lamb sausage, home made chutney, and crumbed poached egg (how did they do this??!! ... quite carefully I would imagine).

The Paronomasic (wikki it!) menu is cause enough for a bout of furious eye rolling when you first read it,  but some of the items listed ... oh how they make you laugh! My favourite is something called Poetry (In motion) which consists of amongst other things ... warm prunes, youghurt and oats ... get it get it?

Oh and we had to have sweets and another batch of small ... erm ... batch coffees. I had the blackcurrant bramble cake, and M had some kind of jam roly poly shizz ... yeah well 'ard!

PS - while we lurch forward into longer days and unpredictable climes ... I have started my spring clean early ... you will find that I have now updated my Year in Books and Year in Music pages for your delectation ... enjoy!!

A Renaissance of Listening

Ok ... I'm experiencing a renaissance of listening ... each shiny slip of shellac reveals a different musical story and pervades an individual mood ... a recent trip to Yarraville unearthed the following Kyu Sakamoto gem ... "Sukiyaki" ... on battered 7" at a dollar a pop ... a jaunty Sakamoto on the cover in 60s blues and polyester ... smiling at the camera but offering only heartache and regret in song ... I look up at the sky to stop the tears from falling ...

Drum and Bass Anyone?? - Bjork's Crystalline

Ok ... Crystalline Nebula aaaaa. Breakbeat Madness!!!

Sous Vide Madness

Ok ... now that only the boring people are left on Masterchef, I have been suitably inspired to try my dab hand at Sousvide-ing some poultry ... except for the "vide" part which I wilfully ignore despite M's repeated warnings to ensure all the air has been massaged out of my makeshift vacuum pack ... a couple of sandwich bags from Daiso.

So I placed my chicken breast in said sandwich bag with Thyme, butter, parsley, mushrooms, salt and pepper. I mushed the bag down and seal in a pique of indifference and bung it in some simmering water with a lid on and cook it for a better part of an hour and a half.

 

Meanwhile, I decide to puree something again ala Masterchef and opt for Pumpkin, Corn and fetta. I roast the pumpkin and corn with some rosemary and beef stock and then into the mixer with the fetta and sour cream.

To accompany this folly, I fry purple cabbage with bacon, pine nuts, cummin and a bit of beef stock (yes I had some left over that needed using) and then bobs your uncle/aunty/whatevs, dinner was ready for plating.

The verdict ... a little rough around the edges but super yummy!!

Vale Amy!

Ok ... this is indeed a loss and really such a waste! Bye Bye Amy, you will be sorely missed for all the wrong reasons, and for all the right ones.

"Why do I wish I never Played
Oh what a mess we made
And now the final frame
Love is a losing Game"

Random Thoughts Part ... oh who cares!!

Ok ... time for another round up which comes to you without an ETS or Carbon tax and fragrantly free of any fetid phone hacking hijinks! Oh and we will not be cuing the "oh no the fire" screenshot or adding the well placed "insert branding" advertorial phrase. So here it is fuss free and in no discernible order, Temasek's Random thoughts:

- Elizabeth, your water is really cold and made my teeth ache!
- I may have a clot or worse ... arthritis!!!
- still no sign of my CD player, but amazon blessed me with a few choice items in the mail ... including the Suede classic "Dog Man Star" which has this slice of brilliance

- isn't my cat pretty in blue?

- finally made it to the Dancing Dog Cafe in Footscray - they do poetry slams ... hhmm.

- why are album covers full of sessy times these days ... I'm not really complaining

- and in the "taking it too far" corner, the resurgence (FAIL!) of the cassette tape:

- and finally, have been enjoying the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD on which a story is told about the progressive Dutch group Focus' first appearance on UK TV. Apparently there was so much interest in the group after the episode was aired that the record company had to clear the decks at the record pressing plant and focus all attention on pressing the Focus LP in order to meet demand ... you be the judge ... starts off reasonably well and then the organist (alarm bell #1) looking like something out of tickle penny corner on Cold Comfort Farm (alarm bell #2) starts moaning in full on castrated counter tenor (alarm bell # 3) and ... wait for it ... starts Yodelling!!! (biggest alarm bell of the lot!!!).