the first mushroom harvested

Josh picked the mushroom on Tuesday night and i made a delicious mushroom risotto using it! I used button mushrooms mostly, but i sliced and grilled this baby on my grill pan then put some lemon juice and parsley on it, then had it on top as a garnish...

can't wait for more mushrooms... So far there are none, and it is Thursday lunch-time... so... linen cupboards - are they always messy? cos mine looks messy. i dont know. i dont care. i want to go out for a walk.

growin' me own mushrooms

well well well, here i have proof of $20 well spent by me, because i am a crafty consumer! I bought a Mushroom Farm from Bunnings what seems like forever ago, and followed the instructions to grow your own mushrooms. As some weeks we spend $5 - 10 on mushrooms alone, i thought this could be a good investment - and you only pick them when you need them. No chucking out grey shrivelled mushies at the week's end!

Here is the delightful lid to the farm. I endeavour to grown an actual mushroom house, because either i would live happily ever after in it, or the deadly spores like on nausicaa of the valley of the wind would make me bleed out of all my orifices and die - but as it is an anime death it wouldnt hurt and i imagine i would float gently into the afterlife. maybe.

all you have to do is spray it with some water mist every now and then. I saw no results for prrroobably 2 months or something, and I was convinced it was yet another living thing i had killed due to negligence. At least thats what my case would be in the courts - as always i will plead insanity. THEN on Saturday morning i put some towels into the linen cupboard and looked down at the "farm" on the bottom shelf and thought i would give it yet another pathetic spray as though i were trying to give CPR to a zombie while wondering "does this meat smell off to you?" in the back of my mind. Anyway i opened the lid and shreeked MUSHROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to which josh came over to see. Here is my mushie bebby on Saturday morning:

and on Sunday afternoon:

i think it's time to feast on that massive juicy organic linen cupboard grown wonder. i hope they dont get to a certain point and then start to shrivel! it may already be too late for him! oh god, oh crap, oh no! nah she'll be right mate. I heard somewhere that these mushroom farms yield more mushrooms than you can handle sooooo i guess i'll be the judge of that and let you know!

see didge paint

This is Didge. Full name Richard Something Glaubitz, i could try to guess a middle name because i am sure we have discussed it before... It's his dad's name or Grandpa's name... Johanness...? Johan...? fuck! His other aliases are: Han Solo, Digimon, Ridgy Didge.. i can't think of any more right now... But he looks like Han Solo.

Didge likes to paint...

What does that look like to you? Josh saw this canvas leaning against a wall in a dark empty room at didge's house and was all "oh man, what an awesome BEAR!" and didge was like "uh...yeah a bear... that's what it is..." and eventually after Josh talked about this bear painting for 2 months, Didge said he would love for Josh to have it to keep! Such a nice gesture!! Good work Didge! So now it hangs in our loungeroom for all to admire - and oh how they admire it. So anyway, didge confessed months later that it is actually a Lion but he didn't have the heart to tell Josh. hehe. So now people make up their own minds :) Can you see the creepy skull face?

So as my dad is turning 50 in 2 days time, i was trying to think of something i could get him for his newly painted house that didn't cost much and was sentimental. Well I had the idea of collaborating with Didgimon to make a painting for dear old daddy-o. Then i had to think about subject matter... What on earth could i paint that would impress my dad, the not-so art aficionado. Then i realised there was something nay, someone who my dad loves unconditionally and to a level that would promt him to tattoo his flesh in a sign of adoration. No... it is nobody he knows. It is Billy Joel. The Piano Man, if you will.

My dad has loved Billy Joel since forever, and even got "Second Wind" tattooed in nice cursive writing on his forearm. This was his "i'm divorced now, and possibly having a mini mid-life crisis" stage. So i knew it HAD to be Billy Joel in the painting. I chose the picture above as it is very shadowy. Didge was excited to help me out!

See didge paint:

See me and josh paint:

See the finished product:

man, i hope my dad doesn't read my blog otherwise on Friday he will tooootally have to fake surprise and i don't know if he can do that. But i'm pretty confident he will not see this. We are nervous to see his reaction because if he doesn't recognise it is Bill yJoel he will be like "uh...great. a picture of a middle aged man....what i've always wanted..." and then we will have to explain what it's meant to be. Does it look Billy Joel-ish????????????? AH!

On the hunt for bento boxes (take 2: with a vengeance)

yoyoyo wassup wassup give up the rock!! So i remembered a little Korean gift store near the Target on Bourke Street and thought I might find bento boxes there. AND BOY DID I EVER! It is called "artbox" and is in the little arcade that Target is in. They had lots of ones - mainly Pooh bear and Hello Kitty but there were a few others.

This one was supa cool, it was a 1 level multi compartment lunchbox complete with a little carry bag. AND only $15! Bargain! (Available in pink or blue)

This one below is the same as i found the first time, BUT it is a bit cheaper. $22.35. I think it is really cute and i am totally considering buying one. But atm all my money is tied up in the purchase of my first home so i might wait a few weeks to splurge otherwise i will have post-purchase depression and try to drown my purchases or something.

oh and these ones were under lock and key. The set of 3 Japanese fancy tupperware things were...guess how much: $135. fuuuuuck that! and behind it is a fancy 3 tiered lunchbox with a carry handle and chopsticks. i couldn't see the price but i'm guessing it would be in the hundreds :P

So if you want to buy an asian lunchbox to make delicious lunches like THEEEESE head to Artbox! It is near Target on Bourke Street, just past the corner of Swanston Street. WWOOO

the return of cornflake

hopefully you all remember Cornflake - the friendly neighbourhood cat who came into my back yard a few weeks ago...? WELL! On Saturday morning... Cornflake returned.

There i was washing dishes at the sink, lost in thought, when i heard "brrrrr" (a cat noise) and saw an orange blur whizz past me. Chester had wandered out the back and soon Cornflake came to play, then both the ranga boys came bolting inside chasing one another if that is even possible - wouldn't they be running in a circle....? whatever i don't know. Anyway so this is Cornflake being obsessed with Chester and stalking him and trying to attack him:

And below is Chester asserting his dominant self, reclaiming his territory from the evil little cereal stalker. Cereal....cornflake.... get it? heh. Basically Cornflake and Chester took turns of sneaking up on each other and tackling, Chester got him reeeally good here:

Then i got sick of the fighting so i kicked Cornflake out and now he is banned. He sat at the back door for about 2 hours staring in at Chester. It started to get a little freaky.

Oh and then on Saturday night we were going to the Astor Theatre to see a double feature Anime movie session (Ponyo and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) and we got stuck in traffic for ages heading to the city. And this was in front of us:

"WTFOMGLOL" says it all...

g-rad

well, i finally graduated! i finished studying (after 4 years) in November 2008, but now i finally can prove that i spent 4 years of my life working on this.

it was pretty funny. like 90% of the graduates were Asian, and their families were there all MEGA excited. They had gifts and floral bouquets and stuff draped over them, and when all the graduates had to stand their failies would be jumping up and down on the spot waving furiously at them with one hand, and a video camera in the other hand. my family were like "meh" and my mum even asked me when it was over "so you did a Bachelor...of Business...??" meaning she didn't really know what i have been up to for the last 4 years of my life. haha. oh i made myself feel bad.

also we didn't get to throw our hats into the sky. that only happens in movies. instead i got told 3 times to return my robe and hat and sign out by a certain time, and even when i was on my way there a lady grabbed me and was like "you have to hand in your robe, you know??" uh YES I KNOW! Props for being thorough though. I guess they missed the girl in the carpark posing by a rose bush then...? anyway hats in the air is too disorganised for a ceremony like that. They would lose so much revenue in stolen hats. It would be like a scramble for the bridal bouquet but less sexy.

On the hunt for bento boxes (take 1)

Ok, so to brighten up my mood i went for a walk in the city, with the aim in mind to find a Bento Box. I couldn't wander aimlessly because I would not find anything, SO i had to think.... if i was looking for an asian lunch box... where would i go? Google search was no help - all i found were forums where Melbournians were discussing how hard it is to find cute Bento Boxes. So i thought Chinatown might be a good bet. I wandered down there in the cold/wind/rain as i remembered seeing an asian nicknack shop / newsagent a while ago.

It was 208 Little bourke street (on the corner of Little Bourke and Celestial Avenue). I couldn't really work out the name... it may have been Yan Fur or maybe Ha Ha, there were lots of words. Fun Fact: the building is historic as Google tells me.

Anyway the shop was big, and filled with lots of asian girls and heaps of KAWAII STUFFFFF, so you know you are on the right track. I found only one lunch box for $28.00:


It is pretty awesome. I also saw this other cool stuff.....

Mario Slippers ($29.50 a pair)

Doraemon fold-up chopsticks to take to school/work for eating a delicious bento lunch. ($8.50)

Mario Toys!!!

I love things that have my name in it. Near my house there is a Chinese restaurant called "Jade Stream" which is lol-worthy everytime i go past it.

This is a note tomyself that i have to go and eat at that Japanese Restaurant. mmmmmm

This restaurant was called Post Mao cafe. There is another nearby called Post-Deng cafe. I think i get it without having to be totally educated in history, eeeeeeeee. the picture below is kinda blurry but it said "Mao PLEASE!" which is what Asian gangsters could say. "grrrrrrl please"

Well that was a refreshing little walk! The next post will prob be about how BOOORING my graduation ceremony will be from uni. I finished at the end of last year but didnt realise i had to "apply to graduate" so i missed out on the first round of graduations.. oh well. i will be all by mysellllfffffff

goodbye jasmine :(

Remember I said that my family were talking about putting my dog to sleep? Well it happened. On Monday night my mum called me when i was on the train on the way home and said "Call me back...." when she found out i was in public so I knew that could mean nothing good was to come. Then my little brother called me a few minutes later and told me that the decision had been reached to have her put to sleep the following morning. Have you ever tried to hold back tears on a crowded train? It is very uncomfortable I can tell you that. Please indulge me and let me pay homage to my good friend jasmine who was part of my family for 14 years. If i had a diary i would write this in there but a blog is the next best thing.

(This photo was from when we lived in Williamstown - soooo 1998. I found it at my dad's place)


We got her from Pets Paradise all those years ago (i think in 1995 - 1996), and she soon became a breeding dog for pure breed Cocker Spaniel puppies. I lost count of how many litters she had, maybe like 6..? That was always an exciting time when she was due to give birth and we would all watch and wait. I remember one year she gave birth overnight when we were all asleep. My dad came into my room to wake me up by putting a puppies nose in my ear and it was the cutest sound to wake up to. Do you know that puppy smell, and those little puppy breaths? I hope you do because they are something i will never forget.

They were also disgusting times and sad times, like when the puppies would shit and piss all over the ground outside and you had to walk around the land mines. Or when they would roll in it, then come up to you for a cuddle. Or when Jasmine would eat each placenta as each puppy was born, or when she would eat fresh puppy poo off the ground. Talk about losing your appetite! I remember one time one of her puppies was born with a twisted bowel and it was vomitting its own poo. That was tragic. Jasmine didn't want anything to do with it because it was "defective" so we took turns of looking after it and trying to feed it but it didn't get better and died. That was just awful as a kid, or at any age.

When i first found Chester and brought him home, Jasmine had just delivered a litter of puppies and she wanted to rip Chester's face off. Poor Chester didn't know what was going on, but they soon became friends and only when Jasmine was "hormonal" did she chase him up the fence or try to tackle him. Poor chester :P

Every Christmas we would put her reindeer ears on and she would run inside and bounce all over the place crushing our presents and roll in the wrapping paper.

If we ever said "go for walk!" or "go in the car?" or "where's the puss puss?" she would go nuts, and if we ever jingled her lead she would start howling because she loved to go for walks so much! Now that i think of it, i hadn't heard her bark or howl in years.

In this picture we lived at a house which backed onto a train line. One day the gate blew open and Jasmine walked out onto the tracks to sniff around. She was never afraid of cars or traffic which you would think would be some sort of instinct in a dog right?? Not my Jazzy. Anyway this train came hurtling along and saw her on the tracks, and screeched on the brakes and started to blow its big horn. It frightens me when i hear it up close, but she was all "hey, i'm busy!" so the train sat there until my mum went out to see what the fuss was all about and called her back into the yard.

Also at this house and at my dad's house she could dig and get under the fence into the street, so many many times we would be driving along the street after being out all day and we would find her sitting at the front door waiting to be let back in.

She ran away once when there were fireworks in the sky. This was only about 2 years ago, and we had to collect her from the pound the next day. It was really scary because her legs sometimes gave out and she would fall over. That, coupled with her lack of fear of busy roads, meant that she could have gotten run over.

Well, I could write lots more about her, but I tend to waffle on, so I will leave it here.

I took this photo on Monday night when i went to say my last goodbye to her. It was heartbreaking because despite her old and worn out body, her mind was still that of a puppy. She had no idea that it was the last time i would be cuddling her or patting her, she didn't know what was coming in the morning. I cried so much, and even now i feel like crying again.

She was a good dog, a good friend, and i will always love her.

Goodbye Jasmine xoxo

picnics and pie

ahoy mateys! well i had a coffee this morning (i am trying to cut back / stop drinking it) so i am still buzzin at 2pm! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! When i get home i'll have to sing this to josh: Welcome to my nightmare / i hope i didn't scare you / that's just the way we are / when we come down..

Anyway, i had a lovely weekend! The weather was perfect the whole time!! Friday night Josh's band (Raven VS Crow) had a gig at a local bar, which is about 5 mins from home :) hoorah! Then Saturday morning two lady friends came over and we made orange meringue pie (FAIL) and had a picnic at the park near my place.

Saturday night we had a party at our place, which didn't kick off til late, so we found ourselves watching "Speed" on TV which was raaaadical. I haven't seen that movie in ages. Whatever happened to HOT keanu reeves? He went all pale and weird *shrug* Anyway the party was fun from what i recall, and sunday i spent checking out my dad's new decking, eating fish and chips hung over annnnd buying balloons and streamers for his 50th.

On another sad note, my family dog is getting on in years and it has been decided by my parents to put her to sleep :( This makes me sad, because she is still so young at heart even though she is like 13 or 14 years old, it's just that her legs dont work and she keeps wetting herself etc. Poor Jasmine, i wish she would stay a puppy forever :(

lurking - not for the faint of heart

here is the best lurk that has ever happened to me! It was meant to be a photo of me and corey (the guy next to me) and we didn't even know the other two were behind us. best everrrrr!

here are a few more fantastic lurks....

Here are a few of my personal favourite lurks... where i do the lurking....

And here is my very first lurk!!!!! It still makes me LOL every time i look at my disgusting face. What a witchypoo!

I just love the moment a few seconds after the photo is taken the people go "Ok, show me show me" and then they see you in the background and freak the fuck out. Ah good times. I want to try some more lurking tonight :D wish me lurk! lol i am lamez

takoyaki = takoyummy

This is one of my favourite treats from Japan! They are called "Takoyaki" (Tako= Octopus / Yaki = grilled/cooked)



Basically it is like a yummy savoury batter with a bit of octopus tentacle in the middle, and they are grilled in a special pan like so:


Then you flip them with a skewer and cook the other side so they look like this:


Then you put on that delicious brown sauce (like the one use don okonomiyaki) and some mayo, some seaweed, bonito flakes, and my fave is spring onions - yumm yum yummy!

I would love to make these at home but i really need the pan i think. Plus i can't imagine i would cook them too often heh. I can always go to "Tomodachi" at Melbourne Central for some AMAAAZZINNG Takoyaki. Theirs is the yummiest i have tried (in Melbourne...so far), so if you are keen, i'd go there for it! Plus their prices are pretty good :)

gingerbread many men men

Well today started off stupidly. I struggled to get up, then eventually got ready and drove to the station in the pouring rain. I was about to get out of the car and run to the station with no umbrella when i realised i left my bag at home. my bag. what girl forgets their bag...? anyway i did the whole "fuck fuck fuck" thang, and drove back home to get my precious bag. I then drove BACK to the station in the rain (again i forgot an umbrella) and spent ages looking for a carpark. Then i was briskly walking through the carpark to get the train and this woman in front of me rolled her ankle and fell with a splash into a biiiig puddle. She had an umbrella in her hand and everything, she just went doooown. I tried to help her but she was so embarrassed and saturated that she kind of brushed me off. then i saw another lady with a huuuge run in her black stockings. it's just "one of those days" for everyone i guess.

i had yesterday off work and just moped around home and got so bored and restless so i cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. oh and i also made this:



it looks kind of like a crazy eyeball, but it's actually food dye on icing! It spreads in this crazy pattern, it's so cool to watch! I made the icing to go on GINERBREAD MENNNN!!!! This one was my favourite:

This one got bustedz in the oven so i stitched him up. also i didnt have a piping bag and got sick of making ones out of baking paper so i ended up using a teaspoon and it was kind of a wonky result.

This next one was meant to be an old man, and i thought Josh would find it really cute when he got home. Instead he looked horrified and thinks i meant it to look as though the gingie man has just taken a load of spunk in the face. true, the white icing does look rather semen-ish... but i would never create a gingerbread man with desinger sperm on his face. i was merely trying to hide the fact that he had a broken neck! I swear!

This next one was meant to be a smile, but i was too heavy handed and it looks like "the scream" by van gogh. oh well. i tried!

first time for everything

today is the first time i have finished a game of solitaire that deals the 3 cards at once. i always get frustrated after 1 or 2 failed attempts and quit. Not today my friend. not today.

100thpostextravaganza

hello dear friends! This is my 100th post on subarashiiblog, hoorraaahhh!! I have been holding off posting for a few days because i was trying to think of something awesome to post in commemoration.... but obviously my mind grapes are not juicy enough so i will just post the usual nonsense that is an insight into my nonsensical existence. obviously if you are reading this, you enjoy my nonsense so we cool man, we cool.

On saturday i took part in a 15km charity walk with the "ampersand foundation" around the Botanic Gardens / along the Yarra. Our team "Stranger Danger" raised somewhere around $300 - $350 for our chosen charity so I felt a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment. About 15 minutes into our 3 hour walk I saw this:

it was like a graveyard of fallen dummies and baby shoes. I don't need to tell you that it was fucking creepy and weird. Or do i? well, IT. WAS. FUCKING. CREEPY. AND. WEIRD. It was along Alexandra Avenue on the fence to the Botanic Gardens. I don't really see the point in this though. For one thing, if i see a dummy or a sock on the ground I'm not going to touch it, and i dont know why people would. Secondly, it's not as though some person will be strolling along here with their wee baby in the pram, and stop abruptly and go "oh... my... god! That's little jimmy's favourite dummy that he lost a month ago. Thank god i found it! All of the other dummies never seemed to pacify him like that one did. *pluck* here little jimmy, put this crusty urine covered thing in your mouth, mmm good huh?". 3 days later little jimmy dies, and his mother learns a good lesson. Maybe it is a shrine to little jimmy? who the fuck knows? maybe its a public art installation that cost the government 3 million dollars... that would not surprise me.

anyway i pretty much slept the rest of saturday because i was so tired from the walk and the nice sunshine made me extra sleepy. laaazy. i did eventually wake up to make some veggie stew and watch jumanji (awesommmeee flashbacks to childhood) and visit some firends, so it wasnt too much of a wasted saturday night. anyway on sunday i was hanging out the washing, and chester was with me doing his usual cute things:

suddenly i felt an eerie feeling like i was being watched. I spun around to see a strange cat sitting a few metres away watching chester and i. I thought for sure it would run as soon as it realised it was in the wrong back yard, and that there was a big scary person right there. I like to think all cats will love me, so i squatted down and did the whole "here puss puss..." to try my luck, and to my surprise the little fella came over and started rubbing his face on my hand! He didn't seem worried at all and he and chester were being very civilised with each other. I ran to get my camera and here is how i spent like half an hour... following two ginger cats on their backyard adventure... (insannneeee)

They have the same tail!

Eventually they came inside and were just following each other around for ages. Josh came home and joined me in my fascinating viewing of this strange cate phenomenon. He thought the cat looked like cornflakes and milk (probably because he was eating that at the time) so we named the strange cat "Cornflake". They started to tackle each other so i kicked them out and they just kept walking around for a few more hours until we left. I hope I see cornflake again, he was pretty cuuuuute :)