scenes from a korean restaurant

Myself and a crew of friends went out saturday night to Woo Ga Korean BBQ on Victoria Street in Melbourne. Jebus, I have been to this restaurant so many times.. gotta think of a new place!! First Roo and I bought a bottle of red down the road.... based solely on the name:

take a closer look:

Haha how childish right?? what ev. Here are a few shots from the night:

That is James enjoying the yummy tofu! Also this photo isnt from last night but James does this superman thing, see:

pretty funny. Oh and here are Josh and Travis drinking Whiskey (and beer and cocktails) at Prudence bar on Victoria St. Hadn't been there before but it was really nice!

it was nice until i got a full glass of red wine spilled on my lap. that was wet and uncomfortable and my stockings were covered in red run marks from my thighs to my ankles. Looked suss as.

And that was yet another example of funny graffiti. On Monday I ended up at Josh's place again, this time to offer my help cleaning up his courtyard. As we got out of the car I realised I was being watched. By this cat...

it was so friendly and wanted to be petted for hours but we had to go inside and it tried to come in as well :O Then as we were weeding and toiling the soil for Josh's vegie patch we saw this creepy creepy bug thing running around:

it was like part cockroach, cricket, butchy boy, slug, and winged devil bug. It was so creepy and i was chasing it around trying to get a good pic but it was running so fast and was leaving a trail of black goo (probably shit) behind it. Josh said he wanted it gone, and he brought down his boot of fury and sent it back to hell. It was pretty gross.

a book affair

ello! I went to "Book Affair" on the weekend - the Sydney Rd Brunswick one. I have fond memories of going to the old one on Elgin Street in Carlton, my oh my yes. I used to go in there with Josh back in the day and play with the pet cats they had. I think it was perhaps this store that stirred up the thoughts of opening a bookstore in Josh. That and Black Books. And every other bookstore ever. BUT anyway they are super cool and have a billion billion books, and here are a few pictures of some of those books...

There you go, hope you like them! There is nothing so overwhelming as standing in the upstairs room of a crowded bookstore and looking at the floor to ceiling books and thinking about each one seperately. Like, each of these books could be a 'life's work' or a major achievement in someone's life. I heard all the voices and pens scratching and frustrated sighs and saw the moment if inspriation light up someone's eye - which I myself have felt - like a lightbulb being turned on. Crazy days!

flotsamjetsumevileye

ahemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

i am just so ready to go home. Not. Even. Joking. You know, ever since i mentioned that thing about the leather gloves i keep seeing them more and more!! I saw a creepy tall thin dude with leather gloves walking infront of me and while i was scrambling for my camera he used his super long legs to jetison himself to 4 blocks away from me before I could even locate the camera in my messy messy bag. Ah well. It's frekinzie me outtt!

So, I have been learning Serbian words at work. Of course I already knew the swear words since primary school, I mean... C'mon! But I have been learning the silliest things I can manage and asking Dragana at work questions while she works. She finds it funny! I learnt how to say "Hey, Friend! I missed you so much!" and i told her that would be my greeting for her every day, haha. What she doesn't know is that I am serious. Deadly serious. BOOM BOOM BOOMBOOM! Ugh am i in a weird mood today...

Another thing I was supposed to report on is my crush status on who I affectionately refer to as "My Wheelchair Sweetie"... who you may know as 'Arty' from Glee. Look back 2 posts to "crush on wheels". So Glee was on last night and I tuned in to see how in love i really was. Unfortunately his face was painted with KISS makeup most of the time and the one time he spoke he sounded like Kermit the Frog *frown* crush fading.... I mean, KISS make-up is cool... but I reckon I looked better that time I painted my face as Gene Simmons. I wish I had a photo of that. I only took a picture on my old phone haha. To re-kindle the crush I should look up some of his boy band videos on You Tube and giggle away to myself.

Anyway, Dragana reckons that I'm better suited to Jackson Rathbone (who i found out is actually named Monroe Jackson Rathbone V) in the way of impossible crushes. I told her about this weird daydream I had about Rathbone the other night. It wasn't even sexy, it was boring and confusing. In this daydream I was in New York at a coffee shop and he was standing in line in front of me and i invited him to have coffee with me and he accepted, and i was all nervous and hoped that it came across as endearing. Wow, how.....awesome. Maybe once i fell asleep things slutted up but i don't remember. What is my imagination coming to when that is what i daydream about. fuck.

What I should be daydreaming about is the holiday josh is taking me on for my birthday :D We are leaving in 8 days going to Nagambie to his dad's cabin my the river, and will stay for 5 nights and chill the fuck out. He will be finished all his uni stuff for this semester and I just want a break from work etc. We get back on the Thursday and I already have Friday off work as an RDO and then on the weekend will be my birthday partyyyy! (which I haven't planned at all.....) It is going to be amazing! Hopefully my new car will be ready in 8 days... but somehow i really doubt it. I didnt notice how bad the hail damage is, i'm going to have to get that fixed but i'm scared about how much it will be :O

So then my birthday is on the 30th June and as a celebration, I'm going to invite everyone I know over to watch the video of my birth!! AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Well maybe not...

Ok i need a can of coke cos im about to melt into a puddle or something. need.....couch and....blankettt...and deadwood.... *gurgle*

izakaya hachibeh melbourne

Hello dear readers, hello dear friends! I have been super slack on posting this as these pics were taken last FRIDAY! almost 1 whole week ago. EEP! Nevertheless, let me take you on a culinary journey to Japan...again. If you love Japanese Cuisine as much as I, then we will get along and I don't have to teach you some respect using my fisticuffs. Last Friday my friend Travis wanted to go out for Japanese, but the place we went last time (Yu-u) was booked out so it became time to source out a new unfarmiliar place to eat. I did a little research during the day and stumbled across this place which sounded fun: Izakaya Hachibeh (on Bourke St). Izakaya is like pub/snack food in Japan, so here they market it as Japanese Tapas Bar. The menu I saw online had over 100 different food items, not to mention pages of Sake menus all in Japanese. I knew from then on that this place would be cool. So we went. And here is how the night played out..

Upon walking into the restaurant we were greeted with "IRASSHAIMASEEEE!" which i haven't heard since I was in Japan. It's the greeting shopkeepers bellow when you enter their establishment. I was absolutely tickled pink. I quickly realised that everyone working there was actually Japanese, so then I was doing the whole "Oh my god, I want to make friends with that guy, oh my god that guy looks like a DRAGON!!!!" thing. You know. I was almost too distracted to even look at the menu.

We started out with some $8 Kirin Ichiban (#1) Beers, which came with awesome Japanese ceramic cups. My growling stomach finally forced me to sit still and focus my eyes on the menu:


It took us a while to realise that the menu was Japanese style in its backwardness, ie. you start reading from the last page and work backwards. We opened the menu normally and were blown away by the 8 pages of alcoholic drinks pages, then we came to dessert, then to main... then I realised and we all flipped to the last page (first page). The menu was cool, It had food in groups like "hot small dishes", "cold small dishes", "fried small dishes" and "raw food" etc etc. It also listed each item in English and Japanese :D I was having fun reading it out.


It took us soooo long to decide what to have. Everyone changed their minds at least 5 times, it was great! One minute it was like "Ok, I'm getting a stuffed eggplant and maybe gyoza. No wait... I'll get some YAKITORI... and gyoza, and...okonomiyaki too? Too much? hmmm....". Classic! In the end we got a lot of small dishes (no sushi though) and pretty much shared it all around...

Takoyaki - pan fried octopus balls. Like, batter balls with a bit of tentacle in the middle :P Really yummy from here!!

Okonomiyaki - Wasn't the best but still nice. I seriously will die if I don't find a place that does Hiroshima style...

Roo got this Pork/rice dish and he loooved the pickled ginger. I must admit I piled that stuff on everything in Japan, it's on every table like a condiment.

Potato Croquettes. They weren't as awesome as I thought they would be, but nice.

Yakitori!! Chicken in a sort of teriyaki flavour marinade grilled to perfection

Gyoza - ok if you've never had gyoza... just get out. just leave. Nah these are great. One of my favourite snacks :) The filling was green!! I think perhaps they had blended spinach added to the mix...?

Tori Karaage - Japanese style fried chicken. Reallllly nice. Not as nice as at Tomodachi or Ajisen Ramen though. They were unreal!! Especially cos Tomodachi gives you this mustard mayo :D

Ebi Dumplings. (Prawn dumplings). These I thought would be pork and prawn, but they were pure seafood so Trav and I didn't dig them as much as we hoped.

Stevenz giving me the shifty eye. I was trying to capture the cool bar

Stevenzzz enjoying his ceramic cup

Oh yes, dessert!! We were so full so we shared! Trav picked this Black Sesame Ice Cream. It was fucking delicious. I want to get a tub for home :D

And Roo and I picked this Japanese pancake with red bean filling, and vanilla ice cream. Also amazing. One of my favourite sweets in Japppp

As we left I waved to the chef and said "Gochi so sama deshita!" which is like a thankyou to the chef for the delicious meal and he looked like he took a bullet - he did not expect that from me! And he was shouting out stuff in Japanese, with a big grin on his face, which I didn't catch but I felt chuffed anyway :) Outside I convinced Roo and stevenz to take a "get rad" pic out the front where we are getting rad in mid air. Here is the first failed attempt. I was looking for all the coins that flew out of my pocket as i jumped, and the boys got embarrassed and started to walk off...

Then we noticed we had attracted the attention of people inside the restaurant who wanted in a photo:

And we tried it again but Natalie was too quick with the button this time! We are all about to spring! And that lady is posing too but the flash blurs her face, haha

So with about 4 failed "get rad" pics we moved on to my friend Seona's birthday drinks at Bridie O'Reilly's Irish Pub. I was seriously on a high. Stevenz rally likes glo mesh by the way:

And I tried my first Guiness ever. I pushed aside my childhood fear of it from the one time i took a sip and concluded it tasted like liquidised burnt toast. I actually liked it, but after 1 pot I was so full i wanted to sleep it off.

Oh man, I was so sick. I had a cold and soon after drinking this beer I was ready to go home to bed! I thought I'd have another to be socialll but my friend brought me back a PINT of guiness, and I only got down about 3 or 4 fingers in the end. I seriously felt like i had just eaten another huge dinner..... that guiness is thick man. jeez. Anyway that's not the whole point. The point is that the Japanese restaurant is amazing and cool and cheap and fun! DO TRYYY! (I hope Dilmah Tea company dont sue me for always saying that!!)

crush on wheels

Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul! I Really love that Rock and/or Roll! That, ladies and gentlemen, is a sample of Meatloaf's characterisation of "Eddie" in the Rocky Horror Picture Show mixed with a bit of Reverend Lovejoy from the Simpsons. I am, make no mistake, a literary DJ.

So anyway, last night as I was still sick so I decided I had to try to make myself feel better otherwise i would wallow in the murky grey depths of my ill depression. ILL as in SICK - not to be mistaken with late 90's african american slang term often preceded by 'yo, that's...' and followed by 'man/dawg', and SICK as in 'physically unwell' - not to be mistaken with popular slang term meaning 'good'. Surely no alternate meaning can be taken from that one.

So anyway, one weird thing with my cold is that I am super-human hungry, like upending a school bus and shaking the children loose into my slobbering maw hungry. But seriously, if i don't eat regularly i start shaking and find it hard to even walk. Weird. Plus there is ACTUAL grumbly in my tumbly. Winne the Pooh was RIGHT, god damn it!!! The clever son'bitch. I seriously can't remember the last time my stomach growled and squeaked and gurgled.... it would certainly have been after a considerable amount of time between meals - not like yesterday when it was maybe 3 hours after my last meal. I'm starting to think there may be an alien inside of me syphoning all of my energy and nutrients. Maybe it's a teratoma hidden somewhere in my body, who knows. But I did just read an article on teratomas on Monday and I do tend to relate everything i read to some component of my own life, so I am pretty sure I am just imagining things. Pretty sure...

What the fuck am I talking about!? No more tumor talk, I am telling you about my evening. So due to my need to feed i defrosted some pasta sauce i had made last week (yay - go me!) and had a hearty bowl of vegie pasta while I watched THREE, count 'em, THREE episodes of Spongebob SQUAREPANNNTTTSS! That always makes me happy!

After that, I watched some cooking shows (Food Safari and Master Chef) but whilst flicking around on the ad break I stumbled across Glee. It has been on for ages and I have never watched it. I suddenly realised that the sweet wheelchair guy on glee was cute. I found myself sitting up on the couch (i was previously laying down with a pillow and blanket) smiling. I think it's that slight nerdy emo look...the glasses, cardigans and side-swept fringe. He reminds me of a waaay hotter version of Howard from the Big Bang Theory.





Haha, that's him as his Glee character Arty. So watching TV, I suddenly had this daydream play in my head of befriending him and helping to re-build his self esteem while slowly developing an unlikely crush on him and then seducing him and doing a strip tease for him and end up giving him the night of his life in that very chair. After that, we'd be officially a couple and I'd spend my days fighting off criticism and strange looks, and I'd cook so much food for him that he would become obese and then there would be some sort of Dr. Phil style show filming us because I am suddenly classified as a "feeder" and am ruining his chances of ever walking again, or of not developing diabetes. Well most of that I made up right then, but you get the picture. The actor is not disabled - in fact he is a fantastic dancer! He has this slightly too high tooth to face ratio that I like, as below:

well Tim's (Rise Against) teeth are under control there, but I get the vibe still. Speaking of which, Tim still hasn't made it to my wall at work. oops, sorry Tim :P

Anyway I found out that "Kevin McHale" used to be in a 4 piece RnB boyband called "NLT" haha.. they look... awesome...

Did you know!....That because of his passion for dance, he finds it quite difficult to keep his legs still in the chair while singing on Glee. There you go. I am still deciding if he will make it to my wall of boys at work. I don't want to be too hasty - it has only been a 12 hour crush...what is this, Primary School? I might watch an episode next week and see how i feel. Hmm, I dunno...he was in a boy band afterall! Below is my wall at work. As you can see I have all the boys who make me happy to think about/watch/listen to. Spongebob, Josh, The Mars Volta, R-Pattz, Jackson Rathbone, and Chester. There are many more but I can't spend too long changing up my desk cos questions get asked. I have a few pics in the waiting bay, don't you worry :) This wall keeps the other girls at work entertained too!

Anyway, I was running a bath while Glee was on because I thought the soak would help soothe and relax my poor sick body and clear my sinuses (I had to wait until Glee was finished before I went in though because i was strangely hooked to see the outcome). So I have this habit where I put on some old music while i lay in the bath with candles lit and just relax. First it was Billy Holiday, then Ella Fitzgerald, then Roy Orbison and last night Frank Sinatra. The funny thing is, each time I am in the dark bathroom with that nice music wafting in from my adjoining bedroom I always think of some epic movie suicide scene juxtaposed with sweet and happy songs. It sort of freaks me out a little bit, but mostly i just giggle at the images my overactive imagination throws at me. Like one night Hayden and Maki will wonder why Frank Sinatra has been looping for 4 hours and I'm not answering them when they knock on the bathroom door, and they won't want to open it because they realise i'm probably naked and they don't want to embarrass me or themselves. Ok enough of that. I'll never be able to listen to old music in the bath again. Shit. Any better suggestions?

Do you want to know something else that freaks me out? Leather Gloves. Everytime I see someone in the city with leather gloves I immediately picture that person strangling someone. I get this American Psycho/Christopher Walken in Batman Forever vibe from them and seriously I steer clear. You'll see what I mean. You'll see.

Anyway after last night, I feel better. I still am sick, and peeps at work are still razzin' me about it. They are all claiming that they are suddenly sick because of me. I can tell the difference between a fake and a real cough... i can tell. The best news is that my tastebuds are back and I am going to enjoy my dinner tonight SOOOOOO much, and hopefully have a great weekend full of smelling and tasting lots of different things! can't wait!!

muckin' about & VEGAN MABO DOUFU

Heyyy Brotherrr(z)! After my last post, I bet you thought I would have chained myself to the VCR and watched all of my home movies right? Wrong. I have only watched a few bits more. It's hard cos I'll only watch them alone or with a family member - I don't want to subject my housemates to that haha! I did see a Christmas tape from 1988 so i was 1.5yrs old and was so fat and placid. All i wanted was the chocolate. I was happy to share any of my toys with my hyperactive older brother, and I wasn't really interested in opening any presents. Just wanted that sweet sweet Freddo Frog. T'was rather cute though. Instead of that I have been just hanging out and cooking! I haven't really taken many pics cos i suck BUT let me tell you that adding mustard to curry is AMAZING! Here is a photo I took on the weekend when i couldn't stop singing that Italian song that sounds all dancey...i think its called "we speak no americano"... crazy

It is a moth on the roof. Not sure how its wings are stuck and its whole body is hanging down. Oh also, I bought a car on the weekend to replace my beloved EBI which was stolen from me about a month or so ago. It is hail damaged so i got it for cheap, see:

There were these crazy storms in Melbourne a few months back and all these cars got SMASHED! So I picked up this 2003 Nissan Pulsar for a total of $6,000 with all the warranties/RWC/VIV/Rego etc etc. Pretty sweeet! I just spoke to the VIV office again and they said it could be another 2 weeks before they can inspect the car and say "no, its not stolen." UGGHHHH!! Patience jade, patience.. soon enough you will have your awesome replacement MANUAL GOLD CAR! YAY! Sorry if that sounded crazy talking to myself there...

Oh also, My mum bought her puppy a little pet house but the puppy is too big, so mum thought Chester might like it. See for yourself:

I think he likes it to a degree :) He can barely fit in it though. But cats like those confined spaces don't they?

Ok well I know I said that I didn't take pictures of the meals i have been making, but last night I did! Even though I have a cold and my taste function is pretty much dead, I cooked a dish that I have been thinking about for a while! It is called Mabo Doufu. It's a chinese dish involving Silken Tofu and ground beef. It's popular in Japan and I had it there a few years ago as part of a delicious Lunch Set. On a whim on Monday I bought 2 tubs of silken tofu from the Asian Grocery at 99c each, then I had to think what to cook. That's when I remembered this delectable dish! I found a vegan version online and changed it to suit my tastes, and even though I couldn't taste it, I know it was FABULOUS (sorry, just practising for Sex and the City 2)! Josh and Hayden both raved about it, so I'm pretty sure this recipe won't kill you.

~

VEGAN MABO DOUFU

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1 Tub silken tofu

1 Tin Sanitarium Vegie Casserole Mince (see picture below)

3 Tbsp Sesame Oil

1 chili pepper, minced. (or chilli powder to your liking)

1 small onion, minced

3 Button mushrooms

1/2 leek, minced (white part)

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 Tbsp ginger, minced

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce + 1tsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Cornflour + 1/2 Cup water

(Optional: Miso Paste - i forgot to add this - SHITFUCKSHIT)

Spring Onion for garnish

1) Very gently wrap the silken tofu block in a tea towel and place on a plate to soak up liquid.

2) Heat the oil and add Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Leek, Mushrooms and chili. Fry until onions are soft

3) Cut the tofu into 1cm squares. Be gentle as you want little cubes in the finished dish.

4) Add the vegie casserole mince and stir to combine.

5) Add Soy/sugar mixture and stir.

6) VERY GENTLY add the tofu. Lightly push everything around to mix. Try to be careful not to break the tofu

7) Cover and cook on a low heat for about 10 mins.

8) Add the cornflour/water mixture. Gently stir, you will see it thicken immediately!

9) Taste and add extra flavours if you wish. I added pepper and some vegie oyster sauce.

Here is how I served it:

I used the Rice Cooker to cook the rice, and when it was done i used a 1 cup measuring cup and packed it tightly with Rice, and then tipped onto a plate. It was actually a bit much for me, but a 1/2 cup looks too small :P I also stir-fried some asian greens along with it. So it was pretty healthy and easy and delicious (i think). Do try!