Adelaide, my old friend!

Adelaide is a little bit like our cousin to the west who we visit sometimes. They are cool to visit for short periods of time, and you have some amazing times, but sometimes you notice they don't have things at their place that you really enjoy and take for granted back home. It's not until you're hung over and hungry on a Sunday morning in Adelaide that you realise how much you love going out for breakfast in the city. Hell, back home you did it all the... well... maybe twice a year if the mood strikes. After you've passed your fourth "Closed" sign on a cafe door... you start to feel that "I wan't my muuu-uum!" tantrum rising up inside you, like it did on Day 1 of school. Year 7 was daunting, what can I say? If you know how to have fun, or know a local who does... then Adelaide is actually a great little getaway. You still have most of the city comforts (unless skyscrapers are your 'thing') but with the added bonus of less people, less traffic, less noise and lots of unspoilt natural views.

Luckily for me, I know how to have fun, and so does my cousin Bec who lives in Adelaide. For those of you who haven't followed this blog for long, I should point out that this latest Adelaide Adventure is just one of my countless trips to the S of A. I haven't really gone THAT many times but I have already lost count which must say something. On second thought, I think all it really says is that I'm not very good at counting to 10...

I realised that it had been about a year since my last visit, which Bec and I both agreed was far too long. I also realised with horror that I had been away for so long that I didn't know 2 of her new housemates and had to make new friends and good impressions!! (Just like Peter Pan *sob*) I have a feeling that Bec might talk me up to her friends privately, so I felt a definate need to perform for these 2 new housemates and prove that our family aren't all a bunch of liars.

This time around I chose to fly as I didn't fancy an eight hour solo car trip. Either I would have picked up a serious caffeine addiction, fallen asleep at the wheel, wrapped my car around the giant Koala's left nut, or worse... run out of This American Life podcasts to listen to on the way back home, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Anyway, I had some reading to do, and I'm not very good at reading and driving. Just kidding, mum and dad! So, reliable old Dad dropped me at Avalon Airport and I was quite amazed to see some of the improvements inside since my last visit. There was even a 10-minute massage lady there who I never worked up the courage to approach. I thought about asking her to work on my right shoulder where some absent-minded guy had just elbowed me while putting his arm around his girlfriend, not realising that I had been sitting behind him for at least half an hour reading. Well, I should say trying to read... as their conversation and neccessary eavesdropping was so distracting! It took me some time to work out that I wasn't sitting behind John Saffran. I've never heard the word Anti-Semitist used in day to day life before. I guess I must hang out in the wrong circles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing B-ball with Edward Norton in prison or anything, I'm waaaaay far from that scene. I'm usually jealous of anyone with a bit of cultural background - these cats were Jewish-Australian and were talking about the meal, nay BANQUET, they would be eating for dinner in Adelaide. I was trying to work the names of the dishes but I'm not well versed on Jewish cuisine. Sadly, in more ways than one, all I know about Jewish cuisine is learnt from The Nanny or The Big Bang Theory.

Anyway, upon arrival at Bec's place, we started off our weekend (Thursday afternoon) with a drink and some cheese. It seemed like a divine idea at the time!!

It wasn't long until her first foreign-to-me housemate got home from work with an arm-full of tie-dye accessories. Here's what I know about Matt. He's in a band called "Isle of Vision", is really chilled in a hippie surfie way, has big fuzzy brown hair, is funny and loves to tie-dye. Dislikes: being called "Dad" by cheeky girls from Melbourne. I may be missing several key personality points, but what can I say, I'm just a lovable scamp and my pretty pictures can detract from the lack of information. While we tie-dyed we listened to some mood-setting CD's selected by Matt. My favourite was a band called "LOVE".. if they weren't off their chops when they wrote that albumn, then I'm a deep sea cucumber. Here's a tip I'd like to share: The first rule of tie-dye is usually PUT ON GLOVES, so heed the advice. But rules are meant to be broken right? Well we all had blue fingers later that night. Bec and I were heading out to the Garden of Un-Earthly Delights as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival to see some shows. Unfortunately we had already consumed 2 bottles of champagne before leaving her house and, as if by divine intervention, as soon as we stepped off the bus in the city we were handed a "ladies night" coupon for a free vodka. It was a sign. We must get messy. Here is me just after the vodka, showing my blue fingers... and full bosom. I must have been a little tipsy if I'm looking through the viewfinder of a digital camera....

We arrived at the Garden (Rundle Park on East Terrace) and as it was a Thursday night we had room to move and be silly and take pictures.

Do you see what I see?......

Scream Mask, oh yeah! So let's just say we had lots of fun from what we can remember, and the following afternoon after I had finished feeding her front lawn and had re-gained the use of my legs, we went to inspect our tie-dye handy-work! Pretty neat-o huh?

Here is housemate Matt and his band in the Local Paper... They got one of the guys names wrong and it became a house joke :)

It was on this Friday that we heard news of the Tsunami and earthquakes in Japan, and we followed the news story while I tried not to worry too much about Shiho. She is fine, in case you are wondering, but she dropped out of contact for a few weeks! Stress!! Speaking of stress, we came home on Saturday afternoon to find two birds in the kitchen, slamming into walls and furniture in their panic to get out. They throught if they hit the walls hard enough they might penetrate it and end up outside I think. It wasn't until Bec rescued them and set them free (while i stood flat against the furthest wall) that she told me about the last time it happened and pointed out the blood on the roof to prove it. Yucck!

So, Bec's housemate Megan was jealous of our awesome Tie-dye and wanted a turn, so we arranged for another session. Check out the one I made - I'm wearing it... and notice I am wearing gloves too!!

Sadly, it wasn't my t-shirt, I just used one of the housemate's spares to work my magic on. My own results the second time around were not as impressive! I didn't even take pictures... that's really saying something for me :) This is Bec's... I love how much white there is! It reminds me of 90's acid wash or something...

Saturday night I got to visit "Good Life" Organic Pizza store. There is one in Glenelg and one in the City - that's the one we went to! I got an amazing mushroom pizza with aioli, and Bec got a roast veggie pizza - complete with roast beetroot. The Hessian Sack swag and tail curtains in the bay window were simply adorable!

We went back to the garden to catch up with some more Adelaide crew - including Tom, an avid home cook and youtube chef who has his own wood fire pizza oven at his house!!! Next time we are going to arrange a pizza cook-up! Saturday night we saw "Cantina" - a Spanish acrobatic show in the Speigel Tent (sp?) which blew my mind! The tent was gorgeous, and the acrobats had so much multi-faceted talent, and I even saw a guy naked. Value for money: I think yes! Sunday, my last day, was beautiful weather. My aunty Christine and her husband Dennis came to pick us up and take us to the Barrossa Valley! I love going places with them, I feel like a little kid again!! They pack us chilled water and snacks in the back of the 4WD and we sit in the back giggling like we would have around age 10 :)

In particular, we visited MAGGIE BEER'S FARM!! I don't know if you know, but I love Maggie Beer! She is a South Australian cook, who has released some cook books, has a supermarket line of preserves and products made from Barrossa produce, and is on the show "The Cook and the Chef". I love her, I wish she was an aunty or grandma of mine :) *sigh* look how happy i was to be at her cute little pheasant farm/shop/cafe....

I spent a fair bit of money there, but it was worth it. I wanted to buy more! My lovely aunty bought me a product I have covetted for months now: Verjuice. She also bought me a book written by Maggie on how to cook with Verjuice! Luckkkyy!! I also picked up some Pomegranate and rasberry jam, some tomato, basil, olive and rocket sugo, and some Barrossa tomato sauce!

As always on my trips to Adelaide, I come back with way more than I went with. I had such a good time and can't wait to get back there! Next Fringe Festival, here i come!!

Restaurant Review: Shou Sumiyaki

Hi Everyone! It appears we meet again! :) I gotta say, I am about to talk about something that happened literally weeks ago :O I am so far behind in finishing my post drafts, it's not even a joke! Well it actually is a joke, a disgrace if you will. Life has me in a wrestling move, maybe something called a... choke-hold? That analogy has lead me to realise I'm not well-versed in wrestling terminology, so let's do a restaurant review instead!

Shou Sumiyaki

160 Little Bourke Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Shou Sumiyaki, nestled just inside the big colourful gateway of Chinatown, is this cool little Japanese Restaurant I visited a few weeks ago. Or do I mean... Koren BBQ Restaurant? No no, I mean Japanese. I think. It certainly had a Korean BBQ vibe to it, as the food comes delivered to your table on dainty little plates which you can cook yourself on the table-top grill. Luckily I'm not as arrogant as the Japanese food purist on the next table, and can just shut up and enjoy the good food.

We ordered a special combo so that we might try a bit of everything, and were given a good amount of food in my opinion- which some may say is a little too much. The starters included fresh cucumber salad in a sesame/white miso dressing, a crab dish, miso soup and lovely steamed rice. My memory is a tad hazy on the details as it was so long ago and I didn't make many notes. Bad Jade, BAD Jade!

The friendly staff removed their shoes to walk into our sacred dining zone and fired up our grills. Thus commenced the meat procession, in which they carried little plates of meat out to the table and explained what each plate was in case we didn't know. Scotch... Oyster blade... Ribs... Wagyu... the words were flying around as we discussed our favourites and their prefered cooking times.

I discovered something about myself during this dinner - I. Love. Ribs. I'm not just talking about the visible rib cage of my svelte boyfriend, I'm really talking about the edible type. Ever had chicken ribs? You should. My friend's dad is a butcher and he does some amazing marinated chicken ribs. It's cut up into little individual rib bones with a bit of tender and delicious meat attached! I'm also partial to pork ribs, and am working on my goal of one day having the Flinstones style giant ribs attached to the side of my car. A girl can dream. There is something about the meat in that area of an animal's body that I really enjoy... the taste, texture and fat:meat ratio - it's has it all.

I'm sure my eyes glazed over mid-meal as I was transported back to my Osaka home-stay in 2003. We stayed in a little traditional hut in the mountains and in between riding uni-cycles and playing with a three-legged stray dog we cooked our own meals from scratch. One night we made a dish named "Niku yaki" meaning 'grilled meat'. Basically we had a bucket full of hot coals with a mesh grill lid and we grilled vegetables and meat on it while sitting cross legged in a circle around the cooking pit. I have to say, Shou Sumiyaki was a little more up-scale than that and we even used Wagyu beef as a matter of course.

I spent my dinner blathering on about this or that, and warning my friends passively about one of my pet hates: People who can't pronounce Wagyu Beef and incorrectly say 'Way-goo'. It makes me die inside.

We each got $10 beers and the whole thing worked out to $50 each. For some fresh, good quality food and a big old Japanese beer... I was very impressed! Next time I feel like grilling my food I will think of this place before any other :)

The Holy Laksa Grail

Seriously guys, is Laksa amazing or is Laksa a*Maze*inG 'Oprah Style' with a capital "G" at the end??? I simply LOVE this dish!! I can't recall my first brush with the bowl of golden gastronomic gold, but I can tell you that I have never looked back since.

For those out there who aren't quite sure what I am jizzing about, Laksa is a spicy noodle soup from Singaporean/Malaysian influence. It has been adopted by almost every Asian take-away joint I know, so it's not too hard to find. In the world of Laksa, there are two main categories: Curry Laksa (coconutty curry-base noodle soup) and Asam Laksa (sour fish-based noodle soup). So far in my years of Laksa loving, I am yet to try the second category and I've always stuck to the Curry Laksa.

Here's what I know about Curry Laksa - which isn't much. There is a delicious orangey/golden coconut curry sauce, in which you can find noodles and toppings. There are usually 2 types of noodles used - thin rice Vermicelli noodles, and a thicker type of noodle- everywhere I've had Laksa here serves a Yellow Hokkien-type noodle.

Toppings usually include puffed tofu, some type of seafood and/or chicken, and maybe some type of vegetable. Usually here you can choose Seafood, Vegetarian or Chicken Curry Laksa.
When working at the Reception Desk of a backpacker hotel a few years back, I used to work evening shifts from 3pm - 11.30pm. In the winter, you can imagine that the tourism industry isn't maxing out, so I was usually doing uni homework or reading, then of course dealing with the occasional guest. The down-time gave me a chance to work up my appetite and crave a hot dinner - usually Laksa. I would wait until around 8 or 9 then go around the corner to get take-away Laksa. I thought it was soooo good. It was ok, but in hindsight I didn't know what I was missing.

This new place has opened up near work called "Coconut House" on Elizabeth Street, which advertise that they serve traditional Malaysian Street food. It is packed with Malaysian and Singaporean people every single day, and is so busy that they had to open "Little Coconut House" a few doors down to accommodate. I finally went a few weeks back to try their hand at Laksa, but i was busy at work so needed take-away styyyle:
 

I got the Traditional Curry Laksa and scuttled back to my desk like a crab under a rock who has just found something so amazing that he wants to hide it away from the world in case any nearby seagulls swoop in to steal it, rendering him without purpose in this world therefore he has no option but to throw himself into the murky depths of the ocean whereupon he realises he can actually swim and the whole gesture was un-neccesarily dramatic and pointless... Err... yeah so LAKSAAAA...

This Laksa had Vermicelli, hokkien noodles, some soft and melty grilled Eggplant (an amazing touch) , bean shoots, two big juicy prawns brushed with what looks like sambal chilli paste, 4 squares of puffed tofu, 2 seafood noodle things, chicken breast-meat, and chopped coriander. The sauce was also delicious but not too spicy!

I was feeling like a cold was coming on, but after devouring the whole thing my nasal passage was clear and i was energized and feeling amazing! The healing properties of Laksa!! So because I always go on about Laksa in my own head and to a few others, I feel like I should try to locate my favourite Laksa. Everyone has their different tastes of course, and I've never had a traditional Laksa in Malaysia or Singapore so I am really just some hack whose word aint worth shit BUT I know what I'm looking for. Join me on the adventure for the holy laksa grail.

I've developed a rating system for the laksas out of puffed tofus. This Laksa gets 3.5 tofu puffies out of 5.

So I guess I should break it down.. I loved the topping selection but the tofu was chewy - I've had much better tofu in laksa before and for me this is a big deal. The chicken was tender and tasty! I have had Laksas before where the chicken is kind of grey and it's off-putting.

The sauce was awesome, could have been a little spicier I think - it is probably traditionally very spicy.
Well, after writing this out, I am tempted to bump it up to 4 Puffies, but as it is my first one. I'll use it as a benchmark for now and then after a few reviews i will standardise the results. They used to do this at school if everyone went Reeeeallly bad on a test haha! I have also eaten at "Laksa King" in Flemington which is super amazing and popular, so I will officially review that soon!

So wish me luck on my quest for the holy laksa grail, and if you know of any good places around Melbourne please let me know :)

a little peace and quiet

Have you ever had one of those days when you just need to be away, in the middle of nowhere, just... away? Well I experienced this rare desire on Sunday. Normally I am quite happy to be at home to sort through my thoughts there, but yesterday I decided I needed to be near running water for some reason. I hope this doesn't mean I'm losing the plot, like the water is calling me to it and then I slowly march in and never re-surface. That is... until I resurface one town over next to a little child making what would be their very last sand-castle before they developed a phobia. Anyway, so I felt like I couldn't concentrate on reading or writing at home and I needed to be in a more open natural area.

I think this desire may have had something to do with the fact that I spent all of Saturday in bed due to some overzealous partying on Friday night. It was a shame I was the only one on that level and the only one hung-over because there was nobody to sympathise with. All I got were other people's recollections of what I said or did and who I yelled "SLUT" at... much to my brother's amazement. I can't say I'm terribly proud of my cheekier actions but I obviously had an amazing time. Josh said I was being a dork and he was happy that I was happy. What a guy <3

So Saturday was interesting. Once my body had expelled most of the demons I realised I couldn't really move - or at least it wasn't a good idea to. Josh got up and went for a walk and made a delicious breakfast for himself and then went to work at 1pm. I was still dying. I tried to have a shower but standing up for that long simply made things worse and the heat of the water made me feel like I was going to pass out. It was then that I realised that binge drinking is no longer something that I can do very well. Back in bed, I was glad to see that I had a tube of Pringles, some Oranges, water and a remote within arms reach. And so commenced the "Six Feet Under" healing marathon. With each episode and orange segment, I felt life slowly filling my body like the formaldehyde in the show. So I got out of bed at 5.30pm and tried to act like I CHOSE to spend my day in bed. I wasn't foolin' nobody.

So after that little effort, I was certainly looking to get out and about on Sunday. I went for a drive to a semi-local spot I had actually never visited. I thought it would be nice and quiet there at one of the lookouts off the carpark, but within 5 minutes of sitting down I was already witness to some "hoon" behaviour. One car was trying to impress.... me?..... and did a SICK burnout on the gravel or the car park for about, oh 15 seconds, and then took off onto the windy road screeching for the next 15. How attractive. Obviously a man with money who can splash out for new tyres every other week! How I remained sitting there fully clothed during that display is beyond me. Maybe they were hoping that the power of their burn out would blow my clothes right off? Wankers. Anyway, once the smell of burning rubber was gone I could focus on my little picninc table. There was a sign that I chose the right table for me:

I swear that wasn't my handy work. Unless I tend to sleepwalk to far away secluded places to graffiti wooden tables. That sounds like something I'd do right? Anyway, once I picked my table, I admired the view.. it was green and quiet and lovely.

I sat down with my books and did some quality reading.

This is from a book Josh got me called "The Art of Salad Making" from 1968. It's pretty cute. I love the opening line to the book: 

It made me laugh out loud the first time I read it. I continued to read more of her anecdotes and thoughts. For some reason this line struck me: "The hostess who gets carried away is a dreadful menace."

I planned to stay for a long while but the comings and goings of the cars in this secluded spot were distracting me immensely! After the first car burned off, there was a second car full of guys tearing it up and yelling out, then an Indian family got out and sat at the next lookout for 5 minutes before leaving, then another car pulled up a bit too close for comfort. I could hear the pop and crunch of the gravel on tyres slowing down like a roulette wheel behind me. I tried not to look around, because that would let THEM know I was freaking out. It probably didn't help that at this point I was reading a book about murders and attacks and disappearances. They killed the engine and sat in the car for a minute or 2, while I pretended to read and put my glasses back on (all the better to see you with). When I heard the car door open and close I tensed up and a classic Peep Show quote ran through my head: "They're going to kill me and burn me in the bath". (HINDSIGHT LOL) I heard the crunching of feet approaching me and wondered what the hell I was doing keeping my back turned. I spun around to see this middle aged lady with a massive camera come to take pictures of the view. She ignored me, so i went back to my reading, this time with a higher BPM. After a while I was alone again, so naturally I took the opportunity to get a self portrait looking pensive ;) 

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Look at that vulnerability- I was asking for it. Ok enough of that. So ends my first (un-succesful) journey to find a quiet thinking space. Something tells me I may be in the wrong suburb for it :P

lovely love

Ladies and gents, that envelope contains the first love letter I ever wrote to my Josh- back on February 14th (that's right) 2005. wow :) I think I explained this before - how we weren't quite dating and he didn't know my feelings were reciprocal until I gave him this letter. It was one of my most anxious moments sitting beside him as he read through it.

Now, as you know, I am quite a creative person and always have to be doing something. Before the blog (and you) got all my creative attention... there was Josh. I suppose you could say he was my muse. I wrote stories, comics, poems, letters, drawings and little love notes by the bucket-load. Actually, more like... by the BOX load- as he stored them in some gift boxes and shoe boxes. I realised not long ago that he didn't seem to have those sacred documents anymore. He explained they were still in the wardrobe of his old bedroom at his Mum's house. You could imagine my shock. I had to retrieve them before they became house-hold reading material. I had this horrible mental image of his mum and sister perusing the collection over breakfast going "Ooh, here's a good one!". I didn't want them to know exactly which parts of Josh I liked best, expressed via the art of poetry. I didn't REALLY write a penis poem or anything like that, but there are some fairly incriminating documents. Here are some pics of the more creative and less sickening displays of my affection..


 I made this booklet for Josh when he got Chicken Pox in 2005. We had only been dating for a few months and I wasn't allowed to visit him as his house was a disease-ridden quarantine zone. I'm pretty sure his brother and sister both had the pox too. Josh was 18 at this point so it hit him pretty hard. He was zonked out on Phenergan for about 2 weeks and I didn't hear from him. Of course I was freaked out and thought he was dying. Always melodramatic. When I got finally in touch with him he could remember reading the messages but then fell asleep for 3 days or something and forgot about them. What a relief. My boyfriend was now a junkie :) Here's a picture i stuck in there of us 'just as friends' at a dress up party in early 2005.

I love his embarrassed smile- it slowly rises from one corner like a fish-hook pulling at his lip :) I used to call it "The Hook" naturally. Below is a pirate book I made for some anniversary. Maybe like 74th day anniversary or something ridiculous like that.

When Josh tried to grow his first full beard I noticed the red hairs in it that I'd never noticed before- so came the name "Captain Red Beard". OMG check this out...

That's me nearly 6 years ago in full Pirate garb :) Anyway part of the reason I went through all the letters and drawings was because our 6 year anniversary is coming up this month and I was feeling nostalgic. As you can imagine, we toned down the amount of letters and gifts to one another and now do Birthdays, Yearly Anniversaries and Christmas only. It was getting insanely time consuming and it almost became this intense game of One-Upmanship that saw us colouring in pictures at 3am by lamp-light. I remember one Birthday Josh made me close my eyes while he put the finishing touches on a card he was making me. DRAW FOR ME JOSH, DRAWWWWW *whip-crack*

It is nice to look back on all that stuff, and it's also interesting to read what I had to say back then. I feel like I have been through a lot in the last 6 years have been doing lots of soul searching lately as I feel like I have changed beyond belief. Reading the letters, it is just clear to me now that I am still the same Jade... I just have a more busy and complicated life so I kinda live for myself and don't make a million presents all the time. I get too caught up in the trivial dramas of day-to-day life and forget birthdays until a week prior - not enough time to make comics. I would like to do more nice things for others this year - hopefully i can share this with y'all :)