Wow, I have totally spaced on something cool and big. My 6 year anniversary with Josh!

We celebrated this about, oh... 2 months ago! Not writing about this is grounds alone for Josh to give me the flick. Well I'll make up for it now!

So I arranged accommodation at "The Blackman" hotel - one of the Art Series Group. They are very VERY cool! Don't get me wrong, the property was very lovely, but next time I think I'd try 'The Olsen' - it has a pool and is closer to more restaurants etc. My friend tried to warn me, but I wouldn't listen! So here is our balcony Suite for 2 nights:

So on our first night, Josh arrived super late so we got some room service dinner and lounged around in our big fluffy robes drinking red wine. I may or may not have spilled a few drops on my robe :S Of course I did... c'mon. Food is an all over experience!!


The next day in the city, we took the opportunity to do some shopping and lunch. Seeing as we both have champagne taste on a beer pay check, we went to the "Clear It" outlet on Brunswick Street Fitzroy to get some Jack London (for him) and Dangerfield (for me) items. The place was so intense. Because there weren't really any mirrors, we used my camera to model the things we liked. Here is Josh modelling but pretending to look casual. He is going to kill me for putting these up :D

Lovely <3 And here is me...

I don't know why it is so blurry. Either Josh doesn't know how to use a camera or he felt super self conscious in the girls section taking pics of his little lady so lifted it for a split second to take the picture before quickly lowering it.

Anyway he bought a few jackets and i bought... nothing! Unreal!! So we worked up an appetite and went a few doors up to the Little Creatures Dining Hall. It was awesome! You could leave your ID and borrow a board game. Naturally because Josh is obsessed with 'Words with friends' on iPhone... we got scrabble. We played at our own pace while eating, sampling the fine tap beers, and also while Josh juggled a few more scrabble games on his phone.

My yummy lunch! Beef and kipfler potato salad, with a poached egg. YUM! 

Josh got a club sandwich on a chopping board :)

That night we mustered up the appetite and energy to go out for dinner to "The Kitchen Cat" (used to be Jamie Oliver's Fifteen) which is run by Tobie Puttock - who was working hard in the kitchen :) It is a really nice basement layout and has such delicious food, but I thought it was a little pricey - particularly the alcohol. There was a great selection but we just couldn't manage it :( frown frown. I had the best EFFING dessert there - a beautiful plump grilled peach with vanilla marscapone. DROOL!! Check out their site - you will be convinced to try it.


For the rest of our time we lounged around on the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on in my life. I pulled the sheets up to see what it was...

I'm now looking out for ex-art series hotel mattresses. Providing they don't come with ghosts and STI's :) ahhaha...

Lunchtime Adventure Challenge: Free Samples Lunch @ QVM

Good day everyone! So for those of you who don't know, I sometimes go on little adventures in my lunch break - destinations carefully selected by my cousin or friend who live interstate. We check out google maps of the eateries surrounding each other's work places and select a place for each other to go and sometimes set challenges. Today my destination was the Queen Victoria Market and the challenge was to eat a lunch comprising of free samples. I'm quite shy in person and don't usually ask for samples, but today I left all inhibitions at my desk and went guns blazing and mouth open into the belly of the free sample beast. I took Kate along as photographer so you believed I actually did it. She and I had a grand old time which began in the fruit section, where free samples are encouraged....

Here I ate 3 little bits of pineapple. Mind you, it was a $7.90 organic pineapple and was absolutely DELICIOUS! Also in the organic section, I stopped for 1 macadamia nut and 2 roasted cashew nuts...

We had our eyes peeled for another little bowl somewhere, and here i found it with some yellow nectarine. I got 2 little cubes maybe 1cm square or less haha..

Next was on to the cheese! I hit this place first, and tried the King Island Brie, the Cheddar and the Blue. The Cheddar was worth a mention :)

Then we hit another cheese stand which the photos of me were horrendous... and i tried the blue cheese there. Next was onto a place where I was going to ask for an olive sample before we got distracted by this:

We asked what it was and the man explained it was a Greek dessert made from sesame...tahini, nuts, and chocolate. those were his words. He said the whole thing could sell for $250 - $300 but you can buy small sections for about $8. That was interesting enough for me so we gave it a go and:

FIREWORKS! This stuff is amazing!! It has the strangest texture like fairy floss/nougat combined! The guy suggested that we should crumble it over ice cream and we nearly jizzed it. That would be AMAZING! I want to check out a recipe and see if it is actually something that some non-greek nobody like me could pull off :D wee-hooooooo!! Next was onto the African stall, I was actually just checking out the spice mixes as I'm planning to make some african soon ;) I have a feeling I could pick this up in Footscray cheaper, as it's $12 for the medium jar... or i could possibly make it myself?

Next was onto the nut shop. I had to think of something obscure enough to ask for and act as though i was interested to try it. I picked dried blueberries as i didnt think i had had them before.

I was genuinely interested after eating them and asked whether they reconstitute in muffins or pancakes etc when you cook them but they didnt know anything haha. Oh, next i was determined to get an olive. We went to this place that had all different kinds of stuffed olives and i pretended like I wanted to know what i was getting in case I didn't like it. And i was:

No samples! OUCH! Then i hit another cheese stand and tried their brie, cheddar and blue. All three = amazing! I will definately buy some of the blue.. it was a gorgonzola dolce something. I'll remember when i see it.

Oh, then it was on to dip central! This place had the best green olive dip for sampling and also a sun-dried tomato pesto for sampling. Then i was cheeky and asked to sample 2 more flavours - one of which was carrot and coriander dip - which i have never had!

That face is the face of positive assessment! There was a strange woman next to me who urged me to try another flavour - spicy hommus. I felt like i had taken too much from them already and the shopkeeper only agreed to let me have a taste 'as long as i don't ask to sample every flavour'. I promised, and the spicy hommus was in my mouth. Of course it was tainted with guilt so didn't taste so great.

Next door was the wine cellar. They advertised 2 wines available for tasting. This one:

And a rosé. I tried both and didnt like the rosé, but the moscato was great! I asked the guy if it really has white chocolate flavours in it, and the lovely man (sarcasm) said "No, it's just there so girls like you get all excited and buy it." before walking off to get me a glass....................................... hmmm. Here he is:

I'm not sure if he was actually a see you next tuesday, or if he was trying that schoolyard cheeky thing on me, a bit reminiscent of 'the game'... negs and all that shizz...

I drank to 'all the girls like me' out there. All the girls who slept in and had 8 minutes to get ready thus didnt put on makeup or do their hair :P Then we checked out the French shoppe. Crazy stuff in there..

Oh yeah (oh my god we went everywhere) then we hit the juice bar which had a sign saying "please ask for a free sample" so i tasted the lemon cheesecake yoghurt and then the apple and rhubarb yoghurt (yuuuummm) but then she noticed the camera and got a bit funny...

Then we went back to the first cheese place I was at because there was a new person serving cheese. It must have been all 2 sips of that wine i drank going to my head and imparing my judgement for me to think it was a good idea. The lady actually said the boy's name and asked "Why have they got a camera!?" and then everyone looked at eachother awkwardly and we walked off in a hurry. hahahaha. I should have gotten up on my soapbox and said "there is no rule as to how many samples you can have god damn it!!!"

I tried 1 sunflower seed but i didnt realise it was in a shell until i was almost choking on it :P

Then we hit the fruit place again as nobody cared who ate what...

So there you have it... 5 bits of pineapple, 2 bits of yellow nectarine, 1 macadamia, 2 cashews, 9 cheese samples, 2 halva samples, 1 taste of berbere spice mix, 4 dried blueberries, 4 dip samples, 2 wine samples, 2 yoghurt samples, 1 sunflower seed - complete with shell, 1 bit of white peach, and 1/4 of a strawberry. I just thought the cumquats were funny :) So even after all that scabbing about 3 hours ago, i am hungry. surprise surprise! I have some steamed vegetables to eat just in case (yay). Kate had said I wasnt allowed to have a back-up lunch otherwise i wouldnt have the determination to get as many samples. She changed her mind as she was impressed by my forwardness and was happy with the amount i got. We agreed that we probably couldn't have got any more and had robbed enough local farmers for one day. On the plus side, I now love halva, know where to go for an amazing green olive dip and also where to go for the best blue cheese. Hooray! Oh and i picked up a bottle of that cool moscato to drink with my friend Mel who gets back from Hawaii today. She is a 'girl like me' who can appreciate a cute bottle of wine ;)

hump-day hankerings

Yesterday arvo, I had a major sweet craving at work! We have this basket filled with easter eggs, but I am so over chocolate that it ceases to be a joke! What I did find in there was this miniature packet of Haribo german gummy lollies. I am guessing the german lady at work added them to the basket but i don't know why... they are SO GOOD! She should be storing them in a secret drawer in her office rather than in the sharing basket! But I am thankful for her subtle attempts to convert her Australian co-workers to German fandom. Sometimes (usually) she is not so subtle and she says things like "oh this is a German recipe, it's the best, it's not sweet and disgusting like your 'cakes' here..." or "yeah i just don't get that about Australia, it's stupid." let me remind you that you are the minority here Fräulein... hush that silver tongue! I used to think she was racist to Australians but now I just laugh.

This teeny weeny packet of lollies was not enough to sate the beast of my hunger, therefore I decided to venture out into the unforgiving streets of Melbourne. Only then could I truly quell my restlessness and desire. The only problem was that I was in an introverted mood and couldn't be bothered with crowds. All I wanted was le sugar!! I started heading to the best/worst place. I decided Melbourne Central would have the greatest variety of sugar but it also comes hand-in-hand with the biggest crowds. *sigh* the things you do for love...

A little anime lightbulb went off over my head on my stroll- I remembered that there was a Harajuku style crepe store there!!! When i was in harajuku last, I lined up for ages in this huge snaking line and got myself one! I remember it had berries, custard, chocolate, and cream... in other words- heaven! Anyway I decided to sample the Melbourne version for the first time!

Here are a few pics taken very conspicuously by the only person in the store with no Asian heritage whatsoever, unless fantasies count??

That's a very Japanese thing to have plastic models of the food displayed on the wall or in the front window. Often you get served a meal that is identical to the plastic display. It is astounding. I have always wondered how they make them...but i have always been too forgetful to research it. I wonder if they design the meal and then the model is made based on the real thing or a picture.... or if they purchase a model from one of the many "plastic food model shops" and then create the meal to become a replica...? ahhh my head is about to exploooode!!

here's me waiting in the corner for my crepe to be ready. I was number 68, shoot! i was just 1 off a really funny number! *click*

even though I knew those little girls ordered after me, i still became genuinely nervous that they would somehow steal my crepe just by being physically first in line at the 'collection point'. I wondered if the crepe lady would just hand it over without calling my number and by the time myself or their mother or the crepe lady realised what was happening, it would be too late and they would have stuck their faces or urine stenched tiny fingers in it already. Then i would have to be all "oh no *ha ha* it's ok... i'll just wait for another one..." while everyone in the store stared at me and my face steadily reddened, and the kids stared at me sheepishly while their mother admonished them in their national language - the one reserved for chilling at home or yelling at so that nobody around could hear just what they were saying.. that is my idea of torture. Is this normal? Seriously do other people have these irrational fears of being slightly embarrassed in public? maybe it is just my shyness around strangers. Or maybe something much much worse. Maybe I fit the profile of a serial killer...

1) inability to co-exist with strangers without saying something dumb or going red in the face (check)

2) fear of awkard social situations (check)

3) unable to read facial cues... no i can do that.

PHEWWWW. Guess i'm just awkward..?

anyway here's my crepe! It is a "Harajuku Special" which cost me a whopping $7.20! It contains strawberries, mango, peach, mango ice cream, cream, peach syrup. Delicious! Also you can see my disgusting bandaged thumb. Another kitchen mis-hap from playing with knives! Sorry you had to see that. I could have editted it out, but.... meh

oh yes! and then on my way back i saw these weird posters in the side alley next to work.

At first i thought it was the weird neighbour next door posting signs all over his windows, but then i saw them everywhere. I cant work out if someone lives there next door or if it is a strange Japanese style tiny bar. Once i saw the (sliding frosted glass) door open and it was like one tiny room and a person was standing behind a bar/bench serving rice into little bowls from a rice cooker. Weird.

lunchtime adventure: the beast must feed

Mutha Truckazz UNITE! HOO! I am in a bit of a strange mood today, guys. My mood is bouncing around between the labels: Lothargic, Hypo, Genius, and Jive. I may have just written words that sounded good there, i can't really think straight.

So last night the work crew and I went out for dinner and to an Old Melbourne Gaol night tour to test out the product for work-related reasons. It was pretty creepy! There was a creepy almost-middle-aged portly guy working there with long red/grey hair and a beard -no i didnt want to fellate him. As my friend michelle would say: "He was no Rupert Grint, right Jade?". This guy had less than 0% people skills somehow. He noticed the pram my boss had with him and was like "Uh...is there an...*shudder*...infant... here?". who the fuck calls babies or toddlers INFANTS conversationally?? Maybe back in 1800 or so, jesus christ. Anyway he was kind of like the host . He had to address us as a group but did not look ANYONE in the eye at any point during his sickeningly pertinent laying down the law speech. He instead looked to the top right corner of his field of vision with his eyebrows raised so patronizingly superior. How i longed to slap him! The creepiest part was that he stalked around the dark gaol ringing a bell from the shadows while our guide showed us around. He was watching us in the background.. anyway what am I talking about? Oh yes, so after all of that I went to see Josh's band play a gig at the Arthouse. They were headlining so were on at 11pm - midnight. I was allowed to stay at work so that i could get enough sleep and be here for my 8.30am start :) Woo hoooo! My bosses are cool like that sometimes!

So for some reason i woke up as crazy jade today. I think it's cos i didnt see sunlight or smell fresh air until i went on my lunch break at 1.30pm. So it was here at my desk in those few minutes before I left the office that I finally decided what the beast (me when i am hungry) needed. BRATWURST. oh and also i had to pick up a few supplies for the dinner party tonight which i will explain laterz..

So I headed to the Queen Victoria Market where at lunch-time the place is rampant with hungry office workers and backpackers, and FUCKING SLOW OLD PEOPLE IN GROUPS WHO WALK SO SLOW THAT I WANT TO TEAR MY FACE OFF!!! That is very rude of me. But when I am hungry I get quite rude. Among all the fresh produce, you will find some great lunch places like the Borek shop, the juice bar, take-away shops and THE BRATWURST SHOP. That's where i was headed, and i was sooo hungry.

I thought first i should get my obligations out of the way, so i picked up the fresh pasta (dairy free - go Hayden you lucky vegan!) for dinner and some basil and parsley to make some pesto with. I picked the basil and garlic papardelle :)

Then it was time to feast. But not quite yet. I had to find a den where i could protect my food from the prying eyes of other hungry lunch-goers. Here is what $5.80 AUD got me today :)

Pork Pepper sausage with medium mustard, tomato sauce and sauerkraut. mmmmmmmmmmmm

I hurried back towards work to eat it - well i tried to but i think everyone around me could sense i was in a hurry so the fuckers walked slower and in chains of 3 across the sidewalk. It was an actual obstacle course, but i managed to get back fairly quickly to satiate my hunger. When i entered the office i looked on, in horror, as my boss was sitting at my desk using my computer. I know i had subarashiiblog open, but maybe just minimised. I usually post in my lunchbreak or if there actually is nothing for me to do at the time. I hope if he is reading this now somehow he will think of all the work i do when it is busy haha. Anyway he said he needed to use some program that only i have and asked if i had to eat at my desk. well i didn't really, but i didnt want him reading my blog either. I said quite nonchalantly that the rooftop would be adequate for me to dine on. So off i went...

This ancient lift was going to test my patience, i just knew it. It stops at every level and goes up and down in a seemingly random order. And if there was anyone else in the lift with me, they would be able to smell the bratwurst i was clutching in my hungry claws and want some for sure. And i was not prepared to share. I was practicing my protective growl when the doors opened for me, and the girl that exited eyed off my pork sausage. it was all i could do to not trip her over and run.

Finally i was alone (sort of) with my lunch, and i was preparing to feast. I was thinking about the best way to eat it. If i just opened wide and slid it down my throat with my index finger it would probably kill me, so i thought i would eat it in the conventional way and try to do it as lady-like as possible despite the urge to rape it with my face and mouth.

When i said i was sort of alone, I meant there were backpackers near me without their shirts.

Paparazzi or what? The presence of other people made me eat it very slowly and cleanly. I couldn't smash my face into it like a lion into a zebra's belly. Oh well.

So now I am full and content and am about to do lots of productive work- if you are reading this, boss.

Oh yes, tonight Maki has invited his family over for dinner. So there is going to be Maki, his mum, dad, brother, girlfriend, Josh, Hayden and Meeeeeeee. Wowza! I think i will have to hurry home so i can help get things ready. I don't doubt the boys will have it under control but I might just clean up and make the place smell good :) how exciting!

PEACE OUT!

Jade