tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42606342280431270402024-03-14T01:03:02.949-07:00The Strawberry ThiefUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-22475995895693086672016-02-29T22:35:00.003-08:002016-02-29T22:43:01.061-08:00Wanderlust<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pIu1fsfYKF6qfFJPQimLl6A4NkrgCqGmxvH4XN23UdSD0qK3EH4gikZWyo2mxbWutU4uBQWb0GQ88fY0tqbgDcBpqGKTLUkdHUKHdB1pH4Jl1w-PLzeSxM1jIFLB5b92BfuCC2bwJQ0/s1600/fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pIu1fsfYKF6qfFJPQimLl6A4NkrgCqGmxvH4XN23UdSD0qK3EH4gikZWyo2mxbWutU4uBQWb0GQ88fY0tqbgDcBpqGKTLUkdHUKHdB1pH4Jl1w-PLzeSxM1jIFLB5b92BfuCC2bwJQ0/s640/fire.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I’ve been thinking about travel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Usually these days I travel
more for work than for pleasure but I have two trips coming up in the next few
months and one of them has a holiday component which I am very much looking
forward to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I like holidays which put me close to nature. My favourite
place is by an ocean or the sea, but I’ve been known to seek out lakes and
forests too. Blame it on living in suburbia and working in the city. There are
days when you tire of the harshness of glass and prefer to see the sun reflect
off water. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The quiet of a retreat from the usual is also usually conducive to creativity (although creativity can often be scuppered if the quiet is also conducive
to afternoon naps...). I recently heard someone mention the idea that creativity
is ‘the fifth element’ and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_elements_(Japanese_philosophy)">Japanese concept called ‘ku’ or ‘sora</a>’ which also
translates into the concept of ‘void’. Sometimes you need the emptiness so that
it can fill up with ideas. Sometimes you just need to be away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The art in this post is a dreamscape. Or not quite a
dreamscape as I was awake when I imagined it. I was staring at my bedroom
ceiling (thanks, my friend Insomnia) lulling myself with thoughts of the kind of place where I would really like to be and this was the result. The verse came later and the title looks pretentious but there really was no other title that I wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I hope that this beach exists somewhere on my travels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a class="extiw" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%A9%BA" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #663366; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: start;" title="wiktionary:空">空</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: start;">Kū</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>I long for a deserted beach<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Where I can build a fire<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Then watch the waves through blazing spires<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>For hour after hour.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>A hinter chill upon my back<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The burning heat before.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The sudden sting of salted air<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>That rushes up the shore.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>A clutch of sand falls through my hand -<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>An hourglass of bone,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>A sift of time and nacre shards,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>A history in stone.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Increasing stars depict the past<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>As day makes way for night,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>While curling flames from flotsam fuel<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Provide the present light.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The elements, five elements,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Allow this scene to be:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The sand, the air, the sea, the fire - <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The fifth resides in me.</i></span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-13752719278177153812015-12-30T21:26:00.004-08:002015-12-30T23:18:00.130-08:00Against bonsai parents<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytA9vbweP12mSV8iKyYqWX1enSs3VEyZ7-JR6mrl8znPwqIp92zwBcVnv0CUeWFLjKay9jcXibHroJVrdIwAslVe4FNodQfD3ThpQMaTJT_4aeHX80zwDUvWErtR_lfWFn7Sc_Myw4nk/s1600/rottnest+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytA9vbweP12mSV8iKyYqWX1enSs3VEyZ7-JR6mrl8znPwqIp92zwBcVnv0CUeWFLjKay9jcXibHroJVrdIwAslVe4FNodQfD3ThpQMaTJT_4aeHX80zwDUvWErtR_lfWFn7Sc_Myw4nk/s640/rottnest+tree.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 27.600000381469727px;">I've been polishing this piece of writing for about six years. It explains why I parent the way I do (yes, I have children - I don't talk about them much online though). People have asked what my 'secret' is. It's the classic 'less is more' approach. It's also a reaction to the way I was brought up and it may come as no surprise that the writing was actually done as an exercise for a counsellor who wanted to 'see something of my feelings written down'. He also said that he hoped that I would publish it one day so here it is.</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 27.600000381469727px;">Besides, New Year's Eve seems like the right time to publish a more personal post.</i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to grow a bonsai tree:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sow the seed in a pot that
is too </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">small. As the seed begins to grow, keep the pot small – by giving</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> the
roots no opportunity to extend, you ensure the tree will stay tiny. Wire and
clamp both trunk and branches – this guarantees that the tree grows the way you
want it to grow. Plan the most attractive composition for the branches then
train them in this direction using the wires. Pruning is essential; clip and
snip to prevent the tree from becoming unwieldy or, heaven forbid, large. With
enough time and effort (and you will need to put in a lot of time and effort as
bonsai trees need constant tending) you will have a miniature tree that will be
a testament to your patience and industry. People will be amazed at your
mastery over nature and you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to grow a tree:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Sow the seed in the ground.
Watch over the seedling while it is still tiny – you may need to protect the
tender young shoots. In the early stages, you may need to prop it up, but after
a while the trunk will be strong enough that it can grow without support. Water
regularly in the beginning. After a while, when the roots have grown deep and
wide, it will source its own sustenance from the earth.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Prune as little as you can, if at all. The tree
will find its own form and this is beautiful in itself without any shaping from
you. As time goes by, you will find that you need to tend the tree less and
less. Step back. Watch it grow and grow. Years later, you will find that the
tiny tree that you watered and kept safe has become something majestic and
wonderful.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">People will be amazed at its
size and form and beauty, and you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment
and pride.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to grow a child: </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">as you would grow a tree – watch
over them while they are still tiny and vulnerable; prop them up in the early
stages; sustain them until they can sustain themselves. Don’t be tempted to
show your mastery over nature by stunting them, by keeping them small. Don’t
clip at them and snip at them just because you think they should be or look a
certain way. Don’t grow a child as you would a bonsai. Don’t take a living
being and make them lesser than they can be.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some parents are bonsai parents. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Bonsai parents have an
idea of what they want their children to be and they take every step they can
to realise this. They end up with ‘show children’ who demonstrate what time and
effort and money can achieve. That these children might not be happy never
occurs to them. Appearance is everything, after all.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here’s the thing though: every bonsai has, at its
heart, the ghost of a natural tree than never was.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">When you’ve been constrained, shaped, prevented from
going in a direction that felt natural to you - simply because someone else
felt it would be better for you to go a particular way, that they would prefer
you to be different to your own inclination - your inner tree yearns to burst
out and stretch its roots and branches.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Working in education.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> I have seen whole systems
dedicated to the production of ‘bonsai children’ – governments and parents who
all want that managed perfection that is only achieved by constant interference
and control, by pedagogical and familial snipping and clipping. If you
cultivate thousands of bonsai trees, you will end up with a bonsai tree
display. It might be pretty at first but, after a while, one bonsai looks
pretty much like another. If, however, you grow thousands of trees, you will
end up with a forest. No one can argue about the many benefits and the far, far
greater beauty of a forest.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So many children feel </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">the chafing of the wire and the
effects of the clamping. I know this from my own experience. A child’s initial
acceptance of their bonsai-state makes their parents even more incredulous when
they rebel and express dissatisfaction about their constraints. How could you
not want to be a bonsai? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Bonsai is
beautiful. It is so clever. You must be mad to think otherwise. To want
otherwise.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Did you know that the bonsai process can be reversed? </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">If planted in the ground and left unpruned, the tiny bonsai tree will act like
a cutting and begin to grow again in a natural way. This is a truth I have
found out for myself in recent years as I have tried to get back something of my own natural state. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But a natural tree has no place in a bonsai collection. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27.600000381469727px;">It is ungainly and conspicuous. It stands out. It doesn't look like the others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27.600000381469727px;">I don’t fit in. I spoil the clever effect, the pretty arrangement. I’m like a weed. Bonsai growers loathe weeds, and so do bonsai parents.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">When you distance yourself from a pruning,
clipping, clamping family, you start to stretch and grow. It
hurts, of course, at the beginning. When you have been constrained and wired in
a particular direction, you will feel the cramps as you extend. When you have
been used to a certain type of nurturing, it’s a shock when it is no longer
part of your daily life.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then I look at my own children – </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">I have no idea what
they will do, how they will be, how they will look when they are grown. That’s
amazing, exciting – I am going to enjoy finding out exactly who they are. I
don’t want them to be me and I don’t want them to be a certain way. They are
reaching out and stretching tall and finding their own shape and space. They
are glorious and interesting. They are different.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">People see their individuality and comment on
it.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I look at myself. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After years of being confined </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> cramped, </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am finally taking back</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> my true form.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I push my roots deeper </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and wider, drawing
sustenance and </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">anchoring myself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I unfurl, further and higher – there is so
much which is </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">finally </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">within my reach, now that I </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">am not small.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Now that I have
left that bonsai life behind.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">People are amazed by the changes, the very good
changes, in me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-61288807863962378522015-12-28T05:34:00.000-08:002015-12-28T05:34:17.163-08:00This night belongs to...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The only thing in life that
should make you feel small is the sight of the night sky. Nothing realises that
sense of insignificance quite so keenly as when you stare up into the not-quite-blackness
and thing how far away the stars are and then consider that what you can see is
actually quite close (in both time and space) compared to what lies beyond.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It
reminds me of when I was a kid and I used to write “This book belongs to…” plus
my name and address in my books. To my address I would add </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">England</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Europe</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Planet Earth</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Solar System</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Milky Way</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Universe</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Infinity</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It seemed very clever (to me
and to every other kid who wrote the same thing). A child’s way of making sense
of the vastness of everything.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I still feel this way
though. I felt it a couple of weeks ago when I was outside to view the Geminid
meteor shower. It was a cold night for early summer, or rather, a cold morning –
the shower began around 2am. Barefoot on the deserted street outside my house,
I got a chair and sat down. I was wearing pyjamas and a poncho. I felt as
though I was in a pop-up book that had just been opened. An odd lone figure in
an unusual streetscape. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I didn’t know quite what to
expect but then the first bright streak of a meteor loped across the sky. Then
another. Then another. All in all, I saw 12<span>
</span>- not a shower exactly, more a scatter. 12 wishes for me. 12 lines in
the resulting poem.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The resulting art that I have put
at the beginning of this post. Because I am not an astrophotographer, it is an
imagining of what a shower would look like if you could see it from the city,
if there were not so much light pollution.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was a magical experience - one worth the effort. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This night belongs to </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Strawberrythief</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Western Australia</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Australia</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Planet Earth</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Solar System</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Milky Way</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Universe</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Infinity</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Geminids</span></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Alone and cold and pondering</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This lazy gold procession.</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As warp and weft of arcing
light</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Create the canvas of the
night – </span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A tinselled swathe of
lazuli,</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A dazzling impression.</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Awake, aware, and witnessing</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Each startling incision.</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Fragments of burning
long-ago</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Scoring the blue intaglio,</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Etch their own glowing
eulogy,</span></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></i><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A fiery inscription.</span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-36866411001608089462015-12-07T23:43:00.001-08:002015-12-07T23:43:17.621-08:00Spaceship Perth<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOXrWIZDPys_a93jaommMK_RkSOG21e8Bv_BJxwMrNHIs2C-KWBoq9bD6azEeH7UVqP4bNnK5aAEAZn3PeePRNTjrSQI_nij0jvYPYR3tTeHVxiAm5y1vUxE3OMpbYDstn2dZTKKIFaM/s1600/junctionHayWilliam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOXrWIZDPys_a93jaommMK_RkSOG21e8Bv_BJxwMrNHIs2C-KWBoq9bD6azEeH7UVqP4bNnK5aAEAZn3PeePRNTjrSQI_nij0jvYPYR3tTeHVxiAm5y1vUxE3OMpbYDstn2dZTKKIFaM/s640/junctionHayWilliam.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The junction of Hay and William Streets.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My favourite constellation is <a href="https://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/orion">Orion</a>. You might think that’s because
it is such a distinctive stellar arrangement and that is indeed part of the reason. However, I
like mainly it because when I moved from England to Australia, Orion was one constant
in the new and strangely-patterned sky. Of course, he was an upside-down hunter when seen
from the southern hemisphere, but he was the same – the belt, the tunic, the
shield. When you’ve been unsettled by the substitution of the Southern Cross
for Ursa Major, these things are important on a personal, if not cosmological,
level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The then-strange skies are now my usual skies (I have only
made 2 trips back to England in the last 26 years) but I was thinking recently
about how accustomed we are to our own particular celestial "landscapes" and,
even if we don’t pay them too much heed, how even a slight change can be
perceptible heighten the sense of strange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The following series of pictures is based on changing
familiar skies – to an extreme. If Perth were in different type of solar
system, or flipped into another part of the galaxy, what would/could our skies
look like? What starscapes would there be for the streetscapes that we know so well? (They'd look a bit like the covers of 1970s sci-fi novels it seems... :) )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I started out calling the series #perthcelestial and then,
in a small homage to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Manual_for_Spaceship_Earth">Buckminster Fuller</a>, decide to change this to
#spaceshipPerth because I can’t resist a pun, however weak. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPBdvbL6qEYaUBHgH_wv6s_EqJ-pkF7xcPuPY21zN7ZpxWtGAldIebO13kps2jSMu2Xl4pv20MpFF_q12-64hiXNzUumDhqrBjaZLQZ024kL0KRLGr8I1vrhc8-lsbiTHxY2h1uFYEzU/s1600/melbournehotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPBdvbL6qEYaUBHgH_wv6s_EqJ-pkF7xcPuPY21zN7ZpxWtGAldIebO13kps2jSMu2Xl4pv20MpFF_q12-64hiXNzUumDhqrBjaZLQZ024kL0KRLGr8I1vrhc8-lsbiTHxY2h1uFYEzU/s640/melbournehotel.jpg" width="521" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old Melbourne Hotel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_NurOxXSeExa8gE0nFuJBS9X5AoBatn5crHtE5bAel6ACrEDGh1QISyXOWDc2sUpGFbNHL2nWqhTo6cok2ZCZUzfKayg5Xh1Cl6zDXGdaJO4TtYyBM-52nE4Xbob04mkb4qDofOP3pE/s1600/QV1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_NurOxXSeExa8gE0nFuJBS9X5AoBatn5crHtE5bAel6ACrEDGh1QISyXOWDc2sUpGFbNHL2nWqhTo6cok2ZCZUzfKayg5Xh1Cl6zDXGdaJO4TtYyBM-52nE4Xbob04mkb4qDofOP3pE/s640/QV1.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The QV1 building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpo3RBooDZsdDYdn-Xqf4er8uINGbMXGia2LxfCUHZLkanvY29HujZp7nfX06U7azmgRBt6sH3hA8DNyFmgZKCS8ihx8B1n81FtzCcYUv7T9nz145RuiNmnavQzROeRGzJKyGog_2NUh4/s1600/westperthgalaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpo3RBooDZsdDYdn-Xqf4er8uINGbMXGia2LxfCUHZLkanvY29HujZp7nfX06U7azmgRBt6sH3hA8DNyFmgZKCS8ihx8B1n81FtzCcYUv7T9nz145RuiNmnavQzROeRGzJKyGog_2NUh4/s400/westperthgalaxy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An office in West Perth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQL6K6SrTtJ-2TtgD6PG07Xtayh4dcXv0WDVHb-DDUuQrVWVSk2GuAcuxxTCE-tL68R2LluEeuN3Fk7K14TtDASJYSMVmDeTUobtIbdrI1ffAkM78lm4yvTkrK5DqG7WzcFTSfCCXI3mo/s1600/heartofthecity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQL6K6SrTtJ-2TtgD6PG07Xtayh4dcXv0WDVHb-DDUuQrVWVSk2GuAcuxxTCE-tL68R2LluEeuN3Fk7K14TtDASJYSMVmDeTUobtIbdrI1ffAkM78lm4yvTkrK5DqG7WzcFTSfCCXI3mo/s640/heartofthecity.jpg" width="528" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The heart of the city</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEWsTxr4RMdAFaAvk-JMbtyJPLjPghTtv8XmwndNxx6wdxAgjKD23qQnkaq0Am-Wf_A70cMUkwFjC_ePqamD8iniay-QtDykxdKhnUAd4t4dzOtQNXv6LAZut72OXJ-ju00KZ2HV2qls/s1600/wesleychurch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEWsTxr4RMdAFaAvk-JMbtyJPLjPghTtv8XmwndNxx6wdxAgjKD23qQnkaq0Am-Wf_A70cMUkwFjC_ePqamD8iniay-QtDykxdKhnUAd4t4dzOtQNXv6LAZut72OXJ-ju00KZ2HV2qls/s400/wesleychurch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wesley Church</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Z2bTHPSGCx6HAINmE2Uo72n4gAdigKY7BAnVd3l6jiE-c8xiws_9SHt8P_G5EMFdxyl8g5lUirZYmemGzP6SyjvoD73qwnanxMOi8Ms9Q80V_SWNXp0KjGcAp8-uFyZfOipPorwvT6w/s1600/centralflats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Z2bTHPSGCx6HAINmE2Uo72n4gAdigKY7BAnVd3l6jiE-c8xiws_9SHt8P_G5EMFdxyl8g5lUirZYmemGzP6SyjvoD73qwnanxMOi8Ms9Q80V_SWNXp0KjGcAp8-uFyZfOipPorwvT6w/s640/centralflats.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Central Flats, West Perth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-22631568007195107032015-10-19T00:38:00.001-07:002015-10-19T00:38:14.443-07:00Grey day.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9pumvebP-jPVm19q6RRNX_9mK8KPkF0Sa60DBHi4M9YUHPjLvZvS8IMRIaaw34NPE6zicGoA7Y4NYkJ8GfE89-dTBhDNsq3UR9Xaz_94Nvc2lZ4M9l2tqzhgFhF2izancf8F-PuLBsg/s1600/Brisbanestorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9pumvebP-jPVm19q6RRNX_9mK8KPkF0Sa60DBHi4M9YUHPjLvZvS8IMRIaaw34NPE6zicGoA7Y4NYkJ8GfE89-dTBhDNsq3UR9Xaz_94Nvc2lZ4M9l2tqzhgFhF2izancf8F-PuLBsg/s640/Brisbanestorm.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yesterday was a rainy day and I was having moody thoughts. There was a poem and it is always a tad worrying when the gloomy verse happens so easily. Ideas coalesce into words and words naturally form into rhyme and cheeriness be damned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I didn't take any photos or do any painting of the rain, so the picture above must suffice. It's the darkest, rainiest one I have at the moment (from my recent visit to Brisbane where I spent my last day hiding from a thunderstorm).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As an antidote to my cloudy mood, I later drank wine and watched comedy shows on DVD so it's all good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I can't think of a title for this one. Unless it's '<i>-less</i>'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stare-out-of-the-window aimless.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Palm-prints on the cooling panes,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>As the warmth of a golden afternoon</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Gives way to sudden rains.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Where-on-earth-did-the-time-go listless</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>And I-should-do-this-but-I-can't,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>As I wonder if more doors close behind me now</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Than will ever open in front.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>If-I-had-my-time-again hopeless</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Meets a where-to-next refrain</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>While my I-have-no-idea-at-all sighs</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Are lost in the noise of the rain.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-55873503050923660722015-09-22T21:48:00.001-07:002015-09-22T21:48:22.649-07:00Only just.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was eavesdropping. A poem happened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkcbrynf6DXKhwQWmzWhuSdnqUoi_lbQvjDBLpmqO1ZYHMwMewSi4CO4AjfMQbB31oCx41AfYSyPuqrRI3xu1iHrlGN0dtN3mxtaODqfs730stcxZPWspumQWk1ImL4yU8fkqeXB7nwU/s1600/kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkcbrynf6DXKhwQWmzWhuSdnqUoi_lbQvjDBLpmqO1ZYHMwMewSi4CO4AjfMQbB31oCx41AfYSyPuqrRI3xu1iHrlGN0dtN3mxtaODqfs730stcxZPWspumQWk1ImL4yU8fkqeXB7nwU/s400/kiss.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Only Just.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"It was just a kiss."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The world is a smaller, sadder place</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>When a kiss is qualified as</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Only 'just'.</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-28271701593569314622015-08-18T20:46:00.000-07:002015-08-18T20:46:37.241-07:00Beautiful ghosts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYh3bg39l2qU8tU0JVnmolYSuZ4UKQAOYceF-ZDxICIB25XAZRG19AlLStMm6ZHOfNMGNIYGpAdK_YnTQNKeV5nP3AfsxoJHaN3l2FQ4gbMV2g40XvHedfL0egUltHQ7DEDuUNdkW-jfA/s1600/Pattern5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYh3bg39l2qU8tU0JVnmolYSuZ4UKQAOYceF-ZDxICIB25XAZRG19AlLStMm6ZHOfNMGNIYGpAdK_YnTQNKeV5nP3AfsxoJHaN3l2FQ4gbMV2g40XvHedfL0egUltHQ7DEDuUNdkW-jfA/s400/Pattern5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I had a kaleidoscope when I was a child. I think most people
did. Mine was as basic as they came: cardboard tube, a couple of mirrors wedged
in the base, and a handful of cheap plastic beads thrown in. I loved it though.
A gentle tilt and the beads would shift and form a subtly different pattern. A
more vigorous shake, and the composition would change entirely. Simple
materials that produced an infinity of pretty glowing patterns, <a href="http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/kaleidoscope.htm">the first kaleidoscopes were made in the early 19th century</a> and they are still
made today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Being a language nerd, I find the etymology of kaleidoscope as
appealing as the instrument itself. As with ‘periscope’, ‘telescope’, and ‘microscope’,
it is based on the Greek ‘skopos’ - a watcher or observer. However the other two
components in the word are what give it charm: ‘kalos’ = ‘beautiful’ and “eidos”
= shape or form. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_2042041936"></span>A kaleidoscope is ‘an observer of beautiful patterns<span id="goog_2042041937"></span></a>’ though
personally I think of it as the “Look at the pretty things!” toy. And if you
think that last translation is overthinking things, I can go one better. That
middle component, ‘eidos’, is where we get our word ‘idea’ from. Even better,
it is also connected to concept of the ‘ghost’ (or<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/eidolon"> eidolon</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">An observer of lovely ideas. A watcher of beautiful ghosts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I told you I was overthinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">On a more philosophical level, I find the kaleidoscope a
great metaphor for life. It’s pop philosophy, but I like it. People are all kaleidoscopes.
The plastic beads are knowledge, experience, and emotions. Everyday life will
give you a gentle tilt or a vigorous shake and the pattern of each day will
always be slightly different to the pattern of the days before it. Sometimes it’s
the better parts of your life that are in view – those are the good days.
Sometimes, the mirrors show a replicating pattern of the darker things and the
day is filled with endless beautiful ghosts. However, even on the
bad days a little ‘plastic bead’ of happy can mix with the gloomier array, just
as on some of the best days, a dark ‘bead’ can give a sense of the
bitter-sweet. The marvellous is mixed with the mundane, and we continue to add ‘beads’
to the mix.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Right now, my quotidian is rather more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9n6_njqwavaycgzfxf9UVcVQYqxfwv_bbb4y-V7wgS1tAcHycd11cMVa2g-uqTIsTBEELZ3-CY7bnzVbw0OBg2AgurxKbnwMUukd4VYEOXSrkMrnjLIUWDVF4YhceXZnNOvIWPjZ0Tc/s1600/Pattern4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9n6_njqwavaycgzfxf9UVcVQYqxfwv_bbb4y-V7wgS1tAcHycd11cMVa2g-uqTIsTBEELZ3-CY7bnzVbw0OBg2AgurxKbnwMUukd4VYEOXSrkMrnjLIUWDVF4YhceXZnNOvIWPjZ0Tc/s320/Pattern4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Than<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7J_4Kq0UBQyTtkdFTUFkMBIo7Br34_DgNxx4_H8iYb-XTyIYzeOced0wCI_Q1SfGYx3qyU6ZF-Gf2Kpo-XHKMBsJao_1qchw2O-CcqochVPQ_W5NoYER7KMa4pOOERKUJVdRYqxC1uk/s1600/patern1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7J_4Kq0UBQyTtkdFTUFkMBIo7Br34_DgNxx4_H8iYb-XTyIYzeOced0wCI_Q1SfGYx3qyU6ZF-Gf2Kpo-XHKMBsJao_1qchw2O-CcqochVPQ_W5NoYER7KMa4pOOERKUJVdRYqxC1uk/s320/patern1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I’m pretty sure that my life needs a vigorous shaking to
bring a more pleasing arrangement into view. I’ve organised a few days’ personal leave next week to seek if I can shake away the ghosts (I say away, not off,
for if you have such forms in your personal kaleidoscope, they are never really
gone – just out of sight for a time).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As they say, “there’s always light at the end of the
tunnel”, or perhaps they meant to say “there
are always beads at the end of the tube”</span>?<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-82947057768909249652015-08-11T23:31:00.001-07:002015-08-11T23:31:39.364-07:00Transits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJJzMENmzYsiYYrrJ5GTQhQ-84ce1_XQ0womCD1hKSlLGJPVbyGvxriV889_NnUA79KnjX6COa2YbQ6cIi0K9gjUhHRvPnyaLsueN3FJ4V73jjMp5j_JwzXlPXLHd0b6LyQSgr-N4lGY/s1600/transits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJJzMENmzYsiYYrrJ5GTQhQ-84ce1_XQ0womCD1hKSlLGJPVbyGvxriV889_NnUA79KnjX6COa2YbQ6cIi0K9gjUhHRvPnyaLsueN3FJ4V73jjMp5j_JwzXlPXLHd0b6LyQSgr-N4lGY/s640/transits.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Transits</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As you passed you threw<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Your shadow on my surface<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Obscured every image save your
own,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Occulted both my reason and my
purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As you moved on I felt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Reality returning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I closed my eyes against the
light<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Which discovered me alone and
burning.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-45767858502242764262015-08-06T19:53:00.000-07:002015-08-06T19:53:17.759-07:00The stuff of nightmares<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjz0XRz2JGk4lBjs5fG8N4LFqX4h5c_g_6BWV6G-Jt1zuxK3lovvjhG7T4aoFYJIuX5NSufqr-i4cWKEOoxeHXCY-lZMMWyuooQgZHp3VWZxBWFYmOAioPrPtr56Y9XqSzBdTd55DJoA/s1600/cosmictree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjz0XRz2JGk4lBjs5fG8N4LFqX4h5c_g_6BWV6G-Jt1zuxK3lovvjhG7T4aoFYJIuX5NSufqr-i4cWKEOoxeHXCY-lZMMWyuooQgZHp3VWZxBWFYmOAioPrPtr56Y9XqSzBdTd55DJoA/s400/cosmictree.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The problem with insomnia is that by the time I actually
manage to get to sleep (or get back to sleep as the case may be) my mind is
determined to punish me for the 20 hours that it has been awake by presenting
the most lysergic dreams that it can produce. The result is a groggy morning
self strung out by the memory of fevered images. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It’s a good thing I’m not operating heavy machinery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Just so you know, I don’t think dreams are prophetic. I
think dreams are the result of shaking the brain’s kaleidoscope, and that
various unrelated bits and pieces fall into focus. I don’t think dreaming of a
tree means that I’m going to experience growth in the future. Neither do I
imagine that repeatedly dreaming of a brimming wine goblet means that I will be
repeatedly drinking red wine in the future (although now I come to think of
it…)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbI_lEGMtNiukYGekYgpG89CetNS565X7HOD-RumdR8984FtaOv8HlCGCQiFT5ZBDN14kPraSgyzCwywx3HzfaUj0xnhoGVtWpnXjcayTH0-hw-UwRC-i-XCpBKyRbbqdNR56KjIx6afg/s1600/goblet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbI_lEGMtNiukYGekYgpG89CetNS565X7HOD-RumdR8984FtaOv8HlCGCQiFT5ZBDN14kPraSgyzCwywx3HzfaUj0xnhoGVtWpnXjcayTH0-hw-UwRC-i-XCpBKyRbbqdNR56KjIx6afg/s320/goblet.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is red wine in store for me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Dreams and nightmares are, however, excellent fodder for art
and stories. If I can hold onto an image long enough to get something down on
paper or into type, then I usually find the result oddly pleasing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The ‘cosmic tree’ was one such image.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It wasn’t mean to look quite so mystical. That result was
due to my limitations as an artist. In my mind’s eye, I saw a tree, quite bare
of any leaves, with a very clearly defined root system and the night sky in its
background. What I managed to draw was something like a branched glowstick, but it looked pretty enough so I left it as it was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Then later in the week, I was at work and the conversation
turned to <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/google-psychedelic-deep-dream-images-144515179.html#fip1M3P">Google Deep Dream</a>. Deep nightmare would have been a better name for
it judging by some of the images that I was shown. It’s a piece of ‘machine
dreaming software’ that looks for similarities between an image you upload and
images which it has stored in its database. It then morphs the former into the
latter in a process called '<a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/inceptionism-going-deeper-into-neural.html">inceptionism</a>'. There are shapes and animals and buildings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And eyes. So many eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So I put my cosmic tree into the dream and waited to see
what would happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The results was beautifully weird. More dream than nightmare. It was the <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/11/13/van-gogh-starry-night-fluid-dynamics-animation/">fluid dynamics of Van Gogh</a> meeting the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/21/the-10-best-works-by-william-blake">surrealism of William Blake’s religious art</a>
meeting a <a href="http://www.shauntan.net/paintings1.html">Shaun Tan mural</a> meeting <a href="http://gather-ye-rosebuds-while-ye-may.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/arnold-bocklin.html">Arthur Bocklin’s sacred groves</a>. It’s <a href="http://www.moving-cinema.com/2011/08/fairytales-fascism-and-understanding.html">Pan’s Labyrinth</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Goddess">The White Goddess</a> rolled into one. It’s a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas">vanitas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori">a memento mori</a>, and a near-death experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I saw my tree had morphed into an arboreal/peacock hybrid.
The stars had turned into eyes, like the feathers on a peacock’s tail, and, as
if the reinforce that image, the tree roots had now sprouted peacock feathers
that glowed like iridescent tubers in the dark earth. It was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_Panoptes">the myth of Argus Panoptes</a> – slain in
a grove, his 100 eyes transposed post-mortem into the tail of a shrieking bird
by the goddess, Hera.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And yes, yes, I *know* it’s just an algorithm and probably
Google’s way of scoring a lot of free images for their database, but I needed a
little weirdness this week (well, good weirdness over bad or weird weirdness),
and this delivered magnificently. It wasn’t nightmarish at all.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyOVbXJrxu-zUCfHylws9_278sDE7huuGZ5cHTzT9r_W3mQQTSXuCyMw1VYWUwKFPY11qEmxDrKP4HJYj41jPDBrJdhjMACaVqV8tZMlKZy17bBRK2r1AxK9KXGxvMOqfrlVp3JbZUvU/s1600/arguspanoptes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyOVbXJrxu-zUCfHylws9_278sDE7huuGZ5cHTzT9r_W3mQQTSXuCyMw1VYWUwKFPY11qEmxDrKP4HJYj41jPDBrJdhjMACaVqV8tZMlKZy17bBRK2r1AxK9KXGxvMOqfrlVp3JbZUvU/s640/arguspanoptes.jpg" width="473" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The only scary thing about it was that the artificial intelligence had dreamed something that I could well have dreamed myself. Now, <i>that's</i> the stuff of nightmares.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-60131810683279970652015-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:002015-07-01T19:49:46.167-07:00Accentuate the positives<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2DUyweDW7zAwARZ-zrFVIENZpoHHxRNGxHTIncFwW2U5yDODFie0JxI2YNk_LIHIdsspCoLmXvXJs3-ZUJ0rSHYQomYwNBt24C78VgRFZ8NACHSUbm-VUaeelfuQVj67GDMo9pH4fSY/s1600/powerlines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2DUyweDW7zAwARZ-zrFVIENZpoHHxRNGxHTIncFwW2U5yDODFie0JxI2YNk_LIHIdsspCoLmXvXJs3-ZUJ0rSHYQomYwNBt24C78VgRFZ8NACHSUbm-VUaeelfuQVj67GDMo9pH4fSY/s400/powerlines.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
want to write about what is making me feeling good right now. But this is not a
“<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pollyanna">Pollyanna</a> post”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
don’t like Pollyanna posts or blogs– you know the ones I mean. Pages and pages
of unmitigated, manicured cheer and affirmations. Those blogs with posts which
are light and bright and white and all the food has been styled, or there are pictures
of bedrooms with pristine bedspreads (organic cotton, of course), with votive
candles on the bedside table just next to a carefully-constructed stack of
books about positivity and wellness. If your blog is a constant stream of
in-your-face-Pollyanna-I’m-just-glad-glad-glad-to-be-alive images and text,
well, I don’t believe you. You’re not living - you’re constructing life and you’re
putting your constructed life out there to show others how superior your way of
(constructed) life is. As the hashtag says I’m #notbuyingit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My
bedroom is not a restful sanctuary. Even at its tidiest, there are mismatched
sheets and covers; books on/beside/under the bed; shoes lie where I kicked them off
when I came in; cables all over the place where I charge my phone and lap-top;
cosmetics, creams, lotions and potions on all available surfaces; dust on top
of everything, because dusting? Really? who can be bothered? I bet your bedroom
looks more like my bedroom. There isn’t a single tulip flung artlessly on a
boho comforter and nary a self-help book in among the book clutter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Now,
the Pollyannas among you will clutch your hand-knotted pearls and gasp “How
shocking! She must be desperately depressed. A bedroom should be a sanctuary of BEAUTY and REPOSE. Let’s crowdfund her a subscription to Home
& Garden, forthwith!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But here’s
the thing: sometimes the bedroom looks like a bedroom. Sometimes it looks like
a war between books and bedding with casualties on both sides. Sometimes I’m
in an upbeat mood and all is good (and I’m a bit glad, but never quite to
Pollyanna extremes) and sometimes life sucks/blows/bites/your oral metaphor of
choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
like to write about both. Because real life. Not constructed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">No edited
highlights. More the positives accentuated to distinguish them from...everything else.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So
here are the my positives:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sunrise/Sunset</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Not
the song from Fiddler on the Roof (although I do have a rather good story about
that – remind me to tell it sometime), but the actual diurnal events. As it’s
winter here, the sun is rising as I am heading to work and then setting as I am
coming home. So I’m outside, with my iPhone camera, enjoying the colours, and
the cloud patterns, and the messing around with Instagram filters to up the
drama a bit. I like the contrast of the natural and the manmade. You will see
lamp-posts, powerlines, roads, and other structures in my photos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT8Q24liK3fyX36u0flr1odFq4a_5OYBJgmK8sYUuq7hdZ-6k5GYqasz4zH_BjWYwVyN-1ZkTqAVdVjCJDOV_AcxzrRdlVXXX0m4ObE24bYWXMJQpjT-6Ef1iHqbE7eFGJ76rWimgV4Q/s1600/bussunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT8Q24liK3fyX36u0flr1odFq4a_5OYBJgmK8sYUuq7hdZ-6k5GYqasz4zH_BjWYwVyN-1ZkTqAVdVjCJDOV_AcxzrRdlVXXX0m4ObE24bYWXMJQpjT-6Ef1iHqbE7eFGJ76rWimgV4Q/s320/bussunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY76qKh-zqjE11v7xz2Yy7pBIynRM8o7GyqwQjI3HxhS8jIA0mc7Ptzf6H0knImrS2WeK7pXEoC2gpCU2SkVOzBmeddhoD8js7hC-gy2p8kQMpEO9I28kR22rFnGzFoIf_rP3F5T4ed6U/s1600/powertower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY76qKh-zqjE11v7xz2Yy7pBIynRM8o7GyqwQjI3HxhS8jIA0mc7Ptzf6H0knImrS2WeK7pXEoC2gpCU2SkVOzBmeddhoD8js7hC-gy2p8kQMpEO9I28kR22rFnGzFoIf_rP3F5T4ed6U/s320/powertower.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Planets</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Once
the sun has set, and I have put my camera away, I go star-gazing and
planet-gazing.<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-01/celestial-conjunction-when-planets-dance-with-the-stars/6586030"> There’s a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter this evening</a>. They
are less the 3 degrees apart in the Western sky so they will look like one big
star. Venus is about 260 million kms away from Earth and Jupiter almost double
that, so the fact that I can see them so clearly when I, say…go to put my
rubbish in the bins at the end of the day, is incredible to me.I feel a poem
coming on. (No, seriously, I do. Watch this space.). Venus is my favourite
planet because it looks so glorious in the sky; yellow-white and diamond-sparkly;
named after the goddess of <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDIQtwIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSbqv3MwwVd8&ei=7JiTVc-zE4XY8gXhta-oDQ&usg=AFQjCNEHF1odYFfAqJwZFUecmM818ENkGw&sig2=i0NhrLaV12SwpmDLipuiKA">wuv, twuw wuv</a>. In reality, it has a surface
temperature of over 400C, sulphuric acid clouds, and an atmosphere so dense
that if a human were to land there, they’d be crushed to death before they had
time to be incinerated or poisoned. There is <i><b>nothing</b></i> Pollyanna about Venus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFUK_KmCz7zmrNqwZq51rYLS7Vb2WGsR5eSoi_KtEsT1J_2bxck6Ji_M9_pefJVmG71DfTmnWpHlqrHclb_-c6iBRLhW7pTSFUZzUq7dLZdQ8JoYIceMFeO5XEaL5l4TY9uNbA3_VI74/s1600/jupitervenus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFUK_KmCz7zmrNqwZq51rYLS7Vb2WGsR5eSoi_KtEsT1J_2bxck6Ji_M9_pefJVmG71DfTmnWpHlqrHclb_-c6iBRLhW7pTSFUZzUq7dLZdQ8JoYIceMFeO5XEaL5l4TY9uNbA3_VI74/s400/jupitervenus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Cocktails</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Down-to-earth, definitely not celestial, cocktails are good at any time of year, but in the winter they
take on a new quality that has to do with coziness, that lovely heaty sensation
you get when drinking spirits, and glamour. More often than not, they are delightful to look
at. The Negroni will always be my favourite - it is a song of ice (occasionally
hand-cut) and fire (all the red and orange) in a glass. That said, my recent
experience with a Honeycomb Old Fashioned has nudged Old Fashioneds into my personal cocktail second
place. For what it’s worth, I don’t
food-style – I don’t have props or a light-box or any of the bells and
whistles. I usually push any clutter out of the way, but you may sometimes see
the corner of a menu or a beer-mat in shot and that’s fine by me. It’s the real deal, the drink I actually drank – moments after the photograph was taken, that drink was
probably gone.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmFpKnHvhsXqyUzs2h0UolDQMuacUEB_H9EeAX3keebz4mGiJRmI2NBq2GEG_DRH2bWIHPkU8WfNx3NRJ1r7f0IWBQdRE75wNIchZxlwcDOBAlE8i1UBw4SHUpqcpFW9EhWzSJV_9QFQ/s1600/cocktails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmFpKnHvhsXqyUzs2h0UolDQMuacUEB_H9EeAX3keebz4mGiJRmI2NBq2GEG_DRH2bWIHPkU8WfNx3NRJ1r7f0IWBQdRE75wNIchZxlwcDOBAlE8i1UBw4SHUpqcpFW9EhWzSJV_9QFQ/s640/cocktails.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So
that’s me at the moment – head in the stars, glass in my hand, mess in the
bedroom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Gladdens
the heart. :D</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggM5CJoM1bIBRIOw2lDUUekLz-3EZISrvS6LVKvLdBZ2SGuCViWZy7Y29BC8rUKr6OOxH1QPFwM8DBjP0y-Q-ai4GqECcDMedTWmuYcubKxqsTkly0qdHKQCw-zcw-YVIzLHct7VtRPL8/s1600/stationwindow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggM5CJoM1bIBRIOw2lDUUekLz-3EZISrvS6LVKvLdBZ2SGuCViWZy7Y29BC8rUKr6OOxH1QPFwM8DBjP0y-Q-ai4GqECcDMedTWmuYcubKxqsTkly0qdHKQCw-zcw-YVIzLHct7VtRPL8/s320/stationwindow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-20784641133722619532015-05-26T06:04:00.000-07:002015-05-26T06:04:02.081-07:00The Turquoise Gate - a dream set down<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I can't remember the last time I woke up because I was crying out in a dream. Mostly with dreams I forget. This one is clinging insistently. I decided to draw it & to write it. It's not horror exactly, but there was a sense of menace that was not easily shaken off. It was one of the few times when wished there was someone else in the house with me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Turquoise Gate</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Oz7G5T9dMqbL53Qb7-tm3IXM9MZLVgquLIIOedH6hE6knJ1wyX8Hp8E-xl5Qwa0T6LcKoOZ6H5LfX4h4mAqgyT8bmYh6qOo1Ik2xn9xxZoLKu-rsc-QBOn0dX0d-g0DAhtUyruL6-_c/s1600/turquoise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Oz7G5T9dMqbL53Qb7-tm3IXM9MZLVgquLIIOedH6hE6knJ1wyX8Hp8E-xl5Qwa0T6LcKoOZ6H5LfX4h4mAqgyT8bmYh6qOo1Ik2xn9xxZoLKu-rsc-QBOn0dX0d-g0DAhtUyruL6-_c/s640/turquoise.jpg" width="436" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The gate at the top of the stairs is old.</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Turquoise paint peels off the metal.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">It's wet from the rain.</span><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4260634228043127040" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I </span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">fiddle with the latch & I think I have it closed.</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I push to test it but it swings open.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I pull it closed & try again because I know what's coming.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The rain obscures everything in my field of vision. </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The rain bounces off the white marble steps that lead up to the house. </span><br />
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The rain is a dense white veil. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I can see nothing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Then I can. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The image is blurred but it is there.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A small dark form. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It's closer than I thought because I didn't see it coming. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And it's closer now. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And the latch will not fasten. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-67634491671276359532015-05-13T20:37:00.001-07:002015-05-13T20:37:50.086-07:00Narrenschiff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNdQuqCALseqld9tEgoCJRTRSBOBxlTGOHhd2yfLvjNOnzx67XcgmY08RbJv7dS_ZpOPpZmeSlu8xASqg6LTLhMuk96-ruGurRCMq_Yv9hTiXxZE20zdxSm9GaxJtD4dkNr35b_x-9lI/s1600/ship+of+fools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNdQuqCALseqld9tEgoCJRTRSBOBxlTGOHhd2yfLvjNOnzx67XcgmY08RbJv7dS_ZpOPpZmeSlu8xASqg6LTLhMuk96-ruGurRCMq_Yv9hTiXxZE20zdxSm9GaxJtD4dkNr35b_x-9lI/s640/ship+of+fools.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Otherwise known as "The Ship of Fools".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This has been a favourite image/conceit of mine for a long time ever since my first encounter with it in </span><a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/atlantis/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">W.H.Auden's Atlantis</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">"Only The Ship of Fools is making the journey this year."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I come back to it every time I feel adrift. Now is one of those times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This is my verse. Not as long as Auden's and, of course, not nearly as elegant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>The Ship of Fools is in dry dock.</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>They chip the barnacles off the hull.</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>They tar the wood, replace the nails,</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>And stitch the rents in all the sails.</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em></em></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>The Ship of Fools is in dry dock.</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>When all is done, they let me board.</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>They float the craft, and hoist the main,</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>And then we put to sea again.</em></span></div>
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-62755424586450723832015-04-17T00:46:00.002-07:002015-04-17T00:46:34.949-07:00The shirt off his back. A story.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><em><span id="goog_1160073596"></span><span id="goog_1160073597"></span></em></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><em></em></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WMZm2Ps_xYM/VPAeleU_Z6I/AAAAAAAAPXc/_4Ibjf6j954/s1600/IMAGE_1656.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WMZm2Ps_xYM/VPAeleU_Z6I/AAAAAAAAPXc/_4Ibjf6j954/s1600/IMAGE_1656.jpeg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><em></em></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><em>This week saw <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yhmday">Youth Homelessness Matters Day</a>. I'm not quite sure why it registered with me this year as opposed to other years but it must be a good thing that it is coming more into the public consciousness. The story below is about homelessness and youth, though not a homeless youth as you will see.</em> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a man. He’s homeless. I see him most mornings when
I walk from the train station to the bus-stop. His territory is the area around
the William street shops, across the road from the Wesley church, which is also
the area where I have been catching buses for many years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning when I saw him he was asleep, sitting upright
against the wall of the souvenir shop and, as always, seeing him reminded me of
my interaction with him which was over 8 years ago, and this story which I
want to tell you now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A winter evening on William Street. It was windy in the
city as it often is. I stood in the queue for the bus, as I often did and still
do. There was a stirring in the crowd to the side of me and I turned around.
The man was lying on the pavement outside the burger restaurant. One of the
many homeless, he was dishevelled, a bit dirty. His eyes were closed and blood
pooled out around his head.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People stepped away. Others, having seen what was going on,
either gawped at the spreading blood or turned back and continued waiting for
the bus. Then a young man stepped out of the crowd. And he was very young,
maybe 19 or 20, no older than that. He knelt beside the wounded man and gently shook
his shoulder to see if he was awake. I could hear him saying “Are you all
right, mate?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to help because my teacher-instinct kicked in. I see
a situation that needs managing and if no one else wants to take charge, I’ll
do it. I can’t help it. As the young guy cradled the man’s wounded head, we
eased him into the recovery position. The blood continued to pour. Later I
found out that head-wounds bleed a lot, but in that moment it looked very
serious. As I got out my phone and called for an ambulance, the young guy took
off his t-shirt and used it to stanch the blood-flow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three things I remember about that occasion. The first was
the wordless communication between the young guy and me. We didn’t speak. We
didn’t need to. There was a job to be done and we just got on with it. The
second was the image of a skinny youth kneeling shirtless in the winter cold,
in a pool of blood, tending to someone who was injured. The last was the odd
sense that the three of us existed in a bubble of a world – the people who didn’t
stop to stare kept on walking; the staff inside the burger restaurant all came
and stared through the window, but none of them came out to help or offer the
use of a First Aid kit which they must surely have had inside.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ambulance came eventually. I can’t remember how long it
took to get there. The paramedics took over. We stood and watched as they lifted
their patient onto the stretcher and got him it into the ambulance. Reality
began to hit home when one of the paramedics came over to us. He offered
hand-sanitiser and then advised us to look into testing for blood-born diseases
as soon as we could. He looked the young guy up and down and then produced a
thermal-blanket. Then they left.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And there we were, two strangers standing in the cold
street. A school teacher with a blood on her skirt hem; a young guy with a
silver thermal blanket where his shirt should have been. Dazed and smelling of
hand-sanitiser, we looked at each other.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m Snowy,” he said, and held out his hand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shook his hand and gave him my name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You did a good thing today, Snowy,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He smiled. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yeah, well, better go and get myself a shirt. Can’t go on
the bus like this.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yes, of course.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“See you then.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“See you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he walked off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it was a couple of weeks later that I saw the
homeless guy again. He was better, though bandaged.He was asleep in one of his usual spots. As I mentioned
above, he is still around to this day. His situation hasn’t changed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I see him though, I
think about Snowy. Just an ordinary young guy but one who I remember as noble and compassionate in the midst of the indifference crowd. Someone who would literally give the shirt off his back to help a fellow human.</span><br />
<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-19859005588676193752015-03-26T00:49:00.000-07:002015-03-26T01:05:42.987-07:00Imprimatur<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHTUgPFPFCIC2cPTNlE4m8k9ZNbojiT2ZBA54D32Sh0v2uzaSLQVs1Vix-18WsINlvXRrAXF4EufIuCXIZNuPVerzXkyeQciHV2TNKwGJotU3fgGeOJaKCT9c-iTywGlY3vYQ__1ZF-4/s1600/Pale+dancers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHTUgPFPFCIC2cPTNlE4m8k9ZNbojiT2ZBA54D32Sh0v2uzaSLQVs1Vix-18WsINlvXRrAXF4EufIuCXIZNuPVerzXkyeQciHV2TNKwGJotU3fgGeOJaKCT9c-iTywGlY3vYQ__1ZF-4/s1600/Pale+dancers.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have put some of my art online. Dipping
a toe into the critical waters, if you like. I made a conscious decision to
start drawing again. I made this decision in January. I went out and bought a
sketch pad. I bought pens and pencils. Nothing happened for a while though. The
sketch pad sat on my coffee table and was ignored. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At one stage, I made myself pick it up and I made myself
draw. The results were contrived and banal. I dropped it back onto the table
and left it there. But one night, when the house was too big, too empty, too
quiet for one person, and just being in it felt oppressive, somewhere around midnight
I found myself holding a biro and the rejected sketch-pad. The pen moved in the
familiar anticlockwise oval that I’ve been sketching for years. Around and
around and around – the lines not even, not clear, a blurry edge that becomes a
face. I say ‘face’ but there are never any features – these are the old friends
who exist in the margins and end-pages of my books. The people of my
annotations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A person’s art is as distinctive as their
handwriting. Possibly your art says as much about personality as handwriting is said
to do. I wonder what mine says about me. The leitmotifs occur with regularity:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The faceless people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The classical drapery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The arches and fan-vaults.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Steps.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Poppy-like flowers and aspidistra-like greenery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Swirls, spirals, scrolls, volutes, and swashes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Spheres, cones, pyramids, and boxes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All manner of strange craft.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Go ahead, analyse me. It’s probably all deeply significant.
Or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Through the years I have decorated journals and notebooks
with these images. As I grew older, they made their presence known in my work diary,
on the edges of the minutes of meetings, and in the spaces in seminar handouts.
Rarely, however, have they existed in a dedicated space. Neither have they been
a focussed task, more a valve to release the pressure for a brain that was
elsewhere engaged.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The sudden space and silence that has come into my life seem to have encouraged their
renaissance. The florescence into colour has been enabled by the new digital
dimension. A sketch becomes a photograph which transforms through applications.
I have a pixelated paintbox and a whole range of effects. Finally, I can
realise (if that is the word for digital art) the ideas in my head. The
technology makes it possible for me to achieve the effects that I intend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISSvhxSzpgeOteJ98-h0lnW8QTlNh-lNu1pKGl7cSNtr3XHqaRPuBK_W2tN0w5o_YM7tuENzw-4yql4iOKxirXYrjmhJh5QWhKCGYmE0O8dTzXngVi4ThLFGRcXc6mhbCW8BUuEJKEnk/s1600/Golden+mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISSvhxSzpgeOteJ98-h0lnW8QTlNh-lNu1pKGl7cSNtr3XHqaRPuBK_W2tN0w5o_YM7tuENzw-4yql4iOKxirXYrjmhJh5QWhKCGYmE0O8dTzXngVi4ThLFGRcXc6mhbCW8BUuEJKEnk/s1600/Golden+mask.jpg" height="400" width="291" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s a certain level of acceptance as well. A colour,
selected unintentionally, is allowed to remain. A shadow caused by photography
in the wrong light is turned into a feature of the piece. It’s my ‘imperfect
stitch’ though not an intentionally introduced flaw, rather an uncorrected
error. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_CRVaK4JNrOdF8oJOk3EBQWGxUb6rCamibHGlq_YyALQcotd6tYq-XQ1yGCanWtyhxSZO6yWbIvnqudhfkyhZCaMdRpFcwPV2qWFdOBNwB-hUJIMhoUtlHi8NCGsI1CTuSaD-61a9qQ/s1600/ship+of+fools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_CRVaK4JNrOdF8oJOk3EBQWGxUb6rCamibHGlq_YyALQcotd6tYq-XQ1yGCanWtyhxSZO6yWbIvnqudhfkyhZCaMdRpFcwPV2qWFdOBNwB-hUJIMhoUtlHi8NCGsI1CTuSaD-61a9qQ/s1600/ship+of+fools.jpg" height="472" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s a new thing for me to be relaxed about imperfection. It’s
a new thing for me to put my creations out there for other people to see. A
couple of samples risked on Instagram brought the approval of actual artists. The
virtual imprimatur was unexpected and thrilling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I may do more of this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also, it has brought me back to this blog.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCe-qm2uFYe-82ydgHv4iD2h3xAYdGR5GH4h5bSq3ZgSzTo1_VxUTlwksEtlOywK9LGMFivvGMDrrBrG8OLW2qB9SBZDWD6znUqrxPZ20-20U50wRHp-F256HbLjLLzJA_vYe-KsFu7aY/s1600/Red+flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCe-qm2uFYe-82ydgHv4iD2h3xAYdGR5GH4h5bSq3ZgSzTo1_VxUTlwksEtlOywK9LGMFivvGMDrrBrG8OLW2qB9SBZDWD6znUqrxPZ20-20U50wRHp-F256HbLjLLzJA_vYe-KsFu7aY/s1600/Red+flowers.jpg" height="400" width="290" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-10680159181290650452014-04-08T22:07:00.001-07:002014-04-08T22:11:15.505-07:00IQS - I quit Strawberrythief<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2bA_Yji19U/Ux_5Xn9jMEI/AAAAAAAAJCQ/fqct-Bqhf-Q/s1600/IMAGE_2791.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2bA_Yji19U/Ux_5Xn9jMEI/AAAAAAAAJCQ/fqct-Bqhf-Q/s1600/IMAGE_2791.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">It's been a good almost-four years but it's time for something new. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I've enjoyed the eating, the baking, the nostalgia, and the sharing. I'll continue to do all of these things but the eating and baking will stay on the @strawberrythief Twitter account and the nostalgia and sharing will move to a new blog which is more about me and less about what I eat and drink.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">It's been so great to know that there are people out there reading what I've written and I'll be leaving the blog up so people can still read and access the recipes if they want to. </span><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">So long and thanks for all the Shiraz.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Nicki - The Strawberrythief</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-73923391663900051772014-01-17T00:08:00.001-08:002014-01-17T00:08:29.932-08:00Summer, Secrets, and Shiraz<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-k1b2efhF4/UpGSDVjjzmI/AAAAAAAAHK8/KkMTjkcJ_do/s1600/IMAGE_1884.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-k1b2efhF4/UpGSDVjjzmI/AAAAAAAAHK8/KkMTjkcJ_do/s1600/IMAGE_1884.jpeg" height="640" width="475" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">With the first Secret Cake Club of 2014 fast-approaching, I
remembered that I hadn’t yet blogged about the last (amazing, spectacular,
bigger-than-Ben-Hur) Secret Cake Club of 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The theme was “Summer” which gave endless scope for
creativity. When I think of summer, mostly</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I think of the British summers of my childhood where
any day over 20C was considered hot and the high 20s were positively tropical. I think
of beach holidays in Cornwall, barbecues in the back garden, long
summer evenings, Wimbledon and all the things that went with it – strawberries and
cream, gin and tonic, lemon barley water, cucumber sandwiches.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I’ve lived over half my life in Australia now, so I also
associate summer with Christmas and sunburn, pavements too hot to walk on,
sunshine too strong to go out in. The barbecues are still there and so is the
beach, but I also think bushfires and swimming pools and cold, cold wine.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ma4DtRZKs_0/UpFf57BuX2I/AAAAAAAAHGo/jQSt0EmtteQ/s1600/IMAGE_1855.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ma4DtRZKs_0/UpFf57BuX2I/AAAAAAAAHGo/jQSt0EmtteQ/s1600/IMAGE_1855.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the end I decided to go for the cold, cold wine in
dessert form. My go-to drink is sparkling Shiraz which I think of as inherently
Australian as I had never seen it or even heard of it before I moved here. The
depth and substance of red wine with the fun of champenoise bubbles – how could
anyone not love it? Besides, it means that I can continue to drink Shiraz during the summer rather that wait for the cooler months to come around.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8gqOfVtWhKY/UpFgAEmC9DI/AAAAAAAAHG4/2Ipjy42uOZc/s1600/IMAGE_1857.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8gqOfVtWhKY/UpFgAEmC9DI/AAAAAAAAHG4/2Ipjy42uOZc/s1600/IMAGE_1857.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I used <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/xmas-cooks-maggie-beer/4423248">this recipe from Maggie Beer</a> because it is simple yet
stunning. It’s perfect to finish a Christmas feast, but doesn’t have to be
limited to Christmas - any time in summer will do. Maggie uses raspberries in
her recipe so I did too, but you could use any other summer fruit. Maggie burns
off the alcohol in her recipe which I <em>didn’t</em> do. I like a decent boozy dessert,
but if you are catering for the family, it might be worth making a booze-free
batch for the kiddies.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E2pJqSZ94Yk/UpF90pwROWI/AAAAAAAAHKk/9l3P799F5T0/s1600/IMAGE_1882.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E2pJqSZ94Yk/UpF90pwROWI/AAAAAAAAHKk/9l3P799F5T0/s1600/IMAGE_1882.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I made my jellies into individual portions for the Cake Club
people and prettied them up with edible gold and candied rose-buds. They looked
great. They tasted…powerful. The tartness of the raspberries provided a good
contrast to the heavy sweetness of the jelly. You could serve this jelly with
cream or ice-cream or, as I did, just on its own.</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--QKYOrS1B64/UpGSA-WAeyI/AAAAAAAAHK0/hw0OuWvDRDU/s1600/IMAGE_1883.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--QKYOrS1B64/UpGSA-WAeyI/AAAAAAAAHK0/hw0OuWvDRDU/s1600/IMAGE_1883.jpeg" height="640" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">It was a show-stopping cake club. Emma, our host at <a href="https://tableculture.com.au/">Table Culture in Subiaco</a>, had gone above and beyond to make sure that we were taken care of. There were cool pitchers of iced water with chunks of fruit in them. There was a lavishly decorated table on which were two decadent Christmas cakes. There was champagne and there was barista-brewed coffee. Oh, and I mustn't forget the generous in-store discount that was offered on all products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNCFNPwaS9A/UpHq5liZ2nI/AAAAAAAAHNE/ZQHRfpoNKCc/s1600/IMAGE_1900.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNCFNPwaS9A/UpHq5liZ2nI/AAAAAAAAHNE/ZQHRfpoNKCc/s1600/IMAGE_1900.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MVKqSZNIsr0/UpHq_LgpUjI/AAAAAAAAHNM/izfdrxHlvZ8/s1600/IMAGE_1901.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MVKqSZNIsr0/UpHq_LgpUjI/AAAAAAAAHNM/izfdrxHlvZ8/s1600/IMAGE_1901.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cKkDQowZPlE/UpHrHzSKopI/AAAAAAAAHNU/rQGZbe_Kcdo/s1600/IMAGE_1902.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cKkDQowZPlE/UpHrHzSKopI/AAAAAAAAHNU/rQGZbe_Kcdo/s1600/IMAGE_1902.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5gDFXiwOl6I/UpHqSTGFWLI/AAAAAAAAHME/25viHPZiBFA/s1600/IMAGE_1892.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5gDFXiwOl6I/UpHqSTGFWLI/AAAAAAAAHME/25viHPZiBFA/s1600/IMAGE_1892.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Not only did we get the chance to participate in a raffle and win some great prizes, but, to the delight of all the guests, Emma had organised for us each to have a loaf tin to take home, courtesy of her friend, the representative of Le Creuset. There under the Christmas tree were the tins all stacked up. (If it looks a little bare in my picture that's because I was one of the last to leave and all the tins had been taken)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">As always, Cake Club members provided an intriguing array of food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a6An6L5eE4k/UpHq2P9h6sI/AAAAAAAAHM8/s59VpVhNRsY/s1600/IMAGE_1899.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a6An6L5eE4k/UpHq2P9h6sI/AAAAAAAAHM8/s59VpVhNRsY/s1600/IMAGE_1899.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6r8gxiSP-3E/UpHqqoIjKPI/AAAAAAAAHMs/7WD82Kj2u6Q/s1600/IMAGE_1897.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6r8gxiSP-3E/UpHqqoIjKPI/AAAAAAAAHMs/7WD82Kj2u6Q/s1600/IMAGE_1897.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c86Zsr8zUEQ/UpHqjfpAKEI/AAAAAAAAHMk/ExWhtHqm7IU/s1600/IMAGE_1896.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c86Zsr8zUEQ/UpHqjfpAKEI/AAAAAAAAHMk/ExWhtHqm7IU/s1600/IMAGE_1896.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_f9HrUtTkg4/UpHqZ2dCPTI/AAAAAAAAHMU/Z9-Wf_zRCtg/s1600/IMAGE_1894.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_f9HrUtTkg4/UpHqZ2dCPTI/AAAAAAAAHMU/Z9-Wf_zRCtg/s1600/IMAGE_1894.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGlPcleC84Y/UpHqV35xsbI/AAAAAAAAHMM/e3BMiWJP9s4/s1600/IMAGE_1893.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGlPcleC84Y/UpHqV35xsbI/AAAAAAAAHMM/e3BMiWJP9s4/s1600/IMAGE_1893.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I came home with my usual box of delights which never lasts quite as long as I think they will.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9kVfbwdYvAQ/UpHrQFOVoZI/AAAAAAAAHNk/HlEcjm12FhI/s1600/IMAGE_1904.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9kVfbwdYvAQ/UpHrQFOVoZI/AAAAAAAAHNk/HlEcjm12FhI/s1600/IMAGE_1904.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I also now have a very handy dessert recipe for those days when it is too hot to be in the kitchen but where a great dessert is necessary. There might also be some sparkling Shiraz left over. I said 'might'.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-54717244908766129492014-01-15T23:23:00.000-08:002014-01-15T23:50:24.390-08:00Plain sailing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6d0igfUCAU/UrAJqQdjFDI/AAAAAAAAIaw/YDt5UdgP1CI/s1600/IMAGE_2455.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6d0igfUCAU/UrAJqQdjFDI/AAAAAAAAIaw/YDt5UdgP1CI/s1600/IMAGE_2455.jpeg" height="297" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s
not a great photograph. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I
was asked if I would like a picture and I said ‘yes’, handed the Captain my
iPhone, and let him snap away. The filter in the app was randomised which is
why the odd sepia colour. It’s not remotely flattering. I look, quite honestly,
like a madwoman with particularly bad hair. I am grinning like an idiot. I’d
had about 3 plastic cups of cheap sparkling wine beforehand. A tipsy
madwoman with particularly bad hair. We won’t speculate on whether anyone
should have let me behind the wheel.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T9Oh3s0qEVk/UrAJeiEnwRI/AAAAAAAAIaE/28Ws_kEQMJI/s1600/IMAGE_2450.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T9Oh3s0qEVk/UrAJeiEnwRI/AAAAAAAAIaE/28Ws_kEQMJI/s1600/IMAGE_2450.jpeg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">But I'm posting it regardless because, even with the weird tone and me looking grotesque and toothy, it is my
favourite picture of all the pictures that I have from my vacation because I
think that was the point where I was at my happiest. I was steering a 1922
Baltic Cruiser in full sail back into port. Behind me you can see the Sydney
Harbour Bridge which we had just sailed underneath. The Opera House is also in
view. I’ve got the Australian flag whipping me in the face and a mouthful of
hair – blame the harbour breezes – but I am controlling this
amazing vessel, so all is right with the world.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">December
was a mix of the sublime and the utterly depressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The to-be-preserved-in-a-photograph moments
were thrown into sharp relief by the what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do? moments.
Christmas sent me into a panic. The few days before New Year were the worst –a period of displacement and dejection and aloneness. But here’s the thing, with the help of dear
friends, it all came good and the sense of being cast adrift was replaced by a
sense of having a destination and, ultimately, a safe place to weigh anchor. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
know that all is starting to be well again because I am writing again. This is
a good sign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">So
I did a lot of fun stuff and I managed a lot of shitty stuff, but the upshot is
that I had my longest holiday in 6 years and have come into the New Year with a
lot of plans and ideas percolating in my brain. This year will definitely be a
year of changes, but the one thing that won’t change is the food adventures and
the kitchen experiments and the writing that goes with them.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">A
few holiday snaps are below, some of which will make it into the many blogs
posts which I need to catch up on, and then it’s time to batten down the
hatches and set sail for the uncharted territory which is 2014.</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE0kecWdUpU/Up2EEwtvP1I/AAAAAAAAHTM/nZIBcZfUgBU/s1600/IMAGE_1938.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE0kecWdUpU/Up2EEwtvP1I/AAAAAAAAHTM/nZIBcZfUgBU/s1600/IMAGE_1938.jpeg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The excitement of a journey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KzPiyE3Bieo/UqBPd4rCEZI/AAAAAAAAHz8/lWzU4-ZMJvw/s1600/IMAGE_2177.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KzPiyE3Bieo/UqBPd4rCEZI/AAAAAAAAHz8/lWzU4-ZMJvw/s1600/IMAGE_2177.jpeg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New places to see (the Southern Highlands)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLdoo07EYRA/UqU5YrsOYgI/AAAAAAAAIK4/VmhEzFpE58s/s1600/IMAGE_2336.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLdoo07EYRA/UqU5YrsOYgI/AAAAAAAAIK4/VmhEzFpE58s/s1600/IMAGE_2336.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giving in to nerdiness (Ultimo Centre, Sydney)<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="justify">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tmxr8IIwWls/UrAKC1p5VxI/AAAAAAAAIbg/SnrpgLImVD8/s1600/IMAGE_2460.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tmxr8IIwWls/UrAKC1p5VxI/AAAAAAAAIbg/SnrpgLImVD8/s1600/IMAGE_2460.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remembering how to relax (The Langham Hotel, Sydney)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tvepP-VFFo0/UqQ8Wy8UvHI/AAAAAAAAIHo/0L0ypMx-h0Q/s1600/IMAGE_2318.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tvepP-VFFo0/UqQ8Wy8UvHI/AAAAAAAAIHo/0L0ypMx-h0Q/s1600/IMAGE_2318.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Treating myself to the good stuff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62YCcP-Fozw/UteFr1Ny5iI/AAAAAAAAIwY/Sc2iJr1dPX4/s1600/IMAGE_2663.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62YCcP-Fozw/UteFr1Ny5iI/AAAAAAAAIwY/Sc2iJr1dPX4/s1600/IMAGE_2663.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A toast to the friend who saved Christmas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fyiaiG0Abm8/UteCAI1ek6I/AAAAAAAAIq8/K9NEoZJBGCc/s1600/IMAGE_2623.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fyiaiG0Abm8/UteCAI1ek6I/AAAAAAAAIq8/K9NEoZJBGCc/s1600/IMAGE_2623.jpeg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A heart-breaking return</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCvUe_VxL5s/UteEnLXN0jI/AAAAAAAAIug/tTR4gNypmgA/s1600/IMAGE_2650.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCvUe_VxL5s/UteEnLXN0jI/AAAAAAAAIug/tTR4gNypmgA/s1600/IMAGE_2650.jpeg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BFAMS to help me through the bad stuff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zu0ORgvWcK8/Utd13embkOI/AAAAAAAAIiw/NhQ6crWh_vY/s1600/IMAGE_2560.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zu0ORgvWcK8/Utd13embkOI/AAAAAAAAIiw/NhQ6crWh_vY/s1600/IMAGE_2560.jpeg" height="318" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The relief of New Year's Eve. <br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TyLqyzc4nV4/Utd-j-IOSDI/AAAAAAAAIn8/ShscrP8Ip_0/s1600/IMAGE_2598.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TyLqyzc4nV4/Utd-j-IOSDI/AAAAAAAAIn8/ShscrP8Ip_0/s1600/IMAGE_2598.jpeg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An unexpected addition to the new household</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-92212595040175817272013-11-05T20:00:00.001-08:002013-11-05T20:06:41.191-08:00Melbourne Cup (and glass and plates and cutlery): three days of Victorian dining.<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Melbourne dining experiences – everything they say is true.
There are thousands of possibilities and combinations and, for the most part,
the quality of the food and the service is of a high, high standard. Now bear
in mind that I only had three and a half days so when I get asked ‘What did you
enjoy the most?’ it is a hard question to answer. There was so much that was
superb but also so much that I didn’t get to try. However, if I had to hand out
awards, they’d be in the categories below, and some of the winners may surprise
you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>Best breakfast/brunch. Nominees - <a href="http://cumulusinc.com.au/">Cumulus Inc</a>, <a href="http://www.farmcafe.com.au/">Collingwood Children's Farm Café</a>, <a href="http://appleannies.com.au/cafe.html">Apple Annie's Café and Bakery</a>.</em></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MARduqmVQGg/Unb6RxqlVxI/AAAAAAAAFZ8/Lrd7LFYlxTY/s1600/IMAGE_1037.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MARduqmVQGg/Unb6RxqlVxI/AAAAAAAAFZ8/Lrd7LFYlxTY/s320/IMAGE_1037.jpeg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’d been urged to try Cumulus Inc and wasn’t disappointed
when I got there. There was a place at the counter for me (it became a theme of
my trip: the place for one at the counter/bar) – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>quality coffee (a milky mocha to ease me into
the day and then a rousing long black to get me up to full speed).</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HFhU2R7YlfQ/Unm4Zb_7toI/AAAAAAAAFcg/VWCV2EEvZSc/s1600/IMAGE_1056.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HFhU2R7YlfQ/Unm4Zb_7toI/AAAAAAAAFcg/VWCV2EEvZSc/s400/IMAGE_1056.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I enjoyed my
sweet and zesty lemon-curd filled madeleine: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_(cake)">Marcel Proust would have approved</a>
of this variation and it was worth the extra 15 minute wait which gave me time
to look around the room and admire the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/racewear-etiquette/story-fnf8690u-1226746155941">Derby Day fashion parade</a> that was
happening around me.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GireROAMwkQ/Unm7NjckkaI/AAAAAAAAFdE/ls027MZi9Zs/s1600/IMAGE_1060.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GireROAMwkQ/Unm7NjckkaI/AAAAAAAAFdE/ls027MZi9Zs/s400/IMAGE_1060.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> My smoked trout croque monsieur was a classic breakfast
combo of toasty bread, fresh flaky fish, smooth cream cheese and tiny capers. A
filling start to the day but perhaps not the most unusual breakfast dish I’d
ever tried.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I hadn’t planned to go to The Collingwood Children’s Farm
but my friend and guide, Jen, said that the breakfasts were good and that the
farm gave every impression of being deeply rural even when it was only 5 minutes’
drive from the dusty Collingwood streets. My ‘Farmer’s Breakfast’ was
traditional – sausage, eggs, bacon. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39DHqHKYkLw/UnbylX-9b5I/AAAAAAAAFTo/-cihIZ677TI/s1600/IMAGE_988.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39DHqHKYkLw/UnbylX-9b5I/AAAAAAAAFTo/-cihIZ677TI/s400/IMAGE_988.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">However the sausage was organic pork, the
two eggs were poached to just the right consistency (there has to be enough
‘give’ in the yolk) and served on top of buttered sour dough. There were also crispy
potatoes cooked in duck fat and a jar of zingy homemade relish. Two mugs of
mocha (one on time and the other forgotten until I prompted) and I was ready to
explore the paddocks, pet the baby animals, and admire the flower and produce
gardens.</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CU2_pR0FEDE/UnbzOQr2rFI/AAAAAAAAFU4/2u9cz4FyK1k/s1600/IMAGE_998.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CU2_pR0FEDE/UnbzOQr2rFI/AAAAAAAAFU4/2u9cz4FyK1k/s400/IMAGE_998.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many farm friends that I patted.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The winner is</em>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hungry after getting up early (6am Melbourne time, 3am Perth
time) to make my pilgrimage to the <a href="http://www.castlemainegallery.com/">Castlemaine Art Gallery</a>, I found Apple
Annie’s Café on Templeton street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
no expectations of this café – it was one of several in the town, so the sunshine-dappled
courtyard with grape vines and robinia tree was a pleasant surprise and the
breakfast, sweet heavens, the breakfast! Warm apple chunks stewed in cinnamon
syrup sandwiched between rounds of light-yet-rich brioche French toast. This
was topped and surrounded with fresh strawberries and quenelles of dulce de
leche and icing sugar dusted the whole. Gorgeous to look at, different from the
usual, an elegant mix of tastes and textures – if Castlemaine itself had no
other attractions (and it has many), I would return for this alone. Apple Annie’s
also offers accommodation so this is probably where I would choose to stay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><strong>Best snack. Nominees - </strong></em><a href="http://lavitabuona.com.au/"><em><strong>La Vita Buona</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="http://www.laika.com.au/"><em><strong>Laika</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="http://movida.com.au/"><em><strong>Movida</strong></em></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My first meal in Melbourne was at La Vita Buona – a café
overlooking the plaza just behind the Anglican cathedral. I was physically
exhausted having not been long off the plane, but mentally awake with the
excitement of new places to explore. This café was quiet and provided a great
place to do some people-watching. The waiter was happy to chat a bit and talk
about which wines he would recommend. I chose a local red.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> For my snack, I dipped
into the lunch menu and ordered a small serve of marinated white anchovies with
crostini as well as the ‘Salumi Plate’ – cured meats and cornichons. Basic and
tasty, not particularly challenging (but then my palate isn’t always up for
gastronomical fisticuffs) it was a good start to my Melbourne dining
experiences.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The decision to visit Laika was both a good and a bad one. I had just had a wonderful swim at the <a href="http://www.stkildaseabaths.com.au/">St Kilda Sea Baths</a> plus a soothing floaty session in the their hydrotherapy pool. Swimming always makes me hungry - especially for hot chips. There's just something extra summery about the smell of swimming pool chemicals mixed with the vinegar'n'fat smell of hot chips. Laika, thought not a purveyor of hot chips, did offer a delicious Sloppy Joe and beer-battered fries with the welcome addition of a glass of Chandon.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BV9z3SCiEps/Unm4iGANilI/AAAAAAAAFc4/XbBtIPvQZxw/s1600/IMAGE_1059.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BV9z3SCiEps/Unm4iGANilI/AAAAAAAAFc4/XbBtIPvQZxw/s320/IMAGE_1059.jpeg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> The Sloppy Joe bun was a bit singed but the filling was a satisfying savoury hit of chili, mayonnaise and pulled pork. The beer-battered fries were crispy and endless. It was a huge bowl - too much for one. This was the reason why I didn't eat out on Saturday night - I was too full to do anything but lie down on my bed and sip tap-water.</span></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>And the winner is</em>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3cvxPmxo21E/Unb4-jSfmgI/AAAAAAAAFWc/_2Vkxs46g-M/s1600/IMAGE_1009.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3cvxPmxo21E/Unb4-jSfmgI/AAAAAAAAFWc/_2Vkxs46g-M/s400/IMAGE_1009.jpeg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was urged to go to Movida by several friends so I decided
this would be the first stop on a mini bar-crawl that I organised for myself on
Friday night. As with my breakfast at Cumulus, there was a table for me at the
counter but there difference here was that even in the rushed environment of
the Friday after-work crowd, the service was excellent: friendly, efficient,
helpful and informative. I made my selections with a glass of cava in my hand. There was a single oyster with merlot jus, jamon and shallots, a pastry 'cigarillo' with hazlenuts and macerated muscat grapes, cold smoked Spanish mackerel with pine-nuts, an 'empanadilla' stuffed with pheasant, chestnuts and bacon, and the white anchovy on a crouton with smoked tomato sorbet.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QZHIdFXXpyU/Unb5FJVNocI/AAAAAAAAFWs/tA9AqcCrKl0/s1600/IMAGE_1011.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QZHIdFXXpyU/Unb5FJVNocI/AAAAAAAAFWs/tA9AqcCrKl0/s640/IMAGE_1011.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">All was wonderful and different and exciting, but for me, Movida gets my vote purely for the smoked tomato sorbet. Cold, sweet, salty, fruity with a hint of char - one quenelle was not enough. Match it with a Valleformosa Penedes Cava and I can say with my hand on my heart that it was a dish that I will be raving about for a long, long time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>Best dinner. Nominees - </em></strong><a href="http://www.lacitta.net.au/"><strong><em>La Citta</em></strong></a><strong><em>, </em></strong><a href="http://www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au/"><strong><em>Chin Chin</em></strong></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-79H51kwajzo/Unb6CJA3vAI/AAAAAAAAFZU/lAzVn37q9zc/s1600/IMAGE_1032.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-79H51kwajzo/Unb6CJA3vAI/AAAAAAAAFZU/lAzVn37q9zc/s400/IMAGE_1032.jpeg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">La Citta in Degraves Lane was a suggestion made by a friend
from Sydney. I was told that it was reliable for a good feed and that is
exactly what I had. After my exodus from Cookie (see “Worst Service” below), it
was great to be offered a choice of seats, have my aperitif on the table within
minutes – a shot of Aperol and a dish of smoked almonds – and then the comfort
of risotto. It was saffron risotto with peas and <a href="http://www.australiantropicalfoods.com/index.php/australian-seafood/moreton-bay-bug/">Moreton Bay bugs</a>. When I
consulted the wine list, I saw that there was Chardonnay by the <a href="http://snakeandherring.com.au/">Snake and Herring crew</a> from Western Australia. It was a little reminder of home to pick
me up after my Cookie let-down. It was excellent risotto – the rice grains with
just enough bite and the saffron giving the flavour of the bugs a shove in the
right direction. I finished the evening with a strong black coffee. A
nicely-rounded meal. I felt better when I had finished and really, really
awake.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>And the winner is</em>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’m glad I got to Chin Chin early. Even the places up at the
bar filled up quickly and by the time I had finished my meal, there was a queue
to get in. I was in my 80s element as the sound system cranked out tunes by
Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Spandau Ballet. I think the 80s
might finally have made the jump from cheesy to hip but just in case there was
any doubt, the Chin Chin décor, a mix of anime art and fluorescent tubes upped
the hip quotient considerably.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-abIBx49Zg3g/Unm3rg72d5I/AAAAAAAAFa4/L3X4eQMK1DU/s1600/IMAGE_1043.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-abIBx49Zg3g/Unm3rg72d5I/AAAAAAAAFa4/L3X4eQMK1DU/s320/IMAGE_1043.jpeg" width="238" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It wasn’t on the cocktail list, but I got my first Negroni
of the trip at Chin Chin. I like it when the bar-staff say ‘yes’ and then you
see then consult a book or website – they are trying and that is worth
everything. My Negronis were a little on the fruity side (a little heavy on the
vermouth) but did the trick getting my appetite up to speed. The service was
attentive – I was asked if I had eaten at Chin Chin before, told how the menu
worked, given recommendations. I chose the crab and pork cakes with the salted
duck egg and tamarind sauce and the </span><em><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">smashed green papaya salad with
chargrilled red chilli, prawn floss, peanuts and black beans cooked in chilli
oil. Despite the crowds, the food turned up before I had finished my first
drink. </span></span></em></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JVLV2bjCxJw/Unm4LuW0q0I/AAAAAAAAFcA/GqJLlkCjvjU/s1600/IMAGE_1052.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JVLV2bjCxJw/Unm4LuW0q0I/AAAAAAAAFcA/GqJLlkCjvjU/s400/IMAGE_1052.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></em></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The crab and pork cakes were dense and meaty with the floral quality of
Thai herbs to lift their fragrance. Designed to be eaten like san choi bau, you
wrap a cake in a lettuce leaf, smear on some sauce and squeeze lemon over the
top. This is a little tricky when you are also balancing on a bar-stool (one
elbow movement too far and you’d be on the floor) but I managed. For me, the
addition of tamarind, one of the my favourite fruits because it does sweet and
sour, mainly sour, all by itself, was the genius of the dish. </span></span></em></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6js9DmiCj4U/Unm4ESlt9VI/AAAAAAAAFbw/vJPmF9lImL8/s1600/IMAGE_1050.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6js9DmiCj4U/Unm4ESlt9VI/AAAAAAAAFbw/vJPmF9lImL8/s400/IMAGE_1050.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></em></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Nothing however
could have prepared me for the genius of the salad though. Perfect, perfect
distribution of chili – from the searing fresh chili, whole fruits and snippets, to
the dark oil that bound the papaya and prawn floss flavours together. The black
beans and peanuts provided the alkaline contrast to the acidity of the papaya.
Another Negroni, then the offer of dessert which I couldn’t manage, and I
fought my way through the queue at the door, wishing I’d been able to come in
company so that I could have tried more, but knowing that if I had come in
company, I’d probably still have been stuck in the queue</span>.</span></em><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>Best service. Nominees - Movida, Chin Chin, </em></strong><a href="http://www.budacastlemaine.org/html/s01_home/home.asp"><strong><em>Buda Historic Home and Garden</em></strong></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_ti7EwWcAM/UnQLV9pYf3I/AAAAAAAAFSY/zaI4SzUhzMM/s1600/IMAGE_951.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_ti7EwWcAM/UnQLV9pYf3I/AAAAAAAAFSY/zaI4SzUhzMM/s400/IMAGE_951.jpeg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Movida would have won this hands down, with Chin Chin
getting an honourable mention, but for my experience at Buda Historic Home and
Garden in Castlemaine. With time to spare before my train back to Melbourne, I
decided to walk up to the house and have a look. It was further than I thought
and it was a hot and glary day with very little shade for me to hide under.
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When I presented my red-faced sweaty self at the ticket desk, the woman in
charge ushered me to a shady spot in the garden ‘where you can get some breeze’.
I was sheltered from the sun by a copper-beech and surrounded by roses. She
went and got me a bottle of cold water to drink and talked me through the map
of the house and gardens while I cooled down. Later on, her colleague offered
me a lift back to the railway station. The kindness of strangers can make even
a simple bottle of cold water a great food experience.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6uW6eec_bOM/UnQLZLHDFqI/AAAAAAAAFSg/rCM51EPKj3E/s1600/IMAGE_952.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6uW6eec_bOM/UnQLZLHDFqI/AAAAAAAAFSg/rCM51EPKj3E/s640/IMAGE_952.jpeg" width="475" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>Worst service. One nominee. <span style="font-size: small;">(which is a good thing when you think about it</span>) No winners, only losers. - </em></strong><a href="http://cookie.net.au/"><strong><em>Cookie</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GI3yhPoVkOE/Unb5qrseYVI/AAAAAAAAFYU/Td89pYCNVww/s1600/IMAGE_1024.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GI3yhPoVkOE/Unb5qrseYVI/AAAAAAAAFYU/Td89pYCNVww/s400/IMAGE_1024.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was at Cookie only long enough to get one blurry snap of their menu.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I walked a long way across the CBD to ge</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">t to Cookie –
because it had been recommended to me. I walked up the stairs because the lift
was broken. I asked for a seat. The man by the door indicated a seat at the bar
and I felt that my luck was holding. I slumped onto the
bar-stool and just begun to consider the menu when a voice behind me said: </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You can’t sit there.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It was a waiter or the restaurant manager. White shirt,
black waist-coat, youthful, and a bit sneering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“But that man said I could.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Which man?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“That man by the door.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You shouldn’t have talked to that man. I’m the one who
decides and I have reserved this place for someone else.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ve worked with enough young adults over the years to
recognise the tone of disdain when it sneaks into a conversation. If he had
rolled his eyes, I would not have been surprised. Was he contemptuous of my
lack of youth and beauty (certainly the Cookie clientele was very young and
beautiful), or the fact that I
was dining alone and wouldn't generate as much revenue as a couple or a group? His narrowed gaze suggested that there was something about me
that displeased him and he wanted me gone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“So, is there somewhere else I can sit?” Not that I
especially wanted to stay at this point but I was tired and hungry and willing
to compromise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“You can try further down the bar. There might be
something.” He waved vaguely at the noisiest, most dense part of the crowd. For
the ‘man who decides’ he was being very imprecise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was too disgusted and too tired to argue. I left. Left
Cookie. Left the Cookie Monster. I got myself to La Citta and had an excellent
meal. The Cookie menu had looked interesting but how good the quality of the
food was, I will never know as I wouldn’t try it again or recommend it to
anyone. Luckily, there was enough of the good and great service in both
Melbourne and Castlemaine to more than make up for one posturing prat who
wouldn’t know good management practice if someone thumped him on his coiffed
head with “The Dummies Guide to Running a Restaurant.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wStl2Po8Jc0/Unb5n9jzHQI/AAAAAAAAFYM/LRtnPSIWrPQ/s1600/IMAGE_1023.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wStl2Po8Jc0/Unb5n9jzHQI/AAAAAAAAFYM/LRtnPSIWrPQ/s400/IMAGE_1023.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cookie - the way it crumbles.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In summary, go to Melbourne! Go to Castlemaine! Try Chin Chin, Movida, La Citta and all the others.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">But delete Cookie.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-22098247372884587622013-10-29T00:12:00.000-07:002013-10-29T00:16:35.987-07:00Buns and roses: Secret Cake Club and heraldic rose cupcakes.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ESxpHs_4MY/Um22IrQIxPI/AAAAAAAAFDY/oJiUamMS__k/s1600/IMAGE_837.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ESxpHs_4MY/Um22IrQIxPI/AAAAAAAAFDY/oJiUamMS__k/s640/IMAGE_837.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There were no buns. So I lied. What can I say? I do so love
a pun.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Puns and roses? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ll get me coat.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The roses began at 6am – fifteen heraldic roses to top
fifteen rosewater cupcakes (which I made the day before). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The theme of the latest <a href="http://www.secretcakeclubperth.com/">Secret Cake Club</a> was ‘History’ and I had
decided I was going to interpret The Wars of the Roses. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses">You can read the details on Wikipedia</a> of course, but it’s pretty much the way Game of Thrones
would be if there were only two families involved: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lancaster">House of Lancaster</a>, that’s
Lancaster NOT Lannister, (symbol, the red rose) and the <span id="goog_737337133"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">House of York<span id="goog_737337134"></span></a> (symbol,
the white rose). Eventually, after many decades of squabbling and bloodshed, a
Lancaster prince married a York princess – they combined their family symbols
to create the <span id="goog_737337137"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Tudor Rose<span id="goog_737337138"></span></a> (his name was Henry Tudor) which is red and white. If Wikipedia history is a bit dull for you, then <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/55424-the-cousins-war">any of the Philippa Gregory oeuvre</a> will tell you the story in a more engaging, if slightly less factual, way.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose_of_York">white rose of the House of York</a> is still used this day
as the symbol of Yorkshire and since I was born in Yorkshire, I feel I have
some connection to it in my personal history. I even wore my white rose pendant
(bought at York Minster) to Cake Club that afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ll put the cupcake recipe below, but you could decorate
any cake this way, so I’m just going to show you how to make a heraldic rose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VxFDThfedrI/Um21Ib5HOcI/AAAAAAAAFBY/G_Kl1X3rS54/s1600/IMAGE_821.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VxFDThfedrI/Um21Ib5HOcI/AAAAAAAAFBY/G_Kl1X3rS54/s400/IMAGE_821.jpeg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">First cover your cupcakes with a thin layer of white
fondant. I painted the fondant with rosewater and this makes it stick to the
cake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DekBD8Ik8v4/Um3CJsPWmAI/AAAAAAAAFOw/FwH9FqL1s-0/s1600/IMAGE_925.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="636" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DekBD8Ik8v4/Um3CJsPWmAI/AAAAAAAAFOw/FwH9FqL1s-0/s640/IMAGE_925.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">For the actual rose symbol, you need to have two
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_(heraldry)#Plants">cinquefoils</a>, one small and one large. A cinquefoil is a flower-symbol with five
leaves or petals which is all well and good unless your flower cookie-cutters
have six petals... I ended up having to pinch out one petal and reshape the
flower by hand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Pinch out five small pieces of green fondant and roll them
between your finger and thumb until thin and pointed at one end – these will be
your leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Stick these under your larger cinquefoil so that part of the
leaf shows in the spaces between the petal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Stick the small cinquefoil on top of the large one. Add a small bobble of fondant to the
middle – this will be your rose’s stamen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R_XX-q4D9zk/Um21mSK9-kI/AAAAAAAAFCY/6ITvD7PV3dw/s1600/IMAGE_829.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R_XX-q4D9zk/Um21mSK9-kI/AAAAAAAAFCY/6ITvD7PV3dw/s640/IMAGE_829.jpeg" width="476" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Starting with the small cinquefoil, curl the petals over at
the edge. Repeat with the large cinquefoil. Using edible gold food paint, colour
the stamen. Then stick the whole rose to the top of the cupcake. I was using
rosewater to do all my sticking but otherwise plain water or even milk will do
the trick.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I made seven Lancaster roses in gold cupcake cases, seven
Yorkshire roses in silver cupcake cases, and one Tudor rose which was slightly
larger than the others. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K8lWnJzb2IQ/Um21zhd5MoI/AAAAAAAAFCw/AG58Kwr9fE0/s1600/IMAGE_832.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K8lWnJzb2IQ/Um21zhd5MoI/AAAAAAAAFCw/AG58Kwr9fE0/s320/IMAGE_832.jpeg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was very proud of my Tudor rose.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">They created a really pretty effect when put all together.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Cake Club was held at <a href="http://www.ingredienttree.com.au/">The Ingredient Tree in Wembley</a> and I
am glad to say that my cupcakes survived the bus journey. There was an
abundance of cake with most people interpreting the ‘History’ theme as ‘heritage’.
There were pandan cakes from South East Asia, Ashkenazi Jewish ‘rugelach’.
Korean crispies, and Irish-whiskey studded namelaka tarts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My favourites of the day were Viv’s mini-pizzas which were a
welcome oasis of savoury in the midst of all the sweetness. There was a
surprise underneath the mozzarella – a fierce and concentrated Italian hit of
anchovy which I loved. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also really liked the
sticky rice cakes with the slightly toasted topping made by Terry and Alex.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So much cake, so little time. The pictures are below and I
have tried to keep the descriptions in shot where possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mnNTMIKlsOI/Um3ADFxVbiI/AAAAAAAAFOI/oPKV0r-ev78/s1600/IMAGE_921.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mnNTMIKlsOI/Um3ADFxVbiI/AAAAAAAAFOI/oPKV0r-ev78/s400/IMAGE_921.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, as you can see, lots and lots of cakes and slices and
tarts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But no buns. Just roses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I beg your pardon and offer a cupcake recipe in recompense.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qr1x14ijCuM/Um22BUqT-DI/AAAAAAAAFDI/7dwHHJYexQU/s1600/IMAGE_835.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qr1x14ijCuM/Um22BUqT-DI/AAAAAAAAFDI/7dwHHJYexQU/s640/IMAGE_835.jpeg" width="280" /></a></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rosewater Cupcakes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Ingredients<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 cup golden caster sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 cup butter, melted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 vanilla bean<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 tssp organic vanilla extract<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4 large eggs, beaten<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 tbsp rosewater<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 tssp sea-salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 cups SR flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 tssp baking powder</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Decoration<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">White, red, and green fondant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Edible gold paint</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Oven</em>: 180C</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Method<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In a food processor, whiz sugar and melted butter until
pale. Scrape in the vanilla bean and add the vanilla extract. Process again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On a low speed, add beaten eggs gradually until all
combined. When all eggs are in, add the rosewater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sieve salt, SR flour, and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
Pour in contents of food processor and stir with a wooden spoon until just
combined.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spoon mixture into cupcake cases until about 2/3 full. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bake in oven until golden – about 25 minutes, depending on
your oven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leave to cool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Decorate with fondant or buttercream icing.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X60pnsGIe1E/Um217v530OI/AAAAAAAAFDA/KlKZtJCHN20/s1600/IMAGE_834.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X60pnsGIe1E/Um217v530OI/AAAAAAAAFDA/KlKZtJCHN20/s640/IMAGE_834.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-58193819989851722082013-10-22T20:32:00.002-07:002013-10-22T20:32:29.937-07:00In good company: Bistrot Traditionnel at Hainault Winery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UVDivwGoa-o/UmRrzOSvv0I/AAAAAAAAE3s/uQQHkzZxTbI/s1600/IMAGE_747.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UVDivwGoa-o/UmRrzOSvv0I/AAAAAAAAE3s/uQQHkzZxTbI/s640/IMAGE_747.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Shall I bug you with some etymology or shall I just get on with talking about food?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br />Etymology, you say? Your wish is my command.<br /><br />I love the word ‘companion’ and I don’t mean <a href="http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/Companion's_Guild">in a ‘Firefly’ sense</a> (though if you like it in that sense, no judgement, enjoy, be safe etc). When you have spent as much time as I have messing around with classical languages, the original meaning of words often strikes me seconds before the current meaning does. So for me, a companion is someone who you take bread (<em>Latin</em>: pane, panis) with (<em>Latin</em>: com), a breadfellow and NOT a bedfellow despite what 'Firefly' would have you believe. Some one you sit down to dine with.</div>
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<br />I was lucky enough last week to have a truly companionable dining experience at Hainault Winery in <a href="http://www.perthhillswine.com/wine-routes.php">Perth’s Bickley Valley</a>. I had a seat at a table with eight other people only one of whom I knew. The table was on a deck overlooking the sweep of the vine-covered hillside – a hillside which we had only just managed to get the car up there having been a perilous moment went the wheels spun on the gravel and we thought we were going to drift backwards towards the main road. The Bickley Valley is cool and quiet but our little corner of the deck was warm and noisy.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt3SFIfsCx0/UmRr6jv_9gI/AAAAAAAAE4E/sW7Rl0HLTkg/s1600/IMAGE_750.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt3SFIfsCx0/UmRr6jv_9gI/AAAAAAAAE4E/sW7Rl0HLTkg/s320/IMAGE_750.jpeg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were a few extra 'companions' who were not at the table but under it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />We were there for the ‘Bistrot Traditionnel de Paris’ – an evening catered by Chef Lloyd of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GrapeProvisions">Grape Provisions</a> and accompanied (there’s that word again!) by <a href="http://www.hainault.com.au/">Hainault </a>wines. Our table was a wonderful group of invited guests – gardeners, growers, butchers, photographers, psychologists and sustainablists (and just one blogger) – and the convivial (<em>Latin</em>: convivere – to carouse together) atmosphere grew out of this interesting mix, assisted by wine.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPlovsFG6OQ/UmRsJsq0pFI/AAAAAAAAE40/uZtNEGWAJng/s1600/IMAGE_756.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPlovsFG6OQ/UmRsJsq0pFI/AAAAAAAAE40/uZtNEGWAJng/s320/IMAGE_756.jpeg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<br />I started with a glass of the Hainault Sparkling Pinot Noir Brut (2008), slight on bubbles, strong on apple characteristics, every-so-delicately pink. The first course was a classic bistro-style French onion soup made from fire-roasted onions and chicken stock and served with slices of Roman (yes! fits with my Latin leitmotif!) flatbread. The flavours were intense, as robust as you would expect a peasant-style soup to be and the chunks of bread added to the rustic look. It was a good beginning on a chilly evening.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gsCaXRwGrz0/UmRssIDmmAI/AAAAAAAAE6k/iLAQOhcFkdU/s1600/IMAGE_770.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gsCaXRwGrz0/UmRssIDmmAI/AAAAAAAAE6k/iLAQOhcFkdU/s400/IMAGE_770.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<br />The main course was also traditional and warming – <em>pot au feu</em> which, if you are to believe Raymond Blanc is “the quintessence of French family cuisine, it is the most celebrated dish in France. It honours the tables of the rich and poor alike”. This version also honoured the cow that provided the meat. “Tongue to tail” (langue a la queue) cooking uses every part of the animal in an effort not to be wasteful. There were six different cuts of beef through the rich sauce. I was able to notice the difference in texture but could not have identified with parts were tongue or tail (or cheek or saddle…) but we were fortunate to be sitting with Pip from <a href="http://sebastianbutchers.com.au/">Sebastian Butchers in Kalamunda</a> who, through his expertese, was able to make the subtle distinctions. I think there might have been a tongue-in-cheek – pun intended – remark about the ‘autopsy at the end of the table’ but it was very interesting to have that knowledge there, even if it might have been a little confronting for some.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C08qauQmYsk/UmRskiJQwnI/AAAAAAAAE6M/07dAuKcqcAk/s1600/IMAGE_767.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C08qauQmYsk/UmRskiJQwnI/AAAAAAAAE6M/07dAuKcqcAk/s400/IMAGE_767.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this was my favourite part of the whole meal -<em>pane, panis</em> (bread).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />There was a mixed salad to go with the <em>pot au feu</em> and fragrant fresh-baked sour-dough, soft beneath the golden crust. I broke bread with my breadfellows while we listened to stories of growing gardens, European travel without a valid passport, and hosting difficult foreign exchange students.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Latin word for 'owl' is 'bubo' because that is the sound owls make...</td></tr>
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<br />If anyone had been intimidated about being seated with strangers at the beginning, this was no longer evident. We mopped up our stew with the sourdough and chased this with the deep berry-ness of the Hainault 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. I was put in mind of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peasant_Wedding">Breughel’s painting of a peasant wedding</a> – simple food, done well and eaten in good company with much merriment.</div>
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<br />The dessert was an interesting combination of pistachio ice-cream swirled with liquorice sauce and garnished with pickled strawberries. I personally would have liked more of the liquorice sauce, because I am a lifelong liquorice devotee, and fewer of the pickled strawberries which I found a little too intense for my taste, but which my companions enjoyed very much.<br /><br />By the end of the meal, we had made seven new friends, had recommendations for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/collodelicecream">an ice-cream shop in Kalamunda</a>, had an invitation to visit <a href="http://www.opengarden.org.au/regions/wa_calendar.html">an open garden</a>, knew where to buy herbed sausages in the Bickley Valley, and had two bottles of the Cab Sauv to take home.<br /><br />The last bottle of Cab Sauv was brought to the table by Chef Lloyd at the end of service. He deserved it more than we did, having successfully got out more than 50 covers, but it was nice of him to share. That extra glass was a lovely way to finish superb evening and I know that I for one was definitely content (<em>Latin</em>: contentus – satisfied, having all that one could desire).</div>
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<br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Note: I dined as a guest of Grape Provisions/Hainault Winery but paid for my drinks.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-7385022272599974502013-10-11T19:41:00.000-07:002013-10-11T20:27:33.713-07:00Breaking the Birthday Law: Grass, Amphoras, The Nic and The Moon<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://eatmeetswest.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/the-birthday-law/">I broke the fourth commandment of Bri's Birthday Law by coming to work</a>. However, in a busy week with my boss away and a whole lot of organisation to be done, the luxury of a day at home just wasn't on the cards this year. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Still, I was determined that despite a lot of general crapness that has been going on of late, I was going to have as good a birthday as possible. I was going to be kind to myself and treat me to some quality me-time if possible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Breakfast for one seemed a good place to start.
Grass Espresso is my latest West Perth discovery and perhaps my choice to go
there today had a lot to do with the fact that I could have a glass of Pommery
N.V. along with my mocha and eggs Benedict. If you ever feel like toasting me
with champagne (you know, if the whim strikes you...) then Pommery in all its
wheaty gold goodness is my declared favourite</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like a putting green but sideways.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I like it at Grass and not just because of their astroturf walls. They are all so smiley
there and sometimes, though not this time, they do latte art teddy bears on the
top of your coffee. Even without a friendly bear, my mocha was excellent, good coffee with some chocolate in it and not the other way around. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The eggs Benedict,
sorry, Grass Benedict, was just right too. I’m not much of a breakfast person,
but eggs Benedict is the dish most likely to sway me into matutinal eating.
It’s the Hollandaise that does it for me – nothing quite like a creamy, tangy
sauce over the top of warm poached eggs with just enough liquidity in the
yolk. Add a generous ripple of smoked salmon, and alfalfa sprouts on top of a
white doorstep of bread – this is a breakfast worth having. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I had a moment’s
nostalgia when the eggs were served up on an apple-green plate. When I was a
kiddie, I had a favourite poem (which I cannot find online anywhere) which put
forward the idea that food tasted better ‘off apple-green plates’ and to this
day, on the rare occasion when an apple-green plate is placed before me, I
think of that poem and smile. Apple-green plates and the shimmer of Pommery,
opened and poured in front of me, and I was off to a very good start.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zYzNgIDtU6g/UlYDXvMfmLI/AAAAAAAAE0o/H-qHzOrCyAc/s1600/IMAGE_730.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zYzNgIDtU6g/UlYDXvMfmLI/AAAAAAAAE0o/H-qHzOrCyAc/s400/IMAGE_730.jpeg" width="297" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Arriving at work, I thought my luck had changed
when I discovered two police cars parked out the front. I almost turned around
and went home. The thought of having to deal with the thin blue line (and, yes, it has happened to me in the past) made me
not a little anxious. It turned out, however, that it was nothing to do with my
building, so huge sigh of relief and on with business as usual.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somebody else's problem.</td></tr>
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<div class="yiv1435500180msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lunch was more sociable than breakfast and I
was lucky enough to have the company of wonderful work and blogger friends
(thank you for joining me Nic, Mel, Liv, and Sarah-Jane!) for tapas and
prosecco in the sunshine. <a href="http://www.amphorasbar.com.au/">Amphoras</a> never
lets me down and it was really, really kind of the wait-staff to organise an
extra serve on each tapas plate where possible, so there were 5 portions where
there would normally be 4. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We started with the glazed chorizo which is an
Amphoras must-have – don’t let them take it away before you have mopped up all
the glaze with bread – then there were marinated mushrooms, arancini, anchovy
toasts, crumbed goat cheese, and warm bread with butter and black salt</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Anchovies are one of those love it or hate it
foods – I love them but I get that other people don’t. Still, these were superb
– not the super-salty, tiny crumbly morsels that you get in tins – these were
large, fresh and marinated in vinegar, served with tomato salsa and bread. They
matched really well with the prosecco – tart, appley bubbles to chase the
sharpness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Fresh anchovy fillets.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was grateful to have to chance to sit in the
sunshine – yes, sunshine! I was lucky with the weather – and have a laugh with
some smart, talented and funny ladies. As I said to Mel afterwards, I couldn’t have
wished for better but longer would have been nice.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I did drag my feet a bit when it was time to go
back to the office, but the afternoon was busy, and the last part of the day
disappeared in a flurry of paperwork. I walked to the bus-stop via <a href="http://gangemis-fine-wines-food.myshopify.com/">Gangemi’s</a>.
The guys there know their stuff and can always be guaranteed to point me
straight at the wine I want. This time I was steered towards a De Bortoli Este
2006 “ultra sauvage, hand riddled, hand disgorged” which was deeply amber and tasted of honey toast - an appropriate book-end
to a day which had begun with Pommery. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p>Later that evening, I matched the Este with cheap pizza and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/">The Sound of Music</a> on DVD.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Hey, the birthday law, the sixth commandment in fact, says that thou shalt do
whatever the hell you want, and if that’s alternating mouthfuls of deep-pan Super Supreme with karaoke renditions of “Edelweiss” and "The Lonely Goatherd", then so be
it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Before I reached home, I stopped off at The Nic in Subiaco for a quiet glass of red (Yelland and Papps Shiraz) to toast myself and the fact that I have survived to celebrate another birthday.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not a birthday without some Shiraz.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I rarely go to bars by myself, so it was a different experience to sit and sip my wine and watch other people socialise. The Nic (formerly The Suite) has recently changed management and expanded its premises - what you get is a big airy bar in a quiet part of the suburb. Worth a return visit when I am back that way, next time with friends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">It was also a time for contemplation and for planning how I am going to continue to be kind to myself in the year ahead. I have gifted myself with some travel before the end of the year, some good food and drink experiences, and a couple of adventures. You'll get the blog posts on those as they happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Commandment Eight also says it is permissible to stretch out your birthday over multiple days, especially if your actual birthday is on a week day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">And that's my excuse for yesterday's dinner at <a href="http://themoon.com.au/">The Moon Cafe in Northbridge</a>. (No food photos - <a href="http://the-strawberry-thief.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/through-glass-darkly-victoria-room.html">mood lighting issues</a>) In actual fact, I wasn't there to celebrate my birthday at all, I was there to have a reunion with some former colleagues, one of whom was visiting from Switzerland, but when I got there, there was present for me, and another friend just happened to have a musical birthday cake candle with him (it was Barbie Pink and played a tinny version of "Happy Birthday" if you pressed a button) so they sang the song and I got to blow out the candle.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rsq__Dblo-U/UliiTHtGBRI/AAAAAAAAE2s/M7cV8ByBMe4/s1600/IMAGE_742.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rsq__Dblo-U/UliiTHtGBRI/AAAAAAAAE2s/M7cV8ByBMe4/s400/IMAGE_742.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berry cheesecake with cream AND icecream and a musical candle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">Funnily enough, I quite forgot to make a wish. At the moment I blew that candle out, I was in such a happy place it didn't even cross my mind..</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">I've checked The Birthday Law - candles and wishes are not mentioned, perhaps they are <i>sub judice</i> as their place in the law is considered? Perhaps it's not necessary to mention them; if your birthday brings you wine and song and friends and cake and apple-green plates and, if liked, anchovies, then really, what more is there to wish for? </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-10041756433904504602013-10-08T20:39:00.003-07:002013-10-08T21:13:02.329-07:00Through a glass darkly: The Victoria Room, Sydney.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uaRBGOx-onI/UiXbZeyAB3I/AAAAAAAAEbw/X18m05Vw15c/s1600/IMAGE_562.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uaRBGOx-onI/UiXbZeyAB3I/AAAAAAAAEbw/X18m05Vw15c/s640/IMAGE_562.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The soft glow of amber
lighting – I love it. Give me the pinpoint of a tea-light, the buttery warmth
of an ivory-shaded table lamp, or the muted fire of a fringed standard lamp:
all are a beacon for my inner romantic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Not for my inner food
blogger though. The more romantic and muted and softly-glowing the light of a
restaurant or café is, the less opportunity there will be to take decent
photographs unless I descend to the barbarism of using a flash and risk ending
up with food ‘mug-shots’. I suppose I could take a photography course, learn to
do the do with my SLR, but that is a big, clunky piece of equipment, and not
the kind of thing you can subtly whip out mid-dining experience. So I use my
iPhone and I make do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Of course, when out with
other bloggers, this problem is easily fixed. In a spirit of cooperation that
could lead to world domination if properly harnessed, food bloggers are always
there ready to light each other’s shots – to use their iPhone flashlights to
light your dish from above or from the side so that the pesky shadows are
eliminated without the food looking as if it has been caught <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in flagrante</i>…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">At </span><a href="http://www.thevictoriaroom.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The Victoria Room</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">, I was in non-blogging company so my “Aah!” of delight as I ran up the carpeted staircase with its discreet floor-lights, soon gave way to the “Oh” of regret when I realised that any food photography was pretty much out.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EEjCrR9mSjw/UiXa7AH6ErI/AAAAAAAAEag/n6pRlR8oyxs/s1600/IMAGE_552.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EEjCrR9mSjw/UiXa7AH6ErI/AAAAAAAAEag/n6pRlR8oyxs/s400/IMAGE_552.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">It’s an elegant space. High ceilings, hanging bamboo partitions, white linen on the table and everywhere the lamps. It reminded me of </span><a href="http://www.raffles.com/singapore/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The Raffles Hotel in Singapore</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> (where I have never stayed, you understand, but used to go for drinks in the </span><a href="http://www.raffles.com/singapore/dining/long-bar/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Long Bar</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> or </span><a href="http://www.raffles.com/singapore/dining/tiffin-room/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">High Tea in the Tiffin Room</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> as a treat when I lived in Singapore in the 90s) – very Raj Quartet and 1920s colonial. If someone had put a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Sling"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Singapore Sling</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> down in front of me, I would not have been surprised</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SpWKsi3OGFA/UiXbHfWGEmI/AAAAAAAAEbA/AP86163VuX4/s1600/IMAGE_556.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SpWKsi3OGFA/UiXbHfWGEmI/AAAAAAAAEbA/AP86163VuX4/s400/IMAGE_556.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">As it was, the charming manager welcomed my dining companion, F., and me and asked if we would like a drink at the bar first or if we would like to be seated directly. We’d already been for drinks at </span><a href="http://www.hinkydinks.com.au/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Hinky Dinks</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> which was just a little further up the street, so we asked to be seated and he personally escorted us to our table – a linen-covered, ruby tea-light lit affair in a quiet corner of what was an unexpectedly large premises. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k6QJNw0PK0o/UiXbBMdT5XI/AAAAAAAAEaw/tjCgQlijMys/s1600/IMAGE_554.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k6QJNw0PK0o/UiXbBMdT5XI/AAAAAAAAEaw/tjCgQlijMys/s640/IMAGE_554.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Above us, there was a large chandelier with a shade over it – no dazzling sparkle of crystals here, just a subdued effect with the occasional rainbow glint.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DfArvmaPCu8/UiXbRDjKItI/AAAAAAAAEbY/vZu_xMNGWow/s1600/IMAGE_559.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tHJom5_DZtI/UiXbfV0e78I/AAAAAAAAEcA/V-nIZnDDH_w/s1600/IMAGE_564.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tHJom5_DZtI/UiXbfV0e78I/AAAAAAAAEcA/V-nIZnDDH_w/s400/IMAGE_564.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">But there no dazzling food
photography (not that mine ever really approached dazzling anyway) that evening
either. So here we have it, the worst food blogger sin is being committed - a blog post with zero pictures of food. Judge me if you must. But you know something? For me that's just fine. Every now and then,
it is nice to have a meal where the only things that you hold in your hand are
knife, fork, spoon, and wine-glass. The phone/camera stays in the bag for the
most part, and you focus on your friends and your food. There will be pictures of food in my next post - I promise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d4SZdfCopLg/UiXblNPYlxI/AAAAAAAAEcQ/EO-NYP3eY3I/s1600/IMAGE_566.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d4SZdfCopLg/UiXblNPYlxI/AAAAAAAAEcQ/EO-NYP3eY3I/s400/IMAGE_566.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of photos in the official Victoria Room book though...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The food was good. Nothing
out-of-this world, but a decent meal. It’s tapas-style dining, so we chose a
few dishes to share. I think my favourite on the night had to be the fried
Goats Cheese Balls with balsamic onion marmalade and truffle honey – cracking the
breadcrumb shell, to get to the mellow, melty cheese in the middle was a real
pleasure and the sweetness from the onions and the honey, with a noseful of
truffle to help the flavours along, was a different experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">We also tried the Queensland
prawns pan-seared with lemon, chilli and garlic, the spicy Moroccan style meatballs,
and the grilled herb bread. These were more standard tapas fare but still well
done – the prawns were large and succulent, the meatballs of a good size and
hidden in the tomato-based sauce. We used up all the grilled bread in soaking
up the sauce, and we could have done with more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7auK31l2vuo/UiXbh1TUpII/AAAAAAAAEcI/_BqCB3zwew8/s1600/IMAGE_565.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7auK31l2vuo/UiXbh1TUpII/AAAAAAAAEcI/_BqCB3zwew8/s400/IMAGE_565.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">My experiment of the evening was not in the food though, but in the drink. The Victoria Room bar is as much a study in dark wood and decadence as the rest of the restaurant is a fantasy of crystals and candles. They have an unusual cocktail menu which uses </span><a href="http://www.bachflower.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Bach Flower Remedies</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> in the drinks. This cocktail range is called “What the Doctor Ordered.”</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DfArvmaPCu8/UiXbRDjKItI/AAAAAAAAEbY/vZu_xMNGWow/s1600/IMAGE_559.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DfArvmaPCu8/UiXbRDjKItI/AAAAAAAAEbY/vZu_xMNGWow/s400/IMAGE_559.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Quick aside – I am a sceptic through and through. I do not believe in homeopathy. If you catch me on a bad day, do NOT offer me your </em></span><a href="http://www.bachflower.com/rescue-remedy-information/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Rescue Remedy</em></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em> or things will not end well between us. If this was what a doctor actually ever ordered, there would be more than words, there would be whole lectures with the full weight of my sceptic certainty behind them. There would also be a viewing of this video...</em></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HMGIbOGu8q0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">I <em>am</em> all for an interesting taste
sensation though and this seemed like a good opportunity to try something new.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">My Seachange cocktail set me back $21 – but fair enough, it had a decent mix of the curious within: Quandong and Gentian liqueur from the </span><a href="http://www.tamborinemountaindistillery.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Tambourine Mountain Distillery</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">, Hendrick’s gin (always a favourite), orgeat, and lemon juice. The homeopathic magic was provided by the Bach Flower essence Wild Oat and it claimed that I would know my destiny – the advertising said ‘know thy destiny’ and the use of the word ‘thy’ should tell you everything you need to know here – and be able to choose life’s path. Of course, the menu, had the typo, 'know <em>the</em> destiny' - which is more overwhelming still. I waited to see what omniscience my tipple would bring to me.<br /><br />The actual effect was pleasantly herbal at first, and let’s face it, with that many botanicals going on, why wouldn’t it be? After that, it was like an </span><a href="http://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/530/army-and-navy"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Army Navy cocktail</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> with a whole heap of extra florals and aromatics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br />Did I choose life’s path? No. Did I get a sudden urge to try out The Victoria Room trapeze? Absolutely. I think if I’d had one more cocktail the whole ‘trapeze is not for public use’ caveat would not have been enough to stop me.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74qYQNdSKGk/UiXbT16o4BI/AAAAAAAAEbg/u8WhdlcWIh0/s1600/IMAGE_560.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74qYQNdSKGk/UiXbT16o4BI/AAAAAAAAEbg/u8WhdlcWIh0/s640/IMAGE_560.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">We asked a waiter why it was there. Apparently, The Victoria Room has fun Sunday evenings with circus and burlesque acts at their </span><a href="http://www.thevictoriaroom.com/?p=377-Sunday-Nights"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Performance Carnival</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">. This would have been something to see indeed, and the next time I am Sydney, I will reserve a Sunday evening to watch this happen - as it was that Sunday evening saw me on a plane back to Perth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">If ambient lighting and atmosphere are your
delight, then The Victoria Room is for you. You'll be romanced by the décor, warmed by the food, and entertained by the performances if you go on a Sunday. Choose your evening carefully though –
that romantic dinner for two might not work so well on the same evening as the burlesque hula-hooping– and choose your cocktail carefully too:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your future path may just depend on it.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-25258747030416500302013-09-28T21:56:00.002-07:002013-10-11T20:19:11.631-07:00A Fine Theobromance: Chocolate Class with Sue Lewis, Artisan Chocolatier.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HounMTvsL64/UfsP9OwAC4I/AAAAAAAAEF0/9fAtqTOFAnw/s1600/IMAGE_411.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HounMTvsL64/UfsP9OwAC4I/AAAAAAAAEF0/9fAtqTOFAnw/s640/IMAGE_411.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Go on,” says Sue.</span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m about to pour a couple of litres of melted
chocolate all over a flat-topped table, not, you understand, because I’ve
suddenly lost my mind and taken to doing impromptu Jackson Pollock impersonations in the kitchen, but because I’ve been
asked to do it. That’s right - it’s a requirement. And I’m hesitating.</span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m <a href="http://the-strawberry-thief.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/chocolate-covered-table-visit-to-sue.html">back at Sue Lewis’ Subiaco shop</a> to take the chocolate
class that I’ve been promising myself for months and I’m a bit self-conscious
when she hands me the container, telling me to invert it. I have inhibitions
which scream ‘keep your workspace tidy’. Sue has none.</span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“All over the table,” she says, “Go on” and when she says
‘Go on’ she makes it sound like, “I dare you.”</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I5VowZ4OFJ0/UfsRB-GGY7I/AAAAAAAAEIk/BjCndpBT-LY/s1600/IMAGE_433.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I5VowZ4OFJ0/UfsRB-GGY7I/AAAAAAAAEIk/BjCndpBT-LY/s400/IMAGE_433.jpeg" width="330" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't look as nervous as I felt.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I tip the container. The chocolate flows and pools. The joy I experience at seeing this happen, in making this happen, reminds
me of first reading about <a href="http://charlieandthechocolatefactoryfilm.wikia.com/wiki/Chocolate_Waterfall">the chocolate waterfall in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”</a>. I walk up
and down, zig-zagging a trail as I go, while my classmates get in
behind me and smooth the chocolate all over the surface with spatulas. When the whole
table is covered, we use paddles to scrape it back into the centre
and then smooth it out all over again.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YqPS_hB2CHw/UfsQO9phzpI/AAAAAAAAEzc/IX4o2yqE0Fo/s1600/IMAGE_417.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YqPS_hB2CHw/UfsQO9phzpI/AAAAAAAAEzc/IX4o2yqE0Fo/s640/IMAGE_417.jpeg" width="435" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready with the spatulas!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I have a sudden urge to giggle and I’m not sure whether
it’s because I’m playing with chocolate, listening to Sue’s jokes (she tells a
good one about a baby polar bear), or drinking champagne. We were welcomed with
glasses of bubbly and it’s probably a good thing that you can’t be arrested for
pouring chocolate under the influence. </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lUioo29-SW0/UfsPMcK8TzI/AAAAAAAAEDk/qdMwn8L47XY/s1600/IMAGE_395.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lUioo29-SW0/UfsPMcK8TzI/AAAAAAAAEDk/qdMwn8L47XY/s640/IMAGE_395.jpeg" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Off to a really good start.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We’re tempering chocolate on the slab, but that’s not the
only activity we’ve done tonight. The three hour introductory class begins with
tasting. We sample cocoa in all its forms – nibs, powder, mass, butter – while Sue
talks us through the history and chemistry of chocolate production. Her
overview is interesting and educational. I appreciate
the way she explains the processes in laymen’s terms but without dumbing things
down. The descriptions come alive in the cocoa-fragrant warmth of Sue's kitchen. I learn new vocabulary: <i>conching</i>
does indeed relate to the word for the sea-shell, but <i>nibs</i> have nothing to do with pencils even though that is exactly
what I think they look like.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8pirB81dUhg/UfsPPr2lJjI/AAAAAAAAEys/Tjj5f6FjGq4/s1600/IMAGE_396.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8pirB81dUhg/UfsPPr2lJjI/AAAAAAAAEys/Tjj5f6FjGq4/s400/IMAGE_396.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nibs are on the right - they *do* look like pencils!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Tasting chocolate is just like tasting wine and I feel a
little shy as I try to analyse the exotic morsels – from Madagascar, from
Ecuador, from Papua New Guinea – that Sue gives us. I test my language along
with my taste-buds. What is the mouth-feel? Where is the chocolate experienced in
the palate? How would you describe it: bitter, tangy, alkaline, citrusy,
fruity, light, dense?</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urepsGdD6Eg/UfsPlsRJc3I/AAAAAAAAEEw/nudzLFtEPFk/s1600/IMAGE_403.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-urepsGdD6Eg/UfsPlsRJc3I/AAAAAAAAEEw/nudzLFtEPFk/s400/IMAGE_403.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Truffles and powder.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Can I say ‘vinegary’?” I ask. That sounds so wrong –
surely you can’t talk about chocolate in those terms and I’ve just done so in
front of an expert. How embarrassing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Of course you can,” says Sue, and proceeds to tell me
about some chocolate she tried once that tasted so intensely of vinegar that it
brought tears to her eyes. Reassured, I continue to explore, becoming more
confident with my descriptions. Sue is generous with her samples and this time
when she says “Go on” she means “Have some more.”</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KovL8GYMJec/UfsPS97ilgI/AAAAAAAAEy0/fRxMno5pl38/s1600/IMAGE_397.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KovL8GYMJec/UfsPS97ilgI/AAAAAAAAEy0/fRxMno5pl38/s400/IMAGE_397.jpeg" width="388" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cocoa mass.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m the only person in this evening's class who doesn’t
have any formal training in cake-making or patisserie. The one thing we have in common is a love-affair with chocolate – our theobromance. Otherwise, I’m
as a rank an amateur as you can imagine, so when it’s time to make the ganache,
I think it has to contain cream. The term ‘water-based’ is
new to me.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SUGovxaVE4g/UfsPrJTaQ6I/AAAAAAAAEFE/HK9w6hVxXOk/s1600/IMAGE_405.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SUGovxaVE4g/UfsPrJTaQ6I/AAAAAAAAEFE/HK9w6hVxXOk/s400/IMAGE_405.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“What do you want in it?” Sue asks, throwing out tempting
possibilities: rose-water, ruby port, pear cider? We choose
the pear cider. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Right, first we have to try it!” </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">No arguments there. We take sips of the cider so we can decide, and it is very much our decision, which
ingredients we want with it. Sue’s shop
contains a bazaar’s worth of spices and fruit to enhance the ganache. Star anise, cinnamon sticks, and
chopped crystallised ginger are our romantic trifecta. We cluster around the saucepan to watch it
all combine with the cider and chocolate - a coven of
chocolate-loving witches watching the mixture bubble, bubble…</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xpETgJGL848/UfsP3H1yLNI/AAAAAAAAEFk/hHNiFs9_9RU/s1600/IMAGE_409.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xpETgJGL848/UfsP3H1yLNI/AAAAAAAAEFk/hHNiFs9_9RU/s400/IMAGE_409.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Or perhaps mad scientists would be a better comparison? As
the evening progresses, chocolate isn’t the only thing that flows, creativity
does too. Moulding chocolate? Let’s have the moulds that look like frogs. Yes! And
the ones that look like seashells AND let’s add edible sparkle! Blue, green
or laser-rainbow sparkle? All three! Why not? Disco-frogs and disco-seashells! It doesn't sound strange, it sounds perfect.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWTLsAclBmk/UfsQe673UbI/AAAAAAAAEHM/ZsxOplVH-A0/s1600/IMAGE_422.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWTLsAclBmk/UfsQe673UbI/AAAAAAAAEHM/ZsxOplVH-A0/s400/IMAGE_422.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyAT6efla6E/UfsQi-CqJqI/AAAAAAAAEHU/Q-v06drxgmI/s1600/IMAGE_423.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyAT6efla6E/UfsQi-CqJqI/AAAAAAAAEHU/Q-v06drxgmI/s400/IMAGE_423.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Any hesitation I might have had about kitchen and
personal tidiness is quite gone by the time we get into the truffles. I snap on
my latex gloves like a pro. It’s hands-on. It’s hands-in! I’m up to my wrists
in chocolate and, baby, I was born to enrobe. We are smelling, tasting, <i>feeling</i> the chocolate, and when Sue says, “Go on” this time she
means “Take a risk, be creative, have some fun”.</span></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ca4S1fxQlhw/UfsQ14kSu_I/AAAAAAAAEIE/A4Vbyd9oNlM/s1600/IMAGE_429.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ca4S1fxQlhw/UfsQ14kSu_I/AAAAAAAAEIE/A4Vbyd9oNlM/s400/IMAGE_429.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's every kid's dream, right?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At the end of the class, we leave a spattered
table and floor behind us. When I get home, I notice I have a large streak of chocolate from just below my ear to my collarbone – that’s how good an evening
it has been.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OkrEXePuFo/UfsQAo17lTI/AAAAAAAAEzM/X1AmPOtHxrc/s1600/IMAGE_412.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OkrEXePuFo/UfsQAo17lTI/AAAAAAAAEzM/X1AmPOtHxrc/s640/IMAGE_412.jpeg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drizzled table.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Chocolate classes at Sue Lewis Artisan Chocolatier in
Subiaco are held on Thursday evenings. The cost is $110 which buys you a whole
lot of learning, of chocolate-covered fun, of rediscovering your inner-child and, i</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">f you are debating whether it’s worth it, I have two
words for you:</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Go on.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fZZfoTPBsSY/UfsPoXpej7I/AAAAAAAAEzE/qhWoCs13aH4/s1600/IMAGE_404.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="558" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fZZfoTPBsSY/UfsPoXpej7I/AAAAAAAAEzE/qhWoCs13aH4/s640/IMAGE_404.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-51025627076935790812013-09-15T00:34:00.000-07:002013-09-15T00:34:01.007-07:00Look back in ombre: Narcissus ombre cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MmsPCtJx7dw/UjU9VMhT_0I/AAAAAAAAEoM/MfnAW4bM434/s1600/IMAGE_652.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MmsPCtJx7dw/UjU9VMhT_0I/AAAAAAAAEoM/MfnAW4bM434/s640/IMAGE_652.jpeg" width="550" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“It was a dark and rainy
night…”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This seems to be the way
that most of my recent blog-posts have started. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“It was a dark and rainy
night and I took shelter in a cocktail bar…”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">That kind of thing.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Luckily for you guys, I usually erase it and try and find a different way to lead into a post.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s been Spring officially
for a fortnight now but the glimpses of warmer weather have been infrequent.
Rainy days are good for baking and blogging but they are also good for staying
in and doing the work that you have had to bring home. That work that suddenly
appeared <a href="http://the-strawberry-thief.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/promises-to-keep-sydney-again.html">while you were having a fantastic holiday in Sydney</a>, and now seems
like a punishment for having enjoyed yourself too much.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But, having met the
deadlines for all the writing projects that have recently come my way, I
finally had a quiet, free weekend for the first time since I got back, and it
was time to get reacquainted with the kitchen.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’ve been wanting to try and
‘ombre’ style cake for ages, but have been very aware that the trend (in <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/07/inspiring-ombre-cakes-in-every-color/">cake</a>,
in <a href="http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/beauty/celebrity/hair/2010/09/celebrity-two-tone-hair">hair</a>, in <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/greenbrideguide/ombr%C3%A9-wedding-ideas/">weddings</a>) has now passed out of fashion. There are a thousand blogs
with a thousand clever ombre cakes out there. It isn’t new. It’s been
well-and-truly done before. Still, I have never been stylish and I wanted to have a go, just to say that I
had done it, so, with a sense of Spring in the air as I took my early morning
walk this morning, I decided that today was the day.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E9Xx3lsbSR0/UjU8wEbQwWI/AAAAAAAAEmM/JwgQenmIrvs/s1600/IMAGE_636.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E9Xx3lsbSR0/UjU8wEbQwWI/AAAAAAAAEmM/JwgQenmIrvs/s400/IMAGE_636.jpeg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: x-small;">A patch of everlastings that I saw while I was out walking. It seems like Spring - but for how long?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I chose the ‘narcissus’
colour theme because to me, any daffodil-sighting means that real Spring cannot be
too far away. This meant yellow food-colouring – lots of it. I didn’t buy
gel-colouring. I didn’t buy organic colouring. I shamelessly grovelled at the
shrine of the gods of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrazine">Tartrazine</a> and used bog-standard chemical colouring that
is found in any supermarket aisle. If you (or your cake-eating family and
friends) are the kind of person who objects to this, I am sure that you are
also possessed of the knowledge to find a healthier alternative, so when, in
the recipe, it says ‘yellow food colouring’, you will know exactly what to do.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cmBF53lhr6U/UjU82nvUrSI/AAAAAAAAEmk/gj9aIAfQLKU/s1600/IMAGE_639.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="397" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cmBF53lhr6U/UjU82nvUrSI/AAAAAAAAEmk/gj9aIAfQLKU/s400/IMAGE_639.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The vanilla extract was organic though!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Narcissus Ombre Cake</span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>For the cake batter</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">1 cup caster sugar</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">200g butter (melted)</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">2 eggs</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">1.5 cups milk</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">1 cup plain flour</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">1 cup SR flour</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yellow colouring (and 1 drop of red food colouring for the darkest layer)</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>For the lemon butter icing</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">50g butter (melted)</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Juice of 1 large lemon</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">3 cups of icing sugar,
sifted</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>To make the cake batter</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In a food processor, mix
melted butter and caster sugar until pale. Add eggs. Add the cup of plain
flour. Then add the milk. Then add the cup of SR flour and the vanilla essence and mix until completely combined.(Adding the flours separately seems to result in a smoother batter.)</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Separate the cake batter
into 5 small bowls. Pour the (uncoloured) contents of one bowl into a standard
spring-form tin which has been lined with baking paper. Place in oven,
pre-heated to 200C, and bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BrU7_jPrMJc/UjU87aUNjCI/AAAAAAAAEm0/ZujClVaaPrs/s1600/IMAGE_641.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BrU7_jPrMJc/UjU87aUNjCI/AAAAAAAAEm0/ZujClVaaPrs/s400/IMAGE_641.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At this stage, your cake will look more like aioli, mustard and cheese sauce, but do not despair! All will be well.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> While the first section is
baking, colour the other 4 portions of cake batter so that you have
progressively deeper shades of yellow. Adding a single drop of red colouring to the darkest layer will get you a much richer yellow. When you have coloured all bowls to your
satisfaction, repeat the baking step above with each portion of cake batter.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZKJ75L4HEk/UjU890WifTI/AAAAAAAAEm8/vom5RhSqrb4/s1600/IMAGE_642.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZKJ75L4HEk/UjU890WifTI/AAAAAAAAEm8/vom5RhSqrb4/s400/IMAGE_642.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If they aren't perectly round, that's okay. Icing will hide a multitude of sins. ;)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Place all layers of cake
onto wire trays and leave until completely cool.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>To make the lemon butter icing</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Place the melted butter into
a mixing bowl, add sifted icing sugar and mix thoroughly. Gradually add lemon
juice until you have a mixture that is firm and not too thin. You want the kind of texture that will hold its shape and not be runny when you want to cover the cake.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>To assemble the cake</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Starting with the darkest
layer and working up to the uncoloured layer, stick each layer of cake together
with the thin covering of lemon butter icing (you don’t want the icing to be
obvious, because it will spoil the seamlessness of the ombre effect).</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Use remaining icing to cover
the top and sides of the cake.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eeJ72VNW8Ns/UjU9Cp92nYI/AAAAAAAAEnM/BmCLJ0qs6NA/s1600/IMAGE_644.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eeJ72VNW8Ns/UjU9Cp92nYI/AAAAAAAAEnM/BmCLJ0qs6NA/s400/IMAGE_644.jpeg" width="385" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>To serve</i>:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Cut each slice of cake using
a clean, warm knife (you can run it under the hot-water tap before drying it
off) to avoid smudging the layers when you cut the cake.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-80ya4kNxQfo/UjU9JCBECfI/AAAAAAAAEnk/b9OkXO0A2no/s1600/IMAGE_647.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-80ya4kNxQfo/UjU9JCBECfI/AAAAAAAAEnk/b9OkXO0A2no/s400/IMAGE_647.jpeg" width="327" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is a pretty cake which
I decided to make prettier by using some jasmine and lemon blossom from the
garden, but some people actually go the distance and decorate their ombre cakes
with ombre icing on the outside. It’s up to you, really.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Me, I just wanted to
decorate the cake as quickly as possible, so I could cut a slice and eat it
outside in the sunshine. I’ve seen the weather report for tomorrow – it says ‘increasing
showers’ which means another dark and stormy night is on the horizon, and instead of being outside in the Spring weather, I
shall probably have to seek shelter in some bar…</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o60i5QJSucM/UjU9S4_CxhI/AAAAAAAAEoE/vuTia1iZMIU/s1600/IMAGE_651.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o60i5QJSucM/UjU9S4_CxhI/AAAAAAAAEoE/vuTia1iZMIU/s640/IMAGE_651.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260634228043127040.post-81631178204904409272013-09-03T08:18:00.000-07:002013-09-03T08:18:29.655-07:00Promises to keep: Sydney again.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1X3GHW_RD4A/UiXcNf03trI/AAAAAAAAEd4/b25gMYFkqHw/s1600/IMAGE_579.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1X3GHW_RD4A/UiXcNf03trI/AAAAAAAAEd4/b25gMYFkqHw/s640/IMAGE_579.jpeg" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It wouldn't be Surry Hills without a picture of the Crown Street school,</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m not sure if I can keep
my promise.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I said to my friends, “This
is absolutely my last Sydney trip for this year. I promise.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">See that? I promised.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My most recent trip had
nothing to do with work. It was simply the pull of the place and the people –
particularly the people - that had me on the early flight out of Perth. A few
dozy hours, one indifferent breakfast and a crying baby later, and the view of the
Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the aeroplane window was an iconic and
breath-taking welcome.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-A0NtH0R3I/UiX4JGCkP6I/AAAAAAAAEgY/K2r-9iX_6uU/s1600/IMAGE_598.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s-A0NtH0R3I/UiX4JGCkP6I/AAAAAAAAEgY/K2r-9iX_6uU/s640/IMAGE_598.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just as breath-taking from ground level.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’d based myself in Surry
Hills again – the scene of my previous “Red Adventures” as I now think of them,
at <a href="http://the-strawberry-thief.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/leave-little-light-on-for-me-red.html">Red Lantern</a> and <a href="http://the-strawberry-thief.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/subterranean-reds-and-sunken-evenings.html">Red Door</a>. In an interesting coincidence, my apartment, with
its Vietnamese and Russian communist propaganda art, and glossy
cinnabar-coloured furniture, had been given the name “Red Panda”. It was my
home for five wonderful days and a great base from which to explore the
neighbourhood.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uwiY-o6kgP8/UiX4MbfnWxI/AAAAAAAAEgg/Pr_80LOpGTw/s1600/IMAGE_599.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uwiY-o6kgP8/UiX4MbfnWxI/AAAAAAAAEgg/Pr_80LOpGTw/s400/IMAGE_599.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The cupboard of mystery - never did manage to find out what was inside.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My food adventures were many
and varied and too numerous for one post, so I’d like to share some of the
highlights here and show you why my promise to stay put in Perth for the rest
of the year is going to be so hard to keep.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Reuben
Sandwich from Two Good Eggs Café – Goulburn Street, Surry Hills</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vco-mygiSCI/UiXZihl0xsI/AAAAAAAAEW4/8Cfv5sqRQeE/s1600/IMAGE_523.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vco-mygiSCI/UiXZihl0xsI/AAAAAAAAEW4/8Cfv5sqRQeE/s640/IMAGE_523.jpeg" width="475" /></a></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’d enjoyed the coffee at
Two Good Eggs before so it was no surprise that the food was as great as the
brew. The thick wedge of Reuben sandwich, (suggested by my friend and dining
companion, @rich_tapestry) with clear strata of corned beef, pickle, and cheese
was creamy and tangy and substantial.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was also too much for me - I couldn’t
finish. I didn’t even touch the fat olives that were served on the side. The
long macc that I had with it lifted my jet-lag (the 2 hour time difference is
just the wrong side of acceptable).</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Salted
Caramel Éclair from Flour and Stone Bakery – Riley Street, Woolloomooloo</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VjXjWmTU2B8/UiXZzNvyzgI/AAAAAAAAEXg/Sa9FADdd4Hc/s1600/IMAGE_528.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VjXjWmTU2B8/UiXZzNvyzgI/AAAAAAAAEXg/Sa9FADdd4Hc/s640/IMAGE_528.jpeg" width="475" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The temptation of the fabled
salted caramel éclair and the chance to meet Twitter friend @multiforkgasms in
person had me walking the length of Riley Street in the sunshine. It was hard
to believe it was the end of winter; the weather was so warm and pleasant.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There
was a queue outside the bakery but the resourceful @multiforkgasms and his good
lady, J., had managed to score a table inside. The pleasure of being with other
food-minded people is that they understand the need to photograph the hell out
of anything edible that happens to be around. The éclairs, carrot cake,
shortbread and other baked goods were duly recorded and J. showed all the
classic patience of the partner who knows not to touch their food until it has
been photographed from every possible angle.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And the éclair? The delicate
choux was topped with dark chocolate which was itself studded with toffee
praline. The filling was dense, sweet with the smokiness of burnt sugar and
subtly salty (I would add more salt!)</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CK6g_vAcerY/UiXZ2qt5EcI/AAAAAAAAEXo/FlFa2QwatiI/s1600/IMAGE_529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CK6g_vAcerY/UiXZ2qt5EcI/AAAAAAAAEXo/FlFa2QwatiI/s640/IMAGE_529.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I chased my sinful éclair with
the world’s fiercest mocha. It packed a real punch but I think I needed it to
counter all the sugar. After a wonderful breakfast, I said goodbye to family
Forkgasms, and stocked up with Flour and Stone loot for lunch – leek and
gruyere tart, pizza scrolls, lemon and ricotta doughnuts, strawberry brulee, and
strawberry shortbread. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEL5eDr1ANM/UiXZ-R34ZzI/AAAAAAAAEYA/--8ePJb9B3o/s1600/IMAGE_532.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEL5eDr1ANM/UiXZ-R34ZzI/AAAAAAAAEYA/--8ePJb9B3o/s400/IMAGE_532.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strawberry shortbread for a Strawberrythief</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oh9lXdIJmXc/UiXaBN_5bwI/AAAAAAAAEYI/TxS7ESx5oag/s1600/IMAGE_533.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oh9lXdIJmXc/UiXaBN_5bwI/AAAAAAAAEYI/TxS7ESx5oag/s400/IMAGE_533.jpeg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strawberry brulee for...yes, you guessed it, me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">El
Mexicano cocktail from Hinky Dinks Bar - Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVovYOC7oBY/UiXayRMHAiI/AAAAAAAAEaI/_GhNi93jxos/s1600/IMAGE_549.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVovYOC7oBY/UiXayRMHAiI/AAAAAAAAEaI/_GhNi93jxos/s400/IMAGE_549.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I knew that I would like
Hinky Dinks when I saw their motto, “Cocktails first, questions later.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is a bar with beautiful
mixologists serving beautiful concoctions. I wasn’t sure what had more appeal –
all the perfect-skin supermodels holding cocktail shakers or the drinks menu.
My El Mexicano contained chipotle-infused sweet vermouth, Campari, chocolate
bitters, soda, blood orange and a large hand-cut rock of ice. Citrus and
woodsmoke and herbs – a refreshing blend for a warm evening. Thanks to my dear
friend, F. for introducing me to this bar.</span></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><h3 style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Breakfast and bubbles from Baia – Darling Harbour/
Cocktails from The Strawberry Hills Hotel roof-top bar</span></i></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zbZreOHQpcQ/UiXcTGlPhpI/AAAAAAAAEeI/WekxsrlCRnE/s1600/IMAGE_581.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zbZreOHQpcQ/UiXcTGlPhpI/AAAAAAAAEeI/WekxsrlCRnE/s640/IMAGE_581.jpeg" width="475" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I would probably be less in
Sydney if my sister, C., didn’t live there. We had a long, leisurely breakfast
working our way up the tiered cake-stand which had a good balance of sweet and
savoury early-morning morsels for us to sample. We began with coffee and
finished with bubbles, and along the way enjoyed cucumber topped with salmon
and roe, mini-croissants, chocolate, olives, and finger-sandwiches.</span></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">After breakfast, we had some
quality sister-time shopping, taking a turn about the Chinese Friendship
Garden, and going for a Thai massage. </span></span></span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5fWQ2uOESsk/UiX4Bt_OP0I/AAAAAAAAEgI/rhDvWjoy6CQ/s1600/IMAGE_596.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="475" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5fWQ2uOESsk/UiX4Bt_OP0I/AAAAAAAAEgI/rhDvWjoy6CQ/s640/IMAGE_596.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You get a picture of the Friendship Garden but not of the Thai massage. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> At the time of typing, I am still recovering
from the massage which brought sensation back to long-forgotten muscles.
The cocktails at The Strawberry Hills Hotel were a way to numb those surprised muscles
all over again.</span></span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGgHSPzy9fc/UiXcer8UMNI/AAAAAAAAEeo/V41OBXWDZv8/s1600/IMAGE_585.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGgHSPzy9fc/UiXcer8UMNI/AAAAAAAAEeo/V41OBXWDZv8/s640/IMAGE_585.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">C. had a pomegranate mojito and I
had an espresso martini. While the cocktails were delicious, the martini was my
second choice. I’d asked for a Negroni and been flatly refused (even though I
could see that they had all the necessary ingredients behind the bar). There
wasn’t even an attempt to try to help me out – “We only do the cocktails on the
chalkboard” – not the way to win return business. Still, the roof-bar is a good
space for a drink or to have a meal (I have eaten there with my sister before)
and there is the bonus (or not, depending on your vintage) of 80s music videos
on the TV screens. Between sips of my martini, I proved that I knew all the words
to “The Timewarp”, “Rock Lobster” and “Dreadlock Holiday” and my sister was
generous enough not to disown me there and then.</span></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span>
</h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><h3 style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lemon snapper with truffled risotto from The Dove
and Olive – Waterloo Road, Surry Hills</span></i></span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GIpqK2ridBY/UiXcpzfJu-I/AAAAAAAAEfI/itETP8TM388/s1600/IMAGE_589.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GIpqK2ridBY/UiXcpzfJu-I/AAAAAAAAEfI/itETP8TM388/s640/IMAGE_589.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
<h3 style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bC-VuIriwU/UiXcm7uRPUI/AAAAAAAAEfA/wIK3DVPAUXw/s1600/IMAGE_588.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bC-VuIriwU/UiXcm7uRPUI/AAAAAAAAEfA/wIK3DVPAUXw/s320/IMAGE_588.jpeg" width="238" /></a></div>
</span></i></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I’m never sure what to expect
from pub meals. The only thing I do know is that I try to avoid the word “hearty”
when writing about them. The Dove and Olive had the double advantage of being
only 200m up the street from my “Red Panda” apartment and also of raising the
bar for pub-food everywhere simply with the quality of the truffle risotto – no
stinginess with the black gold here, lots of discernible truffle shavings
through the rice, and an intense truffle flavour that paired nicely with the
lemony fish. Alas, the house wine didn’t quite reach the standard of the meal.
It was…hearty. Still, if you want to get off the main strip of Crown Street but stay in Surry Hills,
you will enjoy the relaxed atmosphere at The Dove and Olive, and I’m grateful
to the wonderful R. for taking me there.</span></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Toby’s
Estate coffee (and a freckle!) from Fifi Foveaux Café – Foveaux Street, Surry
Hills</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qV34udxT128/UiXc2HbwChI/AAAAAAAAEfo/SnQqaaAUSbA/s1600/IMAGE_593.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qV34udxT128/UiXc2HbwChI/AAAAAAAAEfo/SnQqaaAUSbA/s640/IMAGE_593.jpeg" width="476" /></a></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My last excursion out and my
only solo one. I loved my giant mocha with a double shot of superb coffee. The
friendly service made me smile, as did the freckle on the spoon.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And that’s meant to be it
for this year. I promised that I would not return to Sydney again in 2013. But
you can see the temptations, can’t you?</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And you would understand, wouldn’t you,
if, in a few months, I was blogging about the Sydney food and beverage scene
all over again?</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I knew you would.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hyyR_TtR_9g/UiX34vZnH4I/AAAAAAAAEf4/in5wZIrVuvk/s1600/IMAGE_594.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hyyR_TtR_9g/UiX34vZnH4I/AAAAAAAAEf4/in5wZIrVuvk/s640/IMAGE_594.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have to go back - if only to get a ride on the Darling Harbour carousel...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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