Here a noodle, there a noodle.

Some interesting stories about food. Firstly, you can have high tea at sea now. Who knew? Well, me actually, cause that's where i was last Saturday. It's October, and in Sydney, that means it's the month of the International Food Festival. There are all sorts of foodie events going on, and special deals at restaurants and so on, so there isn't a better time to get out there and eat. Not that i need much persuading. But back to my story. As part of the festival they have this cruise thing where you can go have high tea out on the rolling ocean, and actually it was very nice. Leah and I took our mothers, and let me tell you, three glasses of champagne later i couldn't be in a better mood. Although it's definitely the first time I've seen sausage rolls on a high tea platter, "gourmet" though they were.




I'll post some pictures once Leah sends them through to me. In more food news, we went to brunch on Sunday at The Book Kitchen in Surry Hills, which i really enjoyed. They go for that hippie, organic thing that's so popular right now, which is fine, but the highlight for me was the fig and date pikelets with vanilla ricotta and poached pear. I mean. It was freaken awesome. I'm still thinking about them like a week later. Which doesn't say a whole lot really, cause there are some meals I'm still thinking about years later. Which is the great thing about food. And also the great thing about family, cause in our family, big dinners or lunches with a whole bunch of people is totally the thing - you know, gathering for a meal and all that. Which sounds corny, but also kinda wonderful in it's way. Which is probably what's created this vicious food-obsessed cycle. Also, I'm using the word 'which' a lot, which is weird.




Wait, i have one more food related story - Maria, Peter, Jack and I headed to the night noodle markets after work today. It's a massive open market in Hyde Park (again, part of food month), which will run for two weeks and was really fun actually. Live music, and all of the big Asian restaurants in Sydney have set up stalls where you can buy noodles and dumplings and stir-frys and pad-thais and all sorts of other delicious things. There are tons of tables set up so you can just go ahead and eat there, if you can actually find one that's free, or hell, go wild and sit on the grass if you want. Y'all should check it out, it's on all next week too. Speaking of Jack, he is talking like a pro now and it's a crack-up. When we went over there last Sunday afternoon, he entertained us by singing Happy Birthday to...well, whoever he felt like really, and The Wheels on the Bus (which gets really irritating after, like, two rounds). He also likes you to join in where possible, and prefers you to do the actions as well, cause if you're gonna do something, you may as well do it properly.





So, to combat what i call my food "problem", Jo and I have taken to going for long power walks in the evening now that daylight savings is finally here. I know you'll be shocked to hear it, but it's true - I've put on weight. Listen, i don't like it any more than you do. But there it is. So, walks it is, and maybe some yoga if i can find a good class somewhere. I used to enjoy it until i got lazy and stopped going, but i think I'm one of those people that can't exercise by myself - there's just no motivation. I'm a people person. A social butterfly. A...yeah. Lazy. OK.





What am i reading? American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld, which is fiction, but loosely based on the life of the former first lady, Laura Bush. I haven't really researched which bits exactly are based on her life, but I'd really like to know cause so far we've had a lesbian grandmother, an illegal abortion and our heroine accidentaly killing the love of her young life, so....errrr...*blinks*





Oh, and you know what i watched this week? Three Men and a Baby. Remember that movie? Tom Selleck at his ruggedly handsome best (my mother totally had a thing for him, don't think i don't remember mum), and Ted Danson when his hair was still brown. Which made me remember that old urban legend where everyone thought you could see the ghost of a boy in the movie cause there's this one scene where Ted Danson's character walks past a window with his mother and there's a child standing right there in the window. Turns out that it was supposedly a cardboard cut-out, but you can definitely see it, and let me tell you it scared the bejeesus out of me the first time i did. David showed it to a bunch of us actually, and we screamed our heads off, but we may or may not have been slightly tipsy at the time, which I'm sure heightened the experience (Romina, remember??).




Speaking of David, we got to talking tonight about full-cream milk, as you do, and Jo made the point that milk in New Zealand tastes better than milk here. "Well to be fair", said David seriously, "they are different cows." And on that note, I'm off to bed.