glory day

Cats are the new rock ‘n’ roll

Today David and I went out the Rock ‘n’ Roll markets out in Tempe.  It was fun, although I had had hopes of finding a new handbag, and the only one I liked was the size of a small suitcase.  I don’t really need to carry that much stuff around!

We tried a few shops up King St when we got home, but nothing really grabbed me.  So the search continues tomorrow.

I went over to De’s house with my book (Alligators, Old Mink and New Money, which I would highly recommend if you are interested in vintage clothes) intending to sit with her cats and give them some scritchin’ lovin’.  But they couldn’t have been less interested – one kept sleeping on the landing and the other didn’t even look at me.  I slunk out after a few minutes, having been well put in my place by two small felines.

Oh, and just so you know the guinea pigs are (at this time of writing) still alive.  Go me!

I hate ending posts without a photo, so here is a photo of Ziggy (the cat asleep on the landing)

trying to nom De. 

Thankfully I found my way home

I have just come home after a day with Ruth – and to be honest I’m surprised I can still type in such a sober manner (given the 3+ bottles of wine we drank today!)

Each of my friends gives me a different part of what I need, and Ruth brings total honesty.  While I get cross about that sometimes (I don’t need to own up to each and every flaw of mine!) I will always be grateful to her for pushing me in the correct emotional direction.

Also she’s hella fun and makes me laugh a lot.  Even though she wouldn’t let me sign us up for a karaoke duet :(

I got SO LOST coming home – the trains weren’t running, the buses don’t stop at DJ’s anymore – if David hadn’t called I’d still be circling Central station I think.

Existential angst among the guinea pigs

Wow, I have no idea where today went.  I had a whole pile of things to do, but nothing actually got done and I … don’t know what I did.  Maybe it was that pesky alien abduction thing again, who knows.

To distract you all from my complete lack of organisational skills here’s a picture of Mr Puss in a bag:

Because the internet was created for cat photos, naturally.

My best-friend-and-next-door-neighbour De is away this weekend and I’ve got the responsibility of feeding her pets.  The cats I’m fine with but the guinea pigs worry me – they’re so small and skittery and I don’t really know much about their motivations.  Also guinea pigs don’t have long life-spans and I believe her guys are pretty much at the top end of theirs.  What if the unthinkable happens while she’s away?  My usual response to this fear is to over-feed them at least twice a day, so if they do go suddenly at least they’ll go happy.

Go on, count the superlatives.

Ages ago I was noodling around on the internet, as you do, and I came across the blog of a Sydney foodblogger.  She described one particular restaurant in such glowing terms that I’d earmarked is as a place to try sometime.  So last night David and I actually left the inner west and went to the harbourkitchen&bar for dinner, and it was absolutely SUPERB.

We arrived way ahead of time (anxiety issues around being on time, anyone?) and had a glass of bubbly at the bar.  The restaurant setting is amazing, with fantastic views of the Opera House, the harbour and the pier.  The light was fading, the stars were coming out and I’m really annoyed that I didn’t take a photo.

I had pored over the menu for about two months and basically picked my meal out well before we got there.  I ordered the sirloin steak (delicious) and the duck fat fried potatoes.  Oh. My. WORD.

The waitress came over to ask if we were enjoying our meals and I screeched “I AM GOING TO MARRY THESE POTATOES!!” and instead of calling for security she allowed as how she also enjoyed them.

Then we had the ‘dessert tasting platter for two’ which oh my god words fail me.  They were all fabulous but my favourite was the hazelnut dacqoise, although it was a close-run thing with the black forest (which was David’s favourite).  I had hoped to close the meal with ‘a selection of Australian cheeses’ but by that point I was so full it was impossible.  Next time!

The service in both the bar and the restaurant was outstanding – attentive and friendly without being overbearing.  And the whole evening wasn’t cheap but I’ve had more expensive meals which I didn’t enjoy half as much so I think it was well worth it.

I’m certainly no foodie but I would highly recommend harbourkitchen&bar to anyone looking for both a fantastic meal and an awesome experience.

But he’s depressed!

I watched Best in Show this afternoon – god I love that movie!  Particularly the couple who anthropomorphise their ‘depressed’ Weimaraner. 

Although to be fair I anthropomorphise Mr Puss often enough, and he’s not been himself lately.  Apparently other cat owners worry when their cat is uncharacteristically aggressive; we worry because he’s become docile and hasn’t bitten anyone in days.

I think it’s probably the weather (although I grew up in Otago, where we blame everything on the weather).

Here Mr Puss dares you to rub his belly:

Rub his belly.  I DARE you.

Actually, did I just quote an LV Martin ad?

All businesses make mistakes, but it’s the putting it right that counts.

For example, a few weeks back we went to the Coogee Bay Hotel for lunch.  We were told there would be a wait of about an hour (Saturday lunchtime: very busy) but after an hour and a half our food still hadn’t arrived.  Then it was discovered that the beeper-y thing they had given us was incorrect, and they had paged us unsuccessfully 40 minutes earlier.

Their reaction to all this was fantastic – complimentary drinks all round and an assurance that our new meals would be fast-tracked.  And indeed they arrived within 15 minutes (and my four cheeses pizza was most nom).  So something that could have been a big blow-up deal became a delightful little incident.

So too with Hum this evening.  I’d bought a DVD for my dad while he was here and was accidentally double-charged.  We only worked this out yesterday when going through the credit card statement, so tonight we went to talk to them about it (with huge trepidation on my part because I absolutely hate any sort of confrontation).  Once we explained the situation they were extremely apologetic and immediately sorted out the refund.  So a situation which I was dreading turned into a reason why I’ll shop there next time.

And speaking of my dad (hey, I mentioned him) here are the flowers he bought me:

Such lovely colours, altogether.

Now with added sugar

Thanks for your kind words about yesterday’s post.  It’s just such a sad, sad situation.

~~~~~

On a much lighter note, have a look at what my MIL gave me:

It’s just so cute and it’s a present made of win and awesome because:

• It’s a cup and saucer set!  I love cup and saucer sets!
• It’s a pincushion – and I sew a lot so pins are always necessary;
• It looks like a cupcake!  Who doesn’t love cupcakes?!

I do love it when presents manage to tick a number of boxes at once.

This should never have happened

I had intended to write a short yet rather bitchy round-up of last night’s party (train wreck - major, major train wreck) but reality has intervened in the harshest way possible.

Last night my SIL’s sister was killed in a car accident.  A male driver who police believe to be drunk crossed into her lane, and she was killed at the scene of the accident.  She was 29 weeks pregnant.

This is BULLSHIT.  I have lost count of all the drunk driving ad campaigns I’ve watched, and still this fucking stupidly moronic behaviour goes on.  We should all know by now that drunk driving is wrong, stupid, illegal and downright unacceptable. 

SO WHY DO THE FUCKING MORONS KEEP ON DOING IT?

Last night some arsehole got behind the wheel of his car when he was in no condition to be driving.  Tonight my family join with many others in mourning the loss of two lives.

I don’t know what the answer is here, but you’d better believe I’m really fucking angry.

We went to Darling Harbour today to meet up with David’s parents and to have lunch at Casa di Nico, which is one of my favourite places around that way.

Now I am pretending that I don’t know it’s time to get ready to go out to a party (because I really don’t want to go).  However I promised I would go so I should go frock up, put on a smile and try to have a good time.

Living the lotus life

Today I spent two hours looking for a skirt I need to take in to wear to a party tomorrow night.  I looked in all the obvious and [a trap for new players] completely ridiculous places and finally found the skirt, three T-shirts and a petticoat in a box of candle-making equipment.  Apparently I had some sort of ninja desperation-cleaning buzz going on at the time.

And after all that it took about 10 minutes to fix up the skirt.

When Dad and I did our recent winery tour we went to a local country garden with a gorgeous lotus pond: