Tuesday 20th October




Boring workshop on app making. How to make boring things fun. Great workshop for teachers. We met a fellow American. A guy from Massachusetts (a word that's very hard to spell!), Salem is the place to be on Halloween! And he's been there.



No time for lunch we had 16 custard balls, yum but not sweet enough. Two containers in stock, still hot with no line! Grab and go speed. Royal custard balls. Lola prefers these over the durian ones.

The next class on protecting yourself from being monitored online by apps and the government. Privacy and paranoia. The food was good, except one thing. I love rice paper rolls, oh how I've missed you!

A trip to the hair salon followed by 2hrs of dancing. Home. Crash. 

Wednesday

Today we confirmed the move in date to the boarding house, a Monday next month. 



Griffan's Cookie Bear's 100s & 1000s Cookies are amazing! Pink with well, 100s & 1000s! Thin but buttery and so good! Do we have something similar? I love them!



Choc Chippies of the brand not so good, they were very hard...

Thursday




Saturday







After lunch we went to Latitude 37's CD launch 'Royal Consorts' and a little speech on 'The History of the Emotions'. Featuring music from the 17th century, ending with a version of Greensleeves, which was composed during Henry 8th reign. Being a launch drinks followed, I had a sip of the wine and it was gross. The orange juice was much better. :P There was also naturally flavoured/infused water.






Fukuryu Ramen was the first ramen place we went to in Melbourne, surprisingly just last year when there was a ramen trend. It was time for a revisit.

Sunday

Last night ended with a ridiculous fight, not with the boys, but at home. It was about living in fear, to be alive is to take a risk. You're taking a risk that bad stuff happens just by taking a breathe. And you don't have to leave the house for it to happen, it can come to you.

Someone told me I deserve to be raped, and will be. And as abortion is against her religion, she ain't taking the baby.

It wasn't a random stranger who said that to me.

She has no problems with rape, as according to her guys can't control themselves, it's up to girls to not tempt them. I'm almost certain this if she was a guy she's be a rapist. 

Tell me did a fear of being raped stop you from going to college? Leaving the house?



The rest of the evening went much better, with a trip to the theatre to see 'Masquerade' A 
new Australian work by Kate Mulvany based on the book by Kit Williams. Based on means it has been changed/adapted/added to in some way. 



"In a wondrous world of riddles and hidden treasure, bumbling Jack Hare is on a race against time to deliver a message of love from the Moon to the Sun. Far, far away in a world just like ours, a mother cheers her ill son Joe with the tale of Jack Hare’s adventure. But when Jack’s mission goes topsy-turvy, Joe and his mum must come to the rescue, and the line between the two worlds becomes blurred"




Around the stage was random letters, riddles from the book. I don't get it, but here's some info on it so you look at the pictures and find the letters within I think this is something Castle & Patrick Jane could do.




It was a beautiful show with fun costumes and real characters, as well as great us of lighting. And the band being secondary characters, I like that. The stage too was creative and very different, where real life was in a cube, a hospital room, and outside that cube the story evolved around it.




There was the lady on the moon 'Mistress Moon' alliteration's good, and in this case mistress is not pro 50 shades of grey. There's a talking fish, Newtown and a tone deaf barbershop quartet. One girl plays the nurse, Penny Pockets, a fish and a pig! Mistress Moon was enchanting with her voice and Marylin Monroe styled character.      

The band was onstage and played an active role in the story, 'Mikelangelo and the 
Black Sea Gentlemen' like to 'weave complex ideas into accessible and highly entertaining shows' in the form of the barbershop quartet, The Sun (with great hair that I thought was a wig), and 'The Man Who Makes The World Go Round' but occasionally stop for someone to hop off the ride. 



It was about finding a treasure Jack Hare had lost, but they never found it... and in the end it didn't matter. As life goes on - or doesn't and there's not a thing you can do to stop it. While the ending was right, I didn't like it. 

The last line of the show '...weaves the disappointments and cruel truths of life, the joys of love and the solace of imagination, into a whimsical and plangent theatrical experience.



Afterwards we went to the after party or rather the festival's clossing party with a speech, free flowing drinks (wine/beer/soda) and canapes. Rice paper rolls, lamb pastries and cute quarter chicken sandwiches. 

Someone asked if there's always a party like this, and the answer is almost always yes. At the conclusion of all festivals I work at, they have a party/bbq/drinks. Though not often do they have a dj and awesome venue - a spigeltent, which is a very big round tent with the stage in the center, with booths and lots of mirrors. 

As we left they were playing that song 'don't stop till you get enough' from Rush Hour 2. A good conclusion to a great night out.

Saturday 17th October












There's booths, cafe style round tables as well as your regular tables. It was like a dinning hall with very high ceilings and a bar that took up a side. From the pictures you'll see as you walk in there's a bar on the left, the longest I've seen, and the resturant to the right. 






We sat at the back, with great lighting (Father's Office after dark had "mood lighting") and ordered...




Three juicy lamb cutlets with a pistachio and cashew nut atop a bed of orange and mustard seed vinaigrette dressed radicchio (radish?) and wild roquette (rocket) with kalamata olives. 

We ordered a salad to share, which was delicious! - For a salad. This is the best salad I've had in a long time (note that I am on lite n' easy wk2). The lamb was juicy and so good, this would be a dish my dietician would approve of. Freud refused to eat the salad, as he does not eat green things. He is a very picky eater, and is a regular at McD/HJ and hates sushi *gasps!*. At Father's Office there's something for everyone, even Freud and the kids, they also have high chairs, which Freud being a giraffe did not need. 





"Although I'm no true food critic, I am a picky eater. I ordered the eye fillet. The Eye fillet was delicious, medium rare. It wasn't chewy, it separated nicely and was perfectly complemented by the jus condiment. I'm not as familiar with truffle mash, though I found it enjoyable and would highly recommend this dish." - Freud

Looks like we have found our new +1 for events that don't require wine knowledge! Please welcome Freud aboard, who is also an analyist like me. He's also a scrooge, when it comes to money and hence is a true accountant/banker who's an expert at splitting the bill down to the cent. On the spectum of genrous to not he sits on the opposite end to Jas.  






I let Freud pick for me from a small selection that I couldn't decide on. Being a new venue he picked something I haven't had before, the chicken. Looks small but it's filling and healthy.

It was cooked perfectly, with a beautiful crispy skin, though needs a squeese of lemon and perhaps cranberry sauce on the side. The sauteed honey baby carrots were also delicious, sweet and cute!

This is the best meal I've had in a very long time. As I'm on lite n' easy wk2 and my dinners are frozen. I'd recommend all the dishes I've tried as everything's a hit, both here and at Father's. 





Lola's an expert on seafood and had the fish and chips which to our surprise came with shoestring aka McDonald style fries, as it normally comes with your typical hot chips, which is what you get at fish & chip shops. The fries were good. 

The bank sports the same menu (with the exception of dessert) as Father's Office, but the setting and atmosphere is completely different. It's larger and with the location being away from main street, it caters for the suits. Also they're closed on Sundays. 



There's an upstairs area, but you can't sit up there, as it belongs to the hotel next door, but the bathrooms are up there. Stairs to go upstairs are outside the restaurant.  

Until now there has never been a place that specializes in durian in Melbourne, also till recently (a few months ago) I've never been to this place as my beau and friends do not like durian. Because it smells. I'm not sure what it smells like to you, but I think it's beautiful, but then again I grandpas' Japanese, and so we'd always buy durian and mango by the boxes in summer. Father loves durian too, having his first taste during the war that we lost in 'nam.



The Menu - Combos w the savings worked out for you :) Personally would avoid milk/ice(water) based things, as they're the cheapest to make, and ice hurts my teeth. *click to enlarge* Order at the counter before you pick a seat.











While the crepes was good and had real durian in it, there was too much cream. As a durian lover that's a no go. We need more durian, especially as it's very small and expensive. 







Lola says durian tastes like garlic, unlike le beau who says it's like death. XD We had a pillow and durian balls to share on a return visit. Enjoyable but too much cream, though not as bad as the crepes which only had a tiny bit of durian. These were $3.80 each. 

Opening within the last few months is, Royal Custard Puff which I think comes from HK, located at the end of MidCity Arcade, it's just a jump to the right of the durian place. It's in the same arcade as Shandong Mama, downstairs from the $10 bentos at Wagaya and sushi train.




This place is crazy popular at night, with waits of 20-40s mins! Come when they open and you'll be in and out within minutes. I took a picture of the machine because there were signs saying not to :P



3 for $1, marketing works well having "18 for $5" under it encouraging you to buy more. You do know that that still makes them 3 for $1 right? With a long wait you might as well buy more. They're 50c balls with a cake-ish texture and custard within. It's not very sweet though, hence not my style. 

I do recommend giving it a go though, and I'd be back if I was in the area, but wouldn't specifically go there. Lola prefer these over the durian ones, as they were more normal. :P

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