Movin' (15.5 km race report.)

How are we all today?

Happy Monday!

I was walking to my car near my fella's place this morning. I saw this flower, which was very pretty. Anyone know what type it is?

There were other pretty flowers in that front yard, too. On the fence there was a note, saying "Please don't pick my flowers. Let's all enjoy them".

Indeed.

I am a bit stiff today. It was because I did a 15.5 km fun run yesterday. I decided to do this distance rather than the 10 (it is part of the Spring into Shape series) as "long run" training for the city to sea run in a few weeks.

I had stayed up past midnight the night before, on account of going out for a girlfriend's birthday (more on that later). Hence there was little time in the morning to get organised. I was a bit scatty, and despite taking these pics on my iphone:

Fed Sq, Eureka Building.

Yarra, showing off.

I thought I had left the phone in the car (I had actually left it at the registration desk, which I did not realise until I finished the run....not one of my brighter moments)

With all the kerfuffle with the phone, and not having any music to keep me company, I really had to work hard to focus. Soon, I did. It is nice running along the Yarra. I got into a good pace that I thought I could maintain, and I felt strong. I even started to feel a bit....invincible. One of the lady-front runners told me to keep it up, I was doing a good job.

The first 10km (2 laps) were fairly comfy, it is a distance I am used to. After the second lap there was a girl I saw who was similarly paced to me, so we ran together. It was nice to have some company. I think we kept each other motivated and on-pace. At the 500 metres to go mark, she grabbed my hand and picked up the pace. We crossed the line together and got a cheer from some folks around the finishing chute, as well as a shout-out from the race announcer.

I did my usual post-finishing thing (wander around slightly bent over looking bewildered and catching my breath). I saw my coach, who had been manning our run club marquee, and a couple of the ladies I run with. I took that opportunity to have a breather.

attractive.

Anyone who runs distances knows how tight certain muscles get, and the utility of a good firm massage. If it doesn't make you groan it is not firm enough. My ladies and I helped each other out in this respect, with a nice firm elbow point into buttocks, like so...

Theretheretherethere...ahhhhyeah....

Naturally, I reciprocated. We are very supportive of each other.

There was a yoga session held, which we partook of. It was really nice to do, out in the gardens.

I went home, had some food, and a nap. Then, in keeping with my aim to be more tidy (thanks, by the way, for the support on the last post!) I did some tidying. A big run and a cleaning session! Super virtuous!

It is a good thing I do running, because the weekend was full of yummy treats.

Friday Night we went to San Telmo. I felt a bit crook in the belly and we had to abort the mission.

Saturday I felt better. The fella and I had a big wander around Smith and Brunswick Streets. We worked up an appetite. We had some down south food in the form of Louisiana style sandwiches, at Po'boys.

Dinner was in celebration of a good girlfriend's birthday, at Hell of the North (named after a sector of the Tour de France). We had the Feed Me menu. There was a bit much food (better than too little I suppose). The food was good, but the service was a bit meh, and the waiters were a bit familiar rather than polite. I am a bit picky, being a Melburnian.

Le Charcuterie.

Too much good food!
Still, #firstworldproblems and #YOLO, right?

Cohabitation with the fella is imminent. A massive declutter and pack is now unavoidable. Before I move, in a couple of weeks, the fella and I are off to Christchurch for his parents' 50th wedding anniversary!
And, on Wednesday,  I am getting my coif done.


And how about you? Any exciting plans on the agenda?
Have a good week!

#Friday #avagoodweekend

Hello, from the couch of cilosophy.

Firstly, thank youse all sooo much for your input re my wardrobe conundrums. It was very exciting. I have a nice grey marle tshirt for myself, and I am off to source those witchery jeans I wanted...tomorrow!


I have been on call this week, till 8am this morning, and I have had a few calls. So I am celebrating with a wine, as I type.

On Monday and Tuesday, I caught up with some girlfriends. The first one who has recently had her 40th. We went to Woodstock in Brunswick East. Fantastic, authentic pizza and pasta. No photo, as we nommed it too quickly.

The other girlfriend I caught up with at Gorski and Jones, a new Italian restaurant in Collingwood. Tuesday night is Suckling Pig night. Behold....

The crackling was thin and crispy and the taters were yummy. The pork itself was succulent and it was a massive serving - I took some home (they give doggy bags!) and had it on a sammich for lunch the next day. The  vegetables on the right are celeriac and beetroot, and were super tasty. Sorry I can't make up better descriptors....I am drunk on one glass of pinot gris....

Speaking of which, my little friend who I caught up with is from Honkers. She has they typical Asian Alcohol Metabolising Enzymes ie goes bright red and is intoxicated after half a glass of wine. She said to me, face aflush, "your face. It is so symmetrical. It is big. And cute". I said "that is the wine talking".

Kids today.

I had a bit of a Wonky Day (boat issues) on Wednesday. I have one of those per week. It is getting better.  Rome was not built in a day etc etc.

Thursday morning, I caught up with my best GBF (Gay Boyfriend). I have not seen him for yonks. He has been doing his fellowship in neonatology in Toronto (I know, right!!!) and he has just got back. He may be going to live in New York City soon.... I will miss him, but this is an excuse to visit.

The coffee we had came with a special message

Never a truer word said.
Though a little biscotti (biscotto??) with my coffee would've been good too.


Thursday arvo, I caught up with my Statisticians. In research (to borrow the Phrase from Faux Fuchsia), Statisticians are Key. Because the only people who know anything about statistics are statisticians. They suggested some new and exciting ways to analyse and present my primary outcome (ie the most important point of my PhD) AND they are also gonna analyse my data at the end of the year....they think that I will need substantially fewer people than I thought I did....which means I may be able to finish earlier....and earn proper Doctor money!

God bless the Statisticians. They know not what they mean to me right now.

Today, I was in the zone, work wise. After my wonky day on Wednesday, I felt powerful, confident and calm. I used my calm doctor voice and a beatific smile to soothe and console - and that was just my allied health colleagues! I managed to come up with solutions that seemed to please people. I feel good.

Also, my fella is coming home for dinner, rather than being chained with nose to the grindstone till 10pm like he said. Fush and chups bro!

We are finally having some decent weekend weather.

And, these are awesome! I bought them on Monday and I still have over half the box left!

How was your week? Happy weekend to you.

Attica.

I don't really have a blogging niche.

Not a mummy blogger, not a foodie blogger, not a political blogger, not a feminism blogger, not a fashion blogger.

I have a lot of interests though, lots of passions, lots of things I like to talk about, or indeed have a conversation about.

If it was not already evident, one my biggest interests is food and wine.

In Melbourne, we are absolutely spoiled for choice and many Melburnians can rightly call themselves connoisseurs.

I have been lucky enough to travel and taste some of the world's cuisines, from the humble and cheap to the haute cuisine. I love it all.

Right on our doorstep, a 5 minute drive from where the fella lives, is the restaurant Attica.

This year, Attica reached number 21 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants.

It goes without saying that there is a bit of a wait to get in to dine here. We booked 4 months ago, aiming for the time of our 1 year anniversary.

We went there on Friday.

I have been to Mugaritz, a few years ago. Mugaritz is in San Sebastian, Spain. We couldn't get into El Bulli. Mugaritz is 4th in the world.

I can say that my experience at Attica equalled that at Mugaritz.

I will stop yabbering, here are the photos.

The Menu. We had the matched wines.

Amuse Bouche: Mustard Greens and Creme Fraiche, Lemon Myrtle.

Amuse Bouche: Walnut cream with pine mushrooms

Amuse Bouche: Mussels. Mussel Shell with painting of Mussel farmer.

Slovakian Wine - Who Knew?

Crab with Sorrel

Marron

Orange Wine - Who knew?

Potato in Earth - Signature Dish.

Cucumbers

Fish in Paperbark

Wallaby.

Apple Vinegar Icecream

Plight of the bees - a multi-layered fruity delight.

Pukeko (chocolate) eggs - painting by chef's father.

Between the sweet and savoury courses, we were shown the kitchen garden out the back. A couple of the chefs showed us where they grew the greens that were nicely arranged on our plate. They gave us some hot apple cider and a marshmallow to toast over the fire.

It is worth noting that a lot of the rest of the vegetable matter is either grown at Ripponlea Estate (a Stately Home just down the road) or foraged from near the head chef's home.

Kitchen Garden

Toasting the marshmallows

You saw on the menu what we paid.

Plus we had champagne and gave them a tip.

There will be quite a few people who say "how could you pay that much?".

The price is on par with other restaurants of the calibre, FYI.

It was wonderful and we really enjoyed it. Here was what was so good about it:

• The service was perfect. Assured, intuitive, elegant and friendly. Quite a few waiters were from overseas, mostly Europe, presumably doing some sort of fine-dining hospitality training.
• The wine matching - there were some unusual varieties of wine on the menu, many of which I have never tried before, and I always get a kick out of trying a new variety of wine. The wonderful thing, though, was that, on their own, the wines were probably not what I would pick, but with the food, they really sang. The wines came out before the courses, so we could try them on their own. This is the art of the sommelier.
• For a top notch restaurant, it was quite down to earth. There was not the flashy crowd dripping in bling that you would see at Vue de Monde. No regulars. Just lots of food enthusiasts.
• Similarly, the food was all local and seasonal, and mostly fairly ordinary foods (albeit of the best quality), lifted by the chef into something sublime. No foie gras or truffles.
• That we got to see the kitchen garden - it is great to see some of the process. They have an open part of the kitchen where we can see the chefs working. Mugaritz went one better and took us into the kitchen, but they weren't busy.

Ben Shewry, the head chef, is a New Zealander. Most Kiwis are fiercely patriotic (my fella is a Kiwi) and this patriotism (for the antipodes in general) really showed in his culinary creations. The Potato dish is a nod to a Maori hangi. He does not need any fancy French food or magic to make the food sublime. The pride in the produce, the final product and the wine pairings was evident, was duly warranted and it was exciting.

If you can, do try and go. It is worth the hype.

Monday Musings.

Hello Again!

Thankyou lovelies for your comments on my last post.

Just sitting here at my desk, having attended to the Monday morning rush and wondering how it is that the weekend went by so fast.

On Saturday night, the Fella and I went to Cicciolina in St Kilda for an early dinner. I really recommend this place. The steak was to die for - it is not known as a steak restaurant but there it is. The service was also excellent - as they weren't busy they lavished attention (and little tasties of wine) on us. It is a Melbourne Stalwart, and was one of the first of the "no bookings for dinner" restaurants. Hence on a Friday or Saturday night it is good to get there early so you don't have to queue. If you are from interstate or overseas, definitely check this one out, as St Kilda is a great place to visit.

After that, we went to see the band "Of Monsters and Men" at the Palais (oh snap Ruth). They are an Icelandic indie Pop group and are great fun. If you are unfamiliar, please click below.

Lots of folks of all ages there, singing along and bopping. Very cutesy but in a cool way.

Yesterday I had the dog. Here is a picture

Did you or did you not squee at this? I would hope you did squee.

Anyway - Candydog isn't too well, her cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. So I was granted some access. The fella and I took her out for breakfast (she loves Cafes) and she MAY have got a whole pork sausage to herself. Plus half of my breakfast. We then took her for a walk. She is a bit slow on her legs, and has gotten tubby from the steroids she is on to hold things at bay. We let her sniff at every blade of grass she chose, piddle where she needed to and drink from as many puddles as she liked. She was a bit tired after the walk.

I have been a bit under the weather for the last week or two. Possibly some remnants of the SSRI withdrawal, but have had a lot of sinus headaches, and have been feeling bloated in the tummy. I have been on some antibiotics for some perioral dermatitis. I think this has upset things. All yesterday, everything I ate or drank was followed by a sinus headache (last night's was awful), nasal congestion and my tummy blowing up. I was most unwell last night, which is not the way I wanted to spend the festival of One Year.

After a bit of consideration, and given that I have just challenged myself to a month (mostly) without wine, I am going to see how I feel with 4 weeks off the wheat and dairy. Plus I am going to take some probiotics.
The reasons are below:

• I was diagnosed with Fructose Malabsorption in 2008 - part of the list of things to avoid is wheat, as it contains fructans. When I was strict off the wheat I felt really good, far less bloated and far clearer in the head. (I stopped being so strict cos I like wheaty things) If you want more info about fructose malabsporption I can write about it.
• I get very sinussy when I have dairy in significant quantities, and low fat is worse than full fat dairy. It can make me feel crappy.
• I am tired of feeling bloated. My fella is tired of me farting.
• It will probably be less of a challenge than wine avoidance.

Already this morning, I dodged the cream sponge that was there to celebrate a colleague's birthday. It was easy to say no after having made this decision.

I shall report back on compliance, and how I feel. NB I am off to Attica for a dinner with the fella so might have to have a night off - though looking at the menu it doesn't look like there is a lot of either on the menu. Will report on that meal too.

Casein and gluten are probably not any of our friends, but some people tolerate them better than others. That opinion is a bit of a fringe view, but is scientifically reasonable, and there is mounting evidence for it.

Speaking of sick and tired, I have had it up to my eyeballs with the federal election already. I like some of the reforms that Labor has made - Gonski, the NDIS, the Carbon and Mining tax. I think they need to go further. I think Labor's hardline stance on refugees is awful. I cringe at the prospect of more Labor infighting. And don't even get me started on Tony Abbott. Malcolm I could tolerate.

I think you can guess who I will be voting for.

I will actually be away overseas on Sept 7. Thank GAWD.

So tell me:

Have you ever tried eliminating things from your diet? How did it go?

What pisses you off most about the political parties?

Are you going to see any music gigs soon? Planning any good restaurant feeds?

Public Holiday Weekends and PhD-itis. Cappuccino competition.

Harro, and a happy Queens Birthday (or Normal Monday) to you.

Another grinding, busy week, culminating on Friday. The degree of difficulty of everything on Friday was higher, because I felt a bit tired, but also just because they were difficult. I got yelled at in Arabic (via an interpreter), twice in a row, for starters. Then I had to give difficult news.

But I did lots of fun stuff, starting on Thursday evening. One of my girlfriends, M, invited me to a Thermomix party. I was well impressed, despite the $1950 price tag. It is an appliance that I think I will use. You can even make bread, from Milling the flour to the finished product, without even getting your fingers dirty. See? There is a raw baguette on the left, on the right is a yummy and very healthy beetroot salad, and in the rear right is the machine itself. Isn't it pretty?

The woman who ran the party, my gf's sister, is vegan. We had vegan custard. It was not flash but it was ok. I have told the fella that we will get one together when we moved in. To further my cause, whenever I see any food on the telly, I tell him that we can cook that in a thermomix. I will grind him down, hopefully.

On Friday evening I went to go see the Great Gatsby with that same gf. The costumes were very pretty, as were the actors. Carey Mulligan (as Daisy Buchanan) was elfin and breathy, and Joel Edgerton (as Tom Buchanan) was impressively brutish. I was less impressed by Isla Fisher. Leo, as Gatsby, was great too. I remember reading the book in year 12, and enjoying it. It is very relevant today, and serves as a reminder to hold on to what is real, because many things (and people passing through your life) are fleeting, or can potentially create a lot of damage on their way through.

First, though, we went to Shakahari in Carlton for some grub. My gf is vego. Fortunately, the food is yummy and I didn't miss the meaty goodness too much.

We stopped in at Brunetti afterwards. The new location, where Borders used to be, is lovely.

Saturday began the weekend of Brunches. The first one was fairly healthy. The cafe proprietors at Julio (a cafe near me) really know how to make a cappuccino. They don't use the fact that it is a cappuccino as an excuse to make it weak. They put froth on there, plus a generous sprinkling of chocolate powder. Behold.

The fella and I headed down to his house, via Chapel st. I saw Burch and Purchese sweet studio and on a whim decided to go pay them a visit. The photo is not great quality but you may discern a chocolate Terrarium. Behind it is Darren Purchese, one of the owners and a sorta-celebrity-chef. He made a crack about Dannii Minogue instagramming the terrarium and calling it tres chic.

If Dannii Minogue has said it, it must be true.

There were some uber-impressive cakes and sweeties. White chocolate with roasted quinoa, anyone? They had smoked white chocolate, too. We had some chocolate with honeycomb and popcorn. Light and healthy, as it has vegetables.

I went for a run along the beach (gettting yelled at by grumpy older female cyclist for changing direction suddenly to take a drink which did disturb my mojo a little) then the fella and I went out for some Steaky goodness. No photo, as I nommed it.

Saturday night, at about 2am, I had a bit of a meltdown. I woke up in a real (work and PhD related) panic, which I had not done for a while (but used to do regularly when I had to look after 40 patients on my ward). I bounced off the walls for a little while. I think the presence of rip-roaring PMS was not helping either.

The fella was lovely, and did a great job of talking me down off the roof, bless him. Plus I took some panadiene (neck was still giving me gip) and swigged a bit of Pedro Ximenez. Though I got back to sleep, Sunday was a bit of a write-off, and I felt crappy most of the day. I did catch up with some other girlfriends for brunch, and was suitably sunny. Most of the rest of Sunday was spent sitting on the couch, drinking wine and eating cheese. If you are going to feel crappy, probably best to do so while consuming wine and cheese, no?

This morning, I caught up with another GF (who is about to head OS for a month) for brunch. We went to the Hardware Societe (which she lives in an apartment above so knows the staff). I had the croque madame. It was made on brioche. It was light, but still rich. Here it was, before I nommed it.

The more observant of you will have noticed the presence of another cappuccino in the top right hand corner of the picture. Julio's capp was superior.

This arvo, as I type, I am in at work. Yes, distasteful. There are quite a number of loose ends I need to tie up before I go away, and I won't have a great deal of time to do them this week. It is not great for me, as I am tired and headachey, plus work has already invaded my weekend in the form of a number of phone calls and issues I had to help sort out.

I am super looking forward to going away. It will be strict phone-free time, apart from the Fella and maybe my Mum (if I can manage it)....

'Scuse my work related whinging, peeps. :D

Have a good week, 'kay?

Hotch-potch.

Harro!

Don't you hate it when you have to squeeze five days' work into four? That was me last week.
Another monster week looms this week, with abstract art painting, running and such. And work. Always work.
(HOW GOOD WAS OFFSPRING??????)

So, what in this past week or so has been particularly blog-worthy?

Thursday night, the fella and I went to a beer vs pig (the Kiwis) event at Atticus Finch in Brunswick. My fella is Kiwi and loves his brew and swine. Me, I am much more a wine girl than a beer girl. I actually gave most of my beer samples to him. They were very complex brews, a bit too funky for me (when I must drink beer, it is Corona or something light and fruity). There were many matched smallgoods on offer. It was good, but more of a man-thing. Plus I woke up at night with palpitations, probably related to the nitrates. But now I am sounding like a tool so I will shuddup about that.

I tried a bit of pattern-mixing in my work outfit on Friday. Behold:

All of the clothing is stuff I have had for a while - the frock is very old concession Leona Edmiston ($70 bucks, but never fails to get compliments and washes up beautifully), the cardie is Witchery, the scarf was gifted and the boots are circa-2009. The toilets are my work building, circa-1960.

And a closer look at the pattern mixing, and my chins.

Friday was a tough day. It was, as somebody said, Fuckwit Friday. Fraught with frustration.
I found myself at various times about to lose my cool, but held it together. I always feel bad for getting angry, and find it might come out in my voice, but a lovely colleague said that I held up admirably. That was good of her to say and made me feel better. Though these situations, plus being busy and a bit tired, certainly bring up the aggro factor.

Hence, when I got home on Friday, I was very tempted to go "fuckit, I want a pizza, then I want a bottle of wine, and screw driving across town to visit my brother".

(ie doing the very thing that I had told my patients not to do in clinic a few hours earlier.)

I thought "NO, I am going to LOOK AFTER MYSELF!" A bigger and better act of defiance against the world, don't you think?

I had some mexe beans with capsicum and salsa and corn, and ate them with some oven-baked corn tortillas. Kind of like healthy nachos.

Go. Me.

On Saturday, I had a facial, which was part of a birthday present. It was lovely, and my skin really did look and feel nice after. They slopped on some off-milk and shone some special light or some such on it. It is something I need to do more often, being on the downhill side of thirty and all. Part of LOOKING AFTER MYSELF.  The fella and I then made a trip to the city to wander about, and have a nice dinner at geriatric hour. However, on arriving at the Meatball and Wine Bar in the city we were told that the wait would be an hour. I got distressed at that point. But, always clear thinking, I bundled us in a cab to Collingwood and made an emergency call to Josie Bones. Luckily, they had one table of two left, which I promptly nabbed. The Porkstravaganza of Thursday evening extended into Saturday evening.

I have been to JB a few times, it is always popular with people of the man-variety, so I figured the fella would like it. The menu is based around beer and meat. There are vegetables and wine too, if one is so-inclined. The beer menu is encyclopedic. There is something for everybody there, even me. They have a little counter on their wall which, Julia tells me, is the number of people who they have managed to convert to beer drinkers. (Not, as I guessed, the number of dumbass references to Masterchef the owners Chris and Julia get).

Behold, some pork crackling. And other deep fried deliciousness. Behind is a meat cutter thingy. This photo contains approximately 500 grams of saturated fat. Just looking at it can clog your arteries. But YOLO, right?

And here is some beer that I liked. The first one is a Belgian Raspberry Lambic. Kind of like a tart raspberry cordial, for grown ups. It went down a treat. The second one is an apple beer - the front part of the taste was apple-y, and the second part was a very beery, hoppy, fragrant taste. It was very yummy, and will have to get my mitts on some.

We ate the rolled pigs head, some confit chicken, some vegetables and some cheese to finish. No sweeties.

Sunday was a quieter day. I had to do some work, making amendments to a paper which is due today. Yes. I know. Distasteful.

I have been quite good, food wise, during the week, and this is starting to show up on the scales, which is good.  The weekend is where I like to let my hair down a bit, but the next goal is not to be a complete glutton. Just a little bit of one. Contained gluttony.

I am already looking forward to Friday.

On another, more navel-gazing note, a couple of years back, I never used to look forward to weekends. Mostly because I was bored shitless. We would never do anything.

Then, when I separated from my ex, I jammed my weekends with stuff. Mostly because I was like a puppy being let out of a laundry, doing happy laps, but also because I was scared to be still. Scared of what stuff might pop into my mind.

In the end, I had to find a balance between doing cool stuff and relaxing. Both are important.

I hope you all had an interesting, but still relaxing, weekend.

Also, what is your favourite drink?

Tuesday, which feels like Monday.

Well hello my lovelies.

I had myself a little procedure yesterday (no, not the type of procedure that my colleague had). I had a gastroscopy/colonoscopy. I am a little knocked around, mostly from the bowel preparation. I spent most of Sunday Evening and Monday Morning on the Loo. Could've done with one of these (this was one of the gazillion discount deal emails I get sent daily)

Though I am not really partial to golf.

Apparently, after the procedure, while I was still half out of it, the anaesthetist came to see me, and I asked him about my blood pressure and pulse during the procudure. He told me my blood pressure was fine but my pulse went down to 45. I told him that I have run a marathon. He probably thought I was bullshitting, (but I'm not). I don't remember any of this, the nurse relayed it to me after.

When I woke up properly in the recovery, I tried to be helpful - I pointed out to the nurses the lady across from me who looked a bit poorly (in pain, shivering). That is me; always looking out for others. :D I also helped the nurses by partially taking down my IV site dressing to save them some work. I am all about efficiency. Plus I was in a hurry to get out of there.

Everything was fine, you will be glad to know.

Luckily the lovely fella was on hand to look after me. He bought me some medicinal and restorative jelly snakes, picked me up from the hospital, fetched me some dinner then made an ice-cream run (medicinal and restorative icecream).

God love him.

I am back to work today - feeling still a bit tired and peaky from yesterday's adventures, but I am nothing if not tough and I have soldiered on.

On the weekend the fella and I went out with a group to Itali.Co which claims to have the best Pizza in Melbourne.

This is a big call. Unfortunately it is wrong. The nutella and strawberry dessert pizza deserves an honourable mention, because who could not love that, but it has been done before.

400 (Quattrocento) Gradi and Pizza Meine Liebe have the best pizza in Melbourne. I Carusi deserves an honourable mention.

Today is a real getting back into it day. Tomorrow will be exciting, as Offspring is on. I have been HANGING OUT for Offspring to come back on, and to covet the couture (the correct terminology is boho-luxe). I am going around to my gf Y's place, and we will have dinner, as has been our Wednesday night tradition for the past 2 seasons.

I have a major girl-crush on the luminous Asher Keddie. Here is a painting that her fella painted of her, which won the People's Choice award in the Archibald Prize Exhibition. I love Vincent Fantauzzo, he has a beautiful, almost hyper-real painting style. It captures Asher really well, I love how her hair dances in the wind and the light jumps off her collar bones.

Anyway, enough drooling over Asher for the moment. I am hoping Nikki at Styling You will do another "So you want to dress like Nina Proudman" series.

Though I don't need any more clothes. Holiday plans are afoot, and I need the cashola. I am heading to Seoul for a conference and making a little side-trip to Hong Kong to see a friend.

More about that after.

I hope you have a good week!

A Weekend in Restaurants: The Confused Mexican.

1. Friday Night Dinner: Blue Corn, St Kilda.
Blue Corn, 203 Barkly St, St Kilda - Urbanspoon Site

Fridays for me are a killer. All activity I do that day is draining, from work at one place, the drive to another work place, the work at the other place, then the drive down Punt Road or via the city to go to the Beach House (aka the fella's house in Elwood).

I really quite like going to Elwood though. I have not previously spent that much time in that part of town; I was strictly a north or west of the Yarra girl. All. My. Life. I am very partial to the beach. I like the people watching. Lots of nice little pure breed dogs to pat.

Anywho, I fancied some Mexican food. I am a fan of Mexican food, and have been to San Fran, Albuquerque (New Mexico) and Mexico City in recent travels, so I have had a good taste (FYI the thing I like to do more than shopping overseas is eating overseas).

The Fella suggested Blue Corn. I was excited; I have been keen to try it out. I was starving. And I was in very dire urgent need of a Margarita.

I will preface everything I say from now on by saying that I am a bit of a purist when it comes to Mexican Food and Drink - Ain't Broke, Don't Fix, IMHO.

The Margaritas were good. Although I am used to tasting a bit more Tequila and a bit less of the other ingredients, thanks to Juan the Bartender in Mexico city (helloooo, free Margarita and helloooo freepour). And I like FROZEN, dangit. I want my tequila and my brainfreeze!

To eat, we had some corn chips and salsa to start. We shared the Pasilla Braised Lamb Burrito with Mint Mojo, and the Scallop and Chorizo tacos.

I quite liked the S and C tacos, but there main fillings were stuck together with cheese, guacamole and corn. A bit greasy and bland. And it took away the shine of the main ingredients. Scallops and Chorizo are awesome things.

I was not at all keen on the Lamb dish. It was again a bit bland. I could taste no mint, but there was the aforementioned guacamole and corn, plus little bits of eggplant and sundried tomato. There were olives around the dish, which was fancily plated. I don't know what it was playing at, but did not think it was very Mexican.

I don't think Mexican food is about jumbling a few ingredients together, mixing it with corn and guacamole, putting some cheese on top and slapping it on a taco, that's what I am getting at here.

The bill came to just over $100 - I have had an entree, 2 meals and 2 drinks a bit cheaper than this. Service wasn't bad. Though I hate it when a restaurant is empty and they say "do you have a booking" - yes I know it is because people have booked for later but they could do a bit of table shuffling, no?

I have eaten some amazing mexican food overseas, in fairly unassuming and cheap places. There is some pretty amazing food here in Melbourne, from the cheap (Taco Truck) to the more costly (Mamasita - if you have not queued up with the hipsters at Pensioner hour, you must, it is worth it).

Consider this a bullet I have taken for you, and give this place a bit of a sidestep. There is better Mexican to be had around town.

Meanwhile, Cheers!

Hola, from the Margarita Sisters!