Post Pay Party: Grill'd+Max Brenner

So for the last few months, I've been organising largeish get togethers of workmates whenever I see that 3-4 of us have days off together. I normally go out after night shifts at the hospital on my first day off and also if I want to go to somewhere that's been highly recommended on Urbanspoon. This is not an uncommon occurrence by the way, since we have night duties once a month.

However this is all temped by the fact, that I'm essentially a hobo with a full time job and a house to pay off. I'm broke the majority of the time, I hoard the little money I have after compulsory life payments like a miser and eagerly await the next pay check. Also hoping I don't get metaphorically kicked in the balls with a car break down, council rates, serious injury and other anxiety crap. I am not alone however, my young nursing buddies who, unlike me, spend their money on young people stuff like clothes, cars, eating out and other shopping junk are also flat broke. My slightly older workmates, have the same problems as me, mortgage, bills and other fun stuff. And so, I started Post Pay Party!

Basically after ever fortnightly pay week, I will choose somewhere to go and everyone will meet there and eat food. I never choose the same place twice, and it has to be somewhere different from the last place, so no same cuisines. Anyone is invited that is not working that day and lots of pictures are taken. Then I get hassled at work about the next place we're going to. It works fantastically though, as this is the only time anyone will ever have money to go out.

I've had a pretty good track record so far, making Flute Fine Foods, Mecca Bah, Freestyle Tout and Wagaya pretty popular amongst my workmates. In addition, I'm probably the only person in my group of friends who would have the balls to dislike where we are going and openly complain about it. Even though I rarely go out, my compulsive urbanspooning and food blog reading lets me know all the cool and uncool places to eat at. I'm also the only person to remember everyone's dietary requirements like GF, vegan, no beef, no pork and friends.

We're not quite in PPP mode yet, but J. decided to host a Magic Mike night where we'd go to Grill'd at Southbank first before hitting the cinemas. Friday girls movie night to watch a movie about stripping. I'm not really sure what else the movie was about, I just heard Alex Pettyfer was in it, so I was keen already. Classy right?

Ladies night wooooooo~

Grill'd was packed. Its currently a very popular store of semi-fancy healthy burgers with gourmet aspirations, although they cheekily maintain they are anti-foodie in a few of their recent local menus. I guess its just a fun poke at the snobby attitude of some foodies who are above eating chain burgers even if they have interesting combos like a chicken and brie burger or a pear and feta burger. Made fresh to order, their chips are amazing but a solid rosemary rock salt makes most things smell amazing. They have a massive community giving back focus too, like your local IGA does. They give each patron a bottle cap which they can donate towards one of three causes, at the end of the month, the cause with the most bottle cap gets 300 bucks, and the rest get 100. One of the causes was Schoolbag for children without educational supplies, a Queensland Mental Health one and something else. I threw all of ours in the Mental Health one.

There was a line reaching the door and every single table seemed to be taken up. Luckily, Z. is quite happy to chat even to surly teen boys and politely asked them if we could share their bench. However, J and I did get stuck getting under the benches due to our long skirts. I didn't take pictures of the venue, I'm not quite that creepy yet. Or used to my new phone.

Gross. Apparently it grows on you.

A. and J. both ordered this cider and then told me to drink it. I didn't like it too much, it was quite bitter and not as fruity as some other ciders I've tasted. What do I know anyway I don't even drink. We all ordered separately, opting to share chips amongst ourselves. I don't think the wait was too long, but we were talking the whole time and spent over an hour in total there.

My crispy bacon and cheese burger

I was the first person at my table to receive my burger, although our chips all arrived at the same time. It was pretty good, but I took out the skewer and never thought to leave it in to hold everything in place. I know for next time. It was just a simple cheese burger, but I was feeling keen for a solid beef burger cause their patties are fantastic. I waited for everyone else to get theirs, so it was a bit cool when I actually started eating. Everyone said they didn't mind, but I still felt bad being the only one there with food.

J.'s Gluten Free Bird and Brie burger

 J. has been cursed with coeliac disease, a terrible auto-immune disorder that unfortunately means gluten does to her what lactose does to me. Incredible bloating, gassiness and feeling generally sick. We'll wave aside the rest of the lecture and sum it up with no gluten for J., so basically anything with flour is ruled out, like pastas, bread, cakes, as are many everyday snacks, as its used as a common binder. J. tells me that Grill'd have pretty good GF buns and that she liked her burger.

Grill'd Chicken salad

 Z. opted for the Grill'd Chicken salad, hoping to be healthy, which is odd cause we immediately went to Max Brenner afterwards but oh well. I remember feeling like she polished this off faster than the rest of us put together! Although there was a lot of rocket left over, so I don't think Z. is a fan.

A.'s Front Bar Steak sandwich

A. ordered a Front Bar Steak sandwich and patiently waited for me to finish spinning the plate around to find a decent angle hahaha. All my friends have been fantastic, as I've poked, prodded and photographed their food since I've started food blogging. They were even pretty good before that, when I took pictures of their desserts a few weeks ago when we kept going to Freestyle!

B. also came along, but she spent a long futile time in the city trying to find a free park on a Friday night. She ordered the Simon Says chicken burger. I didn't get a picture as having come in about 15 minutes behind us, her food was also late in arriving and she had started eating before I had even picked up my phone ahahaha. 

As you can guess from some of my comments already, we actually didn't make it to watch Magic Mike, as all the sessions were closed until 9pm. So after a good long chat at Grill'd, we packed it off to Max Brenner where we waited for an hour in line before ordering drinks and J.'s solo dessert. We spent a long time talking there while tables cleared all around us. It was a good night out even if we didn't get to go to the movies :)

A chocolate lick with added on sides!

Insurgent

I finished reading Insurgent, I was half way through it when I wrote up Divurgent's review. Its best summarised with the out loud statement I made on the train, "AW SHIT." The plot twists towards the end were a bit predictable for anyone who is a fan of this genre, but still enjoyable nevertheless. The whispered, "look who has all the guns," was a bit of a dead giveaway though. Despite that, the very last plot twist was worthy of a Brandon Sanderson plot twist, something that just makes you look at the whole series in a new light and also magically explains all the plot holes. I'll hide the spoiler somewhere in this post.
Chicago was made to go into lock down and they were supposed to start a new society that wasn't a shit hole and full of dead, dying sociopaths.

An excellent read

 The divergent were always supposed to emerge and become the new leaders of society and go out beyond the fence.
The second book is all about the chaos from where the first left off. Abnegation were attacked and now Dauntless and Abnegation are completely shattered. Half are rebels and half support the Erudite. Now they have to find a safe house as well as a way to stop the Erudite. They try and convince the useless Amity and the ambivalent Candour to support them in overthrowing the Erudite or at least to seek retribution against them. Also tweeny romance. Plus gaping plot holes in the final push with Marcus and Tris.
She loves Four, but went with Marcus even though he could've just told here right there the secret.
It has a lot more soul searching involved, with lots of terrible situations thrown at nice people who don't deserve this bullshit. Like the big question of, do you do what needs to be done for the greater good or do you respect the individual and their autonomous choice?
Edith Prior was the woman narrating the video that was what Jeanine was looking for. 
The whole way in which the problem is phrased and its inevitable solution is both poignant and empathetic to both sides. Its also wonderful to see that it isn't needlessly tortured and wangsty, a made up word from fanfiction writing that indicates whiny angst or wanky angst. A good example of common wangst, is how a certain popular tween heroine acted after her sparkly boyfriend dumped her and she promptly lost all desire to live. Another good example is how teenage boys act when despite being in school, having food, shelter, games and pocket money complain that they hate everyone and no one understands them. There is no reason for wangst. 

Wangst personified. Otherwise sub in Shinji Ikari as needed.
Presumably related to the main character Beatrice, as her father was revealed to be ex-Erudite. 

Don't get me wrong, I love me a good bit of angst. Its serves to build some background, empathy and good old fashioned drama with otherwise difficult characters. It does have to be well written though, its a very, very fine line. Insurgent has some brilliant moments that really had me tearing up on the train, the big fight between the dream team couple made me lose it as did the memories of her mother Natalie Prior. I basically rate a book highly based on whether or not it makes me cry, you may have noticed that. Harry Potter is still gold for me.

This guy, right here. Angst central.

Caleb is the traitor.

I'm also always up for a book that makes me feel like kicking the crap out a character but also why you should hate them so much. Marcus Eaton, you magnificent bastard. Amity's utter crap decision making made me angry too. The immense involvement of the otherwise neglected factions of Amity and my personal favourite, Candour, were a welcome change in this book. You could really imagine the Amity as hippy Amish farmers who were happy to let things roll by and for Candour to be honest dicks who say whatever they think.

The Amity.

Peter isn't as ad as he seems.

Don't even get me started on how much I love Tris and Tobias. Hrnghhhhhh, such a cute relationship.

Thank you for your honesty, whispered the Candour. Thank you. Thank you.

Now that I've read this book, I'm super keen for the third book. I really hope she expands the series a bit more than a third book, maybe even a fourth.

Marinated beef salad and Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Marinated beef is my go to recipe and crowd pleaser whenever I have dinner night. Its easy to prepare in advance, its fun to cook in a wok for large amounts of people and being the wok master is always fantastic. This beef recipe is easily adapted to whatever proportions you want, and whatever marinade inclusions you want. Maybe not so much a recipe but a guide line?

This recipe can also be used for rice paper rolls. This time I served it with vermicelli noodles and a salad selection. 

My mother's favourite brand of vermicelli noodles. They come in a packet of eight, and come out in little squares, perfect for one meal. Literally heat water to boiling, shove in noodles and cook until just before al dente. Drain and put somewhere safe. Be careful cause these suckers love water and to get grossly soggy.

My salad plate. Grated carrots. Blanched bean sprouts. Weirdly cut up cucumber and shredded lettuce. ONTO THE RECIPES.

Marinated beef. Shake for deliciousness.

Ingredients: 

Thinly sliced beef. 400g of beef is enough for six servings.1kg is plenty to feed about 6-10 people for one round. I normally use cheapo meat like topside, you could use any type of steak, if you can afford it, whatever you feel like. The marinade makes even topside taste good.

Lemongrass - minced at least the white part of two white stalks.

Garlic cloves - minced at least two cloves

Onions - white/brown/purple, at least one solid medium

Lime juice - at least half a lime squeezed in

Oyster sauce - two-three tablespoons, I lie I just chuck it over until the bowl is covered in a spiral of oyster sauce, usually enough to cover the top as you can see in the instruction picture

Soy sauce - see above

Sesame oil - see two above

Sweet soy sauce - see three above

Cooking oil - two tablespoons to make the meat shiny is what my mother says.

Chilli - one hot chilli. Or chilli flakes if you want. Dried chilli could do I suppose

Pepper - black or white, just a wee bit.

My best friends. Also sinister empty orange juice

Instructions:

Mix it all together. Massage with hands. Alternatively put it in a box, and shake it like a polaroid picture. Shove in the fridge for at least half an hour before you eat. I normally do it 4-5 hours in advance. Stir the mixture as you please for extra flavour. Cook in at butter or oil for as long as it takes for all the meat to turn brown or when the onions begin to soften, at that thiness it will take less than a minute. Reoil the pan as required and scrap off burn bits as needed.

MIX.

Notes:

- For an easy time with the beef, either get your butcher to slice it into ham thin slices or freeze it up to an hour beforehand for an easy time. Soft beef is murder to slice since it slides everywhere. Also tiny slivers of beef tend to burn in the pan when cooking cause you can't pick them up.

 - you can use like stirfry beef if you want, but it tends to be too thick for this recipe. Freeze and maybe use a mandolin to slice it thinner?

- This is not a particularly saucy marinade, its mostly coating the meat. If desired, double, triple quantities for the marinade as wanted. Its not a great idea cause the sauce burns and sticks like crazy on pans if not dealt with quickly

- You can mix and match whatever ingredients you want really. The basic tennants are something sour for tenderness, something sweet for balance and caramelisation, something salty for deliciousness, something that smells good whilst cooking to entice. In this recipe, sour = lime juice, sweet = sweet soy sauce, saltiness = soy sauce+oyster sauce, smells good = lemongrass, onions, garlic and chilli. 

 - alternatives to some of these flavours can include

 - sour, lemon juice, orange juice, vinegar, pineapple juice

 - sweet, honey, sugar, condensed milk, peanut butter. The more you put in the more likely it is to burn though. 

- saltiness - salt? Hoisin sauce, satay sauce. Iunno, premade sauces too I guess.

- smells good - ginger, galangal, cumin, lemongrass, onions

- spice, curry powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, chilli flakes, sambal, harissa

 - Always fry off a bit of the meat before officially serving as you can then balance the flavours as needed.

The finished product

Probably my signature cookie, its never gone wrong but it might now that I've said that since I'm typing this post in advance. Originally stolen from this site, not much was changed from the original recipe cause its a pretty fantastic recipe. I'm just rehashing the recipe with a few tips that everyone should know.

A batch from earlier this year.

Use: 
Bribing nurses for favours. Pick me up on sad days. Fantastic fodder for cookie cutters since the peanut butter really helps hold the shape. Burnt ones can be smashed into vanilla ice cream for utter deliciousness

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 splash of vanilla essence
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup plain flour
1-2 teaspoons of baking powder
3/4-1 cup chocolate chips

Various junk you need:
2x baking trays
Cooling rack or a cool wire rack
Large mixing bowl
Wooden spoons

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 175C, if you oven overheats a steady 150C is fine too
2. Line your baking trays with baking paper
3. Mix butter and sugars until creamy.

MIX DAMN YOU MIX

4. Mix in your egg, vanilla, flour and peanut butter until a smooth paste is formed
5. Shove in your choc chips, don't overmix or bad things will happen

Cheap arse choc chip bits

6. Keep wide space on all sides when laying out these bad boys cause they have a tendency to hostilely invade each others territory. That different combo of flour seemed to slow down the rate of expansion while still making a nicely fluffy cookie :)

7. 10-12 minutes in if you like em soft. 12-14 if a bit chewier. This is your average when your oven is right, if going at a lower heat, go for a few minutes longer.
8. Shove them on a wire cooling rack and for gods sake wait until cool to eat, they crumble like sand, but show surprising resiliency post cooling down

I couldn't find my wire cooling rack so I ended up using first a pasta colander as seen on the upper left and then the ingenious idea of using one of my oven racks turned upside down. Please take pity on me and buy me a baking tray or a wire cooling rack.

Divergent

I've always had an eclectic taste in books since I was young, partly due to a burning curiosity as well as the ability to read a good sized novel in two hours. Since I've started this blog I've finished reading, the entire Harry Potter series from I think halfway through the Prisoner of Azakaban and both Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth. 

Like I needed a picture. Its a literary asking you what colour the sky is

I wanted to re-read the series, since the last time I had was just before HP and the Deathly Hallows was released when I was doing my last? exams in year 12. I read them off a bootleg PDF where someone had taken slightly blurred pictures of all the pages. It was supposed to be a celebration of the last HP movie being released, but I ran into trouble. It initially took me two weeks to get through the Philosopher's Stone, purely due to the fact that I keep getting teary whilst reading it. I kept finding myself whispering things to my kindle including:


"DON'T LET THE MUGGLES KEEP YOU DOWN HARRY, YOU'RE THE CHOSEN ONE."
"YOU'RE A WIZARD HARRY."
"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS."
"I shouldn't have told you that."
"Think my name's funny do you, I know who you are, hand me down robes and red hair. You must be a Weasley."


This entire exchange had me in tears:
"Professor McGonagall: Albus, do you really think it safe, leaving him with these people? I've watched them all day. They're the worst sort of Muggles imaginable. They really are... 
Dumbledore: The only family he has. 
Professor McGonagall: This boy will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name. 
Dumbledore: Exactly. He's far better off growing up away from all of that. Until he is ready. "

Not to mention the entire bit on the Mirror of Erised. I was a mess on the train. This was all just during the first book, I won't go through the other six because I'm pretty sure everyone's read/seen the series. 

Divergent on the other hand, was recommended to me bya very good friend of mine, she writes very interesting things over at her blog, well written musings and thought provoking essays about life, motorsports and international politics compared to my psychotic raving and blurry food pictures. Maybe you should drop by for a visit when you want your world view to be shaken?

Anyway, she knows my penchant for post apocalyptic books, grim futuristic novels and dystopian works so she recommended this to me shortly after the Hunger Games craze hit the world. I finally got to reading it due to my massive backlog and I regret not reading it earlier.

Divergent is about a Chicago, many years into the future where society has broken down due to some catastrophe that is never specifically mentioned in either book. What we do know is that the disaster was man made and as a result, the remaining society was split up into five factions, all of whom pursued their faction's creeds and had a niche role in the new world.

Amity, the yellow and red, for people who thought a lack of kindness, fighting and wars ended the world. Their members encourage peace above everything else. They act as the cities arts community and neutral faction. They are rivals with Candour, as their tendency to tell white lies to preserve peace is against Candour's manifesto.

Abnegation, the grey, blaming selfishness for the disaster. They abandoned selfishness, and encouraged their members to be humble, emotionally centred and considerate towards all others. Things like luxurious clothing, gossiping, teasing and rich foods are frowned on in their world. They are commonly found helping others even in everyday life, Abnegation take the stairs so others can take the life, give up their seats, always have food for the factionless and help out in any way they can. Abnegation  is the central governing body as their selflessness means they are less prone to corruption and can impartially make decisions for others. They have a massive rivalry towards Erudite, as the Erudite faction now seek knowledge for greeds sake and ruthlessly spread propaganda stating that Abnegation care for themselves first and foremost.

Candour. the black and white, blamed lies and a lack of honesty for the world ending. Honesty is the greatest thing in their eyes, and their members are often brutally honest to the expense of other's feelings. A Candour would rather be insulted and be told things honestly, then to be lied to. They see the world in black and white as per their colours, the truth and the lie, there is no shade of grey as the truth is everything. They serve as society's leaders in law due to their honesty. As mentioned earlier, they have a rivalry with Amity.

Dauntless, all black, piercings and tattoos, blamed humanity's cowardice for the end of the world. Bravery, facing their fears and fighting towards peace are the ideals of this group. They serve as the fighters of the new world, protecting the other factions from the factionless and other unknown dangers. They train daily to improve their physical ability and face their fears in realistic stimulations. Tattoos and piercings are commonly seen in their members and are used often to represent conquered fears and regrets amongst them. Despite being a war like factions, they are strongly neutral and get along well with most others, especially Candour and maybe not Amity, due to their rash nature.

Erudite, the blue, for those who blamed a lack of knowledge to the world's end. They are intelligent, inquisitive and want to know about anything and everything. They work as researchers and the educated professions of the city. Their desire for knowledge has been known to corrupt and this is why their fierce rivalry lives with Abnegation. 

Despite what I've written, Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite are the big three factions in this book. On reaching their 16th birthday, members of all factions are tested to see where they would be best suited for for the rest of their life. Most children remain with the family and friends in their original home faction but its not uncommon for a change too. 

The main character Beatrice aka Tris, is originally an Abnegation member, who finds out she is Divergent in her trials, equally split between Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless. She refuses Abnegation, as even after 16 years, she continue to struggle with the concept of selflessness, Erudite due to her faction's intense rivalry and chooses to go to Dauntless. The book details her change in factions and more.

I thought the book was very interesting. Its decently written, but has some shoddy storyline and world building errors that don't really make sense, or haven't been revealed yet. I did like the thoughts on the nature of bravery though, in the book, Candour and Dauntless are often connected due to honesty and bravery being close in nature. Abnegation to Dauntless is a rare mix though, with only two members having ever been converted this way, but isn't selflessness similar to bravery? If you forget your own self for the sake of others, isn't that brave as well? 

Ah well, I'm looking forward to the third book in any case. 

Also, Four is hot.

Masterchef 2012 and nuoc mam cham

YEAH ANDY WON. ANYONE BUT JULIA FTW.


I wasn't super keen on Andy winning, I personally thought that Masterchef was over for me when Amina got kicked out just before Italian week. I'm really surprised some of the final 6 actually remained, like Alice who was average in cooking, never cooked anything spectacular but was excellent in team challenges. She also had a crazy samurai sense of honour when it came to competitive things, like choosing savouries in her immunity challenge with Mindy. Alice felt like the dark horse for this years Masterchef, I liked her but I don't think she was good enough to have been where she was in the competition.


The rest of the final six were consistently good throughout the competitions, having gone for immunity challenges or winning multiple immunity boxes and things. On the other hand, I hate Debra. Consistently terrible in team challenges and having no experience in any other culture's food besides stock standard Western cooking. I remember her glass breaking moment for me was the dismal yum cha challenge, where she captained the red team to failure even with Mindy taking the reins, and then proceeding to blame Mindy for sabotaging her leadership and not supporting her. Uhhh, awkward. 

I was just glad Julia didn't win. Arrogance personified. Some of her comments throughout the show have made me double take at her sheer rudeness, she seems like she has the potential to be really mean. 


Poor Audra getting knocked out for her salad. It was really a bad choice though, the criteria were set down and if you're not going to follow judging criteria in the finals to the T, yowza. 


Um. I haven't out or made anything worth posting in a while, however I have a doggy play date tomorrow and am cooking lunch so I figured I would include my much bandied about recipe for nuoc mam cham. The Vietnamese BBQ sauce. It goes on everything :) I didn't bother taking many pictures either, just because its not really difficult. Measure junk out, mix, taste, fix. You get the picture. Its a good Vietnamese staple to know how to do though!

Nuoc Mam Cham - Fish dipping sauce

Use: 

Everything Vietnamese should probably be eaten with this basic sauce. Well everything that isn't a soup I guess. Salads, summer rolls, vermicilli salads, steamed chicken, noodles, any sort of fish, whatever you fancy.

Staples:

Sugar, white/brown is okay. Palm sugar melts badly.

Hot Water to dissolve stuff

Fish sauce - squid brand is what we use

Lemon juice OR lime juice OR white vinegar. Lemon/lime based on preference. Vinegar is frequently used if you want this mix to last pretty much forever. I would say, lemon/lime juice would only last a week or something.

No lemons for me. White vinegar it is.

Additionals:

Garlic
Chilli

Ginger

One birds eye chilli cause I could feel it scorching my eyes with my glasses on

Notes:

Same ratio for the staples barring the lemon/lime/vinegar. So if you use one cup of sugar, ditto for fish sauce and hot water. Or one tablespoon, one of each in equal quantities.

Instructions:

1. Mix one part sugar (tbs, tbps, cup, litre whatever) to one part hot water. Stir until dissolved

2. Add same amount of fish sauce to this mixture, stir until mixed.Add the lemon/lime/vinegar/acid of some sort.

3. Taste and see what it needs, too salty, add more water or acid. Ideally all the flavours should be balanced.

   a. Once you're happy with the taste, you can add in diced/minced garlic and chilli if desired. Traditionally if eaten with fish or duck, ginger can be added in as well. 

Keep in the fridge in a clean, sterilised jar. Stir before use otherwise no floaty bits for you.

Tomorrow I will have more things to post! I promise! At least one cookie recipe or another Vietnamese dish :D!

The genius of congee

Such a chump. I realised what I should've called my blog, "Ugly as sin, tasty as hell!" I realised that when I was taking photos of all the food I've been making over the last few days, it looks hideous. I made a spiral cut hot dog the other day with mustard relish, BBQ sauce, bacon and caramelised onions. It looked like I mangled a hot dog and then vomited all over it. Goddamn it tasted good though. I'll try it again in a week or so and see how much better I do.

Tasty as hell. Despite the lacklustre appearance.

Then today I took a few pictures of my mum's chao and goi aka a chicken and rice congee plus a chicken, carrot and cabbage salad. The congee is made typically made from an intense chicken stock of at least one stewing chook plus a shit ton of chicken bones, onions and then towards the end, rice is added until the grains swell. The meat is normally shredded and either left in the soup or reserved and added to the goi salad.

Ugmo central.

Goi is a Vietnamese dish of basically salad, well Vietnamese style salad that is. I'm not sure if its just my Australian Vietnamese slang language, where my parents and relatives bastardise the English language, but they refer to any non-Asian salad as "sa lat". It sounds exactly like salad, if you were thinking Vietnamese accent. The one for this congee is made from raw shredded carrot and cabbage, sorta like coleslaw, I guess. However its dressed with a sugar, lemon juice and mint mixture. Dressings differ between makers though.

Goi. The most delicious salad ever.

Congee is such a fantastic winter dish, its one of those, "I'm sick mum." "Oh, eat some congee then." The deceptively simple flavours, the comforting easy to swallow goodness of puffy rice grains, the clarity of the stock and chicken cause its freaking delicious. You can also make many, many other versions of it but chicken congee is by far the best.

Anyway, where was I going with this? All my food is hideous, all the food I enjoy is hideous and it tastes fantastic. You can't make curries sexy and reconstructed with fancy arse smears, foams, spheres and stacks on plates. All you literally have is a bowl of the stuff with some garnish up top. That's it, let the deliciousness speak for itself.

Delicious.

KOFOO

So today I met up with a friend and her daughter. We did some laps of the local park before high tailing it with my superb navigational skills to Garden City. Surprisingly we got there in one piece and on time!

We decided to go to the sushi train at the lower level near K-mart. Its a dark little corner of the food court right besides Hanaichi. Like every solid sushi train, everyone speaks Japanese and is super enthusiastic to help you. The service is fantastic of course. The lighting was terrible, I remember it being quite dark. That aside, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I do recall what I ate. A chicken karaage plate, a tuna roll, a salmon and tempura chicken roll and a chicken teriyaki roll.

The chicken karaage was picked at the wrong time, it was the first dish I saw. Ideally never pick ANYTHING at the sushi train when you first enter, it sets you up for a bad time. You wait until you get to know all the food on the train or pick only what the chef has placed down. This level of vigilance ensures that whatever you pick is super fresh and hasn't been floating on the train forever. A slightly spicy, soggy from condensation chicken karaage, it came with a wedge of lemon but no kewpie mayo! Disappointing.

The tuna roll was your usual, pasty white, avocado and mayo roll. Nothing special and cheap as anything. It had those little tobiko, flying fish roe all over it. Delicious orange popping eggs.

The chicken teriyaki roll was a bit disappointing? I'm not really sure why. It was a bit too well cooked, a piece of solid, slightly dry chicken breast marinated lightly in a teriyaki sauce. Maybe that's where it went wrong for me, normally I liked my chicken teriyaki saturated in the sauce with a piece of dark meat like thigh,  guaranteed to be super tender and bouncy. It held up nicely though when bitten and dunked in soy sauce.

The main attraction for me was that delicious salmon and tempura chicken roll. It was done in fancy arse nigiri style, basically inside out so the salmon was on the outside like a fancy pink stripe. A layer of rice and seaweed, then on the inside was the tempura chicken. It was a silky soft salmon bite, the slight chewiness of the seaweed and the delicious crunch crunch of the tempura chicken. This was probably the tastiest roll I ate that day. I could have cheerfully eaten another plate or two while I was there but my friend was running late so off she went. I offered her my last segment but she wasn't keen. Different strokes I guess.

Overall. I would probably not go here again. The overall experience was neutral. The food was well presented, the karaage was a disappointment, the establishment looked good, the service was good. As per sushi traindom, the plates were cheap and well marked out so the price wasn't too bad about 12 and 14 bucks? Eh 5/10.

I sneakily called my sister, for a lift and she arrived about an hour or two after that. So I spent the time trying to look for knitting needles, comparing Coles and Woolies and trying to see if I could find a cheap massage place. I think I lapped the entirety of Garden City from end to end, top and bottom floor maybe four to six times?

We did some food shopping and then had to decide what my sister wanted to eat for breakfast. We were both keen for Grill'd but their mini burgers are 7.50 and they don't allow adults to buy children's meals. Not that it mattered cause she is a vegetarian. We ended up drifting away since my sister is a cheap uni student and I'm just cheap. We went to KOFOO in the main food court area instead.

KOFOO stands for Korean Food and apparently its modern Korean food that young Korean people like to eat. Or something, I'm trying to remember what I read from the brochure. The website is in Korean, even the English language side is in Korean which is very uh, unique. I dunno, I never seem to pick good Korean food whenever I go to Korean places. I've been to Maru, Madtongsan and some dodgy korean bbq place and still don't like the cuisine very much.

 I really do want to like it but I just don't. I remember David Chang, Korean awesomechef extraordinare of NY's Momofuku, saying that Korean food was all about preserving food for the long winter and rich, warming foods that made you happy and sleepy. That sounds right up my alley! I love winter! I love the cold weather. The wearing of big fat coats that make everyone look fat. The seeking of comfort foods. The socially acceptable fat gain of winter. Oh and the awesome winter produce, spinach! Fuji apples! Granny smith apples! Rhubarb! Broccoli! Cauliflower! Winter strawberries in Australia! Fuck yeah I love pickles! And yet I dislike Korean food!

My sister chose the vegetarian bibimpap and I chose . . . something rice cakes, fish cakes and a fluro red sauce. I can't remember what it was called, it was number 28 in the menu. Possibly ddukbokki according to my googlefu skills.

 Needless to say I hate it. I was disappointed with the small serving size. My paper bowl was filled halfway and that's so visually appealing, oh here comes my meal, it barely reaches the middle of the bowl? Isn't there smaller bowls for that so it at least looks like you're not being stingy? The rice cakes were mediocre. I can't complain, but they didn't have that slurpy, meltingly soft texture that Vietnamese banh trang or Japanese udon have, that almost raw gooey texture that dissolves with a harsh look or poke of the cutlery.

Instead these little radiation rods appeared all throughout my fluro red sauce of gochujang chilli paste. There were three lonesome paper thin slices of a fish take that tasted resoundingly of tofu that had had ice crystals appear and caused bloody huge holes in them. The gochujang sauce was spicy, as if the colour isn't indicative enough. I'd like to say I can tolerate a bit of a heat, I'm a solid medium for all cuisines, but this chilli paste made me reach for tissues, my all berry bang smoothie and try and ignore the burn that I was enduring. My face is scowling as I recall it. It also was super sweet, super weird.

Vegetarian Bibimbap

My sister's meal. I was really curious as to how they would approach this, since all the bibimbap we've had has been the dolsot bibimbap variety which is traditionally done in a super heated heavy stoneware bowl. Its so hot, no one would willingly touch it due to impending burns. However this heated bowl is sneakily coated with sesame oil, which serves to crisp and sizzle the ingredients creating a terrific crunchy rice crust and also cooking any ingredients that are raw.

I dunno it looked okay, but how hard is it to put rice in a bowl and pinwheel vegetables? My sister is notoriously lazy though, so that explain things. The gochujang sauce was hiding under the egg, you can see it in the corner. She is also OCD, so she ate each ingredient one by one, pretty much ruining the point of bibimbap. I'm pretty sure she was overwhelmed by the gochujang spiciness though, cause she drank her grapefruit green tea faster than I did for once.

She also received a complimentary broth. I'm not really sure what it was. It was clear and tasted like standard stock, she didn't ask. Probably because it would destroy her vegan powers if she did.

This was the damage. 14 bucks for the pair of us and half the food left over. This place was terrible, I wouldn't eat here even if a friend shouted me to lunch. Clean, a terrible menu of stuff that all seemed to look the same, terrible terrible food but friendly service and prompt delivery. 2/10?

Terrible. I suppose this is what happens when you're new to the whole blogging business = /. I'll try harder next time to take more photos! And decide on a cooler nickname for people!

Becoming a cat lady

Eager beaver. Woke this morning and had the desire to vent so here I am.

I had this conversation with a friend over Steam's chat function the other day, she said to me:

H - Someone told me that I should buy a cat

H - But then I thought

TSG - THEN YOU KNEW THAT IF YOU GOT A CAT. THAT WOULD BE THE START OF THE END. 

TSG - THAT WOULD BE THE START OF YOUR CRAZY CAT LADY HABITS

H - EXACTLY

Without cats

With cats

I guess this is one of those irrational fears that women get. It carries all the connotations of a urine soaked, elderly lady, squatting in a slatternly abode, maniacally funnelling all her energy into her cats as her only source of companionship. That being said, becoming crazy cat lady is not as all consuming as say, "My children are unsafe because my husband beats us," or even "Who the fuck is walking behind me as I walk to my car and can I take him on?" Its not even as big as maybe, "I'm fat." or a solid, "I'm going to die forever alone." Its one of those things that lurks behind at the back of mind when it gets to depressing times like PMS, winter or being having no one to take to the fundraising ball. Much sadface.

Lupi

Siri

At the moment both my friend and I are good. We have steady jobs, good health, sufficient time and interest to continue our hobbies and yet no significant other however we do have dogs. I have my Siri, a lovable husky possibly malamute crossed golden retriever that you should get used to seeing, whilst H has some type of mutt that she has a co-share in. Much like she has a coshare in my sister's dog, Lupi, a cross of three gorgeous sheep dogs, cattle dog, kelpie and mareema.





This is where the fundamental difference in dogs vs cats comes in though. I'm not saying this is the case for everyone, but when I say I'm going to spend some time with my dog, we'll do things like, go on a walk, go to the dog park or go to the beach. If I had a cat, we'd maybe cuddle, or chase a laser pointer or something if my cat was up for it.

Why should it be based on whether or not my cat feels up to it? I thought that was why my cat was my pet and not the other way around? Where do dog people go to hang around other dog people? The dog park. For cat people? Pretty sure its the internet and specifically /a/. Why else would                                       Caturday exist?

I really wanted Siri when I moved to my new house for many reasons. Ladies house, no brute strength security for us, I'd never been without a dog for more than a few months in my entire life, I wanted to go out for walks but am super paranoid about being in my bad area and I was just generally lonely. I spent every hour at work, every other hour asleep or every third hour being an immense nerd and it was getting tired. 

All this being said, I like cats. When I was younger, I really liked going to my friends house cause they were the only one of my friends with a cat. We were also friends, but her cat was pretty cool. Even then I knew about the mercurial natures of cat,. I would stroke its fur, scratch its belly and it would purr and purr and then bam, it loved it so much, it wanted to scratch the shit out of my hand. Goddamn cats.

I don't think either H or myself will become cat ladies any time soon. We'll need a lot more life misfortune and failed relationships for that.