That Wall!

In the July/August issue of the Australian Vogue Living last year, I saw photos of these beautiful mottled walls and I haven't been able to get them out of my head.

Most people, I think, would instinctively want to scrape and sand off every single layer of the peeling old paint and give the walls a fresh coat in a colour or colours of their own choosing.

But not Debra Cronin, a "sought-after hair and make-up artist" turned interior designer, when she stumbled upon this built-in-1885 heritage-listed terrace in Sydney's leafy Woollahra.

To keep the house's historical virtue intact, she's not only painstakingly spruced up those "walls that talk" (by "removing loose flaking bits with a brush and then spraying with a diluted mixture of Bondcrete") but has also incorporated decades-old building materials that she found discarded in piles in the courtyard into her renovation.

She now lives in it and runs both her design (Debra Cronin Designs) and "bespoke underground dining concept" (Bite Club) businesses out of it.

>>>>>> Fast-forward to last night...

Imagine my squeals of delight when I saw a similar wall in The King's Speech! In the expansive room in which speech therapist Logue practised and in which a huge part of the film was shot.

These screen-grabs do not do the wall, which by the way is not on a built set but in a real proper found location, justice! You have to watch the film to see and feel its beauty and scope.

Production designer Eve Stewart's original sketch from here

According to this article in the Guardian, "The actual rooms Logue practised in were too small to film so the team found a building a block away, 33 Portland Place, which has an unusual vaulted room with large leaded windows at one end, reminiscent of a Venetian palace, and roof lights that make it look a bit like an artist's studio and allow some light in on the pervasive gloom.

Production designer Eve Stewart's original sketch from here

This room also has extraordinary walls, decorated in distressed browns and oranges like an exotic damaged fresco, if in autumnal colours. When the team arrived, one area was covered in wallpaper infused with oil, which had then been half-scraped, half-burned off. Eve Stewart, the production designer, loved the mottled, peeling effect so much that she decided to reproduce it across the whole wall. The room became so striking that very little furniture was required, and the almost empty set gives the actors space..."

Eve Stewart said in another article in Vanity Fair, “Everyone, including me, thought they’d be bored rigid watching the same wall for two hours." Not me! I can stare at that wall for hours. One day, I would like to live in a home old enough to have one of them peeling beauties.

Party Treats

Funny things that I saw on my way to/at parties I went to this weekend:

Yesterday. Walking up Auntie Fal's street to her 80th birthday morning tea party.

Pinkie is as I found her, snuffling the tree. Haha. I didn't "art direct" her pose although I was very tempted to make her hump the trunk but there were neighbours, with kids, out and about.

Friday evening. At Hollypop's girly night-in.

Sitting high atop her kitchen cabinet was this hilarious Cookie Cop (love his cheesy grin!) cookie jar. So out of place amongst all her girly pink kitchen implements!

Fun Fish Sticks

Also known by their posh name "goujonettes". But I like "fish sticks" better.

I didn't know what I was thinking when I decided to make these fiddly things instead of just cutting the fish fillets into larger pieces like the fish in regular fish-and-chips.

Maybe I just wanted to have fun with food like I usually do but after crumbing (coat with flour -> dip in eggwash -> coat with panko breadcrumbs) the first 10 sticks, I got bored and impatient and hungry. And it was too late to change my mind because all the fillets had already been cut into them thin strips. Many many thin strips!

Then there was the deep-frying. Which of course took longer than frying the same amount of fish that have been cut into bigger chunks.

And we ate them all in lesser time than I took to prep and cook them. Haha. Fun fish sticks!

Darren, Oh, Darren!

Have a stiff drink within easy reach if you're going to watch Black Swan. I didn't know that I'll be needing one, not for second, as the 108-minute-long movie played in front of me because I was so sucked in by all that was going on. However, when the final curtain fell, like the snap of a magician's fingers to bring his volunteer from the audience out of a trance on stage, my chest was one big cold hollow. Director Darren Aronofsky has done it again! Black Swan is not as strong a film as his earlier one, the brilliant Requiem for a Dream, (that required more than one stiff drink post-viewing) but the "unsettling" factor was present nonetheless. Albeit in a smaller dose. The man is good. A master of that style of mindfuckery that is unique to him.

Watch Black Swan at a cinema that's close to a pub. Or better yet, go to a cinema with its own bar. If cheeky drinkie-poos are not your thing, maybe have a copy of the documentary, Ballets Russes, waiting for you to pop into the player when you get home. It works just as well as a stiff one warming that big cold hollow.

Palettes Of Colours From Yesterday

On me.

At On Ramen. We've been going there quite often but I only noticed how pretty this window is yesterday. Must be the light at that time of the day.

Ray-Ban "Colorize" point-of-sale display in an optician's window in Chinatown.

On the van of a painter/decorator. I SQUEALLED with delight when I saw this because it was only a few steps and minutes away from where the pink paint can in the last shot was! "Psychic coincidence" is what my pal Ben would say.

On a piece of remnant I found in an op shop after lunch.



On the boyfriend. Floral-print + stripey seersucker = I want to steal his clothes.

Concrete TV

Photo by Livvy G

A couple of days ago, my pal Ms Livvy G, knowing how much I LOVE sculptor Will Coles' work, sent me this photo with a note that said, "I found this next to the White Rabbit Gallery today and thought of you. It says 'obsolescence'. x". She's such a sweetheart, isn't she?!

Her happy snap came at the right time too! Because I wanted to plug Will's solo show of new pieces and was looking for an image to plonk with the post! Now that I've got one, here are the details...

What: Tom of Blokeland by Will Coles

When: From now until Sunday 6 February 2011 // Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 5pm

Where: Wilson Street Gallery // 30-34 Wilson Street, Newtown, NSW 2042 // Phone: (02) 9516 3144

Meet My New Poochie Pal!

The very handsome Bentley! He's an Old Family Red Nose Pit Bull Terrier. I think that's what his owner David said.

David has got to be the friendliest dog owner I've ever met in our neighbourhood (most of them don't even return a smile or a nod). A few minutes into our chat about Bentley, he asked if I'd like to take over the leash. Of course I would! Wheeee!



And Bentley is such a joy to walk! David has certainly trained him well. Totally cracked the boyfriend and I up when he said that the command for Bentley to sit and wait for the lights to change is "What's happening?". Haha. And Bentley responded every time.

I hope we see them around again. Maybe with Mrs Bentley too. And one of their six new pups when they're allowed to leave the house.

"How Are You Going To Find Your Feet...

...when you've got so many pairs of shoes?" my pal Ben wrote a long time ago in a song about me. Haha.

So I'm culling my stash. All 14 pairs you see here (more might be added) are for sale on Ebay. Some very "pre-loved". Some never worn. And quite a few pairs of very-hard-to-let-go-of Melissa's from my collection.

If you're a size 38/39, you're in luck for they're going at rather bargainous prices. If you're not but know someone who is, please let them know about the Likkle Shoe Sale. Cheers.

From Maps To Tourist Traps

Talking about finding the perfect map-print dress in the last post reminded me of this vintage dress that I picked out of the bargain bin at the Bams & Ted garage sale late last year.

There's not a map on it but it's got all the trappings of a tourist trap souvenir. You know those drawings of must-visit spots that they place around maps? It's all here. Haha. Of "Colourful Colorado"! This dress will do until I find the ultimate map-py one.

Talking about tourist trap merchandise...

I wouldn't mind a dress or a skirt made from joining loads of kitschy souvenir tea towels together. One that I (and others) can read when I'm wearing it. Just like a map dress. Tee hee hee.

Mad About Maps

Last Saturday was my turn to play host to Ms Carpet on an op shop tour in my neighbourhood. It's like the Surry Hills version of our Bondi Bonanzas. Except I haven't thought of a good catchy name for it yet. Haha.

You know how we always end up with purchases that fall within a theme that we didn't consciously set? Well, Saturday was no different. We took home map-printed things.

A Map of New South Wales scarf for me.

And a Map of Greece scarf for Ms Carpet. Haha. And she's half Greek!

If there's a Muji near us, I'd like some of these map-print hankies of...

...Tokyo

...London

...and New York. Talking about New York, you have to look at the sex-ay Ms B's Subway Map dress!

This cartography thing is not a new obssession of ours. Ms Carpet and I have been on the look-out for map-printed dresses and skirts for quite some time already. I know that we'll find some one day if the Op Shopping Goddess keeps sprinkling lucky confetti on us.

Another "Will Make Again" Salad

(click on images to read recipe)

This month's Australian Gourmet Traveller has to be my most well-thumbed copy since I first started subscribing in 2005. I do read them all from cover to cover and occasionally try out some recipes but this is the first time that I've made two things from one issue consecutively. First the Saigon Chicken & Cabbage Salad last week and then this Crisp Fish, Green Mango & Roast Coconut Salad a few nights ago.

Some pictures I took of the process...when my fingers weren't too grubby...

Soaking the tamarind and dried shrimps for the sweet and sour chilli sauce/dressing. I love dried shrimps in things and it's one of my larder staples.

Post-soak - tamarind pulp and chopped dried shrimps.

The sweet and sour chilli sauce/dressing. Mine turned out looking more like a paste. I don't know if it's supposed to because the recipe says "sauce" meaning a more liquid end-product, right? Also, I couldn't tell the consistency of the "sauce" from the photo on the page. Didn't matter really because it was tasty.

If you're making this, here's a few "cheats":
- I used some of the ginger I always have in my fridge (for juicing) instead of buying a whole knob of galangal which I know I wouldn't use the rest of in the near future
- I didn't pound the chilli, dried shrimps and galangal/ginger after frying because I chopped them real fine to start with. Plus I don't like getting my mortar and pestle greasy. Even if it's slightly chunky, it's ok, I think. Gives good bite. It's weird that they suggest pounding post-frying because traditionally, when making these rempah (spice paste)-like things, you pound the raw stuff before it hits the oil.

A "cheating" contraption.

I don't own a mandolin because it takes up quite a bit of space in the gadget drawer for something that I don't use too often. My knife skills are not too bad so usually I use the knife to make juliennes. Then we saw this contraption at the Asian supermarket one day. Haha. I was too lazy to shred a whole mango so I busted it out.

In theory, it's a brilliant tool but it's rubbish when you actually use it. Big con! See how the juliennes don't separate into individual strands when peeled? Made more work for myself picking them apart. Haha. Back to using the knife.

The "painful" mango in the mixing bowl with the herbs.

In goes the crispy fried fish. The recipe says to break the fish fillets into smaller pieces after frying. Moisture-retention being the reason? I cut my fish into chunks before frying because I wanted more surface area to be golden and crispy and they were still moist within. Yay!

Add a dollop of the chilli "sauce" and toss...

...and into the serving bowl which I lined with some lettuce leftover from a Shaoxing Wine Chicken Sang Choy Bao dinner days before.

Notice the lack of coconut garnish? I was pissed off about that because I love a coconut and mango combo! I had some grated fresh coconut in the freezer that were still good last week and dead when I pulled it out to use in this salad. Bah!

Will have to make this again. For the coconut and also because it is deeeelicious.

"So Easy To Make Dirty"

Blouse - Lover, Cut-offs - the usual pair that hasn't been washed for ages, Necklace - from the most unlikely place

A bit of Singlish (Singapore-English) there for you. It means "It doesn't take much to soil/stain it (the white blouse)".

Still on my dirt-attracting white clothes-wearing kick. I love this blouse a lot. It is the mother of all white blouses! It has everything that I love - broderie anglaise, insertion stitches between panels, slightly poufy sleeves, teeny-tiny pleats and that little peplum! I will be very sad if the delicate thing die on me one day.

Back To Being A Dirt Magnet

I knew deep somewhere in my piles of unnecessary thing-things that I had something that would illustrate my spotty fire-cupped back to the hilt without me showing the real deal and grossing some of you out.

I thought hard about it and found the item yesterday - this polka-dotted bag by Country Road Kids that I bought ages ago. It's actually quite close to how my back looks now (the dots are the exact same size!), one week later, with some dark spots and some fading to a much lighter shade. Enough to make me feel comfortable enough to bust out the Summer whites again...

Top - French Connection, Skirt - secondhand H&M from op shop, Shoes - Superga

...which I managed to keep clean at lunch (slurpy soupy rice noodles at our beloved Chat Thai) and at the Asian grocer after. Yay!

I don't understand why people are so reluctant to wear light cotton-y white in Summer (so many of them I see on the streets still in black in this humid heat!) when it keeps you cool and is so easy to wash.

If money was not object, I'd buy myself half of this quite-wearable collection. Not that I'm usually a big fan of what they do but it's so refreshing to see so much stark light-reflecting white on the runway where boring black almost-always rules.

Narcissistic Sodapop Lover

I like trying new-to-me sodapops.

And I like collecting pictures and what-nots of likkle girls that I think look like me -> blunt fringe + pudding bowl haircut.

I also like my likkle girls to come with matching bwoy-pals, if possible.

This bottle of Japanese ramune would be the perfect all-in-one if only the content tasted as good as the label looked.

Slow Fast Food

Having fun with edibles again and clearing the fridge and freezer at the same time with homemade "sausages".

Chicken mince + browned onion bits + diced roasted red capsicum + chopped coriander + various sauces + salt and pepper...rolled into sausage-shaped things in cling wrap.

Boiled.

And browned.

And ready to be eaten with sautéed onions, homemade tomato & chilli chutney and mustard in a store-bought bun.

Had planned to take an even slower roundabout route by making my own bread but it was just too hot yesterday for hand-kneading.