Why Pubs Are Called "Hotels" In Australia

...when they are obviously drinking holes and not places with clean comfy beds and hot showers.

It didn't bug me on my first holiday here. I was way too young to drink and I didn't even notice the oddness. Confusion only set in on subsequent trips when I was of legal drinking age and chasing Sydney bands (that I've specifically come to see...super happy days, those were!) from venue to venue. They were always playing at this-hotel or that-hotel - the Annandale Hotel being the hottest spot in those days. I remember going down Parramatta Road for the first time, looking out for a hotel-hotel only to find a corner pub at the address. Haha. I've since found out the reason for the misleading names. Now you know too, readers from foreign land! Or did you already know?

Anyway, we went to one such "hotel" for a beer and late lunch yesterday - the Central Hotel. It's a short walk from our apartment but not as short as the walk to the other pubs that we frequent so it was only our second time there. The first was a few Thursdays ago for a quick pre-dinner drink with Ms Carpet and her A-Man. We liked what we saw on the simple pub grub menu (click on first picture above to view). Quite surprised to see that it's by chef Warren Turnbull from District Dining upstairs (a restaurant that's not part of the pub) and we said we would go back for a meal one day. Yesterday, it was.

We've never been disappointed by a meal that comes out from Warren Turnbull's kitchen and it makes me very sad to have to say that our lunch was kind of blah-some. My chicken schnitzel burger looked all amazing but the tender juicy breast was let down by the complete lack of seasoning. The boyfriend's rump steak was pink in the middle but not as pink as he would have liked it. The peppercorn sauce was so watered-down and our fries tasted like they have been fried in oil that's nearing its use-by date.

What's up, Warren?! The excuse that we made on your behalf, in our head, was that you had an apprentice on bar menu duties yesterday and was not watched over by one of your chefs. Please say it's true.

Stripey Doraemon

Inspired by yesterday's Doraemon sighting (maybe?) to wear this recently-thrifted happy blue stripey knit today.

Didn't notice that the boyfriend had some concealed blue stripey-action going on too until we sat down for lunch. Haha. He wasn't going for the his-and-hers look. No, no, no! Trust me. It's too smoochie-woochie koochie-woochie for us. But it's hard sometimes when we both own quite a bit of stripey things.

Brother & Jeda

It has turned out to be a quite puppy-ful weekend for me! Yay!

Brother (it's not his real name - everytime he sees me, he'll go, "Hey, sister! How's it going?" and I'll say "Hey, brother!" back) and Jeda don't live in our building but sometimes they like to hang out on the stoop in front of it, him nursing a bottle of beer wrapped in a brown paper bag and Jeda chewing on a stick.

We first met a few months ago when Jeda (named after a mythological figure in Indigenous Australian folklore) was just a wee pup. Look at her now! Brother lets me play with her whenever I see them around and I never thought to ask for a photo until today. Haha. It's way over-exposed, though. Jeda looks like part of Brother's shirt. Haha. Might have to ask again when I see them next.

Dating Doraemon

Doraemon comics kept me entertained for many happy hours when I was child but I'm not sure if I want to be seen walking hand-in-hand with him in broadlight in Chinatown (or anywhere else!). The chick in pink is a brave girl.

I snapped this picture quickly while crossing the road so I didn't notice the range of expressions on the faces of some of the other people around him (click on it to have a better view and a laugh). I like that the two dudes next to Mrs Doraemon look like they are smiling at my camera. And how the girl in the red shoes seems a little embarrassed.

Doraemon made my day, man!

Paddo Pups

Look at them watching the world go by along Oxford Street in Paddington this morning!

I love puppies (just so you know, I refer to full-grown dogs as "puppies" too) and Sydney is a great city for pup-watching. They are everywhere!

I would photograph every dog I see but they usually have a human at the other end of their leash, some of them so lack of warmth that they don't return a smile or a nod. Don't think they will take well to requests for puppy pics.

Colour-Coded

There seems to be a recurring colour scheme in my likkle world this week. Haha. The colour combo of the things I made was pre-planned but that of the things I wore was not. Maybe my head's been programmed to think in these colours after staring at loads of fabric in the same colour family for days on end. The "burnt oatmeal"/"rosy khaki" (what's the right name for that shade?) in the vest, the boots and the grandma trousers, in particular.

1. The whole of this week
Just been sewing away. These finished pieces are their way to an "object" gallery in Melbourne now. Just made the deadline! Phew. And there's more to be done when the second deadline comes around.

2. Wednesday
What I think was the coldest day so far this year. And wet too! Yuckitty-yuck. Wouldn't have left the apartment if I didn't run of sewing bits-and-bobs and had to go to the haberdashery.

I've forgotten just how amazing the heat-trapping/holding power of the shaggy Icewool cardigan is (more pictures here). If you ever come across anything made from Arctic sheep wool, grab it!

Still loving my big fat/phat jeans. Loving these featured in the Vintage Photo Contest on The Sartorialist too (how cute are their his-and-hers reindeer sweaters?!).

3. Yesterday
Wearing newly-thrifted grandma wool trousers. I was going to call them "grandma pants" (they are, afterall, the female version of my "grandpa pants") but the picture those words made in my head is one of big fat nanna knickers. Haha.

Thursday late-night shopping with Ms Carpet. We were on an important gift-buying mission but discovered, when we got there, that the shop that we wanted to go to was shut. For good. Bah.

We didn't do too well shopping for ourselves either. We found a few things that we wanted at the St Vinnies' in Paddington but we just weren't in the mood yesterday to pay vintage shop prices in a charity shop. It sucks that some op shops in the posher neighbourhoods these days price their goods in relation to the real estate prices in their area. These killjoys take the fun and thrill out of thrift-shopping! Boo. We went spend our money at the pub instead.

VHS or Betamax

We LOVE the print on the t-shirt that Little P (A-Man's baby brother) wore last night!

I think the boy wasn't even born when these films were made. Haha. But it's nice to know that he's seen most of them or it'd be like wearing a band t-shirt when you have no idea who they are or what they are about. Which is not cool in my books.

Burp!

Half of my week in food pictures...

Wednesday
It's funny how I cook using recipes from the Ottolenghi cookbooks only in the colder months (see here and here) when their Summer dishes look and sound as delicious. I think our cravings for comforting spiced things when the temperature drops might have something to do with it?

The kosheri - nutmeg and cinnamon-flavoured rice and lentil cooked in butter and then tossed with tons of sauteed onions - is a big favourite. In this household, it is not known as "Ottolenghi's kosheri" but "Meeps' Special Rice" because she was the first to cook it for us and introduced us to the world of Ottolenghi.

His coriander-y roasted pepper sauce is another firm favourite. I usually make a tub and spoon it over everything! Here, we had it with pan-fried chicken breasts.

Thursday
No food pictures but still food-related.

Together with Ms Carpet and her A-Man, we went to Food Fighters, a Sydney Writers' festival event. I don't care much for A.A. Gill (his rambly monthly column in the Australian Gourmet Traveller does my head in). It was Anthony Bourdain we went to hear (and perv at).

We sat down all excited and left totally disappointed. The "Too Full" article below, from yesterday's papers (click on it to enlarge), echoes our sentiments exactly...

The talk definitely needed a moderator who is as strong in the personality department as Anthony Bourdain and A.A. Gill to keep them in check, on track and the banter going with the right questions at the right time. It was a real shame they didn't get the right person to do the job because there were some pretty interesting topics that popped up but weren't further pursued. We want our money back! Not from the Festival but from Tony Bilson.

Highlight of the evening for me was when the guest speakers declared fine dining dead, that amazing food can be found everywhere, not just at establishments with starched table linen, if you care to look (Anthony Bourdain ate at this dingy kopitiam in Singapore and loved it!). Because it's a view long-held by me and something that I think food snobs needed to hear from their food idols.

I love a good meal at a nice restaurant (who doesn't?) but I have no qualms eating at hole-in-the-wall joints and stalls in food courts too as long as there is delicious food to be had. The same can't be said about some of these pompous "food lovers" - they have been known to balk at the thought of eating at these places and that's not very food-loving, is it?

On that note, I thought it was quite apt that the four of us ended up at Padi, a tiny new-to-us Indonesian place for dinner after. Thanks to an email the boyfriend received from a dining coupon website, it was the best Indonesian meal I've had in Sydney so far. Bar the curdled Pandan Creme Brulee, everything else we ate beat the flavours at our old favourite Ratu Sari! A definite will-go-eat-again.

Friday
More Asian delights! With our pals G and Mr R at another old favourite, Kopitiam.

With four mouths to feed, it was the first time that the boyfriend and I got to order more than Chicken Rice from the menu...
~ Bak Kut Teh (in that cast iron pot with the white ladle) - No porky-pig for me but the boys loved it!
~ Char Kway Teow - I forgot that I didn't like it that much the last time and ordered it again. Bah. Haha.
~ Sambal Prawns - Shiok, man!
~ Chicken Satay - Always good! And the lemongrassy peanut sauce...OH!
~ Fried Rice - We ordered Nasi Goreng but it came out looking and tasting like Chinese-style fried rice. Haha. It was delicious nonetheless.
~ Belacan Snakebeans - Not belacan-y at all! Disappointing.
~ Tauhu Bakar - Grilled tofu stuffed with cucumber and beansprouts. Disappointed again because they served it with the wrong sauce! It's meant to be eaten with a peanut-y shrimp paste-y sauce. NOT sweet chilli sauce from the bottle! Boo.
~ Chendol - For dessert. A must!

We'll go back again (we dream of their Chicken Rice!) but we'll know what not to order.

Saturday
At the Beach Burrito Company in Bondi for the first time. To celebrate A-Man's birthday.

Bad pictures shot in low light and with shaky hands don't do the food and place enough justice. Imagine a colourful little beach shack type of place (not unlike the warungs in Bali) bedecked with loads of Day of the Dead skulls...Corona beers served in fives in ice buckets...copious amount of delicious frozen margaritas...burittos so big that the boys had trouble finishing theirs...and the best quesadillas I've ever had in Sydney. Another good food spot found thanks to Ms Carpet and her man!

Music For A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I still don't know how to upload videos onto the blog(!!!) but have been meaning to share this song, Tell Me Something I Don't Know, by French duo Herman Dune and the really sweet video that goes with it.

Yes, that's Jon Hamm (a little dose of Don Draper in between seasons of Mad Men) with the cute blue baby yeti (I so want one as a pet! Or a pal. Just look at those soulful little eyes! I melt!).

View the video here (Watch it! You will melt too!). And read more about the band here.

The Mighty Atom #2

I was beginning to think that the one we spotted in March was a one-hit wonder until I saw this yesterday in a back alley not too far away from the first wall. "Onward and upward!".

Dream Jeans!

Margaret Howell "Painter Jeans"

Shrunken Cardigan - Country Road, Shirt - Saba, "Snakeskin" Oxfords - Pixie Market

Loveheart Sweater - secondhand from op shop, Shirt - Country Road, Shoes - Connie-wonnies

Polka-dotted Cardigan - Saba, Long-sleeve T-shirt - Metalicus, Shoes - Connie-wonnies

Having worn these Margaret Howell Painter Jeans three days in a row right after I unwrapped them, I can say, without a doubt, that I've found the PERFECT pair of wide-legged flat-front jeans! My good old Carhartt's and Marc Jacobs' look like skinnies now compared to them. Haha.

I love the Painter's suuuuper-wide legs! And the cut - straight at the hips with no rounded "hippage" like most jeans made for females! And the fit is exactly how I thought it would be and I didn't even get to try them on as they were purchased online! And then there's the Japanese Edwin denim - stiff unwashed indigo! And my favourite bits - the straps-and-buckle on the back that serve both form and function (I really need them to hold the jeans up).

It's love, I tell you. Big denim love! Until I find the next pair of dream jeans which I think will take some time because it took me more than a decade to find these.

Rhubarb+Cream & Mushroom+Thyme

On the menu for another likkle catering gig.

Rhubarb Tartlets

Sweet shortcrust tart shells + vanilla creme legere + rhubarb compute + pistachio praline = I'm eating these baby tarts faster than I can make them.

Mushroom & Gruyere Polenta Muffins
A rough-chopped mushroom+thyme duxelle on a cheese-laden savoury mini muffin. Again, I cannot have enough of these.

I'll be a chubster when I'm done with the three-day gig. Tee hee hee.

Birthday Saturday

The Meal
Only two pictures from the steamboat dinner party.

One taken before my pals arrived - two rectangular tables (our dining table + my work bench) = one square table! Cheap use-and-throw plastic tablecloth just like those at real steamboat places in Singapore. Ching-chong! Yay!

One at the end of the meal - green dessert! Tarty green apple sorbet to cleanse the palate before cracking into the dark green tea creme brulee.

Was too busy plating up food and making merry in between to get the camera out but my pals did. Will put the food pictures up when they forward them to me.

Things That Made Me Laugh
Our old lawn chair couldn't take the weight of Mr B, the most skinny person ever! The ripping sound it made was hilarious! Like in the cartoons.

Tidying up after my pals left, I found a Foxtel remote control thingie! Definitely not ours because we don't have a subscription. Who brings one to a party?! Wahahahahaha!

Pwetty Pwessie Things
My pals sure know me well! All the things that I love are well-represented here! Street art! Orla's repeated patterns (that book has been on my non-public Amazon wishlist since it came out)! Bunnies! Green things! (Thank you, pals!)

Pwessie In The Mail!
My Painter Jeans arrived this morning from Margaret Howell! Present from the boyfriend - I ordered it and he paid for it. Wahahahaha! How very romantic.

But he knew that the jeans weren't going to get here on time so he made me another of his fantastic mix-tapes-on-CD. That, I find, is the most romantic thing even though the tracks (click on image to view listing) are not all about luuurve.

So, yeah, snippets of the first couple of days of my 41st year. Wheeeeeeee!