SALLY ENJOYS

Couch cooties?

2011-07-10T23:08:00.000+08:00

There has been drama in my house lately about... couches. I know right, how middle class of us.

I've already mentioned how our rear living/dining room hasn't changed in the number of years we've had it (I think it was built when I was four? Which means too many years of yellow walls). This is with the exception of the 2 + 3 seater sofas my parents panic bought a few years back - not only are they mismatched colours, but they are so uselessly made. I think the two seater has a plank of wood shoved under the seat cushions to the whole thing doesn't fall apart. I might be exaggerating here, they're not exactly the worst sofas in the world, but they are pretty unstylish and definitely not what I would choose.

So in my gradual attempts to convince my parents to overhaul the room, I started looking for sofas online this morning.

Why are there so many ugly sofas in the world?

So many beige, puffed leather, reclining monstrosities...

So many black, porny, shiny things that I imagine people are bought by who say "bro"too much and wear lots of chains...

(Don't even get me started on how much I hate red leather furniture.)

And ever since Jenny of MFAMB compared a sofa to a vajayjay... that is all I see when there is a curved, fleshy, pink sofa...

Anyways, I am trying to convince my parents to purchase either this:

(I just tried to drag the image across, what an idiot)

Or this:

Now, I'll say this before I go any further - these are not my number one choices. This is a compromise between my parents' requirement for super almost non existent arms for napping (but not so little arms as to be crazy and modernist and thus not match our house at all), price and trying to find something we both like. Mum vetoed number two because of light upholstery (MUGS OF TEA, SALLY, MUGS OF TEA she cried) but I am approximately 100% (that is a lie) that for most of these sofas you can choose your upholstery.

May I remind you that these are both very reasonably priced. Some might say... cheap? It is not my money we are spending so I am all for going big, but mine seems to be the lone voice there. I think for the price though, they are pretty good options.

Perhaps most importantly... I still envision ikat cushions.

I even found a matching (ish) armchair... it nearly matches the first sofa exactly (that's a big nearly though) and would go perhaps even better with sofa two? (There is a lovely cream version as well). I can't help but wonder though - where did the rest of the seat cushion go? It looks as though it needs an extra inch or so!

I don't even know where I was going with this but I thought it imperative that you all know.

Head injuries

2011-07-02T01:22:00.000+08:00

You'll be totally glad to hear (I say that as if anyone is reading this) that not only am I officially on break from uni but I managed to suffer at least one head injury in the past week (that I know of).

I did a totally super awesome trip stumble trip trip stumble and then smacked my face into a mirror. Luckily there is no lasting damage (I am like this always), only a bump on my head and feelings of shame (who am I kidding, I have no shame). Basically I have been doing nothing else besides trying to write assignments and watching House, hence the neglect of this blog. Whatever, neglect is pretty much standard! I did start writing a post about one of Ben O'Shea's stupid articles in ThE wIRe (i am trying to imply youthfulness am i succeeding yet) which you may recall if you remember reading it and thinking "Wait a minute Ben O'Shea, why are you telling me what an idiot ... Is it not YOU who is in fact the idiot?".

In the interests of actually writing about something, let me tell you about going to Barefaced Stories this week at the Bird. I went with my splendid lady friend Aredhel with the aim of drinking and that happened to be on (but we drank first, neatly avoiding paying the entry fee but also fulfilling our main goal, sweet). Normally it is $10 which I find to be pretty steep but I suppose a lady's gotta make a buck, amirite? We both decided to go on the condition that if it is cringingly bad (it was a real possibility) we make a run for it.

It was actually pretty good. In fact, I'm probably going to go again and actually pay the $10 (maybe). I think our enjoyment hinged on the fact it's not entirely comedy based - whilst most of the storytellers were comedians and most of the stories involved humour, comedy and having an "act" wasn't the main purpose. And I was totally happy to just sit there and have people tell me about things that happened to them. What might have held it back (from the perspective of someone who's never been before) was the time limitations put on the storytellers - apparently this is in preparation of the October "Barefaced Story Battle" - but it did kind of ruin the flow of everyone's stories, and I kept feeling like I was missing out on something every time the little bell rung out.

Although I suppose it is a little bit of the luck of the draw, with storytellers and themes, I'd certainly recommend going, perhaps as an alternative to watching the same like five Perth bands over and over again (ruv u guyzz).

Cool story, bro

2011-06-14T08:52:00.002+08:00

since when did they make being a fucking asshole into a spectator sport

2011-06-06T17:41:00.000+08:00

Live the Language

2011-06-06T14:18:00.000+08:00

An amazing series of ads for EF International Language Centers, directed by Gustav Johansson.

WORST

2011-06-01T10:03:00.000+08:00

I am the worst, I know. Whatevah! I just watch Top Model instead of caring.

Today this one is at the vet!

She pretends to be adorable but this is her 100 percent of the time:

She is lucky I love her and don't want her pregnant because I had to get up so damn early.

Things that have happened since forever ago:

It was Jeremy's birthday, and I made him some mini cupcakes (as well as a four(!) tier sponge cake! but it kind of sucked so whatever).

It was also Lyndon's birthday and I gave him a print by a dude named Alejo Giraldo. (I think it was pretty rad but whatever). There was also stamps involved in the wrapping process. Do you need a whole bunch of presents wrapped really awesomely? Do you want to hire me? I live for this shit. Seriously.

I also bought this for myself:

It is pretty exciting, and huge. It should arrive any day now which is good but also it is so big that it is impossible to find frames to fit it/the only frames I could find are only like an inch or something bigger than the picture itself and cost about the same as the print was/bummerrrrr.

I also made a flickr. I would probably expect it to be updated about as often as this blog ie never.

Although it may seem like my life is very exciting (i know you are jealous do not lie) in truth I have mainly just been avoiding doing assignments (could this not be said for LIFE my friends? deep)

If you want you could go read this other (better) blog over here? It is called Design Love Fest and I only saw it this morning but whatever.

It is ten AM and I feel as if I have accomplished so much.

Little Enjoyment, Much Enjoyment

2011-04-17T23:34:00.000+08:00

I PROMISE I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU.

Job Hunting

2011-03-31T10:23:00.001+08:00

Have y'all had to write a cover letter lately? That shit is hard. Like writing your resume isn't hard enough... making yourself not sound like a massive douche whilst also saying "please give me this job, right now". And getting a job that isn't shitty is so hard too! I just don't want to work in another chain place, that's all.

On the upside, I totally nailed my presentations. That was a lie, they went okay.

ALSO, feast your eyes upon:

How rad! Via MFAMB. Them's be black mosaic tiles, apparently. I do wish they'd used a different outdoor setting though... Like a mix of Bertoia and Eames wire chairs. It'd look cool with a mixture of the diamond and the regular wire ones I think. Those kind of birchy and white linen ones just look massively out of place.

Also: my dad is from the Isle of Wight! But this must be the east end where rich people have holiday houses to match their Spanish/French holiday houses, my dad is from the massively daggy west end!

Fin.

Abstract Impressionism

2011-03-27T14:49:00.000+08:00

I'm meant to be writing two presentations for this week... one on abstract impressionism and one on Hamlet (fffffuuuuuuuuuu). Obviously, I've been reading a lot of design blogs and rearranging tchotchkes. My dad even made me a new desktop and hung extra jewellery hooks for me. A lot of shit has got done that isn't what needs to be done.

But in a strange coincidence, I have stumbled across this cabinet that someone Pollock'd.

This was via ModernSauce.

As flipping cool as the cabinet looks here.... how easily could that just turn to massively lame? I feel like this would be something I'd totally try to imitate and it'd end up looking like a massive pile of shit. And the surrounding decor has to be so refined I think... Who knows, I like it in this room anyway!

Like you needed me to show you this

2011-03-23T22:28:00.002+08:00

Man of my dreams

2011-03-23T22:27:00.000+08:00

Studio B.I.B

2011-03-21T23:42:00.000+08:00

How cool is this?? Allister Lee, operator of Studio B.I.B Toronto (Nike, Staple, Stussy, MHI...) is drawing what he hopes will be the largest collection of black markers in the world, and to scale! Wicked cool. So far he has 523, but he hopes to reach 1000 and then have an exhibition showing both the drawings and the markers with the dudes from Guinness Book there.

via Design Milk here.

Procrastibaking 2

2011-03-14T00:11:00.001+08:00

So along with a challah, the other week I made an apple pie! I had never actually made an apple pie before (although I am the crumble queen) and wanted to make a really traditional, American, short crusted pie. I was pretty excited about it, to be honest.

HOWEVER. Don't be fooled (by the rocks that I got), this pie actually sucked a little. I can't even remember what crust recipe I used (probably one of the first few results on Google..) but there was something funny about it which evades me now (I probably blocked it out of my memory). I'm no pie queen but every time I've made pastry it's worked out pretty well. This time though, the pastry just would not work with me, it was impossible to roll and I ended up just pressing it into the dish than rolling it out for the base. The top was planned to be solid with cute little vents but the strips were actually the largest pieces of pastry I could roll out before it died on me! I tried all the obvious tricks, like putting it in the freezer but I will definitely be searching for a more trustworthy recipe next time!

Devil pastry in action, pre-baking.

HOPE IS NOT LOST. Although the pie wasn't amazing when I had it that afternoon, when I had it the next day after a night in the fridge, man it was delicious. The pastry still wasn't nice and crumbly and delicious (more like biscuits you accidentally dropped in your mug of tea and fish out with a spoon) but it was super improved after having time to chill out and relax in the fridge overnight.

Because I'm the best sister ever, I also made my brother a little pie to take home when I met up with him that night!

This one also had berries and pears! I think it may have been considerably better than the pie I had at home.

Ps can you tell which is my favourite tea towel? I feel it gives me a bit of a Gourmet Traveller/ delicious kind of vibe (snort).

Procrastibaking

2011-03-13T23:51:00.000+08:00

While flicking through my handy Family Circle book of of Jewish Recipes (I make a lot of bagels...) I came across this challah recipe. I haven't had much experience baking bread except for bagels the morning after a big night.

This challah recipe was easy, but time consuming in terms of every time you change the formation of the dough at all (eg, separating into 6 balls, after plaiting) you had to leave it to rise again, as well as leaving things to cool. And the initial rising time is like 2 hours (!) which is fine if you have something else to do that takes 2 hours and you are a little bit experienced in making challah. Because I was preoccupied with getting the recipe right I couldn't really just leave it and come back later, but I'm sure next time I make it will be simpler.

The upside is that you get a damn huge loaf of bread. This loaf nearly didn't fit in my oven! And it lasted a couple of days with 4 hungry bread eaters in the house, which is saying something!

Challah
2 small potatoes, cubed
7g dried yeast
1/3 cup oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tbsp honey
4 1/2 cups plain flour (it's meant to be sifted, but I can never be bothered and mine turned out fine)
1 extra egg yolk for egg wash (whisked with 1tbsp cold water)
poppy seeds or sesame seeds

1. Boil the potato in water until very soft, drain and reserve 1/2 cup of potato water and leave to cool. When cooled mash until super smooth.

2. Place the yeast in a small bowl with 1/2 cup warm water, leave in a warm place until foamy (I have a confession, yeast has never foamed for me. The best I have ever got is like 3 bubbles. Nevertheless, it's worked out okay for me!)

3. Beat the oil, eggs, egg yolks, honey, 1 1/2 tsp salt, the 1/2 cup of reserved potato water and the mashed potato together until smooth. Leave to cool and then add in yeast mixture, then gradually add in 2 cups of flour (again, beating until smooth). Add another 1 1/2 cups flour until a rough soft dough is formed (I had to use probably a couple of cups more flour than this, but I guess it depends on everyone... I just kept adding flour until it stopped sticking to my bench).

4. Knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and "satiny", adding flour as you need it. Place the dough in a well greased bowl and turn so the whole ball of dough is greased. Cover with glad wrap or a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for about an hour and a half (or until doubled in size).

5. Turn the dough out and knead for 4 minutes, then divide into 1/3 and 2/3 sections. Divide each section into 3 equal balls, and leave for 10 minutes.

6. Roll the balls into ~35cm ropes, with the centre slightly thicker than the ends. Brain the three thicker ropes together and place on a floured baking tray, then brush with egg wash. Repeat with the smaller braids and place on top of the larger braid, brushing with egg wash again. Make sure the ends overlap and tuck them underneath so that they're neat. Leave for about 30 minutes or until about doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Sans egg wash... I totally forgot to do the egg wash until right before I put it in the oven, and forgot about seeds until

it had already been in the oven for a few minutes. :(

7. Brush the dough with egg wash again and sprinkle with seeds. Bake for 50-55 min or until golden brown.

I found that my loaf looked like it was approaching burntness, it was quite a dark brown, but it ended up being just right.

NOW EAT YOUR DELICIOUS LOAF.

An Education

2011-03-08T00:55:00.000+08:00

Back to uni last week... I had forgotten how lazy I was! Making myself do readings is hard.

On the upside... last week I went to see both Best Coast and Joanna Newsom... I took some instax's there too! You can look at some of them if you want.

And this is what I did...

social outcasts

2011-02-28T20:51:00.001+08:00

It has been basically too hot to live lately, so I have been watching some of this:

A lot of this:

And because I'm such a filthy hipster (lies! all lies!), I watched this again the other night (for the first time since I saw it in theatres! for realsies):

As well as this, I watched the 3 part series of this:

Basically, what's now happened is I am ridiculously impatient for the third season of Misfits to start (they haven't even set an air date! that must mean it's ages away!) and for the second series of Sherlock to air (as above). Some might even say... desperate. It's a sad truth, but one I am willing to own up to.

Projects... I hope

2011-02-23T02:35:00.000+08:00

So I've been slowly getting through redecorating my bedroom a bit and decorating the room I gained for a study a few months ago...

But lately I've been trying to convince my parents they (I) should redecorate the rear living room. I don't think this room has changed since we had it built when I was 4. It has the same buttery yellow walls (with a jungle/pine green feature wall), same navy blue curtains and pretty much exact same furniture formation.

Now some of this remains the same by necessity, because of the back doorway, laundry entrance, kitchen doorway and entrance into my study... but I think it's time for something different.

Slowly, I've been suggesting (read: insisting) ideas... the first being:

Painting the main walls either grey, like Erin from Design Crisis' home -

Or a creamy white, kind of like this..?

I was set on a kind of slatey, charcoaly navy colour for the feature wall (we have a massive set of pigeonholes there that totes aren't moving, my parents are even convinced they are going to paint around them they're such an effort to move, so I don't want to paint anything that will clash with the dark chocolatey wood) (Don't even ask me what kind of wood, I know nothing of these things. All I can say is that my office smells of rich mahogany).

But now I am also thinking perhaps of a delightful wallpaper? Something like this Oh Joy wallpaper?

PLUS
some kind of white couch. Initially I spied a few kind of high armed couches that would look damn fine, but of course moo-ma needs somewhere to lie down and do her cryptic crosswords, and moo-pa needs somewhere to lie down and read his book of Annie Proulx/Garrison Keillor short stories. Then napping will take place. So obviously a lower and cushioned arm would be more suitable, and at least a 3-seater... perhaps something like THIS:

Image found here.

Or this..

Image found here.

Then there will be some white curtains... like this:

Via Hashai (one of my long-time favourites).

Then there'll be some ikat action..along the lines of this:

And maybe some kind of darkly upholstered bergere chair...

But not with a matching footstool. Most of this stuff goes better with a blue wall than the wallpaper... but they are at separate ends of the room so you could get away with a lot I think.

Anywho my eye is twitching now from excessive googling so I'm going to sleep!

Ps is this not the most stupid shit you've ever seen:

Peanut Butter Biscotti

2011-02-20T15:07:00.001+08:00

Today I was in a kind of domestic goddess, baking mood so I whipped up some peanut butter, walnut and chocolate biscotti (I say that, I don't think it is possible to "whip up" biscotti). I got the recipe from Joy the Baker, using walnuts instead of pecans and adding chocolate.

Pretty tasty if I do say so myself! I always think biscotti is going to be a massive effort, but I think not having to roll or spoon out mixture makes it way easier than most normal biscuits.

Anyway, y'all should go check out Joy the Baker cause she's got a whole bunch of lovely recipes over there.

Could-have been

2011-02-10T01:00:00.001+08:00

This is such a sweet little video... and so true I think!

Dan Mountford

2011-02-10T00:25:00.001+08:00

The other flipping awesome thing I have to show you this fine evening (check me out) is via Design Crisis and is this flipping awesome (double whammy) photo by SOME DUDE whose name is Dan Mountford who is some kind of freakazoid at 19 years of age (!!).

This here piece of crazy was developed ENTIRELY IN CAMERA except for the vector overlay. That is some kind of crazy bullshit (I think I am feeling threatened and insecure as we are the same age and all I do is eat peanut butter and talk about chairs and talk to my devil cat).

Anyways, go buy some of his prints over here at his print store!

And if anyone wants to buy me a present... Just sayin'...

Loveliness

2011-02-10T00:12:00.001+08:00

Oh gosh, it's been over a week! That is okay, I have not forgotten about you.

The first thing I have to show you today is via A Cup of Jo: this lovely Etsy shop (I know right Etsy what is happening to me, I'm talking about Etsy and not complaining about babies with headbands) (I know I have said babies with headbands are stupid but they are actually so cute I take it all back) called brideblu, which sounds likes it's wedding stuff, but it's not (at least not strictly speaking). It's really gorgeous delicate jewellery that is actually pretty inexpensive!

Like this beautiful dew drop necklace, which is only $US17 (currently $AU16.82)

Or this rough cut purple glass crystal necklace for $US26 (currently $AU25.72)

To my eye, they seem quite large in the photos (apparently I can't relate the size of a cork to anything, durr Sally) but in reality they are actually very tiny and delicate (and subtle, a quality I will admit I sometimes lack... perhaps I need some lovely jewellery to subdue me??). I think the smallness also makes them seem quite luxurious, or at least more so than if they were like massive hunks of glass. As they are they are rather lovely!

The other good news is also that postage is super duper reasonable (a total bummer for a lot of stuff being shipped to Australia) ... only $US2.35 or $US.0.50 with another item!

So now you have no excuse not to treat someone special (or even yourself!)

Perhaps a Valentine's gift, even? I certainly wouldn't object to some dreamboat presenting me with one of these!

J'Adler

2011-01-31T02:34:00.000+08:00

I actually really enjoy this Jonathan Adler bedding...

But isn't making the rest of the photo black and white just the most retarded thing ever? Whenever people do this it makes me think of year 10/11 photography assignments.

In any case - new bedding please!

I am actually pretty desperate for a really lovely new set of sheets and doona cover. I currently have 2 sets of white sheets - one fleecy for winter and one just regular cotton. My mum bought both, but clearly the summer cotton sheets were a little cheaper than I thought (!) as the fitted sheet is getting pretty thin (they're not even that old! sad face). I've got a super cluttered room full of tchotchkes so any coloured or patterned sheets just look stupid, and it is so flipping hot at the moment that fleecy is out of the question. So now I have stupid coloured sheets from when I was like 9 (not a good look). And I'm so cheap that every time I see a doona cover I vaguely like, I look at the price for queen size and just die.

Oh no!

2011-01-31T02:09:00.001+08:00

Did y'all know Venus Williams is not only a tennis apparel designer.... but an interior designer as well?

That's right. And I won't lie, that shit is fugz:

For realsies. I won't show you the rest cause it's all pretty rankaroo and I don't want to subject you to that.

via the new Curbed column by Raina Cox of If The Lampshade Fits.

Niceness

2011-01-31T01:37:00.001+08:00

Some loveliness via My Favourite and My Best (one of my daily reads)...

I just find this space so completely liveable and so stylish. Normally lilac turns me into mayor of barftown but I actually don't mind it here... It's offset so well by the lighting. I don't know if I would put a painting that size between the windows (my natural inclination would be to put a column of smaller pictures there, with nice dark frames to contrast the curtains? But that does seem a bit obvious...)

I love this space, especially the desk and that turquoise leather chair. It's kind of lovely and retro without being stiflingly so - I think the shelving and the daybed helps. Although I probably wouldn't choose that colour for the daybed upholstery - perhaps a pale pink? Like a rosier version of this...

Which I also think is just so so pretty. I don't even care if it's the type of thing that 4 or 5 years ago I would have thought was the absolute apex of design - grey, pink and black is always a great combination.

LATERS HATERS

True Grit

2011-01-25T01:16:00.001+08:00

I am sneaky so I saw this tonight:

I gotta say, it was pretty rad! I love Jeff Bridges, and I love Matt Damon (Maaaaaaaatt Daaaaamonnn) and I thought Hailee Steinfeld was pretty rad in it too! I thought Josh Brolin was pretty transformative - his voice and lope really work well - my problem with Josh Brolin is that I never remember him in anything. Perhaps that could be construed as a good thing? Except half the time I can't remember the characters either. I didn't even realise he was in Melinda and Melinda or The Dead Girl! Although he was pretty excellent in Planet Terror. Perhaps me not knowing much about him is the fault of my own retardation.

I won't say too much seeing as I guess pretty much everyone hasn't seen it yet but I will say I didn't like the ending of True Grit. I thought it was kind of retarded, and although I appreciate that the voiceover is a bit of a Coen Brother's trademark - I just don't like it in general. That's all I will say though, along with the fact that overall I enjoyed it immensely!

2011-01-23T12:39:00.001+08:00

via Amanda Mocci

Rage

2011-01-20T11:15:00.001+08:00

I have been on hold with Centrelink for an eternity now (after spending all yesterday redialling and not being able to get through) and I just wanna say how mad I am! Not so much at being put on hold etc as I understand a lot of people are in totally shitty situations with the natural disasters and need disaster relief - but those motherlickers cancelled my youth allowance! And they only notified me via one line amongst a billion dot points (*One of your reporting days is different due to a holiday! *Do you have any changes to declare? *BAM you're cancelled um wat) within 7 pages of text. Is that not just a total dick move? I'm lucky that I'm still at home and I can get by for an extra couple of weeks or whatever without the payments but what if that payment was the difference between me eating this week or not? As well as that, they didn't provide me with a form or any way to actually report the changes in my parent's income/assets. So now I have to wait for forever on the phone to be like "You guys are total dicks".

But anyway. On to brighter and lovelier things!

Everyone has been pretty mean about the Pantone Colour of 2011. Last year's was Turquoise 15-5519, which I thought was pretty rad:

But not necessarily my favourite ever.

This year's is Honeysuckle 18-2120:

Which I don't hate either! Everyone's been all BARF about it but I think as far as pinks go - this one is pretty okay! I think if it were slightly paler and dustier I'd be all over it, but I think this one is pretty okay.

Desperation

2011-01-15T21:53:00.001+08:00

I found a wonderful piece of art online somewhere this week and like some kind of fool, didn't save it anywhere. Of course, I went out and bought 2 whole packets of coloured pens yesterdat today in order to attempt to create something similar, but of course I have completely forgotten where or even when this was. This is very upsetting.

It was kind of like this:

Which is from 20x200... originally I had an inkling the one I was looking for was there, but I appear to be mistaken. I suppose chances are that I dreamt it and my searches will be fruitless (I have actually done this before, don't judge).

Mela Indian Sweets and Eats

2011-01-14T23:28:00.001+08:00

So last week I went with friends to Mela on William St for the first time. It was pretty rad - tasty food, not terrible service, not cheap but not too pricey. All in all I came home feeling pretty pleased.

So pleased, in fact, that I suggested to my family that we go this week! My brother lives like two blocks away from William St and my grandfather is staying with us so we all thought it would be nice to grab something to eat in Northbridge. We eventually decide on Mela because I had such a nice experience there last time, and we thought it would be quieter (my grandfather has hearing problems) than somewhere like Viet Hoa.

How wrong we were! We were seated at a table that was so unbearably noisy it was ridiculous. It was probably just because there was a large table nearby with children, but this was insane. I was pretty uncomfortable, and I spend a reasonable amount of time at gigs and so on. Then the waitress came to take our order, and wasn't really all that pleasant. She wasn't at a Moon/Greenhouse level of rudeness but she didn't make much of an effort. I thought it might have been because we weren't sure what we wanted and my mother was asking questions about how mild certain dishes were (neither she or her father can have super hot food) but it didn't really warrant her unpleasantness. We probably would have forgotten about it, but...

Our food took forever to arrive. Like, over half an hour of waiting. As well as that, I randomly got my samosa (which we had asked to have delivered with the rest of the food as I was the only person who wanted one) like 20 minutes beforehand. So I just ate my samosa by myself and gave little tidbits to my brother and dad. Eventually my dad got so frustrated with the noise and waiting that he had to wait outside where it was quieter, and in the meantime my mum asked for us to be moved to a quieter table. You'd think then they'd notice that actually we haven't got our food yet, but even after moving we still didn't get our food for ages, and then we didn't get our garlic naan until we were mostly through our meals (it was misplaced twice). Plus, the table next to us arrived at least 15 minutes after us and were halfway through their meals by the time we moved to another table.

All this was compounded by the fact I was out until 4 this morning and just about falling asleep at the table, my brother was working all day and ready to go to bed, my dad gets grumpy at bad service really quickly and my grandfather couldn't hear anything so he was constantly asking "What was that?! Can you repeat that?!". And the lamb korma (I can't vouch for this as I don't eat meat) was apparently awful!

Not an entirely pleasant evening! My Indian options are beginning to dwindle - I've been put off Mela by tonight's performance and Maya Masala has been pretty terrible in the past in terms of service - last time I was there I found a shard of plastic in my naan and wasn't really given a satisfactory response from the staff, and my brother went again last week and was treated ridiculously (like, ridiculoudly) poorly by who he thought was the manager/owner.

What is up with this, Perth?! I know hipster service has sucked for a while but what is up with these places getting in on the act?!

Black Swan

2011-01-14T22:21:00.002+08:00

I watched Black Swan today. I don't know how I feel about it! I didn't hate it, but I can't say that I loved it either. It was alright!

The whole movie had that kind of "what is real and what is crazy" vibe but I just found it a bit frustrating ... that might just be me though. And when it ended I just felt kind of unsatisfied, like I wanted it to go for a bit longer and have it a bit more resolved or something. I don't know, I just wasn't crazy about it which was a pity 'cause I was so amped to love it.

Edit: Upon watching some of it again with my mum we both agreed that we thought it was all a bit obvious and to be honest pretty juvenile at times... although that probably isn't the best way to describe it? But yeah, I liked it even less the second time around. I think I could sum it up by the words "not great". Not terrible though. In any case, I much prefer this:

Early Morning Beach

2011-01-11T23:54:00.002+08:00

I have started going to the beach early every morning with moo-ma and moo-pa ... it is so idyllic and calming, I think it has invigorated me and changed my outlook on the coming day considerably.

These photographs were taken by my photographer brother Jeremy. He is an expert at creating photographs which just exude this wonderfully tranquil stillness and quietness. Go and see his flickr over here.

The Sartorialist: A Visual Life

2011-01-07T14:31:00.001+08:00

Just saw this video posted on the Sartorialist - a short documentary about Scott Schuman and how he works. Very beautifully shot and rather interesting!

Deliciousness

2011-01-07T13:07:00.001+08:00

So I felt like some kind of retardedly delicious breakfast (I'm being generous, it was midday) today, and instantly this shakshuka recipe from Sunday Suppers sprang to mind...

I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a fail. Everytime I try to make a kind of baked eggs/tagine-y egg thing it always ends up being a bit gross. Perhaps it is just that I don't like it? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong... I do have an inability to follow recipes accurately.
But I will tell you the overall breakfast experience was delicious. I sent my dad out to get some delicious bread and I also made a kind of Nigella-inspired crushed chick pea hommous-y business, which was awesome.

The shakshuka recipe is over here. Give it a go...

My delicious Nigella-inspired chick peas basically goes:
1. Drain a can of chick peas.
2. Mash those bitches up and add lemon juice, garlic, salt and olive oil until is it tasty.
3. Consume with vigour.

I feel like this is a breakthrough - lately I have been working on making myself enjoy foods that, as a pescetarian I really should be all over, but kind of aren't. Basically I have been forcing myself to eat a lot of mushrooms and pulses.

Word.

The King's Speech

2011-01-05T00:31:00.001+08:00

Tonight Moo-ma and Moo-pa took me out to see The King's Speech. I wasn't sure what to think of it as my homegurl Lucy had been pretty vague about whether or not she liked it, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T00:17:00.000+08:00

Hope everyone had a rad NYE - I listened to a lot of Biggie, gave my friend a haircut, danced in a blanket like a sexy albatross and spooned on someone's verge under a mighty ent-esque tree with my homegurls and a Mancurian named Ben so that was pretty alright.

I thought I'd share some wisdom with y'all to take into the new year....

This is entirely true.

I found this at my homegurl Hannah's tumblr - she is rad as shit and shows me memes I have missed out on. Go visit her!

RUM Magazine

2010-12-31T13:24:00.002+08:00

I am not feeling mad at these Rum workspaces..

Taken from here.

I'm digging

2010-12-30T12:29:00.002+08:00

Eames DSW chairs.

image: ink and post

I know that's kind of spastically Domino from 5 years ago or whatever, but I don't even care! I DON'T EVEN CARE, I love them still. And I'm only young, I figure for someone my age liking Eames chairs isn't that bad.

I've attempted to sate my desires with other design-y chairs. The other week I bought a pair of fake Bertoia chairs for $29 ($29! For a pair! Exclamation mark!) that I squeezed into my tiny study (I only have two rooms that I have decorative control over - my bedroom and my new attached study). Anywho, I've been obnoxiously pointing out these chairs to everyone that's entered my house - my parent's friends, my friends, strangers. Basically they are my greatest pride. (My friends hate me and my chair talk.)

Not my house. (Durrrr I wish... actually I am not into those Saarinen tables but whatevs)

I still want those Eames chairs though. Although because of the decided lack of $29 Eames chairs in my general vicinity, I'm beginning to consider purloining my brother's fake Saarinen tulip chair he found verge-side many a year ago. I could give it such a good home!

My problem is, however: Why are like 99% of these flipping awesome chairs upholstered with RED red red red cushions? I am really feeling the muted kind of mole grey of these chairs (via Charlotte's Fancy) and I just plopped some puffy black Ikea cushions on my Bertoinots (hurrhurr) which solved the problem of dusty old red leather cushions. But what is it with fire engine red? Maybe it is my own prejudices here but I cannot deal with "red" themed rooms (is it just me or whenever they renovate the rooms of teenage boys on Renovation Rescue or whatever show, they are always bright red and have like "Basketball" theme and have some shitty "Slam Dunk!" decal over a whole wall? Who are these people who think that's a good idea? Have you ever met one?). I mean red is hardly a calming colour to reside in.

A friend of a friend painted their already hyperactive children's room fluorescent orange. Like, it literally glowed from underneath the closed door. In my mind, painting your house red and painting your crazy children's room fluorescent orange is kind of the same. It's just a bad idea.

BUT WHATEVS, lataz hataz!

Les Amours Imaginaires

2010-12-28T15:40:00.002+08:00

I headed down to Somerville last night, free tickets in hand (thanks Claire) and saw Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats). It was flipping awesome, guys. Go and check it out.

HEY GANG

2010-12-28T15:27:00.000+08:00

Hello!

Welcome to a bunch of stuff that I think is worth showing you.

Much affections,
Sally