Things I Do In The Holidays 1

Birthing Kit Packing Day - Volunteering @ The University of Sydney

My day began at 6am because yes it does take me 50 minutes to get ready in the morning. The same can't be said for the friend I picked up on the way to the station; she woke up at 6:45am and was standing in her driveway ready for pick up at 6:55am. Standing on the station platform with the unexpectedly cold wind blowing at my ankles, I was tired and sleepy - sleeping had it not been for the chill keeping me awake. In 52 minutes, we hopped off the train and made our way to Sydney University. I have to say that the walk was more eventful than most, stopping and starting to ensure adequate distance between people we were walking behind, and people we didn't want to talk to or both. Having dreaded being surrounded by only female alumni of the older generation, I was quite surprised to be accompanied by an assortment of younger folk: Pharmacists, Lawyers, Arts/Commerce, Medical Science students etc. but as predicted, there was a solitary male named V. 

Having arrived early, we were provided with morning tea. J poured herself a cup of milk tea but I, with my terrible bladder, avoided the potential diuretic. At 9am, we began packing: 5 sheets of gauze, 3 pieces of string, a scalpel, a bar of soap, a pair of gloves and a plastic bag. These items were meant to be the most basic equipment required to significantly decrease cases of infant mortality. Folding large garbage bags to fit into the supplied plastic seal bags proved to be more difficult than anticipated. But after 30 minutes of alternating between packing soap bars into gloves and folding aforementioned garbage bags, I got the hang of it. At around 12pm, we finally finished packing the supplies on our table. 

But rather than dig into the supply of sandwiches available, we headed to Market City to enjoy sushi. (I must say I did eat one sandwich quarter. I was too hungry.) That green tea ice-cream in the tub that "looks like a bin" ~ V, is fantastic. In my opinion, it's nicer than the soft serve at Mizuya. 

With full stomachs, we left the sushi train restaurant and headed around the city to shop for Christmas gifts. Unfruitful dress shopping is always tiresome. Jemi... please take me.

Nikon 35mm f/1.8

J bought me a Nikon 25mm f/1.8 lens for my 20th birthday. 

A photo I did not have access to until after the party (22/09/12).

Here it is all wrapped nicely in the best colour ever (see photo above)

$250 object just lying there in my lap. Just saying, I thought it was a tin of Lindt Hot Chocolate Flakes

And this is me causing all kinds of heart attacks because that THING looked like it was going to fall onto the hard tiled floor... Sorry guys hahaha. And if anyone is wondering, the object that resembles a peach/whatever you'd like to think it looks like (I've heard some pretty strange suggestions) is Peach Scented Hand Cream from another one of my lovely friends whose name begins with E and who also has a very cool navy Tommy Hilfiger cable knit sweater ;) 

A few days later, I decided to take some test shots in the park. I didn't really take very many pictures... I didn't think J liked wearing shorts and goosebumps (i.e. it was cold).

Pick One

Write down a list of things you would do if you knew you absolutely could not fail. 

Now pick one and do it.

Sydney Art & About (26/09/12)

This is what we did before heading off to Lunch

A brochure.

Julie.

Gigantic Bubbles

I paid him 20 cents to blow me some bubbles. They were pretty cool bubbles.

Lunch W/ The Girls @ The Winery

Wednesday 26th 2012 - 1:20pm @ The Winery, Surry Hills. 

We were so excited to get there that we walked straight past it the first time!

Directions to locations unknown to me. Gosh, Burgenland is 10 thousand miles away.
That's even more than Vanessa Carlton would walk!

Sitting on strange hairy chairs underneath stuffed peacocks and surrounded my photographs of Mr. Elvis Presley, we ordered an assortment of dishes from their one-page Lunch Menu. 

Roasted Mushrooms - pounded pesto, pine nuts & ricotta $18

The Roasted Mushrooms were excellent. So much so that we ordered 2 plates. I would say that it was my favourite side dish. 

Grilled Local Prawns - panzanella & balsamic syrup $16

Grilled Local Prawns made without the bagels because my dear friend Julie is allergic to gluten. Actually, today she was told that she'd have to stay on the gluten free diet for life =( As a result, I'm going to begin a blog series called "The Gluten Free Adventure". Stay posted for the gluten free foods we will make/gobble in days to come. Note however that if Julie is just lame and keeps relapsing, then this poor series will just die a horrible horrible death; and it hasn't even begun yet. 

Char-grilled Chicken Salad - witlof, orange, fennel, capers & green raisins $26

This Char-grilled Chicken Salad had a very nice dressing. See those white things that look like chicken? They're Not. Really. Chicken. They're a vegetable called witlof; otherwise known as chicory. And yes I went and wikipedia'd what on earth this nice crunchy leaf was, and the oh so knowledgeable Wikipedia told me that "It is also grown as a forage crop for livestock". I AM NOT A COW. Ahem, anyway...

Tuna Nicoise Our Way - poached tomatoes, green beans & coddled eggs $28

Moving on to the Tuna Nicoise pronounced [ni'swaz] in French, I came across the most fishy tasting egg I have ever had the chance to put in my mouth. And over the years I have fed myself some pretty strange foods. Like Tiny Teddies dipped in Dorito's Salsa Dip (DO NOT TRY AT HOME)  I'm not exactly sure why the poor egg tasted like fish. It might have had something to do with the little green things in it that can be identified in the image. Julie suggested that someone cooked with the Tuna. Which in my opinion would be hilarious because I had a really weird time thinking about if you put an egg together with a tuna fish, the tuna would say "Hi egg, I'm going to transfer my fishy smell to you because you are porous (as all eggs are). Absorb my fishy aroma into your pores and make it so that even the customers who dislike fishy smelling fish will enjoy my flavour (I don't know why these people would order fish in the first place)." Well then, let's pretend I'm not really weird for a moment and believe me when I say that for a coddled egg, it was a bit rubbery and overcooked for my liking. I really liked the poached tomatoes though so I think I'll have to try it one day.

Crispy Little Fish - whitebait, chipotle & finger lime mayo - $18

The Crispy Little Fish. I did not try any of this because it was battered and Julie can't eat battered stuff. Going partially gluten free for my buddy. Anyone want to join me? Who am I kidding, no one reads this except a person already gluten free...

Little Beetroot Salad - fennel, blue vein, orange & candied hazelnuts $13

The first thing I tried from this Little Beetroot Salad was a piece of orange, and I swear it had been soaked in some sort of alcohol. From past experience I'm not a fan of blue vein cheese so I stayed clear of that. The candied hazelnuts were fun though.

There was one dish I didn't actually include a picture of. It was the 'Lamb Meatballs - cous cous, green olives, tomato sugo & gremolata $14'. One of my friends was adamant that lamb meat smelt like armpits... But let's not dwell on that. And I've just noticed that some of these photos have been corrupted during the uploading process and I really can't be bothered re-uploading them. 

Our shared table.

Ah, now moving on to my favourite part: 

DESSERTS.

New Age 'Trifle'  - rhubarb, english custard
and chocolate biscuit crumb $13

How cute is this thing? Desserts in jars = I like. I had one spoon of this and from that one spoon, I can say that I could seriously eat this whole thing myself. And I would definitely get a metal spoon because it's so hard to thoroughly lick things off a wooden spoon. Trust me, I've tried. 

Double Rich Chocolate Brownie -
vanilla bean ice cream & twisted fairy floss $14

Having been on their menu for 3 years, this Brownie was to die for. And again, I had one spoon of it and nearly died from keeping a straight face and not reaching for another spoon when Julie asked me "How is it?". "Good," I replied. =) 

Orange Blossom & Mint Soaked Strawberries -
shortbread bickies $14

The only dessert Julie could eat - just the strawberries & cream unfortunately. No shortbread biscuits for you J. =(

Zesty Lemon Pudding - double cream & lemon candy $14

To be honest, I don't remember what this thing tasted like. A lemony sponge cake. Most definitely not worth $14. Home-baked cheesecake over this any day ;)

Brownie on the house!

And the waiter was so nice. He gave us a free brownie on the house. I don't know if he was just being nice or whether he was completely charmed by our group of 9 lovely girls. I sent The Winery an email of thanks with the image below attached and found out that his name was Michael. 

Michael - The Waiter

The Winery has to have wine right? 

A Tale As Old As Time... blablablablabla I'm singing as I type this.

 There was a private dining area behind ours called Graceland. And like the name suggests, it was essentially a huge shrine to Elvis Presley. Once you get past all the Elvis faces looking down at you, the place isn't that bad to take photos in. 

After dinner, I walked back to Central Station with J (the others took a bus), saw a really cool mushroom cake along with an assortment of other strange looking cakes and realised that we were standing in front of Messina. GELATO TIME. We bought 2 scoops for $5 - 'salted cameral + mango' & 'coconut + lychee'. I must say they were pretty well complemented flavours. I guess we just had too much fun talking that we missed the street we were meant to turn into by 2-3 blocks. Hahahaha. So essentially we went on a 45 minute walk that was meant to last 15 minutes... Well done. 

Have I made anyone hungry? Yes? Good. That was the point. =) Bye for now!

P.S. For any of you wondering why I've changed my font, it's because I've had some complaints about the previous font being difficult to read. 

xx michelle

Sydney Biennale 2012 1.2

Last time, we really didn't have enough time to traverse the entire island. So back on that ferry we hopped and it was time for another adventure (3/9/12).

Glass Morning Glory Flower @ Cockatoo Island. We almost missed this one. 

I took a picture of a chair... There was an inscription on the seat that I really didn't understand:
"Her shape and color. Blue stick with the blue rope. Yellow rope and the blue rope. Yellow rope and a blue stick. Blue rope-- Stop Bluffing!"
Do let me know if you can make sense of it.

Another artwork. This table was set out in the middle of a room in which strips of cloth were being hung from a ceiling decorated with fish netting. Each glass was filled with buttons. 

These are the people who accompanied me to the island. And that sneaky little sun glasses man in the bottom right corner... I didn't see you there. Please don't sue me for publicly posting up a photo of you.

I just realised that I hadn't publicly declared with whom I hang out with at Uni. Meet (from left): V, Julie & A.

Cockatoo Island Biennale 2012

I didn't actually believe I was going to Cockatoo Island until I was waking up an hour early on Thursday morning to get myself to Circular Quay at 8:30am.
It felt like an adventure, what with all the creepy dark tunnels, sand, dust and the fact that I was on an island. Thank goodness I had company.

Wharf 5 @ Circular Quay. Waiting for for our ferry to dock.

Getting on the ferry!

 This was one of the first things we walked through after getting onto the island. We were following the artworks for the 2012 Biennale and this tunnel contained artworks 2 & 3. Number 3 was this Doomsday sounding SFX that was rather eerie and was 100% successful in creepy us all out. You have to be there to really understand what I mean. See below:

The Dog-Leg Tunnel @ Cockatoo Island

 I really wasn't expecting this photo to turn out the way it did. Here is me having a go at something out of my normal photography.

Julie - The Dog-Leg Tunnel @ Cockatoo Island

I really liked this art work. It was made out of vines, leaves and paper. 

Another shot of the previous artwork.

If you have the time, I suggest you get yourself to Cockatoo Island to see the artworks. It's about a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay and free services run from 10am.