Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Bringing sexy back

This makes me want to cry.

Eagles of Death Metal, live on March 16th @ The Palace.



They're bringing the sexy, and I won't be there.

Damn Noosa for the allure of holiday goodness. Once again, the universe is out to get me; can't have fun without a trade-off.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Fish for thought

Since it has been so long since my last restaurant review, I thought it would be appropriate to write about our latest culinary experience, at Toofey's in Carlton. I knew about Toofey's existence, and knew it was a fish/seafood restaurant, but that was about it.

We headed into Carlton last Saturday evening, experiencing the rare feeling of running through pouring rain while trying to catch a taxi. We were having pre-dinner drinks at Markov Place, quite a nice bar just across the road from the restaurant that seemed to be channelling a bit of a Melbourne CBD bar vibe, hiding away down a laneway. I tried a refreshing mix of green apple vodka, ginger ale and lime that, quite frankly, I could have kept drinking all night. The green apple vodka was surprisingly just a Smirnoff flavour; I'll have to track that one down, the aroma was spectacular.

The drinking continued at Toofey's, where the inability of some of us to decide on a pre-food drink meant we ended up ordering of bottle of Veuve Clicquot for the table. It took us a while to actually order our food, deciding on an appropriate combination of dishes was quite difficult.

In the end, I went for the kingfish carpaccio for entree, and the seared atlantic salmon with green curry for main. The entree was light, but very flavoursome. The kingfish had a similar consistency to tuna, and it was drizzled with a wasabi mayo and soy. The salmon was cooked perfectly, still tender and pink in the middle, and the bite to the green curry provided a nice contrast.

If our entree and mains took a while to order, our dessert took even longer... the decisions on the dessert menu were even more difficult. In the end, a good assortment of dishes we chosen around the table, including a banana and walnut pudding, a passionfruit souffle and a cheese platter. Personally, I went for the Valrhona chocolate plate (apparently "ideal for two") after seeing it delivered to another table. Wow. The plate contained 4 tastes, including a chocolate and Baileys mini-milkshake, a chocolate pudding, a chocolate mousse and a chocolate mini-ice cream cone filled with honeycomb ice cream. I'll let you make up your own mind as to whether that sounds good! This was accompanied by a bottle of dessert wine (for the table, not just for me).

All in all, I was very impressed by not only the quality of the food, but the quality of the service as well. Courteous but not intrusive, and no missed drinks or dishes confused between diners.

Almost four hours later, as the last of the diners left in the restaurant, we stumbled out into the street and found our way home, sleepy and content.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

It's always funny until someone gets hurt...

This article, in Epicure today, discusses the history and properties of cachaca, the Brazilian national drink. Apparently, cachaca is not rum, but a close relative.

I prefer to remember cachaca by my pet name of "Brazilian crazy rum".

The article warns that "cachaca packs a punch", since it has typically between 38 and 51% alcohol. Oops, a bit late for that advice.

I drank cachaca at my birthday party. In 2005.
There was still some cachaca left in the bottle by the end of the night. About one standard drink worth.
It was a Saturday night. I didn't get to work until Tuesday.

Apart from my pre-Christmas dalliance with a bottle of Bacardi Oro, I've hardly drunk heavily in over 18 months, since that incident.

Cachaca, my friend and enemy.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Twenty seven (maths) problems

I used to be good at maths. That's why this amuses me so much.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, twenty seven problems.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Vegas, baby, Vegas

I'm not usually a spontaneous kind of guy. I like (most) of my life reasonably planned and known. That's why yesterday afternoon was a bit of a rush... sitting at my desk, procrastinating by internet browsing and finalising my dead pool list, when into my email box popped an innocent little email proclaiming cheap Virgin Blue flights. Hmmm. Flights means travelling away from work. Away from work means holiday. HOLIDAY. Boo yaa.

Run the idea past J-star, get the verbal ok for annual leave from my manager and half an hour later... Noosa, baby, Noosa.





I only have to wait for 2 more months...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Oh s**t moment of the day

In a conversation in a meeting yesterday afternoon, we casually asked a colleague "so what's your project all about then?". We got a 30 minute overview that thoroughly scared us off and made us realise he was managing probably the largest project our business unit had ever tried to deliver. Fortunately, we were able to laugh uncomfortably and wipe our brows in relief that we didn't have to try and do that work.

Today my manager told me that my new piece of work would be replacing my colleague and managing the afore-mentioned mega-project. D'oh.

I can manage me. Just. I'm not so sure about managing multiple people across multiple business units in a project with a cost containing many multiple zeros...

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

New Year's revolution

The universe and I obviously still have some unresolved issues to deal with.

After a pretty shocking second half of 2006 (in particular health-wise), I figured things could only get better for 2007. Ha, yeah right.

Things were looking up on Saturday; I managed to win fourth division in Tattslotto (although, obviously, I would have loved first division!), and I thought my year might end on a high.

By Sunday, things were rapidly heading downhill; splitting headache, hot/cold shivers and all the rest. So my New Years Eve was spent huddled on the couch, cursing the universe, rather than out partying. I hoped I might have perked up a bit by New Years Day, but no, I was feeling even worse. Back aches, stiff joints, burning eyes. So my New Years Day was spent huddled on the couch, cursing the universe, rather than out at the Hanging Rock races.

Worst New Year ever.

Anyone have a good New Year? Anyone make any interesting NY resolutions? No resolutions here, just a hope that 2007 improves...