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a penguin of very little brain
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| random squid-foolery |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|10:29 am] |
spread across this wide nation i have two squid houses, as it were, one in melbourne and one in perth. hanging out at the perth house last night i took some photos...
it's pretty unusual that they're not nomming anyone, maybe they were having naps? |
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| kiss the boys kiss the boys |
[Mar. 29th, 2009|01:02 am] |
Just in from seeing two of my favourite Perth bands play at Amps - New Rules for Boats, and Boys Boys Boys! It was (finally) the album launch for BBB!, and it was a return from holidays for NRFB. It was most excellent.
The album is pretty awesome, I just wish it had 'Kiss the Boys' on it!
It was also an evening of excellent timing. We had a family engagement in Huntingdale, which we left late. We managed to rock in to Amps about five minutes before Boats started playing (having missed the Voltaire Twins), which I had doubted our ability to do.
Less excellent was trying to get in whilst BBB! was playing (I'd had to pop out for a couple of minutes), only to be working against the tide as a mass of people from Capitol suddenly streamed in through the double doors and tried to get out into the courtyard. Yuck. |
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| everything has its two sides |
[Feb. 19th, 2009|08:32 pm] |
Today I went to a meeting in East Perth, and we sat in the shade of a tree and ants crawled across the sides of my drink bottle. It is tiresome when someone explains to a group of practitioners that which is central to their profession, and with which they are already quite familiar. Some of us walked from Claisebrook Cove to Barrack St, and still made it there faster than the people who drove. Later, we explored Perth's empty laneways, and spoke of tunnels under Stirling Gardens. These things make me want to adventure more through this city, learn about its waterways and its other paths. |
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| to never go that far |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|06:24 pm] |
at the last upmarket
There are a number of fairs and festivals upcoming in the next little while, here are a few which I intend to attend:
October
Distracted Little Market Day, Sunday 26 October, 1000 – 1600, Aranmore Hall, Corner of Oxford and Marian St, Leederville
Subicao Rotary Fair, Sunday 26 October, 0900 – 1700, Oak Lawn, UWA (link)
WA Fest, Sunday 26 October, 1200 – 1700, Perth Esplanade (link)
November
Northbridge Festival, Saturday and Sunday 1-2 November, Northbridge (link)
Made On the Left, Saturday 15 November, 1000 -1600, Hyde Park Hotel (link)
North Perth Festival, Sunday 30 November, Angove St, North Perth (link)
December
Unwrapped: Subiaco, Thursday 4 December, 1700 - 2100, Rokeby Rd (between Roberts and Hay), Subiaco (link)
Perth Upmarket, Sunday 14 December, Perth Town Hall, Corner of Barrack and Hay, Perth (link) |
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| a review of vendors from the really big party |
[Oct. 17th, 2008|07:42 pm] |
SJ and Zanchey are saying, the Really Big Party was six months ago, shut up already! But I'm going to approximately one million weddings over the next twelve months, and much like Dr Sqbr did a vendor review page, I thought at this point it might be prudent to do a brief vendor review, mostly so I can recommend our jeweller (Thomas Meihoffer) and Linda, the most amazing flower arranger ever.
caterer - Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant
I've reviewed Sri Melaka/Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant as a caterer before – you can find the review here. In summary: they are brillig for catering, but if you need any changes to standard preparation methods I recommend speaking Cantonese (or bringing your Chinese mum along). It worked out about $23 a head. (link)
flowers
Linda is amazing. At first I wasn't sure that I wanted flowers, but what she developed for me was so beautiful and so perfect. You can see a photo here. The orchids worked so well with the beads and the ferns, and it wasn't too busy, it was just understated and bright. She loves working with flowers, and I was really happy with her work. She did a mock up about a week before, and then did the bouquets and lapels the night before and brought them with her on the day. I don't know what she will charge you, but I was so happy with her work, and she also did the flowers at my cousin's wedding and they were pretty awesome, too. So incredibly happy with Linda's work and service, I recommend her to everyone. (link) <3
rings – Thomas Meihoffer
We had our rings made at Thomas Meihoffer on Rockeby Road in Subiaco. The rings are titanium, just simple bands, and actually looking at mine I think it needs a polish. Anyway, the two rings together cost us about $500, they were made to order, and the lead time required was about four weeks. When we went in to ensure they fit, we paid and left them there for safekeeping, and authorised Bernard to collect them for us the week of, which the store was happy to do. Very happy with the service and advice offered by Thomas Meihoffer. (link)
suit hire – Britton's Formal Wear
Britton's has a store on Hay Street and one in Joondalup. This is really useful, because there is linkage between the stores, some of your party can go to one store, the rest can go to the other and it still works out. We hired the suits about eight weeks out, Bernard was still in Europe but we gave them his measurements and two days before the wedding everyone went in for a final suit fitting and to pick them up. Britton's is pretty cool with you spending a million years comparing colours and the line of fit and so on, and the suit hire cost us all up about $200ish per suit. I like Britton's, I think they're pretty cool. In fact, we've been there so often this year that the dude gave a discount for the hire for Davyd's brother's wedding (which is in December). (link)
marquee and furniture hire – Swan Hills Party Hire
Went to Swan Hills Party Hire on the recommendation of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sajee's parents, who have used them a few times for other events in their backyard. It rained almost constantly in the two days before the wedding, and then there was a hole in the backyard where the marquee was supposed to go, but they were really great about accommodating us and coming back 0800 the morning of the wedding to set up in the rain. We hired the marquee, dance floor, lighting, tables and chairs from them. It was painless, cost about $3000 (to cover stuff for 120 people). (link)
linen hire – Events and Weddings Hospitality Accessories
Although we could have hired the linen from many places, I only found one who could provide us with the bright red tablecloths we required – most places only deal in white/cream tablecloths. Getting a booking on a Saturday to view the linen is incredibly difficult, but they were easy to deal with and have linen in many colours. She did try to upsell me, though. (link)
cutlery and crockery hire – Hire Society
Hire Society has lots of cutlery and crockery. They'll deliver up to about 20 km away (for a fee), and collect it again later. You don't have to wash it, though they like it if you give the stuff a rinse. However they have no attrition rate – if it breaks, you have to pay for it. Somehow, we lost 37 forks. I was pretty annoyed about that, because I hadn't even wanted to hire forks in the first place (I will admit, I wanted people to learn how to use chopsticks). 37 is the amount of forks that weren't used, and we think they must have ended up at the bottom of a pile of things that went in the bin. So that changed the charge from reasonable to ARGH. But that's not the vendor's fault, obviously. (link)
alcohol – Chateau Guildford
They delivered straight to the coolroom, and came back the next day to pick up everything that hadn't been opened, and then only charged us for what we had used. It is a fantastic and not too expensive way to deal with providing alcohol. (9377 3311)
hair – the Cutting Edge
I don't have a hairdresser. But my mum does, and she did my hair for my year 12 ball (I know), and she's pretty cool. So on the morning of we rocked in, waved to my mum, sister and auntie as they wandered out, the three of us had our hair done for just over $100. Is that normal or expensive? I don't know. (9274 8801)
Everything else we did ourselves/asked our friends and family to do.
There was a cupcake production line the day before the wedding. Please note that if anyone wants to make their own cupcakes in the future, I can be approached to do this for you, so that you're not stressfully doing it until one in the morning, like SJ, Amanda and Essie were with the icing. On the plus side, they turned out incredibly delicious! And they were vegan and gluten free, and I detailed them further here.
There was also a whole lot of fruit for dessert. My mum and an auntie cut that up the morning of the wedding, bought fresh from the Swan Valley. :o)
The sound gear, including speakers and mic, was borrowed by Megsie from her buddies at a Large Performing Venue. Music was set up on my iBook, we just set up a couple of play lists. This worked so well for us (and also quite well for Alex and Liz, who also did this). It's so laid back, and you don't have to worry about the vagaries of a DJ you don't know (think of that wedding reception scene in Love, Actually).
Decorations were made by us, at random assorted times, and then thrown on the tables. I bought the wedding lanterns, my word are they pricy.
Mum and I provided the chopsticks, because between us we have 120 identical pairs of chopsticks. It's related to Chinese New Year customs.
SJ and Susie had their dresses made – Susie's mum made hers, and SJ found an awesome tailor in Melbourne. My cheongsam was made by the dude who tailors lots of stuff for my family, in Malaysia.
Is that everything? I think that's everything.
ETA: The celebrant! Sally Riemann, of whom we knew because she was Matt and Susie's celebrant. She was cool. Number on request. |
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| never gonna run around and desert you |
[Sep. 29th, 2008|09:19 pm] |
It was a beautiful spring afternoon yesterday, great for a garden wedding. We were out by the Swan Shell at Burswood, flowers and grass and a garden, and yet there were so few hats. Wear hats to outdoor weddings!
I would have worn a hat or a fascinator, as is my wont, but I wasn't sure it went with the suit.
When Davyd told me that Alex had proposed to Liz (last October), I woke up the next morning and called him a liar. I lived with Alex for a while, and I feel this gives me a certain insight to his character, as I mentioned yesterday in my speech. I gave a speech! So that was awesome. Embarrassing stories I told: Alex and his long showers; Alex and his obsession with planes and coins; the pasta sauce story; Alex and his appreciation for my Cosmopolitan magazine collection. I also included lines written by Mr Rick Astley, as did Alexa and Caitlin in their speech. People who did not quote Mr Rick Astley: Alex and Liz, even though they had suggested it in the first place.
Even though I lived with Alex, and had to put up with some pretty crappymildly annoying stuff, he is still a pretty awesome friend, and I was really chuffed to be asked to stand with him yesterday and be the Best Person there. And Liz is also pretty awesome, I hope I was helpful to them yesterday and in the lead up, and in more than just a halping sort of way. I adore them both.
Also awesome: I got to wear a suit! And I looked after the rings, and Alex and Liz got married and we spent one million years posing for photos. As we were leaving, a gigantic wedding party turned up to take their photos at UWA, there were seriously 15 people in the wedding party. And then we detoured via the Junction Ice Creamery, a wedding party and a woman in a big foofy white dress, it was fantastic. The reception was at Mulberry on Swan, and it was a buffet with four vegan options (amongst the nine options + six salads), please note people who use buffets for catering: this is the loving way to provide for the vegans in your life (I love you Alex + Liz!). "special meals" are embarrassing and lazy, and I will elaborate more on this later.
All Photos - check them out! I think Davyd did some awesometacular work yesterday. Also Liz looked very pretty. |
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| park(ing) day |
[Sep. 18th, 2008|05:12 pm] |
In news of cities, and things that are awesome, tomorrow the City of Perth is participating in Park(ing) Day. Park(ing) Day is about bringing attention to the use of urban public spaces, and rethinking the way we use our streets. Park(ing) Day involves reclaiming or renting a space and turning it into a park – adding potted trees and plants, for example. I believe City of Perth is also rolling out grass (though this may be of the fake sort). The two locations in Perth are the intersection of Hay and William Streets (opposite Central Park), and the corner of James and William in Northbridge. If you are in town tomorrow, I recommend that you go! Park(ing) Day is held in locations all over the world, and I am so excited that there are two locations in Perth!
links:
tpl
parking day |
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| create a life in a telephone booth |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|07:18 pm] |
It's Radiothon this week, and I intentionally waited until Under Storey before subscribing to RTR FM. My lecturer Adrian is hosting Understorey this evening (which I was aware he does on occasion), and his interview style is just like his lecturing style. It is uncanny, I feel like listening to this for an hour totally makes up for the lecture I have to miss next week. |
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| not a hundred percent sure what i did with my shoes |
[Aug. 31st, 2008|10:02 am] |
Back in Australia. I love Penang so much, but particularly given the nature of this visit, I am glad to be back in Perth again.
I bought a lot of books, and last night, having been here for four hours I went to the Symphony and almost fell asleep. Sorry, Dvořák! Blame MAS! (I certainly do) |
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| that are meant to burn |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|08:58 pm] |
This week's been pretty terrible in terms of my photography. I've been using Toy Camera (Ixus 55) all week, which is not as good as using the 450D, but I was waiting for the bus and just had to try for this shot, this evidence that it is freezing cold. Littering Man (my usual morning companion at the bus stop) gave me the funniest looks, but you don't get anywhere if you don't take risks (and put up with judgements by strangers), so. |
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| fedoras |
[Mar. 18th, 2008|06:09 pm] |
does anyone know if there are any fedoras for sale in perth that are not made from animals? all suggestions accepted. |
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| i took my sweet time |
[Mar. 1st, 2008|08:30 pm] |
 On Monday I made a basil and pine nut pesto. I'd never made pesto before, and was surprised at how easy it was. I was worried for my ancient blender, and how it would fare against the pine nuts, freshly roasted in the oven, so I chose instead to grind them with mortar and pestle. The result was a little chunky, which was not wholly unexpected, but still delicious, and quite satisfying for a first attempt.
I discovered that the Vege Patch, one of the cafes on Curtin's Bentley campus, sells intentionally vegan food, and on Thursday I had the opportunity to try their spinach and potato pie. I was pleased to find that it was tasty, and I am (as always) excited by any place that has the word vegan on the menu. As great as finding accidentally vegan food is, it's so much better when someone understands the idea enough to intentionally offer something vegan on their menu (whether they're coerced into it or not).
Last night I dined at Utopia (in Northbridge) for the first time in about five years. I ordered a laksa that was so spicy it allowed me to see through time. theducks, made confident by his recent prescription drug-boosted tolerance to spicy foods, took my "I can see through time" as a challenge, and was forced to concur.
This afternoon Davyd and I visited the Earth Market organic cafe in Subiaco Mews (off Hay Street). Davyd had a soy burger and I had a chickpea curry, and neither were incredibly inspiring but they were both good, and the juices we had were really tasty. They also sell vegan and gluten-free cakes and things. Had a bit of a wander through the attached shop, and discovered that they sell Phoenix juice, which I didn't realise anyone carried in WA, and Cheezly! It was a little warm today though, so we decided we'd buy the Cheezly another time.
Later, we wandered in to the Green Tea House, in the same complex as the Earth Market. I was intimidated by the little old Japanese ladies and the masses of Japanese tea and beautiful tea pots, and ended up wandering out again, having not bought any tea. It looks so delightful, though, and I definitely intend to return and perhaps even sample some tea. |
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| little chutney's, subiaco |
[Feb. 10th, 2008|07:36 pm] |
One of the things I lament about living in Australia is the lack of access to my favourite breakfasts in restaurants: noodles, curries and rice. In Malaysia and Singapore I eat curry every morning, and even when living with my parents it was the matter of minutes for my mother to whip up some maifun. Now, if there is some left over curry from the night before I will cook up some roti and it will be delicious, but I am a terrible dry noodle chef and I love going out for brunch and sometimes, I long to sit down at a restaurant and eat a good curry breakfast.
This morning we dined at Little Chutney's for the express purpose of curry. By chance last week I happened upon their breakfast menu, and noted the Dosa Masala. Little Chutney's breakfast Dosa Masala is a potato and onion dosa, served with a spicy chickpea curry and some sort of coconut-based condiment. It was a delicious dosa, and at $12.50 I will definitely be eating breakfast there again. To go with it I also had a freshly squeezed pear, watermelon and orange juice, which although tasty was a tad pricy at $6.00.
Little Chutney's is at 67 Rokeby Road in Subiaco, next to sister restaurant Chutney Mary's. |
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| screaming for order |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|10:34 pm] |
The City of Subiaco has a preference for recycling bags, rather than bins; a green one for bottles, cans and plastics, and a red one for paper. When we put our bags out, the recycling gets taken away, yes, but inexplicably, so do our bags. Meg, who also lives in the City of Subiaco, doesn't have this problem: often she ends up with extra, and for Christmas just gone she gave me her spare plastic recycling bags.
I emailed the City yesterday, asking if I could arrange to have a recycling bin delivered to our block of flats. This morning I received a reply, saying we'd get one of each, next week some time.
But when I got home, I found this:
They're the cleanest bins I've ever seen! And full points to City of Subiaco for prompt action this week. |
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| sunday evening miscellany |
[Jan. 13th, 2008|10:33 pm] |
&diams I am currently obsessed with Daily Photo blogs. My favourites are probably the Keropok (Singapore) and Kuala Lumpur. Does anyone know of any really beautiful daily photo blogs?
&diams Went to see Boys Boys Boys on Friday night at the Amplifier Bar, and they were awesomesauce. I can see why Anil is in love with all of them. Also Amps had He-Man playing on a screen on one wall, Davyd kept getting distracted mid-sentence. We ended up leaving early because I was wearing my gonzo backpack and some weird little man used it as an excuse to come up and pretend like we were magically friends. Which is kind of a summation of why I no longer go clubbing.
&diams I love reading Gala Darling, but this article is a reminder to me that fashion and style is about your own tastes and your own personality, and what works for one person may not work for another and that sometimes bloggers, no matter how cool they are to read, are clearly talking out their arse (I would never recommend a PT wore any of those outfits, they are pretty to look at but not practical in a gym at all).
&diams I really want to submit something to the Swancon art show, but I think I'd probably be too embarrassed to submit actual art. The theme is 'fantastic journeys.'
&diams Steampunk Justice League.
&diams On Saturday we went to the Captain Stirling, where we got to catch up with a whole lot of people, but where the only thing I can eat on the menu is wedges. And perhaps the garden salad. This is perhaps the most disappointing thing about not eating animal products - chefs often don't realise you exist.
&diams 83 days (this is a note for Zanchey, since he hasn't had a chance to say it today)
&diams Thanks to G, I am currently really liking Sara Teasdale's poetry.
&diams Relatedly, one of the people at the Cap S yesterday was my year eleven Lit teacher. It was she who introduced me to Charles Baudelaire, whose poetry I still quite enjoy even now. He was a crazy French guy who smoked a lot of drugs and then had wild French orgies and occasionally wrote stuff down.
&diams This afternoon we went to see Keating! the musical. It was quite enjoyable, although not as funny as I had been led to believe (yes, I got all the jokes). There were some things in our political history of that time that I had forgotten, and though Keating is not my favourite of Australia's ex-PMs (that position is held by Gough Whitlam, though unless he does something wrong Rudd will probably take that position over in some years time) he was certainly quite a dude. I quite enjoyed the presence of the band, which was onstage at all times, and who sometimes actively took part as supporting characters. My favourite song was 'The Beginning is the End.'
&diams After, we went to Chutney Mary's where we had to wait for a table (I've never had to do that before, so that was cool). The food is delicious, though a little on the pricey side, but perhaps that's just me (I don't dine in Subiaco very often, for all it's only ten minutes on the bus). No photos. I recommend it all. |
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| see in this a higher plan |
[Jan. 11th, 2008|09:02 pm] |
Empty Chairs | Cottesloe Beach, WA | Summer 2008
Last time I didn't give enough notice; this week I gave so much notice that I suspect most people forgot. |
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| a moment on the breeze |
[Dec. 28th, 2007|09:41 pm] |
This evening after work we ventured down to Cottesloe for a picnic and a bit of a swim. It was a beautiful evening, though a bit choppy (and I feared I would lose my top), and it was fun.
And yet, I must ask myself: would more people come to my outings if I announced them on facebook?
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| put the horse before the cart |
[Oct. 28th, 2007|05:16 pm] |
Picnicked in King's Park again today, for Davyd's mum's birthday. It was a bit chilly but in the sun it was nice, and E complained of her legs burning (through her jeans). I made this potato salad and it has a very strong flavour but is quite delicious. I had not made a potato salad previously, mostly because I've never liked it, but this recipe contained none of the elements of potato salad I traditionally disliked, so that was good. I am loving this whole season of picnicking thing so much, it's so much fun.
Then we went for a walk, and C complained that their mum had decided to make us do exercise for her birthday. So he's making us swim to Rotto for his.
I love picnicking in Kings' Park, it's always really beautiful, even when it's cold and stormy, though fortunately today it was not.
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