Saturday Night Fever

Well, there was no cooking last night.

I was originally rather surly about the whole dress up party thing, but I changed my mind once I'd found a good Amy Winehouse wig ... All it took was a denim mini from the local op shop and a fake tattoo to add to the real one; oh, and rather a lot of eye makeup. I'm not sure I looked quite skanky enough.

Spouse is some unnamed rocker from the 80s (vest from the op shop also).

It was fun.

The Runaways

I have to go to a party on the weekend. What's even worse is that it's a themed party. And the theme is Rock Star. God, I hate that kind of thing. If only I'd kept my leather pants from some distant point in my youth - I could just hire a wig and be Joan Jett.

My brother suggested Amy Winehouse - love the idea of wearing the hideous beehive and outrageous eye makeup, but she seems to specialise in wearing not very much at all, which is not a look I can manage.

The Cotton Club

I bought a really dull skirt on the weekend (Marc Jacobs, cream cord, from the Outnet, of course, I hate actual shops). But you know what? Dull has its place. It will go with everything. I can wear it in summer, a season that always causes me terrible sartorial confusion (I don't wear shorts unless gardening, don't like denim skirts, struggle with summer type dresses although possibly improving on that front ...). I can wear it with flat shoes or heels. I can wear it with a silk blouse or a t-shirt. Whether I can keep it clean is another question, of course.

Enough of the boring. I have been thinking about how if I have a trend shoved in my face for long enough, I can go from 'eww, not ever never' to 'hmm, maybe'. Not everything works that way. I will not, ever never, do double denim, for instance. I will not wear harem pants. I will not wear shoes that make me wobble and fall over. But I am hankering after a jumpsuit (left from ASOS, via Make Do Style; right J Crew from net-a-porter):



The question, of course, is where on earth I'd wear it. To sit in while working at my desk in the garage? To do the grocery shopping or hang out the laundry? I've said it before - perhaps it's my life rather than my wardrobe that needs revision.

Mostly Martha

This is just a brief post to say that I am currently consumed with jealousy, as my mother has been invited to dine with Martha Stewart tomorrow night. Martha, like everyone, has her failings and foibles, but I'm a big fan (especially of how she did her time and then got on with it). I love that her mag (I've never seen the TV show) is all about applying beauty and creativity to the everyday/domestic. So we don't all have Hamptons holiday houses, or a farm with a kitchen the size of my whole house, but it's meant to be aspirational, right?

My mother, a foodie of some renown in Asia, lives in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. Lord only knows what Martha is doing there, but obviously they had to rustle up some interesting locals for her to meet and greet. Maybe she'll autograph a napkin for me ...

Saturday Night Fever

Yesterday was one of those days where I felt disinclined to do anything. It was raining, off and on, as it has been for much of the week (and is again today). We did manage to wander up to the markets and get some more seedlings, so my tiny little vegetable garden now contains: asparagus (which is thriving), broccoli, brussel sprouts, rainbow chard, bok choy, various lettuces, broad beans, fennel, beetroot, leeks and carrots. I think that's all. It sounds quite bountiful, but considering there are no more than half a dozen of any one plant, we won't exactly be self-sufficient!

I wasn't in the mood for thinking about cooking, so Andrew chose the dinner dish - steak and oyster pies. Unfortunately, thanks to my inertia, we got started rather late, the filling took longer than the recipe suggested and we didn't end up eating until after 8pm. Happily, however, the pies were delicious, especially the lard pastry ... I did also make a quince and pear crumble (almond meal in the crumble), but we haven't eaten that yet. I was going to have it for breakfast today but Phoebe was determined to have pancakes and bacon with maple syrup (other Australians think we're nuts, but we like this North American combination), so the crumble might have to wait for this evening. Or afternoon tea?

You would think, wouldn't you, given the stuff I cook and eat on the weekends, that I'd be the size of a house? I'm sure I would be if I ate things like LARD pastry all week, but in my defence, during the week I cooked much more healthy things like soup (lentil one night; pumpkin later in the week), fennel & cannelini (sp?) bean stew with chorizo, etc. Plus I seem to have my late father's genetic predisposition to scrawniness. Just as well.

Leatherheads

I decided that this winter the ONE thing I really really want is a leather skirt. Obviously (I hope) not a rock chick black mini, but a knee-length dark caramel/tan coloured skirt, probably pencil rather than A-line, as A-line is not great on my body shape (I think, based on Imogen's analyses, I'm a sort of high-hipped stick (I shape)). But then, I utterly love the A-line above (See by Chloe, available for pre-order via Nordstrom). The other one is Talbots. But neither is available yet, and I wouldn't even know where to start looking here ...

But, you know, if I put it out there, maybe one will come my way. And maybe once we've paid for Holden's braces (big sigh) I'll even be able to buy it for myself!

The Time Traveler's Wife

I had an odd sort of email conversation with a slightly younger, childless friend today. She was telling me about going to the theatre on the weekend and I said something about hoping to do more of that later, when the kids are older.

Her response was 'why later? why not now?'. I explained that, what with mortgages and school fees, we don't have a lot of 'play money' and that babysitting is expensive, etc ... and that we mostly enjoy eating dinner together every night and spending our weekends as a family. Of course, Spouse and I do go out sometimes, but not like we did in our well-spent youth.

She was entirely bemused and said, a little patronisingly, that she hadn't picked me as the type to be a martyr to parenthood. The thing is, I'm not. I just think that I'm at a particular stage in my life where, most of the time, it's the family stuff that takes priority. This shifts and changes constantly, and before we know it we'll be empty-nesters with all the time in the world for entertaining ourselves. Until then, I choose to make the most of how life is right now, even if it means other people think I'm boring.

Saturday Night Fever

My weekend has been the usual giddy whirl of domestic drudgery. It started at lunchtime on Friday when a nice man in a truck dumped three cubic metres of soil on the road in front of our house. My (handily underemployed) brother and I spent the next four hours shovelling the dirt into the wheelbarrow and taking it down to the backyard. I did my share of shovelling but James did the wheelbarrow bit, thank goodness.

So then I had a garden bed full of soil and people coming by for a quick Friday night catch-up. I made hamburgers ... it was the limit of my culinary abilities at that point.

Yesterday morning Phoebe and I went up to our local farmers' markets and I did a shift on the school sausage sizzle (the markets are held in the school grounds). We also bought lots of plants.

And then last night, because it was my MIL's actual birthday (last weekend was just the party!), we had her and FIL and SIL round for dinner. I did a peppered standing rib roast which I'd never done before, served with roast beetroot, roast potatoes, green salad (from my garden) and fresh sourdough bread, with chocolate creme brulee for dessert.

I was fretting horribly about the beef (still getting the hang of my swanky new oven) and also thought I've overcooked the creme (first time I've done a chocolate one - gilding the lily perhaps, but MIL has a terrible sweet tooth). But it all ended up as close to perfect as you need for a family dinner. I was so worried about it that I forgot to take photos, but it looked and tasted pretty impressive.

This morning, still in food mood, after Hol's soccer game we went into the city for yum cha (dim sum). I have been going to the same yum cha restaurant in Chinatown for 20-plus years - today when we walked in they told us they had a 'new system' whereby you order what you want. Well, dammit, if that's what I wanted to do, I wouldn't be going to yum cha, would I? So we left and went somewhere else, which had the right vibe, and food on trolleys trundling by with pleasing frequency, but the food wasn't up to scratch so now we're on the hunt for a new yum cha restaurant.

And that's about as much excitement as I can handle, so now I'm off to iron shirts.

Quills

I recently finished reading Alain de Botton's most recent book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. I've read most of his other books, and enjoyed them a great deal. He has an elegant turn of phrase, and a beautiful and often amusing way of explaining concepts.

This book, however, I almost didn't finish. It's difficult for me to articulate just what made me dislike it so much, but I'll try. His ostensible purpose is to explore some of the jobs that people do, although it's not clear to me what it is he is trying to illuminate. He tags along to trade shows, follows accountants and walks a course of electricity pylons, amongst other things. There are oddly composed black & white photos, as there are in many of his books.

But most of all, he has a dig at almost everyone he describes, although he is much kinder to the artist than to anyone else. Certainly, I can see that most occupations, when taken right down to the day-to-day, are almost indescribably tedious. I expected he might take this as a starting point for exploring the pathos of the human condition - maybe he even thinks this is what he is doing - but instead it just comes across as downright nasty.

So a description of one couple (who let him into their lives): 'The couple were admirably fond of some of the less popular vegetables in the English repertoire, for at most times of the day - even in the early morning - the place smelt powerfully of freshly boiled cabbage or swede'. Notice the use of 'admirably' - sounds like he's going to say something nice about them, when in fact he's just saying their premises stink.

It's the first time reading A de B where I have thought 'You know what? Just because you have a massive inheritance and can choose to make a living (or not) doing what you love or whatever entertains you, does not entitle you to belittle people who may not love what they do, and may not do anything inspiring, but are probably supporting a family and doing their best'. It made me quite angry.

Garden State

These pictures of our backyard were taken about halfway through the renovation/completion of the house. We had already taken out a big shed and a couple of trees, and the old water tank was also on its way out.

A couple of months later, we were still working on getting the last of the bricks (!) out ...


Oh, am I now supposed to show pictures of a lovely yard? Well, I did lay turf, but that's about it. It's not pretty enough to photograph just yet. In spring, perhaps?

Saturday Night Fever

Last night was my MIL's birthday party. There were about 30 adults and 7 children (who made more noise than all the adults combined, of course), all of whom had a lovely time, as far as I could tell. I did spend the first hour or so of the party in the kitchen, but it was very simple stuff and I'd done most of the prep well in advance, so it wasn't at all onerous.

The menu was:

Gougeres (yes, I love these, especially because you can make them in advance, freeze and then pop straight in the oven)
Pork & veal meatballs
Chicken meatballs
A variety of tartlets - smoked trout & creme fraiche; herbed ricotta; slow roasted cherry tomatoes
Water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and grilled (a surprise hit)
Cucumbers stuffed with crab and pickled ginger with a dipping sauce

My SIL made a chocolate cake with ganache and I also made lemon curd tartlets and marzipan fruit (at MIL's request).

Phoebe served food wearing a smocked apron and an angelic expression; Holden mostly allowed himself to be tortured by all the tiny cousins (he's almost 13; they're all 5 and under and think he's a toy). This is him doing a Zoolander expression ('Magnum', I believe).




Today is Mother's Day so I am refusing to cook dinner (coq au riesling) but I suspect I may end up giving a hand ...

The Princess Diaries

I don't often hanker after jewellery. After all, I'm still struggling with clothes ... And I certainly don't like the flaunting of brands. But for reasons I can't quite fathom, I utterly love the Hermes clic clac bracelet. Unfortunately it's not going to be coming my way any time soon. Maybe I need to use it as a bribe to make myself do something I don't want to do?

Mommie Dearest

The Mother's Day thing often irritates me. Why not appreciate your mother all the time? Why feel obliged to BUY something just because we're told to, instead of spontaneously giving gifts when we find something that is just right? I know, left to their own devices, many offspring would never do anything ... Self included, I guess.

Despite my cynicism, I always end up helping with the little gifts that the school P&C puts together for the kids to give to their mothers (yeah, not much of a surprise in store for me!). So today, as well as work and starting prep for the weekend's party, I've been printing and punching heart shapes.


I just thought they looked rather pretty all piled up on the kitchen table. I'm sure they'll look less pretty to me when I've stuck 180 of them to tiny gift bags ...

Yellow

I have been valiantly trying to build my wardrobe, which is miniscule. I read about culling to 40-50 items and think 'wow, that MANY?'. I have managed to acquire several new pairs of shoes, all of which I am happy with. But shoes are easy. Clothes I have been having less luck with, although I did 'thrift' (an Americanism I rather like) a lovely comfy pair of cords last week.

On Friday I set out with determination to buy a pair of black pants, preferably straight, maybe a Ponti knit or the like. I tried on pair after pair - the only pair that fitted were badly cut and just wrong ... Sigh. So instead I bought some tops - the oyster coloured one to wear to my MIL's birthday party with black wide-leg pants and snakeskin heels next weekend; the blue silk because I am a total sucker for sheer silk blouses; the chartreuse cardigan because ... I'm not sure. I'll get back to you on that one. Maybe it's because it's a weird colour that actually suits me? Of course it breaks the wardrobe rule of buying things that go with stuff you already have. I think I need more practice at this clothes-buying business.




Update: This morning I had to go into the city for a couple of client meetings and it was sufficiently autumnal that I could throw the chartreuse cardie over the grey dress I was wearing (bottom pic). I really need a new handbag (I think tan?) and I did end up throwing on a small leopard scarf ... When the weather cools down properly I will wear it with these tights and the scarf (top pic). Maybe. Funny, isn't it - just when I was thinking I was going to buy only neutrals, suddenly I've got yellows and purples going on ...

Saturday Night Fever

Me, the world's slackest blogger ...

Regular Saturday night programming was interrupted by the fact that Spouse went away for the night with friends, leaving me with the offspring, who weren't interested in me cooking anything 'different'. I did their favourite Portuguese chicken burgers, then my brother rang to say he was 'around' and could he drop by.

So I whipped up a quick ratatouille of sorts, heated some crusty bread and hauled some sausages out of the freezer. Not a glamorous meal, but hearty enough. And then we all watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on telly. Can I just mention that I love Johnny Depp - he is so fantastically fey and creepy, but still endearing, as Willy Wonka.

(Picture from yogajournal.com)

In other, even less interesting news, I finally kicked up into this pose. I've been able to do the pose for ages, but my particular aversion to being upside down includes HATING kicking up into a pose. But I did it ... Next step, world domination, obviously.