Journey to Zumbo's Part 2

So getting to Zumbo’s Patisserie proved a bit of a journey. Not that it’s particularly difficult to get to, but just because I’m a little bit of a terrible guide. In fact, all my food journeys seem to involve very long detours…

Anyway, this time we drove over to Darling Street and managed to park too far away. So we started walking out and about 5 minutes in realised we were about 300 houses away. But as She-Wears-Skirts helpfully pointed out, “they’re skinny houses”. So one 25 minute walk, a promise to return to Kazbah for a breakfast feast and yet another detour later, as She-Wears-Skirts and I bypassed the patisserie by almost 50 houses, we arrived. Was it worth it? Most definitely.

Destination found! Sorry we were a little too embarassed to take pictures of the inside...

The Patisserie is choc-a-block full of pastries, cakes and macarons, and completely stuffed. It’s tinily tiny and really doesn’t have much space for bad-decision makers and sightseers. But the staff are very nice and the cakes are absolutely beautiful. We decided on lunch in the form of 2 pizzettes – a roasted vegetable and pinenut one ($7) and a potato, rosemary and goat’s cheese one ($6). Of course, She-Wears-Skirts and my detour was not without purpose and we walked back for lunch in the park we’d seen.

Potato, Rosemary and Goat's Cheese Pizzette

The pizzas were both really delicious and filling. Between the five of us, we couldn’t even finish it! The pizza base was very thick and a bit chewy, almost like Turkish bread, and the toppings very generous and really yummy! My favourite of the two was potato pizza, which I will be attempting to recreate sometime soon. I especially liked the goat’s cheese on that one, and the sweet potato and olives made a really tasty balance on the vege pizzette. Taste and value wise, the pizzettes were really super! They were heaped with toppings, just the way I like it, so that for cold pizza, they were still delicious.

Roasted Vegetable and Pinenut Pizzette

The cakes at Zumbo’s are a little too pretty to leave Balmain without, so just before we left we picked up a few goodies for home… and some free Banana macaron samples! (very very nice banana filling) Yay for free samples! We also had a selection from Pancakes and Maple, Peach Tea, Chocolate and Macadamia, Dark Chocolate, Ginger Beer, Pine and Lime, Toasted Marshmallow and other flavours of macarons I can’t remember. We had a few of those and picked up a few cakes – a Pineapple version of the famous Pear Perfection called (It Tastes Sweeter which apparently is a dirty name according to the guy who served me???), a chocolate trifle (pronounced try-fle), a lychee, coconut and ginger cake and another passionfruit tart.

Of course those goodies are for our families so we haven’t quite tasted those ones yet… and photos may or may not be coming... (depending on when I get them and if I bother) But overall, our rather epic trip to Zumbo’s was well worth it! And rating-wise? I think I’d give Zumbo’s a 6 out of 10 for the actual café and patisserie (a 6 just because we got to see him). It was a bit too squishy and small for me. And an 8.5 out of 10 for the food – really yummy and really beautiful to look at! Definitely two thumbs up from me!

So until next time! Hope you all had a lovely chrissy and have a super duper New Year!

c.c.

The Journey to Zumbo's Part 1

Adriano Zumbo of Masterchef fame - famous for his crochembouche, making the humble macaron every cook's fantasy, the chocolate mousse cake, the V8 cake, his certain sexy-foodie appeal... Okay, okay, I'll stop there. Last week marked a milestone of a day. She-wears-skirts, The Omelette and I traversed the Gladesville and Iron Cover Bridges, cruised along the traffic-ridden Victoria Road and found our way to Adriano Zumbo’s Lab Café.

Zumbo’s new café is located on Terry Street in Rozelle, which is in the next suburb, but really just 2 streets over from his old café. Having been to the old café, I have to say I was a little disappointed. This “lab” was indoors, unlike the old lovely oudoorsy setup and extremely, and when I say extremely I mean can’t-breathe-in-here-I-feel-so-squished, small. Okay, maybe not that small, but once the more customers started arriving, people were squishing in to see the counter and we were being squished into the wall on our stools (which were almost too tall for She-Wears-Skirts haha). On the plus side, the staff are really friendly, the food is fantab, I love the little chopping boards as plates, and the window into the kitchen – and Adriano – is very cool.

Shall we follow with one of the few (only few!) stalker shots of Adriano Zumbo? Yes please! Courtesy of She-Wears-Skirts and my little brother.

Adriano doing his pastry thing

Along with She-Wears-Skirts and The Omelette, we also brought my little brother and cousin, so between the five of us, we managed to have (and share discretely) five pastries. I had the passionfruit tart ($5.50) – lovely creamy tangy passionfruit curd, very superb short pastry and absolutely beautiful, beautiful sunset-over-the-clear-ocean-in-a-tropical-paradise glaze on the top. We especially loved the three very specifically placed passionfruit seeds. Haha, gotta love that detail. This one was definitely my favourite.

Passionfruit Tart

The Omelette snapped up the pear and almond tart ($5.50), which was very nice. Other fruit and almond tarts I’ve tasted tend to have very little fruit and a lot too much almond (frangipane?), so I was a little apprehensive about this one. However, Zumbo’s is quite a winner, it had plenty of pear in it and wasn’t too almondy! And lovely flaked almonds on top! Two ticks for that! But being at Zumbo’s, I feel the pear and almond tart was a little bit just a pear and almond tart. Very nice, but not that special Zumbo zing, I feel.

Pear and Almond Tart

She-Wears-Skirts had a brioche and chocolate pastry ($4.50) which I’ve forgotten the name of, which was also quite delicious. It was sort of like a log of chocolate croissant, but with chocolate all through it. The three of us agreed while it was certainly yum, (and big!), it could have benefited from more chocolate. Otherwise, it was very nice and flaky!

Chocolate Brioche Thingie A.K.A. Log of Chocolate Croissant

My cousin had a pear and custard danish ($5.50). This was pretty much a normal danish but the custard was delicious! Really, really delicious creamy goodness mmmmmmm! Apart from that, it was a nice pastry, fruity and flaky. Yum!

Pear and Custard Danish

The Omelette and She-Wears-Skirts’s favourite was the raspberry and pistachio tart ($9). This one was just stunning to look at with all its raspberry-dinosaur-spines sticking out of it and that crushed pistachio! The pistachio cream was definitely brilliant, so so pistachio-y and creamy, I wished there was more – but maybe that was just my little tidbit. The pastry was also lovely and short and the raspberries nice and tangy – however my brother commented, a little stale tasting? Maybe we’re just being picky.

Raspberry and Pistachio Tart

Overall, the food was lovely, watching Zumbo (and team) cook was very fun, the decor was fun - I especially like the evil donut, but the jam-packed-ness meant we felt quite rushed and that we needed to leave quite soon.

You can also buy from here, so there was a nice selection of macarons (which we saw being made), pastries and tarts. But for the cakes, we made our way over to Darling Street in Balmain (which is really just the next street over)… This I will continue in the next post.

c.c.

The Calm before the Storm

c.l.

Glamour: Old and New*

Representing Generation Y: Megan Washington

Which Scene Kid wouldn't want to be photographer in B&W in an oversized (probs vintage) sweater?

Can't go past two-tone jumpers and multi-coloured fingernails. Oh and those ubiquitous glasses of hers...

From an altogether more different, refined, elegant era: Queen Noor of Jordan

On the left with Queen Liz and Prince Phil and King Hussein

*In my sartorially-challenged opinion: feel free to disagree. Also sorry the photos are so small, no idea why Macs do that! [edit: figured it out! but it'll take forever to change them all...]

c.l.

value judgements

in the first world

important: when you're sitting in a bathtub of boiling water and considering whether you should wait 5 or 50 minutes for your skinny jeans to remould themselves around your legs before you get out

not quite as important: when you're standing in a shop 3 hours earlier, trying to decide whether you should buy skinny jeans or a jumpsuit

in the 3rd world

important: when you're sitting at the sewing machine trying to work out whether making 100 skinny jeans in a day stretches to a meal for Granny as well, or if only feeding the nuclear family is your current priority

not quite as important: 'dismiss immediately'

[d.read]

lust and other non-fugs

Ever since that last post regarding attractive (read: terrifyingly hideous) men, I've felt that our standards took a bashing and were never quite recovered. I feel so strongly about this that I present to you the list as it should have stood:


Beckham

Your classic clothes-off-mouth-shut-at-all-times-please man.

Matt Bomer

Hey, it's a wet shirt and he's not a woman.

Alexander Skarsgård

Fangs sold separately.

Henry Cavill

My personal favourite exhibiting great range. Whether it be boyish charm,

rugged chap,

or the brooding sort,

he's got an angle for you.

and to throw in some ethnicity:

Sendhil Ramamurthy





Milo Ventimiglia as a bonus.

and then to prove that it's not all about looks, but in fact money:

Paul Allen

Co-founder of Microsoft.

And it's done - whatever unlikely respect this blog had garnered is now all but lost.



- no name -

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

This film had a lot to live up to – and succeeded (to an extent). I had read some lukewarm reviews before seeing it, and was disappointed. This was especially off-putting considering the trailer practically had me salivating and I’m not even one of those extreme, diehard types.

This was by far the scariest film so far. The scene with Bathilda Bagshot, the Death Eaters’ gathering at the very start with ‘special guest’ Charity Burbage, Ron’s splinched arm… I’m not quite sure it was appropriate for the littler HP fans. That being said, I think the more gruesome bits added a bit of depth and realism – staying true to the darkness of the 7^th book. What I did find interesting was how the film-makers interpreted the Tale of the Three Brothers. The shadow puppety thing going on imaginative and quite cool.

In hindsight, I made the mistake of reading the 7^th book a few days before I saw the film. I thought it would help jog my memory, but all it succeeded in doing was making me more aware of all the parts in the book that they cut out. Not a good thing having my subconscious screaming at me for 2.5 hours - ie. Wormtail’s non-death. I was also acutely aware of the parts that the filmmakers had added in, like the scene with Harry and Hermoine and the radio in the tent after Ron leaves. (Though I thought that was quite sweet and touching, and added a bit more to Harry's character than just brooding and painful scars... literally and figuratively). The film was also a bit sexier with the raunchy scene with Ginny asking Harry to 'zip her up' and Ron and Hermoine at the piano in 12 Grimmauld Place. But the filmmakers milked every drop of sadness out of Dobby’s death. I thought Dobby’s extra lines at the end when he confronted Bellatrix/Narcissa were a bit overkill, but I guess a lot of people would have considered that the most emotional event of the whole book.

Sexy.

One thing which did bother me was Rhys Ifans who played Xenophilius Lovegood. I had a very clear picture of him in my mind whilst reading the book, and Ifans did not look at all like what I expected. This was slightly off-putting for me, and I guess it highlights a problem with film adaptations of books – readers will have their own version of how the scenes should be played out visually. (Same thing goes for Mundungus Fletcher)

Rhys Ifans... not the Xenophilius I was expecting.

I guess if you judge this film as a self-contained entity, it kinda sucks. There is no time for lengthy explanations as to why – everything just happens. The plotline isn’t always coherent (especially to those who have forgotten what happens in the book) and I didn’t feel any sense of natural flow. But if you see it for its purpose – as a time-filler between the 6^th film and the last installation – it’s quite good. The film is true to the book, appropriately dark and dramatic and well-acted.

Edward Darcy gives it a 7. I’d give it a 7.84 out of 10. (A bit arbitrary I know, but 7 is not enough, 8 is too much, 7.5 is slightly not enough… hence the 7.84)

~ Hurley Who?

Eightstreet Show & Tell

At the beginning of the year, a good friend of mine and fellow eightst-er, Hurley Who, visited Communistland. She was kind enough to bring back a quintessential pressie (a Mao notebook; like the Little Red Book but Green), plus less iconic but equally beloved by me, fare.

Matchboxes. 5 in total and quite an assorted bunch as the pictures reveal. Yes, that is Che (who is surely turning in his grave after having his image appropriated for use in yet another capitalist enterprise!) mixing it with Katharine Hepburn/vintage film poster, the Madonna and Child/unknown french revolutionary-esque artwork, a Chinese madame and Mohammed Ali.

You know you've made it when your mug is on a matchbox in China?




They're highlights in my otherwise pretty inspid matchbox "collection", alongside The Androgenous Viking (its probably a male, given the beard, but the body looks disturbingly feminine). All up I only have 14, but I figure I've got a while.

Anyways, I wouldn't want to get too carried away like that famous fictional matchbox collector, Brideshead (as if his name alone wasn't reason to pity him), from "Brideshead's Revisited" who ended up marrying the widow of one of the another matchbox collector. Keen.



The next few Show and Tell items are a few of my favourite Grand Narrative songs.

That is, they render the minutiae of life on a epic scale; the individual's story set against the forces of Nature, Politics, Love, History and Other Such Capitalised Themes. In the process, they totally suck sentimental romantics like myself in.


Firstly, Bloodbuzz Ohio. Take the hypnotisingly deep instrument that is Matt Beringer's voice, add some sparkly drumming and sweeping imagery, then dare yourself not to get hooked. You will lose, but simultaneously win because it is a wonderful song. Then console yourself with this free (and legal! i think/hope) download.




Secondly, Mace Spray. It's pretty hard to describe how deliciously Gothic this song is, so just listen to it and appreciate Hayley Mary's haunting vocals and marvel at the fact that this is a band that hasn't even released their first album. And theyre Australian :) You can download it for free on iTunes, under triple J's "new music" podcast.




Finalement, Trains to Brazil. The absolute epitome of the Grand Narrative song and catchy as anything to boot.

"And to those of you who moan your lives through one day to the next / well, let them take you next / can't you live and be thankful you're here? / see it could be you tomorrow or next year"





c.l.

Restaurant: Flying Fajita Sistas

If you're craving some Mexican fare, head over to the Flying Fajita Sistas. If you go to USyd, there's the added bonus that it's only a skip, hop and hunger-laden jump away if you happen to be anywhere near Broadway.

The aptly-named 'wall of pain' containing a delightful selection of chilli sauces

We went to the Flying Fajita Sistas on a Tuesday night to get their $3 taco deal. If you're going in a group, you have to make reservations at least one week ahead. But it's worth it! No-one could take their hungry eyes off the 20 tacos when they arrive at our table on a huge platter. The restaurant manager moves the candle on the table (which is providing some ambient lighting) away, saying "You don't need this, you only need tacos." Amen. We promptly begin eating and don't talk (much) until every last taco is gone.

We ordered 5 taco platters - one per person. Each platter comes with 4 soft-shell tacos: chicken, pork, beef and bean. My favourite had to be the beef, which was tender (tick) and satisfied my rumbling tummy (double tick; there was a long gap between lunch and dinner for me that day). Next to the beef, the pork wasn't bad. For the non-carnivores, there was the bean taco, which contained blended/whipped up beans in a smooth spread and not actual beans (as I was expecting).

As part of their Tuesday night specials, you get 3 complimentary side dips with your order of tacos: guacamole, crema and salsa. The salsa is only mildly spicy (but then again, I didn't put much on my tacos), though none of us go near the wall of pain. Maybe next time, when I'm feeling more adventurous.

As a (relatively) poor/cheap/stingy student, a $12 dinner really tickled my fancy (while leaving my wallet barely touched). I'll definitely coming back here another (Tues)day. I feel a post-uni Mexican fiesta coming up soon.

~ Hurley Who?

looks can kill (your self-respect and all other kinds of street cred)

Some people are attracted to money. In my hood we like to call them gold diggers. Some people are attracted to fame. We call them WAGs or the cast of Jersey Shore.

A great many of us are attracted to beauty, good looks, aesthetics, handsomeness, golden ratios, hotness, spankability, etc. Whilst the decidedly unattractive amongst us will like to call this shallow, the rest of us will agree with using the Litmus test of good looks to help us navigate our way through the seas of the unwashed to find that suitable somebody.

Unfortunately for me, somewhere along the line my taste 'went awry'. Basically this is just an attempt to suss out why these particular men, who more reasonably than not fall under the category of "Definitely not attractive in any majoritarian sense", are so very attractive (to me).

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser)

Forget Jon 'smoked' Hamm. Sure our Pete is a massive dickhead in Mad Men but in failing to come up with any justification for his peculiar disagreeableness on the show, I will argue instead that one's ability to be a dickhead is surely mutually exclusive with one's ability to be inexplicably attractive.

Michael Sheen

No-one will know exactly how long it took me to find a relatively flattering pic. Again, proving my point - why so attractive yo? This man is renowned for playing TONY FRICKING BLAIR. He is quite the charming though, if one would deign to reference Youtube as a credible source. Also to be fair, he was once married to Kate Beckinsale and managed to have a daughter with her (well done!) so Mr Sheen must have done something right.

Yes that's right, go laugh or perhaps recoil in horror.

[d.r]

douchebaggery

Probably the best fictitious fuck-up ever:










- no name -

Who's Reviews - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

It seemed like a good recipe: topical subject matter, a follow-up from an immensely popular 80s movie, same director, same big-name actor... But to be honest, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps failed to live up to the hype. I left the cinema disappointed: the trailer has a lot of explaining to do.

The gist of the whole movie is revenge. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) wants revenge on Bretton James (Josh Brolin - who has a fantastic rage scene at the end where he destroys a priceless artwork... best scene). Jake Moore (Shia) wants revenge on Bretton James but then he sets his sights on Gordon Gekko. It's pretty circular. And the whole 'payback' thing got a bit tired at the end. The movie is 15 mins and one plot twist too long.

And maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to the finer details of the dialogue, but I also felt that the plot progressed in a bit of a stilted fashion. The scenes in the movie seemed contrived, and some ideas (like why Shia really wanted $100m for the development of some alternative energy project) seemed completely random and unexplained - I couldn't help thinking "but WHY are you so interested in this project?"

I love Carey Mulligan, who plays Winnie Gekko - Gordon's daughter and Jake's girlfriend/fiance/babymamma - with an American accent which was not bad. Susan Sarandon was probably the only other woman I saw in the whole movie. She played Jake's mother in an extremely peripheral and underdeveloped role. It is very much a male-centric film. It could have used some fresh female perspective (or am I just being biased?) because there are only so many scenes with slicked hair and clean-cut suits that can be tolerated in one sitting.

Overall, the plot seemed to opt more for style than substance. Given the subject matter and the timely nature of the film, it could have gone a lot further in terms of making an impact, rather than throwing words like "moral hazard" around.

I'd give it a 7/10. Edward Darcy agreed though he suggested a range between 6.5-7.0. Final conclusion: not as good as you were hoping. Money might not sleep, but it put me to sleep.

~ Hurley Who?

PS. Profuse apologies for the very un-punny joke.

Google it!

This is where I want to work! I just came back from a tour of the Google offices in Sydney. Definitely one of THE coolest workplaces I have ever visited/seen.

The living wall!!

Although I didn't take a picture. the offices are also complete with 'micro kitchens' - small spaces complete with a fully stocked fridge of delicious drinks, a coffee machine, a range of cereals, mueslis, nibbles and snack foods. Oh, and did I mention that all three meals of the day are free? Oh, the perks of the job!

~ Hurley Who?

PS. Click on the photo to make them bigger...

PPS. This post has been edited as it is against Google policy to post pictures of their office... (except for the wall).

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Check it out.

and if you have time, check this out. It's pretty funny.

~Louis Tiffon

iPods, unfortunately

Has anyone seen the new iPod nano? Does anyone even care anymore? Well, you probably should, as these days, the height of ignorance is probably best epitomised by an inability to tell between the elusive shuffle and the latest nano:

(image courtesy of Apple)

Do you even remember when nanos used to look like this:

(image courtesy of Fanpop)

Yeah, neither do I. I do, however, understand that Apple offers a product going by the name of iPod shuffle:

(image courtesy of Apple)

Has anyone actually spotted one of these? Its dimensions dictate that it would serve best as a paperclip. I cannot comprehend why Apple/Steve Jobs would think that anyone would pay for that inevitable panic attack after you've been fumbling around your pocket, before coming to a gut-wrenching realisation that you've paid for your 50c cone with your shuffle.

Shuffle aside, they've also significantly revamped the touch. It is now equipped with two cameras (front and back), enabling 'FaceTime' (ie. video conversations, typical of Apple's aversion to the space bar) and HD video recording (although I imagine Apple has very generously given us five minutes battery life to do so, so that you'll actually have to purchase two of these revamped models to capture a video of decent length). Some day, we'll have a laugh about every electronics company's attempts to miniaturise and amalgamate all possible features into the one device.

At a RRP of $289 for the 8GB model, I may consider a purchase, had I not already mortgaged the majority of my worldly possessions for one single night of my entire life. Or perhaps a thirty minute trip to JB Hi-Fi will satiate my curiosity, doubling up as that obligatory comparison of the old vs. the new to ascertain an appropriate degree of that I-wish-I-had-stuck-out-just-that-bit-longer sentiment.





- no name -



[As a sidenote, I really must apologise for being an iPod owner. In my vigorous attempts to be anti-mainstream, it was only logical that I was anti-iPod. But it wasn't long before I realised that Australia was not about to import any of iPod's worthy competitors (eg. the Zune, iRiver Clix and any Cowon) any time soon in the next half-century, so I caved. My deepest regrets.]