Halloween Festivities

My friends throw the best parties. Especially Halloween parties, with one of them being American you wouldn’t expect much less but this man really knows how to make a bunch of people party their socks off!

Last year this party was so cray it ended up on the news… a couple of times. But that’s another story.

Party starts at 7pm and if you ain’t on the list, security won’t let you in. 

There’s a hallway of terror, where you walk in groups of four through the entrance, between sheets hanging splattered with blood, cobwebs and ghosts and spiders everywhere. There are four guys stationed along the path that jump out at intervals and scare the living daylights out of you. One even pops up from under a gravestone on the ground. Certainly sets the scene for the evening!

Inside you find promo girls taking around nibbles and shots as well as two pole dancers who give out lessons to those tipsy enough to give it a go.

The entire house is decked out in Halloween decorations and of course the food is all themed too. They even imported red pool dye so the pool looked like it was bloody.  I thought I would have a go at making eyeball cupcakes and fanged teeth cookies! Cookies didn’t look too bad but the cupcakes on the other hand… something to work on for next year haha.

Needless to say the night gets messy reasonably quickly. And the party is all the better for it! The DJ starts playing and breaks at intervals for the band to jump on and have a jam. Dance floor is packed.

I was a sailor, and I was accompanied by the hulk and a sexy swashbuckler. I think we were all nearly hulks by the end of it due to the amount of green paint floating around!

Sexy swashbuckler decided to go sightseeing around the back of the house (as one does when drunk, merry and feeling adventurous) and instead found herself falling over and cutting up her knees! Poor thing had huge bruises and grazes the next day. Alcohol is such a good anaesthetic.

I found some pics of me ripping the Hulk’s top off.. the hulk does not wear a top!! But I have no recollection of this. Yay for pics telling me of the stupid antics I get up to when I’m drunk. Speaking of pics, how funny is looking at pictures the next morning? We were all crying laughing swapping pics in bed in the am.

Now what to dress up as next year??

Sleep deprivation

I am so exhausted today that I found myself doing stupid stuff.

For instance, when I went to call my friend, much confusion ensued.
I began with just trying to call her… I was so confused as to why her name wasn’t in my phone. How could it have disappeared? I haven’t synced my phone lately? I haven’t used it for a while maybe it just… disappeared? Phones are strange things.
So I thought, I know, I’ll Facebook message her for her phone number. Except when I wrote her name in my search field, she wasn’t on there. I was thinking,why would she delete her facey? That’s strange.
That’s when I had an epiphany. Instagram. I would find her on Instagram and I would message her. No one deletes their Instagram. But low and behold, she was gone from there too.
I even messaged a mutual friend asking for her number. In the mean time I started googling her name and work place to try find her. Still to no avail. I was like geez I hope she is okay. Why would she delete all her accounts?
Nek minute…. I realised my absolute blondeness. Her name wasn’t spelt Yana, as it is said, but Jana!
I had her number, her facey and her instagram. **Hangs head in shame**

Earlier this evening I was in my room on the phone chatting away when I stopped listening briefly to my friend as I noticed a straw hat sitting on my TV.
I don’t have a straw hat. This one was pretty big, it looked like it had come from a Mexican fiesta. I’d definitely remember it.
Yet I have no idea where it could have come from or how long it has been sitting there. My only guess is that Kim, my crazy ex flatmate, may have placed it there while I was in the USA. I know I haven’t been around that much but how could I possibly not notice a random straw hat sitting on my TV? I have been home nearly three weeks. I sleep in that room every night. What other random items have I acquired and not noticed lately? Who knows? Obviously not me.
Kim can you please confirm or deny placement of said hat?

Now I wouldn’t say I’m an avid cook or baker or whatever but I can make some mean cupcakes.
 I have a Halloween party tomorrow night so I thought I would bake some cupcakes (vanilla & strawberries and cream) to ice as eyeballs (will post in next blog they should be awesome!)
So there I was going about my business mixing up some mean muffins and I came to the bit where I had to add the butter.
Next 5 minutes are spent looking for butter in the fridge when there is obviously none. I find margarine – and brainwave! I’ll use that. Then I think but how do I measure out 60grams?
I swear I’m not usually like this.
I have made these many times before with margarine. So I start trying to workout percentages.. but my tub isn’t even so how can I possibly make an accurate measurement? Next thought – I will find out how much a Teaspoon has in it and I will just add them up to 60g. Head to google then realise I have measuring spoons in the draw that I can easily use. Duh.

So now I have illustrated my stupidness for the day I will stop delaying sleep and go ninise so I can go cray tomorrow night at the Halloween party and hopefully be smart (ish) again.

Ahoy Sailor ;)

Head over heels in Love.

Don’t get too excited, it’s not me.

Have you ever spent time with someone who is just gushing with happiness after meeting the man/women of their dreams? Someone who you never thought would gush and blush and fall over their own feet from being distracted by their other half?

My lovely friend, who I have known for some time, and I adore, has fallen head over heels in love. Literally. I swear if this girl wasn’t so damn bright she would have no idea where she was going as her brain has suddenly been taken over by this burning passion.

She is suddenly glowing, and her mood is infectious. In the last week I have spent two nights with her and after both, my cheeks hurt from smiling at her stories and I felt like skipping down the road. I’m not a skipper. Well, not in my sober life anywho… point being she is spreading the love baby. It oozes from her very core.

The normally semi-reserved but kept high on guard women has been overtaken by this lady who is glowing with happiness and whose eyes glaze over as she remembers all the little details of her man. As much as I would like to say it is sickening, it’s not. I think it’s the most wonderful thing.
God. Now I sound like I am gushing.

It really is lovely to see her so happy though. And it does make me ponder my life… does that really happen? Do you really meet someone and BOOM! Goneski. You’re theirs and they’re yours and that’s the end?
Love at first sight? I duno. Is a fairy-tale really a fairy-tale because it is just that? A fairy tale? I am certainly sceptical. It’s not that I’m not a lover… I’d love to love. It just doesn't seem to happen all that often. Or at all… I tend to like a couple of people at once, never anything serious. Sorry guys if you’re reading. In fact I’ve even managed to stay single for the last 5 years. Too picky most likely but that is another story.

Anyway… I love to see my friend so happy and it compelled me to write this.

Time will tell. And I shall tell you in another blog J

Mitoki –Kangaroo Point

Nestled in the heart of Kangaroo Point, diagonally across from the Story Bridge Hotel, you will find Mitoki. A cute little open aired Japanese restaurant with iPads to order from. The staff are of course, all Japanese and as they all are, extremely polite and sweet.

To celebrate their first birthday Mitoki had 15 of their favourite Tapa’s for $5 a plate. High five for us! Here we were expecting to pay a fairly decent amount for a nice meal and they say $5.. we say 10 please!

We started with 3 plates of the grilled salmon sushi, our personal favourite. I love the stuff.
Of course I had to get the gyoza, which to be honest wasn’t as nice as it could have been. The edge of the pastry was a bit dry or hard and the meat wasn’t amazing.

This was followed by Octopus balls which hilariously J, who hadn’t tried Takoyaki before, decided to put all but the whole ball in her mouth… followed by her gagging and spitting it out with ‘there’s something in it!’ Of course there is something in it, it’s an octopus ball! It has octopus in it! She didn’t like the feeling of the tentacles against her tongue evidently.
We also had edamame (a staple) and beef carpaccio (which was very similar totataki) with an Asahi beer. Nom.

The cheap tapa's deal runs until the 27^th October and then the prices are back to normal.. So go there.. go there now!

Wagaya - You like eel, right?

I've wanted to go to Wagaya in Fortitude Valley for quite a while.

So after the disappointing draw of the Bledisloe Cup, we were happy to find it still open.

Wagaya has an awesome interior, sleek dark wooden booths that are private and contribute to creating a cool ambience.
It had touch screen menus, which are quite funky and savvy but some would argue take away from the excellent traditional Japanese service that we have grown used to.

The gyoza were delicious. I love dumplings a get them wherever I go and these ones were very good. Highly recommend.

The sushi however was average. You can definitely find better for cheaper in Brisbane.
We shared a The lightly grilled salmon sushi, a spider roll and a dragon roll.

In the picture on the menu the dragon roll looked like it was covered in salmon so I ordered it in a rush from the screen as the kitchen was closing at 11.15pm.
When the plate was delivered I asked the waiter what was on the sushi as it definitely wasn't salmon. Turned out it was eel.
I have tried smoked eel as a kid... But this just did not look appetizing, even covered in BBQ sauce and sesame seeds. I wasn't game to try it first so Nikita took the plunge.. The look on her face was priceless.
A look of disgust and horror followed by 'no, no, no, nope' combined with vigorous head shaking confirmed that it was a gross as it looked.
Once she told me it had the texture of fat with the smell and taste of strong fish there was no way that any was going past my lips!!

So if you just want some dumplings and a cool interior head here. If you're after more than that, there are many other Japanese restaurants in Brizzy that would satisfy your cravings.

Blue and Orange Cafe Bondi

Blue and Orange Cafe is hidden away about two blocks from Bondi Beach...

Go there.
Order the Fresh linguine with pesto, walnuts, cherry tomatoes and chicken.
Partner with a glass of Little Creatures beer.

That is all.

Shabuhouse

Can't believe I haven't been to this place before!

Seriously, with my love of Japanese food and endless searches for good restaurants you'd think I would have stumbled across it by now.

It has an Japanese feel to it, except had it been in Japan it wouldn't be so spacey. Love the atmosphere and surroundings. You need to be okay with loud noise though, its definitely not a quiet dining experience.
It even has a VIP room... Not quite sure how you would become VIP there or what it would entitle you considering meals are $30...

So anyway for $30 you can have all you can eat sushi & hot pot.
You are seated at your table and your waiter explains how the system works.

The sushi is a buffet, simply choose What you like with what condiments and ta daaa you're off! It's fresh and there's a good variety.

The hot pot you cook yourself at your table. There's a hole in front of you to put the pot in once it's full of your choice of ingredients.
Choosing from vegetable, miso or Tom yum soup to begin you then add your veggies and choice (or choices) of meat.

I went for a miso soup with fresh blue crab, bok choy, mushrooms, bean sprouts and red onion to keep it simple. Was delish.

If you leave any food on your table you are charged $20. A good initiative to ensure that food isn't wasted.