Seattle Soiree - Installment 5

INSTALLMENT 5 aka LIGHT ON THE PSYCH, HEAVY ON THE HILARITY

Bonjour,

From my now regular seat against the back wall under the Oscar Wilde painting at Starbucks in the U Village Barnes & Noble bookstore. The smell of freshly ground Seattles Best Coffee permeates the air and makes me truly long to endulge in a good ol "cuppa joe". *sigh* to dream...

Instead I have just ordered my Veinte, cinnamon Tazo chai tea with steamed 1% milk and 4 Splenda sugars. As Tom Hanks said in You've Got Mail - an order at Starbucks is not just a beverage, it is a daily self-affirmation that each of us is capable of making multiple decisions in order to get what we want. 

Ah! They've called my drink... *returns with beverage the size of Centrepoint* Inevitably it is overfilled but they put 2 teabags in it this time, the guy behind the counter must like me. When they only give me 1 it just tastes like slightly cinnamon flavoured milky water.

I'm so American right now :P

Several interesting things have happened recently: 

1. I was watching Cooking in the Northwest the other morning on the oldest television in the history of creation which is now equipped with a set-top box falsifying it's decrepit state with a HD picture and a remote, ahh technology. Anyway I watch learning to make crab stuffed portobello mushrooms and drooling all over the place when what should erupt across my 12" screen as I had just walked through the door on the way to the kitched but *scrolling text* THIS IS A TEST *cccchrewwwwwwchhhh, bbbvvrrrrrrrggggg, cccchhhhreeewwwwww* THIS IS ONLY A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM *bbeeeee-ooooooooo, ccchhhreeeewwwccchhhh, beep beep beep, ccchhhreeeewwwwww* THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS ONLY A TEST etc etc. 

How cool is that?! So there, my American experience is complete. It could only have been better, perhaps if it had been followed by "JUST KIDDING, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, THIS IS NOT A TEST" Then I would have had to get out the camera and perhaps phone you and say goodbye.

2. I'd forgotten a disconcerting side effect of the Seattle weather and progressive (read: hippy/lumberjack) culture: Women in this area have lost the understanding that body hair is truly and unwaveringly unacceptable. *shudder* And that under-clothing of the chest-assisting variety ought not be optional, particularly in the cold. *double shudder* 

It's sunny out today and I swear, it's like they've all been hibernating throughout the winter and, due to a lack of blankets, decided to grow their own. I nearly threw up. Good luck in Europe..!

3. Vitamin D is fascinating. My mother has a penchant for this particular vitamin and requested when I arrived that I conduct a little experiment - take it in heavy doses for the first week I'm here then try going without it for a few days and see if I notice the difference. I think I will term it "the Sunshine Vitamin". I feel miraculous! It's sunny (albeit chilly) outside today I've been radiating sunshine from my immune system for the past 2 weeks (save the 3 days of the camping trip where I stopped and it was as though grey clouds rolled in and burst open on my head). I highly recommend spiking your morning coffee with about 500mg of the stuff, give it a go - for science sake.

4. Shopping in America is akin to orgasm. I love it. They dote on you, the change rooms are the size of most pacific islands and the clothes are so ridiculously cheap! Not in quality necessarily but simply in price. I think it helps the economy has had it's ass fall out recently but I wandered through my old haunt Northgate Mall yesterday and by the time I'd wandered back out my wallet was only a couple hundred dollars lighter and I had 6 pairs of brand new jeans, 5 new shirts, 1 pair of stunning Hepburn sunnies, new earrings, a black patent clutch and several presents for certain people back home. I need to buy a new suitcase before I leave..in 3 days!

5. I have discovered that one can eat lunch purely from samples provided at food courts (or QFC). You go to the counter, ask to try a, b, c and d then say you have to go think about it. They forget your face in about 5 seconds flat so when you go back again and ask for samples of d, c, b and a they happily hand them over to you. Then the trick is to get the disgruntled Cinnabon employee who, when asked for a sample, takes an entire cinnamon bun, cuts it into 4 chunks, sticks 4 toothpicks in it and hands you the whole plate. GENIUS! (PS. Cinnabon rocks my size 00 world.)

Ok I think this e-mail's gone on about long enough - make sure you read it when you have time and aren't getting surreptitiously interrupted. So I'll wrap it up..

Re: Angels & Demons I wasn't saying the film itself was the most spectacular piece of cinema I have ever come across, not even close but it was the fact that I once again enjoyed experiencing mindless entertainment! I think it was an adventurous enough film (and we all know I would give any desired appendage to be Lara Croft) to pique my inner Indiana Jones afficionado and well done enough to remind me how it felt to watch such films as a child (in my old theatre no less) and the excitement I garnered from them. That was the fun part, not necessarily the film itself. I must say I did catch a few plot inconsistencies and I think it was a bit too much for my mum to grasp but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Seattle Soiree - Installment 4

INSTALLMENT 4 aka I'VE REMEMBERED SOME SIMPLE THINGS

Bonjour a toi, mon cher,


Greetings from my comfy robe in front of the slowest dial-up internet
connection known to mankind.

I must admit I miss that little city with the greatest harbour in all the world. "But
no matter how far, or how wide I roam.." (again with the bad jokes)

I must also admit that I miss you.

I'm dying to go climbing. Or camping again. I don't think I'll
take another nice day for granted for quite some time.

So where were we at my last e-mail.. 500 grams of fun, 200mL of
exhaustion, a dash of introspection and perspective to taste, I
believe.

I've just returned from a truly profound experience - I loved (yes,
once you're done with this sentence go back and re-read that word..)
going to the movies! After my first exhausted day back from Snooze &
Cruise I spent the morning imitating a moulding vegetable, making
Belgian chocolate covered humungous strawberries (as I've said they're
as big as my hand - inevitably this requires dipping in tempered
chocolate) and watching the retro channel while musing at the "rain
followed by showers" (a weather description found only in Seattle. It
accompanies gems such as "possible sun-breaks" and "drizzle with
afternoon rain") sleeting down on the windows.
Mum returned from work and I kidnapped her and took her to a lovely
little sushi place in Freemont. I ate Goeyduck sushi, it was fishy and
delicious. The agedashi was average so I do concede that Australia
does Japanese better then I've had here.
After dinner I experienced an emotion I thought was dead and gone
*starts humming "Sometimes Goodbye Is a Second Chance"* - I craved
sitting in a movie theatre and getting all wrapped up and spirited
away by a film. We went to my old haunt (and the first place I ever
snuck into a movie or stayed all day ducking quickly from theatre to
theatre and seeing a "triple feature"), the Landmark Metro Picture
Palace. They still have the Big Fish poster up in the rafters, still
serve Italian sodas in the bar on the second level and the place still
smells like decade upon decade of popcorn. I smiled.
They honoured my international student card and we ducked in to see
Tom Hanks and Ron Howard create a new world for 2 hours and 20
minutes; Angels and Demons rocked. I laughed, I cried (!!) and
moreover I actually enjoyed going to the movies. It was like it used
to be, no over-thinking, no analyzing, none of the feelings of a
scorned lover betrayed I've been having lately regarding film. I was
flooded with relief and joy. Funny how sometimes you just have to push
through the pain to get to the pleasure beyond. Yet another unexpected
benefit of this little trip.

The only thing missing was someone's arms wrapped around me. (I'm sure
the bum in the back row would have obliged but I think you get the
sentiment.. ;) )

Now I'm home and rather sleepy, I have a big day getting all the
clothes/bags/etc up on eBay for Dr Lady Maureen (she's so sweet, I'll
tell you the story of how she found out she was on the Queen's Honour
List, it's very cute. Also the story about sailing around the South
Pacific for 8 months. I close my eyes, cross my fingers and hope I get
to follow suit some day) with this odd mannequin I have sitting
conspicuously in the front room. I hired it from a queer little man
who names them all and calls them "his ladies" - slightly creepy.
Ok..more than slightly..

SnC was awesome. It was an unexpected pleasure to have a little chat
with you in the middle of it. You sound very far away and out of
reach. I'm glad Ellis snatched my phone and
dialed you. I'd been thinking perhaps you'd pleasantly forgotten about
me.

The trip would be too long to detail here but the highlights are as follows:
1. I vow to sail when I get back. A lot.
2. I cooked salmon steaks for 40 people. Nigella has nothing on me,
they were coated in lemon, garlic butter and dill, I was a heroine.
3. The next morning I ate an inordinate amount of pancakes drowned in
maple syrup *orgasmic shudder*
4. Drinking champagne out of a rinsed out litre cup from Starbucks on
a yacht in 28 degree sun on an island = bliss.
5. You can pole dance on shrouds
6. It's never to early to start drinking on the water
7. S'mores are a requirement of any camping trip and will be made if
ever we camp together
8. Springtime couples are very cute but also exceedingly annoying if
you are not included in their number. This is particularly apparent
when said pairs have linked up at the end of the night and you are one
of the conspicuously few singles still sitting around the campfire
being eyed like the proverbial golden-brown turkey at Christmas by the
unattached members of the opposite sex. (Incidentally this is the
point where you called me. I was on my 4th
arm-around-the-waist-attempting-to-snuggle-random and completely over
it. Hence why I might have sounded a bit off colour. The
Snuffleuppagus part was real though, it got chilly when the sun went
down.)
9. Watching dawn rise over the water and the deer come out to snack on
the morning grass while it's still dewy is one of life's simple
pleasures.
10. Goldfish crackers are so happy to see you it is conflicting to eat them

I gather a lot of these photos (and some..suggestive videos) are up on
Facebook so if you're still playing the stalker you'll have seen them.
I like the one of us sitting on the boom.

It sounds like fun, hanging out with captains, perhaps they have lit a
burner underneath you similar to the one I've found ignited over the
past few weeks. I implore you (yes, I've been reading Jane Austin,
Shakespeare and Marlowe and my use of the English language is
suffering/burgeoning of late) to remember one talented redhead you
know when venturing on these new pursuits - perhaps you can learn from
Ellis and "do all these cool things" as well. But you have to ask
nicely.

I've attached a single picture for you this time, how many points do I
get for my new freckles? I have Collage2 done but it's 101MB so it
might have to wait until I am no longer on dialup..

Nos mondes sont mieux quand ils sont ensemble, je pense que.

Un monde à part, mais toujours à côté de vous.

Smarts and Sun Breaks

Today was delicious. Not edibly (sorry followers of the Peanut's epicurean prowess) but in one of the ironically typical bouts of great highs and lows prevalent in every good Peanut's life.

The day began in a way I really had no right to have it start but despite it's stolen circumstances it was like a cup of hot tea after a long walk in the cold rain home from a bus which took a wrong turn. 

Late to university but not really caring I mused along to my iPod on the bus and enjoyed the warm sun on my face for the 25 minutes it took the big Mercedes to wind it's way into town.

Successively through a scrumptious sushi experience, lots of impromptu hugs from friends, a new pair of hoop earrings to replace the ones I'd loved so much and lost only days ago, meandering around with new found friends and having a round of applause echo through my lecture room from my class when the teacher announced that although I had been gone for 3 weeks and had taken the entirety of our first semester's exams in 5 hours I had scored higher than 100% and topped the class. I was truly thrilled and beamed like the raging nerd I'm so proud to be.

I found a place to purchase drastically under priced persimmons and a gourmet supermarket who specialised in samples - the girl even came up and offered me one, of her own accord!

So now I go to dinner a geeky, huge silver hoop and stiletto-boot wearing woman to sip spicy tom yum with one of my closest friends who, through circumstances unforeseen, will never be anything but a part of my life.

Oh, and my phone started meowing again, just like that. I smiled, it's about time.

Seattle Soiree - Installment 3

INSTALLMENT 3 aka "PENSEES DE L'AMOUR ET DE LA TRUFFE" (SOME THOUGHTS ON LOVE AND TRUFFLES)


Bonsoir à nouveau,

(Again readers, sorry about the lack of explanation on this one.. maybe someday..)

The preceding sentence is all I had written when my phone erupted in a
perpetually repeated chorus of "Poker Face" and who should be calling
but you! It was lovely to talk to you, we always could talk for hours,
even when nothing particularly fascinating was afoot.
This seems not to be one of those times! I must admit you succeeded in
turning my blue eyes considerably more "vert" and I'm intrigued by
your extra holidays in November. I still can't believe you're going to
Paris, Champagne and Croatia. My jealousy abounds.

But as you yourself said, c'est mon soiree maintenant so, back to me.

The past few days have been as lovely as their predecessors, if
slightly less frenetic. I sat down with Dr. Lady Maureen Henderson
DPH, MBBS, Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology, Professor Emeritus,
Department of Medicine (and yes, she has been noted by the queen) who
is a client of mum's "care for the elderly" company. She is
incredible. I hope to be even half the woman Maureen is when I'm 80.
She's sailed the world on her own yacht, been to nearly every country,
reached the pinnacle of her field and received the highest possible
accolades for her efforts. She bought the 12th story penthouse of The
Mirabella (the manicured version of a retirement village) and has
recently gutted the place as "it was an atrocity" and redone it with
impeccable taste and all the latest trimmings. Unfortunately her body
and brain simply don't work as they used to and she now needs help
with trivial things so Mum works with her anywhere between 10 and 20
hours per week doing the shopping, hanging clothes, checking e-mails,
etc. Personally I think she just misses having a personal assistant to
do her bidding but then again, after 50 years of having one, wouldn't
you?
She has a plethora of designer clothing, shoes and bags which either
don't suit her anymore or for which she has lost interest and has
hired me to sell them for her. I'll be spending a bit of time sipping
riesling and pawing through vintage D&G, Valentino and Prada *sigh*
life is hard.

Today I had lunch with our old neighbours, Rae and Steve. They are an
odd story and one which I have pondered for quite some time. Rae is 10
(nearly 11) years Steve's senior and it shows. She also has a chronic
problem with alcohol and pain medication, not to mention an enormous
inferiority complex and insecurities about marrying a substantially
younger and better looking man. While I was growing up she treated me
with a substantial amount of resentment, particularly as Steve and I
got along very well (I saw him as the father I ought to have been
given). I also saw their marriage as utterly unhappy and frequently
wondered why they didn't just cut and run. Today I saw them in a new
light. Today she seemed comfortably old and he seemed immensely
caring, as if all those years and difficulties had brought them
strangely closer.
I am constantly struck by the oddity of being here, reliving my old
life staples and seeing the cracks and waring of time on the
foundations of my childhood. It's good, I think. It gives everything a
pragmatic nostalgic coating. I find sinister memories softened and
replaces with ones of a harmless ephemerality. I think we call this
closure.

After lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant (yes, I ate chargrilled
zucchini with baked tomato, pesto pasta, broccoli with fetta and pine
nuts and a seafood marinara. See, some things do change..) I picked up
Ellis and we pimped my new black,
30-something-Microsoft-employee-newly-engaged-with-the-world-at-their-feet-mobile
Dodge Calibre down to Mecca (read: Pike Place Market).

Wandering around we tasted several piping hot jellies, dark chocolate
covered Northwest bing cherries, muscat grapes and the largest
strawberries known to man. Seriously, King Kong would have thought
they were substantial. We quickly popped into (read: Denea stopped and
carefully read the labels of every jar of quince and mulberry paste,
goose-liver and peppercorn pate and fig and walnut crisps) De Lorenti
(the store Simon Johnson wishes it were) where Ellis knows absolutely
everyone. Apparently his grandparents take a weekly visit to the
Market, without fail, every Thursday morning and have done so for
almost all the 60 years of their marriage. They repeat their time
honoured pattern; she spends too long perusing the shelves, he gets
fussy, she kisses him on the cheek, he smiles and buys her something
to get her moving. I think that's beautiful.
I made Ellis taste some Delice de Bourgogne and I indulged in a nibble
of a heavenly Fromage de Chèvres à la Truffe.

It's amazing being with Ellis again. It's been over a decade since we
saw each other last but it could have been 2 days. We fit like a
glove. I remember sitting in 7th grade telling stories of our crazy
cats and having him pull my ringlets and say "b-oing" every time he'd
let go. I love him dearly.

We went to Café Champagne where the pommes frites are outwardly crispy
with succulently creamy filling and the black truffle aioli will turn
your knees to jelly. The wine list at the cafe is 27 pages of size 8
type, I gather the one from Restaurant Champagne (upstairs) more then
doubles that number.
Two tastings of a sauv blanc from normandy, the gargantuan serve of
pommes frites and a strawberry and lemon curd tart with a hazelnut
mascarpone later 3 hours had flown by and 10 years had disappeared.
He told me of sailing, music, his incredibly itchy feet, plans for
travel with Alexia around Europe from July to October and his truly
touching love for his new girlfriend. The look in his eyes when he
told me of the tandem bike they recently purchased and the 4 course
birthday dinner he secretly made for her on a 3 burner gas stove in
the berth of the sailboat he hired for the weekend with descriptions
so intricate Gordon Ramsay would sit up and take notice extracted an
enormous range of emotions from me. He is absolutely head over heels
for her and it's beautiful. The excitement of first love which can only really reach full potential,
however fleeting, at that transitory point between adolescence and
adulthood. That is something I missed out on completely and I feel
somewhat lesser for it. I always wondered what that would have felt
like but I'm not sure I could have really survived through its
ultimate, supernova end. I'm not sure why I'm putting this in here but
it feels very good to write it so I think I'll leave it. Feel free to
disregard.

I am now munching on a "green tea mint" which apparently has 1/3 of
the polyphenol content of a cup of green tea. I suppose one could
simply save the mint and indulge in a cup of tea with a full serving
of the aforementioned antioxidant but this is delicious. I adore the
array of foods on offer here (as I'm sure I have mentioned once or
twice).

Mostly I think this trip has served to re-ignite the fire under my
personal activity burner. I don't like sitting around all the time or
perpetually selecting "movie", "dinner", or "tv" as options. I like
sailing and biking and exploring. I love the feeling of wind on my
face and diving across the hull of a sailboat, racing to wrap the
lines around the winch in time for a perfect tack. I want to fly
gliders and go rock climbing (which I'm booked to do at
the enormous REI rockmountain downtown next week - eep!) and travel,
travel most of all. I never intend to revert to the girl you knew for
a while over the past few months, you were telling me to be true to
myself and I was doing the opposite. I know better who I am now and
incredibly I'm finding that woman is someone I want to be. Who knew?!

Je suis tellement heureuse d'être moi, mais vous me faire encore mieux.

Some Observations on the Art of Sampling at Baker's Delight

In preface, this post does not mean that my life has lost all interesting facets, nor has it become so intrinsically boring that I have resorted to..well particularly what I have resorted to - repeated sampling of the new range of Baker's Delight scones.

First I must explain the truly delicious nature of these carby, fatty, utterly bad for you morsels from the Nanna-Approved provider of baked goods prominent throughout Australia.
They are stupendous. There are multiple varieties in existence including Chocolate Coconut, White Chocolate and Mixed Berry, Chocolate Chip Banana, Date and a host of other scrumptious concoctions.

Bakers Delight is one of the only Australian food companies to make bite sized (and therefore, calorie-free..) samples of it's wares readily available to the public. Most retailers partake in this practice. "The Sample" was one of my favourite phenomena prevalent throughout dining establishments of the take-away variety in the USA (see recent posts "Seattle Soiree) and seems to be quite misunderstood in Australia.

In Los Estados Unidos I discovered that one can eat lunch purely from samples provided at food courts (or QFC). You go to the counter, ask to try a, b, c and d then say you have to go think about it. They forget your face in about 5 seconds flat so when you go back again and ask for samples of d, c, b and a they happily hand them over to you. Then the trick is to get the disgruntled Cinnabon employee who, when asked for a sample, takes an entire cinnamon bun, cuts it into 4 chunks, sticks 4 toothpicks in it and hands you the whole plate. GENIUS! (PS. Cinnabon rocks my size 00 world.)

Over the past few days (read: weeks..ok read: ever) I have noticed that when you want to sample, say, the white chocolate and mixed berry Baker's Delight scone, if this scone is not readily available you find yourself coming up with some ridiculous reason why you should be allowed to try this food.

"My friends said it was good.."
"I'm trying to choose a dessert and I can't decide..."
"Oh wow, you have new scones! What are they like?"
"I've had the chocolate one but never the mixed berry, what's that like?!"
etc etc

Not only does one commit lying to the acne-prone staff behind the counter when, in all reality although they are the current keepers of these baked goods the moment they clock off they stuff gigantic plastic bags with all unsold wares and distrubute them to friends, family and hungry pets. They don't care if you want to try something, of course they don't but once they put on that burgundy checked cap they take on an odd menacing quality similar to someone like a school crossing guard with no proper authority but who would have you imagine they are the Swiss Guard and the pastries are the crown jewels.

So from the "ooh, what's this, can I try it?" in Mosman at 1pm to the "oh you have mixed berry too?" in Balmain at 6pm it would probably just be easier to part with the measly $1.70 but then of course, my snack would be far too large, contain an inordinate calorific content and taste truly bittersweet to my inner-Jewish woman named Yentl.

Post-script: I felt so incredibly guilty on my third trip to "BD" today I actually broke down and purchased a Chocolate Chip Banana scone. I feel dirty. I think I'll throw it out.

Smiling Sauce

When I lifted up the soy sauce, what should I behold but that it was happy to see me!

Seattle Soiree - Installment 2

INSTALLMENT 2 aka WHY STROKE WHEN YOU CAN GET BLOWN

Pre-P.S. Settle in for a bit of a read, I was feeling eloquent...


Greetings!

From near to the bottom of a lovely bottle of Lindeman’s South African
Shiraz 2006 (mum refused to allow it to fully empty by the time we
were done with dinner and baking cookies - oatmeal, date, and
cranberry with maple-infused pecans - as “that would make us
alcoholics and I just won’t have that!” - I was amused). I am utterly
exhausted and blissfully happy.

The last time I wrote you I had just arrived in Seattle, the following
morning we rose at a decent hour (8am...) and went down to pick up my
rental car. The choice presented was between a Statesman (this
gigantic, white boat of a car which probably could have eaten both my
car and your car for dessert then gone hunting for Andrew and Lisa’s
Echo for an after dinner mint), a red PT Cruiser (touring edition) and
an enormous, black, fuck-off Hummer3. Picture my face at the thought
of pimping around Seattle in a Hummer, stilettos and a 3/4 black
trench coat with T.I. and Rhianna blazing from the stereo - I started
pleading. “Please, please, please, please, please (you get the idea..)
can I have the Hummer, please please please!!” I begged as I began
jumping from foot to foot. My mother looked slightly less amused than
polar bears do when people put their small children on their shoulders
and say “ok - smile!”. She launched into a tirade about how Hummers
are the death of the environment and a true violation of all that is
good and right with the world. I thought this was probably a bad time
to bring up the argument against electric cars for fuel emissions
during production so I sighed and resolved to a choice between the
Mum-mobile and the Grandad-mobile. In the end I zoomed out of
Enterprise rent-a-car in a blood red, shiny, new PT Cruiser wondering
if the 3 kids and soccer gear was included and perhaps stowed
inconspicuously in the boot.
Surprisingly I adore my little ride, it’s smooth, has a bit of “get up
and go” and I fit right into the ultra-posh “University Village” down
the road (despite my lack of dependent offspring and after-school
activities, lucking the drinking habit is already installed..).


Straight from the rent-a-car I hit the U-Village, bought a *shudder*
dial-up modem to ethernet converter from the most gorgeous Mac store
(which, pleasantly, I can return in 2 weeks for my full money back), a
hair straightener (same deal - return within 90 days, no questions
asked) and some plug converters. I also meandered lovingly through the
Quality Food Corporation *intoxicated grin* It’s so gorgeous. Sydney
doesn’t have supermarkets like this. I’ve begun referring to the chain
of gourmet food stores as a Supermarkorgasm, they make your knees
weak. The fact that inside the store they have a separate
delicatessen, butcher, fromagerie, bar, fresh produce section, bakery
and charcuterie as well as a liquor section (where yes, you can buy
Nichsweinstein Castle Riesling) and all the usual aisles except on
steroid and with seemingly thousands of options for any desired
product pleases me no end.
I bought several items, perused for far longer than necessary and
self-checked my way out (novelty value).

The rest of that afternoon saw a few other supermarkets (comparison
shopping of course...I don’t have a problem..really..I don’t!),
stalking my old dance studio and wandering around my old neighborhood.
It’s so beautiful here, I can’t remember why I hated it..

That night I took the bus into the CBD and met my best friend Korin,
we went shopping and I dropped a fair few hundred dollars on a whole
new wardrobe. Hot. Mega, super, uber hot. ..If I do say so myself.

By the time we got out of the lingerie section it was nearing 9.30 and
we were craving cocktails. Korin took me to a little unsigned
Vietnamese restaurant with a “Jellyfish Bar” (a fully stocked bar with
huge leather couches, situated underground and surrounded by tanks of
jellyfish illuminated by under-tank lights of all colours) in
Belltown. Luckily we were in time for the last seating and a jovial
manager by the name of Angel seated us and left us in the hands of the
most complete tool of a waiter *cringe* he actually offered to marry
me later in the night for some bizarre reason I can’t remember anymore
*puke face*.

We started with cocktails, mine was pomegranate liquor with spiced
shochu, vodka and aperol. Korin happily downed a watermelon vodka,
spiced white rum and grapefruit martini. Wow.
And then we ordered... Oh dear God. This was, without a doubt, the
best Vietnamese experience I have ever had, or ever really expect to
have. Entrees were chargrilled chilli squid heads on a bamboo skewer
with a salt, pepper and lime dipping sauce so tender you barely had to
bite into them before a spicy, smoky full flavour poured into your
mouth and made you utterly speechless. Along with the squid came fresh
rice paper-wrapped crispy tofu with vermicelli and various fresh
vegetables in a sweet chilli dipping sauce. Korin and I were both
silent for quite some time while each bite of this unexpected
taste-explosion was carefully savored.
Angel came over and offered the 11 page wine list (!!!) from which I
selected a La Valentina Mantepulciano d’Abruzzo 2006 from Tuscany. He
nodded his approval and brought the bottle to accompany the sauteed
eggplant and beef with flash-fried tofu in a tamarind sauce and
selection of vietnamese chargrilled meats with a honey-soy chilli
drizzled over dried onion on rice we chose for mains. Holy wow. This
food shits all over..well anything!

After our mains Angel came over and we began chatting - he is one of 4
qualified Master Sommeliers in the Washington area and spent 5 months
creating and sourcing this wine list. I told him of my interest in
wine and all of a sudden he took interest in us! For the next 4 hours
he brought over complimentary glasses of a Andeluna Winemaker’s
Selection Torrontoz from Tupungate, Mendoza in Argentina, a Monchhof
Urzig Wuzgarten Reisling Kabinett from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer in Denmark, a
Domaine de L’Arlot 1er Cru Clos de Forest Monopole Pinot Noir from
Nuits-St.-Georges in Burgundy, a Chateau LaGrange Cab, Cab Franc,
Merlot from St. Julien in Bordeaux and a bottle of Yuki No Bosha Ginjo
Nigori Akita sparkling sake to go with our crisp banana and red bean
tapioca dessert (cumulatively over $600 of wine if we had bought each
of the bottles). We were there until 3am and he gave me a signed copy
of the wine list. He also owns a taco cart in Freemont. That is so
freakin cool.

Inevitably I had the pleasure of getting up (still drunk) at 5am (yes
sir, 2 hours after we left the restaurant) to go yacht racing!
Ahhhhhhh!!!
But I did it (how I will never know..)! 6am we departed on Adrian’s
brand new (not even named yet - we decided this was why we lost, the
poor Idefix hadn’t been christened yet!) 30 foot Olsen racing yacht
and headed out to race around Vashon Island. Luckily the land was
rocking nearly as much as the boat so the two sort of evened out and
they put me on mainsail line guarding. It was amazing. We were on the
water racing from 6am (racing from 9am) til 8pm that night. We got the
boat up to about 9 knots downwind and 7 upwind. By the end of the day
I was diving back and forth across the hull as fast as the others with
each tack and even helped douse the sails when we finally cruised back
into port. Lunch onboard was courtesy of Ellis and consisted of garlic
and gruyere sausages with spanish rice. I also snacked on a random
piece of steak he brought along, there are decidedly carnivorous
photos of me gnawing into it on the downwind leg. On the way back
through the Hirim M. Chittenden locks (the gate system which allows
boats to flow from a bay with a higher water level then the passage
beyond by closeting the boats between two large dam doors and slowly
filling or draining that section to equal the water level on the
proceeding side. People come and watch and take photos of you while
it’s going on, I felt much sympathy for goldfish.) we enjoyed cold
Heinekens and hit Ivars fish & chippery once everything was done for
Clam Chowder, Corn Bread, Halibut with Portobello Mushrooms and
Truffle-Oiled Potato Mash, Fried Clams and Tartare Sauce washed down
with pints and pints of the local beer “Kilt Lifter”.

Then I literally passed out. In a ball, still dressed in about 3
layers of the cumulative 15 I’d been wearing throughout the day.

I am now slightly tanner (only on my face) with lots and lots more
freckles, rather wind-swept and loving life. I think I’m going to go
on an overnight “Snooze and Cruise” with Ellis, Matt, Adrian, Alicia
and their sailing club this weekend out to an island. Sail 1-way, get
off, pitch tents, get wasted, get up, spew, have a cooked breakfast
provided and sail 1-way back. Heaven.

Today was Mother’s Day and although I closely resembled a corpse this
morning until about 11am and was therefore unable to beat mum up at
the crack of dawn to make her breakfast in bed I gave her a lovely
card and a bunch of presents. A few of our old friends came over and
we all headed downtown for Sushi train.

After Sushi Train I told her I wanted to buy her more presents so we
went to The Pike Place Market. Oh Lord, I fell in love again.
Throughout the 4 hours we wandered around (incidentally, stilettos on
cobblestones = treacherous) I tasted black and white truffle oil,
duck, pistachio and truffle terrine, 20 year aged balsamic, smoked
Alaskan salmon, merionberry preserve, dark chocolate coated northwest
tart cherries, moon cake, key lime cheesecake, roasted almonds,
jalapeno hazelnuts and a host of other locally made niceties it would
be simply cruel to tell you about. I may have to show you..if I ever
decide to go back to Sydney that is.

I ran into one of my old best friends Maddie down there and we had a
blast, I’m biking over to one of the islands via ferry with her in the
next few days for a spot of camping and several spots of open-fire
cooking and indulging our brazen inner alcoholics.

Came home, cracked open the aforementioned bottle of South African
Shiraz and baked cookies with mum. It was a perfect day.

In fact, they’ve all been pretty perfect. I can’t remember why I
didn’t love it here. I really can’t. Actually I think I’m falling in
love here for the first time, I almost want to stay. The people are so
friendly and sweet, they all treat you with interest, respect and
courtesy. They’re helpful and flattering and cute and they all know
about food and wine and how to spend a day outside or being active
instead of just sitting in front of the tv stuffing your face with the
endless supply of junk food on offer. The city is beautiful, the
mountains loom in the distance with snow scattered across their
middles and the tops high up in the clouds. The entire city is
surrounded by water and has more boats per capita then anywhere in the
world - including Sydney! The food is delicious and the nice stuff
(far nicer then Simon Johnson, Maggie Beer, Harris Farm or any of the
others in Oz) is not only accessible but affordable, I mean $29 for a
large bottle of black truffle oil?! Even with the exchange rate that’s
great. All the drinks here come in a diet option and the waiters just
make a quick note and say “thanks!” when you alter an order or tell
them precisely what you’d like on your sandwich. The clothes are great
and fit me like a glove (and no, I haven’t ballooned up several
hundred sizes since you saw me so haha, very funny, beat you to the
joke) and the shopping is fantastic.
I’m staying an extra week and a half. At least. I've been offered a
job by one of mum's clients.

(I'm leaving this in here from the e-mail this was copied from since it meant a lot to me. Sorry blog readers - no explanation about this yet)

To your question about the CD my responses ranged enormously, Phantom
made me cry (I love that you put the entire climactic scene, not just
“Think of Me” or “Angel of Music”, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you
but that scene is what makes me love that opera so much. I love the
decision and that ultimately love conquers all, even hurt and years of
single-minded obsession), “Hot and Cold” made me slightly puzzled but
amused, “Mighty Wings” made me laugh, “Let It Be” made me think, and
“Country Roads” took me home. All the others were beautiful too, I
already told you “The Scientist” was a brilliant choice, “Hot” was
very cute and earned a silly grin, and “A Time to Say Goodbye” put me
back in that seat at Rod Laver with you, so nervous and excited and
marveling at how nice it was wrapped in the arms of someone I hardly
knew.
Thank you for making it for me, I love it. 


It seems a long time ago and a lot to load into one e-mail so the
international paxing food was delicious! I’ll put it in a future
e-mail, or maybe on a postcard. I watched “He’s Just Not  That Into
You.”