~ Curious Charlie ~

Bounty Hunter in Space @ Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Monday 30th June

Loving 'Faerie Doors' think this one's from etsy.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm putting reaching nsw at a 9.5. None of the numbers work! Le beau figured out why none of the numbers worked! It was because I didn't put (02), that never occurred to me... Whoops. The new phone, you have to put the state code in for it to register in the phone book.

Completely forgot we had dancing on tonight because I thought it the July! Oh dear... another night that he goes alone. So this is why he's always offering to pick me up...

Won a competition for photography O.o don't get excited, awaiting T&Cs. Photography scams are common. A week later I think they figured it out so didn't email me the T&Cs.

Tuesday

So I missed the cookie deco workshop but made it for hot chocolate with le beau. Kids, noisy little things are everywhere! We need schools to contain them. Putting off the Ikea trip till they all go back to school, but sadly that means le beau goes with them! Disadvantage of being a teacher, you are always always surrounded by them - IMO. I need a break.

We went to the city for lunch, did some shopping for him (all I bought was $1.50 earrings and 50c scrapbooking paper). Filled out lots of forms and spent the day at the apartment.

Home. Mail! Sensationail gel polish in raspberry wine, oh pretty... Got the stater kit and two other colours. There's a LED lamp, as in LED lights? Is this safe to use? Should we get these gloves?

One of the colours I received - not my picture.

Midnight cooking adventures. It took me weeks to gather the ingredients, and now the cream smells like throw up. Gelatine recipie says 3tblsp, pack says 600ml, we used 3tblsp. Currently everything's in the fridge. Will give it another shot tomorrow. With fresh cream!

Making mocktails instead with leftover lychee juice. 18 ounces = 504 mL. We have 200ml. So
50ml sparkling water, almost 1 tblsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of rosewater. I added almost 100ml of water though, went up to 300mls. Serve with lychees and a spring of mint! Delicious! Add more water if you prefer it diluted. Serve immediately, if not don't add the bubbles, till you're ready.

Wednesday

The bus was 10mins late (trainee driver) and so we missed the train and was almost 30mins late. Though waiting for later trains with no in betweens meant time for lunch.

Tuna roll and cinnamon crosiant scroll. Gosh I love cinnamon! Did anyone notice we had that (+ sprinkles) in/on our hot chocolates yesterday? The roll was ok, I didn't really like it (or tuna) and wouldn't get it again. I prefer the chicken & potato ones from Breadtop.

Meeting. My 3rd year, so an increase on contributions. Met some cool people, played games. The adding and multiplication game didn't go so well, in my defense my partner for that one was an engineer.

So today the train decided to do the loop instead of the usual straight to Sth Cross. Late annoucements (meant to be delivered at Nth Melb) delayed meant I got off at Flagstaff and was confused, it said get off here to change trains...

Eventually got back to Southern Cross. Dinner at Purple Peanuts, the FOH staff are different, before they only hired Japanese people, now they have an American. They've also changed part of their layout, the giant octopus in the corner has moved into storage. The drinks and dessert bars merged into one giant fridge. Hello panna cotta. No Yuzu Cheesecake tonight.

But the teriyaki chicken is delicious as always! Tonight they get a bad review on the rice, too much water it was soggy. When a resturant messes up an entire batch (they use a rice cooker I assume) shouldn't they start again? Even if it means the first few customers have to order a not rice based dish?

Onto another meeting (and in the process missing a concert with le beau, I regret that). Lots of event girls on the team though everyone's from RMIT. I heard their courses are more hands-on.

Made that pannacotta, but it's a bit grainy. Found some tips, as I used agar agar instead of geletine. It says "bring it to a boil and shimmer for 2 to 5 minutes, stirring until the agar completely dissolves." I followed the geletone recipe which says put it in after the boiling happens. So I guess it didn't dissolve. What do I do?! It's in the fridge setting atm, but not too late to throw it back in the pot (after I wash the pot I left to soak).

We use agar agar because it's derived from a plant source (seaweed) rather than an animal source, meaning that it is suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets.

I don't eat gelatin unless it's served in a pannacotta at a restaurant, but other than that I always use agar agar for my coconut & coffee jello/jelly (my fav jelly). Gelatin is a by-product of the slaughterhouse industry, being made of protein derived from animal bones, cartilage, tendons and other tissues such as pig skin. And that freaks me out. Just like ox tongue and beef cheek.

"... gently brought to the boil and simmered while stirring until it dissolves completely, this will take about 5 minutes for powder." We missed that... only noticed it didn't turn out right because we tasted it after platting it. Next time research first!

But I heard "you can re-melt the stuff and add more liquid if your end product was too firm"?

Loving this wedding smashbook (scrapbook)! Though I would have loved to creating one for all the years we were together, recording our adventures.

Thursday

Mail came early today, a lovely felt star garland from Little Puddles, aka I like to make pretty things! :) Dave will enough doing a photoshoot with this.

Today we were in a different part of the office, where a woman recognized me as the pirate from an event. :P Note that I wasn't wearing that outfit today, or even the same colour.

We did some registrations, redid parcels (someone used a wb marker, went over it in pernament - nothing worse than writing your name in pernament marker on the wb on the first day of school!), and packed some showbags. Unlike promo showbags these are 100% informative and include stickers.

Attemped to fix that pannocotta but we made it worse. It was grainy because the agar agar failed to desolve. Two minutes in the microwave fixed that, but into the fridge. And hours later it's too firm, firmer than jelly. Before we tried to fix it the consistency was fine. How do you fix this? Whizz it up and add milk to make lychee milkshakes instead?

Friday

Today we were tired, so much to do. Going to post that huge letter after we buy stamps and an A4 envelop, and other things. Well that didn't happen.

But we did pre-order dinner so it was ready when we arrived. Bills from Huxtaburger, no bacon for me, double for him. Life is wonderful today, and anyday he's around! It was delicious as always, though idk if I like beetroot in my burger. We had Hux for 4th July, last few years was indoor picnics, this year I was a bit tired.

Found this great event/menu though it was $$, and I don't eat that much.

Discovered a new bakery on Elizabeth St, a German one. They just opened yesterday.

Not too tired to shop though! Ok I actually called and got this one hold, so not sure if that counts, Emily wouldn't think so. I'm not really into browsing clothes. Or belts. From Saba we bought the 'Jennie Waist Belt' which was $70, down to $40-something and now $27. But with my $30 giftcard (free btw, random email from past purchase I think) it was free!

I like belts but don't have many as it's more deco for me than function. Don't have any skirts that need a belt to hold it up. Le beau says the belt is nice but the mainstream buckle and slide ones are better as they can't be broken, like the clasp on this one.

The View

Our event of the week (so far) was a concert, my first pre-concert talk included. Tis was interesting but boring, as le beau's much more into it than me. Also people (mainly grandparents) arrived earlier and there weren't many seats left 5mins to the start. Le beau liked it though and the presentor was his supervision when he studied music.

The Romantics with Brahms, Schumann and Strauss. The concert was amazing! They had the full orchesta for most pieces, with 4 pianos (3 grand, 1 upright) two harps, 4 xylophones, a triangle and lots more (the usual strings, brass and woodwind).

Brahms - Academic Festival Overture
Schumann - Cello Concerto
Strauss - Don Juan
Grainger - The Warriors

The Accessories

I saw a guy, who I wanted to give my number to for networking. Not sure what happened but he was never alone and I got pre-presentation butterflies and couldn't do it. I did get his driver's number plate though. :P Too much crime shows? I have no idea how to track him down. Le beau says I'd be a great bounty hunter.

RMIT Newintstudents said... on July 8, 2014 at 11:53 AM

Charlie, which line do you live on? All the trains that past Nth Melbourne are all going through the loop in the weekday afternoons for the month of July. It is due to Regional Rail link works
Metro has mentioned it on their site: www.metrotrains.com.au and on posters around the station.

Charlie said... on July 8, 2014 at 7:47 PM

Hi Sally, I'm on one of the lines that go to the SE area, passing through Richmond. Didn't know about the loop, we're on vacation break so haven't been out West more than once so far this month. Thanks. :)