Feb 9 - Work, Work, Dinner

  An interesting day, peace and quiet came to the house but I had to go into work to play catch up, and there was total overindulgence on the food front.  I'm not going to make excuses, I know I overdid it, I know where and I am trying to find solutions to prevent it happening so regularly.  Obviously when I go out I still fully intend to enjoy myself but the rest of the time I need to get back some control.  I think the only solution is to go back to the weekly planner drawing board and try to get some sort of a base eating plan up and running again but it all takes time that I don't have at the moment.
  Anyway, the day started with my nephew and I sleepily waking.  I'd only had about four hours sleep owing to a marathon phone call from Earnest who had found himself in a somewhat inebriated state but I felt surprisingly well rested.  Tricky arrived to collect my nephew not long after we woke up and their departure was only delayed by my having to make a copy of 'the bird move' (Rio) for my nephew.  We have a new favourite apparently.
  Gub had already left to do official bridesmaid things for a wedding she is attending soon, and Tricky headed off with my nephew and two discs full of kids movies so in hardly any time at all I found myself alone in my house for the first time in weeks (or so it felt).  The peace was divine.  I love having guests, but the last couple of weeks particularly have been a bit of a blur so it was nice just to be able to do simple 'I live alone' things like walk around the house naked.  Ahhhhh freedom.
  I loaded the dishwasher and then jumped in the shower for a long relaxing soak.  Ever since getting the instant hot water system I can run the washing machine or dishwasher and shower at the same time with no loss of heat or pressure.  It's brilliant!  I got out, dressed, packed extra shoes and a top for later tonight, emptied the dishwasher and headed out the door.  A beautiful Saturday morning and I was on my way to work.
  I don't normally work weekends, as you well know, and I am certainly not paid for them but some genius scheduled external workshops on Monday and Tuesday which happens to coincide with my billing deadline which I didn't get done on Friday night owing to unexpected babysitting duties.  But nevermind, the sense of peaceful serenity stayed with me and I decided to treat myself to breakfast!
  I took myself off to The Pancake Parlour and ordered the 'special big country breakfast' which is the normal country breakfast plus hash browns and a cheese kransky.  This was overkill, even for me, and would have easily fed two people.  Two buttermilk pancakes with whipped butter and maple-flavoured syrup, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, hash browns and a cheese kransky.  I am extremely fond of The Pancake Parlour's hash browns.
  I think this was the second only meal that I have ever eaten out without company.  It was quite enjoyable.  I grabbed a paper and read little bits of it and tried desperately to ignore the dysfunctional relationship playing out in the booth in front of me.  Honestly, if you are going to be passive aggressive (she) and just plain stupid (he) at breakfast what hope have you got for the rest of the day?

  It was off to work after that.  I ran a few errands before I went in to the office.  I checked a tattslotto ticket (sorry Gub, you were right, we're not millionaires just yet), and then I went to Safeway to grab a couple of bags of Allen's Killer Pythons which were on special.  They are not for me you understand, they are nephew treats.  As I walked to the check out I spotted something wonderful, brand new reprinted issues of the Women's Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits!  It's been out of print for ten years and is a book that Mum has, and that we all grew up with.  My favourite recipe from it as a kid was the Melt 'n' Mix Shortbread, but I might get a little bit more adventurous as an adult.  Go and grab your copy while you can!

  Once in the office I got a few things crossed off the list, the billing deadline taken care of at least and a better idea of where I sit with a few other things.  Alas, I was not finished when 4pm rolled around so I resigned myself to another half day on Sunday and headed off to Mr Smart's place.  Tonight we were off to dinner at Josie Bones for the Masterchef's birthday.  A fun factoid, Josie Bones is actually owned and run by two real-life contestants from the show Masterchef, Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins.

  I fell in love with the door right away.  Their emblem is the outline of a pig and the door handles are bronze pig trotters.  I do love my piggies.
  The restaurant is big on beer, boasting eight rotating taps featuring local and imported craft beer and over 260 bottled beers.  You can just see Mr Smart in the background perusing the thirty-odd page 'beer list'.  It was separated out by ales, lagers, porters, red beers, wheat beers etc. and then right at the back there was a section called 'not beer' where the small selection of wines and ciders lived.
  Mr Smart and I arrive first, followed shortly by the Masterchef and Mr Masterchef, then with just two minutes to spare, Fly Girl and MiB turned up on time followed lastly by Miss M.
 Laughs were plentiful, news was shared, some big, some small, updates were given and the table was raucous in no time.  I'm pretty sure we were unashamedly the loudest table in the place.  Eventually we got down to serious foodie business and ordered.  The whole menu is designed for sharing so everyone picked something and we all got to try lots of different things.

Crackling of the day (pork)
Was nice enough, but Mum's is better.

Masterstock-braised pig's trotter spring roll with nahm jim foam.
Only half a spring roll each but this was a particularly yummy morsel.

Sliders.  Pork belly and kimchi on tiny brioche rolls.
Mr Smart and I shared one, it looks extra tiny in his hands!

Kingfish ceviche with goat chorizo and avocado salsa.
This was really lovely.  I wanted a lot more than the one piece!

Beetroot carpaccio with roast baby beetroot, grilled halmoui and smoked almonds.
I could have happily eaten the whole plateful but I had to share with the others.

Housemade black pudding with green apple and pickled ginger salad.
This was my choice for the evening but only the boys were brave enough
to try it with me.  Good thing too as split four ways we each got a about a
teaspoonful!  Not really great value at $14 for what is essentially pig's blood.

French fries with smoked alt and chipotle aioli.
Not the greatest fries on earth, but passable.

Pork spare ribs with red miso lager barbecue sauce.
Mr Smart's choice.  These were very nice, but just one wasn't enough!  It would
be nice to come back here as just a duo and have a bigger try of these.

The main dish, slow roast lamb shoulder with pickled vegetables and also
heirloom tomatoes with local fiore di burrata, and pickled shallots.
This lamb could be carved with a spoon, it was delicious and the vegetables
were lovely, cold, crispy and tart.  The tomato salad was great too and
dressed with a delicious but not overpowering basil oil.

Baked chocolate mousse with cumquat marmalade and creme fraiche sorbet.
Silly me didn't read the menu properly when I ordered this.  I don't like marmalade
so it was a bit of an unpleasant surprise to find that bitterness lurking at the bottom.
The chocolately bit was awesome and the sorbet was lovely.

  There was also a quail dish of which I only had the merest of nibbles and the other girls chose the lemon tart with raspberry sorbet and lemon sherbert.  The raspberry sorbet tasted divine.
  After the meal we sat around gas-bagging about everything and nothing.  Prostate exams and breast checks came up at some point which had as all in hysterics.  We worked out that two of the group have fortieth birthday's next year so a combined 'eightieth' party has been suggested.  I think it's a great idea personally.  We also worked out that I was now the youngest of the group which had FlyGirl (the previous title-holder) tease "that's it, you're out of the group".
  We talked for ages and drank a lot of water before we eventually grabbed the bill.  And what a bill it was.  Not the most expensive meal I've been to, and certainly not the most expensive per head, but it was still enough to illicit a gasp from most of us.  Still, I checked it once we got home and for food it worked out to be about $40 per head.  That's actually pretty good for that sort of place.  It wasn't an enormously filling meal which is good in someways and reduces value for money in others.  What tipped the bill into ridiculous as always, was the fact that the alcohol was also about $40 per head.  Thank goodness I didn't drink tonight as that did reduce my portion of the bill somewhat.

L to R: Masterchef, Mr Masterchef, Miss M, Mr Smart, Me, FlyGirl and MiB

  Outside on the pavement our conversation continued for a while and somehow got on to 'times we have driven at night without our headlights on', it was funny but inconsequential (or so I thought).  We eventually said our goodbyes and headed off our separate ways.
  As Mr Smart and I headed back to my place, it was towards the Victoria Parade end of Smith Street when I paused to let a taxi do a u-turn in front of me that the taxi driver's wild gesticulations alerted me to the fact that I had driven off without my headlights on.  Of course Mr Smart felt it was too funny not to share with the others on facebook.  Fair enough... I'd have shared it too if it'd been him!  By the time we got back to my place it was almost midnight.  We fell asleep in a warm, cuddly, well-fed, snoozy heap.
  Happy Birthday Masterchef!
  Jess