Apr 24 - Nice And Rumi

  On Monday, TwoWrongs was singing the praises of Koko Black chocolate blocks and though I was impressed with their desserts, I hadn't ever really rated them as a straight chocolatier before.  Perhaps my tastes are unrefind, perhaps I'm just snobby because I know they don't make their chocolate from scratch, but at any rate, I was left wanting to show him exactly why an Adelaide gal like myself would be a devoted Haigh's fan.  So it was with that in mind that I trundled down Swanston Street in my lunch break to the nearest Haigh's store and purchased one of my favourite Haigh's blocks from the very shelf pictured to share with him next time we catch up.

  After that I headed down to Big W at QV to pick up some new lounge-about pants for winter.  I bought three pairs, black, dark grey and light grey, all in size 18 (I didn't even feel the need to try them on!).  They are lighter than track suit pants, more like yoga pants I suppose, but it does mean that I can chuck out my tatty old too big track suit pants.
  As I headed up to the registers I passed a special stand of Cadbury Marvellous Creations.  It was on a really good special, half price at least, so I bought two blocks.  This may seem to be a step back but let me explain the difference between today, and the horrifying panic I felt on Saturday.  Today I was in the right frame of mind to buy chocolate and not eat it.  The two blocks I bought today will go into my black enclosed 'treat box' and I will not open them or eat them whole like I would have on Saturday.  They will go into the treat box for sharing with friends or guests, or to be gifted if the need arises.  Today I wasn't afraid of chocolate, I was in control.  That makes all the difference to me.
  It was another rewarding day at work.  Two in a row!  I must be on a lucky streak.  I started on my centre accruals, part of which involved assessing the current position of our utility bill expenditure.  I'm pretty anal about that so it took me a while but it certainly proved worthwhile.  I found a serious error and took steps to correct it which will save us serious dollars.  It reminded me why I was 'worth it' in a work sense.
  It was certainly not a hard to find error, but the simple fact is that not many people would've found it because they wouldn't have looked for it.  Me?  I have a definite need to understand.  So I poke and prod and look at history and break it down into its parts until I understand them all.  I can remember supplier numbers and GL codes off the top of my head because that's what I do.  I learn, I question everything, I'm not settled until I know my role inside and out and that's why I'm worth it.

And apparently they agree, because I got these today!

  Mr Smart arrived at the office at about 5pm in time for us to head off to our dinner date.  I got to show him my office so he could see things like exactly how far I have to walk to use the photocopier or the bathroom or the kitchen.  It felt nice to be able to share something that although mundane, forms a big part of my life.  It was nice to know that he would now understand contextually when I described the office as 'long and thin'.  After the mini-tour it was off to Lygon Street to experience the delights of the Middle East!

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a 45g Carman's apricot and almond muesli bar and a 45g Carmen's original fruit-free muesli bar.
• Morning snack was a green nashi pear, cored and sliced.
• Lunch was a plate of assorted sushi from the new Woolworths sushi kiosk at QV.  They had brought us up a platter to share at the office.  You've got to love a free lunch!
• Afternoon snack was a red plum.
• Dinner was at Rumi in Lygon Street.  We had the Rumi Classic Banquet which was perfect for sharing and contained many delightful morsels.

• First course was labne, sigara boregi (cheese cigars), cucumber sticks with nigella seeds, taratoor (a bit like hummous but made with almonds instead of chickpeas), pickled vegetables and olives and Lebanese bread.
• Second course was spiced school prawns with tahini, Persian meatballs and braised greens.  The school prawns were cooked whole and were delicious and crunchy in their little fried shells.

• Third course was cabbage salad, quail 'joojeh' kebab and fried cauliflower.  This was the most amazing cauliflower, with pine nuts and spice and sultanas or maybe they were currants.  At any rate, for the rest of the meal Mr Smart kept wishing there was more cauliflower!
• Fourth course was spiced lamb shoulder with a thin sweet mint sauce, a delicious smokey freekeh salad and a crunchy fresh baby cos and herb salad.

• Fifth course, dessert, we split.  Mr Smart had the very hot strong bittersweet Turkish coffee and I had the desserts!  A small square of Turkish delight of average quality, and the Arak poached apricot filled with labne.  The apricot was amazing.  I had kind of been expecting it to be a bit like the marscapone stuffed apricots you can get at Italian delis but this was something else.  I hadn't counted on the Arak, the subtle but noticeable anise flavour made the mouthful completely wonderful and unlike anything I've had before.

  It was a fantastic meal and Mr Smart and I noted that their other banquet menu, only available for groups of three or more, has so many different dishes to the banquet we had that it definitely bears further notice with a larger group of people!  Whenever we get there again, Rumi definitely made my favourites list!
  After dinner we wended our way back to Mr Smart's for the weekly Game of Thrones viewing!  It was such a cool episode.  It was Varys and Daenerys heavy too, so I was a very happy camper.  Daenerys and her dragons are so badass.  It's a very absorbing show and world.  Mr Smart wanted to get a bit of writing done after that so I got to read my book for a while before bed.  I don't know why, but it always seems easier to devote time to reading when I'm not at home.
  Jess