I'm not posting photo's in chronological order.. but I don't think that matters? My girl and I made two trips to Melbourne (weekend before last) to catch-up with our friend Mik visiting from Perth. We hadn't seen her in 7 years! For our very last catch-up, Sunday Sep 21st, we had morning tea at Max Brenner (Melbourne Central). First we picked Mikki up from the Holiday Inn where she was staying with her husband (down here on business). Our time together that Sunday was so short because we had to leave just after 12 noon and head back home which was at least 85km's away. My girl had her brother's naming day/1st birthday celebrations at 2pm at a city/waterfront restaurant.
The morning after our Italian dinner in Melbourne. My girl had Belgian Waffles with a generous amount of melted milk chocolate (the photo doesn't do it justice). Mik and I helped ourselves to several tastes of this as there was plenty for everyone to feel 'waffle-ised'.. my girl didn't feel like she was missing out. These were around $12? I didn't pay extra for icecream but my girl thanked me for it because she said she couldn't have managed it.
Because it was still 'morning' I struggled with the idea of having anything sweeter than my two sugars skinny decaf, quarter strength latte. However, I did order a 'Chocolate Lick' as it's the cheapest thing on the menu and I thought it'd satisfy any craving I mustered in that chocolate-environment. (I brought in some sushi for brunch actually which I was happier to eat). The Chocolate Lick (pot of melted milk chocolate) was too sweet for me. It's about a 1/3 cup capacity. I probably could have tackled it better in the afternoon hours?
One of the raw salmon rolls belonged to my girl. I also had squid inari and an unagi (eel) roll.
The first time we tried the Chocolate Lick's they were $2.00. Tiffany and I noticed the 10 cent price hike to $2.10 last time we were there. She recently expressed curiosity about what the price would be now? Had it increased again since the last time we were there?
$2.20!! Do they have no shame?
Anyway, I think I had three 'licks' of the Lick and the rest Mik used to put into her Iced Coffee..(that was almost a tongue-twister). Mikki's Iced Coffee, surprisingly was a 'custom order' as they didn't have it on the menu!? With some 'quick thinking' they based the Iced Coffee on one of their 'Frappe' recipes... and it was $7.00. Mik told them it was the best Iced Coffee she'd ever had and they should put it on their menu. Iced Coffee, including Mocha beverages and other variations appear on American Max Brenner menu's.. as it happens. Why not in Melbourne?
Both my girl and I had a taste and it was, I have to say "very superior". When Mikki plonked the melted chocolate (from the 'Lick') into her very Icey Coffee, it immediately hardened into little chocolate nuggets (not pictured). You can own one of these exact same, ceramic 'Drink Me' tumblers, they're available to purchase in packs of two for $40.00 (gulp)! 'Hug Mug's' are $25.00 each (they come with a saucer too).
'Hayden' (our waiter) mocked me more than once about my latte (below).. jesting that it wasn't a real latte.. being decaf...and quarter strength..and skinny and all of that. When he presented it to me he said something like "and here's your fake latte Ma'am".
And with permission.. here's Hayden. He volunteered to take photo's for us.. and was an all-round excellent coffee-bitch. Ok..ok... sorry, sorry... but I'm sure he would be laughing if he was reading this. We were glad to have him wait on us.
Too much sugar turns you into a ham.
This was my girl's thick, (dark) hot chocolate with crunchy waffle balls.. it was around $5.50 from memory and the three of us couldn't even finish it (it's seriously intense.. especially if there are warm Belgian waffles on the table and other things to try). Hayden said normally the waffle balls were stirred into it but he liked to sprinkle them on top for visual effect.
So we left Melbourne.. and I drove my girl (almost) straight to her party, but we stopped a minute or two from the restaurant to catch an 'afar' glimpse of a ship that is in port at the moment called the 'Doulos'
We had three representatives/Christian volunteers from this ship two Sundays ago at church. This is a 'stock' photo (below).. but the two after that were one's I quickly snapped on the way to dropping my girl off.
This is our waterfront/bay area (my photo). My girl was keen to get to her party, so I took a photo of her waiting in our parked car behind me ;) The place where I dropped her off was directly opposite the ship, but I didn't park the car and take more 'close-up' snaps as I plan on going for a proper tour of the ship with my girl.
The Doulos is a 94 year old ship (two years younger than the Titanic) run by volunteers who commit to two years of service apparantly. They have the "largest floating bookshop" on board (used to be a swimming pool) and wherever they 'dock' they run programs and mini-conferences that cost between $5 and $20. Eg. one of the things they recently had was a women's morning tea with a guest speaker for $15 (morning tea included). There are even programs for teenagers but their brief says "aim to get your hands dirty"?? 45 min tours of the ship cost $10 per adult and $2 for children aged between 2 and 16. There's an "International Cafe" on board .."Sip a suberb cup of coffee on deck while Doulos crew members share about ship life and the extraordinary stories of God's work around the world". I read somewhere recently that the ship will be retired next year. But at church I thought I heard them say 2010?
Anyway, after I dropped my girl off, she'd left behind (on purpose) her drink on the passenger seat beside me.. It was a rip-off $4.50 'mini-bar' Coke from the Holiday Inn that Mikki had given her.
My girl (later that night) brought home a really big slab of mudcake with cream and blue icing, enough for three people easily. It weighed over half a kilo, no exaggeration. When it was still wrapped well in foil I kept dropping it from a height onto the dining room table to hear the loud thud it made. It was like dropping a bag of flour or something. My 'Myth Busters' style of experimenting (backed up with immature giggles from me) didn't do the cake any favours visually. 
And here are my new nails. This is also inadvertantly an update on my (treated) carpal tunnel hand. See the palm of my hand, closer to the wrist? (Bottom left hand corner of photo). That's where my hand was cut open for surgery. Looks pretty good 3.5 months on. The skin is a tad pinker than the rest.
Here's Phoebe, taking advantage of the morning sun. I don't open the (faulty) drapes fully to begin with because so much light comes in first thing in the morning. It's quite blinding! I've decided this post will be about random photo's, taken today. I did some op-shopping and was happy to get *three* needed baking dishes...but first some other photo's...
My girls lunch for school. A sandwich on soy linseed bread, some Texas bbq 'Shapes' & a muesli bar full of nuts/fruit (New Zealand 'Nice n Natural' brand). And some chocolate milk. First time I've ever bought a 6 pack of milk for school lunch purposes. My girl hates fruit and will probably have small mouthfuls 2 or 3 times a year.. during summer?
Now I'm so pleased to announce that I landed myself a piece of 
I put a pen in the dish to give a better idea of how big it is.
I then picked up a set of four white dinner plates. I have usually stuck with plain white plates over the years (letting the food be the main attraction), but have opted for some black recently and green a few years ago. Trouble is, I have no more than 3 in those sets anymore because of breakages. These white plates were from Aussie TV cook Iain Hewitson's "Huey's Kitchen" range. I didn't know he had a range of tableware. Or maybe I just forgot. What I required was that the plates be suitable for microwave ovens and they apparantly are.
Here I am about to head out for a walk around 5pm today.
At the beginning of my walk this afternoon I took some photo's of flowers that are starting to bloom (in my front yard). I also played around with the new photo-editing program I have and changed the colour of one of the daisies. 
My latte started as a bowl of chicken & vegetable soup with toast. I didn't have a good feeling when the toast was garden variety 'Tip Top' white (nothing else was on offer). The soup arrived almost boiling hot.. and didn't look impressive. When it was cool enough for me to taste.. it was BLERGH! too salty! I got my money back and asked for a latte.. which they gave me on the house. The latte was very good! My friends enjoyed hot chocolate and a latte too.. however, I didn't take my camera, so no piccie's, sorry.
Does anyone else like Greg Kinnear as a romantic lead? He played the supporting role of Rob, a juice bar owner and love interest to the main character of Kate (Tina Fey). One of his juice bar smoothies was called "Orange you glad I didn't say Banana"!
The title of this post is a quote from Kylie Minogue interviewed tonight on 'Rove'. I struggle with Rove (the TV show) these days.. it's just too crude/crass for me.. but I was interested in what Kylie had to say. She was talking about where she was in life ("A New Normal") and I 100% identify.
I hate to follow the ugly note with food.. but that's where I'm up to.. Our dinner tonight. I found what looked like a proper pizza base at our local green grocer. I bought some of my favourite 'Screaming Seeds Dukkah' for $5.95.. but also picked up one of the bases for an excellent price I thought, $4.50 (This is a gourmet, foodie type place)...
