‘Round about 8:30 tonight the Snook was telling me about his crap day when we suddenly heard a noise like thunder in the distance. “What the hell? Are we being bombed?” Then I remembered. “It’s the big Aussie Idol finale!” We weren’t gonna sit there and actually watch it, of course, but we did wait til it was over and then time-shift our way through at super speed. This is where I make an embarrassing confession: Of the four previous Idol finalists, the one whose performance I enjoyed the most was Shannon friggin’ Noll. I KNOW! But you know what? He seriously has improved in the last two years. His stage presence was way better and he actually looked like a rock star moving around up there. Much as I liked Guy back in the day, his new look just isn’t doin’ it for me. So rock on, Shannon. As for the result itself, our official stated opinion was that we didn’t care one way or the other, but just as James Matheson was about to name the winner, the Snook blurted out “EMILY!” And in my secret heart, I knew I wanted it to be Kate. And YAY, I WON! Well, really Kate did. It’s funny; in all our discussions of Idol here at w-g nobody ever seemed to give her any odds at all of winning it. Emily had the touchdowns; Emily had the touching ghetto backstory; Emily had the audience support. I even think Emily is probably the better singer. What’s interesting though is that I actually preferred Kate’s version of that first single. It just sounded a little more “country” and I felt like she delivered it better. Plus she’s a battler, and this country loves a battler. And she had rockin’ cleavage tonight. Give it up for the big girl!

My sock monkey tutorial is now a featured article on craftbits. I’m flattered!

Check it out, a complete Knitted Wedding! That’s insane.

One year ago today – well, give or take the time difference – the Snook and I stood in a little white wedding chapel in Las Vegas and promised to be each other’s best friend forever, in the presence of Elvis, Reverend Ron, and all our friends and family watching on the Internet. To be honest, not a lot has changed for us in the interim. My ratio of referring to him as “husband” rather than “boyfriend” has gone up, but I still slip up occasionally. We’re the same Kris and Snook as always… but every now and then, I remember how special it was and how amazing it felt to share our relationship with all the people we care about. I wish everybody could have that. In less abstract terms, we celebrated tonight at Tabou on Crown Street in Surry Hills. It was this year’s Good Food Guide Editor’s Pick for Favourite French Bistro. MON DIEU, IT WAS GOOD. The Snook started with the rabbit terrine (very Fat Ladies), while I had the cheese souffle (sooo delectable I’d eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). For mains the Snook had the veal en croute, while I had the pork loin (pictured here). I finished with a Bombe Alaska while the Snook had a prune and almond tart. It was seriously good food, without being as imposing or “art-for-art’s-sake” as Tetsuya’s. I could definitely go back there again.

And in a special nod to the folks back at Netdecisions, the wine we drank tonight was a bottle of 7-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon… that just so happened to be the very first bottle ever purchased on Mad About Wine. MAW was the first project the Snook and I worked on at ND, and the occasion of our meeting…

Glebe Street Fair
Look at me, all pretendin’ I’m a foodblogger and stuff! The Snook and I headed over to Glebe this afternoon after I got off work to check out the fair offerings. We ended up eating some food and buying some books… and I got my red Crocs! Okay, so I haven’t technically earned them yet, but as it was the distributors themselves manning the stall they were selling them for 10% off and I just couldn’t resist! (Snookums gave his approval, pending my adherence to the putting-them-on-a-shelf-until-85-kilos plan.)

There were seriously, like, eight different stalls selling Turkish Gozleme, far outnumbering any other specific cuisine. Why so many? I have no idea. We went with the tried-and-true method of picking the one closest to where we entered and joining the queue.

Mmm, so yummy! Crisp sandwiches of dough with feta and spinach inside. (You could also get it with “spicy mince.”) Hot and salty and good.

Chocolate-covered-fruit-on-sticks also seemed to be a recurrent theme this year. I manage to restrain myself to just this one (albeit giant) strawberry coated with white chocolate.

Check it out – it’s Hayseed Dixie! The Snook had been wanting to catch one of their shows so it was a treat to see them live for free. (At least, we think it was them. We’re still trying to find official confirmation.)

Despite the fact that the fair was winding down, there were still thousands of people working their way up and down Glebe Point Road. We’ll definitely be going back next year…

Trail Note
I had another nice run this morning. I’m trying to go down streets and visit neighborhoods that I don’t really see that often, so this morning I headed towards Pyrmont. The plan was to jog up Broadway to Harris Street and then run all the way down it to Elizabeth Bay at the end. Along the way I passed the big ABC Studios, the Powerhouse Museum, and the Jean-Marc Patisserie that made our wedding reception croque en bouche. When I couldn’t go any farther – on account of the harbour – I went around left in a big loop by the Channel 10 Studios and past the Sydney Fish Markets. (I’m happy to report that they aren’t very stinky on a Sunday, so I didn’t have to hold my nose.) Then I followed Pyrmont Bridge Road up into Glebe and down Glebe Point Road, checking out all the stalls being set up for today’s Festival. Pretty soon I was home… and wondering about my stats. Unfortunately that whizzy GMap Pedometer thingy doesn’t work in Australia, so I had to cobble together a bunch of street maps and manually measure out my path. I’m a little disheartened though. Total Distance: 5.2km (or 3.2mi). Elapsed Time: 50 minutes. Speed: 6.24km/hr (or 3.88mph). That sucks! On the treadmill I used to go way faster than that. I’m not sure what to attribute it to. I guess I’m definitely stopping more, as I have to cross lots of roads and occasionally wait for stoplights. Sydney can also be pretty hilly, so I can see where that would slow me up a little bit. Maybe I’m just not pushing myself since I haven’t had the numbers before. I’ll run this route again this week and see if I can speed it up a bit…

Following last year’s tradition of Christmas at the Zoo, Snookums and I have just booked ourselves a holiday weekend away at the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. We’re going to be staying at the Zoofari Lodge and apparently we get to go on three behind-the-scenes safari tours. (Which should be fun for those of us with irrational fears of animals.) The second night we’ll be staying in a honeymoon spa squite at Cattleman’s, “the only NRMA rated four and a half star motel” in Dubbo. Should be fun! Oh, and we’re going to rent a car for the five hour drive out there. I was all excited thinking we were going to be getting into the Outback… but not so much. (As I understand it, the Outback really only begins once you get past Bourke.)

Apparently Mischa Barton’s boob popped out on the last episode of The O.C.. I’m like, “Since when does Mischa Barton have boobs?” (I snark because there’s a giant poster of her wearing a tiara and those stupid Keds she “designed” on a shoe store outside our George Street entrance, and it bugs me.)