Pello Review
We went to Pello in East Sydney for the Snook’s birthday dinner last night. I’d booked us in early for 7pm so we’d have plenty of time to do the degustation. In fact, we were the first ones there! (The place started to fill up soon though.) After enjoying some fine G&T’s, we moved on to the food. There were seven courses in all (plus the amuse bouche and the “pre-dessert”), each with its own matching wine. The highlight of the night for me was the herb crusted snapper; that may well be the best piece of fish I’ve ever eaten. I also really liked the pork belly and the terrine. I appreciated the way that both the dishes and the wine increased in complexity with each new course. The wait staff were excellent, and they were great about answering all our questions. (Me: “What’s ‘sauce matelote’?” Him: “I’m glad you asked; that’s the best part! It’s made from smoked eel…”) I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t do anything special for the Snook’s birthday, since they did make a note of it when I made the reservation. But it was still a lovely evening out, and the meal was a good mix of “trying kinda weird new things” and “enjoying good versions of stuff I already like.” The only downside was all that wine. The server told us that they were only 90ml glasses, but I’m pretty sure they were more generous than that with the pours. Times that by seven courses, and we practically had a whole bottle each. Ooof, my achin’ head…

I just have to add that I’m really proud of myself and how far I’ve come with my food phobias. I ate everything on that menu – salmon roe, mushrooms, raw kingfish, everything – without holding my nose or being childish. Instead I made a concerted effort to really taste stuff, and to figure out – if I didn’t care for something – WHY I didn’t like it. I’m sure that’s nothing for some of you, but for this former picky-eater, it’s a really big change.

Jezebel keeps linking to pictures of Pacey. I just thought I’d let you know.

Potter Puppet Pals and “The Mysterious Ticking Noise”. The Snook and I just NEARLY DIED LAUGHING. Seriously. (Link courtesy of Jenny, who really needs a frickin’ blog already.)

Snape… Snape… Severus Snape – DUMBLEDORE!

Now that’s a novel weight-loss strategy: “How can I destroy my sense of taste?” What a ridiculous question. None of that for me, please. We’re headed to Pello tonight!

Happy birthday to my best friend, the Snook!

Book Recommendations: Since I did some extra work for the Gleewarts train trip last weekend, I now have a nice gift voucher courtesy of the folks at Gleebooks. I don’t know what to spend it on. Suggestions? Other than Harry Potter, my most recent book purchases have all been non-fiction or comic books. Which books have really been floating your boat lately? Stuff I know I like: fantasy or sci-fi that tells a real, engaging story (like Atwood, King, or Dick), biographies (both historical and recent), annotated classics, humorous essays (a la Steingarten or Bryson), really good short stories (a la Saki or Dahl). Stuff I don’t think I like: chicklit, William Gibson-type sci-fi, Pratchett (sorry, love), angsty autobiographies of people with horrible childhoods who go on Oprah, thrillers and spy books. That said, I’ll give anything a try. So come on, help me make a shopping list!

I just got a call from out in the shop.

Co-worker Who Shall Remain Nameless: You know the Vero Tweed, colour #55? The one with the purple in it? Would you call that colour gay?
Me: What?
CWSRN: Gay. Is it a gay colour?
Me: EXCUSE ME?
CWSRN: I’ve got a customer on the phone. She’s been after that colour for a while, but she just showed it to her son and she thinks it’s too gay for him. Would you say that?
Me: (spluttering) I’d never say anything like that! Colours are just colours. Newsreaders wear pink shirts and that doesn’t mean they’re gay. She’s an idiot.
CWSRN: Well, what should I tell her?
Me: “Get stuffed.”

The BBC website held a contest asking people to tell the entire story of the first six Harry Potter books in under a hundred words. Here are the top 6 entries. My personal favorite is #4, which I shall repeat here because it makes me giggle:

“Harry and his posse gots ta eliminate gangsta V-Man and his evil yet sexeh followers lest they destroy the world.

V-Man has already got Harry’s posse members shot down (family, godfather, Dumble-D), and it’s a-time for revenge!

Harry and crew has got to cruise ’round the hood to find V-Man’s treasures to destroy, and only then can they take him on and blast his ass! Pow!

Hermione and Ron want to hook-up, but feel that Harry’s hollah is more important at the moment, which is way cool, but Harry ain’t bovvered, because he knows that luuurve will get him through.”

V-man and his “evil yet sexeh” followers. How can you not vote for that?

A Hello Kitty costume… for your cat. WANT.

Magic and free will
I’m listening the Deathly Hallows audiobook with the Snook, and tonight something struck me. (No spoiler! Don’t worry… although if you haven’t finished it yet, you’re really pushing it!) So anyway, I was thinking about the Imperio curse, and how it’s pretty much one of top three worst crimes you can commit in the wizarding world, right? Taking away someone’s free will ranks right up there with murder and torture. Compare that to the Star Wars universe, where Jedi seem to apply their mind trick to the weak-minded whenever they feel like it. Obi-Wan even uses it on random people he meets (like the deathstick merchant on Coruscant) to force his own morals on them. Shouldn’t we find that more repugnant? In the movie it’s played for a laugh, and I guess it’s supposed to be okay because we trust the Jedi to be good guys. But hey, you know, that really sucked of him. Hmm, maybe I’ve discovered another of the contributing factors to the Jedi’s downfall. Their attitude towards “muggles” seems a lot more cavalier than wizards’ of Harry’s world.