Non-Busy Business

I have had a really busy non-busy weekend. (Busy in the sense that I felt like I was on the go constantly; non-busy in the sense that I feel like I got absolutely nothing accomplished.) Friday was St. Paddy’s Day so we headed over to the Papists’ for some beer and truly excellent Irish stew. (Seriously, Major, I want the recipe.) Saturday morning I was off to Newtown for my quarterly Depo injection, at which time I realized that my new Pommy doctor is actually Sir Bob Geldof. Sir Bob wants me to have a bone density scan to make sure I’m not losing calcium from the hormones. Whatever, Bob. I also met up with Miss Jane, who lent me Miss Fee’s knitting swift and ball winder. The Snook and I then had a lot of fun figuring it out so I could turn my five skeins of Harmony (color 801 Natural) into five beautiful center-pull balls. In the afternoon I was back to Newtown for SSK where I completed my gauge swatch for Rogue. Later that night I also experimented with different knitted hems. I like the twisted stitch hem the pattern recommends, but I quickly realized it wasn’t going to work with cardiganizing the pattern (since the hem lies on the bias rather than flat). So I tried a few widths of stocking stitch and then knitting my cast-on edge up into a tube, which seems to work well. I went with eight rows and I think it’s going to look nice. I also tried out one of the side cable panels just to make sure I was understanding the symbols right. Then I actually washed my swatches and laid them out to dry. (I know! Who does that?) Checking in the morning, I’m still a tiny bit tighter than the pattern suggests – I get more like 4.75 than 4.5 stitches per inch – but I’m not knitting it any looser. It’ll block to the right size. I did manage to go on a run Sunday, thank God, because Sunday night ended up being an orgy of consumption. One of Rodd’s cousins (well, kinda) got married and we attended the reception in Pyrmont. It was the biggest, funnest, most ostentatiously Italian gathering I’ve ever been to. We drank ridiculous amounts of wine and danced to “That’s Amore!” I ate everything – in a good way. I mean that I tried absolutely everything they put in front of me. Anchovies, olives, mussels, oysters (natural and kilpatrick), nonnata (which, since I now know what it is: *shudder*!), prawns, ocean trout, EVERYTHING. As I said to Ma Snook at one point, “Did you ever think that the girl who cried because you tricked her into eating yabbie paté would be eating this stuff?” (She maintains that there was no deception involved.)

So diet-wise, yeah… It’s not going to be a good week. But I just need to write it off and get back to work, right?

Rogue

Well, I bought the Rogue pattern. Jeez, it looks hard! The fact that it’s going to be such a challenge makes me feel less like I’m jumping on a bandwagon. Now I just have to figure out what size to make. I just measured my bust and got 39″. The pattern suggests an ease of 2-4″. My options are the finished bust size of 39″ or 43.5″. I’m almost thinking I should go the 39″. The 43.5″ would be a little baggy on me right now as it is, and I figure my bust is only going to shrink as I lose these last couple of kilos. I could easily lose another inch or two off that measurement. Besides, every sweater I’ve knit for myself has come out enormous. It’s time that I actually knit something fitted. Thoughts?

SHIATSU

After work tonight the Snook and I headed over to DJ’s to pick up my birthday present. The way I figure, this thing will pay for itself after ten massages (given what I pay the Chinese lady). We’ve got it strapped to the chair just to the right of CouchCam. We’re taking it in fifteen minute turns and it’s fantastic. I’m never leaving the house again!

Baby!

I guess the news should be trickling down through the non-Internet savvy members of my family by now, so it should be safe to let the cat out of the bag: My sister’s having a baby! She’s one of the first of our generation so it’s a pretty big deal. Everybody’s freaking out. 🙂

Birthday Dinner

The Snook kept our dinner destination a secret to the very end, helped enormously by my ignorance of Sydney geography. I knew we were going to Randwick… to Belmore Road… and then suddenly we pulled up to Restaurant Balzac. “Oh!” I said. “I know this place!” It was an inspired choice. After our last fancy dinner, I was looking for real food cooked exceptionally well, and that happens to be Matthew Kemp’s forte. We seriously considered the degustation, but frankly there were too many good things on the a la carte menu that just weren’t included. (Our menu was slightly different from the one posted.) I was also feeling adventurous. (This is probably fodder for a whole ‘nother post, but I’ve been reading Jeffrey Steingarten and I’ve decided to GET OVER my food phobias because they’re silly.) So in the end I had the “Wagyu Minute Steak with Café De Paris Butter, Gnocchi, Sweetbreads and Snails,” followed by the “Risotto with Fresh Truffle.” The Snook had the “Raviolo of Braised Quail and Chestnuts with Roasted Breast, Bacon and Sage” followed by pork neck (not listed) with “Boudin Noir, Pumpkin, and Brussel Sprouts.” Everything was fantastic. I’m serious; this was one of the best meals I’ve had in Sydney. My starter – including the snails and sweetbreads, of which I’m pretty sure I had both pancreas and thymus – was incredibly moreish, all caramelized meats and yummy carnivorousness. (I ate offal and I enjoyed it! Mr. Steingarten should be proud.) My truffle risotto… Well, to be honest when I read that truffle risotto was available, I envisioned the most delicious idealized truffle risotto ever, and quickly realized that it was not likely to live up to my expectations. I was wrong. I don’t even have the words to describe how good it was. There’s probably a German word of seventeen syllables that means “something that unexpectedly lives up to expectations you didn’t even think possibly could be realized.” It was that good, and it was a generous portion. (Goodbye, BMI!) The Snook and I were, of course, trading tastes of each other’s dishes, and his were just as good. Before our official dessert – bread and butter pudding for me, chocolate fondant for the Snook – they brought us a taster of Rhubarb Eton Mess that actually BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES. Is there anything better than crumbled meringue and real, heavy whipped cream? No, there is not. The service all night was excellent, not least because they brought my dessert with a birthday candle in it. We polished off a bottle of Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz (courtesy of Toast – thank you sir!) along with dessert wine and a gin & tonic each… which explains the clumsy and disjointed nature of this review. Suffice it to say that while Tetsuya’s was the height of modern art, Restaurant Balzac (courtesy of Matthew Kemp) was a damn fine meal. I can’t wait to go back.

Cupcakes

CupcakesBirthday Cupcakes!
So much for the healthy BMI rating. I picked these up this morning at Cupcakes on Pitt and brought them into work for the staff. There was much rejoicing. I had the one with the Oreo on top. *grin* Sooooo good. Much lighter than I expected, both the cake and the icing. I recommend them!

Rogue

I am such a sheep. I can have zero inclination to knit a particular garment, but as soon as I hear it mentioned in a podcast I just have to make it. (See Clapotis.) The latest one to catch my attention is the Rogue Hoodie, which everybody in the world made ages ago. I was like, “Eh, that’s nice,” and I admired the one Crumpet knit, but I didn’t feel any particular compulsion to make it. Recently I’ve been catching up with the back-episodes of Cast-On though, and in episode five Brenda talks about making Rogue and how much she loves the pattern. And suddenly I found myself tossing up between 10plys to knit it in. *sigh* How predictable. Anyway, I’m seriously thinking about this gorgeous new New Zealand merino we just got in the shop. Am I insane? I know it’ll probably be too warm to wear for ten months of the year… and maybe I’m just being too much of a sheep… but I just can’t stop looking at those cables. My dalliance with fairisle has been forgotten with the re-emergence of my cable addiction. Does anybody want to try to talk me into/out of this?