Another good BBC story: “Female chromosome has X-factor.” It’s about the X chromosome and how new research has shown that females are much more genetically diverse than males. Pretty fascinating stuff. Oh, and there’s a picture of a lovely tortoiseshell cat!
Bill Bryson is still talking about how much he loves Australia. Seriously, if you haven’t read his Down Under, you really should. It’s not only hilarious; it also explains why most people who visit this country never want to leave.
To parrot a rather grotesque Australian phrase, I’m full as a tick. The Snook took me out for my birthday dinner to Buon Ricordo, perennially recognized as Sydney’s best Italian restaurant. It did not disappoint. For the first course I had the signature dish: Fettucine al tartufovo. Basically, it was served as a plate of fettucine with cream sauce, with a lightly fried egg on top. The secret, the waiter told me, was that the egg (in the shell) had been sitting next to truffles for a while so it sucks up the flavor. Then they grate lots of parmesan on top and toss the whole thing right in front of you, so the egg and cream and cheese get all mixed up and melty together. I’d never had truffle before so I didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, if I didn’t know it was in there I probably wouldn’t have guessed. It was just a very, very subtle garlicky, earthy, musty sort of flavor. Very yummy. It was basically the fanciest mac-and-cheese I’ve ever eaten in my life. The Snook had some sort of seafood thing – calamari and mussels – that he enjoyed a lot. For the mains, I had the roast duck. Again, it was a first for me, and it was so good. Crispy with just the right amount of delicious fat on top, with broccoli and ginger and chili around it. Snookums had the Tournedos alla Rossini, which was a big fillet of beef wrapped in pancetta with a total Iron-Chef-style slab of foie gras on top. (Sakai-san would’ve been so proud.) We washed down our excellent dinners with a bottle of pinot – thankfully Sideways wasn’t nearly so popular here so you don’t feel like a git for ordering it – and even managed to cram in some dessert. All in all, a very satisfying evening. I’d probably rank it as tied for second with Bennelong in my Sydney dining list (Rockpool remains #1). The food was better than Bennelong, but nothing can compete with the harbour view. The service was really fantastic. I remarked at one point to the Snook: “You hear about ‘professional’ waiters, but it isn’t til you come to a place like this that actually see them.” They were attentive without being annoying and seemed genuinely eager to give us a great night out. I feel like it would be a great out-of-the-way place to take visitors…
Well, it’s not exactly cake, but toasted homemade bread with Nutella and a tealight on top (served in bed) are close enough!
Oh, good grief. Knit Martha’s poncho. I am disgusted to admit we’re planning a poncho window display for the shop. (Link courtesy of Amy.)
Hoey alerted me that there’s going to be a Sydney MetaFilter Meetup on April 1st, if anybody’s interested. Unfortunately that’s our five year anniversary so I’ll have to miss this one…
The couch isn’t the only thing that’s changed color around here lately… (Only three days til I turn 28, and as you can see, I’m still fighting it.)
Check out my new favorite holiday creation! A nice lady came in the shop the other day looking for wool to duplicate a little knitted chick a friend had given her. I squealed like a girl, especially once I turned the chick over. How cute is that? The lady told me I could copy her handwritten pattern if I wanted. That night I whipped up a prototype and set to altering the pattern (so as not to infringe copyright; I don’t know where the customer’s friend got the pattern in the first place). My version has a slightly rounder head and short rows in the tail to make it flip up. The pattern is currently available for free in the shop, but I’ll reproduce it here for the rest of the world. They’re really quick to make; I’ve done four already. Hooray for stash-busting! Happy knitting…You need:
Cast on 32 stitches.
Row 1: K1, increase 1, K to end.
Repeat first row until you have 44 stitches on the needle.
Knit four rows plain.
Short row tail:
Row 1: K4, slip next stitch as if to purl, yfwd, move slipped stitch back to left needle. Turn.
Row 2: K4 to end.
Row 3: K3, slip next stitch as if to purl, yfwd, move slipped stitch back to left needle. Turn.
Row 4: K3 to end.
Row 5: Cast off 15 stitches, K to end.
Repeat previous five rows for the other side. You should end with fourteen stitches left in the center of your knitting.
Head:
Knit three rows plain.
Row 4: K1, K2tog, K to last three stitches, K2tog, K1.
Row 5-6: Same as Row 4.
Knit two rows plain.
You should now have eight stitches remaining on your needle. Cut the working wool leaving a footlong tail. Thread the tail onto your sewing needle and run it through the remaining stitches, cinching them tight. Then use the tail to sew up the head, back, and underside of the duck (leaving a hole to insert your egg!). Stuff the head and use some scrap wool to cinch the neck. I used contrasting wool to make knots for the eyes, and the beak is a sewn on piece of cardboard. You can get pretty creative embellishing these things! Have fun…
For the record, the Snook and I are firmly on the Rob and Amber Love Train for this season of Amazing Race. Some folks think Rob’s just “smarmy and sneaky,” and you know what? He totally is. That’s what we love about him! Paying the bus guy not to tell anybody else the information? Genius. Paying the driver not to open the other door? More genius. Making the other teams foot the bribe? Priceless evil genius. Here’s the thing though: Devising strategems and trying to screw the other guy over never works unless you can actually back it up by being a good racer. And Rob and Amber are currently kicking the race’s ass. He’s workin’ the Spanish. He correctly predicted the money issues on the shopping trip. And he owned that book detour. Go team Boston!
Gandalf on Corrie. *blink blink*
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
Woot, my knee-jerk don’t-overthink-it pub-quiz answer was Iran which seems to be [✓]. I ‘knew’ it was more populous than…
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