30 August 2011

Halubki

When we were in Adelaide, my dad translated a Russian recipe for Halubki - aka freaking delicious cabbage rolls, like my grandma used to make.

Photobucket

I made them last week on my day off. I carefully dismantled a whole cabbage leaf by leaf.

Photobucket

Because my hands were covered in a delicious (to Tess) mixture of pork, beef and onion, I neglected to take photos until the rolls were getting a little pan fry before going into the pot.

Photobucket

All piled up and with tomato sauce on top to stew in, then more cabbage leaves on top to seal them up.

Photobucket

A couple of hours in the oven later, voila!

Photobucket

Ah, delicious! Even more tasty a couple of days later, mind.

Photobucket

In other news, I went to visit Joey at work. Mike had put up a poster of Joey riding around on his bike in Paris.

Photobucket

Joey had returned the favour by putting up a picture of Mike and his dog.

Photobucket

We went for a romantic drink by the beach in Joey's native St Kilda. He's on the mineral water, which, according to Joey, tastes like piss. I had a beer.

Photobucket

The next day, Tess looked like she was sizing up this tree to chop it down. Turns out there was a possum up there.

Photobucket

We met up with old friends Ben and Elissa and new friend Sammy, over from Brisbane town! Rosie was in Sydney for the weekend, by the way.

Photobucket

We went back to St Kilda (I know, I've lost my marbles) to go to this off-leash dog beach Joey has been telling me about. Utopia!

Photobucket

Staunch north-sider Tess was not keen at all.

Photobucket

Joey and Mem's hound Gigi on the other hand, was in her element.

Photobucket

Later on, we met up at the pub for dinner. Sammy was dressed for the occasion, with some locals mistaking him for a visiting hip-hop performer of some description.

Photobucket

Unfazed, I engaged Sammy in a red hood staring competition. He won.

Photobucket

It was great to make his acquaintance. Awesome to see you guys!

Photobucket

Sam and I continued to 99 Problems, where Dion furnished us with exotic drinks. That spiced rum is delicious!

Photobucket

We continued from there to the Gem, where it was Sarah and Andy's engagement party!

Photobucket

To be safe, I had skated to the pub instead of my usual bike ride. Didn't stop me from having a couple of minor spills on the way home.

Photobucket

The next day, Pete freshened my wheels with his belt sander.

Photobucket

We went shredding in Melton, where lo and behold, we bumped into Jordan! Here he is on his way towards trying a trick.

Photobucket

Then on his way back again. What a guy.

Photobucket

Oh, my new jeans are up on the NTS site - have a look! I'm trying to set up a web store at the moment, but please drop me a line if you're interested in buying a pair from me directly.

23 August 2011

Animals and kinfolk

Last weekend, we jetted over to Adelaide - the home of my kin. We went because Rosie had to write a story about a house there for a nice architecture magazine. We felt very fancy and professional, but still found time to hang out at my dad's house and play with Mandy.

Photobucket

We were only there for one night, so we assembled for a family dinner. It was great.

Photobucket

We visited our old friend Cate, who has built her own house up in the hills. Very inspiring stuff!

Photobucket

Cate was looking after a motley crew of dogs. This one had a crazy unhinged tongue, apparently acquired from an obsession with licking furniture.

Photobucket

We visited the zoo, where Pij and his girlfriend Tess are basically running the place. Here we have one of the Pandas sitting in a moat, eating a branch of something, looking at Pij.

Photobucket

Here's Tess feeding some red pandas. Her phone started ringing while she was in there and Pij told her to answer it. She nearly answered it before he told her he was joking and not to answer it, because a bunch of people were standing there taking photos and such. Turns out it was her brother calling her to tell her he was engaged!

Photobucket

These monkeys were amazing. Swinging around like incredible skaters.

Photobucket

Then they sat there staring at us like the fools we are.

Photobucket

Back in metropolitan Melbourne, where trends are hatched and tended to, Tess and I headed to 'the Compound' to make our next assault on the world of fashion. Levi (Jeremy's dog) had seen the photos of Tess in her dog coat and, understandably, repeatedly tried to rape her. Tess was amused.

Photobucket

Meanwhile, Scottie and I were setting up an incredible fashion shoot.

Photobucket

Tess took a seat on one of Scottie's special red chairs and looked on.

Photobucket

Understandably, Scottie put a white sheet on the special red chair.

Photobucket

The (hot) photos are of my new jeans that you can buy if you so desire. I will be putting them up on the Note to Self site shortly, fingers crossed.

Photobucket

Went to the pub to say goodbye to Jason, who has gone to Canada for a month. Jason took this photo.

Photobucket

Here he is, clutching the orangutan toy Rosie and I bought him from the zoo. Bon voyage Jase! In other news, many other people have gone overseas for exciting trips. In other news, it's a year since we went to New York. Oh, the depression!

Photobucket

To get myself out of the non-travel funk, I went for a big skate on Saturday at the wonderful new park in Fawkner. God it's good. We got there early, while there were but a sprinkling of overly confident scooter wielders. Duncan amused us all at lunchtime by attaching his luxurious moustache to a huge lamington.

Photobucket

Next stop was the polar opposite of the icy smooth curves of Fawkner: Reservoir. I battled a 360 ollie for an hour or two, rendering me basically disabled for the next 40 or so hours. Mike Martin, in the meantime, prowled about the place like a laconic panther.

Photobucket

Checked out Duncan's backyard mini on the way home.

Photobucket

It has a deadly feature of a missing part of platform, which has already claimed a couple of poor souls. Should be a great spot for some springtime shreds.

Photobucket

Went and had a burger with Condor and Bonnie Bee, who is impossibly cute. Bonnie aint bad either.

Photobucket

When I got home, Rosie had given Tess a bath.

Photobucket

9 August 2011

Behind the scenes

As shown in my previous posting, Tess and Soph were in the Herald Sun on the weekend. It was the result of several hours planning and me taking the morning off work. We arrived early so Tess could get a feel for the place (take a crap) and noticed that Molly had been there before us.

Photobucket

Sophie arrived next, which Tess was very happy about. Soph happened to be staying the night at our place when the gig came up, so was basically trapped into doing it. Thanks Soph!

Photobucket

The photographer was pretty nice, really. He got them to do some pretty lame stuff, but we all knew that was on the cards, didn't we.

Photobucket

In between takes, Tess would break into brief bouts of crazy chase with Christina's dog Walter, defusing all on-set tension.

Photobucket

There's Christina, wrangling Walter as Tess is doing her thing. The best bits were when Sophie would hold Tess and let her run to me, so the photographer could get action shots.

Photobucket

She got a bit knackered by the end of it and kept trying to go to sleep on the bench. Job well done!

Photobucket

Later on, it was the opening of the denim exhibition at Mr Kitly.

Photobucket

There were all kinds of artistic interpretations of denim, including this crystal type structure that I was quite taken with.

Photobucket

My Woody Allen jeans were a big hit, of course. However, the hook they were suspended from fell out and we had to get a big ladder out to fix it. All part of the show.

Photobucket

Later on, Scottie attempted to insert Fia into a dumpster.

Photobucket

The next day, we decided Tess needed to get away from it all.

Photobucket

We went to Castlemaine, the home of many antique shops with many office chairs.

Photobucket

And nicely worn in saddles

Photobucket

Graffiti HQ

Photobucket

Tess was loving it.

Photobucket

As was Rosie.

Photobucket

Me too. I love the inside of hedges!

Photobucket

These canons scared the hell out of Tess. She barked at them for quite a while.

Photobucket

We decided to stay there for the night and found a b&b that let you have a dog. It was pretty awesome, a bit like 60 minute makeover with a porn vibe.

Photobucket

Indeed.

Photobucket

Massive spa bath!

Photobucket

Statues and candles and such. The scene was set.

Photobucket

We slept ok, though Tess got us up three or four times due to all the rabbits hopping around outside. The next morning, we went into town to check out this truck and also go to the farmer's market.

Photobucket

We bought the shit outta it and reflected upon our yuppie lifestyle while heading to a winery for a tasting.

Photobucket

A little bit pissed, we scoffed down pies and prepared for the journey home.

Photobucket

It was raining.

Photobucket