The Wedding

Well I’m back in Brisbane for about 24hrs before jetting off to Japan tomorrow morning. The wedding was fantastic on the weekend. It was a wedding that very much fitted the bride and groom (my cousin Erica and her now husband Ash). The wedding weekend was at Coles Bay in the Freycinet National Park area of Tasmania. It was where Erica and Ash decided to get engaged a couple of months ago and a place where they’ve spent a lot of time.

3 pictures for now because everything else will have to wait till I get back from Japan.

Saying hello to Grandad after the ceremony
Erica and Ash

This photo just about sums up the wedding 100%. The beach, playing in the water, having a picnic and a wedding as well.
Erica and Ash

and the cake, mmmm flourless chocolate cake and a very very good one at that. With the mountains of Freycinet in the background
Erica and Ash

Do you see what I see,

a tooth, a tooth it dances in the night.

Well not quite but almost. I got my tooth today, it’s been a day that I’ve been waiting for since I was 10 or 11 years old and the OPG showed that I was missing an adult tooth. I was so excited that I managed to burn my thumb with the straightener this morning – why on earth I thought it was a good idea to pick it by the plates was a good idea, I’ll never know.

:D

So this is my tooth. It’s not perfect yet, it will get reshaped slightly and the brightness toned down a bit when I come back from Japan but the important thing at the moment is for my gum to start accepting it and growing round it.

I’ll tell you right it was a mighty weird feeling the first time I ate something this afternoon and just as my tongue moves round my mouth, it can’t poke itself between the gap any more.

Here is to the future!

the next few days

The next six days are going to be slightly manic.

Tomorrow – I have work (of course), I get my tooth implant, I’ve got postgrad orientation stuff to do at uni and then I have The Whitlams with the QSO tomorrow night.

Friday – Work and then straight to the airport to catch a flight to Hobart.

Saturday – Wedding of my cousin on the beach at Coles Bay/Freycinet

Sunday – Post wedding activities and flying home Sunday night.

Monday – Work and first uni lecture

Tuesday – Fly to Japan for 2 weeks. (Yeah, I’ll be missing four classes – two for each subject, whilst I’m away)

I’m so crazy looking forward to going to Japan. G (one of my best girl friends) and I are going to have a blast (literally as they having a bit of a cold snap at the moment and it is forecast to snow for the days we are up in the alps!!!).

It’s going to be crazy. I bought a new lens the other week, the 28mm 1.8 which will be one of the two lenses I’m taking to Japan, the other will be the 50mm 1.4. I was thinking of taking my 16-35mm 2.8 but it is a heavy piece of glass. I took a few photos with the 28mm the other day and I’m impressed

Multi use Figgjo
Yep, some more of my Figgjo Flint Lotte. Here you see a creamer which doubles as a bobby pin and nail utensil holder, a sugar pot that holds bracelets and hair clips and my soufflé dish which holds jewellery.

Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Playing with the 28mm 1.8Playing with the 28mm 1.8Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Test post from my phone

image

In getting ready for my Japan trip in oh 11 days, I’ve been looking at what I can do get the most out of my phone whilst I’m away.  This is my first trial at using the WordPress app for Android.

These chocolates are from Hachez in Bremen, I ate a lot of this chocolate when I was in Germany after finishing year 12. I was quite delighted to find them at the confectionery warehouse on the weekend.

Macarons at last, a promise delivered.

A very dear friend and co-worker has her last day at work on Friday before jetting off to the other side of the world to join her fiancé. For months and months she has been pestering me to make macarons and for months and months I’ve been delaying. Well I made them on the weekend and took them to work on Monday. I met my deadline and I made macarons for the first time. I made two types. Pistachio with a chocolate butter cream filling and chocolate with a double chocolate filling (chocolate ganache and chocolate butter cream).

Pistachio Macarons
Can you spot the Figgjo Annemarie plate? I also put a little surprise in these with a spoonful of crushed pistachios in the centre. Also I only used pistachio meal in the shells instead of blend of almond and pistachio meal that I saw in some recipes.

The pistachio ones looked the most like commercial macarons, they had a better foot and the top was glossier but some of the tops were domed and cracked. My reading would indicate that this is because I may have over mixed the pistachio meal and sugar into the egg white mixture. The chocolate ones I believe I the eggwhite mixture was too stiff and thus they mixture wasn’t as quite as runny as it should be. This is all a big learning curve and most importantly I can say that they all tasted delicious.

Chocolate, Chocolate and Chocolate
Double Chocolate Macaron Stack
These of course are on a Figgjo Lotte plate 🙂 Some of these had a squirt of ganache in the centre and then butter cream round that or vice versa with butter cream in the centre. My favourite ones to look at though are the ones where I piped ganache on one side and butter cream on the other side.

I ended up with 60 odd macarons and they certainly didn’t last long at work.

Float On to teenage dreams

This time last Sunday night was I was blissing out to one band in particular that I recall from early years of High School. Custard and in particular one song, Girls Like That (Don’t Go For Guys Like Us), I can’t tell you how many times I taped that song when I was younger. It was number 3 in the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1998. I was in Year 8. The start of a few years at high school where I was one of a few who listened to Triple J and an even smaller few who listened to Triple Zed. I’ve got having older brothers to thank in part for that. Musically, I was more of a Switzerland, though for all intensive purposes I still am – we’ll leave that however to a later discussion.

Custard

Above is Custard at The Hi-Fi as they took part in a flood relief concert called Float On along with other 90s greats; Regurgitator and Screamfeeder as well as some more contemporary acts in the likes of Kate Miller-Heidke, Gentle Ben and His Sensitive Side, Hungary Kids of Hungary and Little Scout.

Float On was one of the best mutli headlined shows I’ve been to in years. For so many people in the audience it was a total throwback to the days when they were younger. I heard someone say, that they’ve never seen so many 30-40 year old men in a moshpit. It was a sight. It was a common thread amongst the “contemporary acts” in their banter to talk about how this was such a teenage dream to be playing alongside the likes of Custard, the “Gurge” and Screamfeeder. It was almost like an episode of Recovery, which I really wish was still around because triple j tv, you’re just not in the same league.

Back to the music though because until we get that time travel sorted out there is only so much one can natter on about the past.

Custard – Girls Like That.

and some more 1998. Regurgitator – Polyester Girl

Quite possibly my favourite Custard song. Music is Crap. Oh gosh, let me tell you I had a smile that stretched from one ear to the other when they started this song.

Screamfeeder – Hi Cs

Regurgitator – the song formely known as

I strongly recommend checking out this collection of videos from the night. You too can indulge in some fine music that sums up an era in Brisbane music.

The crowd enjoying The Gurge
The Gurge and the crowd

The only way I think the night could have been any better would have been if Sekiden were playing as well.
Sekiden – Up in the Air