A sticking point does not mar perfection

by Cellobella on Sunday, August 7, 2011 · 3 comments

ravioli with pumpkin, preserved lemon and sage sauce... yum

I went to dinner at Unraveled last night.

Took some doing.

Mainly because in my head I thought I was trying to book “Entangled”.

Which isn’t a bad name for a pasta restaurant I thought.

Anyhow I couldn’t find a reference to my imagined destination online but I could find the number to the restaurant it used to be – The Twisted Fork – so I rang that number and we were in!

I think they call them selves Unraveled because that is how they present their menu.

You choose the pasta, the protein and the sauce separately.

So many of the sauces sounded delicious.

I tried the mushroom sauce with chicken and saffron linguine – which was a special kind of divine.

And the spinich and ricotta ravioli with pumpkin, preserved lemon and sage was also delicious.

The bread and butter pudding with white chocolate and raspberry – diet starts today!

The service – friendly and prompt.

My one question.

Should you take the sticker off the lime before you serve it?

Yeah.

That’s what I think.

Installing Thesis theme

by Cellobella on Sunday, August 7, 2011

Yeah.

I’m bored.

A Sunday and I’m thinking lets change the look of the blog.

Note: Have already crashed the blog twice installing random plugins and it wasn’t broke in the first place.

So expect some changes peeps.

Feeling like a grown up

by Cellobella on Friday, August 5, 2011 · 2 comments

There are a few times during your life when you feel like a grown up.

Antler New Zero cabin and medium sizes

You know, even at the age of forty-something-let’s-not-go-there, inside I still feel 17…okay maybe 22, are you the same?

And when I look in the mirror or catch a glimpse of my reflection in the window of the train sometimes I get a little unpleasant shock.

But there have been times in my life when I’ve suddenly thought… shit.  I’m a grown up.

Owning a mortgage on a house with a linen cupboard and larder – felt like a grown up then!

When I walked out of the hospital with my newborn.

The first time I travelled on my own.

Wearing matching underwear for the first time.

And today when I picked up my first ever set of matching luggage.

Grown. Up.

The luggage

I wanted matching cases, with the small one able to be used as hand luggage on domestic flights.

They had to have spinners – four wheels.

And they had to have those in-built groovy combination locking mechanisms.

I really wanted red luggage.

But.

This stuff was 41% off so it was practically free right?

I could live with bronze.

Happiness.

So why does it have to be matched luggage?

You know, I don’t know.

I mean the times I will actually use both at the same time will be few and far between.

And it’s not as if there are luggage police – well not ones that are interested in whether they match or not.

“Excuse me madam, we see you don’t have matching luggage… please come this way…”

Or.

“Last month you were spotted with a black suitcase, today yours is bronze… please explain!”

Bronze.  A fancy pants way of saying beige.

Matched luggage is just… nice.

Smart.

Grown up.

So ‘fess up.

What makes you feel grown up?

And how old are you inside?

;)

Cottesloe in winter

by Cellobella on Monday, August 1, 2011 · 2 comments

A cold blustery morning at Cottesloe Beach
The beach has all but disappeared
And there is so much seaweed on the beach that remains.
Still the scenery isn’t all bad

I haven’t been down to Cottesloe in a while and I was surprised to see the beach all but gone.

 
I know it diminishes in the winter but I’ve never seen so much seaweed.
 
Still the walk down to the Naked Fig for breakfast was invigorating.
 
And the gale force wind pushed me back up the hill on my way home – bonus.
 
I had a chat to one of the trainers of the Hawthorn Football Club as well – who commented on the weather – I pointed out that even at its worst it’s warmer than Melbourne to which he agreed. 
 
The boys were walking a bit slowly (wonder why… :) ) so we powered past them towards our coffee and some great service.
 
And I was glad I had decided against wearing my Dockers scarf.

A lament for lost opportunity

by Cellobella on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 · 4 comments

Oswal house, Peppermint Grove

Oswal home now abandoned

The Taj Mahal on the Swan it was called, a family home for the now financially troubled Oswals, a potential tourism attraction,  gathering autumn leaves in the corners as it sits, abandoned.

Okay.

A little over the top you might say.

For a family of four.

An appalling waste of money.

Maybe.

But there’s something inspiring about it too don’t you think?

I mean, to have such a vision, even if it isn’t to your taste…. to spend $70M on that dream.

One woman’s dream.

I love that.

I wouldn’t do it myself, but then I wouldn’t like making decisions on new taps let alone a whole house, let alone a mansion.

I love the fact that some people go there.

This is how the great houses of England were built.

How the Taj Mahal was built.

One man’s dream.

I’m kind of sad that maybe they have to sell it half done.

That we will never see the Taj Mahal on the Swan.

Mind you… we did see Prix d’Amour… and I’m not sure that was such a good thing.

What’s the betting the new owners knock our Taj over and divide up the blocks.

Sigh.

Rainbow at cottesloe station

by Cellobella on Thursday, June 30, 2011 · 2 comments

Rainbow - I have nothing more to add

No story.
Just a rainbow.
Isn’t that enough?

“She’s just got big bones” takes on a new meaning

by Cellobella on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 · 5 comments

So... would you say she's just big boned?

So I walked past this window display the other day.

It’s been there for a while but today I actually looked at it.

I’m not sure I like it.

It’s probably an ironic statement about the skeletal frames we see on the catwalk but even so…

I mean it’s not Halloween or anything.

Does it entice me to go into the store.

Not so much.

I guess it stands out.

What do you think?

Yea or Nay to skeletons as manniquins?

Stand to the left Perth – and make our city better!

by Cellobella on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 · 7 comments

Warning: Rant alert

Perth Train Station at 8 in the morning

A foggy morning.

The rain splattered against the skylight in my bathroom so I knew it was raining.

Raining!

Deep happiness.

I walk into my bedroom to get changed and I can hear this weird rushing sound.

I check to see if the overhead fan is on… or maybe the reverse cycle air-conditioning.

No.

What is that weird sound?

It’s coming from outside.

I check through the blind.

Oh.

It’s the rain.

The pouring rain.

I’d forgotten what pouring rain sounded like.

Later…

The train was packed at a quarter to eight.

Standing room only.

And when we got to Perth Station the train disgorged its damp and steaming passengers into a mass of humanity.

It swelled at the bottleneck of the escalator.

Does this happen anywhere else in the world?

I have only seen it in Perth.

In London, in Washington DC, in New York, in Paris – much larger populations – the commuters flow like a river, a babbling brook.

But in Perth no – every morning – a huge swell of people trying to get on the escalator.

And here’s why.

No-one stands to the left.

There is no fast moving lane to the right.

Crazy town.

It’s the same on the roads, but don’t get me started.

I would love it if someone could stand there – some official in a high viz vest and just educate my fellow commuters.

Stand to left, walk to the right.

It’s a simple message.

And couldn’t we have some posters in the trains or something?

We have posters for everything else.

C’mon Perth – it’s not that hard.

You can do it.

Seriously.

You CAN do it.

Please?

A Vespa and me, an inner-city moment

by Cellobella on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 · 4 comments

Oh yeah baby!

btw... short skirt + Vespa = a lot of leg = judiciously cropped photo

That’s me on the back of a Vespa about to scoot through the streets of Perth with TFB.

You don’t know TFB?

Let me just say that the T stands for The and the F stands for Fabulous.

’nuff said.

We are co-training a course and after today’s sessions we decamped with participants of said sessions for a quiet Sav Blanc (the only kind to have on a Wednesday evening) to the Grosvenor on Hay St.

A surprisingly full bar on a Wednesday night we discovered!

Anyhoo, said Sav Blancs consumed, TFB offered me a lift to the station on the back of her little green Vespa – Gecko.

How could I refuse?

An invitation is issued and turns out... I'm just a girl who can't say no... to a Vespa.

The city is different on the back of a scooter.

It smells different.

Less inside of manky, not cleaned often enough, car… and more… cement dust, exhaust fumes, still night air.

It looks different.

You notice the inside of restaurants, the people on the pavement, the hotels and the parks.

TFB drives me down to City West train station.

I swing my leg over the seat, flashing the control tops of my 50 denier tights, and slide off the helmet.

“You’re a pretty good pillion”, says TFB.

Yeah.

I still got it.

The legacy of a mis-spent youth… well… a boyfriend with a motorbike anyway.

I walk up to the platform feeling good and resolve to buy an apartment in the city… and a lime green Vespa.

Or… maybe a red one.

They go faster… right?

End of the cyclone season

by Cellobella on Friday, April 29, 2011

Nine systems

Today might be date of the wedding of the century but here I’m more concerned that it is finally the end of the cyclone season.

And I’ve checked with the Severe Weather Centre and they say there will be no more til November.

You might remember that I like to put up the track maps of the systems as they come through.

Usually I get four or five – this year – nine.

Fortunately none of them did any damage apart from bringing loads of rain – which of course caused flooding.

Which did cause damage – but not wind damage.

Anyhoo.

The bloody season is over – thank goodness – and now I can get out my hat, pour a nice glass of something white and wet, and sit back and watch two young folk tie the knot in spectacular fashion.

They seem a nice couple don’t they?

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