Date Night - The Classroom

Jesse has been on at me for months to go to The Classroom. And it's not that I haven't wanted to go, I've been badly wanting to go, I just never could make it. Until last night! Jesse finally got to take me there, and it was amazing!


For those of you who don't know about The Classroom, it's a small bar in north Perth decked out like a classroom. You can sit at desks, the menus are exercise books, the bar staff are 'teachers' the walls are adorned with drawings and vintage lunchboxes, and there is a tv playing cartoons.


We grabbed an exercise book, and ordered our food; Hand-cut shaker chips, dynamite dust & chipotle aioli; Pork sausages rolls with fennel & apple, apricot chutney; Baked beans & cheese jaffle; Serrano Jamon with fresh rockmelon, in-house ricotta & balsamic pearls;  10hr Bourbon beef short ribs, and our drinks, Jesse had a Principals Choice Manhattan (BBQ bourbon fat washed rye whiskey, house-infused sweet vermouth & bitters) and I got a Storm in a Tea Cup (Beefeater 24, orange liqueur, geen sencha tea syrup and botanical fog)

We snuggled in to a table and waited for our food. I flipped through the menu, and drew this

And then the food was ready!! It was so good. My favorites were the ribs (duh) and the jafffle. Jesse had to fight to get some ribs. We only ordered a small, and that was probably good considering the other stuff we ordered, but next time I'm getting a large. And a jafffle. And that's it.

10Hr Bourbon beef ribs (No need for pumpkin, just give us more ribs!)

Chips, and Sausage rolls

Serrano Jamon (Jaffle in the background!)

Baked Beans & cheese jaffle

Inside the jaffle. ALL THE GOODNESS!! 

Delicious, delicious ribs

I finished off the night with a Bad Apple (appletini!)

I seriously enjoyed The Classroom, and I know we will be going back there. A lot. It's such a lovely relaxed atmosphere, the staff are nice, and the food and drink are amazing. 


We are off to see the new Batman film tonight. I'm really super excited about it!

Things I Love Thursday

I swear it was only a couple a days ago when I was doing my last 'Thing I Love Thursday' post. The weeks are just flying by!!


Here's what I've found this week. It's much the same as what I always post, but I can't help it. I LOVE THEM!!

Via SoleStruck

Via SoleStuck

Via SoleStruck

I have just discovered Sole Struck. I love it. I love ugly shoes. I can't help it. And stupid high shoes, that I would probably never wear, but they are pretty to look at. Maybe I just need to dress up more?

Via Cute & Creepy

Via Cute & Creepy

I love Cute & Creepy. I have a few of her hair bows, and I just love them. These 2 are next on my list.

Via Style Me Pretty

Wowzers! What an awesome purple cake!

Via Amazon

Dad has just got me on to this book, and I started reading it a day or so ago, and I can't put it down. It's seriously interesting, and very easy to read. It presents a very good argument. 


I also started a tumblr  why I need all these things, I don't know. But I do. 


So, that's it for this Thursday. Jesse and I are heading out to see Stereoflower play at the Mustang Bar tonight. I'm super excited, I haven't seen them play for AGES!!

Honest To Blog

Last night, in a dream, I was writing this blog post. A post about me, about Jesse, and about us. And while, I'm not concerned about what people think of me (it's something I got over in high school, people are going to think what they think, and they will either love you or hate you, so you might as well just be the person you want to be), I found myself constantly coming back to this post this morning. Through my line of work, and training with Neurofeedback, I've learnt to embrace the thoughts and feelings that I have, work through them, and move on. And that's what I'm doing. The point of this post is to let it flow, let everything out. And, I by no means feel like I need to explain myself to anyone, that's not what this is about. It's about my thoughts and feelings.


So, the truth of the matter is, that Jesse left a long term relationship, for me. And, although it may seem sordid and affair like, it really wasn't like that. I didn't end my relationship with Matt with the foresight to start a relationship with my best friend. It didn't even enter into my mind while I was going through that. I needed to do what I wanted, and what was best for me. I was thinking only about me. I was embracing being on my own, relishing in having my house to myself. In fact, when Jesse told me how he felt, I resisted it. It took me a while to process it, and realise that, 'Yeah, I am in love with him' He didn't know what was going to happen with us, or that it would happen so fast. In fact, I told him that I didn't want to rush into anything, that I just wanted to see where it went. It didn't end up happening that way, there were some ultimatums given, and he wound up on my doorstep a week later. 


I'm not sad that things went down that way. I didn't realise how much I wanted more from him, until it was pointed it out to me. It's like looking for something, and not seeing it until someone points it out to you, or looking for your glasses when they've been on top of your head all along. It's like, my whole life a part of me has been missing, and I've finally found it. And, it's apparently something so many other people saw in us as well. And, although on the outside, it may look like we are moving at top speed, it really doesn't feel like that to us, it feels like we are making up for lost time, like we should have been doing this all along. 


And, I know that people are going to chose sides, it's what people do, and I can't stop that from happening. People need to do what they need to do in order to process things. But, as far as we are concerned, everything was above board. And, I know, that Jesse did everything he could, and tried really really hard to not hurt anyone. But, pain and anger is inevitable where love is concerned, whether you're still in it, or have fallen out of it. And, there is no easy way to tell someone you aren't in love with them anymore. But, at the end of the day, you have to listen to your heart. You have to do what makes you happy. And, while some people might not understand it, or agree with it, and that's OK, just know that we are doing what makes us happy, just as we hope you do what makes you happy. 


To me, it's like a piece of me was missing, and I didn't even realise it was missing, until it was there. I'm pretty much smiling all the time now, sometimes I don't even realise that I'm doing it, but my heart has found it's home. 

Sundays Are For Roastin'

Jesse and I had been talking about a lovely Sunday roast, and seeing as I had all day yesterday free, I planned to make my slow roasted lamb and an apple crumble. It sounds like a lot of slaving away, but it really isn't, it's so simple, and so tasty!!


I usually use a leg of lamb (bone in) but, Dad came to the butcher with me, and convinced me to get a shoulder. I usually get about 1.5 - 2kg and it's heaps. 


Slow Roasted Lamb with Potatoes and Fennel


Ingredients


1.5 - 2kg leg or shoulder of lamb
Thyme
Mint
4 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
Olive Oil
2-4 large Royal Blue potatoes
Fennel
Salt & Pepper


Method


Preheat your oven up as high as it will go while you are preparing your lamb. Score the fat at about 2cm intervals. Coat the bottom of a roasting dish in some olive oil, and place some of the thyme and mint, and 2 of the garlic cloves (crush them with the back of a knife) in the bottom. Then put the lamb on top. 
Coat the lamb with some olive oil, and rub it in, along with some salt and pepper. Then place more thyme and mint on top, and the other 2 garlic cloves (crushed again). Cover tightly in foil, and pop it in the oven. Turn the oven down to 160C straight away. Let this roast away for 4 hours. 


Your potatoes will need a good 2 hours to get nice and crispy. Peel and chop them into nice sized cubes. Place them in a saucepan and cover with cold water and a bit of salt. Bring this to the boil, and cook until just soft. While these are boiling, put a good amount of oil in a roasting dish, and pop that in the oven. Drain the water, and the rough them up a bit. I do this by putting the lid on the saucepan and giving it a good shake. Add some salt and pepper, and a little more oil, and make sure they are all coated.


Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven, and add the potatoes to the oil. Pop them back in the oven for the remaining 2 hours or so. You'll need to turn them every now and again to make sure they are crispy all over. With about 1 hour to go I add the fennel to the roasting pan. 


After 4 hours, remove the lamb, and turn the oven up to about 200C to give the potatoes a last blast of heat (they should be looking super crispy by now). Uncover the lamb, and the bone should just pull away. I take the lamb out of the pan, pop in on a board, remove the bone, and shred the meat. Once this is all done, the potatoes should be ready. 


Dig in!! om nom nom.

Left overs for lunch (yeah, I left my boots in the photo)

That's one crispy roast potato!

Apple Crumble


I made up the apple mixture, and the crumble topping early, so that when we were ready to eat it, I just had to reheat the apples, top them with the crumble, and pop it in the oven until it was golden and bubbling.


Ingredients


200g + 1 tbsp of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp caster sugar
6-8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cubed
300g plain flour
175g brown sugar


Method


In a pan over medium-low heat, combine the apples, 1 tbsp of butter, and the caster sugar. Cook until the apples are warmed through, and starting to break down, about 5-10 minutes. Then spread them over the bottom of a pie dish.


For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 200g of butter in a bowl, and mix it with your hands until it's all combined.


When you are ready to eat it, heat the apples in a 180C oven for about 5 minutes, then spread the crumble topping over them, and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until it's bubbly and golden. 


Then, if you are me, you'll dig right in, if you are Jesse, you'll wait 5 minutes for it to cool down :)

I forgot to get a photo before we attacked it :)

Things I Love Thursday

This week I'm all about prints. I've found myself with a lot of bare walls at home, and I've been searching for pretty things to hang on them. Particularly above our bed. I probably should wait until we are in our new house, but I've never really been that patient. 

Via Etsy

Via Etsy

Via Etsy

Via Etsy

Via Etsy

Via Etsy

I think I need this one for the kitchen. Cupcakes!!

Via Etsy

And just to spice it up a bit and not be all gushy love prints

Via Plasticland

Yep, it's a Star Wars cook book. 

Via Etsy

I love this brain necklace. I love it even more seeing as it's call 'Neuro-Necklace'. I need this in my life!


I think my favourite prints are the first three. Because, tea!! Plus, I like the colours. 


In other news, we had a really wonderful meal at The Prophet on Tuesday night. We went with Jesse's parents and brother. And the food was great. We ordered a whole bunch of stuff to share, and it was ALL GOOD! If you are a fan of Lebanese food, check this place out. But, make sure you book ahead, it's a small place, and it was full. It's BYO, and for 5 of us came to about $30 a head. 


We were out again last night too, for July's BYO Wednesday. Basically a group of people get together and bring a bottle of wine and enjoy it along with some food. Usually there is a wine theme, and all the wine is tasted blind. But, last night we went to Hawker's Cuisine in Northbridge, and there was no wine theme. It was super yummy! Particularly the beef rendang. 

Yep, I tipped them a dinosaur

Jesse and I also hopped over to The Trustee for a drink before dinner. It's a a new bar and bistro in the WA Trustees Building on St Georges Terrace. I haven't been down to St Georges Terrace for about a year, and there are so many new places to eat and drink down there now! I would like to eat here, and get a bit more of a feel for the place. But, we liked it. The service was good, and the drinks weren't that pricey. Plus, all the waiters wear suspenders, a plus in my book! 


I am planning a bit more of a relaxed weekend, and will hopefully get stuck in to my very messy house!!

Revelation Round-Up Friday 13th - Sunday 15th July

Revelation ended yesterday :( I saw some amazing films and documentaries this year! It was so enjoyable. Here is the last of the films that I saw. There were 3 on my list that I didn't end up going too, but that's OK, I'll see them eventually.


Friday 13th July


Mongolian Bling - Hip Hop has become one of the most distinctive and universally recognised forms of music, and this documentary explores the genre’s impact in Mongolia and, more importantly the impact of Mongolia on hip hop.

Taking their cameras through the thriving music community of the country’s capital Ulaanbaatar and exploring all aspects of the local scene, the filmmakers paint an absorbing journey into the Mongolia’s hip hop culture as well as the country’s wider musical heritage. While some stars are rapping about the familiar themes of western Hip Hop, there are others who are more interested in combining the beats of Hip Hop with their own local musical traditions and songs about their own concerns.

Offering a distinctive and personal view of the local scene Mongolian Bling is a film that finds the unique in the familiar, and makes you pause and think again about the sounds you dance too. Forget about nomads and monks! It's Hip Hop that's making Mongolia move in the 21st century! - I took my little bro, Alex, and his girl, Elena, along to see this film. I really enjoyed it, and I think Elena did too, but Alex didn't. Although it was advertised as a music documentary, it wasn't really. It was a look at modern Mongolia. Which I found really interesting. The filmmaker, just focused on those whose art is hip hop. It was great to see how the traditional Mongolian folk songs, and shamans all embrace the modern hip hop, and see it fit right in to their culture. 


Saturday 14th July 


Those Who Kill: Shadows Of The Past - Opening with a late-night mass shooting on a bus, this tense film has that Danish feel Rev loves.

An unnerving exploration of psychopathology, personal history and individual accountability, Those Who Kill is a tight, lean and urgent thriller. 

Detective Katrine Ries Jensen and legal psychiatrist Thomas Schaeffer form a special unit at the Copenhagen Police, investigating serial killings. As a case from Schaeffer's past crops up they’re thrust into an intense race against time as the killings continue and the case becomes increasingly personal. - I thoroughly enjoyed this Danish thriller. It was not at all formulaic, and had a twist I didn't see coming, and an ending that Hollywood would never in a million years allow. If you get the chance, see this film. It follows a psychiatrist, and his cop partner hunting for a former patient who has started killing...but like I said, there is a twist you won't see coming. 


My Brothers - With their father dying, three brothers set out on a quest to replace a digital watch he won years before at a small seaside town. Driving across rural Ireland in a van that can barely run, seventeen-year old Noel is wracked with both fury and guilt at the predicament his father’s imminent death places the family on. Middle brother Paudie is witty and vulgar, while the youngest sibling, Scwally, carries a lightsaber with him constantly although he has never seen Star Wars.- A very witty Irish film. I really enjoyed it. I was starting to feel a bit yuk, and very nearly went home, but I'm so glad I stayed to watch it. The 3 brothers were absolutely brilliant, particularly the littlest, Scwally. 

Sunday 15th July 


The Trouble With Bliss -  Morris Bliss’s life is stuck in a dead end. The 35-year-old slacker is broke and stuck living with his silently frustrated father (a deadpan Peter Fonda), but dreams of travelling to places he has only ever read about in books by Orwell and Bowles. Bliss’s problem is simple; he’s just waiting for something – for his life - to happen. And then there’s Stephanie the precocious 18-year-old who seduces him and who happens to be the daughter of an old school friend and Andrea (Lucy Liu) his bored neighbor. What little order Bliss has in his life slowly starts to unwind, because sometimes decisions have to be made. - Another witty film, set in New York. Michael C. Hall played this role brilliantly, the almost childlike bewilderment that the things that are happening to him, are actually happening, and allowing him to let go and live life. Again, really enjoyable.


Rampart - Woody Harrelson delivers a bravura performance as the corrupt-as-hell cop David Brown in this taut thriller that worms its way into the audience’s psyche and never lets up. Perfectly paced and styled with muscle, this film paints a gritty picture of the last of the corrupt cops in an LA of authentic, sunburned streets.


Directed and co-written by Oren Moverman (writer of the brilliant I’m Not There and director of the Oscar nominated The Messenger) Rampart delivers on all levels. Featuring the likes of Cynthia Nixon, Ice Cube, Ned Beatty, Steve Buscemi and Sigourney Weaver, all offer powerful performances. From a script co-written by the stone-cold undisputed master of modern LA noir James Ellroy (LA Confidential) Rampart is as sharply written as it is cast.- This was a dark, brutal film. Woody Harrelson is excellent as David Brown, a character who has absolutely no redeeming features. He is cold, and dark. He is mean, and a killer. But, the film was excellent. Although, mum didn't enjoy it very much.


So that's it. that's all the films I saw. sorry that I'm not too great on elaborating, but like I said I'm not a film reviewer!


I have a really busy week again this week! Starting Tuesday, Dinner with Jesse and his folks, I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. Wednesday brings BYO at Hawkers in Northbridge, and Friday and Saturday nights is time to catch up with friends. I'm going to be pooped! But, I'm in a really amazing place right now. I don't think I have ever been so happy. My life is just right on track. I have my own business, doing something I adore. I've fallen in love with my best friend, which is just amazing. And he is amazing. And no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to wipe this smile off my face. Being happy is amazing, I strongly recommend it.

Things I Love Thursday - People Edition

I was out to dinner with my Mum and Dad and Jesse last week, and I said 'I've got to do a Things I Love Thursday post tomorrow, and I haven't had time to look at things this week' and Mum came up with the idea that I should do a post about the people in my life that I love. I thought that was a great idea, so here it is. 


There are so many people in my life that are so important to me. But, there is a select few that I couldn't live without. These are the people who support me, listen to me whinge, let me cry on their shoulders, give me advice, and share all the happy times with. Most of them are my actual family, and the rest of them are my family in the way that only the truly best of friends could be. And my favorite times are when we are all together, hanging out and, usually, eating food!


I have been so lucky to have a close knit family. My parents and brothers and sisters and I are all so close, and I really love that my family and my friends hang out too, even when I was living overseas they would go out to brunch without me! I love them unconditionally. I would do anything for them, and I know they would do the same for me. 

My Mum & Dad

This dude is amazing

Toby

Alex - such a rockstar. This was Big Day Out

Alex

Corrina & Ben. 

Dad, Merton & Grace

Dad, Sam & Me!

Best Sister evor!

These 3 are the best kids ever

I love this photo of me and Grace

Sam and me having a lightsaber fight. We do rule hard

best friends for EVER!

Grace, Merton, Toby & Jacob

Tim & Abby - So glad these two are together. They are the best.

Ivy, Jacob & Toby

Jacob, Me & Toby

Only best friends let you wish them happy birthday with a lemon meringue pie in the face.

So, that's it. Those are the people that I love. These peeps are my world. And I hope that each and every one of them know how much they mean to me. 


Enough gushing now.