Tag Archives: food

Current Obsessions: breakfast, enamel pins, and learning Spanish

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Going out for breakfast

Shout out to my favourite meal of the day: breakfast.

breakfast

Not only is breakfast the best meal to go out for (in your face, dinner!), but something about taking myself out for breakfast just makes me feel like I have my shit together. Also I feel all inspired and writerly if I write in a cafe. Yeah – I’m that guy.

For those playing at home, my fave local weekend breakfast hang out is The Middle Store on Winston Avenue at Melrose Park. Try the beetroot hummus bagel and the baklava. Yums.

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Enamel pins

My denim jacket has never looked cooler. 2016 sure has shades of the 80s and I’m pretty happy about it. Enamel pins clustered together appeal to my insatiable urge to collect things, my love of brooches, and my propensity for online shopping. I’ve been so impressed with so many designs, I just can’t stop. Favourites:

Just make sure you that if you are shopping for pins you are supporting independent designers and not the big chain stores who are ripping off their designs.

 

Learning Spanish

So, back in the day, I studied Spanish at uni and promptly forgot it all. Well, all the useful stuff anyway. I can still sing the first verse of ‘La Bamba‘, but that wasn’t exactly on the curriculum. It’s just fun to do.

Cut forward to now and I’m trying to learn again, this time using the Duolingo app which is free, super easy to use, and something I got hooked on really quickly. Still, better to be addicted to something where you learn valuable skills than something like, say, Candy Crush (and trust me – I’ve been there, it wasn’t pretty).

duo

Anyway, remember: para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia*.

Which counts me out, frankly.

‘Til next time,

Sig

 

*  In order to dance la bamba, you need a little grace.

 

Easter

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The Easter long weekend seems like an appropriate time to stage some sort of comeback. I’m told it’s the done thing (if you’re into that sort of thing), so check it out – my blog lives.

I wasn’t in a good place when I ditched my 100 Happy Days project in the ninth week. It wasn’t me at my best. But I’ve missed writing my weekly blog posts, happy or otherwise, so here we go again.

I’ve had one of the nicest Easter weekends I can remember, and it’s due in no small part to the alarming volume of chocolate I have consumed. I also spent time with some of my favourite people and aced my Easter bunny manicure attempt, so it’s not all about the cocoa. (Except that it kind of is).

My amazing friend Jessy threw the most impressive Easter high tea for the girls, and it was a little slice of girly luxury, and I want to do it every year. Jessy is one of the most creative and talented people I know, with such a keen eye for the small details that she should be a party planner. For realsies. Check out her instagram feed for all things nice. And a few snaps of my own below:

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In other news since we last spoke, things have been pretty peachy as far as roller derby goes. I survived my first two bouts, which were hugely nerve-wracking but lots of fun. I’m not sure how much I contributed overall – apart from looking like a deer in headlights and swearing loudly at myself every time I did something wrong – but you have to start somewhere. Here’s a quick photographic summary to bring you up to speed:

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‘Til next time,

Sig

 

Week 4: that time of year again

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It’s that time of year again when Adelaide is transformed into the City of Lycra for the Tour Down Under, creating a cityscape full of tightly wrapped packages and latte-sipping cyclists at every early morning turn. My week, while everyone was hopping on the cycling bandwagon and there was lots of talk of legs and jerseys which went somewhat over my head, disappeared in a blur of meetings and emails, which resulted in an ever-growing ‘to do’ list and chain-drinking tea like an addict.

It was little things that made the early cut for my Happy Days post: crunchy leaves, new nail polish, fresh flowers in my bedroom:

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But Adelaide puts on quite a good show through the summer months, and yesterday my friend Rose and I hit the city for the first Orchard Cider Festival in Hindmarsh Square. Part of the city council’s Splash Adelaide campaign, it was a celebration of locally made ciders, food and music. All in all, a pretty lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon:

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It’s also that time of year again when the nation is gripped by Australia Day t-shirt controversy and the uncomfortable anxiety that comes with knowing a good portion of the coming days will be spent cringing and head-shaking at brazenly offensive posts and messages littering social media. For me, Australia Day will be spent as is traditional  – just a day, with friends and beer and barbecued meat and music, as we collectively grumble over the order of the songs in the Hottest 100 and I quietly worry that the portion of songs I’m even familiar with is smaller again. I expect it to be a thoroughly enjoyable day.

‘Til next time,

Sig

Week 3, by the numbers

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Here’s a little numeric snap shot of the week that was:

5. The number of days over 40 degrees.

4. The number of days with heat-related public transport delays.

2. The number of thunderstorms.

2.5. The number of hours locked out of my house on a 40+ degree day.

200. The number of dollars spent on locksmith.

3. The number of beers consumed while waiting for locksmith.

300. The number of times I now check in my bag for keys when leaving the house.

I’m not going to lie. By midweek I was struggling to come up with anything that I might be able to include in my ‘happy days’ post for this week. It was hot and humid and my clothes stuck to me in unflattering places. It was hard to sleep. It was hard to eat anything that wasn’t salad. Everything seemed twice as difficult, twice a frustrating, half as fun. Still, the weekend came along in its charming weekendy way, the cool change rolled in, and suddenly things were looking up.

On Saturday I caught up with some dear friends who have just returned from some overseas gallivanting. They visited me for lunch and I baked and we chatted and it was all kinds of nice. Then I spent the afternoon/evening with my sister’s family, helping to stick up a wall decal, sipping sparkling wine, and doing my best storybook voices as I put my niece to bed. It was a good day.

Sunday saw me boarding a bus and heading out to the Adelaide Hills for the annual Crush Festival. Our trip took in three wineries (Barristers Block, Bird in Hand, and Maximilians) and each had a different vibe, with music, good food and fine wines being very much the order of the day. Sure, I went over budget, got a little bit sunburnt and drank an alarming amount of wine, but I’m not complaining. Well, I’m not now that I’ve had a ham and cheese toastie, a strong cup of tea, and some panadol to ease my aching head…

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‘Til next time,

Sig

Happy Days: Week 2

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This week was a hectic one. It was my first week back at work since the Christmas holidays and my plans of starting the week quietly by cruising through my emails and pottering around here and there were very quickly quashed by that big old thing called reality. It was a busy week indeed and my work days flew by. In amongst it though, some fun stuff happened:

1. Back to derby training. I admit to be very daunted by the idea of returning to derby training after a two and a bit month break. I entirely expected to be back to my giraffe-legged worst after so long, and to embarrass / injure myself within the first fifteen minutes. It turns out, fortunately, that I can still remember how to skate and that my extracurricular fitness stuff from the last little while might actually be doing something, because I smashed my personal best in my five minute endurance laps. I am really looking forward to derby in 2014!

The fabulous Billie Verdin (L) and November Pain (R - that's me!).

The fabulous Billie Verdin (L) and November Pain (R – that’s me!).

2. Trying a new place to eat from my ‘must try places to eat’ list. This week I had lunch at United Latino Cocina (ULC), on Francis Street in Adelaide. I have been meaning to try this place for ages and I’m so glad I finally did. Awesome food and a great selection of tasty Mexican beers. I rate it 4 out of 5 sombreros, and will be going back for more at my earliest opportunity.

United Latino Cocina - sporting great tomato tin light fixtures.

United Latino Cocina – sporting great tomato tin light fixtures.

 

Tostada con Pollo. I'm not going to lie: this was all kinds of amazing.

Tostada con Pollo. I’m not going to lie: this was all kinds of amazing.

3. Impromptu beach day with the fam. Isn’t it true that sometimes the things you plan the least are the most fun? Yesterday, quite unexpectedly, I hit the beach with my sister and family. This is a pic of my niece and nephew, who are pretty much the most entertaining people I know:

Little bundles of cute.

Little bundles of cute.

4. Afternoon tea with some of my fave ladies. Today I met up with some great friends for afternoon tea (read: ladylike afternoon wine times). The weather was perfect, the setting was lovely, and there was a whole smorgasbord of deliciousness to enjoy. I love long, lazy afternoons full of good company and conversation, and today was one of those.

Lemon sorbet with chocolate filled raspberries. We know how to party.

Lemon sorbet with chocolate filled raspberries. We know how to party.

 

‘Til next time,

Sig