Singular Scene

So Singular in Each Particular

Body Double (or preferably, half…)

by

The thing with being away from the blog so long is that whole bits of my life have gone unrecorded. This really isn’t a big deal. My life prior to ’04 is largely unrecorded and I feel no ill effects from that. But for my gentle readers there are things in my world that you don’t know. *gasps*. I know, right? My life isn’t a completely open book!

Unfortunately one of the biggest deals this year has been health related. I know, yah boo sux to ill health. And before you get worried. It’s not life threatening. It’s just an inconvenience they call Gastro Oesophogeal Reflux Disease. GORD for short (or GERD if you prefer the ‘merican spelling). It manifests itself as heartburn type symptoms, coupled  with sour/acid taste in my mouth, and occasional nausea.

Fun, right?

The issue is mechanical, the sphincter between my stomach and my oesophagus is malfunctioning and not keeping the acid in my stomach.  Blech.  I’ve had a scope down to see if there is any other untoward business going on and all is well, I just have to put up with it, and undertake some lifestyle changes to reduce the severity of outbreaks. The foods to avoid are basically below:

    • fatty or fried foods
    • peppermint and spearmint
    • whole milk
    • oils
    • chocolate
    • creamed foods or soups
    • most fast foods
    • Edited to addalcohol, thanks Linda
  • The following foods irritate an inflamed lower esophagus and may need to be limited or avoided:
    • citrus fruits and juices (grapefruit, orange, pineapple, tomato)
    • coffee (regular and decaffeinated)
    • caffeinated soft drinks
    • tea
    • other caffeinated beverages
  • Spicy or acidic foods may not be tolerated by some individuals.

Losing weight is apparently big factor, and so I’ve been increasing my exercise output – I figured changing one element of my lifestyle at a time is more achievable than changing everything at once… so for the last few months I’ve been hitting the gym 2-3 times a week, and trying to get out walking more often, which is of course easier now the weather is [kind of] on the improve… As a consequence I’ve lost about 5 kilos. Not bad considering I hadn’t made too many changes to my diet other than avoiding some of the more aggravating offenders (fried food – french fries? not lately…). I gave a dairy free diet a bit of a go for October, largely because a nutritionist took a hair sample and identified casein (milk protien) as a trigger for me. Being without it didn’t affect the GORD at all, unfortunately, but eating less cheese than I used to can’t be all bad…

So the next stop strategy to get the weight down further and a bit faster are some dietary changes and more of an effort to watch my caloric intake… I suspect that the trickiest part of that business will be how to do so without having everything taste like cardboard…

Wish me luck.

Thoughts I’ve been Having

by

I’m putting these down so I don’t forget.

  • I’ve been thinking about Stephen Fry, his apparently anti-feminist comments and his packing a girly sad and giving up twitter.
  • I’ve been thinking about internet dating, Christian dating websites and closing out a ‘relationship’ gracefully [or not]
  • I’ve been thinking about finding out ones’ strengths and what that means and maybe there are too many personality/strength/know yourself things out there.
  • I’m thinking I need to get back to work…

Nibblicious!!

by

Once again a sibling of mine (Sis) has produced for me another nephew. This brings the utterly precious and adorable total to, hang on, 1..2..3..4..5..use other hand… 6..7..8.. 8 EIGHT nephews. Eight nephews and one utterly precious and adorable niece.

As I announced the auspicious event on facebook I asked also the question, “what’s the collective noun for nieces and nephews?” you know, like siblings is for sistren (yes, ’tis a word) and brethren. Low and behold, my intrepid google adventurers (ok, adventurer, Ian) went looking and found it. Niblings. How absolutely awesome is that???

There you have it, I have 9 Niblings. And I love them all dearly. Welcome little man – whose dad calls him ‘Rockstar’ because of his Britpop hair… I hope it [the name] sticks – you’re gorgeous!!


Dipping one’s toes in the Rockpool

by

As I mentioned yesterday, in the course of my adventures with Nobill and the Chairman I had the chance to have dinner at Rockpool, Sydney on Wednesday evening. [insert cheer here].

This is kind of a big deal –  for a start, the price is the first disqualifier from making it a regular haunt… the 8 course degustation menu costs $195 – plus 10% service charge (given the number of people required serving up this menu to 13 of us, it makes sense…) plus the matched wines ($95pp) it runs to a rather a lot more than my pocket could stand.  Other features such as the fact it’s primarily a seafood restaurant is another reason I’m even less likely to make it a habit!!  But hey, when you have a chance like this, you take it up… they don’t come by every day.  It was also a good challenge for me to go beyond my comfort zone and eat food I wouldn’t normally think I’d like (it’s not that I’m fussy – just not particularly adventurous…).

Having said all that, I have seriously tried to get a taste for shellfish and crustaceans, prawns etc but have never been able to culture my palate to them, so when it was decided to go with the full menu I pleaded shellfish allergy to eliminate a few of the elements that I knew wouldn’t go down well.

So, here’s the menu with my added explanations of what it was we were eating. I wish I’d taken photos, but in the end I was a little embarassed to be so ‘uncouth’ as to document it all to that extent… you know, given that I was dining with rather a large number of physicists and ‘people of import’… I can happily say that I totally enjoyed everything laid on my plate – sushi included so, for me, the evening was an unqualified pleasure!

  • Sterling caviar on prawn toast – to modify this for me the caviar was served without the prawn.  This ‘amuse-bouche’ looked like a monotone freckle (of the chocolate variety) was served on circle of delicate wafer, and while barely a mouthful was delicate and interesting.  My first ever caviar and that it was enjoyable was the first bonus of the evening!!  Guess Mum’s law of ‘a little bit of everything’ paid off..
  • Fragrant crab broth with hand picked queensland mud crab, dashi custard, tapioca and wild bamboo pith – this one had to be modified to suit so I had the ‘vegetarian option’ featuring (wait for it, my other least fave thing) mushrooms.  However, it tasted gorgeous and I got past how the mushrooms squeaked/felt and actually, it was lovely!
  • Chirashi zushi of tuna, prawn, bonito, ocean trout and squid – this one was served for me without the squid and was amazing – I’ve never gone the raw tuna before and it really was gorgeous… however, in considering eating it in the future I reckon I might have got spoiled by my first real sushi being served at Rockpool so I may still give it a wide berth!!
  • Green lip abalone, red braised thirlmere goose, chicken crisp and fine noodles with xo dressing – this one was replaced by Beetroot and horseradish tart with autumn vegetables and beetroot reduction.  Here’s where I out myself as a real philistine and say that actually I’m not a big beetroot fan either… and honestly, for whatever reason the 3 things I’m least likely to choose are these… seafood, mushrooms and beetroot. I think it was a cosmic joke by the universe that I had to get over myself and get into it.  I’m totally glad I did!
  • Crispy whiting with melanda pork belly, artichokes and olives – If you didn’t look carefully you’d have been hard pressed to pick which was the pork belly! It was a tiny button on the plate, perfectly circular and so delicately cooked – gorgeous. But too small!!! Guess we had to save room for the rest!!
  • Redgate farms partridge pie with melted leeks and borscht sauce – now if you saw this you’d have said pie?  This wasn’t served in a dish, but was a beautiful ball of filled pastry on the plate, the meat and sauce rich without being overpowering and absolutely stunning to look at and taste!
  • David blackmore’s full blood wagyu rib eye (score 9+), hot and numbing oyster blade, tendon with soy and rock sugar sauce – I could have eaten this 3x over. Absolutely perfect.
  • Pink grapefruit and pine nut tartlet – one acronym. OMG.
  • Baked alaska; pear sorbet and spiced mousse – this one looked really impressive but sorbet centre really didn’t cut it for me, felt a bit bland actually.
  • Coffee and petits fours – Passionfruit marshmallow, hazelnut in chocolate, mini madelines and salted caramels.  *dribbles*

If you’re interested, Be the Foodie has pictures here – not all the images match completely what we had, the menu changes according to season/availability but you’ll certainly get the idea!!

In all, it was a fantastic experience and a really great evening!