Archives
Who hates coffee? I know I am not the only one who thinks it tastes like black puddle water. Step up and share the hate!
Warning: All declarations of coffee love will be deleted. No one here cares.
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 22nd, 2008 under Liquids, State of the World |
This post is dedicated to
my beloved father, John Bern,
because the novel I dedicated to him
has not found a publisher yet
and because
I think it will make him gag
Happiness is . . .
Finishing the first draft of a novel that was tonnes of fun to write, which means the rewrites are going to be even more fun.
Celebrating said finish by going out to see fabulous theatre (Keating at the Belvoir) with my parents, sister and husband.
Continuing the celebration with a wonderful meal at Tabou (best mussels ever!), drinking loads of champagne, and filling Scott in on all the stuff he missed in Keating: Gareth Evans, Eddie Mabo, Native Title and why Alexander Downer was in ...
Posted by Justine at 14:25, January 10th, 2007 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liquids, Listening, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing, Writing & Publishing |
In less than twenty-four hours we'll be on a plane to NYC. And while I think NYC is a bloody excellent city, and I have many wonderful friends there I can't wait to see, I'm sad about it. For the last few years I haven't been anywhere for more than three months straight. And that place was San Miguel de Allende, not Sydney. And while San Miguel is also completely ace I'm dying to spend an uninterrupted LONG stretch of time in my hometown.
Scott says I always get like this just before we leave anywhere (San Miguel, Dunedin, Buenos Aires, NYC). He says I always say that I want to stay. Maybe. But I feel it even worse when it's ...
Posted by Justine at 18:27, May 21st, 2006 under Food, Liquids, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing |
I will never understand all the Melbournites who despise Sydney, some of them folks who've never even been here. Seriously, I've met Melbournites who sneer with disdain at the mere thought of stepping foot in Sydney. The horror they say!
Me, I'm from Sydney. I love it, but I also have a whole lot of time for Melbourne. Melbourne has better licensing laws and thus
better bars than Sydney, a better art and live music scene, and (mostly) better clothes shopping. Melbourne has
trams. And what is not to love about trams? But Melbourne has little of Sydney's
breath-taking physical beauty, doesn't have her
beaches, or
national parks, or
fairies, er, I mean
ferries, ...
Posted by Justine at 10:27, February 5th, 2006 under Cricket, Fashion, Food, Liquids, New York City/USA, Ranting, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
I hope everyone who celebrates today or any of the cluster of days around it---or who's just enjoying the days off work or school---has a most excellent end of the year. I plan to.
I'd like to adopt the USian custom of giving thanks (yeah, yeah, I know they do it on a different day---whatever!). Here's what I'm thankful for:
That I'm home in Sydney living in the best place ever:
Flying foxes at dusk! Huge decks! Huge bath tub!
Views! Amazing
pubs,
cafes &
restaurants within spitting distance! Southerly breezes!
That I'm home in the land of continuous cricket coverage! Of beautiful beaches! And the best avocadoes (yes,
Mely, you need to move here, not smelly ...
Posted by Justine at 10:57, December 25th, 2005 under Cricket, Food, Liquids, Listening, Praising, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Writing & Publishing |
Last night I tried fresh
yuba for the very first time and it were sublime.
photo swiped from
this site
I also ate the best edamame I've ever had (fresh and smoky), sake (unfiltered milky goodness), and chestnut icecream (words fail me).
The meal ended twelve hours ago, but I'm still in heaven just remembering all the flavours: eel stuffed with fresh tofu, skirt steak cooked in miso with enoki mushrooms, black sesame ice cream.
Food is good. Life is good.
Posted by Justine at 10:31, October 28th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, New York City/USA |
So, last night we got to hang out with the smartest group of folks I've hung out with in an age (and I hang with much smartness, let me tell you). At the Teen section of
Elizabeth Library, New Jersey, we read a little bit, we told anecdotes, got asked very smart and very funny questions, I got to talk Spanish, and afterwards we got to eat great pasta and drink good wine and enjoy more ace conversation.
I read from my great Australian cricket mangosteen Elvis fairy novel, which I feared would tank with the seventeen-year-olds, but they laughed harder than the Brooklyn audience. Yay! I finally wrote something that cracks people up. And some of them knew about ...
Posted by Justine at 13:43, October 20th, 2005 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liquids, Listening, Magic Lessons, Magic or Madness, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Sport, Travelling, Words & Language, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
Still having fun, still writing up a storm. I believe I'm now a third of the way into Magic or Madness III (and, yes, I have my fingers crossed that, finally, one of the trilogy will have the preferred title: Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi!). Being a third in works out well as we're now a third of the way into our stay here. How bout that?
Was me birthday last week and Luz's lovely sister baked me a cake:
It was dead good. Champagne was drunk. Poker was played. Excellent presents were received. Not to mention all the wonderful birthday calls. And I wrote a bunch of words. Yay, me.
Also, just to add to the birthday celebrations 'twas ...
Posted by Justine at 21:37, September 26th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi!/Magic's Child, Sport, Travelling |
In the vein of fiddling while Rome burns I read Ruth Reichl's decadent account of being the restaurant critic for The New York Times in one gulp last night. Could not put Garlic and Sapphires down, no matter how hungry I got, how desperate to run out of the house and find the incredible food, and wine she describes.
I defy you not to get very very hungry reading prose like this, even if you just ate:
I took a bite and immediately forgot his knee. I forgot everything but what was going on in my mouth, the fish doing a little tango with crunchy strips of artichoke. The softness of the fish was sandwiched between layers of crunch---the artichoke on ...
Posted by Justine at 17:46, September 2nd, 2005 under Food, Liquids, New York City/USA, Reading |
Miyazaki's
Spirited Away is, and I quote, "too scary! too scary! too scary!" for two year olds.
At first
Marlowe was enchanted. Then it got dark, the parents turned into pigs, and demons started appearing out of nowhere. And that was the end of Spirited Away for Marlowe. "Too scary! Too scary! Too scary!"
Never give up on the
Liberty. They always come back in the second half. (Unless they don't.) Um, Coach Coyle? How come
Erin Thorne got more minutes than
Shameka Christon?
Never give up on the Australian men's cricket team (not that I didn't already know that). Yeah, yeah, England have declared. Yeah, yeah it would be a miracle to get four hundred on ...
Posted by Justine at 19:38, August 14th, 2005 under Basketball, Cricket, Liquids, Sport, Viewing |
We're in Glasgow. It's gorgeous and fun and you just can't get bored by
Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Trip so far:
London: great (though bloody expensive) food (
Niki and
Lauren &
Andrew have been most excellent guides), brilliant markets, cheap clothes (bought the most gorgeous 15 pound skirt). It's not the city I remember, though I did get some awe-inspiring rudeness---so it hasn't completely changed. Best restaurant was David Thompson's Thai one in Soho (I forget the name). Thompson's Australia's guru of Thai food. Was wonderful watching Lauren and Andrew's delight in finally trying decent Thai food. I also gave them their very first mangosteens. Heavenly!
Glasgow: gorgeous, love all the Rennie Mackintosh everywhere. Had the most brilliant black ...
Posted by Justine at 9:31, August 4th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Excuses, Food, Liquids, Mangosteens, Sport, Travelling |
Yes, like everyone else in the entire sf world, I will be jetting over to Glasgow to partake of science fictiony thingies for several days at the
World Science Fiction Convention. I'll hang out with me mates, meet new people, and spend a lot of time in the bar watching England being destroyed by Australia in the second test at Edgbaston. Can't wait. (I'm just sad that it won't be in an English bar. Fortunately there'll be enough English sf fans around that my gloating enjoyment of their team's destruction will have an audience. In fact I'm going to greet every new person by asking if they're English or not. And if they are, I'll say, "Cricket. Ashes. Ha ...
Posted by Justine at 12:59, July 28th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Feminism, Liquids, Magic Lessons, Magic or Madness, Sport |
How cool is my country?
We provide a
national toilet map.
via the fabulous Cathy Hannan of
lost and frowned.
Posted by Justine at 12:34, July 27th, 2005 under Liquids, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Toilets |
Georgette Heyer books remain most excellent on the umpteenth reread. On this occasion Venetia, Frederica, and Sylvester. Am unable to decide which I like better: Venetia or Sylvester. Right now am tilting towards Sylvester on account of authoress Phoebe's roman a clef, the hero, Sylvester's attempt to "mount" the heroine, and the truly appalling Sir Nugent Fotherby. But the sexy talk between Venetia and her Wicked Duke Damerel is hard to go past.
Can't stop listening to Missy Elliot's latest The Cookbook. Current fave: "We run this".
The latest New Yorker has a gorgeous account of just how much
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) drank in a day:
At about ten o'clock, he would have his "morning draft"---usually "small" (or weak) beer, but ...
Posted by Justine at 20:12, July 26th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, Listening, Reading |
yeah, yeah, I'm a wanker
Posted by Justine at 1:34, January 28th, 2005 under Liquids, Musings, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing |
