my life at the moment is one big migration.. Roy and I are moving to Europe and we moved out of our unit and are now living with his parents. Which brings me to the point of my post. I'm sorry blogger... I have converted to 'tumblr'. You can now find me posting at: http://iamtiffa.tumblr.com/
I feel a little like I'm cheating on you blogger.. but tumblr satisfies me more. One day, if tumblr pisses me off I will return, but for now... goodbye!
29.6.10
2.6.10
there's a first for everything
For the first time in my life I tried a "Creme Brulee" at "Freestyle Tout" in West End. For those of you who have never heard of Freestyle Tout, it is a delightful restaurant that serves mainly desserts. Roy took me there for a surprise Birthday dinner. I felt naughty having dessert for dinner but suitably satisfied at the same time. In my haste to eat the tasty pud, I neglected to get a photo of this delight so you will just have to imagine what it looked like. It came served on a long plate with three beautiful elements to it. There was a tangy berry sorbet topped with sweet, white fairy floss. In the middle of the plate was the star.. a bowl of beautifully browned creme brulee and then there was a berry coulis topped with vanilla ice-cream and a macadamia biscotti. The satisfaction of the dessert was the crack that the top of the brulee made when I tapped into it with my spoon. mmmm... I think I will chase up with delight in Paris when we stop through there on our way to Switzerland.
Another French beauty I tried for the first time is a "Macaron". I sampled these tasty babies whilst walking through the streets of Melbourne and happened upon the Lindt Cafe in Collin Street. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy a box of them to take home for Roy to sample. I think I am going to take up LOTS of physical activity in Europe to scare off those calories from all the tasty food I'll be trying.
Another French beauty I tried for the first time is a "Macaron". I sampled these tasty babies whilst walking through the streets of Melbourne and happened upon the Lindt Cafe in Collin Street. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy a box of them to take home for Roy to sample. I think I am going to take up LOTS of physical activity in Europe to scare off those calories from all the tasty food I'll be trying.
23.4.10
more weekend goodness
We checked out the first bout of the season for the Northern Brisbane Rollers, Roller Derby! I'm not sure they anticipated such a huge crowd because according to a few fellow roller derby spectators, there were thousands turned away at the door because there was no more room. We sat in the suicide section and were fortunate enough to not end up with a derby gal on our laps. We sat down on the hard concrete floor which after a while got rather uncomfortable but we had beer in our belly's and the Derby was very entertaining, so it was worth it.
The teams were "Diner Might Dolls" vs "Love Rockettes". The stand out Derby Gal was "Dead Meat" who was the Captain of the Diner Might Dolls. I would love to try out Roller Derby but my lack of skating skills and the fear of breaking myself is stopping me. I think I might try to learn to skate one day though.
Another weekend adventure we had was checking out the Rugby League. We went into the city for a bit of shopping and food and noticed that there was an abundance of people sporting a Broncos jersey and worked out that there was a game on that afternoon. Roy made a few calls and then we were on our way to the game. Both of us were Rugby League virgins and we felt a little out of our 'league' but after a few try's by Brisbane, we got into it. Brisbane Broncos vs Cronulla Sharks. 44-16 to the Broncos.
Then we decided to go for a walk in the city afterwards. As much as I want a change from our surroundings.. I'm still going to miss Brisbane! But we'll definitely be back!
The teams were "Diner Might Dolls" vs "Love Rockettes". The stand out Derby Gal was "Dead Meat" who was the Captain of the Diner Might Dolls. I would love to try out Roller Derby but my lack of skating skills and the fear of breaking myself is stopping me. I think I might try to learn to skate one day though.
Another weekend adventure we had was checking out the Rugby League. We went into the city for a bit of shopping and food and noticed that there was an abundance of people sporting a Broncos jersey and worked out that there was a game on that afternoon. Roy made a few calls and then we were on our way to the game. Both of us were Rugby League virgins and we felt a little out of our 'league' but after a few try's by Brisbane, we got into it. Brisbane Broncos vs Cronulla Sharks. 44-16 to the Broncos.
Then we decided to go for a walk in the city afterwards. As much as I want a change from our surroundings.. I'm still going to miss Brisbane! But we'll definitely be back!
21.4.10
coffee
I am always amazed at the length human beings go to exploit other animals in their bid to find the best tasting food, or the best feeling clothes. I was sitting and sipping my ritualised morning coffee and pouring through my google reader feeds and came across this.
People pay GOOD money to drink coffee made from beans that have made their way through the intestinal tracts of a Civet which are found in South East Asia. Most of said coffee comes from Sumatra, Indonesia and the Phillipines. People go hunting for the dung of these animals to harvest the beans. It is said that after the beans have been fermented in the animals stomach enzymes, it produces a brew described as "smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste."
Like most things that are worth lots of money, people go crazy in the bid to get their hands in part of the growing business. In this particular business, people are starting to buy and sell the animals in cages and are trying to mass produce the beans. But like a lot of things, too much of anything people get bored, so they move onto the next 'new' and 'exciting' exploitation.
People pay GOOD money to drink coffee made from beans that have made their way through the intestinal tracts of a Civet which are found in South East Asia. Most of said coffee comes from Sumatra, Indonesia and the Phillipines. People go hunting for the dung of these animals to harvest the beans. It is said that after the beans have been fermented in the animals stomach enzymes, it produces a brew described as "smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste."
Like most things that are worth lots of money, people go crazy in the bid to get their hands in part of the growing business. In this particular business, people are starting to buy and sell the animals in cages and are trying to mass produce the beans. But like a lot of things, too much of anything people get bored, so they move onto the next 'new' and 'exciting' exploitation.
20.4.10
choosing the right thing to spend my pocket money on....
I have a really bad habit whilst on my break at work. I get bored... Not that I don't have anyone interesting to talk to, but bored of my eating options. I usually pack myself some kind of lunch, whether it be just a portion of it like my snacks or just a sandwich but I usually want more. I like to not spend my hard earned money on things like chocolates or soft drinks but I can't fight the urge to spend my change on some tasty morsel.
Today I felt like a beverage. I did my usual 'stare at the vending machine for 5 minutes, shaking my change in my hand' and decided to purchase a bottle of orange juice. I mashed a 2 and a 1 dollar coin into the money slot and punch in my selection and the machine did the rest. I removed my bottle and my 'change' and looked at what the machine gave me. The juice price tag said $2.20 and the machine gave me 30 cents! Now I'm pretty bad at maths but I know enough to know that the machine ripped me off 50 cents! and to top it off.. the 20 cent coin it gave me was DISGUSTING! It was covered in sticky green stuff, so I quickly discarded the coin because I was pissed off at the machine for giving me that bad excuse for change.
I sat back down at my table and ranted my experience to my friends and opened my bottle of juice realising that I had packed myself an orange for lunch... So I spent $2.90 on a bottle of orange juice when I had my own orange in my lunch box! I think I must have been sitting on my brain that day, or something was trying to teach me a lesson.
Today I felt like a beverage. I did my usual 'stare at the vending machine for 5 minutes, shaking my change in my hand' and decided to purchase a bottle of orange juice. I mashed a 2 and a 1 dollar coin into the money slot and punch in my selection and the machine did the rest. I removed my bottle and my 'change' and looked at what the machine gave me. The juice price tag said $2.20 and the machine gave me 30 cents! Now I'm pretty bad at maths but I know enough to know that the machine ripped me off 50 cents! and to top it off.. the 20 cent coin it gave me was DISGUSTING! It was covered in sticky green stuff, so I quickly discarded the coin because I was pissed off at the machine for giving me that bad excuse for change.
I sat back down at my table and ranted my experience to my friends and opened my bottle of juice realising that I had packed myself an orange for lunch... So I spent $2.90 on a bottle of orange juice when I had my own orange in my lunch box! I think I must have been sitting on my brain that day, or something was trying to teach me a lesson.
23.3.10
I've gotta say...
...this has got to be one of my favourite things to eat. It's going to be something that I'm going to miss quite a bit when we leave Australia for 2 years but I will do my best to try and find something close to it in Europe. I'm sure there will be plenty of other things to attach myself to though!
I'm talking about non-other than the scrumptiously, comforting Yatala Pie.
It's nowhere near as good without the mushy peas and tomato sauce (although I have never dared to try it without). Oh and the choccie milk makes it even better. And before you ask... "but Tiff, aren't you vegetarian?" - I had a vegetable pie! mmmm... it's making my saliva glands go crazy just thinking about it.
The trip to Yatala Pies was part of my wanting to fit all the fun things in before we leave. Although, Roy wasn't here for this Yatala Pie experience so I will have to definitely make a trip for him again before we leave... but I'm only thinking of him.. ;-)
I'm talking about non-other than the scrumptiously, comforting Yatala Pie.
It's nowhere near as good without the mushy peas and tomato sauce (although I have never dared to try it without). Oh and the choccie milk makes it even better. And before you ask... "but Tiff, aren't you vegetarian?" - I had a vegetable pie! mmmm... it's making my saliva glands go crazy just thinking about it.The trip to Yatala Pies was part of my wanting to fit all the fun things in before we leave. Although, Roy wasn't here for this Yatala Pie experience so I will have to definitely make a trip for him again before we leave... but I'm only thinking of him.. ;-)
14.3.10
cool idea but I kind of want to cry!
I'm not even sure how people come up with weird shit like this. I like my food to taste nice.. not weird. I have a feeling this was invented in the US. Link to pic
enjoying the weekends left in Australia
We have 17 weekends left in Australia! Seems like a fair bit but I think they are going to go quicker then we think. I am going to try and do all of the things that I won't be able to do in Switzerland. I think we might need to make a few trips to the beach in these 17 weekends (17 includes the current weekend). We're going to be living a landlocked country for 2 years, which is going to be weird! We've been so lucky in Brisbane having beaches within an hour of us. Beaches that are beautiful as well!
So this weekend has been pretty full! Friday night we saw our travel buddies off! They're at the beginning of an exciting adventure. They are spending a few weeks travelling around the UK and then settling into Bicycle-land (The Netherlands) where Mitch will be working for 2 years on the same project that Roy will be working on in Switzerland. We had a lovely BBQ with Lu's family. It was a great night with lovely food and great people.
Saturday morning started with some awesome breakfast with Roy in West End.
We went to Espresso Head and had a Vego breakfast (scrambled eggs, beans, tomato, mushrooms and toast) all washed down with a flat white. Nice way to start the morning.
Then we went for a drive around West End. We stopped in at the West End markets and saw the sights. There was a lot of lovely looking fruit and vege for sale and heaps of interesting food! If it wasn't for my huge breaky, I would have wanted to sample a heap of food at the markets. The fruit and vege stalls were PACKED with people lining up to buy stuff. I walked past one and could smell the smell that I hate most. CORIANDER! I've hated the stuff since we were in China. It was in A LOT of food over there. Then I was worried about all the food in India when we travelled there because I'd noticed in a lot of Indian food in Australia, there is piles of the stuff! But I was pleasantly surprised whilst eating in India, there wasn't much coriander at all. Must just be Australia's spin in Indian food. But back to the West End markets... I quickly vacated that stall to avoid the smell of it. I unfortunately didn't get any photos at the markets because I didn't think people would appreciate a camera being shoved in their faces. But here's some photos of our drive around Southbank. There's a fair bit of construction happening with the expansion of the convention centre.
I discovered this beautiful little mushroom near where we parked the car and thought it was rather unusual and worthy of a photo.
So then after our nice drive, Roy dropped me off in Southbank where I met some friends for lunch at "Grill'd" We had some tasty, tasty burgers and then went and watched "The Merchants of Bollywood" at QPAC. It was a great show! I'm a little obsessed with Indian culture, music, people and food at the moment. I had such a great experience whilst travelling there that it's just stuck with me.. I can't get enough of it!
Now comes to Sunday. I had to say goodbye to Roy for over a week. He's currently sitting at the airport waiting for his flight to LA where he will then go on to Dallas TX for a conference. He's going to miss out on my shave for a cure this afternoon but I made sure he played with my locks before he went because he won't be able to for a good few months.
This weekend so far has been great! Except for Roy going overseas. But apart from that I think it's been a great way to start my appreciation of the weekends left in Australia. We want to plan a nice weekend away somewhere in these next 16 weekends.. maybe Byron Bay or O'Reilly's. Maybe I can con Roy into going to Melbourne too. I would love to see Melbourne again before we leave OZ.
So this weekend has been pretty full! Friday night we saw our travel buddies off! They're at the beginning of an exciting adventure. They are spending a few weeks travelling around the UK and then settling into Bicycle-land (The Netherlands) where Mitch will be working for 2 years on the same project that Roy will be working on in Switzerland. We had a lovely BBQ with Lu's family. It was a great night with lovely food and great people.
Saturday morning started with some awesome breakfast with Roy in West End.
We went to Espresso Head and had a Vego breakfast (scrambled eggs, beans, tomato, mushrooms and toast) all washed down with a flat white. Nice way to start the morning.Then we went for a drive around West End. We stopped in at the West End markets and saw the sights. There was a lot of lovely looking fruit and vege for sale and heaps of interesting food! If it wasn't for my huge breaky, I would have wanted to sample a heap of food at the markets. The fruit and vege stalls were PACKED with people lining up to buy stuff. I walked past one and could smell the smell that I hate most. CORIANDER! I've hated the stuff since we were in China. It was in A LOT of food over there. Then I was worried about all the food in India when we travelled there because I'd noticed in a lot of Indian food in Australia, there is piles of the stuff! But I was pleasantly surprised whilst eating in India, there wasn't much coriander at all. Must just be Australia's spin in Indian food. But back to the West End markets... I quickly vacated that stall to avoid the smell of it. I unfortunately didn't get any photos at the markets because I didn't think people would appreciate a camera being shoved in their faces. But here's some photos of our drive around Southbank. There's a fair bit of construction happening with the expansion of the convention centre.
I discovered this beautiful little mushroom near where we parked the car and thought it was rather unusual and worthy of a photo.So then after our nice drive, Roy dropped me off in Southbank where I met some friends for lunch at "Grill'd" We had some tasty, tasty burgers and then went and watched "The Merchants of Bollywood" at QPAC. It was a great show! I'm a little obsessed with Indian culture, music, people and food at the moment. I had such a great experience whilst travelling there that it's just stuck with me.. I can't get enough of it!
Now comes to Sunday. I had to say goodbye to Roy for over a week. He's currently sitting at the airport waiting for his flight to LA where he will then go on to Dallas TX for a conference. He's going to miss out on my shave for a cure this afternoon but I made sure he played with my locks before he went because he won't be able to for a good few months.
This weekend so far has been great! Except for Roy going overseas. But apart from that I think it's been a great way to start my appreciation of the weekends left in Australia. We want to plan a nice weekend away somewhere in these next 16 weekends.. maybe Byron Bay or O'Reilly's. Maybe I can con Roy into going to Melbourne too. I would love to see Melbourne again before we leave OZ.
3.3.10
not working until 6 tonight
I think I'm going to be rather tired at work tonight. My hours are all over the place lately which isn't too cool because that makes my sleeping patterns all over the place which makes tiffa grumpy. But today I thought I would take advantage of having all day to do stuff (which is going to make me tired tonight at work but oh well they can feel my wrath when I get grumpy!) I went to the shopping centre to run some errands... buy birthday presents, take library books back, buy some groceries and eat some tasty, tasty food! I went to Toscani's for my favourite all day breakfast. I had the Mediterranean breakfast (I was too excited about eating it and I forgot to take a picture). This tasty, tasty meal has Haloumi cheese, pesto, tomato, turkish bread, spinach and poached eggs. It goes down a treat with a coffee and a good book. Plus it also makes me more capable of braving the shops... oh how I hate shopping! Oh and the waiter asked me if I wanted anything else besides my "caffeinated beverage".. he won some cred from me!
20.2.10
19.2.10
Update on the camera love
The new "hots for" is the Panasonic Lumix LX3 not exactly the GF1 but it's a nice compromise for the price. Gonna check it out more.
18.2.10
Digital Cameras
I'm going through a big phase of de-cluttering and downsizing. Mainly because we will need to do it for when we move overseas in July and also because I'm realising more and more that we don't need this much stuff. I would say that we probably don't have all that much stuff to begin with which is good but we really don't need much of what we do have.
You tend to collect things because you think you will need it, which is okay because you may very well need it, but if you haven't used it in 6-12 months, then you don't need it. I don't understand why people pay for storage space, to store stuff they don't use anymore. GET RID OF IT! Let someone else make good use of it.
So to the real point of my post... I sold my DSLR Nikon D70s, I'm getting rid of my video camera and selling my compact digital and looking for something that's a nice compromise. Something compact that take nice pictures and has good quality video as well. I've been checking out a few and have kind of got the hots for the Canon IXUS 120IS. A rather nice size for travelling and it has HD movie! Seems like a great choice to suit my needs. Although, there's still time to look. We'll see huh! When I do decide, I'll be sure to post some pictures.
You tend to collect things because you think you will need it, which is okay because you may very well need it, but if you haven't used it in 6-12 months, then you don't need it. I don't understand why people pay for storage space, to store stuff they don't use anymore. GET RID OF IT! Let someone else make good use of it.
So to the real point of my post... I sold my DSLR Nikon D70s, I'm getting rid of my video camera and selling my compact digital and looking for something that's a nice compromise. Something compact that take nice pictures and has good quality video as well. I've been checking out a few and have kind of got the hots for the Canon IXUS 120IS. A rather nice size for travelling and it has HD movie! Seems like a great choice to suit my needs. Although, there's still time to look. We'll see huh! When I do decide, I'll be sure to post some pictures.
5.2.10
adding to the previous post
Something that gets me excited about design again is "the fad experiment"! It's marvellous!
It's been too long since the last one
and cat names don't count.
So I've lost the desire to design. I'm not sure if I will get it back or if I want to get it back. I'm rather into tattoo's at the moment (watching lots of Miami Ink) and I would love to tattoo but unfortunately my drawing skills are not up to scratch. I could practice but like most things I get into, I will probably lose the desire to tattoo also. So I will sit and ponder this for a while before I make the changes to get into drawing and if I still want to do it in a few months then I might just have the desire to do it and stick to it.
I really, really want to get a rather large tattoo but I don't want to rush into it because yada yada, you know why people don't want to rush into tattoos. I've seen some rather yucky tattoos on people but I have to keep telling myself that it's the person's choice and my tattoo choice would probably be "rather yucky" to someone else that see's it. So that's the tattoo part done....
Now to other life stuff. The prospect of moving to Europe is quite exciting (sitting here currently eaves-dropping on Roy's phone interview with a Swiss company). Having the opportunity to travel and move overseas is such a great thing to have! There is a gigantic world out there and to get to see a large chunk of it just makes my stomach get butterflies! There is not much more that excites me as much as getting to see how other cultures live and work! I would love to see a world without borders... Everyone lives for everyone, not just one country. Patriotism sux!
Don't get me started on Religion too... Maybe I'll save my views for another post.
So I've lost the desire to design. I'm not sure if I will get it back or if I want to get it back. I'm rather into tattoo's at the moment (watching lots of Miami Ink) and I would love to tattoo but unfortunately my drawing skills are not up to scratch. I could practice but like most things I get into, I will probably lose the desire to tattoo also. So I will sit and ponder this for a while before I make the changes to get into drawing and if I still want to do it in a few months then I might just have the desire to do it and stick to it.
I really, really want to get a rather large tattoo but I don't want to rush into it because yada yada, you know why people don't want to rush into tattoos. I've seen some rather yucky tattoos on people but I have to keep telling myself that it's the person's choice and my tattoo choice would probably be "rather yucky" to someone else that see's it. So that's the tattoo part done....
Now to other life stuff. The prospect of moving to Europe is quite exciting (sitting here currently eaves-dropping on Roy's phone interview with a Swiss company). Having the opportunity to travel and move overseas is such a great thing to have! There is a gigantic world out there and to get to see a large chunk of it just makes my stomach get butterflies! There is not much more that excites me as much as getting to see how other cultures live and work! I would love to see a world without borders... Everyone lives for everyone, not just one country. Patriotism sux!
Don't get me started on Religion too... Maybe I'll save my views for another post.
17.1.10
Cats names
Chowder
Peanut
General
Wilson
Arjun
Rabbit
Abraham
Benedict
Frank
Godfrey
Leopold
Oliver
Reginald
Roger
thought of some more:
Banjo
Lala
Peanut
General
Wilson
Arjun
Rabbit
Abraham
Benedict
Frank
Godfrey
Leopold
Oliver
Reginald
Roger
thought of some more:
Banjo
Lala
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