P!nk and the Windsor

For our birthday last year GB bought my twin and I tickets to see P!nk. Panda very rarely goes to concerts, I think her one and only concert was U2 a couple of years ago.

I decided to get a hotel room in the city for the night. Managed to secure a night at the Windsor Hotel. It is Sunday, I was going to be at the Windsor anyway....why not do High Tea. Why not indeed! GB had not been to High Tea before, so I inivted him to come stay with me at the hotel and indulge in some sweets before I headed off to the concert.

High tea is always what you would expect. Lots of decadant cakes and home-made icecream, bottomless cups of coffee and tea. One rolls out of the room with a certain feeling of being full to the brim of all things made of sugar and butter.

Both my twin and I were a little full of scones to be boucning off the walls when we first arrived at Rod Laver arena. The crowd for P!nk were friendly, but I would not put them into the same "friendly" category as perhaps a KISS crowd or Iron Maiden crowd, where everyone is super friendly and it almost feels like a massive extended family gathering. Faker were the support act. I would like to see them in a small venue, I think their style really isn't suited arena venues. But they certainly got the crowds pumped for the main act.

All I will say about P!nk is that she is an adrenalin junkie and she knows how to enterain. I forgot

my camera so I have a few dodgy shots of the stage from when we first arrived but none of P!nk. It was a shame because we were so close. Awesome concert!!! And to top it off Panda managed to score me one of Mark Schulman's drumsticks. Hooray!

GB waited up for me and when I got back to the hotel we ordered room service and I babbled like a maniac about how great the concert was.

To top of the indulgent nature of the weekend, we ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room. We don't usually do breakfast at the hotel, and we probably won't again. It is so much nicer to find a little cafe in some alley somewhere.

Added to the list of GREAT WEEKENDS!

Hellenic Republic - Lynda's Kokoda celebration dinner

My friend Lynda completed the Kokoda Trail last week. To celebrate her achievement, adventure and to welcome her home we decided that an indulgent evening was warranted.
GB found us a very fun and funky tequila bar to hang out in prior to our dinner booking.

Mi Corazon mexican cantina. These guys know how to serve tequila. All shots are accompanied by a shot of a spicy tomato juice thing that somehow manages to bring out the flavour of the tequila. Lynda and I also tried a couple of infused tequila cocktails. One tasted like a liquid version of a McDonalds apple pie. It was delicious! GB and I were very impressed with the bar and have decided it HAS to be the venue for GB's birthday this year. haha What a messy thought.

Dinner was at Hellenic Republic. It is quite an open restaurant, so you can see the kitchen and feel the heat of the grill when walking past. There is a semi-private dining area seperated from the rest of the restaurant by a very funky lighting screen. The decor is simple, the whites and blues of the Greek Isles. What stands out is the service and the food. We decided on the banquet type arrangement called TRAPEZI BETA.


We gorged on bread, dips, olives, beetroot salad, grilled fish, lamb on the spit, those sticky donut things...it was amazing, a gastromonic delight!

Lynda's highlight would have to be having her photo taken with George Calombaris. (The work of her bf - good one Matt!!) George owns 4 of the best restaurants in Melbourne. I have only been to Maha Bar and Grill and now Hellenic Republic but both have been fantastic dining experiences.

Such a great night!

Visitors from North of the Border

The weekend just gone was spent with Baino and her daughter Clare. GB revels in having people stay - and I must admit that it is definitely growing on me, if only all guests were as fun and easy to be around as our visitors from north of the border.
Baino and GB have been friends for years, thankfully Baino is forgiving and understands GB is shit at contact. I had not meet Clare before this weeked and was not surprised to find her as friendly, outgoing, direct and lovely has her mother.

It was a casual weekend, with GB delighting in being able to show off his favourite fish and chip shop, collections of geekness, whiskies, TV and media centre AND his BBQ skills. Clare introduced GB to the goodness that is peach vodka, and we all did a reasonable job of alcohol consumption over the 2 nights.

Saturday we did the mandatory run down to Portsea. Portsea Hotel has to be one of my favourite places to spend an afternoon and if you are down that way it is a crime not to pass through Sorrento and indulge in a vanilla slice. They really are the best I have ever tasted. I feel it is my responsibility to ensure anyone who likes sweets get to taste them.

We had a looksee at some lookouts, London Bridge and the back beach at Portsea. For May it was a surprisingly temperate day, although a little more sunshine would have been nice. Baino, who is a keen photographer, inspired us to take the scenic road home so we could check out some of the beach huts. No photo album of Melbourne is complete without them. There is nothing like visitors to re-ignite my love for my adopted city! It was a great weekend.

80s extravaganza!

I walked into the Chelsea Heights hotel band/bar room and was immediately transported to some imaginary High School Reunion. Since I have never been to a school reunion this is as close as I was going to get. I was there to see Pseudo Echo and Wa Wa Nee. I dragged the youngsters GB and Dave along for the evening. And what fun we all had! It was a general consensus that Wa Wa Nee rocked - they were self effacing and entertaining. Psuedo Echo took themselves a little too seriously and I was surprised to find that not all synth music is good (yep I said it!).

Fun night. And it looks like GB and I have found a fun venue to see has-been bands :)

A terrible photo from my iphone. I wish I took a camera because he had the cutest piano-guitar. Something so 80s that it almost hurts.

Mothers Day 2009

I spoke to my mum early in the day to wish her a happy day. I miss her most days, so having a day dedicated to mums doesn't increase or decrease the wish that I could hang out with her.

Being that I couldn't fly up to the central coast for the day, I hung out with GB, his mum and his mum's mum. We went to Ashcombe Maze and spent the afternoon in wonder of nature.

Autum is a fun time to visit the maze, all the amazing colours, cute mushrooms and the lavender maze.