Another quiz

Just did this University of Pennsylvania 240 questionnaire thing and here were my 5 top outcomes

Your Top Strength

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.


Your Second Strength

Love of learning
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.


Your Third Strength

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.


Your Fourth Strength

Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.


Your Fifth Strength

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

The Hangover

It's been a real age since I saw a film at a REAL CINEMA! (I can't remember the last time), but I DO know this is one of the funniest films I've seen in a cinema. The last one I saw that was as funny was The Wedding Crashers.

A lot of the humour derives from at least one brilliant comedic ingredient, the Straight man/Funny man comedy duo. This sort of has a warped version of one that really hits the spot. The funny/oddball/wrong guy-the actors name is Zach Galifianakis (apparently an LA stand up comedian) is pretty much pivotal for a lot of the humour (including a lot of the "that's just wrong *cringe*" humour". Thankfully, they have the 'cute' guy in there to counterbalance things (Bradley Cooper).

The title is a "bit" misleading. Like Death at a Funeral (one of the funniest movies of all time?), drug-induced insano behaviour fuels a lot of the antics and outcomes in the film, which sounds like a cop-out but it's not so bad because there is a bit of (a rather silly) "mystery" element to the film which makes it interesting.

Whoever wrote this script was clever, but definitely a man or bunch of men. The only two female characters of note in the film are barely in it and then they are total stereotypes-ie. the dentists fiance, who is a total bitch and completely frigid (also worth noting she is a brunette, with glasses and has a librarian type look and isn't young-stay away from these types boys!), and beats up her fiance. And Heather Graham (basically looking identical to the way she did in Boogie Nights-how much botox is that for YOU Heather!?!?), who plays a cool, nice hippy-like hooker who seems to just marry random men in Vegas- who gets the ultimate "endorsement" by the films end. Hmmmmm.

Definitely worth watching if you want a laugh and enjoyed The Wedding Crashers, Swingers and those types of films.

Rating: 8.5/10

Supermarket Shopping in Melbourne.

I am writing about my food shopping habits now because you *really need to know*. Actually, it's because apparently people are getting referred onto my blog from google due to my bold, yet absolutely spot-on proclamation that "TESCO is CRAP" from as far afield as Sheffield, Sweden to various parts of the US (British ex-pats trying to remind themselves why they should never return to the UK? hmmm).

Anyhoo, food shopping here is certainly not a dream scenario, given that the country has the world's WORST supermarket monopoly per capita (yes, I actually learned something from my subscription to the Economist). Going to either Safeway, Coles or Big W leaves my retinae bleached, my ears to the point of bleeding (from the godawful music they play) and a generally sinking feeling akin to mild depression-nobody needs that.

I think it has everything to do with what Barry Schwartz calls the Paradox of Choice-if you have the time it's very very much worth watching his short talk on it:



Although none of the three ubiquitous Aussie (I say Aussie but i'm pretty sure Safeway and Big W are American owned?) supermarkets listed don't even come close to the sheer evilness and utter awfulness of Tesco, they do indeed offer TOO MUCH CHOICE. This is not a good thing for myself. I would prefer it if someone just told me what to buy most of the time.

This is why I'm a big fan of Aldi, not only does it have the entire odd-ball German Supermarket experience down to a tee (well, it IS German, but every German supermarket I went to in the country was like this...uber efficient, friendly staff and no bags!!!), you pretty much just need to pick from one option.

That is good for basics, but when it comes to the other stuff IGA is definitely the best 'other' option. One might even say it's somewhat 'exciting', since they are INDEPENDENTLY owned, you never know what products they may actually stock. Piedemontes of North Fitzroy is the mainstay (closest supermarket distance wise), but the IGA on High Street, Northcote has some pretty good stuff in there as well. They have to be selective, because they are generally SMALL supermarkets, somewhat like a cross between a personal grocer and the usually ridiculously large, disorientating, unnecessary modern-day affairs.

Anyway, I think that's all I'll say on supermarkets. Supermarkets are completely over-rated although more efficient than shopping on the high street. However, nothing really beats shopping on the high-street if only for the reasons of personal interaction and specialised product knowledge from people who actually know what they are selling.

nb. The best combination of foodie Heaven (quality of stuff in the shop) + ubiquitousness (somewhat like a supermarket chain) goes to Marks and Spensers Food Halls. Somehow they manage exclusivity with ubiquitousness, but that's mainly due to the sky high pricing and the fact that every experience in that place is a perfect one. Absolutely perfect. Quite unsurprisingly, of the few things that I miss about the UK that pretty much ranks in the top 3. One of the others might be H&M but that's Swedish :P

Thailand 2009!!!

I can finally use a video editor. The fruits of about 1-2 hours mucking around on imovie (that 1-2 hours includes practice in making a few other videos of other stuff).

Behold! Thailand 2009. (It's the same one as on my Facebook).

Pre-Analysis Cafe Vue Outing + Post-analysis

Just got this menu in the email for Friday night and thought I'd ponder over it now, before a post-analysis. It also gives me a great heads-up on knowing what I'm actually eating. Always a good thing.

Anyway, I've already had a massive blow-out wine-matched 14 courses at Vue de Monde (yep, before it won 'restaurant of the year' and became FOB infested). Was it good? Hell yes. Also got to witness the magic of Shannon Bennet up close and personal. (Was seated between the open kitchen and John Elliot on the next table acting like a moron).

Anyhoo, I think it will be harder to impress a bunch of Asians on an Asian fusion menu as compared to the blissful French delicacies we don't take as much for granted, but fate drew Asian fusion (it changes randomly month-by-month).

Pics are here


1. Apple and pork pancakes with XO sauce

Sounds pretty straightforward. Not that exciting. Though pork and apple together is always welcome. Just how 'pancakey' is it going to be though. Hmmm. I'm assuming the XO sauce will be freshly made? It better be!

These turned out to not really be so much pancakes as muffin-type things, as evident on the picture. Still tasty, although misleading.


2. Keduree risotto

I don't even know what keduree is. Is that an actual ingredient or some Asian-sounding made-up name for what sounds like a sloppy chow-mein? Hmmm. (Not a fan of risotto). This will have to be pretty special to overcome my extreme doubts.

This dish was a bit wanky. Apparently Keduree is a town in England, and this dish was a "piss-take" on the curry you can get there. This was an example of Shannon being playful apparently. It was rather boring. Horseradish mousse? I couldn't taste that, save for curry powder or somesuch. Whoever heard of horseradish with curry flavours anyway? Can somebody understand this? But as far as risotto goes, it was still cooked to perfection. Although that is not saying much.




3. Veal belly with black bean sauce
and almond gazpacho purée

Beef/veal in black bean is a no-brainer match in heaven and nothing new. However, almond gazpacho puree? Wow...Let's see, gazpacho is definitionally: a soup made with chopped tomatoes and onions and cucumbers and peppers and herbs; served cold. Just how is that meant to meld together with the delicate flavour of almonds? Only time will tell!!!

This was pretty good. Very neat stacked and compressed veal. I didn't find the blackbean especially black-beany, so there was no great mixture of flavours there which one would have expected (ie. the blackbeany-beef combo). The almond puree was layered atop the gazpacho puree-it was basically salty. A "pillow" of potato was the garnish. This was basically an all-looks based dish that sounded promising, but it was relly a mish-mash of stuff which didn't really fit well together.




4. Compressed melons and ginger granité

I look forward to this particularly. Apparently the compressed melon will take on a sashimi tuna texture (here's how they do it). Exciting times. Plus, I freakin' LOVE ginger. Bring it.

Disappointing!!! The melon was vaccuum packed with various liquors-ie. the honey-dew with midori-basically it tasted like melon!!! Duh!!! The compression didn't really achieve the anticipated "sashimi" texture either. Boring. And hello, EVERY person has had vodka infused watermelon in high school/uni. What were they thinking? The ginger granita was nice and pungent, but basically the tiniest portion with the tiniest flakes. I think it melted the moment my spoon touched it.


Berry sago pudding with pineapple curd and coconut sorbet

Hmmm...sago...I actually predicted they would use sago for dessert as a joke and they did it. So cliched. No real Asian is ever impressed with sago, because it's so bog standard. But other people seem to get off on it because you don't really get it that much outside of uber-asian stores. This sounds like a safe and comfortable dessert. However- not exciting.


Unbelievably, better than expected. Because the sago was indistinguishable from the berry, it was a sago berry fusion with an interesting almost rubbery texture. Yum.



Well, that's it from the food snob.

Need I remind Alice (who's birthday we are celebrating) that dancing afterwards, whilst buffered by the 7 included cocktails in the menu, is Absolutely Required.




Bring it!!!

Pledge of Allegiance.

Johann Hari is definitely one of the most consistently astute, fair and entertaining opinion writers at the Independent, (think the exact opposite of Andrew Bolt) and I absolutely loved his latest opine on what it means to be British, pretty spot on I'd say in the cute and crude sense. As I've probably mentioned some time before, I feel that there is definitely a loss of a sense of what it means to be British. A lot of relos and family friends over there lament on that relentlessly. If you get out of London it is not so bad, but it's not so great either.

I wonder what the Australian equivalent would be? Vegemite in place of Marmite for one. Sporting fixation would definitely be high on the list as well. As well as our unique flora and fauna!

Tory Grandeur.

The latest scandal of Tories lining their own pockets with tax-payer money is not surprising in and of itself. One imagines that that has been happening since the beginning of time. The tragedy of this scandal is mainly the timing (GFC, general public discontent/uncertainty because of the GFC), the previous amount of effort the Tories have put into changing it's outlook and brand, but mainly this:


Tory MPs have claimed taxpayers' money to pay for the upkeep of moats, gardens, tennis courts and chandeliers

Ahhh, the British elite. Moats? Presumably for some type of castle? Chandeliers would definitely be befitting of a lovely ornate castle.

It's not really enough to say, "Pay it back or you face the sack" which is Cameron's line of fire thus far. It should go without saying it should be paid back, but they should ALSO get the sack as a matter of course for the criminal act of stealing from the public purse. Only by tough measures will this type of behaviour dampen.

It will by no means end- where there is a sense of power, there is a sense of entitlement and greed. There is somewhat of a trust-based system, and as long as they have the power to claim for expenses, there is always going to be this problem. I suppose the only thing that can help is a much HIGHER risk/fear of penalty and a more transparent system. How to achieve that is anybody's guess. It becomes a problem of who's watching the watch-dogs.

At least there is a degree of transparency, and on the balance of things one has to recognise that Western politicians on the whole are no where near as corrupt as those in other countries I could mention (China and Africa to mention two extreme examples).