Mmmm... Food!

Here is a list of some food I love to eat that you should all try!

* Brie cheese with blueberry jam and pinenuts on toast - I made this by accident the other week and it ended up tasting great! I have done strawberry jam and cheese on toast before but decided to add a twist and to brie and blueberry jam. The pinenuts were lying next to the toaster so I added some in and it ended up tasting great!!

* Snakebites - this is a drink I had in Europe which I get bartenders to make here in Sydney when I feel like a beer but don't want the bitter taste to it. It's 3/4 of any beer, 1/4 cider (or alternatively lemonade if they don't have any or you're driving) and a bit of rasberry on top to sweeten it out. The drink turns a nice pinky colour and goes down easy.

* Ricotta hotcakes at Bills - I think there are a few Bills restaurants around Surry Hills/Darlinghurst area. The ricotta pancakes are great for brunch! But perhaps arrive a bit later towards lunchtime so that you don't have to queue that long

* Affogatos - Drinking coffee with icecream in it is so much better than plain coffees! Creates a lovely creamy, sweet taste! Plain coffees are boring and if coffee prevents me from falling asleep, I might as well have a really nice one with ice cream in it!

* Forest Berries Special K - This is the best cereal ever! The berries taste really good.

* Pork Belly with dark wheatbeer at the Bavarian Beer Cafe- fatty but yummy but the beer makes you think that its eating away the porkbelly fat in your stomach so its all alright. The beer has a slight toffee flavour to it... yum! I could drink it all day!

* My special 'Greek' salad- this salad was meant to be a Greek salad but some accidents happened and wrong things got added but in the end tasted really good! Crush the fetta cheese so its got a crumbly texture (not too crumbled though), and add mushroom and sundried tomatos (along with two different types of lettuce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and any other vegies). The crumbled fetta makes it taste nicer because you don't suddenly get these big salty chunk of cheese in your mouth

* Ribs at Hurricanes- If you haven't tried the ribs at Hurricanes at Bondi Beach, you're missing out. The BEST ribs ever! And if you have room afterwards, pop over to the gelato store next door. Hurricanes also has a takeaway service now- yay!

* Pavalova- This is my favourite cake but I'm still seeking a cake shop that makes decent pavalovas. Pavalova Pantry in Pymble closed when I was young and it made the most delicious pavalovas ever and I used to have it at every birthday party but can't anymore! No decent pavalovas around!! Please let me know if you know of any place that makes good pavalova.

* Coconut rice- I was at an island in New Caledonia and tried coconut rice and it was so yummy! It's really easy to make and tastes good with any stir fry. Just make your rice as normal and then pour in a can of coconut milk afterwards and mix it in. Let it sit for a minute or so and then eat... its so yummy that I can just eat it plain.

Writing about food has made me hungry! FYI- my friends know that I put on 3kg in winter every year as I'm like a bear and naturally store up fat for winter (but I don't hibernate). I then naturally lose 3kgs in summer. I weighed myself last week and I have now gained my winter fat!

Indie Rock vs Hardcore Punk

These two people are responsible for changing my weekends of late (I've been seeing bands every week!):


It's been very interesting as each of them take me into their different music worlds and try to explain those foreign worlds to me- the people, the music, the scene. It's amazing to learn that there's a whole subculture to these different scenes. Monica has been introducing me to indie rock (some dress sort of like fashionable homeless people) and Kevin has been introducing me to hardcore punk (and trying to explain to me the differences between death metal/life metal/screamo/emo/soft punk etc etc). Apparently it's cool to dance like you're having an epilectic fit to indie rock and to go into the mosh pit circle at a hardcore concert, you need to know how to do this really energetic dance move and have enough energy to thrash around the circle, doing cartwheels in the air without hands and other turbulent moves. I've learnt that indie rock kids appear deep but aren't deep if you talk to them but that's because they're highly insecure of themselves. Oh- and they think they have superior taste in music and hate radio music unless its more than 2 years old. Read more here.

It's exciting exploring these different scenes but I'm missing dance music! But Chris/Hotness2 will be back in a week so we can dance again! Woohoo! (Parklife tickets go on sale next week!)

Indie rock band vs. Screamo hardcore punk

What has happened to Sublime?

I had a great night on Friday where Monica and I firstly went to Ritchie and Pansy's launch of their new clothing line at their store in Darlinghurst (where there was a fashionable, streetwear hip hop crowd which Mon found fascinating... more subcultures) and then went to Home nightclub because Mon's friend Michaella (FBI 94.5FM radio host... I LOVE her voice!) invited Mon to play with her. I was so proud of Mon- her first gig! (Mon is a high school friend). It was really strange because Subbies has always been known for trance music but Michaella was asked to play indie rock whilst alternating with a screamo hardcore band. I couldnt really imagine the glowstick-waving Pee Wee Ferris trance kids dancing to this type of music. That's why I found myself to be the only person on the dance floor dancing to their indie rock/electro music but it was heaps of fun (especially with the free drinks!). I think Home, being the biggest club in the Southern hemisphere, is trying to copy what's happening overseas with the whole band thing getting bigger but it was too much of a clash that night with trance!

Punk kids don't think I'm TOO strange

I feel out of place when I go to hardcore concerts as I'm a fake punk chick underneath all my black clothes. It was an all ages event yesterday and I befriended an 18 year old punk chick who didn't run away from me when I confided that I was a foreigner to the scene. She and everyone else were actually really nice people and I was touched when I was invited to see another band next week with them. Although they look scary with their stretched earrings in their ears, purple hair, tattoos and black eyeliner, they're actually really nice people (even nicer than people in the dance music scene). I think I need a bit of a break from hardcore but it was nice being accepted by people that I thought would never think I'm punkish enough to hang with them!

Myspace

I was told to sign up to Myspace one day because apparently 'everyone' is on it but apparently not my friends! One commonality that I found with both the indie and punk scene is that they use Myspace to connect with each other and their pages are all music orientated. I stood there baffled when punk kids asked who broke my Myspace comment virginity and told me how I could change it. Anyways, I'm a loser on myspace as I've only got 7 friends and my page is blank and boring. http://www.myspace.com/flyawayfunkyfairy if you want to be my friend so I can finally fill up my friend box. I have given up but there is always hope.

My First Punk Concert

Whenever I used to hear heavy metal, I used to get people to turn it off because I couldn't stand it. But after hanging out with Kevin, a friend who lives and breathes punk music, I've been gradually tolerating it. I went to my first punk concert yesterday although Kevin chose to ease me into the scene by choosing screamy emo pop punk music rather than starting me off with hardcore punk. Punk music is really fast, has about 3 guitars playing, drums and the singer doesn't quite sing the song but yells throatily like the sound you make when you go, "RAHH!" to someone so its quite hard to listen to the lyrics of the song.

I was worried about fitting in and didn't want to be the 'princess' there dressed uncool, in heels and looking all wrong so I wore lots of black, put a quiff in my hair, and put on some jewellery that I guessed might look punkish. When I got there, the line was huge to this sold out show to see Silverstein, a Canadian emo-rock punk band. The girls had cool hairstyles and the majority wore black and there were lots of piercings and tattoos. It wasn't the scary, gothic sort of look but more of a funky, punkish look. Like the dance scene, there are doorlists and bouncers and lines but luckily Kevin had us on the door so saved us $$$.

I was kind of nervous because I was worried someone might say to me, "You're a fake! You're not a punk chick!". I was also worried about my bright orange ear plugs that were factory-made ones that flare out of my ears like alien antennas and panicked when I forgot to buy clear ones so resolved the issue by cutting the orange ear plugs so they didn't stick out as much. If you ever go to a punk concert, you absolutely need to wear ear plugs, it's sooo damaging to your ears!

When the band, I killed the Prom Queen came on, all of a sudden this circle formed in the mosh pit, it was amazing how quick a wide circle was formed by guys doing a pushy sort of dance. And guys dance by thrashing their arms round and round like wheels of a bike and doing karate kicks in the air and other short bursts of quick moves that hurl them around the circle. No girls dance in the circle because they'd surely get knocked out. Last week, Kevin saw a guy got 4 teeth knocked out. It's really interesting to watch- the mosh pit would suddenly open up and I've never seen people dance that way before! (I wasn't standing in the mosh pit but on an elevated area watching everything). And the guitarists and singers thrash around the stage, doing karate-like kicks when playing the guitar, throwing their heads round and round with their long hair swaying about (not the gothic gross cuts but stylish long hairstyles), and even throw themselves onto the mosh pits with their instruments!

I'm not sure if I will enjoy a hardcore punk show but I enjoyed Silverstein and Getaway Plan which had a bit more melody to it which was why there were quite a few girls there (I Killed the Prom Queen was more metalcore). For anyone who wants to have a listen, download 'Giving Up' by Silverstein which is a really good song! It's soft- punk so isn't so hardcore and easier to listen to.

Silverstein

I'm in a band!

Last week when I got my hair cut...

ME: What have you got up your sleeve for the weekend?

HAIRDRESSER: Not much... I'm going to see my brother's rock band tonight

ME: (half joking) Does your brother need a bass keyboard player?

HAIRDRESSER: No... do you play?

ME: I had piano lessons for 10 years and haven't played for awhile so playing bass keyboard would be a lot simpler

Hairdresser turns to the guy waiting for him to cut his hair

HAIRDRESSER: Do you guys need a bass keyboard player?

GUY: (looks at me) Can you play?

ME: Yes (Haven't touched the keyboard for awhile but it will come back to me... 10 years of lessons!)

GUY: Do you live near here?

ME: Yes

GUY: Do you know where Sacred Heart Church is?

ME: Yes, I used to go to primary school there

GUY: Are you a CHRISTIAN?

ME: Yes

GUY: You're in!

ME: oh cool thanks!

Hairdresser finishes blowdrying my hair. I exchange business cards with Guy.

ME: Cya!

GUY: Oh - what's your name? It will be useful to know since you're in our band!

ME: Mel

GUY: Luke

ME: Ok! See you at practice!