More Sewing Soundtrack

We lucked out with two really beautiful hot hot days in Sydney, Friday and yesterday, before a few days of forecasted rain hit us in the coming week. Glorious sunshine with a light breeze. Happy the moment I woke up. My kind of day!

The kind that's best spent lounging on the deck of a boat with pals, sunning ourselves and blending icy cocktails after icy cocktails. With happy summery tunes playing on the CD player.

My seafaring and sunbathing days are over but I still have the music! Just as good to listen to in the shade and to sew to.

The Avalanches! I don't think there will be ever be another group that can do what they did to me when I first heard them. This album, Since I Left You, was made from cutting together about 3500 vinyl samples. Three thousand and five hundred! One gigantic happy party on a disc. If you've not heard it, you have to. I've had it for nine years and I'm still keep going back to it. And it's never failed to put big big smiles on my face. Patiently waiting for their second album to be released.

We have a new neighbour one door down. Just found out early this week. The previous guy and us have sort of an unsaid agreement - he can play his cheesy gay anthems as loud as he wants and we can play our music just as loud and no one complains. We don't really know the new guy yet so I thought I shouldn't piss him off with loud music. On my usual repeat mode. So I've been alternating The Avalanches with The Go! Team.

The Go! Team also makes music that makes me happy. With samples like The Avalanches but not as many. I like their first album more than this one but someone borrowed it and we can't remember who. Don't think it's going to miraculously appear anytime soon...it's time to buy it again.

With happy music playing, I decided I needed a piece of equally happy fabric to work with.

Another generous piece of off-cut kindly donated by Miss Carpet.

These are what I spent Friday and Saturday working on...

...the Finders Keepers markets is only five days way! And I still have quite a few pieces to complete to meet my self-set quota. Plus all the hang-tagging, packaging and cataloging!

It might be quiet here on the blog for a while but I'll be back when it's all done! And emails will be replied to soon as well, pals!

Reading (Well, Trying To) And Listening - I Should Get Myself Some Audiobooks

These books have been sitting around (and sat on by PixieMonkey) for weeks.

Books that I like to read always seem to hit the shops only when I have loads to do. When I'm twiddling my thumbs, not doing much, there is never anything good. Besides the few magazines that I buy religiously.

I've read the first 51 pages of the Douglas Coupland one, sneaking a few pages in before I turn in (very late) every night. It's good. Very very good (something that J.J. Abrams might want to consider turning into a movie). Darling Douglas has done his tapping-into-the-zeitgeist thing again!

Today's "Music To Sew To" is the Manic Street Preachers. Wish I brought the rest of their stuff with me from Singapore. Especially the singles from Everything Must Go. Remixed by people that I like.

Sitting here sewing and cataloging and listening to them has made me think about audiobooks - a book read out to me while I sew.

I've never "listened" to a book. Is it weird?

Breeding Like Bunnies

See them all at the bunny hutch...boing-boing-jigga-jig-boing-boing-jigga-jig...

Plugging Baileys, A Big Red Bow And A Charity Auction

I often get emails from various parties asking me to plug this and that, with discount codes and coupons attached and promises of goodies for my keep if I do what they tell me to.

They don't get it, do they? One look at my ad-free pristine white sidebars should have given them some kind of a little hint, no? That I'm not into marring the clean lines of the blog for the sake of freebies and a few cents-per-click. And I don't do endorsement-type posts either. Not with products or services that I've not tried or tested myself.

But the following images and the accompanying press release that popped into my Inbox today? I like! Can't say "no" to the Booze 'n' Bow combo, can I? And, just so you know, no freebies whatsoever were offered in exchange for this plug.

See the bottle of creamy goodness in Kim Cattrall's hand?

Baileys - it's one of my favourite drinks.

And a go-to taste-enhancer for quite a few sweet things that I like to make - Baileys-flavoured chocolate truffles, a malted Baileys ice cream, a Baileys-laced creme anglaise to drizzle over puddings...the possibilities are endless. It's definitely a product that I've tried and tested and would happily encourage anyone who hasn't to try it. Responsibly, of course.

Now, the dress with the gravity-defying big red bow!

Patricia Field, the stylist responsible for the wardrobe on Sex and the City (and the thousands of Carrie Bradshaw clones), designed it with Kim Cattrall in mind to celebrate the launch of the festive Baileys Red Bow bottle.

She said, “My first inspirations were the red and the bow on the Baileys bottle – and of course, Kim Cattrall. My goal was to put them all together. I chose an oversized bow because I was reacting to Kim as her character Samantha wearing a bow: If Samantha wore a bow it would have to be a bigger than life one!”

It kind of reminded me of this zany Victor & Rolf number from a few years ago...

...that Roisin Murphy is wearing here but without all the lights and rails. Patricia Field's design is a less drama-mama but much more wearable version?

And finally, the charity auction. Baileys is auctioning off the dress with the big red bow in aid of the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, an organisation that sells celebrity attire to benefit children's charities.

If, like me, you're a huge fan of The West Wing, you might like to know that Bradley Whitford ("Josh") *fangirl squeal* together with his ex-wife Jane Kaczmarek (she played the mother in Malcolm In The Middle) are the founders of the foundation.

Now, if you are looking for a suitably festive and definitely head-turning dress for the upcoming party season (and do a bit of good at the same time), go place a bid between now and Sunday 6 December. The last time I checked, it's still at US$0.00.

~ End of plug (one that I was more than happy to do) ~

In One of The Best-Looking Back Alleys In Sydney

I lied. Besides stuffing myself at lunch and wasting the whole afternoon in bed yesterday, I did also nourish the part of my brain that loves pretty pictures.

On our walk home after dropping the boyfriend's company car off in the garage.

In one of my favourite back alleys in the neighbourhood.

New work by possibly the same artist who also did these.

Another Malaysian Breakfast On A Sunday Afternoon

My ever-present craving for mee rebus led us back to Anzac Parade again yesterday.

To Abang Sam ("Brother Sam" in Malay), another Malaysian eatery further down the road from Kaki Lima where I failed to quench my thirst for a big bowlful of that delicious gravy last Sunday.

It was a scorching 40°C in Sydney yesterday (I loved it! The heat is back! Woohoo!). Too hot to be slurping down a spicy bowl of noodles soaked in a heavy gravy, some might think. But I was feeling sorry for myself from all the drinks that I had at Ms Carpet's birthday party the night before plus all the beers and alcopops I consumed on at the concert on Friday evening and nothing cures a hangover faster than a good dose of mee rebus!

Finally! All mine!

The gravy was a little too watered-down for my liking - I love it thick and viscous like lava! But the flavour and spices were all in there so I'll give it a big fat ✔.

The boyfriend was being his old boring self and ordered the murtabak again. Better than Kaki Lima's was his verdict. Crispier and crunchier. And the curry was thicker and more flavoursome.

The refreshing drinks that we had with our "breakfast" in the afternoon - coconut for him and longan for me.

And that's all we did yesterday. Instead of enjoying the lovely day outside, we came home and I nanna-napped the whole of the afternoon away.

We are certified old fogeys now - two nights-out in a row and we are fucked. And they weren't even as big as the nights that we used to have. Sigh.

Abang Sam
Shop 1
214 Anzac Parade
Kensington
Phone: (02) 9662 6554

The Buzzcocks + Tasty Beer = A Good Night

The Buzzcocks on Friday night.

At a small cosy venue filled with old (like uncle-old) skinheads, wearing what they used to wear in their youth, coming out of the woodwork to see one of the bands that provided the soundtrack to their wilder days. It was a real sweet sight. Some even brought their kids. "This is what your dad listened to when he was your age. Real music. None of that whiny shit that you young ones are all into nowadays", I could imagine them saying to their offsprings.

And Uncle Pete and Uncle Steve still have it! Like they did 17 years ago when I saw them do their thing in Singapore.

A beer-stop on our walk home at The Local Taphouse.

A nightcap of India Pale Ale with a name that kind of described the evening that we had - Epic Armageddon!

We've never been at the Taphouse near closing time before. Quiet and near-empty. Gave me an opportunity and all the space to further admire the quirky touches put in by decorators Gardener and Marks.


It was a good night that could have been made better if we had our music-loving pals from Singapore with us.

I can imagine the night they'll be having, without us, when the Buzzcocks play in Singapore again on November 27. We had the super cute all-girl Spazzys (we fell in love with them when they supported Marky Ramone here a few years ago) open for the band here. In Singapore, they are going to have the equally-cute Abuse The Youth and my pal Ben's band, Etc. And it's all happening when we no longer live there. Bah.

Printing My Own Fabric

Remember the girly fun swap with Miss Nah-nah that I mentioned last week? Well, her three lovely illustrations are in! And I've printed two of them on fabric!

Here they are...

My Cherries In A Bowl print.

The original drawing by Miss Nah-nah.

Yes, I made minor changes on my print, replacing the all-black bits on the outside with more of her swooshy "brushstrokes". With her permission, of course!

My Prawns On The Barbie print.

Miss Nah-nah's illustration.

I've repeated the print on the fabric because I think I need more width for what I'm planning to make with it.

One more print to go! Yay! Meanwhile, if you are interested in the "why's" and the "how's", I've written a longer post on the other blog.

I've had such a blast working on this little project with Miss Nah-nah that we might do it again, with illustrations of her choice.

To borrow from her, D-I-W-O (Do-It-With-Others) is so much more fun than D-I-Y!

Oh, she did get the bum end of the deal - she spent more time on these drawings than I did with the pair of bunny ears. I'll make up for it, Nah-nah! And thank you again, for putting up with my "anal-ness".

Liquid Paper/Tipp-Ex/Wite-Out

Shirt Dress - Thakoon for Gap, Shoes - Melissa, Bag - Slow and Steady Wins The Race

I like wearing white. If I'm a piece of paper, I'd love to be covered in correction fluid.

When most people in shops go, "Does this come in black too?", I ask for white. And if I like the item a lot, I'll buy at least two, all in white.

Not because they are wardrobe staples (a cheeky grin and wink to Ms WendyB) but because I truly love wearing the non-colour colour. If I was one to subscribe to the whole wardrobe-staple nonsense like all fashion magazines say I should, my wardrobe would be stuffed full of boring black things. I don't own anything in that other non-colour colour.

If the whites are shirts or shirt-like things, I like them as crispy as possible. Near spray-on starch kind of crispy. (Another cheeky nod to Ms B.)

If they are t-shirts, poufy blouses and broderie anglaise-type dresses, they have to be soft. Yet crispy. Not to the touch but more a feeling. Like when they say "as crisp as the spring air"?

Blinded by all the stark white yet? Here's some colour and a little back-story...

I was going to a separate post to show off the little souvenirs that my dear pal/"personal shopper" in Singapore, Poochie, got me at her various stops on her recent backpacking holiday to Italy (delivered a few days ago by The Bella, our Superior Courier) - apron from Sicily (another one!), peppers and colourful beads from Naples and cute button-y thing from Pigneto, a suburb in Rome that I suggested she visit after I read this article and there, she found a shop stocking these accessories that reminded her of the necklaces I make and had to buy one for me!

But I'm plonking them here because I realised, as I was writing this post, that what I wore today were all from her as well!

The shoes are one of the many pairs of cheap Melissa's that she has "personal-shopped" for me. The bag too - I saw it on my last trip home but spent my money on other things and when the store had a sale, the efficient Poochie went and grabbed it for me. The dress was meant to be an errand as well - I asked if she could help me buy it at the Singapore Gap store when the collection was released in 2007 - but the naughty Poochie refused to accept my money and gave it to me as a birthday present that year. Every girl needs a Poochie and her sister, our Superior Courier, in their lives!

A Malaysian Breakfast On A Sunday Afternoon

"Kaki Lima" in Malay literally translated into English is "Leg/Foot Five". (Yes, besides English, Mandarin and a few Chinese dialects, I know a smattering of Malay.)

But I don't know if Kaki Lima Cafe serving "Malaysian Old World Breakfast Favorites" all day was named after those old pushcarts that street hawkers from the old days used, with a "fifth leg", a wooden pole extended from the cart for extra support when they stopped to ply their tasty wares. Or after the "five-foot ways", covered pedestrian walkways, from which the hawkers operate before they were driven to extinction by urbanisation in some Asian cities.

While the hawkers usually sold only one type of food from their carts, Kaki Lima Cafe serves a bit of everything, kind of like a giant pushcart. With specials on the different days of the week.

We started with the customary teh tarik while we waited for...

the boyfriend's murtabak...

and my huge bowl of mee siam (I really wanted mee rebus but forgot that they don't serve it on Sundays. Bah!).

Yes, these are what we usually have for breakfast back home in Singapore. They are like the Asian equivalent of a big fry-up at a greasy spoon.

We wanted to take some kueh kueh home but they ran out of my favourite. I guess we really have to be there at breakfast- time the next time.

Kaki Lima Cafe
Shop 3
343 Anzac Parade
Kingsford
Phone: (02) 9662 0588
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10.00am to 8.00pm
Saturday and Sunday 10.00am to 3.00pm

Soda-Pop Saturday

We didn't plan it but somehow we - Gigi, her husband Cade, Nat, her friend Dan and me - all turned up on our Saturday play-date dressed in colours of the soda-fountain rainbow (click on my crappy drawing to see who wore what "flavour").

I had my camera with me (always!) and it was a real fine day for photos (of the high contrast-type) but I had a bout of cramps-o-rama and just wasn't in the mood to lift my fingers to do much - wouldn't have gone out if it wasn't to spend more time with Gigi before she moves back to Melbourne for good to pop her first munchkin. And some sweet things from Bourke Street Bakery.

Gigi and I have always wanted to go to the Brett Whiteley Studio in our 'hood but always got waylaid by frivolous things like shopping and eating. Seeing how we haven't got much time left to go together, that was what we decided to do on Saturday.

Very glad we finally visited for it is such a beautiful space - an old t-shirt factory that the late Brett Whiteley bought and converted into a place where he could work and show his art, and live after he separated from his wife Wendy and left their Lavender Bay home.

And I was united briefly with my favourite Whiteley piece, The Balcony 2 - I used to work in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (they own it) and for a whole month one year, this huge painting was hung just a few metres from my workbench...until they replaced it with another on the rotation roster. It's Brett Whiteley's view of the Sydney Harbour from his Lavender Bay balcony. Imagine having that to look at everyday when I got in to work!

It was hard to tear myself away from it again. But not as hard as parting with Gigi at the end of the day because, unbeknownst to me, it was to be our last play-date in Sydney. I thought we would have at least one final one before she leaves in a week's time. Boo!

Thanks for not telling me beforehand, Gigi! You've forced me to rake up this old photo of you, taken on one of our early play-dates to the Surry Hills Markets, in a dress which I made you try on, which you thought was totally unflattering.

Bye-bye, Ms Orange Fizz! For now. Until we meet for our next play-date in your original 'hood, Melbourne. You will be missed in Sydney. Very much. xxxxx your SweetPea

Hell-O & Good Bye Kitty

(Do not read on if you are super-religious, easily-offended or have no sense of humour)

Remember this hilarious piece of Hell-O-Kitty street art I spotted in my neighbourhood?

An anonymous reader (Thank you!) tipped me off to more art featuring my favourite feline in the world...

"Good-Bye Kitty" in pink

"Good-Bye Kitty" in blue

They are ten-inch Melamime plates by artist Shane Swank, based on one of his original paintings.

You can purchase these limited-edition decorative (also fully functional, just not microwave-safe) dinnerware from the man himself at Lysergic Christ.

He suggests "ordering this soon as Sanrio will likely order a cease-and-desist on this one...".

"Shopping at Golgotha"

For "twisted Christians" and "godless Pagans" who are not into Hello Kitty, he also does a range of other commemorative plates "that would have looked right at home on your Grandmother's kitchen walls, that is if your Grandmother was a psychedelic warrior".

These art-on-a-plate make great Christmas pressies, I think, for those who are religious yet good-humoured. Or atheists who might like some cheeky colour in their homes or on their dinner tables.

"Let them eat cake...in style", Shane Swank says.

Taking The New Pup To The Pond

When Oscar, the latest addition to our brood, (Thank you, Top Bird! For adopting and naming him!) found out that I was going back to The Pond for dinner with my pal Ms Booth last evening, he insisted that I took him along, having heard so much about the enchanting spot from Shroeder the Sausage Pup.

Like the cheeky Shroeder, he wanted to a chain for a leash too. Difficult puppies them.

With puppy fashion sorted, off we trotted down the road to meet Auntie Booth for a good old girly catch-up.

I like how The Pond's menu has changed since I was last there - new things to try. Yay!

This is how our table looked at the end of the meal with some plates already cleared...

Our waiter was surprised at how much two girls could eat (most girls in Sydney don't seem to eat very much).

We shared:
~ Nduja with toast and olives (Ms Booth wanted to try the spreadable salami and I was curious too. I don't eat pork but had to try some, a little bit at the tip of my fork, and it was good!)
~ Flash-fried anchovies (Ms Booth doesn't eat fish with the heads still attached so I had the whole bowl to myself. Nyum nyum!)
~ An asparagus and Grana Padano salad
~ A leek and blue cheese tart
~ Seared rock cod with sorrel (tasty!) on the side
~ Cream-filled profiteroles (again) for dessert

Another delicious meal (at seriously non-Sydney prices) and a great evening was had at The Pond. You have to go before the pop-up restaurant and bar "pops down'!