A Clean Abode and a possible New Abode...

As the temperature drops in Melbourne, I find myself reminiscing and thinking of home. The chilly waters of the Antarctic, just me and the boys dossing about - magical days. Long dives, dark waters and echo-y bliss. As zen as a whale can get I reckon. Mind you, not much to eat down there but those damned giant squid (if I had hands I'd shake my fist at you all!) and those freaky looking fish with the lights on their heads (u.g.l.y - definitely no alibis and certainly no friends either - they can be complete dicks). 

A pain in the arse and chewy as all buggery. AND they scratch you! So rude.

Gaaaaaaahh! 
The fish equivalent of "that kid" in the play ground who then turns into "that guy" at work later on in life...

Ahhh, the days when food was a struggle. *sigh*

Fast forward to life here and well, one doesn't have to swim far or put up much of a fight to fill the gap within. Happily, the little Asian that I live with had a friend staying over just recently. Loosely translated into both human and whale-speak this means "weee-heeee *squeal*, let's go eat out!" Note: the squealing bit was all TGA.

A quick observation too while I'm here. What is with the frenzied cleaning that goes on before you humans have a non-permanent-inhabitant-of your-abode coming to stay??! Though I am aware that TGA has a strange affinity-bordering-on-addiction for disinfectant and cleanliness (darling girl, you are not going achieve godliness in this lifetime) even this recent display was slightly unhinged - yes, even for her. Think frazzled hair, wild eyes and a striking resemblance to Lady Macbeth and her 'out damned spot' mumblings... 

Modus Operandi for TGA Cyclone of Cleaning:

• 2 parts Tassie Devil (a la Looney Tunes)
• 3 parts Spray & Wipe cleaning woman
• 1 part temper tantrum at all who walk on newly vacuumed carpet or dare shed any skin/fur for the following 24 hours post-cleaning 

The Unholy Trinity

For flavouring, add a sprinkling of wide-eyed zeal...that was a fun afternoon for Tall Boy (TB) and Melancholy Paws-sonified (the saddest dog known to mankind - aka 'MP')...

For me, highly amusing viewing watching TGA's whole "ARGH!! We can't let people know that we're content to live in squalor! Quick - hand me the bleach! Ergh! What is this??!!" cleaning whirlwind. Similarly amusing is watching TB's resigned face take in the madness - a face of one who's seen it so many times before and still knows not what to do about it. Perhaps it's TGA's own special way of expressing excitement at seeing a play friend?...maybe? What a manifestation though - pheeeeew. 

Q: Do you all do the mad cleaning thing pre- visitors? 

Anyway, we're on the return trip from my tangent now...and so, Beautiful A did finally blow in from the West and descended upon the sparkling, dust/hair/fur/dirt free house and what a marvellous visit it was :)

An afternoon of bubbles, oozy cheeses, stinky cheeses and chit chat punctuated by high pitched giggles and the ubiquitous expletive (you know, girls swear SOOOOOO much more than boys. Enough to make a whale blush even - and I've heard a lot of dirty sailor swearing) ensues followed quite swiftly by a tram ride to Franco Choo's (hooray - I LOVE trams!) 

Now, this isn't me but I just love this picture.

Franco Choo's, Franco Choo's...how I want to move into Franco Choo's (no offence TGA). Tucked off to the side of the main drag of Prahran, this quaint, pocket-sized bistro has squirreled a path right to the centre of my whale-sized heart. And so, the start of a potentially expensive (thanks TGA!) and long love affair looks a little like this:

Cute, cute and more cute! If whales hibernated, this is where you'd find me...warms my little heart :)

Sounds soooo naff, but these were baby carrots to click home about. I know! Carrots! What the?! Strange but true - this was THE dish of the night.

Pumpkin risoni pasta with mustard fruit (yum!) and crushed amaretti. Salty, sweet, creamy - comfort food of the highest order. AND, if you closed your eyes and tried with all your might, you could probably mentally transport yourself to a wee, hill-top Italian town trattoria.

The seagull's eye view. Oh, my kingdom for smell-a-vision...

The glutton's eye view. Braised free-range chicken leg, leek, potatoes, pistachio, lemon and parsley sauce. The girls had 2 entrees; TB said he could easily have done 2 of these. This was a MASSIVE main but I'd whole-heartedly agree with him here. Mmm...so much chicken...

Rosemary crepes, chestnut chocolate cream, saffron pears and mascarpone. Pleasingly not as sweet as it sounds - if possible, a savoury dessert. With so many big teeth you'd think I'd have at least a sweet tooth or two. Not the case but I have to say, this was water spoutingly grand!

Now this. Pheeeeeeew! Panna cotta normally gives me the 'irts' with all of its wibbly wobbliness (not a jelly, not a mousse or pudding - what the f*ck are you??!! You annoy me that's what.) but ahoy me hearties, Ahab's leg has nothing on this.

So to sum up as I've wailed on a bit now:

Food: as you can see above, just splendificent and bordering on Disney magical. TGA was planning and scheming the next visit before we had even set foot outside to leave the bistro. I think she may have mentally moved in. 

Drink: the humans had wine. 2007 Mount Charlie Tempranillo in fact. And, judging from the speed at which the first bottle evaporated and a second bottle miraculously appeared within minutes (see? Disney magic I swear!), I'd say it was a bit o' alright. 

Service: easy, breezy, knowledgable and efficient. Friendly too god forbid (yes, I'm talking to all of you hipster doofus, too-cool-for-school cafes running amok out there). Very inviting space and welcoming, convivial ambience - felt like we were dining at a friend's house(...and didn't have to wash up or help serve drinks...or keep the wayward aunty in line as she's had a few too many sherries...). Just lovely :) 

Loos: I used the plural here but in reality - just the one toilet. But, as TGA pointed out to me whilst on her toilets re-con (yes, she actually calls them that), points for having not ONLY anti-bacterial soap (me thinks that girl really does need her head read) but having fancy, lily-of-the-valley scented anti-bacterial liquid soap. Again, the peculiarities of the small Grazing Asian person baffles me. A consult from Rainman might be handy here...

A return trip is definitely on the cards! And so ends this treat-of-a-visit from Beautiful A and the culinary skip-to-my-Choo's with my darlings.

Good night everyone - hope you've all been eating well - it is stew weather dont'cha know!