Get Whale Soon...

Well hello there and happy first day of the 2nd half of the year. 2011 - flying fast!

My apologies for the cyber silence this week but I was off feeling terribly sorry for myself and was suffering from the dreaded Whale Flu (or, as TGA likes to scoff, an eye-roll worthy whale-like version of the cursed 'Man Flu'). She has no heart that one.

Ok, so yes, there may have been a bit of wailing and the occasional pectoral fin to the forehead. There may also been Oscar-worthy coughing/dying scenes renacted every hour...on the hour...

Was it life-threatening? Possibly. I sure as heck felt like death. AND, why would I try to feel better when I surely do not? As the Dalai Lama would say - "where's the mindfulness in that foooool?" (am adlibbing...and perhaps I've also morphed him with Mr T...c'mon, back me up here Your Holiness!). Go with the flow I say...and the flow this week wanted to build a fort and get waited on flipper and fin. Weehee! Forts!

Sadly, ours did not look anywhere near as hip as any of these ones (http://bit.ly/sH16m)... in fact, it was literally the duvet over TGA's knees and both of us cowering from the Melbourne chill within the confines of, oh, maybe a pocket of air about 40cm x 40cm x 40cm. The warm serenity lasted about 5 minutes until the wee poppet started started doing the whole claustrophic thing...and so, in a thrashing/flurry of pillows, sheets and demolished "fort", she made a frenzied beeline for fresh air (because, obviously we were at risk of suffocating...hmmm, not). I swear, there is a whole different world going on in her head. And, might I add, there was little-to-no waiting on flipper and fin either. Hmph.

Illness, moaning and short-lived fort attempts aside, it has been a relatively quiet week in the eating stakes photo-wise. That does not however mean that I did not partake in glorious feeds. Quite the contrary - TGA was just slack with the whole documenting of nosh. So, establishments and gastronomic highlights of this week include:

Mr Wolf
The spicy pork, tomato, mozzarella, sausage, pickled peppers, pancetta, fennel pizza. What's not to love??! Pizza-ry bliss. An eyes-closed dining moment.

Apparently, they also love kids at Mr Wolf so from 5-6pm it is kid-dining ANARCHY. They also provide colouring-in sheets and those chunky crayons for the little ones. Good on Karen Martini for creating such a hip, family friendly zone. As part of Little Poppet (LP) birthday festivities, this is where we found ourselves one night last weekend. Thank goodness birthdays are only once a year. Imagine Apocalypse-like mayhem. Now times that to the power of whatever the largest number EVER is. Infinity? Good enough.

I was clogged up with whale-flu phlegm so hardly heard a thing. TGA however said her ears were ringing from the noise even 2 days later. TGA and Tall Boy also managed to make a bottle of shiraz disappear in less time than you can colour in a giant frog too...

Pearl Cafe
A gorgeous sunny Melbourne day. A slow saunter down Church Street. A going-away lunch for one of TGA's work mates. Doesn't need an occasion though - will definitely be going back so piccies at some stage!

Highlight: warm,buttered, freshly baked baguette with proscuitto wrapped duck and pistachio terrine (it was Love with a capital 'L'), balsamic onion relish and red oak lettuce. Holy heck yes. Damn, I wish that girl had taken a piccie of this one. Soooooo good.

Honourable mention: the Breakfast Pizza. 2 of my favourite words mashed together. Love it. Oozy free-range eggs, crispy bacon, fresh basil and pesto with parmesan shavings. Epic food envy (someone else ordered it and I was being polite so did not get to taste).

Next time Gadget!

The Branch
Dark, candle-lit and cheap! Friends of TGA staying (yes, more visitors!) so off we toodled for another meal external to the abode.

Highlight: $15 lamb shanks (yes, plural! Will wonders never cease?!). Cooked PERFECTLY and the baa-like meat fell of the bone ever so lazily into the pool of viscous gravy below. The perfect side? Mash of course. The motley crew ordered 2 servings of shanks but the kitchen only had the 1 serve of mash left. What to do?! Side of chips of course :) In the wise words of Pac-man:

Teehee - "in my words" on the right :)

No politeness here either - got to be quick with this mob - got a good couple of whale-sized gob-fulls down before TB hoovered the lot. I wasn't the only whale to leave the bar that night. Quite a few rotund bellies waddling out of there.

Confession time
(no, not a bar - an actual confession):
I did get a little bit spoilt once this week (*sheepish*..."thanks TGA"). Whilst in the throes of a cold & flu medicated haze (thank you Lemsip - so lemon, comforty good - how could an addiction to you possibly be bad?!) combined with the post-traumatic "gaaahh, OMG - what was that?!!" of having a high octane 7 year old in the house, I gave an almighty stomp of the tail and demanded KFC. Yes. You heard me. KFC.

And you know, it was sooooo good. I believe TGA and TB call it "bad good". Hot & spicy to be sure. A rarity out East apparently.
"Back for a limited time only!"(so says the man on the idiot box...Oh no! Quick! To the drive-thru! Stat!). Strike while the fryer's hot and the "man-flu" allows me tantrum rights I suppose :)

So yeah, that was my hide-in-a-closet meal this week. And yes, I did feel a tiny bit dirty (and mildly queasy) afterwards...

Phew. Glad I got that food slumming confession off my chest. And you know, perhaps there's something to be said for a grease dose. Maybe it can cure what ails you (e.g. think of post booze kebabs / pizza / Maccas / non descript servo food etc) as am feeling a gajillion times better since the KFC accident. (not HEAPS better - *cough, splutter*...am sure I could stretch the whale-flu out a couple more days...)

Anyhoo, thanks again for dropping in :)

AND! Hooray it's Friday!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Eat well!

x B