THE PANEL #3

DINNER MAN WALKING

Dinner with Waz and Gaz tonight at Nine. Long overdue birthday meal with Gaz as I was away at the time. Decided to play with some settings on my cam during the walk to the restaurant, turned out pretty okay methinks...

I just love the view of Perth from my street, Im gonna miss this next year when I move.





Hyde Park



Bulwer st, almost there



Nine Restaurant
okay I cheated a bit on this one, took it on the way home, note we were the last to leave....good form



The reason we went to Nine, sashimi plate. Should have used my camera and not my phone.

Larger versions over at YeLPanorama
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WHITEWALL ME

Hand painted whitewall tyres on some shitbox of a car, spotted by Adam as we grabbed some lunch at work today. Stay classy Perth.

ART IMITATING ART

A slow start to the working week for me, I took some me time this morning to measure up the insides of the house I've almost bought. It's going to need a whole heap of work before I can move in, probably wont be in it until this time next year but it will so be worth it. So many cool ideas flowing already. My bestie female friend Karks and her boy Marco are going to be my architects so it will be a cool project. After we measured up it was off to Soto to mull over a few ideas.

Oh and since when has copying someone elses art been considered art, art worthy of selling too? Maybe it's the only way you and I could ever afford a Warhol original. And the green ones, whaaaaaaaat, looks like the stuff I made in primary school when I was cutting shapes into potatoes and pressing them onto paper. You want how much for it? No thanks and straighten that picture.

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LET ME EDUCATE YOU IN THE ART OF COOKING FLAMINGOS

I guarantee nobody will ever find my blog by googling the above sentence. So anyways I was eating Peking duck for dinner the other night and (oh by the way this is gonna be a long train of thought post which should end with a story about an ancient Roman gourmet and a restaurant I once owned) I was contemplating how duck has become so popular over the past years. It used to only be chicken but these days people are just as cool eating the dark bird. Personally I love duck, so many ways to cook it, so good.

So I started to wonder what would be the next big thing in "birds for dinner", as you do. It was then that I remembered a recipe I once saw for cooking Flamingo.... :pause: .... Yeah I said Flamingo, I know you're probably screwing your nose up right now but when did we start being so fussy with the animals we eat? People in the past have eaten swans, ostrich, cranes and even peacocks. Okay I'm probably just talking about ancient Romans and the like here but eat them they did.

I found the Flamingo recipe in a cookbook I own called Apicius. It's one of the oldest known cookbooks around. Supposedly written by a dude called Marcus Gavius Apicius (natch he has a wikipedia page) who was a Roman gourmet and wealthy lover of all things luxurious. He lived in Rome under the reign of Tiberius and was famous for his banquets and flamboyant lifestyle. I'm assuming he was a fat bastard. One day he realised that he was almost broke and decided that rather than die poor he would kill himself. If he couldn't live like he was accustomed to then he'd throw one last banquet and eat some poisoned food at the end of it...so he did, or at least so the legend says.

Somewhere along the way he is said to have written down his recipes for others to use and thus we have Apicius the cook book. The thing about this cook book is that there are no measurements, purely ingredients. The thinking behind this was that old Marcus didn't want the common folk to cook his dishes, so if you wanted the amounts you had to ask him and therefor you had to know him. An odd way to operate but hey it was Rome in its' heyday.

Which brings me to my restaurant. When I decide to branch out on my own I was always going to call it Apicius, not that I was really going to do any of the dishes in the book, I just wanted to pay homage to this story. It was fairly successful as a business but after 2 years of slog I decided to move on and I sold it to two of my staff who kept it going for 2-3 years more and they made an even bigger success of it all. The building is still there in Fremantle but the restaurants it now houses change names every second week or so it seems.

Hmmm Ostrich eh? Why not? I mean we eat Emu don't we?

/end of train of thought
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RANDOM IMAGES # 34

WHY DO I LIVE HERE AGAIN?

Another sad chapter in the Nanny State

By Gareth Parker | View Archive October 23rd, 2009, 10:39 am

British public intellectual Charles Landry could not have been more correct in 2007 when he identified Perth as "the city that says no".

To the list that reads no shopping after 6pm, no shopping on a Sunday, no daylight savings, no pubs open after 10pm on a Sunday, no innovative new architecture, no mid-rise buildings near the beach, no new football stadium and countless other examples, you can now add "No jumping off the Cottesloe pylon".

Renovations of the iconic structure, beloved by generations of beachgoers, were finished today after $122,000 of Federal taxes and a $50,000 Lotterywest grant were tipped into the project.

Yet we find out today that the concrete pylon, originally constructed as part of a failed shark-proof fence, has been deliberately angled and covered with a slippery surface so that swimmers will not be able to climb it.

The reason? Public liability, of course.

"We have had situations where people were diving into water one metre deep. We feel a lot more confident in terms of the liability issue now," Cottesloe Council manager engineering services told thewest.com.au this morning.

A question to Mr Trigg and Cottesloe Mayor Kevin Morgan. In 73 years since it was erected, precisely how many times has the council been sued for an accident on the pylon?

What a joke.

THE STINKY BOYS

I chefed for a whole lot of years more than I care to remember and for that whole time we were just the stinky boys (and girls) in those funny checkered pants. Now we're the new sex symbols, the new super stars, we're the celebrity chef. Now I follow them to work on the back of buses. What the fuck is going on and most importantly where's my slice of that pie?

Jamie's done okay for himself hasn't he? But for me he's just too sterile, too white meat if you know what I mean. There aren't many real hard school chefs that put him up as a chef to admire/worship. Nah us old schoolers have only one god....

Marco Pierre White

He was the original celebrity chef enfant terrible, way before they had their own TV shows, the youngest dude at the time to earn 3 Michelin Stars (age 33), he trained Gordon Ramsey and Mario Bataliand and it is said he had a heart attack at age 28. Chefs don't lead healthy stress free lifestyles on the whole. When I was cooking in England I had contemplated trying to get a job at his restaurant (Harveys) but I was simply too much of a coward. I did meet a guy who worked there who had come into our kitchen for a job. We listened to tales of Marco from him as if he was Hans Christian Anderson reciting one of his fairy tales for the first time. How could someone so angry and so arrogant be so good we thought? How naive were we? I soon came to understand that in the chefing world those 3 things go hand in hand.

So step aside Jamie and Gordon and whatever that Aussie dudes name is, the one who goes on Oprah. There is only one truly great celebrity chef and his initials are MPW.
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GRATIS

I know there is free parking in places but it's not usually something councils advertise, parking fees are a huge money spinner for them so why give it away. That's usually the case unless you're in Fremantle. As I pulled up to park there today I noticed the time limit sign had the word FREE stamped on it. It's like getting a big warm hug when you least expect it and welcome when you're like me with no coins in your pocket for the meter.

THAT'S A WEDDING CAR # 4

I live near a church, so most weekends I'm lucky enough to see some great and some not so great wedding cars. Sometimes they're classy, other times just plain ugly....

I'm going to use this post to show the the results of a new app I've scored for my iPhone. It's called Camera Bag and it does some awesome things with photos. It's really just a simple photo shop application that focuses on editing your photo of choice into a variety of photo styles. They range from 1962 style black and white to Mono to Cinema to Infra red to these examples below....

This is the photo I took

Then you can apply the Helga effect which mimics the Holga camera. The Holga is an inexpensive medium format 120 film toy camera made in China , appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic.

Or the lolo, which is the same as those from a Lomo camera, I love the Lomo camera and Tiff has pointed me in the direction of some for sale here in Perth so I have to remember to grab one soon.

and the Magazine style, there's a few others but that's a good sample. If you have an iPhone and love this sort of thing grab it. It's one of the best apps I've bought so far. Man I'm raving about this like I have shares in the company...if only!

THE COUNCILLOR

Just in from my good buddies victory party at the Northbridge Hotel. Warren (Waz) ran for the Town of Vincent council this weekend and romped it home with a landslide victory over the incumbents. If you live in the Town of V you may have been one of the many who decided that change was needed and change was delivered. This should make the sitting Mayor very nervous because a vast number of residents have him on their radar now. We're tired of his behaviour. But as I try very hard not to talk about politics on here that is all I will say about that.

At the moment we're all just pretty stoked that Warren won. This is the first time I've ever been involved in something like this and even though my part (delivering election pamphlets) was a very small one it did give me a sense of doing good for want of a better word. Congrats Waz.

PLEASED TO LUNCH YOU

Today is recovery day, recovery from yesterdays annual boys lunch. A lunch we do every year except for the 3 years in between each lunch where we fail to either a) organise it or b) all be in the same country on the same day. Thus this is actually only the 2nd of these we've managed since 2006. Tri annual maybe?

Because it was the most magnificent day yesterday we decided to tackle Il Lido on Cottesloe Beach for lunch and then trek on up to that old western suburb stalwart the OBH for some post lunch ales.

What a glorious day, summer will be here soon.





Views of and from the OBH

One of the bonuses of sitting at a beach side pub is the sunset, I couldn't quite capture it from inside but this shot from the carpark pretty much sums it up.

Then it was on to Chris and Marissa's place for way too much red wine and some dancing lessons from Macca. All steps choreographed to Neil Diamonds Kentucky Woman.

Good Times

THE HOOD # 93

Creepy spotting

I was walking along Beaufort st yesterday and thought to check out one of the regular Beaufort spots for any new street art and I noticed a very small piece by Creepy way up there...

Close up view

COCA COLA , SOY SAUCE AND GARLIC

Coca cola is an ingredient in Asian cooking? I guess so, I mean I've seen cakes made with 7up, in fact I have a recipe. Bit odd though, maybe it gives it a carbonated texture. Spotted at Lido in Northbridge tonight whilst having dinner with Waz.

excuse the blurry phone cam pic

WE LOVE MLJ

On a tree a few streets past mine, I wonder who MLJ is (it's not Michael Jackson, he's MJJ)



maybe they simply just love, that's good enough
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DAVEY DANCE

It's been a while since I checked in on Davey Dance, happily he's still going strong. If you don't know who Davey Dance is ....

Normally, Armed only with an ipod and a Canon Power Shot, Davey picks a location and a pop song. Then Davey records an improvised dance.

enjoy and remember only those with the headphones on can hear the music

DaveyDanceBlog -68- Verona from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

DaveyDanceBlog -59- Heidelberg from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

ALMOST LIKE THE REAL THING

Waz sent me an email this morning with the below picture attached, keep in mind that today is the day for the Bathurst 1000 car race....

Just walked past these guys in Hyde park watching the car racing; two car batteries hooked up to the back of a plasma screen, drinks and food in eskies, heaps of water - they've settled in for day

I guess if you really want to feel like you're outside in the Bathurst weather watching the big race then this is the closest you can get if you live on the west coast.

I especially love the faux stone paving mat under the TV. Good times

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A YEAR LATER ALMOST TO THE DAY

The small hangover I am currently suffering is a result of both mixing beer and red wine with two local drinking establishments. The Queens hotel and The Must wine bar. The panadol should kick in soon. This post may also be interpreted as a cry for help, a cry to tell me I really need to spread my horizons when it comes to places to drink at because it appears that Macca and I have spent this Saturday night at the very same venues we spent a Saturday night a year ago almost to the day. We do drink elsewhere don't we? Hmmm not so much, but at least there are around 3 more choices opening in this area soon.

The first thing we noticed was the bus loads of people in fancy dress arriving. This can mean only one thing, Spring in the Valley. That once quite enjoyable trip to the Swan Valley to do tours of wineries, now taken over by masses of bogans dressed as cowboys, nurses, romans in togas and any thing else you can think of. But wait, what's this, the hotel bouncers are jumping onto every bus before anyone can get off and telling them they wont be allowed in. Awesome, this meant we didn't have to put up with all of the crap that we had to last year ...... almost to the day.

NINE INCH NAILS v GARY NUMAN

Oh kill me now - how good is this

Crank the sound, especially for the Cars clip

The two songs posted by Trent Reznor on Vimeo both feature electro legend Gary Numan and were recorded at the band’s O2 Arena show on July 15 this year.

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NIN: "Metal" with Gary Numan, live from on stage, London 7.15.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

NIN: "Cars" with Gary Numan, live from on stage, London 7.15.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

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THAT'S JUST LOW

Yeah mate.........so low it's completely un-Australian






note: I have absolutely no idea what's going on here, however the ... at the end of the message hints of more.

KOINONIA MEETS KUBRICK

Dropped into Koinonia last night with K, M & G. We have much to discuss regarding the purchase of a building which we hope to convert into two residences. More on that later as I don't want to jinx it.

My third visit to this restaurant and again it delivered. We shared entrees of peking duck, cold rolls, salt and pepper squid and fried prawns with wasabi mayo. I still rate this as one of the best peking ducks in Perth. There is one other but that's part of a duck feast so this is the best stand alone version.

We probably shouldn't have ordered so many starters because the mains were huge and we struggled to finish the pad thai, scallop and duck salad, stir fried prawns with noodles and the fish cooked in banana skin. All delish.

The trek back down the street and home saw us pass these cute installations in an art gallery on Beaufort st. Who knew those fridge magnets could do so much more.

Highlight: The Peking Duck
Lowlight: Real estate deals

Score 7.5 art installations out of 10