Morsels

You know, I try to be witty and erudite and all that, without realising that wit and erudition probably comes from not trying to be so. The only thing I came up with this week is 'Those who rarely wear long dresses and high heels should recognise that they are a deathly combination' - neither witty nor erudite, see? Just a truism and quite boring.

Fortunately the (AIPM) Awards dinner was not as boring as I thought it might be, despite knowing all the winners in advance, despite wearing a long dress and high heels and despite my ed shepherding me out at 10:30pm before I'd had a chance to sample every petit four on the dessert platter. We were on a table of women in a room (and industry) of men and for some reason the petit fours were untouched. On the up side, things ran reasonably smoothly and I got to try wagyu beef ('succulent' is how I'd describe it - in fact, the food in general was very good, well done Doltone House).

Still on food, the big yum cha at Bodhi in the Park went ahead as planned. I'd envisaged maybe me and five friends catching up over spring rolls and jasmine tea but somehow it was hijacked (in the most pleasant way possible) by Lindsay and his crew. It was his birthday after all - I didn't quite realise this until planning was already underway. And Vanessa added to the mix, inviting Tom (Stalkie's pleasant flatmate) and her old friend Maria, who entertained Stuart with discussions on anime (thank god for her - Stu was looking a bit lost on the other end of the table).

For those who don't know, Bodhi is a vegan restaurant near Hyde Park. They don't serve traditional yum cha with fake meat but instead make their own creations using vegies for what they are. I'm surprised so many people turned up (14) considering it was vegan but my vego friends were impressed and pleased. It's a bit more expensive than what you might pay at regular yum cha but that has more to do with the fact that you have to buy drinks separately (ie no general charge for a few pots of tea) than the price of the dishes themselves. Best of all, the outdoor setting works on a fine day (it was a bit patchy on Saturday but not cold). I even saw my boss walk by with his son, which felt a bit weird.

My sister came over on Saturday night and then urged me to go to breakfast at Bills with her on Sunday morning saying it was her shout. Her boyfriend, Anton, won out in the end - he wanted to go to yum cha. We went to Kam Fook at Chatswood and ate and drank ourselves silly for $55, including sampling this crab ball thing that seemed to be rolled in fried croutons. Rach and I split a dish of phoenix claw (chicken feet) while the white man drank tea and claimed he was more Asian than both of us.

Apart from food-related events, this week has been an unmitigated disaster in terms of getting off my arse and doing all the things I promised to do on weeknights, largely because I spent most of my weeknights out or reading 'The Beach' (I finished it on Friday night). There's always this week, which has gotten off to a flyer considering I've spent the best part of an hour writing this and making a mocha chai.

On Sunday afternoon I walked to the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne, which only took me 45 minutes. It was actually kind of embarrassing - Stuart was running late cos he was on the bus that had to stop for the Spit Bridge opening so I bought our tickets, only I didn't know they charged $15.50 (adult tickets at sister theatre Roseville Cinema are only $14) and I only had $30 in cash. I had to put it on credit instead. Well, what can you do? We saw 4, the doco on the violinists playing Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' and the Orpheum is the only place in Sydney showing it.

He made it on time and the doco is good - very good, in fact. It's kind of a hybrid between a doco on each violinist, the places they come from - Tokyo (spring), Northern Territory/Thursday Island (summer), New York (autumn) and Lapland (winter) - and Vivaldi's music itself. I came really close to crying in several parts and there were a few notable morsels of humour thrown in for good measure.

Pekka: "In the year you feel as if you are everywhere, then you come here [to Lapland] and the pieces of you come back and you are whole again. Like Terminator 2."

All right, enough delay, I'm going to attempt to write about liquor shops in Chatswood for my pocket money now.