Today I have real pain.

Geddit?

Some lovely friends suggested celebratory cocktails and dinner in the Valley, ahead of the wedding next weekend, because why pass up a chance to have cocktails and dinner? So after some swish martinis (of the proper variety and of the espresso variety) at the Bowery, we ordered and devoured most of the menu at Wagaya. A lovely surprise was piccolo bottles of champagne covered with the stickers we’re using for our homebrewed ginger beer and apple cider at the wedding. We drank them through gorgeous paper straws. I drank two. Maybe three. Feels like three, today.

A fabulous, delicious and classy evening with some delightful company.

Only downside being the dirty hangover today. Totally worth it.

Talking to my friend B about it (who had a similar 6 weeks between gigs at the start of last year), she said, “Just you wait a couple of weeks. Soon it will be amazing if you even get off the couch.”

And it turns out she was right. I’ve been busy with things, mostly related to the giant party that’s happening in a week. And looking for a new job, and sorting through random boxes of stuff, blah blah blah. But it’s still a bit tricky to actually account for where the day goes.

Anyway, today is a perfect day to be inside – it’s rainy and grey and drizzling and cold and generally winter. Time for a cuppa.

So here’s six new places I’ve eaten at (in no particular order) and loved since this challenge started back in January 2010 (and here’s my urbanspoon profile for more of the same).

Restaurant Amusé, East Perth

Hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I was in Perth for CHOGM, and the Architect had come with me. We decided to do one fancy night out, and chose Amusé based on advice from the internets. The internets gave us very good advice. They do a 10 course dégustation from local ingredients, with wine matching, and every single thing was absolutely exquisite and beautifully presented. I know I’m in danger of the hyperbole police coming, but it was seriously that good.

Taro’s Ramen, Brisbane city

Taro’s website humbly proclaims it “The best ramen in Australia”. He’s right. It is. I’ve eaten a bit of ramen in my time (excluding 2 minute noodles – those I have eaten a LOT of in my time). This is the ramen that made me understand why people love ramen. Handmade noodles. Incredible Bangalow sweet pork stock. Perfectly cooked eggs. The Fire Tonkotsu is where it’s at. Trust me, I’ve eaten my way through most of the menu.

Caravanserai, West End

Got a dinner coming up with a bunch of people with different tastes? Maybe some picky eaters in there? Take ‘em to Caravanserai. It’s noisy and dark and cosy and has pretty lanterns. The banquet is the most ridiculous amount of food, and it’s delicious and pleases everyone (except maybe people who don’t like noisy and dark places).

Sono, Brisbane city

For my first couple of years in Brisbane, my go-to Japanese restaurant was Sakura in Highgate Hill – cheap, cheerful, what more could you want? But lately I’ve started to prefer Sono. While it’s a bit more expensive, the quality is better and the lunch sets are perfect for a cheeky celebration. And they sometimes have fresh uni. FRESH. UNI. Enough said.

Bamboo Basket, South Bank

WTF is xiaolongbao and how do you have soup in a dumpling? you may ask. Until you go here, and eat one, and then your world is taken over with cravings for more. A steamed pork dumpling filled with hot soup. Eat with care. Burnt tongue or no, I’ll be back.

Movida Next Door, Melbourne

A gorgeous few days in Melbourne last autumn with the Architect. Quite a few highlights: excellent dinners at Izakaya-den, Longrain, and of course the infamous four bottles of wine between three dinner with Anna at Siglo. Wandering the laneways for hours. Coffee and crumpets with vegemite in a tiny cafe. Moseying through the National Gallery of Victoria (I can’t be the first person to point out that Victoria is not a nation…?). Sitting the Architect down and asking him to marry me. Lying on the lawn in Carlton Gardens. Looking at cute things all around Fitzroy. Breakfast with Miff and baby Jez at the markets. But one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of those few days is the Monte y mar, the pork-stuffed calamari with squid ink dressing, that we had at MoVida Next Door. Silky texture, amazing taste, washed down with sangria, shared with a lovely man. And for dessert, my first churros. Perfect.

And while we’re at it, I’m on Pinterest as well (less addicted to that, now, but it was pretty fierce for a while there).

So when you’re in a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art, what do you do? Why, you go to the lovely Museum of Traditional Folk Arts and Craft, of course! For a couple of hundred yen, we got to look at some gorgeous things, stay out of the rain, and buy some awesome craft in the gift shop. Total win.

But a bit of validation is nice from time to time. My result was:

You are not coming close to doing the work you are meant to do, nor are you making the difference you want to or are capable of making. A massive change is necessary. There are some things you can improve in your current situation, but it’s time to give serious thought to what’s next. The longer you stay in your current situation, the worse you are going to feel (and the harder it will be to leave). No one is benefiting from your work situation – not you, your employer, or the people around you.

The internet. Telling you what you want to hear since 1996.

Time for a cuppa and some Seachange, I should think.

It was easy to make, and it went down a treat. Next time, I might bake the pastry a bit longer before hand – it was a touch soft (I’m seeing a theme here – to do with my oven).

Tips for new players: the onion marmalade took a bit longer than I thought.

Will definitely make again.

Instead, I’m going to collect up a bunch of the more, ahem, mundane things (though reviewing the list, it is hard to tell the difference between those and the less mundane ones) and tick ‘em off here. As an added bonus, a snippet or two of some of the things I’ve been doing for the past year or so while I’ve been sorely neglecting my darling blog.

Make pasta from scratch: Done. A lovely engagement gift (oh yeah, BeeTeeDubs, got engaged, Imma be an Archi-wife) from a lovely family friend means I now have fresh pasta on hand whenever I get around to busting it out. Which has been exactly once, for pasta, but several times for gyoza skins. That’s a win-win, people.

Pickle 5 jars of produce from my own garden: Done. Chillies, last summer, 6 jars because I’m an overachiever. I took photos, but really, who wants to look at a photo of a jar of chillies?

Knit one other project that isn’t a scarf: This may be cheating, a bit, but I knitted squares for a baby blanket. Two blankets, actually, now that I think about the timing of this challenge. Cheating a bit because squares = not so different to scarves. But I’m counting this one as done.

Find a regular yoga class that I like: Many years ago, I took a yoga class with Gretsky. It was fun, but kind of boring, and I felt excellent afterwards, but kind of boring. That was “hatha” yoga, which is the standard, slow, hold-the-pose-for-10-breaths kind of yoga that used to get about everywhere back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Then, by chance, my boss at my first fulltime job turned out to be a yoga teacher, but of this particular kind of yoga called dru. I loved it. And have been (sporadically) doing it ever since. And in 2010 I found a dru yoga teacher in Brisvegas who is delightful, and have been absolutely dedicated in intending to go to her class. Because yoga’s all about the intention, don’tchaknow? When I do make it, I love it – but I don’t make it that often, because I’m super lazy. But – DONE.

Find a good yoga dvd and use it: Done. Aforementioned laziness being a critical reason why this was important.

Make a website: Hmmm. I’m claiming this one as done, because I made a website for the wedding (BeeTeeDubs, wedding coming up soon y’all). But it was based on a template and really not very difficult, so that’s possibly cheating a little.

Make a Europe photobook: Done. Put photos from my 2008 trip to France and Italy in a photobook. Finally. Yep. Not really much more to say about that.

Go hiking somewhere around Brisbane: I’ve been to the Bunya mountains a couple of times and gone for walks there. Done? With an option to revisit.

Act in my boss’s job: Done, and done, and done. A good way to do this is to do your boss’s job and your job at the same time. Double the fun.

Frame all my pictures: Done! I’d been putting it off for, well, ever, because of the cost. So I saved up over about a year, and then went and got everything framed. Now I can look at these beautiful things every day, instead of them being in a box. Highly recommended.

Go a month without drinking: Done. Six weeks, actually, in November 2010. Easier than I’d thought, but made it pretty clear that alcohol is fairly inextricably linked to celebration and relaxation in my life. So it was a good way to break that habit a little.

Get  a massage every month for 6 months: Done. This one was because I was generally always in pain because of shoulders or neck stuff. At the end of 2010 this got so bad I couldn’t turn my head (or sleep, or drive, or work). So I did one better than a massage – I went to an osteopath, as recommended by the Architect. He got my neck working again after two sessions, and since then has progressively been peeling back layers of tension and working out all the kinks (and keeping me up to date on political gossip).

Renovate or move: Done. Consider that I wrote the 101 things list at the end of 2009. So even then I was a bit keen to stop living in one room, it seems. Aaaand it only took us two years and a bit to find somewhere and move there. Oh well. At least it happened in the end!

Re-paint the trim in my house: Done. Turns out gorgeous many-paned charming ‘character’ windows are total shit to strip, sand and paint. Did it, and then got a stern talking to from my osteopath (lots of small, repetitive movements with my arm above my head = shoulder and neck in crisis). Looked great, though.

Sort out the window locks: Done. We got some. The Architect put them on. The end.

Write everyone’s birthdays down and try to remember them: Sort of done. I now have lots of birthdays in a spreadsheet (natch) and also in my calendar. Hooray. Now for the remembering bit!

Send Christmas cards/nengajou: Done, Christmas 2010. If you didn’t get one – sorry – turns out I was low on actual, physical addresses for people. Might do it again in a few years time. Or not.

Things might get a touch wonky as I do some maintenance stuff, so please bear with me – but it should all be back to normal soon.