Beyond My Control

Sydney

I've been in Sydney the last few days.  My 5th trip there this year, having not been there for several years previous. 

My previous trips this year have all been measured in hours rather than days, however this time around I was there from Tuesday through Saturday, so it felt like a more substantial visit even if I did spend 90% of it in my hotel/conference venue.

I don't dislike Sydney - both my Dad and my brother lived there for some time though both gratefully returned to Melbourne - but I really wouldn't want to live there.  And not just because of a humidity (thank goodness for air-conditioned hotel rooms).

So, I am firmly in the Melbourne camp in the Sydney-Melbourne debate.

I have, however, decided that there are three things Sydney definitely does better than Melbourne.  In order of importance:

1.    the David Jones shoe department.  I have hopes this may change with the Melb DJs reno, but really the whole floor Sydney department leaves Melbourne's for dead, and always has even before Melbourne's got squashed into a corner during the re-build.  Which is probably good for my wallet. 

2.    the Taxis.  Not the service, necessarily - finding a taxi on a hot Friday afternoon with the threat of a storm is just as impossible as in Melbourne and had me very glad I wasn't trying to get to the airport like many of my colleagues - but the cars.  They all seem to be big air-conditioned, nicely detailed cars or brand new hybrids.  No crummy old Falcons with door handles that come off in my hand when I close the door.

3.    the View.  Especially driving over the Bridge in the back of a large, leather-seated, air-conditioned, neat and clean taxi.

Random #763

If there's anything I'm close to being OCD-ish about it's about going to bed with clean feet. 

If I've been wearing socks all day then usually I'm fine, but if I've been wearing sandals or open-toed shoes or shoes with no socks or stockings, or if my feet have been bare for even an hour before bed - no matter how clean the floor - then I absolutely, absolutely have to wash my feet before I can go to bed.  They can be perfectly clean in reality, but they still feel totally uncomfortable.  Must be washed.

Random #10

Not just random because it's out of order (translation: sometimes I can't count).

I have some quite particular views when it comes to...lasagne.

For me to like a lasagne it must be - and I realise this is sacrilege to many, and perhaps renders it "un-lasagne" - free of bechamel sauce. 

I think this is because when my mother made it when I was young she could, quite reasonably, never be bothered doing that bit and used cheese instead.  When she started to bother later I used to complain.  Also because as a general rule I don't like creamy food.

I like layers of pasta, cheese - preferably more than one, I usually make it with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella - and meat in fairly equal proportions.  I want to see the meat - cooked with some chunky tomato and a good splash of red wine - layers, not just a dark line between the pasta.

I found it amusing a few years ago when I was on a diet kick and looking at 'low fat' recipes and found a low fat recipe for lasagne which was pretty much exactly as I already made it.   Which is not low fat, but still.

The other thing about lasagne and me is that I require a condiment to go with it.  Balsamic vinegar.  I suspect this tradition came from once splashing balsamic on a side salad and having it mix with the lasagne and now that's the only way I eat it.

Meaty, cheesy, un-bechamel lasagne with a side salad of lettuce, tomato and spring onions splashed all over with balsamic.  Yum.

Random #12

I am unreasonably fond of chopping up food with scissors. 

Spring Onions. 

Crispy pita bread or tortillas for salad or soup.  

I can't immediately think of anything else, but I'm sure it will come to mind after I press "publish".

ETA: Herbs!

Not Entirely Random #11

I never bet on the Melbourne Cup. 

I never bet on anything, actually. 

My entire engagement with gambling consists of buying the odd lottery ticket - maybe once every couple of months - and I think I played 10c pokies at Jupiters on the Gold Coast for 5 minutes once in the early 90s.  Oh, and the office footy tipping competition, but that's a social event really.  

I do go in the Cup Sweep if we have one, which this year we didn't, but my not betting on the Cup seems to drive people a bit mad.  My mother - not otherwise a gambler - used to insist on putting 50c on a horse for me every year even though I had no interest in it at all. 

I'll watch the race, in all likelihood, but to betting on the horses I say a hearty: Meh.