+ Corridor

The recent arrival of a new bar in Newtown had my curiosity piqued from early on, and Maha and I finally snuck in a midweek visit to check out the rooftop.


I dig it very much. Nice vibe, and being only a couple doors down from Madame Fling Flongs, it's a welcome addition to the non-pub drinking holes along King St.

I got a kick out of sitting directly adjacent to the back alley sign.


The good weather called for an appropriately summery drink. But no fear, if the weather does turn, the front lounge room which looks onto King St will have you warmed up in no time I'm sure.


Corridor, 153A King St Newtown (top end, near the cnr of Missenden).

+ thunderskies

Soundtrack: Balmorhea "Bowsprit"

+ saddleback and afxjim

Notable producer and musician Tony Dupe was over round Travis' house yesterday afternoon to experiment with cello parts over some new afxjim recordings. It was hauntingly beautiful (like a young Arthur Russell!)

+ Chinese New Year 2010

Soundtrack: Onra "The Anthem"

The gods are getting their feast on, and right after so do we!!

Who doesn't love a beer to wash down all the delicious roast duck, soy chicken and roast pork?


It's hard work shelling all those prawns. And my hands are kinda smelly now. But I won't mind once they're in my belly.


All I want this year is for the good health of my family, friends and beloved.

+ food and rain, food and rain

Soundtrack: Balmorhea "The Winter"

It's raining a tonne this weekend. I'm not sure that's a good thing - being housebound while we prepare for our Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is making me very snackish. An early rise this morning to get the pre-ordered roast duck, soy chicken and roast pork was a bit like torture on the pre-breakfast drive home.

The rain-food combo makes me think of my birthday last year. It was the one day LA decided to rain while I was there, and it was glum but kinda beautiful at the same time. We didn't leave the house all day, only ducking out for cheap and tasty burritos at Tacos Por Favor and babycakes.

I got the sauteed mushroom burrito. Immense. The pickled carrots and peppers were also super tasty. As you can see I even went back for more carrots.

I ate it like the Australian sissy that I am, with knives and all.

And being my birthday, Benj wanted me to get my beloved cupcakes. Testament to its slightly bourgey character, Santa Monica has quite a number of cupcake vendors in close proximity to each other. We chose the pink frou frou-ness of Vanilla Bake Shop for my entry into babycake society there.



I was not disappointed. The texture of the vanilla cakes was particularly good - incredible crumbliness and heavily buttered.

+ Getty Center in the winter

We spent the good part of the last day of 2009 at the Getty Center, high up in the hills of Los Angeles, and probably only saw a fraction of the collections stored there. It was a battle just deciding whether to see stuff or just enjoy the lovely gardens and the spectacular views of the city. Even in winter, the sky was blue, the rays of sunshine warm and the green lawns super inviting.


As a thousand flickr photos could testify, the Getty Center is an immensely photogenic set of buildings. All those sexy lady humps and whatnot.


Benj took a good deal more photos than me, and much better looking ones for that matter. He did well to capture the many textures in the gardens.






Soundtrack: Tristeza "Castellon"

+ Malibu

According to the roadsign, on the PCH somewhere near the northern end of Santa Monica, Malibu is only a 6 mile drive away.



It felt a little further than that (though what I would know? I have no point of reference for a drive by any kind of miles) but it was still a whole lot closer than the hour long drives it takes to get from my mum and dad's to Gordon's Bay. It's close enough, is all I'm saying.



Which is a good thing, because I want to try and eat at as many different 'bu establishments along Highway 1 as I can. Places like the iconic Geoffrey's, the Malibu Beach Inn (first spied in the final episode of Entourage season 6!) and Moonshadows Blue Lounge, which first came to my attention by way of Benj.



On this day though we chose the pier as our setting.


It was quite perfect really, a super starving belly met with an almost empty restaurant (though the service was still pretty terribad) and a slowly fading sun closing in on the horizon-ocean backdrop.


Our meal was supplemented by a glamour photo shoot on the beach right below us. It took a while to discern that the possible husband-and-wife couple featured a heavily pregnant lady, dressed in various suggestive outfits, who may or may not have been in the performing arts, being directed by the photographer lady into all manner of seductive poses. It was very LA.


A solid meal later, we drove home with a spectacular orange sky following us all the way down.


Soundtrack: Real Estate "Atlantic City" (wrong coast, I know!)

+ not long to go now

In 5 weeks, my relocation to Santa Monica will actually happen. In the meantime, Benj and I have had a couple of trips together, including a christmas/birthday/new year's treat for me which ended up as a sort of pre-move scouting expedition.

Many experiences were had, food eaten, shows attended, museums visited, family members reunited - most of which was well so documented, I don't really know where to begin for this blog. Until then, enjoy a pretty scene of the neighbourhood which I'll soon be in!! It was taken at Christmas after a walk on the beach.

Also, a new addition: an accompanying song! Which you can stream whilst reading! Today's soundtrack is Early Day Miners "So Slowly".