Shoe shopping and family fun (Saturday)
We did nothing of note on Friday! Well, I took a driving lesson, I only almost killed us once... trying to overtake a slowpoke at 100 kms on the long, hilly roads of Somerville.
Saturday was shoe shopping for Bec's matrimonial extravaganza. Now Bec is very much the sort who wants both of her bridesmaids to be wearing same dress, same shoes, same nail polish... can't say I subscribe to that - my friends are individuals, and I will be treating them as such. But I am a dutiful maid of honour, and went along for the ride. It was actually kind of hassle free. Everyone was very polite about what they wanted, though I was afraid that I'd end up in sky high baby pink stillettoes. After many examples of the fact that baby pink is not the colour of the season (Bec seems surprised by this...), we decided that silver shoes would be best.
Sounds tacky, I know, but they look really nice, even on my shovel feet. Of course, we found them in the very last place we looked! Just three narrow straps cris-crossing over the front of the foot, one of them studded with diamantes. A tolerably high kitten heel, and a very reasonable price tag. I suggested that Bec have her florist include some silver ribbon in the bouquets to tie the theme together, happy days.
That night Stu and I got together with my family (Mum, Dad, John, Bec and Nathan (Bec's fiance)), for dinner at a new Chinese restaurant at the glossy entertainment precinct of downtown Karingal. The food was pretty good, but the service was awful!
We were seated on a kind of podium for larger groups, which was hidden behind a carved Chinese mirror. This meant that the waitstaff couldn't see us, and thus forgot that we had actually come to eat. After much waiting, Dad had to chase someone down to take our orders, which were supremely messed up. Stu and I had decided to share an entree dish of two steamed dumplings between us - one each. After much checking from the waitress that only one serve of two individual dumplings would arrive at our table, lo and behold, four dumplings are placed before us. Dad's meal came a good twenty minutes after all the others, and only after we enquired as to its whereabouts. Several trays of drinks were misdirected to our table which, even though we sent them back, were charged to our bill. And it was a pretty small restaurant...
We decided over dinner that we would see Charlie and the Chocolate Fatory, but not before we went to Rubee's for frozen custard. I had once read about these frozen custard shops on Gaijin Geisha (kanzashi central!), and got all excited about their low fat contents and all natural ingredients, but was realistic about the fact that I wasn't likely to see one of these places any time soon. So imagine my delight to see that this was to be a part of the suburban entertainment experience! Why they decided to establish their flagship at our end of the world is anyone's guess, but hey, I'm grateful.
This stuff is wonderful. They have base flavours of chocolate and vanilla custard, to which you add fudge flavours and/or mix ins like nuts, fruits, choc chunks, whatever. You can taste the honey and real milk in it, and the consistency is sooo smooth.
I introduced my family to it a few weeks back, when I brought some take-home packs to family dinner. The take-homes are about $13 per litre... but they are cheaper than Tutti Frutti in Mornington, where they want a whopping $26 per kilo. I just couldn't justify the expense that I would incur for our dairy friendly clan... so perhaps we'll save Tutti Frutti for an event!
I had a small one with white chocolate fudge and macadamias (leave me alone - I needed a treat!)... yuuuumm.
Then off to the movie. This new theatre prints seating allocations on the tickets, and as such, we like to sit in those given to us. Most of the time, local public moccy wearers like to plop themselves down wherever suits them, and my family puts me in charge of dispelling these heathens. If it's just Stu and I, I wouldn't bother, but when it's a larger group, and we have scored ourselves good seats, I'm prepared to state my case. This night was no exception. I felt a tiny bit bad, because they were sitting in our seats as his had Coke spilled on it, but really, they need to report those problems to management, we can't help that maintenance was poor.
Anyways, I really liked the movie... I thought the song routines were cute, imagery was inspiring, and it was great that they didn't have the great big scary ceiling fan bit, or the creepy rowboat scene. Can't say I liked the father flashbacks that Burton inserted... as Charlie says, 'Candy doesn't have to have a point', and likewise, Willy Wonka's loopy lolly love does not need justification.
My main gripe was the audio. We were in a Vmax cinema, which is meant to have a superhuge screen (which you really don't notice), but the sound system had an annoyingly obvious echo - like a one second delay, which really distracted us in parts. Boo!
But this is the same complex where the power cut out halfway through the final installment of Star Wars, in the cinema's gala opening weekend. The power was fine outside of the complex... so we went to the other cinemas 3kms away and watched it again that afternoon!
Ummm... I think that's all for Saturday.
Saturday was shoe shopping for Bec's matrimonial extravaganza. Now Bec is very much the sort who wants both of her bridesmaids to be wearing same dress, same shoes, same nail polish... can't say I subscribe to that - my friends are individuals, and I will be treating them as such. But I am a dutiful maid of honour, and went along for the ride. It was actually kind of hassle free. Everyone was very polite about what they wanted, though I was afraid that I'd end up in sky high baby pink stillettoes. After many examples of the fact that baby pink is not the colour of the season (Bec seems surprised by this...), we decided that silver shoes would be best.
Sounds tacky, I know, but they look really nice, even on my shovel feet. Of course, we found them in the very last place we looked! Just three narrow straps cris-crossing over the front of the foot, one of them studded with diamantes. A tolerably high kitten heel, and a very reasonable price tag. I suggested that Bec have her florist include some silver ribbon in the bouquets to tie the theme together, happy days.
That night Stu and I got together with my family (Mum, Dad, John, Bec and Nathan (Bec's fiance)), for dinner at a new Chinese restaurant at the glossy entertainment precinct of downtown Karingal. The food was pretty good, but the service was awful!
We were seated on a kind of podium for larger groups, which was hidden behind a carved Chinese mirror. This meant that the waitstaff couldn't see us, and thus forgot that we had actually come to eat. After much waiting, Dad had to chase someone down to take our orders, which were supremely messed up. Stu and I had decided to share an entree dish of two steamed dumplings between us - one each. After much checking from the waitress that only one serve of two individual dumplings would arrive at our table, lo and behold, four dumplings are placed before us. Dad's meal came a good twenty minutes after all the others, and only after we enquired as to its whereabouts. Several trays of drinks were misdirected to our table which, even though we sent them back, were charged to our bill. And it was a pretty small restaurant...
We decided over dinner that we would see Charlie and the Chocolate Fatory, but not before we went to Rubee's for frozen custard. I had once read about these frozen custard shops on Gaijin Geisha (kanzashi central!), and got all excited about their low fat contents and all natural ingredients, but was realistic about the fact that I wasn't likely to see one of these places any time soon. So imagine my delight to see that this was to be a part of the suburban entertainment experience! Why they decided to establish their flagship at our end of the world is anyone's guess, but hey, I'm grateful.
This stuff is wonderful. They have base flavours of chocolate and vanilla custard, to which you add fudge flavours and/or mix ins like nuts, fruits, choc chunks, whatever. You can taste the honey and real milk in it, and the consistency is sooo smooth.
I introduced my family to it a few weeks back, when I brought some take-home packs to family dinner. The take-homes are about $13 per litre... but they are cheaper than Tutti Frutti in Mornington, where they want a whopping $26 per kilo. I just couldn't justify the expense that I would incur for our dairy friendly clan... so perhaps we'll save Tutti Frutti for an event!
I had a small one with white chocolate fudge and macadamias (leave me alone - I needed a treat!)... yuuuumm.
Then off to the movie. This new theatre prints seating allocations on the tickets, and as such, we like to sit in those given to us. Most of the time, local public moccy wearers like to plop themselves down wherever suits them, and my family puts me in charge of dispelling these heathens. If it's just Stu and I, I wouldn't bother, but when it's a larger group, and we have scored ourselves good seats, I'm prepared to state my case. This night was no exception. I felt a tiny bit bad, because they were sitting in our seats as his had Coke spilled on it, but really, they need to report those problems to management, we can't help that maintenance was poor.
Anyways, I really liked the movie... I thought the song routines were cute, imagery was inspiring, and it was great that they didn't have the great big scary ceiling fan bit, or the creepy rowboat scene. Can't say I liked the father flashbacks that Burton inserted... as Charlie says, 'Candy doesn't have to have a point', and likewise, Willy Wonka's loopy lolly love does not need justification.
My main gripe was the audio. We were in a Vmax cinema, which is meant to have a superhuge screen (which you really don't notice), but the sound system had an annoyingly obvious echo - like a one second delay, which really distracted us in parts. Boo!
But this is the same complex where the power cut out halfway through the final installment of Star Wars, in the cinema's gala opening weekend. The power was fine outside of the complex... so we went to the other cinemas 3kms away and watched it again that afternoon!
Ummm... I think that's all for Saturday.
posted by Janet | 12:14 pm
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