The 6050

SUMMER

2011-03-21T07:33:00.001-07:00

The Grosvenor Project

2011-03-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

About three weeks ago I moved house, into my first share house in 4 years. I'm still in the 6050 though! It was quite an adjustment going from my old place, a tiny two bedroom apartment on the third floor right next to Beaufort street, to this big house. There is so. much. space. in this house. My room is enormous, with high ceilings, long sash windows and a mantlepiece- and i love it.

I'm a little apprehensive still about the concept of being back in a sharehouse after living alone or with a boyfriend for a while... but my housemates, C and K, are total babes so it should be ok.

One thing we all have in common is we can all cook and it became very apparent when we moved in - we have so much kitchen stuff! Pretty much anything we could need for any recipe we have; hand blenders, cast iron grills, rose shaped cake moulds, a bundt tin, bread maker, huge soup pots, millions of plates and bowls. We even had to store some wine and champagne glasses in the laundry because of space issues! I feel that all of this is a good sign.

I'll post some pics of the house and my room soon, when I get time to take some. With uni being back I'm a bit preoccupied - I'm determined to stay on top of all of my readings this semester!

GIOVANNA

2010-07-12T05:32:00.001-07:00

Giovanna Battaglia is too chic for words. Such good use of colour, so well considered. She always looks professional and put together.

photos: jakandjil, the sartorialist.

Gill Spills Dud Rudd

2010-06-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is a bit outside the usual realm of this blog (that is, Beyonce clips and home-cooking) but today is an important day and one I feel strongly about so here we are. This morning Kevin Rudd, once the most popular PM in Australian history, stood aside as Prime Minister rather than face a leadership ballot. His deputy, Julia Gillard, will take on the prime ministership from today. She is Australia's first female Prime Minister. What remains to be seen is whether this controversial leadership spill will be able to do what it is aiming to do, and that is to bring home the election for Labor.

As proud as I am for her, I would not want to be in Gillard's position right now.

Kevin Rudd is the only PM in australian history to have been rolled by his party before the end of his first term. Imagine the humiliation for the Labor party if Julia Gillard was the historic first female PM, only to be beaten by Tony Abbott at the polls. It would be one step forward and two steps back, and it is a valid fear. She was elected this morning in the caucus room, and not by the people. Although for many of us she provides a real and powerful alternative to the previous options for leader, in that she is not a heavily Christian family man with conservative social values getting in the way of everything, there are plenty for whom that is not important enough. She may win back the lady voters, yes, but there are plenty of people who still feel let down by the ETS backdown, the Mining Super Tax (and its advertising) and the insulation scandal. These people may continue to oppose the party, regardless of its leader.

What Gillard has now is a great opportunity to use this early position as PM. She has some time now, while she is popular and enjoys a mostly favourable press, to show Australia that she intends to continue to do what she has been doing. If she can continue to focus more on acheiving results than pandering to the news cycle, whilst still capably dealing with media when neccessary, she should be able to go strongly into the election. If she can avoid the mistakes of Kevin Rudd: backing down on critical issues on which Labor was elected, bottlenecking progress by micromanaging, and being generally strange and awkward with the press, she should by rights be a very formidable challenge for Abbott and the Liberals.

In terms of the media relationship; Gillard has always seemed a more genuine and authentic personality than Rudd. While he has tried to bloke it up for the cameras with numerous embarrassing consequences such as the now famous "fair shake of the sauce bottle", Julia has shown humour, wit and patience in her dealings with even the most trying interviewers. She has a slightly stiff, formal way about her, but after all, she is a politician. Politicians should be smart, and I for one am much more interested in what smart people say than how many colloquialisms they use while saying it. And still, somehow she has always come off the much more relatable one anyway.

Gillard still has a bit of a fight to overcome the prejudice about a woman running the country. Personally I have no doubt she will continue to hold herself well in the face of criticism. She has, at times, had to put up with more than is fair. In her interview with Australian Story in 2006, she said she felt that the fact that her older sister dropped out of university to have kids while she powered on and stayed de facto and childless would never have been an issue were she a man. This was utterly heartbreaking to me, and seemed to show that the country's attitudes, the often pointed criticisms she has faced, do have an impact on her. She is right. It should be completely irrelevant.

She will have a powerful effect on young women like myself, women who are educated and in no hurry to marry and leave the workforce. I breathed a sigh of relief today, for once again a feel I am represented in a major party. Both Rudd and Abbott have brought their personal conservatism into what are, in my opinion, totally irrelevant areas (the Bill Henson "debate", wherein Rudd profoundly declared his disgust over an art exhibition he hadn't even seen, was a low point). Also, Abbott's declaration that his daughter's virginity is a "precious gift" still makes me nauseous. Here now, we have a woman who has taken control of her own life, worked incredibly hard and become very successful by doing so. She does not have children, but that is a decision she apparently made as young as 18. The childlessness issue always confuses and angers me because I am sure she would be damned (in certain circles) if she did, and damned (as she has been) if she didnt.

Gillard has said herself she did not feel she wanted to have children because she is so focused and single minded. She wanted to focus her life on the law and politics. This is a consequence of a direct decision she made, which can not be said of male ministers who always have the option to have their wives have the babies while they have the career. Indeed this is practically a requirement for political life in this and many other countries. That is not to say that a female with children shouldn't be able to be PM. But Gillard has made her decisions. She does not measure herself by her children, or her husband's succcess or her sexual attractiveness. She has carved out a great career for herself, and now, a place in the history books. The ALP have measured her on her merits and made her their leader, and in time, hopefully, Australia will do the same.

Perhaps the ALP will take advantage of some of this momemtum (and the fact that they are up against Abbott) and address issues concerning women in Australia in the lead up to the election. I am well aware that they also might choose not to do this for exactly the reason that while Australia might elect a woman as PM, they might be more reluctant about an unmarried, childless, woman pushing a whole bunch of socially liberal ideas. We as a country seem to have lost the taste for socially liberal ideas. Gillard needs to somehow walk a line where women voters trust she will attend to our concerns, while also taking on the big-boy election issues such as the mining tax and the ETS.

While it is a great day to be a young woman in this country, it is one which means the beginning of a tough and interesting lead in to what will surely be a fascinating election. Although I am proud today, I will be prouder when I know that there's a woman in the top job because we, the people of Australia, truly believe she is the best one for the job.

Doubles, anyone?

2010-05-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

Apartment inspiration

2010-05-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

I don't usually like modern bedrooms that much (mainly because I know I'd never have a chance in hell of keeping it clean), but this one is so warm and lovely. Love the painted "bedhead" with the shelf above it.

As if i didn't already wish i had a white, light, modern NY apartment. this place is just perfect.

pics from apartment therapy

She. Just. Keeps. Getting. It. Right.

2010-05-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

Late Night Ragu

2010-05-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a decent cook, but I still always feel like there a few really important gaps in my cooking knowledge. Like I'm not really great with meat. I can marinade and grill and roast and sort of stir fry, but I don't do huge chunks of meat and I don't do slow cooking.

I've never made a ragu. I feel like it is really the sort of thing i should get my head around.
This seemed like an easy one. It comes from one of those Coles "Feed your family for under $10" booklets. Gravy beef is good like that, I got my 500g piece for about $5. It turned out really well, very rich meaty flavour. I think it will become a part of my weekday meal rotation. It's low maintenance because it takes so long to stew the meat down. I came back from a late uni meeting the other night and chucked it on while I ate my dinner. A few readings for the next day, a shower and then it was stewed down and ready to go in the fridge for the next night after work! Super organised.

Serves 4

Ingredients
500g Gravy beef, left whole
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into large dice
1 large brown onion, cut into large dice
2 celery sticks, cut into large dice
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
400g can of diced tomatoes
3 cup beef stock (although I actually used 4 cups)
1 pinch fresh thyme (I didn't have any but it didn't seem to matter)
500g penne or rigatoni pasta
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Heat a large heavy based saucepan over medium high heat. Season the beef with salt and pepper on all sides and brown the meat in 1 tbsp of the oil in the hot pan for 2-3 mins on each side, or until golden. Remove beef to a plate.
2. Add remaining oil and cook the carrot, onion, celery and garlic, stirring constantly for 3 mins or until slightly softened. Add the tomatoes, stock, thyme, and return the beef to the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 2-2 ½ hours, or until the beef is fork tender. Remove the thyme.
3. Remove pan from the heat, remove the beef from the braising liquid and gently break the meat apart with your hands or 2 forks, discarding any sinew or fat. Place the liquid and vegetables into a food processor and blend until smooth. The sauce should be completely smooth, thin out with a little water if necessary. Return the meat to the sauce.
4.Cook the rigatoni according to packet directions. Toss the pasta with the sauce over low heat, season to taste with salt and pepper and divide the pasta evenly between 4 serving bowls. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Yum!

picture: coles-feed-your-family.com.au

1960s Lounge Rooms

2010-05-04T03:42:00.000-07:00

I love 1960s interiors so much.

These pictures are from the archives of the American Home Beautiful magazine. I paricularly love the touches of blue in the bottom picture. I always used to hate blue as an interiors colour but since Mad Men i have reconsidered. Pale blue and duck egg blue go so amazingly with other colours I love like coral and cherry red. I saw a set of armchairs and sofa at Good Sammys in Morley the other week like the armchair in the second photo. perfect condition too.

Oh, if only I had the space! Damn apartment living.

This is so true.

2009-11-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

I bought this book last week Apply Within: Stories of career sabotage by some girl called Michaela McGuire. And, well, I guess the moral of this post is don't buy books that were 'reviewed' in Frankie. I thought I'd get it because the girl is a similar age to me, obviously had a kind of similar life, and it's published by MUP so I just figured I'd suss out the competish. But I mostly bought it because I was feeling pretty shitty about my job so I thought it might make me feel better.

It didn't. It just made me realise the likelihood that if I leave this shitty job I will just get an equally shitty one somewhere else.

ANYWAY.

The point is, this following quote is very true of how I feel right now. I work in sales too, and I'm losing my mind over the emphasis on hitting targets. I don't know what else I can do, short of actually tying people down, taking out their credit cards, and making them buy clothes.

"There was a moment when it could have gone either way, but then everything bowed to one side and whatever enthusiasm I once had for sales folded in on itself and wilted at the pith. I knew that I wouldn't survive having my fortune pinned to the whims of others."

RIP Daul Kim

2009-11-21T04:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a person who gets affected by the deaths of celebrities, but I was so sad to hear about this yesterday. I found I still feel sad today, so I thought I'd blog about it.

I was an avid reader of her blog, I Like To Fork Myself. It was the best of the model blogs in my opinion. It was such a good mix of stuff about her work but also about her thoughts. It was never pretentious, and it was very revealing.
She wrote with such honesty about art and fashion and life and everything.
Just from reading her blog it's obvious she was a very intelligent person. Unfortunately, as we have seen before, it is often those people with the greatest desire to know and understand the world that are the most susceptible to the darkest thoughts.

It is so terribly sad. For a person that young, with so much going for them and so much potential in their future, to not see enough worth in going on with their life is a great tragedy. It's also a reminder to all that all the parties and the designer clothes and the paris apartments in the world aren't enough, sometimes.

RIP Daul, say hi to forever.

Hons and Counter-Hons

2009-11-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Dad gave me Jessica Mitford's memoir Hons and Rebels: The classic memoir of one of last century's most extraordinary families on Sunday for my birthday. I haven't been able to get to reading too much this week, what with everything going on, but it is a really hilarious, laugh out loud book (as much as I hate that term). Even though you already know much of the story from Nancy's books, like The Pursuit of Love, it's nice to have a different perspective. The Mitford humour is obviously genetic, as Jessica's recollections are easily as wittily written as her sister's work.

I've read The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, and Hons and Rebels is really making me want to put Nancy's other books on my reading list. Not just her fiction but also her historical biographies, and her U and Non-U essay from Noblesse Oblige.

Nancy was so glamourous too, and always dressed in Lanvin and Dior, which is probably another reason why I love her so much!

It's pathetic and affected of me I know, but I really do wish I had been born a Mitford.

Beyonce does it again

2009-11-19T06:18:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure, I'm a pretty big Beyonce fan already (I squeezed my way to the front at her concert and was rewarded by Beyonce herself high fiving me on her way past) but the new "Videophone" clip feat. Lady Gaga is just, whoa.

It's nuts.

For starters: multi colour plastic machine guns, and dudes with giant cameras for heads.

Secondly, it's got all my favourite Beyonces; sassy-fetish-plait Beyonce, (a la "Upgrade U" and "Green Light"), slo-mo-urban-hero Beyonce (like "Diva"), retro-chair-dancing Beyonce (as seen in the "Ego" clip) and BK-homegirl Beyonce not really seen since the likes of "Soldier" back in the Destiny's Child days.

And now there's a new edition to the collection: hypercolour retro remix pin-up girl Beyonce. Betty Page hair? Multicolour sequin hotpants? Giant plastic gun? Yes please. This is my favourite Beyonce yet.

Jackson's

2009-09-10T19:38:00.001-07:00

Since it's raining and horrible today I thought now would be a good time to finally blog about the delicious meal I had at Jackson's a couple of weeks ago.

Although I like to think I keep up with what's going on in the restaurant scene around Perth, I'd shamefully never been to Jackson's. (I haven't been to Star Anise either, shh) My modest salary doesn't really leave room for extravagant meals very often. Luckily I wasn't paying that night. The meal was an anniversary present from my boyfriend, a perfect choice because the anniversary gave us an excuse to lash out and go the whole hog: the degustation with matched wines.

Even though we live just around the corner, we arrived slightly late for our booking, due in part to trying to avoid the rain on our walk. The Jackson's staff politely showed us to our table and whisked away umbrellas and coats, which I love. Service in restaurants of this nature can make me feel uncomfortable in it's formality, all that hand-behind-the back, push-your-chair-in-for-you-madam stuff. Throughout the whole evening I found all the Jackson's staff completely natural and totally efficient. They were good at answering questions too, which I also love. They asked us when we came in if it was a special occasion- understandable really. The whole place was full of couples and two birthday parties of four. It is obviously a big place for celebrations. Our cocktail orders taken, we were left alone to ponder our choice of mains.

The degustation menu said it was seven courses, but there were three complimentary courses too, including truffled scrambled egg, which seemed a little bit gratuitous with two other truffled courses - a carpaccio with truffle dressing and a truffle risotto - on the menu proper. Manjimup truffles being in season, of course they were trying to showcase them, and I do like truffle. It's a small criticism but I couldn't help feeling that they needn't have bothered.

We started with the venison carpaccio with truffle dressing and a delicious, coleslaw-type salad, perfectly crisp and crunchy against the silky slivers of meat. This was followed by what I think was the highlight of these early courses: blue ridge marron with soy noodles in a citrus dressing. The orange-citrus flavour of the dressing kept the marron flavour clear and the noodles had just enough bite, and were evenly coated in dressing. It was a tiny delight. "Seabass with piggy bits and peas" was less appealing in texture, although the flavours were well balanced. I'm not sure I wasn't just put off by the description. The spanish verdejo that was matched with this course was fantastic, however. It was a Bodegas Angel Rodriguez “Martinsancho” 2007 .

Mains were a choice of Ranger Valley angus with bearnaise (Mr 6050) and what was described as "turnip crumble duck breast" (me). The steak was delicious with a masterful bearnaise and right up Mr 6050s alley. My duck turned out to be a pile of tender sliced glazed duck breast with cranberries and a small ramekin of turnip gratin with a crumble topping. I was a little perplexed by this arrangement: although the turnip gratin was great when paired with the succulent duck breast, I felt like something in the presentation made this dish seem like two smaller dishes rather than a cohesive main. I resisted the urged to scoop out the gratin and put it onto the plate though.

There were two desert courses: a saffron poached pear (refreshing after the main but not remarkable- a restaurant of this standard should be able to do a good poached pair, and is) and a dish of "beetroot and chocolate". The beetroot came in the form of a hot pink beetroot icecream, the chocolate in a rich chocolate sponge with Stilton cream filling. I'll admit to being a bit of an amateur when it comes to savoury ingredients in deserts, but I really liked this. The Stilton opened the nasal passages to allow the dense chocolate flavour to be better appreciated; the sweetness came from the beetroot icecream. I could definitely have gone for more of the sponge though. "Happy Anniversary" was piped across the bottom of our plates in chocolate- slightly cheesy but then celebrating anniversarys in restaurants you normally can't afford is slightly cheesy too, but still worth doing!

We were at Jackson's for three and a half hours altogether. We had a cocktail each to begin and the degustation with wine is $175pp, so the bill came to just under $400. We staggered home as the rain began steadily falling again, to sleep off all that wonderful food, and I was so glad that I, at least, didn"t have to get up early for work the next day.

Jackson's is at 483 Beaufort Street Mount Lawley (opposite the Beaufort Street Merchant). You can call them at (08)93281177.

Hello.

2009-09-10T19:31:00.001-07:00

hello and welcome to the 6050!

i live in the 6050, mount lawley western australia, and this is a blog for mount lawley, the city, and the inner northern suburbs. it's an effort to get me to explore where i live a bit more and prevent me going to the same places all the time. hopefully you'll enjoy reading it as much as i'm sure i'll enjoy writing it!

posts will be tagged by their postcodes as well as their subjects, so that you readers can quickly find info about whichever suburb you're exploring! enjoy.

xx 6050