It happened to me again...

a found a bug in my drinking water.

 

I only found the bug AFTER I had consumed approx 1L of the water- I have a 1.5L bottle.

and also after I had my lunch.

 

Feel sick.

When someone mentions "Preston", the first thing that comes to people's mind who know of the area think of 2 things:

1. Northland Shopping Centre and

2. Preston Markets.

However, one of Preston's best kept secrets is not the shopping centre or the crazy people you have to deal with at the markets during the week but:

Jackson Dodds (611 Gilbert Rd Preston) itself.  If it weren't for Urbanspoon itself, I don't think I would have visited this place and stumble upon the Northern Suburbs perhaps best kept secret in terms of places that serve a decent breakfast. 

Jackson Dodds, is a corner cafe, with some really crazy artwork on the side wall. Outside dining is available and there's no nice view to be had. You're looking at either a petrol station or into other shops and look at people catching the tram. The outside dining is obviously people who want to enjoy the weather or can't help polluting their lungs PLUS the inside of the cafe itself is relatively small and wouldn't be able to seat everybody otherwise.

 

 

 

Some of the reasons as to why I like Jackson Dodds:

- the staff are friendly

-the service is pretty prompt (although sometimes coffee can take awhile to come out but as busy as they are, I can understand)

-the food is fresh and extremely tasty

 On my last visit, I ordered a chai latte, which I quite enjoyed. It wasn't too milky, too hot or too "cinamonny" (if you know what I mean)

My sister had the "seasoned avocado" with poached eggs and bacon on multi- grain bread. I can tell you the seasoned avocado was a MAJOR hit with MR_54632 and I suspect this will now be his brunch choice from now on. The avocado was nicely seasoned and made the dish a whole LOT tastier.

Mr_54632 had the "Big Breakfast" with haloumi, bacon, spinach, poached egg on toast- I'm not a fan of all that bacon nor am I a fan of the spinach. But if it's for you because you're really hungry OR hungover- this is the dish

and I had the Eggs Benedict with haloumi that I ordered on the side.

 

I can tell you- I LOVE Eggs Benedict, it's usually my dish of choice and if a place stuffs that up- I would NEVER ever eat breakfast there again. It's also one of the easiest dishes to stuff up because it's not exactly easy to make (because I can't make it myself). There have been times when I've been served up up egg that's bordelining a "hard yolk", it's supposed to be runny. It's to say, all of our poached eggs were nice and runny.But it's not just the runny yolk that's a problem. The hollandaise sauce can be a BIG hit and miss. There have been places where the sauce has been too runny, tasteless or bitter. Jackson Dodds gets the combination right (well for me anyway) and I've enjoyed the consistency that comes out time and time again.

 

 

 I'm not surprised that a place that's located in such a weird location is completely packed (I've visited all hours of the day) and constant stream of customers. If you serve up good food and good coffee then the masses will come- it doesnt matter where you are, and even if the parking can be a bit hard to find at times. 

It may not be as chic as Auction Rooms/Hardware Societe/ 3 bags full/St Ali but heck, those places aren't trading in an odd area such as Preston. 

For us, it's a great find... and it gives us hope that the Northern Suburbs isn't falling behind everywhere else.

 

 

I've worked in so many different offices over the years. The one thing I've learnt is that people in general are slobs, or become slobs when they're at work. I've worked with so many people who for whatever reason lack the skills to go to the kitchen to clean their dishes. I've always wondered how these people lived at home, surely they don't leave their dirty dishes lying around their house to rot or in the sink for days on end? However, You will definitely either work with or have come across someone like this:

 

• There are some who leave their dirty cups, plates, forks and the like on their desks- crusting and having a germ build up that it's so bad where you those utensils are just thrown out. Yup, I've worked with one place where that actually happened. NOBODY wanted to clean it.
• Then you got the hoarder who never washes but goes into the kitchen for a new plate, a new cup... and by the end of the week, half the kitchen is sitting on their desk and there's nothing left for anyone else to use. All this imbecile had to do was wash the current ones after use. I call them the selfish hoarder
• You've also got the guy/girl who have the right intention who bring their dirty dishes to the kitchen and leave at on the sink (if there's no dishwasher) for someone else to wash on their behalf (WTF?). I once worked with a guy who did this and everybody around him would wash his dirty dishes. Then one day we were so fed up, that we refused to wash it anymore. It was left for 4 weeks by the kitchen sink unwashed- which is just as bad as the moron that leaves it at their desk and having the dishes thrown out anyway.
• Or the person who leaves it at the sink (and there is a dishwasher) and can't bring themselves to press a button and open the door to the dishwasher to put it inside so that it can be washed.
• Or you get the bozo that does do the washing but does a really poor job at it, so the next user finds yesterday's meal still stuck or a lipstick stain still on the mug.. ARGHZ- i dont know why these people even bother

Yes, even when there is a dishwasher where it means NOBODY has to wash, people are lazy. Nobody wants to press the button and add the detergent to wash it because it means someone has to "empty" the dishwasher after it's cleaned.

 

When I first started working, I thought it was just the ONE workplace that had this dire problem, but it's not. It's widespread- if you work, and there's a kitchen facility then these problems exists. It used to frustrate me to no end because i wash after each use (and properly) and always be one who end up giving in (after trying to ignore the problems) and end up either doing the washing or organizing the dishwasher and clearing it out.

However, this one takes the cake:

I have never seen so many dishes left beside a kitchen- and yes this place has a dishwasher. Apparently the staff are so lazy (at this one particular workplace) that the cleaners go around to the desks to pick up the dirty dishes/cups and wash it for them...and do the washing for them too.

 

-_-

Disgraceful

 

On Saturday, Mr_54632 and my younger sister went to "brunch" together (a food blog will surely follow).

We sat on a long "shared" table where there were 3 people at the other end and we sat at the other end. My sister and I noticed 3 menus on the table (with nobody sitting there) and assumed that they were to be shared, so we were just looking at them. Then one of the bimbos at the other end pipped up and said to us quite rudely "excuse me, there are 3 people who are going to be there", so we quickly put them back.

There's ALWAYS a way to deliver such a statement without offending other people, and the way the bimbo sitting with her 2 friends had delivered it to us was definitely not the way it should have been said.

In fact, it wouldn't have hurt even if we were looking at the menus considering that we had ordered our meals even before their friends rocked up.

What was MORE insulting was they didn't even order anything. These bozos of 6 couldn't work out whether or not they were going to sit there and eat their food or go outside and enjoy the sunshine. In the end, they ended up leaving. 

 

I wished I had told the girl off when she was so rude to us but i didn't get the chance and it annoyed me to no end. I hate being treated poorly by others just because they for whatever reason left their manners at home or were never taught any manners or learnt to be nice.

I was so agitated by the experience that I was bitching about them out loud to my sister and to Mr_54632 about how nasty those bimbos were and how they could have been a lot nicer to us. Unbeknown to me, one of the bimbos was standing near us (waiting to pay) and would have heard my entire diatribe. yes, that will teach me to bitch behind someone's back again -_-

But you know what? I don't feel half as bad as I normally would, actually i don't feel bad at all for saying those things out loud because frankly, I should have told them off when I had the chance, but it was EVEN better than not telling them off directly. 

My sister and Mr_54632 knew that the girl was there but didn't say anything to me and they watched her wince as I kept raving on about how much of a dumbass they were.

-_-

 

We suspect that the bimbo would have gone back to her friends and would said "you know those 2 asian chicks on the table with us? they are such bitches!!!! guess what they were saying about us"

Yeh, that's life. The difference was, I got what I wanted in the end.

 

-_- LOL- yes not my proudest moment.

 

 

 

I have heard great things about The Merrywell (Cnr Clarendon St & Crown Riverside Southbank), many of my friends have raved on about the lovely food that comes out of the kitchen-

Some friends of mine had decided that this was going to be our "hangout" for our big reunion of sorts. Unfortunately my friend had tried to book a table downstairs but we were squished (there were 12 of us)  in a corner upstairs sitting around small little tables which were more fit for a "drink out" than to have dinner.

Being seated upstairs also meant that we had a very limited menu than what we would had eaten downstairs. Whilst we waited, Mr_54632 shared an entree size of their lobster rolls (2 came out)- and yes, once again i forgot to take a photo. If you've ever had the pleasure to eat at Golden Fields, let me tell you this- The Merrywell will surely disappoint. The ones we had could not compare to the ones at Golden Fields. However, if these were your first time, they were pretty good.

 

 

 

My sincere apologies for the poor photo quality. Being upstairs meant that there wasn't a lot of lighting and i didn't want to blind my friends by taking photos. You might ask "What on earth is that?". This is the Merrywell's version of Ribs, the thing on the side is corn with a slice of watermelon and there was coleslaw too (hidden behind the watermelon)- i know i know, it's almost impossible to make out what everything is. (I told you before, I fail at photo taking)...

The serving size was very generous. I really enjoyed the corn where it was very nicely flavoured and had a lot of cheese (only on one side), I didn't have the watermelon but found it strange seeing it there. 

This main costs me $35. It was by far the worst spent meal I spent that night, Was it that bad? Yes, the ribs were extremely dry, felt like eating chipboard with a lot of bbq sauce. I guess if I paid $8 for this huge meal, I would have shrugged my shoulders, but it was $35 and I expected a lot better than overcooked ribs and coleslaw that looked like it came from KFC. Actually, I take that back, the coleslaw from KFC would have been and tasted fresher. My coleslaw, like the ribs had probably been sitting around for a LONG time and tasted stale. 

That's probably where my mistake was- The Merrywell is apparently famous for some of the best burgers around town, except I ordered ribs. In saying that- the UPSTAIRS "pub grub" had very limited amount of "burgers", so you really can't blame me.

I've had a lot of bad meals in the past, not so many where I walked away not only hungry(because I did this time) but having to seek an alternative meal afterwards. I'm sad to say this but the Maccas at Crown served a much better fare than the crap that Merrywells coughed up that same night. And it costs 2/3's less for the crap I ate that night. It says a LOT about a place where I had to find "fast food" outlets to fill me up. I can tell you- something like this hasn't happened for a VERY long time- okay maybe there was this one time where my friends and I went to this apparent "hot pot" place and we ended up at Supper Inn for dinner (but that was a bizarre experience altogether).

 

 

A couple of things really annoyed me that night besides the food:

1. My friend did try to book a table for downstairs, however the Merrywell stuffed up our booking and were unable to place on a table downstairs. According to them, they weren't just double booked, they were "triple booked". The guys at Merrywell, were really lucky that it was my friend they were talking to because if that was me being told that a restaurant such as this had "triple booked", I would have not been as accomodating OR nice because frankly WE, as patrons had done the right thing and BOOKED a table ahead of time. It's not our fault that the staff are so incompetent that they don't even know how to work a reservation system. How on earth can you "triple" book a restaurant? It doesn't take Einstein to work out "if the Merrywell can fit i.e 100 people, then we can only have 100 booked in at any one time", so how they end up tripling that is beyond me (in the example I've given, some moron at The Merrywells would have accepted 300 spots for 100 spots- yes WTF). It's not a VERY good excuse to tell your patrons who do the right thing, because it just screams out "we're incompetent and we're stupid" all in one go.

2. I have to admit, the staff were really attentive, they was always someone around who we could flag down when we needed- which is a good thing. You can't fault service like that. I was however annoyed with one particular staff member who after giving us our mains, immediately came over and asked us "how are your meals today". (Personally this is a pet hate of mine- I get that restaurants want to know what their patrons think of their meals, or to be seen as "caring" but I find it intrusive, but I never make a deal about it because the staff are only doing their jobs). The problem was, we hadn't even started eating, so i turned around to the waitress and said "actually, im not sure, because we haven't started yet". The waitress could have said- "sorry" but instead her response was "that's because you're talking so much" W T F. What kind of response is that? So what if we all sat there and talked each other's ear off. Who the hell did she think she was. I didn't respond- people like this aren't just worth your breath.

 

I haven't yet tried the "downstairs" section of The Merrywells, and many of my friends assure me that it's much better food than the crap they serve upstairs. Yes- note to all readers, don't BOTHER with eating upstairs. It's clearly a "bar" upstairs where a lot of people come to have a good time. It's an awesome place to sit back, listen to awesome music they have playing, or hang out near the bar. Although I'm not sure if I want to be coming back in a hurry, especially if I have to go Maccas afterwards.

 

Whenever I have to catch up with friends on Victoria Street, Richmond... for whatever reason, we always end up at Ha Long Bay (82 Victoria St Richmond).

I like going there because the food is pretty consistent, the service is quick and the food cheap. In saying this, 90% of the restaurants between Hoddle Street to Church Street are pretty much "same same" and "not that different" other than the layout and how loud the waiters yell out orders/commands to one another.

A friend- Mr. S, who I hadn't seen for awhile was quite happy to catch up at the normal "meeting point"

 

 

For entrees, we ordered a serving of rice paper rolls (prawn and pork)- a serving comprises of 4.  They're the standard run of the mill rice paper rolls, but at least they rice vermicelli wasn't dry (basically old noodles) or under cooked (you'd be surprised how many places do this). By the time I remembered that I needed to take a photo of the dish, I had already stomached it. 

However I did remember to take a photo of our mains:

We ordered - salt and pepper squid and Mongolian Beef. I really enjoyed the salt and pepper squid. It's got just about the right flavouring. Some places make it too bland, others compensate by over salting. I was however disappointed with the Mongolian Beef- it was a tad too sweet. However both dishes complimented each other as one was too saucy and the other not.

One gripe I always have with these types of restaurants- mainly Vietnamese/ Chinese kind is that there is always too MANY onions. I don't know how many people LOVE onions but when the dish is full of it- it's sickening. 

For 2 people, we did pretty well and managed to finish all of it.

 

However, one of the things I do LOVE about dining at Vietnamese restaurants is not for the food -(I can get that at home). No, I have a LOVE for the custard apple smoothie (I know it's from a can when it's out of season) but there's it's sweet and refreshing! Great for dessert and a beverage. Everytime I order it with a "non" Vietnamese person, many of my friends will go "what the heck is that?" and once they try- they all want one too. 

 

One thing that's consistent about Ha Long Bay is they WILL always take forever to bring my "custard apple" drink. Sometimes I'm lucky and I get it before my entrees, once I've received it just as desserts was rolling about. Many other Vietnamese eateries are able to dish this drink out fairly quickly- find can, open with can opener, add into the blender with ice. Blend and serve. Ha Long Bay- not so much.

 

The service at Ha Long Bay is somewhat haphazard too, but it's to be expected. The food is cheap therefore you're not paying for service. They're not so much as rude,  just not attentive. If you were after attentiveness then cheap eats at Vietnamese restaurants shouldn't be your thing. You should be glad that the waiters can communicate in English well  enough to take your order from the standard menu. If your requests becomes complicated i.e you're allergic to something, and glucose intolerant then don't be surprised if the food comes out as is and nothing changes.

What i do like about Ha Long Bay besides the speedy service- don't be surprised to find the food coming your way just moments you've ordered it, is that they allow you to sit with your guests and have a long gasbag. They're not really going to push you out- like many of the restaurants I've experienced at in the past. I have been there once where we had arrived at 6pm as a group and left at close to closing time (11pm). 

 

One other thing- if you do visit, make sure you have some good sturdy shoes on, the floor near the toilets are extremely sleepy. It's almost like someone had spilt grease just for shits and giggles. Over the years, I have almost slipped (in the many different shoes- including sneakers)

 

 

On Wednesday I decided to keep a "toilet log" and this is how many times I went to the toilet during my working day:

10.28am

10.46am

11.07am

11.40am

11.56am

12.06pm

1.37pm

2.02pm

2.41pm

4:55pm

 

 

I normally visit the ladies a tad MORE than normal- in the past I was so concerned I went to the doctors worried that something was wrong with me. I had no infection- just a weak bladder.

So it doesn't help that I'm gurgling down 3L of water during my working day so obviously the toilet visits are going to be chaotic.

1.5L by lunchtime (which is 3hrs of drinking lots of water), and then I slowly drink the rest by 5pm. As you can see, I get pretty busy getting up and leaving my desk between 10.28am to 2.02pm.

 

Everytime I get up, before I go to the toilet, I also force another cup full of water down. 

There are days where I'll visit the ladies before I go get my lunch at the local cafe, come back after 10minutes and needing to locate a toilet.

I back off the water consumption in the afternoon (I do it more slowly) over a 5 hour period so that I don't end up doing the toilet run every 20minutes. Reason? It's a LONG 1hr drive home, 20minute toilet breaks just wont cut it.

Naturally if you drink that much water, your body has to excrete it somehow. I'm not an active person so obviously I'm not sweating it out, so the only way for the water to leave the body- you get it right? It's not entirely bad thing to be going to the toilet, sure, I get a bit annoyed and find it a tad disruptive to my working day (who am I kidding, any excuse to be lazy is awesome).. but it's exercise I'm getting that I wouldn't normally do anyway. Win/Win

 

If you drink more water- you'll need to invest in a good handcream. Why? You spend a lot of time washing your hands which makes it dry.. I usually use half of my handcream before I get bored (because I'm forgetful) and move onto something nicer/newer. But I've almost finished the current one

 

This was given to me as a birthday gift. I personally wouldn't have purchased it myself because I'm not a big fan of the smell of the pomegranate. It also doesn't feel like it sinks in as much as I'd like it to. But it does a good enough job but not great enough for me to re-buy. I' do like the fact that it's 99.1% natural. 

 

I don't want my hands to dry out in winter because they tend to crack, and I get these annoying split things on the sides of my nails and skin peeling off (yeh I know how gross). Plus dry hands= wrinkles. No matter how lovely your face looks because you've gone to great lengths to moisturize, never forget your neck and hands. They're the first tell tale signs of ageing.

 

 

365 days to go

 

It's on like donkey kong!!!

I had a dream run driving into work today. I suspect that 90% of people have taken today off to have a 4 day weekend.

Who can blame them?

Considering I've put my resignation in last week, I really can't just be taking sick days can i?

 

Less traffic= less road rage= happier person

 

When you date/intend to marry/or married to a man who's very much career driven, you better hope that he doesn't work for one of those "big 4 firms" in his field of whatever it is that he does.

Undoubtly they will do the long arduous hours that come with the work. It takes a LONG time to get used to and a lot of patience.

For example:

Tonight Mr_54632 said he'd be leaving work at 6.30pm- which is fine. Then I got a text to say that he'd be home by 8pm. 8pm came around and he was still at work.

You can ONLY delay making dinner for so long before you become hungry and become extremely irrational. 

It is now 10.44pm and Mr_54632 is STILL at work.

Let's not forget that tomorrow is a public holiday...

and yes, they work public holidays and weekends too.

 

And if they're in a field where extra "studying" is needed because 3-4 years of uni just isn't enough then be prepared to be tortured with their grumpy moods when assignments/study time/exams are in and they're already slaving away 15hours a day in the office.

Mr_54632 is currently doing his masters and has another 1.5 to 2 years to go.. and after that there's even MORE accreditation to go.

 

Be prepared to feel like you're #2 or #3 in their list of priorities in life. Mr_54632 tells me that I'm his #1 priority- it doesn't feel that way when I'm eating alone or he doesn't turn up to whatever event because of work. Then he reminds me "I do this for US, for our future"... It better be a fantastic friggen future because sometimes I even question if all the hard work is really worth all this.

People like Mr_54632 actually never relax, their minds are always with work... case in point: Last year, we went away for a month in Vietnam, can you believe that he brought his work laptop along and did work whilst we were away. I almost threw his laptop out the hotel window before I realized without it, I couldn't facebook. 

I even have to deal with his mutterings in his sleep. Sometimes he wakes me up whilst he sleep talks about work. -_-"

 

I have to keep reminding myself that this is who he is, I cannot change that, he was working there before I knew him, he'd probably still be working there even if I left him...(which I wont)...

at least the one thing I can look forward to is the therapy sessions that he can afford because he's driven me insane