Bankbreaker

So after a morning wake up call from my Uncle Richard (From my dad's family, I rarely talk to them) saying that they were here in Melbourne and wanted to see if I was up for some coffee on their last day. I told them that it was a great coincidence as Jana was here too so we could all get together and make up (as best as possible) an abundance of lost time.

I went back to sleep as their call was way too early and we met up with them at 2pm. We went down to the Flinders Lane area where all the cute, modish cafes gathered in secrecy - very fitting for the people who flock to gossip and share secrets.

Our agenda was much the same, except my Aunty Natalie and Uncle Richard did all the talking in the 2 hours. I think my sister and I had a 5 minute moment each where we got to talk about University and my mother but the rest was their show time.

From remembering how much they adored our cousins, and neglected my sister and I - it was a turntable event to hear how much they groused over the girls. Apparently, the grisly Lynch saga curse is on my outer family too, so I don't know if I should feel comforted or star-crossed.

In short, one of my Aunty has gone mentally ill and attempted suicide, but her daughter left my Aunty unconscious for 6 hours before calling for help. My Aunty was even on life support for a few days. The two girls quit school and one has anorexia, social phobia and is mentally ill as well. The older girl is just tramping around, grown an attitude and pretends to overdose for attention. But all this doesn't sound new to me, as its a re-occurrence in my own family. And as cruel as they were to me when I grew up, I really hope they find guidance. (Sorry, that I decided to share it - I guess a blog is for me to deflate right?)

So rather than a delightful catch up, it was a reminder that half my blood does boil.
We said our farewells and the less-than-affectionate pecks on the cheek, then Jana and I ran for the trams to go pop over to Bridge Road.

Now, Bridge Road has my mum's one and only favourite shop so I spent couple of hundreds buying my mum new skirts for Jana to bring back up! We looked around then went home. Chris and I watched Waitress (a very quirky, strange movie but exudes adorableness) then got ready to whisk Jana, Chris and John away to The Press Club.

Let's start with this - I LOVE THE PRESS CLUB. Expensive, but tickles every taste bud on your palate with a splendid sensation. We ordered a degustation and Jana had the wine matching as well.


We got complimentary wine because we had to wait for our booking a little..

If you're not interested in the meals skip the numbers, if you love food like moi then follow through...
The meal description (to the best of my memory) and the bold numbers are our average rating of the meal.

1. 9 Palate cleanser - Sea cucumber meringue with liquid nitrogen

2. 9.25 Grampian Olives, Olive oil from Crete and volcanic black salt from Cyprus with bread
3. 7.25 Confit salmon, flying fish roe with spring onion and fresh avocado, dashy custard

4. 7.25 Yellowfin tuna, foam wasabi, compressed watermelon, whipped feta and some crunchy thing that tastes like papadum

5. 6.25 (My hate of capsicums brought down everyone's ratings) Greek salad - calamara olive, capsicum, tomato, tzatziki cucumber and feta ice-cream

6. 8.5 Roasted snapper fillet, char grilled eggplant, puree, fresh calamari, tomato vinegar and other dazzling shit I do not know! (THIS MEAL WAS VOTED THE BEST)

7. 6.6 Roasted pork loin, cucumber, fennel puree, chico roll (pork shoulder and peppered pig) plus celery

8. 8.12 Stockland sirloin beef from Queensland (Angus [not like McDonalds] marble), button mushrooms, cauliflower cheese bomb and spinach

9. 8.75 Yoghurt sorbet, lemon + lime + vanilla jelly, frozen citrus, lime shavings and sherbert (genius of a palate cleanser)
10. 6.75 Parfait, coconut, chocolate marble slate, chocolate balls, peanut butter, banana bread, honeycomb (a little too rich for us poor kids!)

In the middle of dinner, I pretended to go toilet (I knew if I pretended at the end I would get snuffed out) and pulled a waiter aside and whispered, "I need to pay, secretly now and quickly!!"

It was so embarrassing when I had to use two cards and cash when I realised that it was a hefty bill to pay!

I L O V E F O O D !