Getting free stuff because I’m foreign

So on Monday the World Cup came to an end on a fairly boring game that’d I’d got before 5am to watch. Well at least those early rises are over. Later I popped past a recruitment agency for an introductory interview, nothing special.

Tuesday I started labouring again but on a different site & with a different crew, another Dan actually who is a sound bloke. This site is a double town house and we were mainly outside moving and installing weather boards. It was a good change from the big & busy commercial site.

Labouring site #2

Wednesday I had a phone interview for a 3 week IT contract with a big consultancy firm. Turns out the head of IT was from Glasgow! Had a good chat with him and felt safe in the knowledge that this job was in the bag. I took Ronnie for a celebratory walk.

Pushin’ yer luck Ronnie pal

Did more labouring on Thursday and got a phone call from the recruitment agency telling me I hadn’t got the job. Weegie bastard! Clearly you can’t trust the Scots. (Something to do with me travelling so I might not stick at it, what a 3WEEK JOB?!) Thankfully she had another job lined up for me (a 4 week one) which I would start on Monday without the need for an interview. Boost.

Baked a ginger cake Friday morning then got a text from Jezza saying he’d bought a slab of beer and I should come down if I’m thirsty. Being skint this sounded more than amazing so I packed some home brew & cake then bailed. Fayez was there along with flatmate Tom, Sam turned up later. We went on to the roof to watch fireworks but they’d been cancelled due to the plane crash. The views of the city up here is amazing. Rose and some others turned up later when the kitchen got transformed into a dance floor with laser lights and smoke machine. Whisky was then brought out…

…I woke up on a mattress taking about 10 seconds to figure out where the hell I was. Today would not be a good day… Gate crashed Rose’s house where I was fed lots of coffee, Berroca, vegemite toast and even a donut. I was buzzing so much I had to leave. The walk home was rough and the rest of the day about the same. Chinese style pig, cake and a few cups of tea helped a bit. Also had a good chat with my Dad and Carol on the Skype’s. That night’s Australian film entertainment was ‘Bad Boy Bubby‘ and ‘The Snowtown Murders‘, both disturbing in their own ways.

I was up quite early on Sunday as I was heading down to my mate Luke’s house to brew a strong hoppy lager (my kind of lager). Turned out to be a great day for brewing outside. I met Nirva his Border Collie Corgi cross, never seen one of these before. Cute little bugger she was. A few hours later with the beer brewed and my insides full of home brew beer I left for a tram to Etihad stadium. Today the Bombers would be taking on the Bulldogs which we’d be seeing for free. 🙂 Some sort of multicultural event was going on this weekend and the AFL were giving away 20,000 tickets for non-residents, so I scooped 4. Nat, Rose and Jezza came with me and we watched the Bombers leave victorious in the final quarter, great game. A cheeky pint or two afterwards then it was home time.

Making beer in the sun!

Pretty cute eh?

Bombers and Beer 🙂

[This weekend a cold has been brewing in my body. Bugger…]

Dexter fo’ life ya’ll!

So this week I have mostly been looking for work, getting up early to watch the World Cup, walking wee Ronnie, watching Breaking Bad (believe the hype) and getting a tattoo. 🙂

Omelette du Fromage

Yup, on Tuesday I went and met Mark (a friend of a friend) at Midnight Ink (pre-planned of course) and got some ink stuck in my arm. I’ve been wanting this for a while now so it was about time I got it done. You only live once. This won’t be the last either, I’m super chuffed with it, the boy did a great job. 🙂 If you don’t have a clue what this is about (shame on you) it’s from my favourite episode of Dexter’s Lab. After I was repeatedly jabbed with ink I cycled down to the pub and showed Sam what I gone done.

Do you want this stick Ronnie?

Friday was like an episode of Scrap Heap Challenge but Oz style and with next to no budget. Me, Nat, Alex and Alex’s friend Tony went to a car graveyard to rip some doors off an old Triumph Stag (I can’t help but hear Clarkson saying this in his Jaaaaag voice) whilst also tearing up an old Barina (Corsa in the UK) for it’s brake disc’s. Was quite a fun day out actually. I also got a phone call about a weeks worth of labouring next week, which is a boost.

Dodgy characters in this place…

Continuing the afternoon TV programming theme Saturday was like an episode of Pimp My Ride but with less Xzibit or heterosexual make-up. We attempted to clean up the roof of Nat’s old car as some of the clear coat had been eaten by the sun. There wasn’t much success had with our sandpaper and polish but it was left in a state where Alex could spray it. I then did my tax return (this needs to be done here by all Aussie’s), I’ve never done one in my life. With a helping hand, cup of tea and tax software installed I had it done in no time, wasn’t that taxing! Ahahaha…

My new pale ale brew!

Homer would be proud

On Lazy Sunday I made a sour cream bundt cake that looks like a glazed donut and was under cooked, it’ll still get eaten. Sam & Basha came round and we drank home brew, ate pizza and watched the Bombers DESTROY the Magpies. 🙂

Eating like peasants & a warehouse party

I’ve walked Ronnie nearly everyday this week, maybe I should look into this as full-time work. He seems to have a fascination with water as he’s always choking himself on the lead to get a few mm’s closer. I must’ve bathed him twice this week after he had a few swims in the creek. Fudge knows what the rain has washed up in there…

Say whhhaaaat?!

No crack heads down here just someone spraying some paint on the other side

I had a look inside. No turtles to be found

Ronnie stops for a moment to reflect…

Tuesday was my good mate Bob’s so Happy Birthday to him! Must only be a stones throw away from the big 3-0 now? In the evening I met up with my ‘Merri Mashers‘ crew down at the Gertrude Hotel, a moderately swish establishment with $14 parma’s on a Tuesday and plenty of good beer on tap. We weren’t here mainly for the tap stuff but the home brewed instead (which they allowed us to drink upstairs in the function room). There were many here to sample from including Belgian Tripel’s, oak aged stouts, pale ale’s and my favourite of the night a double IPA. I’d brought along a few bottles of my Dark Island clone, anxious to hear what the guys had to say. I was pleasantly surprised after the 4 bottles had disappeared with not a single bad word said with some evening saying it was the best of the night. 😀

The next morning was a little fuzzy but well worth it. After Ronnie’s walk Nat came by after her work and we drove to an Ethiopian restaurant in Footscray. I’d never been to one before so was interested in finding out what dishes would be served (at this point a joke made in Brussels by my mate Gav popped into my head, something about stingy portions… ;-)). The menu choice was minimal and somewhat of a gamble as the descriptions were rather basic (waitress didn’t help too much either). We picked three dishes to share with the plan being we’d order more when Kath and Rose turn up. This was not necessary. The dishes came out on one big serving tray and looked deceptively small (it wasn’t a joke!), they also lie on top of three huge pancakes. This is where it gets interesting as there is no cutlery. Nada. Nuffin’. What you use is your hands to tear away at the pancake and scoop up the goodness. I loved it! I also got to try two different Ethiopian beers. By the time Rose and Kath rocked up we were done, I tried my best but I couldn’t quite destroy it all. Bloody pancakes.

I hope you washed yer hands Nat

Thursday I made a super nom spaghetti carbonara thanks to Marco Pierre White. This was the highlight of my day.

Friday I went for another good long walk to Two Row bar (it was open this time) and spent my voucher for buy one get one free on tasting paddles. Spent about an hour & a half nursing these before heading North to Temple Brewing where I spent another voucher on their ‘Midnight Burger’ and some beer tasters. Mon was locked out of the house so (luckily for me) I was able to get a lift back home. Me and Nick then went off to the pub to watch the Bombers lose by 9 horrid points to the Cats. I should’ve actually been at this match but there was a problem with getting the tickets. Back home, and rather intoxicated, I attempted to stay up for the 2am foozball match only to realise it was the wrong day (thanks Chris) so I went to bed.

BOGOF = YAS

See why they call it the Midnight Burger?

Saturday I crash cooled and dry hopped my latest batch of beer which is smelling gooooooooooood! 🙂 I also baked a Madeira cake to partly celebrate one of my bestest and long serving friends Maritza. Happy Birthday! Stuffed with round two carbonara and swedging on the couch watching Rio on the box I got a call from Rose to say her and Jezza were going to a warehouse party to watch Brazil vs Chile and would I like to come. Aye all right then! I walked down to Rose’s flat picking up a dozen Torpedo’s on the way and got to meet Jezza’s dad Ross who owns a farm up in Beechworth. He’s a great dude, we chatted about shooting feral cats, foxes, their local brewery, Scotland and Thomas Glover (what a dude, jebus this boy essentially made Japan what it is today). Eventually we got a taxi to this warehouse in Fitzroy where things get a bit blurry… long neck (600ml) bottles of 7% beer are mostly to blame here. There was a DJ booth setup, some folks kicking a ball about in the front, log fire stove pumping out heat and the projector screen at the back. From what I remember it was a good night (but not for Chile).

The sponge on this was pretty good I must say

Only photo of the warehouse night

The next morning I woke up on Rose’s sofa not feeling very bright eyed or bushy tailed. A couple of coffee shots and some cheese & tomato toasties later I was back on the road, destination home (typical it was raining). Not much to say about Sunday other than I don’t want to experience it again. I did manage to watch another Aussie film though, ‘He died with a falafel in his hand‘, which was rather entertaining.

The World Cup starts and I sort of care about it

After the weekends camping adventures I was glad that I wasn’t working on Tuesday, Monday night I basically passed out. I spent the time wisely, mostly doing nothing, then prepping Rowies for baking (oh how I miss thee so!), baking a big pasta bake and meeting Ben, Sam and Basha at the pub for usual steak and beers. The night was very civilised with us all leaving at a reasonable time. Been awhile.

Wednesday I was back on-site with the lads then off to Clayton with Sam in the evening for IT shizz. Also that day was my Dad’s birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HIM. 😀 Me and Sam popped past the pub on the way home. Actually we went to a bottleshop first as the trains weren’t running and the replacement bus was 20mins away. Young & Jacksons is one of Melbourne’s oldest pubs located right next to Flinders St station, been meaning to go there for awhile so I decided that’s where we’d go. They serve craft beer in an almost British style pub environment.

The next day I got to bake those Rowies which were left proving for 2 days. They turned out good but not good enough, I know what I need to adjust for next time (less lard + longer second prove). I also did more IT work that day.

Rowie and jam = FINE

On Friday I was back helping install kitchens, move stuff, clean things, banter, etc. As we move up the floors in the building it’s getting a tad scarier receiving deliveries as they are dropped into a room with no exterior wall via a glorified forklift. I’m not a fan of heights. After work I bought a bunch of beers and had a good Skype session with my Dad, Carol and youngest sister Kirsty. 😀 Oh and it was also one of my mates birthdays on that day too, June is packed with bloody birthdays, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFNER. 🙂

Oh yeah the World Cup is on. Now I’m not a MASSIVE fan of foozball but I do enjoy watching it (especially in the stadium) and the World Cup I always find entertaining even though Scotland aren’t in it. Here in Oz though it’s a lot more difficult to put the effort into watching it as most matches start at 2am, 5am or 8am. I’m not THAT interested in watching it. However, 8am I can deal with and I wanted to see the Socceroo’s play their first match against Chile live. Not only that but watch in style with a slap up breakfast of pancakes, bacon, maple syrup and cream washed down with a beer. Even MORE crazy I attempted to make a weaved bacon basket to eat the pancakes out of. This failed. Next time… Anyway the Roo’s lost so my mates Maritza and Chris’s dad will be chuffed, he’s Chilean. Once the ball had stopped being kicked about I bottled my Dark Island clone. I can’t wait for this to be ready so I can taste it’s glory, patience though at least a week or two’s wait. 🙂

Make the bacon weave…

…place weave over bowl then in oven…

…bacon basket fails but WIN because BACON

Most of the weekend I massively vegged, I didn’t shower or leave the house yesterday, I’ve been chilling watching re-run matches of the football at reasonable times. Weather has been a bit pish too, you Aberdonians are getting it better than us! Pfft. Today I went for a walk to the Terminus pub using a voucher to get a schooner of beer alongside two Vietnamese style pulled pork buns for $10. WIN. Then I headed to Blackhearts & Sparrows beer and wine shop in North Fitzroy to use another voucher which got me a free glass growler plus $5 off my first fill of beer (which was over 3 pints of Little Creatures Red Ale). Another WIN. I spent the rest of the day drinking that and watching AFL with a splash of Trailer Park Boys. Very relaxed weekend.