unsustainableme-blog

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 19 - Thursday

Got to work extra early so Ted can make his site visit in Moss Vale for the day. No breakfast.

Ted had a Veggie lasagna for lunch. I went out with the crew to Holy Duck and holy fuck it was pricey. $16 for a quarter size of bony ass duck, a bit of rice, sauce and a smidge of pickles. Tasted good but not sure if it was worth the cash.

Ted ended up getting back to work around 4:30 so we went out to Jamie Oliver's for dinner after lots of walking around and a purchase of Monstress the comic.

We didn't have to wait long which was a surprise. We both had a fancy cocktail, Caprese Salad and shared three entree sized pastas: fusilli arrabbiata, ravioli Genovese, and truffles rissoto. All with heaps of cheese.

Crashed when we got home.

Score: 14-351. One day we’ll get back into the swing of things!

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 18 - Wednesday

Got up late. No breakfast. Got to work on time. Boss wasn't in again. Weekly meeting reminded us that Australia Day was just around the corner. Time sure flies.

Had brunch at Guilas and I snapped up the salmon breakfast where Ted had the Guilas breakfast (corn fritters, spinach, halloumi, and poached eggs). Guess who got food envy again? We also had soy coffees and a soy banana and strawberry smoothie. We were stuffed but didn't want another container so forced it all down our gobs.

Dinner was leftover Chinese. Netflix. Chill. Sleep. Melbourne really took it out of us.

Score: 13-352. That blasted halloumi!

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 17 - Tuesday

No early morning, no breakfast, no running. I can tell it's going to take some time to get back into things. Still we surprisingly arrived early. We weren't hungry enough for breakfast.

Boss wasn't in today so we had the freedom to have an extra long brunch at Guilas. I had a bolognaise pasta and a soy coffee. Ted had a salmon breakfast (poached eggs, hollandaise, smoked salmon, asparagus and some pretty amazing woven potato hash browns. I know surprising coming from someone who doesn't like potato) and a soy coffee. Over ate so it took some time to finish up enough to to get going. Ended up needing a box. Yep definitely going to take some time to get back into the swing of things.

Left work early and arrived home to a fat and cranky cat. The Cheethams fed a months worth of kibble in a span of 4 days. He also didn't run up to me for cuddles on the couch as we used to do so I guess he's very cranky about not seeing me in a while. Got him 10 sale chicken drumsticks for $3.50 which I divided up into enough portions to last him about month. Not bad. One day we can include him in the budget. And the no plastic agenda.

Ordered enough Chinese to last us the week. I really felt soupy so I ended up with corn and chicken soup and BBQ pork wonton noodle soup. Ted got XO stir fry with vegetables, steamed noodles with ginger sauce and vegetables, steamed choy sum and salt and pepper tofu. The tofu was amazing. The stir fry veggies? It had flecks of meat in it so I guess that's mine. Had some white wine and netflixed and chilled for the rest of the night.

Bed at 11:30.

Score: 12-353. Heaps of plastics involved...

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 16 - Monday

Best sleep in a while. With the Cheethams gone, us juniors got the car ready while mum had last words with the Lang family. 

Hit the road and ate breakfast at Broadmeadows Shopping centre. Had some sushi and a soy coffee.

Ted and I took turns to drive home. Along the way, the Aunt makes it unnecessarily difficult to pick the cat up. After a series of messages that went no where I accepted that my mum would pick the cat up tomorrow. And that I've disowned my aunt. I figured that if she can disown a truly wonderful friend (a really lovely lady who was her best friend, she was not the first friend my aunt disowned) then I can do away with an aunt who quite frankly needs to get her shit together and is in no way ready to get married. Someone who can't act like they're about to turn 40, a mother who still can't figure out that her kids just want attention, someone who did a bush regeneration course yet isn't actually doing any bush regeneration, someone who thinks they're the only one who is tired and busy and refuses to think that anyone can be above her does not deserve respect and certainly does not deserve to be my aunt.

Moving on we eventually stopped at a surprisingly massive rural town, Albury. Stinking hot that day. Had a difficult time walking around trying to find a place that was open. Just when we thought there wasn't anything, Hog's Breath appeared. Decent food for a decent price. I had a garlic mushroom  steak with salad, mash and gravy. And a Splice cocktail. Ted had a veggie burger, chips and salad. Everyone was about $170. Worth it.

From there, it was just a relaxing drive home. No telling kids. No hyperactive Aunty. Just a chill drive all the way back to Sydney. And I know my aunt is full shit when I can put my family to sleep with my driving. She can shove her defensive driving course experience right up her forever fat and pregnant looking arse. In fact, today was probably the most positive holiday day out of the entire holiday. That's not right. Not bringing that mental case with us ever again.

You can guess what we did as soon as we got home.

Score: 11-354. Just had to have that cocktail...

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 15 - Sunday

Good sleep but body clock woke me around 6. Felt too hungover to go back to sleep so I cleaned up. Kept hydrating. Mum was startled to see me washing up at around 7. She took over to finish what little was left and I went to try and rest my eyes.

Aunty and mum made a racket so I peeped out to see what was going on. They were discussing the prospect of coffee. I grumbled back to bed. The thought of the amount of packaging and and wastage over the past 2 days kept me up so I messaged the ladies and insisted that they had a sit down coffee. No paper cups. It worked. I got about 1 hour of rest.

Slowly got up to see everyone up and having breakfast. Apparently we were taking the Lam kids along. So while they discussed transport plans, I tucked into my Bun Rieu while Ted had toast with margarine and a peach.

We eventually got into a maxi taxi which seemed like a great idea at the time. Until he started swerving, driving between two lanes, beeping people, etc. I cried, it was that bad. During the drive, we agreed to go do Violet’s suggestion and do escape room. The way it was described, it sounded reasonable. 

When we jumped off, mum, Ted and I went to help me wash up at the MacDonald's. This was when trouble began. People kept splitting off, rushing off or waiting around. On the way to escape room, I wanted to have a nice stroll there, with a bit of time to check out cool urban design features which was good for mum because she walks quite slowly. Everyone else raced off and it wasn't long before we lost them. 

We reached Bourke Street when the calls came. We kept our pace because we originally intended for people to take their time and appreciate everything that was going on in Melbourne. When Ted, mum and I arrived we find out Aunty has gone back towards H&M with little girl cousin to buy a jumper. So we waited. Until Violet wanted to check out a K-pop store nearby. Another half hour and mum discovers that it would cost $310 to do escape room. 

So we escaped for lunch. Slowly made our way to Pellingrini's. Not a great first impression for mum. Expect an Italian Nona who's forced to feed some Asian strangers not so great impression. Regardless, I managed the orders for all 11 people and all dishes came out before Aunty and little girl cousin came back.

The littlest Lang boy, Ken-shin who will now be referred to as Ken, managed to eat some carbonara. Success. Ted had a cheese ravioli in napolitana sauce with watermelon granite. I enjoyed my spaghetti bolognaise with the same drink. The buttered bread was beautiful as usual. 

Next stop was the Royal Arcade and the Houpetoun tea Room. We thought we should show the niche places along the way such as the back areas of China town and the really narrow alley way you can pass through to get to China town. Aunty went a bit nuts and insisted on a posed photo. It did look good in the end but took a lot of effort on both parties (sorry unsuspecting stranger chef that just wanted a smoke break). Then mum thought it would be nice to take a photo by the China town gates. At this point we just wanted to get going. But we were willing to do it for mum who didn't ask for much during this trip. But guess who made a big fuss and decided it was all too hard? And so we finally reach the royal arcade. Guess who we were waiting for again? Yep, Aunty couldn't resist going through each shop for at least half an hour. Eventually, I organised the younger folk to do their agenda on their own which was to buy some trading cards and mum, little sis, Ted and I just left her to her own devices started to head towards the tea Room. As we got in line, mum and little sis went to look at the Dr Suess display. 

Half hr later, everyone eventually met up only to find they needed to wait another 10-20 minutes. Everyone was ok with it aside from the most difficult Lang child (Kevin) and you guessed it, the Aunty who went to the shop across. The crucial bit of info that missed out on at this point was she bought some very expensive salts and put it in Sean's bag. More on that later. Oh and Violet raced off to go meet a friend while we waited.

When we finally got in, Ted and I had a separate table which at this point Ted was happy with. I didn't mind. We both gave up on the dairy free idea at this point too. We shared a fig tart and a Yuzu citrus tart, both very delicious with Earl Grey tea and coffee. Everyone enjoyed their teas and cakes too. Ted's treat. Appreciated by all but one person who apparently had a rough time "looking after" the Lang kids during tea time. She used this as verbal arsenal later. Violet was not present for all of this, she never came back in time for the tea Room. Yes this is building up to something.

So now we were thinking a river walk. First we had to meet up with Violet, who agreed to meet at H&M. On the way we found a place to relieve ourselves and discovered how cold it got. So somebody suggested we get jumpers at H&M. Mum, Ted and I made our way there as Aunty rounded everyone else up to race towards H&M. I have to admit, H&M was quite the spectacle inside. It was like a circus. But a really nice one. We find Violet and then Aunty on the top floor, shopping for presumably jumpers for everyone. Ted and I went off to get jumpers for ourselves. At this point, little boy cousin’s gone a bit hyper from the lack of motherly attention and is running all over the place with little girl cousin and bumping into people. 

When we finally got our jumpers, we come back to a separated group with the Cheethams sitting on their own. I went over to mum to find out what had happened, she said that maybe we should go home because Aunty had a fight with the kids. I suggested we should just keep on walking as we didn't really do much at all aside from wait. I go over to the Aunty to find out she just wanted to go home. I said we were going on the river walk if wanted to join. Impatiently she said we needed jumpers for everyone. This was where I was confused because I thought we spent all this time to do that very specific thing. But it clicked that all Aunty did was "shopping". So I (in hindsight stupidly) joked:

But what were you doing this entire time up there?

Things blew up. She started wagging her finger in my face - don't you dare talk to me like that!

What do you mean? I was joking? Lighten up!

In a louder tone - you don't talk to me like that I've been taking care of the kids all day

Etc. Etc. Told you she'd used that one time to justify her childish behaviour.

Ted instantly defends me - don't you talk to her like that

Aunty jumps into mental mode and we both hurried away from the lost mental case that is my Aunty. Meanwhile my mum was trying to calm the situation or at least get my brother to go with us to no avail. Poor mum. A few metres down, I called her to see if I could get everyone but the Cheethams to come for a river walk. Defeated, mum just had to take the kids home as the aunty pulled the Cheethams into a taxi without another word and left mum on her own. Turns out, earlier, little boy cousin was caught running around, with a dripping bag. Aunty discovered that little boy cousin had kept a water bottle open in the bag. The same bag she kept her expensive salts in.

Ted and I took a relaxed stroll towards the river. Came across a gay festival, a nice and weird frankenkeyboardwindpipe busker and very beautiful rosemary roasted potatoes with spicy aioli and cocktails at the Riverland bar. 

Then decided to go on a Ramen hop. Got some delicious kimchi miso Ramen at Mappen Ramen which is a chain that can also be found in Sydney. This store was way better though. Better shop layout and better food.

Walked around trying to find a bar we haven't been to and isn't too noisy. Bought a mini glass terrarium for mum. Ended up at the boiler house which was funny because we've met 2 boilermakers during our time in Melbourne. I had a smoky set whereas Ted had a cistrusy breakfast one.

Made our way to the next Ramen place (Shujinko) and bumped into Ted’s uni mate, Olivier who works at Woods Baggott. His date turned out to be his mum. After a half hour wait, we discover that they didn't have many vegetarian options. Stormed out of that one. As much as I love Ted, sometimes, vegetarians are difficult to go out with.

Tired and cold, Ted hailed a cab for us and we crashed as soon as we arrived at Lang's house.

Score: 10-355

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 14 - Saturday

Managed to get up early enough to go running. Ted actually got up too. We ran 5km. Not a bad run for a place that looked like Penrith. Pretty bad run towards the end. My body just got so sore. And started to get chest pains. Got back to seeing Aunty doing her skips. I still think she's full of shit saying she can skip but she can't run. Oh well. I did some skipping too and headed off to the shower. 

So far we weren't really keeping to our dairy free and packaging free agendas but we tried very hard where we can. When we finally got out of the house (around 10), there was a air of tiredness and crankiness in the air. Poor mum just wanted to go to her sculpture show and so to save time she suggested McDonald's. Boy did she the verbal beating from the Cheetham family.

Mum walked off to get a jacket. Cheetham family and the rest rushed off. Ted and I caught up to see that we're eating at Cherry Beans. Aunty got the coffee and kids breakfast (they didn't have MacDonald's but they got waffles and icecream and chocolate instead...). Secretly ordered a decaf for Ted. The almond milk was ok. As Aunty waited, she ran off to do shopping. Mum finally arrived after the coffee and had a little rant about no one coming with her to do her jacket shopping. She did fine though. Very nice white denim jacket for $50 at cotton on.

Finally ordered food. We shared a big breakfast. No dairy but I got the bacon... Aunty comes back with three pairs of gumboots which enticed me to get a pair myself. $30 for a classy pair of pipsqueaks. Not bad.

Aunty suggested she could drive. Ted got passive and told me "I guess I got kicked out". Turd. Along the way there was a lot of ooing and ahing and wanting to do pit stops along the way. But mum was adamant which was fair enough. I backed her up where we could. When we got the black spurs, Aunty could not shut up about the devastating story of Marysville. Yes it was sad but you don't need to make it out as if you went there helped rebuild the community after the fires. Such a bore. 

Little sister got sick so I had to trade down to the middle middle seat. Got pretty sick myself with Aunty's driving. She loves blaming her terrible driving on the ones in front but she needs to do is cruise. I don't think she knows what holidaying means. 

Arrived at the sculpture exhibition and it looked pretty on the outside already. I was trying to keep an open mind but my mind shut off a little when I saw the welcoming woman's make-up. Too much blue eye shadow. Nice lips I guess? Overly nice. Too loud and overtly chirpy for a quiet country morning. Then came the artist himself. And my family lost it. Gathering around him and talking and talking as if he was a hot shot celebrity. His accent comes from Belgium. He sounded south African. 

Started giving us a tour of his paintings (which were mostly recontextualised famous paintings such as "Mona Lisa's twin" paired with some "humorous" and unbelievable story). Ted and I just started going through the sculptures. And there were a lot. It was creepy and cool at first, then it eventually got old. We kept coming across "destroyed in a fire this and destroyed in a fire that". Wished there were more explanations behind his artistic reasoning. Overall, you can see there was a lot of work put into it. Also a lot of his wife put in it. And breasts. and recycled Unicum. Yup. Unicum.

Walked back inside to get warm and sat by the television. Two older ladies joined us and made it much more entertaining. The welcoming lady came in at a time where the TV showed a sculpture that was supposed to be the artist's first wife. The story behind that was they met at art school, traveled the world and eventually ended up at Australia and two blonde girls. One is a pianist and the other... A dancer... If you can call it that (lots of fade in and fade out shots of that girl twirling in circles with silk scarves in her hands trying to dance all folksy and faerie like...I guess?). The pianist was quite good. Shame there wasn't a CD for that music. Instead we got the "jazzy" saxophone of the welcoming woman. Back on track, the fire, destroyed everything and went. The first wife, helped rebuild it all and eventually left as well. At this point the girls are all grown up. First wife also looked quite alright. His sculptures, didn't. 

And then the welcoming lady became his wife. Happy ending. Then the older lady of the older ladies who joined us made the comment "it is all quite disturbing".

The not so old one asked "what is?"

The sculptures. They're just all disturbing. In a pompous old englishy woman voice.

I think they were meant to be disturbing. In an equally pompous old englishy woman voice.

And I have to admit, I agreed.

Finally left to eat lunch in town. The welcoming lady highly suggested the town's cafe "Fragga's". We didn't intend to go but happened across it anyway. I shared their local platter with the Nguyen Family consisting of aged cheddar cheese, various pickled vegetables, bread, olives, smoked chicken, smoked lamb, ham and smoked trout. Very delicious. I then had a bourbon beef pot pie with chips and salsa and a soy latte. Ted had a brie and smoked trout baguette and soy flat white. Glad we didn't order the soup of the day. It was all very filling. 

The Cheethams on the other hand had the platter, soup, pasta and some thing else but even knowing that they couldn't possibly eat that much they were waiting for a cake as well. Typical. So Ted and I left to walk around town. Nothing special. Cute places that I never would've heard of unless either I remembered who got devastated by the fires all those years ago or I had a family member who remembered who got devastated by the fires all those years ago. Or a family member who really like "disturbing" art sculptures.

When we got back, we find that Aunty has gone off to go peruse the village and mum was waiting for little girl cousin in the toilet. We told mum to stop Aunty and waited for the little ones to do their business. Another half hour passed.

I drove this time. A little rough at first. Got a lecture from Aunty on how to turn a car. Shouldn't listen to someone who thinks driving like she's on a motorbike with an 8-person seater is a good idea. Regardless everyone complimented my driving. Even mum towards the end. It was too late to check out any wineries so we made a pit stop at the nearest liquor land. That too somehow took half an hour.

Finally focused on getting back to Lang's and turned out we were early. Ted and I rested for a few hours before deciding to go out and eat and socialise. Started cracking into the Kraken. Some old man decided he had an opinion when he caught mum cutting the grilled squid for me. He rambled on and on about how today's generation is lazy and good for nothing and would never understand the hardships the previous generation had to go through. I really wanted to punch him. In the face. He then wanted say how easy today's kids have it in terms of purchasing property and living day to day. I don't think he knows what inflation is. And I don't think he knows how affected we are by the aging population. And how much they fucked up our opportunities to become financially successful and property secure.

Mum finally quietened the idiot down and he migrated next to Lang only to complain some more about how much "easy" money we can earn these days. Again, don't think he knows what inflation is. Nor does Lang.

Fargo arrived with his wife and they looked exactly the way they did in the 23+ year old Polaroid. Face full of make-up. A lot of the "yummy mummies" had stilettos. One of them had a baby daughter who looked very seriously at the iPhone in her hand. She was 1 year old. The kid got suspicious of anyone who wanted the phone to passed on to them. I worry for that generation. Forget this one. We're fine. If not better as we're left to fix the environmental fuck-up the "previous" generation refuse to fix.

Many mistook Ted as Fargo's relative. Aunty had a hard time believing it all. That discussion lasted longer than it needed to.

Otherwise the night was overall pleasant, delicious (loads of grilled meats, prawns, salads and fruit) and enlightening on Ted’s part. Loads of childhood stories about me.

Crashed around 3am. Oh, and we finished the Kraken.

Score: 9-356, It just keeps getting better.

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 13 - Friday

Uncle Lang was up. Ted crashed as soon as we organised ourselves. We got the air bed in the garage spare room out the back. Not ideal. I stayed up a little longer since I was the last driver and needed to wind down. Generally good chat and decided to have a shower. Crashed instead. 

Got up around 11. To a deflated mattress and a hard concrete floor. Will need to stand up to this. Eggs and toast for breakfast. Showered and all (except little sis and boy cousin thank God) eventually went to Preston Market to visit Uncle Hong. He owns an upmarkety exotic meat butcher. From silkies to rabbit. Ted and I got a bit tired of just standing around so we walked around. Aunty followed and split off to buy cheese and bread. I had some. Naughty me. Most memorable moment was when these 2 Italian old men were sitting opposite each other and one of them opened up his shirt and started cupping and showing off one of his blackened breasts. Interesting. Overall the markets were great. Had so much on offer and less stressful than any market in Sydney.

Next stop was Fitzroy to visit great Aunty and Uncle on my Grandpa’s side. She’s the younger one. We just sat there while the “grown ups” caught up. I translated for Ted here and there. When we left mum corrected one story which was I was only looked after by great Aunty for 2 days tops. Inside, great Aunty made it out as if I grew up with her. Which is true, if she really did look after me I would’ve remembered. I remember a lot from I was a little potato.

Tried to ask what happened to the first born on my Grandpa’s side and they went on and on about how the viets call the first born the parents then the first one the second etc etc due to poeticism. It took a long time for them to realise that my question was very simple. Turned out she was a still born and my grandpa’s dad had three wives (which explains his personal choices), 9 children from the second and third. No idea what happened to the first. 

Finally arrived at Fargo’s. Quite awkward at first as I haven’t seen him in over 7 years. He lost his long hair but it’s still there. And he looked the same. The hair just threw me off. Took a an hour or so before we were able to get our nails done. Lots of beer and Korean BBQ and 2 minute noodles. Was very fun and relaxing at first but it dragged on. So ended up being a lousy night. Fell asleep in the car. Woke up with a very sore body.

Arrived home and put my foot down. Uncle kept trying to keep Ted and I out of the Nguyen Family room even though there was more than enough space. I made my mind up and mum convinced uncle not to worry. We were prepared to sleep on the bottom single bunker but mum was nice to give us the double. Ted crashed. I had to do stretches. Back was too cramped to sleep. Even got the paper out and finally did some exercises. Haven’t been doing those lately.

Uncle and Violet joins the table. The night ended up in a debate about how drawing was important to architecture or not. I think it was uncle being sour and regretful that he couldn’t draw back in his day and therefore never made it big in the fashion industry. I still stuck to my side. People need to make sense around here. 

Score: 8-357 

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 12 - Thursday

Got up early enough to have time to clean and prep for the weekend Melbourne trip. Pretty tired already. Breakfast as usual but with mango this time. 

Ted is in Canberra today. How boring. So Tonkatsu Ramen with teriyaki chicken for lunch. Nathan had a mediocre veggie sandwich. Aunty is being pedantic. Insisting on either driving from 4am tomorrow or 3 people being up at all times tonight. I understand it for safety I was genuinely looking forward to the quiet night drive with the anticipated beautiful sunrise all to myself. Can’t win with grown up grown-ups.

Got home and found out mum still hasn’t left work yet. She arrived at 8. Dropped Wriggles off and left aunty’s at 8:35. Ate last of the leftover Asian dinner ingredients. Ted had fish and chips. Got to Goulburn around 10:30. Aunty just wouldn’t shut up. Kept everyone awake. So naturally everyone was cranky. Got to Uncle Lang’s at 5 nice and safe. 

Score: 7-358

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 11 - Wednesday

Rest day. Thank fuck. The usual for breakfast. Got to work at 7.45. Pretty filthy hot today.

Stinky Ted’s got a lot to do today. Our boss Joe’s (remembering fake names for security) on my case a bit for Ewen Park Project. I understand that it is a D&C DA (Design and Construct Development Application) but that would mean the client would expect to go to tender not long after. Meaning the more accurate we are now the better.

Lunch was yum. Weekly meeting uneventful. Aside from reporting the lack of lighting from the HUB nodes on Sunday night. Stayed back quite late today. Ted wants to run.

But he’s hurt his toe somehow so I’m grateful. Too hot and sore. Dinner was as usual yum. Got hooked on the Killing and went to bed too late again…

Score: 7-358

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 10 - Tuesday

So exhausted. The run was definitely a struggle. Dry showered and made breakfast. Decided to eat when we got to work. Iced my knees instead.

Work and lunch was as per usual. Got pretty tired and sore towards the end. Couldn’t help ourselves and got an almond milk. The premium kind with the guaranteed recyclable plastic bottle. Still not great but we really really needed that tea. 

Dinner was exciting as we got massively hungry too. Marinated stir fry veggies and tofu and sweet potato noodles, par boiled greens, leftover BBQ meats, “clarifying soup” and brown rice. Yum. Was supposed to do work but was too tired to care and just watched Saiki and The killing instead

Bed at 10. Still not great.

Score: 7-358

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 9 - Monday

Pretty exhausted. Woke up to 30+ missed calls and a couple of voice mails. Rush Ted to move the car and he came back with a note that threatened to give my details to the police. Not a great start but it didn’t concern me too much as they shouldn’t of been there in the first place. Also, not the police’s concern anyway as it is private property.

Got ready as usual: toast, tumaca and avo on toast with an apple. Got to work around 8.

Lunch was amazing. Roast vegetable, quinoa and lettuce leaves. Got harassed again by the same number this morning. Got Ted to listen to the voice mails I ignored this morning. Just some crazy Indian woman threatening to call the police.

The lack of sleep gets to me and I couldn’t work as productively today. The constant Antarctic air-conditioning didn’t help.

Got home. Ted’s trying to convince me not to slog the crazy woman in the face if I ever did get physically confronted. We shall see.

The short run was a struggle but still managed a good pace. Not sure how well I’ll do tomorrow.

Dinner took longer than expected but was delicious. Bed at ten was probably a mistake. 

Another “good” day! Score: 7-358

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 8 - Sunday

Ted’s very hungover. But we eventually got up and went to return the extra bread pan we though we needed. Ted’s taking me to the Grounds today so no breakfast yet.

Turn out House doesn’t do returns, only exchanges. So we went and bought an extra big cake tin and two large pretty bowls. Great marketing strategy.

Got to the Grounds. Parking wasn’t too bad, just had to be patient. When we turned the corner to walk through one of the entrances, my god it was overwhelming. It was so surreal. I was drowning in the sheer amount of hipster and pretentious vibes. It was like I was in one of those TV ads where they’re promoting amazing food, coffee, “vibes”, crowds, tea parties...that sort of thing. The only “thing” that saved them was the collection of nice design ideas and details which we would like to use eventually.

Got in line to go the cafe (40 min wait) giving us time to peruse the “markets”. There wasn’t much on offer in terms of useful items or anything of true value. Prices were jacked up to match the “boutique” surrounds. Basically a rich person market.

At least the lemonade stand allowed us to use our glass jars which was a plus. Cinnamon “donuts” (half the size of my fist for a dumpling - there was no hole - for $3.50...) were OK. Flowers looked amazing. Animals were adorable. The novelty of it all grew old pretty quickly though. Like an ad.

Finally got into the cafe. They do not cater to vegetarians very well. Allowed us to remove the bacon for Ted’s breakfast burger but didn’t allow additional halloumi. So another thumbs down for me. At this point I was ready to hate this place. But my fist sized burger was decent (nothing you couldn’t get for cheaper at Ribs and Burgers) and the chips saved them. Bloody good chips for someone who doesn’t like eating potato. Good sauce too: Spicy aioli. Ted’s polenta chips were the best I’ve tasted yet but still tastes pretty boring AF after a while. The coffee tasting was a nice gimmick. Cute, tasty, probably worth the $15.

Not a very sustainable place overall. Felt pretty yuck afterwards. Only saving grace they had was their coffee. Free trade and organic. Apparently.

Got to the Source to spend about $20 in dry-goods. Cashier talked so softly that made us feel awkward as she tried to make small talk.

Down to Harris Farms to spend another $20.

And finally got home to make the bread and prep the food for the week.

Before baking the bread we thought we’d leave the bread to prove for longer and do the Bay Run before it got too late. It was a good run. Couldn’t do the whole way running but still did it in about an hour. Got back to find no parking spots so I parked a car in that looked like it shouldn’t be there and put my sign up.

Got back and baked. It turned out pretty dense so we’re thinking maybe less proving time. Finally had some leftover salad for dinner, cleaned up and slept.

First good day! Score: 7-358

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 7 - Saturday

Pretty rough start. Was very exhausted. Went to bed late and my body clock woke me at 5. Got hangry too. Turned out we couldn’t run because I forgot to bring my running clothes.

Ted made it better by taking us out to a nice brunch in Vincent, Glenbrook. He had a big veggie breakfast that consisted of this amazing home-made hummus, grilled tomato, avo, fresh spinach leaves, 2 bits of toast, 2 poached eggs, pickled shredded beetroot and halloumi. I know, no dairy. So I had the big breakfast with bacon too.

Mine had a hash brown (90% given to Ted because I still don’t really like potatoes), 2 bits of toast, 2 sunny side up fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes (again gave most to Ted) and chorizo. Yummm. The bacon especially. The halloumi was also very delish. And the hummus was so delicious, it inspired us to strive to make our own in the near future.

Perused the nursery near by then headed to St.Agnes Fresh Produce Farm. Very pretty scenery of the Penrith Lakes on the way. Got greeted with a big sign saying "sorry we are closed re-open on the 7th" or something like that. Which was very confusing because they had their stock out (limited stock but still) and an assortment of potted plants on display. 

Had a look at their animals before decided to head off. They had a cockatoo and a red dog dog. Very cute puppy. And a bunch of chickens, ducks and some goats. When we got in the car, some others arrived and started entering the "closed" shop. We followed and what a misleading sign that was. Should've had "limited stock only". Which would've been alright. 

Inside was a extremely cute slender white cat. Was so tempted to pick it up and take it with me. Bought veggies to bbq tonight: eggplant x 2, zucchini x 3, green capsicum x 2, tiny sweet potato x 1, butternut pumpkin  x 1. All for $10. Didn't have corn though so went to Winamalee and went and bought 5 for $3 corn, 4 x big mushrooms and a leek for $10. Big difference in value and price. Back at Ted's, prepped the food and started to fix the paella pan while waiting to pick up Murray. Marinated the vegetables in tamari, garlic, chilli flakes and sesame oil.

Picked up the meat from mum after dropping Murray off. $75 for a large box of ox tongue ($27 for that box alone), 8 Viet sausages, 1/2 rack of pork ribs, 1 large box of chicken wings, 1 large box of chicken ribs and a free 1/2kg of nem noung. Expensive and unnecessary amount of meat to have on a regular basis. For a bbq of 8 though, $75 is not too bad. Not including alcohol. Tack another $55 for a case of corona and you got yourself a $130 bbq for 8. The price of a semi-fancy dinner out and 2 drinks each.

You can tell the night was really good when Ted drinks more than 6 beers.

Score: 7-358 

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 6 - Friday

So bloated and tummy sick. Still managed to drag myself out of bed at 5.15. Ted feels fine. In fact he felt great (fuck you Ted). I kept a constant pace. Was tempted to stop early but went for the 2km.

Breakfast was the bread again plus a fried egg. Yum. Getting into work around 7.57. Not bad for day 6.

Ended up going out to Japanese for lunch with the work crew. A bowl of teriyaki chicken ramen with pork broth. Hopefully dairy-free. Just what I felt like for rainy Friday. It’s worth to note that Ted and I decided to just do dairy and waste free this month then the additional $50/wk the following month.

So we now have a serve of leftover salad ingredients.

Had paella, salad and roast lamb at Ted’s home. It was pretty good. The paella pan got burnt though due to lack of seasoning. The salad had feta in it. Can’t be perfect all the time. Though at this rate the end of year score won’t be very high. Was very tempted by the cup of tea but had a few beers instead (not that that’s any better).

Night ended with a good game of articulate. Hilarious game.

Score: 6-359 

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 5 - Thursday

Can’t run today because Ted hurt his ankle. By smacking it into a paver that was in a bag that he had to carry on his side because he didn’t want to put it in his new bag. Note to self, carry my things by myself. This will avoid any future hassle.

Really felt like another coffee. Struggled to get up this morning. Breakfast was 2 toasted slices of home-made Italian herbed bread topped with tumuca (Spanish tomato paste), 1/4 avocado slices, olive oil and pepper. Pretty good. Going to try and make our own tumuca.

Ted has already been successful in reducing his food portions. I really need to try to as well. But I just get so damned hungry. Not just hungry; hangry. I’m not eating as much as I did during the Christmas break but I am still eating a lot for the lack of exercise I’m doing.

Had a coffee (the non-dairy kind). Salad was good again. Still ended up being very hungry and lethargic. Rushed out the door around 4:30  so I could get home ASAP to my final serving of Vegan bun bo hue for the week (maybe month...). Just realized I went vegan today. Aside from the Spanish sweets which Ted and I polished off.

Score: 5-360 

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 4 - Wednesday

According to Ted, today was rest day. Am very sore from yesterday so I’m grateful. It was very hard to get out of bed today. Rosti and greens and an apple for breakfast. Not getting to work until 8:30 today. This year isn’t going to be easy.

Couldn’t live without another coffee. Tried to be good and go decaf but Gliders don’t do decaf apparently. At least their almond milk was the nicest out of another cafe around the area.

Lunch was much better than yesterday. It was a major improvement to yesterday’s.The hunger helped. Iceberg lettuce, celery leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, semi pickled vegetables, crushed peanuts, black beans, lime, sesame oil, salt, pepper. Ted threw half of his out again. Not doing very well for waste-free.

Gave Ted a quarter of what I had for dinner (vegan bun bo hue) because he apparently can’t finish his food. Then I decided to treat myself with more Spanish sweets due to the off day. Guess who devoured those? Yup. Ted.

Score: 4-361

[unsustainableme-blog]

Day 3 - Tuesday

Got up 5.15 am. First one up as usual. Pretty rough sleep. Ted kept elbowing me in the face and my stupid brain woke me at 4 am in anticipation of the 5.15 am alarm. Started the rosti and began hassling Ted to get up. So far, OK. Got changed and as soon as I got into the elevator, I felt the wave of exhaustion. Ted somehow felt excited and amazing. We have a new goal now (4 so far), 1000 km this year. “Easy”. If Ted actually stuck to the goals. We will see.

Pushed myself to keep pace. Right knee started acting up again. Got pretty cranky after that. Finished making the rosti and greens. Ended up being on time.

Too on time apparently. Got there at 7:30 and the office was closed. Se we went to the closest cafe and had coffee with dairy-free milk. I regretted my almond choice and the soy in Ted’s was suspiciously sweet. Had time to do some drawing exercises which is goal no.5: do one drawing exercise per day. Becoming quite the New Year’s resolution list.

Work was very very long. The leftover salad turned rank so we had to eat what ingredients we had so far without dressing: celery leaves, half cooked black beans, tomato and cucumber. Used what seemed appealing in the fridge: hot sauce, balsamic glaze and salt. It was’t pleasant. Ted ended up with a stomach ache and couldn’t finish his. I shoveled mine down only to feel sick and hungry at the same time.

We wanted to leave early because we got there early but working in a “conservative” office, we decided to work “overtime”. No, we don’t get paid for overtime.

Finally left at 4.45 pm. Vegan Bun Bo Hue was so much more delicious after the lunch failure. It wasn’t enough for me however. I always get this way when I get overactive in the morning. I just feel like eating all the time at night. Spanish sweets and home-made bread was still not enough but I forced myself to stop. Boy am I glad I did.

Score: 3-362 (wasted food on Ted’s part)