BRIGHT ON COLOURS

MELBOURNE 2014

Food-ing and beach-ing our way through Melbourne's beachside suburbs of Brighton and St Kilda.  Sorry, but Sydney wins this round, though Melbourne gets bonus points for the decorating.

EATING NORTH MELBOURNE

MELBOURNE 2014

Halfway down the world and north of Melbourne... lots of food awaits. Words and reviews at The Afterimage - The Town Mouse, Yo-chi and select restaurants from Fitzroy + Carlton.

EATING MELBOURNE CBD

MELBOURNE 2014

On food, food and food. Because you should really go to Melbourne with $2000 more than you planned and a second stomach if you're able to. 

ODAIBA BY DAY AND NIGHT

An entire day's worth of photos from Odaiba (お台場), particularly inside Venus Fort and Tokyo Leisure Land. Such a unique experience to be removed from the urban bustle of Tokyo and thrown into a wide expanse of suspended walkways and intricate novelties. Like all of Tokyo in cosplay mode.

More words and reflections on our excursion here at The Afterimage.

TALE OF TWO CITIES

Kyoto, in many ways, feels like two cities. In Shijo-dori and Gion, a riverbank full of autumn trees and bicycles feels separated, in so many ways, from the gleaming towers of skyscrapers, beautiful lines of steel-coated architecture at Kyoto Station and the polished, brightly lit aisles of ISETAN from the modern skyscrapers.

The small overlaps you may see are in the lanterns of the pedestrian awnings or in the beautiful calligraphy decorating the walls of a shop inside the large shopping centres.

TASTE MAKERS

Two days before exams and time for therapeutic harddrive scanning for un-posted photos... You wouldn't think that street food making, ice cream (Messina, Round Two) and food from upcoming restaurant reviews (that are very delayed, admittedly) would go together that well but they're all accomplishing the common purpose of making me wish for the end of finals so there's that, right?

Enjoy - I will be here sipping lemon water and ensuring I can prove all the elements of a murder charge.

FRESH FROM THE OVEN

Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's talent for cooking and was not raised in a household where baked goods (let alone desserts) were a regular thing (we are more of a Chinese hotpot kind of family). Despite that, somehow I developed a fondness for pastries and basically all things involving shortbread and crumbly, rich, decadent sweet things that constituted your weekly serving of saturated fat (mm!).

But every once in awhile, I attempt to make things and, in this case, it was dark chocolate and walnut brownies, a beginner-level dessert if there ever was one.

Let's be honest, part of this was for the novelty of taking cooking photos on a sunny, well-lit day. No shame.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU DEVOUR

A collection of foodstuffs from the winter holidays, mostly from Oiden, Mappen & Takeru because Japanese food is my eternal low-budget-but-slightly-healthier-than-fast-food go-to eateries.

As we get older and the list of novelty activities (game centers, karaoke, sticker photos, laser tag, movies, art gallery hops) to do in the city slowly runs its course, a fun night out with friends has morphed into a dinner of good food and good conversation.

Are we getting old? Does Sydney need a few more exciting places to entertain young adults that doesn't involve clubbing and bars? (my VIDinc recap will be coming very soon on The Afterimage).

Should we be paying more attention to festivals and workshops? Should we be too busy with work and holiday internships? Or is the food just too good to pass on? Those are the questions.

FLUORESCENT SPARKS

Favourite snaps from winter holidays. The famous Gelato Messina on a busy Saturday night and sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights of a nearby park that turned the gelato into richly flavoured otherworldly moons. My little camera worked hard without flash so forgive the slight motion blur. Lots of laughing conversation, gummy bears, 10pm Woolworths runs and sparklers.

Also - I now have a Facebook Page. Because Social Media Marketing 101 (but no, it's so I can share stuff with friends more easily than posting dozens of blogspot links on my Timeline)

A STUDY IN SWEETS

No one can accuse Sweet Infinity of false advertising. Cold rainy days called for a lovely Red Velvet Cake slice to be shared with C and chai teas and lattes all around.

We concluded our adventures at The Strand with some more Bon Bon Fine Chocolate appreciation and crossed over to Pitt St Westfield for some oogling at the aesthetic loveliness of Laduree