Martin Place Bar

A quick catch up lunch with my friend led us to Martin Place bar. Since we were more concerned with chatting than eating, we ordered the standard fare off the menu.

Chicken Schnitzel, chips and salad

Tempura flathead, chips and salad

I was surprised how huge the servings are! I love my chips and almost never leave chips behind. But even this was too much for me and about half was left uneaten. The flathead was tasty, but the batter was a bit soft and tasted of oil. My friend really enjoyed the schnitzel, but again, left a heap of the chips behind!

Martin Place Bar
51 Martin Place (corner of Elizabeth street)
Sydney
Ph: (02) 9231 5575
http://www.martinplacebar.com.au


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Bungalow 8

I had a sudden craving for Mussels and dragged a workmate down to Bungalow 8 with me. I haven't been back for quite a few years after overdosing at their all you can eat mussel events. This time, I'm only have 1 pot.....not 5. So I think I should be ok!

Tom Yum Mussels and chips

My absolute favourite, Tom Yum Mussels! Although, I must say that their Tom Yum tastes more like Laksa, and their Laksa tastes more like Tom Yum. I wish I had some noodles I can throw into the pot at the end of the meal so I don't waste any of the lovely broth at the bottom.

Bungalow 8
3 Lime St
Sydney
Ph: (02) 9299 4660‎
http://www.bungalow8sydney.com.au


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Sanctuary Hotel

$9 Cocktails.

That's all I needed to know to organise an outing to The Sanctuary Hotel. No, seriously. That's ALL I needed to know.

CAIPRIOSKA
SKYY Vodka muddled with fresh lime & sugar

LEMONLICIOUS
Crisp & tart, a luscious blend of Absolut Citron Vodka, Lemoncello, Grand Marnier & Sanctuary’s sours shaken & served in a large martini glass

CLARK’S ON KENT
A blend of fresh kiwi fruit, 42 Below Kiwi, Pear Liquor & Paraiso Liqueur served long over ice

MOJITO
Havana Club Rum, muddled with fresh limes & fresh mint, raw sugar & topped with a dash of soda

SANCTUARY ICE TEA

SKYY Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila & Triple Sec shaken with Sanctuary’s sours & served long
over ice & topped with cranberry juice

Chips with one of the best aiolis I've ever had

I would put a more descriptive post up.....but honestly.....after all the $9 cocktails I had, I can't remember jack. I do remember the cocktails being good, which is partially the reason why I can't remember anything. I also remember ordering a few serves of their chips cos they had a really awesome aioli. Everything else was a bit of a blur...... *cough*

Sanctuary Hotel
545 Kent Street (Cnr Liverpool Street)
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02 9264 1119
http://www.sanctuaryhotel.com.au


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Trumps Tavern - Wynyard

One thing about working around the Martin Place end of town, is the severe lack of Thai food. Sometimes, a girl just needs a good healthy dose of Tom Yum, Pad Thai and thai salads. I heard that Trumps Tavern actually serves decent Thai food, which surprised me. The only time I've ever heard of Trumps Tavern, is usually in the same sentence that contains the phrase "Hangover". Although one story involved a Russian Bouncer at 4:30am?! Long story.

Anyway, I dragged a friend with me to get a Thai fix. Being a Monday lunch time, and the fact that we were there before 12, meant the place was empty. This was a bit of a worry since I'm always weary of empty places in the city during lunch hours. But less than 15mins after sitting down, people started streaming in, and by the time we left, the whole place was packed with a huge line running across the room with people trying to place their orders.

The place is simple in decoractions. A small bar to the left and plenty of tables and chairs with a few couches and stools. To the left of the bar is a set of stair cases taking you downstairs to the pokies area. You can order food and eat down there as well, but it severly lacks any form of ambience. Basically a few tables and chairs tucked into the rows of pokies.

The menu is available at the bar and you line up to place your order at a seperate counter. They also have meal deals now where you can pay an extra few dollars and get a drink i.e. soft drink, wine or beer.

Now, onto the food!

Chicken Pad Kee Mao

The Pad Kee Mao isn't actually on the menu. But seriously, what Thai place doesn't have the ingredients to whip up a Pad Kee Mao? The girl behind the counter was more than happy to place my order and my friend had food envy as she didn't know she could order that! The serve is pretty decent and will satisfy even the big hungry boys around.

Thai Beef Salad

My friend had a Thai Beef salad and gave it a thumbs up.

Chicken Cashew Nut

I came back and tried the Chicken Cashew the next time around it was pretty darn good! Sweet and spicy, with a good selection of crunchy veggies, plump chicken a huge mound of rice. However, on this occassion I was hoping the serves will be smaller. Why? My manager was buying drinks for everyone! I couldn't drink as much as I was so full from all the food! hehe dang! You can never win!

Chicken Tom Yum Goong

This was exactly what I needed. The Chicken Tom Yum Goong was sour and spicy and so so refreshing. The bowl was huge, full of chunky chicken, vermicelli noodles and crunchy bean sprouts. This is probably a good dish to get if you don't intend to drink because the soup is sooooo good! Too much soup = no room for beers.

Trumps Tavern
50 King St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9299 2929


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Summer Hill Hotel

There are plenty of pubs around Sydney offering Cheap steaks, and Summer Hill Hotel is no different. They have renovated in the last year or two and now has an outdoor patio area. Since the renovation, I always see more and more people sitting in the outdoor area as my train speeds past. Feeling like steak one day, and being near Summer Hill gave me the perfect excuse to check out the place.

Walking in, there are 3 sections to the hotel. There's the bar and TV area, with plenty of stools for people to sit and watch the footy. Then there's a dining area with more comfortable tables and chairs that can accommodate a family. Lastly, there's the outdoor area. Being an extremely hot day, we opted to sit in the dining area that is partially air conditioned. Partially meaning the air conditioning is on, but the open kitchen is pumping hot smokey air into the dining area, cancelling out much of the cool air.

Steak with mushroom gravy

Steak with peppercorn gravy

There are a choice of gravies available for your $10 steak. I went with mushroom gravy and my friend chose the peppercorn gravy. Cutting into my steak, I found my medium rare steak was closer to medium well if not well done in parts of it. I've always preferred my steak undercooked than overcooked if they can't do it right. In this case, the steak was just way too cooked for my liking. I'm not sure if its the steak or the fact that its not medium rare, but I found the slab of meat tough and too charred for my liking.

I suspect they may have gotten me and my friend's order mixed up, or they really have no idea how to cook a steak. His medium well steak, turned out more like medium. I would've happily swapped with him, but we were both half way through our steaks by that point.

Wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli

Being unsatisfied with my meal, I was craving for something that really hit the spot. So we ordered a bit bowl of wedges to share. The wedges were searingly hot when we got it. But it was also really crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside.

I would probably come back again and try other stuff on the menu, just not the steak.

Summer Hill Hotel
1 Lackey Street
Summer Hill NSW 2130
Ph: (02) 9798 3331


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PJ O'Brien's - The Irish Pub

When looking for a new lunch joint, I found the PJ O'Brien website. Being an Irish pub, I obviously asked my Irish friend what he thought of their food. His initial reaction was to scrunch up his face and say "Don't go there!". When I asked why, he replied that he doesn't have any good memories of the place. But that's due to the fact that goes there after pub crawling for 4-5 hours. I didn't say it to his face, but I bet he was so off his face he wouldn't know the difference between eating food and a coaster at that point! hahaha

So ignoring his warnings, I dragged a friend there for lunch. Walking in, it has a lovely rustic feel. Wooden tables and chairs, scuffed from too many people having rowdy drinks. There are a few booths available, and we chose a seat in the corner by the fireplace.


I ordered Shepherds pie, hoping for a nice satisfying meal. What came out not only will it satisfy me, it can satisfy 2 people!

Shepherds pie

The shepherds pie comes in a big bowl, freshly out of the oven. What I've learnt from my now many visits to PJs is to always, ALWAYS dig a big hole in the shepherds pie to let the steam out. On many occasions I would be too impatient and end up with a burnt mouth. The filling is simple, mainly mince and peas topped with a layer of creamy mashed potatoes. The pie is much lighter in taste then what I am used to, and certainly lighter compared to what I cook. With that said, this is NOT a light meal. Not if you eat the entire pie, salad and more potato chips all washed down with a beer (Or in my case, Bulmers). You then go into what I call the potato coma. Basically, you enter a vegetative state in front of your computer, struggling to stay awake for the rest of day and not get fired by your boss.

Happy Guinness

I was so impressed by the shepherds pie, I had to drag my Irish friends here, kicking and screaming to try it out. Now? Its the other way around. They'll be the one dragging me kicking and screaming into PJs. Not because I don't like their food, but because I eat everything they serve me, meaning I won't be able to do work for the rest of the day! I have to resist PJs if I have long boring meetings in the arvo.

Blarney Castle Tower Burger

Wagyu beef burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese burger with a side of chips and salad.

The meat is denser and smoother than some other places. But It was juicy and really tasty. I would certainly classify this as good pub grub. Oh, and yes, I am SUCKY at cutting a burger in half! hehe

Chicken Schnitzel

My friend had the Chicken Schnitzel and rated it as good, just needs more gravy. Because you can't never have too much gravy!

I've lost count of how many times I've been to PJ's. I'm slowly making my way through the menu. Other stuff I can highly recommend is the Beef and Guinness pie, Irish Pork Sausages and Mash (Really nice chunky porky sausages), pizzas and my workmate always, ALWAYS order the lamb shanks. I should probably take more photos, but every time I go, I would've consumed a few "drinks" before the food come out and basically forget. hehe

PJ O'Brien's
57 King Street, Sydney
Ph: (02) 9290 1811
http://www.pjobriens.com.au/


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Verandah Bar

Years ago, when Friday night drinks were the norm, we would try to get into Verandah bar after work. If you haven't tried before, its almost impossible to get in. And once you do, you kind of lose orientation of where the bar is and end up pushing through the crowd endlessly trying to get a drink. I went to Verandah bar twice. Once I got in, but left after 20mins trying to get a drink. Second time I didn't even make it into the bar.

Its been quite a few years since I've been back, this time it was for lunch. Unlike the melee I witness a few years ago, lunchtime was actually a calm and peaceful experience. I actually know what the layout of the bar looks like without the 500 people crammed in there.

They have a few lunchtime specials during the week. $9 Rump on Mondays, $9 Schnitzel on Tuesdays and $10 Chicken Parmigiana on Wednesdays. The day I went was a Tuesday. Yay! Schnitzel!

The food and drinks are ordered at the bar. I was hanging around the bar waiting for the rest of the party to order. But less than 2mins after I had ordered, my buzzer went off. Talk about fast service! As I walked to the counter, I realised why they're so quick. Knowing most people will order schnitzel on Tuesdays, they had about 20 plates all laid out with the salad already on the plate. The schnitzel and chips are cooked in big batches rather per order. But with the amount of people ordering the special, you won't have to worry about cold stale food.


What impressed me most about the Verandah Bar schnitzel isn't the schnitzel itself. Don't get me wrong, it was crispy and juicy and certainly tasty. But its the bucket. The big silver bucket that sits right by the cutlery and condiments. What is so special about this bucket you ask? I'll tell you what is so special. The bucket contains litres and litres of the most gorgeous peppery gravy, which you can then ladle over your food. As much as you want. !@%#@$%

I'm definitely coming back, and next time, I'm going to order just a bowl of chips and then drown it in gravy. Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh baby!

Verandah Bar
55 - 65 Elizabeth Street
Sydney 2000
Ph: (02) 9239 5888
http://www.verandah.com.au/


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St Patricks Tavern - King St

I used to walk up and down King St, thinking there are only dodgy pubs on the street. But since working around the corner, I've actually discovered that those "dodgy pubs" may look dodgy after 10 beers at night, but actually serve pretty good food during the day!

Having walked past St Patricks Tavern heaps of times, and noting they had signs outside that use the phrases "Duck", "Rump Steak" and "Seafood", I decided to go check it out with a friend.

St Patricks Tavern is actually below ground level, drowning out all the noisy traffic and people on King St. The decor is like a standard Irish pub with a bistro/dining area.

I was starving when we arrived, and promptly ordered a serve of Garlic Bread.

Garlic Bread - $4.50

Man.....these were huge! I was expecting 2 small slices of bread, not these huge garlic bread rolls! I limited myself to just 1 before the main came out in case I get full.

Beef and Guiness Stew - $16.95

I order the Beef and Guiness Stew. Rich hearty beef stew that melts in your mouth. I couldn't really taste the Guiness since they were a bit heavy on the tomato, but I don't like Guiness anyway! hehe They served it with creamy mashed potatoes! AWESOME! The Irish really know how to use potatoes.

Fish of the Day grilled and served with Lime Hollandaise, Salad and Wedges - Market Price

My friend ordered the fish of the day. A big slab of flakey and moist fish served with chunky home made wedges. Very different to the ones you get at a normal pub that are heavily spiced. This was good since you don't want anything overpowering the fish.

St Patrick's Tavern
66 King St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9262 3277
http://www.stpatrickstavern.com.au/



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PJ O'briens

I discovered PJ O'briens during one of my many searches for pubs with happy hour around the city. I've never really had Irish food before, so what better opportunity to try it than in an Irish pub? Beer + Irish food MUST = Win?

Blarney Castle Tower Burger

Cross section

I'm a terrible burger cutter, I always end up squishing the poor thing. But that didn't affect the taste! Juicy Wagyu beef burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese with a side of chips! Yummmmm!!

Chicken Schnitzel with Gravy

I didn't get to try it, I just remember my friend hoovering this thing down. Either he was really hungry or it was really good ;)

Shepherds Pie

This thing is HUGE. I actually go to PJs quite frequently with my Irish workmate, who almost always orders this dish, so it must say something. We try not to have this in summer, because once you start, you can't stop. Then you go back to work with a shepherds pie coma bought on by potato opverdose toxic poisoning. Productivity is known to drop 150%, especially if you have a pint of Guiness with it. Me? I go for something lighter, 2 Pints of Bulmers. Not sure which is worse? hehe If only they didn't serve it with chips I might be able to eat this AND go back to work. Actually, stuff work, gimme chippies!

PJ O'Brien's
57 King St
Sydney, NSW
(Ph) 02 9290 1811
http://www.pjobriens.com.au/

The White Cockatoo - 1 Dish, 4 meals??

I've previously blogged about The White Cockatoo at Petersham. My friends having seen my blog really wanted to go try it out. I prewarned them to size of the meals, even sending photos of the schnitzels I've had there. I did 2 days prep for this one meal. Gym and Volleyball the day before, another intense cardio workout the day of our dinner. I was ready to eat the table by the time I got there.

I had a quick scan of the menu, spotted prawns and calamari in the same sentence and immediately ordered the Marinara schnitzel.

Marinara Schnitzel - $19.90

This looks fantastic and smelled absolutely heavenly. Taste wise...it depends on how you eat it. Basically the king prawns had been cooked in a garlic butter, which all got poured onto the schnitzel. And I mean prawns, garlic and all the butter. Whilst parts of the schnitzel basically sat in a pool of oil, the bits I managed to lift up from the oil was delicious. The gorgeous garlic bits, plump prawns and thick juicy chicken was amazing. I'd stay away from the calamari though. My ones were severly overcooked.

Veal Mexican schnitzel $18.90

This was almost as thick as a steak. It was smeared with a layer of refined beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. The bite I tried was delicious! I didn't have more than one bite since I had to tackle my own schnitzel.

I've learnt to always bring a container with me (Although the pub provides them as well), and the first thing I do is cut off any piece that isn't covered with sauce. This gets packed away to stop them going soggy. It also gives me more room on the plate to actually cut the schnitzel.

With the leftovers, I managed to make 3 additional meals!

Chicken Katsu Kare

I made a simple Japanese veggie curry. Basically chop up some carrots, potatoes and capsicum. Simmer with water until almost tender. Add a cube of Japanese Curry Roux that come in a box. I got the S&B Brand (You can find them at all asian grocery stores and super markets). I put this on a lettuce up to stop the rice soaking all the sauce up and stop it staining the container. Here's a tip, if your container does stain, put it out in the sun for awhile. It magically "de-stains".

Schnitzel with Garden salad

I love this Fit & Fresh lunch box. My sister gave it to me for xmas, but I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. Mainly because I lost 2 months of my life to Houston. But it comes with a cold pack that sits right inbetween the 2 layers keeping the food nice and cold. I didn't use the cold pack on this occassion since its winter and I didn't want to crush my salad. I heated the schnitzel up and ate it with the cold salad with a side of spring onion ranch sauce. I also found a mystery cake lying around the house which I packed as well.

I still had 2 pieces of schnitzel leftover which I ate for dinner one night. To me that's a damn good deal. $19.90 for my Marinara schnitzel which I managed to stretch into 4 meals! That's $5 a meal!

I raved about The White Cockatoo to my workmates, and we've now set up a Schnitzel Challenge that will take place in 2 weeks time. I won't be participating in the speed eat-off, but I'm certainly going to be there to take photos and laugh at the poor sod who tries to eat the entire schnitzel.

Here are a few more photos from the various times I've tackled the schnitzel. I've NEVER finished the schnitzel and have always walked away with heaps of take away!

Boscaiola topping

Closeup! Bacon, peas and mushroom in a cream sauce

Another Boscaiola, but look at all the extra pieces they give you!!!

Peppercorn gravy

Grilled chicken with mustard sauce

I opted to try something else from the menu and got the grilled chicken. You know, grilled = healthy? Not sure how this works when there's 1/2 a chicken on the plate. The sauce was really nice, but I didn't enjoy the chicken that much. It had a charred taste very similar to portugese chicken, which I DO NOT like at all.

One of my one lunch boxes crammed with schnitzel

White Cockatoo Hotel
Shop 30, Terminus St (Directly opposite the train station)
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9569 4675

The biggest schnitzel I've ever tackled - White Cockatoo Hotel , Petersham

I got off at Petersham Station once on my way to meet a friend. I stopped by the White Cockatoo hotel when I noticed a whole heap of people eating schnitzels. I thought "Wow~ Those schnitzels are bigger than the palm of my hand! And only $15! Excellent value, must come back". So I planned to meet my friend there one night for dinner.

All along the walls were menu options with plenty of different types of schnitzels. Normal schnitzel with gravy, parmigiana style, mexicana style, cabonara, marinara etc etc. We ordered a plain schnitzel each, one with mushroom gravy and one with pepper sauce. They told us to sit at a table and they'll bring it over.

Since it was a thursday night, when you order a drink at the bar, they'll ask you to guess heads or tails. If you're right, you get the drinks free on the house. We sat and enjoyed our drinks, and next thing you know, our schnitzels came out:

Chicken schnitzel with pepper sauce

If you're thinking "How stingey are they with the chips? And why use such a small plate?". Well think again:

Chicken schnitzel with mushroom gravy

This schnitzel is HUGE!!! Like Titanic huge! And its not just ONE piece of schnitzel, ontop and underneath the big main schnitzel, were lots of other "normal" sized schnitzels. I mean, just the chips alone would probably fill you up, let alone the schnitzel. And you know what else? As they delivered the schnitzel, they asked if we wanted any salad. Without thinking, we went "errrrrr....yeah". If they had asked us if we've ever been abducted by aliens we probably would've went "errrrrr....yeah" cos we were so shellshocked by the size of the schnitzel.


Apparently, they used to serve the salad on the same plate, but either people we're eating it cos they were busy tackling the schnitzel, or it just wouldn't fit. So they ask you if you want the salad now.

I only managed to get through about 1/3 of the whole plate, leaving a heap of chips behind. And I love chips. I almost never leave chips behind, but this was just too big of a task to tackle. Not only were the schnitzels huge, but they were tasty. I've experienced my fair share of dry tasteless burnt schnitzels, but I've never had a schnitzel this size and STILL taste sooooo moist! And they weren't stingey with the gravy! I love my gravy and there was plenty to go around for this huge schnitzel!

When we first went to the White Cocktaoo Hotel and saw people eating their "big schnitzel", they were already 3/4 of the way through! Had we known how big their schnitzels are, we would've ordered one to share, and still not finish. I told a few of my friends about this, and apparently they go there after the guys have soccer practice, and have an eating competition to see who can finish the schnitzels. And even then, most of the time they only get 3/4 of the way through!

White Cockatoo Hotel
Shop 30, Terminus St
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9569 4675

Another pub night

I'm really loving this whole pub thing. Cheap food, cheap drinks, music loud enough for you to hear, but soft enough for a decent conversation that doesn't involed ripped vocal cords. Big spacious rooms, no elbowing, shoving or being groped whilst trying to squeeze your way through the crowd to the bathroom. But the sad thing? I says alot about my age when I'm contemplating hanging out at the local pub rather than have a big night out in town. *Sigh*

Anyway, it time to visit another one of Moishii's mystery venues. This time there was no juke box, but there was MTV making the job so much easier. We picked a table in the bistro and scanned the big blackboard. $5 steaks! $5!! Why am I paying $30 for a steak which is basically just a piece of beef thrown onto a grill in the city? Yes, you get way you pay for rar rar rar. Unless you're talking about Kobe beef, alot of the time, steak is steak. I've been to a number of these big famous award winning steak houses, and at the end of the day, it was just a steak. It doesn't matter how good the piece of beef is, if the chef completely butchers the slab of meat. Sometimes its well worth the $30 you pay if the chef is having a good night, sometimes, $5 steak is all you need.

The bistro is completely empty and we're the only people there. Fine by me. We can have a decent conversation and concentrate on the task at hand. We order our drinks, and settle for Chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy. Less than 5mins after placing our order, the chef sticks his head out of the window and screams "NO MORE SCHNITZEL!!!!"

O..k....not a biggie, I was happy to order something else. This is when the bar maid starts screaming across the room at the chef as to whether there was no more schnitzel full stop, or no more after our order. There was no more schnitzel after our order. Not too much of a problem until the barmaid started screaming that she wanted schnitzel for dinner when her shift was over. Great, we just stole dinner of the barmaid. Luckily we had our drinks already and didn't have to worry about any bodily fluids that might accidently make it into our drinks.

The food arrives and the schnitzel was huge! Excellent value for $5! The schnitzel was really good, not too oily, very crunchy but not too much batter. The chicken was still nice and moist. It sits on top of a bed of light crispy chips drenched in gravy. Now I have a funny way of eating chips and gravy. The PERFECT chips and gravy needs to have a genrous sprinkle of chicken salt, and then bbq sauce added to the picture. So then it was a franctic running back and forth between the condiments counter and our table. After a big fuss, I finally sit down to my meal.

After taking a bite and enjoying cheap comfort pub food, cops storm into the bistro. Within minutes, another cop car pulls up to the pub with their lights going off giving me headspins. I'm torn between running out and taking photos, continue eating, or taking my plate of food out AND take photos. The staff starts running around and we panic thinking we're in the middle of a hold up. Eventually the chef comes running out as well and we ask him for all the goss. Apparently some guy asked the barmaid to flash her t!ts at him, and when she refused, he tried to attack her. Moishii immediately turns to me and goes "God I'm glad you're not wearing anything low cut". Somewhere amongst the story, I heard that he tried following her into the toilet or something?? God can't we go out for ONE night without some weird freaky thing happening? What are we? Magnets for freaks??

We scoff the rest of our food, finish the task we were there for and then we were outta there. Since it was still early, we decided to head towards Burwood to catch a movie. Of course there was non-stop screaming of "CHRISTINEEEEEEEEEEE" out of the car window. We arrive at Burwood, purchase our tickets for "Grudge 2", roam around a bit and then settled in for the movie. OMG it's been AGESSSSSSS since we've seen anything with Sarah Michelle Gellar in it! I can't wait! The cinema starts filling up with people. Usually not too much of an issue, but in this case, 1/3 of the cinema were loud, rowdy teenagers. The lights dim, the previews start rolling, and the bloody bunch of teenagers were still talking! Not whispering either, this is full on conversations about clothes, weekends, whos dating who. Theres alot of shushing, and yelling of "SHUT UP!!!" (and I contributed to that as well), but they WOULD NOT SHUT UP. 10seconds into the movie, some moron decided to start screaming at the top of his lungs. Another one decided to respond by screaming "HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!". It didn't help that Moishii reckoned that would be the perfect reply to "Christine!!!".

You would think once the movie starts, they would start to settle down. No. You had people STANDING in their seats chatting to people people a few rows behind them. You had people jumping up from their seats, moving to another seat/row/side of the cinema to chat to other people. You had people sitting there screaming "OMG! I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SCARED!!!" followed by a "HELP ME!!". Non stop! No amount of shushing, and "SHUT THE HELL UP!!" would get them to SHUT THE HELL UP. So they called in the security. Not just the attendants with their torch, but full on security. They had the security do a round in the cinema and then they left. Immediately the screaming and chatting started up. The attendant quickly started making rounds again and stood next to the bunch of culprits. Not that that really helped since there were morons scattered throughout the whole cinema. If she managed to shut one group up, another group would start. So half way through the movie, they had to call the attendant back. She stuck around for about 10mins and then left again. I swear by the end of the movie I was ready to throw my bottle at someone, but I didn't know who because there were so many of them that deserved a flying bottle to the back of the head!

The movie ended and it was good. I would've enjoyed it ALOT more if people would SHUT UP! I get into the car and we're driving home when I open the window and let out a blood curdling CHRISTINEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! This was quickly followed by Moishii's "HELP MEEEEEE!!". I quickly realised that this is NOT a good thing, because one day someone is going to call the cops and report a kidnapping and identify Moishii's license plates and he's going to have the cops on his door steps with a warrant. So we're sitting at the traffic lights when Moishii has a complete laughing fit followed by an asthma attack. After 2mins of this, he finally calms down and a cop car drives by. I quickly said "Do NOT scream......do NOT SCREAM!". This triggered another fit and attack. How he managed to drive home with tears in his eyes and stitches I'll never know.....

Mystery shopping

It was a freezing saturday night and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep. But alas, I had promised Moishii I'll help him with his Mystery shopping thing he had to do for work. The "Mystery shopping" we were doing involves going to various venues and listening to music. Don't ask. Anyway, so we went to a pub which I shall not name for dinner. Cheap pub grub is always good. The plan was to do the mystery shopping over dinner, but from where we were, we couldn't hear a thing. So after eating, and consuming a few alcoholic beverages (I get a $30 budget to spend on alcohol/food simply by accompanying him) we roamed around the pub and eventually located a juke box. Being the enthusiastic idiots that we were, we proceeded to slot dollar after dollar into the machine and pumped out some Kylie and Beyonce. By this time the alcohol was hitting and I was tired. I sat down and faced the rest of the room. I slowly started to notice something a bit strange.....we were in the pool room, but there was no one playing pool. Everyone was sitting down and watching something to my right. I turn around to see a big screen that was showing footy. OMG FOOTY! Everyone was sitting at the pub trying to watch Australia kick the crap outta the Kiwis, and here we were pumping Beyonce out of the speakers!!

The guys directly infront of me turned to give us the dirty look just as the next song blares out of the speakers. Moishii has his back turned and is completely oblivious as to what is going on. He's bopping to the music and scanning through the playlist. In my inebriated state, I did a hiss of a "SIT DOWN!!". Only someone is quite thick as to what is going on. This is basically how the conversation went:

Me (Hissing): SIT DOWN!!

Moishii: Wait, I just need a few more songs

Me: I think you need to sit down!!!

Moishii: What?!

Me: If you don't sit down soon, you're going to get the shit kicked out of you!

Moishii: What???

Me: SIT DOWN!!!

Moishii eventually sits down which is when I explained the whole situation and how we have completely broken all pub etiquettes when the footy is on. We decided to sit down, pretend to watch the game and not attract anymore attention to ourselves. All was going well until this massive drum solo at the end of a video clip started pumping through the speakers. More dirty looks from all the guys. This is when my survival instinct kicked in and we left whilst we still had all our teeth. This is after I hide a big cup of beer nuts in my handbag......

We hop into the car when the rain starts pouring down. We have no idea where we were, and neither of us could be bothered pulling out the map. So in the dark rainy night, the drunk one (me) started directing the lost one (Moishii). There was a bit of miscommunication when we started going in circles when both of us basically meant to give the same directions but we ended up going around in circles from all the yelling we were doing. It didn't help that I was hanging my head out of the window screaming CHRISTINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE at every traffic light and passerby I saw.

We eventually made it to the next venue, another pub. We walk in, order more alcohol (God this place was generous with their alcohol......its like a double serve.......and cheaper as well) and tried to locate where the music was coming from. There was huge room where everyone was watching the game and betting on horses etc. We decided to avoid a repeat of the other place so we explored the pub some more. We eventually find the room with the juke box and plonk ourselves down right next to it. Before we pumped more music from it, we had a quick glance around the room only to see that everyone in there were big kiwis.....and the kiwis were loosing. Not a good time to play any music. So we settled for whatever was playing through the speakers. Since we couldn't play music, we decided to drink. Well, I decided to drink. I ended up having 3 glasses of wine infront of me, and since their glasses were so big, it totalled to about a bottle of wine. 20mins later, the room was spinning and I desperately needed some fresh air. I leave my bag and jacket with Moishii to grab some air on the streets. 5mins later, Moishii is screaming from the front door thinking I was run over by a car or something. I quickly run back to see him standing on the door step laughing his head off and trying to break down the door. Yep.....we got locked out. Luckily Moishii had my bag and jacket in his hands, so we jumped into the car for a bit of a joy ride. Alot of "CHRISTINEEEEEEEEEEE" screaming later, we ended up in Leichardt for some coffee.

We ended up at Tuscany on Norton Street. The reason we went there was because Sydney Weekender was doing a Norton Street special on Saturday, and Tuscany was on the show. That and it was close. After giving our orders to multiple waiters and still not getting anything, we were about to up and leave when they finally came with our drinks. It took another 15mins for the dessert to come through. We got the ricotta and nutella crepes which was nice, but nothing special. What was special was the people around us. The guy with his girlfriend sitting next to us couldn't stop staring at us. Maybe it had something to do with us leaving a voicemail on Christine's phone which involved alot of "CHRISTINEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" and "CHRRRRRRRRIIIIIISTINEEEEEEEE!!". After they left, 2 chicks sat down next to us. By this stage I was quite sober and we just sat there chatting away. The 2 chicks got up and left less than 10mins after sitting down and sculling a coffee, but not before one of the chicks gave me the dirties. She stood up, turned and gave me the dirtiest look and then walked off. Like WTF? And to make things bad, she was wearing a Gold belt AND carrying a gold purse. No one, who wears a gold belt and carries a gold purse has the right to give me the dirties. It should be me giving you the dirties for your taste. BITCH.

Anyway, the night ended soon after that. Somewhere along the line, I woke up with a spoon in my bag along with the nuts. Like wtf?