Marty painting the walls – Last Thursday night we hosted Visual Response 6 – Native exhibition at Lo-Fi. Damien and I picked up the winning prints from Digital Press is Surry Hills in the morning, then met up with Marty at Lo-Fi for set-up.
Damien and I got busy getting the top 10 entries on the wall.
Marty spraying the new Aus Infront logo.
Awesome huh?!
Lunch was lovingly made by the awesome cats at youeni, from their awesome new store in Hill St. I had the beef brisket, so hearty.
Natacha Merritt.
What better a way to celebrate my birthday than to be granted an interview with American Photographer, Artist and Biologist Natacha Merritt! Check out the full interview here.
Beautiful still (it’s usually windy!) day at Mum’s place.
Miles enjoying some sun (and his new Mambo hat!).
He’s growing SO fast!
MMMM! Miles, Mum, Mie and Min!
My cousin Harris with Miles.
Totally random, but totally awesome. Simon McIntyre, whom I went to Design School with, just posted this up on Facebook. It’s an album that Shannon, Arron and I recorded and distributed on cassette tape circa 1993, or so (?!). I remember cutting and pasting the cassette cover using art from a Heavy Metal comic book, kinda digging the hand drawn logo design too!
I’ve still got the original recordings online. I’m on guitar, and it’s me singing (if you can call it that), Shannon Taylor on drums, Arron Fletcher on Bass. If you care to listen visit: https://soundcloud.com/justin-fox-27/sets/the-jury
Dianne had the Gorgonzola Gnocchi, not on the menu, but available if you ask for it nicely. It’s somehow light and cheesy at the same time and the home made gnocchi is so so good.
I went for the Spag Bol this time. Couldn’t help myself. Big serving, great value at $14.
Nanami went for the Spaghetti Picante. Anchovies, chilli and bread crumbs made for a taste and texture explosion.
Felix went for their signature dish, the Parpadelle with Duck Ragu.
Tiramisu was the lightest and naughtiest I’ve had to date. Delicious!
Panna cotta was awesome too.
Had a long overdue catch-up with Di and Felix last night. Di being the foodie we hit Il Baretto in Surry Hills for some real deal home styles Italian food. I knew it was going to be a busy night. We got there just past 7PM, the place was packed as expected and we were going to have to wait 1.5hrs if we were to get a table.
We decided to wait it out, the pub across the road was way too packed so we hit Tokonoma Lounge on Crown St. for a drink and a snack. Lovely interior design, sorry no photo as the manager gave me the no no, dangerous place to be in though, $20 cocktails will rape your wallet hard before you know it!
At 8.50PM we were still waiting for our table, out in the cold (and getting very cold). We finally got our table and the staff were quick to bring us a serving of Bruschetta, on the house to apologise for the long wait (lovely!).
Despite the long wait, food and company were great :)
Signed, sealed, delivered, she’s mine!
One of the lesser explicit spreads.
I’ve been a Natacha Merritt fan since picking up her first book at Ariel bookstore in 2000. It was so confronting (even for me!) that I had to have it. I even remember being a little shy to hand it over the counter due to how explicit it was.
In 2002 I got to meet her when she came out to AGIdeas conference in Melbourne (here’s a photo of her and I), and despite a lot of people writing her work off as porn not art I was all the more convinced she’s the real deal.
A few weeks ago I got an email from her publisher in relation to her new book. I’ve not kept in touch with what Natacha’s been doing since 2002, turns out she’s now a biologist and her latest book Sexual Selection compares and contrasts the sexual intricacies of plants and insects with her own elaborate sexuality.
It’s awesome. I love it. Not everyone’s cup of tea, definitely not for the everyday coffee table, but definitely sits proud on mine :)
Stock vs. Not!
Low Power Honda Crew.
A cute L-Plater couple came in to Zen today (yup working, we’re now officially open weekends). He rode a Honda Postie Bike, she rode this mint Honda Zoomer. Was nice chatting, and comparing my modified Zoomer to her dead stock one. Kinda jealous when they set off to ride in the glorious Sydney sunshine!
Modern Pet is a little business I formed with Christina, my sister Jamie and her husband Richie. Sadly it never took off… it’s not losing money, but it needs more energy in order to really make more sales and right now, especially since little Miles is in the world, it’s time no-one has to spare.
I’m still proud of the branding and online shopping cart design. It’s running on Opencart and I worked farking hard to get it looking as clean as it does. Jamie found a site for selling sites, interesting! We thought we’d give it a go, check the online auction here: http://flippa.com/auctions/2732864/site
PS: We’ve still got some awesome stock left and if you enter the code “MAY” on checkout you’ll save an additional 40%. Visit: http://modernpetshop.com/
I found Murray’s Whale Ale at a local bottle shop. I remembered the cute illustration from the Paddy’s Hop Harvest Festival I went to with Richie in May earlier this year so I didn’t hesitate to buy some. It’s such a nice crispy beer (love it!) and I have a soft spot for the massive Sapporo cans.
Nana’s off-the-cuff pasta dish was so so yummy.
When with Japanese you must eat real Japanese! We made the hike out to Killarney Heights to visit Fuji Japanese Bakery – they’ve been making traditional Japanese style bread and pastries since 1984, looks like the little shop has never undergone a renovation since then either!
Be sure to try a steamed pork bun, the curry bun is great too!
Traditional Portuguese chicken from Frango in Petersham. Super tender, the chilli is perfect (not at all too hot), the chips are awesome too.
Some goodies from Japanese supermarket Tokyo Mart in Northbridge. I’ve brought this stuff into Zen today to see if it fits in our vending machine. Bit risky to have the ramune in the machine as the glass could break when the machine drops the drink for delivery, the small coffee can doesn’t fit but the taller ones are fine. Tokyo Mart didn’t stock Coffee Boss but I’ve just downed the Pokka Milk Coffee and it’s awesome!
Miso Eggplant, yum yum.
Deluxe Sashimi (had to have this).
Jewfish.
Tofu cheesecake was so naughty.
Someone mentioned ‘Sushi’ yesterday morning… despite a slightly foggy head from drinking the night before I had Sushi on the brain all day and by dinner time I couldn’t resist. Nana and I hit Masuya again. So good.
