Tag Archives: peter

luncheons not truncheons

It is my final week at work and it seems we’ll be having many a lunch. Last Thursday Holly and Edmund and Rob and I went for Thai food around the corner (since Holly was on her way to New Zealand the next day). That was pleasant enough. The food at the Thai place is a lot sweeter and not nearly so spicy as better Thai food, but still. We never did get to go out bushwalking, what with Holly’s schedule at Patisse occupying her so much of her weekend time here.

Then Holly went to Christchurch on Friday. I spent my weekend doing homework, watching movies, eating the last of the food in our cupboards (I didn’t want to buy any groceries this week, but ended up getting some ice cream today), and thinking about buying a pair of shoes.

I also sold Holly’s bike and the rental agent came by to show the apartment to a prospective renter. He’s such a slippery guy. He came in pointing and concern-trolling about how the place looked. There was a bit of mold on one of the walls that is nothing resembling our fault, but he tsk tsked and said when we do the final inspection on Friday he hopes it’ll be cleaned up. He could of course quote a price on getting it cleaned professionally… Fucking guy. Peter is going to move into our rooms and wants our double mattress, the one we found on the street. He’s also going to look after some of our stuff between me leaving on the 2nd and us heading back to the North on the 19th. Hooray for Peter.

Yesterday Edmund and Rob and I went up the Sydney Tower for lunch in the revolving restaurant. It was excellent. The place was filled with old people, and the elevators seemed in poor condition, but we watched the city rotate slowly beneath us for an hour. We could see all the way out to the Blue Mountains and Manly and the airport as well as peer down and marvel at the cranes and window washing apparatus so many tall buildings have as part of their superstructure. The vegetarian options were probably the best I’ve had at a buffet like that. Baba Ganoush and bread, loads of good salads, Indianish and Chinese dishes, all in all pretty decent.

Friday will be my last day at work. I’ve got the apartment inspection in the morning and have to get on a plane at around 6:30pm. And then I’ll be joining Holly in a life of vagabondery for a while. I never feel as much like myself as when I’m on a train or a bus or other conveyance. It’s going to be a good December.

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heterodoxies of the gut

Yesterday Holly and I hung out with Lee and Lisa, who you might remember from the wedding we attended in Nanchong last December (the one with all the roasted 羊肉). Part of hanging out involved heading down to the big vegetable market and buying our week’s supplies of food. Because we know how to show people a good time.

On our way back we also bought three bags of frozen jiaozi (饺子) for dinner, to go with our 豌豆 (it’s possible that’s the wrong character for wan). I love 饺子. Love them to pieces. But I’ve learned that when it comes to prepackaged 饺子 (ie ones that aren’t lovingly created by the hands of SchroederWiebeUnrauPankratzes at Xmas time) vegetarian ones are kind of lousy. So we got a variety of types, all containing meat. We fried them and they were delicious (though we need a better dipping sauce next time).

Peter was eating supper at the same time we were. He’s usually curious about what we’re cooking, asking about techniques and stuff. And he asked about the 饺子, not because he didn’t know what they were, but because “I thought you were vegetarians.” And so Holly explained my curiously arbitrary standards that aren’t very good at being standard at all.

Peter said it turned his image of me completely upside down. I guess that’s good to do sometimes, even if it means I’m not particularly orthodox a vegetarian. I’m not particularly orthodox in any of the rest of my definitions either.

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there were shrimp, but no one said the phrase

One of the good things about sharing space with people when you move somewhere new is that sometimes they’re very nice and it’s like you have friends. This worked in Vancouver and there’s a possibility of it working all right out here in Sydney.

Yesterday was a sunny day and Peter (from New Zealand) had presciently organized a barbecue in the park behind our building. He invited a bunch of his friends and whoever from our house wanted to come.

The barbecues in the park were not what I would have expected (some sort of charcoal grill receptacles). These were built into concrete electric things – no fuel required. The cooking surface was flat metal with a hole in the centre for oil and fat to drip into I guess. It was like a short order cook station out under the trees. It was super clean and well-maintained too. Carole said that in Chile it would have been dirty broken and stolen long ago.

It was good to hang out with our neighbours though. They’re all pretty friendly and I think Holly and I’ll be able to live with them till December.

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