Jamie's Italian

Hi Chia!

Hope things are well, how did the school assembly pan out?

The weekend that just passed, went so quickly! I guess that's normal after having a long weekend for Easter. I'm writing this post while on the train to work.

Had quite a busy weekend actually. However, I'll tell you about my Friday night.

Kev, Clem, Drew, Katie and I all met up at Jamie Oliver's new Italian restaurant in Perth. Kev, Clem and I rocked up at 5pm on the dot as they were not accepting bookings and the lady on the phone advised Clem that the line would get long at 5.30pm.

There was already a line when we arrived! However, we three just enjoyed the chat and catch up. We were not particularly hungry which helped. The restaurant was mindful of the people waiting and brought out some platters for the eager eaters to try out while they wait.

Nearly at the front of the line

Hrmmmm Olives....

The staff were all so friendly. They really loved their job. I also noted that a lot of them had an English accent too.

At around the 40 minute mark, we were finally allowed in the restaurant. Drew and Katie arrived and we walked up to the hostess. She asked for our a name and a contact number as there were no tables
available as yet, and they needed us to put our name down! We were actually ok with that, and opted to have a few drinks at the bar while we wait for our table.

First round

Here we ordered a few drinks, all of which were yum, and continued chatting. I also had a chance to talk to the bar man and ask whether he was from Perth. He said that he and a lot of the staff were from Jamie's 'At Home' restaurant in London. I just marveled at how much everyone working at the restaurant that night just loved what they did. You could tell it in their face, their body movements and how earnest they performed each task that they were happy to be there.

These kind of people I love watching. I watch in both jealousy and for inspiration. I want to find a job that makes me just as enthusiastic, excited, and drives me to perform every task whole heartedly.

The decor of the restaurant was something I'm sure you would love! It was rustic and homely when you glance at the lighting, the table settings and decorations such as the coat hanger at the door. However, there were touches of classy tradition such as the grand chandelier and the manner in which the staff presented themselves. They were formal and informative but they were relatable and they definitely made you feel at home.

After a further 30 minutes at the bar, we were led to our booth and we all enjoyed the atmosphere, the company and the food. Here's some pics:

Cool light

Interesting coat hanger and an umbrella holder?

Just in case we forgot where we were eating

Meat platter

Complementary bread!

Fish platter

Katie and I happy with our booth and cocktails!

Kev, Clem and Drew getting ready to order

On a funny note, Clem put me onto this. We got onto a Perth Meme! :)

Bird and Mr Shrimp

Hi Anna :)

Yesterday was Satoko's belated birthday dinner at Merrywell.

Food was delectable! I love finger food and sharing platters. I hate the idea of lining up to order food so a big thanks to Lainy for doing that :) Luckily it wasn't too bad because we went rather early in the evening, however later on a very awkward and unsightly line grew.

I think they just wanted to eat!

Must take photos before food arrives next time.

Someone's going to have really moisturized hands.

Outcome of weekly art class.

Christina drawing and painting away.

IN LOVE with Christina's bird and the luminous effect she achieved.

Cup of tainted water?

Christina worked on one drawing, whilst I experimented with a few.

Mr Shrimp made me laugh with his bulbous eyes and spindly appendages.

So I did a quick line drawing of him and splashed on some colours.

Our lunch, Don't worry, there was half a chicken left.

It's Friday and it's Chinese New Year Eve tomorrow!

That Little Town

Hi Anna!

Yesterday I finally went on that drive to the 'country' to explore That Little Town I told you about,  2.5 hours east out of Perth (3 hours for dilly dally me).

 I left the house at 930am mentally prepared for a day of driving Unfortunately no one could accompany me on my little adventure but that was OK because I amused myself discovering various radio channels. Even Spice Girls If You Wanna Be My Lover was played. We all know I don't do karoake, but the fresh air must've cleared out my lungs because I thought I sounded top notch.

On the way I stopped by another little town called Dowerin and had a little popsicle break.

Of course I had to have one of these!

 It wasn't hot in the morning and it was rather pleasant having the window halfway down but I was envious when I saw an elderly couple cruise past in their red convertible. To amuse myself I thought I could pretend I was in one by winding both windows all the way down. At 110km it was fun until my almost empty tissue box started flapping about in the car and the inconvenience of cleaning up bugs splattered on the inside of the back window occured to me. So that was short lived.

I'm also one of those that love to take in scenery and easily delighted by wide open spaces even if it's scorched land and more scorched land with trees. It's a personal challenge to be constantly looking for interesting things along the way. The most interesting sighting would be the signs of towns that I drove past. Did you know that Goomalling is town of possums? And Dowerin of dogs? There was this two metre high corroded statue of a dog that made me want to halt the car and snap it for you.

At half past noon, I reached That Little Town. It took me less than a minute to find what I was looking for. The town is little indeed. Did you know in small towns, you can win awards for being the most tidiest town? I don't know how they judge this and it must be tough because all the towns seemed spotless to me!

How cute! I suspect they don't have door numbers.  They just go by colours with fancy names like The Salmon Pink House.

On the way back I thought I'd drive through Northam and see what the town is like. Nothing out of the ordinary except it was larger than I expected. I didn't think I'd see a Woolies AND a Coles. Lawn ornaments in front of a B & B was an unusual sight.

And this little piggy mowed the lawn all day long.

"Out of the way!" cried Triceratops "I'm not moo-ving" replied the Cow.

I knew driving would be exhausting but it didn't get to me until the end of the drive and I felt like I could really do with a break. I  pulled over at Bakers Hill pie shop for a pie and something sweet.

They sell the best pies!

Chunky beef pie that won by over by the huge chunks of beef and the flakiest pastry. 

That something was very sweet with home made cookie too, but nowhere as good as Christina's version.

I finally reached home at about 4pm and the sleep fairy caught me within minutes. I think this is the beginning of my country drives. Now let me close my eyes and point on a map...

Jazzy fun times!

Hey Chia!

Your sketches are cool. They look like you haven't lifted your pencil off the page! Of course I am strongly drawn to the coloured ones as they are just so pretty and vibrant! I am a big fan of the fish and the Aussie bush! Keep posting your art work! I enjoy looking at them absorbing all the colours into my memory!

The filtered pics are pretty neat! I giggled at the wig/hair one! Very interesting seeing what you would look like with that hair style! Are you going to dye your hair red? You can be like Ariel, the Little Mermaid!

Jazz

Thanks for posting the photos of our Thursday night. I don't really have much to add to your post as you have pretty much summed up the night! The best I can do is just add further photos taken from my camera!

My lovely date!

Entering the fun, quirky and cool Fringe World

Us all Jazzed up around the art gallery

Distorted mirror shot

Moonlighting at the Ellington Jazz Club

We are very red!

Thank you for coming with me to see Nicola Milan perform at the Ellington Jazz club! I've been wanting to see her perform for a while, and so I was so happy that you were able to be my date at such a whim! It was such a last minute thing, and I was semi stressed out about what to wear for the night given that the theme was "Vintage Jazz Glamour".  Like you, I ended up finding bits and pieces that I had collected over the years to put something together.

Nicola has such a rich and sensual voice which I adore! I can only wish that I could sing anything near that! Her song 'Take your Chances' is so sexy and I just feel like slowly prowling around the room like cat to the beat.  I found that while I was driving home after her performance, I had her happy and catchy song 'Little Rendezvous' in my head!

I hope you had just as much fun as I did!

First life drawing and jazz

Aren't we doing well with our blogging?

Now I'm not very good with keeping up to date with what's going on in Perth, but about a fortnight ago, I was googling art exhibitions and art classes when I came across this one night drawing event held at The Bakery called Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School. I've always wanted to try life drawings and thought this was the perfect opportunity. But of course, to make things interesting, these models are dressed in strange burlesque clothing with odd props. Who comes up with a man operated mechanical ostrich with a teapot beak?

The venue was really clever. Imagine an open rectangular space bordered with sea containers. It reminded  me of Trinity Wharf in London where  sea containers have been transformed  into buildings. Could this be the answer to cheaper Perth housing?

Surrounded by sea containers. Sketchers getting ready.

I suspected we weren't allowed to take photos of the models.There were six characters, and my favourite one had a rubber mask on with a fusion of frog/troll/chameleon/lizard features going on.  It was a very intense 2 hours, and we started off with a 2 minute time limit for each pose, and eventually progressed to 15 minutes. Talk about pressure! Christina and I were concentrating hard and it really was a race against time to sketch everything I wanted.  You've seen my colour pencil sketches and they take at least three hours to complete anCjd of course this pushed me beyond my comfort zone. Not only that, but the host was intrusive and talked incessantly, throwing jokes and insults whilst he Iwas walking around surveying what people were drawing. It was a really hilarious and unusual experience and one I'm glad I went to.

My favourite character. Hope he doesn't give you nightmares.

This was the final pose with all 6 characters posing on stage. Man on bottom right was very good looking. Use your imagination :)

I really need to develop my skill in drawing people but I'm not in a real hurry because it's currently not my main focus currently. I love drawing nature because it's pleasing to the eye and more forgiving if you make mistakes.

I spent tonight not drawing, but PAINTING! Found my old watercolours and experimented with them. Below is my second attempt of a glassy eye snapper.

This looks very oriental. Ignore that orange splodge. The paint tube exploded on me.

Does this look familiar? It's based on the same coral reef picture that I used for my drawing.

  I am certain that painting this cooled me down on a hot summer's night.

The drawing version that I started at Christina's place.

Good ol Aussie bush and water reflection.

 That's three paintings in a night. Can't say I've done that before.

Here's a sneaky peek of our Vintage Glam Jazz night! My first live jazz experience! I'll let you fill in the rest for our lovely readers :)

Nibbles and cocktail at Bivouac

Hairband that gives you a headache, and necklaces that strain your neck. Oh to look the part!

LOVE this! Flapper queen!

Jazzing away

Thank you for the date! As always, plenty of fun and laughs. Happy weekend ahead :)

Vintage love and prints

Hi Anna

I'm going to do two posts in a day. This one is to say how much I LOVE my new skirts and dress from a vintage shop in Northbridge. I think it's called Miss Brown's or something like that. Ching and I wandered down William Street after a very scrumptious brunch. I wasn't intending on doing any purchasing but I walked out with two skirts and a dress.

Little brunch at Tuck Shop

Love my smoked salmon!

  I have never felt so excited about clothes in Perth before but I love anything vintage and one off pieces. I also have a thing for unusual prints and long skirts/ maxis sand the floral one is a dream combination.We haven't figured out what the red print is about but I love how abstract it is. There were so many prints to choose from and quite a large selection of items. A lot of them were half price too!

Midi skirt, knee length skirt and a knee length dres. All $30 each. I couldn't resist!

 

 Perth definitely has started to catch up with the rest of the world. I can't wait to see more of these stores with one off affordable vintage pieces that are actually wearable.

The sales lady Mary was so helpful (turns out she lived in Hampstead too!)  and she had such a delicate and English accent. Made me miss London a bit. HI PENE if you're reading :) Actually I dedicate this post to you because you love vintage too!

Also, love the print of this Zara scarf Ching got for me from her holiday in the states. She knows I love my animals and prints :)