Daiso Stake-Out

I am late on the Daiso discovery trail but whoa, what a find!  In case you have been hibernating in cave like I have been, Daiso is a Japanese version of a $2 shop except it is $2.80 shop.  Every glorious thing is $2.80.  The stock anything and everything from personal care, household items, food, gadgets.  Apparently all their stock is from Japan with the usual quirky innovations you would expect from the Japanese. 

The Daiso I visited is in the basement on the corner of Swanston and Bourke St, Melbourne.  I was literally hyperventilating from excitement at the aisles and aisles of weird and wonderful stuff to finger.  Here are a couple of offerings for you:


 

 

A portable ashtray with distinguisher designed to sit in your pocket

An egg mould.  To mould your hard boiled eggs into heart and star shapes.  Because you can!

Nappies for dogs.  Complete with tail hole.

It's like modern art - a complete wall of false eyelashes

 

I spent 60 very enjoyable minutes, touching, touching everything.... and came out with the following purchases:

 





Newsprint gift wrapping - not quirky but needed some as have ran out
Eye brow pencil - was too scared to try their other cosmetic offerings on my actual skin as they were priced at $2.80 - so cheap it makes me apprehensive
Kombucha tea - otherwise known as kelp tea.  Salty. 
Silicone nose scrubber - weird and wonderful and will try tonight!
iphone protector film - boring but where else could I get this for $2.80?!

Operation Rapunzel!

I am in my late 30s and I'm thinning. 

Phew!  There.  I've said it. Very cathartic. 

It snuck up on me so insidiously.  For years, I've asked friends, "Do you reckon?  Could I possibly be?"  And my faithful friends have denied any sparseness upon my topness.  But I am confronting the God awful truth.  Playing trichologist, I believe decades of being on the pill, thyroid disease and just simply not taking time to care has contributed to the thinning which is more pronounced near my part and crown. 

I have come up with a plan of attack - Operation Rapunzel. 

My thyroid condition has been stable for a year or so now, so tis the right time to strike.  I have stopped the pill, so am a raging hormonal mess but I like to think I will eventually be a hormonal mess with a glossy mane. 

For the record, here is my parting and crown now (please don't gasp in horror as I did.  It's not often I have a bird's eye view of my issi-hue) :

 

 

 





After reviewing the literature on the internet, frankly I'm frightened of trying anything too chemically laden for fear I fry off my few precious strands.  So I'm going the organic / natural route. 

Part 1:
Spray and massage in Apivita Propoline Hair Loss Treatment for Women, twice daily

Part 2:
Coconut oil scalp mask once weekly. 

Part 3:
Apple cider vinegar dilution sprayed after each shampooing.  You can probably guess - I reek of fish and chips with a top note of apple. 

Operation Rapunzel will run for 3 months with a review thereafter.


Beaker out. 

Bug Brunch - Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

I recall a conversation I had with my mum when I was around 10 years old concerning my love for all foods deep fried and roasted.  "If I deep fried poo, would you eat it?" my mum had asked.  And the answer was a resounding Yes!-  I would eat anything that was crunchy and salty. 

The Bug Brunch held at the Melbourne Museum for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival had the crunchy snacks in the bag.  We were treated with an easy to comprehend layman's presentation on bugs as food from a cultural, environmental and nutritional perspective.  After impatiently waiting for the 40 min or so of the educational spiel to end, we sampled various crunchy insects. 

All the insect we ate were farm raised and oven roasted.  What did they taste like?  Well generally nutty.  Very crunchy and the cricket legs then to get stuck between the teeth.  Not unpleasant.  They remind me of the roasted skins of peanuts or wasabi peas without the wasabi.  Crunchy in an airy type of way. 

Jimminy Cricket

Jimminy Cricket come to Mama

Cheddar Cheese worm.  Pick of the bunch

Big grub which we did not attempt to go

TP daintily nibbling on a mealworm

Finally......a golden fields lobster roll experience....

I've been waiting yearning dreaming of Golden Fields, of Andrew McConnell's south of the river restaurant. The no booking policy has put my friends who live on the other side of the river off...it's hard enough to get them to come across Punt Rd but the uncertainty and wait involved with no bookings...asking too much...(though me spending most of my life and weekends stuck on Punt Rd is all together another thing???)

Miss MMM, the jetstar and I were due a fine dining experience and felt Sunday lunch may be our best opportunity. At midday on a cold summer Sunday the place was quiet, after the breakfast gangs had cleared out.

The beginning and end of my meal was decided before I arrived. The reviews and blogosphere had been going crazy about the New England lobster roll, with kewpie mayo and watercress since before the place opened. I felt left out, I wanted some lobster love. I was slightly anxious, apprehensive that the hype was too much and the reality wouldn't stand up.

The relief and the bliss of biting into a buttery brioche bun that is gently crispy but gives way so beautifully, to the salty sweet kewpie mayo (an old friend), the peppery watercress and the sweet sweet firm lovely poached crayfish. Miss MMM and jetstar devoured these little beauties in a few quick bites. I slowly savoured mine, enjoying each fulsome bite. I felt a little sense of loss when mine was gone. A little bit of heaven for $15....no wonder these are doing roaring trade as a take away option. I wish I still lived within walking distance...

As it was lunch and we were eating light we decided to share a couple of cold salads. The shredded chicken, sesame paste, home made cold rice noodles and chilli oil ($15) was my choice. It arrived looking quite plain, white chicken, thick rectangular organic looking translucent rice noodles, a spattering of coriander and some orangey yellow chilli oil. The waitress advised the salad required mixing and left us to it.

Tasty, sweet tender chicken with a delicate sesame taste and subtle chilli. It was hard to control myself and not scoop all the salad up. Especially as I was a little concerned about our last savoury dish, steamed eggplant, silken tofu and pickled chillies. I like tofu. I like silken tofu, the  soft smooth silky slurpiness of it. Eggplant just doesn't excite me. In fact I dislike it. However my eating companions love it.

The eggplant had a lovely soft non slimy texture and with the gorgeous tofu (one round of it each), and the garlicky chilli sauce it was beautifully matched. In so far as I would order this again. Can't normally say this for the eggplant!

And then, the other moment I'd be eagerly anticipating since the first reviews. Ever since my first experience with a ladree salted caramel macaron at Harrods in London in 2006 I have been salted caramel obsessed. On a slight aside, my vote for best salted caramel macaron in Melbourne is....La Belle Miette in Hardware Lane...little bites of taste bud heaven! We had spoken of sharing desserts. When it came to it I couldn't. I announced my dessert was going to be for me only. After reassuring herself that she could have a taste of mine jeststar ordered the cherries, baked savarin, walnut ice cream and brandy.

The soft sweet cake, cinnamony walnut ice cream and brandy cherries was good. No comparison to my and Miss MMM's dessert. Peanut butter parfait, salted caramel and soft chocolate. Want. Need. More....

Now. Please. PLEASE. Initially when I tasted the parfait I was disappointed. It was rich and thick and very peanutty. When combined with the thick rich salty peanutty caramel and soft chocolaty cream it was all you could ask for in a dessert. Jetstar had a taste and came back for another taste. I begrudgingly allowed her the second taste, quickly moving my spoon back in to limit her attack. I scrapped the bowl clean, and if i was somewhere less salubrious I would have licked the bowl.

I will be back. Whether with friends or own my own, whether eat in or take away. I will have more from Golden Fields.

Boo xox

Hutong baby!

A friend, Miss MMM and I headed into town to check out the Markit@fed square market with lots of cool funky designers. After exploring 3/4 of the market we decided lunch was in order to revive our flagging interest...due purely to a growling stomach rather than a lack of eye candy. We walked to Chin Chin..it was open...didn't look too busy. Only to hear there was a 45 minute wait. My stomach couldn't wait nor could the market so we decided to try our luck at Hutong.

On a weeknight I've found you can now get into Hutong with a booking made a week or so ahead. I wanted dumplings. Not the cheap arse cheerful dumplings you can get in the city but the happy making chilli dumplings from Hunton. We entered....four people were sitting waiting. My heart and stomach sank a little. The lady with the headset and clipboard advised she could seat us immediately but we'd need to exit the table within an hour. Deal!

Miss MMM hadn't tried the dumplings here so placed her lunch in my hands. She was quite happy with the result!

The shao-long bao were what first got Hutong so much attention. I still enjoy them and am excited by the soup inside the dumpling! So clever! Such a little show! I love slurping the clear light broth, and then dipping the remaining dumpling into the soy ginger dipping sauce. We were both too hungry to wait to take a photo.... Ten dumplings for $11.80. A good start. The the little bits of heaven, the happy chilli dumplings that bring joy in every bite. The chiili oil sauce has the right amount of chilli- just enough to add warmth, and to gently build up but not too much to limit the taste to a burn.

The chilli oil is thick and coats the dumpling so beautifully. Little pieces of chilli, spring onion and the occasional peppercorn dot the oil. Miss MMM was converted to the chilli dumplings, and was I think a little disappointed she had to finish off the shao-long bao. We both were dipping them into the chilli oil to slurp up as much of it as possible. Eight bites of heaven for $8.80. $8.80 to take me to my happy place.

xox Boo

Korean Facial Experience

I'm going through a slightly obsessive Korean jag lately fuelled possibly by YouTubing way too many K-Pop music videos and consuming way too many Shabu-Shabus.  I decided to try a Korean Facial as my reasoning is all the chicks in the K-Pop vids look great so ergo, they must know what they are doing in the skin care stakes. Yep, I have primitive reasoning skills. 

Off I traipsed.  Overall it was a disconcerting experience although my skin does look and feel more hydrated.  I had planned to dip a tentative toe in the whole Korean Facial experience and just go with the basic 60 min package.  However upon arrival, my aesthetician assessed I had quite a few skin issues (pigmentation and wrinkles) that needed to be addressed pronto and recommended I upgrade to a 90 min package which cost twice as much.  A sure fire way of making me fork out fistfuls of cash  - play on my insecurities and vanity. 

I had researched that Koreans specialise in using different hi-techie equipment in their facials.  So it's a bit different to the usual cleanse, exfoliate, mask, etc.  I was expecting gadgets and machinery and a bit of gizmo showmanship.  I came armed with camera and asked the aesthetician whether I could take a few photos of myself at each step of the process for this post. Pulling out the camera seemed to have put her off side and before I knew it, I had the manager in the treatment room insisting I put the camera away as their methods are confidential.  Well really. It's like I've landed in a North Korean military base.   I did manage to sneak a photo in of their equipment (see below) when they left me to get changed.  Ha!  I make a good spy...

Then came the disconcerting bit.  Now remember, the service I ordered was a facial not a massage with happy endings.  The first 15 mins of the experience involved perplexingly enough an ultrasound to my breasts.  I discovered I become totally disempowered when semi naked.  My clothed persona would have asked pertinent questsions eg what are you doing?  what does an ultrasound to the breasts do? did you know I came here for a facial, not a boobie massage? However my naked self was mute although all these thoughts did churn through my head in an endless and not very relaxing loop.  My sense of disempowerment was due to the fact that moments earlier I had indicated the ultrasound head was getting rather hot on my skin and got no acknowledgement.  So when the aesthetician put down the ultrasound head and started oil up my chest for a hands on massage of my mammaries, I just surrendered.  Another fifteen long minutes of me lying like a starfish and my boobs were being kneaded like dough, I gave up the expectation of any treatment happening on my face. 

Thankfully the inordinate breastal focus did end and with much relief I got my facial.  There were frothy lotions and rubbery masks - all fun to apply.  The aesthetician did whip out what appears to be an iontophoresis machine (again I was not comfortable asking what it was) which had a hand set which was rubbed onto the face vigorously whilst she weided a syringe. I did summon enough nerve to enquire what was in the syringe as I timidly figured if I was to be injected with anything I had the right to know, right?  I was informed in a thick Korean accent that the syringe contained "see-wum".  With that oh so enlightening answer, my enquiry ended. 

This is a photo of the equipment they didn't want me to take.  Interesting devices...very clinical looking...did I mention the aesthetician wore a surgical mask during the whole procedure?  Lots of similiarities to a torture chamber:  I was stripped naked (although that part was somewhat voluntary);  my captors wore masks;  my camera was confiscated; I was connected to beeping equipment which had the capability of inflicting 3rd degree burns;  there were syringes filled with 'see-wum' for god sakes! 

For all that ordeal, I have had two independent parties comment on how nice my skin looks.  So will I do it again?  Probably.  In hindsight the boobecular focus at the start was probably their version of a value-add.  So happy endings?

Beaker

American shopping...or how much we pay...

I'm just back from a holiday in Hawaii...
Will blog more about it another time but was out at Chadstone the other day and stopped into Mecca Cosmetica. Love that shop- if I could afford to I would buy everything. It's all so pretty and smells so lovely - a little piece of retail heaven!
What I don't like is the price. Mainly because I've been to the USA before and with online shopping nowadays everyone can see how much other countries are paying.

Here are two examples of my purchases and how much it would costs here in Oz:

Nars Velvet Matte lip pencil- I already had this in Sex Machine- a pretty soft pink from my last USA holiday. This time round I bought it in  Frivolous- which has a slight glitter in a more beige pink. At Mecca it costs AUD $50. At Sephora it as USD $24 plus 4.2% tax..with the Aussie dollar so strong this came to about AUD $25....half price.

Perricone MD Cold Plasma- a new face cream for me. The smell is au natural and rather mariney..not too pleasant but I'm getting used to it. It sinks in in a lovely way and the sales assistant at Sephora raved about it. At Mecca Cosmetica it costs AUD $225 for 30 ml, compared to USD $150 plus tax at Sephora.

I understand there are shipping costs, and customs and other costs. But with the Aussie dollar being so strong, we don't seem to be having any savings past onto us. Unfortunately Sephora doesn't accept orders from Australia :( A sad first world problem.