A weekend to remember - bringing in the quarter century

Apparently turning 25 is an achievement.  With many people not making their 25th birthday for so many different reasons, I suppose surviving 25 years that can altogether sometimes suck (and boy, have some of them sucked!) really is an achievement.

This weekend saw the ushering in of another year older, another year wiser and there were many people that helped make it special.  Absolutely no link to the goals (excepting the fact dinner club ushered in birthday weekend as a matter of pure coincidence and calendar days), it was a great weekend that was definitely about fun and good times.

Friday night's events already documented, Saturday saw a morning cup of tea and surprise from V. Dennis.  A big thanks to this woman who drove all the way into the city after not much sleep on the Friday night to simply repeat that for one cup of tea.  A true friend.  P.S.  I LOVED my cake.  I almost didn't want to eat it I loved it so much - it reminded me of days gone by where your mum would let you pick the cake you wanted out of the Australian Woman's Weekly book.  A microphone cake would have been my choice for more than a few years had the AWW ever made one!

Next came a well earned nanna nap (mainly due to the wake up of being kicked by J. Coleman at some un-Godly hour) before heading off to Chinatown for lunch with the fam.  A magnificent feast of spring rolls, dumplings, lemon chicken, satay beef, spring onion beef and smoked tea duck pancakes all washed down with a Tsing Tao hair of the dog.  Beautiful and a big thanks for the cookbooks and penguin waffle maker from Mumsy and Popsicle as well as the book on North Korea from Meg - definitely inspiring the planned September adventures to Pyongyang!

Before you knew it, it was back via Bourke St mall (unfortunately no purchases were made) and a quick cuppa before the lovely S. Peaple came over for the beginning of my birthday present...  A fakeover.  With some apprehension, I let her dye my hair, make me up and put on the false eyelashes.  I did however draw the line at the pump up boobs - although given my loss in the mammary department in recent times, I definitely considered it!  With some expert use of the straightener as a curling wand from J. Rankine, we pretty much went from this...

Ladette Eloise.

To this...

Lady Eloise.

My beauty team - some very talented ladies.

With a quick dinner at Taco Bill including some starteritas (I can feel that word taking off...), it was back to the apartment for pre-drinks with S. Haughey, S. Porrino, K. Williams, M. Read, J. Coleman, J. Rankine, S. Peaple and K. Bate before a quick taxi to meet the rest of the crew at a Bar Called Barry or "Barry's" to his mates.

Starteritas with some of my favourite ladies...

With the dancefloor opening at 10pm and the flat shoes not leaving it until 2am, the rest is history...  Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate and even though I'm sure the weekend of excess has certainly not helped the weight loss goal or the voice goals due to overuse to the tunes of Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston and Peter Andre (yes, he is included in the greats on a Barry's night).  However, I feel ready to "work smarter, not harder" this week as reports loom after a weekend of great fun.  That's my justification anyway.

With that, enjoy the highlights of Barry's...

 The pre-drink apartment crew.

 Dance like no-one is watching.

 And if dancing doesn't work, sing like no-one is watching.

Apparently Shelley and Steph like the fakeover.  Even without the fake boobs. 

Indeed. 

 Another classic moment at Barry's.

The best bud looking hot.  This girl is amazing. 

Long time no see friend J. Dapiran and I shortly after our Thiller dance off. 

Tara and I both miss this kid so much we both had a moment shortly after this.  Thanks for the call Winnie - even if it simply involved me yelling "I can't hear you!" over and over.  Hope you are here next year.   

I question why I am not singing too right here.  Clearly it is a CRACKING song! 

Mixing friends - so glad I can do this and not worry (except for their safety...) 

 So many power ballad choruses, so little time.

 J. Rankine braved the dance floor shoeless - a bold move at Barry's...

The action shot.  No idea what is happening here.  Neither does Kate apparently.

Thanks whoever took this - evidence of what Barry's is about.  The dirty pash!

 Cousin love.

Porrino and I on the dance floor

A great group photo - thanks everyone!!!

A night out in München...

Another month, another dinner club.  With this one heading into the winter months, I was expecting a sharp drop in attendance.

Yet the dedication of a wide variety of people astounded as 13 people braved the cold on drizzle (and terrible traffic) to meet for a quick cocktail at Croft Institute before heading to the Hofbrauhaus - an institution of Munich and Melbourne alike...

The Hofbrauhaus - a little bit of Germany...located in Chinatown.

With steins of Hopfbrauhaus beer by the litre (or 500mL for the ladies, or 300mL for the softies) and a large schnapps menu to boot, it definitely came as a surprise anyone really wanted to eat anything!  But with offerings of pork belly, kasespatzle (egg noodles), wursts, wiener schnitzel and my personal favourite, the Munchner Schweinshaxe or pork knuckle, who could refuse!

Pork knuckle - salty, pickled, heart clogging goodness.  Accompany with a litre of beer to aid digestion.

I was impressed with the gusto of the group of dinner clubbers who sampled a wide variety and gave everything a go.  Notable mentions go to those who were brave enough to try the strawberry and mango beers and the presence of a vegetarian (V. Dennis) at probably the most un-vegetarian friendly restaurant in Melbourne!!!

As the beers flowed, so did the conversations and good times.  Before you know it, it's 10.30pm, you're more than a little drunk and the real entertainment begins!  Nothing says digesting large amounts of pickled meats and potato dumplings like a bit of singing to 'Ein Prosit' and some of this...

Ahhhh, the schuachblattler or German slap dancing.  Always a great time, especially when the hottie dancers (something about a man in tight shorts and knee high socks!!!) gives you the German version of a lap dance.  Hold me back ladies and gentlemen!!!  Great start to a brilliant birthday weekend.

Another great night and thanks to those who attended!  Unfortunately, not so great a morning the next day thanks to the copius steins that were consumed and the sour apple schnapps shot just before leaving.  In the words of V. Dennis, "Eloise, I've never seen a woman down a litre of beer in 20 minutes."  THAT my friend, is why I deserve beer champion status over one K. Williams.  Due to K. Williams' need to work the following day, the desired rematch of beer championships will have to wait for another day...

 The original beer challenge.  Location: Munich.  Time: January 2010.  "Winner": K. Williams.

Previous attempts at being beer champion in Munich.  Beer was just as tasty on Friday as it was here!

Three minutes into my litre...

The man I blame for consuming more than one of these bad boys...

It must also be said, congratulations to L. Green, L. Read, J. Coleman, S. Haughey, M. Read, K. Williams and V. Dennis who are still in the running for the 100% attendance prize (still to be decided....)  A big thanks to S. Peaple who was inducted to dinner club in May.  I sense we will be seeing more of her there...

S. Peaple and V. Dennis - love these kids.

Gutentag!  The month of May's dinner clubbers.

Next month sees us jump on the Eurostar and head next door to the land of snails...France.  However, the event shall be snail free as we are heading to Breizoz for a sample of Brittany's finest crepes and ciders.  Bon appetit!!!

xox

The incredible shrinking woman...

A little known movie from 1981 bears this title.  Starring Lily Tomlin, the plot summary is as follows:

"After being exposed to a bizarre mixture of household chemicals, Pat Kramer begins to shrink."


Having been having an on-again, off-again affair with Ferg since April last year, I feel this title and plot summary has become a fitting description.  Particularly the 'bizarre mixture of household chemicals' which I can definitely relate to having lived off liquid meal replacements with GOD KNOWS WHAT in them at certain stages of the journey.

Nevertheless, this past week was a dip back into the wonderful world of dieting as I in turn attempt to live up to this title even more so.  Not really the best of timing but when is it when you are dieting! 

With goal 3 being to reach a new magic number, it is definitely time to kick it back into gear.  Instead of returning the the wonders of Tony Ferguson, I decided to go with the soup diet, an even stricter diet that consisted of a week of this...

Breakfast: plain porridge and half a banana

Morning tea: Cup of tea

Lunch: Soup

Afternoon tea: Cup of tea, piece of fruit

Dinner: Soup

After dinner: Cup of tea

Hmmmmm.... we seem to be missing enough of a key ingredient here...

Carbohydrates - every person's best friend.

Now, a lack of carbs is a bad thing, I know this so I added carbohydrates.  Yes, that's right, the above menu was me officially CHEATING on the soup diet.  However, without that porridge, I have no doubts I would have looked like either of the people below (and in fact, I pretty much did)...

All in all, the experiment with the soup diet was great fun.  Although feeling ridiculously tired, it certainly made me appreciate my weekend of amazing food all the more and has prepared me to return to a less strict diet in my quest to continue to reach a new magic number.

I will welcome Tony back with open arms... tomorrow.

Kicking breast cancer's butt...4km at a time.

If you had asked me at the start of the year which goal was going to be the hardest to achieve, it wouldn't have taken much thought for me to reply - "Goal five."

Goal five - Run the Mother's Day Classic.

As a woman who has played sports for a major portion of my life, I love being active (almost as much as I love being lazy in my pyjamas on the couch).  With forays into basketball, netball, tennis and squash, flirtations with futsal (Teacher's Games, 2010) as well as stellar careers during my high school years in girl's footy, cricket, soccer etc., I had been yet to tackle one of the most ancient of "sports"... RUNNING.

As I continue to say, I don't like running.  I find it dull no matter how many people say, "Oh, it's so relaxing.  You can just turn your brain off."  No you can't.  Give me a racket, ball, bat etc. and I can play with enthusiasm 'til the cows come home.  But running I find bat shit boring as all you have to focus on is scenery, breathing and often the case given long-term ankle injuries, how much my legs are hurting!!!

But by setting goal five, I was determined. 

Unfortunately, my lack of love for running meant I did not train.  I will admit to that.  So I wasn't looking forward to it.  This was to get even better when my right hip decided it didn't like running even more than my brain so tried its hardest to prevent it happening since returning from Cambodia/Laos.

Luckily, I am very fortunate to have a full support team around me and with some "mate's rates" sessions with physio J. Coleman, exercise and diet advice from EP/personal trainer K. Williams and motivational slogans and positive talk provided by S. Haughey, I felt much more ready to at least control the damage.  Team that with running buddies S. Haughey and K. Williams in the 4km with further support from the 8km ladies - V. Dennis, S. Peaple, A. Wickerson, J. Rankine and E. Oakley.

So starting off, I had Jordan's voice going over in my head "Don't run the start, don't stuff your hip early you idiot." as I run over the start line with Kate and Shelley.  Was never very good at taking advice...

 The 4km crew pre-race.  Thanks to Lorna Jane for their "sponsorship" of team Camberwell and Co.!!!

Kept pace with the others for almost 1km before backing off due to soreness and the GIANT MASSIVE FUCK OFF HILL on the 'Tan.  That's right, make us run UP the bastard.  So now with only Lady Gaga to keep me company, I slow to a brisk walk getting angry at myself for severe lack of training.  Seeing the 2km sign at the top of the hill, I kick my arse into gear and by the end of the 4km, I have run almost 3km of the track.

So while my goal was to "Run the Mother's Day Classic" and I didn't manage to run the entire thing as I had hoped, I am happy with my start into the world of running.  I still don't love it, I still find it boring, but one day I hope to become much better at it so I don't look like I am having a coronary, aneurism or asthma attack when I run...

Homer and I share much more in common than our sexy headbands... 


Overall, I had a great time and feel very proud of myself for even registering.  I would not have done this a year ago and feel a lot of it comes from seeing so many others around me loving to be fit and healthy and loving to get out and support a good cause.  A big thanks to Suzanne, Robert and Ayda who acted as our support crew and bag carriers too!!!

Kateo and her two #1 clients post-run.  (She looks like a proud Mum really!)

There are definitely plans to enter more runs this year.  Certainly not going to go the half marathon but 2 more runs in the 4-6km range would be an amazing achievement for this non-runner.  Maybe this time I'll even consider training properly... :)

A journey to Afghanistan...pre-controversy

If you go to Google images and type the word "Afghanistan", you are going to find images like this pop up in the first page...

War, death and destruction...

Or maybe even this guy.

Some may say this is a sad reflection of a country that remains essentially closed off and mysterious to everyone except those in the armed forces, politics and dangerous contract work in building or security.  Unless you're Angelina Jolie on yet another peace keeping mission for the UN that is...  Certainly not your average holiday destination.

In fact, the only person I know that has travelled to Afghanistan is a family friend whose photos of herself travelling through the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the 1970s as a solo female traveller clutching her handbag in each grainy photo still cracks me up.

So when the decision to include Afghan food in dinner club was announced, there was many a hesitant look with the main question being, "What the hell IS Afghan food?!"

Add this to very late notice and and an extraordinary meeting time of a Thursday night and it almost didn't look like dinner club would run.  But in true fashion, a group of 15 (impressive considering the constraints) did assemble in Dandenong on a cool night in April.

With a few new entrants of Rach Wyzga, Mya Sungkar, Whitney George, Brenton Goodall, Ola Luczak, Tara Hillyer and Richard King, dinner club was yet another roaring success.  With Shelley and I having sampled the food previously at a PL session held in Dandenong earlier in the year, we couldn't wait to dig into the food.  Not being sure people would follow suit, I asked our friend (and son of the restaurant owners) Mojtaba to prepare their best sampling of Afghan food.  He certainly did NOT disappoint!!!

Obviously a popular choice!!!

The Afghan rice - incredible.

A fan of Afghan with a carb-filled gut!!!

Kateo and Ola (another new recruit courtesy of Kate).  It's daunting to have health professionals on the guest list, but judging by the way they tucked into the oil laden curries and breads, I'm not being judged too much!!!

Crazy kids - Porrino and Haughey travel the longest and often provide the most laughs.

 The boys including 2 new recruits in Richard and Brenno.  Shooting the shit over beers...

Whizzer - one of the dinner club newbies (but I feel this will be the first of many we see her at - YAY!)

As it currently stands, the numbers of people that still qualify for the 100% attendance special prize (as yet undecided) is as follows...

1. Kate Williams

2. Matthew Read

3. Shelley Haughey

4. Jordan Coleman

5. Leyton Read

And even though not in attendance, due to her stellar performance in ensuring she was seen in photographs at the restaurant (in accordance with the rules of attendance qualifications - see evidence below...)

6. Laura Green

Attendance proven and noted in the mayor's memory bank.  Note to other participants - this is the level of dedication I LOVE TO SEE!!!  P.S. What a hottie!!!

And due to previous committments but general sucky-up-ness of text as an apology, special considerations has been granted to...

7. Tegan Williamson nee Rowlands

However, the night was not yet over...  In one of the BEST surprises I have EVER received, dinner club was graced by a very special guest whose lack of attendance at #3 (Soda Rock) was compensated, therefore putting her BACK in the running for the 100% prize goes to...

8. Vanessa Dennis

Just before desserts, mid-conversation, S. Haughey begins to screech like a banshee and tackle some poor restaurant patron.  I had absolutely no idea it was our dear friend V-Den who graced dinner club with her ridiculously tanned presence after flying from SOUTH AFRICA.  Absolutely brilliant and another fine display of dedication and support in my goals which is appreciated more than anyone will ever know.

You can still see the surprise on Shelley's face (and Steph still laughing about Shell's reaction) as we have our V-Den back in the country after 7 weeks galavanting through Africa!!!

Once again (as I say every month), a massive thank you to those who make the journey, take the time, bring their good conversations and sense of fun to try something new.  We have been lucky for great food so far and I really love showing other people different things.  I am very lucky to know people who are willing to trust me to make the decisions and as I said before, anyone who attends any dinner club is supporting my goals which are very important to me!

Dinner club #4 attendees - look at all that amazing food we have demolished!!!

A heads up for next month as we are visiting the land of weiners and weissbeer with dinner club to be held on May 27th at Hopfbrauhaus.  Get your drinking and dancing shoes on!!!

xox