One..two..three..four...Gizzy got it going on

Sunshine Beach, January 2011

Giz and Hambone's wedding gathered all our friends to Sunshine Beach for the week. With Giz's hens (followed by 7 hours of dancing), the wedding (amazing day, such a glowing bride) and the recovery/new years (boat then surfclub then apartment), the week felt like Schoolies V2. There are too many highlight to list and I got my fill of 'people' after living in the country for 3 months. 12 of us hired two units and group dinners followed, including the making of some spag bol by Jess, Rosh and I. There was a big of improvising and catering for such numbers always dilutes the tastiness. My claim of a 3/10 was met with cries of foul play but it was a genuine scoring. Jack was kind enough to be honest with me. Adam claimed it was like 'sizzlers spaghetti' which I took to be a bad thing but apparently it was a compliment. Unfortunately we had as much left over as what we ate and had to turf it on the last day much to Rosh's disgust. There was talk of taking it to a camp group for hungover people to nang on but this didn't eventuate. Bit of a shame, it would have been good to know what they thought. 3/10

Tilly's Wedding Spaghetti

Brisbane, December 2010

The Gardners know how to put on a shindig. Till and Jamie's knot tying was just lovely - a really happy, relaxed wedding complete with rum and Adam dancing with the older ladies. The following day recovery was tops too, everyone in the backyard, watching the cricket or looking at the ducks. After 6 hours or so Cate pulled out the biggest pot of spag bol sauce you've ever seen. We all had a good munch and most people went in for seconds and thirds. 7/10

Al dente

Brisbane, November 2011

Since I've been away, Brisbane has changed in some ways but it's mostly the same. I was surprised by how 'Sydney' the kids in town looked. But then it balanced out when I ordered a rum and coke at dinner in a nice italian joint and the waiter barely flinched. Ah, it's good to be home. Or near home I should say, we're still 2 hours away by car. Anyway, the point of this post is about our lovely celebration dinner with Rach and Adam at Il Posto where I had the said rum and coke. The happy pair just got engaged and sometimes a bowl of carbs is the only real way to show you're happy for them. Il Posto is Adams favourite, (rivaled only by Vespa Pizza) and I think there is some connection between Il Posto and Beccofino in New Farm. Anyway the service was amazing. So much so that we suspect the waiter must have assumed Adam was one of them. I guess his curls and cheesy grin do look slightly Italian. Most importantly, my bowl of pomodoro was perfectly chewy and tomatoey with heaps of fresh basil. 8/10

Our local

Mullumbimby, November 2010

The first time we went to Milk and Honey I didn't want to be that girl who asked to change all the dishes. So I ordered pizza, picked off the cheese and left it at that. This time I was feeling a little more reckless so asked them to make up a spaghetti pomodoro. Sweet baby jesus it was close to perfection. I could have closed my eyes and believed I was in Italy. The pasta was cooked perfectly (a little chewy), the tomatoes were divine (sweet and bright red) and there was fresh basil coming out my ears. Way to make me feel better about settling into a new town. This place joins my italian hall of fame - Ginos, Regios, Marios and Il Baretto. 9/10

PS. My thumb is bandaged from a nasty stabbing incident between me and some knives last Wednesday (after Melbourne Cup on Tuesday). Note to self, don't go into kitchen shops and play with knives when you're hungover.

Sticky Fingers

Brunswick Heads, October 2010

We've tried to get into this joint 3 times and been turned away each time. You would think we were in Sydney, not the sleepy little beach-side town of Brunswick Heads. The locals RAVE about it, the internet speaks highly so when she said it was full again I was insistent. Not normally my style but sure enough, two guys were taking up two tables and she nudged them together and there we were. I ordered a kids spag bol and Ricey got the 'Prawnstar' pizza. It definitely lived up to expectations. Mushy mince with chunky tomatoes and heaps of fresh basial thoughout. There was something else in there I couldn't tell, maybe fresh oregano. Corinne, our friend who lives in Bruns, recommends the 'Chango' pizza, chicken and mango. Inside there are cool wooden booths and tables spill out onto the street. We noticed it's for sale which was a little disappointing, hopefully the new owners don't change it at all. 7/10

One spaghetti and an english breakfast tea thanks

Brisbane, October 2010

Mums 60th was quite the party. I think the 60 year olds damaged the house more than the crew at my 21st. The next day we all woke up and just couldn't face cleaning right there and then. So we took ourselves off to breakfast around the corner. Spaghetti was on the menu so I ordered it of course, testing that annoying excuse of 'it's on the lunch menu, not the breakfast menu' thing. They obliged and 20 minutes later I was munching on some pretty good spaghetti considering it was 10am. 7/10

Acknowledgements: Rooey the photographer, Peter for shouting us

It doesn't matter that it's sideways

Brunswick Heads, September 2010

It doesn't matter that you can't really see this lamb ragu. It was bloody awful. We stopped in to have lunch in 'Bruns' with Adam and Rach one Sunday. There are lots of good things to say about Bruns but their spaghetti so far isn't one of them. It tasted off, there were unwelcome root vegetables and it wasn't that hot. If something is really, really hot you can almost forgive anything because you can't really taste it. This was not the case. Apparently the place to go for good Italian there is Sticky Fingers. We haven't been able to get there yet but hopefully this week is our week. It's only open from Wednesdays to Sunday. This ragu? 1/10. Sorry!

Too excited to eat.

Noosa, September 2010

Up in the Sunshine State we all gathered for Leishas pre-wedding day drinks at Cafe Le Monde. Not that I'm an expert but I think this old bird may have passed its culinary heyday back in the early nineties. My spaghetti resembled something out of a Womens Weekly cookbook, made for the first time. Squishy pasta, lumpy mince, the kind of thing a kid would only be proud of. Luckily we weren't really there for fine dining, food was more a blockage for champagne so all was well. I ate it because it was hot and everyone would pay me out if I didn't but to be honest I was being generous for the 5/10.

Acknowledgements: Del the photographer, Giz as model

Farm-girl spaghetti

Mullumbimby, September 2010

I was momentarily concerned about posting a photograph of me in my pajama shirt but am quietly confident only a very limited number of people browse this blog so decided to go ahead. This is my first spaghetti bol in our new house on the hill in the country near the beach. The beef came from the butcher in town where our agister sells his beef and the pasta is organic low-GI schmergen from the Mullum Farmers Markets (at the showground every Friday). The only glitch was that I forgot the tinned tomatoes so I crushed some real tomatoes instead which sounds good in theory but wasn't as tasty. 8/10

Spaghetti scrub-a-dub-dub

New York, August 2010

Found these in MoMa - they are like steel wool except better because they are spaghetti. Really does look like fresh spaghetti in the packet too.