A link to the past

Sunday. The plan had been Nepalese cuisine, but instead I found myself at the Coachman Bistro. My initial assessment was negative: a communal salad bar [shudder]. But as I inspected the menu board, I was impressed with the way the chef marshalled his troops and personally saw to each customer. The prices were on the steep side. Then I noticed, among the daily specials: Scallops De Paris. A quaint title befitting a time when Aussies wouldn't eat anything *too* fancy. The promise of "brandy cream sauce" and "fragrant rice" had me salivating like Pavlov's pooches. I paid me money and took me chances. What a wonderful, nostalgic-making dish! OK, so an underling hadn't got the rice perfect, but the scallops were the largest (we're talking as round as a cupcake) and tastiest I've had, and the rich, rich sauce transported me back to when my grandfather the chef was alive and cooking.


Reading: "Special Topics In Calamity Physics" (2006) by Marisha Pessl. (Prep school whodunit with an impossibly intellectual heroine named Blue van Meer on the case. And you thought the "Dawson's Creek" kids were articulate beyond their years? :-) Textbook-level detail (copious references, footnotes, "visual aids") distracts the attention from the grand illusion being worked. Beguiling. Bliss!)

Viewing: The mechanical marionette show of "The Nutcracker" occupying six windows of the David Jones Elizabeth St store. (A po-mo touch: the Rat King's an Elvis impersonator.)

Foxteletubbies: Don't forget "Runway To LA" starts tomorrow at 8.30pm on Fox8! ("Australia's Next Top Model" (cycle 3) sweetie Jordan Loukas has a crack at catwalk Yoo Ess Ay.)