Blackjack!!
Dear diary,I went to my work's Christmas party, for the first time in a few years. It actually turned out to be a fun one, because the meat and cheese platter was very good! The other food was pretty average though, so I didn't eat any of that except for what I thought was an omelette, which actually turned out to be cold, almost soggy polenta :(The meat and cheese was very good because it featured King Island Dairy - specifically their Stormy Washed Rind, which is absolutely lovely, as well as one of their blue cheeses. I'm fairly sure it wasn't Roaring Forties because that stuff is deliciously strong, whereas this one was more creamy? Plus not only did they have prosciutto, but also serrano! I love serrano more than prosciutto.The most fun part was that I learned how to gamble! We were handed play money as soon as we entered, and I got shown the roulette table, which got boring pretty quickly. The other table, was blackjack. The croupier taught me how to play but alas, I couldn't count!!! Years of not needing to do any mental arithmetic meant that I couldn't even add up card numbers, so they had to tell me what my cards were adding to every time. It even got to the point where the croupier tested me and asked me to say what value I had!!!It was way fun though. I think because it has some probability theory involved, plus everyone at the table was super fun and friendly, so I kept losing all my chips :D Not sure how others were winning though! Plus there were way more rules than I could understand at the time, like what the dealer has to do if they hit certain values etc.YAY I LEARNED SOMETHING that is not safe to do in real life cause I'd turn into an addict lol
Oh no
Dear diary,Today, for the first time, I managed to spill a coffee in a cafe and it was a mortifying experience.It was a relatively new cafe, and I was visiting for the first time. It was setting up to be an interesting adventure right at the beginning, as they weren't kidding when they said it was tiny! So tiny that a table wasn't immediately available. Well, at least not indoors anyway. The waiter who greeted me asked if I wanted an outside table, but alas, I wasn't wearing any sunscreen, and the sun was out, so I said I was happy to wait for a table inside. I realised that it's probably an "only in Australia" thing to decline an outdoors seat because of the risk of sunburn LOL.A table became available quite quickly, and I started ordering my coffees. There was a wide range of coffees to choose from so I just said whatever the waiter liked, and they ended up recommending a Brazilian coffee. I went with that as an espresso, a milk, and a filter. I also decided that a prawn brioche was a better choice than the mi goreng... for now.The filter coffee came in a beautiful glass (Chef & Sommelier branded), and it had lovely looking swirls of steam coming from it, and I managed to take some pictures of it with my new lens! The flat white came shortly after that, and the barista also brought the other half of the shot. It's always awkward when the people presenting food try and move things out of the way or wait for me to take a picture, because I always feel it's my responsibility to behave and let the servers do what they're doing. Of course, being in hospitality, the servers feel that they should be the ones to make allowances so it becomes a scene of both parties apologising to one another! Anyway, he managed to hide the espresso behind a bag of coffee beans at my table, to allow me to take a photo of the flat white. He said that he really liked how the espresso tasted by itself, it was nicer than being in milk, which was pretty cool.He walked away, and I continued taking photos. I realised that there was still stuff in my frame, so I needed to move the coffee bag. Except... I forgot there was an espresso tucked behind the bag, even though it'd literally just been placed there........... so BAM the espresso tipped and fell onto the empty seat opposite me, and splashed the chair, blanket/cloth thing that was hanging on the chair, and the floor.Whoops. I'd caffeinated half the furniture in this tiny cafe. And it was loud, so all the tables heard the incident and I felt so terrible because I'd let taking a picture take all of my attention and I'd neglected my environmental awareness. Which is something I consider essential because I don't want to be *that* person who looks like an Instagrammer and does silly things at a cafe. I try so hard, and I've failed at a new cafe who don't have a prior impression of me. Oh no!I pretty much apologised to the waiter for what felt like forever since I felt so bad. It also meant I had to ask for an espresso again, and I was really hoping the barista wasn't hating me!And when they made my espresso, I got both side of the shot again... so there's my 4 coffees for the day! Both were delicious, but I actually liked the "side' one which was served in a glass over the "proper" one that was served in an espresso cup. Even though a double shot is the same prices as a single, I still felt like they'd given me something for free and I STILL felt bad for spilling the coffee so I gave them more money for their troubles.The end!
New lens!
I decided to splurge on a new lens. It's a Sony 35mm f/1.8 prime. I was getting sick of my 19mm because it was a bit too wide and the curvature on the edges was getting to me, so I'm hoping this fast lens will be better for everyday use, including taking pictures of food!Here's a bit of my first few days playing with it:
I still like how my 60mm performs, but this has more versatility since I don't have to be as far away to take pics. I definitely need more practise though!
Avocado plant progress
They're both still alive! But they seem to have brownish leaves. I don't think I've been over-watering them since I only let them get rained on once a week - two weeks or so.
yay pictures