Lazy morning reading in bed, and at about 11.30 my 11yo brought me a fish finger sandwich with capers. THIS IS WHY I HAD CHILDREN.
Breaking: There is now a very satisfying nuclear escalation going on among my children re breakfast in bed. My 17yo, a naturally competitive tyke, learned of yesterday’s fish finger sandwich delivery by her puny sibling and has returned serve blisteringly with this Dutch Baby featuring smoked salmon, whipped cream cheese w capers, cornichon, thyme, lemon zest, green olives and served with a rocket salad and an apple and elderflower spritz on the side. All just ridiculously delicious… all eyes on the 14yo now. And on the 11yo who is away on a sleepover and will shortly return to find her palace of breakfast dominance memorably ransacked OMG. Swipe for further plating photography also the moment last night when – going to bed – I formally acknowledged that the book pile is getting a bit too tottery.
Breaking: There is now a very satisfying nuclear escalation going on among my children re breakfast in bed. My 17yo, a naturally competitive tyke, learned of yesterday’s fish finger sandwich delivery by her puny sibling and has returned serve blisteringly with this Dutch Baby featuring smoked salmon, whipped cream cheese w capers, cornichon, thyme, lemon zest, green olives and served with a rocket salad and an apple and elderflower spritz on the side. All just ridiculously delicious… all eyes on the 14yo now. And on the 11yo who is away on a sleepover and will shortly return to find her palace of breakfast dominance memorably ransacked OMG. Swipe for further plating photography also the moment last night when – going to bed – I formally acknowledged that the book pile is getting a bit too tottery.
Breaking: There is now a very satisfying nuclear escalation going on among my children re breakfast in bed. My 17yo, a naturally competitive tyke, learned of yesterday’s fish finger sandwich delivery by her puny sibling and has returned serve blisteringly with this Dutch Baby featuring smoked salmon, whipped cream cheese w capers, cornichon, thyme, lemon zest, green olives and served with a rocket salad and an apple and elderflower spritz on the side. All just ridiculously delicious… all eyes on the 14yo now. And on the 11yo who is away on a sleepover and will shortly return to find her palace of breakfast dominance memorably ransacked OMG. Swipe for further plating photography also the moment last night when – going to bed – I formally acknowledged that the book pile is getting a bit too tottery.
Meanwhile at my house, the third shoe dropped this morning in the great Breakfast in Bed grudge match played out among the three rubes I gestated and from whose bitter kitchen rivalry I find myself the sole and delighted beneficiary. This morning, 14yo lad suspended his otherwise consistent campaign for me to let him have either a bearded dragon or a dirt bike for long enough to make and bring me smashed avocado and cream cheese on toast with capers and lemon zest, with a sweet little fruit salad and a cup of tea. Thank you darling. And no you still can’t have a lizard or a dirt bike. ❤️
Couldn’t hold it in no more, Cap’n…
On @abcnews_au , link in bio
Yeah the other angle of the bedside book pile is… not reassuring, structurally speaking
JUST LOOK at the burrito cake @glamgwenblake made at the request of her daughter. The corn is made from chopped up banana lollies. The silver foil is EDIBLE. The rice is rice bubbles tossed in melted white chocolate. A thing of delight. Happy birthday Honor. ❤️ ps this is Gwen’s photo, I took a bunch but none of them came out as nicely as Gwen’s for reasons that should be obvious haha. @chat10looks3
Two years ago, @thatsmsgaytoyou made me the happiest woman alive by stepping in last minute to rescue (vocally) my way-too-ambitious rewriting of the Hamilton opening number as an extended troll of @leigh_sales. Tonight, for one night only at the @adelaidecabaret we shall be reunited on stage at the @adelaidefescent where Sales and Her Gayness will sing a number they have been practicing for months. It is FIRE. Plus we have @floandjoan and @bertlabee AND @victoria_falconer … oh my darlings, as Gay would say. You don’t even KNOW. Of course, we don’t even know either but I feel in my waters that tonight is going to be one for the ages. Not too late to get TICKETS through @adelaidecabaret (also links through @chat10looks3) and be forever a member of …. We few. We happy few. This is St Crispins Day, cabaret-wise. All I’m saying. Swipe for Gay and me in full flight on stage at @enmore_theatre, and the moment backstage where a horrified Sales clocks that I’m about to attempt a Hamilton number on stage. She didn’t know.
Two years ago, @thatsmsgaytoyou made me the happiest woman alive by stepping in last minute to rescue (vocally) my way-too-ambitious rewriting of the Hamilton opening number as an extended troll of @leigh_sales. Tonight, for one night only at the @adelaidecabaret we shall be reunited on stage at the @adelaidefescent where Sales and Her Gayness will sing a number they have been practicing for months. It is FIRE. Plus we have @floandjoan and @bertlabee AND @victoria_falconer … oh my darlings, as Gay would say. You don’t even KNOW. Of course, we don’t even know either but I feel in my waters that tonight is going to be one for the ages. Not too late to get TICKETS through @adelaidecabaret (also links through @chat10looks3) and be forever a member of …. We few. We happy few. This is St Crispins Day, cabaret-wise. All I’m saying. Swipe for Gay and me in full flight on stage at @enmore_theatre, and the moment backstage where a horrified Sales clocks that I’m about to attempt a Hamilton number on stage. She didn’t know.
Two years ago, @thatsmsgaytoyou made me the happiest woman alive by stepping in last minute to rescue (vocally) my way-too-ambitious rewriting of the Hamilton opening number as an extended troll of @leigh_sales. Tonight, for one night only at the @adelaidecabaret we shall be reunited on stage at the @adelaidefescent where Sales and Her Gayness will sing a number they have been practicing for months. It is FIRE. Plus we have @floandjoan and @bertlabee AND @victoria_falconer … oh my darlings, as Gay would say. You don’t even KNOW. Of course, we don’t even know either but I feel in my waters that tonight is going to be one for the ages. Not too late to get TICKETS through @adelaidecabaret (also links through @chat10looks3) and be forever a member of …. We few. We happy few. This is St Crispins Day, cabaret-wise. All I’m saying. Swipe for Gay and me in full flight on stage at @enmore_theatre, and the moment backstage where a horrified Sales clocks that I’m about to attempt a Hamilton number on stage. She didn’t know.
Okay. I knew that Ann Patchett of @parnassusbooks would be a fun person to interview because like anyone who’s read her books and essays, I know that she is observant and smart and powered by decency. But wow. She really exhibited a turn of speed last night and interviewing her was like being on a very powerful motorbike, not always sure of who’s driving but not caring because the EXHILARATION is so intense. So many funny moments. Also I got heckled by my Dad from the audience … not a first for me, but a first for the @sydwritersfest audience and – I’m pretty confident – a first for Patchett. (I asked what it was that made her sure even from her early 20s that she didn’t want to have children and she paused for about TEN SECONDS and I thought oh god is she going to tell me to get knotted and then Dad yells “Ya don’t have to answer that” from the front row. Then she unspools just such a rousing, intimate, funny, scorching set of insights I could have, I don’t know, cheered or kissed her and anyway it was superb and thanks for your assistance Pop Crabb. He’s coming the Great Debate tonight at Town Hall too so stand by for more banana skins to be thrown in my oratorical path).
But also the best thing was sitting next to this fabulous visiting American writer and seeing her respond to the always smart and funny and optimistic Uncle Michael West welcoming us to Gadigal land. The spine chilling performance by @jazzmoney_______ whose poetry hit the note of our times; uncertainty, fear, powerlessness, yet unaccountably stained with hope we can’t wash out. Also, watching Ann Patchett witness an Arts minister @jgnswmlc declare that this state will not tolerate book banning in any circumstance. And then afterwards @jetlagmama materializes with her collection of biscuits she has iced as various Patchett book covers and my other friend @kristy_reads who named her cat after Ann. Ann: “Well I do know a person who named their dog Patchett, so now I have a dog AND a cat! Can a ferret be far away?”
Anyway … well, in dark times it felt like a good night. There are so many good things on at the festival – get along if you’re able to.
I just listened to the first episode of “Not Stupid” – the new @abclisten podcast featuring @juliabaird and @jeznews. Two of the smartest, most thoughtful and decent people at my giant place of work … they go deep, they go shallow, they can talk about everything from albatrosses to Rafah to the effects of Ozempic on the birth rate with aplomb, and I feel like I gained something new and a different perspective every step of the way. Unsurprisingly well-produced by @maddiegenner …. Honestly get on it… you won’t regret it. More please.
Go home, Australian media scene. You’re DRUNK.
Soooo…. @leigh_sales and I are doing a ONE NIGHT ONLY @chat10looks3 special show in Adelaide for @thatsmsgaytoyou’s glorious @adelaidecabaret festival … it’s next Thursday at the Festival Theatre annnndddd … Sales has been taking SINGING LESSONS and has rehearsed a SONG with Virginia which TBH even I have to admit is pretty 🔥 and we have a RANGE of compelling guests … honestly come along but you get an idea what I’m working with when you see what I got when I suggested Sales pose like Sally Bowles in Cabaret and I ended up with …. Ummm… what is the vibe … Erotic Bert and Ernie? Would welcome your feedback… but definitely come to the show …. 🤪
This Thursday night we’ll be at @adelaidecabaret with @thatsmsgaytoyou! Sales will be singing, Crabb will be relieved she’s NOT singing and we have incredible guests coming along
Ticket link is in our bio. See you there!
My neighbourhood looking ordinary-beautiful last night
Had a lot of fun barging in on “The Party Room” – one of my favourite politics podcasts – this week and standing in for the beloved @frankellyabc as co-host with @patskarvelas. For extra hectic energy, we included Samantha Maiden as special guest … talking about all the goings-on in Canberra this week. It’s been wild. I’ve recommended this pod before, but find and follow on @abclisten if you’re not already on it. I’m doing another stand-in next week and then, don’t panic, Fran’s back and normal service is restored.
Sat in on the MOST fascinating @sydwritersfest session yesterday on translation, featuring some true megafauna of the international translating scene: @jenniferlcroft (American who translates from Polish, Ukrainian and Argentine Spanish; she won the International Man Booker in 2018, y’all) Daniel Hahn, UK, who translates from Portuguese, Spanish and French, is currently writing a book about how translators convert Shakespeare into all the different languages, and his book “Catching Fire: A Translation Diary” is something I shall buy immediately, so compelling and hilarious was his description of his translation method, which is that he likes to do a rough translation on his FIRST READ of a book, yielding something “incredibly quick and very, very bad” and then he sets about fixing it. Ie he destroys the book and then rebuilds it. This description clearly freaked out Australia’s own translation superstar @stephanie.smee – whose translations of The Rome Zoo and Hannelore Cayre’s The Godmother are favourites of mine. She visibly tensed at the description, obviously much more of a get-each-bit-perfect-before-you-move-on type operator. So interesting to hear about the different techniques plus all the different ways they came to their translation languages. @jenniferlcroft for instance, growing up in Oklahoma, taught herself Russian because she had “nothing else to do”. Later, in Iowa, she was at university studying translation and the Russian teachers disappeared so she converted to Polish. Daniel Hahn is super comfortable writing in his translation languages but feels awkward speaking them. Stephanie talked a bit about her forthcoming translation of Marie-Helene Lafon’s The Son’s Story and said of the writer “She makes me breathe differently when I read her.” So beautiful. @jemmabirrell did a wonderful job of allowing us all to glimpse this magical world of translation, the tender care these writers take with the words of others, and the fierce advocacy they do for non Anglophone writers, round the clock. SUCH a cool session.
Grand night out at @vividsydney last night, as @georgiamooney and @rhysnicholson wrangled word people and music people to take turns on stage for their Supper Club at @marysunderground … @jvckcolwell did words and was very funny but then he sat down at the piano and THIS came rippling out and – my God. I was knocked over. Jack, along with the truly extraordinary and also new-to-me @alyxdennison, was a major and pleasurable musical revelation for this words person. Thank you for showing me to them with your foxy little usherette torch, @georgiamooney.
In town for @vividsydney and free between 6-7? In the mood for a discussion about news events? After The Fact runs every day FOR FREE featuring the giant brain of Tom Wright…. I’m joining him tomorrow with Satyajit Das (finance expertise) and @fionakatauskas (cartoon genius expertise). My expertise is remembering to show up. It’s at @rekodo.barangaroo … sparkly lights on offer after!
J had this weird dream that last night I met this INCREDIBLE woman at the @adelaidecabaret festival and she played a SAW on stage and was generally just an EXPLOSION of genius wait it was REAL and if you’re in Adelaide you can watch her sing and play a million instruments and take her amazing brain for a walk with some other highly gifted maniacs, swipe for details but please please don’t miss her … @victoria_falconer … the Bang Bang show sounds brilliant and features @juliazemiro omg so much width to the fabric and feel the quality. My home town shining like a diamond right now ❤️
J had this weird dream that last night I met this INCREDIBLE woman at the @adelaidecabaret festival and she played a SAW on stage and was generally just an EXPLOSION of genius wait it was REAL and if you’re in Adelaide you can watch her sing and play a million instruments and take her amazing brain for a walk with some other highly gifted maniacs, swipe for details but please please don’t miss her … @victoria_falconer … the Bang Bang show sounds brilliant and features @juliazemiro omg so much width to the fabric and feel the quality. My home town shining like a diamond right now ❤️
Looking forward to slipping between the sheets with two of my favourite bloodnuts tomorrow night @georgiamooney and @rhysnicholson for an evening of ribaldry and song. It’s at @marysunderground at 9pm (which rules out my other bloodnut @leigh_sales) .. Other purveyors of persiflage in attendance include @mrbenjaminlaw and @juliazemiro and @ewen_leslie and @brendanbcowell … Come! I think there are a handful of tickets left don’t @ me if this proves incorrect … tix through @vividsydney
