Spotted....

In the Thomas Dux gourmet grocery store at the end of Bay St, Port Melbourne:

One of my absolute favourite American brands has landed in Australia! Well, just Sydney and Melbourne specifically.

Although they have a limited number of flavours available, you can find out which delicatessans, providores and gourmet grocery stores near you stock this delicious, delicious ice cream right over here.

In case you were wondering, the above flavour was a blend of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, with big chunks of chocolate brownie and choc chip cookie dough in it. Mmm-mm.

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Autumn weekends

   

 

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Movie review: Date Night

The Movie: Date Night

The Players: Steve Carrell, Tina Fey

The Makers: Shaun Levy (director), Josh Klausner (writer)

Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Phil and Claire Foster (Steve Carrell and Tina Fey) are a married couple from New Jersey with two kids and a daily routine so exhaustingly dull they can barely summon the energy to go out for dinner together on a date night. However, the news of some friends’ divorce forces them to re-evaluate their own commitment and they quickly realise that special spark is missing, and has been for a while.

Determined to reignite their feelings for one another, they head into Manhattan for a special date night at a trendy eatery. The restaurant is so trendy that they are unable to get a table, and take someone else’s reservation, the Tripplehorns. Halfway through their meal, they are escorted out into the back alley and threatened at gun point by two criminal. Clearly a case of mistaken identity, Phil and Claire agree to give the goons the missing flash drive they’re being questioned about, despite not knowing anything about it. They quickly become embroiled in a war involving a mobster, a stripper and her lover and a politician who isn’t as squeaky clean as everyone thinks, getting help along the way from an ex-intelligence Adonis with super cool gadgets.

Carrell and Fey are a match made in comedic heaven – they play well off each other, but also manage to properly convey both the dissatisfaction and affection of a long married couple who are stuck in a rut. They also portray a realness that is quite sweet and amusing, as they bumble through New York City’s elite nightlife, fully aware that they don’t fit in. As Phil and Claire become involved in bizarre set-ups, car chases and amateur criminal activity, the storyline, which is totally implausible, moves at a consistent pace (although someone’s Husband had a LOT of issues with the car chase scene: “Those cars would never fit together like that!” “Can’t you just suspend your disbelief? It’s a COMEDY”) and the throwaway lines and impromtu, attempted bad-assery from both Fey and Carrell’s characters keeps the audience chuckling most of the way through the film.

I really enjoyed Date Night, and while it’s not exactly high-brow entertainment, it kept me laughing and was an easy night’s entertainment. There are some great ensemble cast members (Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta, William Fitchner) and it's definitely worth checking out the DVD when it’s released, it’s well worth a watch.

In a word: Funny.

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Autumn weather + Esprit = Argyle

It's Autumn in Melbourne, which means crisp mornings, cold nights and sunny, fresh days that require more than a light cardi for warmth. Conveniently, all the shops are bringing in their glorious knits, coats, hats, scarves and gloves. I love Winter clothes. LOVE LOVE LOVE.


Anyway, I was at the local shopping centre and wandered into Esprit to have a look around. They had so many things I wanted. SO MANY. They've bought in all their jumpers and coats and corduroy pants and it's all so Autumn-y and cosy looking. I don't normally shop there because I find it a tad over-priced, but I couldn't walk past all the sexy, sexy argyle jumpers without stopping to drool over them.


In the course of my meandering through the shop I walked past the sale rack and a couple of jumpers caught my eye. They had new season stock on the sale rack, including these:

Now, these were both $79.75AUD. I bought the blue one a couple of weekends ago for $54.95, which isn't a bad saving. BUT last Thursday night the shopping centre had a VIP night and they had further reductions. I went back to the Esprit shop and had another look at the jumpers. And of couse I went back to the sale rack and saw that they had added the pink jumper to the rack. I pulled it out and it was marked down to $39.95. Yay!

I took the pink jumper to the counter to buy it and when the girl scanned it she told me there was a further 25% off the marked price, so it came down even further to $31.92. WOOT. Two jumpers, both originally priced at $79.95 were purchased for a total of $86.87. For jumpers that aren't wool, that is an incredible deal.


Did I mention how much I love argyle? I LOVE IT. It's so preppy and crisp. I've been pairing the jumpers with blue jeans and white loafers, and some pearl earrings to make the look a bit Ralph Lauren fancy-pants.

I love it so much that I'm a little bit jealous of golfers because they can wear it whenever they like. I never thought I would admit to being jealous of a golfer.


It's also worth noting the shop has argyle patterned vests in a variety of colours, which are perfect for work: pair it with a white shirt, black pants and some flats and you'll look fab. Pin It