Despite my self-set goal of posting at least one blog post a month for the year, I wrote my last post for 2023 in October. So what better way to start 2024, than to recount the last couple of months from last year. October ended  with a long weekend, in which I got absolutely hammered with Lyle for one of our Drunkscapes. I had mowed the lawn at my house (the one that doesn't exist yet) for the first time and then went home and drank the night away. I woke up the following morning (Sunday) feeling quite hungover. In all honesty, I felt fine until I started moving about. I basically stayed in bed and read Heartstopper fanfiction all day, and then at about 10pm I started feeling the effects of doing shit all for hours on end.

I decided to go for a midnight walk at 11pm or so, despite the fact that the moon was nowhere to be found. I walked for like, an hour and a half. It was really nice and cool and a good vibe (until I eventually remembered that I had run over like, 3 snakes on this stretch of road prior in the week). The long weekend took me into November, which was a somewhat unremarkable month.

December started off with Birb's birthday. Lyle came up from Melbourne and we hung out. We went to Don Mungos in Bright on the Friday evening for Wings, Pizza and Chips. I am particularly fond of Don Mungos for their ramen fusion pizza which blows my mind every time I have it. The rest of the weekend was spent playing tabletop games, drinking and then smoking some cigars at 2am on Sunday morning, down by the swamplands. It was a really fun time. We're hoping to catch up for a proper celebration for Onyon's birthday, over the Australia Day long weekend to do the same thing.

The rest of December was spent preparing for Christmas. I bought presents for most of the family closer to Christmas Eve, but for Dan I decided to build him a coffee bar for all of his machines, grinders and coffee paraphernalia. It took me a couple weekends to finish, as there was a few different components. Then I had to get all the stuff ready for Christmas Lunch. I made an absolute feast.

The menu was as follows:

• Peking Duck Bao Buns with Carrot and Spring Onion

• Garlic Tiger King Prawns

• Garlic and Chilli Green Beans

• Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

• Tea Smoked Salmon with Honey Soy Glaze

• Fried Rice stuffed Pork Belly Roast with Dark Cherry Gravy

It turned out spectacularly - and I learned from last year and really prepared ahead of time. I made the gravy ahead of time as well as stuffing and rolling the pork with ample time to dry out in the fridge. The salmon was an unexpected success. I don't often smoke food, let alone in a wok, but it turned out really nice and tender. The glaze was a bit thinner and blander than I had expected but Dan really liked the salmon, which was good.

He's also started eating pork in moderation which meant he was finally able to try, arguably one of my best recipes. He liked it. Score.

Boxing Day arrived as Dan and I both travelled to Brunswick for a short holiday. We arrived and immediately trammed into the city to get some dinner. We stopped at a beautiful little craft ramen bar on Lt. Lonsdale street. It was the best bowl of ramen I have had since leaving Queensland in December 2020. We went for desert in China town before doing some Boxing Day sales shopping at Melbourne central. I bought myself a new pair of wireless earbuds to replace my original Galaxy buds, which are sadly dying of old age.