Cacia, and big Ocean.
Amazing seafood basket for 2 at Driftwood on the bay.
I’ve had a craving for black sesame ice-cream ever since being denied a serve at Sush Train over a week ago (they ran out of stock!). Craving demolished thanks to Passionflower.
Cuties, Rob and Krysti.
Stolen…
…and returned!
No waves today, but still gorgeous.
Art around Chalk Espresso caught Krysti’s eye so we had coffee and brekkie here.
Woody goodness.
Funnies with our bacon ad egg rolls!
I’m an early riser, Robbie knows this, so he messaged me to see if I was up for brekkie. Yes! Let’s! He got Krysti out of bed and we went for a stroll down to the beach. Great way to start the day!
LP’s Quality Meats. Tucked away in a little laneway in Chippendale.
Inviting!
Surprisingly huge on the inside, and Queens of the Stone Age blaring on the stereo.
15 Hour BBQ Beef Short Rib! Kale, and Mash!
Next stop, the new Ambush Gallery launch night at Central Plaza.
Massive mural finished, could still smell the paint!
Launching with a bang! Celebrating 30 years of Mambo!
Lots of memoriescame flooding back for me. I’ve owned a lot of Mambo gear in my past.
Car Art.
Great art on show but I loved the floor the most!
Group shot of a few of the artists who had work on in the show.
Peace!
Spotted… Jirat!
Another Jirat piece downstairs.
I’ve really become a sweet tooth over the past few years. Gelato from Anita Gelato on the way home (watermelon and mint, so good!).
#winning When your flat mate and his girl make you dinner. DIY Vietnamese Summer Rolls. So healthy, so fresh, so good!
First stop; Bourke St Bakery to introduce Cacia to Sausage Rolls!
Cacia x Cacti.
Next stop, the amazing Brett Whiteley Studio. SUPER inspiring, had us both wanting to paint so bad.
Kurtosh! They make these coiled pastry things to order! 10 minutes and our nutella one was done, so yummy!
Next stop, White Rabbit Gallery.
A huge upside down lit cigarette.
A cityscape on closer inspection. So cool.
The gallery is so dedicated, they cut a circular hole in their roof to fit this piece.
Dan/Faz from kind of gallery has an awesome new Skate shop at Central Park.
VHS! Old Skool Cool!
Ambush Gallery are taking over the top floor of Central Park, such awesome news. The Mambo retrospective should be awesome. The floor alone is killer!
On a plane, again. Nuts… right?!
Berty from Cars For Hope, Cam from ClubITR, Alain, Rob and Sean from Motorculture and Photographer Matthew Everingham on Tiger air.
Hello again Melbourne!
Our chariot.
Now a Zen Chariot.
Staying at the Quest, at the airport. Whaaaat?! Nice room but, even better room mate.
No food around the airport so we went out hunting. Mix Master Alain put some Beastie Boys on, we had arrived.
Money wall at Lazy Moe’s, a huge food stop we saw on the side of the road.
The menu was HUGE.
MB long necks (so much better than VB!) one for each of us!
V8 Supercar Driver for TEKNO Autosports Jonathon Webb, our pro driver for tomorrow’s drive day.
Chicken Parma, as huge as the menu!
And I’m jet setting again! This trip had initially been planned for QLD, but the cyclone hit, and it not only got postponed to after I got back from Sweden, but moved to Calder Park in Melbourne.
We’ll be testing new tyres on the circuit. I’m tired and still very much recovering from my Sweden trip, but hey… I’ll recover later!
Best mug ever.
Larry Chen from Speedhunters on the left, Antonio from Motor Mavens on the right. It’s been awesome working with these guys.
I started a thing!
Later that night; Central Station, a huge square, super picturesque.
We wined and dined at the Norda Bar & Grill, an amazing restaurant in the Clarion Hotel Post which once used to be a Post Office.
Elk carpaccio! Amaze!
You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. Steak was next level. So soft. I’m not sure what cut it was, but the waitress suggested it was part of the inner leg.
The best dessert I’ve eaten in recent memory. In the tin was what looked like caviar, but it wasn’t. Urgh… SO good.
See the post office counters? They’ve done such a great job of preserving parts of the old post office. On point!
The matching wines got me pretty tipsy, so, onto the bar for more!
Hey Alexi!
Brandon, who was the man behind JTUNED, a site which inspired me so much when I was starting JDMST back in the day, such a rad dude.
Larry, he’s so sexy.
Great day of work yesterday, and even better dinner last night with the guys from the US and Japan. The topics that came up in conversation on our table were just so wrong, and had us laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes! It’s just so awesome to meet like minded people that you can click with almost instantly, and just be completely yourself around.
The US guys were in for just one night, so sad to not have more time with these cats. I’ll have to visit them in LA some time soon. I leave later this afternoon and I’m already beginning to freak out about the long 23hr trip back home.
Brekkie #1. The usual stuff, but with meatballs!
Brekkie #2. Loved the pate, smoked hams were amazing too.
By the time I was leaving the restaurant was much more alive with hotel guests.
Most of the other international guests expected to join me in Sweden aren’t arriving until later today, so I thought I’d rug up and go for a longer walk. I started by following the water. Many of the trees by the river have these cute bird houses on them.
I stumbled into a district called Haga. Cobblestone roads and lots of wooden buildings. Gothenburg’s a pretty place.
Loved this bicycle store. Air pump outside works even when the shop is shut, that’s really sweet.
I then spotted these huge stairs and gravitated towards them.
Almost at the top. It’s so quiet here in Gothenburg. There’s hardly anyone around. I only ran into a couple of joggers up here. It felt a little strange but wonderful to be up there on my own.
The view from the top. I spotted some huge canons up here. It turns out it’s an old fort called Skansen Kronan which was built in the later half of the 17th century.
Going back down.
So cute, right?!
A fountain, that wasn’t working. At the end of Haga was a public square which was busier than most of the city I’ve seen so far.
Zoomer! Coolest thing I’ve spotted on the roads so far!
The Japanese have landed. Charles Kha took us to Vapiano, a Pasta Pizza Bar.
Alexi, Charles and Luke.
Vapiano’s cool. Really nice and spacious, comfy and clean. You order at the kitchen and they make it right in front of you. Our chef Isabella had visited Australia before (surprise surprise!) and she has an Aussie boyfriend!
The smells, sounds and chit chat with the chef.
I went for the Scampi, it was delish.
Beers with the homies! Such a great catch up with these guys. Amazingly Luke had never met Charles before!
Luke and Antonio. After dinner we caught up with the Americans.
We hit a small Irish Pub for a couple of jugs of beer and some crazy talk, the American guys brought a new dynamic to the night, it’s party time! I’m psyched to meet these guys.
When travelling overseas, I have a thing (it’s a very real thing) for buffet hotel breakfasts. I’ll often down a few cups of coffee as well as fresh juice and I’ll eat absolutely everything on offer in the one seating. I find is extremely enjoyable, therapeutic and just an awesome way to start the day.
I tried my best to stay up last night in order to get my body clock aligned with Sweden time, but after my short trip around the block I felt wasted and crashed at around 4-5PM. I woke up at midnight. Epic Fail. I watched TV, chatted to friends online into wee hours of the morning and finally got back to sleep for maybe another 2 hours before getting up at 5am.
I rolled out of bed and hit the buffet breakfast downstairs at around 6.30AM, it was still quite dark outside and there were only 2 people in the hotel’s restaurant. Excitement! A bread station with all sort of interesting breads, a hard boiled egg station, a hot food section with meatballs (whoo hoo!), a coffee and tea section, a cold foods area with all sorts of local cheeses, pickled and smoked meats and a bar for cold drinks.
Soon after breakfast I went for a long stroll. I’m here one whole day earlier than all the other international guests who are flying over for work. They all land this afternoon so I had time to kill. Gothenburg is a lovely little town. It’s picturesque and quiet. The people are friendly and say “Hey” when I say “Hi” and they all seem to speak English well. No one wears sunglasses here, strange but true, and it’s nowhere near as cold as I thought it would be. Also, I’ve not seen one single modified car here. Everything is stock and quiet. The loudest thing I’ve heard are the church bells!
Later that night I was just about ready for bed but got a call from Alexi Smith of Noriyaro to say that he and Luke Huxham of Maiham Media had landed from Japan. Charles Kha was coming to the hotel and he was going to take us out for a late dinner (which was awesome!). A little later on the Americans arrived; Larry Chen from Speedhunters, Antonio Alvendia from Motor Mavens and Brandon Leung from BOWLS LA. We hit an old Irish pub, and the party almost started (but had to end as everyone was buggered and we had an early start the next morning). Good times ahead!
PS: I’m staying at the Avalon Hotel. It’s a gorgeous little 4-star hotel right in the thick of it. It’s super comfy. I’m loving it (bed is great, fine Egyptian cotton sheets are even better!). Highly recommend it if you ever stay in Gothenburg!
Brunch with Cacia and Jess at Reuben Hills in Surry Hills today. Nanami took me quite a while ago (and it was great), second time around was just as great! Delish as expected!
I felt like eggs, so ordered scrambled eggs on rye w onion, coriander, lime and cumin salt with jamon (so good) and avo on the side.
Cacia went for the Baho Beef Nicaraguan brisket with plantains, yuca, gallo pinto & papaya slaw. Pick of all 3 dishes for me. Earthy goodness.
Jess went for the NOT reuben (which she can’t go past every time apparently!), wagyu salt brisket, pickled slaw, manchego and horseradish mayo on rye.
Welcome to the Fox’s Den Cacia.
Red wine stains her lips. Cacia’s never been to Sydney before. I’m honoured to be a part of her first trip.
Kingsford.
Jess and Cacia, food hunting.
Body clock is out of whack. Late night feed at Petaling.
Artist & model Cacia Zoo, who’s spent the last 6 years in NYC, flew in to Sydney yesterday and she’ll be staying with me for a few nights. Jess and I picked her up from the airport yesterday, and straight off the bat we were having D&M’s about art and life. Emotional, driven and open, she’s larger than life (and her laugh is wicked!).
We downed a bottle of red. Cacia translated some of Ren Hang‘s poetry for Jess and I, which was amazing (it’s hilarious!). Ren’s poetry reminded me of the poetry I used to write when I was 21 so I dug it up and read some of it out loud, which in turn has inspired me to share it with the world once again.
It’s heavy, half of it is the outcome of my emotional state during the passing away of my Dad to cancer. The other half was written in relation to that stage in your life where you’re a little too old to call it teenage angst but much too young to call it a midlife crisis.
Link: http://www.justinfox.com.au/poetry
Red wine, poetry readings, late night food hunting and fiery conversations. Cacia’s helping to bring the Artist in me out to play. It’s going to be a great weekend!
