introducing gobble log, a week-long food diary featuring me (hi) and you if you’d like? submit your own diary here
before we kick off, please note…
SAVE THE DATE
we’re hosting a suuuper special dinner event on may 18 at an undisclosed inner north location. not ticketed. walk ins welcome, bookings advised. more info to come v soon. keep an eye on our ig
i’m joining some cool ppl at a panel on food sustainability on may 22. it’s free and there will be snacks feat. lara’s labneh + ultra culture + natoora. more info here
aight that’s all, now here’s your diary. please note that this is by no means an indication of how anyone should eat or a source for comparison, it’s just a transparent look at how I engage with food as someone who works with it and has a complicated relationship with it
MONDAY
wake up at 6am and work out, meaning I watch youtube while on the elliptical. my gym is in the basement of my building and it’s almost always empty every time I’m in there. I like it this way so no one can judge me for what I’m watching // not wearing a sports bra. today I watch logan go to new york instead of uni and eat at really mid looking ktown restaurants
back upstairs, shower and get ready for work. make my usual coffee for the road –nespresso (pods rotate but my current fave is the sensory lab purple I stocked up on for $2 a box at cbm. If you don’t know what that is, get a life) with milk frothed with exactly 5 drops of stevia and a hearty pinch of olsson’s fine grey salt
today I was lazy and tried to shake the salt out instead of spooning it and a golf ball-sized clump fell in my milk. what a waste of bonsoy, rip
I also grabbed a protein bar from my stash (also from cbm) to eat later. something about me is that I hoard protein bars until they’re past date then force myself to eat the oldest ones first so I exclusively have them once they’re dried out and the sugar alcohols have crystallised or turned into this weird goo. today’s flavour is a bounce “load up” choc raspberry that expired in february
drink coffee on way to office, settle in, coworker convinces me to get another coffee from a place I will not name (dm me). it’s $6 and very bad
not very hungry for lunch - it’s probably the 20g of undigestible protein sitting in my stomach - so I settle on 2 plums from coles and a diet coke from the office fridge. stone fruit forever
go home and now i’m hungry. eat leftover cheese (brie/truffle sheep’s cheese) and crackers (mary’s gone and some long, flat wheat + herb ones from coles) from when I caught up with olivia the other day. something about our friendship is that she always sends me home with food. on the side, I have a bit of spicy hummus - also from cbm - and these salted egg wafer biscuits that anna gave me cause she didn’t like them. idk why, they’re amazing
dinner time. I have a mung bean block I bought weeks ago to make liang fen then left in the bottom of my fridge ‘til it expired earlier this month. I decide tonight’s the night to use it. it’s still edible, but it’s lost the chewy, slippery texture it’s known for. I marinate in an assortment of leftover condiments I find in the fridge - mainly chilli oil, garlic and doenjang from last night’s bornga delivery - plus a splash of soy and mirin from the pantry. if this offends you, i’m truly sorry
serve it with mixed leaves, leftover kimchi, leftover korean potato salad, instant brown rice with chia seeds (s/o aldi), and stir-fried vegan duck (s/o cbm yet again)
I have a bad habit of eating dinner on the couch in front of the tv every night. tonight i’m watching food stars. proud to say three different friends of mine have been featured on the show as assorted extras. I was actually also in discussions to participate but didn’t because I was scared they would make me compete. little did I know I could play the “american in australia” and try four sweet and savoury vegemite dishes designed specifically for my yankee palate
I also have healthyish dessert every night after dinner habit as of recently. tonight it’s twisted protein frozen dessert (was hoping this would taste like the yopro ice cream but it’s way worse) that I sundae-ify with blackberries, bananas, macro mike choc pb protein that I reconstitute until it’s drizzleable, nuts, and some random cereals for crunch
TUESDAY
alarm goes off at 6 but I snooze until 630. get ready for work, make usual coffee for the road and grab some blackberries I st*le from woolies to eat once I get to the office. I also eat a vitamin gummy, the last two doses in a round of antibiotics to treat a paddle board (note: not paddle boarding) wound on my foot, a probiotic, and a green coffee + guarana supplement smuggled from america
at work, eat my berries, go to st ali for a meeting with a new client and have a soy latte that hits just right today. back to the office, snack on some double d sugar free cola bottle gummies
shortly after, I eat a raise the bar dark choc pb protein bar that claims to boost immunity. I don’t normally subsist on protein bars for every meal but I’m in a mood this week
go to another meeting in carlton then walk home. matt offers his leftover grain and edamame and chicken salad he got in the discount section of woolies. I don’t really want it but he says he’ll bin it otherwise and I hate food waste. it’s way too vinegary and this is coming from THE vinegar girl. eat it anyway
head to prahran for dinner at this italian restaurant called rossi that I was invited to. full disclosure, the nature of my job means I eat out a lot and sometimes these meals are “free”
(though keep in mind, nothing is every really free)
this is one of those times. ik i’m being vague but I’m not trying to gatekeep this info so if you have any questions, just ask
considered the “nonna’s selection” for 2 (burrata, focaccia, marg or prawn pizza, duck ragu or bay lobster spaghetti, tiramisu each) but went for a la carte instead because I will never not get napoletana pizza when on offer. also tried the wagyu pappardelle ragu, roquette and pear salad (why is this literally the only kind italian restaurants ever offer?) and one tiramisu to share. and a few cocktails, most notable of which was an odd in a good way number with clarified aperol, gin, dry vermouth, oregano, sun-dried tomato, pineapple, nutmeg
WEDNESDAY
sleep in until 830, make my usual coffee, work from the couch
make some toast with aldi dark rye because I don’t mind sliced grocery store bread. judging me is pretentious. it freezes well which I value because I rarely eat at home enough consecutive days to go through a loaf, and it develops a nice caramelisation when toasted that you don’t get from sourdough. I top it with almond/cashew butter, bee pollen from that one time I went to carlton farmers market, and a furrmien honeydew jam that dennis gave me way too long ago to still be using. don’t tell him.
talk to my brother on the phone which distracts me from getting dressed which means i’m running late for a meeting but go out of my way to get a free coffee from tom thumb anyway using a free trial of this subscription called coffeepass. heard good things about this place but the coffee tastes burnt
head to ultra culture’s production kitchen to discuss snacks for aforementioned panel. on the way, I get a last-minute invitation to a book launch event tonight at matilda. kind of burnt out and can’t be bothered but say yes anyway
ultra generously offer me a ginger matteo, my very fave chilled drink atm. we discuss the collab, I sample a few products and they send me a few to take home and test with
next stop is glory us in fitzroy north to interview the owners for a story i’m writing. please go and take me with you. dying to revisit for a slice of breakfast pizza. then head home, get ready for event and head straight back out
arrive at the venue where I’m handed a sweet martini rimmed in some sort of salty aniseed-y seasoning that apparently is featured in the book
some canapés are also passed around - a little shot of gazpacho which is not usually my vibe but this one is good, and a rib which is the worst food to eat in a professional setting. I spray sauce all over the floor. thankfully, so does everyone else
then comes the main main meal - part one: sesame-coated carrots on a bed of sesame yoghurt topped with some puffed grains. bread on the side (some sort of soft sourdough with a very salty glazed crust, eaten with salted butter)
part two: choice of main - barramundi, chicken or gnocchi with mushroom xo. I get the latter. In true pickett fashion, it’s the pillowy french variety that are dense and pan-fried. green salad and potato salad served on the side. have slight regret that I didn’t order the fish but someone in attendance who I vaguely know lets me trade a bite for a bite
part three: a chocolate mousse of some sort with what looks like meringue crumbs which incites scepticism as I hate meringue - I might as well eat sugar cubes. but this is a pleasant surprise, sour and a bit salty which offers a nice contrast to the not-too-sweet chocolate. no idea what it actually is, but the menu mentions coconut yoghurt and black olives. also drink some wine
TO BE CONTINUED…
welcome back 💕