Hot! Hot! Hot!

For the last two weeks all the talk in this town has been tennis, tennis, tennis. But now the evenings of five-set matches that stretch long into the night (or not) are behind us and it's time to change the conversation.

So here is a list of items that are so HOT!* right now:

1) Melbourne. Melbourne is so HOT!** right now.

2) Shaun Tan. Shaun Tan is so HOT! right now. Was it only last month we announced that it was finger-crossing time because Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing had been short-listed for an Oscar nomination? Why yes, it was. And unless you've been hiding from the heat under some kind of rock, you'll know by now that all that finger-crossing was worth it - behold! Herewith the list of nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards featuring in the category of Short Film (Animated) is:

"The Lost Thing" Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

Go little Lost Thing, go!

3) Tarte tatin. Tarte tatin is so HOT! right now.

Well, not so much right now, but the little shallot, potato and goat's cheese tarts, they were HOT! and OH SO UNBELIEVABLY TASTY! when the Cake-Maker Virtuoso brought them into the House as a special birthday treat for an Onion who swings savoury rather than sweet. Oh my, you can tart it up any time, C-MV!

* We are, as ever, grateful to BOM and to the good folk who have installed their weather-reading instruments on the roof of McCoy Building School of Earth Sciences at Melbourne Uni for enabling us to be up-to-the-minute informed about all things of vital weather-related importance.

** That UVB rating is forecast to get all the way up to...12. That's one more than 11, people, so all - especially you fair-skinned folk - are advised to hide under your hats, or stay inside and amuse yourself with some kind of reading material, a book perhaps?

*** And for those of you who fancy trying your own hand at a little HOT! tarte tatin, here is a recipe that nomify prepared earlier.

Hot Town, Summer in the City

We got this...* What you got?

Via the ever-helpful weather-watchers at the School of Earth Sciences.

*Definitely not our favourite kind of melting moments.

We're just saying...

thank you, School of Earth Sciences at Melbourne University for allowing us to track our pain.

Wilted Onions

Apparently everything breaks when the temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius (that's 104 degrees Fahrenheit) for two days in a row: trains, trams, electricity... brains.

So while we lie on the floor panting, here are some pretty/interesting/funny/educational things. (OK, none of these are educational.)

Vampires. We like them. We really like them when they are being staked, or when they are all dark and broody and have a soul, or bleached hair, an English accent and (eventually) a soul .

That's why we like this so much.
'But you know what they say: stakes don't kill vampires; girls with stakes kill vampires. Mr Sparkly, meet Mr Pointy.'

And this. It speaks for itself, really.

As has been stated before, most of the Onions are firmly Team Jacob (though we wavered temporarily after seeing the film), but the thought of snuggling up to an ice-cold vamp is actually mighty appealing in the midst of this heatwave. Although, come to think of it, I suppose Edward doesn't actually have an internal refrigeration device, does he? I mean, he's cold because he frequents cold climates. In this heat he'd just be room-temperature. ICK. Scratch that thought, still Team Jacob over here.

Some cool things on a hot day*

polar bear via

swimmer by Virginia

and... advances received at the House of Onion since Christmas!

* For those not in Melbourne today, it is currently 39.1 degrees Celsius. That's 102.38 Farenheit or 312.25 Kelvin.

UPDATE: THE COOL CHANGE HAS ARRIVED!!!