Bulli Bulli

I attended a lecture as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival yesterday. While I love my food, and (as previously mentioned) enjoy food shows on Foxtel's Lifestyle or Food & Wine channels (second only to test cricket, perhaps), I had not previously heard of this chef.

Ferran Adria runs the elBulli restaurant in northern Spain. It is a restaurant that opens for only 160 days each year, from April to September, and has 2,000,000 requests each year for the 8,000 possible reservations.

In his own words (or those of his translator Lucy), 'cuisine is a language' and his cuisine is using a new alphabet. His inspiration is drawn from snow, art, or even the earth as he flew from Adelaide to Sydney. OK, back to avocado on toast for Monday night dinner. I'll have to save up the $400 for 30 courses over 3 hours at elBulli sometime in 2015!

Hipy Papy Bthuthday

Apparently today is the anniversary of the 'birth' of Winnie the Pooh.

Winnie has always been a favourite of mine, and I love to quote 'Vespers' at every opportunity (whether relevant or not).

..."Little boy kneels at the foot of his bed; droop on his little hands, little gold head ..."

Even the 'bump, bump, bump' down the stairs leads me to smile, despite the thought of the headache.

Today the great corporate master announced yet more significant changes. I can understand the new direction, even though the prospective work causes just a little headache. Tonight it was a glass of Wirra Wirra Churchblock Cab-Sav-Shiraz-Merlot with dinner to ease the dread of the forthcoming workload.

Personally I don't mind if the advised changes lead to the cancellation of the work conference in Mumbai in December, just so long as I can get through almost of the work before my July holiday next year.

no excuses ... no promises

yes, I know that it has been some time since I blogged and apparently it is very poor etiquette to have such extended breaks.

I can't offer any valid reasons other than I've been busy and tired at the end of the day when I would usually blog. I know that one of the purposes for connecting via wireless at my new home was to allow me to blog while parked on the couch (yes that new one from the last blog) while watching TV. Watching TV is a very important part of my relaxation time. I find it very conducive to my mental health to watch re-runs of 'Friends' or new episodes of UK cooking shows.

But now it's cricket season!! To date, while the sun has been shining and the days are longer, I haven't yet smelt freshly cut grass nor heard the sound of willow on leather. Just the thought of experiencing the smells & sounds of summer is enough to make me smile!

The weather on AFL Grand Final day was more like cricket than football ... and in deference to my Geelong supporting friends I'll leave reference to that day there. However, I did wander amongst the crowd in my new neighbourhood, and observed some amazing sights ...