Monday, October 01, 2007

Three Warm Days

I love that Sydney has three Colombian restaurants, and Friday night I joined Kath's friends to try the newest - any excuse to eat more empanadas. Which we did, along with lots of meat. God bless Central/South America.

Pilates the next morning is not to counteract but because I enjoy it again, and later D came over. It's spring and spring food is beautiful: green of peas and beans and sunlight of squeezes of lemon and pecorino and olive oil. So dinner is a real Liguarian pesto spaghetti, with steamed discs of kipflers but with spinach instead of basil for a softer finish, and tarts with frangipane and sauteed rhubarb, that prettiest of pink anything.

For the tarts, I was excited to try Careme pastry, a company making real pastry, unlike that stale, frozen-tasting stuff you get at the supermarket, which is so bad I refuse to buy it. Although I'm starting to make my own I wanted to support this local business and am so glad I did - the pastry was incredible. I chose the vanilla bean shortcrust which is perfect for individual dessert tarts, and tastes just like fine patisserie pastry. They include helpful hints on using the pastry which is a really nice touch. What I love even more about Careme is the adorable packaging, something out of Laduree, with pastel coloured boxes and elegant font. Bravo!

Sunday afternoon was dolling up for mum's pre-birthday high tea at The Victoria Room. A lovely couple of hours sipping cocktails and scoffing finger sandwiches and little sweet bites and the best scones (with lashings of berry jam and fresh cream) I've had. Although Kath and I learnt another Russian superstition - don't give mum her present one week early, she didn't want to know about it.

And to round off the long weekend the first swim of the season. I expected the water to be icey but it was the perfect temperature, and to dry off in the warm sun - just bliss. Will be spending as much time as I can at the beach until we go.

In the evening mum and I went to see I Have Never Forgotten You, the documentary on the amazing Simon Wiesenthal. I love how it starts, with a montage of journalists asking why he still pursues the war criminals, why not just let it go and let them grow old in peace. He describes trying to find his mother on the cattle car and tells the interviewer, "I can only hope she died on the train and not in the gas chamber", before pausing to say, "do you know what that means to say 'I hope my mother died on the train?'". His passion for justice and love for humanity, his humour...a truly rare individual and I hope everyone sees this documentary.


Labels: , , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger MissK said...

Yummy,love afternoon tea,has been a while,am looking forward to trying Lenotre at the Sofitel,that's next on my list.
I remember reading about that pastry in Delicious magazine,will look out for it on my next trip to the deli.

8:54 PM  
Blogger Jules said...

Have a look at Careme's website for stockists, and give it a try. I can't wait to try the other pastries.

I had a Lenotre dessert at The Summitt once - wow, was it rich and decadent. Look forward to reading about your experience at the Sofitel.

8:32 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home