Lunch today

I probably should be blogging about churches and art and all that culturey stuff but instead I am going to write about my lunch today. We were planning to go to the Caravaggio show at the Scuderie but there was a huge queue again and it was in the sun so we just schlepped round some chruches and Trajan's markets (I had never been) and then we were starving and near the Ghetto so we headed to Suor Margherita. I'm not sure whath the dela is now but last time I went you had to join their 'private club' as they had lost their licence to operate as restaurant because they were so cramped and considered a fire hazard. Anyone could join. I still have my card but I didn't have to present it, which made me sad. I did have to front up to a big guy with a clipboard standing outside and ask for  a table, and wait while he discussed it with another guy and looked us up and down.

It is very cramped inside, you should have seen the acrobatics I had to perform to get into my chair, at one point I thought I would have to sit with my feet behind my head.

Wine from huge bottles, the choice is red or white.

I took a photo of the water too, it was delicious and pretty.

The main reason to go here in my opinion are the 'Carciofi alla Giudia' which are deep fried so the outside leaves become like artichoke crisps and the inside is all soft and melty. So good. I am obsessed with artichokes so this is pretty much food heaven for me.

Then I had fettucine with pesto, homemade and all chewy and thick.

M had some kind of chocolate tart thing, which was very good. (Yes I am guilty of the 'Oh no I couldn't possibly eat dessert.... can I please taste some... another bite please.')

And coffee of course ( I have been drinking so much coffee while here in Italy, hopefully I'm not addicted again, we will know soon enough when I get back to Melbourne and revert to tea).

  Before...

And 5 seconds later.

The menu. If you are going to Rome and you're nice to me I might even tell you where it is. x

Byee

Seems silly leaving a note saying I will be away when I am clearly hopeless at updating this blog. Off to venice today for two weeks and then Rome for one week. I ripped the old luggage label off 'Green Esmerelda' (my suitcase) and realised it is exactly two years to the day since I last arrived home from Italy. I haven't been overseas since New Zealand in July 2008, which is probably a good thing for the environment but not a good thing for my soul. I'm not sure when I will get to update. Venice supposedly has wifi but I am sceptical as to how well it will work! But I hope to be back with photos of bella Venezia.

Something to tide me over and make me excited!

I plan to do a lot of this looking intense in Italian bars.

Roma.

Office

Here is the office I work in at uni. I share it with mum. It is her office but she has two desks so I get to use one. It is ever so useful. I often get very distracted at home by stuff, like housework and the fast internet. And just feel less in the zone sitting in my lounge tapping away.

This is the plant - there are two begonias a flat leaf and a crinkle leaf. But mr flat leaf is dominant. It had lived on my kitchen table but didn't get quite enough sun. It loves the sun.

The crinkly leaves. They look like stained glass with the sun coming through.

These are our PhD Witches. They represent our progress. You will notice they are nearly at the top of the filing cabinet. Go us.

Mum's desk. Nice and tidy with handcreams and jurlique spray.

My desk: messy with abandoned plastic bags. But I think it makes me look pretty busy.

I even use the floor for storage.

The flowers outside, not sure what they are but in winter they chop them right off so there are no leaves and barely any branches and then they spring back into life and flower in late summer (I took this pic at the end of feb).

Saturday

My haul from the farmers market at the Abbotsford Convent.

My new shoes from the op hop, only 10 dollar!

Candlelit Dinner.

My choc ripple cake.

Marty Lederhandler

I was just reading the obituary of photographer Marty Lederhandler here and looking at some of his photos. It always feels terrible when you only stop and look through someone's work properly because they have died...

Breakfast and a Rose

I woke up early on Saturday and then lay on the couch for a while feeling depressed about the fact I didn't want to go running. Then I got into my running gear and still felt unmotivated so I decided to just go and buy some bread, but when I got outside I felt like a run so I did, until I hurt my knee and got cramps. Clearly I should have listened to my intuition.

This is my breakfast, in case you are wondering: yes I do balance it precariously on the couch arm, and yes my plate does have cavorting cows on it and yes that is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer mug.

I found a rose on my way home on the footpath so I now have it on my desk.

It is propped up on those boxes as that is the only spare space.

I went to the gallery for a lecture by Harrell Fletcher, he is an American artist and I love him a bit. His work is all about other people, and often created by other people. He made a public sculpture in France to the design of an 8 year old boy who wanted to make a solid gold turtle and paint it green. In the end he settled for solid bronze. You can see it here. Also look at his website where he and another artist set assignments for people to do. I like the videos, you *must* watch this one of someone acting out a scene from ET, hilarious.

I took a photo of one of the buildings I like on Treasury place. I think it is very underrated, I like the arched doorways.

Later on I went shopping for a laptop bag but all I ended up with was rage against ugly/overpriced bags and against Myer being so overheated. So I went to the wine shop instead and drank Rose.

Hmm

I seem to be quite bad at this 365photo blog thing. I think I will keep trying though. So in the spirit of it here is a photo I took this evening. Just some nice building that seems slightly derelict, I think I would like to have it for the huge library I dreamed I had last night. It was like a neater version of the strange Kunsthistorisches in Florence, which has a main library but the collection has spread into people's offices. I used to be too scared to go in and get the books I needed. The whole garden history collection was in the office of a very scary looking German lady.

Now I am mooching on the couch with wine and thinking about what clothes to take to Venice in April. I am determined to travel light and also look stylish. I need conference clothes and it will be about 16-18 degrees with the potential to be colder and maybe wet. Hmmm.

So far I have settled on my blue skinny jeans and brown boots. So far so boring....

Saturday Relaxation

I headed over to Mum and Dad's on Saturday as Mum had offered to help me do some mending. I also took over some shoes as the local shoe repair man is incredibly cheap and incredibly good. He may well be one of the happiest people ever. He always looks at my shoes (which I tend to wear for that bit too long after they need repaired) and shakes his head and says 'how much do you love em? this is gonna be pricey." Then proceeds to quote something like $30 each for shoes that need the soles completely rebuilt and leather tears patched. Less than half what people in the city usually quote. I always try and explain that the shoes in question cost a lot more than $30 so that will be fine but he always looks skeptical.

I then found a pair of awesome vintage patent heels at the op shop. Only $10.

I drank lots of tea and had some pumpkin soup and did my mending. I think I did well, it wasn't too tricky but it really needed a machine and I don't have one. Also mum tends to encourage me to take care and do things properly rather than trying to just do everything as quickly as possible.

I also hung out with Hamish the Wonder Dog and Abby. They say hi.

I also checked on my Jerusalem artichokes. I originally planted some about, hmm, 8 years ago and they have produced bumper crops ever since despite mum's attempts to not encourage them. This year she moved them to a different position and they just grew in both the new spot and the old spot. Mwahahahah!

So in about a month or so I will probably have many many to give away. One of the plants is about 8 ft high. They are a type of sunflower but despite their height and enormous leaves only produce tiny little daisy-like flowers.

The top is up there somewhere but hard to see so Mum helped by giving perspective.

I also found a curvy zucchini. It is waiting to be cooked up.

Beginning and ending

This is how Friday began...

Ohh look red lines under things, I'm sure they were there for a reason but I can't for the life of me remember why.

And this is how Friday ended...

Wine at the City Wine Shop, I also had some polenta chips but they didn't last nearly long enough to be photographed. Before this there was a lecture on curating art and a reception at the Ian Potter museum where I stood in stilettos for too long and drank too much champagne (which for me really means any champagne) and ate lots of little fig tarts.