Feeling cross

I am feeling a bit cross today.

I am cross that there seem to be no options for me to teach art history so instead I end up teaching some watered down cross over stuff that I'm not really passionate about.

I'm cross that I didn't apply for some tecahing I actually wanted to do because I didn't want to get in someone else's way and was also worried I wouldn't get it because the person running the course might have something personally against me.

I'm cross that I work my arse off on too many things that I don't even get paid for.

I'm cross about being 30 and still in a state of perpetually being broke.

And now I am having a cry.

/rant

Farmer's Market

On Saturday morning I schlepped on down to the Farmer's market at the Abbotsford Convent, which I love and I wish it was on every weekend instead of once a month (though there is also one across the road at the Collingwood Children's Farm once a month too). I would quite like to take my proper camera down but I think it would get in the way of my shopping. Anyhoo these are just diary snaps really. It was cold and sunny and rainy all at once.

 My vegies, lots of green stuff. Cavolo Nero or Tuscan Cabbage or Kale or whatever you want to call it is one of new favourite vegetables. I use to eat it a lot in Italy but I had never cooked it before about a month ago. I put some of it in my cauliflower, potato and leek soup on Saturday. I feel a bit odd buying silverbeet as usually Mum has lots of it at her place but as she is off gallivanting around the UK I have to buy it myself (but at $2 for an enormous bunch I think I will cope).

Broccoli and secret vegetables (beetroot, mushrooms, swedes etc).

Getting coffee is one of the highlights of my visit, easily pleased. I buy them from one of the stalls who also sell coffee beans, I can't remember the name though... I also bought a chocolate croissant from the Convent Bakery and it was ok but not great for $4, very cold and sort of flat tasting. I have to admit that I am not really much of a fan of the convent bakery, they seem expensive but a bit average and it takes forever to get coffee and two out of the last three times I have been there they have forgotten my order. Anyhoo. About two seconds after I took this photo the heavens opened and I had to duck into a doorway, which had some fancy columns but I didn't take a photo. You will just have to imagine me in jeans and a pink cashmere jumper and a bright yellow woolen beret while scoffing a chocolate croissant and looking whimsical or maybe just cold.

xK

To remind me to watch this

I am just pasting this link to a 'soapbox' talk by Shane Maloney on libraries and the need for quiet. You can watch it too if you like.
http://wheelercentre.com/videos/video/shane-maloney-in-praise-of-shhhh/

Stuff what I has been bakin...

This afternoon I decided to bake a quince cake so I could say I had achieved something in my day beyond reading a lot of blogs and watching Grand Designs. I am waiting for it to bake at this moment, I could even live blog the cake *dashes to kitchen* *dashes back* it is rising nicely and slightly browned but needs a bit longer. Hmm. Anyway I have been baking quite a lot lately and taking photos with the idea of posting them here and making me look like an industrious weekend baker. Unfortunately I'm not a very industrious weekend blogger so I am just going to post lots of them now.

Crostata di Nutella or Nutella Tart

This was based on the type of tarts you get in Italy, I especially eat them in Rome. Often they have pinenuts on top but I used hazelnuts instead. I invented it and it is involves making shortcrust pastry, blind baking it, filling it with nutella and briefly baking it again and then covering with roasted hazelnuts. Good times. I also made some baby nutella biscuits with the leftover pastry.

Lemon Cake

This is one of my favouritest cakes. It is from The Cook's Companion and is called *runs to kitchen* 'Angie's Lemon Cake' it is very buttery and lightly lemony (p.s. the Quince Cake just came out, it smells delicious) I like to use the lemon's from my parents tree, which are those rounder less tart lemons with some What really makes it is the glaze, which is just lemon juice and caster sugar and it must be poured over the freshly cooked and still very hot cake after you have turned it out of the pan. This dissolves the sugar. I much prefer it to actually icing a cake.

Here it is posing with my enormous teacup to indicate how it will accompany my morning tea.

Chocolate Cake

I actually wasn't very pleased with this cake, it ended up a bit dry as though it had been overcooked but the middle didn't cook at all. Plus it fell out of the tin and broke. But the photos look nice so let's pretend it was gooey and chocolatey.

Quince Cake One and Two

I poached the quinces earlier this week and made this Quince butter cake from the Cook Almost Anything blog. It was delicious, but I had to take it over to someone's house and I only ate one slice so I decided to make it again. I made the first in a loaf tin and today's is round.

Mmmm Quinces. I haven't had them for ages but eating a few of these before I made the cake reminded me that Mum used to make Quince Crumble.

Cake One having its quinces tucked into it.

Cake One finished.

Cake two finished. The kitchen looks a bit ungracious with the empty bottle of white wine, but hey the cake is cooked and it smells delicious. Plus I need the wine now to help me think about rude things to say about masterchef. Byeeeee.

How to write like a...

I was googling something the other day that started with 'How to write..' I actually can't remember exactly what now as I was distracted by the hilarious suggestions that came up*.
The top one is 'shakespeare', I guess that is understandable, as are the other author based ones. It delights me that so many people want to write like Dr Seuss, but slightly worries me that so many are trying to write like Hemingway. The second one is funny. I could imagine 'How to draw like an architect'? But write? I guess they write, is it a special pretentious style with lots of black rimmed edges? Clearly a lot more people are having issues writing like a girl than a boy (or woman or man). I thought writing like a girl was easy, just add little smilies over the 'i's.
The funniest one has to be 'edward cullen' though. Seriously people googling it enough to make it in the Top Ten? He is a CHARACTER in a piece of writing that isn't even a very good piece of writing!! Anyway that is my musing for the day.

*I admit I was trying to work out how to write like a gangster, what'up hoes?

Markets in Venice

This was a few days after the conference. I decided I needed to get to grips with my new camera all on my own so no one would get annoyed at me standing and taking 10 photos of a doorway with different apertures and shutter speeds! I let my feet take me on the natural route from Cannareggio towards San Marco and then decided to pop across the Rialto bridge and go to the vegetable market to take photos of food.

The Rialto Bridge with a strange beam of sunlight hitting the underside.

Hello little dog! Little white dogs always make me think of the Venetian painter Carpaccio, little white dogs abounded in his paintings. For example here is one in one of the paintings from his series Miracles of the True Cross in the Accademia, I took a sneaky picture because he reminded me of Hamish the Wonder Dog.

Always have your boat well carpeted.

Radicchio.

Asparagus, I love how the vegetables are beautifully wrapped. 

Beautiful oranges, I wanted to buy some just for the wrappers.

Nom nom tomatoes, by this stage I was starting to feel sad about not being able to cook anything.

Carciofi!

Next to the vegetable market was a second hand/antique market. The prices were kind of insane, basically think of the most expensive price they might charge and then double it, so I just took photos. 

 Sorry the head is cut off, I was sort of 'shooting from the hip' as the stallholder was looking askance at my camera. 

Murano glass mirror anyone? I would love this didn't even dare to ask the price.

Ugly paintings and brass plates abounded.

Glass pencils, ugly pink and gold bowl? I meant to take photos of all the ugliest glass concoctions but somehow I didn't quite get the pictures. This is nothing compared to the 1 metre high glass golliwogs for sale in Piazza San Marco, ugly and racist. Actually if the bowl had been under 20 euro I probably would have bought it.

 This one I loved.

I LOVED this bling table, I was ready to buy stuff till another lady asked the prices and they basically started at 250 euro. Eeeek. It was mostly quite fancy and seemingly original vintage stuff but eeek nonetheless.

Some Venice

These are from my first few days. It was very gorgeous weather, cool but not really cold, sunny and the days were long.

Waiting at Rome airport, I thought this was our plane, but it wasn't. At least it gives you an idea of what a plane looks like.

On the ferry from the airport. this is the best way to arrive (well unless you are rich and can get a fancy pants water taxi). You can see Venice slowly appear from the lagoon, first the campanile (bell towers) then gradually the rest of the city. This man was clearly Venetian, while the rest of us eagerly looked out the windows he slept as though arriving in Venice was something perfectly yawn-worthy.

Drinks with friends, I got excited an forgot to take a photo of my campari till it was nearly finished.Even these silly photos of drinks look picturesque with little bridges, walls of palazzi and canals in the background. Oh Venice, you are such a cliche.
This was on the Fondamente Ormesini, one the best places to get a drink in Venice. It is much quieter and you can sit on the canal and have a drink for virtually nothing, I think my campari was about 3 euro.

Drinking Amarone in some bar/pub place. It was near Tintoretto's house. I didn't spend all of my first day in Venice drinking, just half of it.

This was the next morning and Venice was being all shiny and Canaletto-esque.

More photos soon.

x

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