Ron Mueck at GOMA

Yesterday Ric and I went to the amazing Ron Mueck exhibition at GOMA. It was wonderfully surreal, although I think it was meant to be wonderfully real. Anyway, well worth the visit and it's fun taking photos - but no flash of course.

Chorizo, Mushroom and Spinach Risotto

Sometimes I make up a new recipe that works! And then a month down the track I can't remember what it was or what went in it. Well this is an attempt to note down one of the good ones. Sorry there is no picture as it was a couple of nights ago that I made this and it's all eaten up.

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 stick of celery, chopped

4 chorizo sausages, chopped

quite a few mushrooms, chopped

a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves

just under 2 cups of rice

1 cup white wine

some butter

4 - 5 cups of chicken stock

about a cup of parmesan cheese, grated

Fry the chorizo until brown and crispish, remove from pan.

Heat up stock in separate saucepan

In the same pan as you cooked the chorizo, fry the garlic, onion and

celery in a bit of butter until soft.

Add mushrooms and fry until soft.

Add rice, mix in until translucent.

Add wine and cook off.

Gradually add stock a ladle at a time, stirring regularly, and waiting for

mixture to absorb liquid before adding next ladle.

Add in a few bits of chorizo during this process to let flavour mix through.

When rice is cooked, stir in rest of chorizo, spinach, parmesan cheese and a knob of butter.

Enjoy!

Weekend in Melbourne

We had a lovely weekend last week visiting family in Melbourne. Here's little Tommy G having fun at a playground. The light for photography is so much softer and angled in Melbourne than up here in Qld, where the light and shadows are harsh all year round, except for brief windows at the start and end of the day.

RIP Mario

Poor little Mario passed away peacefully on Tuesday afternoon, with help of a lovely overdose of anaesthetic at the local vet. He was 17 years old and the time had come. What a lovely way to go. He died in my arms.

Maritime Museum

Ric and I decided to go on a little photo excursion to the Maritime Museum down at Southbank, just on a hunch that there would be some good photo opportunities. We got there with only an hour to explore - way too little time. It was great - especially the World War II Navy ship "Diamantina". We'll have to go back as we felt too rushed to really absorb the place.

My first list

Books I have enjoyed reading so far this year, in no particular order....

The Painted Veil - W. Somerset Maugham

Love Song - Nikki Gemmell

The Lucy Family Alphabet - Judith Lucy

The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon

There must be more - but that will do for now!

Tiramisu

On Thursday last week, we got takeaway from local restaurant - Tiramisu - and I had the most divine gnocchi ever! The gnocchi was light as a feather and the sauce was creamy tomato and pesto. It has to go down as one of my most memorable meals ever - and it isn't even on the menu. We went there for dinner last night and it just wasn't the same....

Out of Africa

I also picked up this beautiful lady at the Mt Gravatt Markets.

Sunday morning

We got up very early for us and headed to Mt Gravatt markets to buy some F&V and see what trinkets we could find. I found this lovely wooden bowl and Ric bought the custard apples which are sitting prettily in it.