Easter Cooking

no not hot cross buns but just good food. I had plans of going away this glorious four day weekend, going bush and exploring. Sadly though that has not been the case as it is nearly two months from when I wrecked my ankle and it is still causing me havoc. Most recently from me thinking it was better than it was and overdoing it, so much that I spent a fair bit of Friday in bed recovering.

Yesterday we had not one but three phone calls from Iceland!!!! That does not happen very often even less than once in a blue moon, more like once is a red moon. It was one of my brother’s birthdays so he rang to say hello and then he passed the phone to one of our other brothers. Then one of my sisters rang to have a chat. Then to top it off Karl the next eldest in age brother from me rang from Ísafjörður the town of his birth where he and a big handful of mates were at Aldrei fór ég suður or I Never Went South a music festival that is exactly how I think a festival should be and so looking forward to going to one year soon. One of the first things Karl mentioned was that he had seen Svavar play with his band Hraun earlier on and commented on his polaroid picture taking which I had to laugh at as last year when Svavar was here I think he quite possibly took more poloraids than he drank beers and that is saying something. A little while later Karl asked if I wanted to speak to Svavar as he had just walked outside, I said of course why not and that was then the most amusing thing. Karl handing a phone to someone who does not know him and saying there is a girl on the phone from Australia for you. Very hilarious. So that was quite a fun thing.

When I woke up Sunday morning I didn’t expect to speak to any family in Iceland and much less Svavar.

Back to the food.

Easter Friday I made a a big whopping batch of pesto (we are talking 1kg plus here). Don’t underestimate my love for pesto or the fact that my pesto could rival that of the best Nonna made pesto from Genoa well I haven’t tested it against a Nonna from Genoa but I think it could. I made a pesto loaf using a slightly different bread recipe to what I normally used and well moral of that story, when making a plain white loaf, use the recipe you know! It is edible but that is about it, the Mum analysis is that I probably altered the water content too much when adding the pesto.

Dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday.
lunch and dinner
Four slices of bread toasted on/under the grill, rubbed with a little bit of garlic, topped with some more pesto, then some toasted prosciutto, some semi-dried tomatoes, a sprinkle of salt/pepper/oil and a fine grating of pecorino. It was quite delightful, my only wish would if we had had some salad greens in the fridge to add as well.

Lunch for Mum and I today as well as lunch for the next two days.
lunch today for Mum and I
Little egg and bacon tarts.
Puff pastry shell pre-baked for a few minutes to crisp the bottom up, spread with some pesto, filled with sautéed onion, garlic, shallots and bacon, topped with egg, pecorino, seasoning and cream fraiche with a semi-dried tomato on top, baked for a handful of minutes and served with a quick grate of pecorino and served with a good handful of fresh beans.

Then in the freezer I have some lime granita and I made a pretty tasty dinner tonight which was cannelloni stuffed with mince, pesto, ricotta, parmigiano, bread crumbs, seasoning, parsley, semi-dried tomatoes, onion and an egg to help bind it all together in a sauce of tomatoes, spinach, ricotta, onion, garlic. Pretty nice, no photos of either though because the lime granita is just that and well the cannelloni as good as it tasted didn’t exactly look good and most of it disappeared pretty quickly.

Tomorrow it is Tuesday which means the end of the four day weekend and back to work.

The three Ts and I

Thursday arvo, Tom and Tiana/Tiana and Tom arrived in town after making the drive from Canberra. The Hotel Chelsea show of Tom, Ange and Cam was going to be playing Joes Waterhole in Eumundi on Saturday night. Thursday night though we hung out at Thor’s, I bang up my ankle, we laugh etc.

Saturday, Thor was working. I spent the day resting my foot to conserve as much energy as possible before the marathon of Saturday night started. Tom and Tiana went up early in the afternoon, they are from Canberra…they had places to explore. Thor and I made the trip up after Thor finished work. No trip happens without a saga, the day before Thor’s car broke down, this meant that she was bussing to work. A bus trip that takes the better part of 90 mins. I had a new car and a tank full of petrol so I drove south and we rendezvoused at a bus stop. We made it back to Thor’s and then after getting organised we were back on the road a while later than we had originally planned but most importantly we were all going to be up there for the show. We had a really good run up the highway and it was only a little more than an hour to get up to Eumundi. Talking, eating fruit and chocolate, making the most of the mini-road trip.

I had a great night in hanging out with the three Ts and Ange, talking, laughing, whatever else we do. Musically and Photographically I didn’t get into the night till Tom played. Mostly a case of wanting to be able to enjoy Tom’s set 100% which meant that I couldn’t give anywhere close to that for Ange and Cam. I had to take photos because how could I not. I see photos everywhere I look, bung ankle or no bung ankle I was going to take photos. However, there was pain. Pain that made it difficult to get into the positions that I normally find myself in when taking photos. I only took a few photos of Cam and Ange. I did however take up a film camera and a roll of Fujipress 1600, it will come with me for the next few gigs, really looking to see how it fares. Cam and Ange played first. Both played good sets. I really can’t tell you much more than that though 🙁 due to my brain not been fully aware of the happenings.

Cam Elliot
Cam Elliot

Ange Takats
Ange Takats

Then it was Tom. and Tiana giving some backing vocals for a few songs. Lots of new songs. Good Stuff. There was one song, it was really new and I was listening to and thought to myself, that is the song. The song that will most likely stick to everyone who was in that room. I mentioned it to Thor afterwards and she said the same thing. I can’t tell you what it was called or even what it was really about due to my brain and the fact that it does not like to remember songs.

Tom Woodward
Tom


Tiana

Then the three joined together for a Ramblin Jack Elliott song and of course I Shall Be Released. The crowd went wild.
crowd

Tom, Ange and Cam

Rest of the photos are in a gallery here.

Post gig chatter, enjoying a few moments out on the footpath, before we headed to the cars and started the trip south.
Tiana, 33/366 Thor
Before we knew it, we pulling over just south of the Pine River for Thor to jump into Tiana’s car and to go back to her house and there were hugs and laughs and plans made.

Speaking of Thor’s house/flat/home, I must share this photo of her ceiling. The plaster on her ceiling is raked. I swear every time I have visited, I tilt my head back and say your ceiling is sooo cool.

Thor's ceiling

This is sort of what my ankle looks like at the moment – the bruise is a whole lot darker in real life than it looks in the photo. I also have a bruise on the inside of my ankle as well. oh joy. No it is going good, less swelling, less pain and haven’t popped any pills today.
Edge of concrete path, 35/366