Date: 18 May 2008 03:16:42
I headed into the city yesterday to catch up with some friends and have some lunch. Before-hand, I was traipsing around the city taking photos of churches for a friend, currently living in London, who will be getting married next February back here. I had a particularly moving encounter at St James: a man was in the church praying. He called me over, asked if I were Catholic [the crossing myself perhaps], and we got talking. He recently moved to Sydney and with little money he is struggling to find a dentist to help him with a problem tooth that is causing him extreme agony. I ask that you remember N in your prayers.
For lunch we headed off to Firefly for Tapas. The restaurant is located in Walsh Bay, which has undergone significant redevelopment and looks to be forming as a "trendy" [I won't be wanted there :)] place to eat and be seen. I hadn't really been around Walsh Bay for quite some time, so it was interesting to see it. The food was fantastic: we shared prosciutto wrapped haloumi & tomato, chicken chorizo with maple mustard and lamb & pork balls with spiced chick peas & tahini, and finished with a very nice espresso crème brûlée each -- yes we had all decided on the same dessert. Super food, and a very nice location: and the staff were fantastic: friendly and helpful [when I asked what on earth haloumi was].
On the way out, we passed an artist shop which had a huge banner with www.thegreatestartistintheworld.com printed on it: I, in my usual silly way, made some noise and made a cross with my fingers near it saying, jokingly, "No it's not!". It was at this point the artist appeared, and in an accent said to me, "What? You think this is bullsheeeet?" No doubt going red, and with my friends laughing, I replied, No, it was just a very interesting banner and name. As he replied, it did catch my attention. We had seen him working while we were eating -- interesting work: he appeared to be using a trowel to paint and creature texture. Not my sort of art, I am a very traditional person in that respect: but good luck to him -- and he's gotten me to visit the website.
I caught the bus back to where I had parked my car, and decided to have a look at the ever-interesting gleebooks. Oh, I do want to buy more books -- but finances are a bit tight. Thanks be to God for libraries. But I do love gleebooks -- a very old-style bookstore with narrow pathways and loads of interesting books. I would love to attend the up-coming Judith Lucy event, but uni intrudes Thursdays -- oh well.
On my way back to my car I saw a café, Chocolateria San Churro -- seeing chocolate means you have me already, but I was fascinated, as I rarely get to this part of Sydney, so I ducked my head in and sampled a cold chocolate shake with a shot of coffee. Mmmm. Mmmm. Such rich and delicious chocolate. In ignorance, I had not really considered Spain and chocolate -- though it makes sense with their voyages to the Americas and the Aztecs in particular. And if San Churro is any guide, Spain is a great country for chocolate! The café itself is rather nice too: very cozy also with its brick walls, wooden tables and a large display of chocolates. I will definitely be back.