Categories: uncategorized
Date: 09 April 2007 02:26:30
Good day folks.
So the final day of the rather long weekend. Summary of events:
Good Friday. I stayed home and read and pondered and slept.
Saturday. Went to the Royal Easter Show with a few friends. I hadn't been for quite a few years and enjoyed it much more than I expected. Highlights:
* Poultry pavilion - turkeys really gobble!! Who knew?! Those birds are hilarious!
* Wood chopping. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that we have a world class, custom-built wood-chopping arena in Sydney. We saw the NSW teams relay final. Won by the North Coast region. I had my (metaphorical) money on the Metropolitan team however they came last (that'll teach me to choose my team by the colour of their shirts - I felt sorry for them because they were a most lurid teal blue). But then it was the final so that means they really did rather well!
* District exhibits - this is where the rural regions put together enormous displays of their produce. It's pretty cool. Although they apparently have been having trouble in recent years with the drought meaning less resources and stuff.
* Other animal pavilions - walked through goats (heh there are some funny looking goats), pigs, horses. alpacas, cows, cats....
* A small portion of an Aus vs NZ polo test match (in the rain - does that make it water polo?). That is quite a strange sport I must say. Does the goal for each team change ends each time someone scores??
* Cheese on a stick. My friend had announced a week ago that she intended to try cheese on a stick. I doubted her. And I was so wrong to doubt. She ate it with such aplomb that a random passer-by bought one in response to the ecstasy on N's face. Apparently it was really good. I will later post a photo of the cheese-on a stick booth. I think such things should be recorded for posterity. I think that next year I will set up a stall called "on a stick" where I shall sell all manner of things that have been sticked, battered and deep fried. It will be glorious. Suggestions on a postcard. Or a stick.
* The rain. I quite enjoy large events in the rain. It gives one a feeling of such fortitude! And thins the crowds out a bit! Rain is also useful for giving the Show its proper aroma. See in the olden days, the Show was held at the old Showground. This was bought some years ago (10 perhaps) by someone... and it's now Fox Studios. Part of the deal was that the people who bought it had to fit out the new showground. Which is in Sydney Olympic Park. Now it's a good showground in terms of size and the pavilions are spacious and stuff. But it doesn't have the same show smell - there aren't 100+ years of agricultural scents lurking there throughout the year. Rain helps because it turns the non-concrete areas into mud and aerosolisation of the ground occurs. The show aroma is mostly dirt and horse/cow manure, mingled with fairy floss and cheese on a stick. And it's rather pleasant.
Easter Sunday. I woke up at the house of the friends who I went to the show with. They had both gone to do family stuff in distant places and left me sleeping with a spare key. I pottered around for a bit, then went home and had lunch with the family. Apparently the Meat Board has been telling us that lamb is the traditional Easter food. This seems to be in somewhat poor taste, or possibly very deep theology (the lamb that was slain/this is my body...) however we had lamb rogan josh for lunch. Which was possibly due to the Meat Board Propaganda or possibly because Dad was cooking lunch and he tends to cook things with sauce in a jar. After lunch I did some more gluten-free cooking experiments and made GF ravioli with a tomato/parmesan pasta and beef/chilli filling. Then back to the house of the friends, placed food experiments in fridge, and went to church. Church was good. At one point during the service I realised that I felt rather strange. I couldn't work out what it was... then it struck me! My shoulders were relaxed! I never realised that for the past oh so many years at my old church, my shoulders had been so tense for every service. How about that then?
After church I went back to the house of friends and cooked the experimental ravioli for friend 2 who had just arrived back from family hijinks in the Highlands. We watched a stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest from the 1990s (with Ruth Cracknell as Lady Bracknell - hah! That woman was hilarious!) then I departed for home and friend 2 departed for bed. Friend 1 was still in our Nation's Vibrant Capital on Family Business.
Now it's Monday and someone appears to have eaten the bulk of my Easter chocolate. For those in Australia - get theeself down to thy local Darrell Lea and purchase a hand rolled peanut brittle egg in the post-Easter sales - they are amazing!