...you need another weekend to recover from the weekend? After the one just gone I quite fancy sitting quietly with the Sunday papers, wrapped in my dressing gown for a good couple of hours, with nothing more on the agenda than topping up the teapot.
I'll start at Friday with a wee gripe. Being my Gran's birthday I slotted my Mum between the two kidlets in the back seat of the car then picked up Gran and off we went for a spot of celebratory lunch. The place we went to I love. It's great for kids, is really relaxed and has good food. Most of the time. But Friday's lunch was the last straw on a weary camel's back.
Tell me, when you venture in to a food serving establishment do you not expect to have a plate plonked in front of you that is neither a risk to your health or your ethics? I do. Lofty expectations, apparently. The meal in question sounded yum on the menu. Homemade burger with homemade relish, oven roasted tomatoes and chips. It was equally appealing when it arrived until I hungrily hacked into in to find the middle of the meaty bit disturbingly pink. If it were steak, bring it on. I don't mind at all if there's still a bit of moo in the middle of my porterhouse. But, mince? All I could visualise were millions of little salmonella critters hangin' out on my hamburger. Ick.
This was not my first dodgy food experience. It comes after many a barely warm pie or sausage roll. It comes after a plate full of delicious chicken caesar, with semi raw chicken (hello again salmonella). And, it comes after an order for a non dairy, soy iced coffee arrived with a fat little scoop of ice-cream bobbing around on top (??!).
I used to put almost anything in my mouth with little thought to the consequences. But having had the pleasure of many a tummy upset I'm now a mite terrified by the prospects of eating out. Sometimes I wonder if my anxiety is getting the better of me as I ponder menus and veer away from chicken and seafood. Then my meal arrives raw. The greatest anxiety inducer is the thought of the food safety crimes being committed behind the scenes. Crimes whose evidence is invisible to the naked eye...
Surely, as the livelihood providers for their owners, these businesses should CARE about what they serve their customers. Mass food poisoning is surely not flash for drumming up customers. Gripe complete.
After a busy Friday and in a moment of uncharacteristic spontaneity, my husband whisked us all off to Hall's Gap for the night. Having not planned the life out of the adventure, we all had buckets of fun.
Then, because I have a slight problem with new plastic and my husband has a bigger one, I baked myself into a blithering mess beside the oven in preparation for an afternoon tupperware party on Sunday. I know it's terribly daggy, but the kitsch factor has me seriously sucked in. Oh, and we had a Tupperware bloke demonstrating. Kitsch AND kooky.
Quite a few dollars later along with an awful lot of red velvet cupcakes and champagne and the weekend was all but over. See why I could do with another Saturday and Sunday?
Sweet, isn't she? I'm finally getting a handle on drawing on a bigger scale again. I did it non stop for three years at uni, so it's a mystery to me why it's felt so awkward for the last week. It's not a riding a bike kind of skill, apparently. The larger scale gives me with the urge to fill every vast available space with detail, as though more is somehow better. I've tried that, it isn't. So, with this and a couple of others I've kept it simple, focussed on the child and restrained myself from using all 16 colours in the gouache box. It seems to be working and in a each little person you can see a story unfolding. I think the little girl above has been busy in her Mum's cupboard, don't you?
I'll keep at it then get some prints made of the most very special, super lovely ones. Which reminds me. Any advice on having 'proper' art prints made would be most welcome. Paper? Size? Where?
Daylesford Makers Market has got some spring in it's step with a some glorious sunshine predicted for Saturday. I'll be there and I'm looking forward to seeing you all!
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