29 June

Last weekend was one of my favourite events of the Geneva year: the fete de la Musique. The weather was glorious and what more can you want than 500 free concerts over three days... fantastic. I reckon Canberra should have a fete de la musique around the edge of the lake.

After calling mum to wish her a happy birthday, I met up with Patrizia and we lazed around on the grass. Even the founding fathers were having fun:

On the Saturday evening I met friends for a good old fashioned barbecue.. with a view!

16 June

A visit to Barcelona to visit a friend who was feeling less than 100%... really a good excuse to visit her and to enjoy a bit of a Spanish mini-break. The first thing that struck me was in the airport itself: a vending machine for flowers! How bizarre is that? The prices were actually pretty reasonable, being between 10 and 15 euros (between 15 and 25 Australian dollars). What a great idea eh? I made my way from the airport and met up with Tamara. We popped to her apartment, and then went off to meet with some of her friends for a late dinner at the 11 Virtuits. Tamara's friends are like her; beautiful, talented, intelligent and good humoured, which made for a very convivial dinner. The next day (Saturday) had a slow start, but eventually we did get out of the apartment and did some successful hunting/gathering. I found a pair of linen trousers for summer (one of my goals for the trip) and some very unattractive but useful cream bike shorts. Anyone that knows me, knows that I think bike shorts should never ever ever be worn in public unless on a bike, but I also think they make fantastic underwear for summer - stops the whole sweaty thigh thang in hot weather. I am always on the hunt for ones that I can wear under skirts in summer and especially this year, because I have some particularly pretty frocks and skirts for this season.

In the evening we went out for tapas at a spot called Inopia, where we had the most gorgeous lemon battered anchovies and great patatas bravas (sort of potato wedges with a mildly spicy tomato sauce), and followed this by a quiet drink and then a trip to a nightclub. The nightclub was pretty expensive to get into and I was shocked and surprised to find that the Spaniards are, on the whole, truly lousy dancers. Still, we had a good time and a good laugh.

Sunday had a super slow start, and the grand plan of going to a museum just died away in favour of a nice afternoon nap. Tamara made a lovely dinner which we enjoyed on the terrace of her building, whch has great views looking all the way across to the Sagrada Familia.

The next day we did a bit of window shopping and ate at a Michelin star restaurant, a review of which is on my foodblog.

11 June

My first jaunt for June was a weekend escape in Lyon. The Euro football is on, and games are taking place all through Switzerland and Austria, and the last thing I wanted to be was in the same city as a European soccer match! So I caught the train to Lyon and stayed the night in the youth hostel. The hostel is on a steep slope, but has a truly marvellous view over the city.

Lyon is known as the gastronomic capital of France, and while I only got to eat one good sit down meal there, it was a corker. For the price of a cheap pizza in Geneva, I enjoyed bread, a range of yummy spreads followed by a breast of duck with a timbale of vegetables and raspberry sauce.

The next day, I just wandered about enjoying the city, before going to the textile museum to check out the fantastic exhibition they had of Italian 16th century textiles. Oooooh there were so many truly gorgeous fabrics. They even had BLACK cut velvets. Very rare, and very very beautiful.

Italian mid 16th C brocade silk and linen	16th C Italian velvet, silk	Venetian alto basso velvet, silk

I bought the book/catalogue, which is in French, and isn't bad, but as always with these things, wish it had more... well more of everything really. Its not a big book. The photos are generally good, and there are some closeups of some of the textiles, but some of them only get a very tiny shot - still, a worthwhile buy for the enthusiast (ISBN: 978-2-35740-001-6). The exhibition finishes on the 7th of September so if you have a chance to get there and see it, I do recommend it.

Back Sunday evening in time to make a caramel mud cake for a surprise birthday morning tea for my boss's birthday. Fabbo recipe... will definitely have to cook it again and get some photos next time to pop onto my foodblog, which I have neglected sorely. Its not that I haven't been cooking... just forgetting to photograph it! I have recently had a bash at redacting a renaissance recipe for "fine cakes" in a sort of biscuit version. Unfortunately the original recipe calls for me to put in the mix "biskit comfits" and none of my books anywhere have a recipe for them, so I am a bit stuck. Ideas anyone?