Easter

Its been a lovely weekend. Friday I just relaxed at home for the morning then went for a glass of wine at my colleague and new friend Maree's place. Saturday Maree, Emily, Angela and I took the train to Lyon. As we sat on the train watching the countryside go past we saw more and more snow on the grass beside the train tracks and thought that perhaps Lyon may not have been such a good choice of places to walk around! As we got out of the train station in Lyon, it was raining and cold, and our first stop was the shops to buy an umbrella, scarves, and in my case long socks. Armed against the weather, we went out to see what we could see. Well... to shop mostly. I didn't go away for easter because I am in a penniless state, however finding shoes that fit me, were reasonably priced and that match my wardrobe were irresistable. Consider me a "San Marina" convert! (I did a bit of a search and they have two shops in Sydney)

Sunday Emily, Patrizia, Ed and I went to Angela's place for lunch. Patrizia had made risotto and tiramisu, I, aspargas quiche, Angela salad and pizza.

and on the spot I used dad's recipe to make hot cross buns. The rise took a long time because there were no really good warm spots in the apartment, and as you can see rather than the crosses being white, they went brown! Interesting effect which came from making the cross paste from wholemeal rather than white flour.

As I walked to Angela's place, there was snow falling around me - strange weather to be celebrating spring and new life!

Monday I relaxed at home and made my first ever choux pastry - keep an eye out on my food blog for photos (not yet published).

Oh, and did I remember to give you the link to the photos my friend Ed took of Christmas dinner? He took some really lovely photos!

5 March

Well, Sunday evening was my concert, which was a grand success.

It had a bit of a cafe atmostphere, which was great. Instead of the usual people seated in rows, there were small tables with chairs around them.

The concert was divided up into small parts of around 5 or 6 songs. At the end of the first set, we sang "Oh Sole Mio" as a group, and wandered through the crowd pouring wine into people's glasses.

Unlike a concert too, we didn't just sing on stage. Some started at the back of the hall, others walked on while singing (myself included) and one even sat on the side of the room singing.

I was very happy with my singing: I only sang one solo song: Cole Porter's "So in Love". I tried recording it with my camera, but the sound is really very very bad, so you will just have to take it on faith that I sang like an angel. An angel with a voice of Wagnerian proportions perhaps. <grin>

Since then the month has been pretty quiet. I ran a sushi making workshop ,which was fun, and resulted in some really funky sushi.

and have been cooking up a storm. I invented some maple syrup biscuits, which are fantaastic. Recipe on my foodblog.