Hello sweet weekend

I am here, albeit in a snuffly, coughing, husky voiced kinda way. Thank you for your get well wishes on my post on Monday.
I crammed 5 days of work into 3, and whilst I got things done - it was rushed and I don't like to do things like that. Sure there are still things left to do, but they'll keep.
Next week is a big one too- I'm managing a display booth at a major science conference in Hobart, whilst trying to fit my regular work around that.
But for the moment it's finally the weekend. I'm ready for some quality hut time.
I'll leave you with a photo of the Channel, near the little town of Snug, we drive past it everyday on the way to work, and marvel at the way it is slightly different depending on the clouds, weather, and tide.

MONA

I didn't get around to a post yesterday. I hadn't taken any new photos of our garden, and I felt like I'd been chasing my tail all week so gave myself a break when it came to blogging.

This week was a bit exciting, well at least for my family. On Monday my sister and I headed out to MONA to check out the function rooms for our other sister, who lives in London. It was fun to get a personal tour, especially as I have to admit (albeit shamefully) that it was my first visit to the Museum. We started off in the restaurant, wandered through the wine bar. These spaces were certainly nice but nothing too spectacular. Then we were taken into the museum (through the back security door). Then into a massive elevator to take us down to the Organ Room. This was the one my sister was really keen on. The elevator door opened and we faced a wall covered in plants. It felt like you had walked into a jungle. We turned left and entered the room, a large wooden Organ took up one corner, the room itself was about 30m long, concrete floors and walls. With lattice like concrete windows looking out over the water and towards the mountain. It had a some couches and fluffy rugs, and a very groovy octopus couch. The bar was in the middle with a background of sparkly tiles. It certainly was a spectacular space, like being in a millionaire's lounge room (which I guess you are!)
So we reported back to our sister via emails with photos and movies, the next day she announced her wedding will take place at MONA early next year while they're visiting for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it already.
But now I'd like to go back and have a look at the museum, we were escorted back out through the museum and up the glass lift, and it did look unlike any other art museum I've seen.
Have you been? What did you think?

Wordless Wednesday: approaching storm.

An approaching storm in southern Tasmania. Photo of course by my talented husband, Rob Wiltshire.
Join in the wordless fun at Sarah's blog.

Good food right here

This week is a big one for the restaurant world in Australia with the announcement of the Gourmet Traveller top 100 and awards. I can't help but be interested as an outside viewer, a consumer with a keen interest in good food. A Tasmanian chef, Luke Burgess, won best new talent, and I'm sure this will certainly cement his restaurant Garagistes on the culinary map of not only Tasmania but that big island we are sometimes included in.

I haven't yet tried to visit Garagistes. The concept is certainly intriguing. But I'm worried now it will be near impossible to get anywhere near it!

It has had me thinking about the revolution in food in Tasmania. The bar has been lifted by keen chefs, bakers and producers. Take bread, it wasn't that long ago when our only option for good bread was Jackman & McRoss in Battery Point. Now we have such a wide variety of may I say damn good bread that Rob and I take some time to decide where we'd like to buy a loaf. We can have the Companion Bakery country batard, Sweet Envy's potato bread, Red Velvet Lounge rye, Summer Kitchen sprouted rye, or Pigeon Hole's sourdough, and that was just this week! Just joking, although we are eating a lot more bread than we ever used to.

Rob and I popped in for a quick mid-week lunch at Pigeon Hole, mainly because my friend Pauline has been working in the kitchen a few days week recently and I wanted to see her in action. We work together in our real life at uni, but I think I can safely say that most of our days are spent thinking about food, cooking, baking and mentally composing blog posts about it. She looked content, and perfectly at home there. Whilst eating my eggs baked with cheese, onions, spinach and jamon and Rob ate his jamon on bread, I said outloud, how lucky are we now to have a cafe like this in little ol' Hobart. We often linger 10 years behind the mainland, but the food was excellent and I didn't have to travel to eat it.

Not only Pigeon Hole, but Tricycle, Sweet Envy, even the perennial favourite Jackman & McRoss, we now have so many options for a quick meal during the week. I did then have a slight moment of panic- what if we regress in Tasmania- could that happen? Rob thought not, we always appear to go forward.

Things are exciting here in Tasmania at the moment, new food shops like Bottega Rotolo complement our old favourite haunts like the Italian Pantry and the Wursthaus. I am yet to get out to an Agrarian Kitchen cooking class but have heard nothing but good things from those who have been. I love the change at the Salamanca markets, more local produce, free-range eggs, cheese, and of course our favourite sweet treats from the C and C cupcake factory. Producers of well treated animals such as Mt Gnomon farm. Regional cafes and restaurants mean that you don't have to stick to Hobart to eat good, honest food.

We bookended our week with the Pig Day Out at what I like to call (now) our local, Red Velvet Lounge. Steve's food is a constant delight to us, and last night was great fun. A wood-roasted pig, local cider, beautiful smoked salmon and an apple pie with such crispy pastry I forced myself to finish up even though I probably shouldn't have. Such bloody good food highlighting the quality of the produce, shared with 68 other people who appreciated it as much as us, rustically shared with others at the table in such a generous way. No phaffy pretentious food here!

I am so excited that good food is right here, in Tasmania, my home, and I look forward to it only getting better.

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