looking for the great escape

it feels wonderful to finally have some time to write, it feels like everything has been so busy lately - the world is moving very quickly but at the same time i have had quite a few wonderfully refreshing time out moments of late. it is wonderful now that the uni semester is over for a few months that i am able to catch up with friends and do some of the things that i have been meaning to get around to over the last few months. strangely enough this means that i haven't done a lot of cooking lately, but instead have been sewing and reading, and spending time with the special people in my life. it was one of my best friends' daughters third birthday the other day, and I got her a cookie making kit, with cute cutters and measuring spoons. for christmas i am making her a gorgeous pink apron to wear on our cookie making play dates in the future, photos will definitely follow when it is finished. i have also nearly finished making a pair of work slacks that i have had in my cutout pile for over a year, and have plans for a few dresses and tops, though am not entirely sure whether or not i will get around to them. also have been listening obsessively to patrick watson - lovely sweet but slightly quirky tunes covering a whole range of genres. it is love! the song/film clip for the great escape is definitely worth checking out (below)!



also have had some delicious restaurant meals as of late. the two that are most worth mentioning are wink in cairns, and gyo in townsville. wink is on the corner of spence and grafton streets, and the food is modern european - also known as simply devine! for entree i had tomato and strawberry gazpacho with basil jelly and bocconcini. it was sweet and smooth, and perfectly refreshing on a hot north queensland evening! one of my dining companions had a goats cheese souffle which was to die for, so i was a little jealous but rather impressed with the starters. dinner was three types of gnocci - with a lightly creamy sauce, the serving was perfectly proportioned, although i could have eaten it five times over, it was that good! and then for dessert i had a watermelon and rosewater jelly (please forgive me for not remembering the correct name), that was beautiful on the palate as well as on the plate, delicate and just sweet enough to satisfy. i even had a wink cocktail that was incredibly delicious. all in all, the meal was worth every penny and a return visit will definitely ensue (actually that is the second time i have been there, but the first was equally as impressive).

the second delicious dinner experience i had was at gyo, a new japanese restaurant on gregory street in townsville, where the sorely missed c'est si bon used to be. the food was reasonably priced, and looking around it was all presented beautifully, while not being too frighteningly japanese to frighten off the pie-loving aussies. it had a substantial vegetarian selection too, which is a rarity among townsville's dining hot spots (i have actually been to one of the more exclusive restaurants where they have balked at the idea of vegetarianism and then served me a meal with the chicken picked out of it). i had a special vegetable japanese pancake, that i couldn't pronounce or remember the name of but it was really delicious. though i thought it was more like an omelette than a pancake, stuffed mostly with cabbage and covered in what was possibly barbeque sauce and mayonnaise. it was incredible, though, a perfect mix of flavours and textures, and a fairly generous serving which was good because i was starving! it reminded me of hare krishna food that is one of the major reasons i go to festivals. we then had tempura icecream for dessert. it was possibly one of my top ten desserts. and that is a HUGE call, because i have eaten a lot of desserts in my life! it was like having a donut filled with green tea icecream, homemade strawberry jam, and whipped cream. words cannot possibly describe how incredible an experience it was! i will definitely be going back for seconds, thirds, fourths... etc! i strongly recommend that everyone try it, along with the berry berry drink, which is ginger ale and berry juice - and is definitely a good non-alcoholic companion to such a delicious meal (gyo is byo which we didn't realise until after we had got there).

i am definitely going to have sweet dreams of delicious goodies tonight, and am very much looking forward to it! like visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. goodnight!

much love,
frankie.pleure