Friday, April 22, 2011

The life of luxury






Some days (like today) I miss the luxuries of last year (when I wasn't a student.) Now I'm not going to pretend that my life was all peachy last year. I worked very hard, at a very badly run Italian restaurant, sometimes pulling in 14 hour days, and hardly sitting down for a break. There were some really stressful and hard times, but for some reason our brain is hardwired to forget those (I guess because if we remembered all the bad things, all the time, we would just give up on life.) So all I can remember when I think about Noosa is the farmers markets every Sunday, where we would eat pastries, buy food and listen to live music. I think of all the nice restaurants I used to go to, how I knew the owners at many of the cafes so they would never make me pay. I think of the trips off to the mountains to stay in the luxury 'Tree Tops' bed and breakfast with my partner. I think of staying out on my parents farm, eating organic food and swimming in the pool that overlooked paddocks of cows. I think of the time a very infatuated chef set up a table for me and a girlfriend in his kitchen so we could watch him cook, eat food and drink wine all day (for free of course.) I think of a boy who whisked me away to a bed and breakfast for a week, that was owned by the head chef of 'Spirit House' and how we spent hours exploring new pasty shops and buying me new dresses. Sigh.

Melbourne is different from this. There is so much glamour here, but not so much of it is mine. Whenever I was feeling down, living in Noosa, my partner would make me put on all my best clothes and we would go out and "pretend we here rich and on holidays" we would go into all the boutiques we couldn't afford and act like we could.

I guess what I'm learning is...we make our own glamour. I can't eat out every night, so I cook amazing meals at home. I can't afford to eat at boutique pastry shops, but i work at one...and can eat as much cake as I like. We make our own beauty in life. We must decided what we want, and then go get it........but until we have it, its fine to pretend!

I'm missing home this weekend, being Easter and all. All my friends are at the yearly easter music festival I've been going to for years, and my family are together on the farm. I decided instead of feeling sorry for myself, that I'd celebrate in my own way. So I've spent my morning in cafes (flirting with Italian waiters..........no I still haven't learnt my lesson there I guess), and baking.

I did some research on traditional Easter foods and apart from the usual chocolate eggs and hot cross buns, there are some really interesting recipes. I'm making russian easter bread, which is made with fruit and cinnamon, then platted and decorated with coloured eggs on top. Its quite beautiful really. At the moment the dough is sitting on my stove top rising, and my eggs are simmering in red food dye. If it works out well Ill post up the recipe.

I hope your having a happy Easter, and filling it with glamour.

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