March could be my busiest month yet. There are five sleeps til my brother Zachary's wedding and I've been baking cake layers after work for the past week and a bit. The cake itself is done and in the freezer, which leaves me this week to practice icing (I'm going to try Swiss meringue buttercream for the first time!) and get everything organised to go to Sydney. I'm happy with my progress but have real moments of stress, especially because there's only so much you can do before the day. Thankfully I know people who have done it before (including Le who does it professionally!) who have been sharing their tips and helping me make good choices :)
One of the highlights of the last fortnight have been seeing Hot Chip - we bought last minute tickets to their show in Canberra, which was also our 12 year anniversary. We chose one of their songs for wedding dance so it felt like the best way to celebrate. They are so fun live.
Because I've listened to their music for more than 10 years there were some surprises too. They opened with a song I listened to constantly when I going through a rough patch in Wagga Wagga. There was a big restructure happening at work and Tony was away from home a lot for art fairs and residencies. The song is extremely upbeat and it used to trick me into thinking I had more energy than I did at the time. They also played songs I listened to before I met Tony, when I was at uni and going to see bands every other weekend. It felt like most big moments of my life were covered across their songs. And in some ways, it was a very Canberra gig - at one point we were dancing right next to a barista from a favourite cafe, a guy from our yoga studio and the newsreader from my work 😆
It's a long weekend in Canberra and we spent part of the weekend in Sydney, a super fast trip that was also super fun. Tony had a painting collected by Artbank last year and it was in an exhibition as part of Art Month Sydney. It's a work he made after Donald Trump was elected in 2017, which goes a way to explain some of its intensity. He called it 'Not enough blue to hold it down' and it's always been a favourite of mine. Artbank leases work to businesses, so I'm so excited to see where this one ends up.
My uncle had invited us to stay in his apartment in the city, a generous offer that came at just the right time. We both have a bit of travel coming up in March and were trying to work out if we could afford to go to Sydney for the exhibition opening when he texted to say it was empty and we were welcome. Being in town that weekend almost meant we could join a birthday dinner at my friend Angie's house, which was epic!
It was the ultimate menu for a rainy night. She made pici in a ragu sauce (I've pinched the recipe and often make it for new parents, it's so good), gnocchi in a creamy truffle sauce, cacio e pepe, an eggplant melanzane with smoked mozzarella, followed by a giant choc chip cookie with malt ice cream for dessert. We went home with full bellies and hearts - it's always so nice just to be in the same room as my friends, especially as it's been close to 10 years since we lived in Sydney.
Because it was still raining on Sunday, we decided to take it easy on the drive home. We had coffee in Surry Hills (this place is so great!), bought some bread from Bourke St Bakery, moseyed through book shops before heading home. It's extra nice to have a Monday off to catch up on sleep and tinker around with some cake things.
X
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