Oh, Brisbane!

News flash: Queensland is bad for your health. Seriously. I just spent a weekend in lovely sunny Brisbane and I'm pretty sure I've jumped a dress size.

Egg wrap with rocket and onion jam - Press Café

Eggs Florentine & Potato Hash - The Gunshop Café, West End

I haven't visited Queensland since I was fifteen years old, and Brisbane has certainly undergone a transformation since I was last there! The city is darling, the weather is amazing, and the food... oh gosh I ate so much of it. Surrealist art, pop-up cafes, fancy wine and lovely river walks. Brisbane is basically Melbourne, but without the sleet and howling wind.

Brisbane loves Mexican

I highly recommend you pay a visit if your wallet and your waistline permit it. The GOMA is fantastic; their standing exhibition of video art is excellent, as is the Surrealism exhibition currently on loan from the Centre Pompidou. Wander through halls filled with modern masterpieces, then sit outside in the sun and sip champagne. Stroll The Valley on a Saturday afternoon, then look out over the river as the sun goes down, beer in hand. Go outside in winter without a jacket!

'Coral' by Dora Maar - One of my favourite pieces at the GOMA

What a lovely little tart!

Brisbane, you charmed me. I can't wait to come back.

Cupcake, deconstructed.

by Sarah Wilson and Allen Hemberger

Read more about this beautiful thing here.

Food, Glorious Food

The Bouillabaisse - John Olsen

Do you like food? I do. I love food, in fact. I love it so much that it inspires me to pen the odd few words about it in this here blog. I love food so much that the promise of breakfast is what gets me out of bed in the morning, and the anticipation of a delicious dinner is often what gets me through my work day. My love of food explains why, when day after day I watch a co-worker lunch on a tin of tuna in brine and two plain ryvita crackers, I leave our office kitchenette feeling more than a little sad. Food sustains me in more ways than one; it is fuel for my body, a comfort, a creative outlet, a sort of science experiment, and an opportunity for generosity all rolled into one.

I know that Masterchef has laid it on a bit thick with the "food is my passion, my happiness, my LIFE" shtick this year. I know that people get a little sick of Jamie Oliver's ceaseless enthusiasm, Nigella Lawson's coquettish licking of spoons and Gordon Ramsay's... let's call it passion? Passion and swears. I fear that the food-as-entertainment phenomenon is going to run its course in a few years, or worse - reach critical mass until we're chowing down on tuna and ryvitas three meals a day in an act of rebellion against cooking as pop-culture. But food can be so enriching - so elevating, it is so much more to me than an evening of reality television and a glossy recipe book. Here are a few bits and pieces that have broadened my appreciation of food in unexpected, wonderful ways. I hope they do the same for you.

Squid With Its Own Ink - John Olsen

- John Olsen's fantastic new exhibition, Culinaria. Colour and humour and plenty of fishy eyes and squiddy bits. I love John Olsen, I find his combining of abstract and organic very beautiful indeed, and this collection in particular has earned a special place in my heart. From the mouth of the man himself: "Culinaria - The Cuisine Of The Sun. How the sentence excites, rays of optimism, cornucopia and bringing together family and friends, wine and spirited conversation." Just lovely.

- Kumiko Michishita's gorgeous patterns. Peruse her blog. The above is titled "Watermelon and Carrot Juice" and I feel thirsty just looking at it.

- Natalia Hernandez's fantastic new design project, Concoct. Her honours project is all about how we interpret and interact with food. Log in to Facebook to become a fan of Concoct and follow her progress.


- For the Melbournites: The Farm, a community garden over in Brunswick. There are a multitude of community gardens springing up all over Melbourne, even one small one on a patch of median strip just around the corner from my place. There is something quietly revolutionary about urban farming.

- Zingara Cucina, Melbourne's guerrilla restaurant. Read about it here, and catch it if you can.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go set the VCR for Masterchef...