Woops… I have been reminded somewhat lately that I have been neglectful of my blogging duties. I just never seem to have found the time or had the inclination to blog for a while. Which is kind of odd because I have had quite a bit to blog about since July. So what have I been up to?

Lets see.. not long after my last blog post I ran away to Melbourne for a week. It was kind of a spur of the moment, hell I need to get away from here kind of thing. The trip was just what the doctor ordered too. It was loads of fun and I was lucky enough to have the chance to catch up with the wonderful Nancy and Sharon for lunch and stitchy chat :D. There are a few photos to be found here but not all of them have been uploaded yet just a few from the trip we made out to St Kilda and a couple from about the place.
I have more of the wine tour we went on (yummy!) and a few other bits a pieces as well that I will upload to flickr once I get home to the computer they are on. This last trip to Melbourne has pretty much set in stone that it is somewhere I really could see myself living, so plans are in motion for that to happen as of October 2008 and I can’t wait. I have dreams of owning a little terrace house somewhere around Brunswick St in Fitzroy, or at least that close to the city. I really feel like I “fit” in Melbourne though I am sure the dream will be much more glamorous than the reality for now I am happy to be delusional :p

As always there was a fantasitc array of restaurants offering a huge variety of food. The stand out for this trip though was a great little mexican bar come restaurant called Mi Corazon. It was somewhat of an adventure getting there with the discovery that Lygon street actually starts from 1 again at around 2000 so it was a very long walk to find 462. But after a few phone calls, sore feet and some persistence we eventually found the place. All that for some mexican hot chocolate with Chillie but it was so good… and so were the margaritas.. oh and the food too.

Other than running about the countryside and making grand plans to move a few thousand kilometres south I have been busy with the evils of my PhD but making slow progress, which is better than none. There is sitll hope to be out of the Lab and writing full time within the next few months but for the moment I am just trying to make each day as productive as possible so I don’t feel to overwhlmed by what there is left to do. The goal remains to have this done and dusted by February so I suspect my stress levels will only rise from here on in. Bring on the chocolate! lol
To keep myself as sane (or as close as I am want to pretend at least) I have been baking .. yep my cupcake obsession still grows with each week and I now own more than a few books dedicated to these sweet littlw morsels. Pictures of my latest baking adventures can be found here. The list of recipes I want to try isn’t getting any shorter that is for sure. While in melbourne I picked up some must use ingredients like Saffron syrup and some mexican chocolate. I am also all inspired to make Horchata cupcakes which will be based on the incredibly yummy mexican rice based drink Horchata (ooo it was so good and being lactose free it was something creamy that didn’t leave me in pain and sick afterwards).

There has also been knitting… being all officially car-less now (it has passed on into the wreckers hands) bus travel has meant time to knit. So far I have finished 2 scarves and I am over halfway with a long sleeved rib and lace shrug. No pictures though but I am enjoying knitting again. It had been about 12 years or more since I seriously picked up a pair of knitting needles so it took a bit to get back into the groove.

And of course there has been stitching… I am quite happy with the progress I have been making on some of my wips of late so here comes the picture intensive part of this post. Most people will possibly have seen these posted about but I wanted to collect them together on my blog.
First up is Lisa Victorias Lost Quick Stitch. I am almost at 50% with this guy and have finished 2 complete pages and started in on page 3. I am doubting the likelihood of finishing him this year but I still plan to give it my best shot. He is stiching up so well and even though there are 90 colours in this chart it moves along at a fairly good pace. Most of the detail stitches tend to gather around the edges between the highly detailed dragon and the plainer background.
I had another page finish this month too with the first page of Violet Sometimes Originally I was a little concerned that the striped candy cane like swirlies would get lost in the background being as it is mostly 939 and the stipes are black and purple. Originally it seemed like there wouldn’t be quite enough definition, with the whole page done now though you can clearly see them and I htink the more that is completed the picture will really start to come together.
Taliking about Violet reminds me … I went to see The CURE play live at the beginning of august!! I was hoping they would play charlotte sometimes which is what this piece always reminds me of.. but no luck there. The show was awesome though with the band playing a massive three hour show. *bounce*
Wow so much … I guess this is my punishment for not blogging for so long. For those of you still reading my blather I have a few more pics.
I finally got around to taking pictures of Dianes Round Robin and I am really happy with how my selection stitched up(the whole RR so far can be found here). I chose to stitch a section from Keeper of Secrets by Selena Fenech for Diane, her theme was faces. This artwork is amazing but know I am never likely to stich the whole thing so this seemed like a great opportunity to get to stitch just a portion of it. For anyone thinking of stitching this.. Do! her hair is just sublime to stitch and looks fantastic in person the shading is remarkable.

I have also stitched a little more on cirques but nothing worth showing yet and did more of Aredhel for the long past 5th weekend SAL. I never posted a picture of her though (sorry fudgey) I will be sure to add one to this post (probably just a link though as this is way too long already) when I get home. I think I even added a little colour to her last time… but not much :p If I am right we shoudl be able to get ehr out again this month. I will need to check my calendar to make sure.
I have been trying really hard to keep up with the SALs as they keep what little stitching time I have somewhat focused and remind me that I am making some progress. In spite of the fact that the SAL always seems to fall on what ends up being a very busy weekend for me I made a little more progres on Return of Srping for the august challenge SAL. I had hoped that hainving this as my challenge pice this year I would make good progress but 8 months in I still haven’t even finished a page .. I htink I am just too easily distracted.

Which leads me to this past weekend where against my better judgement I joined in with the new start SAL over on the HAED BB. With close to 20 wip on the go the last thing I really needed was a new start but I have no will power so I caved with little to no pressure having to be applied. Really I think I am always looking for an excuse for a new start so I couldn’t pass up such a good one as the SAL
I didn’t get to stitch all weekend like I had hoped but did manage a really good amount friday night when Nic and I had an impromptu stitching / DVD night (almost finished watching the rest of Escaflowne) I even managed to get Nic to have a new start too ;P hehe.
My Start was Broken angel by Meredith Dillman and I have to say she is just wonderful to stitch. I think I came close to getting 2000 stitches done with about 1200 or more of those being done friday night. I would love to keep stitching on her but I don’t think I can fit her in just yet. I still want to try and meet my HAED goals for the year… lol, not that it is likely but I can still hope. I look at it this way putting her to the side will just give me all the more incentive to finish Lost.

Ok if you have made it this far I am very very impressed and thank you hehe. I promise not to take so long to update again. I have been really bad with commenting on other peoples blogs lately too… worse than usualy even. So sorry everyone I have been reading blogs but have just been a bit quiet. Oh and Nicki.. if you still check here the carries creation threads stitch up really well and I compared them to weeks dye works and they feel much the same. I meant to email you but I am notsure I have all your current details.

Last night we took Mr Adam to one of my favourite restaurants “Anise“. Essentially it is an ala carte bar/ bistro that serves a great selection of french wines/chmpagnes/apertifs and Absinthe. The staff are wonderfully friendly and fun to boot.

It was top of the list on must go to places for Adams visit seeing as Absinthe is still a banned substance in the USA and we never got around to getting some on our trip to Canada (You can get Absinthe in British Columbia). Not sure why they are still holding to an outdated ban on absinthe in the United States, but they are.

The selection of absinthes in stock was a lot bigger than the last time we were there with a vriety of spanish absinthes available as well as teh usual array of czeck, french and german varieties. I dared the Spanish Black Absinthe which has an alcohol content of 85% and quite surprisingly was very smooth and palatable. The unfortunate side effect was it eft me wishing I could source where to buy a bottle for home which is highly unlikely. I took piccies of the bottle though to remind me what it looked like. It is imported into australia by a Melbourne compnay so I am going to have to do some investigating. I would love to get a bottle as a gift for a friend.

Adam tried the Mr Jekyll which is a German Absinthe I have had before yet still struggle to find readily availble for purchase around brisbane. People keep telling me they can find it but it still eludes me. Recently I did find a source for the parisian Le Fee though adnd even got a funky Le Fee absinthe spoon with the bottle

The food was delicious and the new spring menu did not disappoint. I had the Duck Confit with gnochi and baked fennel in an orange and absinthe sauce mmmmmmmm. Mr B experimented with the Fruits De Mer and discovered he does not like mussels, thankfully there was quite the selection of other seafood morsels he did enjoy. and Adam tried the Beef which looked really scrummy. We all ended the night with a selection of cheeses (served with truffled honey, fesh apple, pear, muscatels and pecan nuts) and a to die for bottle of 1987 vintage portugese port. The port was more than worth every cent of the $50 price tag. It pretty much just evaporated in a burst of glorious flavour as soon as it hit your taste buds. Pity it was the very last bottle.

On the way home we stopped at the kangaroo point cliffs to snap a few shots of the Brisbane city skyline at night, my camera skills are still somewhat lacking but I managed few shots with my little digital that I am quite happy with.

All in all it was a truly splendid evening with fabulous company food and drinks and I highly reccommend anise to anyone visiting the brisbane area. Just be sure to book because they only have a total of 16 seats in the restaurant.

No stitching update on Snow Ball Fight this week. I spent the night out with friends eating delicious food in amazing atmosphere and drinking good wine. Who could ask for more really when looking for a good night out to get away from it all.

On the suggestion of Brendan and Adele we all bundled into the car and headed into town to reservations at 8pm at Sono Japanese Restaurant. After the small flight of staurs up off teh busy Queen St Mall the first thing you notice is the atmosphere. The lighting is just ri, there is no indication of the noisey Hubbub going on down on the Mall and the staff are wonderfully poilte. There is a tepenyaki bar and a few seats at tables in the main area but the best thing of all is the traditionally styled seating a little further into the restaurant. All the waitresses look devine dressed in kimonos of gorgeous colours and prints though bade in light cottons not heavy sillks in compensation to the hot Brisbane weather. You are shown to your table where you remove your shoes (warning to those who are thinking of going that footware that is easy to remove and not smelly is a good idea). The tables are low Japanese style square tables with bamboo mats and thin cushions and are remarkably comfortable.

The wine list is quite well appointed with a selection of different whites and reds as well as providing a large variety of sake and even japanese beer. The food is presented with care taken for the creative appearence and the menu provides indications of meals that are good to share. One thing of particular note (it is always the small things) is the way the wine was correctly presented and offered for tasting before being served. It has been a long time since I went to a restaurant that took the time to remember this small detail and it impressed me. There is good variety in the dishes providing a range of seafood, pork and chicken dishes as well as beef, if you feel like a splurge on someting they even offer waygu beef. Prices are very reasonable coming in at under $150 for four main courses and two appetizers, inclusive of drinks and a bottle of wine. At no point do you feel rushed to finish your meal and the relaxed atmosphere lends itself well to quiet conversation.

I expect Sono will be a place I visit again more than once and fully intend to take Adam there when he next travels out from the US.