Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Sunny days and the long weekend...

We didn't do an awful lot over the Easter long weekend. I sometimes find I need to take a deep breath and spend some time buried in my own brain not doing a lot at all. A few DVDs. Some reading. The occasional bake-fest. It's good for my sanity, particularly right now.

The one thing we did do was spend Saturday out and about looking at new cars and indulging in our love of food. The Kitty Mobile is finally about to get retired and we spent the day test driving new cars to work out what we want. We tried the Volkswagen Passat Wagon, the Subaru Liberty Wagon and the Volvo XC70 (both in diesel and petrol). After much deliberation, Mr Kitty and I have finally decided on the diesel XC70. Mr Kitty says the diesel is more practical over time. I say whatever - I just want the new car. I am tired of talking about it (like everything in the Kitty household these things take time...). He's off today negotiating the trade in on my Honda Civic. I do not have high hopes I will be able to retire with the proceeds but whatever helps reduce the cost of the new car is a good thing.

While we were out on Saturday we decided to stop off and have breakfast at Danks Street Depot. We have previously stopped for coffeeandamuffin there but never an actual meal. Unfortunately it was closed for the long weekend so we hopped over to Cafe Sopra at Fratelli Fresh instead. It was a good decision.



I had the frittata with basil and goats curd with a side of bacon. The frittata was awesome - tender, fragrant with basil and the creamy yet sharp curd made a good foil for the free range eggs served on lightly toasted turkish bread.



The bacon was a tad overcooked - I usually like it crispy, but this was too crispy even for me. I left more than half of it, but given the massive pile of bacon they gave me, I still managed to gnaw my way through a reasonable amount with the help of Mr Kitty (who had toast and jam - and a fair chunk of my eggs). The coffee was good here and I love the buzzy atmosphere in the warehouse style cafe.


After that we made a brief stop at Bourke Street Bakery in Surry Hills. I have to admit I have never been here. Given my love for all things carbohydratey I can't believe it (and I bet you can't either). We got an assortment of breads and yummy things: an olive and rosemary loaf (heaven - particularly toasted for breakfast the next day), a chorizo and thyme roll (absolutely delicious), a rhubarb and pear muffin (okay - a bit too cake like for me), a rhubarb tart (a bit disappointing - the filling didn't taste of much and the pastry wasn't short enough for me), a hazlenut and raisin sourdough (Mr Kitty loved this one) and a beef, veal and olive sausage roll (pretty darn good, although next time I'd be keen to try their pork and fennel or lamb and harrisa).

And the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing. Enjoying the sunshine. Reading. Baking (apple and rhubarb crumble and this flourless apple, raisin, ginger and almond cake for a gluten intollerant friend). The time spent just hanging was a good investment in my sanity.

And with just three weeks to go until our holiday, I'm hoping that I will keep some of this relaxed state until I get on that plane!

Kitty

6 comments:

Sydney Shop Girl said...

Kitty
A new car - how exciting! I am about 7000km away from this decision myself.

Thanks for Danks St Depot review. Have been wanting to go myself.

SSG xxx

Miss Kitty-Cat said...

The new car was purchased this afternoon, SSG! Very exciting. We'll have it tomorrow so stay tuned for some pictures of the beast. If I had to wait another 7000k that would take me about 4 years at current driving pace! I'm hoping having a new car and leaving work will mean I drive a bit more. Say 50kms a week?

Amy said...

I was slightly incredulous at the thought that you hadn't been to Bourke Street Bakery... until it hit me that I've not been there either. I always mean to go but for some reason it's not happened for me. By the sounds of things, however, I should cease my dilly-dallying and get there for some carb goodness!

Meanwhile, is someone going through a bit of a rhubarb fetish right now? There were at least three mentions of rhubarb that I counted in your post. I'm in a big rhubarb phase at the minute (assisted greatly by my discovery that Movenpick produce rhubarb ice cream. MMMMM). Mum gave me a giant bunch of the stuff from her garden on the weekend and I also came home with a promising recipe for a rhubarb & hazelnut cake which might make an appearance on W&W if I ever get my act together and find the time to blog (and cook!).

Sounds like a great weekend, and hooray for the new car!

Not Quite Nigella said...

Sounds like the ideal easter weekend to me! Full of delicious food and relaxing. I keep wanting to go back to try more from BSB but I know I'll walk out with half of the shop! :P

Anonymous said...

Dank St Depot is amazing, bummer they were closed :(

Cafe Sopra is excellent though, glad you agree. I got in trouble for taking pictures there though, oops!!

Miss Kitty-Cat said...

Amy - yes - we are big on Rhubarb at the moment. It is the fruit de jour at the Kitty household. It also might have something to do with the fact that I asked Mr Kitty to buy a bunch last week so I could make a crumble and he bought the biggest bunch I have ever seen. Seriously. I have seen smaller fully grown trees. But I do love a good rhubarb crumble. Next on the agenda - rhubarb cake!

NQN - I know what you mean. That list was the severely pared back version (what I originally wanted was twice as long). I only lament the fact that I don't live closer!

Clare - The food was awesome. DSD is on the list for another time, but Sopra didn't get cranky at me for taking pics. We were tucked in the corner though so maybe they didn't see us?