It's wonderful to make the most of Sydney the few weeks I’m here. While my weekdays are spent filming 16 hours a day, I relish in having the weekends off and getting to explore Sydney. Colin has flown up to spend the past two weekends with me and what fun we've had! We were so inspired and moved by the documentary Gurrumul, which we saw at the theatre in the Opera House; the story of the person, his music; his life on Elcho Island; I have to say I feel it’s the most amazing viewing for any age, for any Australian. Afterwards, we stopped and sat at the bar at Bennelong; my favourite spot for people watching as well as eating beautiful dishes. On Friday I visited the Art Gallery where I’m particularly lucky that my cousin Analiese Cairis is part of the fabric of the gallery and organised a special treat for me with Jackie Dunn, the Curator of the exhibition. The Lady and the Unicorn; tapestries from France from the 1500’s… so amazingly beautiful but even more so through the eyes of the curator. How lucky am I! And the Archibald Exhibition; so different each year; so much to see and discuss and ponder on. Lunch at LuMi; Italian with a twist of Japanese influence. Chef Federico Zanellato was a guest of Tasting Australia as part of an Italian lunch held in Victoria Square we had been lucky enough to eat at. The food was absolutely magic and so was the setting and the warm sunny Saturday afternoon. From Pyrmont we walked back into the city and had absolutely no need for dinner that night… We had Sunday brunch with friends at Saint Peter, owned and run by Josh Niland (and his wife, Julie), an amazing young chef specialising in seafood who was a guest chef at Tasting Australia last year. We arrived a little early so had the chance to visit his Fish Butchery a few doors down. Fantastic display of fish beautifully prepared for the home cook along with all the information they might need to prepare it, as well as ‘take away’ fish pies and terrines. All the fish hanging in the coolroom rather than laying on trays and the best presentation I’ve seen of oysters in their special cabinet in hessian bags... What a weekend! Back to 16 hours filming tomorrow…
