Valentines Day (Or Iraqi Communist Martyr's Day)

I don't really do Valentines Day. It's for the usual reasons, that I consider it to be over-comercialised, I don't need just one day to tell my significant other that he's wonderful, and I get and give flowers and pressies for other reasons.

But it is not just like any other day in my household.My wittiful boyfriend is cooking me a delicious Iraqi dinner - in remembrance the other significance of the 14th of Feb - Iraqi Communist Martyrs Day. In a few hours (or less) I'll get to dig into some Pomegranate and Beetroot soup. It's not exactly traditional, but with my low carb, low meat, healthy diet it was as close as he could get. And it's red, well deep purple, but quite the colour to get into the spirit of the dat. I'll stop short of singing the internationale, but here's some red and pink flower pics from the balcony garden to help you celebrate the 14th in whichever way you choose.

A Double Domestic Rainbow (or triple?)

Things are beginning to become a little brown here on the balcony garden, with a few extra shades of new-growth green. However, before the changeover there was plenty of colour both inside and out. Portulaca and Snapdragons brought rainbows to the garden.

There were also rainbows in the kitchen thanks to my incessant need to bake. Three attempts at baking rainbow cupcakes made two misses and a hit (both botched batches tasted good but didn't present well, the first was simply a spreading issue with the lack of a muffin tray, the second was a poorly performing patty pan problem which saw the mixture bubble and boilover.) The third batch came out better - and all three looked great inside.

These weren't the only colourful things I've been eating - check out the dragonfruit I treated myself to the other evening. Delicious! And such pretty, vibrant colours.

But wait, there's more! The rainbow cupcakes were made for a friend's 30th birthday. He only got the third and proper looking batch (they went down a treat amongst the guests, and everyone wanted the recipe, which can be found via the earlier link) However my lovely Dr No doesn't just get cupcakes, he was in need of a Prue-made apron, and that's just what he got. Indeed it was the first thing I made on my brand new sewing machine. I'm still getting the hang of sewing, but this turned out really well. One side had rainbow pockets on a black background (Dr No is a rainbow kinda guy) and the other side was a vintage Australiana fabric with a single wide pocket.

A double rainbow can brighten a day, but how about this triple rainbow of domestic smileness.

Flowers for fabulous fare: thanks EARL canteen

Sandwiches have been on the brain of recent weeks, shown by my post on the decadent fig and prosciutto sandwiches I've been munching on lately. To the gardners out there, I am sorry for this lunchtime obsession and to this end I am sorry to add that this isn't a post on gardening, but the above flower pic is to satiate the gardeners and to serve as a floral thankyou to EARL canteen for making my tummy very happy. EARL canteen is a new, restaurant quality, sandwich place in Melbourne's CBD which, after reading some of the enticing blog reviews, including Melbourne Gastronome, Eating Melbourne and ThatJessHo, to name but a few, I concluded it was a must visit. Seriously just look at the pictures on those posts, how could you not want to visit?

Flexible lunchtime hours offered by the PhD experience meant that I could afford the time to wander down to EARL last Wednesday. Colleague E joined me and we treked all the way from Melbourne Uni to Bourke Street to join the sandwich bliss experience. We weren't disappointed. I am still dreaming about my pork belly sandwich, while drooling at the prospect of trying their other, amazing flavours (or just having another pork belly one!!!) Colleague E ate their Duck confit ciabatta which was equally as impressive. The macaron, which was enjoyed a few hours later on South Lawn with a short mac while back at uni was absolutely wonderful.

The service was so friendly and the experience so wonderful that colleague E and I flirted with the desire to have such a place on campus. But then we decided no, on campus would be too much, our cholesterol levels would skyrocket and our wallets fall in the opposite direction. Plus the walk to EARL in the sunny, but chilly Melbourne Autumn weather was just as fun as the feed and calorie burning enough to warrant eating such filling fare.

So thankyou EARL, what a wonderful lunch, and we will be back next week for more (with more hungry decent-sandwich-starved history postgrads in tow)