Monday, September 28, 2009

Favourite day: Sunday

I'm pretty sure that Sunday is my favourite day of the week. There is no need to rush--it's okay to laze around drinking tea, making semi-elaborate snacks or meals, and if the laundry gets done then it's been a productive day.

Yesterday was the epitome of a lovely Sunday. We went to the market and spent $25 on four giant bags of produce. Much tea was consumed. I spent a little bit of time playing in the kitchen. The garden was tended, the laundry was hung. To fuel this lazy puttering, I decided to use two vegan sausages we had in the fridge.

Andy had a sausage sandwich--thinly sliced sausage fried up and served with spinach, tomato and beetroot, smothered in mayo, mustard and tomato sauce.

I wanted something more traditional so I cut my sausage in half before frying, then served it with veggies and sauce down the middle of the bread.

A bit later in the afternoon we packed up a picnic and headed off to the city for Shakespeare in the Park. We got to the Queen's Gardens a bit early so walked around. In this botanical park, they have a lot of birds in cages--ducks, turkeys, peacocks, gallahs, and cockatoos. It's really sad to see birds unable to do their natural bird thing. But I bonded with this guy for a few minutes.


This year's performance was Henry V, which was kind of confusing for a philistine like me but was nonetheless entertaining. It was light hearted, and the ambience in the park was really great. We sat in bleachers, looking down at the stage--or rather, the leaf-covered ground, where the actors performed. Although the Queen's Gardens is in the most urban suburb of Townsville, nature carried on with no regard for the theatre. Leaves, mangoes and bat shit dropped from the trees overhead. A few lines were muffled thanks to squealing bats, chirping geckos, and the odd hoon on the nearby streets. At one point an owl swooped over the crowd with a dead rat in his claws.

During the interval, we went out on the grass to eat our food. We brought crackers with fava bean hummus, and mushroom-spinach triangles. These were perfect picnic food--no forks required. They were very tasty cold and they travelled well (even though I pretty much suck at encasing things in pastry). To drink: watermelon-beetroot-carrot-ginger juice.

For dessert, a chocolate-raspberry trifle, which didn't photo well thanks to the rapidly setting sun. Chocolate cake sprinkled with scotch, raspberry jelly and thick custard combined into a really yummy dessert that I will definitely make again.It was a perfect Townsville Sunday.

6 comments:

Vaala ◪ said...

Sounds like an awesome Sunday. I always seem to have races on Sunday so I finish the week exhausted so I was feeling a bit jealous reading about your day!

I love the look and sound of your chocolate-raspberry trifle...always had a bit of a soft spot for trifles. And the swirly pattern of mustard and tomato sauce on Andy's sandwich? Pretty!

Amy said...

Sounds like fun!

x said...

I like Sundays too, especially if the washing gets done!

I like the picnic food you took a long, perfect for snacking on.

And poor birds :(

Bianca said...

Sundays are awesome, but they make me a little sad because they mean it's almost Monday again. I know that's "glass half-empty"....I like Saturdays better. Or Friday nights.

The sausage sammiches sound yummy, and picnic pastries look great too. I think you do a fine job of enclosing things in pastry.

Kelly said...

Mmm, the mushroom-spinach picnic pastries look so tasty!

Susan said...

Sounds like a lovely day! That trifle looks amazing!
I love the swirly ketchup and mayo on the sandwich - very cute!