out and about.

Womad on the weekend was fun. Not 'oh my gosh I can't wait for next year to roll around', but still good. I listened to some music that I'd never heard before and found that I liked some of it (Chinese flute player Guo Yue; the Tuvan throat singers; Australian-Cuban San Lazaro). I did a little shopping (fisherman's pants and a book) and ate some interesting food (Jamaican jerk chicken). On the downside, it was hot and dusty and I ended up pretty exhausted.

The best thing about Womad, I thought, were the 'Taste the World' sessions. These were cooking demonstrations by the artists of their native dishes, assisted by Roger de Wolf who was kind of facilitating the thing, and Adelaide chef Matthew Goodlet. Kind of ironic that I went to Womad for the music and ended up going to the food session, but not altogether surprising I suppose. Actually they were quite good in terms of music too, because often the artist sung or played as well, and it was a much smaller setting so you could hear them better and often they told stories as well, and you could ask questions. Anyway, now I've got a heap of new recipes from around the world to try! Tom and I made Empanadas di Papa on Monday, demonstrated by the guy from San Lazaro. These are kind of shaped like pasties but filled with potato and onion. We also made a cheese and tomato one. It was pretty good, but I think when I make it again I'll fill it with more interesting combinations of food. Certainly it's a great and quick 'whatever you have in the fridge' kind of dish.

Yesterday I went to the Stella McCartney/Target sale thingy at 9 in the Morning. That was a laugh. Lots of women all scrabbling for clothes, but it really wasn't as crazy as the media would have you believe. I came away with nothing, which was probably a good thing, but I really thought that the clothes weren't for me. Most of them were very baggy and floaty, a look which only really works on very small or large people, and the rest of us in the middle just look like we're wearing sacks. Also the colours were very plain - almost everything was black, navy and beige. Certainly people were snapping it all up though, so I guess the hype surpassed the actual product. An interesting morning.