Well here I am. Eating, drinking and reading - 3 of my favourite things. Festivities officially kicked off on Friday afternoon when Karen, Adam, Helen and I hooked up with Kerrie, Bob, Karen's neighbour, Fiona and Brian Kavanagh for the Chocolate Walking Tour. It's amazing how much you can justify prodigious over-indulgence in chocolate by telling each other that walking very short distances will negate the weight-gaining potential of pigging out. Then home to work on curing Helen's long-running cold with most excellent Margueritas with lime juice.
Saturday saw us attend a couple of events. Jeffrey Deaver was polished and entertaining in the session titled "a Forensic Examination". Detainee 002 was a fascinating look at the detention of Australian David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay for "terrorist activities", whetting my appetite to the extent that I bought a copy of the book. Between these events we forced oursevles to eat lunch at a local food hall - Indian food all round.
At the end of the day we adjourned to a restaurant for the first official unofficial 4MA dinner. It advertises itself as an indigenous restaurant. This doesn't mean diners are force-fed witchetty grubs. It means that the dishes feature native meats and seasonings. I had Kangaroo fillet on wild yam mash with a Bush Pepper and red wine sauce. It was spectacularly delicious!! I plan to visit that place again given half a chance.
Sunday we once again heard Jeffrey Deaver along with Aussie author Jeffrey Cousins and Helen Fizgerald who all spoke about what issues most intereste them in crime/thriller writing. Former head of the Islamic Council of Victoria. Waleed Ali was urbane, witty and endearing in PEOPLE LIKE US, a session focussing on the issues and problems in being an Australian Muslim. Then we followed up with a fascinating session about policy and agenda-setting in Australian politics and who has the most influence and input into the process.
These sessions were spread over the day. We managed to cope by doing crosswords, eating, drinking and reading!! Great way to snaffle someone else's puchase and have a bit of a read.
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED AT THE MWF TO DATE:
Adam makes killer Margueritas
Helen's attempt to kill her cold germs with alcohol failed, but we have discovered that her hand gestures become increasingly flamboyant in propotion to her alcohol consumption.
Sunnie should always be careful of her latent pyromanical tendencies and make sure that when she puts her linen napkin on the table at the restaurant that she doesn't actually place it on top of the tea-light candle and thereby cause a minor conflagration (and much hilarity)
ACQUISITIONS:
Detainee 002 - Leigh Sales
John Winston Howard - the biography - Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen (not because I'm a fan of the man but I'd like to try and find out what makes him tick)
Underground - Paul McGahan - freebie given to me when I bought the book above
One baseball cap from KIll City bookstore.