Parramatta

Working in a public library, the bulk of our professional development is library specific and done at the State Library which subsidises travel for regional library staff. This time, however, Chrissie and I had the opportunity to go to a conference in Parramatta on community capacity building for local government. I won't thrill you with a blow by blow description but we went to some great workshops on living library, community engagement and empowering refugees.

I haven't been to Parramatta for years. After a rather hideous flight that was delayed before departure,   had to fly out to sea to delay landing and was turbulent enough to cause someone to be violently ill in earshot, we decided to catch a taxi rather than a train. Thankfully there were four of us because it cost $90! The conference went over two days so we stayed. My room had a river view and king sized bed.

After the first day's talks and workshops we had a cocktail party with entertainment from Circus Solarus, who turned out to be massaging clowns..... The light was very dim, sorry about the quality of the photo. This lady had just massaged my back and then Chrissie's with that implement.

This man was with her and had to get a chair to stand on to service this very large back. Luckily the large man had a sense of humour.

There was a lot of food on offer at the cocktail party but Chrissie and I were on a mission to eat something we don't get in Wagga. We studied the dining guide very hard and decided on Greek food. Kouzina Greco had a very nice write up in the dining guide and I was very keen to try their slow roasted lamb. The waitress was lovely even though we took ages deciding what we wanted - we wanted all if it! We finally made up our minds and shared everything, starting with three dips. Skordalia, taramasalata and melinzanosalata (eggplant and garlic) served with warm, Greek pita bread that was both soft and crispy. We were in raptures over these dips, especially the taramasalata which was smooth and perfectly balanced.

We're both big fans of haloumi so we ordered the grilled cyprus haloumi with baby endive, vine-ripened tomatoes, steamed asparagus, kalamata olives and balsamic olive oil. The haloumi was very generous, thick and delicious.

We finished with the dish that had been described in the dining guide; Kleftiko (slow roasted lamb with fresh herbs, lemon, olive oil and roasted potatoes. I forgot to take a photo until after we had both taken some for our own plates, so keen was I to eat it. The lamb was so very tender, yet crispy on the outside, and full of flavour. The meal was so delicious we asked the owner to set up a restaurant in Wagga but I don't think he will :( We wished we had room for baklava ice cream.

I made sure that the next day I went next door to the hotel to Sea Sweet Patisserie and bought all of these lebanese delights to keep me going..... at least for a day or two.

We caught the train back to the airport (much cheaper but it took forever), ate sushi for dinner and arrived home around 8.30pm. Yay for the long weekend! Are you doing anything good? I'm planning a lot of sleeping.....