Reubens, Pre-Raphaelites and Christmas in July

It's been a big week of art and food for me, which means I have lots of fun things to share with you!

🥄 Maybe it's all the cooking, but I bought a new apron this week. It has beetroots on it and the fabric is a design by Jocelyn Proust, whose work I quite like.

🎄 The Bevilacqua household had Christmas in July dinner (and I used my beetroot apron). The menu included duck and fig terrine for entree, duck breast with red wine sauce and roast vegetables for main, homemade pudding with icecream for dessert, plus cheese with wild baby figs.

🏛️ We went to see two exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours was perhaps a little different to what I was familiar with as Pre-Raphaelite art, but the level of detail in some of the tiny works was amazing! I also appreciated the insights into creative process from developmental works that culminated in paintings I already know. The second exhibition In the company of Morris drew connections between a range of works across styles and periods and the work and ethos of William Morris. If you can't make these exhibitions, you might like the Ashmolean's exhibition film on the Pre-Raphaelites, which is included in the exhibition.

🚂 Part of the fun of the trip to Ballarat was also that we took the train. While we waited for our train back, we stopped at the station's refreshment rooms for tea.

🥪 Another highlight this week was a really good Reuben sandwich. This one could well be the best Australian comparison to the version we had in New York in terms of meat to everything else ratio. The dark rye bread was great. You know it's going to be a good sandwich when it comes with a steak knife. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'll have more fun art things to share next week, and I'd love to hear what fun things you've been up to! 😊