The Languid Lunch

I love 'doing lunch'. I like going out for lunch, I like making lunch, I like eating lunch. It's the most leisurely slow food on the planet and Australia is the perfect place to do it. No matter what time of year. I don't care if I'm sitting by the harbour eating overpriced fish and chips at Doyles, in the mountains at the Bon Ton Cafe being served by pretentious gay waiters, snarfing a sandwich at Balmoral, barbecueing at a mate's or having al fresco at home . . actually I prefer al fresco at home because I can drink without worrying about driving, control the menu and languish in the garden and the sunshine even in the middle of winter. The measure of a good lunch is the amount of laughter, the diversity of conversation, the time of departure and the amount of left overs. I might have gone a bit overboard today with antipasto, four pastas, a warm salad and . . .well they left at 5:30 so we never got round to the raspberry meringues and berry gelati . . .

Today there were only three of the four usual suspects:

Biker Girl was a typographer where I worked 10 years ago. She is slim, pretty, 41, blonde and intelligent. When I met her, she was one of these shrinking violets who had been in a long term relationship since her teens and hadn't really let loose like the rest of us. She had a mortgage, a live-in boyfriend, two dogs and two cats . . . a picture of domestic bliss but no confidence. The relationship finally came to its conclusion, she sold her house, travelled to the Americas and started racing motorbikes. Now she's an instructor, still does typography during the week, is in love and happy . . . and it shows. Although today was supposed to have been at her place, her instructing commitments meant that I had to step up to the plate.

Overall is a Graphic Designer, a good one. She is precise, professional and like me loves her sensible shoes and goofy T shirts! She now works from home in a little studio in her back garden designing and finishing art for books. She's just bought her first Terabyte hard drive! She lives in a 130 year old house in Leichhardt adorned with cute kitch, antiques and collections. I love her place. It's quaint, quirky and you have to duck to go through the bathroom door. She has a knack for everything arty, buys her earrings at galleries, collects pop culture and letter stamps and she's a fine cook. She lives with TheGreek who's also a dab hand in the kitchen but opted to stay home . .despite being made an honorary girl! I guess one man amongst the oestrogen zone was a little too much to bear.

Yummy Mummy is also a graphic designer who lives in the lower blue mountains on five acres of bushland with amazing views. She has chickens, a guinea pig and a mad dog called Skippy. She dotes on her two little girls. She bakes Pumpkin and honey muffins, lime muffins (four of which I managed to purloin), lemon butter and tangello marmalade. She holds a market stall, merchandises her own designs on children's wear, mugs and she's one hell of a life-drawing master. She eats like a flea and is lactose intolerant which presents a small challenge for cream loving moi!

When we get together, it's like time hasn't passed. We don't socialise with each other (apart from me taking the odd cappucino to YM when she's 'manning' the market stall), we don't call each other . . we occasionally email the odd 'funny' but quarterly, we meet, we eat, we drink champagne with a strawberry in it and we laugh and we feel good about being women who have bonded so closely that we almost anticipate what the other is feeling. We are incredibly different but that difference has brought us together and we love each other in a good way!

I love my lunches with these girls (well I'm the old fart in their midst at 9 years older than the youngest) and they with me. They don't read the blog but if someday they do, I hope they realise how special they are to me. We've been friends for many years, no subject is taboo but we still can't work out the fascination that men have for drawing penises on just about every surface and farting at will!

Thanks girls had a wonderful day . . .I'll be eating antipasto and pasta for the rest of the week . . .slightly overcatered on the penne! Time to get the yoga pants on, my jeans are killing me!

Ahhhhhh! I feel replete, stuffed, satisfied, tired, sentimental, happy and so glad I live in a country where even in the midst of winter we can eat outside! Dontya hate me?