This week we’re blogging about a day in the life of a library… and I have done this and also intend to do another blog about it soon but in the meantime it gave me an idea … how about posting about what I (a librarian) do on one of my days off. Many people are under the impression that nothing exciting ever happens in the life of a librarian or that librarians are boring and don’t do anything but read books. Well that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If people start following librarians on twitter or reading librarians’ blogs, they will learn just how interesting we are. We have such a huge range of interests between us – we, librarians, are truly amazing people! Of course I am not being biased at all

Anyway today two librarians went out to a Truffle Festival. We are both amateur cooks who appreciate good quality food preferably made with love and good fresh produce but we mainly appreciate any food that just tastes goooood.

We started the day off with goodies from The Choux Cafe. We could not have had a nicer breakfast. My plain croissant was anything but plain and my little truffle macaron was an explosion of awesomeness in my mouth. Here is Chef Emmanuel Mollois‘ famous macaron tower. By the way if you click on the link, you will see the video from Poh’s Kitchen where Emmanuel goes through the process of making the macaron tower.

I am a big fan of Emmanuel Mollois so it was a very special moment for me when I got the chance to have a photo with him and Poh.

There were lots of little goodies you could buy to take home which I was happy to buy for family members and friends. They make great presents!!! Then of course it was lunch time and we sampled some truffle risotto.

Most of the food would cost $10 per serving so Librarian One and I shared most of them. A day at the Truffle Festival is not to indulge your inner glutton but more to experiment with your taste buds so it is not about quantity but quality. We tasted some boschetto al tartufo cheese – cheese with truffle. It was nicer than I expected as the peppery taste blended in really well with the strong taste of the truffle.

My last highlight of the day was finishing off with a little indulgence of Bratwurst original pork sausage but we were so full from all the sampling that I could not bring myself to have a whole bun, sausage and sauerkraut so I only had the sausage hahaha

Hubby and I are reminded almost every day by our friends how lucky we are to have the kids that we do. Our friends namely those with children just admire the way our kids go to bed very early from five thirty in the afternoon until about six the next morning. Their sleep time can often range between five thirty to six thirty all depending on the kind of day they have had. This is a huge advantage since we have most of the evening to ourselves and it also helps when having sitters over as they have nothing to do and are therefore more inclined to babysit

Anyway last night we decided to head out with the kids. I made sure they both had afternoon naps so they would be able to stay up and be happy about it. We ended up getting them both to bed by nine o’clock so if you think about it, that is not a very late evening. That’s what we thought until they both screamed the house down while we were getting them ready for bed. Then of course this morning was an absolute nightmare and the day just got worse and worse to the point where they became absolutely feral and we had to put them to bed at four in the afternoon. My usually angelical beings became feral wild animals and I could not bear to see them go through it. There was no reasoning with them whatsoever.

Even though everyone around us thinks we have it good, you have to see the downside of all this. Basically hubby and I have to have the kids in bed by a certain time every evening or else there is hell to pay the next couple of days. As you can see all parents have their bitter sweet moments. We all make sacrifices in our own way.

8.30 – arrive @ library – emails emails emails
9am – librarians’ meeting
10am – collection development meeting
11am – work on Staff Employment Development review
12pm – Lunch
12.30pm – benchmarking statistics
12.35pm – staff query
12.50pm – staff query
2.15pm – library wiki, library blog, twitter, library web site – development, clean up etc …
2.25pm – staff query
2.30pm – impromptu meeting with manager
3.05pm – research research research – RFID, training courses for staff, library equipment, online databases etc …etc…
5.30 head home

I’m sorry if this is too vague but this time it will have to do. Perhaps one day soon I shall write up a more detailed version.

I took my daughter to see Mamma Mia the musical. Her very first musical not counting The Wiggles. It is hopefully her first of many theatre experiences to come. Miss 4 was so well behaved throughout the entire performance – I only bribed her once with a bar of chocolate. We were in a row of mothers and daughters and that was really lovely for us all.

Suzie Mathers plays the role of Sophie Sheridan, the bride to be. What an absolute angelic voice this girl has! Anne Wood does a good job of playing Donna Sheridan, the mother of the bride but I have to admit that after seeing Meryl Streep in the movie, it is hard for me to imagine anyone else in that role. She owns it.

My favourite character was Rosie played by Lara Mulcahy. Rosie is one of Donna’s best friends and is very funny.

The musical numbers include Chiquitita, Dancing queen, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Honey honey, I do I do I do I do, Knowing me Knowing you, Mamma Mia, Money money money, S.O.S, Take a chance on me etc…

It was so much fun and we got up to dance at the very end. A great afternoon.

Hubby and I had the opportunity to go to the WA Symphony Orchestra Space Classics. They played favourite classics such as Holst’s The Planets and the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Orchestra blew us away with John Williams’ music from Superman, Thunderbirds, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I remember the first time hubby FORCED me to watch 2001: A space Odyssey and after spending the first five minutes wondering why he wanted me to watch what he defined as: “A classic”, I spent the rest of the movie fast asleep purring like a kitten (although hubby would describe it as a Harley Davidson’s rumble). As the orchestra began to play Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube which accompanied a couple of scenes as well as the closing credits in 2001: A Space Odyssey, I thought it would bring back this horrid memory but instead it reminded me of my grandfather who passed away last year. The Blue Danube was one of his favourite waltzes.

The highlight for me was Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This evening definitely brought out my inner nerd even more so than usual.

Back in June I blogged about why I became a librarian and recently I came across this Library Routes Project created by Ned Potter. I think it is a fantastic idea to bring together Information Professionals so I am encouraging my library peers to put their name down on this wiki and tell others about their professional journey.

Thanks to a couple of friends (you know who you are!), I went to the Good Food and Wine show and had a fabulous time.

I got to see Manu Feildel cook up a storm which was the highlight of my evening. Fifth Leg restaurant put on meals by Celebrity Chefs and I was fortunate enough to try the Polenta gnocchi with marjoram, tallegio and prosciutto served with Fifth Leg Red by Tobie Puttock and a delicious Vanilla creme brulee served with Fifth Leg Rose by Manu.

My friend and I swooped around to as many stalls as we could and even had the opportunity to sit on a massage chair whilst tasting Mini Melts ice cream.

I had a gorgeous lamb kofta – I can’t remember from where – had already consumed too much wine at that stage , an original bratwurst and sauerkraut from Eric’s bratwurst hut, tasted some beautiful cheese and olives at Lo Presti & son. I even bought a bag of goodies for our holidays. By the end of the show I was happily fed and drunk. It was definitely worth my while attending.

The food pornographer has a fantastic blog including photos of all of the above if you are interested.

The Western Australian Museum is currently displaying “A day in Pompeii“.
An exhibition depicting how the people of Pompeii lived.

The ABC has a really good take on A day in Pompeii

We went to this exhibition as a family and all enjoyed it immensely. Well Master One didn’t so much but that’s understandable. When you buy your ticket, you also get to see a 6-8 minute 3D movie “A day in Pompeii” which is literally a day starting from 8am, showing you every step of Mt Vesuvius erupting and it’s effect on the city.
Here is the 5pm scene

It was a little scary for Miss 4 but I talked her through it all and she came out saying: “We don’t live near a volcano so we’re ok!”

The Museum shop had lava rocks you could buy for $4 but they also had beautiful Italian pieces of glass jewelry. Miss 4 got a glass and lava bracelet for being so brave and so well behaved. We finished off the day with yum cha – perfect end to the perfect day.

A meme created by @LeedieLibrarian of the Angus & Robertson top 100 books for 2010.
* = Books I have read
+ = Books I have enjoyed reading
@ = Books I would like to read

1 The Twilight Saga Stephenie Meyer *+
2 Harry Potter 1-7 J.K. Rowling *+
3 The Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson @
4 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee * +
5 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold +
6 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen *+
7 My Sister’s Keeper Jodi Picoult +
8 Sookie Stackhouse Charlaine Harris * +
9 The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger *+
10 The Book Thief Markus Zusak @
11 Lunch in Paris Elizabeth Bard @
12 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini *+
13 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden *+
14 61 Hours Lee Child
15 Dragon Haven Robin Hobb @
16 Vampire Academy Richelle Mead @
17 The Silent Sea Clive Cussler @
18 Mao’s Last Dancer Li Cunxin *+
19 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien *+
20 Tuscan Rose Belinda Alexandra @
21 The Power of One Bryce Courtenay *
22 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks *+
23 The Pacific Hugh Ambrose
24 Ransom David Malouf *+
25 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte *+
26 Dear John Nicholas Sparks *+
27 Magician Raymond E. Feist @
28 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger @
29 House Rules Jodi Picoult *+
30 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte *+
31 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
32 Marley & Me John Grogan *+
33 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls Jane Austen & Steve
34 Breath Tim Winton
35 The Bronze Horseman Paullina Simons @
36 Cloudstreet Tim Winton *
37 The People’s Train Thomas Keneally
38 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll *
39 Truth Peter Temple
40 Little Women Louisa May Alcott *+
41 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert @
42 The Host Stephenie Meyer
43 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown * +
44 The Book of Emmett Deborah Forster
45 Ice Station Matthew Reilly *+
46 The Road Cormac Macarthy
47 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter Kim Edwards
48 Persuasion Jane Austen *+
49 Jessica Bryce Courtenay *+
50 Atonement Ian McEwan *+
51 Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
52 The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follet
53 The Alchemist Paulo Coehlo *+
54 April Fool’s Day Bryce Courtenay *
55 Life of Pi Yann Martel *
56 Angels & Demons Dan Brown *
57 The Pact Jodi Picoult *+
58 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom
59 Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey
60 Always Looking Up Michael J. Fox
61 Seven Ancient Wonders Matthew Reilly
62 The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien *+
63 Nineteen Minutes Jodi Picoult @
64 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows
65 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown *
66 Solar Ian McEwan *
67 Fallen Lauren Kate
68 The Historian Elizabeth Kostova
69 P.S. I Love You Cecila Ahern
70 The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis *
71 Obernewtyn Isobelle Carmody
72 A Fortunate Life A.B. Facey *+
73 Handle with Care Jodi Picoult
74 Cross Stitch Diana Gabaldon
75 Dirt Music Tim Winton *
76 It Stephen King *
77 Hourglass Claudia Gray
78 Tully Paullina Simons *
79 The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley *+
80 Shantaram: A Novel Gregory David Roberts *+
81 The Princess Bride William Goldman *+
82 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
83 Requiem for a Species Clive Hamilton
84 The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory *+
85 Break No Bones Kathy Reichs *
86 Animal Farm George Orwell
87 The Six Sacred Stones Matthew Reilly
88 The Five Greatest Warriors Matthew Reilly
89 Maralinga Judy Nunn
90 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk
91 One for the Money Janet Evanovich
92 Worst Case James Patterson
93 Once in a Lifetime Cathy Kelly
94 The Stand Stephen King *
95 Anybody Out There Marian Keyes
96 The Secret Rhonda Byrne
97 Temple Matthew Reilly *
98 All That Remains Patricia Cornwall *
99 The Slap Christos Tsolkias
100 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice *