Happy Monday

Oh gosh I'm feeling a bit tired. All this pre-Christmas socialising is just so wonderful but I do really need a little bit more couch-time in my life (not that we own a couch:). It has been another lovely week with some gorgeous clear days, too much good food and lovely time spent with friends.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: A little dally through the Abbotsford Convent. Such a pretty place with such a warm, loving communinity vibe.

:: Dinner with Mel from Eat Quaff Laugh. We ate baked boozy cheese and Blitzen venison, and drank lovely wine from her impressive little cellar.

:: An entire night evening spent with The Bookworm at Prix Fixe for their December "Nutcrackers Christmas" menu. I know that sounds odd but we really never get to just hang out anymore. We don't have days off together, nights are always busy catching up on work and housework and he goes to bed hours before me. Time together without distraction is so precious. You can read a review of our dinner on Champagne and Chips.

:: Baking some absolutely ridiculous chocolate brownies for a work Christmas party. I will be talking about them more soon on Champagne and Chips. Isn't it just so much fun to make something completely OTT and decadent!?!

:: Square-dancing in the local community hall. We take Ted for a wander around the block last thing before bed so he can check his pee-mail. Sometimes as we walk back through the park there is a square-dancing group boot-scooting in the community hall. I love to stop and stare watch for a bit at the fierce concentration on their faces and perfectly ordered lines of naff dancing. It looks almost cultish. Gosh I chuckle, it just tickles my fancy. At the same time I have the utmost respect for this gorgeous little organisation who have apparently been running for 20 years (overheard in a speech the other night). 

PS. How wrong is the expression 'tickles my fancy' if you think about it. I'm bringing this one back. I just love it.

How is your pre-Christmas socialising going? Are you tired out yet? :)

Happy Monday
N x

Wonderbuns {Wonderbao Review}

The world does not need another review of Wonderbao. This will be blog review number 103 on Urbanspoon. However, food porn this good should not be wasted. So I shall make it short and sweet and saucy.

Once the musical

I'm breaking my usual posting pattern because I have to share something wonderful with you.

Some of you might remember how overwhelmed I was when I first heard "Falling Slowly", the song from the film "Once". Following that post a few people mentioned to me that the musical was coming to Melbourne. I was tempted, damn tempted to book but also lacking in finances and suffering from an intense dislike of musicals. I know, strange, given my two X chromosomes- I am technically genetically programmed to like musicals. I think I got some faulty gene though because all that random breaking into song and naff dancing usually leaves me cold. You know, except when I do it in the supermarket.

From the Facebook Page

The Melbourne Blogger Meetup

One Saturday morning in July I received an email informing me I was no longer required in my Pharmacy job.* I was crushed. You see, I remember the minutiae of peoples' lives, I care about helping people, and this was one of those rare communities where it is not just about how quickly you can dispense a script (although there was that); people would come in for advice on their child's rash or baby formula. I love that stuff. I didn't care about the loss of the job. I was wounded by the loss of that community.

As I drove to (my other) work it occurred to me that there was a bunch of opportunities for connection around me and I just had to grab hold of one. I had joined a couple of Facebook blogger groups two months earlier and had seen a Sydney meetup occur but nothing in Melbourne. So I created an event and started telling people about it. I ran an online survey to see what people wanted because I had no idea what kind of lives other bloggers lead, and armed with the results I found a venue with the location/pricepoint/timing people wanted and made it happen.

A couple of people had left by this point but you get the idea. Photo by Millicent Nankivell

It was glorious.

Happy Monday

I am not supposed to be writing this. I am supposed to be studying because I will be very mad at myself if I stuff up my exam next week.While the winemaking stuff rocks my socks off, trellising and soil types bore me to distraction (and I love me a bit of distraction). Let's keep this on track though.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Feeling like I belong. I have been hovering around the edges of the wine industry for a few years, forcing myself to go to industry tastings for the experience and exposure to a whole bunch of wines I will never be able to afford; but hating the awkwardness of not knowing anybody and feeling like a giant (a tiny giant) goofball. Starting the WSET Diploma means I have just met a whole bunch of really cool people so when I went to an enormous, very posh, tasting on Tuesday I knew a bunch of people and I felt much less awkward. Although I did apparently ignore someone I knew because I had my wine-nerd blinkers on.

:: Wandering the streets of Melbourne. I am a bit of a broken record on this topic. My days off are when nobody else has days off and usually involve a mixture of exercise, study, getting jobs done and (ashamedly) surfing social media. Melbourne is such a beautiful city, I love wandering around absorbing the energy but do not do it often enough.

Happy Monday

This week I feel very sad for my baby brother. Friday morning I awoke to the news that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over the Ukraine. There were thirty-six Australian citizens on board and one of them is my brother's friend. My brother has suffered the shocking, unexpected loss of three loved ones in as many months and I can't begin to imagine the sadness in his heart.

I am so grateful, rather selfishly, that my brother wasn't on that plane. He is a jet-setting corporate and whenever there is a disaster my parents can expect an early morning phone call answered with a panicked "Where in the would is D at the moment?"

It seems futile to make a list of half a dozen things that made me happy when there are so many families out there wondering is they can ever be happy again. Much of what happens to us is outside of our control; what we can do is focus on making our own short time on the earth, and that of those whose lives we touch, the best it can be.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Running for the train on Monday morning, and making it! It was a real 'Sliding Doors' moment. I'd prefer nothing else to mirror that film though...(pregnancy, death, short blond hair).
In fact I had very good public transport luck every day this week when I had to travel across town for my teaching block; managing to get connecting trains and trams. I know this sounds terribly mundane, but trust me, in Melbourne it's significant. There is also nothing like a 200m sprint to get the endorphins going of a morning.

:: Noticing this enormous clock in Melbourne Central. I am a bit in love with it but have never noticed it before. On Monday after the 'Sliding Doors' moment, it was gonging (is that a word) its 9 o'clock gongs as I ran through to catch the connecting tram. I got up a bit earlier the next day to take a picture of it.

Superlative sipping {The Carlton Wine Room- Review}

When I say 'The Carlton Wine Room' I always have a little swoon in my voice. I lived in Fitzroy when the gorgeous building that houses it, showed signs of new life. I walked past and saw the signs being mounted. I peered through the window at the menu. And then finally, one day, we popped in for a glass of wine. It was exceptional. Yes, the wine, but everything about the place was too- the wine list, the service, the ambience. We kept promising ourselves we would come for dinner one night but, as always, our budget is more in line with a special glass of wine or two and then home for cheese on toast :(

So, finally, three years after it opened, multiple drop-in glasses of wine and dinner promises later, we made it for dinner.

But of course, we had to relish our tradition of sitting at the window table and swooning over a glass of wine first

Did I mention the wine list is exceptional?

Four Autumns

I didn't have much of a concept of Autumn before I moved to Melbourne. In Brisbane, autumn just means you don't need a fan on anymore and you don't need a jumper yet. Deciduous trees are negligible. I'm sure they exist but I think they are terribly confused and probably just have their leaves blown off in August, ready or not, when the westerlies terrorise the Ekka-goers (Brissy slang for the exhibition/ Royal Brisbane Show).

There is a special feeling in the air in early March, but whether that is Autumn making his presence known or just the anticipation of my birthday, I'll never know.

What I do know is that Brisbane certainly doesn't have a 'fall'.

Melbourne has got autumn DOWN. Everywhere you look the foliage is changing colour, the ground is gradually becoming blanketed by leaves; and it rains (and rains, and rains), refreshing the toasted grass back to greenness.

My birthday in pictures

What I woke up to

Breakfast- I call it the BEAST (Bacon Egg Aoili Spinach Tomato)

These are a few of my fa-vour-ite things {Melbourne}

When I work in the the Queen Vic markets I often end up becoming the tourist information centre as well. This is in due to the corner location of the wine shop and the fact that we are actively offering wine tasting and so are pretty approachable. I love it when people ask for suggestions of what they should eat/drink/see in Melbourne so I thought I'd share some of my favourites here (warning that it is fairly North-centric)


Carlton Gardens
I used to walk through these gardens almost everyday. It is a beautiful oasis right on the edge of the city. Filled to the brim with possums it can be quite freaky at night as they all stop and watch you as you walk past. There is a fabulous water fountain on the edge of the gardens in front of the old exhibition building. A lovely park for a picnic.

 A close-up reveals that this little fella doesn't enjoy having water spat on his willy by a turtle.

World Animal Day

October 4 is World Animal Day, started in 1931 as a way of highlighting the plight of endangered species. Over time it has evolved into a day that celebrates all animals and in a wonderful turn of events, this year it was celebrated in Melbourne in the middle of the CBD at Federation Square, which allowed for a whole lot more attendance and exposure than ever before. Pigs in Fed Square- oh yeah!

Edgar's Mission is the amazing not for profit rescue group behind Melbourne's World Animal Day celebration. These guys are remarkable in that they provide sanctuary for farm animals. You see, 'food' or 'production' animals lie outside of the animal protection legislation (and you already know my feelings on the state of our animal protection legislation), so these critters are basically doomed unless they somehow stumble upon Edgar's Mission. EM rehabilitate everything they can get their hands on from battery farm chickens to stray pigs. Spend some time checking out their webpage

As part of the celebrations, local rescue and animal welfare groups were invited to set up a stall to help raise awareness about the issues facing them and what people can do to help. I tagged along with the Magic Paws team and got to wear this fabulous t-shirt.

Yep, I just put a close-up of my boobies on the internet- Hi Mum.