Happy Monday

When I finished the 100 Happy Days project I was in a pretty good place. I had taught myself to seek out or take notice of the happy moments that grace my days and I thought it was something I would continue.

I haven't.

I need to do a bit of a life re-haul. I work 38 hours per week in regular jobs, spend another 9 hours travelling to and from work and I have been spending at least one other day doing freelance wine sales (on one of my days 'off'). I do get two days off but they are split so I never get a weekend. And I work every weekend which puts a big ol' dampener on my social life. I am also studying for my WSET Diploma and sacrificing sleep to spend time working on this blog. Something's gotta give, and I'm not sure what it will be yet. It will not be the blog though- this time is really important to me, and even though it is hard to justify the hours sometimes, it is my art.

This post is a bit of a homage to Cider with Rosie, who does a lovely little recap of her week each Friday, and is a way for me to try to recognise the good things without filling my Facebook feed with #100happy days. Monday is my day off so hopefully as I am finishing my week, and you are starting yours, this might be some inspiration to look for the happy.

Things that made me happy this week:

::Finally getting to try an amazing bakeshop I have been stalking on Twitter and Facebook, Beatrix. The bookworm handed in his final assignment for his Grad cert so I went in to grab a few yummies to have for dessert. I may have gone overboard.

Double Meat, Double Carb, BAM! {Third Wave Cafe- Prahran Review}

Late last year the team behind Third Wave Cafe in Port Melbourne opened a second cafe in Prahran, bringing their American/Russian (what a combination!) food to the Southside. I was invited to try their lunch menu not long after they opened (you can read about it here) and loved it. We ate big saucy burgers, what's not to love. So when I was invited back to try the American BBQ dinner menu how could I refuse?

But American BBQ isn't really something I have been schooled in. I had never eaten ribs and BBQ sauce was an optional condiment in a squeezy bottle, in my previous experience. So I took the closest person I had to an American with me, the Divine Miss R; who has been to America at least twice, is going back again next week and most importantly has a gorgeous American partner. I checked she wasn't vegetarian, warned her that it was expected she eat her own body weight in meat and with all the bases covered, we were ready.

But first, the wine. I was quite hungover from a vintage party the night before where multiple bottles of burgundy were produced driving so we were excited to see that they do a range of half bottles. Bring back the carafe I say! It allows the DD (designated driver) to have a glass of wine and their dining companion to have a couple without becoming completely splooshed (technical term). We chose the Selback riesling from Mosel in Germany- it has enough residual sugar to not taste bitter up against all that BBQ sauce, with some refreshing acidity to cut through the finger-licking greasiness.

The Colour in the Room {Qi Change- Lou Endicott}

Lou's life changed at 3am in a hotel room in Bangkok. It was the last night of a three month exploration of Europe, and jet lag was rearing its ugly head. Frustrated, she started thinking about what she would do with her life when she got home when an image from 'Lonely Planet' popped into her head. She began googling jobs, looking up the types of creatives required, visualising an office full of colour, a creative space, and researching the qualifications she would need to do this kind of work. "At seven o'clock in the morning I woke my partner, I said 'Wake up, wake up, I'm going to go and study!' and we jumped up and down on the bed, because he knew how sad I had been for so long."

Pizza Power {Italy 528 Review}

I take pizza very seriously. It has the power to be the best food in the world (yes, that's right. THE WORLD) or the epitome of disappointment.*

Source

I also have very firm views on matching the pizza to the occasion. Italian-style, handmade, wood-fired pizza is clearly the King of pizza but it must be served within seconds of being removed from the oven, eager hands poised to pull apart the stretchy slices, so hot it burns your mouth but you don't care because the pleasure far outweighs the pain. This kind of pizza can't be home delivered; 10 minutes in a cardboard sauna results in sweaty, chewy, misery.

Melbourne offers up some seriously good pizza. I have talked about some of my faves, D.O.C and +39 Pizzeria before. But fear not Melbourne Westies, the pizza gods are looking after us too at Italy 528