Glow

Husband

It's a cafe. In South Yarra. Nice salads and wraps. Really good coffee. And they sell French deli-type things, like the sugar cubes that come in the box with a parrot on it. I reckon you can judge a place on that alone really. Definite cool value.

Now...the name: Husband. Funny name for a cafe. This is a quasi-explanation: "Having a local barista is very much like having another husband (albeit one that is completely agreeable and a great listener)."

Maybe. The verb "to husband" means to use resources economically. Could that be the etymology? Another foodie guide describes the cafe as being like a husband in that it is "there for you morning, noon and afternoon..."??? A cafe that poses more questions than Selwyn Toogood on W3.

Light and dark

The day started in light. Sun streaming, straining in through my venetian blinds. Making patterns on my wall that appealed to me.

Now it is 3.30 in the afternoon. There is thunder and lightening. The sky is like lead. The streetlights have come on. Darkness.

Velo love

Voila, le velo!! Baby blue and tan. I love it!! 

 This is where I go cycling...along the canal...down the leafy avenues...and yes, I do imagine that I am Amelie...

Clifton Hill

Clifton Hill is only 4km from the city centre but it feels a long way once you're there. Walking from the station to Meri and Sophie's place down Spensely Street, it was quiet and the air was scented with wisteria and jasmine. Beautiful little cottages with lion sculptures in the garden, or overgrown gardens, ivy growing up walls. M and S live opposite the a parkland area. Where the Yarra River meets the Merri Creek. Before the creek gets here, it has flowed 70km from Wallan. The area where the creek meets the river was traditionally the location for large gatherings of the Wurundjeri people and for this reason it is still considered sacred. There's a lot of birdlife and apparently frogs at sunset. Beautiful area.

Le chien

Back to heartland Seddon and le chien for breakfast with Kate. They use Supreme coffee beans. A taste of home.

Appreciation

Term is over and so is my time at PEGS. Two big bunches of flowers, a bottle of bubbly and some cards from students. Very nice.

Crépuscule

Walking around my neighbourhood as the sun is setting on a Friday night. People driving home from work with that tense look as they hold it all together for just a little longer. One they are home they can give in to the weekend and let their shoulders drop, their faces relax. Others have already reached that point and they sit out on porches, a beer in their hand. Friday night has started.

This is what I saw on my walk.

Port Melbourne

Not to be confused with the Port of Melbourne, Port Melbourne was once a bustling industrial port but made way for the newer Port of Melbourne in the late 19th century. Port Melbourne has a mixture of old houses dating back to 1840, swanky apartment buildings and some cafes and restaurants. There is also the occasional ship.

Very entrepreneurial in Port Melbourne...

Collingwood Children's Farm

The name may sound like something dreamed up by someone who has read too much George Orwell or Kazuo Ishiguro, but the children's farm, is not, as the name suggests, a site for cultivating children, but the place where children can get up close to the animals...and birds...

An once a month you can buy organic fruit, vegetables and treats.

Melbourne Suburbs

Why is it that some Melbourne suburbs are just so tricky to pronounce? It is like a trap for freshies. If it wasn't bad enough that my way of saying six, fish and dance is a prime target for derision, now I have to walk the knife edge of suburb pronunciation.

Malvern: said Mullvin

Reservoir: said Reservor...and if you pronounce it the 'fancy way' IN Reservoir, then you take your life in your hands, apparently

Lalor: said Lawlore

Jan Juc: said Jan Juck...although that one I can kind of see, it's just my own desire to French it up...

Sandringham: I want to say Sandringhim, but the ham is very much pronounced like the deli meat at the end

And then there are some just plain funny names and it you'd live there just for the name: Balaclava, Big Pat's Creek, Launching Pad, Sasafras, Bunyip, The Basin and HMAS Cerberus, which is a naval base, but has its own postcode and 833 men to 342 women...can it really be a suburb?

I feel pretty happy with my Suburb. Easy to pronounce and with a certain amount of class.

Exchange

In the giving and receiving of life, there are moments of happy exchange. People put out 'hard rubbish' on the side of the road here, so things they don't want that either get picked up by the council or by other people who see it as treasure. Someone had put some things out on the street in front of my building, so I put a couple of baskets down there I didn't want. Not much later they were gone and it made me feel good knowing someone had a use for them. Then round the corner from me, someone had put out a set of drawers. A bit battered, but totally useable. Perfect for the spare room.

Jerry's Milk Bar

Jerry's is just down the road from me and I'm not really sure why I hadn't got there before now, but today was the day. I remember Jerry's from when Dave lived on Broadway years ago. Today I walked down to St Kilda and on the way there, Jerry's was awash with cycles and pink lycra so I kept on walking. On the way back, pink had been replaced with more melbournian tones of grey and black which was much more me. I sat in the window with coffee and OJ as it started to rain.

Baklava

Determined to put last week's crazy cooking class to use, I made baklava.

Totally worth the money, that class. And it has just occurred to me that I can now add temporary pastry chef for Lezzet Turkish Restaurant to my CV.

South Melbourne

Just 2 km from the city, and on my side of the city, South Melbourne is home to the South Melbourne Markets, South Melbourne Football Club, apparently Australia's most successful football club in history (pretty bold claim), television production studios and formerly the home of John Reid "Gentleman Jack" McGowan, an Australian boxing champion who lived in South Melbourne in the 19th century. It is Melbourne's oldest suburban areas and famous for its well-preserved Victorian era streetscapes. 

It is also the home of  Named after Ali ibn Umar al-Shadili, who was a 14th century mystic considered the patron saint of the coffee port of Mocha (in Yemen). Perfect for those who love coffee, the approach to St Ali is part of the pilgrimage. Down a side street with walls are covered with art, St Ali is a warehouse treasure trove. There is a mind-boggling range of coffee beans from all over the work. You can sample the nuances of flavour as you would a wine menu. Being a little overwhelmed and surrounded by hipsters, I stammered out a safe bet order...flat white. 

 

 Good coffee.

Two Market Morning

What could be better than walking down along the seaside under blue sky and warm sun to a market?...

St Kilda's Farmer's Market 

...walking back through leafy streets and along the canal to a second market!! 

 The Elwood Community market.

Flowers, flamenco dancers, a huge framed photographic tribute to Michael Jackson. You name it, the ECM has it. And strawberries...that really taste like strawberries. A big mouthful of big flavour.