Little Creatures Brunch

Earlier this week I had brunch with A'Strizzle at Little Creatures Beer Hall on Brunswick Street. I had no idea they did food and was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the best thing about the place is the awesome interior/set up. Their brunch menu goes until midday and is reasonably priced for Fitzroy pretension.

Sleepwalking in Wellington

Hello! I'm in Wellington, New Zealand. Sitting in a lovely cafe called The Lido, on Wakefield Street, where I have been twice in the 18 hours I have been in the windy city. Staying in a hostel last night has promptly destroyed the hint of backpacker romanticism which was creeping back into my naive and nostalgic mind. My back hurts. My head hurts. I slept all night with the light on. My bunk bed creaked every time I exhaled. YAY TRAVEL.

Perhaps being sleep deprived makes travel feel like more of an adventure. It's like travelling on a hazy cloud of grumpy. Also, being tired makes one care slightly less about the fact that they look like shit thanks to having to keep bathroom trips/makeup application to a maximum of five minutes so that the others in the dorm don't go on a sighing, moaning, foreign-language mumbling rampage. Yes. I am tired and I look like shit. I don't know how I did this backpacking thing for three months straight at a time.

Anyhow, no more hostel sleeps now as I'm meeting my parents today and we're going to stay in our beach bach for a week or so. It's a rickety old house (with retro furniture and definitely no internet) next to an isolated beach of black sand, seashells, and driftwood. It used to belong to my Grandad and I love going there because it is the only place which has stayed constant throughout my entire life. I have so many childhood memories of building sandcastles with my Dad and Grandad, and riding the motorbike over sand dunes while my Grandad ran along behind me swearing at me because I wouldn't stop. My best friend is coming to stay with us for a few days, the last time we were there together we were nine and everything seemed so big and exciting; climbing a sand dune was like climbing a mountain. I haven't been back since my Grandad died and I am hoping I feel the same way about the place as I did when he was there.

Third coffee coming up.

Photo: Anna Rosa Krau

Trotters, Nova, and The Emerald Peacock. Celebrating with Lick.

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Yesterday Lick and I met up on Lygon street to see an Italian film. At cinema Nova all Monday screenings are only $6 before 4pm, and $9 afterwards. That pretty much knees all other discount cinema days in the balls!

Before the film we had lunch at a restaurant called Trotters. The food was great. The service? not so much. We had a sullen waitress, which I can accept - not all hospitality workers have to be all smiles and sunshine for me to enjoy myself... but when we went to pay the girl working the register scowled at us when we asked to split the bill as if we'd asked to pay it all in five cent coins. Considering the three seconds it took her to punch in our orders separately I'm not sure it was worth the further contribution to her frown wrinkles. Oh well, it has inspired me to not be so short-tempered with my own customers in the future.

The film we saw was called Ages of Love. It consisted of three (loosely intertwined) films about love, narrated by a teenage, arrow-wielding, cupid. Lick and I enjoyed the last short the most. It starred Robert de Niro as an American historian living in Rome who meets a younger woman - played by the stunning Monica Bellucci . I preferred this section because, unlike the other two, it didn't have an element of unfaithfulness. It seems that whenever Italian films are classified as ' Romance' there is always cheating. Just quickly thinking I can come up with three Italian films I have seen which portray infidelity: Cinema Paradiso, The Last Kiss and Remember Me. I find the cultural difference between Italian romance and American/Australian/British romance very interesting. Lick and I agreed that had the plot been the same but in English, set somewhere other than a European country, we probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. Italian films (and also French and Spanish films) don't seem to worry too much about having likeable protagonists, whereas if audiences can't root for the main characters of American films they won't bother watching them. Anyhow, I can't say I would like to sit through Ages of Love a second time, but it did make me think about different cultural appreciations and reminded me why I like to watch foreign films.

After the film we decided to celebrate our thesis marks with an afternoon drink and headed to Section 8. Sitting uncomfortably on a crate, sipping my cheap beer, I was reminded of being there five years earlier, celebrating the end of my first year uni exams. I wore a terribly uncomfortable pair of heels that night, and ended up stuffing half a roll of toilet paper and whinging all evening. I also patted the head of the bouncer and pissed him off by almost poking him in the eye and telling him he looked like Heidi Klum's man, Seal. Oh, to be nineteen again.

After our drink I wanted to check out the rooftop bar at The Emerald Peacock on a quiet day (the last time I went was Friday evening). It was lovely up there, a few groups of people relaxing in the sun, no crowds, and only a handful of business people who were game enough to start drinking on the first day of the working week. I can't wait to go back there on another sunny afternoon to try their food menu.

At Trotters: My favourite meal - any time of the day - Eggs Benedict.

 Lick got the Bella Pizza

The Emerald Peacock on a Monday afternoon. Practically our own private rooftop bar.

Brunch at Trunk Diner with Lick and musings about other things such as chocolate tomatoes

I am currently going a little podcast crazy. I bought an ipod classic with 160GB. Since my entire itunes library only takes up 39GB I have a whole lot of room to swing a cat around in there. I am downloading several 'learn Spanish' podcasts this very second. I have realised that in order to get my (realistic) dream job, I should probably work a bit harder at becoming bilingual. Oh hi podcasts. Whether I will actually listen to an entire lesson from start to finish, when I have the power of the skip function, is waiting to be seen. At least in an actual class you are trapped into learning. I like learning, but sometimes I have to trap myself in it. It's amazingly easy to trick yourself into getting an education when its something you desire. I am talking total rubbish.

Today was a perfect food day! I met Lick at the State Library and we walked to Truck Diner which is on Exhibition Street. I'd been wanting to try brunch there for ages but as they're quite strict about brunch ending at 11.30 I'd missed out a couple of times. We were in there before 11am though, and it was rather quiet. We both had french toast with berries which was delicious, and at $10 pretty well priced.

After our second coffee we had a walk around the shops and lamented the excess of people in the CBD. Screw you, Christmas. After I had put poor Lick through the trauma of helping me find a strapless bra (functional shopping is never fun) we headed to Workshop for a snack. Since I went there with Flower I have wanted to go back during the day to try their $6 pizzas. We had the pumpkin, fetta, and pesto pizza - it was delicious. I also had an iced tea, which wasn't on the drinks menu but the bartender said she could whip it up. Homemade pizza and iced tea are winners. There were a couple of customers who came in on their own to have a drink and do some study. I love places where people feel comfortable just sitting by themselves and relaxing, it reminds me of being overseas and all the times I sat in European cafes writing frantically in my journal. **random European nostalgic interlude**

I should make myself some dinner. I have just been munching on some tomatoes I bought from the supermarket called choc cherry. They are cherry tomatoes which are streaked brown. A tiny part of me was hoping they'd be some kind of science experiment which gave cherry tomatoes a chocolate taste. Alas. They taste like good ole tomatoes, no willy wonka business.

 French Toast at Trunk Diner

Pizza at The Workshop Bar

Mart 130.

Last Thursday I met A'strizzle at our favourite Brunch haunt, Mart 130. I have mentioned Mart before on this blog so I won't repeat myself. New things to add, perhaps, are that Mart has hilarious, friendly staff, and very attractive customers. In fact, I could hardly keep A'strizzle focused.

One of my main criteria for cafes and bars these days is that they are fun, but not pretentious. I can't stand it when hipsters act like they're doing me the biggest favour in the world by letting me order a coffee in their establishment. Movember makes it even harder to stomach. I just want to scream ' you look like a douchebag and you act like one too'. I realise Movember is for charity, but really, I'm sure half these boys just grow them for fun.

.....Okay, that was a little off track. What I was going to say is that Mart is refreshingly unpretentious despite being a very popular place.
Even their latte art is fun:

    My Photo

Trunk Diner. What you gonna do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk? Im'a get, get, get, get you drunk.

A-strizzle and I went to the NGV the other day. It was closed though, so we didn't get past the water feature. Note to self (and others) NGV. Not. Open. Tuesdays. We ended up at Trunk Diner, I'd heard they do a great brunch - we were too late though, so lunch menu it was. It was packed when we first arrived, and due to our table being right next to the counter we got to witness the chaotic lunch hour. Kitchen was busss-ay. Waiters were rushed off their feet (but adorable). Food was running out left, right, and centre. We ended up waiting close to an hour for our meal, and by the time it arrived there were more sparrows feasting in the diner than snobby businessmen. I had a burger and 'strizzle tried a pumpkin salad. My burger was delicious, gone in half a minute, but delicious. I'd definitely go there again, I'd avoid the lunch rush though, the food and ambiance were lovely but not really worth an hour's wait.

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque

This crazy Melbourne weather!

This blog is off to a slow start, mainly because I seem to have fallen out of the habit of taking photos when I'm out having fun. Will fix that, pronto. I have been visiting some cute cafes/bars though - like Horse Bazaar in the CBD and Miss Jackson in St Kilda.

I dropped in to the Horse Bazaar on a weekday afternoon and we were pretty much the only ones there, all the better to have private conversations, my dear (that rhymed). The interior decorating is pretty damn cool, I kind of wish it were my house.

The staff at Miss Jackson were lovely - very chatty and attentive - and I had the most delicious ricotta pancakes. A-strizzle and I were already halfway through destroying our well-presented breakfasts before I remembered I wanted to take a photo, we decided it was too late. Fail.

So many plans for the Melbournian Summer. Oh, it is Summer now - officially, and all. Apparently this bi-polar weather is set to continue until Jan, so I guess my hair will just have to stop its childish bitching and embrace humidity as a challenge...how many ways can you style a frizzball? Anyhoo, back to Summer plans: dancing; drinking beer in beer gardens (screw you weather); high tea at the Windsor; Rooftop cinema; gigs, gigs and random gigs; giggles; books( I WILL start honours reading ....after some Historical Fiction, that's kinda educational); Byron Bay (okay, I know that's not in Melbourne but cut me some slack - our weather sucks!).

I'm ready.

Photo: Peter Guenzel