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Daydreamer.

My desire to go back to Europe has hit me like a sledgehammer. I have spent hours over the past few days looking through my photos of the sixteen months I spent living in Europa and reading gleeful status updates from mid-2009 (thanks to the new fb timeline). I know everything wasn't sunshine and slow motion field running over there, but I had some of the best times of my life sprinkled in amongst the angst. My life right now? Reallllly not exciting. Don't get me wrong, I am not unhappy, not by a long shot - I am headed in the direction I want - I guess I am just a greedy little green grass dreamer.

2013.

 Segovia, Spain

Christmas markets in Bruges, Belgium

A Customer Crush and Brunch in Lorne

Ugh. I have a huge crush on a customer at work. He has come in the past two Sundays and I have served him and his pretty eyes. But this Sunday I was serving some bloody woman when he turned up and so pretty eyes bought his food from someone else. I was shattered. What a waste of a pair of my contact lenses. I've never had a customer crush  before, it's entertaining. When I saw him out of the corner of my eye I felt my cheeks flushing, ah so great to feel alive....and thirteen again.

Yesterday my parents and I went to Lorne. I'd never been before and to be honest I was expecting it to be much more picturesque than it was. The Great Ocean Road was nice, but compared to European scenery it wasn't really worth stopping to take photos. I just don't find Australian landscape inspiring. Although I love the Melbourne cityscape. Anyhow, we had a really nice brunch at a restaurant called Ba Ba Lu, a charming Spanish themed place away from the main resturant/shops strip. With the rustic tables and umbrellas I could almost pretend I was in Malaga. Almost.

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

An evening in some Melbourne bars and beer gardens with Flower.

Friday I met up with Flower, who has recently returned from some overseas adventures, to reacquaint ourselves with Melbourne's beer gardens. We went on a bit of a beer garden hop, crawl, skip, jump.

We started with The Workshop Bar which is next to a discounted book store (yay! discounted books) on the corner of Elizabeth Street and A'Beckett Street. The entrance is understated, which I have come to expect from the most interesting bars in this city. We were there rather early, just before five, and there were plenty of people enjoying an early drink before the nine til five crowd hit. We both opted for the cheapest cocktail - which at $9 is pretty damn good for Melbourne! I don't remember what it was called, but it was very sweet....not much alcohol, perhaps. The crowd there was quite mixed, all ages and types. Travellers, hipsters, a few business people,  a sweaty student who sat behind me and rubbed his soggy back all over mine. With the exception of sweaty back dude, I really liked this place. I'd love to go there again earlier in the day for one of their cheap pizzas and to watch people from the balcony.

The next place we went to was Match Bar and Grill. From down on Swanston Street, next to the state library, the Match balcony looked very appealing. We went in about half five and the business crowd were already there celebrating the end of the work week. Flower and I both had G&Ts which were $8.50 each. A little steep, we thought. We found a place to sit and chat and decided that we both felt a bit out of place in our summery dresses and flats. Match, after 5pm at least, is clearly a popular suit hang out, not a budgeting uni-student-on-holiday place. My first impression of the bar was that it could be a nice place to have a drink in the afternoon but isn't really one of those special Melbourne places which just exude character. Might go there again.

We then went looking for The Emerald Peacock which is on Lonsdale Street, just after Swanston. Despite being packed, this was definitely my favourite for the evening. I had an $8.50 glass of Sangria, which took me back to my days in Spain. The first floor interior is dim and sexy, and just upstairs there is a stylin' balcony/rooftop area which was very crowded. We found ourselves a spot and settled in to enjoy our drinks. The crowd was mostly business slaves, but there were also a few traveller types and older European male model look-alikes. There looked to be nobody under twenty-one, which is something I am increasingly beginning to appreciate in bars. I will definitely go there again, perhaps not on a Friday evening though - way too cramped in the beer garden.

Looking for something to eat we went downstairs to E:fifty five on Elizabeth Street between Flinders and Collins. Not a beer garden, it's underground! This bar is also an internet cafe. The customers are a real mixed bag but it's definitely not popular with the business crowd. All the better for us (not that I don't appreciate a hot man in a suit). The last time I was there the place was full of stoned young men and travellers, this time there was a bunch of tradies drinking copious amounts of cider, dreadlocked men who are probably musicians or tattoo artists (way to generalise, T) and a few well-dressed young couples who looked a bit out of place. E55 has a funny smell. It's a mix of musty and sweaty. You get use to it though, and it's not enough to put me off going back there, in fact, it's part of the underground laid-back charm. The toilets are pretty horrid, but since I enjoy the tatty couches and the reasonably priced food and drink I can't really demand a fancy bathroom.

Our final stop for the night (after a short Myer drunken shoe shopping interlude) was somewhere I have been to a few times and always forget which street it is on - New Guernica. It's on Little Collins, by the way. You could walk into New Guernica on a sunny evening and suddenly forget about the bright weather outside. There is no natural light at all. It doesn't actually have an outside beer garden, but the entire place is themed somewhat like a garden. The interior of New Guernica is great, a log cabin, gazebos (I can't believe that's actually how you spell gazebos), fairy lights, and spinning wicker chairs. It's such a novelty and I love taking people there for the first time. They had a Friday evening drinks special on until 10.30pm - 2 for 1 spirits and $15 jugs of Sangria. We got both!

All and all it was a very fun evening and the company was pretty good too! I can't wait to discover/re-discover more places in my city this summer. Just have to keep putting money into my cocktail budget. I wish I could include some better photos, but my camera is a bit shit to be honest. Here are some blurry shots of New Guernica, which I suppose are accurate representations of how I felt after an entire jug of Sangria.

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

The Rooftop Bar and a sunny Melbourne afternoon

 Yesterday was everything a Spring day in Melbourne should be. Lovely company, sunshine, and cider at the Rooftop Bar at Curtin House. It could only have been improved by hay fever tablets which actually work. Eff you pollen, eff you.

My Photo

We talked about the day ahead and shouldn't we just run away instead? We started to believe our dreams.

Where did my travel dreams go?

I have now been back in Australia (after my *I'm moving to Europe* phase lasted only 18 months) for over a year. Something kind of strange has happened to me. It used to be that dreaming of travel and planning for travel were pretty much my only passions, the only things that could really cheer me up after a bad day and the things I looked forward to in my future.

Recently I have realised that when I try to imagine possible future travel adventures I just feel tired. I think of staying in a hostel dorm and wistfully fantasising about an eight hour sleep, I think of dragging my suitcase/backpack up never-ending flights of stairs, I think of struggling to work out the public transport timetable in an unknown language. And it all makes me feel tired. I have lost my ability for escapism. My friends tell me that is all good: it means I am settled, content.

No. It is an identity crisis. I thought I knew who I was - the girl who was always dreaming of new places, of adventure, of the rush of culture shock. But now I'm the girl who is seemingly settled into a life with no career, no partner, and no big dream. How effing boring. When did I stop panicking about not knowing what to do with my life?

This Summer I will be away from uni for at least three and a half months. Maybe during that time I will figure out what it is that is making me content. Being content with no obvious improvements to my life is really confusing me.

My Photo of Paris

Love was a promise made of smoke

Lately life has been a whirlwind of lunches, nights out, coffee dates, shopping sprees, and spazzy dancing; it has been fantastic and I have met some wonderful people. The socialising fun-tram can't go on forever though, I am starting to get worn out and feel as though I am slipping behind with honours. The fact that it's mid-year break doesn't really mean anything.  

I have had soul sprain the past couple of days; I believe it is because lately I have been having too much fun and fun can't last forever.

So now, even though realistically I have nothing to be upset about, I am all mopey-sad-faced and I want to stay in bed, eating cheese off the block, listening to Dashboard Confessional, and lamenting that I don't have a cat to cuddle. If you are unfamiliar with what soul sprain feels like, it's a bit like this:

   Photos:  Markus Jans, Peter Guenzel, Timothy Barnes

I housesat for my parents a couple of weekends ago and some of my fellow honours geeks came round to do immature things. I made the most delicious punch, if I do say so myself, with an entire bottle of white rum, champagne, fresh fruit and mint. We built a fort out of chairs and sheets in the lounge, sat in the fort and played articulate (a word game), and enjoyed tequila shots. Yes, we did plan in advance to act like carefree children under the influence of alcohol. I figure it may seem strange now, but imagine how much stranger it'd seem in 10 years time; I plan to get as much immaturity out of my twenties as possible. 

Our fort and my (potent) punch.

On Friday night I went to a costume party themed 'Fairytale and Fantasy'. My excellent friend 'Mountain Range' came over and we got ready together - I was the absinthe fairy and she was Cleopatra. We had a few glasses of wine before we left...then there was some Jack Daniels...and someone made me a White Russian....and my friend, the host, had mulled wine. There was a guy there taking photos. I have seen these photos on facebook. Times like these I wish I were a super hacker who could hack into fb and cut that silly drunk green fairy out of all the pictures.  

 So now that all that fun is over I have decided to man up. Starting... tomorrow I will force myself to spend four hours a day on my thesis. I would have started today but I have been super busy re-arranging my room, purchasing a new laptop, buying a ridiculous amount of groceries for one person, and will soon be snuggled up in bed watching the season final of Game of Thrones.

Also. By ordering a new laptop I have thrown away my plans to buy a double bed, sorry potential lovers. Ahem. Yeah. Okay.

High Tea at the Hotel Windsor.

Don't panic, folks. I kinda, sorta, almost have an Honours topic. Phew.

I had forgotten that I have lots of Melbourne-ising updates to do. First up is High Tea at The Hotel Windsor. It was $59 each (we went on a weekday) and though that's rather steep for a few cakes and tea in a stuffy old hotel - it was so worth it! My only issue was that it was after the 1st of Jan and the Christmas tree was still up.

The service was fantastic (and cute, even if the dudes were fake tanned) and the atmosphere was great - most people were dressed up and my oh my there were lots of old people (makes High Tea more authentic if you're surrounded by aging wealthy women with clip on earrings). We were greeted at our table by Macaroons! Approve. We were then served champagne. Approve. Then the three tier tray of sandwiches, scones, and cakes arrived - even my approve approves.

We tried to fit it all in, we really did; we hadn't eaten all morning, we timed ourselves before starting on a new tray and took our time with the tea and coffee. Alas, we were unable to finish everything, two lonely cakes remained. Doggy bag? I was too full (and honestly feeling quite ill) to attempt smuggling the leftovers into my handbag.

I know the Windsor is more expensive than most places that serve High Tea in Melbourne, but what you're paying for is the elegant building and the tradition. Get your snob on.

New Gold Mountain.

Last month I finally got to visit a bar I have had my (online) eye on for a while now: New Gold Mountain. I basically did a 'Melbourne CBD laneway bar' google search and New Gold Mountain was definitely highest ranking in terms of intrigue - mine, that is. A door with no signage down a laneway; it just sounded so damn Melbourne.

NGM is right next door to its cousin? sister? mother? bar, Double Happiness, so in reality it wasn't really a mission to find - since I knew it was there. I took snobby Melbourne pride in the fact that tourists would not be stumbling in and making the bar feel tacky by taking a facebook album's worth of photos(which left me to do so undisturbed). For cute bartenders: A+! The cocktails were fantastic, but my student budget could only stretch to one. Sadly an eighteen dollar minimum for cocktails doesn't seem to shock Melburnians these days. Oh I miss the days of free-pouring Spanish bartenders.

After our first cocktail we headed up-stairs, where we were 'seated' (so effing posh, yo). There is no drinks menu upstairs, you just tell them what you want and voilá...it's created, and you can't afford to eat for a week. While we waited for our drinks we took numerous spazzy photos posing under the flowerbed ceiling (photos will explain).

Another bar visited and crossed off my ever-growing list. For me it was more of a novelty, the kind of place you take friends from out of town and nonchalantly say 'oh well yeah, I guess this place is okay' all the while gloating that they surely don't have anywhere near as cool in their lame-o town.

After our mature start (except for the spazzy photo-taking), we threw sophistication to the wind and headed to The Rochester Castle in Fitzroy. I danced 'til the lights came on at my favourite indie night: Black Night Crash.

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.

Mamasita Restaurant and Bar. Mamacita. Oh my god I think you're on fire. Do you want me to get your water?

I have a friend who can eat hardly anything! Bless her. So, with my googleskillz I did a search for restaurants in Melbourne which offer gluten free food and came across Mexican Resturant and Bar, Mamasita. The entire menu is gluten free.

The title lyrics are by Pharrell by the way, I don't want to burn down the restaurant. The location is charming, interior is trendy and the food was great, especially the papas; the plates are ideally for sharing, so the bigger the group the less it will cost to split. The waitress scared us a little, but you can't win 'em all.

Mart 130 - for brunch

When I got back to Melbourne the first place I wanted to go for Sunday brunch was Mart 130. It is located on the 96 tram line to St Kilda at the Middle Park stop - it's inside an old station master's building (yes clever people, Mart is tram - backwards! and 130 is the number of the tram stop).  I go to Mart for the eggs - #2 Eggs to be exact, but I appreciate all variations. The French toast is also super, and I hear there is a mean corn fritter thingie. So the setting is great, the food is tasty, it's simple to get to AND it's right next door to an awesome playground to go swinging on once your eggs have settled.  Oh, I've even seen a few celebs there, but I was more interested in my eggs. The only downside is that the nice people at Mart don't take bookings, and it is extremely busy there on the weekends - be prepared to wait half an hour, maybe more. This problem is easily solved (unless you are a responsible adult with a 9-5 job) by going during the week when it's far quieter and you have your pick of tables.

 So many different styles of eggs!

Playground. After breakfast maturity denial.