Did you know the founder of Melbourne was this dude called Batman and for a while the city was called Batmania. Now imagine that! Whilst I love me some Christian Bale and the huskiness that is Batman, and I did enjoy a simulation ride on the Batmobile when I was a little girl, sadly the sci-fi world and myself are missing out on realising our inner Batman dreams because the city has been renamed. Viva la Batmania (and bring on the Bale!). Imagine if Australia kept the capital of Victoria as Batmania! Good golly Gotham.
Whilst I was down in Melbourne, I meet up with a good friend of mine, Amanda. I met Amanda whilst I was in Ireland in January 2010 and instantly feel in love with her kind spirit. Yes, Amanda, you can call me a sap and go get me a box of tissues, but you know I adore you! haha. I remember being in my hostel room (and I had booked a dorm of 6 and I was the only one there and had been for a few nights!), I had just gotten out of the shower (total lie, I got out hours ago but decided to lounge around in my towel instead of getting changed because the concept of a hostel room sans people was very exciting for my me-no-weary-clothesy type of personality) and I heard this rattle of the door. The person on the other side obviously couldn't figure out how to use the key so I went and opened it, half naked and all, to find this teeny tiny baby blue windbreaker clad, red head at my door. She allowed me to quickly change, and we soon figured out that we were going on the same tour of Ireland, together. Somehow we bonded really quickly and I remember having these amazing conversations about life and love and all things exciting.
You see right before I left to go to Europe, I was meant to be going with my boyfriend at the time, let's call him T, T was a little silly (read: just practically stupid about everything in life) and made a mistake with his student visa for his student exchange. We had planned this beautiful holiday to Italy and travel around the British Isles and two days before we were due to fly out, he found out his student visa was rejected. That day was Christmas eve. Then Christmas came, Boxing day and then on the 27th I flew out, without him, and I travelled, unprepared, shaken, and dealing with a broken heart. Opening up to Amanda and really connecting to her did me a world of good because whilst I was having an amazing time, I was struggling within myself. I love her dearly and am so happy that I got to meet such an amazing person whilst I was away!
BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST!
I met up with this truly great girl only once whilst I was down in Melbourne, because the little scrag happens to be uberly talented and was going to L.A a few days after I got down into Victoria for this singing and recording gig. God I have talented friends.
Well we headed to the Queen Victoria Night markets and it was so great! Such a great atmosphere: all these ethnic, hippy market stalls and all this exciting and culturally diverse food stands mixing up everything from Sengalese curry to Quesadillas to German weiners. And the sangria. Don't get me started on the cheap but cheerful large cups of sangria. The sun was shining, the liquor and food flowing and the people of Melbourne were out enjoying their city- where the sun doesn't set till 9pm. There was even entertainment, so I was chilling with my very large cup of Sangria surrounded by some tattooed, coloured hair, grungey types, watching this phenom indigenous hip hop dance crew show some 'tude. They really got the crowd going and it was a fabulous mix of cultures and environments and wow, Melbourne you impressive thangggg.
Voila:
One of the following nights I also headed to the St Kilda markets. It was a great atmosphere, hanging besides the large Luna Park face entrance, near the beach, with similar ethnic food, jewellery and clothing market stalls- all just chilling. But better yet, the St Kilda folk were out in force! Flic and I chilled for ages watching a bunch of circus folk showcase their skills. From a girl doing flips and tricks off this one guy and then them getting a bunch of others involved in the act, to a group of very talented hula hoopers doing god-only-knows- how-they-make-there-bodies-do-that moves and some guy with a crystal ball and some other girl with a propeller hat- the St Kilda circus community where impressive!
Another night I went to this fabulous eating establishment (yes I am using such fancy language because the joint is a pretty famous little place): The Moroccan Soup Bar. I had met a few local men and on hearing I was a vegetarian, recommended this place above all others to me. Let me tell you, it was in North Fitzroy and I thought it was be ok to walk from the near beginning of Brunswick St all the way up. Never again. The tram is the only way to go in such hot weather as the walk is a loooonnngg one. We arrived to a packed house and had to wait half hour for a table for two, but that was ok by us. Flic and I darted next door to this sublime drinking hole called the Monkey Bar. It has a great concept, to ensure that the wine is fresh, they only open up 3 red and 3 white each night and pour the glasses out of the two tripartite choices until the bottles are all used up! Only then will they crack open a new one. Did I mention they had this amazing emphasis on locally produced wine? They also do food and it's all biodynamic and organic and just fabulous. Annndddddd they had some really nice industrial drop lights to say the least.
So back to the soup bar. Let me just sum it up in a few word: we came, we ate, we died from a food orgasm. The owner approached us and asked quite simply if we had any food allergies and whether or not we like sharing. No and of course, sharing is fundamental to eating Moroccan and really eating anything worth of company. She then went away. No menus. No nothing, except some brilliant spearmint tea and suddenly a plate of dips comes out. It was divine, Flic and I devoured this plate, wiping it clean with our lebanese bread. Then all of a sudden our next stage comes out. We are greeted with two large bowls, one 7-vegie slow cooked stew type wonder and the other this crackly cooked leb bread and chickpea dish, plus a huge plate filled with all types of beautiful lentils and dips and just general amazingness. We then ate till we could eat no more. We ate and ate and ate and died. We were only half way through and crying from the pain of being too full but enjoying the food too much. Oh dilemmas. We then polished off what we could with some very yummy baklava and wandered out of the joint grasping onto our bellies trying not to topple over with a food baby. Besides the fact that the food was fabulous and it is very much an institution in Melbourne, what I loved most was that all the take away orders were done in store. No phone calls. And all the take away food was catered for by patrons bringing in their own tupperware. I loved this idea, not only does it reduce waste, but it also a great pot luck system and a community about healthy and thoughtful consumption. Kudos. And whilst you shouldn't go thinking this is a food blog (because god knows food isn't really my area- unless you count eating it, because I can definitely do that- but cooking it and critiquing it - isn't what I am going to be doing on any regular basis whatsoever)
No comments:
Post a Comment