My Monthly Chronicles: July 2026

July weekends were more busy than midwinter ought to be.  So much good stuff: a vegan Sunday roast dinner, an 18th birthday party, a Marilyn Munroe film festival and Open House Melbourne.  It was pretty overwhelming with a job offer and family history research as well as lots of meals out, bike rides and markets.  I am way behind on my blogging with all the job changes and research but I will write more about them soon in my August post.

Above is a photo of the Collingwood Town Hall next to the library where I have had a few rides to read out-of-print books that had some information on my great grandfather.  I was gobsmacked that a book published 20 years ago was already out of print.

Brooklyn 99 Trivia Night
Moon Dog Wild West, 54 Hopkins Street, Footscray

We are big fans of Brooklyn 99.  Jake's boyish foolish grin and Captain Holts deadpan delivery and the swagger of Doug Judy are hilarious.  So we went along to the Brooklyn 99 trivia night at Moon Dog Wild West for the quiz not the tacky mechanical bull!  Sylvia has seen the series umpteen times but had a refresh of more than half of it.  This helped us (our team name the Ebony Falcons) to do okay among a lot teams.  We had eaten a small meal before coming out as the menu was not a drawcard for us so we just had chips and juice for a snack while we pondered some pretty challenging questions.  Good fun!

Not so sushi
334 Smith St, Collingwood 

I have written about our visit to Not so sushi for deep fried sushi.  This was sushi unlike any we had experienced before and I highly recommend.
 

Alimentari Kitchen
304 Smith St, Collingwood

We enjoyed wandering around some shops after Not So Sushi.  There are such beautiful displays in shops these days.  Above is the gracery and kitchenware display at Alimentari Kitchen.  We did not buy but we were tempted by the groceries and talked about coming back to have their great salads.

Christmas Vegan Bakeoff
Welcome to Thornbury, 520 High Street, Northcote

Welcome to Thornbury had another Vegan Bakeoff, this time with a Christmas theme.  Last month we went late and there weren't too many people there.  This month we got there early and joined the long queue.  Soon we were before amazing bakes and had to make some hard decisions about what to buy.  We learnt from Faye the wisdom of taking a tub instead of all those boxes.

We bought rather a lot.  Sylvia was delighted to have the vanilla slice from The Kindness Echoes because last time the person in front of her got the last one.  It was magnificent but I was not as impressed with the rumball. My favourite was Yule Log from devine eggless treats: rich moist chocolate cake, tangy raspberry filling, topped with a chocolate Swiss style butter cream.  The Ginger Snap black forest entremet was a feateher light mousse on a thin biscuit with a cherry filling.  The gingerbread cupcake from Groovy Cakes.  

Not photographed was also a gingerbread man and a vegan burger with mock turkey slices, gravy soaked sage and onion stuffing, roast taters, cranberry sauce and rocket.  Sylvia loved these but I wasn't bothered by them.  Better Now Bakes won the bake off with their mulled poached pear pavlova.  I was really impressed with this because the pavlova had a bit of a chewy middle that is a sign of a good pav as well as beautiful swirled meringue presentation.  And the fruit was delicious.

Friends of the Earth food co-op and cafe
312 Smith St, Collingwood 

On a ride to Collingwood Library, I stopped at Friends of the Earth co-op on the way home.  I bought myself a most delicious Tempeh Roll with peanut sauce, roast pumpkin, carrot, cabbage, corn and kraut salad and garden greens and I took home for Sylvia a Kimchi Toastie with roast potato, vegan cheddar, tofu cream, and silverbeet.  They were so good and each was perfect for our preferences.  I loved how we could purchase a half sandwich for $7-8 instead of a whole for $14-16 because they were pretty big.

18th Birthday Party, Geelong 

I had a trip to Geelong to spend time with my dad talking about family history.  I love hearing all his memories.  It was a good weekend to be down because my nephew Cooper had his 18th birthday party at the local cricket club and I was able to drop in before driving back to Melbourne.  I caught up with some family, listened to the speeches and enjoyed the chips from the Halal Snack Pack that was served for tea  but did not stay long enough to sample the gorgeous chocolate cake.  I can't believe he now has his licence and is driving around town but he is a lovely kid.

Sister of Soul
73 Acland Street, St Kilda

We stopped on our way to the Astor at for a quick meal Sister of Soul in St Kilda.  It is a vegetarian restaurant with mostly vegan food.  We were there too early for the lunch menu so chose brunch items as we didn't have time to hang about.

I had the Smashed avo with house-made almond and cashew feta, sun-dried tomatoes, black sesame and basil, on a bed of garlic hommus and sourdough toast ($21) with scrambled tofu ($4) on the side.  Sylvia had the Sister's One Big Brekkie with with scrambled tofu, house-made smokey baked beans, roast tomato, potato and sweet potato rosti, wilted spinach and sourdough toast ($27.50).  

We both loved our meal.  I liked having the scramble with my avo but prefer the scramble with less liquids in it.   I also loved my hot chocolate (extra strong as I like it) and Sylvia loved her iced chai tea.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The Astor Theatre, Corner Chapel Street & Dandenong Road, St Kilda

At the Astor we saw the classic movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as part of the Marilyn Monroe 100th birthday festival by the Palace Cinemas.  The Astor is one of the grand old dames of cinemas and still has its single big screen. We sat up in the dress circle with about 50 people up there and more in the stalls.  It is such a fun movie and so great to be in a cinema where everyone applauded at the end.  

Daniel's Doughnuts
Northland Shopping Centre, 2-50 Murray Rd, Preston  

We had a clothes shopping trip to Northland Shopping Centre and stopped for a doughnut.  I had a Dubai chocolate doughnut which was excellent with a thick chocolate glaze and filled plenty of pistachio cream with katafi.  Sylvia was very impressed with her vegan cream and jam doughnut.

Market Fair
Tenancy 7, 85 Chifley Drive, Preston

During our shopping we went to Market Fair for the first time.  It had many stalls by different vendors with a huge range of goods: artwork, books, tea towels, candles, crafts and bric a brac.  We both loved thes beautiful ceramic houses.  

Ballards
915 High Street, Thornbury

We were excited to have a Sunday roast dinner at Ballards after enjoying a fantastic meal there in summer.  It was sold out within hours of announcing this roast.  I am lucky that Sylvia is a digital native who seems such announcements.  We arrived 10 minutes late and as we arrived were served our meal.  It was odd not to be checking the menu and ordering a drink first but they were tight with time.  

The roast dinner was superb.  Sylvia thought it as good as the meal you would ask from a genie on your last wish.  We each had a huge plate of Lions mane mushrooms, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots, green beans, cauliflower cheese, dill coleslaw and pepper & red cabbage followed by Sticky date and banana pudding with butterscotch, ginger almond praline and vanilla ice cream.  I loved it all except the lions mane but Sylvia was happy to have that.  The crispy roast potatoes and the red cabbage jus were the best.

Melbourne Cat Cafe
512 Swanston Street, Carlton 

I accompanied Sylvia to a school excursion to the Melbourne  Cat Cafe.  They started with lunch at a Melbourne Central food hall and I had soup, roti and samosa which was yum.  Then there was some confusion in which cat cafe we were headed towards.  Finally we got there and the cats were gorgeous as always.  Favourites were Gaston and Churro.  All the kids loved it!

Oliva Spring Cafe
637 Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds

When in Moonee Ponds for an appointment, we had lunch at Olivia Spring.  I was delighted with my Tom Yum Soup with Sweet Potato Noodles served with sweet potato noodles, tofu, button mushrooms. enoki mushrooms, snow peas, cherry tonatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and fresh coriander.  I often wish I could order Tom Yum Soup in a restaurant but it is rarely vegetarian.  I loved the slightly sour, slightly salty soup with lots of veg and noodles.

Sylvia had Cơm Tấm: traditional Vietnamese broken rice served with grilled vegan pork, tofu omelette, vegan shredded pork, shredded lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickled carrot, kimchi, and vegan fish sauce. She was excited by this as it is hard to find a broken rice dish that is vegan and peanut free.  And she loved her meal with lots of veg and great flavours.  I think all that pork was a bit much but the whole bowl was amazing.  Both our meals were vegan with GF options.  There are lots more dishes packed with many vegies at Olivia Spring we would love to try.

Better Now Bakes at Coburg Farmers Market
92 Bell St, Coburg (entry via Urqhuart Street)

We visited Coburg Farmers Market because it was the last time Better Now Bakes had a market stall before setting up a cafe in Brunswick East (Yay).  As always their gorgeous bakes tasted as good as they looked.  We bought a square of tahini brownie, a pickle chive and dill scone, a huge Japanese curry focaccia (with potato and furikake), a slab of yuzu white choc and coconut cake and a gorgeous apple maple and pecan cake. See a photo of them at my In My Kitchen: July 2026 post.

Brew Tower Museum at Tribeca, Open House Melbourne
412 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne

Open House Melbourne weekend is a great opportunity to peek inside buildings that I have passed by so much and never really thought about.  I really enjoyed the chance to go into the former Victoria Brewery building.  Most it is now residential but they have kept a tower as a museum.  We had to walk up 99 stairs and then travelled from the top where the malt was milled and then travelled down through the hopper, being mixed to mash, boiled in a kettle, fermented and cellared.  I was there with my friend Jo and we were too busy chatting and reading the information boards so we seemed to be the last to leave each floor.  Afterwards we had a quick cuppa and slice before riding home together.

Former Fitzroy Woolworths Supermarket building site
243-255 Smith Street, Fitzroy

It was fun riding home together through Collingwood and Fitzroy.  When I stopped to show her the old terrace house where I lived as a student, I was shocked to see the Woollies supermarket where I used to shop is now no more.  It was always a bit odd to see the grand 3 story facade of the 19th Century Collingwood Coffee House with the fluorescent-lit, one floor supermarket and its concrete parking lot stuck behind it.  Now it is a building site with plans to restore the facade with apartments behind it and a supermarket on the ground floor.  I never liked the dull modern building but I am sad it has gone because it is one of my memories of my time living there.  

Melbourne Town Hall, Open House Melbourne CBD
90-130 Swanston St, Melbourne

I have visited the Melbourne Town Hall once before at Open House Weekend but I did it again this year.  Last time I remember it was really busy as it was open to anyone who wanted to visit.  This time it was a small number of people in a tour that required booking.  I learnt a lot more about the building this way.  Above is a picture of the impressive heritage Council Chamber.  We were only allowed to take photos in the rooms but not in the hallway (where I loved the photos of the Moomba kings and queens - so many memories).  One of the best experiences was having plenty of space on the balcony to enjoy the views.


NAIDOC Week
Royal Women's Hospital foyer

I took this photo while going to the Royal Women's Hospital pharmacy and thought the whole wall was to celebrate NAIDOC Week.  Instead I found it was a "Born at the Women's" fundraiser where new parents paid to have their babies name on the wallR.  I loved the design on the banner which remind me of graphics we used at a former workplace.  Also on display but not in the picture was a magnificent possum skin cloak which were traditionally made by Indigenous people in South Eastern Australia.

Luthers Scoops
796 High Street, Thornbury 

We love Luthers Scoops ice cream which we usually buy in the original Brunswick store on Blyth Street by the corner of Sydney Road.  Sylvia was excited to finally get to Luthers' recently opened Thornbury store.  It had a bit more space and the same great ice creams.  I had a scoop of the tahini brownie ice cream on dark chocolate ice cream.  Sylvia had lemon slice and strawberry and mint sorbet.  We were very happy with our choices.

Sylvie's Corner

Some of the best (vegan) food Sylvia has eaten around Melbourne.  She finds lots of the amazing meals we eat out but these are her favourite ones from cafes she visited with other people in July. 

Top row: Goje, Yarraville: frozen yoghurt, Nico's Deli , East Brunswick: vegan schnitzel sandwich, Smith and Deli, Collingwood: S'mores hot chocolate.

Middle row: Taquito Bar, Carlton: vegan taco flight (mock beef, fried brussels sprout, mushroom and blue cheese crema, black bean), Midori by Tao's vegetarian sushi train, Balwyn North, caterpillar roll Sinjeon Korean street food, CBD: tteobokki with fried tofu.

Bottom Row: Smith and Deli in Degraves St, CBD: matcha doughnut,  Smith and Deli, Collingwood: Schitts Creek Focaccia, Billy Van Creamy, Brunswick: sour plum sorbet and strawberry crumble/iced vovo ice cream.

Died: Anne Widdicombe, Sam Neill, Brenda Fricker, Derryn Hinch, Bill Oddie, Glen A Baker, Glen Hansard, Bonnie Tyler

In the News: 

Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50%, Ars Technica, 9 July 2026.

Victoria's Big Build: Corruption, Crisis and Convenient Nonsense, the Snarky Gherkin Substack, 5 July 2026.

Dr Mo. Gaza doctor in Australia on consequences of AHPRA decision, Michael West Media, 4 July 2026. (on the adoption of IHRA definition of antisemitism for medical practitioners creating fear about speaking up about the genocide in Gaza.)

Nigel Farage's only by-election challenger is self-proclaimed space alien Count Binface CBC, 10 July 2026. 

The MSO and Lattouf rulings are seemingly at odds. Where does this leave free speech at work?, The Conversation, 14 July 2026.

A timeline of the Iran conflict and talks aimed at ending it, The Associated Press, 15 July 2026. 

How Manchester created Manchesterism: from music and culture to political power, The Conversation, 18 July 2026. 

Andy Burnham becomes prime minister after Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street for the last time, The Conversation, 20 July 2026.

China's EV industry now leads the world ABC news, 21 July 2026.

Duo sails toilet to Kangaroo Island on homemade barge, ABC News, 21 July 2026 

Ben Carroll replaces Jacinta Allan as Victorian premier in bruising leadership spill, ABC News, 28 July 2026. 

Listening, Reading, Watching

We watched Homebodies, a tv mini series on SBS.  A show about a trans man returning to his home town where he comes to terms with his past and his mother gains an understanding of his transformation.  It was a compassionate and insightful show on the experiences of trans people and their families.  The Conversation described Homebodies as "bold TV about a trans man, his mother and the conversations they never had".

Sausage-addicted kookaburra too fat to fly, news.com.au, 29 May 2026.

I finally looked up what Hamburger helper in the USA is after finding the Hamburger Helper recipe among the Kitchn's Nostalgia meals of the 80s and 90s.  I has been so sure it was a seasoning for minced beef to make hamburger patties but turns out it is a box of pasta and seasoning to add to browned minced meat.

We watched The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson.  Another film of gorgeous design and odd characters.  If you wanted to reflect on it being set in India, you might be interested to read a review through a Saidist lens.

How council housing saved my family by Daniel Hewitt on 6 July 2026 on substack.  A reflection on the good old days when social housing made a huge difference so many vulnerable people.

You know what, I don't think we deserve to see Taylor's dress, Mama Mia, 15 July 2026.  There was much written about Tay Tay and Trav's wedding, despite not a lot of information available about the details.

How to know when sourdough starter is ready and at its peak from Somebody Feed Seb, 26 July 2026.  I love seeing leva's sourdough creations and found some great tips in this post.

We finally got into the cult classic, Schitt's Creek.  I've tried to watch the sitcom before but it just didn't grab me.  People say that it takes a few series to love it.  I agree.  If Sylvia had not wanted to persevere, I would not have wanted to continue that long.  Life is too short!  It was very good once we got through to the good and often hilarious bits.

I loved reading Kate Atkinson novels, especially her Jackson Brodie series.  So I really loved Death at the Sign of a Rook, which like the best murder mysteries, is more focused on the small details of village life; in this case a into stolen paintings, an amputee ex-soldier, a mediocre troup of actors and a crumbling grand country manor.  

In My Kitchen: July 2026

July was a crazy cold month!  It was puffer jacket weather, especially when we were told that the heating at work was out of order until the end of winter.  The month started with school holidays and it just never returned to routine: Sylvia got sick, my bike had a flat tyre and there were lots of changes at work.  We had some good news with the work heating getting fixed earlier plus the pleasure of new armchair and some family history research.  Not much time or energy for new dinner recipes but lots of good food nevertheless.  I will soon write more about our outings in My Monthly Chronicles: July 2026.

Changes in technology drives me batty.  Too many websites are suddenly inaccessible without a login.  I usually just check my GoodReads books without logging in when I am at the shops so I know if I have read a book (I find it hard to keep up with what I have read in a series).  A few weeks ago in an op shop I found I could only see my books by logging in.  So I winged it and bought the book anyway and then got home and found I had read it!  Argh! On the same day I was not impressed to discover that Yahoo suddenly reduced the free emails cap from 1 terrabyte to 15 gigabytes.  It was painful but also liberating to reduce my yahoo emails from 17GB to 12GB.  Now I just need to keep them down and try and delete more photos off my phone!  It is neverending keeping up with technology.

My siblings have recently had quite a bit of travel between them.  My brother Dave was in China and brought us back a brilliant hot pot fridge magnet that you can see above with our foodie fridge magnets.

We didn't make many new meals this month but I enjoyed revisiting a few favourites.  Clockwise from top left:

• Our version of Minestrone is on our weekly meals a lot.  This one included parsnip and fennel
• Samosa pie - this is like an Indian style pot pie and tastes so good - why has it been so long since I made it!  (It had a lot of liquid so I added a spoonful of cornflour.)
• Meera Sodha's Vegan Broccoli, Fennel, Chickpea and Orzo Stew was one of the meals we made again after loving it the previous month.
• And Fried rice with tofu scramble - but a little different to usual with Sylvia making her tofu scramble separately so we could add it at the end of the fried rice instead of cooked in it.  One big advantage of this was the the turmeric only coloured the scramble so it contrasted with the pale rice.
   

I have posted about my Vegan roast dinner pizza using short cuts.  One of the shortcuts was making roast potatoes in the air fryer.  It only works with a small batch with our small air fryer.  I got tired of either wiping up a greasy air fryer tray or using paper inserts so I have purchased a silicone air fryer insert that be easily washed.  I first bought a nicer more expensive one but it did not fit so I gifted it to my mum who loves it.  Ours is cheaper and brighter and does the trick!
 

These frozen samosa pastizzi are a new favourite.  We buy thim in FOY next to the Coburg Woolworths at $11 for 12.  They take between 15-20 minutes in the air fryer at 220 C.  The crispy pastry and spicy vegeie filling are so delicious to pull apart.  It is a challenge to try and wait for the steaming heat to subside.  This is the only pastizzi there that are vegan.  While not that cheap, they are better value at 850g than the vegan samoa packet in the next door supermarket that is $12 for 500g.

A favourite from my childhood is is curried sausages.  I figured out how to do a tray bake of vegetarian baked curried sausages a while back and revisited the recipes when we needed warming food.  Sylvia is starting to really enjoy some curried meals so it was good to see her enjoy it.

I bookmarked a recipe for a one banana banana cake quite some time ago.  As I am now eating a few more of them I put one aside to get old and soft to try this banana bread.  It was a vegan banana bread with a crumble topping.  We loved it.  There is another old banana in the fridge right now so perhaps the universe is telling me I need to make this again!  Well, who dares to say no to the universe!

We are also having more sauerkraut in our kitchen on rice bowls and sandwiches.  The Gaga's gut loving Raw dill pickle kraut is a favourite.

While on Smith street to have lunch at Not so sushi,we had a wander down the street to browse some of the foode shops: Friends of the Earth, Soul Foods, Alimentari and Hinoki.  We mostly resisted temptation but at Hinoki we bought a couple of Daifuku (a strawberry and a green tea) and a packet of frozen edamame.  We use edamame quite a bit and needed some, but I think I was also swayed by the cute red checked packet.

 

I am a fan of these salt and vinegar sweet potato nibbles which are a pleasing light snack.  Sylvia enjoys them because they are vegan unlike a lot of flavoured crisps.  We just can't work out why a flavouring like lime and black pepper needs to have milk in the ingredients.  

We went to the Coburg Farmers Market because it was the last market appearance by the always amazing vegan Better Now Bakes before they open their new shop in Brunswick East.  As usual we were too tempted and came away with so much fantastic baking: the richest best tahini brownie, the piquant pickle chive and dill scone, a fluffy tasty Japanese curry focaccia (with potato, furikake and seaweed?), a pleasing yuzu white choc and coconut cake and a scrumptious and gorgeous apple maple and pecan cake.  We will miss them at the market but can't wait to visit their new shop which is set to open very soon.

We bought some beige food from KFL - soy chunks, potato curry puffs and vegan eggs - that made the vegan ham from the supermarket look colourful!  The curry puffs weren't anywhere near as good as the samosa pastizzi's above but Sylvia loved them.  She has also been enjoying vegan ham and cheese sandwiches.  There are some plans for the soy chunks but we have no idea how to pry apart the frozen vegan fried eggs.

Here are some vegan supermarket purchases: iced matcha latte with oat milk, hearty mushroom and lentil pies, vanilla rice puds, packaged tofu scramble, the tea collection of iced mochi (hojicha, genmaicha and matcha), and a frozen mango sticky rice with coconut milk.  We have had most of these - the pies were really good with a pre-chopped kale slaw pack, the scramble was nice enough in a taco bowl, Sylvia was excited about the sticky rice with mango and the mochi.  There is a wee box of panadol to signal there there was pain too but not enough to stop Sylvia eating good food.

When I asked my sister Fran to surprise me when she had me in my family KK gift giving I knew she would find something interesting.  With the cold weather we finally got to try the Ground Pleasures original hot chocolate powder that she gave us.  It was amazing.  I am pretty fussy with hot chocolate powder but this was so good that we finished it within weeks.  Sylvia gave it a dash of pizazz with her hand held milk frother and a sprinkle of hot chocolate powder on top.  It is not the cheapest and is not in supermarkets but we might need another box before the end of winter.

Life is chaotic and busy so it is wonderful when we can slow down and create collages.  This is one I made in the kitchen in July.  You can see the mess it makes in the background of the hot chocolate photo but even with the cleaning up, it is a relaxing activity.

 

It is a year since we had our house painting.  Two of the outstanding things to do over that time were to buy a new chair for the loungeroom and to find a green teacup for the glass kitchen cabinet.  In July we managed to achieve both.  We have looked at so many photos of chairs on FaceBook market place and found it really hard to find the right one.  This floral chair was not my ideal but it is close enough for jazz!

In June I bought a green teapot and tea cup set that I really love.  More recently Sylvia fell in love with another green teapot set, this time at the Salvos op shop where we bought our chair.  It has not been easy to fit both tea sets into the cabinet but Sylvia was determined and made it work.  I have compared the three iterations of our cabinet above.  In July 2025 I organised a fairly spacious cabinet after quite a few items were sent to the op shop.  The following month Sylvia reorganised with some of the op shop pieces she loved.  Then in July 2026 the cabinet is now full with lots of lovely green.

Finally here is a close up of the cabinet so you can admire some of the detail on the new green sugar bowl with a few sentimental items including a gnome salt and pepper shaker I bought as a child and a green decanter I bought when living in student share houses,

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her delightful seasonal hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this event that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.  

CERES Winter Solstic 2026

We had good memories of the Winter Solstice at Ceres in 2024 so we went again.  This year it was done differently with a family friend Friday night and an adult only celebration the next night.  We went on Saturday which was different from last time, with a craft market and a gorgeous festive space in an old train carriage, as well as the usual food trucks and music.  It was a rainy night but so enjoyable to spend the wet dark night at CERES where, as the website said "a time to reflect, reconnect, and celebrate the light’s return."

with a small craft market with lots of great products.  I really loved how they decorated an old train with a Christmas tree and candles and reflective words.  

Combined the lights in the darkness, the pagan celebrations 

dark - different from last time - kids and adults

This year we will be holding not one, but two solstice celebrations – a family-friendly Friday night and an adult-only celebration. Both will culminate in 

website

kids celebrations and fun but adults more reflection and reconnection  

When we arrived about 5.30, it was still light and the rain was holding off.  We were greeted with the stals in the Mystic Marketpace.  I enjoy arriving at a party early to get my bearings before it gets too lively.  That was how this felt.  (The tickets to the event were booked out well in advance.)

Soon the darkness fell upon us to provide a canvas for the warm glow of welcoming lights.  We love visiting this beautiful green community environmental space that is a green oasis in the midst of our city.  It was lovely to see it lit up on the longest night of the year.

The market stalls were mostly crafts; lots of candles and crystals with the occasional honey and fudge.  One of my favourite stalls was the Beaded Petal Co where beads had been painstakingly threaded onto wires and bent into exquisite flowers.  You can see a close up of the flowers in the below photo collage.
 

We moved on into the indoor market with more interesting products on offer.  One of my favourite stalls had the sea anemone and air plant jelly fish.  I loved the dark wicca illustrations and jewelley and there were many candles and crystals to add to the gentle lighting.  It was still fairly quiet when we first looked but really busy later.  

The winter solstice is the perfect time for mulled wine and I am quite partial to a snifter.  I bought some in the CERES Merri Cafe & Bar near the car park but it was also on offer further towards the creek among the food trucks.  I was pleased I remembered to take a keep cup even though I could not find my glass keep cup.  It was just the warming drink I needed for the wintery evening.

We didn't go to the uv face painting station but instead walked down the hill to the music and food trucks space under rows of ligths.  I was delighted with some native Australian animal lights.  Above is a pink koala.

Behind this fun possum light you can see the "stage"for the bands.  The live music added to the mellow mood.  Unfortunately it was not great weather to stand around watching the bands.

We wanted to chec out the food trucks before there were any queues.  Sylvia had decided she would make a beeline for Wokking Amazing which you can see behind the kangaroo light above.  The brightly painted and brightly lit truck beckons in the darkness.

I was keen to try the Samosa Chaat a the Purple rabbit food truck.  It was an Indian inspired meal of -smashed samosa in a chickpea curry served with mint tamarind chutne, cashew yoghurt and a crispy potato topping.  

We stopped at the CERES Kitchen stall which was serving cakes and hot drinks.  Sylvia was impressed that the Chai latte was vegan.  (I was surprised that despite many being made with soy milk, not all of them are because there can be honey added on milk in the chair mix.)  She enjoyed her warming drink.

Once we had our meals and drinks, it was cold and drizzling with so we headed to the sheltered half of the building with the band on the other side.  In the foreground of the picture is a little wombat light.

The sheltered space had floral arrangements where mulled wine and other alcoholic drinks were being sold at a bar.  There were only a handful of tables which were already occupied.  We asked to share a table with two free chairs and were welcomed by a couple of friendly women.  As we ate and chatted, the space filled up and got noisy with all the socialising as well as the live music behind the bar.

Sylvia had bought a Peking duck pancake and a nuggets and chips munch box from Wokking Amazing and was very pleased with her choices.  I had some of the chips but was not so keen on nuggets or mock duck.  My samosa chaat was very satisfying and I was glad it was not too spicy for me. 

CERES has an old Red Rattler train carriage and it was very welcome with the wet cold night.  It is two spaces with tarot readings in one half and a reflective festive space in the other half. 

Christmas decorations can sometimes seem like the commercial part of a religious event.  The festive space in the train with a Christmas tree, candles and greenery felt more authentic.  It makes so much more sense to have them in winter than in our usual summer Christmas.  It seemed more in sync with nature and the focus was on reflecting on the cycles of nature and the candles being symbolic of calling the sun.

I really loved this space but it was busy.  We had a short queue outside to get in and were directed to move in a line along the displays rather than being able to really stop and reflect in the way I would have liked.  Having said this, I found it a calm and hopeful space.

Along the way were contemplative readings among the candles and fairy light that were keeping the dark at bay.  People were quiet as they slowly moved through the carriage and there was a sense that the space was as sacred as any church.

At the end of the journey was a place where we were invited to write down our obstacles in life to be burnt to ashes and our intentions that we wished to bring to the light which would be planted to create fertile soil and new life.

It was odd to step outside back into the world.  More people were queuing to get in and there was another queue nearby for the tarot card readings.  

We stood by one of the fire pits to warm up in the drizzling rain.  A small woman at our side talked to us about how she was about to have her first performance as a fire dancer and of her respect for the flames.  I really wanted to stay to see the fire sculpture that was promised as a spectacular finale but it was rainy and the ground was pitted with puddles.  Instead we headed home feeling the calm and glow of the solstice.

CERES Winter Solstice
Corner Roberts & Stewart Streets
Brunswick East, VIC 3057
5pm - 10pm, Saturday 20 June 2026
https://ceres.org.au/winter-solstice/

To see links to most posts on CERES, go to my CERES Winter Solistice 2024 post.