My Monthly Chronicles: June 2026

June is the darkest month of the year with the winter solstice which is a time for the lights to glow brightest.  Winter has brought cold nights out but great weather for cosy warming dinners.  We have enjoyed been good food, interesting art, and fancy shopping.  Sylvia is encountering such great food when she is out without me that I have given her a corner to feature what she had eaten out without me that you will see towards the end of the post.

Above is a photo of a derelict house at 43 Sargood Street in Coburg which I pass when cycling on the Upfield bike path.  It has looked so sad, especially when advertised as a site ripe for redevelopment.  I was really happy to read an article in Domain about the house titled "Burnt-out and deemed 'beyond repair': Coburg weatherboard sells for $868k to couple planning to restore it." (5 June 2026)  I would love this house to feature on Restoration Australia, the tv show that takes viewers on the journey to give new life to hopeless houses like this one.  More likely I will just have to watch how it goes as I pass it on my bike.  I wish the new owners well with this challenging project!

Taverna
434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East 

We got along to the Vegan Night at Taverna, a Greek restaurant in the building where Hellenic Republic used to be in Brunswick East.  It was quite a different menu but great to taste some Greek vegetable-centred food.  The set menu was organised into 4 courses for $65pp and I have written more about our meal of excellent fava dip, wonderfully flavoured chickpeas, crispy pumpkin fritters, a beautiful roasted cabbage and a small sweet treat of baklava at the end.  For more on our meal, check out my post on the Taverna Vegan Night.

 
Melbourne Kebab Station
451 Sydney Rd, Coburg

You can't keep us away from the Melbourne Kebab Station.  They make the best Turkish bread in Coburg and have other fine Middle Eastern foods for reasonable prices.  We went there in June one evening on the way home when we did not have energy to make dinner.  We had our favourite Vegetarian meal with Falafel served with rice, salad, a choice of two dips and Turkish bread.  I really love their silky baba ganoush but it isn't vegan so we now have just hummus so Sylvia can eat it.  I also had the cheese and spinach pide which is very good.  I should also mention that I love the cheery service with a large dose of personality from the staff who are always busy at the their in front of the heat of the cooking kebab meat.

Big Elma 
138 Nicholson Street, Coburg

We were back at Big Elma to sample the winter soups.  The specials on the day were a brothy minestrone and a creamy celeriac and cannelini bean soup.  Both were so good.  We had a vegan kimchi toastie to share, forgetting we would have toast on the side!  We asked if a lot of things were vegan but forgot to ask about kimchi cheese toastie.  It was impressive that our server came back to check if we wanted it to be vegan.  The service with the hot chocolate was also great when Sylvia was checking if it was vegan.  She got a lovely one with dark chocolate powder and soy milk and they were very obliging in adding the vegan whipped cream on top.  We also shared a very good  slice of berry crumble cake.  

Gnoccheria Grocer
89B Harding Street Coburg

On the way home from Big Elma, we dropped in at the Gnoccheria.  Well it was always the Gnoccheria but now they have expanded with a Grocer and a Mangia (hole in the wall cafe).  It is such a delight to browse the Grocer.  We are never organised enough to buy much but there is plenty to tempt.  The displays like this one in the middle of the room are gorgeous.  The grocery shelves stock lots of local producers and always have vegan and gluten free options.  At the front are pizzas, fresh pasta, meals and desserts made by the Take Me Home crew who run the gnoccheria.  They are a friendly bunch and usually come and say hello and sometimes have some very good sample plates to pass around.  I just wish they were closer to our home!

Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Tour and Gin Palace
Gin Palace: 10 Russell Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000

I have written about the wonderful Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Tour that I did in June in the footsteps of stylish 1920 heroine Miss Phryne Fisher, stopping at many amazing historic Melbourne buildings.  The tour ends at the Gin Palace which is far more gorgeous and sophisticated than I am, but welcoming all the same.  I was really impressed that they had a good albeit short mocktail menu.  The photo is of my new favourite mocktail: kombucha and tonic.  Such a great afternoon!

Vegan Bake Off, Welcome to Thornbury
520 High Street, Northcote

The Vegan Bake off at Welcome to Thornbury had queues for old favourites and new bakers.  The idea is to buy bits and pieces from different baking businesses and vote on them.  It is fun, it is indulgent and it is a great way to discover vegan bakers.  Sylvia was upset she missed out on the vanilla slice from the Kindness Echoes when she watched the last slice being sold to the person in front of her.  It was tough but we had lots of other great baking!

In the above photo you can see Gingersnap's  mango and passion fruit opera cake, Better Now Bakes' banoffee pie parfait and a raspberry yuzu biscuit, Divine Eggless Treats' loaded chunky choc-chip with hazelnuts, Groovy Cupcakes' white chocolate mud cake slice with thick caramel layer, and a peace love and pineapple cupcake that was sort of hummingbird, and lastly from Woking Amazing, a relief to have a savoury scrambled eggy croissant with bacon and rocket.

Half Moon Cafe
13 Victoria Street, Coburg

Half Moon cafe's falafels are the absolute best!  I understand the irony of a photo of the place with no falafels but my falafel wrap was full and messy in a really good way and there are no falafels on display because they are always freshly fried, hot  and crispy.  My wrap was called the Half Moon ($15) with the classic combination of falafels, chickpeas, lettuce, rocket, olives, pickles, tabouli, hummus and tzatziki. It was so good.  This photo of the cafe, which is a small space with most seating outside in the mall, shows that you don't need to be too fancy.  It just requires good fresh food with a friendly smile to produce amazing food!
 

Eddy and Wills 
130 Church Street, Hamlyn Heights, Geelong

As we zoomed down to Geelong, late as usual, I told Sylvia to organise a cafe to meet for lunch rather than dropping into their place first, which we usually do.  They did a great job of choosing Eddy and Wills.  Sylvia and I both had the fantastic colourful vegan breakfast plate in the photo.  It was choc full of seasoned tofu chunks, mashed avocado, beautifully roasted tomato, mushroom, spinach, pickled veggies, tomato relish, chimichurri, and sourdough. with beans, hash brown.  So much good food that we could have shared a plate.  Great flavours.  My only quibble was that there was too much of the relish and chimichurri.  My parents enjoyed sharing a raspberry pistachio french toast with a thick slice of brioche, raspberry mascorpone, pistachio, almond and dark chocolate soil, vanilla ice cream   

The Vegan Market
Coburg Town Hall, 90 Bell Street 

We were back at the Vegan market for the second month a row but this time we met up with Faye.  It was great to spend time with her browsing the stalls and catching up over a spot of lunch in the row of tables in the middle of the room.  

The vendors had not changed much.  I made a beeline for a few favourites, especially the Panisse guys and the Dubai Chocolate brownie which I loved so much last month.  We had a spicy potato borek and I also had a cheese pie (bottom right in the above photo) that was a pide boat with vegan cheese and far too much tomato sauce on top but I enjoyed them both.  Also in the photo are Gingersnap's light and luscious strawberry and lemon opera cake, Better Now Bakes' beautifully flavoured Persian love cake and a gorgeous swirly rainbow cupcake.  Sylvia also bought a fried chicken bao from the Purple Rabbit food truck.  She raved about the crispy fried mock chicken patty with guacamole, sriracha mayo & pickles packed into a fluffy soft bao bun.

Ample Cafe
31 Arden Street North Melbourne

When a new colleague had her first day in the office recently, I went out with a few colleagues for a welcoming lunch at Ample Cafe.  I had the crispy sweet potato and corn fritters, topped with char grilled corn, guacamole salsa, chilli jam and lots of beetroot yoghurt ($26).  I had mine without the poached egg and  - mine without the poached egg and chilli flakes.  I liked the big warehouse with distressed brick walls and plenty of space.

Roll Bae
90 Holmes Street, Brunswick East

Eating cinnamon rolls and browsing antiques is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning.  I had a pistachio scroll and Sylvia had a Biscoff scroll at Roll Bae.  You can read more about it in my post on our visit.  Afterwards we had fun wandering around Wakim Antiques where I splurged on a gorgeous green vintage tea set ( you can see it in my In My Kitchen: June 2026 post).

CERES Winter Solstice 
Cnr Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East

We had good memories of the Winter Solstice at Ceres in 2024 so we went again.  This year it was different 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.  We had a great food truck dinner - Purple Rabbit's Samosa Chat for me and Wokking Amazing's Peking duck pancake and their nuggets and chips munch box for Sylvia.  It was a rainy night but we enjoyed the lights on the darkest night.  Stay tuned for more on this!

Matilda
15 Arcade Rd Mont Albert North 

It was a pleasure to have lunch at Matilda, an elegant French style cafe, in the leafy eastern suburbs of Melbourne.  We didn't book - it was a week day - and had to wait 5 or 10 minutes to get a seat at the communal table!  I can see why it is popular.  It is bright and welcoming with flowers, books and cosy little booths.  

The food was very good.  I had a sourdough crumpet with truffle butter, gruyere and chives ($10), which was nice but had rather more of the truffle butter than gruyere than I expected.  But I really loved my pumpkin soup with coyo and hazelnut dukkah with sourdough toast ($16).  Sylvia was delighted with her matcha latte and her Winter Waffles served with spiced poached pears, caramel sauce with walnut crumble & vanilla bean Coyo ice cream ($27).  We aren't often in that part of Melbourne but hope to return to Matilda when we do.

 
"Home": installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre
 341 Dandenong Rd, Malvern East

I was so excited to see that Rone was creating one of his gorgeous nostalgic installations where art imitates reality with beauty and sadness.  It was strange and fascinating that he created an old rundown house in the midst of bright and shiny Chadstone Shopping Centre.  We headed there after lunch at Matilda and it was so much to take in that I wanted to go through again.  I have shared photos and written more in a separate post about this amazing experience.

My Asian Neighbour
 760 Plenty Road, Reservoir 

We were so impressed with the Indonesian cooking at My Asian Neighbour.  Later I read the backstory of Lily who served us and it made sense of the wonderful food being reminiscent of my trip to Indonesia a few years back.  I was so happy to encounter the battered tempeh (fritter) and the garlic crackers that I remember fondly.  We were on our way to see the new Minions movie at Northland Shopping Centre and this feast was so superior to anything in the food court there.

We shared a few different dishes.  On the side we had a magnificent puffy flaky roti ($9).  It usually comes with satay sauce but Sylvia is allergic so instead we used it to mop up sauces.   The Vegan Nasi Campur Banquet ($35) was a wonderful taster plate with vegan rendang curry, corn fritter, soybean (tempeh) fritter, deep fried eggplant and garlic crackers.  The curry was quite spicy but the curried potato was great. and the beautiful soft eggplant was a joy.  We also had the Woku with vegan crispy tofu ($24).  It is described in the menu as "a traditional dish from north sulawesi, stir fried with lemongrass, house made yellow curry paste, pandan leaf, kaffir lime leaf and tomato served with rice.  The flavours were so fragrant and tasty.  We'd love to go back and try other dishes.

Close up Coburg
Coburg Library projections and stories walk

We enjoyed Close up Coburg, Merribek Library's night time walk with local projections and stories.  The images of the past and voices of the present demonstrated the rich fabric of the history of the suburb and then people who now live there.  I was fascinated by the projector bike that walked the pavements with us and gave us lovely images on various Coburg buildings.  We heard the stories through headphones which allowed for a larger audience than one live presenter could reach.  Above is the historic Coburg Railway Station building with a photo of Coburg Lake.

 Sylvie's Selection

1st Row: 

• Vegan Big Breakfast at One for the Crow
• Vegan Chicken Sandwich and Cheeseburger Jaffle, Union Kiosk
• Nourish Bowl with Tofu Scramble, Heal Thyself

2nd Row: 

• Charred Cauliflower Sandwich, Hugo's Deli
• Vegan Raspberry Brownie, True North 
• Broken Tofu Rice, Good Days

3rd Row: 

• Smoked Tofu Toasty with sauerkraut, greens, chili jam, and tahini, All Things Equal
• Don't Fear the Reaper - Halloumi, Avocado, Egg, Tomato and Rocket and Henry Huggins - Vegan Buffalo Chicken, Pickles and Slaw, True North 
• Cauliflower bake, crispy chili tofu and cabbage and radish slaw, Smith and Deli in Degraves Street
  
  

 In the news

Significant deaths: Anthony Head, Richard Scolyer, David Hockney, Penelope Keith, Vince Willis (village people lead singer)

Don’t be fooled, there’s nothing ‘reasonable’ about these rebooted abortion battles by Amy Remeikis in The Point, 3 June 2026. 

Americans Have Grown Dramatically Anti-Data Center in Just Months, Survey Finds, Gizmodo, 3 June 2026.

Man Simultaneously Furious About Government Causing House Prices To Fall and Immigrants Causing House Prices To Rise (Satirical headline that brilliantly shows the ridiculousness of the housing debates), in The Shovel, 4 June 2026.

 In weaponising Henry Nowak’s tragic death, the right has come full circle on identity politics, (On the riots following Henry Novak's death being spun as an anti-white police decision)  The Observer, 7 June 2026.

Reform is hard. Albanese and Chalmers need to stay the course (on Australian tax reform), by Chris Wallace in The Conversation, 10 June 2026.

The Socceroos and the Australia That Exists, (reflections on an Australian win in the World Cup in the context of the immigration debate.) The Snarky Gherkin Substack, 16 June 2026.

Burnham triumphs. Farage falters. (written on the night of Andy Burnham winning Makerfield by-election) Goodall and Good Luck substack.19 June 2026/

Trump thinks his freshly signed ceasefire deal is a victory. It is – for Iran, by Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 19 June 2026.

Hanson has tapped into angst about immigration, but it remains central to the Australian story by Frank Bongiorno, in the Conversation, 23 June 2026.

Belfast’s worst riots in years expose a racism crisis that data shows has been building for a decade, Muslim Network TV, 26 June 2026.

Karl Stefanovic to leave Nine immediately after Today host’s podcast controversy, The Guardian, 26 June 2026.

Listening, Watching. Reading

My Own Startled Face on a Lanyard - Aaron Smith's fascinating insider story of working as a staffer in the Australian Parliament House (blog post)

Minions and Monsters - this movie is great fun with lots of laughs at the Minions in the golden years of Hollywood with many references for film buffs.

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan - this novel about a young woman's experience of love and societal change during China in World War II gave a new and fascinating perspective on the history of this war.

Midsomer Murders - we have gone back to the start of this cosy detective tv series set in nostalgic British villages.  It is quite formulaic but great comfort viewing with beautiful villages and many amusing characters.

Taverna (East Brunswick), vegan night, June 2026

 

The Taverna is a Greek restaurant.  It's usual menu caters for vegans in the appetisers and side dishes but not in the mains.  In fact they don't indicate which dishes are vegan or vegetarian but there is a note to let them know of dietary preferences.  The idea of having special vegan nights from time to time got Sylvia's attention on social media.  We had the pleasure of going along to the Taverna's Vegan Night on Tuesday 2 June 2026.  

I have been to Greek restaurants occasionally and found them be very meaty but I know that during Greek Lent the traditional diet focuses on plant based foods and some shellfish.  So it makes sense that the Taverna claims on its social media that "Greek cooking has always celebrated the garden, rooted in the Mediterranean’s love of fresh vegetables, olive oil, legumes, and herbs, so much of our menu is naturally vegan (and gluten free).Plant-based friendly long before it was trendy. The Greeks did it first obviously."

There was a decent turn out but I think we might have still got a table if we didn't book.  The food was good honest Greek food.  We arrived at 6.30 and I took the above photo between guests.  It got busier as the night went on.  

Taverna is  in the building where Hellenic Republic served great food but ended in igmony.  We had loved Hellenic Republic and it was sad it ended with the scandal of underpaying staff.  I was surprised to find that we had been there four times with Sylvia when I looked back at my photos.  You can read more about Hellenic Republic at the links at the end of this post.  

The space didn't seem overly different, though as it was night we did not get the sunlight streaming through the large front windows.  When I asked if the woven basket light shades were the same as Hellenic Republic, he told me that another restaurant had totally changed the decor after Hellenic Republic closed in 2020 so that the decor was all new when they moved in last year.

Upon arriving we were given a menu and were asked about dietary requirements.  

The set menu was organised into 4 courses for $65 per person plus drinks (with vegan options):

Toursi | house pickled vegetables; Psomi | House-baked olive oil rolls; Fava, capers and shallots

Kolokithokeftethes | Pumpkin fritters; Revithia | Braised chickpeas, onion, dill

Lahano Stifatho | Cabbage stew, tomato, skorthalia; Patzari | Beetroots, orange, mint

Saragli Baklava | Syrup crushed walnuts rolled in phyllo

Toursi | house pickled vegetables; 
Psomi | House-baked olive oil rolls; 
Fava, capers and shallots

The fava dip was amazing with the bitter capers a great contrast against the mild legume flavours. We enjoyed it with the warm soft bread rolls.  I was not a huge fan of the pickled vegetables, which is not a way I am used to eating vegies.  Having said that, it was nice to nibble on them as contrast to the dip and bread.

Kolokithokeftethes | Pumpkin fritters; 
Revithia | Braised chickpeas, onion, dill

The braised chickpeas looked very plain.  This was all about the wonderful depth of flavour in this home style dish and I loved it. 

I loved the crispy pumpkin fritters.  They were served beside the braised chickpeas on a plain white plate.  I would have loved a bit of flair, perhaps some herbs or dipping sauce.  However, home cooking is about flavours rather than presentation and this delivered on the flavour.  They were cooked to a crispy golden brown and filled with chunky vegetables.  Sylvia does not like pumpkin but swooned about these fritters.  

Lahano Stifatho | Cabbage stew, tomato, skorthalia; 
Patzari | Beetroots, orange, mint

The roasted cabbage had a fantastic smoky tomato sauce that worked really well with the silky smooth skorthalia (potato puree).  The waiter happily filled our bread bowl so we could mop up the delicious sauces.  We were surprised that the roast vegies on the side were onions and not potatoes but they beautifully cooked so they fell apart at the sight of the fork.  

I was also surprised at a main without the usual emphasis on proteins but this was taken care of in the starters. However the wedge of purple cabbage with the red sauce poured over it and herbs sprinkled on top was presented really beautifully.  I found the beetroot, orange and mint salad a bit plain.  On the regular menu this is served with feta and I feel it needed a little boost, especially when served with the vegetable heavy cabbage dish.

Saragli Baklava | Syrup crushed walnuts rolled in phyllo 

A special mention also goes to the attentive service.  Our waiter would approach us with great flair and present each course.  We appreciated his offer of more bread.  When he asked how we were going, we said we were really full and he asked if we were happy.  It made us smile and enjoy the Greek hospitality.  But I really was full.  I suspect this is why I was not so impressed by the baklava which Sylvia loved.

 

All in all the food was really good in a very homey way.  It did not have any modern vegan touches.  Yet it felt very genuine Greek food that happened to be vegan rather than making vegan versions of traditional recipes.  The Tavern advertise their vegan nights on social media and seem to have different menus each time.  I can recommend going along if you are after some good vegan Greek food.

Taverna
434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East  
Open: Wed-Fri 5pm til late, Sat & Sun 12pm til late
https://www.ourtaverna.com/

Hellenic Republic (former restaurant in Taverna Building) links: 

• Post on my visits to Hellenic Republic 2009
• Note on visit to Hellenic Republic in 2010
• Note on visit to  Hellenic Republic in 2012
• Former Masterchef judge George Calombaris's restaurant group goes into administration, ABC News, 10 February 2020

In My Kitchen: June 2026

.

It is winter,  The solstice has just passed and the weather is chilly,  Yet June seems confused with trees finally bearing their autumn colours and daffodils flowering in the front garden!  In the kitchen we have had lots of colourful bowls of food.  It was a month of check ups - a bike service, a car service and a dentist check up.  Shadow had a slight rise in his proteins on a routine test but we were very relieved that the vet was alert but not alarmed about his kidneys, especially when we heard that the 6 year old cat next door died suddenly of kidney failure.  The Coburg History Society's Bluestone cottage closed for renovation in May and my volunteer work there has pivoted into packing up the content.

We have been out and about and I will write more about this soon when I post My Monthly Chronicles for June 2026.  This month I have posted about Aboriginal Street Art for Reconciliation Week, the Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Tour, the Home": art installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre, and wonderful scrolls at Roll Bae.  

After visiting Roll Bae, we crossed Moreland Road and Nicholson Street to peruse Wakim Antiques (10 Nicholson St, Coburg).  I loved the eclectic cluttered display of old furniture and brick-a-brack from estate sales etc.  I fell in love with a c1930 Royal Wilton Green Tiger Lily Breakfast Tea Set.  It was green with pretty little details and a ceramic toast rack as part of the set.  I could not resist buying it to sit in my glass cabinet in the my kitchen.

 

I continue to eat this home made toasted muesli for breakfast with fruit and yoghurt most mornings.  It is a great way to make sure I get fruit into my diet.  I love how the fruit changes with the seasons but the apples I've been eating in the cooler months take longer to eat that the softer summer fruit.  Recently I have turned to eating banana with the muesli.  When I was a kid we always had sliced banana on cereal.  As an adult I am finally understanding how easy it is to slice and serve.  Banana also paired with well with the arils from pomegranates that were grown in my mum's garden.  Those mornings felt fancy.

When we bought sticky rice, I had no idea it had to be cooked quite differently than the rices I usually cook.  Sylvia had a go doing it the traditional way that involved soaking it overnight and then steaming it in cheesecloth.  I had no patience for this and found a method to cook sticky rice in the microwave (rinse a few times, cover 2 cups of rice with boiling water, microwave covered with a dinner plate for 7 minutes, stir and return covered for another 3 minutes)  I have tried it a few times and it works fine.  Above is a very good rice bowl with sticky tofu, broccoli, cucumber, edamame, grated carrot, pickled onions, pickled ginger, sauerkraut.

Our cat is a curious little boy.  Shadow loves an open door in the kitchen.  Look at him inspecting the fridge.  I think he is looking for his beloved cheese.  

Shadow also appears whenever we are making pizza on Friday nights.  He loves to sit on a chair and watch, especially when I get out the cheese.  Sylvia has tried to interest him in her vegan cheese but he turns up his nose at it.  He knows what he likes!  We have been enjoying chopped baby spinach on our pizzas recently.  Sylvia likes it with sausage, schnitzel and olives, while I like mine with mushroom, red capsicum and olives.  Both of us have tomato sauce and cheese!

The ants are driving me crazy!  They came out when it rains.  Lately they have been in visiting in such numbers that I have put down traps which are now see-through.  It is fascinating and unsettling to see how many of them have been in the trap to take the poison back to their nest.  Then the next time it rains they increase again!  (I am sure killing them will throw nature out of kilter but I can't have so many in the house.)

It was frustrating to come home after work to find that I could not get in the back door as the door knob would not turn properly.  I tried many things including the credit card trick but it would not budge.My dad came to help out with his hacksaw and we are very happy we can go through the doorway out into the back yard again.

Tempeh is amazing!  I am so glad that Sylvia has finally come to love it.  Above is how she served her first go at frying tempeh with a marinade.  It was really good.  Served with a couscous salad and freekah salad from IGA, cucumber and spinach leave, pickled onions and sauerkraut.

We visited the vegan market at Coburg Town Hall and I bought home a vegan pork floss bun from Better Now Bakes.  I am not familiar with this sort of Asian bun.  The taste lots of umami with mushroom floss that was really savoury and stuck on with mayo that was oddly sweet, all on a soft bread roll.  The roll was so good and the savoury and sweet flavours were odd in a good way.  The bun looked hairy like a muppet (think fozzy bear) so I added some olive eyes to amuse myself!

Probably my favourite new recipes I tried in June was Meera Sodha's Vegan Broccoli, Fennel, Chickpea and Orzo Stew.  I would like a bit more fennel in my diet and this was a good reason to eat it more.  So delicious!  I made a few changes: I upped the orzo to 250g and added 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 cup peas, 3 leaves of kale and about an extra cup of water.  It had lots of greens, a an amazing creamy sauce that had added fennel flavour.  We had the leftovers with tofu scramble, lemon dill quinoa casserole and pickled onions.

 

We've had lots of colourful meals (clockwise from top left):

• Mexican spiced rice with seasoned black beans, air fryer roasted cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, lettuce, pickled purple cabbage, red capsicum. We have been having the spiced rice in rice bowls so often that I posted it this month.
• Bean Miso Pasta with peas, roasted pumpkin, broccolini, pickled onion.
• Meera Sodha's Sprout Nasi Goreng with corn, fried tempeh and pickled cabbage.  I really liked the idea of brussel sprouts in the nasi goreng but only had half the sprouts so added kale and peas.  It was quite mildly flvoaured (even with amping up the seasonings) and I suspect would have been better if I had bothered to follow the recipes and marinate some of the sprouts to serve on top.  
• Bean Miso Pasta with broccolini, peas, tofu bacon, pickled onion and sauerkraut.  Now Sylvia is making the bean miso pasta with a handful or two of spinach so it is green.

 

We can't get enough of pickled onions right now.  First it was jars of it from the supermarket.  Finally I tried a quick pickled onions (a mix of Tinned Tomatoes and Love and Lemons recipes).  I hope to post more about them soon.
 

On the way home from the dentist, we stopped at Tylers Milkbar in Preston for some baking.  It was almost 1pm and the baking display had slim pickings and the staff seemed rushed off their feet.  We didn't try to get a seat but just took a huge slab of amazing Vegan Pumpkin, Walnut and Parmesan Focaccia and a square of lovely Blueberry Crumble Cake.  You can read more about their wonderful offerings at my last year's post on Tylers Milkbar.

 

I stopped at Bake Alley Bakes in North Coburg when my bike ride took me nearby.  I wanted a loaf of bread but it was sold out so I contented myself with a fantastic focaccia topped with leek, potato, gruyere and a spicy herb spread (I didn't hear what it was but wish I had asked them to repeat it) and I also got one of their amazing dense and fudgy tahini cookies.  I ate the focaccia with Mock tuna (chickpea) salad and had plenty of both leftover for other meals.

We returned to the Lemon Dill Quinoa Casserole from In My Bowl (you can read about our first go at it in my June 2024 In My Kitchen post). Sylvia made it while I was at work and I was so happy to arrive home after a cold bike ride to this warm dinner. 

We love sticky tofu so Sylvia tried a new version.  This crispy tofu with sticky sweet and sour sauce from @le_cocque on TikTok tasted so so good.  It had garlic, ginger, soy sauce, ketchup, maple syrup, rice vinegar, cornflour (cornstarch) in the sauce.  This is Sylvia's bowl where it was served with sticky rice, cabbage, carrot ribbons, cucumber ribbons, edamame, pickled ginger, pickled onion and sauerkraut.  

My mum heard somewhere about mixing bicarbonate soda with just enough dishwashing detergent to make a paste into a miracle cleaner!  I am a convert.  (Read more about how it works.)  Since discovering it, I have cleaned lots of things - the enamel baking dishes, our the outside of our plastic kettle, tea stains on mugs, the oven door, saucepans and the stove top.  Above are pictures of my stove top before and after with a bonus work in progress picture.  The stove top looked like new when I finished.  This is a game changer!

I got tempted by these Dubai Pistachio Chocolate muffins from Woolworths supermarket.  They had a gooey blob of crunchy pistachio cream on top.  The supermarket muffins were a bit green but not worthy of the Dubai Chocolate topping and did not have nearly enough choc chips!

We had a collaging session at the kitchen table late one afternoon and did not want to stop to make dinner.  Instead I ducked out to pick up a vegan potato and onion pizza from Green Acre Pizza in Brunswick.  It was just what we needed while we kept on with our crafting.

This is the collage I made.  I think the giant cat on the sofa might have been unconsciously inspired by the iconic Goodies Kitten Episode.

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. 

"Home": installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre

Last week we went to see a house in a shopping centre.  Weird, eh?  I usually would not go across the city to Chadstone Shopping Centre but for one of Rone's charming nostalgic installations, I would cross the country.  He is a master of creating spaces that make the familiar feel beautiful and emotionally charged.  Rone is so skilled at making shabby chic from nothing, to create decay and timeworn at its most perfect.  In reality, this moment does not last but in his artwork it seems eternal and enduring.

We arrive just before our booking and join the group of others who have booked for 2pm.  The staff give us the rules : only go one way through the house to avoid bottlenecks, no touching the installations because everything - even the dust and cobwebs - have been meticulously created.  Then we enter as a group into a charming Australian home of yesteryear.

In the hall is an old seat that incorporates a table where you can sit while you chat on your landline phone.  It is from the time when phones were anchored to a cord.  I notice the wooden dado that comes halfway up the sides of the walls.  A dado and an archway make the hallway special.

Let me stop here to tell you that this was a difficult exhibition to photograph.  The rooms are small and seven or eight people in a bedroom that is built for two people feels crowded.  The lights are in constant but gentle transition between dim and even dimmer.  The eyes adjust.  The camera struggles.  It is like shooting at a moving target .  As soon as the light is finally right, the view is blocked out by a fellow visitor walking into the shot!

However the dim rosy lights and the gentle haunting music add to the air of nostalgia for a lost time.  I had the sensation of the owners having lived in the house for a long time and just left.  This is like a viewing of a deceased estate sale.  Although the shopping mall lights are always bright, in this house it is always evening with darkness having descended on the back yard. 

The first room is the bedroom dominated by the double bed.  This is the room of a couple who are honest salt-of-the-earth workers with not much money to spare.

The age of the house is not clear.  On a calendar in the kitchen the year is 1992.  If that were so, this couple might have moved as newly weds and lived there a long happy but simple life.  The fireplaces are a sign that it is an older 20th Century house.  Perhaps 1920s or 1930s.

In the corner of the bedroom is a an old wooden desk with a desktop that can be folded up to save space.  Inside are lots of drawers for letter, accounts and stationery.  Someone behind me has family with a desk like this with a hidden compartment.

The one item that really stood out in the bedroom was the tub of Ponds cream with a thick layer of dust on top.  Did the woman stop using it?  Is it a sign that she no longer felt young and pretty.  My mum used to have ponds cream.  I remember it was used to remove make up.

Also in the above photo collage are a pile of old books in the bedroom, vinyl records in the loungeroom, kitsch cobwebbed cat figurines on the mantelpiece, an old candelabra and tools neatly hung in the back shed.
   

This is the lounge room with a saggy old lounge suit.  The winged armchairs have antimacassars over the back of them, that protected the chairs from the bryl cream combed into the hair.  On the floor is a pile of World War magazines that a chap might have enjoyed reading in the evenings.  There are too many to fit into the small magazine holder and there is no coffee table, just an ottoman where the newspaper has been placed.  The wooden gramophone and its speakers are huge in today's terms when we have this function inside a phone that will fit into our hand.  In front of the fire is an embroidered screen.

To the other side of the mantelpiece is a glass cabinet where good china and figurines can be displayed.  This is a place for wedding gifts and holiday souvenirs.

The phone on the wall in the kitchen is so evocative for my generation that remember the curly cord and the rotary dial on the phone.  It sits by the bench where the woman could easily reach it to gossip while she was working in the kitchen.  The letter holders and canisters were a familiar sight in kitchens of my youth.  I even spy the familiar blue, white and red stripes at the edge of an airmail envelope.  Did they have family overseas?  Were they were migrants?

The kitchen was difficult to photograph because other people compelled to walk in among the cupboards to look at the familiar items.  I wanted to take photos because I dream of having green cupboards and a green oven.  The bench opposite the kitchen reminds me of how both my childhood home and our current home had a bench separating the kitchen from the living and dining, a bench that had glass windows on the cupboards overhead so crockery could be displayed.  (Our windowed cupboards and bench have been moved against the wall now.)

In the corner of the kitchen is a dusty collection of kitchen paraphernalia: a teapot, a toast rack, a transistor radio, a glass mug and a jug.  My eye is drawn to the folded newspaper where someone is mid crossword and the headline reads "Norths may shift camp to Coburg".  The story relates to plans to move the home ground of North Melbourne's Aussie rules football club to Coburg in 1965.

This was my last photo I took in the house.  As I went into the gift shop at the end I saw in the postcards that I had missed the iconic Rone female face on the kitchen wall.  I went back to see it with my own eyes.  No regrets that I ignored the instructions that we were not to backtrack. On the other side of the wall is the lounge room with the piano.

This is another view of the dining room with the lace tablecloth on the table and a dresser filled with glasses and crockery.  On top of the dresser is the good silver including the candelabra.

I was fascinated by the back yard for a number of reasons.  This was the most spacious part of the exhibition and it evoked a past where back yards were much bigger.  There was before the time when everyone renovated their home to build a large backroom with French windows looking out to the new wooden deck and left very little room for the garden. (I checked and the garden is not real.  The tree trunk felt like foam. (Ssh don't tell!)

Speaking to a friend about the exhibition, she loved the garden with the mix of healthy plants and some struggling plants.  She was also excited that the bottles in the crates were the same brand she had.  They were not Noddys which is the brand of lemonade that we used to buy and leave out empty bottles to be collected.  I felt nostalgic for the old round metal garbage bins.  They weren't practical - it was always a drama if one of these bin was knocked over and the lid fell off and all the contents were strewn about the garden.  But in our age of multiple plastic wheelie bins for recycling, these small bins seem so simple.

This sort of yard with lots of grass and a tree in the middle of it, is the sort of yard I grew up with.  There was always grass to mow and the wheelbarrow out for gardening at the side.  On the left of the above photo you can see the light of the little back shed where the man of the house would be fixing and creating while listening to his team's footy match on his trannie.  Beside the shed is a little lemon tree.  No self respecting garden would have been without one.

The brick path through the back garden was charming with its slight unevenness to show that it was put down by the owners, just like my dad made brick paths in our backyard.  There was always room for the rotary Hills Hoist clothes line that was utilitarian unless you were a small child who dared to swing on it.  (And who didn't?)  By the clothes line is the washing basket on the trolley so it could be wheeled from the laundry.

Actually there was no laundry in sight, nor a bathroom.  They would be small in a humble home like this.  Rone must have had to make hard decisions when considering groups of people and flow through in the tour, as well as what he could fit into this small space in Chadstone.  It was a reminder us that it was not as real as it felt.

There was an old car parked at the end of the driveway.  This is the sort of driveway that my parents have down one side of their house with the two strips of concrete for the wheels and grass all around.  My parents don't use it much but a driveway is great for washing a car.  We walked down the driveway toward the front gate.  Just before we left the installation, we were lured into look at the brightly lit gift shop.

Then we were out the gate and back into the bright lights of the shopping centre.  When I first heard about the house in the shopping centre I imagined it to be freestanding.  It was not, as you can see in the above photo.  It sits between a mega make up and skin care store and an outdoor clothing and adventure store.  Above it the sign for the lego store is light up with a neon sign.

Chadstone is shocking after such an immersive experience in an era when stuff was simple and made to last.  The shabby aged house sits meekly in the busy shopping centre where every store is bright and bold and fun and begging for attention and money.  Rone's Home exhibition is a charming oasis, a rest from the modern assault on the senses, a reminder that we don't need much.  The irony of it being in a a loud sleek shrine to commerce is not lost on either Chadstone nor Rone.  It is part of the appeal that draws people in for a moment of quiet beauty before they go shopping!

HOME – An Exhibition by Rone
Light to Night Festival
Chadstone Shopping Centre
1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone, Melbourne
11 June to 12 July 2026
Chadstone exhibition webpage
https://rone.art/

More Rone artwork can be seen on Green Gourmet Giraffe at:

Time by Rone, Art installations 

Street Art in Melbourne: Collingwood 

Street Art in Melbourne: Fitzroy