My Monthly Chronicles November 2024

In November, Australia recorded its hottest Spring on record.  It was hot then rainy and often humid.  That meant arriving at work soaked from the bike ride one morning followed by my first day travelling to this job by public transport due to more rain.  We then spent an afternoon at the air-conditioned shopping centre during a 37 C day.  We have also had lots of amazing meals and morning walks.  I have written about a fun day out at Melbourne Cat Cafe, Good Measure and the Queen Victoria Market and another going to Le Bajo Milkbar, Publique Bakery and Joy Exhibition at the Immigration Museum.  After the US Election it was some solace to finally cross over from Twitter (X) to BlueSky where I am enjoying reading about crazy politics in Australia and abroad.  And if you want to see what I have been eating at home, check out my November In My Kitchen post or read on to find out about eating out and outings.

As we reach December, Christmas looms large on the horizon.  But so many signs of festivities have already appeared in November.  I enjoyed seeing Christmas decorations in the lobby of one of the buildings where I work.  We seem to have more and more Australiana sneaking in to Christmas decorations in Melbourne.  The wattle and gum leaves in the Christmas tree decorations in the above picture are a case in point.  Usually I move around three offices a bit more but this city one is the only one I have visited in the last 2 weeks.  I wonder if my other two offices will be festooned when I see them in the next few days.

Tokyo Lamington, Carlton

One of the highlights of the month was doing the Onigiri Map trail.  I will write about it separately but will share a few highlights here.  We love Tokyo Lamington (258 Elgin Street, Carlton) and cannot have some onigiri without also sampling the wonderful lamingtons.  I had the neapolitan lamington and Sylvia had a strawberry orange lamington.  Sylvia loved hers.  I enjoyed mine and, while I appreciated the wafer crumb coating to go with the theme of a favourite ice cream, I missed the texture of the traditional desiccated coconut mixed with sweet icing on the outside.

Market Lane Coffee, Brunswick

Another participant in the onigiri trail is Chooka's Cafe, a favourite with us.  I went there on the trail with Sylvia and another time for lunch with Faye.  After our lunch, we had a walk down Sydney Road and stopped at Market Lane Coffee (383 Sydney Rd) for a hot drink.  I had an excellent hot chocolate.  Sylvia joined us because she had been out with her dad in Brunswick.  She and Faye both enjoyed the coffee.  The cafe had lots of scandi-style wooden panelling and plenty of space so it was a relaxing place to sit and chat.

Morning walks I

Sylvia ad I enjoyed a walk home from Market Lane Coffee and decided we would do some morning walks.  This was our first one to the Moreland train station.  Sylvia had a coffee and a raspberry and white chocolate muffin from the tiny Young Leopard (170B Moreland Rd, Brunswick).  I had a bite of the muffin and can attest that was delicious.  It was nice to sit at the playground by the train station before heading home again.

Movember morning tea

My current job is fascinating I miss all the foodie gatherings at my previous workplaces.  I am such a hot-desking vagabond I am not there enough to be about for much shared food.  In fact it was only after months at the job that I found that there is a regularly morning tea at one of the offices where I regularly go once a week but not on the day I am there.  So it was nice that we were able to help ourselves to the leftovers of an impressive Movember morning tea in November.  As well as the moustache cake and the moustache gingerbread men, someone had also brought in amazing jelly slices topped with blue jelly and a chocolate moustache on a stick! 

Tylers Milkbar, Preston I

We returned to Tylers MilkBar (656 Plenty Road, Preston) for lunch.  I had an amazing lunch with the humourous name "Oh Honey!" ($16).  It was a toastie with sweet potato and leek, goats cheese, hot honey and spinach.  Wonderfully sweet and salty, a little spicy and very messy.  I had to wash my hands after it but it was worth it.  Sylvia loved the Top of the Morning burger so much last time that she had it again.

Tylers Milkbar, Preston II

We could not resist sharing a Monte Carlo after our lunch.  On instagram it was described as "honey & butter cookie filled with whipped cream cheese and raspberry grappa jam".  This was a triumph of flavour over sweetness".  Monte carlos are perfect for Tylers retro aesthetic.  Just hearing the name makes me want to sing "there are Monte Carlos and shortbread creams" in an old Arnotts Assorted Creams advertisement.  But Tylers version was far superior to Arnotts.  While we ate, I enjoyed reading Eamon Donnelly's Milk Bars Book Vol II.  It was a great nostalgia trip.

Morning walks II 

I have done some of the morning walks alone.  One morning I walked to Coburg Lake and on another I rode my bike.  This sign gave me a laugh.  And I needed a laugh after the US presidential elections.

Media Watch on ABC: It is sad to see Paul Barry step away from hosting this short tv show that holds the media to account.  I enjoyed the retrospective in his last show and will look forward to Linton Besser taking over as host next year.

Rose Street Artist's Market, Fitzroy

We had two trips to Rose Street Artist's Market (69 Rose St).  You can see some purchases on In My Kitchen November post.  It has so many beautiful and quirky stalls: cat hats, soaps in the shape of dumplings, tiny crocheted floral earrings.  This plant stall was really beautiful and so welcome when we visited on a rainy day because it was undercover.  Among the plants were gorgeous vintage Japanese salt and pepper shakers.

Elektra Himalayan Alchemy House, Fitzroy

After the Rose Street Market, we went for lunch at Elektra (268 Brunswick St).  It is a riot of colour, fun and plants.  Sylvia had an iced Himalayan dirty chai that she loved.  I had the Crushed Avo-mandu ($24) with edamame, coconut feta, seasoning and Himalayan spiced scrambled tofu on gluten free bread.  It was quite spicy but really good, even the gluten free bread, which we all know is hard to get right!  Sylvia had the Mandala Pancakes ($25).  The green lentil pancakes were stacked with, hummus, spiced chickpeas, avo, mushroom, coconut yoghurt, ad tomato,  plus a cute mushroom on a skewer. 

Morning walks III

We had a morning walk after the rains stopped.  The gardens along the Upfield walking path were soaking.  The most bizarre sight was all the snails hanging off the spindly plants, looking for all the world like flowers or fruit.  The snail in the above photo amused me with its dramatic bending over backwards as it hangs off the plant.  How did I not know that snails hang off plants!

On the telly: We got a bellyful of laughs from The English Teacher (USA) and Fisk (Australia).  Kitty Flanagan is brilliant as Fisk.  She wrote the comedy series with her sister Penny Flanagan who made an impression on me with her sweet sweet harmonies in the band Club Hoy that I loved seeing when I was a student.

Project Turkish, Brunswick

We had a beautiful lunch at Project Turkish (80 Dawson Street).  Sylvia had The Spread: This was an impressive plate of scrambled eggs topped with sumac, cucumber, tomato, halloumi cheese, sigara borek, olives, Nutella, honey and cream, pide bread and a cup of Turkish tea. She had a vegetarian version with avocado and more haloumi was added instead of the meat.  I had a Kofta Platter which usually had lamb koftas but I had the vegan koftas with the spread of rice, salad, cacik (yoghurt and cucumber dip), simits and pide bread. 

While I was not so keen on my koftas which were cold patties of burghal wheat and too spicy for me, I loved my meal.  The simits (sesame covered bread rings) were the best I had had since being in Turkey.  I could have just eaten these with the lovely cacik.  Sylvia's sigara boreks were amazing.  We were too full to try the hyped sans sebastian cheesecake with its tempting drizzle of chocolate sauce.  And the staff were so friendly and interested in chatting to us about the food that we left with a warm glow.

Ondo, Melbourne CBD

As I have mentioned, we don't have lots of meals and morning teas at work so it was fun to have a group meal at Ondo (115 Little Lonsdale St).  This is a very elegant Korean restaurant.  I had the vegan version of the Yukhwe Bimibap (usually served with rare beef tartare - ugh).  I chose the single ($29) because some of sides in the set ($35) such as the soup were not vegetarian. It was absolutely delicious with a bed of garlic rice, gochujang, soybrean sprout, cucumber and crispy seaweed topped with a wonderful pile of thinly sliced fried tofu strips in a spicy sauce (maybe the gochujang).  What a revelation!  

I haven't eaten much Korean food in restaurants and I have never had it so beautifully presented.  And Ondo does a lime and pinapple kombucha.  One of my colleagues loved her matcha cloud drink.  But the colleagues who ordered the plain croissants were bemused at how they didn't even come with a pat of butter.  Having said that, the bakes looked wonderful.  So nice to get out for an early lunch but sad that the reason was that one of my colleagues was leaving.

Locale 542, Ascot Vale

We shared a La Francesca focaccia at Locale 542 (542B Mt Alexander Rd ).  The focaccia was great with the chargrilled vegies, pesto and cheese.  Unfortunately it is just a hole in a wall with a few pavement tables.  Usually this would be fine but not on the day they were spraying stinky weedkiller nearby.  I amused myself by taking a photo that made the tree across the road look like it was growing out of the pot on our table.

Jacarandas in bloom, Ascot Vale

While in Ascot Vale, we were in awe of all the jacarandas.  When in bloom in spring, the purple blossoms are so beautiful.  I am a little jealous of the people in this street who have jacarandas on their nature strips.  

Sylvia has additional reason to love them.  On her favourite The Best Aussie Christmas album, one song (Christmas where the gum trees grow) has the line "When the bloom of the jacaranda tree is here, Christmas time is near".

Olivia Spring Cafe, Moonee Ponds

It is a long time since my first visit to Olivia Spring Cafe (637 Mt Alexander Rd) in Moonee Ponds.  It is a plant-based restaurant that offers lots of vegie packed salads, noodles, banh mi etc with a Vietnamese influence.  We were running late for an appointment so I asked for a quick service and was really impressed.  

My Almighty Salad ($21) was a huge bowl of quinoa, lentil, mushroom, mixed lettuce, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, cucumber, alfaa sprouts, kimchi, almonds, and goji berry served with homemade white miso dressing.  It was delicious especially with the miso dressing.  But I had to take a tub of it home because I ran out of time to eat it and there was so much of it.  We both want to get back to try more from the extensive menu.

Daikokuten, Hawthorn East

We have been to all the Onigiri Map participants over a few days.  My favourite place was Daikokuten (1/398 Tooronga Rd).  I had a Sweet Purple Potato Croquette onigiri and Sylvia had the Tamago Onigiri.  They were amazingly delicious with lots of tasty seasoning coating the rice as well as a generous filling.  We are keen to return and try more dishes.

Labor cutting HECS debt is not a perfect policy – but why the feigned outrage over ‘fairness’? by Greg Jericho in the Guardian, 6 November 2024.

If George Washington was the father of America’s democracy, Donald Trump is its undertaker, by Peter Hartcher, The Age, 6 November 2024.

Media hysteria around Sofronoff report fuelled ‘mob mentality’, Bruce Lehrmann prosecutor Drumgold says, The Guardian, 5 November 2024. 

University of Wollongong to cut 137 jobs due to $35m drop in international enrolments, ABC News, 5 November 2024.  It's outrageous that these job cuts include a complete history department.

The social media ban is just another political smokescreen, by Eddy Jokovich and David Lewis in New Politics, 20 November 2024.

How meaningful reform by Labor is killed by the mainstream media, by Victoria Fielding in Independent Australia, 28 May 2024.  It is so sad that this is still true.

Australia’s immigration regime is violent and cruel. Labor’s rushed bills will devastate traumatised people, by Behrouz Boochani in The Guardian, 30 November 2024.