My Monthly Chronicles, August 2025

August was a quieter month for us.  In the wintery month following an intense time of painting the house, we followed our instincts and snuggled inside for a rest.  We got out to some markets and revisited some excellent cafes.  Good food and good times.  (The above photo is the Mill Markets in Geelong - see further down.)

You can read about our food and craft at home the month at In My Kitchen, August 2025.
 

Coburg Farmers Market, Coburg

We had a visit to the farmers market and Sylvia finally was able to try the Titilas matchas.  She was very happy with her iced blueberry matcha latte.  You can see more about what I bought in my kitchen and read more on on my post about the Coburg Farmers Market.

The Hammerbarn Hardware Conundrum

It is tough telling stories without name-dropping these days.  I notice many fictional tv shows using alternative names for well known brands.  Some of them are quite amusing.  And even the most well-intentioned writers can unwittingly get themselves in a tangle.  

When the BBC bought the merchandising rights to Bluey, they partnered with Bunnings Hardware Store on a "Hammerbarn"promotion using the name that was used in Bluey to avoid referencing Bunnings.  Consequently, despite Bluey making an effort not to name the big business brand, the "Hammerbarn" episode has been taken off the streaming platform by the public broadcaster ABC while the promotion is on due to the ABC's rules about commercial partnerships. I bet Bluey did not see that coming!

Why did the ABC pull the Bluey episode from iview?, in Kids News, 3 August 2025.

Daikokuten, Hawthorn East

After trawling the many wonderful stalls at the Camberwell Market, we drove home via Hawthorn so we could stop at Daikokuten (Shop 1/398 Tooronga Rd).  Sylvia wanted more of their amazing onigiri with the tastiest seasoning.  I tried the Curry Udon Set with fuikake, nori, chilli strings, pickled vegetables and the optional fried tofu.  It was really good.  It should have come with a miso soup but that was not vegetarian.  They charged me less, which was the decent thing to do.
 

Daikokuten dessert, Hawthorn East

We don't get out Hawthorn way much so made the most of our visit by sharing a slice of Layered matcha cake.  Sylvia lashed out on the matcha with an iced matcha latte and I washed mine down with some green tea in a gorgeous ceramic cup.

Tylers Milkbar, Preston

We stopped by Tylers on a cold day for a warm lunch.  Sylvia had her favourite "There's a Leek in Toastie" and I had the "Baked Spud".  My "spud-tacular delight!" was a baked potato loaded with cheddar cheese, tofu bacon, roasted corn, our jalapeños, spring onion, garlic butter, sour cream & chives served with house slaw.  I had tried to order it months ago when it was sold out and was glad to finally fill my belly with its goodness.  

I have always loved their coconut bacon but the tofu bacon was one of those joyful vegetarian moments when someone gets it right.  Recently Sylvia and I were talking about how disappointing we usually find tofu in cafes.  It is usually lacking in flavour and crispness.  The flavour of Tylers tofu bacon was amazing.  It was so pink and delicious.  I am looking forward to trying it again.  Read my post on Tylers Milkbar.

Gluten free Lifestyle Show, Geelong

While visiting my folks in Geelong, we stopped off at the Gluten Free Lifestyle Show because my sister had a Frankly Raw peanut butter stall there.  We got chatting to a friendly chap from Daylesford Cider and bought a six pack of beautiful (non-alcoholic) apple cider, tasted my sister's wonderful peanut butter and were very pleased to have some warm arancini from Arancini 4 all.  We got there quite late so it was quietening down but there was some really love products on sale at the stalls.

Mill Markets, Geelong

We love visiting the Mill Markets (114 Bellarine Highway, Newcomb) when we are down in Geelong and had a wander around the many stalls while we were visiting my parents.  I have never stopped to look at all the outdoor section before and loved browsing there.  You can see it in the top photo with the huge colourful rooster.  It would be so much fun to have in your garden.  Inside is so much to see with lots of wonderful vintage objects and a few that make me feel quite nostalgic.  I bought a floral table for beside my bed that is just right.

Jour Cafe, Collingwood

I have written about our recent visit to Jour Cafe (29 Keele Street, Collingwood).  It is such a beautiful French cafe in the middle of grungy warehouses in inner city Melbourne.  The above photo is the bike at the top of Keele Street near Smith Street to woo passersby.  If you see it and feel tempted, I highly recommend you head down to the cafe for some great French food in a stylish room.

Easeys, Collingwood

We loved eating on one of the train carriages atop the building.  It is a fun burger and chips joint that in a unique location with great views of Collingwood.  I will soon write more about Easeys at 3/48 Easey Street.

Watching on the telly: the repair and restoration of historic building on Restoration Australia, and the fun and whimsy of Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr Fox .

 

Bluestone Cottage Museum, Coburg 

The Bluestone Cottage Museum (82 Bell Street, Coburg) of the Coburg Historical Society is run by volunteers.  There are plans to restore the cottage and construct a new building for office, storage and displays.  Once the works are complete I am sure there will be a chance to rethink the displays but I will miss the charm of the slightly rundown building with cracked walls and the 20th Century kitchen.  I have encouraged friends to visit before the change and taken a couple through the house.

 

BrewDog, Coburg

One of my friends who came to see the Bluestone Cottage was Jo.  After the visit, we had a drink and a nibble at BrewDog at Pentridge ( E division, T101/1 Champ St, Coburg).  It was good to catch up over buffalo cauliflower wings and a lemon lime and bitters.  It was pretty quiet in the mid-afternoon but the numbers of reservations on tables showed that it would be busier later.

Workplace views, Carlton

While visiting an office for work, I took this photo of the view out the window.  The contrast of the colourful bold modern buildings and the grey historic stone building struck me as quite striking.  In front of these buildings is a vacant lot.  I wonder if a building will eventually rise here to block this view.

RIP David Stratton: He was a respected film reviewer, especially in At the Movies for many years.  It is over a decade since At the Movies last aired in 2014 and to this day I don't feel as on top of what films are showing the cinemas as I did when David and Margaret gave their charismatic and trustworthy reviews.  David Stratton will be remembered fondly as having a huge impact on Australian cinema.

Wild Timor, Coburg

I have been pleased to see Wild Timor (282 Sydney Rd) has been offering soup over winter.  At the end of August, I tried the Leek and potato soup.  It was excellent: creamy and tasty.  I really need to try more of their soups.

In the news

The month started with a large crowd of Pro-Palestine protesters walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and ended with a prominent neo-Nazi addressing an anti-immigration rally on the steps of the Victorian Parliament building.  It is a sign of the polarisation in our society in Australia.  Also in the news were the 80th anniversary of dropping the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Trump sending the national guard into Washington DC, local e-bike regulation, 

 The killing code: strange symbols in a WA settler's diaries lay bar frontier attocities, in the Guardian, 4 August 2025.

Australians are pushing back against ‘authoritarian’ anti-protest laws in ‘a return to the spirit of the 60s’, in The Guardian, 9 August 2025.

The UK’s Online Safety Act is a licence for censorship – and the rest of the world is following suit, in the Guardian, 9 August 2025

Anti-censorship boycott leaves Bendigo Writers Festival in tatters, Alex McKinnon in DeepCut News, 15 August 2025.

From ‘delete anxiety’ to data breaches: The perils of all those photos on our phones, by Fenella Souter in The Age, 15 August 2025.

E-bikes could slash our reliance on cars – but overpowered illegal models on the roads make us all less safe, in The Conversation, 18 August 2025

Crumbs at the Slophouse (on the Productivity Commission idea of waiving copyright for AI), Nervous Laughter by Rick Morton, 19 August 2025. 

‘Strength not measured by how many people you can blow up,’ Tony Burke says as row with Netanyahu escalates, in the Guardian, 20 August 2025.   

Trump escalates attacks against Smithsonian museums, says there’s too much focus on ‘how bad slavery was’, in CNN Politics, 21 August 2025.

ASIO’s sensational Iran claims raise plenty of questions. Why isn’t the media asking them? Amy Reimikis in DeepCut news, 29 August 2025.

Reynolds, Lehrmann and the business of reputation reparations, in Independent Australia, 29 August 2025.