My Monthly Chronicles: September 2025

 

As Spring began to warm up, September was a busy month for us with visits to the farmers market, cafes, nights out, and exhibitions.  Above is a wonderfully green matcha chiffon cake and a rhubarb monte carlo biscuit at Tylers Milkbar, Preston.

To read more about the month, check out In My Kitchen: September 2025, especially what I bought at visits to the farmers market.
 

Gopals, Melbourne CBD

It is so long since I have been at Gopals (139 Swanston Street, Melbourne).  It was nice to see this cheap Hari Krishna cafeteria was still fairly similar to when I had written up a blog post on Gopals in 2008.  Even the menu was fairly similar.  I had a small plate of a spinach dairy and cheese pie with two salads - beetroot and chickpea - with tahini sauce ($9.50).  It was not quite as cheap as it had been but still cheap in this day and age.

Old Treasury Building, Melbourne CBD

It is also a while since I have been to the museum at the Old Treasury Building (20 Spring Street).  I was inspired recently by hearing a talk by the Margaret Anderson about the exhibitions here  .I enjoyed the exhibition on Belongings: Objects and Family Life just before it closed.  It was small but made me feel nostalgic for tv and toys from my childhood.  I also enjoyed some of the retro posters of Melbourne and the protest exhibitions.

Mr Miller, Preston - What the Falafel

We had lunch at Mr Miller (14 Miller Street).  I had the "What the Falafel" plate: tzatziki, hummus, roasted tomato tabbouleh, falafel, pickled red onion and sumac spiced crispy pita.  It was really nice.  The crispy pita were an interesting alternative but I still would have preferred bread to mop up the dip.

Mr Miller, Preston - Don't pancake around

Sylvia could not resist a sweet brunch dish called "Don't pancake around": fresh pancakes ice cream seasonal berries, berry sauce, chocolate sauce and fairy floss. I loved the tartan criss cross of the berry sauce and chocolate sauce.  It looked fun and tasted excellent with a mouthful of pancake.  We also had starters of cute little tomato and mushroom arancini.

Coburg Farmers Market 1

We had a fathers day visit with Sylvia's dad to the Coburg Farmers Market (92 Bell St - entry via Urqhuart Street).  I had an excellent cheese scone.  They just don't make cheese scones at enough places in Melbourne.  Sylvia is very pleased to has discovered the Titilas Matcha.  She had blueberry matcha and was very pleased with it.  I love my silver gum nut bouquet from the native flowers stall.

Fathers Day in Geelong

We had a fine Fathers day afternoon tea in Geelong.  As usual there was a great spread of food - spinach and cheese rolls, quiche, profitteroles, my coconut ice, scones with jam and cream, and a a magnificent jaffa cake that my mum made with gluten free flour and drizzled with chocolate.  It was great to catch up with my siblings who I haven't seen for a while.

Coburg Farmers Market 2

We have spent more time at the Farmers Market this month than we have for quite a while.  It has been ages since we had momos and made us reflect on how things have changed.  We used to have them regularly at the market years ago and it was great to have them again.  When Sylvia was younger she would eat the dumpling skins and I would eat the filling.  On this visit neither of us left any of our momos behind!  Sylvia also discovered a new matcha flavour at Titilas - earl grey - and loved it.  I had a fresh orange juice with some blood orange juice that they called a Sunrise OJ.

Pepes Italian and Liquor and The Lark play, Melbourne CBD 

I have written about our amazing meal at Pepe's Italian & Liquor (275-285 Exhibition Street) with the best ever focaccia, great salads, great pistachio bombolini and fun ski chalet vibes.  This photo is of the front of the menu which you can see has Pepes written in the tracks made by the skiers on the snowy mountain slope.  

After our dinner, we went to the Arts Centre to see the wonderful Noni Hazelhurst in the wistful one woman play called The Lark where she plays a pub landlady in Fitzroy reflecting on her life behind the bar.  

Biang Biang, Melbourne CBD - noodle theatre

We were in Melbourne for a workshop and stopped for a quick dinner at Biang Biang (255 Swanston Street).  We sat on the mezzanine with a great view down of people coming and going as well as the noodle making with the dough pulled thin across the staff members outstretched hands to make the long noodles.  It was good to see that they were freshly made. 

Biang Biang, Melbourne CBD - noodles

We were very pleased with our bowls of biang biang noodles.  Sylvia had hers with chilli and I had ine with eggplant and tomato. Biang biang noodles with eggplant and tomato.  Both had Asian greens on the side.  I am glad the meal was good because when arrived for our workshop, we found we had the wrong day.

Ice Ko-ii Gelato, Melbourne CBD

After finding out we had the wrong day I was not happy.  I had taken leave on the day we had planned and had another commitment on the correct date.  We headed back to the tram stop.  As we waited we were tempted by the Ice Ko-ii Gelato (20 Elizabeth Street).  I loved the dark chocolate ice cream.  Sylvia was a bit more adventurous with matcha mochi with sweet cream cheese dip which she enjoyed.  The place was serious about their matcha.  They had 4 different matcha ice creams!

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Parkville

The Ian Potter Museum of Art, on the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus at the corner of Swanston Street and Masson Road, has been closed for some years for renovation and expansion.  It was a pleasure see it open again and walk through the exhibition of "65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art".  The exhibition has amazing Indigenous artwork arranged in a way that made me aware and proud of the breadth of First Nations culture and the huge impact of colonisation.  I only got through 2 floors and hope to get back to see the rest of it. 

Hofbrauhaus and Enchanted Miniature Bookshelf workshop, Melbourne CBD

After going to our Enchanted Miniature Bookshelf workshop on the wrong day, we returned to the city a couple of days later and had dinner again but this time at Hofbrauhaus (18-20 Market Lane) for some German food.  Sylvia was excited to have Käsespätzle: German egg noodles with Alpine cheese, tomatoes, spinach and caramelised onions.  I had the Blumenkohl: freshly crumbed cauliflower schnitzel, fries, slaw, vegan herb mayo.  And we shared the Gebackene pilze: crumbed mushrooms with Bavarian mayo.  Sylvia was a big fan but I was less so, though I really liked the Apfel Schorle (apple spritzer).

Then we headed off to the workshop which was amazing.  So much fun and so inspiring.  You can read more about it in my post on Making a magical miniature bookshelf. 

Coburg Farmers Market 3

On our third visit to the farmers market in the month - yes we were frequent visitors - we had a a cheese melt from the Pacelli Deli.  They describe the food truck as "the hanging cheese man".    The feature is two balls of cheese hanging above a grill so it melts straight onto the bread.  Our Wandi Walnuts melt with melted Caciocavallo cheese with honey and walnuts on Pane di Casa bread was excellent.  The honey tamed the intense cheese and the walnuts added texture.
 

In the News

Australia recognised Gaza at the UN.  Neo Nazi key speaker at anti-immigration march in Melbourne was widely condemned.  The Victorian Government introduced a bill in Parliament  treaty with Victorian First Nations people at last. Right wing activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah USA followed by Jimmy Kimmel being sacked for his reaction and then reinstated days later.  Trump and Netanyahu concocted a peace plan for Palestine without consulting any Palestinians.  Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonara convicted of a coup.  Australia's Anti-islamaphobia Envoy gives his report.

As fascism rears its ugly head, we are trapped between the craven and the unwilling, by Amy Remeikis, New Daily, 6 September 2025. 

Australia will soon have its own ‘centre for disease control’. Let’s not repeat the chaos of the US, by Allen Cheng, The Conversation, 8 September 2025.

Trump accuses ABC journalist of ‘hurting Australia’ and says he’ll report him to Albanese, by Michelle Grattan, The Conversation, 17 September 2025. 

Robert Redford, screen idol turned director and activist, dies at 89, Reuters, 18 September 2025.

Starmer’s collapse and the rebirth of a movement, by Stewart Sweeney, Pearls and Irritations, 18 September 2025.

Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era on The Daily Show, Youtube, 20 September 2025.

'America is not happy': [Australia's] ABC under fire for [America's ABC] pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC News [Australia], 20 September 2025.

‘A cottage of one’s own’: Newly unearthed Virginia Woolf stories to be published, in the Guardian, 24 September 2025.

Trumps peace plan shows Netanyahu has outmanoeuvered yet another American president, by John Lyons, ABC News, 30 September, 2025.

Watching on the small screen 

We watched a few films from the my younger days that were nostalgic for me and also enjoyed by Sylvia: Dead Poets Society, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Garden State.  We also had lots of fun watching Ted Danson as a spy undercover in a nursing home on Man on the Inside.  Then there were a few shows that gave me much to think about: Hostage (the UK political thriller series with Suranne Jones), Unknown Number: the High School Catfish documentary film, and the tv series,  Maid, which gives a great insight into how domestic violence can affect a woman's life.