Don't you just love weekends?

Don't you just love weekends - well us working people do.
Retired people may not know which are weekends or week days, a situation I look forward to.
Mind you, I don't want my life to go into fast forward. Please let it just flow slowly.
Having said that, this weekend like others has been filled with great stuff. And shouldn't they always?

Sue methodically selects her choices for our Veggie Garden.

My fantastic veggie garden bed in preparation for Sue's plantings

Yes, I know it might sound boring but I just love my Saturday morning rides. To experience an early morning ride with your mates along Beach road when Port Phillip bay is like a mill pond, no wind and you join many like minded cyclists is something I have never become sick of.
The sky was clear and yet the moon, a crescent in the cloudless morning sky gave us a welcome.

After my end of ride coffee, I arrived home to suggest to Sue we see Julie & Julia at the movies. Well after all I had some free tickets, didn't I. (Hey, big spender). What a great movie and Meryl Streep did a fine job of portraying Julia Child. Later Sue showed me some of the cooking episodes of Julia Child on You Tube.


The plantings lovingly positioned for planting. Will they survive - keep tuned in for future episodes.

On Sunday Sue asked me to build a veggie garden. With our youngest son leaving home, I had a spare wooden bed to build the garden surrounds from. The veggie garden is above the area where I buried my old mate Murphy. Well I should explain Murphy was a dog, an Irish Wolf Hound. He loved cherry tomatoes and would gently nibble a few as a treat on our past plantings. He was a great dog and it is fitting that the veggie garden is above his resting place. From this day it will be known as Murphy's Garden.

Our Murphy with his tinnie of Guinness - what else would an Irish Wolf Hound drink?

Off to the local nursery, Sue purchased the necessary requirements, bags of potting mix and a bag of chicken poo. Some further plantings to add to the tomato plants included capsicum, beans and zucchini were purchased.

At the end of the day, Sue had her veggie patch and we'll await the progress of her folly. After all she admits to not having a green thumb.

Oh No! Not another market Sue.

The Prahran Market - Est 1864


Feeling guilty as I was going to be be out most of Sunday, I said to Sue, “Why don’t we try another market on Saturday?”
We have a Saturday market in the inner suburb of Prahran. It’s about a few kms out of the City.
It was originally established in 1864 just after the gold rush era.
During the late 1960s I actually worked across the road from the market but being a teenage boy it had no attraction for me at the time. I did however enjoy Prahran as it had a sort of alternative grunge factor that lives on today.


From the Prahran Market website
Although land was sold throughout Prahran in 1840, it was not until the gold rush days of the 1850's that the community really began to grow, and in 1856, Prahran's first Council was elected. Prahran was famous for its small farms and market gardens, and at first goods were sold or bartered locally or carted into Melbourne.
What was needed was a central market place in the municipality of Prahran and this was organised by the Prahran Council in 1864.
The spot originally chosen was near the corner of Greville and Grattan Street, where the garden is now located.
Eventually the Grattan Street market became hopelessly overcrowded and a new spot had to be set aside. In 1881, the market was transferred to its present site on Commercial Road.

Sue's favourite shop at the Prahran market - Essential Ingredients

Anyway Sue said that she didn’t want to spend too much, yeah right!!!!
A new fry pan from Essential Ingredients was purchased. It is the most marvellous cook and chef’s shop. Essential Ingredients is Sue's very, very favorite place to be. A cook's heaven.

Marinated baby figs - one of Sue's many favorites.

We bought some marinated baby figs which are devine. They also have a foodie book shop which included a couple of new releases, one in particular from Stephanie Alexander. Her previous books have included a book she co-wrote with Maggie Beer about their Tuscan cooking travels and another about her time in the Dordogne.

Products by Maggie Beer.



Maggie had her own TV program called "the Cook and the Chef" which has just finished after four very successful seasons. Her products sell in this shop.

http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/ Check out her website
www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef Well worth a look with a few cooking videos from the show.
http://www.stephaniealexander.com.au/ and also Stephanie's

From the market Sue also purchased duck breasts, wild rabbit (again), quail, strawberries and mangoes.
Looking like a good week out of the kitchen for me.......

I love big chunky field mushrooms - as good as a big fat steak.

Tonight we ate the duck breast.
How was it cooked Sue?
Pan fried slowly to get a very crispy skin, then finished in the oven served nice and pink, with a blood orange sauce made with red wine vinegar, chicken stock and a little sugar, pommes anna and a salad.
I needed to think about something other than the fact that our youngest (21) moved out today, and I’m feeling sad. Happy for his new adventure, but sad ‘cos I’ll miss him. So…I cooked.

It was probably good therapy for Sue as Sunday I was out most of the day racing on the Velodrome.

Wild rabbit, duck breast and quail went into the back pack for next week's dinners.

Fennel, beetroot and leak.



Tonight I've come home to a lovely meal but a sad wife with her youngest just flying the coop. But like a homing pigeon, I'm sure it won't be long before he returns.

That reminds me that I need to change the door locks next weekend.

The Queen Victoria Market on a wet and windy Saturday

This weekend has brought much needed rain to Melbourne and so the bike stayed in the shed for the weekend.
In a momentary lapse of thought I suggested to Sue that we take off to the Queen Victoria Market. Without delay she agreed and next thing I know we were in the car and off to the city.

The Queen Victoria Market established in 1878

This weekend is Grand Final weekend for the Australian Rules Football. Neither of us has much interest in footy and the good thing is everyone is either at the game or at home watching it on TV.
Last year we were in Lygon Street Carlton when the Grand Final was on and the shops and cafes were empty.

The fruit and veg section of the 7 hectares of market.

Anyway, although the Queen Vic Markets wasn’t deserted, it at least wasn’t overcrowded. The market has a long history, being established in 1878. It is the largest market in the southern hemisphere with an area of 7 hectares or around 17 acres. The covered areas of the market contain 1328 solar panels, 2000 square metres generates 252,000 kw hours of electricity over the year.

Under cover area for seafood and meat - those prices are AUS$

There were other markets in the city such as the Eastern Market which no longer survives. The Eastern Market was demolished in the 60s and was replaced by Melbournes first high rise Hotel, the Southern Cross hotel. The Hotel’s claim to fame was that the Beatles stayed there on their concerts in Melbourne during the mid 60s.

The specialty stores are presented beautifully with lead light glass and gold leaf signage in many cases. Sue bought a wild rabbit from this stall.

The Queen Vic has had a bit of a shady past with supposed Mafia connections and certain criminal element at times. These days its rather trendy with some interesting specialty shops selling a huge range of produce from many other countries as well as the best of local produce.

This has to be my favorite stall - The French shop selling chesses, etc but look in the background, cycling jerseys and a classic steel framed road bike from the 70s.

My role in this trip to the market was pack horse and Le Banque. The more Sue became excited with the specials, the heavier the back pack became. Seafood, meat, fruit, and veg started being stuffed into the pack to the point that even the store keepers were showing signs of sympathy for me.

The corner Deli selling local King Island produce.
The benefits of course are the end results of enjoying Sue’s cooking of the produce, always washed down with a bottle of wine, in this case a Bordeaux 2005 blend of Merlot, Cab Sav and Malbec. We have this great wine chain called Dan Murphy, Uncle Dan’s, which has a marvellous array of local and imported wines.A stall selling chocolate, nuts and coffee - yum, yum.

The Bordeaux was just the perfect drop for the rib eye steak cooked beautifully with broad beans and potato slices cooked in duck fat.
As I write this blog the view from the study window is filled with the swaying of the Gum tree branches as the wind and rain lashes down. What happened to spring?

South Melbourne - a suburb of peaceful elegance

Breakfast in Emerald Hill

An early etching of the Emerald Hill Town Hall

I worked in South Melbourne about nine years ago - it’s a great part of Melbourne with a rich history and a diversified range of architecture. Like many suburbs of Melbourne it had many pubs or hotels, almost one on every corner especially as it spreads towards Port Melbourne but that’s another area and story for a later blog.

My view from the cafe window

Originally settled in the 1840s, it was named Emerald Hill during the gold rush days of Victoria.
South Melbourne’s civic centre is dominated by its huge town hall built in the 1880s grandly overlooking the suburb from Emerald Hill. Quietly sitting in the town hall’s shadows is a row either side of double story Victorian era terrace homes. As I walk beside the Town Hall to explore these homes, the trees are starting to blossom and the flower boxes on the second story windows are colours of spring.

Clarendon Street

The gothic style of the ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) bank

A short walk to the main thoroughfare brings you to Clarendon Street, the shopping or commercial district of South Melbourne with its range of cafes and restaurants.
It’s in the side street leading to Clarendon Street I stopped for coffee and toasted fruit bread for breakfast on my way to work.

Obviously a favourite with locals, the person serving coffee seemed to know each customer by first name. It was interesting to sit there with my book watching people come and go. I sat with a full view to the street where people were on their way to work. A young couple parted with a kiss as they went in opposite directions with their takeaway coffees.

Terrace houses beside the Town Hall

Colours of spring

But its her back streets that intrigue me more. Sometimes you’ll find what seems like a grand residence, yet if you look closely, a faded painted sign gives away the building’s past. The name of an old hotel or pub can be seen just slightly against the upper regions of the building.

The Shamrock Hotel, now commercial office building

Just a couple of blocks back from Clarendon Street is the South Melbourne market, a place where a wide range of produce can be purchased. Surrounding the market are interesting little shops and cafes that need exploring. One such shop has taken on the French term Brocante for the antique and junk flowing out of the front door.

South Melbourne has an feeling of relaxed elegance that needs more than just a quick breakfast stop on the way to work. Maybe I’ll take Sue there for breakfast this weekend to explore.

Australia's Kangaroo and Emu look down upon the shoppers of Emerald Hill

There's been a murder

My mate Nico had a birthday and we were all sworn to secrecy by his wife Bet, there was to be a murder and we were invited.

Da boys


Da broads

It would be a surprise to him.


Have you heard of murder mystery parties. Sue and I have been to a few and even held one ourselves. They are a lot of fun and Sue always slips into her Sarah Bernhart personality. It doesn't matter what her character might be, her accent always takes on a southern belle.

Da card game

On arriving at Nico and Bet's home, the rooms were decorated out as 1920s Chicago nightclub.

The men were dressed in 20's gangster suits with the women in flapper garb.

We were given the descriptions of our characters and certain dark deeds that we needed to perform during the night's entertainment.
Sue won a prize for best performer - why am I surprised?

Needless to say we were all totally in confusion but a great night was enjoyed.