FOOD. WALKING. WHAT MORE COULD YOU NEED?

Here I am, blogging it up again. You can probably tell that I’m typing offline in a word document, because capital letters are making appearances at the starts of sentences. And ‘sentences’ is spelled correctly. Not spelt. No, no, no.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to work, which was OK apart from a couple of FERAL children. I worked with Julie (the owner) and Anita. Anita has only just started working at the Tea Party, and also works at Kathmandu. I hope that means good advice on packs and walking gear… and maybe a discount?! We got 4 new teas in on Friday – Turkish Honey Rooibos (3.5 stars in my out-of-5 subjective judgement), Blood Orange (flavoured black tea, 3 stars), Strawberry Sencha (decaf green tea, 4 stars), and Springtime (herbal with liquorice, mint, lemongrass, ginger and lemon peel, 4.5 stars). I have discovered the BEST eggplant dip in the market, at the shop diagonally opposite the place where we get our wraps and boreks. So I have eaten a lot of eggplant dip, which, teamed with their WONDERFUL felafel balls, makes a very, very, VERY yummy lunch.

While I was feasting on dip, Dan was out and about, paying rent and looking at apartments. Well, one apartment. It was in Flemington, and was quite nice, if a little "nice" in tones of beige. Fully renovated, with some rather bizarre nooks and spaces. It is a block of 6, and 3 are for sale – makes me wonder. It is right near the racecourse, so plenty of fun in spring…

After work, we met Esther J and Rachel B at Ripe, on St Georges Rd, and had a drink before heading to the Moroccan Soup Bar. YES! After years of trying, Dan and I finally made it. The food was absolutely delicious: favourites being the chickpea bake (it had yoghurt and paprika and parsley and pita bread (yep!) and some sort of delicious-making-stuff in it to make it delicious) and the tomatoey rice with eggplant. Also didn’t mind the sweets. Or the dips. In fact, it was all great! We had a banquet for $16.50 each, and left very satisfied. YUM. YUM. YUM!

Today Dan worked, and I met Paulina (who works with me at the Tea Party) to go for a walk. We met at the corner of Glenlyon Rd and Lygon St, walked over to the Merri Creek, and along the bike trail to Lake Reserve in Coburg (I figure it’s about 9 or 10 km from my door). The walk was very lovely, though a bit over-populated with Sunday strollers/cyclists/joggers/dog-walkers in some places. We saw a bike race at the Brunswick Velodrome – a first for us both! – and landed at Lake Reserve in the middle of a Greek festival, with dancing, music and food. We ate our picnic lunch while watching the dancers, then wandered up the hill to lay in the sun/shade and read (Paulina: Voltaire, Rachel: textbook on semiotics). Took the tram back down Sydney Rd, where we parted ways, and I had a fossick in Savers. (Let’s just say that I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS. But it was only $1.99, and I got a 20% discount, so it was very worthwhile. If I ever find a use for it, I’ll be sure to inform you!)

Next week, Dan has Tuesday and Wednesday off, so we’re going to visit a couple of apartments in Coburg for a squiz. Hope everyone is well and enjoying whatever weather you’re having (ours is lovely). Cheerio.