Laneways

 

I live right on a laneway.  Two in fact.  One runs along the side of our house, and all of our windows open onto it.  The other runs behind my house and provides access to garages and backyards along our street.  Because my street is a short, one-way affair there is frequent traffic in our lane as people seek a cut through between the often congested roads that surround us.  I do like that lane ways are used spaces…although I do wish that people would drive slowly down them and would really prefer them not to clip the side of our studio and garage with their cars.

Laneways are getting a pretty good wrap at the moment and all manner of things are happening in them, both in an arty sense and in a food gathering sense.  Heaps of the best restaurants and cafes are almost impossible to find tucked down some graffiti covered laneway in the heart of the city, or even in the inner suburbs.  There are also numerous festivals and music events happening down deep dark lanes across Melbourne.  In our lane in recent years I can recall a music video being shot at the back of our shed (it was a shocking song and we had to listen over and over again), a short film being shot in our lane (and one in the next block) and a student documentary being made about harvesting food from trees overhanging lanes in the inner city.  

Even zombies drink tea.

The short film is called 'The Zombie Monologues' and as a resident who was asked not to use the lane that day, I was also invited to be an extra 'zombie' in the cast.  A friend and I donned our best zombie make up and starred as the moaning undead in the film.  It was an awesome experience.  We attended the film premier (at a pub) and had a real laugh.   I was also interviewed for the documentary about urban harvesting.  I won't post links here, as I am not really sure I agree with the practise of advertising people's overhanging fruit trees to large numbers of people.  I also don't really think that all of the trees listed are really 'overhanging' or are really providing excess fruit.  Telling people to 'bring a ladder' to harvest fruit from someone else's tree, kind of smacks of invading their privacy a bit. 

The market gardens and chooks at CERES.

There is real history behind the bluestone lanes in Brunswick.  The stones were mined from a local quarry on the banks of the Merri Creek. The site where CERES sits now.  Once the stone had been collected the quarry became a landfill site.  In recent times has been converted into an environmental park, which any local knows.  CERES has community gardens, a café, restaurant, and schools program among other things. 

The lanes were built to give access to properties to the ‘Night Man,’ the man who would come and collect sewerage from backyard toilets.  Most toilets were in the back corner of the yard, and Brunswick still has a good collection of ‘Dunnies’ that you can see if you take a walk in any laneway.  In my old house (incidentally in the next street to the one I live in now), we had a grotty backyard dunny.  It was always covered in cobwebs and had no light.  Sounds gross, but I can’t tell you how PLEASED my housemate and I were to have it after a house guest accidentally burnt our inside toilet down after leaving a lighted candle on the plastic cistern.  For months we had to traipse outside to the dunny until a friend can around with an old cistern he had lying around and fixed our inside loo. 

First Aid Kit.  Young and cool.

Another laneway treat is Sideshow Alley.  This organisation films music being played live in laneways all over the place!  It is well worth having a look at their stuff.  I fell in love with 'First Aid Kit' after seeing the video of 'Waltz for Richard' which was filmed in an city laneway in Melbourne.  I love that a few of the videos are shot in Brunswick laneways.  

An old photo taken in a Brunswick lane.  Details here.

Take a walk down your local laneway before the days get too cold.  There is so much to look at.  So many wild plants and vines that have grown over back fences, untended and jungly.  Our streets are filled with manicured front gardens and renovated cottages and terraces.  So infrequently does a laneway back fence match up.  Most are made of ancient brick, or rusted corrugated iron.  Weeds are often knee high and pieces of discarded furniture or rubble can be found.  Walking down a Brunswick laneway is almost like walking into a time warp.

Play School

Today I took my children to see a Play School concert.  I'm not sure who was more excited, me or them.  I suspect me.  

Play School has been on Australian television for...I don't know, EVER.  I grew up with a steady diet of Noni Hazlehurt, John Waters, Benita Collings, et al.  Check out the previous presenter and a bit of the history on the ever reliable (??) Wikipiedia here. I can remember not being so keen on it as I grew out of my infant years and having to watch it with my younger brother.  Obviously I was too cool to make the stuff with paper, pipe cleaners, cellophane and the like.  Now that I am much older and have children of my own, I LOVE IT!  They come up with such cool ideas for making stuff.  The sets are colourful, but still have the 'home-madey' feel about them.  They read a story and tell the time every single show - terrific for children's learning - and they are always dropping in interesting facts about animals or nature.  My four year old loves it, and is especially excited by the new episodes.

Luke Caroll

Play School makes sure it has a good cultural and diverse mix of presenters.  There is Karen, who has a Chinese background, Jay Lagia, an Islander, Leah who looks of Indian background and has a Dutch surname, there is Sofia who is deaf, and there is an Indigenous man who presents quite often (I believe his name is Luke?).  The presenters are also a mix of tried and true oldies, Andrew and Georgie, and some young up and comings, Teo and Brooke.  Some of the presenters are better than others, and we all have our favourites.  

Recently Play School has launched the fairly successful Justine Clarke and Jay Lagai into just about every home where there is a child and a stereo across Australia.  They have both released albums of kids songs, and tour regularly to sell out crowds of under fives- plus parents.  The good news about these performers is that their music isn't horrible.  It isn't the Wiggles and it certainly isn't Hi-5 (we call Hi-5 the Low-brow Wiggles).  it can easily be popped on in the car and essentially ignored, or sung along to by parents.  It doesn't demand you to count down backwards from 10 or to clap your hands and do actions.  And the kids like it because the know it.  ABC 2 is always flogging Justine's songs, they play her music videos practically between every show.    

Alex Paps and Abi Tucker

 Anyway, I saw  an advertisement in a magazine a few months ago for Play School concerts.  I immediately rushed home to book and managed to get 4 tickets for a show in Ivanhoe.  I had spoken to a good friend who also loves Play School and has two kids, and we were set.  We discussed the concert at length.  Who would be presenting?  Who did we want?  Who didn't we want!?  I told my four year old who began a count down to the show.  My friend elected not to tell her little boy, he is a bit younger and doesn't really have the concept of delayed gratification yet.  Anyway, finally the big day arrived, TODAY!

We all prepared a picnic lunch and set off nice and early.  Apparently there was a chance that the performers would come out to meet the kids before or after the show!  We also wanted to get good seats....it is just a general admission gig and I knew that there would be some serious groupies there pushing for the front.  Anyway, we arrived.  There was a good mix of people there, bogans, middle class, older parents, younger parents, children from every cultural background imaginable.  It just goes to show that Play School bridges all divides

There he is, Jay, right in front of us!

I had talked down the presenters to my daughter.  She really wanted Justine and Jay...but I was pretty sure that those two would be off doing their own tour.  I knew I really didn't want Brooke Satchwell (I find her performances a bit wooden).  My friend didn't want Leah, I wanted Georgie...the list went on.  When we walked into the foyer before the show there was a smell of dirty nappies, the children were crazed and excited.  It was hot and when we peeked into the hall...there were hardly any seats.  It was an on the floor event.  

None of this mattered.  We were at Play School.

 We found a seat, right at the front.  I braved sitting on the floor (not easy with a recently broken/on the mend coccyx) and we waited.  at 12 on the dot the music started and out came JAY!! and ABI TUCKER!  I was stoked!  I am a bit of a McLeod's Daughters fan, and Abi Tucker was a bit of a star in that..I can't believe I just admitted I like McLeod's Daughters...   Anyway, they came out and did their thing!  It was great.  They sang all teh songs, had the kids (and parents) up dancing and doing actions, there was telling the time and a story time play.  At the end they came out into the crowd and did a bit of singing and dancing among the kids.  My daughter was lucky enough to have her hair ruffled by Abi (okay, I admit it, I'm jealous of a 4 year old).

Humpty and Jemima (we got a Jemima in orange overalls)

  Once it was all over we diligently queued up to buy the kids a toy.  My daughter chose a big Humpty, and I got a big Jemima for my 11 month old son.  Clearly the tickets didn't need to be expensive...we all bumped up the profits on soft toy sales.

I am home now, and my baby has fallen asleep (he was so tired).  My daughter has had a little rest with Humpty in Mum's bed and I could curl up for 40 winks too given half a chance.  What a great day.

 

 If Play School is having a concert near you, I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

 Thank you Jay, thank you Abi, thank you  ABC!

Fixies

The FIXIE:  what a lovely thing.

Brunswick is awash with FIXED GEAR BICYCLES, or FIXIES.

I love them, and I want one.

I love their compactness, their clean lines and their multitude of colours (my favourite being eau de nil or perhaps the shiny black).  

There are several bikes at my house.  My partner and I have a pair of mountain bikes (ridiculous, heavy things not at all suited to riding in the inner city...what were we thinking!?), and a multitude of trikes and bikes for children (mostly found in hard rubbish, and waiting for the day that the children will be big enough and coordinated enough to ride them).  But, my best bike is actually my CARGOBIKE!  A three wheeled people mover which totes the kids, and their friends (up to four of them!), around Brunswick.  A friend of mine even borrowed it for her wedding recently.  Her husband pedalled her from the wedding to the reception in Cargobike style.  We decorated the bike for the big event.

Don't get me wrong, I love my cargo bike.

 It is very popular and trendy to own such a thing among the 'kinder-mum' set.  

 But it is not a fixie.

 Although I lust after a beautiful little fixie to get around the 'hood on, I am sadly brought back to earth by these revelations:

1.  Owning a fixie does not magically mean my children will disappear and that I will get to ride with free abandon to local cafes and parks without them.

2.  Owning a fixie will not give me more time to do the aforementioned cafe hopping.

 3.  Owning a fixie will not turn me into a very tall, very skinny, very Gen Y, HIPSTER.

Owning a fixie will have to wait until my children can ride their own bikes to kinder and school, until I have a free moment to get down to the cafes and read the paper over a leisurely breakfast and cup of tea.  I may not be free to ride a fixie for the next ten years or so, and even then I may be way too old...but, I am still free to dream.

Cookbooks

I have lots of cookbooks.

I really enjoy reading, and have quiet a collection of novels in my home.  We had book shelves especially built along two walls to house them.  One of these walls is dedicated entirely to children's books which means that some of our books are still boxed up in the shed.  I fear that one day we will be those people you see on TV with piles of books all around them and no room to sleep.  Or even worse, those people who die when a pile of books fall on them and they can't get out from under the weight of all those words.

My collection is varied.  There are trashy novels ( I have written a Mills and Boon style romance - sadly it has not been published, yet), poetry, classics, a collections of early Famous Five novels, some non-fiction, Australian works, contemporary stuff and COOKBOOKS.

I used to read a great deal.  My partner and I are both teachers and it was our love of books that was one of the attracting factors when our romance was young and tender.  We have always had piles of books on our bedside tables and could spend a whole day on holidays lost in a good read.   Now we have children.  The desire to read, and the interest in books (both new and classic) has not wained, we still read the paper on the weekends and are aware of the latest novels that we should be reading.  But what the old saying 'The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak'?  Usually by the time the children are tucked up in bed and we have finally fed ourselves and done the chores that we didn't manage to cover during the day we are just too tired to open a book, let alone try and make sense of the words swimming on the pages.  Don't get me wrong, we still read when we can.  Holidays, or long weekends, or when travelling.  But the luxury of hopping into bed at 7.30pm with a good book just because, is not a possibility at the moment.  Maybe in 10 years or so.

Kids should be surrounded by books.  The should be able to pull them from a shelf and read them whenever they like!

Cookbooks are a different kettle of fish entirely.  I have several shelves dedicated to cookbooks.  Flimsy paper ones, magazine style classics and heavy hardcover epic works.  I do not discriminate as long as the recipes are good, and they are written well.  I rather like books that explain where the recipe is from; "I first tasted this sponge at my cousin Flo's wedding...etc".  Cookbooks to me are perfect reading material for the time poor.  Each recipe is like a mini chapter.  You could spend a minute skimming over it, quickly looking at ingredients or the pictures, or you could spend hours reading up on various dishes, imagining how well they would go together, what variations you could impose on the recipe, and who you might cook it for.

One of my favourite cookbooks is Maggie Beer's 'Maggie's Harvest'.  Not only are the recipes delicious and manageable (in most cases), the book is a joy to read in a tactile sense.  The cover is padded fabric with a quince tree and pheasants embroidered on it.  The paper is heavy and creamy.  It is lovely to flick through these pages reading about Maggie's food adventures, her family food loves, and of course the recipes!  Maggie has recipes for fabulous terrines and all kinds of wonderful seafood and gamey kinds of things.  Mmmmmm.

Mrs Beeton!  The original guide to cookery and household maintenance.  This is an edition from some time in the 40s or 50s.  There was no way I could afford one of the earliest editions, which if complete sell for thousands and thousands!

A few years ago I bought my partner a copy of Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book for a birthday present.  It is gold!  The recipes are rather dated, or outright weird, but the book is magnificent.  Apparently lots of it is Mrs Beeton stealing recipes and ideas from other writers at the time, but we can forgive her the plagiarism as it seems that her book is the only one to really have stood the test of time.  The copy I bought has some amazing coloured plates inside, as well as a rather fetching image of a dead rabbit on the spine.



I've included a couple of shots of the plates.  I love the one which shows all the different cuts of pork.  And who doesn't love a good picture of CHEESE!







One of my greatest food pleasures is not in the eating, but in the thinking about!  I enjoy putting together imaginary dinner parties in my head.  I usually go with a theme (Persian for example) and think of the dishes I would cook, the wine to accompany, who to invite and how to serve it up.  I have had a wonderful Persian inspired dinner party in the past.

The Persian Dinner Party Menu (Ideas inspired by Greg and Lucy Malouf's series of books about Middle Eastern food - a whole other post will be devoted to these books alone)

Entree: gorgeous bourdon blanc sausages with a Persian 'twist' (pistachios in the chicken mousse), served with a capsicum and onion jam and a rocket salad with home made dukkah on top.

Main:  Quail  deboned and stuffed with vine leaves, marinated in olive oil, verjuice, chopped vine leaves and garlic.  Panfry the little sucker, and once golden wrap in katafi pastry and finished off in the oven.  I served it on a buttery rice with yoghurt dressing and saffron oil.

Dessert:  Rhubarb and rosewater topped with vanilla yoghurt, chopped pistachios (love the vibrant green colour) and Persian fairy floss.

DELICIOUS! 

Cooking with kids.

Cooking with the kids is always an exciting event (for them anyway).  My little girl LOVES cooking.  Baking in particular is her favourite activity, I suspect it has something to do with licking the bowl.  She can also stretch to cooking pizza and pasta dishes.  She likes picking the vegetables and herbs from our own garden, chopping them with her own knife and watching them change as they are heated or whizzed up in the blender.  There are plenty of cooking with kids cookbooks out there.  We have Stephanie Alexander's.  She is such an advocate for children growing their own produce and then cooking it.  Her Kitchen Garden program  is a huge hit and is implemented in many schools around where I live.  I have been to a couple of the conferences when we were setting up a kitchen garden at the school where I work.  Stephanie is a quiet woman, but spoke so passionately about this project.  I am happy to support her by buying her books and using them with my class and my own children.

Well, cookbooks.  There are magnificent things and I love them.  Even for the non-cooks there is a cookbook you could surely appreciate.  Even if it was purely for its kitsch value!

A great op shop find.  Terrible recipes though.