le café

‘so,’ asks becky, ‘if a coffee is un café and a café is also un café, how do you know which one you’re taking about?’
the french glance at each other, shrug frenchly.

the french love their coffee. it’s a habit, an institution, the closing punctuation to a meal. something consumed from a tiny cup while you stand at the counter of a brasserie or sit on a cane chair smoking, your dog at your feet. (I LOVE french cliché!)

but it’s also nearly always bitter and/or grainy, made with a grimy espresso machine, or served at home from a lukewarm percolator. 

(but sometimes there's a time and place for this style of coffee)

not long before I left for my holiday, my friend hannah posted this link on my facebook page.

popular french coffee shops in paris, according to instagram

challenge accepted.
challenge not always photographed.

café kitsuné:

coffee club (this one is actually in montpellier):

honor café:

boot café:

and a sneaky london lunch at monocle cafe:

FLAT WHITES FOR ALL!

has it really been a year?

january 2015. the girl is a full-time editor again. she walks the docklands trudge; walks saltwater sandals beside the bankers.

the people are kind, interesting, creative, friendly, very tall. mothers of punk singers. mentors, inspirations, enthusiastic, passionate, helpful.

Find Me A Castle by Beci Orpin

the girl is given the most incredible projects to work on. there are more people to meet: busy, successful arty people who work really hard doing what they love. (beci must not sleep, i think.)

Ickypedia by The Listies

there are hilarious loose cannon first-time authors to work with, who write clever, disgusting things and are very good at puns and drawing queues. (‘pub date?’ they ask. ‘which pub shall we go to?’)

Celebrating 30 years of Paul Jennings!!

there are the authors who’ve been around for yonks, been your childhood favourites. this, this was pretty damn special. have you read ‘a dozen bloomin’ roses’ lately? or ‘skeleton on the dunny’, ‘nails’ or ‘cow dung custard’? have you ever, ever felt like this?

coffee by long shot, mostly. and bonus grammar fun with mary norris! (seen at the interrobang & you can listen to the podcast of the event.) many excellent books over the year. some writing (more on that later). lots of changes, lots of learning. lots of fortunate moments (hashtag blessed).

december 2015. the girl will wrap up her job at the end of january and bid farewell to the random penguins. elle va aller en france pour se détendre et ... 

Visiting Fitzroy

From time to time you meander from Brunswick to even more inner inner-north suburbs. You can go to the artists' market and buy tea-towels as presents for friends who think butter makes everything better.

When you lived on the cusp between Carlton and here you knew this place like the proverbial back of the hand. But that was a frightening number of years ago.

Visiting now, you might get a shock when you realise there is now a cafe where the Rose Street brothel used to be.

It's called Grace. The Syndicate coffee's good and breakfast is tasty (and you can order a berocca, with no judgement, it says so on the menu). This change isn't quite as good as a holiday, but perhaps not a bad weekend.

Rose Street Artists' Market website
Visit Grace's website
Buy stuff from Able & Game

the best coffee in geelong

ladies and gentlemen. i am a native of the bayside town of geelong. i was born there, schooled there, called it my home for my formative years.

until now, it has been (in my eyes) a disappointing and beanless coffee wasteland. bean squeeze gave me some kind of reprieve over the last couple of years (plus the closest one to my parents' house is right next to the mill markets) and while it's still a solid place to coffee i finally visited the COFFEE CARTEL in breakwater.

and i am in love.

for those unfamiliar: breakwater is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. the cafe is surrounded by industrial buildings and factories and hardly any houses. it kind of looks like the place the bikies hang out. which is cool.

they roast their own coffee out the back.*

there were lots of people there on the saturday arvo that i visited.

my skinny latte was very delicious. nice and strong and a brilliant flavour. quite distinctive and delish. it was relatively pricey at $4, but bigger than you'd get from the equally pricey market lane coffee in melbourne...

they do teas and all kinds of coffees, food and cakes and everythink. comfy places to sit and the folks working there were nice.

the local rag confirms it is the best.
visit their website.

* the lady (unwittingly) pictured - how random is this - was my mama bear's form two maths teacher.

it's bean awhile...

thanks to girltakesphoto, i've been inspired by the cappuccino sandwich tumblr:

reading the first ampersand project novel

writing in my lunchbreak

things are hurtling along these days. i'm reading a lot*.

recently:

the convent, maureen mccarthy (loved it)
a corner of white, jaclyn moriarty (spectacular)
friday brown, vikki wakefield (tense-making)
death comes to pemberley, pd james (undecided)

and there's much watching of community. plus coffee...

*writing a lot less

a visit to the peninsula*

nespresso machine coffee

not so bad! (not as good as real espresso)

also, puppies:

*bellarine, not mornington

coffee : truman

on a leafy albert park street corner sits truman. i ate there once, a wee while ago now, but it was delicious and unexpected and i have since returned twice for coffee. the southside is growing on me, though for visiting only of course.

I had The Truman, which was delicious: potato and leek hash with avocado, relish and some scrambled eggs on delicious grainy bread. the old timey plate was a nice touch. and the hash brown was my favourite...om nom...


coffee, very good. nice and strong. fancy red glass saucer. i would recommend it.

i think my newfound affinity for the art deco south perhaps has something to do with the copious amount of inter-war period books i have been reading: nancy mitford, evelyn waugh, george orwell - as well as modern books that take place during this time: michelle cooper's montmaray books, amor towles' the rules of civility...

broadsheet reviewed it.

and so did the age.

coffee : dr jekyll

while southside i had a coffee at dr jekyll, on grey st in st kilda. the courtyard out the back was shadowy and cool and nicely atmospheric. it had a very good crema and though the coffee had a slightly thin taste and was teensy bit bitter, it was nice. very drinkable and a good strength - i had two. menu looked quite delicious and i think would make a really great breakfast-brunch destination.

bravo southside.

here's their website.

coffee : 1000 £ bend

I was late to this party. All the cool kids know about this place already.

I walked into 1000 £ Bend and felt instantly at home. Either that, or transported. It's like the Tardis version of that old gem St Jerome's - all the same stuff but bigger space. Is it owned by the same people? I don't know. I do know that all the kitch "art" from St Jerome's is on the walls and the squeezy bench seats are back (and now with more space!) and that I like it quite a lot.

It's a warehouse with a huge space out the back for all kinds of events, launches, exhibitions and an underground cinema.

The coffee is tasty but very milky (only full cream or soy on offer) and I would prefer a stronger coffee - shall order a double shot next time.

With lots of couches, chairs and tables (some communal), the affordable and tasty-looking food, great music, nice people and good beer on tap (they have their own St Jerome's Caledonian lager, I liked it) and longnecks too - plus free wifi...both times I've been here I've stayed for hours.

361 Little Lonsdale Street.
They have a website here.

happy in seclusion

coffee: skim latte from fresh in leura. very nice.

book: only ever always, penni russon (a&u). very nice also. (plus sad and beautiful).



book: on orchard road, elsbeth edgar (walker).

goes very well with sunshine and blue skies and lunch outdoors.


i make fire.

dear creative writing teacher. i am also doing work. i promise. have fun in class tomorrow nerds!

hey archie!

the archibald prize finalists are on display at the tarrawarra museum of art out in the yarra valley.

there were some fabulous paintings/portraits there and a couple of truly wanky ones. it made me think of the evil sister (and here is a perfect example of her evility) who, at university, used to take evocative photographs and movies then once they were developed/edited she'd go back and read the assignment requirement and make up a meaningful story about what she'd done. and get high distinctions.

here was my personal favourite portrait - the luminous and fairytaleish cassandra golds, as painted by sonia kretschmar (visit her website here). nothing wanky about this! just beauty!


read more about it here

it is a spectacularly gorgeous painting. the words painted on the gold background come from the three loves of persimmon, cassandra's most recent book. the cage torso with the bird battering its wings just stole my heart and can you see the cat shadow?

sonia illustrated the museum of mary child (i still get shivers when i think about this very deliciously creepy book), clair de lune and the three loves of persimmon (all by cassandra) and she also illustrated the fabbity tensy farlow and the home for mislaid children, by jen storer (speaking of jen, she is celebrating the launch of the accidental princess today over at baxter street).

if you go and see the exhibition you can also go wine tasting and probably squeeze in a devonshire tea in healesville. what more could you ask for?!


though my coffee (a rare cappuccino) from the wattleseed cafe was pretty ordinary, the scones however! no time for photo! i et them straight away!

coffee : l'atelier de monsieur truffe

l'atelier de monsieur truffe, lygon street in brunswick


new to lygon street and my local area is l'atelier de monsieur truffe (original monsieur truffe you'll find in collingwood) it's a big warehouse cafe and chocolate factory. i neglected to have any chocolate, however, and shall have to revisit. there's a really lovely rustic quality to the place and though it's big it isn't impersonal. kid and pram and bike-friendly. enter via the bright red door in the wall.


my toast and jam was good, served on a big wooden chopping board. my dining companion (the girl who gets hugged by authors i'd like to be hugged by) had a rhubarby crumble, which was served with a little cow jug filled with milk. it was very cute. but the coffee was only ok, with the crema more airy fluff than cream and a slightly gritty quality.

the staff were really nice and i think the cafe is still finding its feet - so i will definitely return, definitely to try some chocolate.

you can find their blog here.

where's the buzz?

after hardly any bloggery, tweeting buzz (i am very disappointed in everyone. did you not read loving richard feynman??) an advance copy of clara in washington by penny tangey (UQP) arrived at the shop and it is brilliant. very clever, funny and touching as clara (often anxiously) navigates the social and political streets of washington dc, while trying not to think about her year twelve results and wondering what the heck she wants to do when she grows up. and trying not to get mugged or murdered on the subway. and she makes friends with some anarchists.

plus, coffee.

this bit of the book was particularly fun for me. american coffee is really, really bad. this is me drinking it:

clara in washington is released (according to titlepage) on 27 june. that's not far away! i'll review it properly around then.

read about it at penguin books.
go see penny at the melbourne writers festival.

coffee : wide open road

Wide Open Road
274 Barkly Street
Brunswick*

Newish, slightly posher, more put-together, little sibling cafe by the people who brought you A Minor Place. It's really beautifully set out with matchy-matchy salts and sugars (as you can see) and the decor is equally perfect.**

The coffees are perfect too - strong, no bitterness at all, and not too milky. They roast their own coffee out the back. Bliss. Their food is also delicious - a small menu but really really lovely food, complete with croissants and other doughy treats from Fitzroy's Loafer Bread.

Our favourite waiter from A Minor Place now works here so we have to go and visit from time to time, though the original cafe still holds top place in my heart.

Visit their website.

*I've heard whisperings of new slang "NoBRo" = "North of Brunswick Road". Please confirm.

**I feel like, in spite of my love of matching hairclips to socks and shoes to scarf, I'm not quite fancy enough for this place.

wee jeanie - now open

...and it's good.

nay, great!

a saturday lunch in yarraville yesterday. a visit to wee jeanie. i ate the beetroot salad and it was DELICIOUS and so speedy from order to plate to me - perfect for a half-hour lunch break nibble. my friend assured me her soy latte was delectable and we admired the (apparently very expensive) coffee machine with its sleek green bits and it's fancy wooden knobs.

with lots of diners and friendly staff, i'm very excited. it's more take-away vibe means it caters to a different crowd to cornershop and i think this means the two places can co-exist nicely. excellente.

anyone else been yet?

coffee : each peach

each peach...doesn't it just conjure delightful images of each peach pear plum by janet and allan ahlberg? 'each peach pear plum, i spy tom thumb, tom thumb in the cupboard, i spy mother hubbard...' all the way until the plum pie in the sun!

it's a very cute cafe up the - what i like to call - berlin end of lygon street (aka the poorer and increasingly hip end) that looks very homey and has a fantastical bathroom with fairy lights and a pink bath.

coffee was very good, a bit too hot but very tasty, and the omelette was decadently delicious (too eggy, said my vegetarian-egg-disliking inner self, but i knew what i was getting into) with cheese and spinach galore. plus, the bread was to die for.

the staff were friendly, but they did forget my coffee and my food and i had to go in and remind them. which is fine, except it's the third time i've been there and the second time they've forgotten us. so i certainly recommend it, but maybe not when you are in a rush, because you never know.

coffee : can't find a seat?

because there just aren't enough cafes in yarraville, here's one more. from the people who brought you cornershop - wee jeanie. just down by the train line (where there ought to be an overpass but isn't - grrr) it's not quite finished, but looking pretty gorgey already with a potentially nice courtyard and beautiful wooden furniture.

yes yes yes.

coffee folk

as we ate a breakfast of warm and fluffy vegemite scrolls (and some of us had doughnuts, or even just one bite of someone else's doughnut) we ordered coffee at the barefoot barista up the street in port fairy. my skinny latte was delicious. the soy was perfecto too.




it was folk-a-licious.

the coffee line inside the festival grounds is always a massive wait (and the coffee there not as good as at barefoot barista), but it is a top place to meet and talk to some great people. to the lovely lady from mount gambier - i hope you had a wonderful weekend!