One winter morning, I had a three hour power nap and proceeded to attempt study. I achieved little in the way of getting through my lectures before I decided I’d have breakfast at the CBD. A short, rather delirious walk later I found myself at The Grain Store. Sleep deprivation gnawed away at me and I felt almost drunk, so I decided a heavy dish was in order.
Behold, the cotechino & lentil cassoulet. A fine, filling serving that only added to my tiredness-induced ‘high’ (yes I know it makes no sense). The saltiness of the cotechino blended well with the sweet pear relish I only wish there had been more of. The egg was well poached and did produce a pretty golden river, but I was more interested in filling my stomach than to take another photo.
Saw The Great Gatsby, udon-ed with friends then went to work. Employment is sweet and it’s certainly getting better, but there’s still one major thing I’m apologetic about and really want to clear up. I’m not sure how blunt I should be.
Somehow this one has avoided posting for about a month. I need to stop getting corn fritters and try something else. On this day we went to the North Melbourne Market. Pretty things were sold there :)
So the original plan was to head to the St Kilda market, except we got hungry first and stopped, near a tram stop, for lunch.
The usual big turnout for Sunday stuffings. We were fortunate enough to get a seat almost immediately though, at the outdoor communal bar. Blue skies overhead, inevitable spying upon tennis players. Life was good.
Even with the crowd they were still able to substitute the bacon for salmon on my corn fritters which means a lot to a not-so-fond-of-bacon person like me. While I did like the beetroot relish, I’d rather have it with a steak. Otherwise, it ticked the mandatory boxes of sweet corn kernels and crispy exterior :)
Lately I haven’t been keen on writing about corn fritters, since I’ve developed a more concrete bias if they have avocado and/or sour cream as a side. The way they smear and their respective idiosyncrasies seems to meld a forkful of the fritter so nicely!
Amusing thing was we never got to the market so we should have just left the car at home. Be friendly, take pt.
I hate how a single person is enough to spoil whatever happy memories I had of a place. Now it’s just an overflowing pot of darkness, foolish activity and endless contemplation of the inconceivable.
Two hours of badminton later (I didn’t even make the entirety of it), we’re hungry, tired and end up at a part-cafe, part-bicycle shop to sate our appetites. There’s two daily specials, tuna salad and a pulled pork burger,and asparagus melt to share between the three of us.
Preserved lemon in the tuna salad provided a nice tang, though it eventually became a bit much for me with the addition of pickled i-can’t-remember-that-vegetable. Would have been better if there was some sweet pumpkin there. I like pumpkin.
Now that I look at the photo, that obscure green object with the burger kinda looks like a leech found its way onto the plate (its a pickle). Plenty of sweet pork and crunchy red cabbage; I enjoyed this one the most.
As for the melt, I’m just not one for too much cheese (it had scamorza as well).
GP advised a balanced diet, emphasising less beef, more chicken and seafood.
I sigh, big goodbye to that fantastic beef ciabatta option and go with chorizo and beans instead. The latter isn’t bad though - rich and peppery, with lightly toasted bread to handle the extra sauce.
