A funny thing happened to me last week

On a rainy, cold night while I was walking down Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn… I was hit by a car… 

It sounds worse than it was. Luckily I wasn’t seriously hurt but I’m still in a bit of shock over it.

It happened like this - I was crossing a side street when a car turned into it from Glenferrie Road. From the corner of my eye, I could see the car coming towards me. It was a green light for me to cross and I thought the driver would wait until I was finished.

Clearly I was wrong. 

He kept going. His car hit me on my left hip and I hit the ground on the right side of my body. 

It was quite surreal feeling as the car came towards me and I realised that it wasn’t going to stop. I pushed my hand out in front of me as if I had superhuman strength that would stop the car.

When I think back on it, it really does feel like it happened in slow motion. Did my life flash before me? No. My first thought was ‘really? Is this really happening to me right now?’ As I fell to the ground, my second thought was ‘f**k, how hurt am I going to be because of this?’ 

I was lucky that the driver had slowed down because he was turning and didn’t hit me at a high speed (the commercials/CSAs are right people!). I ended up with a graze and bruising on my right knee and internal bruising in my right arm and hip. My left side was fine, I suppose I wasn’t hit hard enough to be hurt one that side as well. 

As you can imagine, I was pretty pissed off that this happened. People around me stopped and helped me up, genuinely concerned if I was alright, which I really appreciated. As the driver got out of his car and came towards me, it was a chaotic scene. Apparently he had just missed hitting another car and other pedestrians, I just happened to be the unlucky one. 

My natural reaction was to rip right into this guy. It started with “what the f**k are you doing? I’m f**king crossing the f**king road”. As I was screaming at him, the man who he just avoided knocking down started to abuse him as well and all the witnesses began yelling that I should report him to the police. 

He only had one response to my ranting - “sorry sorry sorry”. He didn’t speak much English but had a passenger who did and she came out of the car at this point. She was in a state of shock, asking me if I was alright, that it was an accident and the car was broken, pointing at the fact that all the windows were completely fogged up and he couldn’t see where he was going. 

“Why are you driving if you can’t see where you are going? Don’t you know how dangerous that is???” I yelled out in response to that. 

I didn’t end up contacting the police, but I think one of the witnesses called them while I was shouting at him. He gave me his name and number just in case my injuries were worse in the morning. My visit to the doctor the next day confirmed that I was alright, no major injuries. 

After two days of rest, I was back at work. 

Although getting hit by a car kinda sucks, I know how lucky I was to walk away so lightly. I really should go and buy that lotto ticket…

Photography challenge: E is for Energy

A windy day in the Carlton Gardens - Hochgurtel Fountain

Over the last few years, it seems like it is more windy than usual in Melbourne. Is it just me? The wind allowed me to take this beautiful shot of the Hochgurtel Fountain in front of the Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens. Apart from that, it is also a great source of renewable energy. 

Victoria is well known for experiencing great wind speeds, especially along the Southern Coast and higher altitude areas. It makes sense that we should take advantage of this natural phenomenon and use it to create renewable energy through wind farms. 

However, when the Victorian Liberal party came into power last year, they changed the law regarding where wind farms could be located. Wind turbines cannot be placed in specified ‘no go areas’ such as the Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley, Dandenongs, Bellarine Peninsula and Great Ocean Road, within five kilometres of 21 regional cities or within land two kilometres of a home without written consent from the homeowner. 

The change certainly makes it a lot harder to start a wind farm in Victoria and the limited locations for them means that a lot of potential jobs in the wind turbine industry may not be realised. 

There have also been health concerns raised about living close to wind turbines, including the ‘shadow flicker’ (the shadow casted by the blades) causing seizures and sleep problems as a result of the operational noise. 

I certainly don’t discount the concerns that nearby residents would have to living near a wind turbine. I have visited a wind farm before and the noise didn’t seem too bad, but I don’t live near a wind turbine to really experience the daily impacts. 

But I do think that if we are serious about becoming a more environmentally responsible country (and state), some work needs to be done to improve the laws regarding wind farms in Victoria to allow us to harness wind energy.

Review: Cacao macarons at Puccinos

The next stop on my search for the perfect Salted Caramel macaron was Puccinos on Bourke Street. They sell the full range of Cacao macarons (as well as the yummy cakes from Le Petit Gateau).

Cacao call their version a ‘Salty Caramel’ macaron and it was nice to finally eat one that tasted good.  

Cacao's Salty Caramel macaron

The outer shell of the macaron had a great sheen to it, with a nice crunch and the right amount of chewiness.

When it came to the ganache, there was no mistaking that this is a Salty Caramel macaron. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I’d rather a strong flavour than none at all. But it does border on being a little bit too much.

Do I crown this the best Salted Caramel macaron in Melbourne? It is pretty good, but the slight flavour imbalance puts the title just out of reach for Cacao.

Address: 188 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Sun: 7am - 9pm

Review: Royal Saxon

After spending a few hours on Church Street sitting on couches, measuring dining tables and trying to figure out the best configuration of furniture for a brand new apartment that we have only inspected once, all the pieces we saw were starting to look the same.

We needed to take a break and the Royal Saxon was like a beacon of light to us weary furniture shoppers, offering much needed food and rest.

The place was renovated a few years ago and it looks great - modern and funky. We sat outside in the courtyard area, where there was lots of light and a beautiful fig tree.

We ordered lunch and started with the mozzarella di bufala, new season figs, basil, mint, lemon and olive oil. It was delicious! All the elements on the plate really worked well together. The figs were perfectly sweet and plump and the mozzarella was soooo good, really fresh and creamy.

Mozzarella di bufula, new season figs, basil, mint, lemon and olive oil

For mains, we had the house-made Italian sausage, roasted peppers, oregano and mozzarella pizza, porterhouse steak with roasted pumpkin (one of the specials they were offering) and zucchini fritti as a side dish.

I had the pizza and you could tell the base was homemade and fresh. The house-made Italian sausage was really tasty and my recent cravings for pizza were very much satisfied. 

House-made Italian sausage, roasted peppers, oregano and mozzarella pizza

My boyfriend had the porterhouse and it was cooked perfectly, just melted in your mouth. The roasted pumpkin was really soft and full of flavour. The oil with herbs on the plate also turned out to be a great dipping sauce for the pizza crust! 

Porterhouse steak with roasted pumpkin

The batter on the zucchini fritti was light and crunchy and the zucchini inside was yum. They were hard to stop eating once we started!

Zucchini fritti

The service from staff was great, although we were there for a late lunch so it wasn't busy.

The prices were a little higher than usual for a pub/bar but it was an enjoyable, good quality meal. We will definitely go back if we are in the area again.

Address: 545 Church St, Richmond
Hours: Mon-Thurs: 12pm - 12am
          Sat: 12pm - 1pm
          Sun: 12pm - 11pm

Review: Laurent macarons

 
I have been warned by many people that Laurent’s macarons are not very good. I always felt that was a little weird, seeing as they are meant to be a French bakery and all.

So I tried one today to finally confirm this for myself.

I had a look at their selection and I was surprised to see that they don’t offer a Salted Caramel macaron (though apparently it is on its way). So I tried a Vanilla one instead.

Oh lordy. It was indeed terrible.

As soon as the macarons were brought to the table, I knew they would be bad. The outer shell didn’t look crispy at all and it was missing the usual ‘sheen’ that macarons are supposed to have. I took a bite and found that it was like eating almond meal cake with some cream in the middle. It also lacked vanilla flavouring.

Laurent's vanilla macaron - notice the lackluster shell?

Laurent's vanilla macaron - the shell was very cakey and not very nice

This macaron didn't taste good at all and turned me off wanting to try their future Salted Caramel macaron. I now agree that Laurent macarons should definitely be avoided...

Address: 304-306 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Sat: 8am - 6pm
          Sun: 9am - 5pm

Review : Famish’d macarons

Salted Caramel and Macadamia macaron

I recently had lunch with a friend at Famish’d and noticed that they do a selection of macarons. Yum.

I thought their Salted Caramel and Macadamia macaron would be the perfect antidote to combat my after lunch food coma.

I have to say I was excited to try this macaron. I really like macadamia nuts and was hoping this would be a marriage made in heaven.

The first thing I noticed was how small it was... No matter, as long as it tasted amazing to make up for the size. I bit into it and found that the outer shell was crispy and chewy, just as it should be. However, the ganache inside was pretty much non-existing. There were no real favours beside the ‘almond-y’ taste of the outer shell. I was really disappointed because I assumed it would be a lot better based on the price I paid for such a small macaron.
 
Oh well. I will stick to the huge and tasty baked potatoes the next time I am at Famish'd.

Address: 130 Little Collins St, Melbourne
Hours: Monday - Friday: 7am to 4pm

Review: Ryan Adams – Regent Theatre 03/03/2012

A promo for the show near home

It was a truly magical night when Ryan Adams took the stage at the exquisite Regent Theatre in Melbourne.

I have been a fan of his for years (Gold is one of my all time favourite albums) and it was my fourth time seeing him live. I was really looking forward to seeing the intimate one-man show he had planned.

It certainly did not disappoint.

No photography or recording was allowed during the show so that the audience (and performer) was not distracted. With people unable to tweet, facebook, text, etc, during the show, all eyes and ears were firmly planted on Ryan Adams.

As he walked out to start the show, the crowd erupted with cheers and whistles that died down to a deathly silence as he took centre stage. Every little sound could be heard, from Ryan Adams rustling around in his chair to coughs echoing around the theatre.

He opened the show with the beautiful “Oh my sweet Carolina”. His voice sounded perfect, accompanied by his guitar, almost haunting. The set list was filled with old favourites (like New York, New York and Come pick me up) and new songs from his latest album. Each song was received with overwhelmingly loud applause and appreciation.

He spend the night ‘working the room’ (as he referred to it), moving between his guitar and the piano. He played such an amazing stripped back rendition of “The rescue blues” on piano that an audience member shouted out to him about how great it was. ‘Thanks dad’ was his cheeky response.

Again, there was minimal lighting at his show. My boyfriend refuses to come with me to see Ryan Adams now for this very reason but I don’t mind. During the set, a person shouted out to asked him to turn on some more lights. This request was of course ignored (as they always are) but was done so with humour this time.

Speaking of comedy, there were some very funny moments throughout the show. Halfway through the night he said that he had some jokes prepared but hadn’t spoken much because he figured that he could fit in two more songs if he talked less.

But lucky for us, he started chatting a bit more. He spoke about his reputation of being a ‘villain’, his old band ‘Turkey Nut Sack’ (he joked that they were huge in the nineties and almost opened for Pearl Jam at a house party – if only they could have found the house…) and played a version of ‘Mr Cat’ – a homage to his ninja movie watching, brave dog attacking cat, who is also apparently very soft.

I was laughing so hard that I wasn’t sure if I was at a Ryan Adams music gig or comedy act…

Two and half hours later, sadly it was over. I could have stayed there all night watching his flawless performance and enjoying his light banter. 

Well played Ryan Adams, well played.

Set list

Oh my sweet Carolina
Ashes and fire
If I am a stranger
Dirty rain
My winding wheel
The rescue blues
Please do not let me go
Do I wait
Firecracker
Everybody knows
Dear Chicago
Sylvia Plath
Let it ride
English girls
Chains of love
16 days
Hardest part
Lucky now
Mr Cat
New York New York
Two
Come pick me up

Encore

Holy diver (Dio cover)
Avenues
When will you come back home

The Melbourne Central Community Garden

The Level 2 walkway in Melbourne Central has been transformed. Like an oasis in sea of shops, there is a garden with deck chairs, soft light and a peaceful atmosphere. It almost seems to invite people to come in, put their feet up and relax.

The Melbourne Central Community Garden

However, on closer inspection, the area is more than just a rest zone to help people regain energy (in order to keep on shopping...). It is the CBD’s very own community garden.

The walkway was converted into a “living kitchen” as part of “The Magic of Growth” program, in partnership with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Like an urban greenhouse, seasonal herbs and vegetables are grown and visitors are encouraged to help themselves to produce. 

Herbs in the Melbourne Central Community Garden

It’s a novel and creative use of a redundant urban space that reminds me of the High Line park in New York. I think it’s great to see nature reclaiming some space back from all the concrete and city buildings…