dear london, oh how you were a whirlwind.

each day felt like a whole year in itself, what with water borne food poisoning and hospital trips on the first day, great tourist activity and crazy blind dating the second, beautiful sunshine, the ladies pond and A MUSICAL the third, and more green on the heath and a night out in brixton on the fourth. any longer there and i think i would have collapsed; as it is i’ve lost my mind and voice, so i’m on the way there.

this is my wednesday night dinner at tina’s place in brixton. we climbed through the window and sat on the roof, watching the trains head to kent and brighton and everywhere else in the south east. drinking australian wine and enjoying the sunset.

warm barley salad
(this is all from the memory of watching tina make it as i poured out a year and a bit of catch up to her…)
cook the pearl barley – boiled in water till tender. drain.
while it’s cooking, halve a pile of cherry tomatoes, cube a block of fetta, chop a handful of basil, a green capsicum and pit and half a good handful of kalamata olives.
still all the chopped things into the drained barley, and season with olive oil and salt and pepper (maybe vinegar too, i can’t remember!)
served here warm with a green salad.

50 first years, one semester, lots of discourse, all sealed up with mini vegan chocolate cupcakes and many beers at the pub.

you eat vegan it seems. even the local pub does a $10 vegan pub meal night. i trekked off from collingwood to brunswick and met up with jon and co, and we ordered and then devoured the pub meal that no animal was injured for.

this is my cheese and bacon burger, and in the background is jon’s chicken burger (the biggest chunk of gluten i’ve even seen or tasted, that ‘chicken’). the beer may not have been vegan, that is true, but it was truly an immensely impressive meal for even a not-vegan.

melbourne is the place i eat non-stop in, drink too many coffees and see people who have an adelaide connection. and look at zines. am happy to be back in sydney, hiding in the anonymity and daggy clothing of enmore. full of new melbourne experiences and ideas.

when i lived alone (for those short three months) i started this blog. and cooked myself wholesome nourishing food. i still do that, and others cook for me too, but in the busy- crazy-  ness of life at the moment sometimes i still pine for those days of time and space in a solo household, where i would come home to the cat and spend my time preparing a meal for one. and presenting it for myself, with great pleasure.

these pumpkin croquettes for instance. a whole dinner set for one. the next night that i will be able to cook at home is over a week away. big sighs. but big smiles too about the people and things in my life who mean i’m not home alone cooking for one every night.