why, hello!

it’s been a lovely afternoon… and — at the time of the photograph — it isn’t yet noon.

some minutes before, i polished off the most delicious mushroom sandwich that ever crossed my plate. it was a handful of fat field mushrooms, roasted until plump and moist, tucked into a tidy ciabatta, nestled in pillows of mild goats’ curd. there was pesto, and a few sweet chestnuts, and a good thatch of rocket. i ate it slowly, relishing the luxury of the pre-lunch crush at earl canteen (yes, it is possible, if you get there at 11.30am). there was no line forming at the counter, and nobody hungrily eyeing my spot along the polished concrete slab.

so i sipped at my hot chocolate — crowned with a smattering of solid chocolate chunklets, turned another page in my magazine, and asked for a rose macaron from the tidy rows in the glass case. it arrived swiftly on an adorable little metal dish, and when i thanked the waiter, he replied like he really meant it, “my pleasure”.

but the pleasure was mine. though small, the macaron was perfectly formed, and heavy with its delicately scented buttercream filling. it doesn’t look like a lot of filling in the picture, but once i bit into it i found it had pushed its buttery, creamy way into the surface of the biscuits, oh yeshh. from my stool i eyed off the salted caramel chocolate tart, and contemplated a takeaway black sesame macaron, but i figured i should leave a reason for a revisit sooner rather than later.

(in the interest of full disclosure, i feel i must tell you that just over an hour later i was having second dessert — a well-executed eclair — at the shiny brunetti outlet at myer, to celebrate finding the almost perfect pair of boots for winter.)

all this gallivanting around the city: early lunches, second desserts, boot shopping… it reads like i’ve fashioned a life of leisure for myself in melbourne, no? the sad truth is that most days in the four months i’ve been here are spent at the computer pushing words and pictures around a page as the little oil heater by my side labours towards cultivating an electricity bill whose arrival in the mail i’m dreading. still, i’ve somehow managed to sample macarons from all corners of the city, and there were times in the last month, as i juggled projects for five different clients, where i felt useful, and alive, dammit!

all in all, it’s been pretty good. and how are you?