Corking stuff!

If anyone ever visits Melbourne, or even lives in Melbourne and is looking for something to do I cannot recommend highly enough the Yarra Valley wine tours. Myself and five girlfriends took a Sunday to refresh our palettes, and get slightly merry along the way. Starting off on the champagne, and ending on the fortified's (with cheese!) we all came to the conclusion that a man with his own vinyard is like the new Ryan Gosling. Something we all want!

Costing around $100 you get picked up from the city and driven around several wineries, touring and tasting each one. A beautiful Italian lunch was included in the price... mmmm bellisimo! My favourite day in Melbourne to boot.

Seriously whether your a wine lover or not, this is great day out. Im already booking myself in for Christmas time...!

Emily x

old places and faces...

So the month of May has gone past and I have neglected the blog. Again. I honestly cannot believe how fast time has flown, days turn to weeks which turn to months far too quickly!

This time last year I was out in Peru up a Mountain suffering from altitude sickness, having just finished my final year at University. 

 

Now I'm living in Melbourne with friends, and working my first proper job at Neighbours. The last year has been monumental and life changing. Life is what you make of it and that is what I am doing. Whether I stay or leave Australia in July is a decision that is wholly out of my hands, and I am at piece with the idea that if I don't stay in Oz fate only intends better things for me than I could get out of being here.

I took a walk down memory lane last weekend, going to visit one of my best friends Jenna at her hometown of Toowoomba. Jenna is a gorgeous soul, who lives her life with the mantra 'there is no such thing as luck, only preparation meeting opportunity'. And Jenna appears to be one of the luckiest people you could meet. I met Jenna when I studied in Brisbane for the year.

She picked me up at Brisbane airport and on the drive to her house we passed the bus route that I used to take back from Uni to my house. I love Brisbane SO much. Its a different vibe to Melbourne, a lot more relaxed, tropical and carefree.

Toowoomba is a small town about an hour out of Brisbane. I ate and shopped my way around the town. The best beef chilli pizza is there, as well as the most insane opshops. I bought a furcoat for 30 dollars and several other items which I do not need but I could not resist! All in all a lovely weekend, thank you to the Holmes for your hospitality!!

Emily x

nah nah my friends sweetcorn pattys are better than yours...Three Bags Full review.

Sunday morning/afternoon and brunch is on the menu at Three Bags Full in Abbotsford. We pull up and it looks popular...people lining the sidewalk for a seat. But we catch a glimpse of the food coming out and make the decision to wait on the street with the rest. And wait we do...

But finally we are seated, and after much deliberation myself and my sister decide to share the Beetroot cured salmon, with corn, pea and feta fritter, avocado, rocket and dill sour cream, and the Roasted pumpkin and sage fritters with grilled haloumi and a parsley, pinenut, Parmesan and pomegranate salad. We added eggs, as what is a breakfast without eggs?! and had a fresh juice of apple, pear and mint - (cannot recommend this enough!)

The food came out - literally a picture of perfection, an artists dream on a plate....yet unfortunately the taste did not quite live up to the delightful presentation. Both the corn, pea and feta fritter and the pumpkin and sage fritters needed a little extra zing, and were only helped out by their toppings, leaving me wishing I was eating my friends home cooked sweetcorn cakes instead. The long wait and huge crowds had just made my expectations rather too high, and unfortunately Three Bags Full did not quite deliver on the palate. 7/10.

Visit Three Bags Full at http://www.threebagsfullcafe.com.au  

                                                               Emily x

Weekend Notes

If the previous review took your fancy and you are a Melbournite trying to find places to go/things to do then I highly recommend my housemate Lauren Jackson's reviews of Melbourne's hotspots. Check her doing her thang at : 

http://www.weekendnotes.com/profile/161966/

Have a lovely weekend!

Emily x

a TINY surprise...

Meeting Michael Pham at a Art Opening he invited myself and my friend Robyn to visit his cafe in Fitzroy.

'Tiny' is a little establishment under the stairs of a designers serving coffee, breakfast, sandwiches, lunch and cakes.

Thanks to Robyn's Aubergine enthusiasm Michael had added an aubergine dish to his menu for us that day. 'Eggplant and Pomegranate salad' with chilli, soba noodles, coriander and basil was delicious...prompting Robyn to take the recipe home.

I had the baked eggs with bacon and tomato on sourdough bread which too was delicious.

We left with a big smiles and a bag full of of complimentary pastries to take home - the almond croissant is to DIE for.

So thank you Michael for your tasty food!

Emily x

like a rolling stone...

Finally the Easter holidays are here! I have a glorious two weeks off Neighbours ahead of me and I intend to make the most of it in and around Melbourne. Surf competitions, comedy festivals, art exhibitions, free salsa lessons, wine tasting, and birthday parties are all on my to-do list. I just hope Melbourne's weather holds out for it all!

Photos are courtesy of James McVeigh and the outfit is on my lookbook page : http://lookbook.nu/look/3273423-like-a-rolling-stone

Emily x

Smashing patterns...

Here is a laverly bright top I purchased for $2 whilst in Tennant Creek at a second hand sale. Cannot get enough of these old women shirts at the moment, my weekends are spent trawling through my local op-shops rails for the most outlandish patterns.  

The pictures were taken by Jamie McVeigh at Ballina in Australia.

If you would like to visit my lookbook the link is : http://lookbook.nu/look/3241537-smashing-patterns

Emily x