Foodie Adventure

Melbourne is famous for its posh food and coffee culture. During my first week here, I went to a cafe and ordered a regular coffee, ignorant of the fact that in Melbourne there is no "regular" coffee. The idea of anyone drinking from a drip coffee maker makes Melbournians cringe. "Regular" coffee is either a cappuccino, latte, flat white, or long black. The strength of the food culture is similar; Melbourne is famous for having tons of diverse, quality restaurants. People take eating very seriously here; much of the food is organic and preservative free, and it's not difficult to find exceptional places to eat.
I am not very posh or sophisticated when it comes to these things, and generally eat whatever is in front of me. But, a classmate of mine writes a food blog and reviews various restaurants around town. I had been reading her blog and drooling over pictures of the food she's had, and asked her to take me on a Melbourne foodie adventure! We went to Cumulus Inc, one of her favorites, and I had my first taste of fine dining!

We started with raw tuna and peas. I forget the name of the dish, but that's what was in it. And it was delicious. I really like raw fish, and tuna is one of my favorites! It had a really nice seasoning, and the peas complimented it well. Yum!

You totally want to eat this

 Next, we had pheasant! And it came with crackers, mustard, and rhubarb. I've never had pheasant or rhubarb before, and I was happy with both. We put the pheasant and rhubarb on top of the crackers and topped it off with the mustard. Delicious!

Pheasant!

Our seats were at the bar, which was neat because we got to see all the cooks in the kitchen preparing the food! It was so cool to look at them go! They were so intense and professional. It seemed like such a small place for all of them to work in at once, but they weaved around each other seamlessly and nobody ever got in the way.

Cooks in the kitchen!

Our main course was the duck, and it came on top of this amazing warm seed and nut salad. It was mind blowingly phenomenal. The duck was so tender and juicy, and the salad was out of this world! It was so warm and nutty and delicious, and had little bits of duck meat mixed into it. My mouth is watering just thinking about how amazing this dish was!

Succulent!

After that, we had the eggplant salad. They put pomegranate seeds on it, which were a really tasty touch! It went along so well with the rest of the dish and added lovely, tangy bursts of flavor to it.

For dessert we had cappuccinos and these amazing lemon cookies! Also, since we were sitting right at the bar, we saw the cook preparing and baking them for us! They were warm and crispy on the outside, and filled with lemony goodness!

Lemony goodness!

 I have now officially become one of those people who take pictures of their food.
Cumulus Inc was incredible, and I'm so glad I got to go! I knew I was in good hands, and got just what I bargained for! You should check out my friend's blog. I linked it above, but here it is again: http://letmefeedyoumelbourne.blogspot.com.au/

At the Cricket!

In late January, I went with some friends from Couch Surfing to my first ever cricket match! A friend of a friend happens to be a member of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and we were able to go with him to the members area. It was so interesting; despite everyone saying how boring cricket is, I thought it was really cool and fun! My friend explained the rules to me so I could follow the game.
The match we saw was the Melbourne Stars vs. Adelaide. It was a Twenty20 match, so I think the rules differ slightly than test cricket. Now, I'm certainly no expert and only saw that one game which was months ago, so I may be completely wrong, but this is how I remember it:
They have a pitcher (they call him a bowler) and someone batting (kind of like baseball). The bowler tosses the ball, and the batter hits it. After the ball is hit, the batter has to run as many times as he can between two posts and the teams are scored by how many runs they get in between the time when the ball is hit and when it is caught. And that's the game! I'm probably missing tons of important details, but that's what I understood, and I was able to follow pretty well for a first timer (I think)!

Play ball!

Me and Tom, my cricket teacher!

Cricket is fun with friends!

My first meat pie! Australians love them and eat them at all the sporting events!

Group shot!

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

I'm pretty sure Melbourne won this game

Group shot in the members lounge!

Ladies love cricket!

We had so much fun watching the game from the members area, but then we got bored and wandered down into Bay 13, which is notorious for being fun and rowdy! The fans will throw beach balls, evade security, make waves, chant cricket things, and have a good time!

Beach ball! You're actually not supposed to throw them around. It was fun seeing them try to keep it away from security!

There's another one!

The view from Bay 13

Bay 13!

The members area we were in before

There was a cricket at the cricket!

I love how when Australians refer to sporting events, they always say that they are going to "the" cricket; "the" footy, etc. It's one of the many endearing quirks I've found about them since coming here!

Summer in Melbourne Part II

I love traveling solo. I have been doing it since I was 8 years old, when my parents first sent me on an international flight to Indonesia. There is something whimsical and and adventurous about taking on  a city, state, country, or continent by yourself. It's a great time to reflect and do things that you might not otherwise have done with a group of friends. You get to go at your own pace, see what you want to see, and it's nice to have alone time. Instead of being distracted with conversation, you're able to engage more with your surroundings and fully utilize your senses. I find that I'm able to take in more and let the sights, sounds, and smells of wherever I am wash over me in a way that they wouldn't if I had company.

So I took a day to explore parts of Melbourne by myself. I started in the Carlton Gardens, which is just a block away from where I live.

A view of the city from the Gardens

The Royal Exhibition Building is one of the world's oldest remaining exhibition pavilions! It is also where I take my law school exams

After my stroll through the Gardens, I decided to take the City Circle Tram to wherever it decided to go. The City Circle Trams are a free service that make a circle through the city and hit all the main attractions. I believe there are two of them, but I only took the one.

Tram stop!

Our first stop was at the Parliament House!

This is what the city looks like from Parliament!

Bourke Street. Look at the trams! And Christmas decorations!

 Once the tram left from Parliament, it went all the way over to Docklands! And I'm a sucker for nice boats, so I had a lot of fun walking around.

Water!

Boats!

Odd sculpture!

More boats!

Maybe I should reserve a docking space :)

After I drooled over boats in Docklands, I went back into the city to walk around Flinder's Lane and its iconic laneways. They are filled with cafes, shops, and restaurants, and it is so cool to walk into a random alley and find a new coffee place to hang out in. There is so much to see and do!

Looking into Degraves Street

It is lined with cafes and restaurants!

 One of the coolest things about these alleys is all of the amazing street art and graffiti that you see on the walls. It's so colorful and edgy, and the pictures are nice to look at :)

Melbourne doesn't floor you with amazing architecture or attractions. Its beauty is a lot more subtle, and you have to make a bit of an effort to find its charm. My favorite thing about Melbourne is being able to duck into an alley and always find something interesting. Whether it's a cool bar, cafe, shop, or street art, I know I can count on finding bits of magic scattered everywhere.