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It’s been a while since I’ve done a life update. I guess because we’ve settled into a bit of a routine now.

WORK: Mine is going well. It’s been a bit challenging trying to learn everything when I’m only there a couple days a week, and with everyone sharing the work, but it’s coming together. Scott’s is… going. :/

HOUSE: We moved! We upgraded to a two bedroom apartment a bit more central to work and family. The apartment is small, but nice, and I love the neighbourhood.

EXERCISE: I joined a new gym near our new house and it’s GREAT. They have an epic gym area, swimming pool, and lots of classes, so I’ve been able to add yoga and swimming back into my exercise plan (in addition to weights). Scott started biking to work (10km each way!), and still plays basketball and the occasional extra game of soccer or more basketball.

CRAFTS: My latest project is creating cross stitch patterns that I am trying to sell on Etsy. It’s hard though!! I have to make the patterns, test stitch it, photograph it, list it, and then advertise it. I’ve got two patterns in my shop but I still have SO much more work to do.

I also taught Scott how to crochet, so we’ve been making granny squares to eventually turn into a blanket. The biggest challenge is getting our tension to match each other.

FRIENDS: I’ve still been going to trivia most weeks with my internet friends. They are great. I also get together with a sub-group of them to Stitch n Bitch every month, which is fun. We usually eat lunch, and then crochet/cross stitch.

We used to go to a different trivia night with some of Scott’s friends but the pub changed the night so that is off until we find a good replacement.

We had Jemma and Damien over for a games night the other weekend. We played Wasabi and Carcassonne. I think we are getting close to teaching them Agricola!!!

VISITORS: Cassia and Pablo came to visit Melbourne with two of their Spanish friends. We went to Chin Chin for dinner the first night (1.5 hour wait!!! but really tasty), and then did a mega tourist day the next day at Brighton Beach, Fitzroy, and the CBD. I hope Silvi tags me in her pictures because I didn’t take any. :/

Natasha has arrived in Australia as well. She’s in Sydney at the moment, but we expect to see her in the next couple weeks. I can’t wait! We’ve got the guest bedroom all set up ready to go. :D

SUMMER: One really hot day we drove out to Sorrento back beach to play in the tidepools. It was lovely but Scott severely sunburned his feet which was SO GROSS. It wasn’t that hot of a summer, but it is lingering a bit. It’s still been above 30°C most days, but thankfully it gets cool overnight, so it’s been okay.

SKELETON: My FOMO about not sliding this season hasn’t actually been that bad because 1. I still get timesheets from Whistler to analyze, 2. the World Cup races are on at very convenient times here so I’ve been able to watch most of them live. 3. Instagram stories make me feel like I’m right there, and 4. My old coach Rob has been keeping a daily vlog. So yeah, that’s cool. The final race of the season is next weekend, in Korea on the future Olympic track! Should be interesting.

OK I can’t think of anything else at the moment, so… hasta luego.

 

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Despite living directly on top of Junkyard for several months, we only made it down to eat there on our cleaning day after moving out. Ha!

Scott had a flat white. He says: fantastic artwork, café quality coffee.

I got the Dragon Fruit Smoothie, which had dragon fruit, mango, orange juice, coconut and passionfruit. It was super yum, and very pretty.

And we shared the Peanut and Banana Waffles. I let Scott pick what we would have because I mostly just wanted the smoothie, and he picked something I would have NEVER picked myself, but it was G D delicious.

I’m not sure what the waffles are made from… something gluten free according to the menu… but they were chewy and fluffy and awesome. We thought maybe buckwheat? Topped with pools of peanut butter, fresh fruit, edible flowers (hehe), a caramelized banana, and then surrounded by sweet salty caramel sauce and fresh peanuts for a crunch element. It was beautiful to look at and all tasted great together. Perfect.

Junkyard Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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CHEESE FEAST!

I’ve found my dream restaurant.

Cider and cheese flight.

The ciders L-R: a pretty normal cider from UK, Kelly Brothers pear cider that tasted weird and vanilla-y, delicious Barossa Valley squashed apple cider, and a very dry very French Cidre Brut from Normandie.

The cheese L-R: Cabots cheddar from USA, Mountain Man brie(?), Meredith Farm chevre, Langres from France. I REALLY liked the last one, it was nice and stinky and creamy. The others were nice, but I preferred the cheeses from Scott’s board. He liked my chevre better than his goat cheese though!

Unfortunately I don’t know the names of any of Scott’s cheeses. But his board came with a quite firm bit of goats cheese, a delicious mushroom-y brie, an amazing cheddar with lots of those crunchy bits (the best!!!), some quince paste, and some salami. The breads and lavosh were also very nice.

Had a bit of cheese-sweats going on after this nutritious dinner. ;D

They also have some hot foods on their menu, in addition to many different cheese boards. I will have to go back again to try some more sometime, I trust that it’s all amazing.

Milk the Cow Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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A new restaurant opened very close to our apartment. I had been craving dumplings ever since moving back to Melbourne, so we went to check it out the other week. We were the only people in the whole restaurant, which was a little weird. I walk by there all the time and they never have any customers! Doubutful they will survive, tbh.

Salt and pepper calamari. Quite good. Tempura batter was thin and crispy, and not too oily. Calamari was tender.

Panfried chicken and prawn dumplings. Also good. Wrapper wasn’t too thick. Nice and juicy dumplings.

Spring onion pancake. We weren’t too impressed with this. Why did they deepfry it?? It wasn’t very nice.

Fried overload. Kinda our fault, we didn’t order well.

Prices were higher than I expected but they gave us $10 off, so that was nice.

Yummy Dumpling House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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I finally got to try a Scotch Egg!

Actually the original plan was to meet Scott for lunch at the Masterchef event he saw on his walk to work. But it was SOOO busy and we couldn’t even figure out where the line started. Instead we just snooped around a bit and tried to get in the background of shots. I watched Gary, George and Matt taste some of the foods (although they didn’t actually eat much!), and we saw some of the competitors. There was quite a few of them on each team so I don’t think we really saw any big spoilers. There were people ERRYWHERE.

Then we walked a street over and ordered a couple scotch eggs from Good Egg where it was much less hectic.


We got one of each: a falafel scotch egg with harissa and tahini dressing, and a pork and fennel scotch egg with roast tomato relish. They were both great. Crispy crunchy coating on the outside with a perfect soft boiled egg in the middle. Scott really liked the falafel one, but I preferred the pork. The sweet tomato relish complimented the salty traditional scotch egg nicely.

They were only $5.50 each and quite filling, definitely one of the better value food options in Melbourne! Plus our server was very friendly. All in all a great experience.

Good Egg Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato