Friday night – time to relax

Pic 1: Driving home down King Street

The week goes quickly now after our return from our four weeks away. Melbourne’s winter has given the family colds and Thursday I spent working from home rather than going to the office. Flexibility is one of the benefits of my job and adds to the enjoyment.
As we draw to the end of the financial year we had our annual stock-take so I dragged my heavy head, coughs and sneezes to the office on Friday to help with the mundane operation of counting. The reward afterwards is the sausage sizzle at lunch time and if everything goes well, an early finish to the day to start the weekend.
4.00 pm saw me leaving the office with a phone call to home to see what Friday night delight would be prepared for the dining table. Sue said it would be my favourite, an Italian dish from “the Silver Spoon” or as it was originally called “Il Cucchiaio d’argento”, first published in Italy in 1950, and English in 2005.
Pic 2: Roman Spring Lamb from the pages of "the Silver Spoon"
My favourite from the book is Roman Spring Lamb, cooked with potatoes, garlic, rosemary sprigs, white wine and vinegar, YUM.
We washed this down with a local Pinot Noir from the west of Melbourne in the Macedon region. On our return from Burgundy, we find the lighter reds very enjoyable.

As I drove down King Street and through downtown Melbourne, I noticed how the skyline of our city is changing yet it still has the softness of green parks and leafy trees.
The contrasts of Melbourne’s architecture (possibly a future blog subject) is one of its features. Recently voted as one of the world’s most livable cities, it’s hard for a local to argue the point.

Pic 3: Lygon Street book
My last blog mentioned Lygon Street, Carlton, one of my favourite Melbourne cosmopolitan streets. It reminded me of the book I purchased earlier this year on the history of Lygon Street. Not just the history of the street, but also a recipe book from the long time established businesses, chefs and cooks of the area. The people, nationalities, food, wine and architecture of the street are beautifully described and illustrated in this 370 page door-stop.

Lygon Street is not on its own as a feature of Melbourne – My Home.
Brunswick St, Fitzroy St, Acland St and Chapel streets all have a special charm of their own and attract various people from our cosmopolitan population. We’ll look at those in future blogs.

But for me, the weekend now begins. I must read a few more chapters this weekend.


Pic 4: Jimmy Watson's wine cellar - I remember my first glass of wine here in 1968, but forget the many more since!!!