Coming home

An amazing dish from 'The Pint of Milk': sauteed exotic mushrooms, walnut sourdough, taleggio and truffled chestnuts $14

As we head over the Queensboro Bridge bound for JFK in a yellow cab, I soak up every last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. For the first time in weeks, I am truly still. No plans, no must-sees, nothing new to take in. Flashes of the past weeks fill my thoughts in a pleasant blur, yet I’m not sure I’m ready to leave the frenetic energy of this awe-inspiring city behind.

“I’m really sad to be leaving,” I say aloud as my eyes glaze momentarily.

“Me too,” says the Mister beside me. “But it was a really great holiday.” He squeezes my hand.

A day later, another cab drops us at home in Footscray. It’s Sunday morning and the street is deadly quiet. Nothing moves, just our breath as it hits the cold air. Our car is still here! Inside, everything is as we left it. Not perfect, but clean, and it feels like home. The deep chill in the air has permeated inside, yet somehow I feel cocooned and warm. I love seeing all my things again and, for the first time, feel as though we have plenty of space. I remind myself, not for the first time in the last few weeks, that we are lucky. So easy to forget.

While nothing changed on the home front while we were gone, the rest of the west seems to have progressed at a rapid pace. In the weeks since returning, I’ve been like a kid in a "candy" shop checking out all the fabulous new places - Common Galaxia in Seddon is hitting all the right notes for me and just down Victoria Street, A. Bongiovanni & Son is winning my heart by making it easy to source speciality groceries (too many wonderful baking supplies for my own good). The Mexican taqueria chain, Guzman Y Gomez has made a quick bite before a movie much more attractive at Highpoint. The Reading Room at Victoria University in Footscray is now providing a coffee fix and eats to the wider community, not just students, so of course I had to sample their tasty wares. I made the effort to (finally) try The Pint of Milk in Newport and was not disappointed. I can't stop thinking about the nutty, earthy dish I ate there (pictured above). I’ve revived my sense of community by getting re-acquainted with my not-so-old favourites: Besito in West Footscray, Elceed in North Melbourne, and neighborhood favourites West 48 and Ebi Fine Foods.  Is the west really going off or am I just trying to tell myself that I don’t need New York, there is plenty happening here?!

I've discovered that it's possible to wish you were still on holiday and be happy to be home at the same time!

Au Revoir Moonee Ponds, Hello Footscray!

What an exciting, exhausting week it has been for us as we moved over a few suburbs to Footscray. A week of annual leave sounded like a comfortable time frame to fit everything in, but with the temperature soaring past 40 degrees celsius earlier this week in Melbourne, it seemed far from comfortable. Thankfully the rest of the week has been far more pleasant with fine, sunny weather, a smooth settlement and a pair of friendly, helpful removalists to boot.

We seem to have used every hour available to finish packing, move, unpack and then return to clean our old place. The good news is that we are super happy with our new pad and despite feeling weary, I haven't even been able to sleep in. Now that's a first, I must be in love. I have been sneaking out of bed to play with the dishwasher and add to the growing 'To Do or Buy' list. Most rooms are roughly in place now excluding the study which is jam-packed with boxes and screaming for some attention before we return to work on Monday. I'll deal with that tomorrow.

Right now I want to rave about our evening exploring our new neighborhood, namely a little fish and chip shop around the corner from our home sweet home. It's called Ebi Fine Food and due to the name, it took us a few days to confirm that it is a fish and chip shop. Tonight we discovered that it's a fish and chip shop with a difference and a pleasant one at that. They call it "Japanese fusion fish and chips" and the staff (or owners?) were very welcoming and kindly gave us some veggie balls ("vegetarian version of an Osaka Street snack") with tasty Japanese mayonnaise on the house while we waited. Sadly, I didn't have my phone on me to capture the neat presentation in a small, curved tray that looked to be made of a dried leaf. The photo above shows our order of the Togarashi Calamari and chips ($10) and the fresh fish of the day (Rockling) in beer batter with salad ($8). We could have chosen tempura rather than beer batter for the fish, but we were advised that the Rockling lends itself to beer batter so we went with that. The home-made citrus mayonnaise and tartare were a nice touch. We are already talking about our next visit and picking something more adventurous from the menu. Maybe a crab croquette, a bento box or the teriyaki salmon. Yum.

After dinner, we were very full but decided we needed a short walk to burn it off while taking the next step in becoming real locals. By that I mean heading to the local video shop to become members! We hired the new Aussie flick Charlie and Boots and I must have enjoyed it as I stayed awake all the way through and laughed more times than I can remember. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow and some more firsts...first big grocery shop and, hopefully, first bike ride on this side of the tracks!