The world from the perspective of Melbourne's best suburb
There is a long list of Flickr groups about things Melbourne here (including Abbotsford, Collingwood Children’s Farm, Abbotsford Convent, Richmond, Fitzroy, Kew, Fitzroy North, Collingwood, etc.).
Someone has set up a Yarra River group. Here it is.
This photo is by Alan Lam. His photos are stunning. I am noticing a lot of talk about something with the acronym “HDR” in relation to photos that are a bit more stunning than usual. I’m working on working out what that is exactly.
It’s true what The Oz says, it was a stroke of genius to get Kenny to open the newly renovated toilet block at the Abbotsford Convent. The handy summary of things Abbotsford Convent is here, really worth a read. I learnt with interest that the pictured massive oak tree was planted in 1857 and is known as the Separation Tree. It is as old as the state of Victoria, being planted to celebrate the secession from New South Wales. That makes it just shy of 150 years old. (The Age’s version is here, the Herald Sun’s here).
Meanwhile, an article from The Age highlights a new show, Tripping Over, which was filmed in part at the Convent.
And a book has been published on the history of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Authored by Catherine Kovesi, historian, author and senior lecturer at Melbourne University (pictured), its title is Pitch Your Tents on Distant Shores. Friends of the Abbotsford Convent can get a pre-publication special (save $15) for $55 (plus $10 postage unless you pick it up from the Convent): call Kate on 9419 5773 like today or tomorrow. The offer has already officially expired.
And here’s The Age’s review of the Convent version of Lentil as Anything.
Because I did such a crap job of reporting the Slow Food’s “A Taste of Slow” festival, I have found some links to blogs of folk who did a better job, like Esurientes — The Comfort Zone, and Caper Berry Gravy and A Few of My Favourite Things. If you know of any other good wrap-ups, let me know.
This guy‘s point of view — “largely pretentious yuppy rubbish” — definitely deserves representation: I have this nigling problem with the whole scene, and I think it comes down to this. This shows me to be hard to please, and really, the slow food movement can be whatever it and its members want. But for me, slow food should not be expensive; it should be a movement of the celebration of simplicity and home-cooked food, a rejection of the overpriced delicatessen. I would have liked to see big crowds of Italian and Greek families competing in an Olympics of home cooking where the teams could consist only of nuclear families, and 44 gallon drums spurting fire were provided to each team. Then peppers could be char grilled, goats roasted on spits, tomato passata produced in vast quantities and octopuses thrashed periodically to soften them up as they were roasted over the fire, basted with bitter herbal liquors. The Vietnamese could have made their minced meat wrapped in char grilled green leaf parcels, and taught the pronunciation of Phở. No doubt lawyers have ensured that no such festivity is possible.