Kinoko Fry. And coffee.

The latest update on the wonderful Hark! A Vagrant, was a guest comic by Rebecca Clements from Kinoko Fry. Kinoko Fry, it turns out, is all kinds of awesome. It's sort of like SuperMario, some anime and The Nightmare Before Christmas had an inky three-way (oh dear, where am I going with this??) which somehow resulted in a love-child. And that love-child was beautiful and humourous, knew that comics needed tight and strong narratives.

This is one of my favourites, mainly because it reflects exactly how I choose to work.


And now, given that I've run out of things to blog about here... I better go to another cafe...

- Esther

Cubans and Coffee

As mentioned in my post earlier this week (a not so subtle way to say: "look! I'm posting twice in a week!"), one of the things I was looking forward to in Wellington was the cafes. I'm not sure what it is, but Wellington has a ridiculous number of quirky, interesting cafes that produce fantastic coffee.

Because I haven't been here long enough to visit all the centrally located cafes, I'm not yet up to anointing any particular one with a "Best Coffee" award (give me another week though...). However, what I can say at this stage is that Fidel's cafe on Cuba Street is all kinds of awesome.

A nice start to a morning? A long black, date scone and The Dominion Post.

I'd say that was pretty damn nice.

So, why is Fidel's awsome?

Their long blacks. They're strong, not too long, the beans are never burnt, and the they're served hot enough to boil the inside of your mouth. So, they're pretty much perfect.

They produce excellent date scones. Oh yes they do. They're so damn good that I bother getting up early so I can ensure I get one (and, if it weren't for the similarly tasty (but very different) scones at Finc, I'd be prepared to declare them the best in Wellington).

There's a variety of inside/outside seating options - they have two (two!) different groovy courtyards!

And the staff are friendly. Always.

Mad props go to Fidel's.

Beess and co. café

After becoming quite lax with my posting (I encountered some major technical difficulties – I lost my clearly vital camera cord), I thought I should resume my blog activities with a post that fitted quite nicely with my recent state of laziness – lazy summer lunches.

Specifically, I’d like to write about one of my favourite Canberra cafés – Beess and co. at the Yarralumla shops. I’ve eaten both breakfasts and lunches at this fabulous place – and all have been pretty snazzy. But for some reason, (probably because you have to get up so early in the morning for breakfast), I've eaten a lot more lunches here. So a lunch review this is.

Back in the days when I was gainfully employed, I used to work in Deakin and really, the only benefit of my soul-crushing data entry job (except for the fact that it allowed me to pay giant central heating-bills… stupid Canberra winters) was that it positioned me to regularly buy lunch at Beess and co.

The first time I had one of their smoked salmon, avocado and salad sandwiches, with an olive oil vinaigrette, I was so impressed that I had to call my sister off my work phone (ok, another benefit) and tell her how I was blown away by the best sandwich I had ever had. She didn’t quite share in my amazement. Also, their long blacks are so good, that I used to wait til lunch to have my first coffee just so I could really appreciate their baristas' skills.

The amazing smoked salmon sandwich

Last week my fellow blogger, the charming Miss Grace and I decided to go to Beess and co. for an aforementioned lazy summer lunch. It was lovely, except I did see the CEO of my ex-work having a power lunch their with some board members. This was a little awkward so Grace and ate inside rather than under the trees (this was actually quite nice because it was air-conditioned inside).

For lunch Grace had the vegetarian lasagne – which she reviewed as quite a tasty dish. I branched out from smoked salmon sandwiches and ordered the coconut prawn and soba noodle salad. The prawns and salad were fantastic, though I thought the salad dressing could have been a little sweeter.

Vegetarian Lasagne

Coconut cream prawns and soba noodle salad

I have a lot of time for Beess and co. and hope that they can continue to be a quality urban café. At mine and Grace's lunch, as ever, the table service was prompt and friendly and the coffee fantastic. The prices, while not extraordinarily cheap, are really quite reasonable. It's often quite busy at lunch there, so it pays to book - this way you can also reserve one of the many tables that are located under some enormous leafy trees which provide some nice dappled shade.

xx Esther

Plundering Visitors

As I was making my coffee this morning, I noticed a couple of friendly visitors had discovered my plum tree. Two Eastern Rosellas that are just gorgeous! They remind of of the Rosella on Arnott's biscuit tins. This one of the most beautiful breeds of Australian birds, and I felt very lucky to have them visit my garden.

I kept watching the hungry bird, and it's friend until they both flew away. I have been wondering what to do with all those plums! And think, I didn't even have to put any birdseed out to attract the delightful guests.

Who knew I was a budding ornithologist?

Grace

xx

Beginnings...

Hello and welcome to Petals Marked With Spots; our brand-new blog! By “our”, please assume that there is more than one of us – allow us to introduce ourselves: Grace and Esther are (very) amateur bloggers with grand ambitions to write interesting, insightful and humorous posts on a vast range of subjects (mainly because we’re too indecisive to stick to a single topic).

Grace is a twenty-one year old with too many (very interesting) hobbies who hopes that a blog will bring these pursuits together in some kind of cohesive form that validates her hours spent on them. Her interests include attempting to sing in tune, cooking, writing and trying to form coherent sentences in French. She thinks that starting a blog is an excellent way of once again over-committing herself to intriguing creative projects.

Esther is also a twenty-one year old (well, she’s very nearly twenty-one) who spends a ridiculous amount of her time rock climbing on Australia’s finest cliffs. However, like Grace, she’s also terribly interested in writing, reading and good food, and has spent many hours trawling cafes for decent long blacks. She hopes that this blog will allow her to merrily rant about various literary and filmic topics that might be of interest to others.

So, let’s start at the very beginning…

It all began with Jane. Jane Austen that is. It was in early 2009 that two fans of the famed novelist signed up to an English course at the Australian National University that involved reading this fabulous author’s works and having this contribute to their undergrad degrees. As you may have guessed these two Austen devotees were our blog’s very own Grace and Esther. The two were brought together fatefully in the same tutorial timeslot. As the semester progressed both Grace and Esther came to admire the insightful academic thoughts of the other then unknown to one another, not to mention similar tastes in handmade bags.

Then, once again fatefully, second semester came around and Grace and Esther found themselves buddies in two English courses. In true undergraduate style, both attempted to perfect the skill of procrastination, coming to lectures armed with their macbook laptops (what, you think we actually type lecture notes on them?). With one internet page leading to another, both were inspired by Grace’s friend’s blog ( where numerous delicious recipes can be found at: http://awhistleandamilkshake.blogspot.com/) so, naively, but with plenty of enthusiasm, were inspired to start a blog of their own.

‘Petals Marked With Spots’ is that blog. The title pays homage to Virginia Woolf’s ‘Kew Gardens': a story they should have been studying.

So await, as our rambling on literature, art, cooking, fashion, film, and anything else we feel like blogging about ensues.

Please be patient, as you are dealing with blogging virgins, who may get off to a shaky start, but promise to post with increasing enthusiasm for as long as you care to read.

Love, Grace and Esther

Just to get you in the mood, these are a few of our favourite things…

Grace

Cooking. I took this picture at a market in the French town of Cherbourg. I love going to the markets and buying fresh vegetables and turning them into delicious meals. Don’t you just feel inspired to make something fabulous after looking at this picture?

Art. I could spend all day in an art gallery. This is one of my favorite paintings, ‘Interior in Yellow’ (1962-64) by Grace Cossington Smith, housed at the NGA. I think it would be impossible to be unhappy in a room like this.

Fashion. Christian Dior is one of my idols. I love the femininity and elegance of his designs. He defiantly knew how to make a woman beautiful, as this 1952 creation testifies. If only I could afford couture outfits…

Esther

Coffee. This is my fabulous Italian “Atomic” coffee pot. I think the 50s design is absolutely fantastic. I wish I used it more - it’s great for frothing your own milk, but I’m such a long black person…

Climbing. This is a cliff on the banks of the Shoalhaven river at Nowra, NSW. It’s one of my favourite climbing areas with great rock, lovely scenery and plenty of bogans in dodgy-looking Commodores.

Flowers. I know it sounds a more than slightly corny, and perhaps a bit like an eight-year-old girl proclaiming with eternal devotion: “I love flowers!!!” but I think having a bunch in your house can genuinely improve your mood. Maybe it’s because they’re such a transient indulgence and luxury. Or maybe it’s just because they smell nice. Either way, I love flowers.