Meals on Wheels - food truck for kids

In a quest to eat my way through the menus of all the food trucks in Melbourne, I've brought you Po' boys, organic frozen yoghurt, pulled pork, classic burgers, chipotle chicken and loads more, with even more to come. But I've been neglecting a decent-sized portion of our food-truck-eating population: the kids! Enter the Famous OTO. It is a little further afield than most of the food trucks I've been visiting (it's in New York, to be exact), but OH MAN wouldn't you buy ice cream from one of these cute little food vendors pictured above?

Illustrator and animator Måns Swanberg (look for his other work under the name Pistachios) has designed a sturdy playtime food truck for kids, made out of biodegradable, recyclable cardboard. The vintage-style ice cream truck pictured here is his prototype, but Swanberg has plans to develop any number of other food trucks (including tacos, noodles, BBQ, churros, hot dogs, hot rods and lemonade).

This will completely revolutionise the lemonade stall, you mark my words.

After a successful Indiegogo campaign, Swanberg now has the funds to get into production, so look out for these little beauties soon.

Can you imagine if there were a few different kid-run food trucks in play at a kindergarten fete, serving up cupcakes and lemonade and fairy bread? The school would make a KILLING (even if the rest of us had to crouch down on hands and knees to make a purchase).

All photographs here used with Swanberg's kind permission, from the Famous OTO Facebook page

ps. You can personalise the number plates, too

Back yards

When in the back yard, here is what you must do: Roll down hills of newly-mown lawn, gathering green and fragrant debris on your clothes and face along the way. Adjust your pink hat. Cuddle a cousin. Cuddle another cousin. Feed the goats. Relish in the glories of the swing-set, again and again and again.

We love living in the city, but sometimes it does our souls good to drive out to the country and spend time in the winter sunshine of Nanna's back yard.

How about you? What did you do on the weekend?

ps. Do me a favour and LOOK AT THAT FACE. Have you ever seen anything like it?

Favourite things - back to nature

I'm hankering for some time spent in nature of late. Hearing the wind in the trees, splashing through puddles, growing things and eating them. All those cliches. Winter isn't exactly the best of times to decide to get back to nature, but it's still rather nice to dream, don't you think? 1. The Kombi tent

kombi tent

Kombi is the name we use in Australia for the classic VW buses that everyone wishes they have until they actually get one and then they realise they smell and overheat and break down all the time and the romance isn't the same once you're INSIDE the story.

Phew! Taking a breath now. I had a boyfriend who bought a Kombi once upon a time. I was really excited about the purchase, until I had to push the damn van along a freeway in 40 degree heat on one too many occasions.

But this tent? Be still my heart! It has the romance of the old Kombi, minus the breakdowns and petrol fumes and sticky vinyl seats. Just the wind in the trees beside you. Perhaps the babble of a creek not too far away (you'll take a dip later). The kettle singing on the campfire.

It sleeps four adults and, at 182 centimetres, is tall enough for most of us to stand up inside. Now, how can I justify the (rather steep) price and convince Mr B that we need to buy one of these for family camping trips in the summer?

2. The peony farm

peonies white

peonies pink

It was Madeleine's birthday last weekend. A year ago, peonies became "her flower" and this is why, but winter is the wrong season for these floral beauties and, sadly, I couldn't find any to decorate our home in time for her birthday.

But on the other side of the world, Madeleine's birthday falls in just the right time for peonies to bloom. So we may just need to take a birthday trip north one day and while we're at it, visit a peony farm like this one. (Or skip her birthday and visit a farm closer to home in the summer, I guess).

3. Nature girl

nature girl

Isn't she lovely? Aren't these photographs incredible?

4. Indoor picnic

picnic inside

This indoor picnic is a lovely idea for winter, or for the ever-unpredictable Melbourne weather. I love the use of checkered napkins and cardboard and simple wooden boards, as well as the patio lights strung above the 'picnic'. I'd probably go one step further and host the whole party on a rug on the floor. Have you ever had an indoor picnic?

5. The Kings of Summer

kings of summer

From its trailer, The Kings of Summer reminds me of Moonrise Kingdom. It has also been compared to Stand By Me. Have you seen it? Will you see it? I can't wait. It's a comedy about three teenaged boys who escape their overbearing parents and decide to spend the summer in the forest, building their own house and living off the land.

What do you think?

Look up

All too often, as we go through life, we spend our days looking down, or out, or behind. Why do we never remember to look up? That could be a metaphor and you could decide I'm quite the philosopher but, in this case, I am being quite literal. Look up!

What do you see? Clouds gathering in a darkening sky? Ornate architraves? Treetops? Towering sky-scrapers? Seagulls? Shooting stars?

When artist Lamadieu Thomas looks up, he sees in his mind's eye strange and wonderful pictures in the pieces of sky that appear between tall buildings.

Thank goodness there are artists like Thomas in the world, because they have the skills and talents to take what is in their minds' eyes and share them with all of us.

In this case, Thomas uses a combination of photography and line drawing to create surprising characters in negative sky-space. He calls it "Sky Art."

All images used here with kind permission from Lamadieu Thomas

Meals on Wheels - Babes on Grill

Folks, I put it to you that Babes on Grill are the actual Spice Girls of Melbourne: young, good looking gals who also happen to have some serious skills behind the BBQ grill. The babes have been popping up with their smoky menus at venues indoors and out all over the city for the past year and a bit so, when Madeleine and I heard they'd be at the Queen Victoria Market, we rugged up and marched on over for a fresh and flavoursome lunch.

However, we discovered a little more than we had bargained for, arriving at the tail end of a heated (literally) competition between the babes and TV chef Miguel Maestre to outsell one another on chicken rolls, for charity.

We joined the line for the girls. Gotta support the sistas.

Babes on Grill were serving up chipotle chicken hot rolls with barbequed free-range chicken, crispy slaw, guacamole, tomato and pepper salsa, and Kewpie mayonnaise. Sisters or not, who could bypass that?

But while the girls were busy grilling up my chipotle chicken, that wily Miguel turned on all his charm to win Madeleine over to his side. He was all over her with the "Aw what a cutie," and "Come on! You want me to win this challenge, don't you!"

Madeleine was fascinated. And in the end, a crazy Spaniard in a bow-tie was too much personality for one baby to resist: she gave him her seal of approval in the form of a high five. So much for sisterly solidarity, Little Miss.

I won't tell you who won the competition, you'll need to watch out for upcoming episodes of The Living Room on Channel 10 to find out.

Although this photo may give you a hint as to the outcome.

But I will tell you my hot chicken roll was ah-may-zing. I wolfed it down in approximately one minute. With or without the TV cameras, I'll be first in line the next time these girls pop up again in my 'hood.

Just before I left the market, I spotted another food truck, one that had been around for more than 60 years. So I figured I should try out the wares on sale, in the name of good reporting and all that. The things I do for you guys.

ps. Have you sampled the Gumbo Kitchen wares? Tried a burger from THE Mr Burger? Want still more Meals on Wheels?

First birthdays

First birthdays are for waking up to a room full of balloons. They are for giggles, smiles, and squeals of glee. They are for daffodils, and boxes covered in homemade, polka-dot wrapping paper, made by Mama late last night using potatoes and paint. First birthdays are stay-in-your-PJs-until-lunch, they are wear-a-silly-hat-if-you-want-to, they are tear-the-paper-off-your-presents as if there were no greater joy in the world.

Madeleine spent the morning of her first birthday with her parents and grandparents, playing, kissing, laughing, opening presents, playing with her new toys.

In the afternoon some friends came over and there was more laughter, more exciting new presents, a song, a loving kiss for a new doll, a first taste of chocolate cake, a chance to stay up late.

Her joy was so infectious, she made her first birthday the most special day possible, for all of us.

Urban foraging

Have you heard of urban foraging? According to this guy from the Pop Up Patch in Melbourne, it's completely legal to pick fruit off of your neighbours' trees, if it is hanging over the fence. Take a look. Laneway Foraging from The Little Veggie Patch Co on Vimeo.

I'm not sure if I could do this. I'll admit it's kind of cool in a nanna, Depression-era, creative thrift kind of way. But in my head, I'm not sure if I could shake off the 'scabby' taint of stealing other people's harvests.

In an effort to convince myself to be all sustainable and healthy, I took a wander through the back lanes of my neighbourhood to see what might be ripe for the picking. It's fairly late in the season but I still found some lemons, persimmons, olives, chokoes and cumquats that were mostly good to go, and some grapes that had only just finished. Oh and a lorikeet that was most put out by the intrusion. Not bad huh?

How about you? Would you / do you go urban foraging?

Favourite things - hooked on hue

One of my new favourite blogs to read, Bright.Bazaar, is all about colour. "Mr Bazaar" Will Taylor says he is "unashamedly hooked on hue." What a great phrase. We are thinking about renovations of late chez Bulger, and I've been scouring the Internet for ideas. I don't know that I could actually replicate all of the following ideas in my home, but they have definitely got me hooked on hue this week! Have a colourful weekend, dear friends.

1. Psychedelic stripes

By Glasgow-based artist Jim Lambie, in his floor series called Zobop. {Via Honestly WTF}

2. Piñata cake

Oh actually, I think this is one I will replicate at home. {Via B for Bel via A Subtle Revelry}

3. Wacky wallpaper

Joanna Goddard has collected 10 great wallpapers for us to admire and covete. Which do you like best? {Via Cup of Jo}

4. Striped ice cubes

I have bookmarked this idea for spring and summer. I will invite you over for sparkly, colourful, cold, fruity drinks next November. Save the date. {Via Oh Joy!}

5. Stitches alive!

Vibrant embroideries come alive in this short video about love. A little something joyful to take you into the weekend. {Via the Etsy blog}

And that's all, folks!

Le Petit Prince

Oh, the glorious power of imagination! Luka is a 12-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy. He is confined to a wheelchair and only capable of tiny, weak movements with his fingers. Even simple activities like eating and using the bathroom are beyond him.

But Luka has an active imagination. And one day he told his psychologist, Slovenian Matej Peljhan (who also happens to be a photographer), that he wished he could see himself in a photo: walking, running, and getting up to all kinds of boy-like mischief.

Peljhan works with children with special needs, and understands the challenges they face better than many. He was injured himself as a child in an accident with explosive devices left behind after World War II.

Peljhan came up with an idea to shift the perspective, to help grant the little boy his wish. Together they created "Le Petit Prince," a joyful, adventurous series of photographs based on Luka's own drawings, that put him inside his best dreams and depict him doing what he will never be able to experience in real life.

I wrote to Peljhan and he very kindly gave me permission to share some of the photographs with you here.

Doesn't this make you want to cry and smile at the same time?

The forgotten angels of Carlton

A little while ago Mr B and I pushed a pram with a sleeping Madeleine through the Melbourne Cemetery on Lygon Street. It is old and sprawling and, as you would expect, wonderfully peaceful. Some of the graves, especially those closest to the road, were shiny and beautifully kept, dust-free and with fresh flowers to show that those who lay beneath were remembered and loved, even 10, 20 and 30 years on.

But in other sections, old graves were crumbling back into the ground, broken headstones and rampant moss hiding almost all of what was once I'm sure meant to be a lasting memorial of someone deeply loved, then lost.

It got me thinking. Most of us will only be remembered and missed for two generations. Three tops. I will tell Madeleine about the friends and family I have loved and lost. Maybe we will visit their graves sometimes. But she never knew them, can't really mourn them. I doubt she will tell her children about them.

And so they are forgotten.

Last weekend we returned to the cemetery and I took my camera into the forgotten corners. Along the dirt footpaths that had scarcely been trod for decades, probably more than a century, except for the odd visit from a groundskeeper.

I wanted to celebrate, together with you, all the mothers and fathers, the daughters and sons, the husbands and wives, the friends. Because once upon a time they were everything to someone. They deserved to be remembered again.

They are called Bridget and Victor and Edmund and Daisy and Giovanni. They are the public servant who is dearly missed by his friends. The Aboriginal elder who saved colonists from a pending massacre. The war heroes, the politicians and sailors.

They are Michael and Margaret Bulger, who moved out here from Kilkenny in Ireland and died in South Melbourne 100 years ago. They had three sons, new little Australians. Distant relatives, perhaps? We promised each other we would go back and leave flowers at Michael's and Margaret's grave.

They hail from Italy and England, China, Switzerland and Israel. So many of them came to Australia to start new lives. Many of them fell in love, started families. One grave is marked with heartbreaking simplicity: "MOTHER." That is all.