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Friday night, Kendall & I met Jay at Movida where we had a bottle of Veraton and a few bits of scrumptious tapas. Then went to Misty on the same laneway and met a few friends. After a several drinks, we went check-out the tennis attire at Mamade Brussels, but they were full, so we went to some crappy place that had a big outside area. After a drink there, said friends were getting tired, so they peeled off and the 3 of us went up to Toff in Town at Curtain House on Swanston Street. After a bunch more drinks and some seriously daggy dancing on my behalf, we cabbed it home and passed out.

Needless to say, movement was difficult on Saturday morning. At about 3pm we eventually dragged our sorry asses out for a coffee at Seven Seeds. There, you sit amongst the roasting equipment and, as well as making some of the best espresso-based coffee anywhere, they have this Clover machine which makes a kinda high-tech siphon style coffee, which Jay & I tried with single-source Kenyan beans – very rich, but slightly watery. You dont have milk with clover, as it’s all about noticing the subtleties of the coffee; apparently it’s what they use for taste testing the various beans in quite a few coffee competitions.

Anyway, next stop was Smith Street, Collingwood for a dirty sausage roll & a dim sim just to straighten ourselves out. Then off to a fave of mine also on Smith, called Cavallero, for a cocktail and eventually some dinner (i had duck which was brilliant on a bed of parsnip & orange, and the girls had steaks which were ok, not great). In need of a sweet, we cruised off for gellati at Brunetti before watching Beautiful Kate at the Carlton Nova.

The film was visually beautiful, twisted plot, well written script, great cast… A brave Australian movie. I’d disagree with those that’ve said it’s depressing. For me, it clearly showed the ‘human condition’, the resilience of spirit, the power of forgiveness, and the delusional bliss of hope. The context is heavy, but the theme is far from being a downer. And the cinematography is worth the price of admission just to see it on the big screen. But if you wanna see a proper movie, book yourself in for Inglourious Basterds right now. It’s hands down the best film i’ve seen in like forever! Again, forget the reviews & the critics, just go see it and make up your own mind.

Once home, Jay & I weren’t quite tired, so we stayed up and watched Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical thing (where I first noticed the lovely Zooey Deschanel!).

Sunday was a lazy but respectable start, up by about 9am. We tried for brekky at a place i’d heard about called Mitte in Fitzroy North, but they were crazy full, so we went to one of my old haunts in Fiztroy called Ici, where Jay had one of the best french toasts i’ve ever tried. A bit of shopping on Brunswick Street, then Kendall had to drop her friend at the airport, so Jay and I continued to wander… and consider lunch options. This led us briefly through the city, where my car decided to have a spaz-attack. Thankfully Jay was on hand to push my car through the intersection of Russell & Flinders! We gave it a little rest and continued on our way to Windsor, where we landed for a nerve-settler at Borsch, Vodka & Tears. A few good Some good chats later, Kendall rejoined us before we did a last little bit of shopping along Chapel Street.

As it was getting close to departure time, we merged cars back at Kendall’s in Kensington, and headed to Lygon Street to look for some fresh pasta. Closed on Sunday, but Jay did buy me some Sienna cake, Kendall fell to her weakness of Rutherglen Muscat and we all shared a final Grampians Shiraz, whilst reflecting on what was a super fun weekend.