An Afternoon in St. Kilda

I spent an afternoon with a friend meandering around St. Kilda the other day and thought I'd share.

(PS: I'm currently in Melbourne, Australia at the moment. Ok, technically I'm way out of Melbourne in a little country town called Pearcedale near the Mornington Peninsula. But that's a whole other story)

St. Kilda is a trendy boho suburb of Melbourne 6 kms south of the CBD (Central Business District). It's home to Melbourne's famous St. Kilda Beach, the iconic Luna Park (an old turn-of-the-century amusement park with a big scary moon face entrance), and the city's cake capital Acland St.

You can get there by taking the 16 or 96 tram outside of Flinders St. Station. It takes around 25 minutes from the station and, apparently, you're supposed to validate your Metro card when you get on the tram. Really? I didn't see anyone else doing that. Oops.

It was a beautiful day (though a little on the cool side ...It is July in Melbourne after all) so we decided to start our afternoon with lunch at Soul Mama, a "global vegetarian cafe" located at the St. Kilda Seabaths building. The restaurant offers beautiful outdoor and indoor views of Port Phillip Bay and St. Kilda Beach, with its open and airy inside dining room and an outdoor balcony patio. We opted for the outdoor patio to take advantage of whatever sun we could get.

First things first, we ordered our drinks - a glass of the Soul Mama house red for me and the Soul Mama house white for my friend ($7.50 each). I also needed a warm beverage as I'm nursing a cold at the moment, so I ordered the Ayurvedic Vata tea of licorice, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon. There were some amazing juices on the menu as well (ie. Extreme C - apple, strawberry, guava, rosehip, and acerola berry) but I thought that maybe I should save room for solid food.

For lunch, you have 2 options: choose from the bar menu or the buffet. A legend accompanies the buffet and bar menu detailing whether an item is gluten-free, sugar-free, onion- and garlic-free, or vegan. While the bar menu did look appetizing, we opted for the buffet. For $15.50 you get to choose 3 items (hot or cold) from the buffet plus you get a generous serving of rice with your order. Everything looked appetizing but, in the end, I ordered the tofu with tom ka sauce, sauteed veggies, and the pasta salad. My friend ordered the soy "chicken" masala, sauteed veggies, and satay noodles. Everything was delicious! Even the fake chicken was actually very tasty. And I'm usually very skeptical of faux meat products as they often have a funny flavour.

The dessert case looked amazing but we opted to go somewhere else for dessert. We decided to take a stroll down Acland Street. I mean, what better place to look for dessert and coffee? This street is renowned for its countless cafes and cake shops.

We walked to the end of Acland Street to a place called Big Mouth, at the corner of Acland and Barkly St. It's an old Art Deco-style building with high ceilings and its original chandeliers in tact. The main floor is the Wine Bar and Cafe. Upstairs is the Lounge Bar and Dining Room. I've been here before. The last time I was here - we came for brunch - I recall the service being painstakingly slow. But today we are the only customers for the moment.

We ordered a flat white for me, a tea for for my friend, and an english toffee bread pudding to share. Very rarely do I get a bad flat white in Oz and this one was no exception. In fact, it was exceptionally good. Possibly a 9 out of 10. Maybe it was the locally-roasted Genovese coffee. Drizzled with warm toffee sauce and garnished with a sweet date, the bread pudding - which came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - didn't last very long. I even considered ordering another. All that AND the service was so much better than last time. I might just have to give Big Mouth a second chance at brunch. And maybe even try the upstairs room for dinner some time.

We had whiled away a beautiful sunny afternoon, eating, drinking and chatting. Sadly, it was time for me to make my way home. But not before my friend dragged me into one of his favourite shops on Acland Street, Urban Attitude. This fun little shop has 2 locations - one on Acland St., and another newer location on Chapel St. in South Yarra. Its eclectic mix of quirky housewares, personal accessories, and novelty gifts make it easy to lose track of time. My friend was looking for a gift for someone else and walked out with a set of measuring cups in the shape of traditional Russian matryoshkas ...for himself. You can even purchase things through their online store!

***Prices quoted are in AUD

Lessons in Life

Maya Angelou said that "making a living is not the same as making a life". I think Winston Churchill before her said something similar. I'm sure these words have been reiterated in some form or another over hundreds of years by insightful people who recognized a truth about human nature and the world we live in. Wise words. And food for thought. They are words that I've been pondering over for the last three years since quitting my full time job to pursue ...Life.

We have what seem like tough choices to make as we continue to be bombarded by the restrictions that society straps us down with. And by society, I essentially am referring to anyone and anything around us that communicates a message to us. That's pretty much everyone and everything.

My entire life was filled with ideas about what I "should" be doing. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's the same message we all get. Get a good degree. Get a good job. Get a good husband/wife. Buy a good house. Have some good kids. Make some good money. Have a good retirement. I was always on the fence about what to do.

As a young girl, I wanted to be a Buddhist but decided to sneak into dance clubs instead. And eventually, I got the degree. I got the job. I never quite got to the other parts. But I was still of the age where it wasn't deemed necessary ...yet. I was definitely getting close or at the point of my life where I was feeling the pressure of finding a suitable mate, buying a suitable house, and having suitable kids. I was uneasy about the whole thing. It seemed like a pretty long commitment, all these "things". And I wanted to see the world and continue to learn, without these constraints.

I took matters into my own hands. I took a drastic leap of faith. I left my job, packed up my apartment, and went to India. Three years and one Australian boyfriend later (we're still together), I've had the privilege of living in four very different countries - India, Australia, Peru and Argentina - where I've had the pleasure of seeing some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. But more importantly, I've had the honour of learning some of the most important lessons I've ever learned. Namely, how be happy, how to forgive, how to trust, and how to love (myself and others). Basically, I learned how to live.

....Now I just need to learn how to make a living through Living. I'll let you know how it goes.